<p>Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of the eastern part of North America&#39;s Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada.  Formed about 32,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville existed until about 14,500 years ago, when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho. Following the Bonneville flood, as the release is now known, the lake receded to a level called the Provo Level. Many of the unique geological characteristics of the Great Basin are due to the effects of the lake.</p><br>
<p>At more than 1,000 ft deep and more than 19,691 square miles in area, the lake was nearly as large as Lake Michigan and significantly deeper. With the change in climate, the lake began drying up, leaving Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, Rush Lake, and Little Salt Lake as remnants.</p><br>
<p>Lake Bonneville was named by the geologist G. K. Gilbert after Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (1796–1878), a French-born officer in the United States Army, who was also a fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. Bonneville was noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin.</p><br>
<h2>Geologic history</h2><br>
<p>Like most, if not all, of the ice age pluvial lakes of the American West, Lake Bonneville was a result of the combination of lower temperatures, decreased evaporation, and higher precipitation that then prevailed in the region, perhaps because of a more southerly jet stream than today&#39;s. The lake was probably not a singular entity either; geologic evidence suggests that it may have evaporated and reformed as many as 28 times in the last 800,000 years.</p><br>
<p>Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, and Sevier Lake are the largest remnants of the original Lake Bonneville. Several levels of the old shorelines are still visible above Salt Lake City, along the Wasatch Front and elsewhere. The appearance of the shorelines is that of a shelf or bench protruding from the mountainside, well above the valley floor. Four main shorelines are associated with the fluctuating levels of the ancient lake. The Stansbury, Bonneville, Provo and Gilbert shorelines each mark a time when lake level remained constant long enough to deposit massive accumulations of sand and gravel.</p><br>
<p>The Bonneville Bench, at about 1,555 m above sea level, is part of the preserved ice age shoreline. This shoreline marks the highest level attained by the Pleistocene lake approximately 15,500 years ago. During this period, the lake covered over 52,000 km&sup2; and was over 300 m deep in places.</p><br>
<p>About 14,500 years ago, the lake level fell catastrophically as Lake Bonneville overflowed near Red Rock Pass, Idaho and washed away a natural dam formed by opposing overlapping alluvial fans. The lake level fell some 105 m to what is now the next lower bench (the "Provo level") in a flood that geologists estimate to have lasted up to a year. It is estimated that this breach released 1,000 cumi of water in the first few weeks. The Provo level is the most easily recognized shoreline feature throughout the Bonneville basin and is distinguished by thick accumulations of tufa that formed near the shorelines during the 500 years that the lake was at this level. During this period, the Red Rock Pass contained a river carrying water overflowing out of Lake Bonneville into the Snake River.</p><br>
<p>About 14,000 years ago, the lake started to drop again because of changing climate conditions, and by 12,000 years ago, the lake reached a level even lower than that of the modern day Great Salt Lake. A slight transgression or rise in lake level occurred about 10,900 to 10,300 years ago and formed the Gilbert shoreline. The Gilbert shoreline is the least conspicuous of the major shorelines but evidence of it remains at Antelope Island and in large coastal features, such as the Fingerpoint Spit near the Hogup Mountains.</p><br>
<p>In addition to geological traces, the lake has left a legacy of related fish distributed in now-isolated bodies of water. The term "Lake Bonneville drainage" is often used to refer to the assembly of disconnected lakes and rivers; since the draining happened relatively recently, most of the fish have not had time to evolve into distinct species.</p><br>
<p>Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail. The Army established a military post here in 1858 during the Utah War, until it was finally closed in 1890. A small town, Fort Bridger, Wyoming, remains near the fort and takes its name from it.</p><br>
<h2>Bridger's Trading Post</h2><br>
<p>The post was established by the mountain man Jim Bridger, after whom it is named, and Louis Vasquez. Bridger, perhaps the most picturesque figure in early Wyoming, was often called the "Daniel Boone" of the Rockies. Bridger’s Pass, which he discovered, was also named for him.</p><br>
<p>In 1845, Lanford Hastings published a guide entitled The Emigrant&#39;s Guide to Oregon and California, which advised California emigrants to leave the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger, pass through the Wasatch Range across the Great Salt Lake Desert (an 80-mile waterless drive), loop around the Ruby Mountains, and rejoin the California Trail about seven miles west of modern Elko, Nevada (now Emigrant Pass). The ill-fated Donner-Reed Party followed that route, along which they were met by a rider sent by Hastings to deliver letters to traveling emigrants. On July 12, the Donners and Reeds were given one of these letters, in which among other messages, Hastings claimed to have "worked out a new and better road to California", and said he would be waiting at Fort Bridger to guide the emigrants along the new cutoff.</p><br>
<h2>Mormons and Fort Supply</h2><br>
<p>With the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in 1847, disputes arose between Bridger and the new settlers. By 1853, a militia of Mormons was sent to arrest him for selling alcohol and firearms to the Native Americans, a violation of Federal Law. He escaped capture and temporarily returned to the East. Near the existing fort, the Mormons established their own Fort Supply the same year. In 1855, Mormons took over Fort Bridger, reportedly having bought it for $8,000 in gold coins. The Mormons claimed, over Bridgers denials, they had purchased the fort from Vasquez. There was a deed dated August 3, 1855, recorded October 21, 1858, in Salt Lake City in Records Book B. p. 128, that ostensibly sold Fort Bridger to the LDS Church. Bridger and Vasquezs names were signed by H.F. Morrell in the presence of Alinerin Grow and William Adams Hickman, purportedly pursuant to a power of attorney. Bridger was absent from the area in 1855, acting as guide for Sir St George Gore.</p><br>
<h2>Utah War</h2><br>
<p>Relations deteriorated between Mormon leaders in Utah Territory and federal authorities in Washington, D.C. Following the election of President James Buchanan, the United States Army was ordered to Utah to install a new governor, replacing Brigham Young, as well as to establish a military presence. As the army advanced, the Mormons in the Green River valley withdrew, burning Fort Supply and Supply City. On the night of October 7, 1857, "Wild Bill" Hickman set fire to Fort Bridger to keep it from falling into the hands of the approaching United States Army during the Utah War.</p><br>
<p>The army wintered near Fort Bridger. In June 1858, as the majority of Johnston&#39;s Army set off for Salt Lake City, two companies of troops remained behind and established Fort Bridger as an official Army post. The other troops continued on and eventually established Camp Floyd south of Salt Lake City.</p><br>
<p>In 1858, William A. Carter was appointed as post sutler at Fort Bridger. Perhaps more than any other individual, the history of the post revolves around this civilian merchant who remained at the center of the post&#39;s activities for its entire history.</p><br>
<p>At the end of the hostilities, the United States Congress rejected Brigham Youngs claim to the fort and did not recognize Jim Bridgers continuing claims to the fort.</p><br>
<h2>Fort Bridger as Pony Express Station</h2><br>
<p>The historical Fort Bridger has several interesting old buildings still standing: the old Pony Express barn and the Mormon protective wall.</p><br>
<h2>Civil War</h2><br>
<p>Following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, all the federal troops in Utah Territory were withdrawn to fight the Confederate States Army in the east. The following year, Colonel Patrick Edward Connor was sent to Utah with a column of California Volunteer Cavalry and Infantry, establishing Fort Douglas near Salt Lake City. Connor later sent two companies and reestablished Army presence at Fort Bridger. A variety of volunteer units were stationed at Bridger during the Civil War.</p><br>
<h2>Return of the Regular Army</h2><br>
<p>In 1866, with the muster out of the volunteer units, the Regular Army returned to man Fort Bridger, beginning with companies of the Eighteenth Infantry. The post became somewhat less isolated in 1869, when the Union Pacific Railroad was built through the area.</p><br>
<p>Ultimately, the expansion of the railroads in the west made this and other forts obsolete. Fort Bridger was first abandoned in 1878 but then was re-established two years later. The Army finally closed the post in 1890.</p><br>
<h2>Town of Fort Bridger</h2><br>
<p>After the Armys departure the buildings were sold off, and the site soon became a cattle town in southwest Wyoming. A hotel was established in the old Commanding Officers Quarters, and the large stone barracks eventually became a milking barn.</p><br>
<h2>Fort Bridger State Historic Site</h2><br>
<p>In 1928, Fort Bridger was sold to the Wyoming Historic Landmark Commission for preservation as an historic monument, now designated as Fort Bridger State Historic Site. Several original buildings remain and have been restored. For example, the 1888 stone barracks contains a museum with artifacts from different time periods in the fort&#39;s history, and visitors can tour the reconstructed trading post and an interpretive archaeological site.</p><br>
<h2>Annual fur trade rendezvous at Fort Bridger</h2><br>
<p>The Fort Bridger Rendezvous is a celebration of the 19th century fur trade era. The event, also known as the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous at Fort Bridger, has been an annual event since the mid-1970s. It is now one of the largest rendezvous in the west, drawing hundreds of merchants and several thousand visitors each year. The rendezvous is run by the Fort Bridger Rendezvous Association, a non-profit organization. Events include primitive demonstrations, cook-offs, black powder rifle shooting, knife throwing and hawk contests, candy cannons, Native American Indian dancing, storytelling, magic shows, and more. A large portion of the rendezvous is commerce. All products sold within the fort during the rendezvous must pre-date or be a replica of something that pre-dates 1840.</p><br>
<h2>Photographers at Fort Bridger</h2><br>
<p>Photographers had been passing through this frontier military post since almost the inception of the art form. Daguerreotypist John Wesley Jones visited the garrison in 1851, and Samuel C. Mills, traveling with the Army bound for Utah, produced at least one image of Fort Bridger in 1858. Salt Lake City photographer Charles W. Carter came during the winter of 1866-67, and his former mentor, Charles Savage, visited a number of times between 1866 and the early 1870s. The noted Union Pacific Railroad photographer Andrew J. Russell also stopped here in 1869. Census records show a photographer named Simeon Pierson at the post in 1870. In 1876-77, a soldier, Private Charles Howard, ran a studio at the post.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Dr. Dudley Gardner began work at Fort Bridger in 1990. He and his students have uncovered a portion of Bridgers original post, the Mormon fortification, and the Armys subsequent occupation. Work is currently advancing on the official excavation reports.</p><br>
<p>Tubuai or Tupua&#39;i is the main island of the Tubuai Island group, located at {{coord|23|23|00|S|149|27|00|W}}, 640 km south of Tahiti. In addition to Tubuai, the group of islands include Rimatara, Rurutu, Raivavae and the uninhabited Îles Maria. They are part of the Austral Islands in the far southwest of French Polynesia in the south Pacific Ocean. Tubuai island sustains a population of 2,170 people on 45 km² of land.</p><br>
<p>The island is ringed by a lagoon formed by an encircling coral reef. A break in the reef that enables passage for ships is located on the north side of the island. Six or seven islets called motus lie along the reef rim that encircles the island. These were described in the late 1700s as having an abundance of Toa trees, which the native islanders used in housebuilding and in making war clubs and spears due to the wood&#39;s density.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early Polynesia</h3><br>
<p>The island has been inhabited for more than 2000 years. In the ancient past a road was built that encircled the island. There exists on the island today the stone ruins of a “great number of structures, house platforms, marae complexes, and cemeteries...” According to David Stanley&#39;s South Pacific Handbook:</p><br>
<p>"The Austral islands were one of the great art areas of the Pacific,</p><br>
<p>represented today in many museums. The best-known artifacts are tall</p><br>
<p>sharkskin drums, wooden bowls, fly whisks, and tapa cloth."</p><br>
<h3>Arrival of ''Bounty'' mutineers</h3><br>
<p>Tubuai was first viewed by Europeans when it was mapped by Captain James Cook in 1777, although his party did not disembark. Cook discovered the island&#39;s name, "Toobouai", from the natives who surrounded his ship in their canoes (a Tahitian named Omai, who was part of Cook&#39;s group, translated).</p><br>
<p>The next Europeans to arrive were the mutineers of the HMS Bounty in 1789. Mutineer Fletcher Christian, in looking for an island on which to permanently hide, had "scoured" Bligh&#39;s maps and nautical charts and decided on Tubuai.</p><br>
<p>Upon arrival at Tubuai, a conflict arose while the mutineers were still on their ship and several islanders were killed in their canoes. The site of this event in the lagoon on the north side of the island is called Baie Sanglant (Bloody Bay).</p><br>
<p>Mutineer James Morrison wrote: "The Island is full of Inhabitants for its size and may Contain 3000 souls." After only ten days on the island, the mutineers sailed for Tahiti to get women and livestock in which they were only nominally successful. When they returned to Tubuai they built a fort on the northeast part of the island at Ta&#39;ahueia, manned with cannon and swivel gun which they named Fort George. The mutineer leader, Fletcher Christian, knew that settling on Tahiti was sure to mean the mutineers&#39; eventual discovery and arrest, so despite being viewed as intruders, Christian was reluctant to view permanent settlement on Tubuai as unfeasible. Christian favoured using diplomacy over time to eventually obtain wives, but many of the other mutineers insisted on raiding parties to take wives by force. One mutineer, heavily tattooed Thomas Burkett (who was later tried and hanged in England for mutiny) was speared in the side by one of the islanders during one of the skirmishes. After only two months since their first arrival on Tubuai the mutineers left for good.</p><br>
<h3>1800s</h3><br>
<p>Increased contact with Europeans also meant more exposure to diseases to which the islanders had no immunity. This proved particularly devastating to the population of Tubuai. At some point during the 30 years from when the mutineers left the island on September 17, 1789, and the early 1820s when accounts by Christian missionaries began to be recorded, the population that was estimated by the mutineer Morrison to be 3000 was now reduced to no more than 300 people. One Protestant minister when visiting a congregation on Tubuai on January 3, 1824, wrote that several islanders were still suffering from a devastating illness. He described the symptoms and noted that several hundred had died within the previous four years.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Tupua&#39;i is located at {{coord|23|23|00|S|149|27|00|W}}, just above the Tropic of Capricorn. The island is at the centre of Austral Islands, located 195 km from Ra&#39;ivāvae, 210 km from Rurutu, 700 km from Rapa Iti and 640 km south of Tahiti.</p><br>
<p>It consists of two former sets of volcanic peaks on Mount Taita&#39;a (422 m) which are separated by the collar of Huahine (35 m). Its area is 45 km&sup2;, surrounded by a large lagoon (the largest of the Austral Islands).</p><br>
<p>The barrier reef that surrounds it in effect creates a lagoon of 85 km&sup2;, an area almost double that of the island. It sometimes reaches 5 km wide. Its depth is low, leading to a characteristic colour of turquoise or jade. For a large part, its depth is around 6 m. However, it can reach up to 25 m in some parts of the south-east. The waters are constantly replenished via a rather strong and fairly constant ocean current, contributing to the preservation of the lagoon habitat and the health of the coral in the reef. The generally cooler waters and until recently very low pollution have also helped sustain this environment.</p><br>
<p>Many small streams run through the island, though they often empty into swamps rather than the sea. These swamps represent a fairly large portion of the island. Only the river Vaiohuru has any real flow.</p><br>
<p>Eight offshore islands motu in Tahitian, surround the main island (with an diitional 0.4 sqkm):</p><br>
<p>*Motu One (also known as îlot de sable (Sandly Islet) in the North)</p><br>
<p>*Motu Rautaro</p><br>
<p>*Motu Toena</p><br>
<p>*Motu Roa (also called Motu Tāpapatava&#39;e)</p><br>
<p>*Motu Mitihā (originally Motiha&#39;a)</p><br>
<p>*Motu &#39;Ōfa&#39;i (also called îlot caillou (Rock Island))</p><br>
<p>*&#39;Iri&#39;iriroa</p><br>
<p>*Îlot plat (Flat Island)</p><br>
<p>The islets above are listed in clockwise direction from the north of the island. The last two islands are often submerged and hence not visible.</p><br>
<p>The motu &#39;Ōfa&#39;i is itself the only island that has not formed through the coral because it is only composed of basalt, hence its name. It is also the only outcrop of volcanic land other than the main island.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The climate of Tubuai is cooler than Tahiti, with temperatures averaging 20 -. The climate is rather temperate although it can be quite tropical for a large part of the year. The lowest temperature measured on the island was 9.2 &deg;C on 31 August 1951. The highest was 32.7 &deg;C on 25 March 1980. The lagoon waters typically reach 26 &deg;C in summer but only drop a few degrees in winter.</p><br>
<p>The rainfall is about 2000 mm per year with about 1700 mm per year for the years 2006 and 2007. The highest recorded rainfall 2839 mm in 1962 and the lowest was 1186 mm 1952. The record for rainfall in a day is in turn 191 mm on 23 April 1942.</p><br>
<p>Hours of sunlight is about average for the Australs and is around 1970 hours per year, one of the lowest levels in Polynesia. The humidity is lower in contrast to Tahiti in the order of a few percent, mainly due to its higher latitude and its lower altitude (thus retaining fewer clouds).</p><br>
<p>The trade winds coming from South-East are the prevailing winds. Those coming from the North or Northwest are synonymous with a change towards more sunny days. The maximum recorded wind speeds, however, never exceeded 45 m/s.</p><br>
<p>The island has also been the scene of several cyclones, though they are not very frequent and are often weakened before reaching landfall (as with Cyclone Meena in 2004). However, much bigger cyclones occasionally hit the island. As such, on 5 February 2010, Tupua&#39;i found itself in the path of Cyclone Oli with winds averaging 160 km/h (gusting nearly 220 km/h).</p><br>
<p>Average weather records on Tupua&#39;i:</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>Since the 1990s, the island&#39;s population has stabilised to approximately 2,000 inhabitants.</p><br>
<p>Evolution of the population of Tupua&#39;i since its discovery:</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>Tubuai is the administrative capital of the Austral Islands, and the commune consists solely of this one island, including the six or seven motus surrounding it. Tubuai was annexed by France in 1881. The commune itself consists of the following associated communes:</p><br>
<p>* Mahu</p><br>
<p>* Mataura</p><br>
<p>* Taahuaia</p><br>
<p>Attu  is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska, the United States, North America and the Americas. The island became uninhabited in 2010.</p><br>
<p>The island was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on an incorporated territory of the United States (the Battle of Attu), and its battlefield area is a USA National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>Attu Station, a former Coast Guard LORAN station, is located at 52&deg;51&prime;N latitude, 173&deg;11&prime;E longitude, making it one of the westernmost points of the United States relative to the rest of the country. However, since it is in the Eastern Hemisphere, being on the opposite side of the 180° longitude line as the contiguous 48 states, it can also be considered one of the easternmost points of the country (a second Aleutian Island, Semisopochnoi Island at 179°46′E, is the easternmost location in the United States by this definition).</p><br>
<p>In the chain of the Aleuts, the next island to the west of Attu are the Russian Commander Islands, 208 mi away. Attu is nearly 1,100 mi from the Alaskan mainland and 750 mi northeast of the northernmost of the Kurile Islands of Russia, and it is 4,800 mi from the capital city, Washington, D.C. Attu is about 20 by in size with a land area of 344.7 square miles, making it #23 on the list of largest islands in the United States. The population in the 2010 census was 20 people, all at the Attu Station, though all inhabitants left the island later in the year when the station closed. It is the largest (by area) uninhabited island in the United States.</p><br>
<p>Although Attu Island is the westernmost body of land east of the International Date Line, its time zone is the same as other western Aleutian Islands, UTC-10, which means that locations to the south-southeast (such as the uninhabited Baker Island and Howland Island in UTC −12 and Niue, Midway Atoll and American Samoa in UTC −11) have earlier clocks.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The name Attu is a transliteration of the Aleut name of the island. It was called Saint Theodore by the explorer Aleksei Chirikov in 1742. Attu, being the nearest to Kamchatka, was the first of the Aleutian Islands exploited by Russian traders. The first population estimate by the Russians put at most 175 Aleuts on Attu. However, the large number and size of archeological sites on Attu have led to estimates of 2,000–5,000 inhabitants during the centuries preceding European contact. Russians would stay several years on the island hunting sea otters, often clashing with the local Aleut population. After the initial wave of traders, Attu was largely overlooked by ships heading further east.</p><br>
<h3>World War II</h3><br>
<p>The Aleuts were the primary inhabitants of the island prior to World War II. But, on June 7, 1942, six months after the USA joined the war, the 301st Independent Infantry Battalion of the Japanese Northern Army landed on the island, without opposition, one day after landing on nearby Kiska. Earlier, in response to Japanese aggression in the Pacific, American territorial authorities conducted a mandatory evacuation of about 880 Aleuts from villages elsewhere in the Aleutian Islands. These people were interned in civilian camps in the Alaska Panhandle, where about 75 of them died of various infectious diseases over two years.</p><br>
<p>However, Attu Village had not yet been evacuated when the Japanese attacked. At the time, Attu’s population consisted of 45 native Aleuts and two other Americans, Charles Foster Jones, 60, a radio technician, originally from St. Paris, Ohio and his wife Etta, a schoolteacher, originally from Vineland, New Jersey. The village consisted of several houses around Chichagof Harbor. The 42 Attu inhabitants who survived the Japanese invasion were taken to a prison camp near Otaru, Hokkaidō. Sixteen of them died while they were imprisoned.</p><br>
<p>Before the Attu villagers were returned to the USA, the American government stated publicly that it was not aware of their status.</p><br>
<p>According to Gen. Kiichiro Higuchi, the Commander of the Japanese Northern Army, the invasion of Kiska and Attu was part of a threefold objective:</p><br>
<p>To break up any offensives against Japan by way of the Aleutians.</p><br>
<p>To place a barrier between the USA and Russia in case Russia decided to join the war against Japan.</p><br>
<p>To make preparation for air bases for future offensive action.</p><br>
<p>In late September 1942, the Japanese garrison on Attu was transferred to Kiska, and then Attu was essentially left unoccupied, but American forces made no attempt to occupy Attu during this time. On October 29, 1942, the Japanese reestablished a base on Attu at Holtz Bay under the command of Lt. Col. Hiroshi Yanekawa. Initially the garrison was about 500 troops, but through reinforcements, that number reached about 2,300 by March 10, 1943. No more reinforcements arrived after that time, owing mainly to the efforts of the USA naval force under Rear Admiral Charles "Soc" McMorris, and USA Navy submarines. McMorris had been assigned to interdict the Japanese supply and reinforcement convoys. After the sizable naval Battle of the Komandorski Islands, the Japanese abandoned their attempts to resupply its Aleutian garrisons by surface ships. From then on, only submarines were used for the resupply runs.</p><br>
<p>On May 11, 1943, the American operation to recapture Attu began. A shortage of landing craft, unsuitable beaches, and equipment that failed to operate in the appalling weather caused great difficulties in projecting any force against the Japanese. Many soldiers suffered from frostbite – because essential supplies could not be landed, or having been landed, could not be moved to where they were needed. Army vehicles would not work on the tundra. The Japanese defenders under Colonel Yasuyo Yamasaki did not contest the landings, but rather they dug in on high ground away from the shore. This resulted in bloody fighting: there were 3,929 USA casualties: 580 were killed, 1,148 were injured, 1,200 had severe cold injuries, 614 succumbed to infectious diseases, and 318 died of miscellaneous causes – largely from Japanese booby traps and from friendly fire. The Japanese were defeated in Massacre Valley. The death count for the Japanese was 2,035. The Americans then built "Navy Town" near Massacre Bay.</p><br>
<p>On May 29, the last of the Japanese forces suddenly attacked near Massacre Bay in one of the largest banzai charges of the Pacific campaign. The charge, led by Colonel Yamasaki, penetrated USA lines far enough to encounter shocked rear-echelon units of the American force. After furious, brutal, close-quarter, and often hand-to-hand combat, the Japanese force was killed almost to the last man: only 28 prisoners were taken, none of them officers. USA burial teams counted 2,351 Japanese dead, but it was presumed that hundreds more had been buried by naval, air, and artillery bombardments over the course of the battle.</p><br>
<p>The other Japanese forces in the Aleutians, after realizing that their position was now vulnerable, evacuated Kiska three months later.</p><br>
<p>The USAAF built a larger airfield, the Alexai Point Army Airfield, and then used it on July 10, 1943 as the base for an air attack on the Japanese-held Kurile Islands, now a part of Russia. This was the first air attack on the Japanese "homelands" since the famous Doolittle Raid in 1942. Other attacks followed.</p><br>
<h3>Postwar</h3><br>
<p>After the war, the survivors of the Otaru prison camp were shipped to other Aleutian islands or to the mainland of Alaska, as there were not enough survivors to sustain their old village at Attu. The United States government decided to construct a LORAN station on the southern tip of Attu, at Theodore Point. This installation was manned by a crew of about twenty members of the United States Coast Guard. The equipment to build the station came out of Holtz Bay and was ferried on barges and landing craft to Baxter Cove, about one mile east of the station. Bulldozers were used to cut a road from Baxter Cove to Theodore Point.</p><br>
<p>In 1954, the station was moved to Casco Cove, near the former Navy Base at Massacre Bay. In 1960, it was moved to Massacre Bay.</p><br>
<p>The battlefield area and subsequent military sites were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985.</p><br>
<p>In 1987, with the approval of the USA Department of the Interior, the government of Japan placed a monument on Engineer Hill, site of the hand-to-hand finale of the battle against the Japanese. An inscription, in Japanese and English, reads: "In memory of all those who sacrificed their lives in the islands and seas of the North Pacific during World War II and in dedication to world peace."</p><br>
<p>In July 2007, the boots and foot bones of a Japanese soldier were found on the island, and on May 23, 2008, the remains of two more Japanese soldiers were discovered by USA Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Richard Brahm, a public affairs specialist who was a documentarian for the remains recovery team. More remains were located at the burial site, but were left untouched with plans to return at a later time and have them exhumed properly.</p><br>
<p>In February 2008, a group of American veterans led by John E. Jonas TSgt USAF (Ret.) began a petition to have the Japanese memorial removed or relocated from the island and replaced with two USA funded markers: one to the Japanese soldiers who died on the island and one to the Americans.</p><br>
<p>Veteran Bill Jones, along with fellow Attu survivor Andy Petrus, were featured in the 2006 documentary film Red White Black & Blue. It is directed by Tom Putnam, and debuted at the 2006 Locarno International Film Festival in Locarno, Switzerland on August 4, 2006.</p><br>
<p>On August 1, 2010, the United States Coast Guard LORAN station on Attu permanently ceased operation. On August 27, 2010, the station was decommissioned and the Coast Guard personnel left, leaving the island with no resident population.</p><br>
<p>On June 7, 2012, the 70th anniversary of the Japanese invasion, Senator Lisa Murkowski and United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Ostebo dedicated a memorial to Attu Village, its residents who died in Japanese captivity, and the survivors who were unable to return.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The weather on Attu is typically cloudy, rainy, and foggy. High winds occur occasionally. Five or six days a week are likely to be rainy, and there are only about eight or ten clear days a year. The rest of the time, even if rain is not falling, fog of varying density is the rule rather than the exception. There are 39 - of annual rainfall and other precipitation, with the heaviest rains in the autumn and early winter. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Attu has a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) with effects similar to tundra climates. For its latitude the climate is exceptionally chilly, with temperatures averaging mid-50&#39;s in summer.</p><br>
<h2>Birding</h2><br>
<p>Attu was an important location in the world of competitive birding, whose goal is to see or hear the largest possible number of bird species within a specific geographic area during a specific time period. Because it is so physically remote from other parts of North America, there are a number of bird species likely to be found on Attu that are not seen anywhere else on the continent. John Fitchen called the island, "the Holy Grail of North American birding".</p><br>
<p>During his record-setting year of 1998, Sandy Komito spent 4 weeks on the island. Since the closure of Attu Station by the USA Coast Guard in 2010, access to the island by birders has been greatly restricted. In a 2010 interview on the subject, Al Levantin (one of Komitos competitors during the 1998 season) singled out inaccessibility of Attu as the factor that would make it nearly impossible to break Komitos record. However, Neil Hayward did break the record, by one species, in 2013 without visiting Attu.</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<p>In the pre-World War II period the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) operated the sole school on the island. At the time of Attu&#39;s capture, the school had a single teacher who was a White American woman. the uninhabited island is physically within the Aleutian Region School District.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Attu Island is the location for the 2006 PBS documentary film Red White Black & Blue, which features two American war veterans returning to the island 60 years after surviving the 1943 Battle of Attu during World War II between American and Canadian forces and the Japanese Empire.</p><br>
<p>Attu is the setting for part of the 2011 movie The Big Year, which stars Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as avid birdwatchers who take a trip to the island for exclusive birdwatching.</p><br>
<p>Attu Island was visited in 2013 by the co-hosts and crew of Chinese web-documentary On The Road, where they searched the island in an attempt to find fuel for their sailboat.</p><br>
<p>Attu Island was visited in 2015 by pilot and world circumnavigator Michael Smith. The island was a crucial refuelling stop for Michael as he made his way from Adak island in the Aleutian Islands to Japan. As the island is uninhabited, he had to first fly containers of fuel there and then return as part of the journey from Adak to Japan. He was advised against staying overnight as there are large rats on the island.</p><br>
<p>Brač  is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km²,</p><br>
<p>making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is 5 to 13 km wide. The island&#39;s tallest peak, Vidova gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 780 m, living in numerous settlements, ranging from the main town Supetar, with more than 3,300 inhabitants, to Murvica, where less than two dozen people live. Bol Airport on Brač is the largest airport of all islands surrounding Split.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeological findings date the existence of human communities on the island back to the Palaeolithic (in the Kopačina cave between Supetar and Donji Humac). Nevertheless, there are no traces of human habitation from the Neolithic. In the Bronze Age and Iron Age, numerous villages existed.</p><br>
<p>In the 4th century BC Greek colonisation spread over many Adriatic islands and along the shore, but none of them on Brač. Nevertheless, Greeks visited the island and also traded with the Illyrian inhabitants.</p><br>
<p>The Greek name of the island was Elaphousa, apparently derived from elaphos "stag".</p><br>
<p>Based on this, it has been speculated that the original name of the island may have been derived from Messapic *brentos "stag".The Messapic word is deduced from a gloss "brendon — elaphon ".</p><br>
<p>The suggestion is due to Anton Mayer (1957), adducing Stephanus De urbibus: "Brettia, insula maris Adriatici habens fluvium Brettium. Hanc Graeci Elaphusam, alii vero Bretanidem appellant", cited after Stanisław Rospond, Slawische Namenkunde: Die slawischen Ortsnamen (1992), p. 162. Polybius and Plinius record the name of the island as Brattia.</p><br>
<p>Brač lay on the crossroads of several trade routes from Salona (today Solin) to Issa (today Vis) and the Po River.</p><br>
<p>Greek artifacts were found in the bay of Vičja near Ložišća on the estate of the Rakela-Bugre brothers. Many of the objects belonging to this still unexamined site are now on display in the Archeological Museum of Split.</p><br>
<p>Dalmatia fell under Roman rule in AD 9.</p><br>
<p>Salona became the capital of the new province and, probably because of its proximity to Salona, significant population centers were present on the island in the Roman period.</p><br>
<p>Signs of Roman habitation are still widespread, but they usually are limited to single Roman villas, cisterns, and especially early quarries between Škrip and Splitska. Splitska also became the most important harbour to carry stone to Salona and the whole of Dalmatia. Diocletian&#39;s Palace, which later became Split, was largely built with limestone that was quarried on Brač. Also agriculture, especially wine and olives, began in the same era.</p><br>
<p>After the destruction of Salona by Avars and Slavs, Brač became a refuge. Tradition has it that Škrip was founded by refugee Salonans, but the town is actually much older than that.</p><br>
<p>In 872, the island was sacked by Saracen raiders.</p><br>
<p>From 1268 to 1357 the island recognised the supremacy of the Republic of Venice, and after that they bowed to the Kingdom of Hungary. In the summer of 1390, together with the whole region, they accepted the rule of the Bosnian King Tvrtko Kotromanić, who died the next year. Soon after his death, Hungary claimed the island again. In this whole period, they kept their basic autonomy and old structures - the island was never rich or strategically interesting enough to justify serious intervention. Local nobility administered and ruled Brač and the seat of the council was Nerežišća in the island&#39;s center. The leader was selected from the noble families. Only in 1420 did the Venetian Republic reclaim the island, finally sending a representative to assume rule over it.</p><br>
<p>The Black Death hit Brač from 1434-1436. For 1405, Hranković mentions in his chronicles that Brač has a population of 6,000 - but after the pandemic, only 2,000 people were still living on the island. The population recovered in the following years quickly, with many people moving in from the main land and the population also spreading from the inner parts of the island to the coast, where some of the old pre-Croatian settlements were resettled again. During this time, the Bosnian realm fell to the Ottoman Empire and many refugees settled on the islands, especially on Brač. Many towns were founded in that time and the population began moving from the interior of the island to its coast: to Bol, Milna, Postira, Povlja, Pučišća, Splitska, Sumartin, Supetar i Sutivan. Venice ruled for more than four centuries, until 1797, when the Habsburg Monarchy annexed most of its territory in a deal with Napoleonic France. The official language was Latin.</p><br>
<p>During the Napoleonic Wars, Brač was conquered by the French Empire for a short time in 1806. In 1807, Prince-Bishop Petar I Njegoš of Montenegro managed to seize Brač with the help of the Russian navy, however already at the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the island was returned to the Austrian Empire. In 1827, the administrative center of Brač moved from Nerežišća to Supetar. Brač was incorporated into the Austrian crownland of Dalmatia from and became a part of Cisleithania of the Monarchy of Austria-Hungary from 1867. After the fall of Austria-Hungary 1918, Brač became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, or Yugoslavia since 1929. In 1939 an autonomous Croatian Banate was created that included the island.</p><br>
<p>The population of the island drastically decreased in the beginning of the 20th century due to heavy emigration, mostly to Latin America, especially Argentina and Chile, and to New Zealand and Australia. The emigration continued during the whole century, only later generations preferring to move to European countries, especially Germany. Among others, the Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta is descended from such immigrants.</p><br>
<p>In 1941 Italian forces occupied the island. In the mountainous regions of the island, native rebels fought a quite effective guerrilla war, but the occupiers answered harshly with arrests and executions. After the Italian capitulation in 1943, German troops occupied the island on January 12 and 13 of 1944, but in July they were defeated and the island was freed. As part of Croatia it became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, until Croatia gained its independence in 1991, receiving recognition in 1992. The Croatian War of Independence was barely fought on the island (there was a brief bombing of Milna), but the aftermath of the war, especially the loss in tourism, was disastrous for the island. Only now is the island regenerating from the decade-long drainage of its most important revenue.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The economy of Brač is based mostly on tourism, but fishing and agriculture (especially wine and olives) are very important too, as is its precious white stone which was used in building Diocletian&#39;s Palace in Split and the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. Very widespread is also the claim that it was used in the White House in Washington, D.C. Historically, Brač was famous for goats; even Pliny comments that from the island of Brattia (the Latin name for the island) comes excellent cheese, wine and olive oil.</p><br>
