<p>Speedwell Island  is one of the Falkland Islands, lying in the Falkland Sound, southwest of Lafonia, East Falkland.</p><br>
<p>The island has an area of 51.5 km&sup2;. It is about 17.5 km from north to south and 5 km wide at its central part. It is generally low-lying and has been used as a sheep farm for more than a hundred years. It is separated from Lafonia by the Eagle Passage, which takes its name from Speedwell Island&#39;s old name. Speedwell Island is the largest of the Speedwell Island group, which includes the Elephant Cays, George Island, Barren Island and Annie Island.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The island is rodent-free, and thus a haven for penguins including the Magellanic penguin, which is the southernmost distributed species of the banded penguins. Various other nesting seabirds occur. The island is operated as a sheep farm.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1812 the British ship Isabella, captained by George Higton, was shipwrecked off "Eagle Island" (as it was then) Most of the crew were rescued by the American sealer Nanina, commanded by Captain Charles Barnard. However, realising that they would require more provisions for the expanded number of passengers, Barnard and a few others went out in a party to retrieve more food. During his absence the Nanina was taken over by the British crew and left them on the island. Barnard and his party were finally rescued in November 1814. In 1829 Barnard wrote A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt. Charles Barnard detailing the happenings.</p><br>
<p>The 1837 survey of the Falkland Islands under Lowcay noted that there were wild pigs on the island.</p><br>
<p>In 1929, Alexander Dugas, a Frenchman employed on Sealion Island committed suicide and his companions felt it necessary to inform the authorities. But the lack of harbors meant that no boat of any size could be kept on the island and so a determined individual called Benny Davis constructed a makeshift craft from wooden barrels and launched it into the surf. The remarkable sailor set out just before dark, and arrived at Speedwell Island some twelve hours later. He explained that he had simply headed west and then taken his direction from the smell of the cormorants on Annie Island.</p><br>
<h2>Important Bird Area</h2><br>
<p>The Speedwell Island group (apart from the Elephant Cays which form a separate IBA) has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area. Birds for which the site is of conservation significance include Falkland steamer ducks (600 breeding pairs), ruddy-headed geese, Magellanic penguins (10,000 pairs), southern giant petrels (1000 pairs), sooty shearwaters, striated caracaras, dolphin gulls (500 pairs), blackish cinclodes, Cobb&#39;s wrens and white-bridled finches.</p><br>
<p>Elephant Butte Reservoir is a reservoir on the Rio Grande in the USA state of New Mexico, 5 mi north of Truth or Consequences. This reservoir is the 84th largest man-made lake in the United States and the largest in New Mexico by total surface area. It is the only place in New Mexico where one can find pelicans perched on or alongside the lake. There are also temporary US Coast Guard bases stationed at Elephant Butte. It is impounded by Elephant Butte Dam and is the largest reservoir in New Mexico by peak volume. The reservoir is also part of the largest state park in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake State Park.</p><br>
<p>The reservoir is part of the Rio Grande Project, a project to provide power and irrigation to south-central New Mexico and west Texas. It was filled starting between 1915 and 1916.</p><br>
<p>The reservoir can hold 2,065,010 acre.ft of water It provides irrigation to 178,000 acres (720 km²) of land.</p><br>
<p>The name "Elephant Butte" refers to a volcanic core similar to Devils Tower in Wyoming. It is now an island in the lake. The butte was said to have the shape of an elephant lying on its side.</p><br>
<p>Fishing is a popular recreational activity on the reservoir, which contains striped bass, white bass, largemouth bass, crappie, walleye and catfish.</p><br>
<p>In 2014 a bachelor party stumbled across a stegomastodon skull in excellent condition just below the surface of the sand at Elephant Butte Reservoir. The skull is on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.</p><br>
<h2>History and dam construction</h2><br>
<p>Elephant Butte Dam, constructed between 1911 and 1916, with the reservoir fill started in 1915, was a major engineering feat in its day. The enormous concrete dam is the major feature of the Elephant Butte National Register Historic District. New Mexico State Parks operates a visitor center that contains information on the construction of the dam. It stood as the largest irrigation dam ever built at the time of its construction, only being surpassed in 1970 by the Aswan Dam in Egypt.</p><br>
<p>A large construction community sprang up, which included worker camps, railways, water tanks, cableway systems, and the former administration building of the Bureau of Reclamation. The "camps" housed American and Mexican workers throughout the construction of the dam. Many of the former camps ended up under the reservoir itself, while others disappeared altogether.</p><br>
<p>The former administration building of the Bureau of Reclamation still stands as a bed and breakfast facility, and, along with other structures of the time, are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. When the lake falls over 10 meters (30 feet) below maximum capacity, the ruins of an old machine shop rise out of the water. Located near the south-east shore, this 3000 square-foot concrete structure was once believed to be the remnants of the old field hospital that served the frequently injured dam construction crew. That building is located further upstream in the aptly named Hospital Canyon. Plans are underway to make the machine shop ruins a scuba destination in years of high water-level.</p><br>
<p>The Shiant Isles  are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They are five miles south east of Lewis.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The name "Shiant" (pronounced "Shant") is from the Na h-Eileanan Seunta, which means the "charmed", "holy" or "enchanted isles". The group is also known as Na h-Eileanan Mòra, "the big isles". The main islands are Garbh Eilean (rough island) and Eilean an Taighe (house island), which are joined by a narrow isthmus, and Eilean Mhuire (island of the Virgin Mary) to the east. Eilean an Taighe was called Eilean na Cille (island of the church) prior to the 19th century.</p><br>
<p>A 17th-century chart by John Adair calls Garbh Eilean Nunaltins Isle, Eilean Mhuire St Marys Isle and Eilean an Taighe St Columbs Isle This last suggests that the chapel on E. an Taighe might have been dedicated to St Columba.(John N. Moore, John Adairs Contribution to the Charting of the Scottish Coasts: A Re-Assessment&#39;, Imago Mundi, Vol. 52 (2000), pp. 43–65)</p><br>
<h2>Geography and geology</h2><br>
<p>The Shiant Isles lie east of the Sound of Shiant. Garbh Eilean and Eilean an Taighe together extend to 143 hectare</p><br>
<p>In geological terms, these islands essentially represent an extension of the Trotternish peninsula of Skye. The rocks are volcanic, and at 60Ma, very young by Hebridean standards. Dolerite columns on the north side of Garbh Eilean are over 120 m tall and about 2 m in diameter. Similar to those at Staffa and the Giant&#39;s Causeway and much higher in places, they were formed by the slow cooling of volcanic rocks deep underground. Intrusive sills show a progression in their chemical compositions, from olivine-rich rocks at the base to rocks with very little or no olivine at the top.</p><br>
<p>The sills are thought to have formed by crystal settling. Recent study has suggested that at least one of the sills represents a multiple intrusion. In some places the basalt is overlain by Jurassic mudstone, which weathers to form much more fertile soil than elsewhere in the Western Isles.</p><br>
<p>The islands can be visited via various cruises from other Hebridean Islands and from mainland Scotland.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1549, Donald Monro, Dean of the Isles wrote of:</p><br>
<p>ane ile callit Ellan Senta, that is in English a Saw, ane ile mair than twa myle lang, verey profitable for corne, store, and fishing, perteining to M’Cloyd of the Lewis. On the eist side of this ile ther is a bore, maid like a vylt, mair nore an arrow shot of any man under the eirde, through the quilk vylt we use to row ore saill with our bottis, for fear of the horrible breake of the seas that is on the outwar side thereof, bot na grate ships can saill ther.</p><br>
<p>A century and a half later Martin Martin stated that</p><br>
<p>the two southern islands are separated only by spring-tides, and are two miles in circumference. Island-More hath a chapel in it dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and is fruitful in corn and grass; the island joining to it on the west is only for pasturage.</p><br>
<p>At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Shiant Isles had a population of eight. The author and politician Compton MacKenzie owned the islands from 1925 until 1937. He was an island lover who, at different points in his life rented Herm in the Channel Islands. He never lived on the Shiants, but paid several brief visits during his time as owner.</p><br>
<p>In 1937 the islands were acquired by Nigel Nicolson, then an undergraduate at Oxford, from monies left to him by his grandmother. Like MacKenzie, Nicolson was later a writer, publisher and politician. Nicolsons son, the writer Adam Nicolson, published the definitive book on the islands, Sea Room (2001). The Shiants now belong to Adams son Tom Nicolson. Some of the sheep that have grazed the islands since the early 19th century were removed in the summer of 2016. The simple bothy restored by Nigel Nicolson on Eilean an Taighe is the only habitable structure on the islands. A visit to the islands is described in The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>The Shiant Isles have a large population of seabirds, including tens of thousands of Atlantic puffins breeding in burrows on the slopes of Garbh Eilean, as well as significant numbers of common guillemots, razorbills, northern fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes, common shags, gulls and great skuas. Although the remote island of St Kilda has more puffins, the sheer density on the Shiants is greater.</p><br>
<p>The islands were also home to a population of black rats, Rattus rattus, which are speculated to have originally come ashore from a shipwreck. Apart from one or two small islands in the Firth of Forth, the Shiants were the only place in the UK where the black rat (or ship&#39;s rat) could still be found. There was thought to be a winter population about 3,500 rats on the islands, with numbers rising exponentially during the summer. Analysis of their stomach contents had shown that the Shiant rats did eat seabirds, but it was impossible to tell if they preyed on live birds or simply scavenged dead remains. Their numbers had for many years been controlled in and around the house.</p><br>
<p>Over the winter of 2015/16, a far larger rat eradication was carried out, led by Wildlife Management International Limited as part of the Shiant Isles Seabird Recovery Project. The four-year project, funded by contributions from the EU, SNH, the RSPB itself and many individual donors, was initiated to eradicate the rats from all the Shiant islands permanently. By September 2017 there were indications that the rat eradication had succeeded in protecting the bird population from predation of their eggs.</p><br>
<p>Waiheke Island  is the most populated and second-largest island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. Its ferry terminal in Matiatia Bay at the western end is 21.5 km from the central-city terminal in Auckland.</p><br>
<p>Waiheke is the second-largest island in the gulf, after Great Barrier Island, and is the most populated island in the gulf, with 9,250 permanent residents; another estimated 3,400 have second or holiday homes on the island. It is New Zealands most densely populated island, with nearly 100 people/km², and the third most populated after the North and South Islands. It is the most accessible island in the Gulf, with regular passenger and car-ferry services, a helicopter operator based on the island, and other air links. In November 2015, Waiheke Island received international attention when it was rated the fifth-best destination in the world to visit in 2016 by Lonely Planet, and also voted the fourth best island in the world in Condé Nast Travelers 30 Best Islands in the World list.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Overview</h3><br>
<p>The island is off the coast of the North Island. It is 19.3 km long from west to east, varies in width from 0.64 to 9.65 km, and has a surface area of 92 km². The coastline is 133.5 km, including 40 km of beaches. The port of Matiatia at the western end is 17.7 km from Auckland and the eastern end is 21.4 km from Coromandel. The much smaller Tarahiki Island lies 3 km to the east.</p><br>
<p>The island is very hilly with few flat areas, the highest point being Maunganui at 231 m. The climate is slightly warmer than Auckland, with less humidity and rain, and more sunshine hours.</p><br>
<h3>Geology</h3><br>
<p>There are locations of interest to geologists: an argillite outcrop in Rocky Bay, and a chert stack at the end of Pohutukawa Point, considered "one of the best exposures of folded chert in Auckland City".</p><br>
<h3>Beaches</h3><br>
<p>There are many scenic beaches, including:</p><br>
<p>Oneroa Beach – The main beach, on the northern side of the town of Oneroa. It has free BBQ facilities, public toilets and a swing for children.</p><br>
<p>Little Oneroa Beach – A small secluded beach at the east end of Oneroa Beach, separated by a protruding cliff wall. It has free BBQ facilities, public toilets and a children&#39;s playground.</p><br>
<p>Palm Beach – Similar in shape to Oneroa Beach (complete with protruding cliff wall at the east end that separates a small private beach in Boatshed Bay), it gets its name from the mature phoenix palms at the east end, where a public toilet and free BBQ facilities are also located. There is a children&#39;s playground in the middle section of the beach which also has a free BBQ area, public toilets and an outdoor public shower.</p><br>
<p>Little Palm Beach – A small clothes-optional beach at the west end of Palm Beach.</p><br>
<p>Blackpool Beach – The south-facing counterpart of Oneroa Beach, lining Blackpool and popular for kayaking and windsurfing.</p><br>
<p>Surfdale Beach – A zoned-in beach on the southern side of Surfdale, separated from Blackpool Beach by a small protruding peninsula, which has a scenic unsealed route called The Esplanade linking the beaches. Popular for kitesurfing. Also has a free BBQ area and children&#39;s playground.</p><br>
<p>Onetangi Beach – A 1.87 km long, north-facing beach lining Onetangi, a Māori name meaning "weeping sands". For many years it has been the site of the Onetangi Beach Horse Races. Its western end, often inaccessible at high tide, is clothes-optional. It has sandcastle-building contests annually; participants have a few hours to build their creations in soft sand that is free of shells and suitable for digging. Free BBQ and public facilities.</p><br>
<p>Cactus Bay – Considered by many Waihekeans as the most perfect beach and, with nearby Garden Cove, a romantic place for picnicking. The beach is accessible only by boat or kayak, as its land access was blocked off by a private landowner.</p><br>
<p>Shelly Beach – A small and well sheltered shell and stone beach located between Oneroa and Ostend. It has free BBQ facilities, a public toilet and a diving platform located just off shore. It&#39;s a popular choice with families as at high tide, it is often calm and flat - ideal for children (but not sandy).</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Waiheke, like Auckland, experiences a subtropical climate according to the Trewartha climate classification, and an oceanic climate according to the Koeppen climate classification. The region lies 13° of latitude south of the Tropic of Capricorn, so tropical plants which are protected for the winter months will flower and fruit in the summer, and cold climate vegetables planted in autumn will mature in early spring. Summers tend to be warm and humid, while winters are relatively mild with frost being a rare event on Waiheke.</p><br>
<p>Rainfall is typically plentiful, though dry spells may occur during the summer months which can be problematic for many of the island residents, the vast majority of whom rely on rainwater harvesting from residential roofs for drinking and household use. During such dry periods (typically 3–4 months between December and March), the island&#39;s water-delivery trucks can be seen replenishing residential water tanks that have run dry.</p><br>
<p>It is often anecdotally said by locals that Waiheke has a micro-climate which differs to that of other parts of the Auckland isthmus. Though little factual data appears to exist to support this, the below-listed climatic data taken from a recent NIWA report does suggest Waiheke receives over 100 hours more per year of sunshine than other parts of Auckland. Detailed monthly climate data, such as air temperature, sea temperature and wind speeds is needed but does not appear to be readily available.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The original Māori name for Waiheke was apparently Te Motu-arai-roa, "the long sheltering island" but at the time the first European visitors arrived it was known as Motu-Wai-Heke, "island of trickling waters" - rendered as Motu Wy Hake by James Downie, master of the store ship HMS Coromandel, in his 1820 chart of the Tamaki Strait and the Coromandel coast.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<h3>Population</h3><br>
<p>Waiheke has a resident population of 8,340 people (2013) with most living close to the western end, or near the isthmus between Huruhi Bay and Oneroa Bay, which at its narrowest is only 600 m wide. The settlements of Oneroa and Blackpool are the furthest west, followed by Palm Beach, Surfdale, and Ostend. Further east lies Onetangi, on the northern coast of the wide Onetangi Bay. To the south of this on the opposing coast is Whakanewha Regional Park, Whakanewha, and Rocky Bay (sometimes erroneously called Omiha, for which there is no historical Crown provenance, while Rocky Bay first appears as the name of its bay on a Māori Land Court map in 1865, and again on a Crown map dating from 1877). Much of the eastern half of the island is privately owned farmland and vineyards.</p><br>
<p>Waiheke is a popular holiday spot, and during the main summer season, especially around Christmas and Easter, its population increases substantially due to the number of holiday homes being rented out, corporate functions and dance parties at vineyards and restaurants, the Wine Festival and the Jazz Festival and weekend trippers from around the country and the world. The population increases significantly, rents go up, almost all homes and baches are full and a festive atmosphere exists.</p><br>
<h3>Social composition</h3><br>
<p>The demographic composition in 2012 was 82 per cent European, 12 per cent Māori, 4 per cent Pacific Islander and 2 per cent Asian. 27 per cent of residents were born outside New Zealand.</p><br>
<p>Socially the island is highly diverse, with the creative sector (artists, musicians, scientists, writers, poets and actors) and eccentrics strongly represented. It has 1,206 businesses but around 1,000 people commute daily to Auckland as career opportunities are limited. 60.9 per cent of the residents are in employment. The main employment sectors are hospitality (23 per cent) and retail (15%) followed by education, agriculture/horticulture and healthcare (10% each). Gentrification and land speculation is having an impact, with high rates and mortgage interest rates forcing some people on fixed incomes to relocate. New Zealand council rates are based on land and building valuations, which take into account potential value for redevelopment even if the owners live on the property and have no intention to sell or redevelop. The cost of living is higher compared to the mainland, due to the shipping-freight costs of most foodstuffs, fuel and amenities.</p><br>
<p>The income distribution (2001 Census) shows a higher proportion of lower-income groups and a lower proportion of higher-income groups compared to the whole of Auckland City. This is partially due to a higher number of pensioners and single-parent families who are usually on fixed incomes and thus poorer. In 2001, the median income for those older than 15 was $15,600 (compared to $23,500 in 2006). In 2013 the median personal income was $27,200, slightly lower than the Auckland median at $29,600 due to a larger number of pensioners over 65 in the demographic pyramid. The median household income was relatively low, at $51,100 per annum, compared to $76,500 in Auckland as a whole.</p><br>
<p>The increase in wealth on Waiheke is also reflected in the number of families earning more than $100,000 per year, which has more than doubled in 2007 since 2001.</p><br>
<h3>Māori relations</h3><br>
<p>Race relations are supportive by New Zealand standards. The local marae was not ancestral Māori land held in Māori title but belonged to the Waiheke County Council. Its citizens, both Pākehā and Māori, got together, arranged for a long-term lease of council-owned land and built the marae. One of the earliest Māori land claims was driven by Waiheke citizens, who at the time did not know who the tangata whenua Māori were for the island.</p><br>
<h2>Lifestyle</h2><br>
<p>Waiheke&#39;s lifestyle is largely influenced by the fact that it is surrounded by water - there are a number of beaches mentioned above, that are popular for a wide range of activities such as kite surfing, kayaking, stand-up-paddle boarding, boating, swimming and other typical beach pursuits.</p><br>
<h3>Arts & Culture</h3><br>
<p>Waiheke has its own community run cinema, a theatre that hosts a number of regular musicians, performances and local productions and a library that was recently rebuilt in 2014 at the cost of $6 million.</p><br>
<p>There are also a large number of art galleries run by private individuals across the island, along with a community art gallery.</p><br>
