<p>Creswell Crags is an enclosed limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England, near the villages of Creswell and Whitwell. The cliffs in the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago. Its caves contain the northernmost cave art in Europe. The evidence of occupation found in the rich series of sediments that accumulated over many thousands of years is regarded as internationally unique in demonstrating how prehistoric people managed to live at the extreme northernmost limits of their territory during the Late Pleistocene period.</p><br>
<p>The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian, proto-Solutrean, Creswellian and Maglemosian cultures. They were seasonally occupied by nomadic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman and post-medieval activity has also been found there. There is evidence of Neanderthal occupation 50,000–60,000 years ago, a brief Gravettian occupation around 32,000 years ago and use of all the main caves during the Magdalenian around 14,000 years ago. The site is open to the public and has a visitor centre with a small museum of objects associated with the caves, including a stuffed cave hyena.</p><br>
<p>As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It has also been put forward as a potential World Heritage Site.</p><br>
<p>The site was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 documentaries Unearthing Mysteries and Nature and featured in the 2005 BBC Two television programme Seven Natural Wonders, as one of the wonders of the Midlands.</p><br>
<p>In 2006–07, the B6042 road was re-routed from its path through the gorge, by approximately 150 m to the north, to minimise traffic impact on the site.</p><br>
<h2>Neanderthal and Upper Paleolithic occupation</h2><br>
<p>The gorge has been visited by Neanderthals, and people from the Gravettian and Magdalenian periods.</p><br>
<h2>Caves</h2><br>
<p>The most occupied caves were:</p><br>
<p>Mother Grundy&#39;s Parlour, which has produced numerous flint tools and split bones and was occupied until Mesolithic times.</p><br>
<p>Robin Hoods Cave, the location of a bone engraved with a horses head and evidence that its occupants hunted and trapped woolly rhinoceros and Arctic hare.</p><br>
<p>The Pin Hole, the location of the Pinhole Cave Man, a human figure engraved on bone and discovered in the 1920s, and an ivory pin with etched lines.</p><br>
<p>Church Hole, with more than 80 engravings on its walls and occupied intermittently until Roman times.</p><br>
<h2>Finds</h2><br>
<p>A bone engraved with a horse&#39;s head and other worked bone items along with the remains of a variety of prehistoric animals have been found in excavations since 1876. The "Ochre Horse" was found on 29 June 1876 at the back of the western chamber in the Robin Hood Cave.</p><br>
<p>In 2003, the Ochre Horse was estimated to be between 11,000 and 13,000 years old.</p><br>
<h2>Cave art</h2><br>
<p>In April 2003, engravings and bas-reliefs were found on the walls and ceilings of some of the caves, an important find as it had previously been thought that no British cave art existed. The discoveries, made by Paul Bahn, Sergio Rippoll and Paul Pettitt, included an animal figure at first thought to be an ibex but later identified as a stag. Later finds included carvings on the ceiling of Church Hole Cave, the rarity of which made the site one of international importance.</p><br>
<p>To this day the finds at Creswell Crags represent the most northerly finds in Europe. Their subject matter includes representations of animals including bison and, arguably, several different bird species. Some workers, however, consider that the "bird" figures are more likely to be female anthropomorphs. The engravers seem to have made use of the naturally uneven cave surface in their carvings and it is likely that they relied on the early-morning sunlight entering the caves to illuminate the art.</p><br>
<p>Thin layers of calcium carbonate flowstone overlaying some of the engravings were dated using the uranium-series disequilibrium method, which showed the oldest of these flowstones to have formed at least 12,800 years ago.</p><br>
<p>Not all of the figures identified as prehistoric art are in fact human made. An example given by archaeologists Paul Bahn and Paul Pettitt is the horse-head, Which they say is ""highly visible and resembles a heavily maned horse-head... lacks any trace of work: it is a combination of erosion, black stains for the head, and natural burrow cast reliefs for the mane." Others are a bison-head which they think may be natural and a bear image which "lacks any evidence of human work." Notwithstanding they believe that more figures may be discovered in the future.</p><br>
<h2>World Heritage Site nomination</h2><br>
<p>Creswell Crags first applied for World Heritage Site status in 1986, but was unsuccessful. Since then further research and development has been carried out and, in 2011, it was again put forward for consideration. In 2012 it was added to the United Kingdoms tentative list&#39; – an essential prerequisite to formal nomination, evaluation and potential inscription as a World Heritage Site. The Tentative List identifies the universal outstanding value of Creswell Crags as being:</p><br>
<p>The outstanding landscape of a narrow limestone gorge containing a complex of caves having long-intact palaeoenvironmental cave and gorge sediment sequences, containing rich cultural archaeological remains as well as diverse animal bone, plant macro- and micro-fossil assemblages</p><br>
<p>In situ Palaeolithic rock art on the walls and ceilings of caves, dated directly to 13,000 years ago, providing direct cultural associations with Late Magdalenian human groups operating at extreme northern latitudes</p><br>
<p>In addition, Creswell Crags significance has been enhanced by the discovery of a number of pieces of portable art made of engraved bone – the UKs only known figurative Ice Age art – as well as assemblages of bone, stone and ivory tools.</p><br>
<p>Castle Drogo is a country house and castle near Drewsteignton, Devon, England. Constructed between 1911 to 1930, it was the last castle to be built in England. The client was Julius Drewe, the hugely successful founder of the Home and Colonial Stores. Drewe chose the site in the belief that it formed part of the lands of his supposed medieval ancestor, Drogo de Teigne. The architect he chose to realise his dream was Edwin Lutyens, then at the height of his career. Lutyens lamented Drewe&#39;s determination to have a castle but nevertheless produced one of his finest buildings. The architectural critic, Christopher Hussey described the result: "The ultimate justification of Drogo is that it does not pretend to be a castle. It is a castle, as a castle is built, of granite, on a mountain, in the twentieth century".</p><br>
<p>The castle was given to the National Trust in 1974, the first building constructed in the twentieth century that the Trust acquired. Currently undergoing conservation (2013–2018), the castle is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Grade II* listed on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1910 Julius Drewe bought about 450 acre south and west of the village of Drewsteignton in the belief that he was descended from the Drewe family that once lived here. Born Drew, the son of George Smith Drew and his wife Mary, nee Peek, both from substantial families of grocers, Drewe added the "e" to his surname later in life. By the time of his death in 1931 he had bought up an estate of 1,500 acres. He then asked Edwin Lutyens to build him a castle. According to his son Basil, he did so on the advice of Edward Hudson, proprietor of Country Life magazine, who was both a patron and a champion of Lutyens. Drewe was now 54 years old, but he still had time, energy and money to create his new family seat. The budget was £50,000 for the castle, and a further £10,00 for the garden. Lutyens wrote privately of his concern over Drewes ambitions; "I do wish he didnt want a castle but just a delicious loveable house with plenty of good large rooms in it". On 4 April 1911, Drewe&#39;s 55th birthday, the first foundation stone was laid.</p><br>
<p>Burke&#39;s Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, p.643 This is a differenced version of the arms of the Drewe family of Broadhembury, from whom Julius Drewe claimed descent</p><br>
<h3>Construction</h3><br>
<p>The castle took many years to complete, with the First World War and the economic downturn causing many delays. One reason for the slow progress was the very limited number of craftsmen used. The writer Christopher Hussey records that "after the first year, every stone was laid by two men alone...Devon masons Cleeve and Dewdney". As significant, was Drewes waning enthusiasm; his son and heir Adrian was killed on 12 July 1917, in early skirmishes prior to the Battle of Passchendaele. Drewes daughter later recalled, "after my brothers death...the joy of life went out as far as my father and mother were concerned...my father really was somewhat of an invalid afterwards. Overall responsibility for the construction work was held by Drewes agent, John Coates Walker, described in the most recent guide to the castle as, "the unsung hero of the whole venture". Castle Drogo was finally completed in 1930, roughly a third of the size of Lutyenss 1911 designs, and only a year before Julius died; he had, however, been able to live in the house since around 1925. The catalogue prepared for the 1981 exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on Lutyens work describes Drogo as "one of his finest buildings". It was built at the same time as Lutyens&#39;s work in New Delhi resulting in many similarities in design.</p><br>
<h3>Later use</h3><br>
<p>After Julius&#39;s death, his wife Frances and her son Basil continued to live at the castle. During 1939–45, Frances and her daughter Mary ran the house as a home for babies made homeless during the bombings of London. Frances Drewe died in 1954 and Basil was then joined at Drogo by his son Anthony and his wife. In 1974, Anthony and his son, Dr Christopher Drewe, gave Castle Drogo and 600 acre of the surrounding land to the National Trust. It was the first 20th-century property the charity acquired. The writer and National Trust administrator James Lees-Milne recorded his impressions of the house and its owners in a diary entry dated 9 September 1976; "Reached Castle Drogo... at eleven. Very satisfactory house of clean-cut granite. A new family aspiring to, rather arriving at, landed gentry-hood and now the representative living upstairs in a tiny flat, all within my lifetime".</p><br>
<p>The castle has been undergoing an extensive, five-year, restoration. A new visitor centre with shop and café opened in the summer of 2009, after English Heritage required that industrial kitchen equipment such as that used by the previous café within the house, be removed from Grade I listed buildings. In February 2011, the National Trust launched a public appeal for money to fund necessary restoration work.</p><br>
<h2>Architectecture and description</h2><br>
<p>The castle as constructed represents approximately one third of the building Lutyens originally planned. The intended building would have run the entire length of the ridge, comprising three sides of a large courtyard. The existing structure broadly represents the planned eastern wing of the whole. It was to have been matched by a corresponding wing to the West, the two joined by a northern block enclosing the planned great hall. Drewe balked at the costs, although his own decision to double the thickness of all of the walls on grounds of authenticity was a significant factor in their escalation. Pre-war, the plan for the western wing was abandoned, and after the end of hostilities, which had seen the death of Drewe&#39;s eldest son, plans for the great hall were also set aside, with the undercroft, which had been constructed, becoming the crypt chapel.</p><br>
<p>The castle borrows styles of castle building from the medieval and Tudor periods, along with more minimalist contemporary approaches. A notable feature is the encasement of the service staircase, around which the main staircase climbs. Its defensive characteristics are purely decorative. Additionally, the castle had electricity and lifts from the outset, with power being supplied by two turbines on the river below. The castle is a Grade I listed building.</p><br>
<h3>Exterior</h3><br>
<h3>Interior</h3><br>
<h2>Gardens</h2><br>
<p>The castle has a fine formal garden, designed by Lutyens with planting by George Dillistone, which contrasts effectively with its striking setting on the edge of Dartmoor. In 1915, Lutyens brought in Gertrude Jekyll to assist with the planning. Jekyll&#39;s involvement appears to have been limited to designing the planting for the approach to the castle along the drive. The garden is noted for its rhododendrons and magnolias, herbaceous borders, rose garden, shrub garden and circular grass tennis court now used for croquet. The gardens are Grade II listed.</p><br>
<p>Zhifu Island or North Island, is an islet with historical significance in Shandong Province, China. The name of the islet Chefoo was generalized to mean the entire Yantai region in older western literature.</p><br>
<h2>Etymologies</h2><br>
<p>Possibilities include:</p><br>
<p>"A Barrier in the Shape of a Magical Plant"</p><br>
<p>Zhi is a magical and powerful plant, which the island&#39;s shape resembles</p><br>
<p>Fu a barrier of ocean</p><br>
<p>A magical mountain name (significance unknown)</p><br>
<p>From Qin Dynasty&#39;s Zhifu (之罘), officially changed to the present character in late Qing Dynasty.</p><br>
<h2>Administration</h2><br>
<p>Administratively, Zhifu Island is a part of Dàtuǎn Village (大疃村), Xingfu Sub-district, Zhifu District, Yantai City, Shandong Province. Dàtuǎn has a part on the mainland, where the offices and most residents are.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archeological excavations have uncovered over 200 artifacts, including stone axes, and short axes (錛: Bēn), pottery fragments, bone needles, and bone hairpins. These and Carbon-14 dating indicated that the island has been settled since the Neolithic period.</p><br>
<p>People were buried here during the Zhou Dynasty, including Duke Kang of Qi, who died on the island in 379 BC. The ruins of the cemetery still exist today. The Lord Yang Temple (陽主廟 Yángzhǔ Miào) was built during the early Zhou Dynasty by rulers of the State of Qí in honor of Lord Yang, the fifth deity of the Eight Divine Generals (八神將).</p><br>
<p>Because of a legend of a Mountain of Immortality, China&#39;s first emperor Qin Shi Huang visited the island three times looking for the elixir. He left a couple of stone inscriptions that are still visible today:</p><br>
<p>During his second visit in 218 BC, he left the inscription: "Arrived at Fu, and carved the stone" (登之罘，刻石).</p><br>
<p>The last time he visited (210 BC) he wrote: "Came to Fu, saw an enormous stone, and shot one fish" (至之罘，見巨石，射殺一魚).</p><br>
<p>Today, there are places like Shihuang Avenue (始皇道 Shihuang Dao), and Fish-shooting Tower (射魚台 Sheyu Tai) named after the emperor. Having failed to discover the elixir, Qin Shihuang dispatched the court sorcerer Xu Fu from Yantai, to sail away and find the elixir of life with hundreds of men and women.</p><br>
<p>After performing a ceremony in the Yangzhu Temple, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty also left an inscription in 94 BC: "Arrived at Zhifu, which floats on Great Ocean. Mountains call out &#39;Ten thousand years!" (登芝罘，浮大海，山稱萬歲).</p><br>
<p>Now, the island is mainly a tourist attraction where clams and abalones can be fished here in abundance.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Located in Bohai Sea, the island is 4 km from Downtown Zhifu and is 10 km x 1 km. Part of Public Road No. 26 connects the western end of the island and the north part of the mainland peninsula. Originally, the island was disconnected from the mainland, but for a period of millennium of years, the sand and soil in the ocean floor built up a 600-metre wide pathway. Thus the island is called the "Mainland-connecting Island" in Chinese (陸連島); it could even be considered a small peninsula.</p><br>
<p>The island&#39;s largest mountain is Laoye Mountain (老爺山 Lǎoyé Shān) at 294.1m. The Old Lady Stone (婆婆石 Pópó Shí) is on a cliff, at 43.49 metres above sea level, named because of its resemblance to a woman hugging the ocean waves. The southern part of the island is forested.</p><br>
<p>Zeta  is a river in Montenegro. Its source is under the mountain Vojnik, and flows eastwards for 86 km until it confluences into the Morača River just north of Podgorica.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>One theory is that the name "Zeta" derives from an early root meaning "harvest" or "grain" (modern words žetva and žito).</p><br>
<p>The Zeta River is the most significant tributary of the Morača. The Perućica hydroelectric power plant near Nikšić (307 MW, 970 GWh) uses the waters of the Zeta River to generate power. After that, the river meanders through the Bjelopavlići Valley, until it empties into the Morača a few miles north of Podgorica.</p><br>
<p>Historical monumental Carev Most exists over Zeta to the south of Nikšić town, and the ancient castle of Pandurica is situated nearby.</p><br>
<p>Thapsus or Thapsos   was an ancient city in what is modern-day Tunisia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It was founded by Phoenicians, and served as a marketplace on the coast of the province Byzacena in Africa Propria. Thapsus was established near a salt lake on a point of land eighty stadia (14.8 km) from the island of Lampedusa.</p><br>
<p>In 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeated Metellus Scipio and the Numidian Berber King Juba I with a tremendous loss of men near Thapsus (see Battle of Thapsus). Caesar exacted a payment of 50,000 sesterces from the vanquished. Their defeat marked the end of opposition to Caesar in Africa. Thapsus then became a Roman colony. Later, it was part of the Roman province of Byzacena.</p><br>
<h3>Diocese</h3><br>
<p>Thapsus became a Catholic bishopric, probably a suffragan, but no Metropolitan is known. Its only known bishop is Vigilius, the author of several controversial works against the Arians and the Eutychians. He was one of the Catholic bishops whom king Hunneric of the Vandals summoned to his court in Carthage in 484 and then exiled.</p><br>
<h2>Remains</h2><br>
<p>Its ruins exist at Ras Dimas, a promontory near Bekalta, approximately 200 km southeast of Carthage. They include an amphitheatre and various mosaics.</p><br>
<h2>Titular bishopric</h2><br>
<p>The see, no longer residential, is included in the Catholic Church&#39;s list of titular sees. It is a Latin title, of the lowest (episcopal) rank, with one archiepiscopal exception.</p><br>
<p>Since at creation as such in 1914, it has the following near-consecutive incumbents:</p><br>
<p>Valentín García y Barros (1914.12.10 – 1916.08.26)</p><br>
<p>Arturo Celestino Alvarez (1919.12.18 – 1921.05.09)</p><br>
<p>Andrew James Louis Brennan (1923.02.23 – 1926.05.28)</p><br>
<p>Vincenzo Celli (1927.04.08 – 1951.10.17)</p><br>
<p>Antonio Torasso, I.M.C. (1952.01.10 – 1960.10.22)</p><br>
<p>Paul-Émile Charbonneau (1960.11.15 – 1963.05.21)</p><br>
<p>Tomás Enrique Márquez Gómez (1963.06.25 – 1966.11.30)</p><br>
<p>Alfredo Cifuentes Gómez (1967.03.10 – 1970.12.02), as titular Archbishop</p><br>
<p>Ludwig Averkamp (1973.01.18 – 1985.11.07)</p><br>
<p>Vladas Michelevičius (1986.11.13 – 2008.11.12)</p><br>
<p>Ignacio Carrasco de Paula (2010.09.15 –...), President for Life of the Pontifical Academy</p><br>
<p>Loma Prieta  is a 3,790 ft Northern California mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The peak is on private property about 11 mi west of Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County. The dirt road to the summit is gated, but the tower maintainers generally do not mind hikers.</p><br>
<p>From 1976 through 1990 amateur astronomer Donald Machholz set up his telescope an average of 120 times a year on the south slope of this mountain to search for comets. From this site he discovered three new comets that bear his name, including Periodic Comet Machholz 1 96P/Machholz on May 12, 1986.</p><br>
<p>The first official West Coast Messier marathon was conducted from this site in March 1979.</p><br>
<p>The epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was near the mountain.</p><br>
<p>The mountain was the longtime site for the transmitter tower of San Jose television station KNTV (from 1955 to 2005). It moved its transmitter 83 km northwest to San Bruno Mountain in September 2005, after it became the Bay Area&#39;s NBC affiliate.</p><br>
<p>Loma Prieta is the tallest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it is common to see snow on the mountain during the winter.</p><br>
<p>Basaseachic Falls on the Basaseachic River is the second-highest waterfall in Mexico, located in the Parque Nacional Basaseachic  at Cañon Basaseachic in the Copper Canyon region of northwest Mexico, near Creel, Chihuahua. It is 246 meters  tall, second in Mexico only to the Cascada de Piedra Volada .</p><br>
<p>Basaseachic Falls is located in the high mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental, in the Municipality of Ocampo, 3 km from Basaseachi community and about 265 km west of Chihuahua. It is reached via Federal Highway 16 and its surroundings make up the Basaseachic Falls National Park (Parque Nacional Cascada de Basaseachic).</p><br>
<p>The waterfall is made by two streams, Arroyo del Durazno and Arroyo de Basaseachic, which merge in the high mountains and then fall down the canyon wall. Past the falls, the stream is called Río Candameña (Candamena River), which is the namesake of the canyon it flows through, Candamena Canyon (Cañon Candameña). Candamena River contributes to the formation of Río Mayo (Mayo River).</p><br>
<p>Basaseachic Falls was considered the tallest waterfall in México until the measurement in September, 1994 of the Cascada de Piedra Volada. Both of these waterfalls are seasonal, drying up in the Spring and Autumn dry seasons.</p><br>
<p>Angel Falls  is a waterfall in Venezuela.</p><br>
<p>It is the world&#39;s highest uninterrupted waterfall, with a height of 979 meters and a plunge of 807 meters. The waterfall drops over the edge of the Auyán-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Canaima), a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State. The height figure 979 m mostly consists of the main plunge but also includes about 400 m of sloped cascade and rapids below the drop and a 30 m high plunge downstream of the talus rapids.</p><br>
<p>The falls are along a fork of the Rio Kerepacupai Meru which flows into the Churun River, a tributary of the Carrao River, itself a tributary of the Orinoco River.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Etymology</h3><br>
<p>The waterfall has been known as the Angel Falls since the mid-20th century; they are named after Jimmie Angel, a US aviator, who was the first person to fly over the falls. Angel&#39;s ashes were scattered over the falls on 2 July 1960.</p><br>
<p>The common Spanish name Salto del Ángel derives from his surname. In 2009, President Hugo Chávez announced his intention to change the name to the purported original indigenous Pemon term ("Kerepakupai Vená", meaning "waterfall of the deepest place"), on the grounds that the nation&#39;s most famous landmark should bear an indigenous name. Explaining the name change, Chávez was reported to have said, "This is ours, long before Angel ever arrived there... this is indigenous property." However, he later said that he would not decree the change of name, but only was defending the use of Kerepakupai Vená.</p><br>
<h3>Exploration</h3><br>
<p>Sir Walter Raleigh in his expedition to find the fabled city of El Dorado described what was possibly a tepuy (table top mountain), and he is said to have been the first European to view Angel Falls, although these claims are considered far-fetched. Some historians state that the first European to visit the waterfall was Fernando de Berrío, a Spanish explorer and governor from the 16th and 17th centuries. Other sources state that the first westerner to see the waterfall was the also Spanish explorer Fèlix Cardona in 1927.</p><br>
<p>According to accounts of Venezuelan explorer Ernesto Sánchez La Cruz, he spotted the falls in 1912, but he did not publicize his discovery. Cruz possibly saw the Montoya Falls in the Sierra Pacaraima region, which are more than 500 m tall. They were not known to the outside world until American aviator Jimmie Angel, following directions given by the explorer Fèlix Cardona who had seen the waterfall six years before, flew over them on 16 November 1933 on a flight while he was searching for a valuable ore bed.</p><br>
<p>Returning on 9 October 1937, Angel tried to land his Flamingo monoplane El Río Caroní atop Auyán-tepui, but the plane was damaged when the wheels sank into the marshy ground. Angel and his three companions, including his wife Marie, were forced to descend the tepui on foot. It took them 11 days to make their way back to civilization by the gradually sloping back side, but news of their adventure spread and the waterfall was named Angel Falls in his honor. The name of the waterfall&mdash;"Salto del Ángel"&mdash;was first published on a Venezuelan government map in December 1939.</p><br>
<p>Angel&#39;s plane remained on top of the tepui for 33 years before being lifted out by helicopter. It was restored at the Aviation Museum in Maracay and now sits outdoors on the front of the airport at Ciudad Bolívar.</p><br>
<p>The first recorded person of European descent to reach the base of the falls was Latvian explorer Aleksandrs Laime, also known as Alejandro Laime to the native Pemon tribe. He reached the falls alone in 1946. He was the first to reach the upper side of falls in the late 1950s, by climbing on the back side where the slope is not vertical. He also reached Angel&#39;s plane 18 years after the crash landing. On 18 November 1955, Latvian independence day, he announced to Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional that this stream without any known local name should be called after a Latvian river, Gauja. The same year, this name was registered in the National Cartographic Institution of Venezuela. There are no convincing proofs that indigenous Pemon people had named the local streams, as Auyán-tepui was considered to be a dangerous place and was not visited by the indigenous people. However, lately the Pemon name Kerep is used as well.</p><br>
<p>Laime was also the first to clear a trail that leads from the Churun River to the base of the falls. On the way is a viewpoint commonly used to capture the falls in photographs. It is named Mirador Laime ("Laime&#39;s Viewpoint" in Spanish) in his honor. This trail is used now mostly for tourists, to lead them from the Isla Ratón camp to the small clearing.</p><br>
<p>The official height of the falls was determined by a survey carried out by an expedition organized and financed by American journalist Ruth Robertson on 13 May 1949. Robertson&#39;s expedition, which began on April 23, 1949, was also the first to reach the foot of the falls. The first known attempt to climb the face of the cliff was made in 1968 during the wet season. It failed because of slippery rock. In 1969, a second attempt was made during the dry season. This attempt was thwarted by lack of water and an overhang 400 ft from the top. The first climb to the top of the cliff was completed on 13 January 1971. The climbers required nine and a half days to ascend and one and a half days to rappel down.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Angel Falls is one of Venezuela&#39;s top tourist attractions, though a trip to the falls is a complicated affair. The falls are located in an isolated jungle. A flight from Puerto Ordaz or Ciudad Bolívar is required to reach Canaima camp, the starting point for river trips to the base of the falls. River trips generally take place from June to December, when the rivers are deep enough for use by the Pemon guides. During the dry season (December to March) there is less water seen than in the other months. The falls receive roughly 900,000 visitors per year.</p><br>
<h2>In popular media</h2><br>
<p>Angel Falls also inspired the setting of the Disney animated film Up (2009) although, in the film, the location was called Paradise Falls instead of Angel Falls. It also makes a small appearance in the Disney film Dinosaur, as well as the 1990 film Arachnophobia. Most recently, it makes an appearance in the 2015 film Point Break. Numerous documentaries have covered the falls, including Planet Earth.</p><br>
<p>Ramnefjellsfossen  is unofficially listed as the third-highest waterfall in the world in several publications. On the other hand, The World Waterfall Database, a waterfall enthusiast website, which includes all minor and seasonal waterfalls in the country, lists it as eleventh-tallest. The falls are located on the mountain, Ramnefjellet, in the municipality of Stryn in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway&ndash;about 10 km southeast of the villages of Loen and Olden.</p><br>
<p>The falls are fed by the Ramnefjellbreen glacier, an arm of the great Jostedalsbreen glacier. After the falls, the water flows into the lake Lovatnet. The falls are easily reached by boat, sea plane, or road, and a campsite is located within hiking distance of the base of the falls. The total drop is 818 m from three free-leaping cascades. Due to the small flow of water it is one of the few major waterfalls in Norway that has not been slated for hydroelectric usage.</p><br>
<p>The mountain, Ramnefjellet, has killed over 100 people as a result of major landslides in 1905 and 1936. A 2008 photograph of the falls taken from Lovatnet lake was included in the Emirates "Skywards" brochure.</p><br>
<p>The Tin Mine Falls is a cascade waterfall located in the remote Pilot Wilderness Area within the Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. Described from top to bottom, the falls consist of non-segmented tiered cascades over bedrock with a few smaller plunges, followed by a single large plunge into a pool. The falls are recessed into a punchbowl feature making it impossible to view the entire waterfall from a single location on the ground.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>The falls are located in remote country within the Kosciuszko National Park. The closest access point is the Cascade Fire Trail, a hiking trail that runs south from the Alpine Way, west of Thredbo Village.</p><br>
<p>The height of Tin Mine Falls is listed as 459 m and quote a story concerning the origin of this figure: "The falls were apparently measured in 1990 by a Dr. John Pease... using a plumb line". According to the World Waterfall Database, Tin Mine Falls is the 462nd tallest waterfall in the world, with a total height of 213 m. Official data from Geoscience Australia list the most significant waterfalls in Australia as:</p><br>
<p>Wallaman Falls - Queensland, 305m</p><br>
<p>Wollomombi Falls - New South Wales, 220 m with a 100 m single drop</p><br>
<p>Ellenborough Falls - New South Wales 160 m in a single drop</p><br>
<h2>Conclusions</h2><br>
<p>The estimated height of 160 - corresponds with topography but contradicts Geoscience Australia&#39;s list of the tallest waterfalls in Australia (this would make Tin Mine Falls the 3rd highest on the continent). Unless the upper limit of the falls is fixed well upstream, to include a long section of shallow-slope non-bedrock streambed, the rumoured height of 360 - cannot be substantiated.</p><br>
<p>Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound in the USA state of Washington that extends southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s and has since grown to encompass it completely. The waterway it provides to the Pacific Ocean has served as a key element of the city&#39;s economy, enabling the Port of Seattle to become one of the busiest ports in the United States.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The bay was named during the Wilkes expedition in 1841, however it is not known for whom the bay is named. Candidates include members of the expedition: ships chaplain Jared Elliott, ships boy George Elliott, and midshipman Samuel Elliott. The last has been deemed the most likely namesake. Commodore Jesse Elliott has also been proposed as a possible source of the name. The bay has been referred to as Duwamish Bay and Seattle Harbor, especially before the US Board on Geographic Names officially settled on the name "Elliott Bay" in 1895.</p><br>
<p>The Duwamish people lived in the vicinity of Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River for thousands of years and had established at least 17 settlements by the time white settlers came in the 1850s. Among the earliest white settlements was by the Denny Party at New York Alki, which is in the present-day neighborhood of Alki in West Seattle, however after a hard winter they shifted across Elliott Bay near the present-day Pioneer Square, which became Seattle. Over the years the city expanded to cover all of the waterfront on Elliott Bay and codified it as one of its fairways (a navigable waterway).</p><br>
<p>A local legend says that the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, which peaked in the early 20th century, was so-named by a Seattleite who looked out over Elliott Bay and remarked that the activity resembled that of mosquitoes. Two notable sinkings related to the Mosquito Fleet occurred in the bay: the Dix in 1906, taking with it dozens of lives, and the Multnomah in 1911. Eventually these commercial passenger services faded as automobiles and ferries rose in popularity.</p><br>
<p>The last remaining model of the Boeing 307 ditched into Elliott Bay in 2002 during a final test flight from Boeing Field to Everett. The craft, named the Flying Cloud, had been the subject of an eight-year restoration project meant to ready it for display at the National Air and Space Museum. Despite the incident, the aircraft was again restored, flew to the Smithsonian, and was put on display.</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<p>West Point and Alki Point are the headlands into Puget Sound recognized as the northern and southern entrances of Elliott Bay respectively. A line drawn between these two points demarcates the bay to the east from the open sound to the west. More precisely, the bay has been defined as being east from a line drawn from Duwamish Head north to Magnolia Bluff. The Duwamish River empties into the southeastern part of the bay. This area was extensively modified by human development in the 20th century to channelize the river and fill in tideflats to create Harbor Island, which was once the world&#39;s largest artificial island. West of the river delta the land juts north into the bay at Duwamish Head. To the east running north and northwest is the heart of Seattle, the Alaskan Way Seawall, the Central Waterfront, and Smith Cove.</p><br>
<p>Elliott Bay is home to the Port of Seattle, which, in 2002, was the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic and the 46th busiest in the world. Cruise ship business, serving Alaskan cruises, became increasingly important in the 2000s. The bay is also home to Colman Dock, the main Seattle terminal of the state&#39;s ferry system, the largest in the country. Sailings regularly depart from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton. The Seattle–Winslow (Bainbridge Island) route is the most heavily used in the state ferry system in terms of number of vehicles and passengers transported. The King County Water Taxi, a passenger ferry, runs across the bay, connecting Downtown Seattle with West Seattle (Seacrest Dock) and Vashon Island.</p><br>
<p>Two marinas are in Elliott Bay. The larger of them is the privately owned Elliott Bay Marina, in the Magnolia/Interbay neighborhoods at Smith Cove, with 1,200 slips. Bell Harbor Marina, operated by the Port of Seattle, is in the Central Waterfront along Belltown. Up to 70 vessels can be moored there.</p><br>
<p>Numerous piers extend into the bay, especially along Seattles Central Waterfront. Piers 57 and 59 house tourist destinations, including the Seattle Great Wheel and the Seattle Aquarium. On Pier 67 is The Edgewater Hotel. Pier 86 is a major grain shipping terminal operated by the Louis Dreyfus Group. Grain is carried to docked cargo ships by passing over Elliott Bay Trail and a narrow shoreline park, which also features a public fishing pier near Smith Cove. In the cove is Terminal 91, which has served a variety of purposes over the years, including storage for imported automobiles and fish, and most recently became a dock for Alaskan cruise ships. To the south, in West Seattles Seacrest Park, is another public fishing pier and a dive site.</p><br>
<p>As a prominent aspect of Seattles geography, the bay has frequently been referenced in media. The Real World: Seattle, the 1998 season of the MTV reality television series, was filmed on Pier 70 on the bay. The fictional Elliott Bay Towers, home of Frasier Crane on the TV series Frasier, are named after the bay. In Season 3 of the Seattle-set crime drama The Killing, suspect Ray Seward is incarcerated in the fictional Elliott Bay Penitentiary. A simplified map of Elliott Bay is used as the "Maps" icon in Microsofts Windows Phone 7 Smartphone Operating System. Microsoft has its headquarters in the Seattle metropolitan area.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Elliott Bay has been a focus for environmental concern. Urban and industrial development along its shores, and on the banks of the Duwamish River that leads into it, have caused concern over the levels of contaminants entering the water. On the southern shoreline are two Superfund cleanup sites: Harbor Island and the former location of Lockheed West Seattle. Several other sites have been designated for cleanup, including the Pacific Sound Resources site, and others along the lower Duwamish.</p><br>
<p>The downtown waterfront offers a poor habitat for the juvenile salmon that migrate from the Duwamish River, due to the darkness under the piers and the lack of food along the vertical Alaskan Way Seawall. The seawall redevelopment project aims to improve the habitat by installing underwater structures to create shallows where salmon can find food and glass blocks in the sidewalk (cantilevered over the bay) so that sunlight can illuminate the shallows even at the piers.</p><br>
<p>The Bohol Sea, also called the Mindanao Sea, is located between Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines. It lies south of Bohol and Leyte and north of Mindanao. Siquijor and Camiguin are its two major islands.</p><br>
<p>The major cities along the coastline of the sea are Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Butuan, Dumaguete, Ozamiz and Tagbilaran.</p><br>
<p>The sea connects to the Philippine Sea through the Surigao Strait, to the Camotes Sea through the Canigao Channel and Cebu Strait, and to the Sulu Sea through the strait between Negros Island and Zamboanga Peninsula.</p><br>
<h2>Jellefe Diving</h2><br>
<p>The Bohol Sea is home to a large variety of premier scuba diving locations, dive charter boats, and hotels that cater to divers. Around the area of Tagbilaran and Balicasag Island there are numerous wall dives that range from 30 to 100 ft. Water temperatures are very warm and most divers use a standard 3/2 shorty wetsuit to dive the location.</p><br>
<p>Sea life is abundant and includes such attractions as clownfish, lionfish, barracuda, dolphins, huge coral formations, and other common tropical sealife. Rorquals have been confirmed to return into Bohol Sea which is a rare trend in any Asian waters, and most notably Bohol regions host even blue whales.</p><br>
<p>The Weissenstein  is a mountain of the Jura, located north of Solothurn in the Swiss canton of Solothurn. The culminating point of the chain is distinguished by the name Röti. It is the easternmost summit above 1,300 metres in the Jura Mountains.</p><br>
<p>Until the end of 2009 there was a chairlift (length: 2339 m) from Oberdorf to the spa hotel on the 1,284 metre-high summit near the Weissenstein Pass. It was replaced by a gondola lift at the end of 2014. The tunnel of the railway line Solothurn-Moutier from Oberdorf to Gänsbrunnen on the other side was opened in 1908. The gondola lift crosses the railway track in front of the tunnel portal at Oberdorf, which is the only setting of this kind in Switzerland.</p><br>
<p>The pass road leading from the village of Oberdorf across the Weissenstein Pass (1279 m) to Gänsbrunnen is one of the steepest in Switzerland (22%).</p><br>