<h2>Administration and settlements</h2><br>
<p>The island is administratively divided into one city and seven municipalities, including the twenty-two settlements. Population numbers are given per 2011 census. The island is part of the Split-Dalmatia County, but is not represented there as a whole, only through its city and municipalities.</p><br>
<p>The division into eight municipalities and cities happened after the reorganization of Croatia following Croatian independence in 1991. Before that, Brač was a single municipality (općina) in Yugoslavia with Supetar as the seat of the municipality. Still today, many of the administrative duties for the other seven municipalities are delegated to the city of Supetar.</p><br>
<p>Historically, Nerežišća used to be the administrative and governmental center of the island, and only in 1827 was this role given to Supetar by the Austro-Hungarian administration. The island was divided into 21 cadastral communities by the Austro-Hungarian administration - corresponding to the currently existing settlements besides Ložišća, which was a part of Bobovišća. These cadastral communities were mostly preexisting administrative units and not introduced by the Austro-Hungarians.</p><br>
<p>Other places of interest are the Blaca hermitage and Drakonjina špilja.</p><br>
<p>The Hacienda is the current name for a hotel in Monterey County, California, that was completed in 1930 for use by William Randolph Hearst as temporary housing for his employees and guests and headquarters for activities taking place on the surrounding land. The lodge building, designed by architect Julia Morgan, replaced and expanded upon an earlier wooden structure known as the Milpitas Ranch House which was destroyed by fire in the 1920s. The 1930 hotel has also been known as Milpitas Hacienda, Hacienda Guest Lodge and Milpitas Ranchhouse, under which name the property was placed in the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1977.</p><br>
<p>The lodge includes a restaurant, a lounge, a cantina, offices, public assembly rooms, guest rooms, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Hearst sold the structure and its surrounding property to the United States Army in 1940 for use as a training facility. The land and buildings were established by the Army as Fort Hunter Liggett. Today, the Army owns the building and a concessionaire operates it as a public hotel within the military base.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The fertile valley surrounding The Hacienda was documented by Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà in 1769. Based on his recommendation, Father Junípero Serra established Mission San Antonio de Padua in the valley in 1771, and it thrived. Of all the California missions, San Antonio de Padua converted the highest number of Native Americans, peaking at 1,300 Salinan converts in 1805. In the 1830s, the mission was secularized and its holdings were divided into at least ten land grants (including Rancho Milpitas, or Little Fields Ranch) given to soldiers and civilians supportive of Mexican government. English-speaking settlers began arriving in significant numbers in 1849 with the discovery of gold in California. Nearby Jolon was established as a gold mining town on an old Salinan village site in 1860, astride El Camino Real, the old road connecting all the Spanish missions in California.</p><br>
<h3>Hearst</h3><br>
<p>At the beginning of the 20th century, gold mining had petered out and Hearst began buying up property in the area. Over the next two decades, he amassed land holdings covering the entirety of four of the ten Mexican land grants and most of Jolon. On top of the old Rancho Milpitas main ranch house site, at the edge of a small bluff less than a mile from and overlooking the old mission, Hearst hired Morgan to build a new ranch headquarters. Construction on the Mission Revival-styled building complex began in 1929, using poured concrete instead of adobe. A smoothly domed north tower was built in Moorish Revival style above the main living quarters. Original plans for the building were for it to include housing for 20 employees but this was expanded to 30 during construction. A proposed southern wing for Hearst&#39;s private quarters was never completed. Materials were carried from Santa Cruz in a Fageol truck. Construction costs totaled $200,000.</p><br>
<p>The building was not originally supplied with electricity. Wires for a single telephone line were run from Hearst Castle 30 mi away. Wood stoves and fireplaces supplied heat, candles and lanterns provided light, and a well near the San Antonio River fed a cistern positioned a short distance uphill to the east to supply water pressure for a modern plumbing system. Those staying at The Hacienda year-round included the ranch manager, mechanics, gardeners, cooks and a ranch foreman who supervised cowboys tending cattle and farmhands harvesting wheat, barley, oats and alfalfa.</p><br>
<p>Hearsts guests could drive in, fly in and land at an adjacent landing strip, or they could arrive by horseback after a full days ride from San Simeon. Guests included Spencer Tracy, Dick Powell, Will Rogers, Clark Gable, Herbert Hoover, Jean Harlow, Leslie Howard and Errol Flynn. Hearsts paramour, Marion Davies, stayed in one of the four tower suites when she visited. Californio-style fiestas were thrown in the guests honor, complete with mariachis playing from the dining room balcony.</p><br>
<p>Although hunting in the area was enjoyed by sportsmen both before and after Hearsts ownership, Hearst did not allow any hunting on his property, and the California State Military Museum has concluded that The Hacienda was not built as a hunting lodge. Other observers have described the building as Hearsts hunting lodge.</p><br>
<h3>Army</h3><br>
<p>On December 12, 1940, Hearst sold 158,000 acre, including the old Milpitas Ranch, to the United States government. Neighboring landowners sold another 108,950 acre to form a 266,950 acre training base for the War Department. The US Army used The Hacienda as housing for the base commander, for visiting officers and for the officers&#39; club.</p><br>
<p>In 1957, a serviceman named Bill Runyan painted heroic murals depicting Spanish settlement of the area</p><br>
<h3>National Park Service study</h3><br>
<p>In November 1999, Congress authorized a study of Fort Hunter Liggett partly in response to a 1995 recommendation made by a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) commission which listed certain structures within the base as excess to the Army&#39;s needs. In 2004, the National Park Service (NPS) released an environmental assessment draft which identified for further study the Julia Morgan-designed Milpitas Hacienda complex including the swimming pool, tennis court and outbuildings as well as a number of other historic structures on the base and in the area. The NPS wrote that inclusion of the Milpitas Hacienda in the national park system would offer an opportunity to enhance visitor experience and expand their understanding of the lives and work of Morgan and Hearst. The NPS described the Milpitas Hacienda as representing the themes "expressing cultural values" and "developing the American economy" for its connection to Hearst and his media empire. Two alternatives were put forward: one where no action would be taken, and one where title to the Milpitas Hacienda and nearby bungalows would be transferred to California State Parks to be managed as an addition to the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument.</p><br>
<p>The US Army sent NPS a letter on May 27, 2005 stating that the BRAC property was no longer excess to the Army and was now required in order to support the Armys mission. This reversal in status for The Hacienda caused the NPS to re-evaluate its study of title transfer and management options, and to cease environmental assessment. On September 19, 2006 NPS submitted to Congress its final report which concluded that a number of national resources in and around Fort Hunter Liggett including the Milpitas Hacienda complex were suitable for inclusion in the national park system but that such an action was not currently feasible because none of the land or buildings were excess to the Armys needs. The NPS encouraged the Army "to continue its protection and management of the natural and cultural resources in a manner that retains their national significance."</p><br>
<p>Today, the United States Army Reserve operates the base, and a civilian concessionaire is allowed to run The Hacienda as a hotel open both to the public and to the military. Visitor access to the base, the hotel and the old Spanish mission is monitored through an Army checkpoint.</p><br>
<p>Tanegashima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 444.99 km² in area, is the second largest of the Ōsumi Islands, and has a population of 33,000 persons. Access to the island is by ferry, or by air to New Tanegashima Airport. Administratively, the island is divided into the city, Nishinoomote, and the two towns, Nakatane and Minamitane. The towns belong to Kumage District.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Tanegashima is the easternmost and the second largest (after Yakushima) of the Osumi Islands. It is located approximately 43 km south of the southern tip of Osumi Peninsula in southern Kyushu, or 115 km south of Kagoshima. The Vincennes Strait (Yakushima Kaikyō) separates it from Yakushima.</p><br>
<p>The island is of volcanic origin; however, unlike neighboring Yakushima, it presents a flat appearance, with its highest elevation at only 282 m above sea level. The island has a length of 57 km and a width ranging from 5 km to 10 km.</p><br>
<p>The climate is subtropical.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Tanegashima has a long history with Kofun. Other burials on Tanegashima, namely the Yokomine and Hirota sites, attest to a uniquely well-developed Yayoi period culture at the end of the 4th century AD. The artifacts include magatama, an engraved pendant, and emblems with apparent writing.</p><br>
<p>During the Nara period, the state of Japan began to contact Tanegashima. According to the Nihonshoki, the imperial court banqueted islanders of Tanegashima in 677. In 679, the court sent to the island a mission, who returned in 681. Other missions to the island mentioned in the book were of 683 and 695. According to the Shoku Nihongi, people from Tane, Yaku, Amami and Dokan (possibly Tokunoshima) came to the imperial court to pay tribute in 699. These activities resulted in the establishment of Tane Province on the island in 702. Tane Province lasted until 824 and was merged into Ōsumi Province.</p><br>
<p>Sometime around 1140, the whole island of Tanegashima became part of the Shimazu Estate, the largest medieval shōen of Japan. In the early Kamakura period, the positions of the land steward of the Shimazu Estate and the military governor of Ōsumi Province were given to the Shimazu clan. However, the clan lost these positions to the Hōjō clan, the de facto ruler of the shogunate. The Hōjō clan sent the Higo clan as deputy governors. A branch line of the Higo clan made itself autonomous on Tanegashima after the Hōjō clan was annihilated and began to claim the clan name of Tanegashima.</p><br>
<p>The Tanegashima clan ruled the island until the Meiji restoration. The Tanegashima clan enjoyed a high degree of autonomy until Shimazu unified southern Kyūshū in the late 16th century, and after that, served as a top-ranking retainer to the Satsuma domain. Following the Meiji restoration, the island has been administered as part of Kagoshima Prefecture.</p><br>
<h3>Introduction of firearms into Japan</h3><br>
<p>Tanegashima is traditionally known as the site of the introduction of European firearms to Japan in 1542. Until modern times, firearms were colloquially known in Japan as "Tanegashima", due to the belief that they were introduced by the Portuguese on board that ship.</p><br>
<p>In his memoirs published in 1614, Portuguese adventurer turned author, Fernão Mendes Pinto placed himself in that first landing party, although this claim has been roundly discredited and in fact contradicts with his claims to be simultaneously in Burma at the time. The two traders António Mota and Francisco Zeimoto should actually be credited for the first Europeans to introduce firearms. However, Mendes Pinto does appear to have visited Tanegashima soon thereafter. The Europeans had arrived to trade, not only guns, but also soap, tobacco and other goods unknown in medieval Japan, for the Japanese goods.</p><br>
<p>During the Muromachi period, Tanegashima functioned as a relay station of one of the main routes of Chinese trade that connected Sakai to Ningbo. The Tanegashima clan cooperated with the Hosokawa clan, one of two powers who controlled Chinese trade. The clan also maintained a firm connection to Honnō-ji Temple of Kyoto. These account for the rapid spread of firearms from Tanegashima to central Japan.</p><br>
<h3>Knife industry</h3><br>
<p>Edge tools (particularly knives and scissors) made in Tanegashima are famous traditional handicrafts in Japan. Craftsmen in Tanegashima have kept alive traditional techniques for forging and sharpening iron tools. Tanegashima is also famous as the center of iron sand production. The technique has been around since about 1185 when the Taira clan were exiled here from Kyoto by Minamoto no Yoritomo, taking with them craftsmen and chefs from Kyoto. The people of the island speak with a Kyoto accent even now, rather than a Kyūshū or Kagoshima accent, despite its proximity to Kyūshū. These craftsmen were the original users of the distinct techniques used for forging and sharpening. The technique is unique in the world, and produces such tools as "Tanegashima Hōchō" (Tanegashima knives), used by chefs, and "Tane-basami" (Tanegashima scissors), preferred by many for the art of Bonsai.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Tanegashima has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with very warm summers and mild winters. Precipitation is high throughout the year, but is highest in the months of May, June and September.</p><br>
<h2>Tanegashima Space Center</h2><br>
<p>Run by JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Tanegashima Space Center spaceport is located at the southeastern end of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Total solar eclipse in 2009</h2><br>
<h2>Sporting events</h2><br>
<p>The Tanegashima "Rocket Marathon" takes place in March each year.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Miyu Uehara - gravure idol and TV personality</p><br>
<p>Kōbō Kenichi – sumo wrestler</p><br>
<p>Wakashimazu Mutsuo – sumo wrestler</p><br>
<p>Yakushima is one of the Ōsumi Islands belonging to Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, 504.88 km&sup2; in area, has a population of 13,178. Access to the island is by hydrofoil ferry , slow car ferry , or by air to Yakushima Airport .</p><br>
<p>Administratively, the whole island is the town of Yakushima. The town also serves neighbouring Kuchinoerabujima. The majority of the island is within the borders of the Kirishima-Yaku National Park.</p><br>
<p>Yakushimas electricity is more than 50% hydroelectric, and surplus power has been used to produce hydrogen gas in an experiment by Kagoshima University. The island has been a test site for Hondas hydrogen fuel cell vehicle research. (There are no hydrogen cars stationed on the island but electric cars are run by the municipality.)</p><br>
<h2>World Heritage designation</h2><br>
<p>In 1980 an area of 18,958 hectare was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve. In 1993, 10 hectare of wetland at Nagata-hama was designated a Ramsar Site. It is the largest nesting ground for the endangered loggerhead sea turtle in the North Pacific. Yakushima&#39;s unique remnant of warm/temperate ancient forest has been a natural World Heritage Site since 1993. In the Wilderness core area (12.19 km&sup2;) of the World Heritage Site, no record of past tree cutting can be traced.</p><br>
<p>The island is visited by 300,000 tourists every year.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Yakushima is located approximately 61.3 km south of the southern tip of Osumi Peninsula in southern Kyushu, or 135 km south of Kagoshima. The Vincennes Strait (Yakushima Kaikyō) separates it from the nearby island of Tanegashima, which is home to the Japanese Space Centre. Periodic rocket launches from Tanegashima can clearly be seen from Yakushima.</p><br>
<p>The bedrock of the island is granite, and as such it hosts no active volcanoes. It has an area of approximately 504.5 km&sup2;. The island is roughly circular in shape, with a circumference of 89 km and a diameter of 28 km. The highest elevations on the island are Miyanouradake, with a height of 1,935 m, and Nagatadake, with a height of 1,886 m above sea level; however, Yakushima has another 30 peaks of over 1,000 m in height. There are numerous hot springs on the island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Yakushima has been settled since at least the Jomon period. It is first mentioned in written documents of the Chinese Sui Dynasty of the 6th century, and in the Japanese Shoku Nihongi in an entry dated 702. It formed part of ancient Tane Province. It was often mentioned in the diaries of travellers between Tang Dynasty China and Nara period Japan.</p><br>
<p>During the Edo period, Yakushima was ruled by the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain and was considered part of Ōsumi Province. Following the Meiji restoration, the island has been administered as part of Kagoshima Prefecture.</p><br>
<p>In 2017, Yakushima was struck by Typhoon Noru causing one death.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics and economics</h2><br>
<p>The population of Yakushima reached a peak in 1960 with 24,010 inhabitants. It thereafter declined until about 1995, but has subsequently stabilized at just over 13,000 inhabitants.</p><br>
<p>Traditionally, the economic mainstays of the population were forestry and the export of wood products (principally cedar roof shingles), and commercial fishing. Cultivation of oranges and tea, the distilling of shōchū, and tourism are now the main sources of income.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Yakushima contains one of the largest tracts of existing Nansei Islands subtropical evergreen forests, and endangered habitat ecoregion. The only large animals indigenous to the island are red-bottomed macaques (Yakushima macaque) and a variety of sika deer (yakushika). The tanuki is also a common animal, but is not native to the island. Japanese weasels (Mustela itatsi) may also be seen from time to time. The island is a spawning ground for migratory loggerhead turtles, and dolphins are to be found offshore. The coastal areas have coral reefs in places, although to a much lesser extent than are found farther south in the islands of Okinawa.</p><br>
<p>Yakushima is famous for its lush vegetation. Most of the island has at one time or another been logged (dating back at least to the early Edo period), but has been extensively replanted and reseeded since logging ended in the late 1960s, at which time a conservation regime was established. In addition to this secondary forest, there are some remaining areas of primary forest, composed mainly of a variety of Cryptomeria japonica, or Japanese cedar, known as yakusugi, the best known single example of which is named the Jomon Sugi, as its age is estimated to date to at least the Jomon period of Japanese history, 2300 years ago. In addition, the island lists over 50 varieties of endemic flower, notably rhododendrons, and hundreds of rare endemic Bryophyta, as well as a number of endemic trees.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Yakushima has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot, humid summers and mild winters. Precipitation is extremely heavy, with at least 250 mm in each month and as much as 773 mm in June alone. Yakushima is Japans wettest place, and annual precipitation in Yakushima is one of the worlds highest at 4000 to 10000 mm. It is said by the locals to rain "35 days a month". There are drier periods in autumn and winter, while the heaviest downpours occur in spring and summer, often accompanied by landslides. It is the southernmost place in Japan where there is snow in the mountains, often for months, while the ocean temperature is never below 19 &deg;C</p><br>
<h3>Pollution</h3><br>
<p>The island is downwind of heavily polluted areas in the People&#39;s Republic of China. Yakushima white pine in the forest on the island may have been affected by combustion products from coal burning and automobile exhaust.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The forests of Yakushima inspired the forest setting in Hayao Miyazaki&#39;s film Princess Mononoke.</p><br>
<p>Yakushima is the inspiration behind the forest of Dremuchij in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.</p><br>
<p>Fictional character Jin Kazama of Tekken was born in Yakushima</p><br>
<p>The Duwamish River is the name of the lower 12 mi of Washington state&#39;s Green River. Its industrialized estuary is known as the Duwamish Waterway.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The native Lushootseed name of the Duwamish River (and of the Cedar River) was Dxdəw. The Lushootseed name of the Duwamish tribe was DxDəw?Abš or DkhDuwAbsh, meaning People of the Inside&#39;. Both of these have been anglicized as Duwamish.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Until 1906, the White and Green Rivers combined at Auburn, and joined the Black River at Tukwila to form the Duwamish. In 1906, however, the White River changed course following a major flood and emptied into the Puyallup River as it does today. The lower portion of the historic White River—from the historic confluence of the White and Green Rivers to the conjunction with the Black River—is now considered part of the Green River. Later, in 1911 the Cedar River was diverted to empty into Lake Washington instead of into the Black River; at that time, the lake itself still emptied into the Black River. Then, with the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1916, the lake&#39;s level dropped nearly nine feet and the Black River dried up. From that time forward, the point of the name change from Green to Duwamish is no longer the confluence of the Green and Black Rivers, though it has not changed location.</p><br>
<p>The Duwamish Waterway empties into Elliott Bay in Seattle. After the completion of the man-made Harbor Island in 1909, the mouth of the river was divided into two channels, the East and West Waterways.</p><br>
<p>When the first European-Americans arrived in the area in 1851, they found the Dkhw’Duw’Absh people living in more than 90 longhouses, in at least 17 villages, in modern-day Seattle and environs. Radiocarbon-dating of artifacts indicates that indigenous tribes have lived along the Duwamish since at least the Sixth Century AD. The Dkhw’Duw’Absh traditionally used the river to hunt ducks and geese, fish for salmon, cod, and halibut, harvest clams, and gather berries, camas, and other plants for food and medicinal purposes.</p><br>
<p>Native villages on the Duwamish were eventually supplanted by white settlement and commercial use, and there was evidence of deliberate burning of Indian longhouses in 1893. Duwamish people continued to work and fish in the area, using man-made "Ballast Island" on the Seattle waterfront as a canoe haul-out and informal market, but by the early 20th Century, most remnants of traditional life along the river had disappeared. The last year-round native residents on the river - an old man named Seetoowathl, and his wife - died of starvation in their float-house on Kellogg Island in the winter of 1920.</p><br>
<p>In 1895 Eugene Semple, who had earlier served as Governor of Washington Territory, outlined a plan for a series of major public works projects in the Seattle area, including the straightening and dredging of the Duwamish River, both to open up the area to commercial use and to alleviate flooding. In 1909 the City of Seattle formed the Duwamish Waterway Commission in order to sell bonds and oversee the re-channelling of the river. Work began in October, 1913, and the oxbows gradually disappeared, with a few recesses in the channel left to accommodate high water flows and turning ships. Parts of the Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods once on quiet riverbank found themselves inland; the Georgetown Steam Plant was now almost a mile from the river, and special water pumping facilities had to be installed. By 1920, 4½ miles of the Duwamish Waterway had been dredged to a depth of 50 feet, with 20 million cubic feet of mud and sand going into the expansion of Harbor Island.Wilma, David-"Straightening of Duwamish River begins on October 14, 1913."</p><br>
<p>HistoryLink.org Essay 2986; retvd 12 13 15 The shallow, meandering, nine-mile-long river became a five-mile engineered waterway capable of handling ocean-going vessels.</p><br>
<p>The Duwamish basin soon became Seattle&#39;s industrial and commercial core area. Activities included cargo handling and storage, marine construction, ship and boat manufacturing, concrete manufacturing, paper and metals fabrication, food processing, and countless other industrial operations. Boeing Plant 1 was established on the Lower Duwamish in 1916, and Boeing Plant 2, further upriver, in 1936.</p><br>
<p>The lower waterway is spanned by four major, public bridges: the First Avenue South Bridge, the South Park Bridge, the Spokane Street Bridge, and, directly above the latter, the West Seattle Bridge.</p><br>
<p>With the spread of ecological concerns in the 1970s, various environmental, tribal, and community organizations became interested in the severely polluted Duwamish. Kellogg Island, the last remnant of the original river, was declared a wildlife preserve, and nearby terminal T-107 was converted into a park, creating a substantial natural area near the mouth of the river. Cleanup and restoration efforts are ongoing.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, the Duwamish Longhouse and Cultural Center was opened on the west bank of the river as part of the tribe&#39;s reassertion of its historic rights in the area and its continuing struggle for federal recognition of tribal status.</p><br>
<h2>Pollution</h2><br>
<p>Due to 20th century industrial contamination, the lower 5 mi of the Duwamish was declared a Superfund site by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The contaminants include PCBs, PAHs, mercury, and phthalates. The cleanup of the river has been controversial: one plan for an "early action" or hotspot cleanup proposed to dredge contaminated sediment and dump the resulting sludge in Tacomas Commencement Bay, 26 mi to the southwest. Opposition to this plan in both Seattle and Tacoma forced the sludge to be shipped to Klickitat County in south central Washington instead of disposal in Puget Sound. The riverwide cleanup plan was released for public review on February 28, 2013. EPAs Community Advisory Group for the site, the, conducted a review of the plan and published a with a summary of its assessment and recommendations for improvement.</p><br>
<p>The Duwamish River faces many types of pollution, in addition to the contaminants named above. One major form of pollution is fecal coliform caused by sewage overflow. Even if these overflows were to be cleaned up the overall quality of the water would not improve much. The Duwamish River&#39;s most common pollutant is petroleum. Other contamination would still occur from farms, surface runoff, or failing septic tanks.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Despite the industrialization of the Duwamish river, it remains an important habitat for the thousands of salmon and trout that visit the marshes and estuaries each year to spawn. The Duwamish supports chinook, coho,</p><br>
<p>chum and steelhead, not to mention the more rare sockeye, sea-run cutthroat trout and bull trout. Pink salmon run in the millions every odd-numbered years in recent history.</p><br>
<p>Many of the animal species found in or around the river contain an unhealthy amount of contaminants. For example, other than salmon, any type of fish or shellfish found in the river is unfit for human consumption. It was found that PCB levels in fish and crab that live in the waterway most of their lives are 35 to 110 times higher than in Puget Sound salmon. The Ecological Risk Assessment also found that river otters from the Lower Duwamish River might be exposed to such high levels of PCBs that the growth or survival of their offspring may be reduced.</p><br>
<p>Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; like Venice itself, it could more correctly be called an archipelago of four islands linked by bridges. It is situated near Torcello at the northern end of the Lagoon, and is known for its lace work and brightly coloured homes. The primary economy today is tourism as visitors arrive for sightseeing and to purchase lace goods.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Burano is situated 7 km from Venice, a 40-minute trip from St. Mark&#39;s Square by a Venetian water bus, vaporetto.</p><br>
<p>The island is linked to Mazzorbo by a bridge. The current population of Burano is about 2,800. Originally, there were five islands and a fourth canal that was filled to become via e piazza Baldassare Galuppi, joining the former islands of San Martino Destra and San Martino Sinistra.</p><br>
<p>Burano has historically been subdivided into five sestieri, much like the historical center of Venice. They correspond to the five original islands. The sixth sestiere is neighboring Mazzorbo:</p><br>
<p>Burano has a high population density, calculated at more than 13,000 per square kilometer, or more than twenty times the density of neighboring Mazzorbo. It is almost entirely covered by residential buildings, with few small green areas.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The island was probably settled by the Romans, and in the 6th century was occupied by people from Altino, who named it for one of the gates of their former city. Two stories are attributed to how the city obtained its name. One is that it was initially founded by the Buriana family, and another is that the first settlers of Burano came from the small island of Buranello, about 8 km to the south.</p><br>
<p>Although the island soon became a thriving settlement, it was administered from Torcello and had none of the privileges of that island or of Murano. It rose in importance only in the 16th century, when women on the island began making lace with needles, being introduced to such a trade via Venetian-ruled Cyprus. When Leonardo da Vinci visited in 1481, he visited the small town of Lefkara and purchased a cloth for the main altar of the Duomo di Milano. The lace was soon exported across Europe, but trade began to decline in the 18th century and the industry did not revive until 1872, when a school of lacemaking was opened. Lacemaking on the island boomed again, but few now make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive.</p><br>
<h2>Main sights</h2><br>
<p>Burano is also known for its small, brightly painted houses, which are popular with artists. The colours of the houses follow a specific system, originating from the golden age of its development. If someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot.</p><br>
<p>Other attractions include the Church of San Martino, with a leaning campanile and a painting by Giambattista Tiepolo (Crufixion, 1727), the Oratorio di Santa Barbara and the Museum and School of Lacemaking.</p><br>
<p>Burano dal campanile di Torcello.JPGBurano seen from Torcello</p><br>
<p>Burano01.jpgCanal in Burano</p><br>
<p>97Burano.JPGTerranova sestiere</p><br>
<p>View from Burano.jpgView from Burano</p><br>
<p>The Venetian Lagoon  is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea, in northern Italy, in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages, Laguna Veneta—cognate of Latin lacus, "lake"—has provided the international name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of salt water, a lagoon.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south, with a surface area of around 550 km&sup2;. It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or canal, as the network of dredged channels are called, while around 80% consists of mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. The lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean Basin.</p><br>
<p>It is connected to the Adriatic Sea by three inlets: Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Sited at the end of a largely enclosed sea, the lagoon is subject to high variations in water level, the most extreme being the spring tides known as the acqua alta (Italian for "high water"), which regularly flood much of Venice.</p><br>
<p>The nearby Marano-Grado Lagoon, with a surface area of around 160 km&sup2, is the northernmost lagoon in the Adriatic Sea and is called sometimes the "twin sister of the Venice lagoon".</p><br>
<h2>Development</h2><br>
<p>The Lagoon of Venice is the most important survivor of a system of estuarine lagoons that in Roman times extended from Ravenna north to Trieste. In the sixth century, the Lagoon gave security to Romanised people fleeing invaders (mostly the Huns). Later, it provided naturally protected conditions for the growth of the Venetian Republic and its maritime empire. It still provides a base for a seaport, the Venetian Arsenal, and for fishing, as well as a limited amount of hunting and the newer industry of fish farming.</p><br>
<p>The Lagoon was formed about six to seven thousand years ago, when the marine transgression following the Ice Age flooded the upper Adriatic coastal plain. Deposition of river sediments compensated for the sinking coastal plain, and coastwise drift from the mouth of the Po tended to close tidal inlets with sand bars.</p><br>
<p>The present aspect of the Lagoon is due to human intervention. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Venetian hydraulic projects to prevent the lagoon from turning into a marsh reversed the natural evolution of the Lagoon. Pumping of aquifers since the nineteenth century has increased subsidence. Originally many of the Lagoon’s islands were marshy, but a gradual programme of drainage rendered them habitable. Many of the smaller islands are entirely artificial, while some areas around the seaport of the Mestre are also reclaimed islands. The remaining islands are essentially dunes, including those of the coastal strip (Lido, Pellestrina and Treporti).</p><br>
<p>Venice Lagoon was inhabited from the most ancient times, but it was only during and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that many people, coming from the Venetian mainland, settled in a number large enough to found the city of Venice. Today, the main cities inside the lagoon are Venice (at the centre of it) and Chioggia (at the southern inlet); Lido di Venezia and Pellestrina are inhabited as well, but they are part of Venice. However, the most part of the inhabitants of Venice, as well as its economic core, its airport and its harbor, stand on the western border of the lagoon, around the former towns of Mestre and Marghera. At the northern end of the lagoon, there is the town of Jesolo, a famous sea resort; and the town of Cavallino-Treporti.</p><br>
<h2>Ecosystem</h2><br>
<p>Occasionally, Bottlenose Dolphins enter the lagoon, possibly for feeding.</p><br>
<p>The level of pollution in the lagoon has long been a concern. The large phytoplankton and macroalgae blooms of the late 1980s were particularly devastating. Recently the lagoon has also been identified as one of the primary areas where non-indigenous species are introduced into the Mediterranean Sea.</p><br>
<h2>Islands</h2><br>
<p>The Venice Lagoon is mostly included in the Metropolitan City of Venice, but the south-western area is part of the Province of Padua.</p><br>
<p>The largest islands or archipelagos by area, excluding coastal reclaimed land and the coastal barrier beaches:</p><br>
<p>Venice 5.17 km</p><br>
<p>Sant&#39;Erasmo 3.26 km</p><br>
<p>Murano 1.17 km</p><br>
<p>Chioggia 0.67 km</p><br>
<p>Giudecca 0.59 km</p><br>
<p>Mazzorbo 0.52 km</p><br>
<p>Torcello 0.44 km</p><br>
<p>Sant&#39;Elena 0.34 km</p><br>
<p>La Certosa 0.24 km</p><br>
<p>Burano 0.21 km</p><br>
<p>Tronchetto 0.18 km</p><br>
<p>Sacca Fisola 0.18 km</p><br>
<p>San Michele 0.16 km</p><br>
<p>Sacca Sessola 0.16 km</p><br>
<p>Santa Cristina 0.13 km</p><br>
<p>Other inhabited islands include:</p><br>
<p>Cavallino</p><br>
<p>Lazzaretto Nuovo</p><br>
<p>Lazzaretto Vecchio</p><br>
<p>Lido</p><br>
<p>Pellestrina</p><br>
<p>Poveglia</p><br>
<p>San Clemente</p><br>
<p>San Francesco del Deserto</p><br>
<p>San Giorgio in Alga</p><br>
<p>San Giorgio Maggiore</p><br>
<p>San Lazzaro degli Armeni</p><br>
<p>Santa Maria della Grazia</p><br>
<p>San Pietro di Castello</p><br>
<p>San Servolo</p><br>
<p>Santo Spirito</p><br>
<p>Sottomarina</p><br>
<p>Vignole</p><br>
<p>San Michele is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It is associated with the sestiere of Cannaregio, from which it lies a short distance northeast.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Along with neighbouring San Cristoforo della Pace, the island was a popular place for local travellers and fishermen to land. Mauro Codussi&#39;s Chiesa di San Michele in Isola of 1469, the first Renaissance church in Venice, and a monastery lie on the island, which also served for a time as a prison.</p><br>
<p>San Cristoforo was selected to become a cemetery in 1807, designed by Gian Antonio Selva, when under French occupation it was decreed that burial on the mainland (or on the main Venetian islands) was unsanitary. The canal that separated the two islands was filled in during 1836, and subsequently the larger island became known as San Michele. Bodies were carried to the island on special funeral gondolas. Among those buried there are Igor Stravinsky, Joseph Brodsky, Jean Schlumberger, Christian Doppler, Frederick Rolfe, Horatio Brown, Sergei Diaghilev, Ezra Pound, Luigi Nono, Catherine Bagration, Franco Basaglia, Paolo Cadorin, Zoran Mušič, Helenio Herrera, Emilio Vedova, and Salvador de Iturbide y Marzán. The cemetery is still in use today.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>The cemetery contains 7 war graves from World War I of officers and seamen of the British merchant and Royal Navy.</p><br>
<p>Aspasia Manos was initially interred at the cemetery of Isola di San Michele. Her remains were later transferred to the Royal Cemetery Plot in the park of Tatoi Palace.</p><br>
<p>Other attractions include the Cappella Emiliana chapel.</p><br>
<p>Chiesa di S.Michele in Isola, north exposure.jpgChurch S.Michele in Isola</p><br>
<p>150405 San Michele.jpgWalls of San Michele</p><br>
<p>Chapel of San Rocco.jpgChapel of San Rocco</p><br>
<p>San Cristoforo.JPGSan Cristoforo</p><br>
<p>Venice Cemetery Graves.JPGGraves</p><br>
<p>Torcello  is a sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It was first settled in the year 452 and has been referred to as the parent island from which Venice was populated. It was a town with a cathedral and bishops before St Mark&#39;s Basilica was built.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>After the downfall of the Western Roman Empire, Torcello was one of the first lagoon islands to be successively populated by those Veneti who fled the terra ferma (mainland) to take shelter from the recurring barbarian invasions, especially after Attila the Hun had destroyed the city of Altinum and all of the surrounding settlements in 452. Although the hard-fought Veneto region formally belonged to the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna since the end of the Gothic War, it remained unsafe on account of frequent Germanic invasions and wars: during the following 200 years the Lombards and the Franks fuelled a permanent influx of sophisticated urban refugees to the island’s relative safety, including the Bishop of Altino himself. In 638, Torcello became the bishop’s official seat for more than a thousand years and the people of Altinum brought with them the relics of Saint Heliodorus, now the patron saint of the island.</p><br>