<h3>Sports</h3><br>
<p>Waiheke has a number of sports teams and facilities on the island. Rugby union, cricket, rugby league, football and netball are widely played and followed.</p><br>
<p>There are three main facilities on the island: Onetangi Sports Park, Ostend Sports Park and an indoor facility at The Waiheke Recreation Centre.</p><br>
<p>There are several sports teams on the island, with Waiheke United AFC hosting a number of football or soccer teams, from First Kicks (4 -9yr olds) through to senior men&#39;s teams. Waiheke Rugby Club also has a large presence and following on the island, as do netball and indoor football teams.</p><br>
<h2>Governance</h2><br>
<p>Waiheke is part of the territorial authority of Auckland Council. From 1970 until its amalgamation with Auckland City in 1989, it was administered by the Waiheke County Council. Since 1989 there has been an elected community board with limited, mainly representational powers, in line with other neighbourhoods in Auckland City. One member on the City Council represented all the inhabited Hauraki Gulf islands (i.e. Waiheke, Great Barrier and Rakino) plus the downtown area in the central business district.</p><br>
<h3>Amalgamation with Auckland City, later Auckland Council</h3><br>
<p>In 1989 Waiheke County Council was forcibly amalgamated with Auckland City Council as part of Local Government restructuring of that year. Pundits predicted a stormy relationship.</p><br>
<p>In 1990 the Waiheke Community Board formally requested the right to de-amalgamate from the City. A De-amalgamation Committee was established by Council to facilitate the Boards wish. However, this proved not to be to the liking of most of Aucklands citizens. In 1991, the city responded to a campaign run by a pro-union group, the Waiheke Island Residents & Ratepayers Association (Inc) by holding a democratic referendum. The de-amalgamation proposal sponsored by the Community Board was defeated.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance received 3,080 submissions (from a population of 1.2 million), 737 of which were made by Waihekeans (population 8,500), almost 1/4 of all submissions. This exemplifies the level of citizen involvement found on Waiheke. A public meeting of 150 residents on 29 March 2008 found a majority in favour of breaking away from Auckland City. The Royal Commission recommended that Waiheke Island retain its community board with enhanced powers. When the new Auckland Council made up of seven councils and territorial authorities, plus the Auckland Regional Council, Waiheke was given its own local board.</p><br>
<p>The Waiheke Local Board was elected in the October 2010 Auckland local elections as part of the Auckland Council.</p><br>
<p>The 2010 local elections resulted in Waiheke resident Mike Lee becoming the Councillor for the Waitemata and Gulf Ward. Denise Roche, Faye Storer, Jo Holmes, Don McKenzie and Jim Hannan were elected to the new Local Board. After Roche&#39;s resignation after becoming a Member of Parliament for the Green Party of New Zealand in 2011, Paul Walden was elected in a by-election.</p><br>
<p>In 2013 Lee was re-elected. Paul Walden was re-elected to the Local Board, joined by Beatle Treadwell, Becs Ballard, John Meeuwsen and Shirin Brown.</p><br>
<p>In 2016, Lee was re-elected. Paul Walden, Shirin Brown and John Meeuwsen were re-elected to the Local Board. Newly elected were Cath Handley and Bob Upchurch.</p><br>
<p>In 2015-16, the subject of amalgamation remained a hot topic on the island with an application filed with the Local Government Commission from a group called “’’ for a unitary authority.</p><br>
<h2>Transport</h2><br>
<h3>Ferry</h3><br>
<p>Scheduled ferry services regularly sail to and from Waiheke. Fullers operate passenger services from Downtown Auckland to Waihekes Matiatia wharf, with trips taking approximately 40 minutes. Meanwhile, SeaLink provides passenger, car and freight services between Half Moon Bay in East Auckland and Waihekes Kennedy Point, with trips taking around 50 minutes to an hour. SeaLink also offer a passenger and car "City Service" connecting Kennedy Point with Auckland&#39;s Wynyard Quarter.</p><br>
<p>There have been several attempts to provide alternative passenger ferry services from Matiatia. Most recently, New Zealand tour cruise company Explore Group provided a Matiatia to Downtown service from late 2014 until April 2016. The competition was welcomed by Waiheke residents, but ultimately proved unsustainable for the company.</p><br>
<p>In recent years, there has been significant controversy with many of Waihekes resident population who rely on the ferries "like buses" - and especially those who commute daily to work in Auckland - complaining of poor parking arrangements at Matiatia, unfair price increases and generally poor ferry services. This led to the launch of a Ferry Users Group (or FUG) and a "Fullers Watch" group, with the objective of giving a voice to the islands ferry passengers whilst lobbying local politicians and working with the ferry companies to improve the overall experience.</p><br>
<h3>Air service</h3><br>
<p>There is one airport on the island, Waiheke Island Aerodrome, served via fixed-wing aircraft by Flight Hauraki and via helicopter by a number of operators. Waiheke is also accessible via a regular seaplane service.</p><br>
<h2>Infrastructure</h2><br>
<p>The island has less infrastructure than mainland Auckland.</p><br>
<p>Roads: The roads are mainly narrow and in many places unsealed and unlit, especially on the eastern half of the island. Except for the Onetangi Straight (60kph) and the rural eastern end, the island speed limit is 50 kph, and many of the roads see traffic travelling at well under the limit due to their size. At the car ferry terminal at Kennedy Point, the highway department has posted a sign saying "Slow Down, You&#39;re here", which delivers the message to visitors about island life.</p><br>
<p>Transport: Primary transportation on the island is by privately owned used car or car-rental for visitors. The Waiheke Bus Company (owned by Fullers) services most inhabited parts of the island, linking to the ferry sailings from Matiatia. Numerous other taxi, shuttle, bus and boutique services cater to visitors. Due to the hills, bicycles on the island tended to be limited to the young and fit, including an active mountain bike group, until the advent of ebikes. With an ebike rental company in Oneroa that also sells ebikes, they are becoming a common feature on both local roads, and on the ferry boats to the mainland. Walking continues to be a popular means of island transport, both for access and recreation with many walking trails that are not along roads. Horse riding tends to be for recreation rather than transport, but the island does support both a pony club and adult riding club.</p><br>
<p>Power: Waiheke is connected to the North Islands electricity network via twin 33 kV undersea cables from Maraetai on the mainland, terminating on the island at a 33/11 kV substation in Ostend. The islands electricity network is operated by Auckland-based lines company Vector.</p><br>
<p>Water and waste water: Each house must maintain its own water supply, most collecting rainwater in cisterns. Water delivery is available and tends to be very active during dry summers. Except for the Oneroa sewage district which discharges into the Owhanake Treatment plant, each residence and relevant commercial establishments must install a septic tank and septic field to handle sewage. This is a requirement in every building consent.</p><br>
<p>Internet The fibre optic cable that runs from a bay on the southern side of the island connects it to the internet. Internet services were provided using VDSL and ADSL until central government introduced a national fibre optic rollout that included urban parts of Waiheke. Central government also forced the separation of the cable infrastructure from the ISPs, with the fibre backbone being mained by Chorus who has contracts with numerous ISPs. The locally owned WISP continues to provided wireless internet and some islanders use both services to ensure systems redundancy.</p><br>
<p>Solid Waste: The community established a charitable trust which bid on Auckland City&#39;s contract for solid waste disposal. After winning the bid, it was implemented with such success that the recycling centre soon had to be expanded to handle the volumes. However, when the contract term expired in 2009, the Council voted to disqualify incumbent tenderer Clean Stream Waiheke Ltd and grant Transpacific Industries Group Ltd a $22 million contract. The decision was political.</p><br>
<p>Emergency Services: The Waiheke Volunteer Fire Brigade, part of the New Zealand Fire Service, serves the island. The brigade has two stations, at Oneroa and at Onetangi.</p><br>
<p>Media: The island has a lively press, with two weekly newspapers vying for attention: the long-established independently-owned Waiheke Gulf News and the Fairfax Media owned Waiheke Marketplace. A community radio station, Waiheke Radio, is broadcasting on 88.3 FM and 107.4 FM after Beach FM lost its licence in a commercial bid in 2008.</p><br>
<h2>Education</h2><br>
<p>Waiheke Island has two primary schools and one secondary school. It is the only island in New Zealand, other than the North and South Islands, with a secondary school.</p><br>
<p>Te Huruhi School is a state contributing primary (Year 1–6) school in Surfdale, and has students. It opened in 1986 following the split of Waiheke Area School.</p><br>
<p>Waiheke High School is a state Year 7–13 secondary school in Surfdale, and has students. It opened in 1986 following the split of Waiheke Area School.</p><br>
<p>Waiheke Primary School is a state full primary (Year 1–8) school in Ostend, and has students. It opened in 2005.</p><br>
<h2>Significant events</h2><br>
<h3>Stony Batter WWII fortifications</h3><br>
<p>During World War II, three gun emplacements were built on the eastern edge to protect Allied shipping in Waitematā Harbour, in the fear that Japanese ships might reach New Zealand. This mirrored developments at North Head and Rangitoto Island. The guns were never fired in anger. The empty emplacements and the extensive tunnels below them can be visited seven days a week.</p><br>
<h3>Nuclear and GE free zone</h3><br>
<p>Waiheke was the first community in New Zealand to vote for a nuclear free zone and this action is said to have contributed to the national decision to become nuclear-free under David Lange&#39;s government.</p><br>
<p>In 1999 Waiheke&#39;s community board voted Waiheke as a "genetic engineering free zone", but this is a matter of principle rather than fact, as only national government controls exist over genetically engineered foods and grains.</p><br>
<h3>Matiatia redevelopment</h3><br>
<p>The gateway to Waiheke, where the main pedestrian ferry lands over 1 million passengers per year, is a valley and harbour called Matiatia. In 2000 it was purchased by three investors in Waitemata Infrastructure Ltd (WIL). In 2002 WIL proposed to change the Operative District Plan rules for their land to build a major shopping and hotel complex with 29,000 m² of gross floor area on buildable land of approximately 3 hectares. This united the residents of the island in opposition. Over 1,500 adult residents of the island (out of perhaps 3,000) joined together in an incorporated society, the Community and People of Waiheke Island (CAPOW), to oppose the private plan change in court. Church Bay resident and former newsreader John Hawkesby became "the voice of the campaign" that included a showdown with then mayor, John Banks, when Hawkesby made a deputation to the city council hours after the press revealed that Banks was in business with two (of three) directors of WIL.</p><br>
<p>In 2004, they won an interlocutory judgement in which the environment court ruled that Auckland City Council had erred in the rules, and the current rules limited controlled development to 5,000 m² in what was called the Visitor Facility Precinct. In 2005, CAPOW won an interim judgement by the court which reduced the proposed redevelopment to about a third of what the investors had originally sought.</p><br>
<p>This set the stage for confidential negotiations between Aucklands mayor Dick Hubbard and the investors, who on 31 August 2005 (now known as Matiatia Day on the island) sold the stock in WIL to the city for $12.5 million. The unanimous vote on 30 June 2005 of the City Council to approve the purchase was said to have come about because of the unity of the people of Waiheke Island. The court case finally was concluded with permitted development set at 10,000 m2 of mixed use gross floor development. The Court also found Auckland City Council and WIL liable for costs in relationship to the interlocutory judgement. Since WIL was now owned by Council, it had to write a cheque to CAPOW for $18,000, representing 75% of CAPOWs costs on that matter. This final cheque allowed CAPOW to pay all its debts and balance its books.</p><br>
<p>The Council organised a design competition in 2006 to find a suitable development plan and project for the Matiatia gateway. The competition winner&#39;s design (scheme 201) was available for comment on the Council website. It attracted much criticism for the lack of car parking close to the ferry terminal, the transport hub function used by all islanders regularly and almost daily by around 850 commuters to Auckland.</p><br>
<p>In 2013, Matiatia again became a hotspot for controversy as a group of residents proposes a private marina at the terminal. Some of the veterans of the protests a decade prior (led by local resident, retired newsreader John Hawkesby), re-emerged to oppose. The Environment Court decided in favour of the residents.</p><br>
<h3>Headland: Sculpture on the Gulf biennial</h3><br>
<p>Waiheke has become internationally known for the biennial Headland: Sculpture on the Gulf, an “outdoor sculpture exhibition set on a spectacular coastal walkway on Waiheke Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf”. It takes place towards the end of January until approximately mid-February every second year. It was listed by the New York Times as number 35 in its list of 46 must-see places and events of 2013. The sculpture walk attracts thousands of visitors to Waiheke; in 2013, there were more than 30,000 attendees.</p><br>
<h2>Wine</h2><br>
<p>Waiheke has become known as New Zealand&#39;s "island of wine," home to a dedicated group of winegrowers who have successfully matched the maritime climate and ancient soil structures to the selection of classical grape varieties to produce red and white wines with distinctive varietal character.</p><br>
<p>The climate is well-suited to growing Bordeaux-type grapes, though some Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc varieties are also considered to be good. Waiheke winegrowers regularly win awards for Syrah (Kennedy Points 2007 Syrah won best Syrah in the world in 2009), proving the islands terroir suits the variety well.</p><br>
<p>Wines produced on Waiheke are relatively expensive because of the limited size of many of the island&#39;s vineyards.</p><br>
<p>Among the vineyards and wineries on Waiheke Island are:</p><br>
<p>Awaroa Vineyard – The organic Awaroa vineyards lie on west-facing slopes among native bush in the middle of Waiheke Island. Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon are the main varieties planted.</p><br>
<p>Batch Winery - Waiheke&#39;s newest hi tech winery production is located at the highest vineyard with views from Coromandel to the Sky Tower. Batch wine portfolio includes Flora, Pinot Gris, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Batch Fizz sparkling wine, made and bottled on site, range includes Fizz Rose, Fizz Chardonnay and Fizz Riesling.</p><br>
<p>Cable Bay Vineyards – Cable Bay Vineyards makes wines from grapes grown on Waiheke Island and in Marlborough. Varieties grown include Gewürztraminer, Sauvignon blanc, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, Five Hills Merlot/Malbec/Cabernet and Rosé.</p><br>
<p>Destiny Bay Vineyards – Destiny Bay is Waiheke Islands only Cabernet blend specialist and first fully certified sustainable winery. The 2007 Magna Praemia is New Zealands highest rated wine by an international critic, and received 98/100 points by Anthony Dias Blue. Magna Praemia is New Zealand&#39;s most expensive wine.</p><br>
<p>Edbrooke Vineyard – Jeremy Edbrooke has over 7 acre planted in Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Pinot gris grapes which are supplied to Waiheke Island&#39;s Passage Rock Wines.</p><br>
<p>Fenton Estate – First planted in 1989, Fenton Twin Bays Vineyard is a north-facing property that spans two small bays separated by a peninsula.</p><br>
<p>Goldwater Estate – Begun by pioneering Waiheke winemakers Kim and Jeanette Goldwater, Goldwater Estate was among the first wine making operations on Waiheke. Its awards include being named winery of the year by Wines and Spirits Magazine in 2001.</p><br>
<p>Jurassic Ridge – Jurassic Ridge is a small, family-owned vineyard and winery, named for the surrounding geology. It produces hand-crafted Syrah, Montepulciano, Pinot gris and Cabernet Franc. Jurassic greywacke is a major feature of the terroir.</p><br>
<p>Kennedy Point Vineyard – Kennedy Point Vineyard is the only certified organic vineyard on Waiheke and can be found on the southwestern side and was established in 1996. It specializes in growing and producing Bordeaux and Syrah wines.</p><br>
<p>Man O War – Situated at Man O War Bay, at the northern end of Waiheke Island, these vineyards are planted on numerous small sites on the 5,000 acre Man o&#39;War farm.</p><br>
<p>Miro Vineyard – Miro Vineyard produces two wines, both red Bordeaux blends. The vineyard overlooks the ocean at Onetangi Beach.</p><br>
<p>Mudbrick Vineyard – Mudbrick is one of the island&#39;s best-known wineries, and has a Provence-style restaurant made of mudbrick. The vineyard produces Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah grapes.</p><br>
<p>Obsidian Vineyard – Obsidian Vineyard in Onetangi. It is a 17-hectare property established in 1993. Obsidian, its flagship wine, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Its label is "Weeping Sands" (the translation of "Onetangi"). In 2007 Obsidian won a trophy and gold medal at the Romeo Bragato National Wine Competition for its first release of the Montepulciano variety.</p><br>
<p>Passage Rock Wines – Passage Rock Vineyard is at the eastern end of Waiheke Island at the head of Te Matuku Bay. Its first vines were planted in 1994.</p><br>
<p>Peacock Sky – Peacock Sky Vineyard is located in the centre of Waiheke Island with views across the Hauraki Gulf to Auckland.</p><br>
<p>Peninsula Estate on Hakaimango Point was planted in 1986/87. These original plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec, also now include Chardonnay and Syrah.</p><br>
<p>Poderi Crisci Estate</p><br>
<p>Stony Batter Estate – Stony Batter Estate, the island&#39;s largest vineyard, is at the north-eastern corner of the island</p><br>
<p>Stonyridge Vineyard – Stonyridge was founded in 1981 in the Onetangi Valley. Specializing in Bordeaux-style reds, the vineyard&#39;s most famous wine is its Stonyridge Larose.</p><br>
<p>Tantalus Estate</p><br>
<p>Te Motu Vineyard – Te Motu Vineyard was established in the Onetangi Valley in 1989. The first vintage was produced in 1993.</p><br>
<p>Te Whau Vineyard</p><br>
<p>The Hay Paddock – This 12 acre, stone-walled vineyard on Seaview Road is planted in Syrah vines sourced from the Hermitage AOC region of the Rhone Valley. Cellar-aged collector wines are released under the Harvest Man and Hay Paddock labels.</p><br>
<p>Topknot Hill Vineyard</p><br>
<p>View East Vineyard – A boutique vineyard on the south eastern corner of Waiheke Island specializing in Syrah.</p><br>
<p>Woodside Hill</p><br>
<p>Girnar, also known as Girinagar  or Revatak Parvata, is a group of mountains in the Junagadh District of Gujarat, India, situated near Junagadh.</p><br>
<p>Is considered older than the Himalayas, Girnar, the mountain and its range are considered sacred. It is an important pilgrimage site for both Jains and Hindus, who gather here during the Girnar Parikrama festival. Girnar is one of the five major tirthas attributed to the panch kalyanakas of various Jain tirthankaras. Girnar is also significant among Shiva devotees for the so-called "mystic space-time" of the mountain range, with the presence and turnover of different sects of Sadhu Babas, Nath sect and others. Flora and fauna fairs are also held at the mountains, such as the Maha Shivratri fair. Different Jain Tirthankaras and monks have in the past visited and practiced severe penance at the peaks of Girnar. It hosts a number of temples and some historical spots across its range. Amidst the lush green Gir Forest, the mountain range serves as the hub of religious activity.</p><br>
<p>For Jains this place is considered holy as Nirvana Kshetra and Nirvan bhumi of 22nd Tirthankara Neminath & For Hindus this place is considered holy as Dattatreya stayed there.</p><br>
<p>Also as per mythology, this place is associated with the death of the mighty Yavana warrior Kalayavana in Dwaparyug. Lord Shri Krishna lured Kalayavana into the cave where the great king of Tretayug, Muchukunda, one of the forefathers of Lord Shri Rama was in an deep slumber of an thousands of years after helping Devas in an epic war with Asuras. Contemplating an absolutely undisturbed sleep he was given a boon that anyone who dared to disturb his sleep would get burnt to ashes immediately. Fast forward to Dwaparyug, in the darkness deep inside the cave, Kalayavan mistakenly wakes up Muchukunda from his sleep, and sure to his boon Kalayavan was decimated into ashes instantaneously. Then Muchukunda was delighted to see Lord Shri Krisha there, who was none other than the Lord Vishnu. This story is very popular in Srimad Bhagavata. Lord Damodar here is considered as Adhipati of Girnar Kshetra. This place is very holy for Vaishnavaits. Notwithstanding the story though, today Mount Girnar is even more popular as a Shaiva and Siddha Kshetra.</p><br>
<p>This mountain was considered holy to Buddhists as well.</p><br>