<p>Kjelfossen  is one of the highest waterfalls in Norway. The falls are located near the village of Gudvangen in the municipality of Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane county. With a total fall height of 755 m, the waterfall is listed as the 18th tallest waterfall in the world. The tallest single drop is 149 m. The height of the waterfall has never been accurately measured, so there are discrepancies in its actual height. Some sources list it as 840 m tall.</p><br>
<p>The largest of the three (the one on the left) is officially named Kjelfossen, but is also known as Stor Kjelfossen. The middle falls is known as Vetle Kjelfoss, and the one on the right (and the smallest by volume) is thought to be unnamed. The falls are located just east of Gudvangen at the end of the Nærøyfjord. The falls can be seen from the highway, just west of the entrance into the Gudvanga Tunnel. The falls are located about 18 km west of Flåm and 27 km west of Aurlandsvangen.</p><br>
<h2>Media gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Wollomombi Falls , is a plunge waterfall on the Wollomombi River located in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>Located in the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park approximately 40 km due east of Armidale and 1.45 km off the Waterfall Way, the Wollomombi Falls are situated atop the Wollomombi Gorge near the confluence of the Wollomombi River with the Chandler River. The Chandler Falls are located on the Chandler River, adjacent to the Wollomombi Falls. The falls descend from an elevation of 907 m above sea level in one drop of 100 m, with a total descend that ranges in height between 150 - depending on the flow of the river.</p><br>
<p>At one time they were believed to be the tallest in Australia. However, recent geographical revisions place them at second or third tallest, depending on the source, after the Tin Mine Falls in the Snowy Mountains and the Wallaman Falls, near, Queensland.</p><br>
<h3>Hiking tracks and campground</h3><br>
<p>Several camp grounds and walking tracks are located adjacent to the Wollomombi Falls and provide access to see the waterfall. Constructed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service are the Wollomombi Gorge and Falls Picnic Area, the 4 km long, three-hour return Wollomombi Walking Track, the 2.5 km long, 90 minute return Chandler Walking Track, and the Wollomombi Campground. The Chandler Walk route passes Checks Lookout before reaching the Chandler Lookout and then winding down to the bottom of the gorge downstream from the falls. Checks Lookout is about a third of the way along this walk with a view back along the gorge to the falls. At the end of the track 400 m below the top of the gorge, hikers can explore the river or swim in one of the many deeper pools. The Wollomombi Walk takes the walker upstream past a lookout platform and across the Wollomombi River on a long steel bridge. The river can be explored at this point. The track continues to another lookout platform which looks down on the falls from the opposite side of the gorge. A further extension of the track ends at a platform with views into the Chandler River gorge which joins the Wollomombi Gorge.</p><br>
<p>Edgars Lookout provides an accessible view of the gorge on the western side of the falls lookouts.</p><br>
<p>Facilities include drinking water, pit toilets, shelter shed, fireplace and bush camping sites are available for overnight stays. There is also an information display.</p><br>
<p>Captain Jack&#39;s Stronghold, named for Modoc chief Captain Jack , is a part of Lava Beds National Monument. The stronghold can be accessed from the Perez turnoff, off Highway 139 between Tulelake and Canby, California. The Modoc people had long used this area for hunting and gathering as it was part of their traditional territory.</p><br>
<p>During the Modoc War, Captain Jack&#39;s band settled here following the Battle of Lost River. With only 53 warriors, and numerous women and children in their band of 160, they held off for several months a United States Army force outnumbering them by as much as 10 to 1. The Modoc used the lava beds as defensive stronghold because of the rough terrain, rocks that could be used in fortification, and irregular pathways to evade pursuers.</p><br>
<p>In the First Battle of the Stronghold, January 17, 1873, 51 Modoc warriors defeated an Army force of 225 soldiers supported by 104 Oregon and California volunteers, killing 35 and wounding several others, while suffering no casualties or serious woundings.</p><br>
<p>During the Second Battle of the Stronghold, April 15–17, the reinforced Army of over six hundred men captured the Modoc spring and cut off their route to Tule Lake, forcing the Modoc to disperse when their water supplies ran out. After fleeing the Stronghold, the band of Modoc splintered, and the last group, made up of Captain Jack, John Schonchin, Black Jim, and Boston Charley, were captured on June 1, 1873. All four were hanged on October 3, 1873, at Fort Klamath, convicted of war crimes in the murders in April 1873 of General Edward Canby and Reverend Eleazer Thomas at a peace commission meeting. Canby was the only general to be killed in the Indian Wars.</p><br>
<h2>California Historical Landmark</h2><br>
<p>Captain Jack&#39;s Cave at the Stronghold</p><br>
<p>Schonchin Butte is a cinder cone on the northern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano in the Cascade Range in northern California. Frothy lava, cooled in the air, created the large cinder cones throughout Lava Beds National Monument. It is named for Old Schonchin, a chief of the Modoc people during the late nineteenth century. Erupting more than 30,000 years ago, the volcano spewed ash and cinders into the air much like a can of soda when shaken. A lava spatter rampart is at the very top.</p><br>
<p>The butte&#39;s 3/4 mi trail leads to a panoramic view from the historic fire lookout. From the lookout panoramic views of the Medicine Lake Volcano, Mount Shasta, Mount McLoughlin, the Clear Lake Hills and the Warner Mountains can be seen. On a really clear day, the south rim of Crater Lake in Oregon is visible.</p><br>
<h2>Fire lookout</h2><br>
<p>The Civilian Conservation Corps built a fire lookout at Schonchin Butte during the summers of 1939 and 1940, as part of federal infrastructure development under the President Franklin D. Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression. The site was selected for its view of Lava Beds National Monument, while the United States Forest Service wanted a lookout constructed on Hippo Butte, probably because of its view of the Modoc National Forest. The CCC crew manually carried all materials to the building site after constructing the trail. Roger Reid was the first to staff the lookout in 1941. The 1942 date on the doorstep of the lookout represents when it was installed, not when the lookout was built, or first staffed.</p><br>
<p>The lookout has changed over the years, but its general appearance and structure have remained relatively unchanged. Linoleum, not carpet, used to cover the building’s floor, and the furnishings were stained while trim was painted. Early lookouts used a radio phone, and a regular telephone was not installed for several decades. Many original items remain: the Osborne Fire Finder and its stand, the sink, and the insulated stool which lookouts use during thunderstorms.</p><br>
<p>Through the 1980s, rangers staffed the lookout for extended periods. They used gas for light and cooking, but electricity replaced gas in the 1950s when the National Park Service constructed a power line that ascended the cinder cone’s east slope. The National Park Service removed the line in the mid-1980s when electric lines were buried along the Monument’s main road. Solar panels now power a repeater, radio, and small lights.</p><br>
<p>Maintenance has been done piecemeal from the building’s creation through the 1990s. By 1992, the building, placed on the National Register of Historic Places, showed signs of its age. In 1993, the Park Service received about $50,000 to restore the lookout. During June and July 1994, maintenance workers stripped the inside of paint and bad sheetrock. They removed old fixtures and a gas stove from the main level and various junk from the basement. The refrigerator was moved to the basement. Helicopters brought dirt and rock for the trail. Workers drained the cistern in the basement and installed new carpets and light fixtures capable of using electricity generated by solar panels.</p><br>
<p>Schonchin Butte is staffed approximately from May to September from about 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., but park rangers stay longer in cases of extreme fire danger, fire activity, or significant lightning activity. Lookouts no longer live in the building and carry up daily supplies on their backs. The lack of electricity and cooking equipment also limit a lookout’s tour of duty.</p><br>
<p>Schonchin Butte appears as a topic in the American Park Network publication Oh, Ranger!. The chapter "The Lookout Tower", written by former lookout Franklin Clark, describes Schonchin Butte and chronicles two storms atop the lookout.</p><br>
<p>Mantineia  was a city in ancient Arcadia, Greece that was the site of two significant battles in Classical Greek history.</p><br>
<p>In modern times it is a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat was the village of Nestani (pop. 486 in 2011). It is located in the northeastern part of Arcadia. The municipal unit has a land area of 205.393 km² and a population of 2,114 inhabitants. Its largest other towns are Artemisio, Loukas, and Kapsas.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Poseidon was the patron god of Mantinea.</p><br>
<p>The First Battle of Mantinea, in 418 BC, was the largest land battle of the Peloponnesian War. On one side were Sparta and its remaining allies, and on the other were Athens, its allies, plus the cities that had revolted against the Spartans. After Laches the Athenian commander was killed, the battle turned into a rout of the Athenian and allied armies, a result attributed to greater Spartan courage.</p><br>
<p>Mantineia had been a member of the Peloponnesian League, but during the Peloponnesian War, the city joined Athens. After the war, it was forced to rejoin the Peloponnese. Later, Sparta used the Peace of Antalcidas as a pretext to break Mantineia into its constituent villages. In response, the Mantineans expelled pro-Spartans from the city. After the Spartan defeat at the end of the Corinthian War, Mantineia re-formed into a single city.</p><br>
<p>The Second Battle of Mantinea, in 362 BC, led to the fall of Theban hegemony. In that battle, Athens and Sparta were allied. Thebes won the battle, but its greatest general, Epaminondas, was killed in the fighting.</p><br>
<p>Macedonian king Antigonus III Doson renamed the city Antigonia; Mantineia&#39;s name was restored by Hadrian.</p><br>
<p>Modern-day Mantineia is the region around the city of Tripoli in Arcadia, and was named after the namesake city of old. It is also the name of a Protected designation of origin of Greek blanc de gris wine, made of the moschofilero grape traditionally grown in the region. The seat of Mantineia is Nestani, home to about one-fifth (20%) of the population.</p><br>
<p>Mountains surround the valley, including the Lyrkeia mountains as well as the Mainalo mountains to the southwest. The valley consists of vineyards, potato and wheat farms, as well as other crops, and covers about half of the municipality. Several floods ravaged Mantineia in the mid-20th century, even to the extent of forming a lake that has since been drained. Forests dominate the mountains. Rocks and grasslands cover most of the northeast.</p><br>
<p>The Mantineia Marble, dated to the 4th century BC and now exhibited at National Archaeological Museum of Athens, depicts the mythical contest between Apollo and Marsyas, with a Greek pandouris being played by a muse seated on a rock. This is important to researchers into the history of musical instruments Lutes have been present in ancient Greece</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Mantineia is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Artemisio</p><br>
<p>Kapsas</p><br>
<p>Loukas (Loukas, Milia)</p><br>
<p>Nestani (Nestani, Milea, Gorgoepikoos Monastery)</p><br>
<p>Pikernis</p><br>
<p>Sagkas</p><br>
<p>Simiades (Simiades, Neos Kardaras)</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Province</h2><br>
<p>The province of Mantineia (Επαρχία Μαντινείας) was one of the provinces of the Arcadia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Tripoli. Its seat was the town Tripoli. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Demonax, lawgiver (6th century BC)</p><br>
<p>Nicodorus, lawgiver (5th century BC)</p><br>
<p>Diotima, a female philosopher identified in Plato&#39;s Symposium</p><br>
<p>Lastheneia, a female philosopher and student of Plato</p><br>
<p>Lycomedes, politician (died 366 BC)</p><br>
<p>Detroit Lake is a reservoir impounded by the Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River 46 mi southeast of Salem, Oregon, United States.</p><br>
<p>The lake is adjacent to Oregon Route 22 near the city of Detroit.</p><br>
<p>This mesotrophic lake stores water for use by the city of Salem and other nearby communities.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Detroit Lake is situated over a historical road bed of the former Oregon Pacific Railroad. This route was built by Colonel T. Egenton Hogg as a proposed transcontinental railroad. Because of a lack of funding, the line terminated in Idanha, southeast of the lake. Idanha had rail service until the 1950s, when the track was removed for installation of the Detroit and Big Cliff reservoirs. Detroit Lake was created in 1953 after the completion of the dam. Part of the Willamette Valley Projects, the lake was intended primarily for flood control and power generation but has become one of the major recreation resources in western Oregon.</p><br>
<h2>Details</h2><br>
<p>The reservoir has a capacity of 455,000 acre.ft of water when full and 281,600 acre.ft in the summer when drawn down. Located in the North Santiam Canyon, the 9 mi long lake has shoreline of 32 mi when full. One swimming opportunity is at the Mongold Day-Use Area (an Oregon State Park).</p><br>
<p>Detroit Lake is stocked by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with 125,000 catchable rainbow trout along with fingerling rainbow, kokanee and chinook salmon.</p><br>
<p>A self-sustaining population of brown bullhead catfish resides in the lake.</p><br>
<p>Detroit Lake offers year-round fishing as long as you fish in still water and not in or near the rivers and streams. It is one of 32 lakes federally designated for recreation, managed by the United States Forest Service.</p><br>
<p>The lake serves many purposes including flood control, water conservation, and recreation.</p><br>
<p>There are many camping and recreation opportunities at Detroit Lake. In 2009, a new winter boat ramp was constructed, making it possible to launch a boat safely during the winter months when other ramps are on dry ground.</p><br>
<h2>Water Levels</h2><br>
<p>The water level fluctuates with snow pack, precipitation, and the water consumption of Salem, and surrounding areas. At low pool, it has a surface elevation of 1,450 ft; at the full pool season—typically May 1 to September 1—it can raise up 119 ft to a water elevation of 1,569 ft.</p><br>
<p>In 2015 and 2016 low water levels in the reservoir impacted recreation, the operation of marinas and the economy in the Santiam Canyon.</p><br>
<p>Gran Canaria  is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, an African archipelago which is part of Spain, with a population of 847,830  that constitutes approximately 40% of the population of the archipelago. Located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 km off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1,350 km from Europe. With an area of 1,560 km  and an altitude of 1,956 m at the Pico de las Nieves, Gran Canaria is the third largest island of the archipelago in both area and altitude.</p><br>
<p>Gran Canaria was populated by the Canarii, who may have arrived as early as 500 BC. The Canarii called the island Tamarán or Land of the Brave. After over a century of European incursions and attempts at conquest, the island was conquered on April 29, 1483, after a campaign that lasted five years, by the Crown of Castile, with the support of Queen Isabella I, a conquest which turned out to be an important step towards the expansion of the unified Spain.</p><br>
<p>The capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded on June 24, 1478, under the name "Real de Las Palmas", by Juan Rejón, head of the invading Castilian army. In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas (and spent some time on the island) on his first trip to the Americas. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is, jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Gran Canaria is located southeast of Tenerife and west of Fuerteventura. The island is of volcanic origin, mostly made of fissure vents. Gran Canaria&#39;s surface area is 1,560 km² and its maximum elevation is 1,949 metres (Pico de Las Nieves). It has a round shape, with a diameter of approximately 50 km.</p><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>About 80% of the volume of the island was formed during the Miocene period, between 14 and 9 million years ago. This is called the "Old Cycle" and is estimated to have lasted some 200,000 years and have emitted about 1000 km, mostly of fissural alkali basalt. This cycle continued with the emission of trachytes, phonolites and peralkaline rocks. This period was followed by one of erosion, which lasted some 4 million years.</p><br>
<p>A second cycle of volcanic eruptions, known as the "Roque Nublo cycle", took place between 4.5 and 3.4 million years ago. This shorter cycle emitted about 100 km. Most of the inland peaks were formed by erosion from these materials. This period also started with fissural basalts, but ended with violent eruptions of pyroclastic flows. Some phonolitic features, like the Risco Blanco, were also formed in its last stages.</p><br>
<p>The third or recent cycle is held to have started some 2.8 million years ago and is considered to be still active. The last eruptions are held to have occurred some 3500 years ago.</p><br>
<p>The changes in volume and, therefore, weight of the island have also caused the island to rise above the previous sea level during erosive periods and to sink during eruptive periods. Some of these "fossil beaches" can be seen in the cliff faces of the more eroded northern coast.</p><br>
<h2>Vegetation</h2><br>
<p>Until the conquest, Gran Canaria had extensive forests, but then suffered extensive deforestation as a result of continuous logging, land divisions and other intensive uses. This caused the forest cover to be reduced to just 56,000 hectares, making the island the most deforested of the Canary Islands. However, in the twentieth century reforestation of the ridge of the island was begun, recovering some of the lost forest mass. Much of the summit of the island is forested mostly due to reforestation.</p><br>
<h2>Municipalities</h2><br>
<p>Gran Canaria is divided into twenty-one municipalities:</p><br>
<p>Agaete</p><br>
<p>Agüimes</p><br>
<p>Artenara</p><br>
<p>Arucas</p><br>
<p>Firgas</p><br>
<p>Gáldar</p><br>
<p>Ingenio</p><br>
<p>Las Palmas de Gran Canaria</p><br>
<p>Mogán</p><br>
<p>Moya</p><br>
<p>San Bartolomé de Tirajana</p><br>
<p>San Nicolás de Tolentino</p><br>
<p>Sta. Brígida</p><br>
<p>Sta. Lucía de Tirajana</p><br>
<p>Santa María de Guía</p><br>
<p>Tejeda</p><br>
<p>Telde</p><br>
<p>Teror</p><br>
<p>Valleseco</p><br>
<p>Valsequillo</p><br>
<p>Vega de San Mateo</p><br>
<p>The island has a population of 845,676 with 378,628 (year 2005) of those in the capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Gran Canaria is the second most populous island of the Canary Islands, after Tenerife. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is the capital of the province of Las Palmas, and also one of the two capitals of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands, along with Santa Cruz de Tenerife.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Gran Canaria has roads encircling the whole island and extending into the mountain areas. In the late 20th century, its motorways, among the first in the Canary Islands, were opened and run around Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and were later extended to the north coast and the airport and subsequently to the south coast in response to increased tourist traffic. The high-speed motorways are GC1, GC2, and GC31, and dual carriageways GC4 and GC5. The western and the north-western parts, with the fewest inhabitants, are linked only with main roads.</p><br>
<p>Gran Canaria Airport (IATA: LPA) is the only commercial airport on the island. The large number of aircraft and passengers passing through it each year make it one of the busiest in Spain. Gran Canaria is also responsible for all air traffic control in the Canaries.</p><br>
<p>The most important ports in the island are the Port of Las Palmas (Puerto de la Luz), in the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Arguineguín, which exports cement from a large factory; and Arinaga, located in the main industrial zone of Canaries and one of the major ones of Spain. The ports which transport the most passengers are the Port of La Luz and the Port of Las Nieves, located in the municipality of Agaete.</p><br>
<p>Plans for a railway network linking the capital with the south have been approved by both the Gran Canaria Cabildo and the autonomic Canary Islands&#39; Government, though the discussion with the central Spanish Government hinges now on budget.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Gran Canaria is noted for its rich variety of microclimates. Generally speaking though,</p><br>
<p>the average daytime high ranges from 20 &deg;C in winter, to 26 &deg;C in summer. Some cool nights occur in winter, but lows below 10 &deg;C are unknown near the coast. Inland the climate is still mild but mountainous areas see the occasional frost or snow. Annual rainfall averages 228 mm, most of this falling in the cooler months, with July, August and September normally rainless. Rainfall is unevenly distributed through the island with some areas being much drier than others.</p><br>
<p>Cloud cover and sunshine is often quite variable during the cooler months, and there can be several rather cloudy days at times in winter. Summers are generally quite sunny however, with the south of the island being most favoured.</p><br>
<h2>Agriculture</h2><br>
<p>Gran Canaria agriculture is unique among the Canaries islands in that it was traditionally dominated by plantations, with much of these being grains as well as sugarcane, rather than by stock-breeding. The caves of Valerón (a property of cultural interest in the "archaeological site" category) in the municipality of Santa María de Guía bears testimony of it by being the largest pre-Hispanic collective granary of the Canaries.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>This island is called a "Miniature Continent" due to the different climates and variety of landscapes found, with long beaches and dunes of white sand, contrasting with green ravines and picturesque villages. A third of the island is under protection as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.</p><br>
<p>The number of annual visitors was 3.6 million in 2014 (of which 450.000 Spaniards). Most of the tourists visit the southern part of the island. The north tends to be cooler, while the south is warmer and sunny. The east coast of the island is flat, dotted with beaches, while the western coast is rockier and mountainous.</p><br>
<p>The island possesses 32 Natural Protected Spaces, notably the Rural Park of Nublo, The Doramas Jungle, the Azuaje Ravine, Tamadaba, Pino Santo, etc.</p><br>
<p>In the south there is a large bird park, Palmitos Park, as well as many beach resort communities. Resorts are concentrated in the central eastern part of the southern coast in the Maspalomas area, which includes the towns of San Agustín, Playa del Inglés and Meloneras. The Maspalomas Dunes are located between Playa del Inglés ("The Englishman&#39;s Beach") and the distinctive 19th century Maspalomas lighthouse.</p><br>
<p>In Tarajalillo, an Aeroclub exists from where tourist flights can be taken over the island.</p><br>
<p>Still further to the west along the southern shore, in the Municipality of Mogán, are the communities of Puerto Rico and Puerto de Mogán, a village referred to as "Little Venice" on account of its many canals.</p><br>
<p>Other attractions include Cocodrilos Park, Roque Nublo (an 80 m monolith), Cenobio de Valerón with more than 350 storage cavities, Painted cave of Galdar the most important archaeological park in Canary Islands, or the botanical gardens Jardín Canario (in Tafira Alta) and Cactualdea (in La Aldea de San Nicolás).</p><br>
<p>El Dedo de Dios, or "God&#39;s Finger", was a rocky spire jutting from the sea in Puerto de las Nieves, and was previously the signature attraction of the Canary Islands until it was destroyed by tropical storm Delta that crossed the archipelago on November 2005.</p><br>
<p>Other well-known rock formations are El Cura (also known as El Fraile), The Frog (La Rana), Roque Bentayga, the Roque de Gando, and the Peñón Bermejo. The highest peak of the island is the Pico de las Nieves, at 1,950 m.</p><br>
<p>The capital city is Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Las Canteras beach, a protected area and diving zone, lies in the heart of the city. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is also known for its annual carnaval. It was the first stop of Christopher Columbus&#39; expedition on his way back from the Americas, a commemoration of which is the Hermitage of San Antonio Abad, where the navigator prayed, and the Casa de Colón. Other attractions in the capital city include the Museo Canario (the most important archaeology museum in the archipelago), the cathedral and the Plaza del Espíritu Santo. In Teror the shrine of Virgen del Pino ("Virgin of the Pine"), patron saint of Gran Canaria, can be found. Its feast is celebrated on September 8.</p><br>
<p>The town of Agüimes, on the eastern part of the island, has been carefully restored and its town centre, centered on its old church and a peaceful square, now evokes the quiet living of a traditional Canarian town. The district also has some of the best preserved cave dwellings, in the protected area of the Guayadeque ravine, where even the church has been built into the mountainside and visitors can find a number of popular cave restaurants. The district also includes the most renowned scuba diving area on the island: the marine reserve at the playa de El Cabrón just outside the town of Arinaga.</p><br>
<p>Other important towns are Telde, known among other things for their surf schools in Salinetas, Vecindario (within the municipality of Santa Lucía de Tirajana) and Gáldar, that contains an important diving zone. In Arucas there is a Neogothic temple, popularly known as "Arucas Cathedral", as well as a large fertile plain where bananas are grown. In Gáldar and its surroundings there is also a banana-growing plain and some remarkable archaeological remains, such as the Painted cave of Galdar or the cenobio de Valeróns communal silos, ancient tombs (among which the necropolis of Maipés), and the port of Sardina del Norte (one of the islands ports where, as in Las Palmas, Christopher Columbus used to get supplies for his ships).</p><br>
<p>Heading west along the southern coast is the fishing city of Arguineguín in the Municipality of Mogán.</p><br>
<h2>Natural symbols</h2><br>
<p>The official symbols from nature associated with Gran Canaria are Canis lupus familiaris (Canary Mastiff) and Euphorbia canariensis (Cardón)</p><br>
<h2>Protected natural areas</h2><br>
<p>Nearly half of the island territory — 667 km² (42.7% of island) — is under protection from the Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos (Canary Islands Network for Protected Natural Areas). Of the 146 protected sites under control of network in the Canary Islands archipelago, a total of 33 are located in Gran Canaria, the second most protected island in the group.</p><br>
<p>There are seven different categories of protection:</p><br>
<p>Six nature reserves — El Brezal, Azuaje, Los Tilos de Moya, Los Marteles, Las Dunas de Maspalomas and Güigüi (total 7,153.1 ha)</p><br>
<p>Two integral nature reserves — Inagua and Barranco Oscuro (total 3,955,5 ha)</p><br>
<p>Two natural parks — Tamadaba and Pilancones (total 13,333 ha)</p><br>
<p>Two rural parks — Nublo and Doramas (total 29,893.4 ha)</p><br>
<p>Ten natural monuments — Amagro, Bandama, Montañón Negro, Roque de Aguayro, Tauro, Arinaga, Barranco de Guayadeque, Riscos de Tirajana, Roque Nublo and Barranco del Draguillo (total 5,264.9 ha)</p><br>
<p>Seven protected landscapes — La Isleta (in the capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), Pino Santo, Tafira, Las Cumbres, Lomo Magullo, Fataga and Montaña de Agüimes (total 12,680.9 ha)</p><br>
<p>Four sites of scientific interest — Jinámar, Tufia, Roque de Gando and Juncalillo del Sur (total 276.2 ha).</p><br>
<h2>Sports</h2><br>
<p>The island is home to CB Gran Canaria - a basketball club playing in Liga ACB at the Gran Canaria Arena, with a capacity of 11,000.</p><br>
<p>The island is also home to UD Las Palmas - a football club playing in Liga BBVA at the Estadio de Gran Canaria, with a capacity of 32,392.</p><br>
<p>Ysgyryd Fawr  is an easterly outlier of the Black Mountains in Wales, and forms the easternmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. The mountain is often referred to locally as just The Skirrid. The smaller hill of Ysgyryd Fach or Little Skirrid  lies about 4.5 km / 2.5 mi to the south.</p><br>
<p>It is 486 m or 1594 feet high and lies just to the north-east of Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, about 10 miles from the English border. The Beacons Way passes along the ridge.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The distinctive shape of this Old Red Sandstone hill comprises a long ridge oriented nearly north–south, with a jagged western side resulting from ice age landslips. The upper slopes of the hill are composed of Devonian age sandstones assigned to the Senni Formation (formerly known as the Senni Beds). These overlie weaker mudstones of the St Maughans Formation - a situation which has contributed to the instability of the hills steep flanks, resulting in a very large landslip at the northern end of the mountain, although the British Geological Survey map of the area (Abergavenny sheet) shows the landslide extending along the whole of the west side of the mountain. There are numerous other landslips of a similar nature on the nearby hills, although that on the Skirrid is perhaps the most well known owing to its visibility from several directions. There are also numerous rock tables on the hill, some of which were formed by the landslide, and have attracted names such as the "Devils table". The ridge is very similar in its rocky edge to that found on the Black Hill to the north in Herefordshire.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural associations</h2><br>
<p>The Welsh name Ysgyryd meaning split or shattered and Fawr meaning great describes the hills shape. There is a rich mythology attached to the mountain, including a distinctive stone known as the Devils Table. According to legend, part of the mountain is said to have been broken off at the moment of the crucifixion of Jesus. There was a local tradition that earth from the Skirrid was holy and especially fertile, and it was taken away to be scattered on fields elsewhere, on coffins, and in the foundations of churches. Pilgrimages were made, especially on Michaelmas Eve, to the summit.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In older literature the spelling Skyrrid is sometimes encountered and the mountain is also referred to locally as the Holy Mountain or Sacred Hill. The ruins of an iron–age hill fort and a mediæval chapel, dedicated to St. Michael, lie at the summit.</p><br>
<p>Rudolf Hess used to walk here when he was held prisoner at nearby Maindiff Court during the early 1940s. There is a pub called The Skirrid Mountain Inn just to the north of the mountain in Llanvihangel Crucorney, which claims to be one of the oldest pubs in Wales.</p><br>
<p>This mountain site ".a stark barren monolith." is also mentioned in the recent book by Pete "Snapper" Winner, Soldier I - The Story of an SAS Hero as part of Sickener 2, his Selection for the SAS.</p><br>
<h2>Ownership and access</h2><br>
<p>Ysgyryd Fawr has belonged to the National Trust since 1939. The summit offers views of the Sugar Loaf to the west, and Blorenge to the south, and the ridge is easily accessed on foot from the car park beside the B4521 Ross Road shown on the Ordnance Survey maps. The ascent is steep initially through woods, but gradual thereafter as open ground is reached, and a fine walk along the spine of the mountain to the highest point at the north end of the mountain at the trig point and chapel; allow two hours for the completion and return in good weather. A rough path follows the perimeter of the hill at a much lower level, and can be used as a circular route.</p><br>
<p>__FORCETOC__</p><br>
<p>The Puck Building is a historic building located in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It occupies the block bounded by Lafayette, Houston, Mulberry and Jersey Streets.</p><br>
<p>An example of the German Rundbogenstil style of Romanesque Revival architecture, the building was designed by Albert Wagner,</p><br>
<p>The building is located at the northwestern corner of Manhattan&#39;s NoLIta neighborhood, bordered by SoHo and the NoHo section of Greenwich Village. It is owned by Kushner Properties, the company of Charles Kushner, a major donor to Democratic politicians in New Jersey, and his son Jared Kushner, the owner of The New York Observer and son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The building was constructed as the printing facility of J. Ottmann Lithographic Company as a seven-story structure, with a nine-story structure added on in 1892.</p><br>
<p>The building was the longtime home of Puck magazine, which gave the building its name; Founded in St. Louis in 1871, the magazine moved into the building in 1887 and remained there until it ceased publication in 1918.</p><br>
<p>A June 1887 fire caused significant damage, estimated as high as $30,000, including water damage to the editorial rooms used by Puck Magazine. A fire in November caused $50,000 in damage after a can of turpentine caught on fire inside a finishing room where workers were producing Christmas cards.</p><br>
<p>The building later housed numerous independent printing firms and related printing services such as typesetters and a printing ink company, Superior Printing Ink. The odor of printing ink permeated the building for many years. An office stationery company, S. Novick & Son, once occupied the second floor. Notable among that firm&#39;s salesmen was Alger Hiss, the former Assistant Secretary of State, who was brought down in a spy scandal in the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>The Serra family bought the building in 1978 and allowed the building to empty out as tenants left over the years as their leases expired.</p><br>
<p>On November 5, 1982, author and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was raped and killed by security guard and serial rapist Joey Sanza in The Puck Building. Cha had gone there to meet her husband, photographer Patrick Barnes, who was documenting the renovation of the building. Cha died a week after the publication of her book Dictee. Sanza was convicted after five years and three trials.</p><br>
<p>Owner Jared Kushner sought approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to erect six penthouse apartments at the top of the red-brick building. After initially being turned down in October 2011, Kushner made two modifications and his plans were approved. The first of the six units closed in May 2014, selling for $28 million.</p><br>
<h2>Tenants</h2><br>
<p>In the 1980s, the Puck Building was the original home of Spy Magazine. Starting in 1986, the building housed the Manhattan Center of Pratt Institute. Pratt used the additional space for computer and technical labs for the School of Computer, Information, and Library Science (SCILS).</p><br>
<p>Since 2004, the building has been used by New York University for the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the department of sociology.</p><br>
<p>The building contains both office and retail space as well as ballrooms for large events on both the top and ground floors. The Skylight Ballroom can accommodate 250 guests, while the Grand Ballroom can fit up to 1,000.</p><br>
<p>The retail space was added when the building underwent a large-scale renovation beginning in October 2011.</p><br>
<p>In 2011, REI opened a 35,000 ft&sup2; store spanning the building&#39;s first three levels.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>During Little Italys annual Feast of San Gennaro, which takes place on Mulberry Street, strings of lights are strung from the buildings Mulberry Street walls.</p><br>
<p>An exterior shot of the Puck Building is seen in the American television sitcom Will & Grace, as the building where the title character Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing) works.</p><br>
<p>An exterior shot of the Puck Building was seen on the American television Seinfeld in the episode "The Little Kicks", when Elaine hosts a company party there.</p><br>
<p>In the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally..., the building is the site of a big fight between Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) during the wedding of their best friends Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Jess (Bruno Kirby), as well as the site of a New Year&#39;s Eve party at the end of the film where Harry says that he loves Sally.</p><br>
<p>The final scene of the 1989 Kevin Kline film January Man was shot at the Puck Building, featuring both interior and exterior shots.</p><br>
<p>The Puck Building serves as the venue for a black-tie party in the 1991 Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho.</p><br>
<p>Lake Maracaibo  is a large brackish tidal bay  in Venezuela and an "inlet of the Caribbean Sea." It is sometimes considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon. It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait which is 5.5 km wide at the northern end. It is fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. At 13,210 km² it was once the largest lake in South America; the geological record shows that it has been a true lake in the past, and as such is one of the oldest lakes on Earth at 20–36 million years old.</p><br>
<p>. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.</p><br>
<p>Lake Maracaibo acts as a major shipping route to the ports of Maracaibo and Cabimas. The surrounding Maracaibo Basin contains large reserves of crude oil, making the lake a major profit center for Venezuela. The basin also holds almost a quarter of Venezuelas population. A dredged channel gives oceangoing vessels access to the bay. The 8.7 km long General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge, which was completed in 1962 and spans the bays outlet, is one of the longest bridges in the world.</p><br>
<p>The weather phenomenon known as the Catatumbo lightning at Lake Maracaibo regularly produces more lightning than any other place on the planet.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first known settlements on the bay were those of the Guajiros, who still are present in large numbers, but were re-settled in the western boundary area with Colombia. The first European to discover the bay was Alonso de Ojeda on August 24, 1499, on a voyage with Amerigo Vespucci (the same explorer for whom the American continents were named).</p><br>
<p>Legend has it that upon entering the lake, Ojedas expedition found groups of indigenous huts, built over stilts on water (Spanish: palafitos), and interconnected by boardwalks on stilts, with each other and with the lake shore. The stilt houses reminded Vespucci of the city of Venice, (Venezia), so he named the region "Venezuela," meaning "little Venice" in Italian. The word has the same meaning in Spanish, where the suffix -uela is used as a diminutive term (e.g., plaza / plazuela, cazo / cazuela); thus, the terms original sense would have been that of a "little Venice". (Examples of palafitos can still be found in "Santa Rosa", an area in the city of Maracaibo.)</p><br>
<p>Although the Vespucci story remains the most popular and accepted version of the origin of the country&#39;s name, a different reason for the name comes up in the account of Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew. In his work Summa de Geografía, he states that they found an indigenous population who called themselves the "Veneciuela," which suggests that the name "Venezuela" may have evolved from the native word.</p><br>