<p>Torcello benefited from and maintained close cultural and trading ties with Constantinople: however, being a rather distant outpost of the Eastern Roman Empire, it could establish de facto autonomy from the eastern capital.</p><br>
<p>Torcello rapidly grew in importance as a political and trading centre: in the 10th century it had a population often estimated at 10,000-35,000 people, with 20,000 the most commonly cited estimate. Some recent estimates by archeologists place it at closer to a maximum of 3,000. In pre-Medieval times, Torcello was much a more powerful trading center than Venice. Thanks to the lagoon’s salt marshes, the salines became Torcello’s economic backbone and its harbour developed quickly into an important re-export market in the profitable east-west-trade, which was largely controlled by Byzantium during that period.</p><br>
<p>The Black Death devastated the Venice Republic in 1348 and once again between 1575 and 1577. In three years, the plague killed some 50,000 people. In 1630, the Italian plague of 1629–31 killed a third of Venice&#39;s 150,000 citizens.</p><br>
<p>More specifically for Torcello, the swamp area of the lagoon around the island increased by the 14th century, partly because of the lowering of the land level. This environment brought malaria-carrying mosquitos, and Torcello’s heyday came to an end. Navigation in the laguna morta (dead lagoon) was impossible before long and traders ceased calling at the island. The growing swamps also seriously aggravated the malaria situation. As a result, by the late 14th century, a substantial number of people were leaving the island for Murano, Burano or Venice. In 1689, the bishopric transferred to Murano and by 1797, the population had dropped to about 300.</p><br>
<p>It now has a full-time population of 10 people, including the parish priest, according to some sources and certainly under 100 in 2016.</p><br>
<p>Torcello is the background for Daphne du Mauriers short story, "Dont Look Now."</p><br>
<h2>Sights</h2><br>
<p>Torcellos numerous palazzi, its twelve parishes and its sixteen cloisters have almost disappeared since the Venetians recycled the useful building material. One small palazzo is the only remaining medieval structure, consisting of a cathedral, a church, the towns former council chamber and archives (which house the museum), and the nearby basilica and campanile; the latter two were rebuilt in the year 1008.</p><br>
<p>Todays main attraction is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in 639. It is of basilica-form with side aisles but no crossing, and has much 11th and 12th century Byzantine work, including mosaics (e.g. a vivid version of the Last Judgement). Other attractions include the 11th and 12th century Church of Santa Fosca, in the form of a Greek cross, which is surrounded by a semi-octagonal porticus, and the Museo Provinciale di Torcello housed in two fourteenth century palaces, the Palazzo dellArchivio and the Palazzo del Consiglio, which was once the seat of the communal government.</p><br>
<p>Another noteworthy sight for tourists is an ancient stone chair, known as Attila’s Throne. It has, however, nothing to do with the king of the Huns, but may have been the podestà’s or the bishop’s chair. or the seat where chief magistrates were inaugurted.</p><br>
<p>Torcello is also home to a Devils Bridge, known as the Ponte del Diavolo or alternatively the Ponticello del Diavolo (devils little bridge).</p><br>
<h2>Famous residents</h2><br>
<p>Ernest Hemingway spent some time there in 1948, writing parts of Across the River and Into the Trees. The novel contains representations of Torcello and its environs.In addition, numerous famous artists, musicians, and movie stars have spent time on the island, a quiet refuge. Torcello is the background for Daphne du Mauriers short story, "Dont Look Now,"</p><br>
<p>1534 - Isolario di Benedetto Bordone - Torcello.jpgView of Torcello in a book published in Venice in 1534</p><br>
<p>Torcello 2.jpgCentral Torcello, with the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the Church of Santa Fosca</p><br>
<p>Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about 1.5 km across with a population of just over 5,000 . It is famous for its glass making. It was once an independent comune, but is now a frazione of the comune of Venice.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Murano is composed of seven islands, linked by bridges, separated by eight channels.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Murano was initially settled by the Romans and from the sixth century by people from Altinum and Oderzo. At first, the island prospered as a fishing port and through its production of salt. It was also a centre for trade through the port it controlled on Sant&#39;Erasmo. From the eleventh century, it began to decline as islanders moved to Dorsoduro. It had a Grand Council, like that of Venice, but from the thirteenth century, Murano was ultimately governed by a podestà from Venice. Unlike the other islands in the Lagoon, Murano minted its own coins.</p><br>
<p>Early in the second millennium hermits of the Camaldolese Order occupied one of the islands, seeking a place of solitude for their way of life. There they founded the Monastery of St. Michael (S. Michele di Murano). This monastery became a great center of learning and printing. The famous cartographer, Fra Mauro, whose maps were crucial to the European exploration of the world, was a monk of this community. The monastery was suppressed in 1810 by French forces under Napoleon, in the course of their conquest of the Italian peninsula, and the monks were expelled in 1814. The grounds then became Venice&#39;s major cemetery.</p><br>
<p>In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. In the following century, exports began, and the island became famous, initially for glass beads and mirrors. Aventurine glass was invented on the island, and for a while Murano was the main producer of glass in Europe. The island later became known for chandeliers. Although decline set in during the eighteenth century, glassmaking is still the island&#39;s main industry.</p><br>
<p>In the fifteenth century, the island became popular as a resort for Venetians, and palaces were built, but this later declined. The countryside of the island was known for its orchards and vegetable gardens until the nineteenth century, when more housing was built.</p><br>
<p>Attractions on the island include the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato (known for its twelfth-century Byzantine mosaic pavement and said to house the bones of the dragon slain by Saint Donatus), the church of San Pietro Martire with the chapel of the Ballarin family built in 1506 and artworks by Giovanni Bellini, and the Palazzo da Mula. Glass-related attractions include the many glassworks, some Mediaeval and most open to the public, and the Murano Glass Museum, housed in the large Palazzo Giustinian.</p><br>
<h2>History of Murano glassmaking</h2><br>
<p>Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and the destruction of the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still associated with Venetian glass.</p><br>
<p>Murano&#39;s glassmakers were soon numbered among the island’s most prominent citizens. By the fourteenth century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. While benefiting from certain statutory privileges, glassmakers were forbidden to leave the Republic. However, many of them took the risks associated with migration and established glass furnaces in surrounding cities and farther afield — sometimes in England and the Netherlands.</p><br>
<p>Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on high-quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including optically clear glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano still employ these centuries-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelry to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.</p><br>
<p>Venice kept protecting the secret of the production of glass and of crystal but, notwithstanding it, the Republic partially lost its monopoly at the end of the sixteenth century, because of some glass makers who let the secret be known in many European countries.</p><br>
<p>Today, Murano is home to the Museo del Vetro or Murano Glass Museum in the Palazzo Giustinian, which holds displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.</p><br>
<p>Some of the companies that own historical glass factories in Murano are among the most important brands of glass in the world. These companies include Venini, Alessandro Mandruzzato, Barovier & Toso, Simone Cenedese and Seguso. In order to protect the original Murano Glass art from foreign markets, the most famous Glass Factories of this island have a trademark that certifies glass made products on the island of Murano.</p><br>
<p>The oldest Murano glass factory that is still active today is that of Pauly & C. – Compagnia Venezia Murano, founded in 1866.</p><br>
<h2>Official government protection of Murano glassmaking</h2><br>
<p>As part of a broader view of protection and enhancement of typical and traditional Veneto product manufacturing and marketing, the Veneto Region protects and promotes the designation of origin of artistic glassworks created on the island of Murano, since glasswork is an inherent part of Venetian historical and cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The "Vetro Artistico Murano" trademark, filed and registered at the in Alicante, no. 00481812, has been established and is regulated by.</p><br>
<h2>Warsaw link</h2><br>
<p>In the seventeenth century, the Murano-born Simone Giuseppe Belotti (in Polish, Szymon Józef Bellotti) became Royal Architect to the King of Poland and took part in designing some of Warsaws most important landmarks (:pl:Józef Szymon Bellotti). The palace he built for himself was named after his native island, "Muranów" — a Polish pronunciation of "Murano". This palace eventually gave its name to the entire surrounding district. Muranów was and remains one of Warsaws most well known areas, especially associated with the city&#39;s Jewish history.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Weakness in the economy has affected Murano but some 260 companies remain in operation, employing 1,100 staff members (2016 data) and the island receives numerous tourists.</p><br>
<p>The Lido, or Venice Lido , is an 11 km long sandbar in Venice, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,000 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is home to three settlements. The Lido itself, in the north, is home to the Film Festival, the Grand Hotel des Bains, the Venice Casino and the Grand Hotel Excelsior. Malamocco, in the centre, was the first and, for a long time, the only settlement. It was at one time home to the Doge of Venice. Alberoni at the southern end is home to the golf course. Frequent public buses run the length of the island along the main street.</p><br>
<p>At least half the Adriatic side of the island is a sandy beach, much of it belonging to the various hotels that house the summer tourists. These include the renowned Excelsior and the Des Bains, setting for Thomas Mann&#39;s classic novel Death in Venice, currently undergoing major renovation. These beaches are private, though towards the northern and southern ends of the island there are two enormous public beaches. The Adriatic Sea is fairly clean and warm, ideal for children, with only the occasional jellyfish to disturb swimming.</p><br>
<p>The heart of the island is the Gran Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta, a wide street approximately 700 m long that leads from the lagoon and vaporetto (water bus) stop on one side across to the sea on the other. It houses hotels, shops, and tourist-centric restaurants.</p><br>
<p>Venezia Lido, a public airport suitable for smaller aircraft, is found on the NE end of Lido di Venezia. It has a 1000 m grass runway.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1177, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Pope Alexander III signed the Treaty of Venice here following Frederick&#39;s defeat at the Battle of Legnano in 1176.</p><br>
<p>In 1202, at the beginning of the Fourth Crusade, it was used as a camp by tens of thousands of crusaders, who were blockaded there by the Venetians when they could not pay for the Venetian ships they needed for transport.</p><br>
<p>In 1857, the first sea bathing facility was set up. This was the first time that anything like it had been seen in Europe and soon, the lido became "The Lido", a byword for a beach resort. The Lido&#39;s success and the fascination of Venice nearby made the Lido famous worldwide.</p><br>
<p>Lido was also famous for its brothels in the first half of the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>Major beach facilities, hotels and private summer villas have remained the heart of an island that is still known as the "Golden Island".</p><br>
<p>In the 1960s, the improving post-war Italian economy created a real-estate boom in the island, and many Venetians moved to Lido to benefit from its modern infrastructure.</p><br>
<h2>Legacy</h2><br>
<p>The term Lido, originally coming from this island, is used to refer to certain types of outdoor swimming pools especially in Great Britain, and the "Lido deck" on a cruise ship. It also forms the first part of many place names in coastal locations throughout Italy.</p><br>
<p>The British travel writer Robin Saikia has written a literary history, The Venice Lido, charting the island&#39;s story from its early beginnings to the present day, published by.</p><br>
<h2>Lido di Venezia in art</h2><br>
<p>Taxila or Takshashila was an ancient city in what is now northwestern Pakistan. It is an important archaeological site and in 1980, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its ruins lie near modern Taxila, in Punjab, Pakistan, about 35 km northwest of Rawalpindi.</p><br>
<p>Taxila was situated at the pivotal junction of South Asia and Central Asia. Its origin as a city goes back to. Some ruins at Taxila date to the time of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE, followed successively by Mauryan, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, and Kushan periods. Owing to its strategic location, Taxila has changed hands many times over the centuries, with many empires vying for its control. When the great ancient trade routes connecting these regions ceased to be important, the city sank into insignificance and was finally destroyed by the nomadic Hunas in the 5th century. The archaeologist Alexander Cunningham rediscovered the ruins of Taxila in the mid-19th century.</p><br>
<p>Taxila was a centre of learning and is considered by some to have been one of the earliest universities in the world. Others do not consider it a university in the modern sense, in that the teachers living there may not have had official membership of particular colleges, and there did not seem to have existed purpose-built lecture halls and residential quarters in Taxila, in contrast to the later Nalanda university in eastern India.</p><br>
<p>In 2006 Taxila was ranked as the top tourist destination in Pakistan by The Guardian newspaper. In a 2010 report, Global Heritage Fund identified Taxila as one of 12 worldwide sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and damage, citing insufficient management, development pressure, looting, and war and conflict as primary threats.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>Taxila was known in Pali as Takkasila, and in Sanskrit as तक्षशिला(Takshashila) (; "City of Cut Stone"). The Greeks pared the city&#39;s name down to Taxila which became the name that the Europeans were familiar with ever since the time of Alexander the Great.</p><br>
<p>Takshashila can also alternately be translated to "Rock of Taksha" in reference to the Ramayana which states that the city was named in honour of Bharata&#39;s son and first ruler, Taksha. According to another derivation, Takshashila is related to Takshaka (Sanskrit for "carpenter") and is an alternate name for the Nāga, a non-Indo-Iranian people of ancient India.</p><br>
<h2>In traditional sources</h2><br>
<p>Much of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, is a conversation between Vaishampayana (a pupil of the sage, Vyasa) and King Janamejaya. It is traditionally believed that the story was first recited by Vaishampayana at the behest of Vyasa during the snake sacrifice performed by Janamejaya at Takshashila. The audience also included Ugrashravas, an itinerant bard, who would later recite the story to a group of priests at an ashram in the Naimisha Forest from where the story was further disseminated. The Kuru Kingdom&#39;s heir, Parikshit (grandson of Arjuna) is said to have been enthroned at Takshashila.</p><br>
<p>The Ramayana describes Takshashila as a magnificent city famed for its wealth which was founded by Bharata, the younger brother of Rama. Bharata, who also founded nearby Pushkalavati, installed his two sons, Taksha and Pushkala, as the rulers of the two cities.</p><br>
<p>In the Buddhist Jatakas, Taxila is described as the capital of the kingdom of Gandhara and a great centre of learning with world-famous teachers. The Takkasila Jataka, more commonly known as the Telapatta Jataka, tells the tale of a prince of Benares who is told that he would become the king of Takkasila if he could reach the city within seven days without falling prey to the yakkhinis who waylaid travellers in the forest. According to the Dipavamsa, one of Taxila&#39;s early kings was a Kshatriya named Dipankara who was succeeded by twelve sons and grandsons., mentioned in the Avadanakalpalata, is another king associated with the city.</p><br>
<p>In the Jain tradition, it is said that Rishabha, the first of the Tirthankaras, visited Taxila millions of years ago. His footprints were subsequently consecrated by Bahubali who erected a throne and a dharmachakra ("wheel of the law") over them several miles in height and circumference.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early settlement</h3><br>
<p>The region around Taxila was settled by the neolithic era, with some ruins at Taxila dating to 3360 BCE. Ruins dating from the Early Harappan period around 2900 BCE have also been discovered in the Taxila area, though the area was eventually abandoned after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation.</p><br>
<p>The first major settlement at Taxila was established around 1000 BCE. By 900 BCE, the city was already involved in regional commerce, as discovered pottery shards reveal trading ties between the city and Puṣkalāvatī.</p><br>
<p>Taxila was founded in a strategic location along the ancient "Royal Highway" that connected the capital at Pataliputra in Bihar, with ancient Peshawar, Puṣkalāvatī, and onwards towards Central Asia via Kashmir, Bactria, and Kāpiśa. Taxila thus changed hands many times over the centuries, with many empires vying for its control.</p><br>
<h3>Achaemenid</h3><br>
<p>Archaeological excavations show that the city may have grown significantly during the rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BCE. In 516 BCE, Darius I embarked on a campaign to conquer Central Asia, Ariana and Bactria, before marching onto what is now Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. Emperor Darius spent the winter of 516-515 BCE in the Gandhara region surrounding Taxila, and prepared to conquer the Indus Valley, which he did in 515 BCE, after which he appointed Scylax of Caryanda to explore the Indian Ocean from the mouth of the Indus to the Suez. Darius then returned to Persia via the Bolan Pass. The region continued under Achaemenid suzerainty under the reign of Xerxes I, and continued under Achaemenid rule for over a century.</p><br>
<h3>Hellenistic</h3><br>
<p>Alexander the Great invaded Taxila in 326 BCE, after the city was surrendered by its ruler, king Omphis. Greek historians accompanying Alexander described Taxila as “wealthy, prosperous, and well governed.”</p><br>
<h3>Mauryan</h3><br>
<p>Taxila came under the control of Chandragupta Maurya, who turned Taxila into a regional capital. His advisor, Kautilya, was said to have taught at Taxila&#39;s university. Under the reign of Ashoka, the city was made a great seat of Buddhist learning, though the city was home to a minor rebellion during this time.</p><br>
<h3>Indo-Greek</h3><br>
<p>In the 2nd century BCE, Taxila was annexed by the Indo-Greek kingdom of Bactria. Indo-Greeks built a new capital, Sirkap, on the opposite bank of the river from Taxila. During this new period of Bactrian Greek rule, several dynasties (like Antialcidas) likely ruled from the city as their capital. During lulls in Greek rule, the city managed profitably on its own, to independently control several local trade guilds, who also minted most of the city&#39;s autonomous coinage. In about the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE, an Indo-Scythian king named Azilises had three mints, one of which was at Taxila, and struck coins with obverse legends in Greek and Kharoṣṭhī.</p><br>
<p>The last Greek king of Taxila was overthrown by the Indo-Scythian chief Maues around 90 BCE. Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, conquered Taxila around 20 BCE, and made Taxila his capital. According to early Christian legend, Thomas the Apostle visited Gondophares IV around 46 CE, possibly at Taxila given that that city was Gondophares&#39; capital city.</p><br>
<h3>Kushan</h3><br>
<p>In the first century CE, the Greek Neopythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana visited Taxila, which his team described as a fortified city laid out on a symmetrical plan, similar in size to Nineveh. Inscriptions dating to 76 CE demonstrate that the city had come under Kushan rule by this time, after the city was captured from the Parthians by Kujula Kadphises, founder of the Kushan Empire. The great Kushan ruler Kanishka later founded Sirsukh, the most recent of the ancient settlements at Taxila.</p><br>
<h3>Gupta</h3><br>
<p>In the mid Fourth Century CE, the Gupta Empire occupied the territories in Eastern Gandhara, establishing a Kumaratya&#39;s post at Taxila. The City became well known for its Trade links- including Silk, Sandalwood, Horses, Cotton, Silverware, Pearls, and Spices. It is during this time that the City heavily features in Classical Indian Literature- both as a centre of Culture as well as a militarised border City.</p><br>
<p>Taxilas university remained in existence during the travels of Chinese pilgrim Faxian, who visited Taxila around 400 CE. He wrote that Taxilas name translated as "the Severed Head", and was the site of a story in the life of Buddha "where he gave his head to a man".</p><br>
<h3>Decline</h3><br>
<p>The Kidarites, vassals of the Hephthalite Empire are known to have invaded Taxila in c. 450 CE. Though repelled by the Gupta Emperor Skandagupta, the City would not recover- probably on account of the strong Hunnic presence in the area, breakdown of trade as well as the three-way war between Persia, the Kidarite State, and the Huns in Western Gandhara.</p><br>
<p>The White Huns swept over Gandhāra and Punjab around 470 CE, causing widespread devastation and destruction of Taxila&#39;s famous Buddhist monasteries and stupas, a blow from which the city would never recover. From 500 CE to 540 CE, the City fell under the control of the Hunnic Empire in South Asia and languished.</p><br>
<p>Xuanzang visited India between 629 to 645 CE. Taxila which was desolate and half-ruined was visited by him in 630 CE, and found most of its sangharamas still ruined and desolate with the state having become a dependency of Kashmir with the local leaders fighting amongst themselves for power. Only a few monks remained there. He noted that it had some time previously been a subject of Kapisa. By the ninth century, it became a dependency of the Kabul Shahis.</p><br>
<h2>Centre of learning</h2><br>
<p>By some accounts, Taxila was considered to be one of the earliest (or the earliest) universities in the world. Others do not consider it a university in the modern sense, in that the teachers living there may not have had official membership of particular colleges, and there did not seem to have existed purpose-built lecture halls and residential quarters in Taxila, in contrast to the later Nalanda university in eastern India.</p><br>
<p>Taxila became a noted centre of learning (including the religious teachings of Buddhism) at least several centuries BCE, and continued to attract students from around the old world until the destruction of the city in the 5th century. It has been suggested that at its height, Taxila exerted a sort of "intellectual suzerainty" over other centres of learning in India and its primary concern was not with elementary, but higher education. Generally, a student entered Taxila at the age of sixteen. The ancient and the most revered scriptures, and the Eighteen Silpas or Arts, which included skills such as archery, hunting, and elephant lore, were taught, in addition to its law school, medical school, and school of military science. Students came to Taxila from far-off places such as Kashi, Kosala and Magadha, in spite of the long and arduous journey they had to undergo, on account of the excellence of the learned teachers there, all recognised as authorities on their respective subjects.</p><br>
<h3>Notable students and teachers</h3><br>
<p>Taxila had great influence on Hindu culture and the Sanskrit language. It is perhaps best known for its association with Chanakya, also known as Kautilya, the strategist who guided Chandragupta Maurya and assisted in the founding of the Mauryan empire. Chanakya&#39;s Arthashastra (The knowledge of Economics) is said to have been composed in Taxila itself. The Ayurvedic healer Charaka also studied at Taxila. He also started teaching at Taxila in the later period. Pāṇini, the grammarian who codified the rules that would define Classical Sanskrit, has also been part of the community at Taxila.</p><br>
<p>The institution is significant in Buddhist tradition since it is believed that the Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism took shape there. Jivaka, the court physician of the Magadha emperor Bimbisara who once cured the Buddha, and the Buddhism-supporting ruler of Kosala, Prasenajit, are some important personalities mentioned in Pali texts who studied at Taxila.</p><br>
<p>No external authorities like kings or local leaders subjected the scholastic activities at Taxila to their control. Each teacher formed his own institution, enjoying complete autonomy in work, teaching as many students as he liked and teaching subjects he liked without conforming to any centralised syllabus. Study terminated when the teacher was satisfied with the students level of achievement. In general, specialisation in a subject took around eight years, though this could be lengthened or shortened in accordance with the intellectual abilities and dedication of the student in question. In most cases the "schools" were located within the teachers private houses, and at times students were advised to quit their studies if they were unable to fit into the social, intellectual and moral atmosphere there.</p><br>
<p>Knowledge was considered too sacred to be bartered for money, and hence any stipulation that fees ought to be paid was vigorously condemned. Financial support came from the society at large, as well as from rich merchants and wealthy parents. Though the number of students studying under a single Guru sometimes numbered in the hundreds, teachers did not deny education even if the student was poor; free boarding and lodging was provided, and students had to do manual work in the household. Paying students, such as princes, were taught during the day, while non-paying ones were taught at night. Gurudakshina was usually expected at the completion of a students studies, but it was essentially a mere token of respect and gratitude - many times being nothing more than a turban, a pair of sandals, or an umbrella. In cases of poor students being unable to afford even that, they could approach the king, who would then step in and provide something. Not providing a poor student a means to supply his Gurus Dakshina was considered the greatest slur on a King&#39;s reputation.</p><br>
<p>Examinations were treated as superfluous, and not considered part of the requirements to complete one&#39;s studies. The process of teaching was critical and thorough- unless one unit was mastered completely, the student was not allowed to proceed to the next. No convocations were held upon completion, and no written "degrees" were awarded, since it was believed that knowledge was its own reward. Using knowledge for earning a living or for any selfish end was considered sacrilegious.</p><br>
<p>Students arriving at Taxila usually had completed their primary education at home (until the age of eight), and their secondary education in the Ashrams (between the ages of eight and twelve), and therefore came to Taxila chiefly to reach the ends of knowledge in specific disciplines.</p><br>
<h2>Ruins</h2><br>
<p>The sites of a number of important cities noted in ancient Indian texts were identified by scholars early in the 19th century. The lost city of Taxila however, wasnt one of them. Its identification was made difficult partly due to errors in the distances recorded by Pliny in his Naturalis Historia which pointed to a location somewhere on the Haro river, two days march from the Indus. Alexander Cunningham, the founder and the first director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India, noticed that this position did not agree with the descriptions provided in the itineraries of Chinese pilgrims and in particular, that of Xuanzang, the 7th-century Buddhist monk. Unlike Pliny, these sources noted that the journey to Taxila from the Indus took three days and not two. Cunninghams subsequent explorations in 1863–64 of a site at Shah-dheri convinced him that his hypothesis was correct.</p><br>
<p>Taxila&#39;s archaeological sites lie near modern Taxila about 35 km northwest of the city of Rawalpindi. The sites were first excavated by John Marshall, who worked at Taxila over a period of twenty years from 1913.</p><br>
<p>The vast archaeological site includes neolithic remains dating to 3360 BCE, and Early Harappan remains dating to 2900–2600 BCE at Sarai Kala. Taxila, however, is most famous for ruins of several settlements, the earliest dating from around 1000 BCE. It is also known for its collection of Buddhist religious monuments, including the Dharmarajika stupa, the Jaulian monastery, and the Mohra Muradu monastery.</p><br>
<p>The main ruins of Taxila include four major cities, each belonging to a distinct time period, at three different sites. The earliest settlement at Taxila is found in the Hathial section, which yielded pottery shards that date from as early as the late 2nd millennium BCE to the 6th century BCE. The Bhir Mound ruins at the site date from the 6th century BCE, and are adjacent to Hathial. The ruins of Sirkap date to the 2nd century BCE, and were built by the regions Greco-Bactrian kings who ruled in the region following Alexander the Greats invasion of the region in 326 BCE. The third and most recent settlement is that of Sirsukh, which was built by rulers of the Kushan empire, who ruled from nearby Purushapura (modern Peshawar).</p><br>
<h3>World Heritage Site</h3><br>
<p>Taxila was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980 in particular for the ruins of the four settlement sites which "reveal the pattern of urban evolution on the Indian subcontinent through more than five centuries". The serial site includes a number of monuments and other historical places of note in the area besides the four settlements at Bhir, Saraikala, Sirkap, and Sirsukh.</p><br>
<p>In a 2010 report, Global Heritage Fund identified Taxila as one of 12 worldwide sites most "on the Verge" of irreparable loss and damage, citing insufficient management, development pressure, looting, and war and conflict as primary threats. In 2017, it was announced that Thailand would assist in conservation efforts at Taxila, as well as at Buddhist sites in the Swat Valley.</p><br>
<p>Philadelphia Stock Exchange , now known as NASDAQ OMX PHLX, is the oldest stock exchange in the United States. It is now owned by The NASDAQ OMX Group. Founded in 1790, the exchange was originally named the Board of Brokers of Philadelphia, also referred to as the Philadelphia Board of Brokers. In 1875, the Board of Brokers changed its name to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The exchange merged with the Baltimore Stock Exchange in 1949 and was named the Philadelphia-Baltimore Stock Exchange. It merged with the Washington Stock Exchange in 1954, becoming known as the Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange . In 1969, the exchange acquired the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. In 2007, PHLX was purchased by NASDAQ for $652 million.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>1790–1875: Board of Brokers</h3><br>
<p>Over its 200 years the exchange has had various titles and has been located in various buildings around Philadelphia. Founded in 1790 as the "Board of Brokers," it was located at the Merchants Coffee House, now known as the City Tavern, at the corner of Second and Walnut Streets.</p><br>
<p>In 1831, Stephen Girard’s Bank had formed the "Philadelphia Merchant’s Exchange Company" to erect a new building to house the Board of Brokers and other groups. The Board of Brokers moved into the Merchants Exchange Building at 3rd and Dock Streets in 1834 following a fire at the coffee house.</p><br>
<p>On June 20, 1857, the Board of Brokers of Philadelphia transacted no business in the stock board, as their annual dinner was held that day.</p><br>
<p>As of January 1, 1874, the par price for membership in the Philadelphia Board of Brokers was $1,000, with 198 seats, and "not others are attainable under $2,000 each." The board represented a market catial of around $350,000.</p><br>
<h3>1875–1949: Philadelphia Stock Exchange</h3><br>
<p>In 1875, the Board of Brokers changed its name to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.</p><br>
<p>In 1876, the exchange moved to the rear of the Girard Bank Building, formerly the First Bank of the United States. It stayed there until 1888. From 1888 to 1902, the exchange moved to the Drexel Building which was located near Fifth Street and Chestnut. Between 1902 and 1912, the exchange returned to the Merchants Exchange Building. In 1913, it moved to a building at 1411 Walnut Street, now a national landmark.</p><br>
<p>In 1951, the exchange moved to the Central Penn Bank Building at 1401 Walnut Street. It stayed there until 1966 when it moved to a newly constructed building (currently the Sofitel Hotel) at 17th and Sansom. The 1700 block of Ionic Street, a narrow thoroughfare just north of this building, was renamed Stock Exchange Place and was still signed as such as of 2017.</p><br>
<p>In December 1968, in response to a fiscal crisis, Philadelphia imposed a $0.05 per share stock transfer tax for all transactions on the PHLX. On January 2, 1969, the PHLX moved its trading floor to an office building, then known as the Decker Building, just across a street from the city boundaries in Bala Cynwyd to avoid the tax. In February, a court ruled that the tax was illegal, and the PHLX moved its trading floor back to its headquarters in the city.</p><br>
<p>In 1981, the exchange moved to its current location at 19th and Market.</p><br>
<h3>1949–2017: Mergers</h3><br>
<p>The exchange merged with the Baltimore Stock Exchange in 1949. The exchange was then named the Philadelphia-Baltimore Stock Exchange. The Baltimore Stock Exchange then migrated out of its Baltimore Stock Exchange Building, later renamed the Totman Building, to a new home base in Philadelphia.</p><br>
<p>The exchange merged with the Washington Stock Exchange in 1954. The exchange was known as the Philadelphia-Baltimore-Washington Stock Exchange (often abbreviated as PBW) after those mergers. In 1969, the exchange acquired the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange, and maintained an auxiliary trading floor in Pittsburgh until 1974.</p><br>
<p>On October 22, 1981, trading was halted on both the Chicago Board of Trade and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange after anonymous callers said bombs had been placed in those buildings.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, a number of large financial firms purchased stakes in the exchange as a hedge against growing consolidation of stock trading by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. These firms—Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Citadel LLC—collectively owned about 89% of the exchange.</p><br>
<p>On October 20, 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that the exchange was for sale by a group of its shareholders, and was expected to be sold for about $600 million.</p><br>
<p>On November 7, 2007, NASDAQ announced a "definitive agreement" to purchase PHLX for $652 million, with the transaction expected to close in early 2008. On July 24, 2008, the acquisition was completed, creating the third-largest options market in the USA</p><br>
<p>As of 2014, the exchange handles trades for approximately 3600 equity options, 15 index options, and a number of FX options. The PHLX has more than 16% of United States market share in exchange-listed stock and ETF options trading.</p><br>
<h2>Hours</h2><br>
<p>The exchange&#39;s normal trading sessions are from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the exchange in advance.</p><br>
<p>Mount Elbrus  is the highest mountain in Russia, and the tenth most prominent peak in the world. A dormant volcano, Elbrus is in the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, near the border with Georgia.</p><br>
<p>Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes. The taller west summit is 5,642 m, the east summit is 5,621 m. The east summit was first ascended on 10 July 1829 (Julian calendar) by Khillar Khachirov. His nationality is claimed both by Kabardians. Восхождение на Эльбрус в 1829 году.</p><br>
<p>Архивные материалы.and Karachay and used by nationalists of both sides. He was a guide for a Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the west summit (by about 20 m) in 1874 by a British expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus.</p><br>
<p>While authorities differ on how the Caucasus are distributed between Europe and Asia, most relevant modern authorities define the continental boundary as the Caucasus watershed, placing Elbrus in Europe due to its position on the north side in Russia.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name Elbrus is a metathesis of Alborz, which is also the name of a long mountain range in northern Iran. It is derived from Avestan Harā Bərəzaitī, which is a legendary mountain in Iranian mythology. Harā Bərəzaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, which was reformed into Middle Persian as Harborz, and into Modern Persian as Alborz. Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant ("high"), the reconstructed ancestor of Modern Ossetian bærzond ("high", "peak"), Modern Persian barz ("high"), berāzande ("elegant"), and boland ("high", "tall"), and Modern Kurdish barz ("high"). Harā may be interpreted as "watch" or "guard", from Indo-European *ser ("protect").</p><br>
<h2>Geographical setting</h2><br>
<p>Elbrus stands 20 km north of the main range of the Greater Caucasus and 65 km south-southwest of the Russian town of Kislovodsk. Its permanent icecap feeds 22 glaciers, which in turn give rise to the Baksan, Kuban, and Malka Rivers.</p><br>
<p>Elbrus sits on a moving tectonic area, and has been linked to a fault. A supply of magma lies deep beneath the dormant volcano.</p><br>
<h2>Eruptive history</h2><br>
<p>Mount Elbrus was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. The volcano is currently considered dormant. Elbrus was active in the Holocene, and according to the Global Volcanism Program, the last eruption took place about AD 50.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The ancients knew the mountain as Strobilus, Latin for "pine cone", a direct loan from the ancient Greek strobilos, meaning a twisted object – a long established botanical term that describes the shape of the volcano&#39;s summit. In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus was chained to the mountain by Zeus as a punishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind.</p><br>
<p>The lower of the two summits was first ascended on 10 July 1829 (Julian calendar) by Khillar Khachirov, a guide for an Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the higher (by about 40 m) in 1874 by an English expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais. During the early years of the Soviet Union, mountaineering became a popular sport of the populace, and there was tremendous traffic on the mountain. On 17 March 1936, a group of 33 inexperienced Komsomol members attempted the mountain, and ended up suffering four fatalities when they slipped on the ice and fell to their deaths.</p><br>