<p>According to tradition, Pavhari Baba, who had an immense influence on Swami Vivekananda was first initiated into the mysteries of practical yoga on the top of mount Girnar.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Mount Girnar is a major igneous plutonic complex which intruded into the basalts towards the close of the Deccan Trap period. The rock types identified in this complex are gabbros (tholeiitic and alkalic), diorites, lamprophyres, alkali-syenites and rhyolites. The parent gabbroic magma is shown to have given rise in sequence to diorites, lamprophyres and alkali-syenites. The rhyolite, though earlier considered a product of differentiation, is now believed to be an independent magma without any genetic link with the gabbro and its variants.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The mountain Girnar is older than the Himalayas and the Jain temples upon it are amongst the most ancient in the country; it is the Nirvan bhumi of 22nd Tirthankara Neminath. It is 3666 feet high, and is one of the most remarkable mountains in India. From the city of Junagarh, which is at an altitude of barely 351 feet only the top of Mount Girnar can be seen, as it has in front of it lower hills, of which Jogniya, or Laso Pawadi, 2527 feet; Lakhshman Tekri, Bensla, 2290 feet high; and Datar, 2779 feet high, are the principals.</p><br>
<p>Girnar was anciently called Raivata or Urjjayanta, sacred amongst the Jains to Neminath, the 22nd Tirthankar, and a place of pilgrimage before the days of Ashoka, 250 BCE.</p><br>
<h3>Girnar's Initial trek</h3><br>
<p>The base of the mountain, known as Girnar Taleti, is about 4 km east of the center of Junagadh. There are temples and other sacred places all along this stretch.</p><br>
<p>The traveller, in order to reach Girnar Taleti from Junagadh city, will pass through the Wagheshwari or Vagheshwari Gate, which is close to the Uparkot fort area, Easterly.</p><br>
<p>At about 200 metres from the gate, to the right of the road, is the Temple of Wagheshwari (Upale Vagheshwari maa), which is joined to the road by a causeway about 150 yards long. An ancient Verai Mata mandir and a modern Gayatri Shakti Peeth mandir are nearby.</p><br>
<p>About a furlong beyond this is a stone bridge, and just beyond it on the right are the Ashoka&#39;s Major Rock Edicts. On the same rock can be found an inscription of the Western Satrap ruler Rudradaman, the Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman.</p><br>
<p>On leaving Ashoka&#39;s edicts, the route crosses the handsome bridge over the Sona-rekha, which here forms a fine sheet of water over golden sand, then passes a number of temples, at first on the left bank of the river and then on the right, to the largest of the temples. This is dedicated to Damodar, a name of Krishna, from Dam, a rope, because by tradition his mother in vain attempted to confine him with a rope when a child. The reservoir, Damodar Kund, at this place is accounted very sacred.</p><br>
<p>Next is an old shrine of Bhavnath, a form of Shiva, close to Girnar Taleti; Mrigi kund and Sudharshan lake are nearby.</p><br>
<p>Most persons who are not active climbers will probably proceed up the mountain in a swing doli from Taleti. A long ridge runs up from the west, and culminates in a rugged scarped rock, on the top of which are the temples. Close to the old shrine is a well called the Chadani vav.</p><br>
<p>The paved way begins just beyond this and continues for two-thirds of the ascent. The first resthouse, Chadia Parab, is reached, 480 feet, above the plain; and the second halting-place at Dholi-deri, 1000 feet above the plain. From here the ascent becomes more difficult, winding under the face of the precipice to the third resthouse, 1400 feet up. The path turns to the right along the edge of a precipice, which is very narrow, so that the doli almost grazes the scarp, which rises perpendicularly 200 feet above the traveller. On the right is seen the lofty mountain of Datar, covered with low jungle. At about 1500 feet there is a stone dharmsala, and from this there is a fine view of the rock called the Bhairav-Thampa, "the terrific leap," because devotees used to cast themselves from its top, falling 1000 feet or more.</p><br>
<p>At 2370 feet above Junagadh the gate of the enclosure known as the Deva Kota, or Ra Khengar&#39;s Palace, is reached.</p><br>
<h3>Jain temples</h3><br>
<p>On entering the gate, the large enclosure of the temples is on the left, while to the right is the old granite temple of Man Singh, Bhoja Raja of Kutch, and farther on the much larger one of Vastupala. Built into the wall on the left of the entrance is an inscription in Sanskrit. Some 16 Jain temples here form a sort of fort on the ledge at the top of the great cliff, but still 600 feet below the summit. The largest temple is the Neminath temple, standing in a quadrangular court 195 x 130 feet. It was built from 1128 to 1159. It consists of two halls (with two porches, called by the Hindus mandapams), and a shrine, which contains a large black image of Neminath, the 22d Tirthankar. Around the shrine is a passage with many images in white marble. Between the outer and inner halls are two shrines. The outer hall has two small raised platforms paved with slabs of yellow stone, covered with representations of feet in pairs called padukas, which represent the 2452 feet of the Gandharas, first disciples of Tirthankaras. On the west of this is a porch overhanging the perpendicular scarp. On two of the pillars of the mandapam are inscriptions dated 1275, 1281, and 1278—dates of restoration. The enclosure is nearly surrounded inside by 70 cells, each enshrining a marble image, with a covered passage in front of them lighted by a perforated stone screen.</p><br>
<p>The principal entrance was originally on the east side of the court, but it is now closed, and the entrance from the court in Khengar&#39;s Palace is that now used. There is a passage leading into a low dark temple, with granite pillars in lines. Opposite the entrance is a recess containing two large black images; in the back of the recess is a lion rampant, and over it a crocodile in bas-relief. Behind these figures is a room from which is a descent into a cave, with a large white marble image which is mostly concealed by priests. It has a slight hollow in the shoulder, said to be caused by water dropping from the ear, whence it was called Amijhara, "nectar drop." Neminath is said to have attained Moksha from Girnar so this place is frequently noted in Jain literature.</p><br>
<p>In the North porch are inscriptions which state that in Samwat 1215 certain Thakurs completed the shrine, and built the Temple of Ambika.</p><br>
<p>After leaving this there are three temples to the left that on the south side contain a colossal image of Rishabha Deva, the first Tirthankar, exactly like that at Palitana temples, called Bhim-Padam. On the throne of this image is a slab of yellow stone carved in 1442, with figures of the 24 Tirthankars.</p><br>
<p>Opposite this temple is a modern one to Panchabai. West of it is a large temple called Malakavisi or Meravasi, sacred to Parshwanath, built in the 15th century. North of this is another temple of Parshwanath, which contains a large white marble image canopied by a cobra, whence it is called Sheshphani, an arrangement frequently found in the South India but uncommon in the North India. It bears a date of 1803. The last temple to the north is Kumarpal&#39;s temple, built by Chaulukya king Kumarapala, which has a long open portico on the west. It appears to have been destroyed by the Muslims, and restored in 1824 by Hansraja Jetha. These temples are along the west face of the hill, and are all enclosed.</p><br>
<p>Outside to the north is the Bhima Kunda, a tank 70 feet by 50 feet, in which Hindus bathe. Immediately behind the temple of Neminath is the triple one temple, Vastupala-Tejpala temple, erected by the brothers Tejapala and Vastupala (built in 1177), who also built the Dilwara Temples on Mount Abu. The plan is that of three temples joined together. The shrine has a blue black image of Mallinath, the 19th Tirthankar. Farther north is the temple of Samprati Raja, This temple is probably one of the oldest on the hill, dating to 1158. Samprati is said to have ruled at Ujjain in the end of the third century BCE, and to have been the son of Kunala, Ashoka&#39;s third son.</p><br>
<h3>Further trek</h3><br>
<p>South of this, and 200 feet above the Jain temples, is the Gaumukhi Shrine, near a plentiful spring of water.</p><br>
<p>From it the crest of the mountain (3330 feet) is reached by a steep flight of stairs. Here is an ancient temple of Amba Mata, which is much resorted to by newly married couples (2nd / 3rd tonk of Jains). The bride and bridegroom have their clothes tied together, and attended by their male and female relations, adore the goddess and present cocoa-nuts and other offerings. This pilgrimage is supposed to procure for the couple along continuance of wedded bliss.</p><br>
<p>To the east not far off, are the three rocky spires of the Gorakhnath, 5th tonk of Jains (Nirvaan sthali of Shri Neminath Bhawaan) presently known as Guru Dattatreya, and then Kalika Peaks. The paduka, the footprints, of Guru Dattartreya Bhagwaan is the topmost shrine.</p><br>
<p>On the summit of the Datar Peak (2779 feet) is a small shrine, and from it a very beautiful view. The hill is held sacred by Muslims and Hindus alike.</p><br>
<h2>Festivals</h2><br>
<p>Main article:Girnar Parikrama</p><br>
<p>As it is holy place as Siddha Kshetra of Jains, for the moksha of Shri Neminath Bhagwaan (22th tirthanker), Jains celebrate Moksha Kalyanak of Neminath Bhagwaan on Ashad Shukla satam (7). Moksha Sthali of Shri Neminath Bhagwaan is 5th tonk (presently known as dattratraya as per Hindu monks).</p><br>
<p>The main event for Hindus is the Maha Shivaratri fair held every year on the 14th day of the Hindu calendar month of Magha. At least 1 million pilgrims visit the fair to participate in pooja and parikrama of Girnar hill. The procession begins at Bhavnath Mahadev Temple at Bhavnath. It then proceeds onwards to various akharas of various sects of sadhus, which are in Girnar hill from ancient times. The procession of sadhus and pilgrims ends again at Bhavnath temple after visiting Madhi, Malavela and Bara Devi temple. The fair begins with hoisting of fifty-two Gaja long flag at Bhavnath Mahadev temple. This fair is the backbone of the economy of Junagadh, as more than ten lakh pilgrims who visit the fair generate a revenue of 250 million in only five days.</p><br>
<p>Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899-925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Academy, a private institution of higher learning named for the scholar Desiderius Erasmus, known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Dutch Renaissance humanist and Catholic Christian theologian. The school was the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Regents. The clapboard-sided, Georgian-Federal-style building, constructed on land donated by the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church, was turned over to the public school system in 1896.</p><br>
<p>Around the start of the 20th century, Brooklyn experienced a rapidly growing population, and the original small school was enlarged with the addition of several wings and the purchase of several nearby buildings. In 1904, the Board of Education began a new building campaign to meet the needs of the burgeoning student population. The Superintendent of School Buildings, architect C. B. J. Snyder, designed a series of buildings to be constructed as needed, around an open quadrangle, while continuing to use the old building in the center of the courtyard. The original Academy building, which still stands in the courtyard of the current school, served the students of Erasmus Hall in three different centuries. Now a designated New York City Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the building is a museum exhibiting the school’s long and colorful history.</p><br>
<p>A statue of Erasmus, cast from the 1622 original in Rotterdam by Hendrick de Keyser and donated by Richard Young, an alumnus of the school, stands in the school’s courtyard. Dedicated in 1931, the base is engraved with the words: Desiderius Erasmus, the maintainer and restorer of the sciences and polite literature, the greatest man of his century, the excellent citizen who, through his immortal writings, acquired an everlasting fame.</p><br>
<p>Due to poor academic scores, the city closed Erasmus Hall High School in 1994, turning the building into Erasmus Hall Educational Campus and using it as the location for five separate small schools.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Erasmus Hall Academy</h3><br>
<p>Erasmus Hall Academy was founded as a private school by Reverend John H. Livingston and Senator John Vanderbilt in 1786 and became the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. Land was donated by the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church for the building and contributions were collected for “an institution of higher learning,” from leading citizens such as Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Peter Lefferts and Robert Livingston.</p><br>
<p>The wood-framed, clapboard-sided, Georgian and Federal style school building, two and one-half stories tall with hipped roof, was opened in 1787 with 26 students. Through the years, various wings were added to the Academy building and later removed.</p><br>
<p>Erasmus Hall Academy began accepting female students in 1801, and in 1803 it incorporated the village school of Flatbush. The village evolved into a city, and started a public school system that competed with Erasmus for its student body. As a result, there was a steady decline in its enrollment until in 1896 enrollment was reduced to 150 boys and girls, up from the 105 boys who were registered in the school in 1795. The Board of Trustees decided to donate the Academy to the public school system with the following resolution by the Board of Trustees:</p><br>
<p>That the Board of Trustees offer the grounds of the Academy to the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn upon the following conditions, viz: In consideration of the gift of the land the Board of Education are to erect and maintain upon said land a High School Building of the same character and grade as other High School Buildings in the City of Brooklyn.</p><br>
<h3>Erasmus Hall High School</h3><br>
<p>Following the agreement with the Erasmus Hall Board of Trustees, the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn requested proposals for a design for a new school building. Twenty architects responded with plans, several of which were published in contemporary architectural periodicals.</p><br>
<p>It soon became clear that none of these plans could be erected for less than a million dollars, and since that was considered too expensive, the project was dropped. The Brooklyn Board of Education did however, approve "temporary additions" to the school to accommodate the growing population and purchased additional property to allow more room to build a new school.</p><br>
<p>With the consolidation of the City of New York in 1898, the highly varied needs of schools in all the boroughs came under the purview of the New York City school board. This board had to cope with a sizable number of independently administered school districts, each with its own curricula, grade divisions, educational policies, and standards, and weld them all into a single, uniform educational system. At the same time, New York City was experiencing a huge influx of immigrants (increasing the school registers between 1900 and 1904 by 132,000 pupils), and the schools were expected to help Americanize these new students. New high schools were needed in all the boroughs and the Board of Education authorized large new buildings for Morris High School in the Bronx, DeWitt Clinton High School in Manhattan, Curtis High School in Staten Island, Flushing High School in Queens, and Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn</p><br>
<p>In the interim, before a new building for Erasmus Hall could be constructed however, the Board of Education purchased more land along Bedford Avenue near the existing building, and established classrooms in the expansion buildings that were already on the lot. They also used classrooms in other schools, such as P.S. 977, and held half-day classes.</p><br>
<p>The modern high school was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style that Snyder used on many of his buildings.</p><br>
<p>On August 17, 1904, the New York City School Board’s Committee on Buildings presented its plans for a new campus for Erasmus Hall High School. It was designed to be constructed around the existing, centrally-located buildings, so that classes could continue to be held there until the new buildings were ready. The plan called for a full quadrangle of buildings along the perimeter of the large lot. It was constructed during four periods: 1905-1906, 1909-1911, 1924-1925, and 1939-1940, with the two later buildings supervised by William H. Gompert and Eric Kebbon, respectively. Its buff brick facades have limestone and terra cotta trim and feature central entrance towers with Oriel windows and crenellated parapets, Tudor-arched entrances, label moldings, and large window groupings. The style of Erasmus Hall evolved over the years so that the most recent buildings are simpler, with less ornamentation, but retain the general characteristics of the earlier ones, giving a sense of unity to the entire composition. The first buildings would be constructed along Flatbush Avenue, with others added over time, as the need became clear and funds became available.</p><br>
<h4>Phase One</h4><br>
<p>Snyder explained his plans for the first phase as follows:</p><br>
<p>... A careful study of the matter convinced me that after all it was a good thing for the future of the school that the present one could not be disturbed, for therein lay the suggestion for a design unique in high schools of the country... A quadrangle enclosed by buildings devoted to various departments of school work.</p><br>
<p>The buildings, therefore, have been designed as a screen across the end of the quadrangle, shutting out the noise and confusion of Flatbush Avenue traffic, the only entrance being through the large arch under the tower, which is placed on the axis of the longer dimension of the plot.</p><br>
<p>This, as designed, would be called a chapel were it part of a college, but if we may not aspire to this, yet I have thought that it might be known as ‘the Hall.’ As such the endeavor has been to design a harmonious, impressive room, in a style permeated with history and romance; a place which, of all others, will stand out clearly in the loving memory of the student in after years for his Alma Mater. Its walls, columns and arches should bear the trophies won in athletic and scholastic contests, there to be preserved and handed down as part of the glorious history of the school.</p><br>
<p>There have been no designs made for this elevation (Bedford Avenue), but the aim has been to have a central tower on the same axis as that on Flatbush Avenue, through the archway in the base of which will be afforded a view of the ‘quad’ with its greensward, trees, shrubs and vines. What the ultimate design of the various buildings going to make up the group may be, it is, of course, impossible to say, but in designing and planning that portion which you now see approaching completion, I have always intended that the whole should be a graphic illustration of the various phases of the so-called Gothic movement, from the Round Arch to the Flamboyant and on through its later transitional stage.</p><br>
<p>The Committee on Buildings described the first section, estimated to cost not more than $300,000, this way:</p><br>
<p>It consists of an entrance tower which will be the center of what will afterwards be the completed front on Flatbush avenue; to the left of the tower and connected therewith has been placed the building in the rear portion of which will be the auditorium, classrooms, library, etc. The building will be three and four stories in height.</p><br>
<p>The basement will contain the gymnasium, placed beneath the auditorium, lecture rooms, baths, toilet room, etc., the boiler or power room being placed beneath the driveway of the tower, one of the turrets of which is utilized for a smoke flue.</p><br>
<p>The first floor will contain the offices of the principal of the school, two classrooms and the auditorium.</p><br>
<p>The second story will contain a library 40 ft square with a gallery facing the second story of the tower, the balance of the floor being apportioned to the gallery of the auditorium, four classrooms, teacher’s rooms, toilets, etc.</p><br>
<p>The third floor will contain four classrooms, demonstration room, balance room, chemical laboratory, and lecture room.</p><br>
<p>The fourth story, which is over a portion of the building, will contain four classrooms. The completed scheme of which this is only a part contemplates the erection of a building on the northerly side of the tower for additional classrooms and laboratories, etc., as may be needed in the future.</p><br>
<p>The cornerstone for the new building was laid in January 1905 and work was begun immediately, resulting in seating for an additional 600 students. The construction contract was initially supposed to run until October 1905, but revisions required by the school board for laboratories and classrooms necessitated changes in the electrical and sanitation plans and delayed the work. The building was opened to students in September 1906.</p><br>
<p>In 1906, the committee purchased a real estate lot that was 57 10" X 138 9" X 359 3" X 7 3" X 493&#39; 6" “adjoining Erasmus Hall High School... to permit carrying out of the scheme for a building commanding a quadrangle, and will be built upon as soon as the school is in need of additional accommodations.</p><br>
<h4>Phase Two</h4><br>
<p>Although the first section of the new building brought the total students accommodated in 1906 to 1,750, by 1907 Erasmus Hall was again overcrowded, requiring the use of an annex at P.S. 42.</p><br>
<p>In his annual report, the Superintendent of Schools declared that,</p><br>
<p>The largest growth in high schools is found in Brooklyn. This growth arises not only from the natural increase in the number of pupils entering from the Brooklyn elementary schools, but also from the number of pupils entering from the Manhattan elementary schools...The consequence is that the Brooklyn high schools are all crowded to excess.</p><br>
<p>Concerned citizens of the area wrote to the Board of Education emphasizing:</p><br>