<p>The port town of Maracaibo was founded in 1529 on the western side. In July 1821, the bay was the site of the Battle of Lake Maracaibo, an important battle in the Venezuelan War of Independence. Oil production began in the surrounding basin in 1914, with wells drilled by Bataafsche Petroleum Maatschappij, a predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell.</p><br>
<p>On April 6, 1964, at 11:45 pm, the supertanker Esso Maracaibo, loaded with 236,000 barrels of crude oil, suffered a major electrical failure, so that control of steering was lost. Thus it collided with pier #31 of the two-year-old General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge across the mouth of the lake. A 259 m section of the bridge roadway fell into the water with a portion coming to rest across the tanker just a few feet from the ship&#39;s superstructure. No oil spill occurred, and there were no deaths or serious injuries on the tanker. However seven motorists and passengers in vehicles crossing the bridge were killed.</p><br>
<h2>Islands</h2><br>
<p>Some islands are of considerable size. They are populated with fishermen and are used for commercial and recreational purposes. The majority of the islands are located in the Almirante Padilla municipality, including:</p><br>
<p>Zapara Island</p><br>
<p>Toas Island</p><br>
<p>San Carlos Island</p><br>
<p>Isla de Providencia</p><br>
<p>Isla de Pescadores</p><br>
<p>Los Pájaros Island</p><br>
<p>Maraca Island</p><br>
<p>San Bernardo Island</p><br>
<p>Sabaneta de Montiel Island</p><br>
<h2>Fishing</h2><br>
<p>As recently as 2000, Lake Maracaibo supported 20,000 fishermen.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>Several settlements built out on stilts over the lake – palafitos – still exist in the south and south-west, notably at Lagunetas.</p><br>
<h2>Subsiding ground</h2><br>
<p>Due to the massive volume of oil removed in the Maracaibo Basin, some oil-producing areas adjacent to Lake Maracaibo have sunk, changing the geography of the region. The original concessions to oil companies purposefully assigned swamps and wetlands along the East border of the lakes for facilities. This required the oil companies to build dikes and drain the land in order to build their facilities, Dutch Shell takes credit for some of the most enduring dike systems. Since the nationalization of the oil industry, maintenance of the dike systems has fallen upon the Venezuelan government to protect sub-sea-level areas like Tía Juana, Lagunillas, and Bachaquero from encroachment by the waters. Cumulative subsidence is as much as 5 m, and it continues at a rate of up to 20 cm/yr at some locations inland and typically 5 cm/yr along the coast. Due to negligence of maintenance to the dike, many consider it to be a disaster in waiting, with the potential of an earthquake causing soil liquefaction and submerging a large population. A program of mitigative measures to address the seismic risk was begun in 1988. Ongoing maintenance and improvements to the dike will be needed, as it continues to subside by as much as 7 cm/yr.</p><br>
<h2>Duckweed infestation</h2><br>
<p>As of June 18, 2004, a large portion (18%) of the surface of Lake Maracaibo is covered by duckweed, specifically Lemna. Although efforts to remove the plant have been underway, the plant – which can double its size every 48 hours – occupies over 130 million cubic metres of the lake. The only way to remove the weed is to pull it out of the lake physically – no chemical or biological method has been found to treat the weed. The government has been spending $2 million monthly to clean the lake, and the state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. has created a $750 million cleanup fund. Current efforts are barely keeping up with the growth of the plant. The removal process has proven to be particularly difficult in the center of the lake, where a specially equipped ship may be needed to pull the weed off the lake.</p><br>
<p>There is some mystery as to how the plant came to reside in the waters of Lake Maracaibo. According to scientists from the Institute for the Conservation of Lake Maracaibo (ICLAM), one of the government organizations charged with the care of Lake Maracaibo, the weed is probably native to the lake, but few studies have been conducted to confirm that suspicion. The prodigious growth of the freshwater marine plant is likely a self-purification mechanism. Others disagree, believing the type of duckweed to be native to Florida and Texas and thus the infestation is a result of its having been transported by ship.</p><br>
<p>Another point of uncertainty is why the scale of the outbreak is so great. Maracaibo is fed by both salt water from the Caribbean and fresh water from numerous rivers. The lighter fresh water floats on top of the heavier salt water, which forms a dense layer on the bottom. This set-up traps nutrients that have settled on the floor of the lake. In the spring of 2004, heavy rains disrupted the usual pattern. The sudden influx of fresh water stirred the layers, allowing nutrients to float to the top, where duckweed and other plants reside. These nutrients may have triggered the duckweeds rapid expansion. Additional sources of nutrients include untreated sewage discharge and fertilizers and other industrial waste flowing into the lake through rivers (97 percent of the countrys raw sewage is discharged without treatment into the environment). Furthermore, chemicals used to clean up oil spills may have contributed to the duckweed problem. The lake basin hosts Venezuela&#39;s largest oil fields, and high concentrations of biodegradable dispersants that contain phosphates and polyaspartic acid – a chemical used to increase nutrient uptake in crops – have been found, a veritable feast for the plants. Scientists at ICLAM disagree, saying that dispersants have been banned from the lake for years and, even if they were present, could not contain enough nutrients to support the current duckweed population.</p><br>
<p>Duckweed is not toxic to fish, but some scientists are concerned that it could suck oxygen out of the lake as it decays, asphyxiating large numbers of fish. Though officials say the weed hasn&#39;t harmed fish yet, it is putting a dent in the local fishing industry. The plant clogs the motors of small boats, making it impossible for fishers to launch their vessels. Duckweed further threatens the local ecosystem by choking out other plants as it shades large portions of the lake. In certain conditions, the weed may concentrate heavy metals and bacteria such as Salmonella and Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera. Despite these problems, the weed may yet have some positive use; duckweed can be treated to be fed to poultry or to make paper.</p><br>
<p>As of 2007, the duckweed problem continues.</p><br>
<p>The Straits of Tiran  are the narrow sea passages between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas which separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea proper. The distance between the two peninsulas is about 13 km. The Strait of Tiran is named after Tiran Island located at its entrance 5 or from the Sinai, on which the Multinational Force and Observers has an observation post to monitor the compliance of Egypt in maintaining freedom of navigation of the straits as provided under the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.</p><br>
<p>Sanafir Island lies to the east of Tiran, southeast of the shallow strait between Tiran and Saudi Arabia.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>International documents inconsistently refer to both the "Straits of Tiran" and the "Strait of Tiran". There are several passages formed by the islands between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The westernmost strait, between Egypt and the island of Tiran, overlooked by the Egyptian city Sharm el-Sheikh is the "Strait of Tiran", 5 or wide. It has two passages deep enough to be navigable by large ships. The Enterprise passage, 290 m deep, is adjacent to the Egyptian side, while the 73 m deep Grafton passage, surrounded by shallows, is to the east, nearer to the island of Tiran. To the east of Tiran, between it and Saudi Arabia, the other strait has reefs and shallows with a single channel 16 m deep.</p><br>
<h2>Closure in 1967</h2><br>
<p>Access to Jordans only seaport of Aqaba and to Israels only Red Sea seaport of Eilat is through the Gulf of Aqaba, which gives the Straits of Tiran strategic importance. In 1967, ninety percent of Israeli oil passed through the Straits of Tiran, making it a target of Egyptian blockade during the Arab League boycott of Israel.</p><br>
<p>In May 1967, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol repeated declarations that Israel had made in 1957, saying that closure of the Straits of Tiran would be an act of war.Neff, David. Warriors for Jerusalem: the six days that changed the Middle East, p. 88 (Simon & Schuster, 1984): "In separate messages to the leading maritime powers, Eshkol warned: Israel would stop short of nothing to cancel the blockade. It is essential that President Nasser should not have any illusions."</p><br>
<p>Egypt then blockaded the straits on May 22, 1967, and oil tankers that were due to pass through the straits were required to submit documents ensuring their cargo was not destined for an Israeli port. At that time, Israel viewed the Straits of Tiran as a vital interest as it is where Israel received vital imports, mainly oil from Iran, and a blockade threatened Israel&#39;s ability to develop the Negev.</p><br>
<p>In May 1967, Major General Indar Jit Rikhye was the commander of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Sinai peninsula when Egypt deployed its own troops in that territory and demanded that Rikhye withdraw all of his troops. Rikhye did withdraw, including from the port at Sharm el Sheikh adjacent to the straits. The subsequent closure of the Tiran Straits by Egypt was closely linked to the preceding UNEF withdrawal, because having the peacekeepers (rather than the Egyptian military) at Sharm el Sheik was important for keeping that waterway open. Later in life, General Rikhye sought to downplay the importance that Israel attached to keeping that waterway open, saying that Israel&#39;s accusation in 1967 of a blockade was "questionable" given that an Israeli-flagged ship had not passed through the straits in two years, and that "The U.A.R. navy had searched a couple of ships after the establishment of the blockade and thereafter relaxed its implementation". Egypt had initially requested UNEF withdrawal from locations other than Sharm el-Sheik, but UN Secretary-General U Thant demanded an all-or-nothing withdrawal.</p><br>
<p>The USA President at the time, Lyndon Johnson, had this to say about closure of these straits being a cause of the Six-Day War:</p><br>
<p>If a single act of folly was more responsible for this explosion than any other, it was the arbitrary and dangerous announced decision that the Straits of Tiran would be closed. The right of innocent, maritime passage must be preserved for all nations.</p><br>
<h2>Bridge project</h2><br>
<p>A project to build a 15 km bridge across the straits, linking Egypt and Saudi Arabia, is under consideration by the Egyptian government (see Saudi–Egypt Causeway).</p><br>
<p>Saint Louis Cemetery is the name of three Roman Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most of the graves are above-ground vaults constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries.</p><br>
<p>Cemeteries No. 1 and No. 2 are included on the National Register of Historic Places and the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.</p><br>
<h2>Saint Louis No. 1</h2><br>
<p>St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest and most famous. It was opened in 1789, replacing the city&#39;s older St. Peter Cemetery (no longer in existence) as the main burial ground when the city was redesigned after a fire in 1788.</p><br>
<p>It is 8 blocks from the Mississippi River, on the north side of Basin Street, one block beyond the inland border of the French Quarter. It borders the Iberville housing project. It has been in continuous use since its foundation. The nonprofit group Save Our Cemeteries and commercial businesses offer tours for a fee.</p><br>
<p>Famous New Orleanians buried in St. Louis No. 1 include Etienne de Boré, wealthy pioneer of the sugar industry and the first mayor of New Orleans; Homer Plessy, the plaintiff from the landmark 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision on civil rights; and Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial, the first African-American mayor of New Orleans.</p><br>
<p>The renowned Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau is believed to be interred in the Glapion family crypt. Other notable New Orleanians here include Bernard de Marigny, the French-Creole aristocrat and politician who founded both the Faubourg Marigny and Mandeville, Louisiana; Barthelemy Lafon, the architect and surveyor who allegedly became one of Jean Lafitte&#39;s pirates; and Paul Morphy, one of the earliest world champions of chess. Delphine LaLaurie, the notoriously cruel slave owner, is also believed to lie in rest here. Architect and engineer Benjamin Latrobe was buried at St. Louis No. 1 after dying from yellow fever in 1820, while doing engineering for the New Orleans water works. In 2010, actor Nicolas Cage purchased a pyramid-shaped tomb to be his future final resting place.</p><br>
<p>The cemetery spans just one square block but is the resting place of many thousands. A Protestant section (generally not vaulted) lies in the northwest section.</p><br>
<p>Effective March 1, 2015, the Roman Catholic Diocese of New Orleans, which owns and manages this cemetery, has closed it to the general public, ostensibly because of the rise in vandalism there. However, in a controversial move, the diocese is now charging tour companies for access ($4,500 per year, or lesser amounts for short periods). Families who own tombs can apply for a pass to visit.</p><br>
<h2>Saint Louis No. 2</h2><br>
<p>St. Louis No. 2 is located some three blocks back from St. Louis No. 1, bordering Claiborne Avenue. It was consecrated in 1823. A number of notable jazz and rhythm & blues musicians are buried here, including Danny Barker and Ernie K. Doe. Also entombed here is Andre Cailloux (1825-1863), African-American Union hero and martyr of the American Civil War.</p><br>
<p>The cemetery received minor flooding during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and its tombs seemed virtually untouched by the storm when the water went down, aside from the brownish waterline visible on all structures that were flooded.</p><br>
<p>There are many notable citizens of 19th and 20th century New Orleans laid to rest here. These include the Venerable Mother Henriette DeLille, who is a candidate for sainthood by the Catholic Church, and Jean Baptiste Dupeire (1795–1874) prominent citizen of New Orleans, among others.</p><br>
<p>It was listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1975.</p><br>
<p>Other politicians and soldiers interred/entombed here:</p><br>
<p>Jacques Villeré (1761-1830) of St. Bernard Parish, La. Second Governor of Louisiana after statehood, commander of the 1st Division, La. State Militia, at the Battle of New Orleans.</p><br>
<p>Pierre Soulé (1801–1870) of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, La. Born in France. Member of Louisiana state senate, 1845; USA Senator from Louisiana, 1847, 1849–53; USA Minister to Spain, 1853–55; officer in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Died in New Orleans.</p><br>
<p>Charles Genois (c.1793-1866) of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, La. Whig Mayor of New Orleans, La., 1838-40.</p><br>
<p>Robert Brown Elliott (1842–1884), also known as R. B. Elliott, of South Carolina. Born in Massachusetts, 1842. Republican. Delegate to Republican National Convention from South Carolina, 1868 (alternate), 1880; member of South Carolina state legislature; USA Representative from South Carolina 3rd District, 1871-75. Black.</p><br>
<p>Paul Capdevielle (1844–1922) of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, La. Born in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, La. Mayor of New Orleans, La., 1900-04. Died in Bay St. Louis, Hancock County, Mississippi.</p><br>
<p>Carleton Hunt (1836–1921) of Louisiana. Born in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, La. Nephew of Theodore Gaillard Hunt. Democrat. Served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War; USA Representative from Louisiana 1st District, 1883-85.</p><br>
<p>Ignacy Szymański (1806–1874) was a Polish and American soldier. Born in New Orleans. He served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was appointed to colonel of Chalmette Regiment, mainly made of Scandinavian immigrants from the Louisiana State Militia.</p><br>
<p>Dominique You (or Youx) (c.1775-1830) was a former privateer and Battle of New Orleans veteran.</p><br>
<p>Pierre Nord Alexis (1820–1910) was the President of Haiti from December 1902 until December 1908. He seized power with the help of the United States, and declared himself "President for Life" at age 87 in January 1908, and was exiled in December of that year.</p><br>
<h2>Saint Louis No. 3</h2><br>
<p>St. Louis No. 3 is located some 2 mi back from the French Quarter, some 30 blocks from the Mississippi, fronting Esplanade Avenue near Bayou St. John. It opened in 1854. The crypts on average are more elaborate than at the other St. Louis cemeteries, including a number of fine 19th century marble tombs. Those entombed include ragtime composer Paul Sarebresole, photographer E. J. Bellocq, and painter Ralston Crawford.</p><br>
<p>St. Louis No. 3 also includes a Greek Orthodox section. The cemetery was heavily flooded during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but its tombs escaped relatively unscathed. There was some plaster damage from debris.</p><br>
<p>The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the USA state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles  long, it is the states longest river. The rivers name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskousing," is rooted in the Algonquian languages used by the areas American Indian tribes, but its original meaning is obscure. French explorers who followed in the wake of Marquette later modified the name to "Ouisconsin," and so it appears on Guillaume de LIsle&#39;s map  This was simplified to "Wisconsin" in the early 19th century before being applied to Wisconsin Territory and finally the state of Wisconsin.</p><br>
<p>The Wisconsin River originates in the forests of the Lake District of northern Wisconsin, in Lac Vieux Desert near the border of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It flows south across the glacial plain of central Wisconsin, passing through Wausau, Stevens Point, and Wisconsin Rapids. In southern Wisconsin it encounters the terminal moraine formed during the last ice age, where it forms the Dells of the Wisconsin River. North of Madison at Portage, the river turns to the west, flowing through Wisconsin&#39;s hilly Western Upland and joining the Mississippi approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Prairie du Chien.</p><br>
<p>The highest waterfall on the river is Grandfather Falls in Lincoln County.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The modern Wisconsin River was formed in several stages. The lower, westward-flowing portion of the river is located in the unglaciated Driftless Area, and this section of the river&#39;s course likely predates the rest by several million years. The lower reach of the river is narrower than its upstream valley, leading to the suggestion the upper portions of the ancestor of the river flowed east previous to the Pleistocene. The remaining length of the river was formed gradually as glaciers advanced and retreated over Wisconsin. The stretch of river from Stevens Point north to Merrill was a drainage route for meltwater flowing away from the glaciers which covered northern Wisconsin during the Wisconsin Glaciation. As the glaciers retreated further northward, the river also grew in that direction. South from Stevens Point, the meltwater would have flowed into Glacial Lake Wisconsin, a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in the central part of the state. As temperatures warmed around 15,000 years ago, the ice dam holding the lake in place burst, unleashing a catastrophic flood that carved the Dells of the Wisconsin River and joined the upper stretches of the river with the pre-existing lower river valley that today flows from Portage to Prairie du Chien.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the summer of 1673, French missionary Jacques Marquette, French-Canadian explorer Louis Joliet, and their crew of five Metis arrived near the headwaters of the Fox River. From there, they were told to portage their two canoes a distance of slightly less than two miles through marsh and oak plains to the Wisconsin River. "The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing," wrote Marquette. "It is very wide; it has a sandy bottom, which forms various shoals that render its navigation very difficult." In his only other reference to the river, Marquette says that the Mississippi is "narrow at the place where Miskous empties." After they returned, Joliet used the name "Miskonsing" on a map that he drew in 1674, and when the news of their voyage was first published in 1681 the book&#39;s author, Melchisedec Thevenot, called it the "Mescousin" River.</p><br>
<p>The name used today was born when the explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, misread Marquette&#39;s initial M, which was written by hand in cursive script, "Ou" in 1674. This found its way onto printed maps, even though in a report written in 1682 La Salle tried to correct himself: "On the east one comes first to the river called by the Savages Ouisconsing, or Misconsing, which flows from the east." Over the next two decades the initial M completely disappeared as writers and mapmakers always called the river by some version that began with a vowel. For the next 150 years the river, and by extension our part of the world generally, was known as "Ouisconsin." Sloppy printers sometimes turned this into Ouriconsing, Ouiscousen, and even Ouiskonche (the first of which may have been the origin of the toponym "Oregon"), but the "Ouis …" spelling was the one most often used by both French and English writers until the mid-19th century.</p><br>
<p>As American soldiers and officials traveled through the area for the first time following the War of 1812, they initially used the French spelling. But when large numbers of lead miners streamed into the country south of the river in the 1820s, the USA government began to refer to it differently in debates and legislation. These legal documents created by the government in Washington sometimes used the French spelling, but they gradually introduced the uniquely American, "Wisconsin." The USA House of Representatives Journal was the first to print it (in the entry for February 1, 1830), during discussion of "laying out a town at Helena, on the Wisconsin river, in the Territory of Michigan …" In the five years that followed, the modern spelling was used with increasing frequency in government publications as well as in commercially published books and maps. In 1836, when territorial status was authorized on July 4, the name became officially "Wisconsin" (though Canadian and French writers often used "Ouisconsin" until the end of the 19th century).</p><br>
<p>Oddly, the person who did the most to create Wisconsin Territory didnt like the name. James Duane Doty, who first visited the region in 1820, was the principal advocate for the spelling "Wiskonsan," which shows up dozens of times through the early 1840s. "During all this time, Governor Doty and the legislature were in constant hostility," wrote contemporary observer Theodore Rodolf. "One of the governors vagaries had to be settled by a joint resolution. The governor had a fondness for spelling the name of the territory as "Wiskonsan." The Legislature, in order to avoid future embarrassments and misunderstandings, found itself obliged to declare by a joint resolution that the spelling used in the organic act should be maintained."</p><br>
<p>The first documented exploration of the Wisconsin River by Europeans took place in 1673, when Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet of France canoed from Lake Michigan up the Fox River until reaching the present-day site of Portage in early June. At this location the Wisconsin and Fox rivers are only 2 miles (3.2 km) distant, so the explorers could portage from the Fox to the Wisconsin River. They then continued downstream 200 miles (320 km) to the Wisconsin&#39;s mouth, entering the Mississippi on June 17. Other explorers and traders would follow the same route, and for the next 150 years the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, collectively known as the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, formed a major transportation route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.</p><br>
<p>Industry began to form on the Wisconsin in the early 19th century, as loggers started using the river to raft logs downstream from northern forests to sawmills in new cities like Wausau. By the 1880s, logging companies were damming the river to ensure the river had enough capacity for the logs being floated downstream. Later, at the start of the 20th century, more dams were constructed to provide for flood control and hydroelectricity. The dams also spurred tourism, creating reservoirs such as Lake Wisconsin that are popular areas for recreational boating and fishing. Today the Wisconsin is impounded in 26 places.</p><br>
<p>Despite this, a 93-mile (150 km) stretch of the Wisconsin between its mouth and the hydroelectric dam at Prairie du Sac is free of any dams or barriers and is relatively free-flowing. In the late 1980s, this portion of the river was designated as a state riverway, and development alongside the river has been limited to preserve its scenic integrity.</p><br>
<h2>Navigable river of the United States</h2><br>
<p>The Wisconsin River is a "navigable river of the United States." This designation primarily means that dams on the river must be licensed by the federal government, which in 2012 is done by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Courts have ruled that despite the fact that the river lies entirely in one state, it nevertheless historically carried goods to markets in other states and therefore is subject to the commerce clause of the United States Constitution. Courts have also ruled that raw logs, even if merely carried via log drives to mills within the state, constitute commerce. On the basis of these judgments, the Wisconsin River is considered a navigable waterway throughout its entire length. This designation does not generally have bearing on recreational use of the river. Boat registrations and fishing licenses are obtained through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, for example.</p><br>
<h2>Lower Wisconsin River State Riverway</h2><br>
<p>The Lower Wisconsin River State Riverway is a state-funded project designed to protect the southern portion of the Wisconsin River. It extends 93 mi from Sauk City to the point where the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi, about 3 mi south of the city of Prairie du Chien. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources manages protected lands of over 75,000 acre, including the river itself, islands, and some lands adjacent to the river.</p><br>
<p>There are no dams or man-made obstructions to the natural flow of water between the hydroelectric dam just north of Sauk City and the confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi. This long stretch of free-flowing river provides important natural habitats for a variety of wildlife, including white-tail deer, otter, beaver, turtles, sandhill cranes, eagles, hawks, and a variety of fish species.</p><br>
<p>Recreational opportunities on the lower Wisconsin River range from fishing and canoeing to tubing and camping. Canoe camping is particularly popular because of the abundance of suitable sandbars along the riverway and because no permits are required. On summer weekends, naturists can be found on Mazo Beach which is north of the village of Mazomanie. According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, two thirds of river users can be found on the stretch between Prairie du Sac and Spring Green.</p><br>
<h2>Cities and villages along the river</h2><br>
<p>Palo Duro Canyon is a canyon system of the Caprock Escarpment located in the Texas Panhandle near the cities of Amarillo and Canyon. As the second-largest canyon in the United States, it is roughly 120 mi long and has an average width of 6 mi, but reaches a width of 20 mi at places. Its depth is around 820 ft, but in some locations, it can increase up to 1,000 ft. Palo Duro Canyon  has been named "The Grand Canyon of Texas" both for its size and for its dramatic geological features, including the multicolored layers of rock and steep mesa walls similar to those in the Grand Canyon.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The canyon was formed by the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, which initially winds along the level surface of the Llano Estacado of West Texas, then suddenly and dramatically runs off the Caprock Escarpment. Water erosion over the millennia has shaped the canyon&#39;s geological formations.</p><br>
<p>Notable canyon formations include caves and hoodoos. One of the best-known and the major signature feature of the canyon is the Lighthouse Rock. A multiple-use, six-mile round trip loop trail is dedicated to the formation.</p><br>
<p>Palo Duro Canyon was downcut by the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, during the Pleistocene, when the whole region was uplifted. Most of the strata visible in the Canyon were deposited during the Permian and Triassic periods. From oldest to youngest, the formations are:</p><br>
<p>Quartermaster Formation: Permian in age, this comprises the red, lower slopes of the Canyon. This layer was deposited in a shallow marine environment that alternated with dry tidal flats, indicated by ripple marks and gypsum evaporite deposits, respectively.</p><br>
<p>Tecovas Formation: Part of the Dockum Group with the Trujillo Formation, this multicolored Triassic unit consists of shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Deposited in streams and swamps, its colors indicate varying oxidizing conditions, and the alternating dry/wet cycles typical of such environments. These rocks are fossiliferous, containing the remains of phytosaurs, amphibians, and fish.</p><br>
<p>Trujillo Formation: This Triassic formation is harder than the underlying Tecovas, and forms many of the Canyon&#39;s ledges. Composed of coarse sandstone, river cross-bedding indicates deposition in a stream environment. Fossils are rare.</p><br>
<p>Ogallala Formation: This late Miocene to early Pliocene unit forms the cliffs and ledges at the very top of the canyon. Composed of sandstone, siltstone, and conglomerate eroded from a late Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains, it is separated from the lower Trujillo Formation by a disconformity, and a very long hiatus. Fossils of saber-toothed cats (Smilodon), bone-crushing dogs (Borophagines), mastodons, horses, long-necked camels (Aepycamelus), rhinoceroses, and tortoises are present in the Ogallala.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first evidence of human habitation of the canyon dates back about 10,000&ndash;15,000 years, and it is believed to have been continuously inhabited to the present day. Native Americans were attracted to the water of the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, as well as the consequent ample game, edible plants, and protection from weather the canyon provided.</p><br>
<p>The first European explorers to discover the canyon were members of the Coronado expedition, who visited the canyon in 1541. Apache Indians lived in Palo Duro at the time, but they were later displaced by Comanche and Kiowa tribes, who had the advantage of owning horses brought over by the Spanish. They had contact with traders, called Comancheros, in nearby New Mexico.</p><br>
<p>A United States military team under Captain Randolph B. Marcy mapped the canyon in 1852 during their search for the headwaters of the Red River. The land remained under American Indian control until a military expedition led by Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie was sent in 1874 to remove the Indians to reservations in Oklahoma. The Mackenzie expedition captured about 1,200 of the Indians&#39; horses and slaughtered them in nearby Tule Canyon during the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon. The Comanche and Kiowa conceded and left the area.</p><br>
<p>Soon after, in 1876, Charles Goodnight and a wealthy Ulster Scot named John Adair established the JA Ranch in Palo Duro Canyon. Col. Goodnight helped manage the ranch until 1890. Over the next half century, the canyon remained in private hands, but was an increasingly popular tourist spot for local residents.</p><br>
<p>In 1931, a major landowner signed a two-year contract with the local chamber of commerce to allow public access to the canyon. The upper section of the canyon was purchased by the State of Texas in 1934 and turned into the 20,000 acre Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Amarillo is the largest city near Palo Duro Canyon State Park, but the smaller city of Canyon is nearer.</p><br>
<p>Through 2014, the Texas Department of Transportation is constructing bridges at Palo Duro over Water Crossings 1, 2, and 6 to allow motorists easier access during and after heavy rains. Paving work has been completed at the Juniper Multi-use Area, with the addition of utilities pending. By the spring of 2014, day-use campsites and a group pavilion will be added. Meanwhile, plans have begun to turn the Canoncita Ranch house located on the canyon edge into a research center. The old Comanche Trail used by the Civilian Conservation Corps will be restored to extend from the Mack Dick Group Pavilion to Water Crossing 6, following the base of Fortress Cliffs. Palo Duro also now offers driving tours in a 12-passenger van.</p><br>
<h2>In culture</h2><br>
<p>The painter Georgia O&#39;Keeffe, who lived in nearby Amarillo and Canyon in the early 20th century, wrote of the Palo Duro: "It is a burning, seething cauldron, filled with dramatic light and color." She made paintings of Palo Duro Canyon between 1916 and 1918, when she was an instructor and head of the art department at West Texas State Normal College.</p><br>
<p>Palo Duro Canyon is the site of an outdoor historical and musical drama, titled Texas, presented annually each summer by actors, singers, dancers, and artists of the Texas Panhandle region. The spectacle, created by playwright Paul Eliot Green, premiered on July 1, 1966 at the newly constructed Pioneer Amphitheatre in Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It has continued each summer through the present, making Texas "the best-attended outdoor history drama in the nation."</p><br>
<p>American composer Samuel Joness Symphony No. 3 is titled "Palo Duro Canyon." It premiered May 1, 1992 in an outdoor performance at the Palo Duro Canyon State Parks Pioneer Amphitheatre, with James Setapen conducting the Amarillo Symphony (which had commissioned the work). The composer writes: "I wanted the piece... to conjure up an intuitive awareness of the long movements of time required for the creation of a canyon. I also wanted in some way to pay homage to native Americans, to whom this canyon was a sacred place. And I wanted to capture in music that magical moment which everyone experiences when they first see the flat, treeless High Plains fall dizzyingly away into the colorful vastness of the Palo Duro Canyon itself." A KACV-TV documentary on canyon, composer, and symphony, titled And There Will Be Sounds, was broadcast on PBS stations nationally later that year; and a commercial recording was subsequently released by the Seattle Symphony under the baton of Gerard Schwarz.</p><br>
<p>Kastellorizo or Castellorizo  is a Greek island and municipality located in the southeastern Mediterranean. It lies roughly 2 km off the south coast of Turkey, about 570 km southeast of Athens and 125 km east of Rhodes, almost halfway between Rhodes and Antalya and 280 km to Cyprus.</p><br>
<p>The island has become more popular in recent years among tourists looking for an isolated place in the Dodecanese, thanks also to the 1991 Oscar-winning movie Mediterraneo, by Gabriele Salvatores, which is set on the island during the Second World War.</p><br>
<h2>Name and etymology</h2><br>
<p>The island&#39;s official name, Megisti (Μεγίστη) means "biggest" or "greatest", but at only 11.98 km&sup2; in area, it is the smallest of the Dodecanese. The name, however, refers to the fact that it is the largest of the small archipelago. This name was used in antiquity,</p><br>
<p>but is now rarely used in Greek, the name Kastellórizo (Καστελλόριζο) being common since the twelfth century. There are several hypotheses about the origin of this name. "Kastello" derives from the Italian word "castello", meaning "castle". There is some argument on the second part of the name. The arguments are centered on the following possible origins of the element rizo:</p><br>
<p>rizo being derived from the Italian word "rosso" meaning "red", either from the reddish color of the rocks of the island, or from the reddish color of the castle at sunset,</p><br>
<p>rizo being a corruption of the word "Rhoge", one of the ancient appellations of the nearby island of Ro. If this is correct, the island&#39;s modern name is actually an amalgam of the separate island names "Castello" and "Rhoge".</p><br>
<p>rizo being the actual Greek word "rizon" meaning "root", as researched by Greek Historian I.M. Hatzifotis (1996), to signify the foothill or rizovouno on which the island&#39;s original castle was built.</p><br>
<p>It has gone by several different names in its history, including Kastellorizo (Greek), Castellorizo (Greek name with Italian spelling), Castelrosso (Italian, meaning "Red Castle"), Château Rouge (French translation of Italian name) and Meis or Kızılhisar, the former deriving from the island&#39;s official name in Greek, the latter meaning "Red Castle", a translation of the Italian name.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Kastellorizo is (with the exception of the nearby islet of Strongyli) the easternmost Greek island and is situated in the Eastern Mediterranean. It lies about 2 km from the Anatolian coastal town of Kaş, more or less halfway between Rhodes and Antalya. Cyprus is about 280 km to the south-east. It is six kilometres (6 km) long and three kilometres (3 km) wide, with a surface of 9.2 km². It has a triangular shape, and is oriented from NE to SW. The island features three capes: Agios Stefanos (north), Nifti (east) and Pounenti (south west); between the first two there is a wide and accommodating bay, the island&#39;s main harbor, where one finds the only town on the island. Cape Agios Stefanos, the nearest to Anatolia, is 2250m south of the modern Turkish town of Kaş (Greek: Andífli, the Ancient Greek City of Antiphéllos). Cape Nifti lies some greater distance from the Anatolian coast. The island is mountainous, with high and steep coastlines, which become more difficult to access moving west. The soil is composed of limestone, and produces only small amounts of olives, grapes and beans. On the island there is no source of drinking water. The Municipality of Megísti includes the offshore islands of Ro and Strongyli as well as several smaller islets. It has a total land area of 11.978 km².</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>The island&#39;s geology is almost exclusively limestone laid down at the Mesozoic/Cenozoic boundary. As a result of the lack of significant flora covering the island, the landscape shows many features of karstification. There are a number of notable sea caves including the so-called Blue Grotto which is much larger than its namesake in Capri. Exploration undertaken in 2006 by members of the SELAS Caving club of Greece has revealed vertical caves in many parts of the island. The deepest found so far was surveyed to a depth of 60 m in March 2006 and will be the subject of further exploration in the future by the same team.</p><br>
<h2>Description of the island</h2><br>