<p>During the Battle of the Caucasus in World War II, the Wehrmacht occupied the area surrounding the mountain from August 1942 to January 1943 with 10,000 Gebirgsjäger from the 1st Mountain Division. A possibly apocryphal story tells of a Soviet pilot being given a medal for bombing the main mountaineering hut, Priyut 11 (Приют одиннадцати, "Refuge of the 11"), while it was occupied. He was then later nominated for a medal for not hitting the hut, but instead the German fuel supply, leaving the hut standing for future generations. When news reached Adolf Hitler that a detachment of mountaineers was sent by the general officer commanding the German division to climb to the summit of Elbrus and plant the swastika flag at its top, he reportedly flew into a rage, called the achievement a "stunt" and threatened to court martial the general.</p><br>
<p>The Soviet Union encouraged ascents of Elbrus, and in 1956 it was climbed en masse by 400 mountaineers to mark the 400th anniversary of the incorporation of Kabardino-Balkaria, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic where Elbrus was located.</p><br>
<p>From 1959 through 1976, a cable car system was built in stages that can take visitors as high as 3,800 m. There are a wide variety of routes up the mountain, but the normal route, which is free of crevasses, continues more or less straight up the slope from the end of the cable car system. During the summer, it is not uncommon for 100 people to be attempting the summit via this route each day. Winter ascents are rare, and are usually undertaken only by very experienced climbers. Elbrus is notorious for its brutal winter weather, and summit attempts are few and far between. The climb is not technically difficult, but it is physically arduous because of the elevations and the frequent strong winds. The average annual death toll on Elbrus is 15–30, primarily due to "many unorganized and poorly equipped" attempts to summit the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Since 1986, Elbrus has been incorporated into Prielbrusye National Park, one of the Protected areas of Russia.</p><br>
<p>Elbrus should not be confused with the Alborz (also called Elburz) mountains in Iran, which also derive their name from the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī in Persian mythology.</p><br>
<p>In 1997 a team led by the Russian mountaineer Alexander Abramov took a Land Rover Defender to the summit of the East Peak, breaking into the Guinness Book of Records. The project took 45 days in total. They were able to drive the vehicle as high as the mountain huts at The Barrels (3,800 m), but above this they used a pulley system to raise it most of the way. On the way down, a driver lost control of the vehicle and had to dive out. Although he survived the accident, the vehicle crashed into rocks and remains below the summit to this day.</p><br>
<p>In 2016, Russian climbers Artyom Kuimov and Sergey Baranov entered the Guinness Book of World Records by reaching the summit of Elbrus on ATVs.</p><br>
<h2>Infrastructure</h2><br>
<h3>Refuges</h3><br>
<p>In 1929, eleven scientists erected a small hut at 4,160 metres and called it Priyut 11 (Refuge of the 11). At the same site, a larger hut for 40 people was built in 1932.</p><br>
<p>A wilderness hut was built in 1933 in the saddle between the two summits but collapsed after only a few years. Its remains can still be seen.</p><br>
<p>In 1939, the Soviet Intourist travel agency built yet another structure a little above the "Priyut 11" site at 4,200 metres, covered in aluminium siding. It was meant to accommodate western tourists, who were encouraged to climb Mount Elbrus in commercial, guided tours at the time to bring in foreign currency.</p><br>
<p>Not much later, this hut was converted into a mountain barracks, serving as a base, first for Soviet and later German troops in the Battle of the Caucasus of World War II.</p><br>
<p>On 16 August 1998, this hut completely burned down after a cooking stove fell over. After that, the new "Diesel hut" was built in the summer of 2001 a few metres below its ruins, so called because it is located at the site of the former Diesel generator station.</p><br>
<p>In addition, there is a collection of accommodations for six people each at the end of the short chairlift upwards of the second cableway section. Painted red and white, these horizontal steel cylinders (called Barrels, Russian bochki), are used as a base and for acclimatization by many mountaineers on their way to the summit. Beside the "Barrels", there are several container accommodations between about 3,800 and 4,200 metres.</p><br>
<h3>Observatory</h3><br>
<p>The Terskol Observatory, an astronomical observatory with the IAU code B18, is located 2.5 km north-west of Terskol village at an altitude of 3,090 m.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing routes</h2><br>
<p>The Normal Route is the easiest, safest and fastest on account of the cable car and chairlift system which operates from about 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. Starting for the summit at about 2 a.m. from the Diesel Hut or Leaprus mountain hut should allow just enough time to get back down to the chairlift if movement is efficient. A longer ascent Kiukurtliu Route starts from below the cable-way Mir station and heads west over glacier slopes towards the Khotiutau pass.</p><br>
<p>The ascent of Elbrus from the south takes about 6–9 hours, with a total height difference of 1,700 – between the Barrels Huts and the west summit of Elbrus. From Terskol village one can walk 5 km to the first elevation, Azau (2,350 m). A cable car service is available from Azau to the normal starting location for the Elbrus climb, known as Barrels Hut or Garabashi Station (3,720 m). The next destination – the Diesel Hut at 4,050 m – is located south from the Barrels Huts and up the slopes of Elbrus. From the Diesel Hut the route heads straight up towards the east summit of Elbrus, continuing south up the slopes. The slopes surrounding the classical route to Elbrus from the South contain large crevasses. Heading towards Pashtuhova Rocks (at 4,550 – elevation), the classical route up Elbrus becomes steeper after passing between two linear rock bands. After leaving this section, the Elbrus route heads on – first to the south, to the east summit of Elbrus, or rather the saddle between the east and west summits of Elbrus (5,416 m), but soon turns left to the west summit (5,642 m). Before reaching this saddle, the route passes through a gently sloped basin filled with snow. At the saddle there is a shelter, from which the route heads west, then – left, in the direction of rocks forming the shoulder of the west summit, in the form of a narrow, exposed snow path that allows for a straight dash to the summit ridge.</p><br>
<p>The descent of Elbrus takes about 3–6 hours. While returning from the Elbrus summit, the most common mistake that climbers make and that often turns out fatal is heading low and down too early after their half-traverse below the saddle, especially under conditions of low visibility in stormy weather. On descent after the saddle, instead of going down the slope too early, one could stay high up on the slopes of the east peak, otherwise the route will become very steep and feature dangerous crevasses and falls.</p><br>
<p>The north climbing route requires more commitment and is more remote than the south route. Also contributing to this is the fact that on the lower altitudes of the mountain this route can offer less in the way of infrastructure. However, this also means less human intrusion onto the landscape. With mechanical support brought to minimum, the tour to Elbrus from the north is mainly camping, with the summit route being longer and harder, and requiring good teamwork and/or winter camping skills since, if the weather is favorable, it involves an interim camp at 4,800 m or gaining 2000 vertical meters/6561 vertical ft up and down. Elbrus ascent by the north route offers rich ice and snow experience under unpredictable weather conditions.</p><br>
<h2>Elbrus Race</h2><br>
<p>First gear on Elbrus took place in 1990. The Soviet climbers competed with Americans. Won by Anatoli Boukreev. Route Priut 11 (4050 m) – East (lower) summit of Elbrus (5621 m asl) beat for 1 hour and 47 minutes. The second was Kevin Cooney, and the third Patrick Healy.</p><br>
<p>Regular competitions began to take place since 2005 is a choice of two routes: the classic and extreme. In 2006, on the route of extreme glade Azau (2400 m) – the western summit of Elbrus (5642 m asl) Denis Urubko set a record by winning the tour time 3 hours 55 minutes 59 seconds.</p><br>
<p>On 24 September 2010, under the Artur Hajzer programm "Polish Winter Himalayism 2010–2015", the Polish Mountaineering Association sent a 13-person team for training purposes. The Pole Andrzej Bargiel won on the route of extreme and set a new course record of 3 hours 23 minutes 37 seconds. The Pole Aleksandra Dzik won the female competition on this route, becoming both the first woman graduated from extreme gear.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental issues</h2><br>
<p>Mount Elbrus is said to be home to the worlds nastiest&#39; outhouse which is close to being the highest privy in Europe. The title was conferred by Outside magazine following a 1993 search and article. The "outhouse" is surrounded by and covered in ice, perched off the end of a rock.</p><br>
<p>The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in West Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region.</p><br>
<p>The Caucasus Mountains include the Greater Caucasus in the north and Lesser Caucasus in the south. The Greater Caucasus runs west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Caucasian Natural Reserve in the vicinity of Sochi on the northeastern shore of the Black Sea nearly to Baku on the Caspian Sea. The Lesser Caucasus runs parallel to the Greater about 100 km south. The Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges are connected by the Likhi Range, and to the west and east of the Likhi Range lie the Colchis Plain and the Kur-Araz Lowland. The Meskheti Range is a part of the Lesser Caucasus system. In the southeast the Aras River separates the Lesser Caucasus from the Talysh Mountains which straddle the border of southeastern Azerbaijan and Iran. The Lesser Caucasus and the Armenian Highland constitute the Transcaucasian Highland, which at their western end converge with the highland plateau of Eastern Anatolia in the far north east of Turkey. The highest peak in the Caucasus range is Mount Elbrus in the Greater Caucasus, which rises to a height of 5,642 m above sea level. Mountains near Sochi hosted part of the 2014 Winter Olympics.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Geologically, the Caucasus Mountains belong to a system that extends from southeastern Europe into Asia. The Greater Caucasus Mountains are mainly composed of Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks with the Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks in the higher regions. Some volcanic formations are found throughout the range. On the other hand, the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are formed predominantly of the Paleogene rocks with a much smaller portion of the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks. The evolution of the Caucasus began from the Late Triassic to the Late Jurassic during the Cimmerian orogeny at the active margin of the Tethys Ocean while the uplift of the Greater Caucasus is dated to the Miocene during the Alpine orogeny.</p><br>
<p>The Caucasus Mountains formed largely as the result of a tectonic plate collision between the Arabian plate moving northwards with respect to the Eurasian plate. As the Tethys Sea was closed and the Arabian Plate collided with the Iranian Plate and was pushed against it and with the clockwise movement of the Eurasian Plate towards the Iranian Plate and their final collision, the Iranian Plate was pressed against the Eurasian Plate. As this happened, the entire rocks that had been deposited in this basin from the Jurassic to the Miocene were folded to form the Greater Caucasus Mountains. This collision also caused the uplift and the Cenozoic volcanic activity in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains.</p><br>
<p>The entire region is regularly subjected to strong earthquakes from this activity. While the Greater Caucasus Mountains have a mainly folded sedimentary structure, the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are largely of volcanic origin.</p><br>
<p>The Javakheti Volcanic Plateau in Georgia and the surrounding volcanic ranges which extend well into central Armenia are some of the youngest features of the region. Only recently was the Caucasus a scene for intense volcanic activity: the Armenian highland was flooded by calc-alkaline basalts and andesites in the Pliocene and the highest summits of the Caucasus, the Elbrus, and the Kazbek, formed as Pleistocene-Pliocene volcanoes. The Kazbek is no longer active, but the Elbrus erupted in postglacial times and fumarole activity is registered near its summit. Contemporary seismic activity is a prominent feature of the region, reflecting active faulting and crustal shortening. Clusters of seismicity occur in Dagestan and in northern Armenia. Many devastating earthquakes have been documented in historical times, including the Spitak earthquake in December 1988 which destroyed the Gyumri-Vanadzor region of Armenia.</p><br>
<h2>Notable peaks</h2><br>
<p>Europe&#39;s highest mountain is Mount Elbrus 5,642 m in the Caucasus Mountains. Elbrus is 832 m higher than Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps at 4,810 m. The Caucasus Mountains are defined as the continental divide between Asia and Europe for the region between the Black and Caspian Seas.</p><br>
<p>The table below lists some of the highest peaks of the Caucasus. With the exception of Shkhara, the heights are taken from Soviet 1:50,000 mapping. There are higher and more prominent, but nameless, peaks than some of the peaks included below.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The climate of the Caucasus varies both vertically (according to elevation) and horizontally (by latitude and location). Temperature generally decreases as elevation rises. Average annual temperature in Sukhumi, Abkhazia at sea level is 15 &deg;C while on the slopes of Mt.Kazbek at an elevation of 3,700 m, average annual temperature falls to-6.1 &deg;C. The northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range are 3 °C (5.4 °F) colder than the southern slopes. The highlands of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are marked by sharp temperature contrasts between the summer and winter months due to a more continental climate.</p><br>
<p>Precipitation increases from east to west in most areas. Elevation plays an important role in the Caucasus and mountains generally receive higher amounts of precipitation than low-lying areas. The northeastern regions (Dagestan) and the southern portions of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are the driest. The absolute minimum annual precipitation is 250 mm in the northeastern Caspian Depression. Western parts of the Caucasus Mountains are marked by high amounts of precipitation. The southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range receive higher amounts of precipitation than the northern slopes. Annual precipitation in the Western Caucasus ranges from 1000 to 4000 mm while in the Eastern and Northern Caucasus (Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ossetia, Kakheti, Kartli, etc.) precipitation ranges from 600 to 1800 mm. The absolute maximum annual precipitation is 4,100 mm around the Mt. Mtirala area which lies on the Meskheti Range in Ajaria. The precipitation of the Lesser Caucasus Mountain Range (Southern Georgia, Armenia, western Azerbaijan), not including the Meskheti Range, varies from 300-800 mm annually.</p><br>
<p>The Caucasus Mountains are known for the high amount of snowfall, although many regions which are not located along the windward slopes do not receive nearly as much snow. This is especially true for the Lesser Caucasus Mountains which are somewhat isolated from the moist influences coming in from the Black Sea and receive considerably less precipitation (in the form of snow) than the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The average winter snow cover of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains ranges from 10 to 30 cm. The Greater Caucasus Mountains (especially the southwestern slopes) are marked by heavy snowfall. Avalanches are common from November to April.</p><br>
<p>Snow cover in several regions (Svaneti and northern Abkhazia) may reach 5 m. The Mt. Achishkho region, which is the snowiest place in the Caucasus, often records snow depths of 7 m.</p><br>
<h2>Landscape</h2><br>
<p>The Caucasus Mountains have a varied landscape which mainly changes according to elevation and distance from large bodies of water. The region contains biomes ranging from subtropical lowland marshes and forests to glaciers (Western and Central Caucasus), and highland semideserts, steppes, and alpine meadows in the south (mainly in Armenia and Azerbaijan).</p><br>
<p>The northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains are covered by oak, hornbeam, maple, and ash forests at lower elevations while birch and pine forests take over at higher elevations. Some of the lowest areas of the region are covered by steppes and grasslands. The slopes of the Northwestern Greater Caucasus (Kabardino-Balkaria, Cherkessia, etc.) also contain spruce and fir forests. The alpine zone replaces the forest at around 2,000 m above sea level. The permafrost/glacier line generally starts around 2,800 -. The southeastern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains are covered by beech, oak, maple, hornbeam, and ash forests. Beech forests tend to dominate in higher locations. The southwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus are covered by Colchian forests (oak, buxus, beech, chestnut, hornbeam, elm) at lower elevations with coniferous and mixed forests (spruce, fir and beech) taking over at higher elevations. The alpine zone on the southern slopes may extend up to 2,800 m above sea level while the glacier/snow line starts at 3,000 -.</p><br>
<p>The northern and western slopes of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are characterized both by Colchian and other deciduous forests at lower elevations while mixed and coniferous forests (mainly spruce and fir) dominate at higher elevations. Beech forests are also common at higher elevations. The southern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains are largely covered by grasslands and steppes up to an elevation of 2,500 m. The highest areas of the region contain alpine grasslands as well. Volcanic and other rock formations are common throughout the region. The volcanic zone extends over a large area from southern Georgia into Armenia and southwestern Azerbaijan. Some of the prominent peaks of the region include Mt. Aragats, Didi Abuli, Samsari, and others. The area is characterized by volcanic plateaus, lava flows, volcanic lakes, volcanic cones and other features. The Lesser Caucasus Mountains lack the type of glaciers and glacial features that are common on the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Crossing the Caucasus Mountain range was an important section of the northern arm of the Silk Route. There was one pass on the southeast end in Derbent (crossing the Great Wall of Gorgan (also known as Alexander the Great&#39;s Wall)), and multiple passes throughout the range: Jvari Pass at 2379 m and above the Darial Gorge on the Georgian Military Road, Mamison Pass on the Ossetian Military Road at 2911 m, and Roki Tunnel at 2310 m. See Russian conquest of the Caucasus.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>Mt Elbrus Caucasus.jpgMount Elbrus viewed from the south in Russia</p><br>
<p>Comito.jpgKomito Mountain in Chechnya</p><br>
<p>VittfarneGeorgien 155.jpgCaucasus Mountains in Svaneti, Georgia</p><br>
<p>Murovdag in Azerbaijan-Caucasus3.jpgMurov mountain in Azerbaijan</p><br>
<p>Chaukhi mountain (ჭაუხი).jpgChaukhi mountain in Khevi, Georgia</p><br>
<p>Chechenya gorge2.jpgA gorge in Dagestan, Russia</p><br>
<p>Ushba 1879.jpgTwin-peaked Ushba in Georgia</p><br>
<p>Mt_Shkhara_as_seen_from_Khalde_(Photo_A._Muhranoff,_2011).jpgMount Shkhara in Georgia</p><br>
<p>Closeup_of_large_peak_of_Mount_Ararat.jpgMount Ararat in Turkey, viewed from Armenia</p><br>
<p>Zion , also transliterated Sion, Sayon, Syon, Tzion or Tsion, is a placename often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in which dates from c. 630–540 BCE according to modern scholarship. It commonly referred to a specific hill in Jerusalem,  located to the south of Mount Moriah or the Temple Mount, on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David. The hill  is one of the many squat hills that form Jerusalem, to include the Mount of Olives etc. In the past many centuries, that was the only section of Jerusalem inside city wall that was the Jewish quarter.</p><br>
<p>The term Tzion came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metonym for Solomon&#39;s Temple, the city of Jerusalem and "the World to Come", the Jewish understanding of the afterlife.</p><br>
<p>In Kabbalah, the more esoteric reference is made to Tzion being the spiritual point from which reality emerges, located in the Holy of Holies of the First, Second and Third Temple.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The etymology of the word Zion (ṣiyôn) is uncertain. Mentioned in the Old Testament in the Books of Samuel (2 Samuel 5:7) as the name of the Jebusite fortress conquered by David, its origin likely predates the Israelites. If Semitic, it may be derived from the Hebrew root ṣiyyôn ("castle") or the Hebrew ṣiyya ("dry land", Jeremiah 51:43). A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word šeya ("river" or "brook") has also been suggested.</p><br>
<h3>Orthography</h3><br>
<p>The form Tzion (ציון; Tiberian vocalization: Ṣiyyôn) appears 108 times in the Hebrew Bible, and once as HaTzion. It is spelled with a tsade and not zayin.</p><br>
<p>The commonly used English form is based on German orthography, where z is always pronounced (e.g. "zog" ), hence "Zion" in German literature. A tz would only be used if the preceding vowel is short, and hence use of Zion in 19th-century German Biblical criticism. This orthography was adopted because in German, the correct transliteration can only be rendered from the one instance of HaTzion in Kings II 23:17, where the a vowel is followed by a double consonant tz.</p><br>
<h2>Judaism</h2><br>
<p>Zion is the Hebrew name for hill south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, upon which was built the City of David. Mount Zion is not to be confused with Mount Moriah, better known as the Temple Mount, upon which the Temple of Solomon and the Second Temple were built are the most holy place in the world for the Jewish people, seen as the connection between God and humanity. Observant Jews recite the Amidah three times a day facing Zion in Jerusalem, praying for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, the restoration of the Temple service, the redemption of the world, and for the coming of the Messiah.</p><br>
<h3>In the Tanakh</h3><br>
<p>Some examples from the book of Psalms, which have been frequently recited and memorized by Jews for centuries, state:</p><br>
<p>"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Tzion." (Psalm 137:1)</p><br>
<p>"For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Tzion. How shall we sing the Lord&#39;s song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof; O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us." (Psalms 137:3-8, italics for words not in the original Hebrew)</p><br>
<p>"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcast of Israel. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Tzion." (Psalms 147:2,12)</p><br>
<h4>Daughter of Zion</h4><br>
<p>Mentioned 26 times in the Tanakh, the biblical phrase "Daughter of Tzion" (Hebrew "bat Tzion") is not a reference to Moriah in Jerusalem, but the hill upon which the old City of David was built in the immediate south of Mount Moriah. A cryptic verse in the book of Zechariah, seems to refer to Mount Moriah, but may be ambiguous, depending on the punctuation. In Hebrew it reads "Mi attah Har-haGadol lifnei Zerubbabel lmishor..." the plain text has no punctuation, but the Masoretic Text puts a pause following Har-haGadol, to mean "Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, a plain..." However, if the pause is placed following Zerubbabel, it would mean instead "What are you, great mountain&#39; before Zerubbabel? a plain..." Since this hill is where Zerubbabel built the Second Temple, it appears to be a reference to the "Daughter of Zion" (the hill), as distinct from Tzion (the mountain). Naming the holy city "daughter Zion" was a common practice in the Hebrew language. Not only was Jerusalem called this way, but Babylon, Tyre and Tarshish were also referred to as "daughter".</p><br>
<p>However, "Daughter of Zion", and a variety of other names like "Daughter of Jerusalem", might also be interpreted as referring to Jerusalem, the Holy Temple, and the Jewish people personified, instead of a Mount Moriah specifically.</p><br>
<h2>Latter Day Saint movement</h2><br>
<p>Within the Latter Day Saint movement, Zion is often used to connote a utopian association of the righteous. This association would practice a form of communitarian economics called the United Order meant to ensure that all members maintained an acceptable quality of life, class distinctions were minimized, and group unity achieved. While Zion has often been linked with theocracy, the concept of Zion did not theoretically require such a governmental system. In this way, Zion must be distinguished from the ideal political system called theodemocracy which Mormons believed would be adopted upon Christ&#39;s Second Coming.</p><br>
<h2>Arab and Islamic tradition</h2><br>
<p>Ṣahyūn (صهيون, Ṣahyūn or Ṣihyūn) is the word for Zion in Arabic and Syriac. Drawing on biblical tradition, it is one of the names accorded to Jerusalem in Arabic and Islamic tradition. A valley called Wādī Sahyũn seemingly preserves the name and is located approximately one and three-quarter miles from the Old City&#39;s Jaffa Gate.</p><br>
<p>For example, the reference to the "precious cornerstone" of the new Jerusalem in the Book of Isaiah 28:16 is identified in Islamic scholarship as the Black Stone of the Kaaba. This interpretation is said by ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) to have come from the People of the Book, though earlier Christian scholarship identifies the cornerstone with Jesus.</p><br>
<h2>Rastafari movement</h2><br>
<p>In Rastafari, "Zion" stands for a utopian place of unity, peace and freedom, as opposed to "Babylon", the oppressing and exploiting system of the materialistic modern world and a place of evil.</p><br>
<p>It proclaims Zion, as reference to Ethiopia, the original birthplace of humankind, and from the beginning of the movement calls to repatriation to Zion, the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth. Some Rastafari believe themselves to represent the real Children of Israel in modern times, and their goal is to repatriate to Ethiopia, or to Zion. The Ge&#39;ez-language Kebra Nagast serves as inspiration for the idea that the "Glory of Zion" transferred from Jerusalem to Ethiopia in the time of Solomon and Sheba, c. 950 BC.</p><br>
<p>Rastafari reggae contains many references to Zion; among the best-known examples are the Bob Marley songs "Zion Train", "Iron Lion Zion", the Bunny Wailer song "Rastaman" ("The Rasta come from Zion, Rastaman a Lion!"), The Melodians song "Rivers of Babylon" (based on Psalm 137, where the captivity of Babylon is contrasted with the freedom in Zion), the Bad Brains song "Leaving Babylon", the Damian Marley song featuring Nas "Road to Zion", The Abyssinians "Forward Unto Zion" and Kiddus Is "Graduation in Zion", which is featured in the 1977 cult roots rock reggae film Rockers, and "Let&#39;s Go to Zion" by Winston Francis. Reggae groups such as Steel Pulse and Cocoa Tea also have many references to Zion in their various songs.</p><br>
<h2>Zionism</h2><br>
<p>The term "Zionism", coined by Austrian Nathan Birnbaum, was derived from the German rendering of Tzion in his journal Selbstemanzipation (Self Emancipation) in 1890. Zionism as a political movement started in 1897 and supported a "national home", and later a state, for the Jewish people in Palestine. The Zionist movement declared the re-establishment of its State of Israel in 1948, following the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Since then and with varying ideologies, Zionists have focused on developing and protecting this state.</p><br>
<p>The last line of the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah (Hebrew for "Hope") is "....Eretz Zion, ViYerushalayim", which means literally "The land of Zion and Jerusalem".</p><br>
<h2>Other uses</h2><br>
<p>The Jewish longing for Zion, starting with the deportation and enslavement of Jews during the Babylonian captivity, was adopted as a metaphor by Christian black slaves in the United States, and after the Civil War by blacks who were still oppressed. Thus, Zion symbolizes a longing by wandering peoples for a safe homeland. This could be an actual place such as Ethiopia for Rastafari or Israel for some of the Igbos in Nigeria for example. For others, it has taken on a more spiritual meaning—a safe spiritual homeland, like in heaven, or a kind of peace of mind in one&#39;s present life.</p><br>
<h2>Mount Zion today</h2><br>
<p>Today, Mount Zion refers to a hill south of the Old Citys Armenian Quarter, not to the Temple Mount. This apparent misidentification dates at least from the 1st century AD, when Josephus calls Jerusalems Western Hill "Mount Zion". The Abbey of the Dormition is located upon the hill currently called Mount Zion.</p><br>
<p>Laurium or Lavrio or Lavrion  is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece. It is the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki. Laurium was famous in Classical antiquity for its silver mines, which was one of the chief sources of revenue of the Athenian state. The metallic silver was mainly used for coinage. The Archaeological Museum of Lavrion shows much of the story of these mines.</p><br>
<p>It is a sea port of much less importance than nearby Piraeus.</p><br>
<p>It is located about 60 km SE of Athens, SE of Keratea and N of Cape Sounio. Laurium is situated on a bay overlooking the island of Makronisos (ancient times: Helena) in the east. The port is in the middle and gridded streets cover the residential area of Lavrio. GR-89 runs through Lavrio and ends south in Sounio.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Recent discoveries date the first mines to 3200BC.</p><br>
<p>Systematic exploitation of mineral resources seem to have begun un the 6th century BC under Peisistratus.</p><br>
<p>After the battle of Marathon, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to devote the anticipated revenue derived from a major silver vein strike in the mines of Laurion circa 483 BC to expanding the Athenian fleet to 200 triremes, and thus laid the foundation of the Athenian naval power. The mines, which were the property of the state, were usually farmed out for a certain fixed sum and a percentage on the working; slave labour was exclusively employed. As many as 20,000 slaves were employed at the height of the mining. A silver mint (Argyrocopeum) was at Laurion.</p><br>
<p>Towards the end of the 5th century, the output fell, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of Decelea. But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and washing tables for concentrating the ore, may still be seen at many locations. There were well engineered tanks and reservoirs to collect rainwater for washing the ore since abundant supplies from streams or rivers was impossible at the site.</p><br>
<p>The mines were reworked in the early 20th century by French and Greek companies, but mainly for lead, manganese and cadmium. The Mineralogical Museum of Lavrion comprises samples of minerals from the region of Lavrion.</p><br>
<h2>Facilities</h2><br>
<p>The Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport is 35 km away from Lavrio or about 30 minutes drive.</p><br>
<p>Lavrio is connected to Athens by car using the Lavrio/Sounio Leoforos (Highway) and then Attiki Odos. This trip takes about an hour.</p><br>
<p>A quite convenient solution to go to Athens is to "park and drive". Drive from Lavrio to Koropi Train Station and there take the train proastiakos or metro that goes straight to Athens center. (30 minutes drive + 30 minutes train)</p><br>
<p>Lavrio was the terminal station of the Athens-Lavrion Railway, which was abandoned in 1957.</p><br>
<p>The mining town of Laurium, Michigan was named after the famous Greek Laurium.</p><br>
<h2>Sports</h2><br>
<p>Laurium hosts the football club Olympiacos Laurium with earlier presence in Gamma Ethniki and the basketball club Lavrio B.C. with presence in A1 Ethniki.</p><br>
<h2>Twin towns</h2><br>
<p>Aleksinac, Serbia</p><br>
<p>Mangalia, Romania</p><br>
<p>Lubaantun  is a pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in southern Belize, Central America. Lubaantun is in Belize&#39;s Toledo District, about 42 kilometres  northwest of Punta Gorda, and approximately 3.2 kilometres  from the village of San Pedro Columbia, at an elevation of 61 metres  feet above mean sea level. One of the most distinguishing features of Lubaantun is the large collection of miniature ceramic objects found on site; these detailed constructs are thought to have been charmstones or ritual-accompanying accoutrements.</p><br>
<p>The centre of the site is on a large artificially raised platform between two small rivers; it has often been noted that the situation is well-suited to military defence. The ancient name of the site is currently unknown; "Lubaantun" is a modern Maya name meaning "place of fallen stones".</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological investigations</h2><br>
<p>At the start of the 20th century inhabitants of various Kekchi and Mopan Maya villages in the area mentioned the large ruins to inhabitants of Punta Gorda. Dr. Thomas Gann came to investigate the site in 1903, and published two reports about the ruins in 1905.</p><br>
<p>The next expedition was led by R. E. Merwin of Harvard Universitys Peabody Museum in 1915 who cleared the site of vegetation, made a more detailed map, took measurements and photographs, and made minor excavations. Of note Merwin discovered one of the sites three courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame, which had stone markers with hieroglyphic texts and depictions of the ballgame.</p><br>
<p>In 1924 Gann revisited the ruins, and then led adventurer F.A. Mitchell-Hedges to the site. In his typically sensationalistic fashion, Mitchell-Hedges published an article in the Illustrated London News claiming to have "discovered" the site. Gann made a new map of the site. The following year Mitchell-Hedges returned to Lubaantun as a reporter for the Illustrated London News, accompanied by his companion Lady Richmond Brown. Anna Mitchell-Hedges, the adoptive daughter of F. A. Mitchell-Hedges, would later claim that she not only accompanied her father on the expedition, but also that it was she who found the (in)famous crystal skull there. But there is no evidence that Anna was ever in Belize, and if the skull actually had been excavated at Lubaantun it would be hard to explain why none of the official reports mention it, why other expedition members deny that it was found there, and why the publicity-loving Mitchell-Hedges did not publish even a single mention of the skull before the 1950s. According to Nickell, there is a plethora of mystery surrounding</p><br>
<p>the crystal skull allegedly found at Lubaantun. New Age believers assert that</p><br>
<p>there are thirteen crystal skulls that when brought together will unite humanity and heal the world. There is little evidence to suggest that the skulls have any mystical or psychic properties other than anecdotal evidence presented by Anna Mitchell-Hodges. She claims that the skull is the secret to her longevity, and that it has the ability to kill whoever dares mock its power. Moreover, some scholars believe that the skulls may be Aztec but assert that they certainly are not Pre-Columbian or the 3,000 years old as postulated by F.A. Mitchell Hodges. Additionally, many archaeologists postulate that most, if not all, of the skulls are European forgeries.</p><br>
<p>More importantly, it is clear from investigations by Joe Nickell and Norman Hammond that the skull was not found at Lubaantun at all, but was actually purchased by Mitchell-Hedges at a Sotheby&#39;s auction in 1943. The skull had previously belonged to the collector Sydney Burney, and photographs of it had been published in the journal Man as early as 1936.</p><br>
<p>Geoffrey Laws, along with T.A. Joyce and Mitchell-Hodges surveyed the site of Lubaantun. He noted that the site lies upon the line dividing these two geographical units, situated near the village of San Pedro Colombia, at the head of canoe navigation on the Colombia River. The ruins are located in the area formed by the convergence of two small tributaries of this river. His reports, along with other scholars, are consistent in their prostrations that the Lubaantun Maya rigorously utilized water transport. Moreover, Laws commented on the climate as being warm and humid. His report also notes an absence of any “indigenous populations” in his 1928 survey; consistent with other fieldwork at the time.</p><br>
<p>The British Museum sponsored investigations and excavations at Lubaantun under T.A. Joyce in 1926 and 1927, establishing the mid to late Classic period chronology of the site. According to Joyce, the complex at Lubaantun 900 feet long and 600 feet wide toward the north. During his excavation the archaeologist found pottery fragments which were both shaped and painted along with stone items and shell ornaments. He believed that most of the material culture at the site indicated</p><br>
<p>that it was an Early Classic site but this assertion has since been dismissed by the archaeological community. Notably, he thought that the site must have been under strict centralized control since the architectural styles found would have required large amounts of physical labor. He also identifies four “classes” of masonry: megalithic cut blocks, smaller perpendicular blocks, “in and out” structures that lacked stucco, and also poorly constructed blocks that suggest that the Maya failed to build another “in and out” building style. In addition, he details the two great pyramids that he excavated are in the “in and out” style which stand approximately 40 feet tall. Furthermore, Joyce documented the presence of large, megalithic terracing which he thought were reminiscent of Peruvian styles. He noted the absence of “ornamental” stone carvings which other scholars have recorded as well. This leads to greater difficulties in defining precise dates at Lubaantun.</p><br>
<p>Moreover, despite the lack of hieroglyphs and stelae Joyce discovered an abundance of pottery-whistle figurines which feature two finger holes, allowing for three notes to be produced. He mentioned how he found some painted pottery but it appears to be similarly fashioned to painted pieces found in Pusilha, indicating that the latter was responsible for painted works and Lubaantun produced molded figurines. The whistles often depict important cosmological figures, and officials in ceremonial garb. He identified two physical types of figurines, those he calls “chubby” and the other as “classical.” The classical features include people, depicting cranial modification, ear flares, and nose ornaments. The chubby figures include a large forehead and cheeks, and there is an absence of facial ornaments. Many of the molded figures feature masks. Joyce also made distinctions between the male and female figurines that he observed. Men often were shown wearing girdles, capes, and long skirts while women became associated with the sombrero. Joyce notes that girdles may be indicative of a warrior class distinction. Men carry “provision” bags, spears, and rattles highlighting their association with field work/hunting while women are depicted carrying water jars or baskets of agricultural products. The production of metate is additionally featured on many of these</p><br>