<p>... the fact that the new building contains only twelve classrooms, accommodating only 420 pupils, whereas there are fifty-two classes, comprising 1,591 pupils, occupying classrooms in the old frame school building and cottages, all of which are utterly unfit for use.</p><br>
<p>The Superintendent’s Annual Report for 1910 reported that 3,114 pupils were enrolled at Erasmus Hall High School and that they were accommodated in four different annex buildings in addition to the main one.</p><br>
<p>In 1909, the Board of Education approved Snyder’s plans for the next section of the school. This group of three buildings, including one to the north of the tower facing Flatbush Avenue, and two extending east along the northern side of the lot, comprised 31 classrooms, laboratories, study hall, music, drawing, physics, lecture and shop rooms. When this Church Avenue addition opened in September 1911, there was room for 1,451 more students in the main school.</p><br>
<h4>Phase Three</h4><br>
<p>The ever-growing school population continued to present challenges to the school board. In his report of May 21, 1924 on construction and maintenance, the Superintendent of Schools discussed "the stupendous building program now being carried on by the Board of Education..." The reason for this situation was given as a backlog of not enough building over several years, as well as an increase in high school population in New York City from 20,948 students in 1904, to 109,370 in 1924. These large numbers were attributed to many factors, including the passage and enforcement of a compulsory education law and the appreciation by more parents of the advantages of higher education to their children. In April 1924, the Board of Education approved the Bedford Avenue addition to Erasmus Hall High School. Snyder had left his position with the Board of Education shortly before construction of this section, but an elevation drawing in the collection of the Art Commission, by C. B. J. Snyder shows the building essentially as built. William Gompert had been appointed in his place and supervised the construction. Although somewhat simpler than his earlier buildings, the Bedford building has a central tower with an arched passageway into the courtyard, on axis with the tower on Flatbush Avenue. The building contained many new classrooms, gymnasia and a large swimming pool along the courtyard and was opened on February 2, 1902.</p><br>
<h4>Phase Four</h4><br>
<p>Lobbying began in 1929 for the construction of the final section, the building on the south side of the lot connecting the Bedford Avenue building with the auditorium near Flatbush Avenue. Money was not appropriated for this until 1937 however, and it was finally built in 1939–40. Under the supervision of the school system’s then chief architect, Eric Kebbon, the five-story building was an even more simplified version of Snyder’s earlier work. It contained many classrooms, art and homemaking rooms, a girls’ gym and a large library, and could accommodate 1,566 additional pupils. The new section opened in September 1940. To construct this building, the original frame school house had to be moved and its several wings demolished. Work on the old structure was begun by the Works Progress Administration, but was halted due to the outbreak of World War II. After the war, the relocation and restoration of the old building was completed and it was used for administrative offices. In 1987, in celebration of the school’s bicentennial, limited archaeological excavations were conducted under the auspices of Brooklyn College. The archaeologists discovered that intact deposits from the 18th and 19th centuries associated with the development of the school are still in place.</p><br>
<h2>Closure and current status</h2><br>
<p>In 1994, after years of poor academic scores, the huge Erasmus Hall High School was divided internally into five smaller high schools, each concentrating on a different academic area. The five schools have separate administrations and faculties, and hold classes in different sections of the large building. However, they use the common lunchroom, gymnasia, library and auditorium at separate times during the day. This division created no changes on the exterior of the building.</p><br>
<p>Five separate high schools now operate on the Erasmus Hall Educational Campus:</p><br>
<p>Academy for College Preparation and Career Exploration: A College Board School (K382)</p><br>
<p>Academy of Hospitality and Tourism (K408)</p><br>
<p>High School for Service & Learning at Erasmus (K539)</p><br>
<p>High School for Youth and Community Development at Erasmus (K537)</p><br>
<p>Science, Technology and Research Early College High School/Middle School at Erasmus (K543)</p><br>
<h2>Notable alumni</h2><br>
<p>Erasmus has had a number of famous and accomplished alumni. Some of the better known, including (class year), are listed below.</p><br>
<h3>Pre-20th century</h3><br>
<p>John M. Berrien (1793); Attorney General of the United States and Senator.</p><br>
<p>George Hall; first mayor of Brooklyn.</p><br>
<p>John W. Hunter (1824); New York State Senator, Congressman, and mayor of Brooklyn.</p><br>
<p>Morris Smith Miller (1794); Congressman and First Judge of Oneida County.</p><br>
<p>George M. Troup (1792); Governor of Georgia.</p><br>
<h3>20th century</h3><br>
<p>Mary Anderson, silent film actress</p><br>
<p>Herbert Aptheker, historian</p><br>
<p>Bob Arum, boxing promoter.</p><br>
<p>David Attie, photographer, who later shot portraits of fellow Erasmus Hall alumnus Bobby Fischer</p><br>
<p>Joseph Barbera (1928); artist; cartoonist; co-founder of Hanna-Barbera.</p><br>
<p>Jeff Barry (Joel Adelberg) (1955); songwriter/producer; Songwriters Hall of Fame member</p><br>
<p>Karen Bernod, singer</p><br>
<p>Clara Bow, silent film actress</p><br>
<p>Carol Bruce, actress and singer</p><br>
<p>Phillip Brutus, Florida politician</p><br>
<p>Artie Butler, music arranger and songwriter</p><br>
<p>Jeff Chandler (Ira Grossel) (1935); actor</p><br>
<p>Andrew Cheshire (1981); artist/musician</p><br>
<p>Al Cohn, tenor saxophonist</p><br>
<p>Betty Comden, (1933); playwright; Broadway musical songwriter with Adolph Green.</p><br>
<p>Jane Cowl (1902); actress, playwright (original name Grace Bailey).</p><br>
<p>Billy Cunningham (1961); player and coach, Philadelphia &#39;76ers basketball team.</p><br>
<p>Jon Cypher (1949); actor (Hill Street Blues)</p><br>
<p>Al Davis (c.1947); Oakland Raiders owner, Pro Football Hall of Fame member.</p><br>
<p>Clive Davis (1949); Grammy Award winning record producer; Chairman & CEO BMG North America; founder of Arista Records</p><br>
<p>Elaine de Kooning; painter</p><br>
<p>Neil Diamond, attended Erasmus from 1954–56; singer/songwriter.</p><br>
<p>Will Downing (1981); singer</p><br>
<p>Norm Drucker, professional basketball official.</p><br>
<p>Bobby Fischer (dropped out in 1960); chess champion.</p><br>
<p>Dave Getz (1957); drummer Big Brother and the Holding Company</p><br>
<p>Jim Florio (1964); former Governor of New Jersey.</p><br>
<p>Jonah Goldman, major league baseball player</p><br>
<p>Deborah Grabien (c. 1971); novelist/essayist; musician and songwriter.</p><br>
<p>Earl G. Graves (1952); publisher of Black Enterprise magazine</p><br>
<p>Arno Gruen, psychoanalyst, psychologist and writer</p><br>
<p>Susan Hayward (Edythe Marrenner), (1935); Oscar-winning actress</p><br>
<p>Eleanor Holm (1932); Olympic swimmer</p><br>
<p>Moe Howard (Moses Harry Horwitz), (dropped out after two months, 1915) member of the Three Stooges comedy team</p><br>
<p>Waite Hoyt, Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher for the New York Yankees and long-time broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds.</p><br>
<p>Stanley Edgar Hyman (c. 1933); literary critic; husband of Shirley Jackson.</p><br>
<p>Marty Ingels, comedian; husband of Shirley Jones.</p><br>
<p>Ned Irish (1924); Organizer of First Madison Square Garden Basketball Tournament (1934); Founder of the New York Knicks, President, Madison Square Garden; member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.</p><br>
<p>Eric Kandel (1944); winner of Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, 2000.</p><br>
<p>Lainie Kazan (Lainie Levine), (1956); actress and singer</p><br>
<p>Roger Kahn (1945); sportswriter, author of several books including The Boys of Summer.</p><br>
<p>Tom Kahn (1956); leader of the civil-rights, social-democratic, and labor movements.</p><br>
<p>Dorothy Kilgallen (1932); journalist and TV celebrity.</p><br>
<p>Bernie Kopell (1953); actor</p><br>
<p>Harold Kushner (1951); rabbi and author.</p><br>
<p>Samuel LeFrak (1936); real estate developer.</p><br>
<p>Larry Levan</p><br>
<p>Sid Luckman (1935); football champion with the Chicago Bears; NFL quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Fame.</p><br>
<p>Bernard Malamud (1932); author and educator; Pulitzer Prize for The Fixer, 1967, The Magic Barrel, 1958.</p><br>
<p>Daniel Mann, attended in 1920s, transferred before graduating; film and television director.</p><br>
<p>Kedar Massenburg (1981); former CEO/President of Motown Records</p><br>
<p>Barbara McClintock (1919); winner of Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, 1983.</p><br>
<p>Aline MacMahon, actress</p><br>
<p>Don McMahon, Major League Baseball player</p><br>
<p>James Meissner (1914); World War I Flying Ace</p><br>
<p>Stephanie Mills, (1975); actress/singer.</p><br>
<p>Doug Moe, (1956); long time player and coach, ABA and NBA.</p><br>
<p>Don Most (1970); actor</p><br>
<p>Gilbert Price (1960); singer/actor. Protege of Langston Hughes.</p><br>
<p>Marky Ramone (Marc Steven Bell), drummer of seminal New York punk band The Ramones</p><br>
<p>Michael Rapaport, TV actor, attended Erasmus in the 1980s</p><br>
<p>Lynn Pressman Raymond (c. 1912–2009), toy and game innovator who was president of the Pressman Toy Corporation</p><br>
<p>Jerry Reinsdorf (1953); part-owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago White Sox.</p><br>
<p>Mike Rosen (1960) Denver radio talk show host</p><br>
<p>Robert Rosen (1970); author of the best-selling biography Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon.</p><br>
<p>Alvin Roth (1948); college basketball player</p><br>
<p>Sam Rutigliano, former NFL head coach.</p><br>
<p>Arthur M. Sackler, MD (1931); art historian and collector; Collection of African and Ancient Art is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.</p><br>
<p>Brigadier General Guy Sands-Pingot, (1974); USA Army Officer</p><br>
<p>Sheldon Segal (c. 1943), contraceptive developer.</p><br>
<p>Alan Shulman (attended between 1928–1929); composer and cellist</p><br>
<p>Beverly Sills (Belle Miriam Silverman), coloratura opera singer, attended Erasmus in the mid-1940s and transferred before graduating.</p><br>
<p>Robert Silverberg (1952); novelist.</p><br>
<p>Special Ed (Edward Archer), rapper who mentions Erasmus Hall on his album Youngest in Charge.</p><br>
<p>Melodee M. Spevack (1970); actress, writer, anime voice performer</p><br>
<p>Mickey Spillane (Morrison Spillane) (1936); author of detective and mystery fiction.</p><br>
<p>Bern Nadette Stanis (Bernadette Stanislaus) (1972); actress</p><br>
<p>Barbara Stanwyck (c. 1922); stage and screen actress, dancer.</p><br>
<p>Barbra Streisand (Barbara Joan Streisand) (1959); actress, singer, director, producer.</p><br>
<p>Paul Sylbert (1946), art director and set designer</p><br>
<p>Richard Sylbert (1946) Academy Award-winning art director and set designer, twin brother of Paul</p><br>
<p>Norma Talmadge (1911); silent film actress.</p><br>
<p>Cheryl Toussaint (1970); athlete; Olympic gold medalist, 1972.</p><br>
<p>Kenny Vance, musician, who calls out Erasmus Hall in the first line of "Looking for an Echo"</p><br>
<p>Eli Wallach, (1932); actor.</p><br>
<p>Stanley Weiss, (1958); Founder, Woodland Hills Jaycees; Former State Senator, California Jaycees. Pen salesman, father of Alan R. Weiss.</p><br>
<p>Mae West (Mary Jane West) (1911); actress, comedian, playwright.</p><br>
<p>D. Train, (James Williams) (1980); singer/songwriter</p><br>
<p>Marian Winters (c. 1942), actress.</p><br>
<p>Paula Wolfert (1955), award-winning cookbook author and Mediterranean cuisines specialist</p><br>
<h3>21st century</h3><br>
<p>Curtis Samuel, (2013), professional football wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League</p><br>
<p>The Okanagan , also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of the Okanagan Country, extending into the United States as Okanogan County. As of 2011, the region&#39;s population is approximately 341,818. The primary city is Kelowna. The region is known for its dry, sunny climate, dry landscapes and lakeshore communities and particular lifestyle. The economy is retirement and commercial-recreation based, with outdoor activities such as boating and watersports, skiing and hiking. Agriculture has been focused primarily on fruit orchards, with a recent shift in focus to vineyards and wine. The region stretches northwards via the Spallumcheen Valley to connect to Sicamous in the Shuswap Country, and reaches south of the Canada–United States border, where it continues as Okanogan County. The Okanagan as a region is sometimes described as including the Boundary, Similkameen and Shuswap regions, though this is because of proximity and historic and commercial ties with those areas.</p><br>
<h2>Name origin</h2><br>
<p>The name is derived from the Okanagan language place name ukʷnaqín. An alternate explanation from Washington proposes "People living where you can see the top", ostensibly of Chopaka Peak in the Lower Similkameen.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Okanagan Valley is home to the Syilx, commonly known as the Okanagan people, an Interior Salish people who live in the valley from the head of Okanagan Lake downstream to near the river&#39;s confluence with the Columbia River in present-day Washington, as well as in the neighbouring Similkameen Valley and the Upper Nicola to the north of that, though the whole of their traditional territory encompasses the entire Columbia River watershed and includes areas east of the Okanogan River in Washington, i.e. the Colville Reservation. At the height of Okanagan culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The Okanagan people employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent villages of kekulis, a type of pithouse. Today the member bands of the Okanagan Nation Alliance are sovereign nations, with vibrant natural resource and tourism based economies. Their annual August gathering near Vernon is a celebration of the continuance of Syilx life and culture.</p><br>
<p>In 1811 the first non-natives came to the Okanagan Valley, in the form of a fur trading expedition voyaging north out of Fort Okanogan, a Pacific Fur Company outpost at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers. Within fifteen years, fur traders established, known as the Brigade Trail via the Cariboo Plateau and Thompson Country to Fort Kamloops and through the Okanagan, from Fort Alexandria at the southern end of the New Caledonia fur district in the Central Interior to the north, to Fort Vancouver, the HBC&#39;s headquarters in the Columbia Department, for passing furs between New Caledonia and the Columbia River for shipment to the Pacific. The trade route lasted until 1846, when the Oregon Treaty laid down the border between British North America and the United States west of the Rocky Mountains on the 49th parallel. The new border cut across the valley, bisecting Osoyoos Lake. To avoid paying tariffs, British traders forged a newer route that bypassed Fort Okanogan via the Fraser Canyon from Spuzzum up over the Cascade Mountains, then via the Nicola, Coldwater and Fraser rivers to Fort Langley instead of to Fort Vancouver, which had come into being in American territory. The Okanagan Valley did not see many more outsiders for a decade afterward.</p><br>
<p>In 1859, the first European settlement was established when Father Charles Pandosy led the making of an Oblate mission at Okanagan Mission, now a neighbourhood of Kelowna. The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858 eventually encouraged more settlement as some prospectors from the United States took the Okanagan Trail route on their way to the Fraser Canyon, although at the height of the rush the American adventurers who used the route did not settle because of outright hostilities from the Syilx, whom a few of the parties traversing the trail had harassed and brutalized. A few staked claims around the South Okanagan and Similkameen valleys and found gold and copper in places, with another trail from Fort Hope to newer goldfields at Rock Creek and Wild Horse Creek in the East Kootenay, skirting the US border and crossing Osoyoos Lake at Osoyoos, which was a customs post and also the location of the gold commissioner&#39;s office. The Dewdney Trail, surveyed and built by Edgar Dewdney, was constructed to prevent trade in the region from going north-south instead of remaining firmly under British control, and also for military mobility purposes should the need arise. In the decades following the gold rushes, ranchers, mostly on military land grants, came to settle on Okanagan Lake; notable ones included the Coldstream Ranch near Vernon, the Ellis Ranch, which formed the basis of the City of Penticton once subdivided, and the Richter Ranch, which continues in operation today, in the mountains between the Town of Oliver and the Village of Keremeos in the Similkameen.</p><br>
<p>A mining industry began in the southern Okanagan region, with Fairview, now an empty benchland on the western side of Oliver, the best-known and largest of the boomtowns created in the later part of the 19th Century. More farmers, as well as a small service industry, came to meet the needs of the miners.</p><br>
<p>Fruit production is a hallmark of the Okanagan Valley today, but the industry began with difficulty. Commercial orcharding of apples was first tried there in 1892, but a series of setbacks prevented the major success of commercial fruit crops until the 1920s. File:Aberdeen (sternwheeler).jpgthumb300</p><br>
<p>rightSS AberdeenUntil the 1930s, the demand for shipping fruit and other goods did drive a need for ongoing operations of the sternwheeler steamboats that serviced Okanagan Lake, operated by a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, linking the Southern Mainline with the original transcontinental mainline at Sicamous: the SS Aberdeen from 1886 and then the SS Sicamous and SS Naramata from 1914, and others. The Sicamous and Naramata survive as a tourist attraction on Okanagan Beach on the north side of Penticton, the Sicamous serving both as a museum and also an event facility. Other steamboats operated on Skaha Lake to the south of that city. The club lounge and wheelhouse, without any keel or hull, of the SS Okanagan are in the same park as the Sicamous and Naramata.</p><br>
<p>While the last half-century has grown several resource-based enterprises in the region, primarily forestry, though mining had played an important role in earlier times. The fastest-growing industries in the Okanagan today are real estate, tourism accommodations and services, and retirement-driven real estate development as well as the ripping up of orchards and their replacement by wineries and vinyards. Favoured by its sunny climate, lakes, and winery attractions, the valley has become a popular destination for vacationers and retirees. The area also attracts seasonal fruit-picking labourers, primarily from Quebec and Mexico.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Like much of Southern British Columbia, the Okanagan receives a mild climate, although the Okanagan is considerably drier than many other areas. It is located roughly between the temperate rainforests of coastal British Columbia, and the worlds only temperate forest inland, on the western slopes of the Columbia mountains. Most of the Okanagan lies within the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains to the southwest. Areas in the north end of the valley receive more precipitation and cooler temperatures than areas to the south. Generally, Kelowna is the transition zone between the drier south and the wetter north. Vegetation also ranges from cactus and sagebrush in the south, to Cedar and Hemlock trees in the North. The Okanagan Valley receives hot summers and moderately cold winters, although the latter are extremely mild by Canadian standards; south of and including the city of Kelowna, no month of the year has an average high temperature that is below freezing (0°C). Areas near Osoyoos and Oliver claim to be Canadas only desert, though they are really shrub-steppe and only semi-arid, and other parts of BC have similar climates and vegetation. Daytime highs in that region occasionally surpass 40 °C in the summer months.</p><br>
<p>Between 2000BC and 1900AD, the climate and vegetation of the Okanagan had changed little. However, historical records from the Pacific Agrifood Research Station in Summerland indicate that the Okanagan climate had warmed by about 1°C between 1908 and 1994.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The area was occupied by Pleistocene glaciation, and a widespread mantle of glacial drift covers the underlying bedrock.</p><br>
<p>At the end of the Pleistocene, marginal lakes formed along the sides of the melting ice lobe and streams deposited their loads in them as deltas and accumulations of silt.</p><br>
<p>These accumulations now form the white cliffs which are particularly prominent along the southern end of Okanagan Lake.</p><br>
<p>Geographic features include:</p><br>
<p>Kalamalka Lake</p><br>
<p>Mabel Lake</p><br>
<p>Mahoney Lake</p><br>
<p>Mara Lake</p><br>
<p>McIntyre Bluff</p><br>
<p>Mount Boucherie</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Highland</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Lake</p><br>
<p>Okanagan River</p><br>
<p>Osoyoos Lake</p><br>
<p>Shuswap River</p><br>
<p>Skaha Lake</p><br>
<p>Swan Lake</p><br>
<p>Thompson Plateau</p><br>
<p>Tuc-el-nuit Lake</p><br>
<p>Vaseux Lake</p><br>
<p>Wood Lake</p><br>
<h3>Major highways</h3><br>
<p>Highway 97 (Okanagan Highway)</p><br>
<p>Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway)</p><br>
<p>Highway 97C (Okanagan Connector)</p><br>
<p>Highway 33</p><br>
<p>Highway 6</p><br>
<p>Highway 97A</p><br>
<h3>Provincial parks</h3><br>
<h3>Adjacent regions</h3><br>
<h2>Communities</h2><br>
<p>All statistical figures are based on the Canada 2011 Census and British Columbia Ministry of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development.</p><br>