<p>The houses of the town are slender and characterised by wooden balconies and windows of the Anatolian type. Behind the waterfront, many houses are still in a ruinous state. At the entrance to the harbour, on the east side, stand the single story remnants of the former Italian government house (palazzina della delegazione), erected in 1926 by the Italian architect Florestano Di Fausto, who also designed some of the most important buildings of the Italian period in Rhodes. Nearby is the islands former Ottoman mosque which dates from the second half of the 18th century and which has been restored and re-opened as a museum since 2007. From here starts the towns quay, which runs along all three sides of the harbour. The central square —Plateia Ethelondon Kastellórizou ("Kastellorizo Volunteers&#39; Square")—lies at the midpoint of the eastern side, near the vessel dock. On the opposite side of the harbour one has a good view from this vantage of Pera Meria, the western quay, and the monasteries of Profitis Ilías and Aghia Triadha, the former now an army base.</p><br>
<p>Above the quay on the eastern side there is a pathway which leads to the Castle of the Knights (14th century). Of it remain the curtain wall, part of a square tower, the remains of a cylindrical tower at the east corner, and toward the sea another cylindrical tower. A Doric inscription, carved in the rock, attests to the existence of an earlier fortress here during Antiquity. Inside the tower there is a large covered cistern.</p><br>
<p>Ascending the steps on the eastern side of the town, one reaches the suburb of Horafia, where there is a square surrounded by the Church of St. George (1906), with a high dome of Byzantine type, and the Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helena (1835). It has three naves divided by monolithic granite columns from the temple of Apollo Lykios in Patara (Anatolia). The columns carry ogival arches. Further east is the small bay known as Mandraki, the secondary harbour of the island.</p><br>
<p>West of the town, beyond the summit of the island known as Vigla (270 m), stands Palaiokastro (old castle), the island&#39;s ancient acropolis. This fortified elevation has classical origins (see below, history section): its plan is rectangular and measures 60 x. In its interior stand an ancient tower, built with square limestone blocks, and large water cisterns. Carved on the base of the castle there is also a Doric inscription, dating back to the 4th or 3rd centuries BC, with references to Megiste (the ancient name of Kastellorizo) and its dependence on Rhodes. On the east side there are remnants of a gateway, or propylaea.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<p>The island is connected with Rhodes, Piraeus and Kaş by ferry.</p><br>
<p>Passenger ferries&#39; frequency is as follows:</p><br>
<p>Kastellorizo - Rhodes - Symi - Tilos - Nisyros - Kalymnos - Piraeus: 2 trips / week (winter period)</p><br>
<p>Kastellorizo - Kaş: 1 trip / week (winter period)</p><br>
<p>Air connection is provided by Olympic Air, which operates from Kastellorizo Airport 4 times/week (winter period). There is one small bus in service on Kastellorizo and it is used to collect tourists from the airport.</p><br>
<h2>Archipelago between Turkey and Kastellorizo</h2><br>
<p>There are many islets in this area; Volos, near Kalkan (in Greek Kalamaki), Ochendra, Furnachia, Prassonisi, Ro, Tragonera, Marathi, Strongyli, Dhassia, Alimentaria, Kekova, besides many rocks and cliffs. The most important among these islets is Kekova (also named Caravola), not inhabited, which has an area of 4.5 km² and faces the Turkish village of Kaleköy (Simena in antiquity). All these islets were subject to dispute between Italy and Turkey until 1932. According to the 1932 Convention between Italy and Turkey all these islets - with the exception of Ro and Strongyli - were assigned to Turkey.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The island was colonised by Dorian Greeks, who named it "Megiste". Inscriptions found at the foot of the Knight&#39;s castle confirm that during the Hellenistic period the island was ruled by Rhodes, and formed part of its Peraia. The Rhodians sent an overseer, or epistates, to monitor events on the island.</p><br>
<p>During the period of the Byzantine Empire, Kastellorizo was part of the "Province of the Islands", the capital of which was Rhodes.</p><br>
<p>In 1306 the island was taken over by the Knights Hospitaller, headed by Foulques de Villaret, as part of their expedition to conquer the island of Rhodes, which became the centre of their Crusader State. They restored the castle, which was thereafter used as a prison for disobedient knights. Around 1440 the island was occupied by Sultan Djemal-el-din Yusuf of Egypt, who destroyed the castle. Ten years later it was conquered by Alfonso V of Aragon, king of Naples, who in 1461 rebuilt the castle and dispatched a Catalan governor. The Crown of Aragon retained possession of it until 1512, when it was conquered by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I.</p><br>
<p>On 22 September 1659, during the war over Crete, the island was conquered by Venice and the castle was destroyed again, but the Ottomans were able to regain it again soon after. Between 1828 and 1833 Kastellórizo joined the Greek insurgents, but after the end of the Greek War of Independence it came back into the possession of the Ottoman Empire.</p><br>
<p>In 1912, during the Libyan war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, the inhabitants asked Giovanni Battista Ameglio, chief of the Italian occupation forces in Rhodes, for their island to be annexed to Italy. This was refused, and on 14 March 1913 the local population imprisoned the Turkish governor and his Ottoman garrison and proclaimed a provisional government. In August 1913, the Greek government sent from Samos a provisional governor supported by gendarmes. But they, too, were expelled by the inhabitants on 20 October 1915. On 28 December 1915, the French navy led by the cruiser Jeanne dArc occupied the island at the behest of a pro-French local party which feared Turkish reprisals. The French quickly blocked another landing attempted on the same day by a Greek contingent of Evzones. Turkish shore batteries responded to the French occupation by shelling the island, in 1917 succeeding in sinking the British seaplane carrier HMS Ben-my-Chree. In the Treaty of Sèvres the island was assigned to Italy and the Italian navy assumed it from the French on 1 March 1921, but the treaty was never ratified. The Treaty of Lausanne confirmed the Italian claim on Kastellorizo, and the island – under the Italian name "Castelrosso" – was then integrated in the possession of the Isole Italiane dellEgeo.</p><br>
<p>The 1932 Convention between Italy and Turkey, which defined the sea border between the two powers, assigned all the islets of the small archipelago around Kastellorizo except Ro and Strongyli to Turkey. During the 1930s it was a stopover for French and British seaplanes. During the Second World War, on 25 February 1941, in the course of Operation Abstention, British Commandos occupied the island, but Italian forces from Rhodes recaptured it some days later. After the British occupation, fearing a German invasion, some of the inhabitants fled to Gaza in Palestine. When Italy capitulated to the Allies (8 September 1943), the island was occupied again by Allied forces, and it remained under their occupation for the rest of the war. In July 1944, a fuel dump caught fire, which spread to an adjacent ammunition dump, thereby destroying half of the homes on the island.</p><br>
<p>Kastellorizo was assigned to Greece with the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947. In May 1945 it was still under British administration, but on September 15, 1947 effectively came under Greek administration. The island formally joined the Greek State on 7 March 1948 together with the other Dodecanese islands.</p><br>
<p>The island has become more popular in recent years, among tourists looking for an isolated place in the Dodecanese, thanks also to the 1991 Oscar-winning movie Mediterraneo, by Gabriele Salvatores, which is set on the island. Kastellórizo was the only territory of the European Union where the solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 was visible in its totality.</p><br>
<p>In 2011, the French ship Dignité-Al Karama, the only member the Freedom Flotilla II that managed to approach Gaza, refueled at Kastellorizo. The ship was warmly received by the inhabitants, some of whom remembered about the shelter the island&#39;s inhabitants had found in Gaza, then under British control, during World War II.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics and economy</h2><br>
<p>The population and the economy reached its apogee at the end of the nineteenth century with an estimated 10,000 people residing there. At that time, Kastellorizo was still the only safe harbor along the route between Makri (today&#39;s Fethiye) and Beirut. Its sailing ships traded products from Anatolia (coal, timber, valonia, pine bark) against Egyptian goods (rice, sugar, coffee, tissues and yarns), and carried Anatolian cereals to Rhodes and Cyprus. On the island there was also a flourishing production of charcoal (much sought after in Alexandria, where it was used for narghile). The fishing industry—mainly sponges—was important too.</p><br>
<p>At the dawn of the twentieth century the decay of the island&#39;s economy set in, accelerated by the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the deportation of the Anatolian Greeks in 1923. In the late 1920s the population of the island had dropped to 3,000, while about 8,000 inhabitants lived abroad, predominantly in Australia, Egypt, Greece and the USA At that time the town had 730 inhabited houses, while 675 were already empty, and many ruined.</p><br>
<p>The population, according to the 2011 census, now stands at 492, all living in the town of Megísti. The municipality also includes the islands of Ro and Strongyli, both without permanent inhabitants. Many of its emigrants live in Australia (especially in the cities of Perth and Sydney) where they are known as "Kazzies".</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>Kastellorizos inhabitants had characteristic traditions, partly influenced by the Muslim tradition. There were at least three types of womens dress, which used brilliantly colored fabric, and women wore necklaces, brooches, pendants and earrings made from ancient Venetian or Byzantine gold coins.</p><br>
<p>The women&#39;s festive dress consisted of:</p><br>
<p>One or more long silk blouses (ipokámiso). The most external one was closed on the front by six large filigreed gold or silver buttons. These buttons were shaped as a half-sphere depressed in the middle. From the lowest one was hung a small chain with a cross</p><br>
<p>A pair of short pants (katofóri) whose lower part was made with good quality material quilted with gold thread</p><br>
<p>A sleeved jacket (zepuni) made with brilliant colored silk or velvet, opened at the front</p><br>
<p>Another long underskirt (kavadi), laced with gold thread, also opened at the front</p><br>
<p>A large scarf (zosma) made with three or four silk strips, quilted with gold or silver thread. It was tied very low on the sides, like a loose belt</p><br>
<p>A large velvet coat (gunna) decorated with gold and silver lace on the hems and on the back, with *fur lapels: It was always kept open</p><br>
<p>A woolen cap</p><br>
<p>A quadrangular wrinkled silken shawl (mandili), decorated with relief flowers and fringed hems, coloured in white, red and deep blue. Folded diagonally, it was fixed above the cap, with its longest angle falling on the back almost to the ground, while the side edges were folded on the front or put over the shoulders</p><br>
<p>The socks were woven with multicolored wool or silk</p><br>
<p>The shoes were shaped like tipped slippers, and were made of velvet or silk. They were laced with gold or silver thread and shorter than the foot</p><br>
<p>The other types of dress were similar, but not so lavish and without fur decorations. The girls&#39; dress was simpler. Single and engaged girls, and married women and widows were also distinguished by dress.</p><br>
<h3>Religion, customs and superstitions</h3><br>
<p>The engagement, which was decided by the parents, and the wedding, which lasted 15 days, occurred through prescribed and curious ceremonies, having symbolic and poetic meaning. Weddings were celebrated on Sunday, in the church of Agios Konstantinos, and an announcement on the main square invited the whole city to participate. Also baptisms and funerals (with mourning women, or praeficae, and a dish with oil and wine crushed on the coffin) had well-established rituals.</p><br>
<p>On December 31 and on New Year&#39;s Day, groups of children carrying small cardboard boats adorned with ribbons and small flags go around visiting houses, stores and coffee shops, singing songs with good wishes and receiving coins and wheat cakes, while the elderly exchange visits. On the morning of Agios Basilios day, coming back from Liturgy, the men customarily throw a pomegranate hard against the walls of their homes, wishing for abundance and happiness for their family. The more seeds that are spread around the rooms, the more luck the family will have in the coming year.</p><br>
<p>The day before the feast of Agios Elias on July 19 (the feast itself is on July 20) first the children and then the men jump into the sea, and wear their wet clothes the whole day. Those who do not want to participate are sometimes forced to do so.</p><br>
<p>On Easter, the Liturgy of the Resurrection takes place in the open at midnight, the faithful bearing candles. As soon as the bells start ringing, the young people let off fireworks, and the people tell each other the ritual words "Christ is resurrected". Then everyone enters the church and lights his candle from the holy fire held by the priest, and then goes home to light the fire in the fireplace. On Easter Monday the whole population gathers in the main square, and they remain there the whole day eating, drinking and singing. In the past single girls had to stay at home, but they were allowed to stay in the entrance, where they sang and played with swings.</p><br>
<p>On May 1, at dawn, all the girls of the island, in groups, each one carrying a jar, went to get water outside of town, but they were not allowed to speak a single word during the route. This water (Amilito Neró, "water of silence") was supposed to bring good luck to the family. Everyone washed him/herself with it that day, and every utensil and wall of the house was splashed with it. When a girl became engaged, she filled a crystal carafe with it and brought it to her future mother-in-law, who gave her in return a special cake and an odd number of gold coins.</p><br>
<p>When a child became seriously ill, a woman with knowledge of prayers against the evil eye was invited to her/his home. She drew signs of the cross on the body of the child with a thurible filled with embers and branches of the olive tree which had been gathered in the church on Palm Sunday, pronouncing the following words: "Christ came: then he laid down his stick and chased away the snake and the bad neighbor from our home". After this exorcism, the woman would throw the content of the thurible into a bucket filled with water, and then count the pieces of wood which did not burn. This number was said to be equal to the number of persons who were supposed to have enchanted the sick child. The enchantment of the child was sure, if the olive leaves burned with a loud crackling sound.</p><br>
<p>When a man was going to emigrate, gentle, sorrowful songs were sung to him by his friends.</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Georgios Mavros, politician</p><br>
<h2>Twin towns – sister cities</h2><br>
<p>Kastellorizo is twinned with:</p><br>
<p>Perth, Western Australia, Australia</p><br>
<p>Antalya, Turkey</p><br>
<h2>Cinema and popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Mediterraneo (1991) was filmed on the island. Kastellorizo also lends its name to David Gilmour&#39;s instrumental track "Castellorizon" from his album On an Island (2006). He stayed on the island in the early 1990s with his wife, Polly Samson, and many close friends. The music reflects the memories of the time spent there, and is a tribute to the friends who have since died.</p><br>
<p>The Gulf of Suez  is a gulf at the northern end of the Red Sea, to the west of the Sinai Peninsula. Situated to the east of the Sinai Peninsula is the smaller Gulf of Aqaba. The gulf was formed within a relatively young but now inactive Gulf of Suez Rift rift basin, dating back about 26 million years. It stretches some 300 km north by northwest, terminating at the Egyptian city of Suez and the entrance to the Suez Canal. Along the mid-line of the gulf is the boundary between Africa and Asia. The entrance of the gulf lies atop the mature Gemsa oil and gas field.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The gulf occupies the northwestern arm of the Red Sea between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. It is the third arm of the triple junction rift system, the second arm being the Gulf of Aqaba.</p><br>
<p>The length of the gulf, from its mouth at the Strait of Gubal (alternate name: Strait of Jubal) to its head at the city of Suez, is 195 mi, and it varies in width from 12 to 20 mi.</p><br>
<h3>Extent</h3><br>
<p>The International Hydrographic Organization defines the southern limit of the gulf as "A line running from Ras Muhammed (27°43N) to the South point of Shadwan Island (34°02E) and thence Westward on a parallel (27°27&#39;N) to the coast of Africa".</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The gulf sedimentary basin stratigraphic section consists of prerift Paleozoic to Oligocene clastic rocks and carbonates, and synrift and postrift Miocene to Holocene clastics and evaporites.</p><br>
<p>Three large oil fields are in the gulf: the El Morgan discovered in 1964, Belayim discovered in 1955, and the October Field discovered in 1977. The October Field produces from the Cretaceous Nubia Formation, the Upper Cretaceous Nezzazat Formation, the Miocene Nukhul Formation, and the Miocene Asl Member of the Upper Rudeis Formation.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Victoria Peak  is a mountain in the western half of Hong Kong Island. It is also known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. With an elevation of 552 m, it is the highest mountain on Hong Kong island, ranked 31 in terms of elevation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region .</p><br>
<p>The summit is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility and is closed to the public. However, the surrounding area of public parks and high-value residential land is the area that is normally meant by the name The Peak. It is a major tourist attraction that offers views over Central, Victoria Harbour, Lamma Island and the surrounding islands.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>As early as the 19th century, the Peak attracted prominent European residents because of its panoramic view over the city and its temperate climate compared to the sub-tropical climate in the rest of Hong Kong. The sixth Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Richard MacDonnell had a summer residence built on the Peak circa 1868. Those that built houses named them whimsically, such as The Eyrie, and the Austin Arms.</p><br>
<p>These original residents reached their homes by sedan chairs, which were carried up and down the steep slope of Victoria Peak. This limited development of the Peak until the opening of the Peak Tram funicular in 1888.</p><br>
<p>The boost to accessibility caused by the opening of the Peak Tram created demand for residences on the Peak. Between 1904 and 1930, the Peak Reservation Ordinance designated the Peak as an exclusive residential area reserved for non-Chinese. They also reserved the Peak Tram for the use of such passengers during peak periods. The Peak remains an upmarket residential area, although residency today is based on wealth.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The Peak is home to many species of birds, most prominently the black kite, and numerous species of butterflies.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>With some seven million visitors every year, the Peak is a major tourist attraction of Hong Kong. It has views of the city and its waterfront. The viewing deck also has coin-operated telescopes that the visitors can use to enjoy the cityscape. The number of visitors led to the construction of two major leisure and shopping centres, the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria, situated adjacent to each other.</p><br>
<p>The Peak Tower incorporates the upper station of the Peak Tram, the funicular railway that brings passengers up from the St. Johns Cathedral in Hong Kongs Central district, whilst the Peak Galleria incorporates the bus station used by the Hong Kong public buses and green minibuses on the Peak. The Peak is also accessible by taxi and private car via the circuitous Peak Road, or by walking up the steep Old Peak Road from near the Zoological Botanical Gardens. The nearest MTR station is Central.</p><br>
<p>Victoria Peak Garden is located on the site of Mountain Lodge, the Governors old summer residence, and is the closest publicly accessible point to the summit. It can be reached from Victoria Gap by walking up Mount Austin Road, a climb of about 150 m. Another popular walk is the level loop along Lugard Road, giving good views of Hong Kongs Central district and Kowloon, and then returning via Harlech Road, encircling the summit at the level of the Peak Tower.</p><br>
<p>There are several restaurants on Victoria Peak, most of which are located in the two shopping centres. However, the Peak Lookout Restaurant, is housed in an older and more traditional building which was originally a spacious house for engineers working on the Peak Tramway. It was rebuilt in 1901 as a stop area for sedan chairs, but was re-opened as a restaurant in 1947.</p><br>
<p>In addition to being a major tourist attraction for Hong Kong, The Peak is also the summit of Hong Kongs property market. At the peak of The Peak, properties are more expensive than anywhere else in the world. Most of the super-rich in Hong Kong – including Cheung Kong (Holdings) chairman Li Ka-shing and the Kwok brothers of Sun Hung Kai Properties – live in detached houses in Island South or The Peak. In May 2010 a house at Barker Road (where Hong Kongs most expensive residential buildings are located) sold for HK$1.8 billion. At HK$68,228 per square foot, it is the most expensive location in the world. The buyer is Martin Lee, the son of Hong Kong billionaire Lee Shau-kee. On 12 January 2014, a Barker Road property sold at over HK$100,000 (US$13,000) per square foot for HK$690 million.</p><br>
<h2>Official residences</h2><br>
<p>The Peak is home to a few other key officials in Hong Kong:</p><br>
<p>19 Severn Road – residence of the Secretary for Justice</p><br>
<p>Victoria House and Victoria Flats at 15 Barker Road – residence of the Chief Secretary for Administration</p><br>
<p>Headquarters House 11 Barker Road – residence of the Commander of PLA Forces in Hong Kong and former home of the Commander-in-Chief of British Forces</p><br>
<p>Chief Justice&#39;s House 19 Gough Hill Road – residence of the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal</p><br>
<h2>Alternative names</h2><br>
<h2>Cityscape</h2><br>
<h2>Meteorological</h2><br>
<p>Mauna Kea , is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing 4,207 m above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Most of the mountain is underwater; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m tall and is the tallest mountain on Earth. Mauna Kea is about a million years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes; contributing factors include the construction of cinder cones, the decentralization of its rift zones, the glaciation on its peak, and the weathering effects of the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now considered dormant.</p><br>
<p>In Hawaiian mythology, the peaks of the island of Hawaii are sacred. An ancient law allowed only high-ranking aliʻi to visit its peak. Ancient Hawaiians living on the slopes of Mauna Kea relied on its extensive forests for food, and quarried the dense volcano-glacial basalts on its flanks for tool production. When Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, settlers introduced cattle, sheep and game animals, many of which became feral and began to damage the mountains ecological balance. Mauna Kea can be ecologically divided into three sections: an alpine climate at its summit, a Sophora chrysophylla–Myoporum sandwicense (or māmane–naio) forest on its flanks, and an Acacia koa–Metrosideros polymorpha (or koa–ōhia) forest, now mostly cleared by the former sugar industry, at its base. In recent years, concern over the vulnerability of the native species has led to court cases that have forced the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to eradicate all feral species on the mountain.</p><br>
<p>With its high elevation, dry environment, and stable airflow, Mauna Kea&#39;s summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation. Since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>desc bottom-left</p><br>
<p>Mauna Kea is one of five hotspot volcanoes that form the island of Hawaii, the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Of these five volcanoes, Mauna Kea is the fourth oldest and fourth most active. Mauna Kea entered its quieter post-shield stage 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, and is currently dormant. Mauna Kea does not have a visible summit caldera, but contains a number of small cinder and pumice cones near its summit. A former summit caldera may have been filled and buried by later summit eruption deposits.</p><br>
<p>Mauna Kea is over 3,200 km3 in volume, so massive that it and its neighbor, Mauna Loa, depress the ocean crust beneath it by 6 km.</p><br>
<p>The volcano continues to slip and flatten under its own weight at a rate of less than 0.2 mm per year. Much of its mass lies east of its present summit. Mauna Kea stands 4,205 m above sea level, just 35 m higher than its neighbor Mauna Loa, and is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Measured from its base on the ocean floor, it rises over 10,000 m, significantly greater than the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level.</p><br>
<p>Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Kea has been created as the Pacific tectonic plate has moved over the Hawaiian hotspot in the Earths underlying mantle. The Hawaii island volcanoes are the most recent evidence of this process that, over 70 million years, has created the 6,000 km-long Hawaiian Ridge–Emperor seamount chain. The prevailing, though not completely settled, view is that the hotspot has been largely stationary within the planets mantle for much, if not all of the Cenozoic Era. However, while Hawaiian volcanism is well understood and extensively studied, there remains no definite explanation of the mechanism that causes the hotspot effect.</p><br>
<p>Lava flows from Mauna Kea overlapped in complex layers with those of its neighbors during its growth. Most prominently, Mauna Kea is built upon older flows from Kohala to the northwest, and intersects the base of Mauna Loa to the south. Hilo Ridge, a prominent underwater rift zone structure east of Mauna Kea, was once believed to be a part of the volcano; however, it is now understood to be a rift zone of Kohala that has been affected by younger Mauna Kea flows.</p><br>
<p>The shield-stage lavas that built the enormous main mass of the mountain are tholeiitic basalts, like those of Mauna Loa, created through the mixing of primary magma and subducted oceanic crust. They are covered by the oldest exposed rock strata on Mauna Kea, the post-shield alkali basalts of the Hāmākua Volcanics, which erupted between 250,000 and 70–65,000 years ago. The most recent volcanic flows are hawaiites and mugearites: they are the post-shield Laupāhoehoe Volcanics, erupted between 65,000 and 4,000 years ago. These changes in lava composition accompanied the slow reduction of the supply of magma to the summit, which led to weaker eruptions that then gave way to isolated episodes associated with volcanic dormancy. The Laupāhoehoe lavas are more viscous and contain more volatiles than the earlier tholeiitic basalts; their thicker flows significantly steepened Mauna Kea&#39;s flanks. In addition, explosive eruptions have built cinder cones near the summit. These cones are the most recent eruptive centers of Mauna Kea. Its present summit is dominated by lava domes and cinder cones up to 1.5 km in diameter and hundreds of meters tall.</p><br>
<p>Mauna Kea is the only Hawaiian volcano with distinct evidence of glaciation. There are three episodes of glaciation that have been recorded from the last 180,000 years: the Pōhakuloa (180–130 ka), Wāihu (80–60 ka) and Mākanaka (40–13 ka) series. These have extensively sculpted the summit, depositing moraines and a circular ring of till and gravel along the mountain&#39;s upper flanks. Subglacial eruptions built cinder cones during the Mākanaka glaciation, most of which were heavily gouged by glacial action. The most recent cones were built between 9000 and 4500 years ago, atop the glacial deposits, although one study indicates that the last eruption may have been around 3600 years ago.</p><br>
<p>At their maximum extent, the glaciers extended from the summit down to between 3,200 and of elevation. A small body of permafrost, less than 25 m across, was found at the summit of Mauna Kea prior to 1974, and may still be present. Small gullies etch the summit, formed by rain- and snow-fed streams that flow only during winter melt and rain showers.</p><br>
<p>On the windward side of the mountain, stream erosion driven by trade winds has accelerated erosion in a manner similar to that on older Kohala.</p><br>
<p>Mauna Kea is home to Lake Waiau, the highest lake in the Pacific Basin. At an altitude of 3,969 m, it lies within the Puu Waiau cinder cone and is the only alpine lake in Hawaii. The lake is very small and shallow, with a surface area of 0.73 hectare and a depth of 3 m. Radiocarbon dating of samples at the base of the lake indicates that it was clear of ice 12,600 years ago. Hawaiian lava types are typically permeable, preventing the formation of lakes due to infiltration. Here, either sulfur-bearing steam altered the volcanic ash to low-permeability clays, or explosive interactions between rising magma and groundwater or surface water (phreatic eruptions) formed exceptionally fine ash that also would reduce the permeability of the lake bed.</p><br>
<p>Until 1993, artesian water was not known to be present in the Island of Hawaii. Drilling by the University of Hawaii at that time encountered an artesian groundwater aquifer at 300 meters below sea level and 100 meters of hole depth within a compacted layer of soil and lava where the flows of both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea meet (Humuula saddle region). Isotopic composition shows the water present to have been derived from rain coming off Mauna Kea at an elevation higher than 2000 meters above mean sea level. Its presence is attributed to a freshwater head within Mauna Keas basal lens. Scientists believe there may be more water in Mauna Keas fresh water lens than current models may indicate. In 2012 two more bore holes were drilled on Mauna Kea and water discovered at much higher elevations than previously believed but shallower than expected. Donald Thomas, director of the University of Hawaii&#39;s Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes believes one reason to continue study of the aquifers is due to use and ‘occupancy’ of the higher elevation areas, stating: "Nearly all of these activities depend on the availability of potable water that, in most cases, must be trucked to the Saddle from Waimea or Hilo — an inefficient and expensive process that consumes a substantial quantity of our scarce liquid fuels.”</p><br>
<h3>Future activity</h3><br>
<p>The last eruption of Mauna Kea was about 4,600 years ago (about 2600 BCE); because of this inactivity, Mauna Kea is assigned a United States Geological Survey hazard listing of 7 for its summit and 8 for its lower flanks, out of the lowest possible hazard rating of 9 (which is given to the extinct volcano Kohala). Twenty percent of the volcano&#39;s summit has seen lava flows in the past 10,000 years, and its flanks have seen virtually no lava flows during that time.</p><br>
<p>Despite its dormancy, Mauna Kea is expected to erupt again, although there would be sufficient warning to evacuate. The telescopes on Mauna Keas summit would be the first to detect the minute amounts of deformation resulting from the volcanos swelling, acting like expensive tiltmeters. Based on prior eruptions, such an event could occur anywhere on the volcanos upper flanks and would likely produce extended lava flows, mostly of aa, of 15 - in length. Long periods of activity could build a cinder cone at the source. Although not likely in the next few centuries, such an eruption would probably result in little loss of life but significant damage to infrastructure.</p><br>
<h2>Human history</h2><br>
<h3>Native history</h3><br>
<p>The first Ancient Hawaiians to arrive on Hawaii island lived along the shores, where food and water were plentiful. Settlement expanded inland to the Mauna Loa – Mauna Kea region in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Archaeological evidence suggests that these regions were used for hunting, collecting stone material, and possibly for spiritual reasons or for astronomical or navigational observations. The mountain&#39;s plentiful forest provided plants and animals for food and raw materials for shelter. Flightless birds that had previously known no predators became a staple food source.</p><br>
<p>Early settlement of the Hawaiian islands led to major changes to local ecosystems and many extinctions, particularly amongst bird species. Ancient Hawaiians brought foreign plants and animals, and their arrival was associated with increased rates of erosion.</p><br>
<p>The prevailing lowland forest ecosystem was transformed from forest to grassland; some of this change was caused by the use of fire, but the prevailing cause of forest ecosystem collapse and avian extinction on Hawaii appears to have been the introduction of the Polynesian (or Pacific) rat.</p><br>
<p>The summits of the five volcanoes of Hawaii are revered as sacred mountains; and Mauna Kea&#39;s summit, the highest, is the most sacred. For this reason, a kapu (ancient Hawaiian law) restricted visitor rights to high-ranking aliʻi. Hawaiians associated elements of their natural environment with particular deities. In Hawaiian mythology, the summit of Mauna Kea was seen as the "region of the gods", a place where benevolent spirits reside. Poliahu, deity of snow, also resides there.</p><br>
<p>Around AD 1100, natives established adze quarries high up on Mauna Kea to extract the uniquely dense basalt (generated by the quick cooling of lava flows meeting glacial ice during subglacial eruptions) to make tools. Volcanic glass and gabbro were collected for blades and fishing gear, and māmane wood was preferred for the handles. At peak quarry activity after AD 1400, there were separate facilities for rough and fine cutting; shelters with food, water, and wood to sustain the workers; and workshops creating the finished product.</p><br>
<p>Lake Waiau provided drinking water for the workers. Native chiefs would also dip the umbilical cords of newborn babies in its water, to give them the strength of the mountain. Use of the quarry declined between this period and contact with Americans and Europeans. As part of the ritual associated with quarrying, the workers erected shrines to their gods; these and other quarry artifacts remain at the sites, most of which lie within what is now the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve.</p><br>
<p>This early era was followed by peace and cultural expansion between the 12th and late 18th century. Land was divided into regions designed for both the immediate needs of the populace and the long-term welfare of the environment. These ahupuaa generally took the form of long strips of land oriented from the mountain summits to the coast. Mauna Kea&#39;s summit was encompassed in the ahupuaa of Kaohe, with part of its eastern slope reaching into the nearby Humuula. Principal sources of nutrition for Hawaiians living on the slopes of the volcano came from the māmane–naio forest of its upper slopes, which provided them with vegetation and bird life. Bird species hunted included the uau (Pterodroma sandwichensis), nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), and palila (Loxioides bailleui). The lower koa–ōhia forest gave the natives wood for canoes and ornate bird feathers for decoration.</p><br>
<h3>Modern era</h3><br>
<p>There are three accounts of foreigners visiting Hawaii before the arrival of James Cook, in 1778. However, the earliest Western depictions of the isle, including Mauna Kea, were created by explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Contact with Europe and America had major consequences for island residents. Native Hawaiians were devastated by introduced diseases; port cities including Hilo, Kealakekua, and Kailua grew with the establishment of trade; and the adze quarries on Mauna Kea were abandoned after the introduction of metal tools.</p><br>
<p>In 1793, cattle were brought by George Vancouver as a tribute to King Kamehameha I. By the early 19th century, they had escaped confinement and roamed the island freely, greatly damaging its ecosystem. In 1809 John Palmer Parker arrived and befriended Kamehameha I, who put him in charge of cattle management on the island. With an additional land grant in 1845, Parker established Parker Ranch on the northern slope of Mauna Kea, a large cattle ranch that is still in operation today. Settlers to the island burned and cut down much of the native forest for the construction of sugarcane plantations and houses.</p><br>
<p>The Saddle Road, named for its crossing of the saddle-shaped plateau between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was completed in 1943, and eased travel to Mauna Kea considerably.</p><br>
<p>The Pohakuloa Training Area on the plateau is the largest military training ground in Hawaii. The 108,863 acre base extends from the volcano&#39;s lower flanks to 2,070 m elevation, on state land leased to the US Army since 1956. There are 15 threatened and endangered plants, 3 endangered birds, and 1 endangered bat species in the area.</p><br>
<p>Mauna Kea has been the site of extensive archaeological research since the 1980s. Approximately 27 percent of the Science Reserve had been surveyed by 2000, identifying 76 shrines, 4 adze manufacturing workshops, 3 other markers, 1 positively identified burial site, and 4 possible burial sites. By 2009, the total number of identified sites had risen to 223, and archaeological research on the volcanos upper flanks is ongoing. It has been suggested that the shrines, which are arranged around the volcanos summit along what may be an ancient snow line, are markers for the transition to the sacred part of Mauna Kea. Despite many references to burial around Mauna Kea in Hawaiian oral history, few sites have been confirmed. The lack of shrines or other artifacts on the many cinder cones dotting the volcano may be because they were reserved for burial.</p><br>
<h3>Ascents</h3><br>
<p>In pre-contact times, natives traveling up Mauna Kea were probably guided more by landscape than by existing trails, as no evidence of the latter has been found. It is possible that natural ridges and water sources were followed instead. Individuals likely took trips up Mauna Kea&#39;s slopes to visit family-maintained shrines near its summit, and traditions related to ascending the mountain exist to this day. However, very few natives actually reached the summit, because of the strict kapu placed on it.</p><br>
<p>In the early 19th century, the earliest notable recorded ascents of Mauna Kea included the following:</p><br>
<p>On August 26, 1823, Joseph F. Goodrich, an American missionary, made the first recorded ascent in a single day; however, a small arrangement of stones he observed suggested he was not the first human on the summit.</p><br>
<p>On June 17, 1825, an expedition from HMS Blonde, led by botanist James Macrae, reached the summit of Mauna Kea. Macrae was the first person to record the Mauna Kea silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense), saying: "The last mile was destitute of vegetation except one plant of the Sygenisia tribe, in growth much like a Yucca, with sharp pointed silver coloured leaves and green upright spike of three or four feet producing pendulous branches with brown flowers, truly superb, and almost worth the journey of coming here to see it on purpose."</p><br>