<p>figurines. He also discovered fans at Lubaantun and a “special” series of figurines that depict crests, close-fitting helmets, a glove worn in the right hand, and highly dramatized thigh flaps. He believed that these could indicate that the figurines displayed the dress of ball players.</p><br>
<p>Many of the artefacts from this expedition can be found in the British Museums collection. After this Lubaantun was neglected by archeologists (although it suffered some looting by treasure hunters) until 1970, when a joint British Museum, Harvard, and Cambridge University project was begun led by archaeologist Norman Hammond. Norman Hammond, Kate Pretty, and Frank P. Saul excavated the site in the 1970s. Their research team, in congruence with Sharer and Traxler, believed that the site was founded in the Late Classic period as opposed to the Early Classic, suggested by Joyce. In addition, they postulated that the site saw no Postclassic reoccupation and considered it to be abandoned until the site’s later discovery. They also discuss how Lubaantun has been subject to various looting activities. Their excavations primarily dealt with one Maya family tomb. Various problems were associated with their excavation, including water damage and collapsed masonry walls. Unlike prior surveys, their team found pottery vessels which may have been painted at one point but time has since faded their decorative coating. Hammonds team also found skeletal remains that were also badly damaged by water, but tooth preservation remained relatively good. The disposition of the skulls and bones are consistent with the Maya’s tendency to repurpose tombs, and bury multiple remains in one area. Saul reported that the tomb contained 15 adults, both male and female of various young and middle adult ages. All of the individuals had cavities except for one individual and virtually all of the remains indicate malnutrition occurred in early childhood.</p><br>
<p>Furthermore, the pottery vessels are primarily appear in Tepeu 2 style with some indication of Tepeu 3 in the Uaxactun chronology. The ceramic data suggest that the tomb was not utilized for a very long; no more than a century. They also found ground, and polished stone obsidian blade flakes, ear/nose plugs and a stylized flower. They claim that the site is unique because it is 1 of 26 sites (out of 115) which indicate that there were</p><br>
<p>multiple burials.</p><br>
<p>Sharer and Traxler also believe that the site is a Late Classic center. They note that Normand Hammond provided a new map for the site in 1970. Their work suggests that Lubaantun was occupied “briefly” from AD 700 to 870. There is also evidence that the site was a main production center for cacao and that Lubaantuun was the local capital in that particular area. Cermaic and stone effigies with cacao pods have been found at the site. Additionally discovered is an acropolis, one ball court, and Quirigua-style architecture in the form of large masonry terraces. However, the site lacks two major components which would indicate that Lubaantuun was a Late Classic</p><br>
<p>site; there are no vaulted buildings or carved sculptured monuments. Also discussed is the space and place of buildings at the site. Lubaantun, being a smaller Maya site, has discernible open public and closed private spaces.</p><br>
<p>Little is still known regarding how the Lubaantun Maya traded with other polities and their relationship with neighboring communities. While Sharer and Traxler’s work largely pertains to the cacao trade, Heather McKillop’s work at Stingray Lagoon reveals the importance of salt production and trade in the Precolumbian Maya realm. The presence of molded Lubaantun-style whistle figurines, inland goods at the Stingray Lagoon site, and unit-stamped pottery provide supporting evidence for</p><br>
<p>salt production and for inland transport.</p><br>
<p>Current archaeology imbues that Lubaantun is still a widely interpreted site. Nonetheless, excavations demonstrate that the site is renowned for its mass of mould-made ceramic whistle figurines, manos, and metates, as well as its stair-like architecture. New research reveals that the site has three ball courts, to the east, west, and south of the major E group buildings. Scholars also estimate that the population at Lubaantun may have consisted of 600 people per square kilometer. Additionally, it is postulated that Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit was politically created from the earlier centers of Pusilha or Uxbenka. Archaeological evidence suggests that Lubaantun was built at a strategic spatial location in order to maintain access the natural ecological resources and take advantage of the pre-existing trade networks. Other research suggests that language spoken at Lubaantun was most likely a dialect of Cholan, one of the many dialects spoken in the Classic Maya heartland. Furthermore, current projects are still underway at Lubaantun. In 1998, the Maya Archaeological Sites Development Program, in tandem with the European Union, and the Belize Government’s</p><br>
<p>Department of Archaeology, made successful attempts at restoration, and building of an interpretive Visitor Center at the site.</p><br>
<p>Lubaantun is now accessible to visitors by automobile and has a small visitor&#39;s centre. As of 2001 an admission fee of 10 Belizean dollars was charged visitors.</p><br>
<p>The River Plym is a river in Devon, England. It runs from Dartmoor in the centre of the county southwest to meet the River Meavy, then south towards Plymouth Sound. The river is popular with canoeists and the Plym Valley Railway runs alongside a section of the river.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The river&#39;s source is around 450 m above sea level on Dartmoor, in an upland marshy area called Plym Head. From the upper reaches, which contain antiquities and mining remains, the river flows roughly southwest past clay workings at Shaugh Prior to Dewerstone, where it meets the River Meavy. The course then changes to run southwards, between Plymouth and Plympton. Its tidal estuary is known as the Laira and the final part is called Cattewater, which is navigable and leads towards Plymouth Sound. It is approximately 20 miles long.</p><br>
<h2>Nomenclature</h2><br>
<p>The name Plym is thought to have its origins in Old English and means the "plum tree" (Cornish ploumenn), from a back-formation from the name of Plympton. The port of Plymouth took its name from the river.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>When it was in operation, the Cann Quarry Canal left the river at Marsh Mills.</p><br>
<p>The Plym Valley Railway runs alongside the River Plym. It opened in 1856 as a section of the South Devon and Tavistock Railway, which followed the river as far as the tributary with the River Meavy. The line closed to passengers in 1962, and goods services stopped four years later. The new railway is volunteer-run railway which operates steam and diesel hauled train rides. The first section from Plym Valley from Marsh Mills station opened in 2001, with an extension to Lee Moor Crossing in 2008. In 2013, the line was extended to Plymbridge. The remainder of the line forms part of the Plym Valley Trail, a cycle route from Plymouth to Ilfracombe.</p><br>
<h2>Leisure</h2><br>
<p>The River Plym is popular for canoeing. The upper section in Dartmoor from Cadover Bridge to Shaugh Bridge is considered challenging, and has been described by the British Canoe Union as the hardest section of river to navigate the park. It is often the first river to fill during heavy rain, and one of the first to drop afterwards. Experienced canoeists judge the water level carefully around the weather. This section has a number of pool drops, which are not recommended for novices. Lower sections beyond Shaugh Bridge to Bickleigh Bridge are easier to navigate past the first rapid, provided the river is at a sufficient water level.</p><br>
<p>The Belice, Bèlici, is a river of western Sicily. It is about 77 km long. From its main source near Piana degli Albanesi it runs south and west for 45.5 km as the Belice Destro  until it is joined near Poggioreale by its secondary branch, the 42 km Belice Sinistro , which rises on the slopes of Rocca Busambra. The Belice proper then flows for another 30 km or so before entering the Strait of Sicily to the east of the ancient Greek archaeological site of Selinunte. During Classical times it was known as the Hypsas.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The middle section of the Belice valley was hit by the January 1968 Belice earthquake which completely destroyed numerous centres of population, including Gibellina, Montevago and Salaparuta. Three hundred and seventy people died, a thousand were injured and some 70,000 people were made homeless.</p><br>
<p>Raritan Bay is located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the USA states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. Raritan Bay, the northern outlet of the Canal, is shown as the highlighted area south of Lower New York Bay and north of Monmouth County. The bay is bounded on the west by South Amboy, New Jersey, where the nation&#39;s first passenger railroad company, Camden and Amboy Railroad , had its northern terminus. Like the canal, it connected New York City  to Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.</p><br>
<p>The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was intended as an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, especially coal from the anthracite fields in eastern Pennsylvania. Before the advent of the railroads, the canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the route from the Pennsylvania coal fields, down the Delaware, around Cape May, and up along the (occasionally treacherous) Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The idea of a canal between the Raritan and Delaware Rivers had a long history, going back to William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, who suggested it in the 1690s. Such a canal would shorten the journey from Philadelphia to New York by 100 miles, and relieve the need for boats to venture into the Atlantic Ocean.</p><br>
<p>In 1816, the New Jersey legislature created a commission of three people, including John Rutherfurd, a former United States Senator and a major landowner in New Jersey, which was authorized to survey and map a proposed route for a canal. Rutherfurd engaged John Randel Jr. to do the survey; Rutherfurd knew Randel from his work on the New York City Commissioners Plan of 1811, for which Rutherfurd was one of the commissioners, and Randel was the chief surveyor. The route was to be "a level line as far as was practicable from Longbridge farm to the Delaware, and to the Raritan, in the shortest direction direction that the ground would admit, which line should be run with the greatest accuracy, and be esteemed the base line of the work." Randel spent two months surveying this route and, with the aid of a millwright, estimating water flow. They came to the conclusion that the canal would require less than an eighteenth of the water passing through the local streams, which would still leave enough water flow for local mills. Despite Randels report, and the clear advantage of having such a canal, the opposition to the project managed to keep anything from happening until 1830.</p><br>
<p>On February 4, 1830, the New Jersey legislature passed legislation that created the charter for the D&R Canal. The charter for the Camden and Amboy Rail Road and Transportation Company was passed the same day. The D&R charter allocated $1.5 million of stock for construction which was required to be completed within eight years. The canal was to be considered a public highway although the corporation would be allowed to collect tolls and transit duties for passengers and cargo transported along the canal.</p><br>
<p>The canal system was dug mostly by hand tools, mostly by Irish immigrants. Work began in 1830 and was completed in 1834, at an estimated cost of $2,830,000. When the canal first opened, teams of mules were used to tow canal boats through it (the steam engine was not yet applied to such uses).</p><br>
<p>The canal&#39;s greatest usage occurred during the 1860s and 1870s, when it was used primarily to transport coal from Pennsylvania to New York City, which had entered the Industrial Revolution. On May 18, 1872, the D&R Canal Company was merged with several parallel railroads into the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, and leased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Over time, the importance of the D&R Canal waned as railroads were used to perform, more rapidly, the same function as canals, but it remained in operation until 1932. Years later, the section between Trenton and Bordentown was filled for various road and rail projects, leaving the feeder waters to solely supply the main canal from Trenton northwards to New Brunswick. Two other sections of the canal were piped underground: one in Trenton when the Trenton Freeway (USA Route 1) was constructed in 1952, and the other in New Brunswick when the Elmer Boyd Parkway Extension (Route 18) was constructed in 1984.</p><br>
<p>In the 1969 movie Hello, Dolly! (film), Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) lies in a scene in which she says that Cornelius Hackl (Matthew Crawford) is one of "The Hackls" and that they are actually rich and famous from his family helping to build the Raritan Canal.</p><br>
<h2>Route</h2><br>
<p>The main section of the canal runs from Bordentown on the Delaware to New Brunswick on the Raritan. A feeder canal section (which feeds water into the main canal) stretches 22 miles (35 km) northward from Trenton, upstream along the east bank of the Delaware to Bull&#39;s Island near Frenchtown. The feeder canal collects water from higher elevations to the north, and feeds it to the highest section of the main canal, which flows generally north and east to the end, and had flowed south into the Crosswicks Creek at Bordentown. The total length of the entire canal system was approximately 66 miles (106 km). The main section was 44 miles (71 km) long, 75 feet (23 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep; the feeder was 22 miles (35 km) long, 60 feet (18 m) wide and 6 feet (2 m) deep.</p><br>
<h3>Altered and abandoned sections</h3><br>
<p>A section of the main D&R Canal in Trenton has been covered over (the water still flows below) by the Trenton Freeway and is inaccessible to public use. The portion of the canal that provided access to the Delaware River in Bordentown is also abandoned. In Trenton it has been covered by NJ Route 129, which opened in 1996. Another section south of Trenton is located in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey between the southern boundary of Trenton and the Crosswicks Creek.</p><br>
<h3>Locks and spillways</h3><br>
<p>Locks were used to overcome elevation differences along the D&R canal. Many of the locks are still present along the canal route; however, the lock gates have been replaced on the upstream side with small dams and water outfalls. The downstream gates have been removed, so the water in the locks is level with the water on the downstream side. Some of the locks have been buried or removed due to construction projects in the vicinity of the canal.</p><br>
<p>A number of spillways, which drained excess water from the canal into nearby waterways during periods of heavy flow, are located along the canal route. Spillways are evident as a dip in the tow path along the canal. Some have paving stones spaced closely enough for mules to walk, but are impassable for bicycles. With the flow stopped, species typical of stagnant water live in them.</p><br>
<h2>Associated rivers</h2><br>
<p>Delaware River - Feeds the Delaware and Raritan Canal via a feeder canal that approaches from the north along the east bank of the Delaware River, starting at Bulls Island, to the southern terminus of the D&R Canal near Trenton.</p><br>
<p>Millstone River - Parallels the Delaware and Raritan Canal from Princeton north to Manville. A flood control study is currently being conducted for the Millstone River basin by two government organizations, which may affect the Delaware and Raritan Canal in the future.</p><br>
<p>Raritan River - Parallels the Delaware and Raritan Canal from Manville north and east to New Brunswick. The northern terminus of the Delaware and Raritan Canal is in New Brunswick.</p><br>
<h2>Landmark</h2><br>
<p>The Delaware and Raritan Canal was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 11, 1973.</p><br>
<p>The many historic canal houses where the bridge tenders have lived (such as the Blackwells Mills Canal House and the Port Mercer Canal House) were listed as contributing properties.</p><br>
<h2>State Park</h2><br>
<p>In 1974, most of the canal system was declared a New Jersey state park. It remains one today, and is used for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. A graded natural-surface trail along the side of the canal, which was the tow path that mules used to tow barges on the canal before steam powered barges, is now used for hiking, jogging, bicycling, and horseback riding. Some 36 mi of the main canal, and all 22 miles (35 km) of the feeder canal, still exist. The feeder canal along the Delaware, being a former railroad rather than a towpath, is especially suited to bicycling. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.</p><br>
<p>The canal is accessible from many points along its route, with small parking areas providing access at most road crossings. One of the most scenic and popular sections of the D&R Canal state park is the segment along Lake Carnegie in Princeton, New Jersey, which features the canal on one side of the path and the lake on the other side. Another attractive section borders the Colonial Park Arboretum and Gardens in East Millstone.</p><br>
<p>When the canal was used for transportation, New Jersey&#39;s landscape was mostly rural, and its primary business was agriculture. "Now," in the words of Howard Green, research director of the New Jersey Historical Commission, "It is one of the most beloved parks in the state, a sinewy, snake-like greenway through one of the most heavily populated parts of the world. It has gone from being the machine in the garden, to being garden in the machine."</p><br>
<p>Lacamas Lake is a small lake in Clark County, Washington. It is a popular place to fish and water ski for locals from Vancouver, Camas and Washougal. It connects to Round Lake via a channel that runs under the SR 500 bridge on the southeast side of the lake. In the 1990s many high tech manufacturing plants and expensive housing developments began to appear in the area around the lake. The lake is very warm compared to other lakes in the area and the temperature can drop off quickly with depth. As it is now, the 60 ft lake cannot support life below about 18 ft . The Georgia-Pacific Mill in Camas draws water from the lake to support its operations.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Lacamas Lake Dam was constructed at the south end of Round Lake in 1883. This raised the water level of both lakes by approximately 12 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Water quality</h2><br>
<p>The 43,000 acres around Lacamas Lake and Round Lake collect precipitation and form the Lacamas Creek which feeds into both lakes. This area is mostly large open fields and private farm or ranch land. The resulting runoff contains high levels of fertilizers which leads to nutrient abundance in both lakes. This nutrient abundance has caused plant overgrowth and algae problems. Consequently only a few fish species are able to live in either lake ( brown trout, rainbow trout, largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, yellow perch, catfish and sturgeon). The government considers the lake to be eutrophic.</p><br>
<h2>"Dead Zone"</h2><br>
<p>One of the reasons the lake cannot support many fish is because of severe pollution from phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia. The phosphorus, nitrogen and ammonia collect in the lake water and the lake bed from polluted streams that run into the lake after passing through farm fields, barnyards and subdivisions.</p><br>
<p>As it is now, the 2.4 mi-long lake is murky. The sun warms the top layer of lake water and makes it suitable for warm-water fish such as bass, bluegill and perch. The plants clog the surface of the lake to a depth of about 18 ft, so no oxygen from the air can penetrate to the deep, cold water at the bottom. The visibility of the lake is usually less than 1 ft. It has very green murky water.</p><br>
<p>As the undesirable plants die, their leaves sink to the bottom, where they decay, using up still more oxygen, making the colder depths barren and lifeless. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife makes the lake more fishable by planting brown or rainbow trout, but few survive year to year.</p><br>
<h2>Activities</h2><br>
<h3>Running, hiking and biking</h3><br>
<p>Lacamas Lake has a well-maintained 3.5 mi trail (the Lacamas Heritage Trail) along its entire southern edge. The trail is hard-packed dirt and gravel and is generally suitable for strollers. The trail is popular with hikers, runners, and bicyclists, and is wide enough for single-file two-way foot and bike traffic. The trail is generally flat with frequent but relatively shallow inclines. The trail has quarter-mile posts along its entire length with distances to both ends shown.</p><br>
<p>The west end of the trail has a small parking lot with restrooms, dog scoop bags, and a water fountain. The parking lot may be found at the intersection of NE Goodwin Rd. and NW Alexandria Dr. in Camas. This lot often fills up on nice days and weekends, and there is no good overflow area for cars; the east end of the trail has more parking.</p><br>
<p>The east end of the trail begins near the southeast boat ramp. This area features a large parking lot, restrooms, water fountain, a park, boat ramp, and children’s play structure. The parking lot may be found on Lake Rd. just west of SR500. An overflow parking lot is also available 100 yards to the west near the trailer park. Dog scoop bags are available on the trail. Dog leash requirements are posted.</p><br>
<h3>Swimming</h3><br>
<p>Swimming is popular in the summer due to the warm water temperatures. The City of Camas posts public notices regarding outbreaks of blue green algae.</p><br>
<h3>Boating</h3><br>
<p>Lacamas Lake has two public boat ramps: one on the north side and one on the southeast side. The southeast boat ramp is located within Camas Heritage Park and is nicer with more amenities.</p><br>
<p>Because of its small size, personal watercraft such as Jetskis and Waverunners are somewhat less popular here than at some of the other local lakes and rivers. Lacamas Lake has a vessel speed limit of 40 mph and a number of no-wake restrictions.</p><br>
<p>Kavala  is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit.</p><br>
<p>It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnatia motorway, a one-and-a-half-hour drive to Thessaloniki (160 km west) and a forty-minute drive to Drama (37 km north) and Xanthi (56 km east).</p><br>
<h2>Names</h2><br>
<p>In Antiquity the name of the city was Neapolis (new city, like many Greek colonies). During the Middle Ages, it was renamed Christoupolis (city of Christ).</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The etymology of the modern name of the city is disputed. Some mention an ancient Greek village Skavala near the town. Other proposals include either from the Italian cavallo (=horse), or from the Hebrew Kabbalah due to the city&#39;s large Jewish population in the past. Its nickname is The cyan city (Η γαλάζια πόλη).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Antiquity</h3><br>
<p>The city was founded in the late 7th century BC by settlers from Thassos. It was one of several Thassian colonies along the coastline, all founded in order to take advantage of rich gold and silver mines, especially those located in the nearby Pangaion mountain (which were eventually exploited by Phillip II of Macedonia).</p><br>
<p>Worship of Parthenos / the Virgin, a female deity of Greek–Ionian origin associated with Athena, is archaeologically attested in the Archaic period. At the end of the 6th century BC Neapolis claimed independence from Thassos and began issuing its own silver coins with the head of Gorgo (γοργὀνειο) on one side. A few decades later a large Ionic temple made from Thassian marble replaced the Archaic one. Parts of it can now be seen in the town&#39;s archaeological museum.</p><br>
<p>In 411 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Neapolis was besieged by the allied armies of the Spartans and the Thassians but remained faithful to Athens. Two Athenian honorary decrees in 410 and 407 BC rewarded Neapolis for its loyalty.</p><br>
<p>Neapolis was a town of Macedonia, located 14 km from the harbour of Philippi. It was a member of the Athenian League; a pillar found in Athens mentions the contribution of Neapolis to the alliance.</p><br>
<h3>Roman Era</h3><br>
<p>The military Roman road Via Egnatia passed through the city and helped commerce to flourish. It became a Roman civitas in 168 BC, and was a base for Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, before their defeat in the Battle of Philippi.</p><br>
<p>The Apostle Paul landed at Kavala on his first voyage to Europe.</p><br>
<h3>Byzantine, Bulgarian and Crusader Era</h3><br>
<p>In the 6th century, Byzantine emperor Justinian I fortified the city in an effort to protect it from barbarian raids. In later Byzantine times the city was called Christoupolis (Χριστούπολις, "city of Christ") and belonged to the theme of Macedonia. The first surviving mention of the new name is in a taktikon of the early 9th century. The city is also mentioned in the "Life of St. Gregory of Dekapolis". In the 8th and 9th centuries, Bulgarian attacks forced the Byzantines to reorganise the defence of the area, giving great care to Christoupolis with fortifications and a notable garrison. Bulgarians also ruled it briefly. In 926 the Byzantine general (strategos) Basil Klaudon reconstructed the town&#39;s fallen walls according to an inscription now in the archaeological museum. Thanks to its location, the city experienced an economic resurgence, securing contact between Constantinople and Thessaloniki.</p><br>
<p>During a Norman raid of Macedonia in 1185, the city was captured and burned. In 1302, the Catalans failed to capture the city. In order to prevent them from coming back, the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos built a new long defensive wall. In 1357 two Byzantine officers and brothers, Alexios and John, controlled the city and its territory. Excavations have revealed the ruins of an early Byzantine basilica under an Ottoman mosque in the Old Town. It was used until the late Byzantine era.</p><br>
<h3>Ottoman Era</h3><br>
<p>The Ottoman Turks first captured the city in 1387 and completely destroyed it in 1391, as a Mount Athos chronicle testifies. Kavala was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1387 to 1912. In the middle of the 16th century, Ibrahim Pasha, Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent, contributed to the town&#39;s prosperity and growth by the construction of an aqueduct. The Ottomans also extended the Byzantine fortress on the hill of Panagia. Both landmarks are among the most recognizable symbols of the city today.</p><br>
<p>Mehmet Ali, the founder of a dynasty that ruled Egypt, was born in Kavala in 1769. His house has been preserved as a museum.</p><br>
<h3>20th century</h3><br>
<p>Kavala was briefly occupied by the Bulgarians during the first Balkan War in 1912, but was finally captured by Greece in 1913 during a successful landing operation by the Greek Navy that was commanded by the famous admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis.</p><br>
<p>In August 1916 rests of the IV Army Corps, stationed at Kavala under Ioannis Hatzopoulos surrendered to the advancing Bulgarian Army. These events provoked a military revolt in Thessaloniki, which led to the establishment of the Provisional Government of National Defence, and eventually Greece&#39;s formal entry into the First World War.</p><br>
<p>After the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, the city entered a new era of prosperity because of the labour offered by the thousands of refugees that moved to the area from Asia Minor. The development was both industrial and agricultural. Kavala became greatly involved in the processing and trading of tobacco. Many buildings related to the storage and processing of tobacco from that era are preserved in the city.</p><br>
<p>During World War II and after the fall of Athens, the Nazis awarded Kavala to their Bulgarian allies in 1941, causing the city to suffer once again, but it finally was liberated in 1944. Almost the entire Jewish community of the city was exterminated during the Occupation.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1950s Kavala expanded towards the sea by reclaiming land from the area west of the port.</p><br>
<p>In 1967, King Constantine II left Athens for Kavala in an unsuccessful attempt to launch a counter-coup against the military junta.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<h3>Municipality</h3><br>
<p>The municipality of Kavala was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the two former municipalities, which became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>The municipality has an area of 351.35 km&sup2;. The population of the new municipality is 70,501 (2011). The seat of the municipality is in Kavala.</p><br>
<p>Some of the most important communities inside new municipality are:</p><br>
<p>Subdivisions</p><br>
<p>Kavala is built amphitheatrically, with most residents enjoying superb views of the coast and sea. Some of the regions inside Kavala are:</p><br>
<h3>International relations</h3><br>
<h4>Twin towns – Sister cities</h4><br>
<p>Kavala is twinned with:</p><br>
<h4>Partnerships</h4><br>
<h3>Province</h3><br>
<p>The province of Kavala (Επαρχία Καβάλας) was one of the provinces of the Kavala Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Kavala, and part of the municipal unit Eleftheroupoli. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Traditionally the primary occupation of the population of Kavala was the fishing. The fishermen of the town were well known all over northern Greece.</p><br>
<p>After the industrialization of the country, Kavala became also a center in northern Greece of the tobacco industry. Today exists also the building of the "Municipal Tobacco Warehouse".</p><br>
<p>In the middle of the 20th century oil deposits were found outside the city and today exists an oil rig.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Kavala has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) that borders on a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSk" or "BSh" depending on the system used) with annual average precipitation of 460 mm. Snowfalls are sporadic, but happen more or less every year. The humidity is always very high</p><br>
<p>The absolute maximum temperature ever recorded was 38.0 &deg;C, while the absolute minimum ever recorded was -5.8 &deg;C.</p><br>
<h2>Education/research</h2><br>
<p>TEI of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace: The Technological Educational Institute of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (ΤΕΙ Ανατολικής Μακεδονίας και Θράκης) is a public institute providing education at university level in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The main campus of the institute located in St. Lukas, Kavala and is approximately 132,000 m with buildings covering an area of 36,000 m.The campus is home for 2 faculties (Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Faculty of Business and Economics) with totally 9 departments.</p><br>
<p>Fisheries Research Institute: Fisheries Research Institute (F.R.I) is one of the five specialized research institutes of N.AG.RE.F, being responsible to conduct research and to promote technological development in the fishery sector. The Institute is located 17 km away from Kavala, in Nea Peramos, at the centre of a marine area with rich fishery grounds and high biodiversity in the surrounding lagoons, lakes and rivers.</p><br>
<p>Institute of Mohamed Ali for the Research of the Eastern Tradition (I.M.A.R.E.T.): I.M.A.R.E.T. is a registered NGO with the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was established several months ago by concerned citizens in Kavala, Greece. Its aims include the study of the Egyptian influence in Greece and vice versa. The intra-cultural exchange and dialogue, as well as the promotion of art as a means of intra-cultural understanding. The first major co-operation partner is Cultnat of Bibliotheca Alaxandrina with the aim of documenting and digitizing the architectural heritage of the Mohamed Ali era in Egypt and Greece. Most important event that take place every year at the institute is the International Roman Law Moot Court Competition.</p><br>
<p>Historical & Literary Archives of Kavala: It is purely a non-profiteering, public utility foundation. The foundation of the Historical & Literary Archives of Kavala is not subsidized by the Greek State, neither by any other enterprise of the private sector. Its operational cost is covered only by its founders and by infrequent aids of the local self-government.</p><br>
<p>Egnatia Aviation: It is a private training college for pilots that started training in Greece in July 2006. The facilities of Egnatia Aviation mostly located in the former passenger&#39;s terminal of the Kavala International Airport "Alexander the Great".</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<h3>Festivals and events</h3><br>
<p>Kavala hosts a wide array of cultural events, which mostly take place during the summer months. The top festival is the Festival of Philippi, which lasts from July to September and includes theatrical performances and music concerts. Since 1957, it has been the city&#39;s most important cultural event and one of the most important of Greece.</p><br>
<p>Cosmopolis is an International Festival held in the Old Town of Kavala that offers an acquaintance with cultures around the world through dancing and musical groups, traditional national cuisines, cinema, and exhibits at the kiosks of the participant countries. The first festival took place in 2000 and from 2002 until 2009 was organised annually. It was revived in 2016 with a participation of 250 artists and musicians from all over the world.</p><br>
<p>Giannis Papaioannou&#39;s Festival includes concerts and music seminars.</p><br>
<p>Ilios ke Petra (Sun and Stone)(July): a Festival held in "Akontisma" of Nea Karvali. The event is of folkloric character, with the participation of traditional dancing groups from all over the world.</p><br>
<p>Wood Water Wild Festival: Wood Water Wild is an outdoor activities festival, inspired by nature. It includes live bands & DJ sets, body&mind activities, a book fair, outdoor theatre, ecology, camping, and debates.</p><br>
<p>Kavala AirSea Show: An annual air show, which takes place during the last days of June</p><br>
<p>Besides, various cultural events are held in all municipalities of Kavala during the summer months.</p><br>
<h3>Cuisine</h3><br>
<p>Fish and sea food, as well as the products of the local livestock breeding and agricultural sectors are the prevailing elements of Kavala courses. In Kavala, the traditional local recipes have been influenced by the cuisine of the refugees from Pontos, Asia Minor and Kappadokia.</p><br>
<p>Fresh fish and sea food, salted food, mackerel "gouna" (sun dried mackerel on the grill), sardine pantremeni, mussels with rice, herring saganaki, anchovies wrapped in grape leaves, Stuffed eggplant: these are some very renowned recipes in Kavala and the coastal settlements of the region. The grapes, wine and tsipouro produced in the area, as well as the kourabiedes (sugar-coated almond biscuits) from Nea Karvali are particularly famous.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<h3>Highway network</h3><br>
<p>European route E90 runs through the city and connects Kavala with the other cities. The Egnatia Motorway (A2) lies north of the city. One can enter the city from one of two Junctions; Kavala West and Kavala East.Kavala has regular connection with Interregional Bus Lines (KTEL) from and to Thessaloniki and Athens.</p><br>
<h3>Airport</h3><br>
<p>The Kavala International Airport "Alexander the Great" (27 km from Kavala) is connected with Athens by regularly scheduled flights and with many European cities by scheduled and charter flights.</p><br>
<h3>Port</h3><br>
<p>Kavala is connected with all the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea with frequent itineraries of various ferry lines.</p><br>
<h3>Bus</h3><br>
<p>The city is connected with all of the large Greek cities such as Thessaloniki and Athens. All of the local villages are also connected via bus lines. The cost of tickets is very cheap. There is also a shuttle bus in Kavala with these lines :</p><br>
<p>1. Vironas – Kallithea</p><br>
<p>2. Dexameni</p><br>
<p>3. Cemetery</p><br>
<p>4. Kipoupoli – Technological Institute</p><br>
<p>5. Agios Loukas</p><br>
<p>6. Profitis Ilias</p><br>
<p>7. Stadium</p><br>
<p>8. Kalamitsa – Batis ( only in summer )</p><br>
<p>9. Agios Konstantinos</p><br>
<p>10. Neapoli</p><br>
<p>11. Hospital – Perigiali</p><br>
<h2>Sports</h2><br>
<p>Kavala F.C.: AO Kavala (Greek: Athlitikos Omilos Kavala, Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα), the Athletic Club Kavala, is a professional association football club based in the city of Kavala, Greece.The club plays in the Municipal Kavala Stadium "Anthi Karagianni".</p><br>
<p>Kavala B.C.: Enosi Kalathosfairisis Kavalas (Ένωση Καλαθοσφαίρισης Καβάλας – Basketball Union of Kavala) is a Greek professional basketball club that is located in Kavala, Greece. The club is also known as E.K. Kavalas. The club&#39;s full Greek name is Ένωση Καλαθοσφαίρισης Καβάλας. Which means, Kavala Basketball Union or Kavala Basketball Association in English. The club competes in the Greek League.</p><br>
<p>Kavala &#39;86: A women football club, founded in 1986, with panhellenic titles in Greek women football.</p><br>
<p>Kavala Chess Club: Chess is very popular in Kavala and the local chess club ranks top in Greece, enjoying plenty of success both domestically and internationally. The highlight has to be the club&#39;s annual International Open, that takes place every August in Kavala and attracts the biggest names in chess from all over the globe</p><br>
<p>Nautical Club of Kavala (1945, Ναυτικός Ομιλος Καβάλας, ΝΟΚ). Maritime sports (swimming, yachting, water-polo)</p><br>
<p>Kavala Titans (2009, Τιτάνες Καβάλας). Rugby Union/Rugby League</p><br>
<h2>Ecclesiastical history</h2><br>
<p>Christopolis was important enough in the Late Roman province of Macedonia Secunda to be a suffragan of its capital Philippi&#39;s Metropolitan Archbishopric, but the Catholic succession ended.</p><br>
<h3>Titular see</h3><br>
<p>The diocese of Christopolis was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric.</p><br>
<p>It is vacant, having had the following, far from consecutive, incumbents of the lowest (episcopal) rank, except the latest (archiepiscopal, intermediary rank):</p><br>
<p>Jean Isembert, Dominican Order (O.P.) (1450.05.11 – 1465.09.08)</p><br>
<p>Jaime Perez de Valencia, Augustinian Order (O.E.S.A.) (1468.10.01 – 1490.08.03)</p><br>
<p>Ausiás Carbonell, O.P. (1509.04.16 – 1532.12.09)</p><br>
<p>Enrique Rutil (1525.11.10 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Bishop-elect Francisco de Jaén (1530.12.05 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Francisco Estaña (1534.12.16 – 1549.06.23)</p><br>
<p>Gian Antonio Fassano (1544.06.04 – 1568.09.10)</p><br>
<p>Juan Segría (1547.11.28 – 1568.07.23) as Auxiliary Bishop of Valencia (Spain) (1547.11.28 – 1568.07.23); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Sassari (Sardinia, Italy) (1568.07.23 – death 1569.09.26), Metropolitan Archbishop of Palermo (Sicily, Italy) (1569.09.26 – 1569 not possessed)</p><br>
<p>Pedro Coderos (1570.02.20 – 1579.10.21) as Auxiliary Bishop of Valencia (Spain) (1570.02.20 – 1579.10.21); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Otranto (Italy) (1579.10.21 – 1585)</p><br>
<p>Marcin Szyszkowski (1603.11.24 – 1604.06)</p><br>
<p>Ludovico de Taragni, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (1612.03.21 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Michael Chumer, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1639.10.03 – 1651.06.30)</p><br>
<p>Maxime Tessier (1951.05.28 – 1955.05.08)</p><br>
<p>Otto Spülbeck (1955.06.28 – 1958.06.23)</p><br>
<p>Michael William Hyle (1958.07.03 – 1960.03.02)</p><br>