<h3>Municipalities</h3><br>
<p>Statistics Canada. 2017. Armstrong, CY, British Columbia and Okanagan, RD, British Columbia (table). Census Profile. 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released February 8, 2017.</p><br>
<p>(accessed April 16, 2017).</p><br>
<h3>Designated places</h3><br>
<h3>Unincorporated communities</h3><br>
<h4>North Okanagan</h4><br>
<p>Cherryville</p><br>
<p>Grindrod</p><br>
<p>Lavington</p><br>
<h4>Central Okanagan</h4><br>
<p>Carr&#39;s Landing (part of Lake Country)</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Centre (part of Lake Country)</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Mission (part of Kelowna)</p><br>
<p>Oyama (part of Lake Country)</p><br>
<p>Lakeview Heights (part of West Kelowna)</p><br>
<p>Rutland (part of Kelowna)</p><br>
<p>Westbank (part of West Kelowna)</p><br>
<p>Winfield (part of Lake Country)</p><br>
<h4>South Okanagan</h4><br>
<p>Faulder</p><br>
<p>Fairview (part of Oliver)</p><br>
<p>Shingle Creek</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Falls</p><br>
<h3>Indian reserves</h3><br>
<p>The Indian reserves of the Okanagan first peoples also form identifiable communities:</p><br>
<p>Osoyoos Indian Band</p><br>
<p>Penticton Indian Band</p><br>
<p>Westbank First Nation (Kelowna)</p><br>
<p>Okanagan Indian Band (Vernon)</p><br>
<p>The Osoyoos and Westbank Indian Reserves have large non-native populations because of band-governed residential and commercial development on their lands. The Osoyoos Indian Reserve leases large swathes of land to commercial vinyard developments and is where 40% of wine grapes used in the Okanagan come from.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The population of the region was 350,927, as of the 2009 CB stats estimates.</p><br>
<h2>Sport</h2><br>
<p>Ice hockey is a popular sport in the region with WHL team Kelowna Rockets playing in the region&#39;s most populated city. The Jr. A teams are the Vernon Vipers, Westside Warriors and the Penticton Vees of the BCHL. Penticton were the 2012 national Jr. A champions, after they ousted the Woodstock Slammers for the title. Jr. B sides Kelowna Chiefs, Summerland Steam, Osoyoos Coyotes and North Okanagan Knights play in the KIJHL, Osoyoos having won the 2010/11 KIJHL season. Penticton and Summerland are both home to Chicago Blackhawks Defenceman Duncan Keith.</p><br>
<p>The area has been host to multiple junior hockey championships, including the Memorial Cup in Kelowna in 2004 and RBC Cup in Vernon in 1990 (then called the Centennial Cup) and 2014.</p><br>
<p>Kelowna is home to junior Canadian football team Okanagan Sun, and Jr. Baseball team Kelowna Falcons, including the UBC Okanagan Heat university program.</p><br>
<h2>Agricultural Labour</h2><br>
<p>The continued growth and operation of the agricultural industry in the Okanagan absolutely depends on the employment of temporary migrant workers.</p><br>
<p>In 2009, there were 3,000 Mexican migrant labourers working in the Okanagan.</p><br>
<p>See Racialization, Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and Racialization of Labour in the Okanagan.</p><br>
<p>Mount Ainslie is a hill with an elevation of 843 m that is located in the northeastern suburbs of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Mount Ainslie lies within part of the Canberra Nature Park.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>Mount Ainslie borders on the inner suburbs of, and and is named in honour of James Ainslie, a 19th-century settler who was the overseer on, a large property in the area.</p><br>
<p>The Mount Ainslie tourist outlook, one of Canberras most popular, provides excellent views of central Canberra and to the south and Black Mountain to the west especially towards sunset. According to an article written in 1922, this outlook will afford an ever changing birds eye and panoramic picture of the citys buildings and beauty spots, as well as of the lovely plains that run to join the Yass Plains on the north. An air beacon located at the summit is part of the national capitals air navigation system guiding air traffic towards the nearby Canberra Airport.</p><br>
<p>A walking trail which leads from the back of the Australian War Memorial, called the Mount Ainslie Kokoda summit train, is well maintained with steps and is paved. The trail is used by around 200 people each day. It has a number of plaques commemorating the battles fought in World War II in the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, with the plaques set out as though it was on the Kokoda Trail. A quarry is located around 200 m from the peak.</p><br>
<p>Mount Ainslie is the northernmost point of a land axis, planned by Walter Burley Griffin, that stretches through North and South Canberra. This axis takes in the Australian War Memorial and the old and new Parliament Houses.</p><br>
<h2>Summit design competition</h2><br>
<p>In 2016 the ACT Government and the National Capital Authority ran a design competition for, with the aim to produce a ten-year strategy for the Mount Ainslie summit. The competition winners were Sue Barnsley and Jane Irwin, who proposed new parking, signage, picnic areas, lawns and plantings.</p><br>
<p>Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra.</p><br>
<p>Griffin designed the lake with many geometric motifs, so that the axes of his design lined up with natural geographical landmarks in the area. However, government authorities changed his original plans and no substantial work was completed before he left Australia in 1920. His scheme remained unfulfilled as the Great Depression and World War II intervened, and it was not until the 1950s that planning resumed. After much political dispute over several proposed variations, excavation work began in 1960 with the energetic backing of Prime Minister Robert Menzies. After the completion of the bridges and dams, the dams were locked in September 1963. However, a drought meant that the target water level was not reached until April 1964. It was formally inaugurated on 17 October 1964.</p><br>
<p>The lake is located in the approximate geographic centre of the city, and is the centrepiece of the capital in accordance with Griffin&#39;s original designs. Numerous important institutions, such as the National Gallery, National Museum, National Library, Australian National University and the High Court were built on its shores, and Parliament House is a short distance away. Its surrounds, consisting mainly of parklands, are popular with recreational users, particularly in the warmer months. Though swimming in the lake is uncommon, it is used for a wide variety of other activities, such as rowing, fishing, and sailing.</p><br>
<p>The lake is an ornamental body with a length of 11 km and a width, at its widest, of 1.2 km. It has an average depth of 4 m and a maximum depth of about 18 m near the Scrivener Dam. Its flow is regulated by the 33 m Scrivener Dam, designed to handle floods that occur once in 5,000 years. In times of drought, water levels can be maintained through the release of water from Googong Dam, located on an upstream tributary of the Molonglo River.</p><br>
<h2>Design history</h2><br>
<p>Charles Robert Scrivener (1855–1923) recommended the site for Canberra in 1909, which was to be a planned capital city for the country. One of the reasons for the locations selection was its ability to store water "for ornamental purposes at reasonable cost&quot Scriveners work had demonstrated that the topography could be used to create a lake through flooding.</p><br>
<p>In 1911, a competition for the design of Canberra was launched, and Scriveners detailed survey of the area was supplied to the competing architects. The Molonglo River flowed through the site, which was a flood plain and Scriveners survey showed in grey an area clearly representing an artificial lake—similar to the lake later created—and four possible locations for a dam to create it. Most of the proposals took the hint and included artificial bodies of water.</p><br>
<h3>Walter Burley Griffin's design</h3><br>
<p>The American architect Walter Burley Griffin won the contest and was invited to Australia to oversee the construction of the nations new capital after the judges decision was ratified by King OMalley, the Minister for Home Affairs. Griffins proposal, which had an abundance of geometric patterns, incorporated concentric hexagonal and octagonal streets emanating from several radii.</p><br>
<p>His lake design was at the heart of the city and consisted of a Central Basin in the shape of circular segment, a West and East Basin, which were both approximately circular, and a West and East Lake, which were much larger and irregularly shaped, at either side of the system. The East Lake was supposed to be 6 m higher than the remaining components. Griffin&#39;s proposal was "the grandest scheme submitted, yet it had an appealing simplicity and clarity.</p><br>
<p>The lakes were deliberately designed so that their orientation was related to various topographical landmarks in Canberra.</p><br>
<p>The straight edge of the circular segment that formed the central basin was designated the water axis, and it extended northwest towards Black Mountain, The municipal axis became the location of Constitution Avenue, which linked City Hill in Civic Centre and Market Centre. Commonwealth Avenue and Kings Avenue were to run from the southern side from Capital Hill to City Hill and Market Centre on the north respectively, and they formed the western and eastern edges of the central basin. The area enclosed by the three avenues was known as the Parliamentary Triangle, and was to form the centrepiece of Griffin&#39;s work.</p><br>
<p>Later, Scrivener, as part of a government design committee, was responsible for modifying Griffins winning design. He recommended changing the shape of the lake from Griffins very geometric shapes to a much more organic one using a single dam, unlike Griffin&#39;s series of weirs.</p><br>
<p>Griffin entered into correspondence with the government over the plan and its alternatives, and he was invited to Canberra to discuss the matter. Griffin arrived in August 1913 and was appointed Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction for three years.</p><br>
<p>The plans were varied again in the following years, but the design of Lake Burley Griffin remained based largely on the original committee&#39;s plan. based on a 1918 plan. A 1920s proposal to reduce West Lake into a ribbon of water was made on the basis of flood safety. However, the Owen and Peake report of 1929 ruled that the original design was hydrologically sound.</p><br>
<h3>Political disputes and modifications</h3><br>
<p>With the onset of the Great Depression, followed by World War II, development of the new capital was slow, and in the decade after the end of the war, Canberra was criticised for resembling a village,</p><br>
<p>During this time, the Molonglo River flowed through the flood basin, with only a small fraction of the water envisaged in Griffins plan. The centre of his capital city consisted of mostly farmland, with small settlements—mostly wooden, temporary and ad hoc—on either side. There was little evidence that Canberra was planned, and no earth had been moved since Griffins departure three decades earlier.</p><br>
<p>In 1950, the East Lake—the largest component—was eliminated upon the advice of the National Capital Planning and Development Committee (NCPDC). Today, what would have been the East Lake corresponds to the suburb of Fyshwick. The rationale given was that around 1,700 acres of farmland would be submerged and that the Molonglo would have insufficient water to keep the lake filled.</p><br>
<p>In 1953, the NCPDC excised the West Lake from its plans and replaced it with a winding stream, which was 110 m wide and covered around a fifth of the original area. Advocates of watered-down scheme thought it was more economical and saved 350 hectare of land for development.</p><br>
<p>Initially, there was little opposition during the consultation period before the alterations were made. However, opposition to the reduction of the water area grew. and many politicians and the chief town planner were not informed. Critics bitterly insinuated that politically influential members of the Royal Canberra Golf Club, whose course was situated on the location of the proposed West Lake, were responsible for the change in policy.</p><br>
<p>The Parliamentary Public Works Committee advised the Parliament to restore the West Lake. After an inquiry in late 1954, it concluded that:</p><br>
<p>The Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, regarded the state of the national capital as an embarrassment. Over time his attitude changed from one of contempt to that of championing its development. He fired two ministers charged with the development of the city, feeling that their performance lacked intensity.</p><br>
<p>In 1958, the newly created National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which had been created and given more power by Menzies following a 1955 Senate inquiry, and it was formally gazetted in October 1959. The NCDC also blocked a plan by the Department of Works to build a bridge across the lake along the land axis between Parliament House and the War Memorial contrary to Griffin&#39;s plans.</p><br>
<p>A powerful Senate Select Committee oversaw the NCDC and renowned British architect Sir William Holford was brought in to fine-tune Griffins original plans. He changed the central basins geometry so that it was no longer a segment of circle; he converted the southern straight edge into a polygonal shape with three edges and inserted a gulf on the northern shore. The result was closer to Scrivener&#39;s modified design some decades earlier.</p><br>
<h2>Final layout</h2><br>
<p>The lake contains 33,000,000 m&sup3; of water with a surface area of 6.64 km&sup2;. It is 11 km long, 1.2 km wide at its widest point, has a shoreline of 40.5 km and a water level of 555.93 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The lake is relatively shallow; the maximum depth is 17.6 m near the Scrivener Dam, and the average depth is 4.0 m. The shallowest part of the complex in the East Basin, which has an average depth of 1.9 m. The minimum depth of the water at the walls is around 0.5 m and rock is placed at the toe of the wall to inhibit aquatic plant growth.</p><br>
<p>Lake Burley Griffin contains six islands, three unnamed small islands and three larger named islands. Of the larger islands, Aspen Island is located in Central Basin while Springbank and Spinnaker Island are located in the West Lake. and is the site of the Australian National Carillon.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>In 1958, engineers conducted studies into the hydrology and structural requirements needed for the building of the dam. Further studies were done to model water quality, siltation, climate effects and change in land quality. Modelling based on the data collection suggested that the water level could be kept within a metre of the intended level of 556 m above sea level in the case of a flood.</p><br>
<p>In February 1959, formal authority for beginning construction was granted. However, while Menzies was on holiday, some officials from the Department of Treasury convinced ministers to withhold money needed for the lake, so the start of the construction was delayed.</p><br>
<p>After the lengthy political wrangling over the design had passed, the criticism of the scheme died down. Menzies strongly denounced the "moaning" by opponents of the lake. Most critics decried the project as a waste of money that should have been spent on essential services across Australia. Less strident concerns centred on the potentially negative effects of the lake, such as mosquitoes, ecological degeneration, siltation and the possibility that the lake would create fog. The latter of these concerns has proven to be unfounded.</p><br>
<h3>Lakes, islands and foreshore</h3><br>
<p>The excavation of Lake Burley Griffin began in 1960 with the clearing of vegetation from the floodplain of the Molonglo River. The trees on the golf course and along the river were pulled up, along with the various sports grounds and houses.</p><br>
<p>During major earthworks, at least 382,000 m&sup3; of topsoil was excavated. It was collected for use at several public parks and gardens,</p><br>
<p>Care was taken to excavate the entire lake floor to a depth of at least 2 m to provide sufficient clearance for boat keels. Another reason given for this was that mosquitoes would not breed nor would weeds grow at such a depth. A soil conservation program was launched in the catchment and bed load traps were installed to minimise loss of earth. The traps have been used as a source of sand and gravel for building sites. Drainage blankets were used to prevent the loss of groundwater beneath the lake.</p><br>
<p>During the following phase of work, four types of lake margin were constructed. Eucalypts were preferred so as to maintain the natural colour of the city landscape.</p><br>
<h3>Bridges</h3><br>
<p>Lake Burley Griffin is crossed by Commonwealth Avenue Bridge (310 m), Kings Avenue Bridge (270 m) and a roadway over Scrivener Dam. The two bridges were constructed before the lake was filled, and replaced wooden structures.</p><br>
<p>Site testing for both the Commonwealth Avenue and Kings Avenue bridges took place during late 1959 to early 1960. The construction of the Kings Avenue Bridge began in 1960, followed by Commonwealth Avenue Bridge the year after. Fortunately for the builders, Canberra was in a drought and the ground remained dry during construction. Both bridges use post-tensioned concrete, reinforced with rustproof steel cables.</p><br>
<p>Both bridges are made of concrete and steel and are dual-carriageway; Commonwealth Avenue has three lanes in each direction while Kings Avenue has two. The design was deemed a success, so it was introduced to the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge also. Both structures won awards from the Illumination Engineering Society.</p><br>
<p>Kings Avenue Bridge opened on 10 March 1962. Prime Minister Menzies unlocked a ceremonial chain before the motorcade and pageant crossed the lake in front of a large crowd. Commonwealth Avenue Bridge opened in 1963 without an official ceremony. Menzies called it "the finest building in the national capital".</p><br>
<h3>Dam</h3><br>
<p>The dam that holds back the waters of Lake Burley Griffin was named Scrivener Dam after Charles Robert Scrivener. The dam was designed and built by Rheinstahl Union Bruckenbau in West Germany, Construction began in September 1960 and the dam was locked in September 1963.</p><br>
<p>The dam has five bay spillway controlled by 30.5 m wide, hydraulically operated fish-belly flap gates. The fish-belly gates allow for a precise control of water level, reducing the dead area on the banks between high and low water levels. The five gates have only been opened simultaneously once in the dams history, during heavy flooding in 1976. The gates hold two thirds of the lakes volume. They were designed to allow easy flow of debris out of the lake.</p><br>
<p>The dam has the capacity to allow a flow of 5,600 m3/s but can withstand up to 8,600 m3/s before "catastrophic damage" results; A flow of 2,830 m3/s can be dealt with without any substantial change in the water level. The highest recorded flow in the Molonglo was 3,400 m3/s during an earlier flood.</p><br>
<p>Lady Denman Drive, a roadway atop the dam wall, provides a third road crossing for the lake. It consists of a roadway and a bicycle path,</p><br>
<h3>Lake filling</h3><br>
<p>A prolonged drought coincided with and eased work on the lakes construction. The valves on the Scrivener Dam were closed on 20 September 1963 by Minister for the Interior, Gordon Freeth; Menzies was absent due to ill health. On 17 October 1964, Menzies (by now Sir Robert) commemorated the filling of the lake and the completion of stage one with an opening ceremony amid the backdrop of sailing craft. The ceremony was accompanied by fireworks display, and Griffins lake had finally come to fruition after five decades, at the cost of AUD5,039,050. Freeth suggested that Menzies had "been in a material sense the father of the lake" and that the lake should be named after him. Menzies insisted that the lake should be named after Griffin.</p><br>
<p>In times of severe drought, Lake Burley Griffin&#39;s water level can fall unacceptably low. When this happens, a release of water from Googong Dam located upstream can be scheduled to top up and restore the lake water level. The Googong Dam is located on the Queanbeyan River which is a tributary of the Molonglo River.</p><br>
<h2>Later history and development</h2><br>
<p>Griffins design made the lake a focal point of the city. In the four decades since the initial construction of the lake, various buildings of national importance were added. According to the policy plan of the government, "The lake is not only one of the centrepieces of Canberras plan in its own right, but forms the immediate foreground of the National Parliamentary Area."</p><br>
<p>The creation of the lake also gave a water frontage to many prominent institutions that were previously landlocked. The Royal Canberra Hospital was located on the Acton Peninsula between the West Lake and the West Basin on the north shore until its demolition. Government House, the historic Blundell&#39;s Cottage—which was built over 50 years before construction of Canberra began—and the newly built Australian National University, on the southern and northern shores of the West Lake, both gained a waterfront.</p><br>
<p>In 1970, two tourist attractions were added to the middle of Central Basin. The Captain James Cook Memorial was built by the government to commemorate the Bicentenary of (then Lieutenant) James Cooks first sighting of the east coast of Australia. It includes a water jet fountain located in the central basin (based on the Jet deau in Geneva) and a skeleton globe sculpture at Regatta Point showing the paths of Cooks expeditions. On 25 April 1970, Queen Elizabeth II officially inaugurated the memorial. As part of the same ceremony, Queen Elizabeth also opened the National Carillon on Aspen Island, a set of 53 bronze bells donated by the British Government to commemorate the citys 50th anniversary.</p><br>