<p>In January 1834, David Douglas climbed the mountain and described extensively the division of plant species by altitude. On a second climb in July, he was found dead in a pit intended to catch wild cattle. Although murder was suspected, it was probably an accidental fall. The site, Ka lua kauka 19&deg;53&prime;17&Prime;N latitude, 155&deg;20&prime;17&Prime;W longitude, is marked by the Douglas fir trees named for him.</p><br>
<p>In 1881, Queen Emma traveled to the peak to bathe in the waters of Lake Waiau during competition for the role of ruling chief of the Kingdom of Hawaii.</p><br>
<p>On August 6, 1889, E.D. Baldwin left Hilo and followed cattle trails to the summit.</p><br>
<p>In the late 19th and early 20th centuries trails were formed, often by the movement of game herds, that could be traveled on horseback. Today, multiple trails to the summit exist, in various states of use.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<h3>Background</h3><br>
<p>Hawaiis geographical isolation strongly influences its ecology. Remote islands like Hawaii have a large number of species that are found nowhere else (see Endemism in the Hawaiian Islands). The remoteness resulted in evolutionary lines distinct from those elsewhere and isolated these endemic species from external biotic influence, and also makes them especially vulnerable to extinction and the effects of invasive species. In addition the ecosystems of Hawaii are under threat from human development including the clearing of land for agriculture; an estimated third of the islands endemic species have already been wiped out. Because of its elevation, Mauna Kea has the greatest diversity of biotic ecosystems anywhere in the Hawaiian archipelago. Ecosystems on the mountain form concentric rings along its slopes due to changes in temperature and precipitation with elevation. These ecosystems can be roughly divided into three sections by elevation: alpine–subalpine, montane, and basal forest.</p><br>
<p>Contact with Americans and Europeans in the early 19th century brought more settlers to the island, and had a lasting negative ecological effect. On lower slopes, vast tracts of koa–ōhia forest were converted to farmland. Higher up, feral animals that escaped from ranches found refuge in, and damaged extensively, Mauna Kea&#39;s native māmane–naio forest.</p><br>
<h3>Alpine environment</h3><br>
<p>The summit of Mauna Kea lies above the tree line, and consists of mostly lava rock and alpine tundra. An area of heavy snowfall, it is inhospitable to vegetation, and is known as the Hawaiian tropical high shrublands. Growth is restricted here by extremely cold temperatures, a short growing season, low rainfall, and snow during winter months. A lack of soil also retards root growth, makes it difficult to absorb nutrients from the ground, and gives the area a very low water retention capacity.</p><br>
<p>Plant species found at this elevation include Styphelia tameiameiae, Taraxacum officinale, Tetramolopium humile, Agrostis sandwicensis, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Trisetum glomeratum, Poa annua, Sonchus oleraceus, and Coprosma ernodiodes. One notable species is Mauna Kea silversword (Argyroxiphium sandwicense var. sandwicense), a highly endangered endemic plant species that thrives in Mauna Kea&#39;s high elevation cinder deserts. At one stage reduced to a population of just 50 plants, Mauna Kea silversword was thought to be restricted to the alpine zone, but in fact has been driven there by pressure from livestock, and can grow at lower elevations as well.</p><br>
<p>The Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve on the southern summit flank of Mauna Kea was established in 1981. The reserve is a region of sparsely vegetated cinder deposits and lava rock, including areas of aeolian desert and Lake Waiau. This ecosystem is a likely haven for the threatened uau (Pterodroma sandwichensis) and also the center of a study on wēkiu bugs (Nysius wekiuicola).</p><br>
<p>Wēkiu bugs feed on dead insect carcasses that drift up Mauna Kea on the wind and settle on snow banks. This is a highly unusual food source for a species in the genus Nysius, which consists of predominantly seed-eating insects. They can survive at extreme elevations of up to 4,200 m because of natural antifreeze in their blood. They also stay under heated surfaces most of the time. Their conservation status is unclear, but the species is no longer a candidate for the Endangered Species List; studies on the welfare of the species began in 1980. The closely related Nysius aa lives on Mauna Loa. Wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and forest tent caterpillar moths have also been observed in the same Mauna Kea ecosystem; the former survive by hiding under heat-absorbing rocks, and the latter through cold-resistant chemicals in their bodies.</p><br>
<h3>Māmane–naio forest</h3><br>
<p>The highest forested zone on the volcano, at an elevation of 2,000 -, is dominated by māmane (Sophora chrysophylla) and naio (Myoporum sandwicense), both endemic tree species, and is thus known as māmane–naio forest. Māmane seeds and naio fruit are the chief foods of the birds in this zone, especially the palila (Loxioides bailleui). The palila was formerly found on the slopes of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualālai, but is now confined to the slopes of Mauna Kea—only 10% of its former range—and has been declared critically endangered.</p><br>
<p>The largest threat to the ecosystem is grazing by feral sheep (Ovis aries), cattle (Bos primigenius), and goats (Capra hircus) introduced to the island in the late 18th century. Feral animal competition with commercial grazing was severe enough that a program to eradicate them existed as far back as the late 1920s, and continued through to 1949. One of the results of this grazing was the increased prevalence of herbaceous and woody plants, both endemic and introduced, that were resistant to browsing. The feral animals were almost eradicated, and numbered a few hundred in the 1950s. However, an influx of local hunters led to the feral species being valued as game animals, and in 1959 the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the governing body in charge of conservation and land use management, changed its policy to a sustained-control program designed to facilitate the sport.</p><br>
<p>Mouflon (Ovis aries orientalis) was introduced from 1962–1964, and a plan to release axis deer (Axis axis) in 1964 was prevented only by protests from the ranching industry, who said that they would damage crops and spread disease. The hunting industry fought back, and the back-and-forth between the ranchers and hunters eventually gave way to a rise in public environmental concern. With the development of astronomical facilities on Mauna Kea commencing, conservationists demanded protection of Mauna Kea&#39;s ecosystem. A plan was proposed to fence 25% of the forests for protection, and manage the remaining 75% for game hunting. Despite opposition from conservationists the plan was put into action. While the land was partitioned no money was allocated for the building of the fence. In the midst of this wrangling the Endangered Species Act was passed; the National Audubon Society and Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, claiming that they were violating federal law, in the landmark case Palila v. Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (1978).</p><br>
<p>The court ruled in favor of conservationists and upheld the precedence of federal laws before state control of wildlife. Having violated the Endangered Species Act, Hawaii state was required to remove all feral animals from the mountainside. This decision was followed by a second court order in 1981. A public hunting program removed many of the feral animals, at least temporarily. An active control program is in place, though it is not conducted with sufficient rigor to allow significant recovery of the māmane-naio ecosystem. There are many other species and ecosystems on the island, and on Mauna Kea, that remain threatened by human development and invasive species.</p><br>
<p>The Mauna Kea Forest Reserve protects 52,500 acre of māmane-naio forest under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. Ungulate hunting is allowed year-round. A small part of the māmane–naio forest is encompassed by the Mauna Kea State Recreation Area.</p><br>
<h3>Lower environment</h3><br>
<p>A band of ranch land on Mauna Kea&#39;s lower slopes was formerly Acacia koa – Metrosideros polymorpha (koa-ōhia) forest. With the collapse of the sugar industry in the 1990s, much of this land lies fallow but portions are used for cattle grazing, small-scale farming and the cultivation of eucalyptus for wood pulp.</p><br>
<p>The Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge is a major koa forest reserve on Mauna Kea&#39;s windward slope. It was established in 1985, covering 32,733 acre of ecosystem remnant. Eight endangered bird species, twelve endangered plants, and the endangered Hawaiian hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus semotus) have been observed in the area, in addition to many other rare biota. The reserve has been the site of an extensive replanting campaign since 1989. Parts of the reserve show the effect of agriculture on the native ecosystem, as much of the land in the upper part of the reserve is abandoned farmland.</p><br>
<p>Bird species native to the acacia koa–ōhia forest include the Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis), the akepa (Loxops coccineus), Hawaii creeper (Oreomystis mana), ʻakiapōlāʻau (Hemignathus munroi), and Hawaiian hawk (Buteo solitarius), all of which are endangered, threatened, or near threatened; the Hawaiian crow in particular is extinct in the wild, but there are plans to reintroduce the species into the Hakalau reserve.</p><br>
<h2>Summit observatories</h2><br>
<p>Mauna Kea&#39;s summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation due to favorable observing conditions. These factors historically made Mauna Kea an excellent spot for stargazing.</p><br>
<p>In the early 1960s, the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce encouraged astronomical development of Mauna Kea, as economic stimulus; this coincided with University of Arizona astronomer Gerard Kuipers search for sites to use newly improved detectors of infrared light. Site testing by Kuipers assistant Alika Herring in 1964 confirmed the summit&#39;s outstanding suitability. An intense three-way competition for NASA funds to construct a large telescope began between Kuiper, Harvard University, and the University of Hawaii (UH), which only had experience in solar astronomy. This culminated in funds being awarded to the "upstart" UH proposal. UH rebuilt its small astronomy department into a new Institute for Astronomy, and in 1968 the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources gave it a 65-year lease for all land within a 4 km radius of its telescope, essentially that above 11,500 ft. On its completion in 1970, the UH 88 in was the seventh largest optical/infrared telescope in the world.</p><br>
<p>By 1970, two 24 in telescopes had been constructed by the US Air Force and Lowell Observatory. In 1973, Canada and France agreed to build the 3.6 m CFHT on Mauna Kea. designated 525 acre for astronomy, and shifted the remaining 10,763 acre to "natural and cultural preservation". This plan was further revised to address concern expressed in the Hawaiian community that a lack of respect was being shown toward the cultural values of the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Today the Mauna Kea Science Reserve has 13 observation facilities, each funded by as many as 11 countries. There are nine telescopes working in the visible and infrared spectrum, three in the submillimeter spectrum, and one in the radio spectrum, with mirrors or dishes ranging from 0.9 to 25 m.</p><br>
<p>A "Save Mauna Kea" movement, believes development of the mountain to be sacrilegious. Native Hawaiian non-profit groups such as Kahea, concerned with cultural heritage and the environment also oppose development for cultural and religious reasons. The multi-telescope "outrigger", proposed in 2006 was eventually canceled. A planned new telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), has attracted controversy and protests. The TMT was approved in April 2013. In October 2014, the groundbreaking ceremony for the telescope was interrupted by protesters causing the project to temporarily halt. In late March 2015, demonstrators blocked access of the road to the summit again. On April 2, 2015, 300 protestors were gathered near the visitor&#39;s center when 12 people were arrested with 11 more arrested at the summit. Among the concerns of the protest groups are the land appraisals and Native Hawaiians consultation. A pending court case has been accepted by the Supreme Court of Hawaii over the project by a number of groups.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The summit of Mauna Kea has an alpine climate. Due to the influence of its tropical latitude, temperature swings are very low in spite of its high elevation. Frosts are common year round, but in spite of the elevation no month is nearly below freezing in terms of average high, although March almost falls below 32 &deg;F in average means.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>Mauna Keas coastline is dominated by the Hamakua Coast, an area of rugged terrain created by frequent slumps and landslides on the volcanos flank. The area includes several recreation parks including Kalopa State Recreation Area, Wailuku River State Park and Akaka Falls State Park.</p><br>
<p>There are over 3,000 registered hunters on Hawaii island, and hunting, for both recreation and sustenance, is a common activity on Mauna Kea. A public hunting program is used to control the numbers of introduced animals including pigs, sheep, goats, turkey, pheasants, and quail.</p><br>
<p>Mauna Keas great elevation and the steepness of its flanks provide a better view and a shorter hike than the adjacent Mauna Loa. The high elevation with its risk of altitude sickness, weather concerns, steep road grade, and overall inaccessibility make the volcano dangerous and summit trips difficult. Until the construction of roads in the mid-20th century, only the hardy visited Mauna Keas upper slopes; hunters tracked game animals, and hikers traveled up the mountain. These travelers used stone cabins constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s as base camps, and it is from these facilities that the modern mid-level Onizuka Center for International Astronomy telescope support complex is derived. The first Mauna Kea summit road was built in 1964, making the peak itself accessible to larger numbers of people.</p><br>
<p>Today, multiple hiking trails exist, including the Mauna Kea Trail, and by 2007 over 100,000 tourists and 32,000 vehicles were going each year to the Visitor Information Station (VIS) adjacent to the Onizuka Center for International Astronomy. The Mauna Kea Access Road is paved up to the Center at 2,804 m. A free Star Gazing Program is held at the VIS every night from 6-10 pm. Between 5,000 and 6,000 people visit the summit of Mauna Kea each year, and to help ensure safety, and protect the integrity of the mountain, a ranger program was implemented in 2001.</p><br>
<p>The Kola Peninsula  is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is bordered by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast. The city of Murmansk is the most populous human settlement on the peninsula, with a population of over 300,000 as of the 2010 Census.</p><br>
<p>Despite the peninsula&#39;s northerly location, its proximity to the Gulf Stream leads to unusually high temperatures in winter, but also results in high winds due to the temperature variations between land and the Barents Sea. Summers are rather chilly, with the average July temperature of only 11 &deg;C. The peninsula is covered by taiga in the south and tundra in the north, where permafrost limits the growth of the trees resulting in landscape dominated by shrubs and grasses. The peninsula supports a small variety of mammals, and its rivers are an important habitat for the Atlantic salmon. The Kandalaksha Nature Reserve, established to protect the population of common eider, is located in the Kandalaksha Gulf.</p><br>
<p>While the north of the peninsula was already settled in the 7th–5th millennium BCE, the rest of its territory remained uninhabited until the 3rd millennium BCE, when various peoples started to arrive from the south. However, by the 1st millennium CE only the Sami people remained. This changed in the 12th century, when Russian Pomors discovered the peninsula&#39;s game and fish riches. Soon after, the Pomors were followed by the tribute collectors from the Novgorod Republic, and the peninsula gradually became a part of the Novgorodian lands. No permanent settlements, however, were established by the Novgorodians until the 15th century.</p><br>
<p>The Novgorod Republic lost control of the peninsula to the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1471, but the Russian migration did not stop. Several new settlements were established during the 16th century, and the Sami and Pomor people were forced into serfdom. In the second half of the 16th century, the peninsula became a subject of dispute between the Tsardom of Russia and the Kingdom of Denmark–Norway, which resulted in the strengthening of the Russian position. By the end of the 19th century, the indigenous Sami population had been mostly forced north by the Russians as well as by newly arriving Izhma Komi and Kominized Nenets (so-called Yaran people), who migrated here to escape a reindeer disease epidemic in their home lands in the southeast of the White Sea. The original administrative and economic center of the area was Kola, situated at the estuary of the Kola River into the Kola Bay. However, in 1916, Romanov-na-Murmane (now Murmansk) was founded and quickly became the largest city and port on the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>The Soviet period saw a rapid increase of the population, although most of it remained confined to urbanized territories along the sea coast and the railroads. The Sami people were subject to forced collectivization, including forced relocation to Lovozero and other centralized settlements, and overall the peninsula was heavily industrialized and militarized, largely due to its strategic position and the discovery of the vast apatite deposits in the 1920s. As a result, the ecology of the peninsula suffered major ecological damage, including contamination by military nuclear waste and nickel smelting.</p><br>
<p>After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the economy went into decline and the population quickly started to decrease. Between 1989 and 2002, Murmansk Oblast lost almost a quarter of its population; and almost 100,000 more between 2002 and 2010. Nevertheless, the economy rebounded somewhat in the first decade of the 2000s and the peninsula remains the most industrially developed and urbanized region in northern Russia.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Location and overview</h3><br>
<p>The peninsula is located in the far northwest of Russia, almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is washed by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast. Geologically, the peninsula occupies the northeastern edge of the Baltic Shield. although some sources push it all the way west to Russias border with Finland. Under a more restrictive definition, the peninsula covers an area of about 100,000 km&sup2;. The northern coast is steep and high, while the southern coast is flat. The western part of the peninsula is covered by two mountain ranges: the Khibiny Mountains and the Lovozero Massif; the former contains the highest point of the peninsula—Mount Chasnachorr, the height of which is 1,191 m. The Keyvy drainage divide lies in the central part. The mountainous reliefs of the Murman and Kandalaksha Coasts stretch from southeast to northwest, mirroring the peninsulas main orographic features.</p><br>
<p>Administratively, the territory of the peninsula consists of Lovozersky and Tersky Districts, parts of Kandalakshsky and Kolsky Districts, as well as the territories subordinated to the cities and towns of Murmansk, Ostrovnoy, Severomorsk, Kirovsk, and parts of the territories subordinated to Apatity, Olenegorsk, and Polyarnye Zori.</p><br>
<h3>Natural resources</h3><br>
<p>Because the last ice age removed the top sediment layer of the soil, as well as rare-earth elements and non-ferrous ores. Deposits of construction materials such as granite, quartzite, and limestone are also abundant. Diatomaceous earth deposits are common near lakes and are used to produce insulation.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>Proximity of the peninsula to the Gulf Stream leads to unusually high temperatures in winter, resulting in significant temperature variations between land and the Barents Sea and in fluctuating temperatures during high winds.</p><br>
<p>Precipitation levels on the peninsula are rather high: 1,000 mm in the mountains, 600 - on the Murman Coast, and 500 - in other areas. The wettest months are August through October, while March and April are the driest.</p><br>
<p>The average temperature in January is about -10 &deg;C, with lower temperatures typical in the central parts of the peninsula. The average temperature in July is about +11 &deg;C. Record lows reach -50 &deg;C in the central parts and -35 to -40 C on the coasts. Record highs exceed +30 &deg;C almost on all the territory of the peninsula. First frosts occur as early as August and may last through May and even June.</p><br>
<h3>Flora and fauna</h3><br>
<p>The peninsula is covered by taiga in the south and tundra in the north. In northern coastal areas, stony and shrub lichens are common. The taiga in the southern areas is composed mostly of pine trees and firs.</p><br>
<p>Reindeer herds visit the grasslands in summer. American minks, which were released near the Olenitsa River in 1935–1936, are now common throughout the peninsula and are commercially hunted. Beavers, which became endangered by 1880, were re-introduced in 1934–1957. All in all, thirty-two species of mammals and up to two hundred bird species inhabit the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Beluga whales are the only cetacean being common around the peninsula. Other dolphins, including Atlantic white-sided dolphins, white-beaked dolphins, and harbor porpoises, as well as large whales, such as bowhead, humpback, blue, and finback, also visit the area.</p><br>
<p>The coasts of the Kandalaksha Gulf and the Barents Sea are important breeding grounds for bearded seals and ringed seals. Gray seals are rare and endemic to the Barents Sea. Greenland seals, or harp seals, also can be seen from time to time.</p><br>
<p>Twenty-nine species of fresh water fish are recognized on the territory of peninsula, including trout, stickleback, northern pike, and European perch. The Kandalaksha Nature Reserve, established in 1932 to protect the population of common eider, is organized in thirteen clusters located in the Kandalaksha Gulf of the Kola Peninsula and along the coasts of the Barents Sea.</p><br>
<h3>Hydrology</h3><br>
<p>The Kola Peninsula has many small but fast-moving rivers with rapids. The most important of them are the Ponoy, the Varzuga, the Umba, the Teriberka, the Voronya, and the Yokanga. Most rivers originate from lakes and swamps and collect their waters from melting snow. The rivers become icebound during the winter, although the areas with strong rapids freeze later or not at all.</p><br>
<p>Major lakes include Imandra, Umbozero, and Lovozero. There are no lakes with an area smaller than 0.01 km&sup2;. Recreational fishery is developed in the region.</p><br>
<h3>Ecology</h3><br>
<p>The Kola Peninsula as a whole suffered major ecological damage, mostly as a result of pollution from the military (particularly naval) production, industrial mining of apatite, and military nuclear waste. For thirty years, nuclear waste had been dumped into the sea by the Northern Fleet and Murmansk Shipping Company. Additionally, several nuclear weapons test ranges and radioactive waste storage facilities exist on the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>The main industrial pollution source is Norilsk Nickel in Monchegorsk—the large smelters responsible for over 80% of the sulfur dioxide emissions and for nearly all nickel and copper emissions. Other polluters of note include the thermal power stations in Apatity and Murmansk.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>The Rybachy Peninsula in the north of the Kola Peninsula was already settled in the 7th–5th millennium BCE. In the 3rd–2nd millennium BCE, the peninsula was settled by the peoples who arrived there from the south (the territory of modern Karelia). and were engaged mostly in reindeer herding and fishing. In the 12th century, Russian Pomors from the shores of the Onega Bay and in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina River discovered the peninsula and its game and fish riches. The Pomors organized regular hunting and fishing visits and started barter trade with the Sami. They also called the White Sea coast of the peninsula Tersky Coast (Те́рский бе́рег) or Terskaya Land (Те́рская земля́).</p><br>
<p>By the end of the 12th century, the Pomors explored all northern coast of the peninsula and reached Finnmark (an area in the north of Norway), necessitating the Norwegians to support a naval guard in that area. The name given by the Pomors to the northern coast was Murman—a distorted form of Norman meaning "Norwegian".</p><br>
<h3>Novgorodians</h3><br>
<p>Pomors were soon followed by tribute collectors from the Novgorod Republic, and the Kola Peninsula gradually became a part of the Novgorodian lands. A 1265 treaty of Yaroslav Yaroslavich with Novgorod mentions Tre Volost (волость Тре), which is later also mentioned in other documents dated as late as 1471. In addition to Tre, Novgorodian documents of the 13th–15th centuries also mention Kolo Volost, which bordered Tre approximately along the line between Kildin Island and Turiy Headland of the Turiy Peninsula. Kolo Volost lay to the west of that line, while Tre was situated to the east of it.</p><br>
<p>By the 13th century, a need to formalize the border between the Novgorod Republic and the Scandinavian countries became evident. The Novgorodians, along with the Karelians who came from the south, reached the coast of what now is Pechengsky District and the portion of the coast of Varangerfjord near the Voryema River, which now is a part of Norway. The Sami population was forced to pay tribute. The Norwegians, however, were also attempting to take control of these lands, resulting in armed conflicts. In 1251, a conflict between the Karelians, Novgorodians and the servants of the king of Norway led to the establishment of a Novgorodian mission in Norway. Also in 1251, the first treaty with Norway was signed in Novgorod regarding the Sami lands and the system of tribute collections, making the Sami people pay tribute to both Novgorod and Norway. By the terms of the treaty, Novgorodians could collect tribute from the Sami as far as Lyngen fjord in the west, while Norwegians could collect tribute on the territory of the whole Kola Peninsula except in the eastern part of Tersky Coast. No state borders were established by the 1251 treaty.</p><br>
<p>The treaty led to a short period of peace, but the armed conflicts resumed soon thereafter. Chronicles document attacks by the Novgorodians and the Karelians on Finnmark and northern Norway as early as 1271, and continuing well into the 14th century. The official border between the Novgorod lands and the lands of Sweden and Norway was established by the Treaty of Nöteborg on August 12, 1323. The treaty primarily focused on the Karelian Isthmus border and the border north of Lake Ladoga.</p><br>
<p>Another treaty dealing the matters of the northern borders was the Treaty of Novgorod signed with Norway in 1326, which ended the decades of the Norwegian-Novgorodian border skirmishes in Finnmark. Per the terms of this treaty, Norway relinquished all claims to the Kola Peninsula. However, the treaty did not address the situation with the Sami people paying tribute to both Norway and Novgorod, and the practice continued until 1602. While the 1326 treaty did not define the border in detail, it confirmed the 1323 border demarcation, which remained more or less unchanged for the next six hundred years, until 1920.</p><br>
<p>In the 15th century, Novgorodians started to establish permanent settlements on the peninsula. Umba and Varzuga, the first documented permanent settlements of the Novgorodians, date back to 1466. Over time, all coastal areas to the west of the Pyalitsa River had been settled, creating a territory where the population was mostly Novgorodian. Administratively, this territory was divided into Varzuzhskaya and Umbskaya Volosts, which were governed by a posadnik from the area of the Northern Dvina. The Novgorod Republic lost control of both of these volosts to the Grand Duchy of Moscow after the Battle of Shelon in 1471, and the republic itself ceased to exist in 1478 when Ivan III took the city of Novgorod. All Novgorod territories, including those on the Kola Peninsula, became a part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.</p><br>
<h3>Russian settlement</h3><br>
<p>Russian migration to the peninsula continued into the 16th century, when new settlements such as Kandalaksha and Porya-Guba were established. Kola was first mentioned in 1565. In the end of the 15th century, the Pomors and the Sami people were forced into serfdom, mostly by the monasteries. Monastery votchinas greatly expanded during the 17th century, but were abolished in 1764, when all of the Kola Peninsula peasants became state peasants.</p><br>
<p>In the second half of the 16th century, King Frederick II of Denmark–Norway demanded that the Tsardom of Russia cede the peninsula. The voyevoda sat in Kola, which became the administrative center of the region. Prior to that, the administrative duties were performed by the tax collectors from Kandalaksha. Newly established Kolsky Uyezd covered most of the territory of the peninsula (with the exception of Varzuzhskaya and Umbskaya Volosts, which were a part of Dvinsky Uyezd), as well as the northern part of Karelia all the way to Lendery.</p><br>
<p>Despite the economic activity, permanent settlement of the peninsula did not intensify until the 1860s and even then it remained sporadic until 1917. By the end of the 19th century, the Sami population had mostly been forced north, with ethnic Russians settling in the south of the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>In 1894, the peninsula was visited by the Russian Minister of Finance, who became convinced of the region&#39;s economic potential.</p><br>
<p>During World War I, the still poorly developed peninsula suddenly found itself in a strategic position, as the communication between Russia and the Allies was cut and the ice-free harbors of the Murman Coast remained the only means of sending the war supplies to the Eastern Front. In March 1915, the construction of the railroad was rushed, and the railroad was quickly opened in 1916, even though it was only partially completed and poorly built. In 1916, Romanov-na-Murmane (modern Murmansk) was founded as the terminal point of the new railroad; the town quickly grew to become the largest one on the peninsula.</p><br>
<h3>Soviet and modern periods</h3><br>
<p>Soviet power was established on the territory of the peninsula on, 1917, but the territory was occupied by the Triple Entente forces in March 1918–March 1920. Alexandrovsky Uyezd was transformed into Murmansk Governorate by the Soviet government in June 1921. On August 1, 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) issued two Resolutions: "On the Establishment of Leningrad Oblast" and "On the Borders and Composition of the Okrugs of Leningrad Oblast", according to which Murmansk Governorate was transformed into Murmansk Okrug (which was divided into six districts) and included into Leningrad Oblast.</p><br>
<p>All in all, the Soviet period saw a significant increase in population (799,000 in 1970 vs. 15,000 in 1913), although most of the population remained concentrated in the urban localities along the railroads and the sea coast. Most of the sparsely populated territories outside the urbanized areas were used for deer herding. In 1920–1940, the town of Kirovsk and several work settlements were established on the peninsula.</p><br>
<p>The Sami peoples were subject to forced collectivization, with more than half of their reindeer herds collectivized in 1928–1930. In addition, the traditional Sami herding practices were phased out in favor of the more economically profitable Komi approach, which emphasized permanent settlements over free herding. Since the Sami culture is strongly tied to the herding practices, this resulted in the Sami people gradually losing their language and traditional herding knowledge. Most Sami were forced to settle in the village of Lovozero, which became the cultural center of the Sami people in Russia. Those Sami resisting the collectivization were subject to forced labor or death. Various forms of repression against the Sami continued until Stalin&#39;s death in 1953. In the 1990s, 40% of the Sami lived in urbanized areas, although some herd reindeer across much of the region.</p><br>
<p>The Sami were not the only people subject to repressions. Thousands of people were sent to Kola in the 1930s–1950s, and in 2007 over two thousand people—descendants of those forcibly sent here—still live on the peninsula. A significant portion of the people deported to Kola were peasants from southern Russia subjected to dekulakization. Prisoner labor was often used when building new factories and for manning those which were operational: in 1940, for example, the whole Severonikel Metallurgy Mining Complex was turned over to the NKVD system.</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<p>Historically, due to its northern location, the peninsula&#39;s population had been sparse: in 1913, for example, only about 13,000–15,000 people lived there; mostly along the shores. However, the discovery of the vast natural resource deposits and industrialization efforts led to an explosive population growth during the Soviet times. to 890,000 in 2002 to 795,000 in 2010.</p><br>
<p>As of the 2010 Census, the population consisted mostly of Russians (89.0%), Ukrainians (4.8%), and Belarusians (1.7%). Other groups of note include Komi (~1,600 inhabitants), Sami (~1,600), and Karelians (~1,400). The indigenous Sami people are mostly concentrated in Lovozersky District.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<h3>Historical background</h3><br>
<p>During the 15th–16th centuries, the main occupations of the Tersky Coast population were Atlantic salmon fishing, seal hunting, and the extraction of salt from the sea water.</p><br>
<p>By the mid-16th century, Atlantic cod fishing developed on the Murman Coast in the north. The 1560s saw a rapid growth of international trade, with the Russian merchants from different regions of the country arriving to the peninsula to trade with the merchants from Western Europe. In 1585, however, the trade was moved to Archangel, although the settlement of Kola was still permitted to trade locally produced goods.</p><br>
<p>During the 17th century, the salt extraction activities gradually went into decline as the locally produced salt was uncompetitive with cheap salt produced in the Kama River regions. Extensive poaching also led to the significantly reduced outputs from pearl hunting. However, commercial deer herding became more popular, although its share in the economy remained negligible until the 19th century. By the end of the 17th century, the practice of seasonal fishing and hunting settlements in the north of the peninsula became very common.</p><br>
<p>Peter the Great, recognizing the political and economical importance of the peninsula, promoted its industries and commerce; however, the region fell into neglect after St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 and most of the shipping trade shifted there. In 1732, large deposits of silver in native form were discovered on Medvezhy Island in the Kandalaksha Gulf and copper, silver, and gold deposits were found in the lower reaches of the Ponoy River. However, despite the efforts ongoing for the next two centuries, there was no commercial success. At the end of the 18th century, the local population learned the practice of peat production from the Norwegians and started using peat for heating. Timber cutting industry developed in the region at the end of the 19th century; mostly in Kovda and Umba.</p><br>
<p>The Soviet era saw drastic industrialization and militarization of the peninsula. In 1925–1926, significant deposits of apatite were discovered in the Khibiny Mountains, and the first apatite batch was shipped only a few years later, in 1929. In 1930, sulfide deposits were discovered in the Moncha area; in 1932–1933 iron ore deposits were found near the upper streams of the Iona River; and in 1935, significant deposits of titanium ores were discovered in the area of modern Afrikanda.</p><br>
<p>The collectivization efforts in the 1930s led to the concentration of the reindeer herds in kolkhozes (collective farms), which, in turn, were further consolidated into a few large-scale state farms in the late 1950s–early 1970s. By the mid-1970s, the state farms were further consolidated into just two, based in Lovozero and Krasnoshchelye. The consolidations were rationalized by the necessity to isolate the herders from the military installations, as well as by the need to flood some territories to construct hydroelectric plants.</p><br>
<p>Fishing, being the traditional industry of the region, was always considered important, even though the volumes of production remained insignificant until the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1920s–1930s, the Murmansk Trawl Fleet was created and the fishing infrastructure started to develop intensively. By 1940, fishing accounted for 40% of the oblasts and for 80% of Murmansks economy.</p><br>
<p>During the Cold War, the peninsula served as the naval basing area for a large portion of the Soviet naval and air strategic forces, providing protection from and posing a threat to northern Norway.</p><br>
<p>Also the ELF-transmitter ZEVS of the Russian Navy is situated there.</p><br>
<h3>Modern economy</h3><br>
<p>After the economic slump of the 1990s, the economy of the oblast started to rebound during the first decade of the 2000s, although at a rate below the country&#39;s average. and does not freeze in winter. Although the strategic importance of the Kola Peninsula has diminished since the Cold War, the peninsula nevertheless still has the highest concentration of nuclear weapons, reactors, and facilities in Russia, with the number of nuclear reactors alone exceeding any other region of the world.</p><br>
<p>Mining is the basis of the oblast&#39;s economy, and mining enterprises remain the principal employers in such monotowns as Apatity, Kirovsk, Zapolyarny, Nikel, and Monchegorsk. The Kola Mining and Metallurgical Company, a division of Norilsk Nickel, conducts nickel-, copper-, and platinum-group-metals-mining operations on the peninsula. Other large mining companies include OAO Apatit, which is the largest producer of phosphates in Europe; OAO Olcon, one of the leading producers of iron ore concentrates in Russia; and OAO Kovdorsky GOK, an ore-mining and processing enterprise.</p><br>
<p>The fishing industry, although still operating significantly below the Soviet level of production, Murmansk is a key base for three fishing fleets, including Russia&#39;s largest, the Murmansk Trawl Fleet. Fish breeding, especially of salmon and trout, is a growing industry.</p><br>
<p>The energy sector is represented by the Kola Nuclear Power Plant near Polyarnye Zori, which produces about half of all energy, and a network of seventeen hydroelectric and two thermal power stations, generating the other half. The energy surplus, accounting for about 20% of the total generated energy, is transferred to the unified energy system of Russia, as well as exported to Norway and Finland via the NORDEL system.</p><br>
<p>With the economy of the oblast being mostly export-oriented, transportation plays an important role and accounts for 11% of the Gross Regional Product. On the Kola Peninsula, the transportation network includes ship transport, air transport, automotive transport, electrified public transport, and access to the railways mostly passing through the rest of Murmansk Oblast. The city of Murmansk is an important port on the Northern Sea Route. The largest airports are the Murmansk Airport, which handles international flights to Scandinavian countries, and the joint military-civilian Kirovsk-Apatity Airport located 15 km southeast of Apatity.</p><br>