<p>Titular Archbishop Sante Portalupi (1961.10.14 – 1984.03.31), papal diplomat, as Apostolic Nuncio to Honduras (1959.01.29 – 1967.09.27), Apostolic Nuncio to Nicaragua (1959.01.29 – 1967.09.27), Apostolic Delegate to Libya (1967.09.27 – 1979.12.15), Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Algeria (1972 – 1979.12.15), Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Tunisia (1972 – 1979.12.15), Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Morocco (1976 – 1979.12.15), Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal (1979.12.15 – 1984.03.31)</p><br>
<h2>Postage stamps</h2><br>
<p>Austria opened a post office in Kavala before 1864. Between 1893 and 1903, the French post office in the city issued its own postage stamps; at first stamps of France overprinted with "Cavalle" and a value in piasters, then in 1902 the French designs inscribed "CAVALLE".</p><br>
<h2>Notable figures</h2><br>
<p>Muhammad Ali Pasha of Kavala, the Albanian Wali (governor) of Egypt between 1805 and 1848 and founder of the modern state of Egypt</p><br>
<p>Mohamed Sherif Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt</p><br>
<p>Christos Batzios, Greek actor and filmmaker</p><br>
<p>Theodore Kavalliotis, Greek Orthodox priest, teacher and a figure of the Greek Enlightenment</p><br>
<p>Vassilis Vassilikos, Greek writer and diplomat</p><br>
<p>Konstantinos Mitroglou, Greek footballer</p><br>
<p>George Georgiadis, Greek footballer</p><br>
<p>Giorgos Chimonas (1938–2000), writer and translator</p><br>
<p>Nikos Karageorgiou, (born 9 December 1962) Manager of Greek football team Ergotelis, based in Heraklion, Crete</p><br>
<p>Anthi Karagianni, silver medalist in the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games; the city&#39;s Municipal stadium is named after her</p><br>
<p>Vasilis Karas, Greek singer</p><br>
<p>Nikos Kourkoulis, Greek singer</p><br>
<p>Leontios Petmezas, theorist, art historian, book critic, author and journalist.</p><br>
<p>Mitsos Partsalidis, first elected communist mayor in modern Greek history, back in 1 April 1934</p><br>
<p>Antigone Valakou, actress</p><br>
<p>Despina Vandi, Greek singer</p><br>
<p>Thanasis Euthimiadis, Greek actor</p><br>
<p>Anna Verouli, 1982 Gold Medalist, European Championship, javelin thrower</p><br>
<p>Zisis Vryzas (born 9 November 1973), former footballer</p><br>
<p>Theodoros Zagorakis (born 27 October 1971), former footballer, captain of national team of Greece-European champion 2004</p><br>
<p>Anna Gerasimou, Greek tennis player</p><br>
<p>Phoebe Calazans, Greek musician</p><br>
<p>Kleon Krantonellis, architect</p><br>
<p>Michele D&#39;Ambrogio, Marchese di Kavala, Italian architect</p><br>
<p>Muztagh Tower , is a mountain in the Baltoro Muztagh, part of the Karakoram range in Baltistan on the border of the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan. It stands between the basins of the Baltoro and Sarpo Laggo glaciers.</p><br>
<h2>Early prominence</h2><br>
<p>The Mustagh Tower was the subject of a photograph taken by Vittorio Sella during the 1909 Italian expedition to K2. Taken from the upper Baltoro, due southeast of the mountain, the twin summits were perfectly aligned and the mountain was seen as a slender tooth, and looked impregnable. In 1941, the photograph was featured in a book on mountaineering with the caption "The Last Citadel".</p><br>
<h2>First and second ascents</h2><br>
<p>Nearly fifty years after Sellas photo was taken, in 1956, his photograph inspired two expeditions to race for the first ascent. Both teams found their routes less steep than Sellas view had suggested. The British expedition, consisting of John Hartog, Joe Brown, Tom Patey and Ian McNaught-Davis, came from the Chagaran Glacier on the west side of the peak and reached the summit via the Northwest Ridge first on July 6, five days before the French team (:fr:Guido Magnone, :fr:Robert Paragot, André Contamine, Paul Keller) climbed the mountain from the east. The doctor François Florence waited for the two parties at the camp IV during 42 hours without a radio, when they went, reached the summit and came back to this camp.</p><br>
<h2>Notable ascents and attempts</h2><br>
<p>1984 Northwest Ridge 2nd of route, 3rd of peak by Mal Duff, Tony Brindle, Jon Tinker and Sandy Allan (all UK).</p><br>
<p>1990 The fourth ascent was made by Göran Kropp and Rafael Jensen.</p><br>
<p>A lower summit, 7,180 m was first climbed in 1984 by the northeast ridge.</p><br>
<p>2008 On 24 August 2008, the Northeast Face was climbed by two Slovenian alpinists, Pavle Kozjek and Dejan Miškovič. They bivouacked on the crest after 17 hours of climbing. They decided not to go to the summit because of strong wind. Just after they started descending, Kozjek fell to his death.</p><br>
<p>2012 On the day of 25 August, 56 years after the day when the first man climbed to the top of this mountain, three Russian alpinists made an ascent by the center Northeast Face. Sergei Nilov, Golovchenko Dmitry and Alexander Lange reached the top and made a new route. The ascent lasted for 17 days.</p><br>
<p>Lhotse  is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516 m, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is connected to the latter peak via the South Col. Lhotse means “South Peak” in Tibetan. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 m above sea level, the mountain comprises the smaller peaks Lhotse Middle  at 8,414 m, and Lhotse Shar at 8,383 m. The summit is on the border between Tibet and the Khumbu region of Nepal.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>An early attempt on Lhotse was by the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, headed by Norman Dyhrenfurth. It also included two Austrians (cartographer Erwin Schneider and Ernst Senn) and two Swiss (Bruno Spirig and Arthur Spöhel), and was the first expedition in the Everest area to include Americans (Fred Beckey, George Bell, and Richard McGowan). The Nepalese liaison officer was Gaya Nanda Vaidya. They were accompanied by 200 local porters and several climbing Sherpas. After a brief look at the dangerous southern approaches of Lhotse Shar, they turned their attention, during September and October, to the Western Cwm and the northwest face of Lhotse, on which they achieved an altitude of about 8,100 m. They were beaten back by unexpectedly strong wind and cold temperatures. Under Schneider&#39;s direction they completed the first map of the Everest area (1:50,000 photogrammetric). The expedition also made several short films covering local cultural topics, and made a number of first ascents of smaller peaks in the Khumbu region.</p><br>
<p>The main summit of Lhotse was first climbed on May 18, 1956, by the Swiss team of Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger from the Swiss Mount Everest/Lhotse Expedition.</p><br>
<p>On May 12, 1970, Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar.</p><br>
<p>Lhotse Middle remained, for a long time, the highest unclimbed named point on Earth; on May 23, 2001, its first ascent was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition.</p><br>
<p>The Lhotse standard climbing route follows the same path as Everest&#39;s South Col route up to the Yellow Band beyond Camp 3. After the Yellow Band the routes diverge with climbers bound for Everest taking a left over the Geneva Spur up to the South Col, while Lhotse climbers take a right further up the Lhotse face. The last part to the summit leads through the narrow "Reiss couloir" until the Lhotse main peak is reached.</p><br>
<p>By December 2008 371 climbers had summitted Lhotse while 20 died during their attempt. In 2016 Ang Furba Sherpa died from a fall while working on the mountain to set ropes.</p><br>
<h3>Timeline</h3><br>
<p>1955 Attempt by the International Himalayan Expedition.</p><br>
<p>1956 May 18 First ascent of the main summit: Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss.</p><br>
<p>1965 First attempt on Lhotse Shar by a Japanese expedition – reached 8,100 m.</p><br>
<p>1970 May 12 First ascent of Lhotse Shar by an Austrian expedition, Sepp Mayerl, Rolf Walter.</p><br>
<p>1973 First attempt on the South Face by a Japanese expedition led by Royei Uchida.</p><br>
<p>1974 December 25 First attempt of an 8,000 meter peak in winter. Polish climbers Andrzej Zawada and Andrzej Heinrich reached a height of 8,250 meters (27,067 ft.).</p><br>
<p>1975 Attempt on the South Face by Reinhold Messner.</p><br>
<p>1977 Second ascent of the main summit by a German expedition led by Dr. G. Schmatz.</p><br>
<p>1979 Ascent of the main summit by Jerzy Kukuczka without the use of supplemental oxygen. His first conquered eight-thousander, and eventually the last one to climb 10 years later.</p><br>
<p>1980 April 27 Attempt on Lhotse Shar by the French climber Nicolas Jaeger, last seen at 8,200 m.</p><br>
<p>1981 Attempt on the South Face by an Yugoslavian expedition led by Aleš Kunaver. Vanja Matijevec and Franček Knez reach the top of the Face but not the summit.</p><br>
<p>1981 April 30 First solo ascent without the use of supplement oxygen of the main summit by Hristo Prodanov, as part of the first Bulgarian Himalayan expedition.</p><br>
<p>1981 October 16 Second ascent of Lhotse Shar Switzerland, Colin Molines</p><br>
<p>1984 May 20/21 Members of the Czechoslovak expedition led by Ivan Galfy climb the South Face of Lhotse Shar for the first time (third overall ascent of Lhotse Shar).</p><br>
<p>1986 October 16 Ascent by Reinhold Messner, thus becoming the first person to climb all of the fourteen eight-thousanders.</p><br>
<p>1987 May 21 the Brazilian Otto William Gerstenberger Junior and the Swiss Haans Singera reach the summit.</p><br>
<p>1988 December 31 Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse.</p><br>
<p>1989 October 24 Jerzy Kukuczka perishes while climbing the South Face, when his secondhand rope breaks. An international expedition led by Reinhold Messner to climb the South Face was unsuccessful.</p><br>
<p>1990 April 24 Tomo Česen from Slovenia, makes first solo ascent of South Face of Lhotse. Controversy of his climb is later raised by the Soviet Himalayan expedition, claiming that his ascent would be impossible. Reinhold Messner would also raise his doubts.</p><br>
<p>1990 October 16 First ascent of South Face by the Soviet Himalayan expedition members Sergey Bershov and Gennadiy Karataev.</p><br>
<p>1994 May 13 Carlos Carsolio got mountaintop solo, introducing a world speed record at 23 h 50 min rise from Base Camp to the summit.</p><br>
<p>1996 Chantal Mauduit becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Lhotse.</p><br>
<p>1997 Attempt to climb Lhotse Middle via the ridge between the main summit and Lhotse Shar by a Russian expedition, led by Vladimir Bashkirov, who died in the attempt, just below the main summit.</p><br>
<p>1999 Attempt to climb Lhotse Middle and traverse the three summits by a Russian team, failed due to bad weather.</p><br>
<p>2001 May 23 First ascent of Lhotse Middle by a Russian expedition.</p><br>
<p>2007 Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepali mountaineer and two-time summiter of Mt. Everest, falls to her death from Lhotse at 8000 m</p><br>
<p>2011 May 14–15, Michael Horst, American guide, summits Mount Everest and Lhotse without descending below Camp IV (South Col) with less than 21 hours elapsing between the two summits.</p><br>
<p>2011 On May 20, Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai became the youngest climber ever to summit Lhotse, aged 17 years, 11 months and 16 days.</p><br>
<h3>Lhotse Face</h3><br>
<p>The western flank of Lhotse is known as the Lhotse Face. Any climber bound for the South Col on Everest must climb this 1,125 m wall of glacial blue ice. This face rises at 40 and 50 degree pitches with the occasional 80 degree bulges. High-altitude climbing Sherpas and the lead climbers will set fixed ropes up this wall of ice. Climbers and porters need to establish a good rhythm of foot placement and pulling themselves up the ropes using their jumars. Two rocky sections called the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur interrupt the icy ascent on the upper part of the face.</p><br>
<p>On May 19, 2016 the high-altitude mountain worker Ang Furba Sherpa died when he slipped and fell down Lhotse face.</p><br>
<h3>From Gokyo Ri</h3><br>
<p>Fallen Leaf Lake, once called Dead Lake, is a lake in Camas, Washington. Once home to Dead Lake Cemetery, it and the area surrounding are now fenced off to the public. This property had been owned by the local Camas paper mill for decades. Currently, the mill is owned by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. In 2011, the property surrounding Fallen Leaf Lake was purchased from Koch RP Holdings I, LLC by the for use as a city park.</p><br>
<p>The lake has been the source of rumor and intrigue for generations, concerning its depth, history and contents. One of the more interesting rumors are that the depth has never been accurately measured due to instrument limitations. Another is that the lake contains the remains of drowning victims which have never been found.</p><br>
<p>The Linge is a river in the Betuwe that is 99.8 km long, which makes it one of the longest rivers that flow entirely within the Netherlands.</p><br>
<p>It starts near the village Doornenburg near the German border. A legend tells us that if there will be no more pigs grazing at the castle of Doornenburg, the river will dry out. The Linge flows to Zoelen, a small village north of Tiel and from there on meanders through the Betuwe, to end in the Boven Merwede near Gorinchem. Until Geldermalsen the river is little more than a small, canalised stream. From Geldermalsen on however, it begins to look like a real river complete with dikes and small floodplains. The Linge provides idyllic spots at old towns like Asperen and Leerdam as both have the city walls still in shape at the side of the river.</p><br>
<p>The river was once a branch of the river Waal, being cut off at Tiel in 1307 or thereabouts (some traces of this can still be seen). The river is navigable for small vessels and is a popular destination for boaters. The banks of the river are important breeding grounds for waterfowl.</p><br>
<p>This river used to be an important trade route in old days. This role has nowadays been taken by the Rhine and Waal rivers.</p><br>
<p>Railroad bridges (with nearest train station on the left and right bank):</p><br>
<p>between Elst and Arnhem</p><br>
<p>between Opheusden and Kesteren</p><br>
<p>between Kesteren and Tiel</p><br>
<p>between Geldermalsen and Culemborg/Beesd</p><br>
<p>The river crosses seven motorways:</p><br>
<p>Four times the A15 (Rotterdam-Nijmegen)</p><br>
<p>Once the A2 (Utrecht-Eindhoven)</p><br>
<p>Once the A50 (Arnhem-Eindhoven)</p><br>
<p>Once the A325 (Arnhem-Nijmegen)</p><br>
<p>The riverbanks in the Betuwe are lined with apple orchards, which make it popular with tourists, particularly in spring; the fruit trees are in blossom. In April, a walking tour is organised in support of the Red Cross, the so-called Rode Kruis Bloesemtocht.</p><br>
<p>Barro Colorado Island  is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form the lake in 1913. When the waters rose, they covered a significant part of the existing tropical forest, but certain hilltops remained as islands in the middle of the lake. It has an area of 15.6 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>The island was set aside as a nature reserve on April 17, 1923 by the USA Government. Initially administered by the Panama Canal Company under the direction of James Zetek, since 1946 Barro Colorado Island has been administered by the Smithsonian, together with five adjacent peninsulas, as the Barro Colorado Nature Monument (BCNM). It is among the most-studied areas of tropical forest in the world. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) has a permanent research center on the island, dedicated to studying tropical forest ecosystems. Because the Island&#39;s diverse ecosystem has been very little altered by humans, Barro Colorado has been studied for over eighty years within a great variety of biological disciplines. Only the larger fauna disappeared from Barro Colorado after the lake was flooded in 1914. Many scientific studies have been conducted to document the changes in the species composition of the island.</p><br>
<p>Hundreds of scientists conduct research projects on Barro Colorado Island every year.</p><br>
<p>In 1978, Thomas Croat published his Flora of Barro Colorado Island documenting the plant species on the island. In 1999, Egbert Leigh, who first visited the island in 1966, and now spends half his week there, published Tropical Forest Ecology: A View from Barro Colorado Island. In 2002 The Tapir&#39;s Morning Bath by Elizabeth Royte was published, chronicling the lives and work of scientists working on the island.</p><br>
<p>National Geographic produced a documentary featuring the Barro Colorado Island titled Worlds Last Great Places: Rain Forests released in 2007. The first selection, titled Panama Wild: Rain Forest of Life features scientists from the Smithsonians Tropical Research Institute and also highlights the battles for survival and partnerships among species within this richly diverse ecosystem.</p><br>
<h2>Forest dynamics plot</h2><br>
<p>In 1980, a 50-ha forest dynamics plot was established on BCI by researchers from STRI and Princeton University. The first census was conducted in 1982 and recorded every free-standing tree and shrub in the plot of more than 1-cm dbh, totalling approximately 240,000 stems of 303 different species. It has been recensused every 5 years since 1985, allowing scientists to study the normal dynamics of the forest, as well as extreme events, such as El Niño. Another 50 ha plot was later established in the Pasoh forest reserve, Malaysia in 1987, allowing the dynamics of two distinct tropical forests to be compared.</p><br>
<h2>Visiting Barro Colorado Island</h2><br>
<p>Visitors are allowed on Barro Colorado Island. Access is, however, regulated by STRI. To visit BCI, you must make a reservation with the staff and arrange for a tour. Tours generally include transportation to and from the island (often by boat from Gamboa), a 2–3 hour guided hike, lunch, and a visit to the museum. Hikes through the island offer up the opportunity to spot several creatures, including monkeys, anteaters, birds, and insects.</p><br>
<p>Alum Bay is a bay near the westernmost point of the Isle of Wight, England, within close sight of the Needles rock formation. Of geological interest and a tourist attraction, the bay is noted for its multi-coloured sand cliffs.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Alum Bay is the location of a classic sequence of upper Paleocene and Eocene beds of soft sands and clays, separated by an unconformity from the underlying Cretaceous Chalk Formation that forms the adjoining headland of West High Down. Due to geological folding of the Alpine orogeny, the strata in the main section of the bay are near vertical, with younger rocks with progressively lower dips to the west. The sands are coloured due to oxidised iron compounds formed under different conditions.</p><br>
<p>Alum Bay Chine begins as a small wooded valley descending eastward from the junction of the B3322 and the road to Headon Hall. It soon broadens into the clay ravine through which the path and chairlift from Needles Park descend to the beach.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>On the clifftop there is an amusement park with fairground rides, souvenir shops and a cafe. During the summer season a chair lift takes tourists to and from the pebble beach below. Alternatively, a footpath leads to the beach via Alum Bay Chine. From the beach boat trips frequently leave to tour the Needles.</p><br>
<h2>Alum Bay Sands</h2><br>
<p>A traditional product of Alum Bay, and a fixture of Isle of Wight tourist shops, is the creation of ornaments using the coloured sands layered in vials and jars. The sands also were used for sand painting pictures, a popular craft in Victorian times known as marmotinto.</p><br>
<p>In the past, visitors to the bay could climb the foot of the cliffs and dig out the sand themselves, but are now discouraged from doing so due to the dangers of erosion. The Needles Park has a facility where people can make bottles of sand, using sand gathered from the frequent rockfalls. In the past it was possible to buy Alum Bay coloured sand by mail order and make one&#39;s own sand pictures and bottles at home.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>Southern Vectis run bus services from Alum Bay. There are two summer only services, namely the Needles Tour, and the Island Coaster service. The Needles Tour is on an open top bus.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>On a map of the area produced around 1590, the bay is named Whytfylde Chine. It is possible that Alum Bay was once fed by a Chine by this name, which has long since eroded away.</p><br>
<p>Alum Bay sand includes extremely pure white silica, which was once extracted for glass and pottery manufacture.</p><br>
<p>Guglielmo Marconi moved to Alum Bay in 1897 to experiment with radio. He installed a 40-metre radio antenna outside the Needles Hotel in Alum Bay. Initially establishing communication with ships offshore, by early 1898 he had successfully communicated with stations at Madeira House, Bournemouth and the Haven Hotel, Poole 20 miles away.</p><br>
<p>Lake Nyos is a crater lake in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, located about 315 km northwest of Yaoundé in Africa. Nyos is a deep lake high on the flank of an inactive volcano in the Oku volcanic plain along the Cameroon line of volcanic activity. A volcanic dam impounds the lake waters.</p><br>
<p>A pocket of magma lies beneath the lake and leaks carbon dioxide into the water, changing it into carbonic acid. Nyos is one of only three known exploding lakes to be saturated with carbon dioxide in this way, the others being Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo.</p><br>
<p>In 1986, possibly as the result of a landslide, Lake Nyos suddenly emitted a large cloud of, which suffocated 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. Though not completely unprecedented, it was the first known large-scale asphyxiation caused by a natural event. To prevent a recurrence, a degassing tube that siphons water from the bottom layers of water to the top allowing the carbon dioxide to leak in safe quantities was installed in 2001, and two additional tubes were installed in 2011.</p><br>
<p>Today, the lake also poses a threat because its natural wall is weakening. A geological tremor could cause this natural levée to give way, allowing water to rush into downstream villages all the way into Nigeria and allowing large amounts of carbon dioxide to escape.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Lake Nyos lies within the Oku Volcanic Field, located near the northern boundary of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a zone of volcanoes and other tectonic activity that extends southwest to the Mt. Cameroon stratovolcano. The field consists of volcanic maars and basaltic scoria cones.</p><br>
<h2>Formation and geologic history</h2><br>
<p>Lake Nyos is located south of the dirt road from Wum, about 30 km to the west, to Nkambé in the east. Villages along the road in the vicinity of the lake include Cha, Nyos, Munji, Djingbe, and Subum. The lake is 50 km from the Nigerian border to the north, and lies on the northern slopes of the Massif du Mbam, drained by streams running north, then northwest, to the Katsina-Ala River in Nigeria which is part of the Benue River basin.</p><br>
<p>Lake Nyos fills a roughly circular maar in the Oku Volcanic Field, an explosion crater caused when a lava flow interacted violently with groundwater. The maar is believed to have formed in an eruption about 400 years ago, and is 1,800 m (5,900 ft) across and 208 m (682 ft) deep. The area has been volcanically active for millions of years—after South America and Africa were split apart by plate tectonics about 110 million years ago, West Africa also experienced rifting, although to a lesser degree. The rift is known as the Mbéré Rift Valley, and crustal extension has allowed magma to reach the surface along a line extending through Cameroon. Mount Cameroon also lies on this fault line. Lake Nyos is surrounded by old lava flows and pyroclastic deposits.</p><br>
<p>Although Nyos is situated within an extinct volcano, magma still exists beneath it. Approximately 80 km directly below the lake resides a pool of magma, which releases carbon dioxide and other gases; the gases then travel upward through the earth. The fumes then dissolve in the natural springs encircling the lake, ultimately rising to the surface of the water and leaching into the lake.</p><br>
<p>The lake waters are held in place by a natural dam composed of volcanic rock. At its narrowest point, the wall measures 40 m high and 45 m wide.</p><br>
<h2>Gas saturation</h2><br>
<p>Lake Nyos is one of only three lakes in the world known to be saturated with carbon dioxide—the others are Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo. A magma chamber beneath the region is an abundant source of carbon dioxide, which seeps up through the lake bed, charging the waters of Lake Nyos with an estimated 90 million tonnes of.</p><br>
<p>Lake Nyos is thermally stratified, with layers of warm, less dense water near the surface floating on the colder, denser water layers near the lakes bottom. Over long periods, carbon dioxide gas seeping into the cold water at the lakes bottom is dissolved in great amounts.</p><br>
<p>Most of the time, the lake is stable and the remains in solution in the lower layers. However, over time the water becomes supersaturated, and if an event such as an earthquake or landslide occurs, large amounts of may suddenly come out of solution.</p><br>
<h2>1986 disaster</h2><br>
<p>Although a sudden outgassing of had occurred at Lake Monoun in 1984, a similar threat from Lake Nyos was not anticipated. However, on August 21, 1986, a limnic eruption occurred at Lake Nyos, triggering the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons (some sources state as much as 1.6 million tons) of. This gas cloud rose at nearly 100 km/h and</p><br>
<p>Scientists concluded from evidence that a 100 m fountain of water and foam formed at the surface of the lake. The huge amount of water rising suddenly caused much turbulence in the water, spawning a wave of at least 25 m that would scour the shore of one side.</p><br>
<p>It is not known what triggered the catastrophic outgassing. Most geologists suspect a landslide, but some believe that a small volcanic eruption may have occurred on the bed of the lake. A third possibility is that cool rainwater falling on one side of the lake triggered the overturn. Others still believe there was a small earthquake, but as witnesses did not report feeling any tremors on the morning of the disaster, this hypothesis is unlikely. Whatever the cause, the event resulted in the rapid mixing of the supersaturated deep water with the upper layers of the lake, where the reduced pressure allowed the stored to effervesce out of solution.</p><br>
<p>It is believed that about 1.2 km3 of gas was released. The normally blue waters of the lake turned a deep red after the outgassing, due to iron-rich water from the deep rising to the surface and being oxidised by the air. The level of the lake dropped by about a metre and trees near the lake were knocked down.</p><br>
<h2>Degassing</h2><br>
<p>The scale of the 1986 disaster led to much study on how a recurrence could be prevented. Estimates of the rate of carbon dioxide entering the lake suggested that outgassings could occur every 10–30 years, though a recent study shows that release of water from the lake, caused by erosion of the natural barrier that keeps in the lakes water, could in turn reduce pressure on the lakes carbon dioxide and cause a gas escape much sooner.</p><br>
<p>Several researchers independently proposed the installation of degassing columns from rafts in the lake. The principle is simple: a pump lifts water from the bottom of the lake, heavily saturated with, until the loss of pressure begins releasing the gas from the diphasic fluid and thus makes the process self-powered. In 1992 at Monoun, and in 1995 at Nyos, a French team directed by Michel Halbwachs demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. In 2001, the USA Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance funded a permanent installation at Nyos.</p><br>
<p>In 2011, two additional pipes were installed by Michel Halbwachs and his French-Cameroonian team to assure the complete degassing of Lake Nyos.</p><br>
<p>Following the Lake Nyos tragedy, scientists investigated other African lakes to see if a similar phenomenon could happen elsewhere. Lake Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo, 2,000 times larger than Lake Nyos, was also found to be supersaturated, and geologists found evidence for outgassing events around the lake about every thousand years. The eruption of nearby Mount Nyiragongo in 2002 sent lava flowing into the lake, raising fears that a gas eruption could be triggered, but it was not, as the flow of lava stopped well before it got near the bottom layers of the lake, where the gas is maintained in solution by the water pressure.</p><br>
<h2>Weakening dam</h2><br>
<p>In 2005, Isaac Njilah, a geologist at the University of Yaoundé, suggested that the natural dam of volcanic rock that keeps in the lakes waters could collapse in the near future. Erosion has worn the dam away, causing holes and pockets to develop in the dams upper layer, and water already passes through the lower section. Meanwhile, landslides have reduced dam strength on the outside. Seismic activity caused by the lake&#39;s volcanic foundation could thus cause the lake wall to give way, resulting in up to 50 million cubic metres (1.8 billion cu ft) of water flooding downhill into areas of the Northwest Province and the Nigerian states of Taraba and Benue. Njilah estimates that the area is home to more than 10,000 people.</p><br>
<p>The Cameroonian government, speaking through Gregory Tanyi-Leke of the Institute of Mining and Geological Research, acknowledges the weakening wall but denies that it presents any immediate threat. A United Nations team led by Olaf van Duin and Nisa Nurmohamed of the Netherlands Ministry of Transport and Public Works inspected the dam over three days in September 2005 and confirmed that the natural lip had weakened. Van Duin believed that the dam would breach within the next 10 to 20 years.</p><br>
<p>One possible means of averting such a catastrophe would be to strengthen the lake wall, though this would take much time and money. Engineers could also introduce a channel to allow excess water to drain; if the water level were lowered by about 20 m, the pressure on the wall would be reduced significantly.</p><br>
<h2>Return of population</h2><br>
<p>Despite the risks from carbon dioxide and collapse of the lake&#39;s retaining wall, the area is being resettled. Settlers cite the wish to return to ancestral lands (although some are newcomers) and the great fertility of the land as reasons for their return.</p><br>
<p>Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 4,421 m. The east slope is in the Inyo National Forest in Inyo County.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The summit of Mount Whitney is on the Sierra Crest and the Great Basin Divide. It lies near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. The peak rises dramatically above the Owens Valley, sitting 10,778 ft or just over two miles above the town of Lone Pine 15 miles to the east, in the Owens Valley.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is partially dome-shaped, with its famously jagged ridges extending to the sides. Mount Whitney is above the tree line and has an alpine climate and ecology. Very few plants grow near the summit: one example is the Skypilot, a cushion plant that grows low to the ground.</p><br>
<p>The only animals are transient, such as the butterfly Parnassius phoebus and the gray-crowned rosy finch.</p><br>
<h3>Hydrology</h3><br>
<p>The mountain is the highest point on the Great Basin Divide. Waterways on the west side of the peak flow into Whitney Creek, which flows into the Kern River. The Kern River terminates in the Tulare Basin. During very wet years, water overflows from the Tulare Basin into the San Joaquin River which flows to the Pacific Ocean. From the east, water from Mount Whitney flows to Lone Pine Creek, which joins the Owens River, which in turn terminates at Owens Lake, an endorheic lake of the Great Basin.</p><br>
<h3>Elevation measurements</h3><br>
<p>The estimated elevation of the summit of Mount Whitney has changed over the years. The technology of elevation measurement has become more refined and, more importantly, the vertical coordinate system has changed. The peak was commonly said to be at 14,494 ft and this is the elevation stamped on the USGS brass benchmark disk on the summit. An older plaque on the summit (sheet metal with black lettering on white enamel) reads "elevation 14,496.811 feet" but this was estimated using the older vertical datum (NGVD29) from 1929. Since then the shape of the Earth (the geoid) has been estimated more accurately. Using a new vertical datum established in 1988 (NAVD88) the benchmark is now estimated to be at 14,505 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The eastern slope of Whitney is far steeper than its western slope because the entire Sierra Nevada is the result of a fault-block that is analogous to a cellar door: the door is hinged on the west and is slowly rising on the east.</p><br>
<p>The rise is caused by a normal fault system that runs along the eastern base of the Sierra, below Mount Whitney. Thus, the granite that forms Mount Whitney is the same as the granite that forms the Alabama Hills, thousands of feet lower down. The raising of Whitney (and the downdrop of the Owens Valley) is due to the same geological forces that cause the Basin and Range Province: the crust of much of the intermontane west is slowly being stretched.</p><br>
<p>The granite that forms Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada batholith. In Cretaceous time, masses of molten rock that originated from subduction rose underneath what is now Whitney and solidified underground to form large expanses of granite.</p><br>
<h2>Exploration history</h2><br>
<p>In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of California and benefactor of the survey. During the same expedition, geologist Clarence King attempted to climb Whitney from its west side, but stopped just short. In 1871, King returned to climb what he believed to be Whitney, but having taken a different approach, he actually summited nearby Mount Langley. Upon learning of his mistake in 1873, King finally completed his own first ascent of Whitney, but did so a month too late to claim the first recorded ascent. Just a month earlier, on August 18, 1873, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas, all of nearby Lone Pine, had become the first to reach the highest summit in the contiguous United States. As they climbed the mountain during a fishing trip to nearby Kern Canyon, they called the mountain Fisherman&#39;s Peak.</p><br>
<p>In 1881 Samuel Pierpont Langley, founder of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory remained for some time on the summit, making daily observations on the solar heat. Accompanying Langley in 1881 was another party consisting of Judge William B. Wallace of Visalia, W. A. Wright and Reverend Frederick Wales.</p><br>
<p>Wallace later wrote in his memoirs</p><br>
<p>that "The Pi Ute Indians called Mt. Whitney "Too-man-i-goo-yah," which means "the very old man." They believe that the Great Spirit who presides over the destiny of their people once had his home in that mountain." The spelling Too-man-i-goo-yah is a transliteration from the indigenous Paiute Mono language. Other variations are Too-man-go-yah</p><br>
<p>and Tumanguya.</p><br>
<p>In 1891, the United States Geological Survey&#39;s Board on Geographic Names decided to recognize the earlier name Mount Whitney. Despite losing out on their preferred name, residents of Lone Pine financed the first trail to the summit, engineered by Gustave Marsh, and completed on July 22, 1904. Just four days later, the new trail enabled the first recorded death on Whitney. Having hiked the trail, USA Bureau of Fisheries employee Byrd Surby was struck and killed by lightning while eating lunch on the exposed summit. In response to this event, Marsh began work on the stone hut that would become the Smithsonian Institution Shelter, and completed it in 1909.</p><br>
<p>A movement after World War II began to rename the mountain for Winston Churchill. However, the name Mount Whitney has persisted.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing routes</h2><br>
<h3>Trails</h3><br>
<p>The most popular route to the summit is by way of the Mount Whitney Trail which starts at Whitney Portal, at an elevation of 8,360 ft, 13 mi west of the town of Lone Pine. The hike is about 22 mi round trip with an elevation gain of over 6,100 ft. Permits are required year round, and to prevent overuse a limited number of permits are issued by the Forest Service between May 1 and November 1.</p><br>
<p>The Forest Service holds an annual lottery for hiking and backpacking permits on the Mount Whitney Trail. Applications are accepted from February 1 through March 15. Any permits left over after the lottery is completed typically go on sale April 1.</p><br>
<p>Most hikers do the trip in two days which is still considered a strenuous endeavor. Those in good physical condition sometimes attempt to reach the summit and return to Whitney Portal in one day, thus requiring only a somewhat easier-to-obtain "day use" permit rather than the overnight permit, and prohibiting the use of overnight camping gear (sleeping bag and tent). This is considered an "extreme" day hike, which normally involves leaving Whitney Portal before sunrise and 12 to 18 hours of strenuous hiking, while struggling with altitude sickness, cold air, and occasionally treacherous surface conditions (because snow and/or ice are normally present on parts of the trail, except for a short period from early July to late September).</p><br>
<p>Longer approaches to Whitney arrive at its west side, connecting to the Mount Whitney Trail near the summit by way of the John Muir Trail.</p><br>
<h3>Scrambles</h3><br>
<p>The "Mountaineer&#39;s Route", a gully on the north side of the east face first climbed by John Muir, is considered a scramble, (PD+). The fastest recorded time up this route to the summit and back to the portal is 3 hours 10 minutes, by Jason Lakey of Bishop.</p><br>
<h3>Technical climbs</h3><br>
<p>The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of climbing challenges. The East Face route, first climbed in 1931, is one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America routes and involves technical free climbing but is mostly class 4. Other routes range up to grade 5.10d.</p><br>
<p>South of the main summit there are a series of minor summits that are completely inconspicuous from the west but appear as a series of "needles" from the east. The routes on these include some of the finest big-wall climbing in the high Sierra. Two of the needles were named after participants in an 1880 scientific expedition to the mountain. Keeler Needle was named for James Keeler and Day Needle was named for William Cathcart Day. The latter has now been renamed Crooks Peak after Hulda Crooks who hiked up Mount Whitney every year until well into her nineties.</p><br>
<p>Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake approximately 1.8 square miles in area. It is notable for being the headwaters of the Mississippi River, and is located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota. The lake is within Itasca State Park and has an average depth of 20 to 35 feet , and is 1,475 ft  above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The Ojibwe name for "Lake Itasca" is Omashkoozo-zaagaigan (Elk Lake); this was changed by Henry Schoolcraft to "Itasca", coined from a combination of the Latin words veritas ("truth") and &#39;caput ("head"), though it is sometimes misinterpreted as "true head". It is one of several examples of pseudo-Indian place names created by Schoolcraft.</p><br>
<h2>Source of the Mississippi River</h2><br>
<p>It is the primary source of the Mississippi River which flows 2,340 mi (3,770 km) to the Gulf of Mexico; There are several tributaries that flow (most or all of the year) into the lake, one of which, by most modern definitions, as with the Nile River and Amazon River, would be considered the actual source, though less dramatic than the lakes outflow. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the rivers primary source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river.</p><br>