<p>The completion of the central basin placed a waterway between Parliament House and the War Memorial and a landscaped boulevard was built along the land axis. Later, various buildings of national importance were built along the land axis in the late-1960s through to the early 1980s. The National Library was opened on the western side of the axis in April 1968. Building of the High Court and National Gallery occurred in the late-1970s and the buildings were opened in May 1980 and October 1982 respectively. The latter two buildings lie on the eastern side of the axis and are connected by an aerial bridge. In 1988, the new Parliament House was built on Capital Hill, thereby completing the most important structure in the Parliamentary Triangle.</p><br>
<p>The current home of the National Museum was built on the former site of the Royal Canberra Hospital in 2001. This occurred after the public were encouraged to watch the controlled demolition of the hospital in 1997, but a girl was killed by flying debris, leading to criticism of the ACT Government.</p><br>
<p>At the start of the 21st century, the layout of the lake was significantly altered for the first time since its construction, through the Kingston Foreshores Redevelopment on southern shore of the East Basin, which was planned in 1997. After a dispute over the environmental impact of the development, building works commenced on the previously industrial lakeside area of the suburb. In 2007, work started to reclaim land from the lakebed to form a harbour.</p><br>
<p>The Kingston Powerhouse, which used to provide the city&#39;s power supply, was converted into the Canberra Glassworks in 2007, 50 years after the electricity generators stopped. A 25 m tower of glass and light named Touching Lightly was unveiled on 21 May 2010 by Chief Minister and Minister for the Arts and Heritage Jon Stanhope. It was built by Australian artist Warren Langley.</p><br>
<p>In 2007, the government unveiled a proposal to redevelop the area surrounding the historic Albert Hall into a tourist and dining precinct. This included the building of an eight-storey building and the rezoning of some waterfront land currently designated as cultural to commercial. It was met with widespread hostility from heritage activists and the general community, which submitted more than 3,300 signatories in a petition against the scheme. One of the criticisms was that the project was tilted too heavily towards business, and neglected the arts and community events. The proposal was scrapped in 2009.</p><br>
<p>It has been proposed that a footbridge, to be named Immigration Bridge, be built between the National Museum of Australia and Lennox Gardens on the south shore, in recognition of the contributions that immigrants have made to Australia. The proposal has mostly received negative feedback. An inquiry recommended that the bridge be redesigned or moved to accommodate the needs of other lake users.</p><br>
<h2>Lakeside recreation</h2><br>
<p>The surrounds of Lake Burley Griffin are very popular recreational areas, and is known locally as LBG. Public parks exist along most of the shore line, with free electric barbecue facilities, fenced-in swimming areas, picnic tables and toilets. These parklands form a large part of the area around the lake, and occupy 3.139 km&sup2; in total. Some of the parks reserved for public recreation include Commonwealth, Weston, Kings and Grevillea Parks, Lennox Gardens and Commonwealth Place. Commonwealth and Kings Park on the northern shore of the Central Basin are among the two most popular. The former is an urban horticultural park and is the location of the Canberra Festival. Commonwealth Park is the location of Floriade, an annual flower festival that is held for around a month in spring and attracts upwards of 300,000 visitors, a number comparable to the city population. The largest flower festival in Australia, the event is a major tourist attraction for the city, and legal action was threatened after another festival in Australia wanted to use the same name. An expansion is being planned to coincide with the centenary of the national capital. The Weston Park to the west is known for its woodland and conifers, while Black Mountain Peninsula is known as a picnicking site with eucalypts. Grevillea and Bowen Parks on the East Basin tend to be little used.</p><br>
<p>Owing to the proliferation of beaches, boat ramps and jetties, the West Lake is the area most used by swimmers and vessels. Fireworks are often held over the lake on New Year&#39;s Eve, and a large show called Skyfire has been held at the lake since 1989.</p><br>
<h3>Water sports</h3><br>
<p>Lake Burley Griffin, apart from being ornamental, is used for many recreational activities. Canoeing, sailing, paddleboating, windsurfing and dragon boating are popular. During summer, the lake is used for the swim leg of numerous triathlon and aquathlon events including the Sri Chinmoy Triathlon Festival.</p><br>
<p>Generally, powerboat use on the lake is not permitted. Permits are available for the use of powered boats on the lake for use in rescue, training, commercial purposes or special interest (such as historic steam powered boats). Molonglo Reach, an area of the Molonglo River just before it enters the east basin is set aside for water skiing. Ten powerboats may be used in this limited area.</p><br>
<h3>Safety</h3><br>
<p>The lake is patrolled by the Australian Federal Police water police. The water police give assistance to lake users, helping to right boats and towing crippled craft to shore.</p><br>
<p>At most swimming locations around Lake Burley Griffin there are fenced-in swimming areas for safety. In the more popular areas, there are also safety lockers with life belts and emergency phones for requesting help. Between 1962 and 1991, seven people died from drowning.</p><br>
<p>For safety and water quality reasons, the lake has different zones for different activities. The eastern extremity is zoned for primary contact water activities such as swimming and water skiing. The East and Central Basins, closer to populated areas, are zoned for secondary contact water sports such as sailing or rowing. West Lake and Tarcoola Reach, which covers the area between Commonwealth Avenue and Kurrajong Point, is the primary recreational area of the lake, and both primary and secondary contact water sports are permitted. Yarramundi Reach near Scrivener Dam has a marked rowing course, and is zoned as secondary, although primary contact activities are also allowed.</p><br>
<h2>Environmental issues</h2><br>
<h3>Water quality</h3><br>
<p>Toxic blue-green algae blooms are a reasonably common occurrence in the lake. Warnings about coming into contact with the water are released when an algal bloom is detected. Attempts are being made to limit the amount of phosphates entering the lake in the hope of improving its water quality. Blue-green algae (more correctly cyanobacteria) produce toxins, which can be harmful for humans and any other animals that come in contact with the contaminated water. There have been several cases of dogs being affected after playing in and drinking the lake water.</p><br>
<p>The water also appears murky due to a high level of turbidity; Siltation is not considered a major problem and is only a factor in the East Basin, but dredging is not required. The problem has eased with the construction of the Googong Dam, and the spectre of heavy metal pollution has receded, However, leaching and groundwater leakage still causes some pollution. Rubbish, oil and sediment traps have been set up at the incoming openings to the lake to minimise pollution.</p><br>
<h3>Aquatic life and fishing</h3><br>
<p>Fishing is quite popular in the lake. The most common species caught is the illegally introduced carp. Annual monitoring is carried out to determine fish populations. Almost equally as common are the introduced redfin European perch, with these being a regular by catch when fishing for golden perch. However, a number of less common species also inhabit the lake, including native Murray cod, western carp gudgeon and golden perch, as well as introduced goldfish, Gambusia, rainbow trout and brown trout.</p><br>
<p>The lake has been stocked annually with a variety of introduced and native species and over half a million fish have been released since 1981. There have been many changes to the fish populations in the lake as well as stocking practices since it was first filled.</p><br>
<p>Regular stocking since the start of the 1980s have re-established reasonable populations of golden perch and Murray cod; The main reason for stocking is to boost fish stocks along the Molonglo, which have been depleted by overfishing, introduced species and habitat destruction. One of the motives for raising the level of Murray cod and golden perch is to balance the ecosystem by having them act as native predators of other fish.</p><br>
<p>Native Silver perch and introduced brown trout were released in 1981–83 and 1987–89 respectively, but have not been stocked since. Silver perch stockings resulted in almost no captures. Introduced rainbow trout have been released sporadically, approximately once a decade, but have not been released since 2002–04, due to unacceptably low survival rates. According to a government report, the reason for the low survival rate is unknown, but the dominance of carp in the competition for food is one suggested theory. However, the eutrophic nature and high water temperatures of the lake in summer are more probable reasons. Golden perch and Murray cod have accounted for around four fifths of the released fish in the last three decades and have been the only fish stocked in the last five years. The government plans to stock only these two species for the five years leading up to 2014.</p><br>
<p>B. Everett Jordan Lake is a reservoir in New Hope Valley, west of Raleigh and south of Durham in Chatham County, North Carolina, in the United States; the northernmost end of the lake extends into southwestern Durham County.</p><br>
<p>Part of the Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, the reservoir covers 13,940 acre with a shoreline of 180 mi at its standard water level of 216 ft above sea level. It was developed as part of a flood control project prompted by a particularly damaging tropical storm that hit the region downstream in September 1945. Constructed at an original cost of US $146,300,000, it is owned and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which dammed and flooded the Haw River and New Hope River between 1973 and 1983.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>The Jordan Lake Dam (also known as the B. Everett Jordan Project and the New Hope Dam) is located at 35&deg;39&prime;15&Prime;N latitude, 79&deg;4&prime;0&Prime;W longitude 4 miles (6 km) upstream from the mouth of the Haw River in the upper Cape Fear River drainage basin. Completed in 1974 by the Nello L. Teer Company, it is 1,330 feet (405 m) in length and has a top elevation of 266.5 feet (81 m) above mean sea level.</p><br>
<p>During the construction of the reservoir, much of the area was permanently changed. Many farming families were relocated as the project was developed and several roads in eastern Chatham County were either rerouted or taken out of commission completely. Some of the roads were never demolished, but simply allowed to flood over. When the lake is at low water volume, many of these roads can still be seen and some have even been utilized for makeshift boat ramps.</p><br>
<p>Originally authorized in 1963 as the New Hope Lake Project, the reservoir was renamed in 1974 in memory of B. Everett Jordan, former US Senator from North Carolina.</p><br>
<h2>Water supply</h2><br>
<p>Jordan Lake serves as a major water supply for about 250,000 (1990) people in North Carolina. Allocations made in 2002 total 63 mgd. Governmental units allocated water from Jordan Lake are Towns of Cary and Apex (32 mgd), Chatham County (6 mgd), City of Durham (10 mgd), Town of Holly Springs (2 mgd), Town of Morrisville (3.5 mgd), Orange County (1 mgd), Orange Water & Sewer Authority (5 mgd), and Wake County - RTP South (3.5 mgd). As of 2014 the NCDENR Division of Water Resources is conducting a round of applications for water allocation.</p><br>
<h2>Water quality</h2><br>
<p>Jordan Lake was declared as nutrient-sensitive waters (NSW) by the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission from 1983, the year it was impounded. The lake is eutrophic or hyper-eutrophic owing to excessive nutrient levels.</p><br>
<p>Requirements of the federal Clean Water Act were triggered when the lake became impaired, including the need to set load reduction limits for point and nonpoint sources and enforce discharge limits.</p><br>
<p>The Jordan Lake Rules are designed to improve water quality in the lake. The rules were developed with extensive meetings, public hearings and negotiations between residents, environmental groups, local and state government agencies and other stakeholders. The rules mandate reducing pollution from wastewater discharges, stormwater runoff from new and existing development, agriculture and fertilizer application.</p><br>
<p>From July 2011 several NC laws have been passed delaying and weakening the rules, culminating in a plan to deploy floating arrays of in-lake circulators intended to reduce harmful algae and excessive chlorophyll. However, they proved ineffective in a testing program and were removed in 2016.</p><br>
<h2>Shoreline trash cleanup</h2><br>
<p>Bald eagle habitat being endangered by trash submerged by the lake&#39;s creation spurred volunteer efforts to clean up the shoreline and other sensitive areas.</p><br>
<p>In 2009 the USA Army Corps of Engineers worked with local activists to establish Clean Jordan Lake, a nonprofit "friends of the lake" group. Volunteer cleanups aided by the Corps of Engineers began in 2010. Since then, Clean Jordan Lake has organized over 300 community service cleanups, formed the Adopt-A-Shoreline Program that comprises 19 groups that clean habitually littered areas three times per year, and formed the Adopt-A-Feeder Stream Program with semi-annual cleanups to prevent trash from reaching the lake. As of late 2017, 5,600 volunteers have removed 13,500 bags of trash (enough to fill 40 large dumpsters) and 4,300 tires. Clean Jordan Lake estimates that 80% of the trash is from stormwater runoff and 20% from recreational use of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known written reference to the rock dates to 1715 when it was described in the town boundary records as "a great rock." The first documented claim that Plymouth Rock was the landing place of the Pilgrims was made by Elder Thomas Faunce in 1741, 121 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth. From that time to the present, Plymouth Rock has occupied a prominent spot in American tradition and has been interpreted by later generations as a symbol both of the virtues and flaws of the first English people who colonized New England. In 1774, the rock broke in half during an attempt to haul it to Town Square in Plymouth. The top portion  sat in Town Square, was moved to Pilgrim Hall Museum in 1834, and was returned to its original site on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in 1880. Today it is ensconced beneath a granite canopy designed by McKim, Mead & White.</p><br>
<h2>History of Plymouth Rock</h2><br>
<h3>Early history and identification</h3><br>
<p>Plymouth Rock is geologically classified as a Dedham Granite boulder and a glacial erratic. The two most significant primary sources on the founding of Plymouth Colony are Edward Winslows Mourts Relation and Bradford&#39;s history Of Plymouth Plantation, and neither refers to Plymouth Rock. The rock first attracted public attention in 1741 when the residents of Plymouth began plans to build a wharf which would bury it. Before construction began, a 94-year-old elder of the church named Thomas Faunce, then living three miles from the spot, declared that the boulder was the landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims. He asked to be brought to the rock to say a farewell. According to Plymouth historian James Thacher:</p><br>
<p>Faunce&#39;s father had arrived in the colony aboard the ship Anne in 1623, just two years after the Mayflower landing, and Elder Faunce was born in 1647 when many of the Mayflower Pilgrims were still living, so his assertion made a strong impression on the people of Plymouth. The wharf was built but the rock left intact, the top portion protruding from the dirt so as to be visible to curious visitors.</p><br>
<p>More recent generations have called Faunce&#39;s assertion into question, alleging that he invented the story or did not have the correct facts, given that he was not an eyewitness to the event. Journalist Bill Bryson, for example, wrote, "The one thing the Pilgrims certainly did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock," arguing that the boulder would have made an impractical landing spot. Others have taken issue with the significance of the rock based on the fact that the Pilgrims first disembarked from the Mayflower at Provincetown to explore Cape Cod, more than a month prior to arriving in Plymouth harbor. In 1851, a group of Cape Cod residents formed the Cape Cod Association for the purpose of promoting Provincetown as the site of the original Pilgrim landing. Such efforts eventually led to the construction of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, which was completed in 1910.</p><br>
<h3>Movements</h3><br>
<p>Col. Theophilus Cotton (son of Josiah Cotton, a Plymouth magistrate) and the townspeople of Plymouth decided to move the rock in 1774. It was split into two parts, with the bottom portion left behind at the wharf and the top portion relocated to the town&#39;s meeting house.</p><br>
<p>Captain William Coit wrote in the Pennsylvania Journal of November 29, 1775 that he brought captive British sailors ashore "upon the same rock our ancestors first trod."</p><br>
<p>In 1920, the rock was temporarily relocated so that the old wharves could be removed and the waterfront re-landscaped to a design by noted landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff, with a waterfront promenade behind a low seawall in such a way that, when the rock was returned to its original site, it would be at water level. The care of the rock was turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a new very sober Roman Doric portico was constructed, designed by McKim, Mead and White for viewing the tide-washed rock protected by gratings.</p><br>
<p>During the rock&#39;s many journeys throughout the town of Plymouth, numerous pieces were taken, bought, and sold. Today approximately of the top portion remains. It is estimated that the original Rock weighed 20,000 lb. Some documents indicate that tourists or souvenir hunters chipped it down, although no pieces have been noticeably removed since 1880. Today there are pieces in Pilgrim Hall Museum, as well as in the Patent Building in the Smithsonian.</p><br>
<p>In 1835, French author Alexis De Tocqueville wrote:</p><br>
<p>A 40 lb piece of the Rock is set on a pedestal in the cloister of historic Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn Heights, New York. The church was formed by a merger of Plymouth Church and Church of the Pilgrims and was originally pastored by Henry Ward Beecher, father of author Harriet Beecher Stowe.</p><br>
<h3>20th century</h3><br>
<p>Cole Porter makes a comic allusion to Plymouth Rock in the title song of the 1934 musical Anything Goes, imagining that, if Puritans were to object to "shocking" modern mores, instead "of landing on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock would land on them." Malcolm X repeated the imagery in a speech on black nationalism: "We didn&#39;t land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us."</p><br>
<p>Plymouth Rock has figured prominently in American Indian politics in the United States, particularly as a symbol of wars starting with King Philip&#39;s War (1675–78), known as the First Indian War. It has been ceremoniously buried twice by Indian rights activists, once in 1970 and again in 1995, as part of National Day of Mourning protests.</p><br>
<h3>Current status</h3><br>
<p>Today, Plymouth Rock is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as part of Pilgrim Memorial State Park. From the end of May to Thanksgiving Day, Pilgrim Memorial is staffed by park interpreters who inform visitors of the history of Plymouth Rock and answer questions.</p><br>
<h2>Panorama</h2><br>
<p>Qatna  is an ancient city located in Homs Governorate, Syria. Its remains constitute a tell situated about 18 km northeast of Homs near the village of al-Mishrifeh. The city was an important center throughout most of the second millennium BC and in the first half of the first millennium BC. It contained one of the largest royal palaces of Bronze Age Syria and an intact royal tomb that provided a great amount of data on the funerary habits of that period.</p><br>
<p>First inhabited for a short period in the second half of the fourth millennium BC, it was repopulated around 2800 BC and continued to grow. By 2000 BC, it became the capital of a regional kingdom that spread its authority over large swathes of the central and southern Levant. The kingdom enjoyed good relations with Mari, but was engaged in constant warfare against Yamhad. By the 15th century BC, Qatna lost its hegemony and came under the authority of Mitanni. It later changed hands between the former and Egypt, until it was conquered and sacked by the Hittites in the late 14th century BC. Following its destruction, the city was reduced in size before being abandoned by the 13th century BC. It was re-inhabited in the 10th century BC, becoming a center of the kingdoms of Palistin then Hamath until it was destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BC, which reduced it to a small village that eventually disappeared in the 6th century BC. In the 19th century AD, the site was populated by villagers who were evacuated into the newly built village of al-Mishrifeh in 1982. The site has been excavated since the 1920s.</p><br>