<p>Mount Si  is a mountain in the USA state of Washington. It lies on the western margin of the Cascade Range just above the coastal plains around Puget Sound, and towers over the nearby town of North Bend. The mountain was named after local homesteader Josiah "Uncle Si" Merritt. It was made famous in the show Twin Peaks, which was filmed in North Bend.</p><br>
<p>Only about a 45-minute drive from Seattle, the mountain is a favorite outdoor destination for residents of Puget Sound. Between 80,000 and 100,000 hikers visit the mountain annually. The land is owned by the state of Washington and has been designated a Natural Resources Conservation Area.</p><br>
<p>The 4 mi long Mount Si trail climbs a total of 3,500 ft reach to the summit ridge.</p><br>
<h2>Oceanic Plate Volcano</h2><br>
<p>Mount Si is a remnant of an oceanic plate volcano and the rocks are highly metamorphosed.</p><br>
<h2>In local native legend</h2><br>
<p>Mount Si figures prominently in a Prometheus story from the Snoqualmie tribe. According to the story it is the dead body of Snoqualm, the moon. Snoqualm had ordered that a rope of cedar bark be stretched between the earth and the sky. But Fox and Blue Jay went up the rope and stole the sun from Snoqualm. Snoqualm chased them down the cedar rope, but it broke and he fell to his death. Fox then let the sun free in the sky and gave fire to the people. A face like Snoqualm&#39;s is visible on the rocks near the summit.</p><br>
<p>Mount Kazbek , is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located on the border of Georgias Kazbegi District and Russias Republic of North Ossetia–Alania.</p><br>
<p>It is the third-highest peak in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh-highest summit in the Caucasus Mountains. Kazbek is also the second-highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. The summit lies directly to the west of the town of Stepantsminda and is the most prominent geographic feature of the area. Mount Kazbek is the highest peak of Eastern Georgia. The name in Georgian, Mqinvartsveri, translates to "Glacier Peak" or "Freezing Cold Peak". The Vainakh name Bashlam translates as "Molten Mount".</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Kazbek is located on the Khokh Range, a mountain range which runs north of the Greater Caucasus Range, and which is pierced by the gorges of the Ardon and the Terek. At its eastern foot runs the Georgian Military Road through the pass of Darial 2,378 meters (7,805 feet). The mountain itself lies along the edge of the Borjomi–Kazbegi Fault (which is a northern sub-ending of the North Anatolian Fault). The region is highly active tectonically, with numerous small earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active geothermal/hot spring system also surrounds the mountain. Kazbek is a potentially active volcano, built up of trachyte and sheathed with lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770 meters (5,800 feet). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes Mount Khabarjina (3,142 metres).</p><br>
<p>Owing to the steepness of its slopes, the glaciers of Kazbek are not very large. The total combined area of all of Kazbeks glaciers is 135 km². The best-known glacier is the Dyevdorak (Devdaraki), which creeps down the north-eastern slope into a gorge of the same name, reaching a level of 2,295 meters (7,530 feet). Kazbeks other glaciers include the Mna, Denkara, Gergeti, Abano, and Chata. The recent collapse of the Kolka Glacier, located in a valley between Mt. Jimara and Kazbek in the year 2002 was attributed to solfatara volcanic activity along the northern slope of the mountain, although there was no eruption. In addition to the 2002 event, a massive collapse of the Devdaraki Glacier on the mountain&#39;s northeastern slope which occurred on August 20, 2014, led to the death of seven people. The glacier collapse dammed the Terek River in the Daryal Gorge and flooded the Georgian Military Highway.</p><br>
<h2>Legend</h2><br>
<p>Mount Kazbek is associated in Georgian folklore with Amirani, the Georgian version of Prometheus, who was chained on the mountain in punishment for having stolen fire from the gods and having given it to mortals. The location of his imprisonment later became the site of an Orthodox hermitage located in a cave called "Betlemi" (Bethlehem) at around the 4,000-meter level. According to legends, this cave housed many sacred relics, including Abraham&#39;s tent and the manger of the infant Jesus.</p><br>
<p>The summit was first climbed in 1868 by D. W. Freshfield, A. W. Moore, and C. Tucker of the Alpine Club, with the guide François Devouassoud. They were followed by the female Russian alpinist Maria Preobrazhenskaya, who made the climb nine times starting in the year 1900.</p><br>
<h2>Kazbegi nature reserve</h2><br>
<p>The area around Mount Kazbek was designated a nature reserve by the Soviet government in 1979, and includes beech forests, subalpine forests and alpine meadows. Many of the plants and animals in the reserve are endemic to the Caucasus region.</p><br>
<p>Ismoil Somoni Peak  is the highest mountain in Tajikistan. It was within the territory of the former Russian Empire and the former Soviet Union before the area became independent as Tajikistan. The mountain is named after Ismail Samani, a ruler of the Samanid dynasty.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>When the existence of a peak in the Soviet Pamir Mountains higher than Lenin Peak was first established in 1928, the mountain was tentatively identified with Garmo Peak. However, as the result of the work of further Soviet expeditions, it became clear by 1932 that they were not the same, and in 1933 the new peak, in the Academy of Sciences Range, was named Stalin Peak (Pik Stalina, пик Сталина), after Joseph Stalin. In 1962, as part of Khrushchev&#39;s nationwide de-Stalinization process, the name was changed to Communism Peak (Tajik: Пики Коммунизм, Piki Kommunizm; Russian: пик Коммуни́зма, Pik Kommunizma), a name by which it is still commonly known. The name Communism Peak was officially dropped in 1998 in favour of the current name, commemorating the 9th century Samanid emir, Ismail Samani.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first ascent was made 3 September 1933 by the Soviet mountaineer Yevgeniy Abalakov.</p><br>
<p>Saimaa is a lake in southeastern Finland. At approximately 4,400 km&sup2, it is the largest lake in Finland, and the fourth largest natural freshwater lake in Europe. It was formed by glacial melting at the end of the Ice Age. Major towns on the lakeshore include Lappeenranta, Imatra, Savonlinna, Mikkeli, Varkaus, and Joensuu. The Vuoksi River flows from Saimaa to Lake Ladoga. Most of the lake is spotted with islands, and narrow canals divide the lake in many parts, each having their own names . Thus, Saimaa exhibits all major types of lake in Finland at different levels of eutropification.</p><br>
<p>In places in the Saimaa basin (an area larger than the lake), "there is more shoreline here per unit of area than anywhere else in the world, the total length being nearly 15,000 km. The number of islands in the region, 14,000, also shows what a maze of detail the system is."</p><br>
<p>The Saimaa Canal from Lappeenranta to Vyborg connects Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland. Other canals connect Saimaa to smaller lakes in Eastern Finland and form a network of waterways. These waterways are mainly used to transport wood, minerals, metals, pulp and other cargo, but also tourists use the waterways.</p><br>
<p>An endangered freshwater seal, the Saimaa Ringed Seal, lives only at Saimaa. Another of the lake&#39;s endangered species is the Saimaa salmon.</p><br>
<p>About 6000 year ago, ancient Lake Saimaa, estimated to cover nearly 9000 square kilometers at the time, was abruptly discharged through a new outlet. The event created thousands of square kilometres of new residual wetlands. Following this event, the region saw a population maximum in the decades following only to later return to an ecological development towards old boreal conifer forests which saw a decline in population.</p><br>
<p>Due to its rich, easily accessible asbestos deposits, the shores of the lake are the most probable origin of asbestos-ceramic, a type of pottery made between c. 1900 BC – 200 AD.</p><br>
<p>The areas around Saimaa lake are very popular location for summer cabins as well as lake cruises.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Russian writer Maxim Gorky went into exile near the shores of Lake Saimaa for a period of time after his apartment was raided by the Black Hundreds in the aftermath of the Moscow Uprising of 1905. He wrote to his divorced wife Ekaterina, writing "it&#39;s beautiful here, like a fairy tale".</p><br>
<p>The River Churnet is a river in Staffordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Dove.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The origins of the name "Churnet" are unknown, though it is thought to derive from the pre-English, British name for the river.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>The source of the river is located over 1,000 ft above sea level in the Staffordshire moorlands, near the gritstone escarpment of the Roaches, and next to the A53 Leek to Buxton road, It is only a few hundred yards away from Black Brook which ultimately, through the Dane and Weaver, flows into the Irish Sea; however, the Churnet, through the Dove, Trent and Humber Estuary, ultimately flows into the North Sea.</p><br>
<p>After flowing downhill for a few miles it reaches Tittesworth Reservoir, a major supplier of fresh water to the Potteries and Leek. After it leaves the dam at Tittesworth, it flows into the ancient market town of Leek, where it was used until quite recently to aid the manufacture of dyes that were used in the town&#39;s textile and silk industries. South of Cheddleton, the river flows through the Churnet Valley, an area of outstanding beauty with ancient woodland, an abundance of wildlife and industrial heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Caldon Canal locks into the river at Oak Meadow Ford Lock, 2 miles on from Cheddleton and river and canal are one until Consall Forge, where the canal goes its own way again. The river continues through the valley, past ancient woodland and the Bolton Copper works at Froghall, then through the villages of Oakamoor and Alton. It flows past the JCB factory at Rocester and shortly afterwards joins the River Dove near the hamlet of Combridge.</p><br>
<h2>Churnet Valley</h2><br>
<p>The course of the river from Cheddleton to Rocester runs through the Churnet Valley – a part of Staffordshire that has been known either as Staffordshires Rhineland or Staffordshires Little Switzerland. Throughout the valley there are steep gorges and banks, with an abundance of woodland and Wildlife. There are several woods owned by the National Trust and the RSPB.</p><br>
<h2>Industry</h2><br>
<p>The Churnet has been heavily influenced by industry along its length for nearly a thousand years and as a result became possibly the most polluted river in Europe. The river was heavily used in Leek by the textile industry to make dyes. The dyeing industry was established in 1734 and it was claimed that the water from the Churnet was the finest in Europe for this purpose. In nearby Cheddleton the Churnet was used to power a flint mill that ground down flint for use in the pottery industry. Further downriver at Froghall and at Oakamoor the Thomas Bolton Copper works used the power of the Churnet to help manufacture the world&#39;s first transatlantic telegraph cables. The processes involved in manufacturing copper wire at the sites caused high levels of pollution.</p><br>
<p>The Churnet Valley was heavily involved in the iron-smelting industry and it is documented from as long ago as 1290 that iron was smelted using the river as its main source of energy.</p><br>
<p>The early forges were at East Wall, near Oakamoor, but a later forge is still standing at Consall, next to the locks on the Caldon Canal.</p><br>
<p>The Caldon Canal runs with the river through the Churnet Valley and along parts the river is canalised. There was intensive freight traffic on the waterway transporting limestone and ironstone from the wharves on the canal. Today the only industrial use of the river is by the sand quarry at Oakamoor.</p><br>
<p>Since the decline of industry in Leek and the Churnet Valley, the quality of the water has improved so much that a programme of re-introducing salmon is underway.</p><br>
<p>Tioman Island  is a mukim and an island in Rompin District, Pahang, Malaysia. It is located 32 km off the east coast of the state, and is some 20 km long and 12 km wide. It has eight main villages, the largest and most populous being Kampung Tekek in the north. The densely forested island is sparsely inhabited, and is surrounded by numerous coral reefs, making it a popular scuba diving spot. There are also a lot of resorts and chalets around the island which has duty-free status.</p><br>
<p>Its beaches have been claimed to be depicted in the 1958 movie, South Pacific as Bali Hai but available evidence suggests this is a false claim. In the 1970s, TIME Magazine selected Tioman as one of the world&#39;s most beautiful islands.</p><br>
<p>The island is served by ferries from the Malaysian mainland, Up to 2013, Berjaya Air serviced the island with a propeller plane service from the Changi Airport in Singapore and nowadays, there is only one company operating the route from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Selangor to Tioman Island. The company are called Systematic Aviation Services, and with a fleet of small single prop Cessna aircraft, the trip takes around 1 hr 15 minutes.</p><br>
<p>The island is part of Pahang territory, although it is geographically closer to mainland Johor than to mainland Pahang, and is accessed via ferry service from the Johorean coastal town of Mersing. Within Tioman Island there are four kampungs: Salang, Tekek, Juara and Air Batang. The telephone numbers in Tioman start with 09-413, 09-419, 09-582, 09-583 and 09-584.</p><br>
<h2>Nature</h2><br>
<p>The marine area around Tioman Island and eight other nearby islands have been declared as marine parks and marine reserves.</p><br>
<p>Apart from its diverse marine life, the inland rainforest area was protected in 1972 as the Pulau Tioman Wildlife Reserve. However, a large part of the original reserve was sacrificed for agricultural and touristic development in 1984; the remaining area is approximately 8,296 hectare. There are several protected species of mammals on the island, including the binturong, long-tailed macaque, slow loris, black giant squirrel, red giant flying squirrel, mouse deer, brush-tailed porcupine, and common palm civet, from a total of 45 species of mammals and 138 species of birds, including the majestic frigatebird. Moreover, Tioman has species that are endemic to its shores. The Tioman walking catfish Clarias batu can be seen on rainforest walks. Kajang slender litter frog is only known from Mount Kajang.</p><br>
<p>Tiomans corals have been affected by a mass bleaching event in 2010 whereby the island lost a significant portion of its live coral cover. That resulted in a lot of the corals turning a dull white colour and some even fragmenting into pieces of dead coral skeleton. The 2016 bleaching event only just touched on Tiomans Coral Reefs, and as such, the coral has remained in good and healthy condition.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Tioman has been used for thousands of years by fishermen as an important navigation point and a source of fresh water and wood. During the past thousand years, it has played host to Chinese, Arab, and European trading ships, and often Chinese porcelain shards can be found on beaches around the island.</p><br>
<p>In more recent history, Tioman played host to both the British and the Japanese navies during the Second World War, and the waters around the island are littered with war remains (including HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales).</p><br>
<p>Tioman island does not allow buildings to have more than 3 stories.</p><br>
<h2>Interesting places</h2><br>
<h3>Tioman Island</h3><br>
<p>Tioman Airport</p><br>
<p>Panuba Bay</p><br>
<p>Salang</p><br>
<p>Tekek Village</p><br>
<p>Minang Cove - The only cove of Tioman Island</p><br>
<p>Asah Waterfall</p><br>
<p>Bagus Place Retreat- The most eco-friendly area on Tioman Island</p><br>
<p>Juara Turtle Project- volunteer sea turtle and environmental conservation</p><br>
<p>Golden City - part of Salang village</p><br>
<p>Air Batang also known as ABC</p><br>
<h3>Around Tioman</h3><br>
<p>Pulo Jehat</p><br>
<p>Tulai Island</p><br>
<p>Three Little Islands</p><br>
<p>Sepoi Island</p><br>
<p>Labas Island</p><br>
<p>Soyak Island</p><br>
<h2>Legend</h2><br>
<p>According to legend, Tioman Island is the resting place of a beautiful dragon princess. Whilst flying to visit her prince in Singapore, this beautiful maiden stopped to seek solace in the crystal-clear waters of the South China Sea. Enraptured by the charms of the place, she decided to discontinue her journey. By taking the form of an island, she pledged to offer shelter and comfort to passing travelers.</p><br>
<p>Local mythology claims that the island is the embodiment of the mighty dragon Sri Gumom. The dragon was on his way to visit his sister Gunung Linga (Lingin Peak) but the great Sri Rama forbade the meeting and Sri Gumom was turned into a stone and fell into the deep sea where he now remains, frozen in eternity as this beautiful island with its distinctive topography.</p><br>
<h2>Politics</h2><br>
<p>Tioman Island lends its name to the state constituency of Tioman, comprising the island and part of the Rompin district including the town of Kuala Rompin. Its representative to the State Legislative Assembly is YB Mohd. Johari from Barisan Nasional. Its representative to the Malaysian Parliament is former MOSTI Minister Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis, also from Barisan Nasional.</p><br>
<h2>Non-governmental organisations</h2><br>
<p>Juara Turtle Project- volunteer sea turtle and environmental conservation</p><br>
<h2>Radio and television</h2><br>
<h3>Radio</h3><br>
<p>Community radio within Tioman:</p><br>
<p>FM 90.0</p><br>
<p>FM 103.2 (Airport radio)</p><br>
<p>FM 104.0 (Tioman community radio)</p><br>
<p>FM 104.1</p><br>
<p>From Malaysian mainland:</p><br>
<p>FM 90.7 (TraXX FM) - owned by Radio Televisyen Malaysia</p><br>
<p>FM 91.9 (Pahang FM) - owned by Radio Televisyen Malaysia</p><br>
<p>FM 100.5 (News Network)</p><br>
<p>FM 103.5</p><br>
<h3>Television</h3><br>
<p>TV1 - Channel 50 (Temporarily unavailable)</p><br>
<p>TV2 - Channel 53 (Temporarily unavailable) - Currently broadcasting on Channel 11</p><br>
<p>TV3 - Channel 32</p><br>
<p>8TV - Channel 7</p><br>
<p>TV9 - Channel 9</p><br>
<p>TV Alhijrah - Channel 40</p><br>
<p>Local:</p><br>
<p>TV5 - Channel 5</p><br>
<p>Lake Serre-Ponçon  is a lake in southeast France; it is one of the largest artificial lakes in western Europe. The lake gathers the waters of the Durance and the Ubaye rivers, flowing down through the Hautes-Alpes and the Alpes du Sud to the Rhône River. The waters are dammed by the Barrage de Serre-Ponçon, a 123 m high earth core dam.</p><br>
<p>As well as water control, sixteen hydroelectric plants use the water and the lake provides irrigation to 1,500 km² of land.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lake was created to control water flow after disastrous floods caused severe damage and loss of life in 1843 and 1856. First proposed in 1895, construction started in 1955 and was completed by 1961.</p><br>
<p>During construction of the lake, approximately 3 million m of material was moved. The dam was constructed and the valley slowly became a lake, flooding some villages in the process. This flooding is the subject of Jean Giono&#39;s movie Girl and the River, starring Guy Béart.</p><br>
<p>Neighboring communes:</p><br>
<p>Embrun</p><br>
<p>Savines-le-Lac</p><br>
<p>Chorges</p><br>
<p>The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, which was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. Located at 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, the Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan. It is a designated California historical landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is privately owned and serves as a tourist attraction.</p><br>
<p>Since its construction in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many, including Winchester herself, to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Winchesters day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death on September 5, 1922, at which time work immediately ceased. Sarah Winchesters biographer, however, claims that Winchester "routinely dismissed workers for months at a time to take such rest as I might" and notes that "this flies in the face of claims by today&#39;s Mystery House proprietors that work at the ranch was ceaseless for thirty-eight years."</p><br>
<h2>Inspiration</h2><br>
<p>Tabloids from the time claimed that, at some point after her infant daughter and husband both died, a Boston medium told her (while supposedly channeling her late husband) that she should leave her home in New Haven and travel West, where she must continuously build a home for herself and the spirits of people who had fallen victim to Winchester rifles.</p><br>
<p>In 1884 she purchased an unfinished farmhouse in the Santa Clara Valley and began building her mansion. Carpenters were hired and worked on the house day and night until it became a seven-story mansion. She did not use an architect and added on to the building in a haphazard fashion, so the home contains numerous oddities such as doors and stairs that go nowhere, windows overlooking other rooms and stairs with odd-sized risers. Many accounts attribute these oddities to her belief in ghosts.</p><br>
<p>Before the 1906 earthquake, the house had been seven stories high, but today it is only four stories. The house is predominantly made of redwood, as Mrs. Winchester preferred the wood; however, she disliked the look of it. She therefore demanded that a faux grain and stain be applied. This is why almost all the wood in the home is covered. Approximately 20,500 usgal of paint were required to paint the house. The home itself is built using a floating foundation that is believed to have saved it from total collapse in the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. This type of construction allows the home to shift freely, as it is not completely attached to its brick base. There are roughly 161 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms (one completed and one unfinished) as well as 47 fireplaces, over 10,000 panes of glass, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two basements and three elevators. Winchesters property was about 162 acre at one time, but the estate has since been reduced to 4.5 acre – the minimum necessary to contain the house and nearby outbuildings. It has gold and silver chandeliers, hand-inlaid parquet floors and trim, and a vast array of colors and materials. Due to Mrs. Winchesters debilitating arthritis, special "easy riser" stairways were installed as a replacement for her original steep construction. This allowed her to move about her home freely as she was only able to raise her feet a few inches high. There was only one working toilet for Winchester, but all other restrooms were decoys to confuse spirits. This is also the reason why she slept in a different room each night.</p><br>
<p>The homes conveniences were rare at the time of its construction. These included steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights, and Mrs. Winchesters personal (and only) hot shower from indoor plumbing. There are also three elevators, including an Otis electric and one of which was powered by a rare horizontal hydraulic elevator piston. (Most elevator pistons are vertical to save space, but Winchester preferred the improved functionality of the horizontal configuration.) Automatic Electric elevator. Mrs. Winchester never skimped on the many adornments that she believed contributed to its architectural beauty. Many of the stained glass windows were created by the Tiffany Company. Some were designed specifically for her, and others by her, including a "spider web" window that featured her favorite web design and the repetition of the number thirteen, another of her preoccupations. This window was never installed, but exists in the so-called "$25,000 storage room" - so named because its contents were originally appraised at a value of $25,000. The value today is inestimable, but $25,000 would be. A second window was designed by Tiffany himself, so that when sunlight strikes the prismatic crystals a rainbow is cast across the room. The window was installed in an interior wall in a room with no light exposure, preventing the effect from being seen.</p><br>
<p>Today the home is owned by Winchester Investments LLC, a privately held company representing the descendants of John and Mayme Brown. The home retains unique touches that reflect Mrs. Winchesters beliefs and her reported preoccupation with warding off malevolent spirits. These spirits are said to have directly inspired her as to the way the house should be built. The number thirteen and spider web motifs, which carried spiritual significance for her, occur throughout the house. For example, an expensive imported chandelier that originally had 12 candle-holders was altered to accommodate 13 candles, wall clothes hooks are in multiples of 13, and a spider web-patterned stained glass window contains 13 colored stones. The drain covers on the sinks also have 13 holes. In tribute, the houses current groundskeepers have created a topiary tree shaped like the numeral 13. Also, every Friday the 13th, the large bell on the property is rung 13 times at "1300 hours" (13:00 PT, 1:00 PM) in tribute to Winchester.</p><br>
<p>In 2016, it was announced that another room was found—an attic space that contains a pump organ, Victorian couch, dress form, sewing machine and paintings —and was made available for viewing by the public.</p><br>
<p>In 2017, the Winchester Mystery House debuted their first new daytime tour in 20 years, the Explore More Tour. This tour takes guests through rooms never before opened to the public, and explores the rooms left unfinished at the time of Sarah Winchester&#39;s death.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The February 1986 issue of Swamp Thing (#45) by Alan Moore and Stan Woch & Alfredo Alcala took place in a haunted California mansion built by "Amy Cambridge", a fictionalized version of Sarah Winchester.</p><br>
<p>The house is the primary setting for Michaela Roessner&#39;s 1993 science fiction novel Vanishing Point, in which it becomes the home of a squatter community following the disappearance of most of the human race.</p><br>
<p>The Winchester house is the setting of a subplot in the 1997 Tim Powers fantasy novel Earthquake Weather.</p><br>
<p>The 1997 play Hammers by Conrad Bishop and Elizabeth Fuller depicts the construction of a fictionalized version of the Winchester House, from the point of view of a carpenter whose entire working life is spent on this project.</p><br>
<p>In the 2012 novel The Vorrh by Brian Catling, the Winchester Mystery House is featured in a scene where photography pioneer Eadweard Muybridge, one of the novels several protagonists, is tasked by Sarah Winchester to attend a seance and capture the spirits that will be summoned by the medium. He is skeptical and becomes convinced that he has failed after developing the photographs; however, Sarah Winchesters enthusiastic response to the printed images indicates that he was unknowingly successful.</p><br>
<p>For the 2012 episode of MythBusters "Smell of Fear", the build team visited the Winchester Mystery House to look around and later watch "one of the scariest movies of all time" (the title of which wasn&#39;t revealed) on a television that they set up in the grand ballroom, then gather their sweat samples for testing. (This clip was not seen in full on the American version of the episode.) Later on the "Aftershow" about the episode, Kari Byron revealed that after she first visited the Mystery House as a Brownie it had given her nightmares, and that the house was "still creepy".</p><br>
<p>Shinji Mikami, creator of the survival-horror video game The Evil Within, released in 2014, cites the house as an influence. In game, the Victorian Mansion level appears to draw influence from the Mystery house, featuring bizarre and confusing architecture intended to distract and lead the player astray.</p><br>
<p>The 2016 comic book House of Penance by Peter Tomasi and Ian Bertram is set during the building of the house.</p><br>
<p>Ghost Adventures and Ghost Brothers filmed episodes in 2016 related to the house and its spiritual encounters.</p><br>
<p>Sarah Winchester, Phantom Opera, is a 24-minute film by French film maker Bertrand Bernello, which had its North American premiere at the 54th New York Film Festival, October 2016. It is an imaginative narrative of Sarah Winchester&#39;s life with emphasis on the Mystery House.</p><br>
<p>The Winchester Mansion was the subject of Mystery House, episode 162 of the 99 Percent Invisible podcast, hosted by Roman Mars.</p><br>
<p>In 2017, filming took place on the property for the film, Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built featuring Helen Mirren as Sarah Winchester. The film is slated for release February 23, 2018.</p><br>
<p>Rooftop bell tower.jpgBell Tower</p><br>
<p>Brick fireplace.jpgBrick Fireplace</p><br>
<p>Air shaft.jpgView of air shaft</p><br>
<p>Winchester balustrade.jpgIntricate balustrade</p><br>
<p>Cabinetry.jpgComplex cabinetry work</p><br>
<p>Cast grate.jpgCast Iron grate</p><br>
<p>Winchester chandelier.jpgBrick fireplace with woodwork</p><br>
<p>Winchester commode.jpgWater closet with commode</p><br>
<p>Decorated stairwell.jpgIntricate stairwell</p><br>
<p>Details wall ceiling.jpgDetailed view of wall and ceiling</p><br>
<p>Winchester dining room.jpgA small dining room</p><br>
<p>Exterior balcony.jpgOutside balconies</p><br>
<p>Freestanding fireplace.jpgFreestanding fireplace detail</p><br>
<p>Winchester framing.jpgIncomplete framing of interior room</p><br>
<p>Glass-paned door.jpgDoor with small glass panes</p><br>
<p>Winchester gas lamp.jpgPre-electrification</p><br>
<p>Glenwood stove.jpgGlenwood kitchen stove</p><br>
<p>Winchester hood.jpgLarge interior hood</p><br>
<p>Inlaid floor.jpgBeautifully-inlaid wooden floor detail</p><br>
<p>Interior gable.jpgIncomplete interior gable construction.</p><br>
<p>Intricate woodwork.jpgBeautiful woodwork surrounding fireplace</p><br>
<p>Kitchen sink.jpgKitchen sink</p><br>
<p>Later added construction.jpgExterior wall being repurposed as interior wall</p><br>
<p>Lathwork and plaster.jpgShowing typical period construction</p><br>
<p>Metal bathtub.jpgMetal bathtub with wooden rim</p><br>
<p>Mixed molding.jpgShows reconstruction of area</p><br>
<p>Music room.jpgBeautifully complex music room</p><br>
<p>Paneling.jpgDark wood paneling of walls and ceiling</p><br>
<p>Winchester piano.jpgOne of many instruments</p><br>
<p>Pocket doors.jpgLeaded glass panes in doors</p><br>
<p>Winchester power switch.jpgTypical push button electrical switch</p><br>
<p>Inside railings.jpgRailings around opening</p><br>
<p>Roofs.jpgOutside view of roofs</p><br>
<p>Roofs 02.jpgOutside view of roofs</p><br>
<p>Winchester sinks.jpgTandem line of sinks</p><br>
<p>Sitting area.jpgSitting area</p><br>
<p>sitting room.jpgSitting room</p><br>
<p>Winchester skylights.jpgUsed to light interior rooms</p><br>
<p>Stairwell.jpgIntricate stairwell</p><br>
<p>Switchpanels.jpgElectrical switches</p><br>
<p>Winchester tea set.jpgBeautiful tea service</p><br>
<p>Through corner.jpgDetail of area behind corner</p><br>
<p>Transitional steps.jpgTight transitional steps</p><br>
<p>Unfinished contruction.jpgFraming of area</p><br>
<p>Winchester water tank.jpgWater tank</p><br>
<p>Windows to tower.jpgWindows to tower</p><br>
<p>Wooden sink area.jpgWooden sink area</p><br>
<p>Winchester archway.jpgIntricate archway</p><br>
<p>Winchester pipe organ.jpgSmall pipe organ</p><br>
<p>Wringer.jpgClothes wringer</p><br>
<p>Winchester Otis Elevator.jpgOne of the first elevators installed in a private home</p><br>
<p>Otis Electrical Panel.jpgPower panel for Otis elevator</p><br>
<p>Otis Cable.jpgCable drum for Otis elevator</p><br>
<p>Otis Controller.jpgElectrical motor, brake and controller of Otis elevator</p><br>
<p>The Vehicle  Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA&#39;s Kennedy Space Center  is a building designed to assemble large space vehicles, such as the massive Saturn V and the Space Shuttle. The future Space Launch System  will also be assembled there.</p><br>
<p>At 3,664,883 cubic meters (129,428,000 cubic feet) it is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume. The building is at Launch Complex 39 at KSC, halfway between Jacksonville and Miami, and due east of Orlando on Merritt Island on the Atlantic coast of Florida.</p><br>
<p>The VAB is the largest single-story building in the world, was the tallest building (160.3 m) in Florida until 1974, and is still the tallest building in the United States outside an urban area.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The VAB, which was completed in 1966, was originally built to allow for the vertical assembly of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo program and referred to as the Vertical Assembly Building. In anticipation of post-Saturn projects such as the Space Shuttle program, it was renamed to the Vehicle Assembly Building after the Apollo program, and was used for the shuttle&#39;s external fuel tanks and flight hardware, and to mate the Space Shuttle orbiters to their solid rocket boosters and external fuel tanks. Once assembled, the complete Space Shuttle was moved on the Mobile Launcher Platform and Crawler-Transporter to LC-39 Pad A or B.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>The VAB is 526 ft tall, 716 ft long and 518 ft wide. It covers 8 acre, and encloses 129,428,000 cuft of space.</p><br>
<p>Located on Florida&#39;s Atlantic coast, the building was constructed to withstand hurricanes and tropical storms with a foundation consisting of 30,000 cubic yards of concrete and 4,225 steel rods driven 160 feet into limestone bedrock. Despite this, it has received damage from several hurricanes (See below)</p><br>
<h2>Capabilities</h2><br>
<p>There are four entries to the bays located inside the building, which are the four largest doors in the world. Each door is 456 ft high, has 7 vertical panels and 4 horizontal panels, and takes 45 minutes to completely open or close. The north entry that leads to the transfer aisle was widened by 40 ft to allow entry of the shuttle orbiter. A central slot at the north entry allowed for passage of the orbiter&#39;s vertical stabilizer.</p><br>
<p>To lift the components of the Space Transportation System, the VAB housed five overhead bridge cranes, including two capable of lifting 325 tons, and 136 other lifting devices.</p><br>
<p>The building has at least 10,000 tons of air conditioning equipment, including 125 ventilators which the moisture reduction systems are designed to minimize.</p><br>
<h2>Exterior</h2><br>
<p>The American flag painted on the building was the largest in the world when added in 1976 as part of United States Bicentennial celebrations, along with the star logo of the anniversary, later replaced by the NASA insignia in 1998. It is 209 ft high, and 110 ft wide. Each of the stars on the flag is 6 ft across, the blue field is the size of a regulation basketball court, and each of the stripes is 9 ft wide.</p><br>
<p>Work began in early 2007 to restore the exterior paint on the immense facility. Special attention was paid to the enormous American flag and NASA "meatball" insignia. The work repaired visible damage from years of storms and weathering. The flag and logo had been previously repainted in 1998 for NASA&#39;s 40th anniversary.</p><br>
<p>The most extensive exterior damage occurred during the storm season of 2004, when Hurricane Frances blew off 850 14 &times; 6 foot aluminum panels from the building, resulting in about 40,000 ft&sup2; of new openings in the sides. Twenty five additional panels were blown off the east side by the winds from Hurricane Jeanne just three weeks later. Earlier in the season, Hurricane Charley caused significant but less serious damage, estimated to cost $700,000. Damage caused by these hurricanes was still visible in 2007. Some of these panels are "punch-outs", designed to detach from the VAB when a large pressure differential is created on the outside vs. the inside. This allows for equalization, and helps protect the structural integrity of the building during rapid changes in pressure such as in tropical cyclones.</p><br>
<p>The building has been used as a backdrop in several Hollywood movies including Marooned, SpaceCamp, Apollo 13, Contact, and others.</p><br>
<h2>Future</h2><br>
<p>The Space Shuttle was retired in 2011 after which NASA temporarily (as early as 2012) offered public tours of the VAB. These tours were discontinued in February 2014 to allow for renovations to take place.</p><br>
<p>The NASA FY2013 budget included $143.7 million USD for Construction of Facilities (CoF) requirements in support of Exploration programs including Space Launch System (SLS) and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). NASA began modifying Launch Complex 39 at KSC to support the new SLS in 2014, beginning with major repairs, code upgrades and safety improvements to the Launch Control Center, Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and the VAB Utility Annex. This initial work will be required to support any launch vehicle operated from Launch Complex 39 and will allow NASA to begin modernizing the facilities, while vehicle-specific requirements are being developed.</p><br>
<p>The VAB could be used to some extent for assembly and processing of any future vehicles utilizing Launch Complex 39. On June 16, 2015, NASA released an announcement for proposals (AFP) seeking interest in using the VAB High Bay 2 and other complex facilities for commercial use in "assembling, integration, and testing of launch vehicles." This move is in line with the intent to migrate KSC towards acting as a spaceport accessible to both government and commercial ventures. On April 21, 2016, NASA announced the selection of Orbital ATK to begin negotiations for High Bay 2. The "potential agreement" includes an existing mobile launcher platform.</p><br>
<p>The Lingayen Gulf is a large gulf on northwestern Luzon in the Philippines, stretching 56 km. It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central. The Agno River drains into Lingayen Gulf.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The gulf has numerous islands, the most famous of which are in the Hundred Islands National Park. This tourist attraction features 123 islands, the majority of which are small in size. The largest island is Cabarruyan Island, which constitutes the municipality of Anda, Pangasinan, followed by Santiago Island at the mouth of the Gulf.</p><br>
<p>The shore from Labrador to San Fabian is characterized by a long grey-sand beach. Other well-known beaches are at Bolinao and San Fernando City. The waters of Lingayen Gulf are murky due to its sandy bottom. Coral reefs were all but destroyed by dynamite fishing, although efforts are made to restore some, especially inside the Hundred Islands National Park.</p><br>
<p>A number of cities are found along the gulf&#39;s coast such as Dagupan City and Alaminos City in Pangasinan, and San Fernando City in La Union. Lingayen, the capital of Pangasinan, also lies on the shores of the gulf.</p><br>
<h3>River sources</h3><br>
<p>The gulf has five major river sources. Flowing from the province of Pangasinan in the south are the Agno, Dagupan and Angalacan-Bued rivers. From the east in the province of La Union flow the Aringay and Bauang rivers.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>During World War II, the Lingayen Gulf proved a strategically important theatre of war between American and Japanese forces. On 22 December 1941, the Japanese 14th Army under Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma landed on the Eastern part of the gulf at Agoo, Caba, Santiago and Bauang, where they engaged in a number of relatively minor skirmishes with the defenders, which consisted of a poorly equipped contingent of predominantly Filipino and American troops, and managed to successfully invade and occupy the gulf. Following the defeat, the next day General MacArthur issued the order to retreat from Luzon and withdraw to Bataan. For the next three years, the gulf remained under Japanese occupation prior to the Lingayen Gulf Landings.</p><br>