<p>The western arm of the lake is fed by two streams on its south end. Nicollet Creek starts in a nearby spring. Another small stream leads into Itasca from Elk Lake, which in turn is fed by two other streams. The Ojibwa called Elk Lake and the stream Bekegamaag-zaaga&#39;igan and Bekegamaag-ziibi (Sidelake Lake and Sidelake River), respectively. In 1887 Williard Glazier promoted a campaign to consider Elk Lake, which he called Glazier Lake, as the true source of the Mississippi. Its longest tributary originates at Little Elk Lake, which is 100 ft (30 m) higher in elevation and 11 km upstream from the Lake Itasca outflow, at 47.158 N 95.224 W and in the Mississippi watershed.</p><br>
<p>Jacob V. Brower, a land surveyor and president of the Minnesota Historical Society, after spending five months exploring the lakes, claimed that the lakes and streams further south of Lake Itasca were not the true source of the Mississippi because they were "too small." Modern explorers and geographers, however, have used the tiniest trickles of water to determine the source of the Amazon, Nile, and other rivers. Brower was to campaign aggressively to save the lake from logging. On April 21, 1891, the Minnesota Legislature officially made it a state park by a margin of one vote. Brower is now called the "Father of Lake Itasca" and the visitor center is named in his honor.</p><br>
<p>The channel of the Mississippi as it emerges from the lake was bulldozed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, to create a more "pleasant experience" for visitors. The project included the draining of the surrounding swamp, the digging of a new channel, and the installation of a man-made rock rapids. Wading across the rapids in bare feet is a popular recreational activity for summer tourists.</p><br>
<h2>Uses</h2><br>
<p>The lake is home to the University of Minnesota&#39;s Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories campus, which offers summer courses and field research work year round. The campus was established in 1909 and is composed of cabins for the students and faculty, laboratories, classrooms, offices, a computer lab, and dining and recreational facilities. The campus also has WIFI in several buildings and within the cabins. The head of the biological station is Dr. Dave Biesboer.</p><br>
<p>When it was founded the Lake Itasca region was able to claim that it was the juncture of the three great habitats of North America: the Great Plains, the Deciduous Forest of the south, and the Coniferous Forest of the north. Remnants of all three may be observed in the park.</p><br>
<p>The unique geography of the Lake Itasca region has found its way onto the classical music concert stage. Composer Ferde Grofe depicted the birthplace of the Mississippi River and the Native Americans who reside there in his popular classical epic the Mississippi Suite.</p><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods  is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the USA state of Minnesota. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and the town of Angle Township can only be reached from the rest of Minnesota by crossing the lake or by traveling through Canada. The Northwest Angle is the northernmost part of the contiguous United States. Its "northwesternmost point" served as a problematic landmark in treaties defining the international border.</p><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods is fed by the Rainy River, Shoal Lake, Kakagi Lake and other smaller rivers. The lake drains into the Winnipeg River and then into Lake Winnipeg. Ultimately, its outflow goes north through the Nelson River to Hudson Bay.</p><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods is over 70 mi long and wide, and contains more than 14,552 islands and 65,000 mi of shoreline. It would amount to the longest coastline of any Canadian lake, except that the lake is not entirely within Canada. Lake of the Woods is also the sixth largest freshwater lake located (at least partially) in the United States, after the five Great Lakes.</p><br>
<p>The lake&#39;s islands provide nesting habitats for the piping plover and large numbers of American white pelicans and as recently as the early 20th century also provided calving habitat to boreal woodland caribou. There are also several hundred nesting pairs of bald eagles in this area.</p><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods, a translation of the original French name lac des Bois, was so named from its wooded setting. However, it may have been a mistranslation of the Indian name. "The earliest name we find the lake known by is that given by Verandrye in his journey in 1731. He says it was called Lake Minitie (Cree Ministik) or Des Bois. (1) The former of these names, Minitie, seems to be Ojibway, and to mean Lake of the Islands, probably referring to the large number of islands found in the northern half of the lake. The other name (2) Lac des Bois, or Lake of the Woods, seems to have been a mis-translation of the Indian name (ojibway) by which the Lake was known."</p><br>
<h2>Governance</h2><br>
<p>The construction of dams at the Lake of the Woods outlets in present-day Kenora in the late 19th century led to concerns over high and low water levels on the lake early in the 20th century. The federal governments of Canada and the United States referred the matter to the International Joint Commission (IJC) in 1912. In 1917 the IJC recommended the creation of control boards and the operating conditions they would apply to lake level management. The first of these boards, the Lake of the Woods Control Board (LWCB), was established by Canadian Order-in-Council in 1919. Two additional acts provided statutory establishment of the LWCB, defined its jurisdiction and powers, and provided for board members appointed by Canada and Ontario: the Lake of the Woods Control Board Act, Canada, 1921, the Lake of the Woods Control Board Act, Ontario, 1922. In 1922 the Canada-Ontario-Manitoba Tripartite Agreement was signed by the respective governments. Initially only Canada and Ontario appointed members to the board as, at that time, natural resources in Manitoba were administered by Canada. In 1958, having gained control over its natural resources, Manitoba passed its own Lake of the Woods Control Board Act. That same year, Canada and Ontario amended their original versions of the acts. As a result of these legislative changes, the LWCB now has one member appointed by Canada, two appointed by Ontario, and one appointed by Manitoba.</p><br>
<p>Following the IJC recommendations of 1917, discussions between the federal governments of Canada and the United States resulted in the 1925 Canada/USA Convention and Protocol regarding Lake of the Woods. This treaty established the water level operating range on Lake of the Woods, defined the purpose and general mode of operation, and provided for two boards to control regulation. The previously established Canadian LWCB was to regulate the lake on an ongoing basis, but its decisions were to be subject to approval by an International Lake of the Woods Control Board (ILWCB) whenever lake levels rose above or fell below certain limits. In cases where agreement could not be reached between Canadian and American members of the international board, the disputed matter would be referred to the IJC for final decision. The International Lake of the Woods Control Board, however, is not a board created by the IJC. The board&#39;s members (one American and one Canadian) are appointed by the respective federal governments.</p><br>
<p>Shoal Lake is adjacent to the Lake of the Woods and is the source for the City of Winnipeg drinking water via the Greater Winnipeg Water District aqueduct, so the administration of the lake is a continuing interest of the governments of Winnipeg and Manitoba.</p><br>
<h2>Communities near Lake of the Woods</h2><br>
<h3>Ontario</h3><br>
<p>Northwest Angle 33 First Nation</p><br>
<p>Big Grassy First Nation</p><br>
<p>French Portage Narrows</p><br>
<p>Kenora</p><br>
<p>Minaki</p><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods</p><br>
<p>Anishnaabeg of Naongashiing First Nation</p><br>
<p>Naotkamegwanning First Nation</p><br>
<p>Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls</p><br>
<p>Obashkaandagaang Bay First Nation</p><br>
<p>OchiichagweBabigoIning Ojibway Nation</p><br>
<p>Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation</p><br>
<p>Rainy River</p><br>
<p>Northwest Angle 37 First Nation</p><br>
<p>Anishinabe of Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation</p><br>
<h3>Manitoba</h3><br>
<p>Middlebro</p><br>
<p>Buffalo Point First Nation</p><br>
<h3>Minnesota</h3><br>
<p>Angle Township</p><br>
<p>Hackett</p><br>
<p>Baudette</p><br>
<p>Warroad</p><br>
<p>Wheeler&#39;s Point</p><br>
<h2>Lands within Lake of the Woods</h2><br>
<h3>Aulneau Peninsula</h3><br>
<p>The largest land feature in Lake of the Woods is the Aulneau Peninsula. It is connected to the mainland with a tiny neck of land at its southeast corner, but a canal (Turtle Portage 49.1972528&deg; latitude, -94.1239568&deg; longitude ) was cut through at this point, effectively making the Aulneau an island. The canal has now been filled back in. A manually run portage for small- to medium-sized boats is in its place. The Aulneau is approximately twenty miles long (32 km) and 10 mi wide. It contains within it over eighty lakes, the largest of which is Arrow Lake, with thirteen islands in it.</p><br>
<p>The Aulneau Peninsula was named after the Jesuit Father Jean-Pierre Aulneau, a French Catholic priest, who was killed by natives on 8 June 1736 on Lake of the Woods. The Catholic Church in Warroad, Minnesota, is named Father Aulneau Memorial Church in his honor.</p><br>
<h3>Other islands</h3><br>
<p>Big Island</p><br>
<p>Bigsby Island</p><br>
<p>Brush Island, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Chapel Island An island about 15 km out from Kenora, where a chapel once stood. When the natives would canoe from end to end for purposes of trading. Chapel Island was a rest stop where the white man would try and convert the Native population, and offered a salvation in case of bad weather. The chapel has since burnt down, and very few remains remain.</p><br>
<p>Copeland Island, otherwise known as Camp Stephens. A Winnipeg YM-YWCA summer camp.</p><br>
<p>Flag Island, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Garden Island, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Little Oak Island, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Magnuson&#39;s Island, site of the restored Fort St. Charles</p><br>
<p>Massacre Island, Ontario a small island in the middle of the lake, the possible site where twenty French men as well as a group of Cree traders were beheaded in the mid 18th century by Sioux. The site is marked by a large wooden cross in the middle of the island. This incident sparked decades of war between the Sioux and the Ojibway, allies of both the French and the Cree.</p><br>
<p>Oak Island, Minnesota</p><br>
<p>Penasse Island, site of American Point, formerly the most northern post office in the contiguous United States</p><br>
<p>Sultana Mine A mine located on an island in the northern area of the lake. Mine in the late 1800s, before an accident shut down the mine. Lore Stories about it being haunted by miners exist to this day.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation on Lake of the Woods</h2><br>
<p>Tourism is a large part of the local economy of Lake of the Woods, and there are many recreational opportunities available on the lake and in the surrounding countryside. Much of the lake is fairly remote, but resorts and equipment outfitters offer options for those who do not have access to their own boats and equipment.</p><br>
<h3>Camping</h3><br>
<p>Minnesota&#39;s Zippel Bay State Park offers a wide variety of services including campsites, toilet facilities, a marina with access to the Zippel River, and a beach. Minnesota and Ontario both offer state sanctioned parks and campsites, which can be located through the respective governments. Backcountry campers can locate a prospective campsite on Lake of the Woods by boat, landing and examining the site in person. There is abundant wildlife even on the small islands on the lake.</p><br>
<p>Numerous marinas and resorts on the lake provide accommodation and dining, houseboat rentals, nautical charts, camping and fishing advice, and knowledge on how to most enjoy the lake.</p><br>
<h3>Fishing</h3><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods is home to walleye, northern pike, perch, sauger, crappie, panfish, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, lake trout, lake sturgeon, and muskellunge.</p><br>
<h3>Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club</h3><br>
<p>Lake of the Woods is also home to the Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club.</p><br>
<p>Lake Saint Francis  is a lake which borders southeastern Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern New York State. It is located on the Saint Lawrence River between Lake Ontario and Montreal. The lake forms part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.</p><br>
<p>The city of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is located at the east end of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Lac Saint-François National Wildlife Area, located on the south shore of the lake, protects wetlands located on the shores of the lake. This area provides important habitat for Redhead ducks and other waterfowl. Thousands of migrating waterfowl stop over in this region. In 1987, it was recognized as a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention.</p><br>
<p>The Charlottenburgh Marsh, including Cooper Marsh, is an important wetland area located on the north shore of the lake.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert  is an arid rain-shadow desert and the driest desert in North America. It is located in the southwestern United States, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada, and it occupies a total of 47,877 square miles. Very small areas also extend into Utah and Arizona. Its boundaries are generally noted by the presence of Joshua trees, which are native only to the Mojave Desert and are considered an indicator species, and it is believed to support an additional 1,750 to 2,000 species of plants. The central part of the desert is sparsely populated, while its peripheries support large communities such as San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Lancaster, Palmdale, Victorville, and St. George.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert is bordered by the Great Basin Desert to its north and the Sonoran Desert to its south and east. Topographical boundaries include the Tehachapi Mountains to the west, and the San Gabriel Mountains and San Bernardino Mountains to the south. The mountain boundaries are distinct because they are outlined by the two largest faults in California – the San Andreas and Garlock faults. The Mojave Desert displays typical basin and range topography. Higher elevations above 2,000 ft) in the Mojave are commonly referred to as the High Desert; however, Death Valley is the lowest elevation in North America at 280 ft below sea level and is one of the Mojave Desert&#39;s more notorious places. The Mojave Desert occupies less than 50,000 square miles, making it the smallest of the North American deserts.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert is often referred to as the "high desert", in contrast to the "low desert", the Sonoran Desert to the south. However, the Mojave Desert is generally lower than the Great Basin Desert to the north. The spelling Mojave originates from the Spanish language while the spelling Mohave comes from modern English. Both are used today, although the Mojave Tribal Nation officially uses the spelling Mojave; the word is a shortened form of Hamakhaave, their endonym in their native language, which means beside the water.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert receives less than 13 in of rain a year and is generally between 2,000 and in elevation. The Mojave Desert also contains the Mojave National Preserve; as well as the lowest and hottest place in North America: Death Valley at 282 ft below sea level; where the temperature often surpasses 120 &deg;F from late June to early August. Zion National Park in Utah lies at the junction of the Mojave, the Great Basin Desert, and the Colorado Plateau. Despite its aridity, the Mojave (and particularly the Antelope Valley in its southwest) has long been a center of alfalfa production; fed by irrigation coming from groundwater and (in the 20th century) from the California Aqueduct.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave is a desert of temperature extremes and two distinct seasons. Winter months bring comfortable daytime temperatures, which dip precipitously to around 20 &deg;F on valley floors, and below 0 &deg;F at higher elevations. Storms moving from the Pacific Northwest can bring rain and in some places even snow. More often, the rain shadow created by the Sierra Nevada as well as mountain ranges within the desert such as the Spring Mountains, bring only clouds and wind. In longer periods between storm systems, winter temperatures in valleys can approach 80 &deg;F.</p><br>
<p>Spring weather continues to be influenced by Pacific storms, but rainfall is more widespread and occurs less frequently after April. By early June, it is rare for another Pacific storm to have a significant impact on the region&#39;s weather; and temperatures after the middle of May are normally above 90 &deg;F and frequently above 100 &deg;F.</p><br>
<p>Summer weather is dominated by heat. Temperatures on valley floors can soar above 120 &deg;F and above 130 &deg;F at the lowest elevations. Low humidity, high temperatures, and low pressure, draw in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico creating thunderstorms across the desert southwest known as the North American monsoon. While the Mojave does not get nearly the amount of rainfall that the Sonoran desert to the south receives, monsoonal moisture will create thunderstorms as far west as California&#39;s Central Valley from mid-June through early September.</p><br>
<p>Autumn is generally pleasant, with one to two Pacific storm systems creating regional rain events. October is one of the driest and sunniest months in the Mojave; and temperatures usually remain between 70 &deg;F and 90 &deg;F on the valley floors.</p><br>
<p>After temperature, wind is the most significant weather phenomenon in the Mojave. Across the region windy days are common; and also common in areas near the transition between the Mojave and the California low valleys, including near Cajon Pass, Soledad Canyon and the Tehachapi areas. During the June Gloom, cooler air can be pushed into the desert from Southern California. In Santa Ana wind events, hot air from the desert blows into the Los Angeles basin and other coastal areas. Wind farms in these areas generate power from these winds.</p><br>
<p>The other major weather factor in the region is elevation. The highest peak within the Mojave is Charleston Peak at 11,918 ft; while the Badwater Basin in Death Valley is 279 ft below sea level. Accordingly, temperature and precipitation ranges wildly in all seasons across the region.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert has not historically supported a fire regime because of low fuel loads and connectivity. However, in the last few decades, invasive annual plants such asBromus, Schismus and Brassica have facilitated fire. This has significantly altered many areas of the desert. At higher elevations, fire regimes are regular but infrequent.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert is defined by numerous mountain ranges creating its xeric conditions. These ranges often create valleys, endorheic basins, salt pans, and seasonal saline lakes when precipitation is high enough. These mountain ranges and valleys are part of the Basin and Range province and the Great Basin; a geologic area of crustal thinning which pulls open valleys over millions of years. Most of the valleys are internally drained (endorheic basins), so all precipitation that falls within the valley does not eventually flow to the ocean. Some of the Mojave (toward the east, in and around the Colorado River/Virgin River Gorge) is within a different geographic domain called the Colorado Plateau. This area is known for its incised canyons, high mesas and plateaus, and flat strata; a unique geographic locality found nowhere else on earth.</p><br>
<h2>Cities and regions</h2><br>
<p>While the Mojave Desert itself is sparsely populated, it has increasingly become urbanized in recent years. The metropolitan areas include: Las Vegas, which is the largest city in the Mojave with a metropolitan population of around 2.3 million in 2015; St. George, the largest Utah city in the Mojave, is located at the convergence of the Mojave, Great Basin and Colorado Plateau making it the northeastern-most metropolitan area in the Mojave. Lancaster, the largest California city in the desert; and over 850,000 people live in areas of the Mojave attached to the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area, including Palmdale and Lancaster, (referred to as the Antelope Valley), Victorville, Apple Valley and Hesperia (referred to as the Victor Valley) attached to the Inland Empire metropolitan area, the 14th largest in the nation.</p><br>
<p>Smaller cities or micropolitan areas in the Mojave Desert include Helendale, Lake Havasu City,</p><br>
<p>Kingman, Laughlin, Bullhead City and Pahrump. All have experienced rapid population growth since 1990.</p><br>
<p>Towns with fewer than 30,000 people in the Mojave include: Barstow, Boron,</p><br>
<p>California City, Helendale, Joshua Tree, Landers, Lone Pine, Lucerne Valley, Mojave, Needles, Nipton, Pioneertown, Randsburg, Ridgecrest, Rosamond, Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms in California; Mesquite and Moapa Valley in Nevada; and Hurricane in Utah.</p><br>
<p>The California portion of the desert also contains Edwards Air Force Base and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, noted for experimental aviation and weapons projects, and the largest Marine Corps base in the world at Twentynine Palms. The US Army also maintains Fort Irwin & the National Training Center (NTC) which is another major training area for the United States Military. Mojave airport is also home to a long term storage facility for large airplanes due to extremely dry non-corrosive weather conditions and a hard ground ideal for parking aircraft. The airport also houses the Air and Space Port and was one of the test centres for the Virgin Galactic Fleet.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert contains a number of ghost towns, the most significant of these being the gold-mining town of Oatman, Arizona, the silver-mining town of Calico, California, and the old railroad depot of Kelso. Some of the other ghost towns are of the more modern variety, created when USA Route 66 (and the lesser-known USA Route 91) were abandoned in favor of the Interstates. The Mojave Desert is crossed by major highways Interstate 15, Interstate 40, USA Route 95, USA Route 395 and California State Route 58.</p><br>
<p>Other than the Colorado River on the eastern half of the Mojave, few long streams cross the desert. The Mojave River is an important source of water for the southern parts of the desert. The Amargosa River flows from the Great Basin Desert south to near Beatty, Nevada, then underground through Ash Meadows before returning to the surface near Shoshone, California, disappearing underground again a short while later and has its final outlet into the southern end of Death Valley. The riverbed passes under SR 127 near Dumont Dunes before turning north into Death Valley National Park.</p><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert is also home to the Devils Playground; about 40 mi of dunes and salt flats going in a northwest-southeasterly direction. The Devils Playground is a part of the Mojave National Preserve and is located between the town of Baker, California and Providence Mountains. The Cronese Mountains are found within the Devils Playground.</p><br>
<h2>Parks and tourism</h2><br>
<p>The Mojave Desert is one of the most popular tourism spots in North America, primarily because of the gambling destination of Las Vegas. The Mojave is also known for its scenic beauty, with three national parks – Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Mojave National Preserve. Lakes Mead, Mohave, and Havasu provide water sports recreation, and vast off-road areas entice off-road enthusiasts. The Mojave Desert also includes a California State Park, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, located in Lancaster. Hoover Dam is a popular tourist destination. Visitors get a chance to see the structure, the hydroelectric power plant, and hear the history of the dam&#39;s construction during the Great Depression.</p><br>
<p>Besides the major national parks, there are other areas of identified significance and tourist interest in the desert such as the Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, within the Colorado Desert, and the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, 17 mi west of Las Vegas, both of which are managed by the Bureau of Land Management.</p><br>
<p>Among the more popular and unique tourist attractions in the Mojave is the self described world&#39;s tallest thermometer at 134 ft high, which is located along Interstate 15 in Baker, California. The newly renovated Kelso Depot is the Visitor Center for the Mojave National Preserve. Nearby the massive Kelso Dunes are a popular recreation spot. Nipton, California, located on the northern entrance to the Mojave National Preserve, is a restored ghost town founded in 1885.</p><br>
<p>Several attractions and natural features are located in the Calico Mountains. Calico Ghost Town, in Yermo, is administered by San Bernardino County. The ghost town has several shops and attractions, and inspired Walter Knott to build Knott&#39;s Berry Farm. The BLM also administers Rainbow Basin and Owl Canyon, two "off-the-beaten-path" scenic attractions together north of Barstow in the Calicos. The Calico Early Man Site, in the Calico Hills east of Yermo, is believed by some archaeologists, including the late Louis Leakey, to show the earliest evidence with lithic stone tools found here of human activity in North America. The Calico Peaks scenically rise above all the destinations.</p><br>
<p>A tour of the Mojave Desert inspired American songwriter Carrie Jacobs-Bond to compose the parlor song "A Perfect Day" in 1909.</p><br>
<h3>Museums</h3><br>
<p>Antelope Valley Indian Museum State Historic Park</p><br>
<p>Amargosa Opera House and Hotel</p><br>
<p>California Route 66 Museum</p><br>
<p>Desert Discovery Center</p><br>
<p>Harvey House Railroad Depot</p><br>
<p>Kelso Depot, Restaurant and Employees Hotel</p><br>
<p>Maturango Museum</p><br>
<p>Western America Railroad Museum</p><br>
<h3>Parks and protected areas</h3><br>
<p>Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve</p><br>
<p>Arthur B. Ripley Desert Woodland State Park</p><br>
<p>Death Valley National Park</p><br>
<p>Desert National Wildlife Refuge (Nevada)</p><br>
<p>Joshua Tree National Park</p><br>
<p>Lake Mead National Recreation Area</p><br>
<p>Mojave National Preserve</p><br>
<p>Providence Mountains State Recreation Area</p><br>
<p>Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (Utah)</p><br>
<p>Red Rock Canyon State Park</p><br>
<p>Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (Nevada)</p><br>
<p>Saddleback Butte State Park</p><br>
<p>Snow Canyon State Park (Utah)</p><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The flora of the Mojave Desert help define what is called the Mojave Desert in that the desert itself is generally considered to be outlined by the extent of growth of one of its plants, the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia). Mojave Desert flora is not a vegetation type, although plants in the area have evolved in isolation because of physical barriers. This area includes southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona in the United States. The flora are adapted to extremely hot and dry conditions, but generally not as extreme as the adaptations needed for survival in the flora of the Sonoran Desert, which has an overlap in its major flora, such as the creosote bush (Larrea tridentata).</p><br>
<p>Arizona bark scorpion</p><br>
<p>Black throated sparrow</p><br>
<p>Bobcat</p><br>
<p>Burrowing owl</p><br>
<p>California kingsnake</p><br>
<p>Chuckwalla</p><br>
<p>Coachwhip</p><br>
<p>Common raven</p><br>
<p>Common side-blotched lizard</p><br>
<p>Cottontail rabbit</p><br>
<p>Cougar</p><br>
<p>Coyote</p><br>
<p>Desert bighorn sheep</p><br>
<p>Desert chipmunk</p><br>
<p>Desert horned lizard</p><br>
<p>Desert iguana</p><br>
<p>Desert kit fox</p><br>
<p>Desert night lizard</p><br>
<p>Desert tortoise</p><br>
<p>Elf owl</p><br>
<p>Fringe-toed lizard</p><br>
<p>Gambols quail</p><br>
<p>Gila monster</p><br>
<p>Glossy snake</p><br>
<p>Gopher snake</p><br>
<p>Great Basin collared lizard</p><br>
<p>Great horned owl</p><br>
<p>Hummingbird</p><br>
<p>Jackrabbit</p><br>
<p>Kangaroo rat</p><br>
<p>Long-nosed leopard lizard</p><br>
<p>Long-tailed brush lizard</p><br>
<p>Mojave green rattlesnake</p><br>
<p>Mojave ground squirrel</p><br>
<p>Mohave tui chub</p><br>
<p>Mule deer</p><br>
<p>Pronghorn</p><br>
<p>Red-spotted toad</p><br>
<p>Red-tailed hawk</p><br>
<p>Rosy boa</p><br>
<p>Sidewinder rattler</p><br>
<p>Tarantula</p><br>
<p>Vole</p><br>
<p>Western diamondback rattlesnake</p><br>
<p>Western patch-nosed snake</p><br>
<p>Zebra-tailed lizard</p><br>
<h2>Soil and Plants Conditions</h2><br>
<p>The soil types in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts are mostly derived from volcano, specifically the areas in California. As the topography goes down, particle sizes decreases as you move down the gradient, where you can also find low alkalinity. These erosional gradient is a habitat for many plant communities. As you go up the gradient of the desert, you will find more pediment and alluvial fans soil. In this areas, the flora is mostly succulents. As you move down the gradient, this area is described to be the upper and lower bajada, then you move into playa and salina, and finally you will reach the river. Drought deciduous plants are found in the alluvial fans and upper bajada. Evergreen perennials are found in some parts of the upper bajada, but it is mostly found in lower bajada. Once the salinity increases, you will find more salt-tolerant plants. In the river areas, deep-rooted plants reside. Due to the harsh and dry conditions in the desert, the plants have adapted to have succulent leaves, with CAM photosynthesis, spines, buried bulbs, hairy or waxy leaves, photosynthetic stems, deep tap roots, and ephemerals.</p><br>
<h2>West Mojave Plan litigation</h2><br>
<p>The USA Bureau of Land Management(BLM) manages public lands in the Mojave Desert as part of its "crown jewels of the American West" National Landscape Conservation System. It has designated numerous large off-road vehicle open use areas on public lands in the western Mojave Desert, including El Mirage, Jawbone Canyon, Rasor, Spangler Hills, Stoddard Valley, Dove Spring Canyon, Dumont Dunes, and the world&#39;s largest open off-road vehicle use area, Johnson Valley. Open areas designated for unrestricted vehicle travel in the western Mojave Desert total 363,480 acre. Several additional open areas dedicated to unrestricted vehicle travel on public lands have been designated in the northern and eastern Colorado (NECO) Desert. In 2002, BLM designated all washes in the southeastern third of the NECO planning area as also open to unrestricted vehicle travel. This was followed in 2003 by BLM expanding the off-road vehicle network in the western Mojave Desert to enhance off-road vehicle recreation opportunity. In 2004, relative to the case of Center for Biological Diversity, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Bureau of Land Management, et al., Defendants; the United States District court enjoined "all off-road vehicle use in the washes of the NECO Desert planning area pending issuance of a new biological opinion.".</p><br>
<p>a. A new biological opinion was subsequently issued and BLM&#39;s open wash designation in the NECO planning area was reinstated. In 2006, several environmental groups protested an additional route network expansion designated under the West Mojave Desert (WEMO) plan.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, USA District Judge Susan Illston ruled against the BLMs proposed designation of additional off-road vehicle use allowance in the western Mojave Desert. According to the ruling, the BLM violated its own regulations when it designated approximately 5,000 mi of off-roading routes in 2006. According to Judge Ilston, the BLMs designation was significantly "flawed because it does not contain a reasonable range of alternatives" to limit damage to sensitive habitat. Judge Illston found that the bureau had inadequately analyzed the routes&#39; impacts on air quality, soils, plant communities, riparian habitats, and sensitive species such as the endangered Mojave fringe-toed lizard, pointing out that the desert and its resources are "extremely fragile, easily scarred, and slowly healed."</p><br>
<p>The court also found that the BLM failed to follow route designation procedures established in the agency’s own California Desert Conservation Area Plan, which allowed visitors to create hundreds of illegal OHV routes during the past three decades. The plan normally requires the BLM to consider the impacts to private property, non-motorized recreation opportunity, and natural resources before establishing off-road areas. The adopted West Mojave plan amendment was found to have violated the BLM&#39;s own manual of regulations, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The ruling was considered a success for a coalition of conservation groups, including the California Native Plant Society, Friends of Juniper Flats, the Alliance for Responsible Recreation, Community Off-Road Vehicle Watch, The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society, who together initiated the legal challenge in late 2006.</p><br>
<p>In 2011, Judge Illston ruled on a remedy request submitted by the ten involved environmental organizations. BLM in this ruling was directed to complete a revised WEMO route designation complying with all laws and regulations by March 2014. The agency is also required per this ruling to place signs on all off-road vehicle routes which are legal to use, create a monitoring plan to determine if illegal vehicle use is occurring, and provide additional enforcement to prevent illegal use.</p><br>
<p>Lefkada , also known as Lefkas or Leukas  and Leucadia, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Lefkada. It is situated on the northern part of the island, approximately 1 hour by automobile away from Aktion National Airport. The island is part of the regional unit of Lefkada.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Lefkada measures 35 km from north to south, and 15 km from east to west. The area of the island is about 302 km&sup2, the area of the municipality (including the islands Kalamos, Kastos and several smaller islets) is 333.58 km&sup2;. Its highest point is the mountain Stavrota, 1,158 m above sea level, situated in the middle of the island. The east coast section of the island has small resorts of Lygia, Nikiana and Perigiali, all north of Nidri, the largest resort on the island. It is set in a sheltered location with views across to Skorpios (formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis), Meganisi and other small islands, as well as the Greek mainland. The main coastal road from Lefkada to Vasiliki runs through the village, although a bypass has now been completed which skirts the village to the west. There are regular car ferries to Kefalonia, Ithaca and Meganissi.</p><br>
<p>20 km south of Nidri is the resort of Vasiliki, a windsurfing center. There are ferries to Kefalonia and Ithaca from Vasiliki. South of Vasiliki is Cape Lefkada, where the Greek female poet Sappho allegedly leapt to her death from the 30 m high cliffs.</p><br>
<p>The famous beach of Porto Katsiki is located on Lefkadas west coast. Lefkada was attached to mainland Greece (see below about Homers Ithaca being Lefkada). The Corinthians dug a trench in the 7th century BC on its isthmus.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The island has a typical Mediterranean climate: hot summers and cool winters, especially in the mountains.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Antiquity</h3><br>
<p>The myth about Sapphos suicide at Cape Lefkada is related to other myths linking the island to the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and to Odysseus, the hero of Homers Odyssey. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld, having performed excavations at various locations of Lefkada, was able to obtain funding to do work on the island by suggesting that Lefkada was Homer&#39;s Ithaca, and the palace of Odysseus was located west of Nydri on the south coast of Lefkada. There have been suggestions by local tourism officials that several passages in the Odyssey point to Lefkada as a possible model for Homeric Ithaca. The most notable of these passages pushed by the local tourism board describes Ithaca as an island reachable on foot, which was the case for Lefkada since it is not really an island, that it was connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. According to Strabo, the coast of Acarnania was called Leucas in earlier times. The ancient sources call Leucas a Corinthian colony, perhaps with a Corcyraen participation. During the Peloponnesian War Leucas had joined the Spartan Confederation.</p><br>
<h3>Middle Ages</h3><br>
<p>Lefkada was part of the Despotate of Epirus until 1295 when it passed from Despot Nikephoros I to his son-in-law John Orsini. The Castle of Santa Maura, as the island became known as, was first built in the beginning of the 14th century; the possession of the castle was key to holding the island. The Orsini family lost Lefkada in 1331, to the Angevins. In 1343, Walter of Brienne granted Lefkada and the Santa Maura castle to Venetian Graziano Giorgio. Between 1343 and 1348, Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan invaded Albania, Epirus and Thessaly, conquering all except for Vonitsa and Santa Maura. In 1362, Leonardo I Tocco seized Lefkada and Vonitsa. In 1479, the Ottomans conquered Lefkada, and rebuilt the castle on a large scale (the core of the castle being Ottoman).</p><br>
<h3>Early modern period</h3><br>
<p>The Venetians briefly held Lefkada between 1500 and 1503, during the Ottoman-Venetian War, after which it was returned to Ottoman rule by peace treaty. Ottoman rule was interrupted by Venice in 1684, with the Ottomans surrendering it after a 16-day siege, and was thus again part of the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.</p><br>
<p>The Ottomans called it Ayamavra, from Greek Agia Maura (Αγία Μαύρα, itself derived from "Santa Maura"), and ruled it between 1479–1502, 1504–1684 and 1715-1716. The Venetians extensively modified the castle in the early 18th century, and the British also made some modification in the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>In 1800, the Septinsular Republic was established, a Russian protectorate under de jure Ottoman suzerainty. The Russian Empire employed troops recruited from fugitive klephts and armatoloi in the Ioanian Islands, particularly of Lefkada. Among these were captains Anastasios Tselios and Apostolos Levendakis, the latter who already in 1802 offered to raise a company of 60 fighters on Lefkada to support the Russians.</p><br>
<h2>Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center</h2><br>
<p>The first museum in Europe for Lafcadio Hearn, who was born on the island and is named after it, was inaugurated in Lefkada on July 4, 2014, as Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center. It contains early editions, rare books and Japanese collectibles. The visitors, through photos, texts and exhibits, can wander in the significant events of Lafcadio Hearn&#39;s life, but also in the civilizations of Europe, America and Japan of late 18th and early 19th centuries through the open mind of his lectures, writings and tales. The municipalities of Kumamoto, Matsue, Shinjuku, Yaizu, Toyama University, Koizumi family and other people from Japan and Greece contributed to the establishment of Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center.</p><br>
<h2>Municipality</h2><br>
<p>The present municipality Lefkada was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 7 former municipalities, that became municipal units:</p><br>
<p>Apollonioi</p><br>
<p>Ellomenos</p><br>
<p>Kalamos</p><br>
<p>Karya</p><br>
<p>Kastos</p><br>
<p>Lefkada (city)</p><br>
<p>Sfakiotes</p><br>