<p>Qatna was inhabited by different peoples, most importantly the Amorites, who established the kingdom, followed by the Arameans; Hurrians became part of the society in the 15th century BC and influenced Qatnas written language. The citys art is distinctive and shows signs of contact with different surrounding regions. The artifacts of Qatna show high-quality workmanship. The citys religion was complex and based on many cults in which ancestor worship played an important role. Qatnas location in the middle of the Near East trade networks helped it achieve wealth and prosperity; it traded with regions as far away as the Baltic and Afghanistan. The area surrounding Qatna was fertile, with abundant water, which made the lands suitable for grazing and supported a large population that contributed to the flourishing of the city.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>Third millennium texts do not mention the name Qatna; the archive of Ebla mentions the toponym "Gudadanum" (or "Ga-da-nu"), which has been identified with Qatna by some scholars, such as Giovanni Pettinato and Michael Astour, but this is debated.</p><br>
<p>Aside from an obscure passage in the 20th-century BC Egyptian Story of Sinuhe, where the name Qatna is not clearly mentioned, the earliest occurrence of the name comes from the Middle Bronze Age archive of Mari, where the city is mentioned as "Qatanum", an Akkadianized format (Qa-ta-nim). In Alalakh, the name "Qa-ta-na" was used, an Amorite format that was shortened into Qatna during the Late Bronze Age. The name is Semitic; it derives from the root q-ṭ-n, meaning "thin" or "narrow" in a number of Semitic languages such as Akkadian, Syriac, and Ethiopian. "Ga-da-nu" from the Eblaite archive may also derive from that root. The toponym "Qatna" is strictly related to waterways and lakes; this could be a reference to the artificial narrowing that created a lake from the springs located southwest of the city, since Qatna grew on the eastern shore of a now dried lake.</p><br>
<h2>Site</h2><br>
<p>The city is located in the countryside, 18 km north of Homs. It was founded on a limestone plateau, and its extensive remains suggest fertile surroundings with abundant water, which is not the case in modern times. Three northward flowing tributary wadis (Mydan, Zorat and Slik) of the Orontes River cross the region of Qatna, enclosing an area 26 km north&ndash;south and 19 km east&ndash;west. The city lay along the central wadi (Zorat), surrounded by at least twenty five satellite settlements, most of them along the Mydan (marking the eastern border of the region) and Slik (marking the western border of the region) wadis. The wadis are now dry most of the year, but during the rainy season their discharge is disproportional to the size of their valleys, suggesting that the region was much more humid and water was more abundant in the past. The early city, dating to the Early Bronze Age IV (2200&ndash;2100 BC), was built in a circular plan; this circular site became the upper city (acropolis) of Qatna&#39;s later phases and was surrounded by a lower rectangular city.</p><br>
<h3>Qatna's landmarks</h3><br>
<h4>Palaces</h4><br>
<p>Building 8. The structure is dated to the transition period between the third and second millennia BC, and was abandoned in the late Middle Bronze Age II (1800&ndash;1600 BC). Its walls, which are still preserved, are 7.5 m tall and 4 m wide. The function of the building is not known, but its monumental nature and location on the upper city&#39;s summit, plus the existence of a pair of royal statues in it, suggest that it might have been a royal palace, especially since it preceded the erection of the main Royal palace of Qatna. In the 1970s, a concrete water tower was built to supply the modern village of al-Mushrifah; the new structure destroyed the eastern and northern walls of the building.</p><br>
<p>The royal palace. Covering an area of 16,000 m&sup2, it was the biggest palace in the Levant of its time. The palaces northeastern part consisted of two stories, as did the northwestern wing. In total, the first story contained at least eighty rooms. Compared to other palaces of the era in the region, such as the Royal Palace of Mari, Qatnas palace was gigantic, including massive halls such as hall C, formerly known as the temple of Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal), which was 1,300 m&sup2; in size, and hall A, which was 820 m&sup2; in size. The palace was constructed during the Middle-to-Late Bronze Age transition period, c. 1600 BC, in the northern part of the acropolis above an abandoned necropolis.</p><br>
<p>The southern palace. Located immediately south of the royal palace, it had at least twenty rooms and concrete floors. The structure is heavily damaged, making the dating of its construction difficult.</p><br>
<p>The eastern palace. Located to the east of the royal palace in the upper city, it is dated to the Middle Bronze Age II and consisted of at least one big courtyard and fifteen rooms.</p><br>
<p>The lower city palace. Located in the northern part of the lower city, it was built in the 16th century BC. It contains at least sixty rooms.</p><br>
<h4>Tombs</h4><br>
<p>Tomb IV. This was discovered in the 1920s by Robert du Mesnil du Buisson; he dated it to 2500&ndash;2400 BC, while Claude Frédéric-Armand Schaeffer assigned it to the period between 2200 and 1900 BC. The tomb is a multi-chambered shaft burial, the only one of this kind in the city.</p><br>
<p>The Middle Bronze Age necropolis, located near the northern edge of the upper city and heavily damaged by the royal palace constructed above it. The necropolis contained three types of burials: simple graves bordered by bricks, cooking vessels, or shafts cut into the rocks. The most notable shafts are tombs I, II, III and V.</p><br>
<p>The Royal Hypogeum (tomb VI). This is located 12 m beneath the royal palace, at the northern edge. The tomb consists of four chambers cut in the bedrock beneath the palace&#39;s foundations, and a corridor, 40 m long, that connects it to hall A of the royal palace. Four doors divide the corridor, which then takes a turn to the east and stops abruptly; an antechamber 5 m beneath the floor of the corridor follows and a wooden stair is used to descend to it, after which a door leads to the burial chambers. The hypogeum was in use for around 350 years, and bodies of both genders and different ages were interred in it; a minimum of 19&ndash;24 individuals were found in the tomb.</p><br>
<p>Tomb VII. This is located beneath the northwest wing of the royal palace. It consists of an antechamber, and a double chamber shaped like a kidney. The tomb contained at least 79 individuals, in a striking contrast with the much bigger tomb VI that contained far fewer remains. Peter Pfälzner suggested that tomb VII was a place for re-burial; the very long period of the Royal Hypogeum&#39;s usage, meant that it needed to be cleared sometimes to make room for new interments and the older remains were thus transferred to tomb VII.</p><br>
<h4>Other landmarks</h4><br>
<p>The walls. A large rampart surrounded Qatna reaching 18 m in height and 60 m to 90 m in width at the base. The rampart contained many gates, and, according to a tablet from Qatna, the name of one of them was "(city) gate of the palace&quot the royal palace lies east of the gate in the western rampart and might have been the palace named in the tablet.</p><br>
<p>Mishrifeh Lake. Qatna grew on the shore of a lake that dried completely toward the end of the Bronze Age, in. When the defenses were constructed, the northern and western parts of the rampart were built inside the lake, dividing it into an inner lake fed by a spring located in the northern foot of the upper city, while the larger part locked outside the walls constituted a reservoir for the inhabitants.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The site was first occupied during the Late Chalcolithic IV period (3300&ndash;3000 BC). This early settlement was concentrated on the central part of the upper town; its function is unknown and it ended in the late fourth millennium BC. After a hiatus of several centuries, the site was reoccupied around 2800 BC during the Early Bronze Age III.</p><br>
<h3>Early city</h3><br>
<p>The last two centuries of the third millennium BC saw widespread disruption of urban settlements in Syria and the abandonment of many cities; however, Qatna seems to be an exception, as it continued to grow. During the Early Bronze Age IV, Qatna reached a size of 25 hectare; it included a dense residential quarter and facilities for the storage and processing of grains, especially a large multi-roomed granary similar to the one in Tell Beydar. The city may have been one of the urban centers of the Ib&#39;al federation, perhaps the center of a king or prince. The early city occupied the acropolis, and none of its remains were found in the lower city. Most of the small settlements surrounding Qatna, 1 hectare to 2 hectare, appeared during this period; this might have been connected with the emergence of a central institution in the city.</p><br>
<h3>Kingdom of Qatna</h3><br>
<p>The Kingdom of Qatna was established around 2000 BC. At the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age I, the city expanded and covered an area of 110 hectare. This growth reduced the number of the small settlements as people were drawn into the expanded metropolis. It is probable that the earliest mention of "Qatna" by this name dates to the same period. According to Thomas Schneider, a city named Qedem, mentioned in a controversial passage in the Story of Sinuhe dating to the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt (early 20th century BC), is most probably to be identified with Qatna. Qedem in the Egyptian text is written "Qdm", and, in Egyptian, Qatna is written as "Qdn". If Schneiders interpretation is correct, then this is the first known written mention of the city. The text also mentions that the title of the ruler was Mekim (or Mekum), a royal title known from Ebla. The theory of Schneider is debated: in Sinuhes story, the protagonist turned back to Qedem after reaching Byblos; Joachim Friedrich Quack pointed out that the Egyptian verb "ḥs ̯i" used in the text was known to indicate that a certain expedition had reached its final destination and was now returning to Egypt, indicating that Qedem was south of Byblos, while Qatna is to the north of Byblos.</p><br>
<h4>Zenith</h4><br>
<p>The next mention of Qatna after the Story of Sinuhe comes from Mari in the 18th century BC, during the reign of Išḫi-Addu of Qatna. However, a tablet found in Tuttul, dating to the early reign of the Mariote king Yahdun-Lim in the late 19th century BC, mentions a king named Amut-piʾel, who is most probably the father of Išḫi-Addu; this would make him the first known king of Qatna. Also during the reign of Yahdun-Lim, the kingdom of Yamhad in Aleppo and its king Sumu-Epuh enter the historical record through the texts of Mari.</p><br>
<p>Early in their history, Qatna and Yamhad had hostile relations; Amut-piʾel I, in alliance with Yahdun-Lim and Ḫammu-Nabiḫ (probably king of Tuttul), attacked the Yamhadite city of Tuba, which was a personal possession of Aleppos royal family, and took a large booty. Later, Yahdun-Lim embarked on an expedition to the Mediterranean Sea that was used for ideological purposes, as it was meant to echo Gilgameshs deeds; the journey likely had undeclared political motives as well, when seen in the context of the alliance with Qatna. The Mariote&ndash;Qaṭanean alliance, which was probably cemented by dynastic marriage, must have provoked Yamhad, which supported rebellions in Mari to preoccupy Yahdun-Lim with his own problems. Despite the tension and battles, a full-scale war with Yamhad was avoided.</p><br>
<p>Qatna was at its apex during the reign of Išḫi-Addu. Mari was conquered by Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria, who appointed his son Yasmah-Adad as its king. Išḫi-Addu was allied with Shamshi-Adad and is attested corresponding with Mari for a period of six years between. At its height, the kingdom extended from the upper valley of the Orontes to Qadeš in the west, while Palmyra was Qatnas easternmost city. It was bordered by Yamhad in the north, while the south was dominated by Hazor, a Qaṭanean vassal. The many kingdoms of Amurru, which controlled the central Levantine coast between Byblos and Ugarit, bordered Qatna from the west and were counted among Išhi-Addus vassals. Also under the rule of Qatna were various cities in the Beqaa Valley and the cities in the region of Apum, in the modern Damascus Oasis.</p><br>
<p>The kingdom was sometimes threatened by nomads; a letter sent to Yasmah-Adad informs him that 2000 Suteans conducted a raid against Qatna. Relations with Yamhad worsened during Išḫi-Addus reign and the conflict evolved into border warfare; Qatna occupied the city of Parga in the region of Hamath for a while before Sumu-Epuh retook it. In the south, Išḫi-Addu faced a general rebellion; the alliance with Assyria was cemented by the marriage of Išḫi-Addus daughter to Yasmah-Adad in. The following year, after petitions by Qatna, Shamshi-Adad sent an army to help Išḫi-Addu deal with the rebellion. The Assyrian troops avoided engaging Yamhad and did not participate in its war with Qatna, while Išḫi-Addu took up residence in Qadeš to oversee the suppression of the rebellion, which apparently was supported by Yamhad. After four years in the service of Qatna, Shamshi-Adad ordered his troops to return; this might have been connected to a peace treaty between Assyria and Yarim-Lim I, son of Sumu-Epuh. Išḫi-Addu, who in the past had declared that "even if Shamshi-Adad would conclude peace with Sumu-epuh, I will never make peace with Sumu-epuh, as long as I live!", was delivered a heavy blow, but Mari&#39;s sources are silent on how the king dealt with the situation, and by the time they resumed mentioning Qatna in, Išḫi-Addu was dead and succeeded by his son Amut-piʾel II.</p><br>
<h4>Decline</h4><br>
<p>The political and military balance in the region changed dramatically during the reign of Amut-piʾel II; Shamshi-Adad I had died by about 1775 BC, and his empire disintegrated, while Yasmah-Adad was removed from his throne and replaced with Zimri-Lim. Yarim-Lim I gained the upper hand and turned his kingdom into the supreme power in the Levant; Qatna was forced to respect the borders and interests of Yamhad. In Mari, Zimri-Lim, who was Yarim-Lims protégé, married Amut-piʾel IIs sister and Yasmah-Adad&#39;s widow Dam-Ḫuraṣi, and this seemed to satisfy the king of Qatna, as his relations with Mari were never hostile. In 1772 BC, the Banu-Yamina tribes revolted against Zimri-Lim, who asked Qatna for help; Amut-piʾel II sent his troops to Dūr-Yahdun-Lim (probably modern Deir ez-Zor) to support Mari, but when he asked for Mariote military support at a later time, Zimri-Lim hesitated as Yarim-Lim I was expressly against such a dispatch. When Qatna tried to establish an alliance with Eshnunna, Mari, which was at war with Eshnunna, arrested the messengers on the pretext that Zimri-Lim feared for their safety; in reality, the king of Mari was probably acting on behalf of Yamhad to prevent Qatna from establishing such an alliance.</p><br>
<p>The archive of Mari reports a plan between Zimri-Lim, the king of Carchemish and the king of Eshnunna (who made peace with Mari), to attack Qatna. Such an alliance could not have been realized without the participation of Yamhad, overlord of both Mari and Carchemish; in the end, the plan was not pursued and the tense relations between Qatna and Yamhad eased toward the last years of Yarim-Lims reign. In a letter written to Zimri-Lim, Yarim-Lim I agreed to establish peace with Qatna if Amut-piʾel II were to come by himself to Aleppo, thus acknowledging the supremacy of Yamhad; no proof can be shown for a meeting taking place between the two kings. Just before his death in 1765 BC, Yarim-Lim called a meeting of his vassals, and Zimri-Lim traveled to Aleppo where he met messengers from Qatna and Hazor, indicating that Amut-piʾel II started recognizing the supremacy of Yarim-Lim, and that Hazor, Qatnas vassal, was now obeying Yamhad. Yarim-Lims successor Hammurabi I arranged a peace with Qatna that probably did not require the Qaṭanean king to visit Aleppo personally, but indicated Qatnas acceptance of Yamhads superiority. This apparent yielding seems a mere formality as Qatna continued its aspirations for power, as became clear in its behavior during the Elamite invasion of Mesopotamia in year ten of Zimri-Lims reign. An Elamite messenger reached Emar and sent three of his servants to Qatna; Hammurabi I of Yamhad learned of this and sent troops to intercept them on their return. The servants were captured and questioned, revealing that Amut-piʾel II told them to tell their monarch that "The country is delivered to you, come up to me! if you come up, you will not be taken by surprise." The Qaṭanean king also sent two messengers to Elam, but they were probably captured in Babylon.</p><br>
<p>The hegemony of Yamhad affected Qatnas economy; the trade route connecting Mesopotamia and Mari to Qatna through Palmyra lost its importance, while the trade routes from the Mediterranean to Mesopotamia came under the full control of Aleppo, contributing to Qatnas loss of wealth. Following the destruction of Mari by Hammurabi of Babylon around 1761 BC, information about Qatna becomes scarce; in the late 17th century BC, Yamhad invaded and defeated Qatna during the reign of Yarim-Lim III. The political and commercial importance of Qatna declined quickly during the Late Bronze Age (LB I), around 1600 BC, as a result of growing Egyptian and Mitannian influences. Numerous small states appeared in the region and detached from Qatna.</p><br>
<h4>Foreign domination</h4><br>
<p>It is not known when Qatna lost its independence. It became a Mitannian vassal in the 16th century BC, but the archive of Qatna proves that even in its final period during the 14th century BC, Qatna maintained a certain degree of autonomy. Early Egyptian military intrusions to the region occurred under Thutmose I. The name Qedem appears in an inscription found on a fragmented gateway from Karnak dated to the reign of Thutmose mentioning a military campaign in the northern Levant. The inscription suggests that the mentioned cities submitted to the king. The geographic sequence given in the inscription is Qedem ("Qdm"), Tunip ("Twnjp") and "Ḏj3 wny" (maybe Siyannu); Qatna (Qdn in Egyptian) would fit better in the geographic sequence and Alexander Ahrens suggested that the inscription might have meant Qatna. Any oaths of loyalty to Egypt taken by Levantine rulers were forgotten after Thutmose I&#39;s death. The Egyptians returned under the leadership of Thutmose III, who reached Qatna during his eighth Asiatic campaign. Thutmose III did not rule directly in Qatna but established vassalage ties and attended an archery contest with the Qaṭanean king.</p><br>
<p>Towards the end of Thutmose IIIs reign, and under the influence of Mitanni, the Syrian states changed their loyalty, causing Thutmoses successor Amenhotep II to march north in his seventh year on the throne, where he fought troops from Qatna near the city. The threat of the Hittites prompted Mitannis king to sue for peace: Artatama I approached Amenhotep II for an alliance and long negotiations started. The talks lasted until after Amenhoteps death, when his successor Thutmose IV finally sealed a treaty that divided the Levant between the two powers. Qatna and the states north of it, such as Nuhašše, fell into the sphere of Mitanni. Despite its reduced status, Qatna still controlled the Lebanon Mountains 80 km in the 14th century BC.</p><br>
<h4>=Possible incorporation into Nuhašše=</h4><br>
<p>During the reign of Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše in the 14th century BC, Qatna may have become part of his kingdom. In 1977, Astour considered Qatna a constitutent part of the lands of Nuhašše, and identified a king of Qatna named Adad-Nirari with the Nuhaššite king. Astour was followed by Thomas Richter in 2002, who considered Qatna to be a secondary city in the domain of the Nuhaššite king. The tablets of Qatna mention a šakkanakku (military governor) named Lullu, and Richter considered him an official of Nuhašše. The hypothesis of Richter is debated; a number of scholars accept it, for example Pfälzner, who suggested that the Nuhaššite king may have resided in Qatnas royal palace. Richter dated the rule of the Nuhaššite king to the period preceding the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma Is first Syrian war, during which Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše opposed the Hittites, was defeated, and, according to Richter, had his kingdom split between different Hittite puppets including Idanda of Qatna.</p><br>
<p>Gernot Wilhelm saw no ground for Richters assumption concerning the identification of the Nuhaššite monarch with the Qaṭanean king. This identification rests on the theory that Qatna belonged geographically to the region of Nuhašše, but no solid evidence supports this assumption, and the Shattiwaza treaty between the Hittites and Mitannians clearly mentioned Qatna as a different realm from Nuhašše during the first Syrian war when the Nuhaššite king ruled. If Qatna was part of the Nuhaššite kingdom, its submission to the Hittites would not have been mentioned separately in the treaty. It is a fact that Qatna was ruled by Idanda during the first war and the Hittite documents do not mention a change of rulers in Qatna made by Šuppiluliuma, leaving no reason to suspect that Idanda ascended the throne as a result of the war. Jacques Freu likewise rejected Richters hypothesis. Citing different arguments, he concluded that Adad-Nirari of Nuhašše was a contemporary of Idanda, the successor of the Qaṭanean Adad-Nirari.</p><br>
<h4>=The campaigns of Šuppiluliuma I=</h4><br>
<p>Early in his reign, the Hittite king Šuppiluliuma I aimed at conquering Mitannis lands west of the Euphrates. Šuppiluliuma waged several campaigns to achieve his goal: the first Syrian foray, the second Syrian foray, the first Syrian war and the second Syrian war. The events and chronology of the Hittites subjugation of Qatna are debated. King Idanda was a Hittite vassal; a letter sent by the Hittite general Ḫanutti contains a demand that Idanda fortify the city. Freu believed that Idanda abandoned Mitanni and joined the Hittites as a result of Šuppiluliuma&#39;s first Syrian foray. The Mitannian king Tushratta retaliated by invading Qatna, and burning the royal palace; an event dated to around 1340 BC. while Richter believed that it was a Syrian state that opposed the Hittites, such as Amurru.group=note Wilhelm, on the other hand, believed that Idanda submitted to the Hittites as a result of the first Syrian war.</p><br>
<h4>==Collapse==</h4><br>