<p>At 09:30 on 9 January 1945, the USA 6th Army conducted an amphibious landing on the gulf, following a devastating naval bombardment, with 68,000 troops landing on the first day alone, and a total of 203,608 in following landings along a 20 mi beachhead, stretching from Sual, Lingayen, and Dagupan (XIV Corps) in the west, and San Fabian (I Corps) in to the east.</p><br>
<p>Despite the Americans&#39; success in driving out the Japanese army encamped at the Gulf, the Americans suffered relatively heavy losses, particularly on their convoys due to Japanese kamikaze suicide attacks. From 4 through 12 January, a total of 24 ships were sunk and 67 damaged by kamikaze planes, including the battleships and (accidentally hit by friendly fire), the heavy cruiser USS Louisville (CA-28), the light cruiser, and the minesweepers and.</p><br>
<p>Following the amphibious landings, the Lingayen Gulf was turned into a vast supply depot for the rest of the war to support the American and Filipino assaults on Manila and the rest of Luzon, and thence to Okinawa.</p><br>
<h3>Commemoration</h3><br>
<p>On January 9, 2008, Gov. Amado Espino, Jr. and Vice Gov. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas established an annual commemoration to honor the war veterans. The resolution named January 9 as Pangasinan Veterans’ Day. In the 63rd anniversary of the Lingayen Gulf landings, President Fidel Ramos (a West Point graduate) appealed to USA President George W. Bush for 24,000 surviving war veterans, to pass two legislative bills pending since 1968 at the USA House of Representatives — the Filipino Veterans’ Equity Act of 2006 and the Filipino Veterans’ Equity of 2005 sponsored by former Senator Daniel Inouye.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>Fishing and salt-making are the primary industries on Lingayen Gulf. In fact, the name Pangasinan literally means “place where salt is made”. Salt is collected from seawater through evaporation, leaving the crystalline salt behind.</p><br>
<p>The Lingayen Gulf is also home to the 1200 megawatt Sual Power Station, the Philippines largest coal power plant.</p><br>
<p>The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit education center and summer resort for adults & youth located on 750 acres  in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles  northwest of Jamestown in the southwestern part of New York State. The Chautauqua Institution Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was further designated a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It was founded in 1874 by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist Bishop John Heyl Vincent as a teaching camp for Sunday-school teachers. The teachers would disembark at Palestine Park and begin a course of Bible study that used the Park to teach the geography of the Holy Land.</p><br>
<p>The Institution has operated each summer since then, gradually expanding its season length and program offerings in the arts, education, religion and music. It offers educational activities to the public during the season, with public events including popular entertainment, theater, symphony, ballet, opera and visual arts exhibitions. The institution also offers a variety of recreational activities, including schools of Special Studies along with, a residential music program of intensive study offered to students aiming for professional careers who audition for admittance into Chautauqua&#39;s schools of fine and performing arts.</p><br>
<p>The physical setting of the Institution defined its development as an assembly. The grounds are situated on the west shoreline of upper Chautauqua Lake. The early tent-camp assembly gave way to cottages and rooming houses, and then hotels, inns and eventually condominiums.</p><br>
<p>Founder Lewis Miller&#39;s daughter, Mina Miller Edison (wife of inventor Thomas Edison) offered literary classes in Fort Myers, Florida, through the Valinda Society. After completing courses, students were given Chautauqua diplomas.</p><br>
<p>In 1973, the National Park Service added the Institution to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1989, the Department of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark District consisting of most of the Institution property between NY 394, formerly NY 17J, the lake and (roughly) Lowell and North Avenues.</p><br>
<h2>Institution programs</h2><br>
<p>Summer admission to Chautauqua is by "gate ticket" which allows entrance into the grounds, use of Smith Memorial Library, use of public beaches and parks, and attendance at lectures and concerts. There is an additional charge for some courses, for films shown at the Chautauqua Cinema, for opera and theater tickets, and for use of the tennis courts and golf courses.</p><br>
<h3>Weekly programs</h3><br>
<p>Programs offered during the week at Chautauqua include devotional services and a lecture on a social, political, or academic issue in the morning, a religious or political topic in the afternoon, and an night of entertainment as the evening program. This evening Amphitheater event may be a symphony concert by the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, a dance program by the Chautauqua Ballet Company, or a show by a special guest artist. During most weeks, there is at least one opportunity to catch an opera and a play, both put on by Chautauqua&#39;s resident summer companies. Operas are performed in English at Norton Hall, a 1930s-era, art-deco structure. There are also regularly scheduled organ recitals on the Massey Memorial Organ, student recitals, master classes, forums, and seminars for the sophisticated. The East Winds Symphonic Band played the last weekly program in the Chautauqua Amphitheater before its demolition.</p><br>
<p>A broad range of special courses in music, art, dance, drama, and general topics are also offered. The Chautauqua Schools of Music offers extremely competitive programs on the basis of scholarship. George Gershwin visited Chautauqua as a summer refuge to compose parts of his Concerto in F in a small, wooden piano studio.</p><br>
<p>Sundays at Chautauqua feature worship services, both denominational and ecumenical. There is an afternoon Amphitheater program, such as a military band or student dance program. On Sundays, entrance to the Institution grounds is free. Worship services are coordinated by the permanent Department of Religion staff.</p><br>
<h3>Special events</h3><br>
<p>There is an annual program held on the first Tuesday of each August called "Old First Night." This is the "birthday party" for the Institution, marking the anniversary of the opening of the first season in 1874. Several of the Chautauqua facilities will host fundraisers, including the Old First Night Run, a fun run around the grounds, hosted by the Chautauqua Sports Club, a lip sync contest called Air Band hosted by the Chautauqua Boys & Girls Club, and a bake sale hosted by the Chautauqua Children&#39;s Club. All money raised goes to the Chautauqua Fund.</p><br>
<p>Another Chautauqua favorite is the 4th of July show at the Amphitheater specializing in patriotic-themed music followed by area fireworks viewed from the Chautauqua lake. In addition, an afternoon filled with foam from Chautauqua’s Fire Department along with occasional town barbecues at the town square (called “Bestor Plaza”) and weekly sailboat races are part of the overall unique Chautauqua experience.</p><br>
<h3>Children's programs</h3><br>
<p>The Children&#39;s School established in 1921 is a developmental preschool for youth ages 3–5 and was a pioneering program in the field of nursery-school education. The program consists of social, recreational and educational activities which often incorporate other Chautauqua programs in the areas of music, drama, art, and recreation.</p><br>
<p>For older children, ages 6–14, they can enjoy one of the oldest day camps in the United States called the Chautauqua Boys and Girls Club, founded in 1893. While parents are enjoying various activities around the grounds, their children meet in a special area by the lake and enjoy a wide variety of sports, art, and recreational games, such as volleyball, sailing, swimming, field games, and pottery.</p><br>
<h3>Institution facilities</h3><br>
<p>The Institution&#39;s grounds, located between New York State Route 394 and Chautauqua Lake, include public buildings, administrative offices, a library, movie theater, bookstore, hotel, condominiums, inns, rooming houses, and many private cottages available for rent during the season. There are about 400 year-round residents, but the population can increase up to 7,500 guests per day during the summer season. The Institution is largely a pedestrian community with bikes and scooters widely used along with a 12-mph speed limit for cars when authorized to be on the grounds. There are several parking lots located on the periphery of the grounds for which visitors utilize and then walk or bike into the Institution.</p><br>
<p>The 6000-seat Amphitheater was demolished in September 2016 to make way for a new theater-style structure, paying homage to the old structure. The new amphitheater will have modern facilities and improved accessibility. This project caused some controversy due to the designation of the site as a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>The Athenaeum Hotel located on the grounds is the only hotel actually owned and operated by the Institution. The 156-room hotel, said to be the largest wooden building in the eastern United States, was built in the Second Empire style in 1881. It has a two-story porch supported by narrow columns, with a central, mansard-covered tower. Although the number of hotel rooms has steadily declined on the grounds in the past thirty years, there has been a corresponding growth in condominiums.</p><br>
<p>Palestine Park is a walk-around, landscaped, geographically scaled map of Palestine showing the general contour of the area, including mountains, valleys, bodies of water and the cities that existed in the correct geographical locations during the New Testament of the Bible Throughout the week, multiple tours are offered to discuss the historical and religious significance of this world-famous area.</p><br>
<h3>The Chautauqua Prize</h3><br>
<p>The Chautauqua Prize is an annual American literary award established by the Chautauqua Institution in 2012. The winner receives and all travel and expenses for a one-week summer residency at Chautauqua. It is a "national prize that celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and honors the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts."</p><br>
<h3>Chautauqua Declaration</h3><br>
<p>The Chautauqua Declaration is an annual declaration made at the Chautauqua Institution following a meeting of current and former international chief prosecutors of international criminal tribunals and special courts. The first declaration, made in 2007, marked the 100th anniversary of the Hague Convention of 1907 and included prosecutors from the Nuremberg trials through to the International Criminal Court. In August 2017, the Tenth Chautauqua Declaration was made, signed by prosecutors from the International Criminal Court, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.</p><br>
<h2>Impact</h2><br>
<p>The Chautauqua movement spread throughout the United States and was highly popular until the start of World War II. By the mid-1920s, when circuit Chautauquas were at their peak, they appeared in over 10,000 communities to audiences of more than 45 million. By about 1940, they had mostly run their course.</p><br>
<p>The ideals of the Chautauqua Institution were spread throughout the United States through a number of Independent Chautauqua assemblies. Popping up, were a series of traveling Chautauqua assemblies which, incorporated many of the program&#39;s components, including lectures, music, nondenominational religious studies, and a focus on current issues. Several Independent Chautauquas have survived into the 21st century.</p><br>
<p>The Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC), founded in 1878 by Bishop Vincent, is one of America&#39;s oldest continuously operating book club. It was founded to promote self-learning and study, particularly among those unable to attend higher institutions of learning. Six to nine books are added to the reading list each year, with authors generally coming to Chautauqua to discuss their writing and to talk with readers.</p><br>
<h2>Famous visitors</h2><br>
<p>The Chautauqua Institution has been frequently visited by political figures, celebrities, artists, musicians, scientist and many others. Since its founding in 1874, the Institution has been visited by 4 sitting United States Presidents including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Bill Clinton. It was at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater where Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a crowd of over 12,000 with his historic “I hate war” speech. The Institution has also been visited by a number of notable historical figures including Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart and Thurgood Marshall just to name a few. In addition, celebrities from the performing arts are too numerous to list, but include John Philip Sousa, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and contemporary artist such as Leann Rimes, Toby Keith and Bill Cosby.</p><br>
<p>Montecristo , formerly Oglasa , is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province of Livorno, Italy. The island has an area of 10.39 km&sup2, it is approximately 4.1 km wide at its widest point and is 3.4 km long; the coasts are steep, and extend for 16 km. The island is a state nature reserve and forms part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park.</p><br>
<p>Much of the island&#39;s fame is derived from the fact that it provides the setting for part of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The history of the island begins with the Iron Age. The Etruscans exploited the forests of oak needed to fuel the bloomeries of the mainland where the iron ore of Elba&#39;s mines was melted. The Greeks gave Montecristo its oldest known name, Oglasa or Ocrasia, after the yellowish colour of the rocks. The Romans, however, knew it under the name Mons Jovis, and erected an altar to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus on the highest mountain, of which some traces remain. During the imperial age, the Romans opened some quarries to extract granite, perhaps used in the construction of villas on the islands of Giglio, Elba, and Giannutri.</p><br>
<p>Around the middle of the fifth century AD, the caves of the island became home to several hermits escaping from the Vandals of Genseric, the most important of whom was St. Mamilian. In 1216, the monks joined the order of the Camaldolese. Thanks to the donations of several noble families, the monastery became powerful and rich, and this gave rise to the legend of treasure hidden on the island.</p><br>
<p>The island was once a possession of the Republic of Pisa, but was later acquired by the Principality of Piombino. In 1553, Ottoman pirate Dragut, heading for Elba, stormed the monastery, enslaved the monks, and decreed its end. After that, the island was uninhabited. In the second half of the sixteenth century, together with most of the Tuscan Archipelago, it became part of the Stato dei Presidi, a client Spanish state.</p><br>
<p>The island was annexed to the French Empire under Napoleon; after his fall, it became the possession of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The first attempts to colonise Monte Cristo, at the time owned by Charles Cambiagi, were made in 1840 by two German hermits, Augustin Eulhardt and Joseph Keim, who eventually abandoned the attempt. In 1843, other people arrived with the intention of cultivating the island: young Tyrolean Adolph Franz Obermüller, and after a few months, Frenchman Charles Legrand and his girlfriend. Also during 1843, there were other attempts of colonisation by French agriculturalist George Guiboud, which ended with yet another failure. In 1846, some Genoese made a similar effort, while in 1849 Frenchman Jacques Abrial was able to farm the island for three years. In 1852, a rich Englishman named George Watson-Taylor bought Montecristo and transformed Cala Maestra into a garden, planting eucalyptus and many exotic plants, among them the Asiatic Ailanthus altissima, an invasive species which now infests the island. The few modern buildings of Montecristo, such as the Royal Villa, date from this period. The island was then purchased by the Italian Government on 3 June 1869 for the sum of £100,000. Montecristo had previously been plundered in 1860 by Italian exiles living in London, who had come to Italy to join up with the Camicie rosse, but were shipwrecked on the island. Faced with the huge sum of money claimed by the owner to repair the damage, the government thought it better to buy the island, which was still uninhabited.</p><br>
<p>After other attempts at colonisation in 1878, the Italian government founded a penal colony there, a branch of that in Pianosa.</p><br>
<p>In 1889 Montecristo was given to Marquess Carlo Ginori, who restored the Villa and transformed the island into a hunting ground.</p><br>
<p>In 1896, Montecristo was the honeymoon destination of Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy (at that time crown prince) and Elena of Montenegro, and after 1899 it became a royal hunting ground for Victor Emmanuel&#39;s exclusive use.</p><br>
<p>During the Second World War the island, important because of its position between Italy and occupied Corsica, was garrisoned by the Italian army.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1940s, the Italian Navy Intelligence agency temporarily took over the island for use as a training base for covert agents. Among Italian officers assigned as instructors were Count Marco deCarrobio and Luigi Ferri. The would-be agents belonged to a right wing Albanian expatriate organization known as the Bloku Kombetar Independent led by activist Alush Leshanaku, according to Shyqri Bicaku, an Elbasan native, who underwent training; Bicaku was also taught to use a field radio and became so proficient he was hired on to instruct secret agents from Romania to use the radio for their October, 1951 covert parachute drop into Romania&#39;s mountains; the Romanians were captured, tried and executed.</p><br>
<p>Montecristo was used as a Navy training base only from September to November, 1948, when the trainees were transferred to Italy&#39;s west coast. Four of the trained agents were parachuted into Albania in February, 1949, but soon quit their mission and escaped to Greece due to a failed field radio.</p><br>
<p>After several episodes of vandalism and speculation attempts, the nature reserve was established in 1971.</p><br>
<p>In December 2011 it was reported that black rats, present on the island at least since Roman times, have greatly increased in numbers and pose a serious threat to the birds of Monte Cristo. Due to the inaccessibility of the terrain, the island was bombed from the air with poison pellets, as had recently been attempted on Giannutri and Sardinia, despite concerns raised by environmental groups that indigenous species of wildlife and the surrounding waters might also be adversely affected. The Ailanthus trees were also to be eradicated.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and climate</h2><br>
<p>Montecristo is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea east of Corsica, south of Elba, west of the island of Giglio and the Monte Argentario peninsula, southeast of the island of Pianosa and east of the Scoglio d&#39;Africa rock, also known as Formica di Montecristo.</p><br>
<p>The island, formed by the heaving of a submarine pluton, has a slightly elliptical shape, and is wholly mountainous, with several rock ledges rising steeply from the sea. It consists almost entirely of granodiorite with large crystals of orthoclase. The mountain chain that crosses the island has three main peaks: Monte della Fortezza (645 m), Cima del Colle Fondo (621 m) and Cima dei Lecci (563 m). Montecristo&#39;s only natural harbour is Cala Maestra, on the northwest side. The island has plentiful water resources.</p><br>
<p>The island of Montecristo, like all the islands of the archipelago, has a mild climate, with a constant sea breeze, lots of sun, and very little rainfall (average annual values much lower than 500 mm); the climate is characterised by mild and moderately rainy winters and summers that are hot and dry, but sometimes very muggy.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>The conditions that restricted the establishment of human settlements on Montecristo have favoured the preservation of its flora and fauna. Animals and plants once found throughout the Mediterranean still live on the island. Of particular interest are the giant heather formations covering the valley floors and several thousand-year-old oaks that manage to survive at the highest altitudes. Also interesting are the Montecristo viper (Vipera aspis hugyi, a subspecies also present in southern Italy, and today considered introduced by humans) and Discoglossus sardus, an amphibian found only in a couple of islands in Tuscany and Sardinia. An endemic subspecies of lizard, Podarcis muralis calabresiae, thrives on the island. The island also hosts the only Italian population of wild goats. The sea environment is quite rich: there are seagrass meadows, sea anemones, sea fans, corals and moonfishes. Until the 1970s the Mediterranean monk seal was also to be found, a critically endangered species that has become extremely rare in Italian waters. Endemic species include the plant Limonium Montis-christi, the invertebrate Oxychilus oglasicola (snail of Monte Cristo), also present on the islet of Scola, near Pianosa, and the reptile Podarcis muralis calabresiae.</p><br>
<h3>Island of Montecristo nature reserve</h3><br>
<p>Nowadays the island has only two permanent human inhabitants, both nature reserve keepers. In addition, agents of the State Forestry Corps from Follonica live there in alternating shifts of two weeks at a time. The state nature reserve Isola di Monte Cristo is a biogenetic reserve of 1,039 hectares established in 1971 by ministerial decree to protect the unique nature of the island. Today it belongs to the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. It was also awarded the European Diploma of Protected Areas in 1988, and recognized as a site of pan-European interest.</p><br>
<p>Visitors face a number of restrictions. It is not possible to stay overnight, and fishing, swimming, and surfing is prohibited within 1,000 meters of the coast. It is possible to cruise within three miles (3 mi)of the coast, but not to fish. Access by sea can take place only at Cala Maestra, where the seabed is sandy, with an approach course perpendicular to the coast; it is possible to dock at the pier or tie up against a buoy, but dropping anchor is not allowed; there is also a small heliport for emergencies. To visit the island, one must apply for access at the Forestry Corps in Follonica.</p><br>
<p>Visitors with basic authorisation must stay at Cala Maestra, and can visit only the Royal Villa, the botanical garden, and the museum. The waiting list for access is long, since an upper limit has been set of only 1,000 visitors per year. The average waiting time for approval is three years; priority is given to scientific expeditions, associations, and schools. Tours take place only on the three existing trails, all very challenging.</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks</h2><br>
<p>Monastery of St. Mamiliano</p><br>
<p>Cave of St. Mamiliano</p><br>
<p>Fortress of Monte Cristo on the island&#39;s highest peak (645 m)</p><br>
<p>Royal Villa</p><br>
<p>Natural History Museum</p><br>
<p>Botanical Garden</p><br>
<p>Mill at the Grotto of St. Mamiliano (ruins)</p><br>
<p>Chapel of Santa Maria at the Cala di Santa Maria (ruins)</p><br>
<p>Brasstown Bald is the highest point in the USA state of Georgia. Located in northeast Georgia, the mountain is known to the native Cherokee people as Enotah. The name in English is derived from a mistaken translation of the term for a former Cherokee village nearby, located along the upper Brasstown Creek  feeding the Hiawassee River.</p><br>
<p>Across the North Carolina state line, immediately north of the mountain, are other places named in that error of English settlers: Brasstown, a community in the Brasstown township of Clay County, North Carolina.</p><br>
<p>Brasstown Bald is partly in both Towns and Union counties, the peak being divided by the county line. The mountain is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains (part of the Appalachian Mountains), and within the borders of the Blue Ridge Ranger District of the Chattahoochee National Forest. The mountain consists mostly of soapstone and dunite.</p><br>
<p>On a clear day, it is possible to see the tall buildings of Atlanta from the summit. The USA Forest Service has webcams atop the observation tower, and a RAWS weather station further down the mountain. The public can drive to the top via Georgia State Route 180 Spur.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>According to the two Georgia historical markers, the area surrounding Brasstown Bald was settled by the Cherokee people. English-speaking settlers derived the word "Brasstown" from a translation error of the Cherokee word for its village place. Settlers confused the word Itseyĭ" (meaning "New Green Place" or "Place of Fresh Green"), which the Cherokee used for their village, with Ûňtsaiyĭ ("brass"), and referred to the settlement as Brasstown. Itseyĭ is a Cherokee locative name given to several distinct areas in the Cherokee region, including an area nearby over the current state line of North Carolina.</p><br>
<p>Cherokee legend tells that a great flood swept over the land. All the people died except a few Cherokee families who sought refuge in a giant canoe. The canoe ran aground at the summit of a forested mountain (now known as Enotah). As there was no wild game for the people to hunt and no place for them to plant crops, the Great Spirit killed all the trees on the top of the mountain so that the surviving people could plant crops. They continued planting and lived from their crops until the water subsided.</p><br>
<p>Other spellings of names given to Brasstown Bald by the Cherokee: Echia, Echoee, Etchowee and Enotah.</p><br>
<p>The term "Bald" is common terminology in the southern Appalachians describing mountaintops that have 360-degree unobstructed views.</p><br>
<h2>T.S. Candler Memorial</h2><br>
<p>Former Georgia Supreme Court Judge T.S. Candler is memorialized with a stone monument at Brasstown Bald; it was erected in 1971 three months before he died in recognition of his efforts to support visitors to the mountain.</p><br>
<p>T.S. Candler was born to William Ezekiel Candler and Mary Haralson on December 15, 1890, in nearby Blairsville, Georgia. Candler was a graduate from Young Harris College in 1913 and later attended the University of Georgia Law School, where he received his degree in 1915. After graduating, Candler returned to Blairsville. He began to practice law and became a prominent public figure in the community. He supported creating a visitors center at Brasstown Bald for the public.</p><br>
<p>In 1953, T.S. Candler was appointed as a Georgia Supreme Court judge, where he served until he retired in 1966. Judge Candler died on September 15, 1971.</p><br>
<h2>Distances to summit</h2><br>
<p>From the northeast, starting at the intersection of Owl Creek Road and the concurrent Georgia 17 and Georgia 75 near Mountain Scene, the climb is 13.5 km long, gaining 828 m.</p><br>
<p>From the southeast, starting at the intersection of Georgia 180 and Georgia 17/75 near Sooky Gap, the climb is 13.1 km long, gaining 790 m, an average of 6.0% grade.</p><br>
<p>From the west, starting at the intersection of Georgia 180 and Georgia 348 near Choestoe, the climb is 14.9 km, gaining 856 m, an average of 5.7% grade.</p><br>
<p>From the intersection of Route 180 and Route 180 Spur at Jacks Gap the climb is 4.9 km at an average gradient of 11.2%, (height gain: 551 m).</p><br>
<p>An additional route to the summit is the Wagon Train Trail, starting at Young Harris College. The trail is traditionally hiked by graduating students and their families on the evening before graduation; a vespers service is held at the summit.</p><br>
<h2>Tour de Georgia</h2><br>
<p>In the 2005 through 2008 editions of the Tour de Georgia, a long-distance bicycle race, Brasstown Bald was the site of an hors categorie "King of the Mountains stage" finish.</p><br>
<h2>Broadcasting</h2><br>
<p>NOAA Weather Radio station KXI22 transmits from atop the mountain, simulcasting with KXI75 from Blue Ridge, Georgia. The programming originates from NWSFO Peachtree City.</p><br>
<p>Georgia Public Broadcasting had or has construction permits from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for two low-power broadcast translator stations at the summit. The digital TV station on channel 12 (W12DK-D, licensed December 2009) is the direct replacement for analog TV station W04BJ in nearby Young Harris, and also covers for W50AB in nearby Hiawassee (both to the north). New station WBTB FM 90.3 will transmit at just 97 watts, equivalent to several hundred watts because of the height above average terrain of over 700 meters, or more than 2,300 feet. Both stations will have Young Harris as the city of license.</p><br>
<h2>Images</h2><br>
<p>Devils Tower ,.</p><br>
<p>"Devils Tower, beyond the Black Hills, forms the Buffalos Head, with the face, Bear Butte as the Buffalo&#39;s Nose, and Inyan Kaga as the Black Buffalo Horn." Jessica Dawn Palmer, The Dakota Peoples: A History of the Dakota, Lakota and Nakota through 1863 (2011), ) is a laccolithic butte composed of igneous rock in the Bear Lodge Mountains (part of the Black Hills) near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River. It rises dramatically 1,267 feet (386 m) above the Belle Fourche River, standing 867 feet (265 m) from summit to base. The summit is 5,112 feet (1,559 m) above sea level.</p><br>
<p>Devils Tower was the first declared United States National Monument, established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The monument&#39;s boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres (545 ha).</p><br>
<p>In recent years, about 1% of the monument&#39;s 400,000 annual visitors climbed Devils Tower, mostly using traditional climbing techniques.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The name Devils Tower originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a native name to mean "Bad Gods Tower". All information signs in that area use the name "Devils Tower", following a geographic naming standard whereby the apostrophe is eliminated."Since its inception in 1890, the USA Board on Geographic Names has discouraged the use of the possessive form—the genitive apostrophe and the s. The possessive form using an s is allowed, but the apostrophe is almost always removed. The Board&#39;s archives contain no indication of the reason for this policy."</p><br>
<p>Native American names for the monolith include:</p><br>
<p>"Bears House" or "Bears Lodge" (or "Bears Tipi", "Home of the Bear", "Bears Lair&quot Cheyenne, Lakota Matȟó Thípila, Crow Daxpitcheeaasáao "Home of Bears"), "Aloft on a Rock" (Kiowa), "Tree Rock", "Great Gray Horn", and "Brown Buffalo Horn" (Lakota Ptehé Ǧí).</p><br>
<p>In 2005, a proposal to recognize several American Indian ties through the additional designation of the monolith as Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark met with opposition from United States Representative Barbara Cubin, arguing that a "name change will harm the tourist trade and bring economic hardship to area communities". In November 2014, one Arvol Looking Horse again proposed renaming the geographical feature "Bear Lodge", and submitted the request to the Board of Geographic Names. A second proposal was submitted to request that the USA acknowledge the "offensive" mistake and to rename the monument and sacred site Bear Lodge National Historic Landmark. The formal public comment period ended in fall 2015. Local state senator Ogden Driskill opposed the change. The name was not changed.</p><br>
<h2>Geological history</h2><br>
<p>The landscape surrounding Devils Tower is composed mostly of sedimentary rocks. The oldest rocks visible in Devils Tower National Monument were laid down in a shallow sea during the Triassic period, 225 to 195 million years ago. This dark red sandstone and maroon siltstone, interbedded with shale, can be seen along the Belle Fourche River. Oxidation of iron minerals causes the redness of the rocks. This rock layer is known as the Spearfish Formation.</p><br>
<p>Above the Spearfish formation is a thin band of white gypsum, called the Gypsum Springs Formation. This layer of gypsum was deposited during the Jurassic period, 195 to 136 million years ago.</p><br>
<p>Created as sea levels and climates repeatedly changed, gray-green shales (deposited in low-oxygen environments such as marshes) were interbedded with fine-grained sandstones, limestones, and sometimes thin beds of red mudstone. This composition, called the Stockade Beaver member, is part of the Sundance Formation. The Hulett Sandstone member, also part of the Sundance formation, is composed of yellow fine-grained sandstone. Resistant to weathering, it forms the nearly vertical cliffs which encircle the Tower.</p><br>
<p>During the Paleocene Epoch, 56 to 66 million years ago, the Rocky Mountains and the Black Hills were uplifted. Magma rose through the crust, intruding into the existing sedimentary rock layers.</p><br>
<h3>Theories of formation</h3><br>
<p>Geologists Carpenter and Russell studied Devils Tower in the late 19th century and came to the conclusion that it was formed by an igneous intrusion. Modern geologists agree that it was formed by the intrusion of igneous material, but not on exactly how that process took place. Several believe the molten rock comprising the Tower might not have surfaced; others are convinced the tower is all that remains of what once was a large explosive volcano.</p><br>
<p>In 1907, scientists Darton and O&#39;Harra decided that Devils Tower must be an eroded remnant of a laccolith. A laccolith is a large mass of igneous rock which is intruded through sedimentary rock beds without reaching the surface, but makes a rounded bulge in the sedimentary layers above. This theory was quite popular in the early 20th century since numerous studies had earlier been done on laccoliths in the Southwest.</p><br>
<p>Other theories have suggested that Devils Tower is a volcanic plug or that it is the neck of an extinct volcano. Presumably, if Devils Tower was a volcanic plug, any volcanics created by it– volcanic ash, lava flows, volcanic debris– would have been eroded away long ago. Some pyroclastic material of the same age as Devils Tower has been identified elsewhere in Wyoming.</p><br>
<p>The igneous material that forms the Tower is a phonolite porphyry intruded about 40.5 million years ago, a light to dark-gray or greenish-gray igneous rock with conspicuous crystals of white feldspar. As the magma cooled, hexagonal (and sometimes 4-, 5-, and 7-sided) columns formed. As the rock continued to cool, the vertical columns shrank in cross-section (horizontally) and cracks began to occur at 120 degree angles, generally forming compact 6-sided columns. The nearby Missouri Buttes, 3.5 mi to the northwest of Devils Tower, are also composed of columnar phonolite of the same age. Devils Postpile National Monument in California and Giant&#39;s Causeway in Northern Ireland, are also columnar basalt, which are superficially similar, but with columns typically 2 ft diameter.</p><br>
<p>Devils Tower did not visibly protrude out of the landscape until the overlying sedimentary rocks eroded away. As the elements wore down the softer sandstones and shales, the more resistant igneous rock making up the tower survived the erosional forces. As a result, the gray columns of Devils Tower began to appear as an isolated mass above the landscape.</p><br>
<p>As rain and snow continue to erode the sedimentary rocks surrounding the Tower&#39;s base, more of Devils Tower will be exposed. Nonetheless, the exposed portions of the Tower still experience certain amounts of erosion. Cracks along the columns are subject to water and ice erosion. Erosion due to the expansion of ice along cracks and fractures within rock formations is common in colder climates– a prime example being the featured formations at Bryce Canyon National Park. Portions, or even entire columns, of rock at Devils Tower are continually breaking off and falling. Piles of broken columns, boulders, small rocks, and stones– or scree– lie at the base of the tower, indicating that it was once wider than it is today.</p><br>
<h2>Native American folklore</h2><br>
<p>According to the Native American tribes of the Kiowa and Lakota, a group of girls went out to play and were spotted by several giant bears, who began to chase them. In an effort to escape the bears, the girls climbed atop a rock, fell to their knees, and prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. Hearing their prayers, the Great Spirit made the rock rise from the ground towards the heavens so that the bears could not reach the girls. The bears, in an effort to climb the rock, left deep claw marks in the sides, which had become too steep to climb. Those are the marks which appear today on the sides of Devils Tower. When the girls reached the sky, they were turned into the stars of the Pleiades.</p><br>
<p>Another version tells that two Sioux boys wandered far from their village when Mato the bear, a huge creature that had claws the size of tipi poles, spotted them, and wanted to eat them for breakfast. He was almost upon them when the boys prayed to Wakan Tanka the Creator to help them. They rose up on a huge rock, while Mato tried to get up from every side, leaving huge scratch marks as he did. Finally, he sauntered off, disappointed and discouraged. The bear came to rest east of the Black Hills at what is now Bear Butte. Wanblee, the eagle, helped the boys off the rock and back to their village. A painting depicting this legend by artist Herbert A. Collins hangs over the fireplace in the visitor&#39;s center at Devils Tower.</p><br>
<p>In a Cheyenne version of the story, the giant bear pursues the girls and kills most of them. Two sisters escape back to their home with the bear still tracking them. They tell two boys that the bear can only be killed with an arrow shot through the underside of its foot. The boys have the sisters lead the bear to Devils Tower and trick it into thinking they have climbed the rock. The boys attempt to shoot the bear through the foot while it repeatedly attempts to climb up and slides back down leaving more claw marks each time. The bear was finally scared off when an arrow came very close to its left foot. This last arrow continued to go up and never came down.</p><br>
<p>Wooden Leg, a Northern Cheyenne, relates another legend told to him by an old man as they were traveling together past the Devils Tower around 1866–1868. An Indian man decided to sleep at the base of Bear Lodge next to a buffalo head. In the morning he found that both he and the buffalo head had been transported to the top of the rock by the Great Medicine with no way down. He spent another day and night on the rock with no food or water. After he had prayed all day and then gone to sleep, he awoke to find that the Great Medicine had brought him back down to the ground, but left the buffalo head at the top near the edge. Wooden Leg maintains that the buffalo head was clearly visible through the old man&#39;s spyglass. At the time, the tower had never been climbed and a buffalo head at the top was otherwise inexplicable.</p><br>
<p>The buffalo head gives this story special significance for the Northern Cheyenne. All the Cheyenne maintained in their camps a sacred teepee to the Great Medicine containing the tribal sacred objects. In the case of the Northern Cheyenne, the sacred object was a buffalo head.</p><br>
<h2>Recent history</h2><br>
<p>Fur trappers may have visited Devils Tower, but they left no written evidence of having done so. The first documented Caucasian visitors were several members of Captain William F. Raynolds 1859 expedition to Yellowstone. Sixteen years later, Colonel Richard I. Dodge escorted an Office of Indian Affairs scientific survey party to the massive rock formation and coined the name Devils Tower. Recognizing its unique characteristics, Congress designated the area a USA forest reserve in 1892 and in 1906 Devils Tower became the nations first National Monument.</p><br>