<p>The municipality covers the island Lefkada and the smaller islands Kastos and Kalamos.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>Greek National Road 42</p><br>
<p>Aktion (Preveza) Airport</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>(in chronological order)</p><br>
<p>Frederick Temple (1821-1902), Archbishop of Canterbury</p><br>
<p>Aristotelis Valaoritis (1824-1879), poet and politician</p><br>
<p>Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904), Greco-Irish orientalist and writer, named after the island</p><br>
<p>Petros Soumilas (1861–19??), Greek Army officer who reached the rank of Lieutenant General.</p><br>
<p>Dimitrios Golemis (1874–1941), athlete</p><br>
<p>Grigorios Karydis (1912-1968), musician, opera composer and professor of philharmonic orchestra</p><br>
<p>Aggelos Sikelianos (1884–1951), poet and playwright</p><br>
<p>Tzavalas Karousos or Karoussos (1904–1969), actor</p><br>
<p>Aristotle Onassis, (1906–1975), Greek shipping tycoon</p><br>
<p>Panos Rontoyannis (1911–1996), philologist and historian</p><br>
<p>Theodoros Stamos (1922–1997), Greek-American painter</p><br>
<p>Apostolos Kaklamanis (1936), politician</p><br>
<p>George Ktenas (1938-2004), politician</p><br>
<p>Agnes Baltsa (1944), opera singer</p><br>
<p>Spyros Vrettos (1960), poet</p><br>
<p>Spiros Marangos (1967-), footballer</p><br>
<p>Fort Western is a former British colonial outpost at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River at modern Augusta, Maine, United States. It was built in 1754 during the French and Indian War, and is now a National Historic Landmark and local historic site owned by the city. Its main building, the only original element of the fort to survive, was restored in 1920 and now depicts its original use as a trading post.</p><br>
<h2>French and Indian War</h2><br>
<p>Fort Western was built by a Boston land company (the Kennebec Proprietors) in 1754 as a fortified trading post, and to promote settlement in the area. The fort was a log palisade with blockhouses which protected a store and warehouse. It was never directly attacked. From a high elevation a large rectangular enclosure commanded the river for more than a mile. Blockhouses 24 feet square and watch-boxes 12 feet square guarded opposite corners, and within stood a two-story main house 100 x. After the war ended, James Howard, its last commander, purchased the fort and operated the trading post.</p><br>
<h2>American Revolution</h2><br>
<p>After 1769, Fort Western fell into decay. In 1775, Benedict Arnold&#39;s expedition to Quebec stopped at Fort Western long enough to repair bateaux. Arnold, Daniel Morgan, Roger Enos, and Aaron Burr stayed as guests in the garrison while their force camped outside. Fort Western was the starting point for the march through the wilderness to Quebec.</p><br>
<h2>Old Fort Western</h2><br>
<p>The main building of the fort eventually passed out of the Howard family, and was converted into a tenement house. It was repurchased in Howard family descendants in 1919, and restored the following year, which included the construction of two new blockhouses and a stockade. The stockade was again rebuilt in 1960. Today it is the oldest log fort in the United States, and its main building is a little-altered example of an 18th-century trading post. The fort and store are maintained as a museum and are open to the public during the summer months.</p><br>
<p>The fort was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973.</p><br>
<p>Mindoro is the seventh largest island in the Philippines by land area with a total of 10,571 km  and with a total population of 1,331,473 as of 2015. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luzon and northeast of Palawan. Mindoro is divided into two provinces Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro. San Jose is the largest settlement on the island with a total population of 143,430 inhabitants as of 2015. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea. Mount Halcon is the highest point on the island, standing at 8,484 ft above sea level located in Oriental Mindoro. Mount Baco is the island&#39;s second highest mountain with an elevation of 8,163 ft, located in the province of Occidental Mindoro.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In past times, it has been called Ma-i or Mait by Han Chinese traders and by Spaniards, as Mina de Oro (meaning "gold mine") from where the island got its current name. According to the late historian William Henry Scott, an entry in the official history of the Sung Dynasty for the year 972 mentions Ma-i as a trading partner of China. Other Chinese records referring to Ma-i or Mindoro appear in the years that follow.</p><br>
<p>The products that Mindoro traders exchanged with the Chinese included "beeswax, cotton, true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betelnuts and yu-ta cloth" for Chinese porcelain, trade gold, iron pots, lead, copper, colored glass beads and iron needles.</p><br>
<p>The island was briefly ruled by the Sultanate of Brunei and housed Moro settlements before the Spanish invaded and Christianized the population. In the seventeenth century, Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri visited the island.</p><br>
<p>From 1920 to 1950, the island was a single province with Calapan City as the provincial capital. In 1950, it was partitioned into its two present-day provinces, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, following a referendum that was pushed through by then acting governor Romeo Venturanza.</p><br>
<p>The island was the location of the Battle of Mindoro in World War II.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The economy of Mindoro is largely based on agriculture. Products consist of a wide variety of fruits, such as citrus, bananas, lanzones, rambutan and coconuts, grainss (rice and corn), sugarcane, peanuts, fish (catfish, milkfish and tilapia), livestock and poultry. Logging and the mining of marble and copper also thrive.</p><br>
<p>Tourism is a lucrative business as well, with locations such as Apo Reef National Park, Lubang Island, Puerto Galera, Sabang Beach and Mount Halcon. Puerto Galeras beaches are the islands most known tourist attraction and are widely visited.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>The principal language in Mindoro is Tagalog, although in some parts it has been greatly influenced by the native Mangyan and Visayan languages. Mainstream Standard Filipino and Taglish are, indeed, present in and around such areas as Calapan City, Pinamalayan, Puerto Galera and San Jose. Visayan and Mangyan languages, too, are spoken on the island, as are Ilocano, Bicolano and some foreign languages &mdash; e.g., English, Hokkien and to a lesser extent, Spanish.</p><br>
<p>The following indigenous languages are spoken in Mindoro. is</p><br>
<p>Northern Mindoro languages - 16,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Iraya - 10,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Alangan - 2,150 speakers</p><br>
<p>Tadyawan - 4,200 speakers</p><br>
<p>Southern Mindoro languages - 30,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Buhid - 8,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Tawbuid - 8,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Hanuno&#39;o - 14,000 speakers</p><br>
<p>Visayan languages</p><br>
<p>Ratagnon language - 2 speakers</p><br>
<p>The common religions on the island fall under Christianity. The religion of the indigenous Mangyan population is animism. Though they are into animism as a principal religion, the Roman Catholic Church in some of Mindoro&#39;s parts is also active, so are a few independent subdivisions, like Iglesia Ni Cristo and Philippine Independent Church, as well as the Baptist Church.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>Mindoro is also home to the tamaraw or Mindoro dwarf buffalo (Bubalus mindorensis), which is endemic to the island. The tamaraw is a bovine related to the water buffalo (carabao) and is an endangered species.</p><br>
<h2>Bibliography</h2><br>
<p>C.Michael Hogan. 2011.</p><br>
<p>Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware., it houses one of the most important collections of Americana in the United States of America. It was the former home of Henry Francis du Pont , a renowned antiques collector and horticulturist. Until recently, it was known as the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and 19th-century European country houses. The younger du Pont added to the home many times thereafter, increasing its number of rooms by nearly sixfold. After he established the main building as a public museum in 1951, he moved to a smaller building on the estate.</p><br>
<p>Winterthur is situated on 979 acre, near Brandywine Creek, with 60 acre of naturalistic gardens. It had 2,500 acre and a premier dairy cattle herd when du Pont operated it as a country estate.</p><br>
<p>Initially a collector of European art and decorative arts in the late 1920s, H. F. du Pont became interested in American art and antiques. Subsequently, he became a highly prominent collector of American decorative arts, building on the Winterthur estate to house his collection, conservation laboratories, and administrative offices.</p><br>
<p>The museum has 175 period-room displays and approximately 85,000 objects. Most rooms are open to the public on small, guided tours. The collection spans more than two centuries of American decorative arts, notably from 1640 to 1860, and contains some of the most important pieces of American furniture and fine art. The Winterthur Library includes more than 87,000 volumes and approximately 500,000 manuscripts and images, mostly related to American history, decorative arts, and architecture. The facility also houses extensive conservation, research, and education facilities.</p><br>
<p>In the 1990s, more informal museum galleries were opened in a new building adjacent to the main house; it features special rotating and permanent exhibits. The museum also is home to the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture and the Winterthur/University of Delaware Art Conservation program.</p><br>
<p>The museum was named for the Swiss city of Winterthur, the ancestral home of Jacques Antoine Bidermann, a son-in-law of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the du Pont family and fortune in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Display facilities</h2><br>
<p>Main museum (period rooms and offices), 96,582 sq ft. (8,970 m²)</p><br>
<p>The Cottage (home of H. F. du Pont after opening of the museum), 21,345 sq ft. (1,980 m²)</p><br>
<p>The Galleries 35,000 ft&sup2;. (3,300 m²), 22,000 ft&sup2;. (2,000 m²) display area</p><br>
<p>Research Building 68,456 ft&sup2, (6,340 m²)</p><br>
<p>Visitors Center 18,755 ft&sup2, (1,742 m²)</p><br>
<p>The Hagley Museum and Library is a nonprofit educational institution in Wilmington, Delaware. Covering more than 235 acres  along the banks of the Brandywine Creek, the museum and grounds include the first du Pont family home and garden in the United States, the powder yards, and a 19th-century machine shop. On the hillside below the mansion lies a Renaissance-revival garden, with terraces and statuary, created in the 1920s by Louise Evalina du Pont Crowninshield . The facility sits at the midpoint of the DuPont Historic Corridor.</p><br>
<h2>Operations</h2><br>
<p>Opened in 1957, the Hagley Museum features exhibits and demonstrations that show the connections between early industrial technology and early American history, focusing on the histories of the du Pont family, DuPont company, explosives and gunpowder, and innovation (through a large collection of American Patent models). The Museum also explores personal stories of the 19th-century DuPont Company employees, how they lived, and how their lifestyles changed along with new machinery and new production methods.</p><br>
<p>Hagley&#39;s library houses a major research collection of manuscripts, archives, photographs, pamphlets, and books documenting the history of American business and technology. A member of the Independent Research Libraries Association, the library serves scholars from this country and abroad. Holdings include 37,000 linear feet in the Manuscripts and Archives Department, 290,000 printed volumes in the Imprints Department, 2 million visual items in the Pictorial Department, and more than 300,000 digital images and pages in the Digital Archives Department. The library and archival collections owned by Hagley are open to the public for research; a catalog and partial digital archive are available online.</p><br>
<p>The library includes Hagleys intellectual heart: the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, which coordinates Hagleys interactions with the world of scholarship in the fields of American economic, business, and technological history. The center offers a scholar-in-residence program and competitive fellowships, and organizes seminars and historical conferences.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1802, French immigrant Eleuthère Irénée du Pont founded black powder mills on the banks of Brandywine Creek. He chose the location for the rivers tumble over the fall line which provided power, timber and willow trees (used to produce quality charcoal required for superior black powder), the proximity to the Delaware River (on which other ingredients of the powder – sulfur and saltpeter – could be shipped); and the quarries of gneiss which would provide building materials for the mills. The E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Companys black powder factory became the largest in the world.</p><br>
<p>In 1921, the mills along the Brandywine closed and parcels of the property were sold. Plans for a museum were established 31 years later, on the occasion of the DuPont Company&#39;s 150th anniversary in 1952.</p><br>
<h3>Origin of the name</h3><br>
<p>Hagley historians only know that the name was already in use well before E.I. du Pont expanded downstream from Eleutherian Mills in 1813 by purchasing the land that became the Hagley Yards. An 1813 document refers to the land as Hagley and it had been called Hagley as early as 1797, when its owner, Philadelphia Quaker merchant Rumford Dawes, applied for insurance on buildings that were said to be located in a place called Hagley on the Brandywine. Dawes had acquired the property in 1783. Since the name Hagley did not appear on the documents transferring ownership at that time, it seems likely that Dawes gave this name to the Brandywine location.</p><br>
<p>It seems likely that Delawares Hagley was named for an English estate that was well known in the second half of the eighteenth century. It is likely that Dawes chose the name based on an English narrative poem entitled The Seasons by James Thomson. Hagley Hall was the seat of Thomsons patron the Baron Lyttelton, and the poems description of a sylvan dale is strikingly reminiscent of the Brandywine Valley. The Seasons was popular in Philadelphia at the time that Rumford Dawes acquired and named Hagley. The English Hagley estate is located in the West Midlands countryside about ten miles southwest of Birmingham. Perhaps coincidently, Delawares Hagley is about 8 miles south of Chadds Ford Township, officially known as Birmingham Township before 1996.</p><br>
<p>Plantation on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina got its name when the owners, who were admirers of English culture, chose the name to remind them of the well-known parkland of that name near London.</p><br>
<p>The Museum was featured on Mysteries at the Museum television show.</p><br>
<h3>Chronology</h3><br>
<p>November 1952: The Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation, a non-profit, educational corporation received its charter from the State of Delaware.</p><br>
<p>May 1957: Hagley Museum was dedicated with the opening of the Henry Clay Mill building.</p><br>
<p>1961: The Longwood Library, founded in 1953 by Pierre S. duPont, merged with Hagley Museum and opened at the site of the original DuPont Company&#39;s powder works at Hagley.</p><br>
<p>1962: Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont family&#39;s ancestral home, was opened to the public.</p><br>
<p>1966: Designation of museum property as a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>1969: Restoration of the first DuPont company office was completed.</p><br>
<p>1971: Restoration of the E.I. du Pont Garden began.</p><br>
<p>1982: Workers Hill opened. First fireworks show produced for Hagley members in honor of the museums 25th anniversary. The annual fireworks continues on two weekends in June.</p><br>
<p>1984: Hagley Museum and Library was designated as the official name of the institution. (Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation continues as the legal corporation name of the organization.)</p><br>
<p>1996: Hagleys first car show, 100 Years of Cars, held to honor 100 years of Americas automotive heritage. The annual car show continues on the third Sunday in September.</p><br>
<p>1999: The kitchen in Hagley&#39;s Eleutherian Mills opens to visitors.</p><br>
<p>2002: Two new exhibits, "DuPont Science and Discovery" and "DuPont: The Explosives Era," open at Hagley in honor of the DuPont corporation&#39;s 200th anniversary.</p><br>
<p>2007: Accessible entrance to Visitors Center welcomes visitors to the museum&#39;s 50th anniversary exhibit, "Hagley at Fifty: Exploding with History."</p><br>
<p>The Grenadines are an island chain that is part of Saint Vincent and Grenada. There are 32 islands and cays that make up Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Nine are inhabited, including the mainland Saint Vincent and the Grenadines islands: Young Island, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Union Island, Mayreau, Petit St Vincent, and Palm Island.</p><br>
<h2>Geographic boundaries</h2><br>
<p>They are divided between the island nations of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. They lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither Saint Vincent nor Grenada are Grenadine islands. The islands north of the Martinique Channel belong to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the islands south of the channel belong to Grenada.</p><br>
<h2>The larger islands of the Grenadines</h2><br>
<h3>Saint Vincent and the Grenadines</h3><br>
<p>The total population of the Grenadine islands in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is estimated to be 10,234</p><br>
<p>The following islands make up the Grenadines Parish:</p><br>
<h3>Grenada</h3><br>
<p>Carriacou and Petite Martinique is a dependency of Grenada and contains:</p><br>
<p>The Bavarian Forest  is a wooded low-mountain region in Bavaria, Germany. It extends along the Czech border and is continued on the Czech side by the Šumava . Geographically the Bavarian Forest and Bohemian Forest are sections of the same mountain range. A part of the Bavarian Forest belongs to the Bavarian Forest National Park  , established in 1970 as the first national park in Germany. Another 3,008 km² belong to the Bavarian Forest Nature Park , established 1967, and 1738 km² to the Eastern Bavarian Forest Nature Park , established 1965. The Bavarian Forest is a remnant of the Hercynian Forest that stretched across southern Germania in Roman times. It is the largest protected forest area in central Europe.</p><br>
<p>The highest mountain in the region is the Großer Arber ("Great Arber", 1,456 m). The main river is the Regen, which is formed by the conjunction of White Regen and Black Regen and leaves the mountains towards the city of Regensburg.</p><br>
<h2>Places of interest</h2><br>
<p>Amongst the places of interest in the Bavarian Forest are:</p><br>
<h2>Mountains</h2><br>
<p>The following is a list of the mountains in the Bavarian Forest, sorted alphabetically with heights given in metres (m) above sea level (NN):</p><br>
<p>The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Extent</h2><br>
<p>Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the other used by the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS).</p><br>
<p>The IHO defines the Great Australian Bight as having the following limits:</p><br>
<p>On the North. The south coast of the Australian mainland.</p><br>
<p>On the South. A line joining West Cape Howe ({{coord|35|08|S|117|37|E|display=inline}}) Australia to South West Cape, Tasmania.</p><br>
<p>On the East. A line from Cape Otway, Victoria to King Island and thence to Cape Grim, the northwest extreme of Tasmania.</p><br>
<p>The AHS defines the bight with a smaller area, from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia - a distance of 1,160 km.</p><br>
<p>Much of the bight lies due south of the expansive Nullarbor Plain, which straddles South Australia and Western Australia. The Eyre Highway passes close to the cliffs of the bight between the Head of the Bight and Eucla.</p><br>
<p>Outside of Australia, the Great Australian Bight is generally considered part of the Indian Ocean. The AHS considers it to be part of the Southern Ocean, using the expanded Australian definition used for this ocean. The IHO in its Limits of Oceans and Seas (both the currently in-force 1953 edition and the 2002 never-approved draft) includes the bight with the Indian Ocean, while Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea are included by IHO with the South Pacific Ocean in the 2002 draft. In the 1953 edition, IHO includes Bass Strait as part of the Indian Ocean.</p><br>
<h2>Exploration</h2><br>
<p>The Great Australian Bight was first encountered by European explorers in 1627 when a Dutch navigator François Thijssen sailed along its western margins. The coast was later first accurately charted by the English navigator Matthew Flinders in 1802, during his circumnavigation of the Australian continent. A later land-based survey was accomplished by the English explorer Edward John Eyre.</p><br>
<h2>Natural history</h2><br>
<p>The bight came into existence when Gondwana broke apart and separated Antarctica from Australia around 50 million years ago.</p><br>
<p>The coastline of the Great Australian Bight is characterised by cliff faces (up to 60 m high), surfing beaches and rock platforms, ideal for whale-watching. This is a popular activity during the southern hemisphere winter, when increasing numbers of southern right whales migrate to the region from their summer feeding grounds in the Antarctic. The whales come to the Bight region, especially to the Head of Bight, to calve and breed, and do not feed until they return to the Antarctic. Their numbers were severely depleted by whaling, particularly during the 19th Century, but have since recovered to some extent.</p><br>
<p>The Nullarbor Plain, which borders much of the length of the Bight&#39;s coastline, is a former seabed, uplifted during the Miocene. Consisting of limestone, it is very flat, and has an arid or semi-arid climate with very little rainfall, and high summer temperatures and high evaporation rates. It has no surface drainage, but has a karst drainage system through cave formation in the underlying limestone. North of the Nullarbor lies the Great Victoria Desert, which has an internal drainage system terminating in numerous small salt lakes.</p><br>
<p>The lack of surface runoff and terrestrial nutrients results in the relatively shallow waters of the Great Australian Bight being generally low in nutrients, and therefore oligotrophic, compared with many other continental shelves which support major fisheries. Seasonal upwelling of deep ocean water along the coast of the Eyre Peninsula in the eastern part of the Bight brings nutrients to the surface waters, with the resulting fertility creating an important marine hotspot.</p><br>
<p>The waters of the Great Australian Bight are highly biodiverse, particularly in zooplankton, due to a particular series of ocean currents. A literature review undertaken by SARDI (South Australian Research and Development Institute) on the Benthic Protection Zone of the Great Australian Bight Marine Park in 2003 states: "Upwelling events during summer and autumn produce cool patches of surface water along the coast of the southern Eyre Peninsula. These patches contain elevated nutrient concentrations and support enhanced levels of primary productivity. High densities of zooplankton to the northwest of the patches indicate that the prevailing southeasterly winds transport the products of this enhanced biological production into the central GAB. These plankton communities support the highest densities of small planktivorous fishes, including sardine and anchovy, in Australian waters. Juvenile southern bluefin tuna (SBT) migrate into the GAB annually to feed on these rich pelagic resources."</p><br>
<p>As the nutrients are swept up from the deep water ocean floor and pushed in towards the coast, the food chain is injected with a massive influx of the bottom rung.</p><br>
<p>There is not enough known about the full scope of species that dwell in or migrate to the Great Australian Bight, so more studies are required. "The Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA) classification suggests that high biodiversity in the GAB may be explained by the presence of temperate species with eastern and western affinities, as well as “tropical stragglers” from northern regions. However, patterns of diversity vary between taxa. Mangroves are poorly represented due to the lack of estuaries. Seagrasses are confined mainly to sheltered bays and the lees of reefs and islands due to the frequent disturbance of inshore habitats by large swells. In contrast, the macroalgal assemblage of the GAB is one of the world’s most diverse and includes &gt;1200 species. Over 90% of species in most invertebrate groups are endemic to southern Australia, but the proportion that is confined to the GAB is unknown."</p><br>
<p>There is still much research needed to fully understand the complex ecosystems of the Great Australian Bight and how any resource extraction or other human activity may affect them. The Literature review also states: "Approximately 370 of the 600 fish species that occur in southern Australia have been recorded in SA. Several species, including the coastal stingaree (Urolophus orarius) and 10 crested threefin (Norfolkia cristata), are restricted to South Australia and occur in the GAB. The patterns of distribution and abundance of fishes in the GAB are poorly understood."</p><br>
<p>There are some clear findings from the review, "The GAB provides critical habitat for two species of marine mammals that are recognised internationally as being priorities for conservation. The Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis), which is listed as ‘endangered’ under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, breeds at the Head of Bight during winter. The Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea), which is endemic to Australia and is currently listed as “near threatened”, breeds in small colonies along the cliffs of the GAB." These marine mammals require this habitat to remain in existence, which has been recognised by Australian law.</p><br>
<p>One location on the bight that is specifically oriented towards the understanding of the natural history on its coastline is the Eyre Bird Observatory.</p><br>
<h2>Current conditions</h2><br>
<p>Economically, the Bight has been exploited over many years as part of the fishing, whaling and shellfish industries. Southern Bluefin tuna have been a favoured target of fishing in the Bight.</p><br>
<p>Exploration for oil and gas has been undertaken in the Great Australian Bight region since the late 1960s. There have been recent plans to further explore the Bight by a number of companies, including BP/Statoil and Chevron. These proposals were to drill exploration wells in the southern part of the area from 2017 onwards. On 11 October 2016, BP withdrew their plans to explore the area stating that it was not competitive and did not align to their strategic goals. The proposal to explore in the bight has been the focus of community opposition and modelling commissioned by The Wilderness Society showed that a worst-case scenario leak of oil could have a catastrophic effect on the southern coastline of Australia. The Australian Senate commenced an inquiry into Oil or Gas Production in the Great Australian Bight on 22 February 2016. The committee was reestablished on 13 September 2016 following the Australian Federal Election.</p><br>
<p>The settlements existing along the coastline of the bight, such as Ceduna and Eucla have facilities to access the bight. Some other locations on the Eyre Highway or located on the Nullarbor do not have facilities or easy access.</p><br>
<p>South Park is a grassland flat within the basin formed by the Rocky Mountains&#39; Mosquito and Park Mountain Ranges at approximately 10,000 ft  in elevation within central Colorado. It encompasses approximately 1,000 square miles  around the headwaters of the South Platte River in Park County approximately 60 mi  southwest of Denver. It is the largest and southernmost of three similarly named high altitude basins in the Front Range of Colorado, the others being North Park and Middle Park. The largest town in the basin is Fairplay, with a population of 681.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Geologically, the valley is a wide faulted syncline of sedimentary rocks, sitting between the predominantly Precambrian igneous rocks of the Front Range to the east and the Sawatch Uplift to the west. The Mosquito Range forms a high barrier along the western side of the valley. The long-extinct Thirty-Nine Mile volcanic field is located just to the southeast.</p><br>
<p>The valley is mostly underlain by Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks concealed by a thin layer of gravel laid down by glaciation during Pleistocene time. The underlying rocks are dipping slightly to the east. The eastern (and newer) side of the valley is underlain primarily by Pierre Shale laid down during Cretaceous time. The western (and older) side of the valley, on the west side of Red Hill, is underlain primarily by Permian and Pennsylvanian rocks. Red Hill runs through the center of the valley as a hogback ridge of tilted Cretaceous and Jurassic sedimentary rocks.</p><br>
<h3>Gold</h3><br>
<p>Gold mining in South Park began in 1859. Extensive placer deposits were mined along the west side of the park, and lode deposits were mined in the Mosquito Range. The extensive gravel ridges east of Fairplay are the result of dredging for gold. (see Gold mining in Colorado).</p><br>
<h3>Petroleum</h3><br>
<p>Although South Park contains some of the same geologic formations that yield oil and gas in the Denver Basin further east, efforts to find commercial oil and gas in South Park have so far proven unsuccessful.</p><br>
<h3>Uranium</h3><br>
<p>A minor amount of uranium has been mined from sandstone in South Park (see Uranium mining in Colorado).</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>The valley is traversed by several highways, including USA Highway 285, which enters the valley from the eastern side over the Front Range at Kenosha Pass, providing a vehicle link to Denver. The highway crosses Red Hill at Red Hill Pass. On its northern side, the valley is connected by several high mountain passes to the valley of the North Fork of the South Platte River (a tributary of the South Platte). It is also connected by CO Route 9 via Hoosier Pass to the valley to the Blue River near Breckenridge. To the west, the extremely high Mosquito Pass crosses the Mosquito Range to Leadville. (Mosquito Pass is no longer a practical transportation route, but is now a historical and recreation site.) On its southwestern side, at the southern end of the Mosquito Range, it is connected by Trout Creek Pass to the upper valley of the Arkansas River near Buena Vista. USA Highway 24 enters South Park from the east at Wilkerson Pass, where the highway provides vehicle access to Colorado Springs. To the very south, CO Route 9 crosses Currant Creek Pass, which marks the southern edge of the South Park region.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Like much of the mountainous areas of Colorado, the valley was inhabited by Utes before the arrival of white settlers in the middle 19th century. However, from the 1850s onward, the area was increasingly encroached on by Southern Arapaho bands, who came to cherish it as an important buffalo range after witnessing the continued degradation of their typical hunting grounds on the plains in the wake of white westward movement, and who repeatedly became entangled in skirmishes with the Utes over the territory. It was explored by John C. Fremont during his second expedition in 1844, at which time it was referred to as "Bayou Salade," a corruption of Spanish "Valle Salado," meaning salty valley. In 1859 the discovery of placer gold in the streams of the valley during the Colorado Gold Rush led to an influx of prospectors and miners. The town of Fairplay was founded as a more law-abiding place to live than the older, nearby town of Tarryall during this time and continued to be a center of gold, and later silver mining up through the middle 20th century. South Park City, an open-air museum outside Fairplay, provides a historical recreation of the gold rush days. The basin was connected to Denver by railroad with the extension of the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad over Kenosha Pass in 1879.</p><br>
<p>Lake Saint Pierre  is a lake in Quebec, Canada, a widening of the Saint Lawrence River between Sorel-Tracy and Trois-Rivières. It is located downstream, and northeast, of Montreal; and upstream, and southwest, of Quebec City. The end of the lake delimits the beginning of the estuary of Saint Lawrence.</p><br>
<p>This lake which is 32 km long (excluding Sorel Islands) and 14 km wide, is part of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Including its shoreline, islands, and wetlands, the lake is a nature reserve. The body of water is recognized as Ramsar site and as Biosphere Reserve, due to the presence of many marshes or wetlands that are frequented by waterfowl. Recreational activities on the river (such as fishing, boating, sailing, swimming, water skiing, nature observation) are active mainly in summer season. Sport fishing is particularly popular, including ice fishing, especially in the great bay of Pointe-du-Lac.</p><br>
<p>Around Lake Saint-Pierre, several recreational services are available: marinas, hotel services, restaurants, outfitters, docks, gas stations, cruises...</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Approximately 12,500 years ago, the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age resulted in a vast basin filled by the Champlain Sea. This sea extended from the city of Quebec to the east, and covered the Lower Mauricie, the Lower Laurentians, the lower part of the Ottawa Valley, Lake Ontario on the western side, and Lake Champlain USA) on the South side. The outline of the Champlain Sea is marked by ancient sandy shores where sand pits have been exploited. The water level has dropped some 8,000 years ago. The surface area of the watershed is 990,000 km&sup2; (equivalent to more than 60% of the surface area of Quebec). 58% of the catchment area is located in the United States, 28% in Ontario and only 14% in Quebec (2.5% in direct tributaries, 0.07% in the littoral zone). Lake Saint-Pierre is linked to 11 administrative regions, 58 RCMs and 654 municipalities.</p><br>
<p>The lake is located in the Regional County Municipalities of Nicolet-Yamaska, Maskinongé, D&#39;Autray, and Pierre-De Saurel, in addition to the city of Trois-Rivières. The shores of the lake affect several municipalities:</p><br>
<p>North shore: Berthierville, Maskinongé, Louiseville, Yamachiche and Trois-Rivières (Pointe-du-Lac sector)</p><br>
<p>South shore: Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel, Pierreville, Baie-du-Febvre and Nicolet.</p><br>
<p>Lake Saint-Pierre is fed by the St. Lawrence River (coming from the southwest) and the 14 main tributaries:</p><br>
<p>North bank (from the mouth): Maskinongé River, Rivière du Loup (Mauricie), Yamachiche River, Glaises stream, Sables River</p><br>
<p>South bank (from the mouth): Yamaska River, Saint-François River, Colbert River, Landroche River, Des Frères River, Brielle River, Lemire River, Camille-Roy River, Nicolet River.</p><br>
<p>The average depth of the lake is only three meters. The channel of the seaway that has been dredged has a maximum depth of 11.3 m.</p><br>
<h2>Toponymy</h2><br>
<p>The lake was named by Samuel de Champlain following its passage on 29 June 1603, the day of the Saint-Pierre. The Abenaki called Lake Nebesek, which means at lac. Jacques Cartier, during his second voyage to Canada in 1535, had given him the name of "Angoulême".</p><br>
<h2>Natural environment</h2><br>
<p>This seasonally-flooded area is an important stopping point for hundreds of thousands of migrating waterfowl. It is also an important nesting area for herons: more have been counted here than in any other place in North America. In 1998, it was recognized as a wetland of international significance under the Ramsar Convention.</p><br>
<p>The wildlife experts have identified 23 species of mammals around Lake Saint-Pierre, one of the most abundant species is the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), which is found in abundance in the lake.</p><br>
<h3>Biosphere Reserve</h3><br>
<p>Lake Saint-Pierre was appointed Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2000. The biosphere reserve of Lac-Saint-Pierre has an area of 480 km&sup2, whose 31 km&sup2; in core areas and 124 km&sup2; in buffer zones. The core areas are composed of Wildlife Refuge Great Island and bird refuge Nicolet.</p><br>
<p>Nearly 290 species of birds, about 90 species of fish and 27 rare plants have been listed in this biosphere reserve.</p><br>
<h3>Wildlife Sanctuary of Great Island</h3><br>
<p>Wildlife Sanctuary of "Grande-Île" (Great Island) is located on Grande-île in the Archipelago of Saint-Pierre Lake. It has an area of 1.45 m&sup2;. This wildlife refuge was created in 1992 is the protection of one of the largest heron colonies in North America. It houses more than 5,000 herons.</p><br>
<h3>Nicolet Bird Sanctuary</h3><br>
<p>The "birds Nicolet refuge" is a protected area of 30 km&sup2; which protects a staging area for ducks and Canada goose and also a nesting area for waterfowl. National Defence has acquired the site in the 1950. The site was recognized as a rest area in 1969 and as a refuge in 1982.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Being the last freshwater basin of the St. Lawrence River and its geographical position, Lake Saint-Pierre has marked the history of French Canada in terms of the fishing industry, hunting, transportation including the St. Lawrence Seaway, pleasure boating, the settlement of surrounding lands, winter ice roads and ferries.</p><br>
<p>Samuel de Champlain wrote, in 1609: "On the south side, there are two rivers, one called the" Rivière du Pont (Nicolet) and the other of Gennes (Saint-François or Yamaska), which are very beautiful and in beautiful and good country. "</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h2>Disasters and tragedies</h2><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Lac Saint-Pierre is the setting of the poem, folk ballad, and animated short, "the Wreck of the Julie Plante", by William Henry Drummond.</p><br>
<p>It is also the scene of the farm that the title character tries to buy, in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler.</p><br>
<p>Mingus Mountain  is a mountain located in the USA state of Arizona in the Black Hills mountain range. It is located within the Prescott National Forest traversed by State Route 89A approximately midway between Cottonwood and Prescott. The summit can be reached via Forest Service roads that branch off from State Route 89A. From the mountain, there are views of the Verde Valley, Sycamore Canyon Wilderness and the towns of Cottonwood, Jerome, and Clarkdale. The Woodchute Wilderness, north of the summit of 89A, also offers views and hiking trails. There are several National Forest campgrounds in the area and it is the transmitter location for Prescott full-service television station KAZT-TV and several low-power television stations serving Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Camp Verde and Prescott Valley. Mingus Mountain is also the premier flying site of the Arizona Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association.</p><br>
<p>According to the book, Roadside History of Arizona, by Marshall Trimble, "Mingus Mountain was named for Joseph and Jacob Mingus, two brothers who settled in the area in the 1880s and later operated a sawmill near the base of the mountain". Another source attributes the name to William Mingus (d. 1911, Prescott, Arizona), a pioneer prospector who lived and worked on Mingus Mountain in the 1870s.</p><br>
<p>The Mingus Lookout Complex is a complex of fire tower and associated buildings at the top of the mountain, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