<p>The 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind used the formation as a plot element and as the location of its climactic scenes. Its release was the cause of a large increase in visitors and climbers to the monument.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>In recent years, climbing Devils Tower has increased in popularity. The first known ascent of Devils Tower by any method occurred on July 4, 1893, and is accredited to William Rogers and Willard Ripley, local ranchers in the area. They completed this first ascent after constructing a ladder of wooden pegs driven into cracks in the rock face. A few of these wooden pegs are still intact and are visible on the tower when hiking along the 1.3 mi Tower Trail at Devils Tower National Monument. Over the following thirty years many climbs were made using this method before the ladder fell into disrepair. The man most famous for climbing the tower is Fritz Wiessner, who summited with William P. House and Lawrence Coveney in 1937. This was the first ascent using modern climbing techniques. Wiessner led the entire climb free, placing only a single piece of fixed gear, a piton, which he later regretted, deeming it unnecessary.</p><br>
<p>In 1941 George Hopkins parachuted onto Devils Tower, without permission, as a publicity stunt resulting from a bet. He had intended to descend by a rope dropped with him, but Hopkins deemed it unusable after it became knotted and frozen due to the rain and wind. Hopkins was stranded for six days, exposed to cold, rain and 50 mph winds before a mountain rescue team finally reached him and brought him down. His entrapment and subsequent rescue was widely covered by the media of the time.</p><br>
<p>Today, hundreds of climbers scale the sheer rock walls of Devils Tower each summer. The most common route is the Durrance Route, which was the second free route established in 1938. There are many established and documented climbing routes covering every side of the tower, ascending the various vertical cracks and columns of the rock. The difficulty of these routes range from relatively easy to some of the most challenging in the world. All climbers are required to register with a park ranger before and after attempting a climb. No overnight camping at the summit is allowed; climbers return to base on the same day they ascend.</p><br>
<p>The Tower is sacred to several Plains tribes, including the Lakota, Cheyenne and Kiowa. Because of this, many Indian leaders objected to climbers ascending the monument, considering this to be a desecration. The climbers argued that they had a right to climb the Tower, since it is on federal land. A compromise was eventually reached with a voluntary climbing ban during the month of June when the tribes are conducting ceremonies around the monument. Climbers are asked, but not required, to stay off the Tower in June. According to the PBS documentary In the Light of Reverence, approximately 85% of climbers honor the ban and voluntarily choose not to climb the Tower during the month of June. However, several climbers along with the Mountain States Legal Foundation sued the Park Service, claiming an inappropriate government entanglement with religion.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Devils Tower National Monument protects many species of wildlife.</p><br>
<p>Shechem, also spelled Sichem , was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite city of the tribe of Manasseh and the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Traditionally associated with Nablus, it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank.</p><br>
<h2>Geographical position</h2><br>
<p>Shechem&#39;s position is indicated in the Hebrew Bible: it lay north of Bethel and Shiloh, on the high road going from Jerusalem to the northern districts (Judges xxi, 19), at a short distance from Michmethath (Joshua 17:7) and of Dothain (Genesis 37:12-17); it was in the hill-country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7; 21:21; 1 Kings 12:25; 1 Chronicles 6:67; 7:28), immediately below Mount Gerizim (Judges 9:6-7). These indications are substantiated by Josephus, who says that the city lay between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and by the Madaba map, which places Sychem, also called Sikima, between the "Tour Gobel" (Ebal) and the "Tour Garizin" (Garizim). The site of Shechem in patristic sources is almost invariably identified with, or located close to, the town of Flavia Neapolis (Nablus).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>The old city of Shechem dates back to about an estimated four thousand years. Shechem is mentioned in the third-millennium Ebla tablets found at Tell Mardikh in the context of a city of which Rasap (Resheph) is the patron deity. Shechem was a commercial center due to its position in the middle of vital trade routes through the region. It traded in local grapes, olives, wheat, livestock and pottery between the middle Bronze Age and the late Hellenic Period (1900-100 BC).</p><br>
<p>Shechem had been a Canaanite settlement, first mentioned in Egyptian texts on the Sebek-khu Stele, an Egyptian stele of a noble at the court of Senusret III (c. 1880&ndash;1840 BC). In the Amarna Letters of about 1350 BC, Šakmu (i.e. Shechem) was the center of a kingdom carved out by Labaya (or Labayu), a Canaanite warlord who recruited mercenaries from among the Habiru. Labaya was the author of three Amarna letters, and his name appears in 11 of the other 382 letters, referred to 28 times, with the basic topic of the letter, being Labaya himself, and his relationship with the rebelling, countryside Habiru. It may be identical to the Sakama mentioned in an account dated to the 19th Egyptian dynasty. (See Papyrus Anastasi I)</p><br>
<h3>Hebrew Bible/Old Testament</h3><br>
<p>Shechem first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 12:6-8, which records how Abraham reached the "great tree of Moreh" at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel. At Shechem, Abram "built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him... and had given that land to his descendants" (Gen 12:6-7). The Bible states that on this occasion, God confirmed the covenant he had first made with Abraham in Harran, regarding the possession of the land of Canaan. In Jewish tradition, the old name was understood in terms of the Hebrew word shékém — "shoulder, saddle", corresponding to the mountainous configuration of the place. On a later sojourn, two sons of Jacob, Simeon (Hebrew Bible) and Levi, avenged their sister Dinahs rape by "Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land" of Shechem by killing all of the citys male inhabitants.</p><br>
<p>Following the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan after their Exodus from Egypt, according to the biblical narrative, Joshua assembled the Israelites at Shechem and asked them to choose between serving the LORD who had delivered them from Egypt, or the gods which their ancestors had served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land they now lived. The people chose to serve the LORD, a decision which Joshua recorded in the Book of the Law of God, and he then erected a memorial stone "under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem. The oak is associated with the Oak of Moreh where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area.</p><br>
<p>Shechem and its surrounding lands were given as a Levitical city to the Kohathites.</p><br>
<p>Owing to its central position, no less than to the presence in the neighborhood of places hallowed by the memory of Abraham (Genesis 12:6, 7; 34:5), Jacobs Well (Genesis 33:18-19; 34:2, etc.), and Josephs tomb (Joshua 24:32), the city was destined to play an important part in the history of Israel. The city, including its Bronze Age temple, fell to the Israelites sometime before 1000 BC. Jerubbaal (Gideon), whose home was at Ophrah, visited Shechem, and his concubine who lived there was mother of his son Abimelech (Judges 8:31). She came from one of the leading Shechemite families who were influential with the "Lords of Shechem" (Judges 9:1-3, wording of the New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible Revised Edition).</p><br>
<p>After Gideons death, Abimelech was made king (Judges 9:1-45). Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, made an allegorical speech on Mount Gerizim in which he warned the people of Shechem about Abimelechs future tyranny (Judges 9:7-20). When the city rose in rebellion three years later, Abimelech took it, utterly destroyed it, and burnt the temple of Baal-berith where the people had fled for safety. From the excavations, it was learned that the city was destroyed in 1100 BC. The city was rebuilt in the 10th century BC and was probably the capital of Ephraim (1 Kings 4). Shechem was the place appointed, after Solomon&#39;s death, for the meeting of the people of Israel and the investiture of his son Rehoboam as king; the meeting ended in the secession of the ten northern tribes, and Shechem, fortified by Jeroboam, became the capital of the new kingdom (1 Kings 12:1; 14:17; 2 Chronicles 10:1).</p><br>
<p>After the kings of Israel moved, first to Tirzah, and later on to Samaria, Shechem lost its importance, and we do not hear of it until after the fall of Jerusalem (587 BC; Jeremiah 12:5). The events connected with the restoration were to bring it again into prominence. When, on his second visit to Jerusalem, Nehemias expelled the grandson of the high priest Eliashib (probably the Manasse of Josephus, "Antiq.", XI, vii, viii) and with him the many Jews, priests and laymen, who sided with the rebel, these betook themselves to Shechem; a schismatic temple was then erected on Mount Garizim and thus Shechem became the "holy city" of the Samaritans. The latter, who were left unmolested while the orthodox Jews were chafing under the heavy hand of Antiochus IV (Antiq., XII, v, 5, see also Antinomianism in the Books of the Maccabees) and welcomed with open arms every renegade who came to them from Jerusalem (Antiq., XI, viii, 7), fell about 128 BC before John Hyrcanus, and their temple was destroyed ("Antiq.", XIII, ix, 1).</p><br>
<h3>New Testament</h3><br>
<p>In Acts 7:16 the place is called Sychem. It is not known whether Sychar in the Gospel of John 4:5 refers to Shechem or to a nearby village. Shechem is also the location of Jacobs Well, where John 4:5&ndash;6 describes Jesus meeting with the woman of Samaria. Some of its inhabitants were of the number of the "Samaritans" who believed in Jesus when he tarried two days in the neighborhood. The city must have been visited by the Apostles on their way from Samaria to Jerusalem (Acts 8:25).</p><br>
<h3>Classical history</h3><br>
<p>In Classical times, Shechem was the main settlement of the Samaritans, whose religious center stood on Mount Gerizim, just outside the town. In A.D. 6, Shechem was annexed to the Roman Province of Syria. Of the Samaritans of Sichem not a few rose up in arms on Mt. Garizim at the time of the Galilean rebellion (A.D. 67), which was part of the First Jewish–Roman War. The city was very likely destroyed by Cerealis, during that war.</p><br>
<p>In A.D. 72, a new city, Flavia Neapolis, was built by Vespasian 2 kilometers to the west of the old one. This city&#39;s name was eventually corrupted to the modern Nablus. Josephus, writing in about AD 90 (Jewish Antiquities 4.8.44), placed the city between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. Elsewhere he refers to it as Neapolis/Nablus.</p><br>
<p>In Emperor Hadrian&#39;s reign, the temple on Mt. Garizim was restored and dedicated to Jupiter. Like Shechem, Neapolis had a very early Christian community, including the early saint Justin Martyr; we hear even of bishops of Neapolis. On several occasions the Christians suffered greatly from the Samaritans. In 474 the emperor, to avenge what Christians considered an unjust attack by the Samaritans, deprived the latter of Mt. Garizim and gave it to the Christians, who built on it a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin.</p><br>
<h3>Later history</h3><br>
<p>The city of Nablus was islamicized in the Abbasid and Ottoman periods. In 1903 near Nablus, a German party of archaeologists led by Dr. Hermann Thiersch stumbled upon the site called Tell Balata and now identified as ancient Shechem. Nablus is still referred to as Shechem by Israelis and Hebrew speakers.</p><br>
<h2>Distinguish from</h2><br>
<p>Sichem is an old spelling for Zichem, a Flemish municipality which was named after the biblical Sichem; it is now merged into Scherpenheuvel-Zichem.</p><br>
<p>Sekem is an Anthroposophical and Islamic foundation and farming village centered on principles for Biodynamic agriculture in Egypt; this name refers to Shechem, and to the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph pronounced Sekem meaning vitality or life.</p><br>
<p>The Serpentine  is a 40 acre recreational lake in Hyde Park, London, England, created in 1730 at the behest of Queen Caroline. Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake. Serpentine Bridge, which marks the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, also marks the Serpentine&#39;s western boundary; the long and narrow western half of the lake is known as the Long Water. The Serpentine takes its name from its snakelike, curving shape, although it only has one bend.</p><br>
<p>Originally fed by the River Westbourne and Tyburn Brook in the 1730s, the lakes water was then pumped from the Thames in the 1830s. The water is now pumped from three boreholes within Hyde Park, the most recent being installed in May 2012 as part of the 2011–2012 restoration of the Lake. The Serpentine provided a focal point for The Great Exhibition of 1851, and more recently was a venue for the mens and women&#39;s triathlon and marathon swimming events in the London 2012 Olympics. Since 1864 the Serpentine Swimming Club has organised a 100-yard race every Christmas morning. In 1913, the Peter Pan Cup was inaugurated for this race by J. M. Barrie, the creator of the fictional character Peter Pan.</p><br>
<p>There are many recreational facilities around the Serpentine, as well as boating on the lake itself. In 1860 the Serpentine was to be modified into a skating pond with formal edges. This scheme was not implemented. Among the landmarks near the lake is the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.</p><br>
<h2>Geography of the lake</h2><br>
<p>Originally the lake was fed by the River Westbourne entering at the Italian Garden at the north-western end of the Long Water. The Westbourne ceased to provide the water for the Serpentine in 1834, as the river had become polluted,</p><br>
<p>and so water was then pumped from the Thames. The water is now supplied by three boreholes drilled into the Upper Chalk. The first borehole is located at the Italian Gardens, the second at the Diana Memorial and the third, drilled in 2012 to a depth of 132 m, is within 50 m of the Diana Memorial. The Long Water runs south-east from this point to Serpentine Bridge, where the lake curves to the east, following the natural contours of the land. At the eastern end, water flows out of the lake via a sluice in the dam, forming a small ornamental waterfall at the Dell. The outflow has not historically maintained the waterfall, and re-circulation pumps were installed in the Dell, below the dam, to sustain this feature. The restoration work in 2012 restored the flows into the Serpentine and this waterfall is now restored as originally designed. Historically the river flowed due south from this point, marking the boundary between Westminster and Kensington, but since 1850 it has been diverted into a culvert, running underground to reach the Thames near Chelsea Bridge.</p><br>
<p>The lake has a maximum depth of 17 ft. The lake is often reported to be deeper, but bathymetric surveys by the Royal Park in 2010 revealed the design of the lake.</p><br>
<p>There are two lakeside restaurants and various recreational facilities on the lake shore.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1730 Queen Caroline, wife of George II, ordered the damming of the River Westbourne in Hyde Park as part of a general redevelopment of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Original monastic ponds may have existed in the location and these were modified as part of the 1730–1732 scheme to create a single lake. At that time, the Westbourne formed eleven natural ponds in the park. During the 1730s, the lake filled to its current size and shape. The redevelopment was carried out by Royal Gardener Charles Bridgeman, who dammed the Westbourne to create the artificial lake, and dug a large pond in the centre of Kensington Gardens (The Round Pond) to be a focal point for pathways in the park.</p><br>
<p>At the time of construction, artificial lakes were typically long and straight. The Serpentine was one of the earliest artificial lakes designed to appear natural, and was widely imitated in parks and gardens nationwide.</p><br>
<p>The lake achieved notoriety in December 1816 when Harriet Westbrook, the pregnant wife of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, was found drowned in the Serpentine having left a suicide note addressed to her father, sister and husband. Shelley married Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin less than two weeks later.</p><br>
<p>The lake formed a focal point of the 1814 celebrations which marked a century of Hanoverian rule and re-enacted the British victory at Trafalgar nine years previously, and of the 1851 Great Exhibition, with the Crystal Palace standing on its southern shore. Following the introduction of more stringent regulations to protect the environment in the park, the relocation of the Crystal Palace, and the construction of the nearby Albertopolis complex of museums and exhibitions, large-scale events ceased to take place on the banks of the Serpentine. However, it was the location for the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations, and a venue for the 2012 Olympics.</p><br>
<p>In the 1820s, the park was extensively redesigned by Decimus Burton. At the same time, John Rennie built the Serpentine Bridge to carry the newly built West Carriage Drive along the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, dividing the lake into the Serpentine (east) and the Long Water (west).</p><br>
<p>In 2011, The Royal Park embarked on the restoration of the Serpentine to combat growing concerns about the status of the water and the quality of the aquatic environment. The project resulted in a substantial change to the hydrology of the lake, which had a turnover time of 10 years, and is now reduced to 4–5 months as a result of new borehole water being pumped into the lake. The three boreholes, drilled into the Upper Chalk, now supply the lake with up to 900,000 m&sup3; of water per annum ensuring that the lake remains fresh and does not stagnate. In addition, the historically contaminated sediments have been treated and nutrients within the sediments chemically neutralised. Thirdly, the oxygen status of the water and the overall mixing of the lake is now controlled by a series of 24 aeration pumps fixed to the base of the lake. These ensure that the dissolved oxygen levels in the lake do not fall and result in chronic ecological stress. Finally, the overall ecology of the lake was reviewed and some of the large bream and carp were removed in February 2012 to reduce their disturbance of the sediment and vegetation of the lake. These measures were implemented over the period October 2011 to June 2012. The resultant water quality of the lake was excellent and proved to be an extremely popular venue for the swimming portion of the London 2012 Triathlon and the Marathon Swim events in August 2012.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<h3>Swimming</h3><br>
<p>A rectangular swimming area on the southern bank was opened in 1930. Known as Lansbury&#39;s Lido, it is partitioned off from the rest of the lake by a perimeter of buoys. There is a fee for entering the lido, and changing rooms are available. It is normally open only in the summer, typically between 10:00 and 17:30, although members of the Serpentine Swimming Club may swim all the year round from 06:00 to 09:30. The Peter Pan Christmas Day Race is only open to regular participants in the Saturday swimming competitions during the winter.</p><br>
<p>The Serpentine was used as the venue for the swimming portion of the triathlon and for the marathon swimming events at the 2012 Olympic Games.</p><br>
<p>Swim Serpentine was created as a two-day open water event in the Summer. It is organized by London Marathon events.</p><br>
<h3>Peter Pan Cup</h3><br>
<p>Since 1864, the Serpentine has hosted a 100 yd swimming competition every Christmas morning at 9 am. In 1904, author J. M. Barrie awarded the Peter Pan Cup to the winner of the race, a tradition which has continued ever since. Owing to the hazards of swimming in freezing water, the race is open only to members of the Serpentine Swimming Club.</p><br>
<h3>Boating</h3><br>
<p>Rowing boats are available for hire. In 2002 the Serpentine hosted the Mercedes Benz World Rowing Sprints, in which several international crews raced over 500 m.</p><br>
<h3>Solarshuttle</h3><br>
<p>In the summer months, the Solarshuttle solar powered boat ferries passengers between the northern and southern banks of the Serpentine. At 48 ft long and carrying 42 passengers, it is the largest wholly solar-powered passenger boat operating in the UK.</p><br>
<h2>Landmarks</h2><br>
<p>The Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial is situated at the eastern end of the Serpentine, immediately beyond the dam. A memorial on the northern shore of the lake was erected by Norwegian seamen in 1978 in thanks for the safe haven they were given in Britain after their country surrendered to the Germans in 1940, during the Second World War.</p><br>
<p>The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain is sited on the southern shore of the Serpentine near West Carriage Drive. Although it was beset by early problems and had to be closed for a month three weeks after it opened, it has become one of the UK&#39;s most popular attractions, with 800,000 visitors a year. The Serpentine Gallery nearby is also on the south bank and the Serpentine Sackler Gallery opened in 2013 is located in a former 1805 gunpowder store, five minutes walk from the Serpentine Gallery across the bridge.</p><br>
<p>On the northern side of the lake, opposite The Lido, are two self-contained boat houses. The East Boat House, 1903, erected by the Royal Humane Society and West Boat House, 1952, for the new chlorination launch, to replace a former boat house bombed in 1940. Nearby is a grass amphitheatre known as the Cockpit. This disused gravel pit was the scene of The Rolling Stones&#39; "Stones in the Park" concert in 1969. Concerts here, from 1968, were initially organised by Blackhill Enterprises. This area can also be seen in the 1953 film Genevieve, as the starting point for the annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.</p><br>
<p>The Studenica Monastery  is a 12th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery situated 39 km southwest of Kraljevo and 40.9 km east of Ivanjica, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb Orthodox monasteries.</p><br>
<p>Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the medieval Serb state, founded the monastery in 1190. The monastery&#39;s fortified walls encompass two churches: the Church of the Virgin, and the Church of the King, both of which were built using white marble. The monastery is best known for its collection of 13th- and 14th century Byzantine-style fresco paintings.</p><br>
<p>Studenica was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia, and in 1986 UNESCO included Studenica monastery on the list of World Heritage Sites, with the description:</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The monastery Studenica, dedicated to the Presentation of the Holy Virgin, is the mother-church of all Serbian temples. It was constructed over a quite long period of time. The first stage of works were completed by the spring of 1196, when Stefan Nemanja abdicated and took monastic vows at the monastery. When he later left for Hilandar, his son and successor Stefan took over the care of Studenica. Nemanja died in Hilandar in 1199. Nemanjas third son Rastko (Saint Sava), after reconciling with his brothers Stefan and Vukan, moved Nemanjas relics to Studenica. Under guardianship of Sava, Studenica became the political, cultural and spiritual center of ´medieval Serbia. Among his other endeavors, Sava composed the "Studenica Typikon", a liturgical book of orders where he described the life of Saint Simeon (Nemanja), leaving evidence of the spiritual and monastic life of his time.</p><br>
<p>Studenica enjoyed continual care by the members of the Nemanjić dynasty. King Radoslav added a splendid narthex to the church in 1235. King Milutin built a small but lovely church dedicated to saints Joachim and Anna.</p><br>
<p>Since the fall of the last of the medieval Serbian states in 1459, the Turks often assaulted the monastery. The first of the significant restorations of the damage took place in 1569, when the frescoes in the Church of the Virgin were repainted. In the early 17th century, an earthquake and a fire befell the monastery, and historical documents and a significant part of the artistic heritage were destroyed and lost forever.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Virgin&#39;s Church is a domed single-nave basilica. At its eastern end there is a three-sided apse, while an extended narthex faces west; there are also vestibules on the north and the south. In the 1230s, a large exonarthex was added. The facades were built with slabs of white marble; inside, the church is revetted with tuff blocks. Externally, the Church harmoniously reconciles two architectural styles, the Romanesque and the Byzantine. The blending of these two styles eventually produced a particular style of architecture known as the Raška School.</p><br>
<p>Northwest of the Church of the Virgin there is the church of saints Joachim and Anna, known after its founder King Milutin as the King&#39;s Church. The church was constructed in 1314, in the form of a compressed cross, with the exterior structure of an octagonal dome. It is built of stone and tuff, with plastered facades.</p><br>
<p>The complex of the Studenica monastery includes the Church of St. Nicholas, a small single-nave church frescoed inside with works from the 12th or possibly early 13th centuries. Between the Church of St. Nicholas and the Kings Church are the foundations of the church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. West of the Virgins Church, there is an old refectory made of rubble, built during the time of Archbishop Sava. Finally, on the western side of the monastery complex there is a bell tower, erected in the 13th century. There used to be a chapel inside; now, only fragments of frescoes can be seen there. Remains of fresco painting have also been numbered on the external part of the narthex, splendidly representing the Nemanjić dynasty genealogy. They obviously relate to the frescoes from the Virgin&#39;s Church which date back to 1208-1209.</p><br>
<p>Northward from the Studenica refectory is the 18th century monastic residence, which now houses a museum and displays a number of the precious exhibits from the Studenica treasury. However, the frequent wars and plunders have considerably reduced the depository of the Studenica treasury.</p><br>
<h2>Art</h2><br>
<p>The artistic achievements of the sculpture of Studentica culminate in four portals of the Virgins Church, primarily the west one, inside between the narthex and the exonarthex. On the north wall under the dome, there is a window made of many square panes with medallions carved on a leaden plaque which represent eight fantastic animals - the symbols of the Virgins virtues. There are also two rosettes denoting the Divine Eye. The masons came to Studenica most probably from the Adriatic region, perhaps from Kotor, where Nemanja used to have a palace. They left an inscription in Serbian lettering on the tympanum of the west portal.</p><br>
<p>The Virgins Church was painted in the first decade of the 13th century. The original frescoes have been partly preserved in the altar area, under the dome, on the west wall, and in the lower registers of the nave. The most splendid representation is that of the Crucifixion, painted on blue background in 1209, one of the paramount achievements in Serbian art. On the south wall there is the "founders composition" which shows the Virgin taking Nemanja (Simon) with the church model to Jesus Christ as the Magistrate Impartial. The narthex was painted in 1569. Those frescoes include an exquisite representation of the Last Judgment in the upper registers, and the portrait of Nemanja&#39;s wife Ana as the nun Anastasija.</p><br>
<p>The earliest fresco painting in Kings church marks the supreme achievement of Byzantine art in the region. The frescoes in Radoslavs narthex and the pareclesions originate from the 1230s and display a close relation to the painting style of the main church. The north chapel, dedicated to St. Nicholas, contains a composition of the Hetoimasia and a cycle dealing with the life of St. Nicholas. In the south chapel one finds the portraits of Nemanja, Stefan the First Crowned and King Radoslav with his wife Ana. On the north wall of the narthex, three dignitaries of the Serbian Church are portrayed - the archbishops Sava, Arsenije and Sava II (Radoslav&#39;s brother).</p><br>
<h2>Burials</h2><br>
<p>Stefan Nemanja</p><br>
<p>Stefan Radoslav of Serbia</p><br>
<p>The Cranbrook Educational Community, an education, research and public museum complex in the US state of Michigan. A National Historic Landmark, it was founded in early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. Cranbrook campus is in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills consisting of Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Institute of Science and Cranbrook House and Gardens. The founders also built Christ Church Cranbrook as a focal point in order to serve the educational complex, though the church is a separate entity under the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan. The sprawling, 319 acre  campus began as a 174-acre  farm, purchased in 1904. The organization takes its name from Cranbrook, England, the birthplace of the founder&#39;s father.</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook is renowned for its architecture in the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco styles. The chief architect was Eliel Saarinen with Albert Kahn responsible for the Booth mansion, 1908,1919. Sculptors Carl Milles and Marshall Fredericks also spent many years in residence at Cranbrook.</p><br>
<h2>Schools at Cranbrook</h2><br>
<p>Cranbrook Schools today comprise a co-educational day and boarding college preparatory "upper" school; a middle school, and Brookside Lower School.</p><br>
<p>The first school to open on the Cranbrook grounds was the Bloomfield Hills School in 1922. Founded by George Booth, the Bloomfield Hills School was intended as the community school for local area children (of which there were then very few). The Bloomfield Hills School ultimately evolved into Brookside School. Following completion of the Bloomfield Hills School, Booth looked forward to building the Cranbrook School for Boys, an all-boys College-Preparatory school at which students from the Detroit area and abroad would come to reside. Booth wanted the Cranbrook School to possess an architecture reminiscent of the finest British Boarding Schools, and retained Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen to design the campus. Cranbrook&#39;s initial phase of building was completed in 1928.</p><br>
<p>Over the years the Cranbrook School for Boys campus grew to include house Stevens Hall, Page Hall, and Coulter Hall. While primarily functioning as only residential spaces, Page Hall featured a smoking lounge as well as a shooting range. Lerchen Gymnasium, Keppel Gymnasium, and Thompson oval were also constructed on the campus. In the 1960s, Cranbrook School for Boys also constructed a state-of-the-art Science Building named the Gordon Science Center.</p><br>
<p>Realizing that young women would also need a place of their own to learn, Booth&#39;s wife, Ellen Scripps Booth pressured Booth into building a school for girls. Mr. Booth decided to let his wife supervise the project herself which she named the Kingswood School Cranbrook. Unlike her husband, Ellen encouraged Saarinen to come up with a unique interior design for the campus completely on his own. Instead of the several buildings that housed the Cranbrook School for Boys, the Kingswood School Cranbrook was contained within one building which included all necessary features. It housed dormitories, a dining hall, auditorium, classrooms, bowling alley, lounge/common areas, and a ballroom. The education at Kingswood School Cranbrook was primarily viewed initially as a "finishing school" although that would change over time. In 1986, the Cranbrook School for Boys and Kingswood School Cranbrook entered a joint agreement renaming the new institution the Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School.</p><br>
<h2>Cranbrook Academy of Art</h2><br>
<p>The Cranbrook Academy of Art, one of the nation&#39;s leading graduate schools of architecture, art and design, was founded by the Booths in 1932. By 1984, the New York Times would say that "the effect of Cranbrook and its graduates and faculty on the physical environment of this country has been profound... Cranbrook, surely more than any other institution, has a right to think of itself as synonymous with contemporary American design."</p><br>
<p>The buildings were designed and the school first headed by Eliel Saarinen, who integrated design practices and theories from the arts and crafts movement through the international style. The school continues to be known for its apprenticeship method of teaching, in which a small group of students, usually only 10 to 16 per class (150 students for the total of ten departments), study under a single artist-in-residence for the duration of their curriculum. The graduate program is unusual because there are no "courses": all learning is self-directed under the guidance and supervision of the respective artist-in-residence.</p><br>
<p>Beginning in 1983, a major exhibition of works by Cranbrook&#39;s faculty and graduates, entitled "Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision 1925–1950", toured major museums in the United States and Europe. The Detroit Institute of Arts and Metropolitan Museum of Art co-authored a book detailing the works in the exhibit.</p><br>
<h3>Degrees</h3><br>
<p>Cranbrooks method of teaching has proven beneficial for the school, as many of its graduate programs are considered among the best in the country by both USA News & World Report and the journal DesignIntelligence, which ranks programs in its annual edition of "Americas Best Architecture & Design Schools". The school currently confers the following degrees:</p><br>
<p>Master of Architecture. (Post-professional degree) the Master of Architecture degree is not accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board</p><br>
<p>Master of Fine Arts.</p><br>
<p>Degrees are conferred in the following areas:</p><br>
<p>2-D Design (also known as graphic design)</p><br>
<p>3-D Design (also known as industrial design)</p><br>
<p>Ceramics,</p><br>
<p>Fiber</p><br>
<p>Metalsmithing</p><br>
<p>Painting</p><br>
<p>Photography</p><br>
<p>Print Media</p><br>
<p>Sculpture</p><br>
<h3>Notable alumni and faculty</h3><br>
<p>Notable alumni and faculty of the Art Academy include Harry Bertoia, Richard DeVore, Charles Eames, Ray Eames, Waylande Gregory, Florence Knoll (did not graduate), Daniel Libeskind and Eero Saarinen. In 1932, sculptor Marshall Fredericks was invited by Milles to join the staffs of the academy and schools, teaching there until he enlisted in the armed forces in 1942. In 1987, Keith Haring served as artist-in-residence.</p><br>
<h2>Cranbrook Art Museum</h2><br>
<p>Cranbrook Art Museum is a museum of contemporary art with a permanent collection including works by Charles and Ray Eames, Harry Bertoia, Maija Grotell and Carl Milles, as well as Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Completed in 1942 under the direction of architect Eliel Saarinen, the museum is housed in the same building as the Cranbrook Academy of Art. The Museum closed in 2009 for a two-year renovation and expansion with the addition of a collections and research wing. The museum also offers tours of Saarinen House which has undergone painstaking restoration beginning with part of the house in 1977. The remaining areas of the house were completed between 1988 and 1994. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.</p><br>
<p>Sculptor Carl Milles&#39; numerous works in Metro Detroit include those at Cranbrook Educational Community such as Mermaids & Tritons Fountain (1930), Sven Hedin on a Camel (1932), Jonah and the Whale Fountain, Orpheus Fountain (1936), and the Spirit of Transportation (1952) currently in Cobo Center.</p><br>
<p>The newly expanded museum opened in November 2011 after two years of construction. The project restored aspects of the original building designed by Saarinen, made needed structural repairs, replaced windows, and upgraded mechanical systems. The museum features year-round, changing exhibitions as well as a new Collections and Education Wing, an additional 20,000 ft&sup2; of storage and classroom space open to visitors by guided tour. Based on an open storage plan, the new wing allows the museum&#39;s entire collection to be seen.</p><br>
<h2>Cranbrook Institute of Science</h2><br>
<p>The Cranbrook Institute of Science includes a permanent collection of scientific artifacts and also displays annual temporary exhibits. It also features a planetarium and a powerful telescope through which visitors may peer on selected nights.</p><br>
<p>The museum grounds feature a life-sized statue of a Stegosaurus.</p><br>
<p>From 1946 to 1970, the institute awarded the Mary Soper Pope Medal for notable achievement in plant sciences.</p><br>
<h2>Cranbrook House and Gardens</h2><br>
<p>Cranbrook House and Gardens are the centerpiece of the Cranbrook Educational Community campus. The 1908 English Arts and Crafts-style house was designed by Albert Kahn for Cranbrook founders George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth. Ten first-floor rooms can be seen on guided tours, and contain tapestries, hand-carved woodworking and English Arts and Crafts-style antiques. The upper floors of the house are used for the executive offices of the Cranbrook Educational Community.</p><br>
<p>The 40 acre gardens were originally designed by George Gough Booth, and include a sunken garden, formal gardens, bog garden, herb garden, wildflower garden, Oriental garden, sculpture, fountains, specimen trees and a lake.</p><br>
<p>Leonard Bernstein recalled composing portions of his Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety, on the Cranbrook House Steinway concert grand piano while residing there in April 1946. Bernstein had come to Detroit at the request of Zoltan Sepeshy to conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Music Hall. While visiting, he requested studio space where he could compose and Sepeshy had the piano moved from Cranbrook House into St. Dunstan&#39;s Playhouse.</p><br>
<p>The house and gardens are open to the public from May through October.</p><br>
<h2>St. Dunstan's Playhouse</h2><br>
<p>St. Dunstans Playhouse, while not formally a part of the Cranbrook Educational Community, is located on the Cranbrook grounds near the Cranbrook House. The Playhouse, a 206-seat theater, houses the St. Dunstans Theatre Guild of Cranbrook. The guild was founded in 1932 by Henry Scripps Booth, son of Cranbrook&#39;s founders George and Ellen Booth.</p><br>
<p>In the summer months, the St. Dunstan&#39;s Theatre Guild performs in the outdoor Greek Theatre adjacent to the Cranbrook House. The theatre was restored in 1990-91.</p><br>
<h2>Historic landmark</h2><br>
<p>Fourteen buildings making up the Cranbrook complex were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973,</p><br>
<p>The contributing buildings are:</p><br>
<p>Brookside School Cranbrook</p><br>
<p>Buildings & Grounds Offices</p><br>
<p>Christ Church, Cranbrook</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook Academy of Art</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook Foundation Office</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook House £ Gardens</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook Institute of Science</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook School</p><br>
<p>Cranbrook School Auditorium</p><br>
<p>Edison House</p><br>
<p>Faculty Housing</p><br>
<p>Greek Theater £ St. Dunstan&#39;s</p><br>
<p>Kingswood School Cranbrook</p><br>
<p>Visitors Entrance</p><br>