<p>The events leading to the destruction of the royal palace did not cause the destruction of the whole city. The Shattiwaza treaty, which describes the events of the first Syrian war, mentions that Qatna was invaded and destroyed, and its people were deported during the war. However, Idandas successor, Akizzi, was ruling in the second half of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenatens reign following the first Syrian war, or shortly before the second Syrian war. This discrepancy can be explained if the treaty did not mention the events in a chronological order; many scholars, such as Wilhelm, believe that the author of the document organized the text according to the principle of association, rather than following the sequence of events.</p><br>
<p>Akizzi contacted Egypt and declared himself a servant to the pharaoh. An anti-Hittite coalition, probably organized by Akizzi, was established. Šuppiluliuma tried diplomatic means to solve the conflict but Akizzi rejected them. Hittite military intervention soon followed and Akizzi asked Egypt for troops, but received none. Šuppiluliuma himself came to Qatna, aided by Aziru of Amurru. The Hittite monarch took with him a statue of the sun deity, which had been given to Qatna by an ancestor of Akhenaten. This move symbolized the final capitulation of the kingdom.</p><br>
<p>Akizzi survived the destruction of his city and continued his communication with the pharaoh for some time; in an Amarna letter (EA 55), the king of Qatna described to Akhenaten the actions of Šuppiluliuma and his plundering of Qatna. Hence, the final sack of Qatna occurred after the royal palace was destroyed in 1340 BC, and before the death of Akhenaten, to whom the letter was addressed, in. Trevor Bryce suggested that Akizzi might have accepted Hittite overlordship again. In any case, he was the last known king. The city lost its importance following its sacking and never regained its former status.</p><br>
<h3>Post-Hittite destruction</h3><br>
<p>The destruction of the royal palace constituted a break in Qatna&#39;s history; all other palaces were abandoned and the political system collapsed. A pottery workshop was built in the place of the southern palace, while the lower city palace was replaced by two adjacent courtyards surrounded by walls. Archaeological data suggest a much reduced settlement with no regional role. Following the 13th century BC, no archaeological evidence exists to prove the city was occupied; the toponym Qatna stopped appearing and the next occupation level dates to the late 10th century BC, suggesting it was uninhabited for three centuries.</p><br>
<h3>Syro-Hittite and following periods</h3><br>
<p>In the late 10th century and early 9th century BC, the site was reoccupied but its name during that time is unknown; three human head sculptures made of basalt were discovered in the site; they probably date to the mid-9th century BC. At this time, the region was probably under the control of Palistin, with Qatna under the rule of Hamath, which was probably part of Palistin. The basalt heads bear similarities to a statue discovered in Palistin&#39;s capital, but there is not enough information to allow a general conclusion over the borders of Palistin and its extent into Qatna. The settlement was a small one; it included large buildings that were used both as residences and manufacturing facilities.</p><br>
<p>By the 8th century, the site saw a revival in settlement; the city expanded and many houses, public buildings, and storage areas were built. The newly expanded settlement was a contrast to the earlier 10th/9th century one; the existence of official buildings and the emergence of many satellite settlements surrounding Qatna suggest that the city was a local center in the kingdom of Hamath. The official buildings were violently destroyed, probably at the hands of the Assyrian king Sargon II, who annexed the region in 720 BC. The site continued to be inhabited during the Iron Age III, following the Assyrian destruction, but the settlement shrank considerably, being reduced to a village comprising the central part of the acropolis. It was abandoned in the mid-6th century BC.</p><br>
<p>In the mid-19th century, a modern village (al-Mishrifeh) was built within the ancient site. Houses were built on top of the royal palace floors, damaging them to a certain degree, but also protecting the underlying ruins. In 1982, the Syrian Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums resettled the inhabitants in a new village next to the ancient tell, thus making the site available for modern archaeological research.</p><br>
<h2>Society</h2><br>
<h3>Population and language</h3><br>
<p>The kingdom of Qatna had a predominantly Semitic Amorite population; all the personal names from Qatna in the Mari archive were Amorite. The royal family was also Amorite and it stayed as such during the Mitannian era, which witnessed the expansion of Hurrians; by the fifteenth century BC, Qatna had a sizable Hurrian element. The Arameans were responsible for the re-occupation of the site in the first millennium BC.</p><br>
<p>The Amorites in Qatna spoke their own language, but kings communicated with their counterparts using Akkadian, which was the language of writing in the city. Qatna&#39;s Akkadian became heavily influenced by Hurrian in the 15th and 14th centuries BC; Richter argued that a special Akkadian&ndash;Hurrian hybrid dialect developed in Qatna. Texts from Qatna exhibit many Hurrian elements, proving that Hurrian was prominent among scribes, but its predominance as a spoken language by the general public cannot be determined.</p><br>
<h3>Religion</h3><br>
<p>Details about the religious life in Qatna are not available due to the rarity of written evidence from the city; in general, many cults seems to have existed and mixed in Qatna, most prominently the royal ancestor cult, the cult of gods and the cult of the dead.</p><br>
<h4>The cult of gods</h4><br>
<p>Belet-Ekallim (Ninegal) was a prominent deity in Qatna; the inventories of gifts presented to the gods found in hall C of the palace show that she was a prominent element in the royal liturgy, where she was called the "lady of the palace" and "Belet Qatna", making her effectively the goddess of the city. However, no trace of a temple or shrine has been found in the building. The inventories also mention the "gods of the king&quot it is debated whether this referred to deities or to royal ancestors. Jean Bottéro identified the "gods of the king" with the sun god Šamaš, whom Akizzi called the "god of my father" in his letter to Akhenaten. Gregorio del Olmo Lete considered Šamaš the god of Qatnas dynasty, but the "gods of the king" probably included other deities as well. Jean-Marie Durand considers Addu to be the god of the city based on a seal dating to Išḫi-Addus reign describing Addu as such. Another indication of the deities worshiped in Qatna comes from the archive of Mari; the daughter of Išḫi-Add was devoted to the goddess Ishtar and Zimri-Lim once invited Amut-piʾel II to Mari to take part in rituals for that goddess, indicating that the cult of Ishtar was prominent in Qatna.</p><br>
<h4>The cult of the Betyles</h4><br>
<p>The texts of Mari show that the cult of stones, especially the "sikkanum" (i.e., Betyles—sacred stones), was widespread in western Syria, and its practice in Qatna is plausible. Du Mesnil du Buisson named room F in the royal palace "Haut-Lieu" and considered it a shrine of Ašera. Research done after 1999 ruled out du Mesnil du Buisson&#39;s hypothesis and concluded that the room is a bathroom, but further research showed that the bathroom interpretation must also be wrong. Pfälzner, based on its architecture being suitable for containing sacred stones, suggested that room F was the palace shrine for the cult of Betyles. Pfälzner concludes that "an ultimate proof, however, for the function of Room F at Qaṭna cannot be deduced from this parallel. Nor is there a clue as to the dedication of the possible Betyle-sanctuary at Qaṭna".</p><br>
<h4>Royal ancestors cult</h4><br>
<p>Ancestors were worshiped in Qatna; the royal hypogeum provided a large amount of data concerning the cult of ancestor worshiping and the practices associated with it. Two kinds of burials are distinguished; a primary burial intended to transport the dead into the netherworld, and a secondary burial that was intended to transform the deceased into their ultimate form: an ancestor. The royal hypogeum provides hints at the different rituals taking place during a secondary burial; a noticeable character is that skeletons were not complete, and no skulls are found for the majority of secondary burial remains. There is no evidence that skulls decayed as they would have left behind teeth, of which very few were found, indicating that the skulls were removed to be venerated in another location.</p><br>
<p>Bones in the secondary burial were arranged without respect for anatomical order; it is plausible to assume that the distribution process was the result of symbolic rituals that indicated the changing of the deceaseds role by incorporating him or her into the group of royal ancestors. Pottery vessels were deposited next to the secondary burial remains; they were fixed on top of food offerings meant as a food supply for the dead, giving evidence for the performance of Kispu (nourishing and caring for ones ancestor through a regular supply of food and drink). Hundreds of pilled vessels provide evidence that the living participated and dined with their ancestors, venerating them. Pfälzner argues for a third burial process which he calls the tertiary burial; the eastern chamber of the hypogeum was used as an ossuary where human remains and animal bones left from the Kispu were mixed and pilled. Pfälzner conclude that bones left in that chamber were deposited there because they had become useless in funerary rituals, thus the chamber was their final resting place. Bones in the eastern chamber were stored with no respect for the unity of an individual, indicating that the persons buried were now part of the collective group of ancestors; this did not mean that the individuals were no longer cared for, as the many bowls in the chamber indicate the continuation of food offerings to those ancestors.</p><br>
<p>According to Pfälzner, a final burial stage can be noticed, which he calls the quaternary burial. Tomb VII, which most probably contained remains taken out of the royal hypogeum, seems to have worked as a storage for the remains of individuals whose Kispu cycle came to an end; very few bowls were found in that tomb. The Kispu was important for demonstrating the legitimacy of the king, thus it needed to be public and visible to a large crowd; Pfälzner suggests that hall A in the royal palace was the place for the public Kispu and that the antechamber of the royal hypogeum was dedicated for private Kispu that included only the king and the spirits of his ancestors.</p><br>
<h3>Culture</h3><br>
<p>Due to its location in the middle of the trade network of the ancient world, the cultural and social landscape of the city was complex, as the inhabitants had to deal with traders and envoys who brought with them different customs from distant regions. The inventories of gifts presented to deities from the royal palace indicate that Qatna used the sexagesimal numeral system.</p><br>
<p>Textiles dyed with royal purple, a symbol of social status, were found in the royal hypogeum. Judging by the royal statues found in the royal hypogeum antechamber, a king of Qatna wore clothes different from those worn in Mesopotamia; his robes would have reached his ankles and the hem on his shawl would have been in the shape of a thick rope, while his beard was short and his headdress consisted of a broad band. For royal primary burials, several steps were followed: constructing the burial container, anointing the body with oil, heating the body, leading the burial procession, laying the sarcophagus floor with textiles, burying the body with another layer of textiles, and finally depositing a layer of plants and herbs. Elephants, which lived in western Syria, were esteemed in Qatna and connected to the royal family; they were apparently hunted by the royals and the king himself, as there is evidence that their bones were displayed in the palace; thus, elephants were part of the royal ideology and hunting an elephant was a symbol of prestige that glorified the strength of the king.</p><br>
<p>An international style in art did not exist in Qatna; instead, a regional hybrid style prevailed where international motifs appear along with regional ones, yet all the pieces reveal enough features to trace them to Qatna. The volute-shaped plant is one of the most widespread international motifs; many pieces from the royal hypogeum were decorated with the motif, but Qatna had its own typical volute, where the crown is a single long lobe with dotted pendants branching out of the corners of the upper volute. The wall painting in Qatna&#39;s royal palace attests to contact with the Aegean region; they depict typical Minoan motifs such as palm trees and dolphins.</p><br>
<p>Qatna also had a distinctive local craftsmanship; the wall paintings in the royal palace, though including Aegean motifs, depict elements that are not typical either in Syria or the Aegean region, such as turtles and crabs. This hybrid style of Qatna prompted Pfälzner to suggest a "craftsmanship interaction model", which is based on the assumption that Aegean artists were employed in local Syrian workshops. Local workshops modeled amber in Syrian style; many pieces were found in the royal hypogeum including 90 beads and a vessel in the shape of a lion head. Ivory was connected to the royal family and the pieces discovered reflect a high level of craftsmanship that was influenced by Egyptian traditions. Jewelry was made to fit local tastes even when the origin of the concept was foreign; an example would be the scarabs, traditional Egyptian objects, that were modified in Qatna by engraving them with local motifs and encasing them with gold, which is atypical for Egyptian specimens. Aside from two golden beads that seem imported from Egypt, no jewelry discovered was of foreign origin.</p><br>
<p>Typical western Syrian architectural traditions are seen in the eastern palace, which has an asymmetrical plan and tripartite reception halls. The lower city palace also shows typical second-millennium Syrian features, being elongated and lacking the huge courtyards that were a traditional Mesopotamian feature; instead, the palace had several small courtyards spread within it. Qatna&#39;s royal palace was unique in its monumental architecture; it had a distinctive foundation and the throne room walls were 9 m wide, which does not occur elsewhere in the architecture of the ancient Near East. The period following the destruction of the royal palace shows a clear break in culture, evidenced by the poor building materials and architectural techniques.</p><br>
<h3>Economy</h3><br>
<p>Finds in "Tomb IV" indicate that Qatna was engaged in long distance trade since its early history. The city&#39;s location on the edges of the Syrian steppes turned it into a strategic stop for caravans traveling to the Mediterranean Sea from the east. The countryside surrounding the city provided the key for its success in the Early Bronze Age IV; those lands were capable of supporting both agriculture and pastoralism. Despite the modern scarcity of water, geoarchaeological research on the wadis of the region confirm the abundance of water during the Bronze Age. The land was abundant in pasture lands; when drought struck Mari, Išḫi-Addu allowed its nomads to graze their flocks in Qatna.</p><br>
<p>The written sources do not offer deep insight on the economy of the kingdom; it counted mainly on agriculture during the Middle Bronze Age but, by the Late Bronze Age, it became based on trade with surrounding regions. Securing raw materials scarce near the city was an important concern for the rulers; basalt was an important building tool and it was probably acquired from the Salamiyah region or Al-Rastan. Calcite was provided from either the Syrian coast or Egypt, amber came from the Baltic region, while regions in modern Afghanistan provided carnelian and lapis-lazul.</p><br>
<p>The main routes passing Qatna were from Babylon to Byblos through Palmyra, from Ugarit to Emar, and from Anatolia to Egypt. Taxes on caravans crossing the trade routes allowed the citys royalty to get rich; an insight into Qatnas wealth can be acquired from the dowry of Išḫi-Addus daughter, who was endowed with 10 talents of silver (288 kg) and 5 talents of textiles (worth 144 kg of silver). White horses were among Qatnas most famous exports, in addition to high-quality wines, woods from the nearby Lebanon mountain, and goods, such as chariots, from a highly skilled craft industry.</p><br>
<p>Many Egyptian imports were found in the city, including the "sphinx of Ita", which represents a daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat II, and a vessel with the name of Senusret I inscribed on it, plus around 50 stone vessels in the royal hypogeum. Two units of weight and payment measurement are prominent in Qatna: the mina and the shekel. The mina had different values from region to region but it seems that in Qatna the preferred value was 470 g, while the preferred value of the shekel is hard to figure.</p><br>
<h3>Government</h3><br>
<p>The existence of agricultural facilities on the acropolis during the EB IV early city indicates that a central authority oversaw the production process; perhaps the city was a center of one of the princes of Ibal. Another piece of evidence is "Tomb IV", which contained the remains of 40 people, 300 pottery vessels, weapons and ornaments. The tomb probably belonged to the elite or the ruling family of the city. In the kingdom of Qatna, the crown prince had the city of Nazala as his domain. The palace was mainly a political and administrative institution devoid of religious functions, in contrast to the palace of Mari. In the realm of Hamath, Qatna was an administrative center probably in control of the kingdoms southern regions. During the Assyrian period, Qatna lost its administrative role and even its urban character until its abandonment.</p><br>
<p>Known kings of Qatna are:</p><br>
<h2>Excavations</h2><br>
<p>Du Mesnil du Buisson led excavations starting in 1924, and annually from 1927 to 1929; the third millennium BC remains provided scarce samples and most of the data come from Tomb IV. In 1994, a Syrian mission led by Michel Al-Maqdissi conducted several surveys and surface excavations, then, in 1999, a joint Syrian–Italian–German mission was formed that was headed by Al-Maqdissi, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi and Pfälzner. Due to the development of the excavations, the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums split the mission into Syrian (headed by Al-Maqdissi), Syrian&ndash;German (headed by Pfälzner) and Syrian&ndash;Italian (headed by Morandi Bonacossi) missions in 2004.</p><br>
<p>Research was focused on the upper city while the lower city remained largely untouched; by 2006, only 5% of the site&#39;s total area had been excavated. The royal palace was split into two excavation areas: operation G covering the western part and operation H covering the eastern part. Operation J covers the summit of the acropolis, while the lower city palace is covered by operation K. One of the most important discoveries came in 2002, when the archive of king Idanda was discovered, containing 67 clay tablets. As a result of the Syrian Civil War, excavations stopped in 2011.</p><br>
<p>TEV Wahine&#39; was a twin-screw, turbo-electric, roll-on/roll-off passenger and vehicle ferry of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand. She was launched at the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Scotland, in 1965 and worked the New Zealand inter-island route between Wellington and Lyttelton from 1966. On 10 April 1968, near the end of a typical northbound crossing to Wellington, she was caught in a fierce storm stirred by Tropical Cyclone Giselle. She foundered after running aground on Barrett Reef and capsized and sank in the shallow waters near Steeple Rock at the mouth of Wellington Harbour. Of the 734 people on board, 53 people died from drowning, exposure to the elements or from injuries sustained in the hurried evacuation and abandonment of the stricken vessel.</p><br>
<p>The wreck of the Wahine is one of the better-known maritime disasters in New Zealand&#39;s history, although there have been worse, with far greater loss of life. Radio and television captured the drama as it happened, within a short distance of shore of the eastern suburbs of Wellington, and flew film overseas for world news.</p><br>
<h2>Ship background</h2><br>
<p>TEV Wahine was designed and built for the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, and was one of many ferries that have linked New Zealands North and South Islands. From 1875 ferries have plied Cook Strait and the Kaikoura coast ferrying passengers and cargo, making port at Wellington in the north and Lyttelton in the south. From 1933 the Union Companys Wellington – Lyttelton service was marketed as the "Steamer Express".</p><br>
<p>By the early 1960s the Union Company was starting to face major competition. Apart from air travel, especially with the introduction of turboprop aircraft by the National Airways Corporation, in August 1962 New Zealand Railways began a and rail ferry across Cook Strait between Wellington and Picton, which continues as the Interislander. The Wahine was the Union Company&#39;s first purpose-built roll-on/roll-off ferry, introduced to maintain competition with the Railways ferries.</p><br>
<h2>Building Wahine</h2><br>
<p>Wahine was built by the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland. Plans were made by the Union Company in 1961, and her keel was laid on 14 September 1964 as Hull No. 830. Built of steel, her hull was completed in 10 months, and she was christened and launched on 14 July 1965 by the Union Companys directors wife. Her machinery, cargo spaces and passenger accommodations were installed in the following months and she was completed in May 1966. She left Greenock, Scotland for New Zealand on 18 June 1966 and arrived in Wellington on 24 July 1966; she sailed on her maiden voyage to Lyttelton one week later, on 1 August.</p><br>
<p>The dimensions were 488 ft long, had a beam of 71 ft and was. At the time Wahine was the Union Companys largest ship and one of the worlds largest passenger ferries. The powerplant was turbo-electric transmission, with four boilers supplying steam to two turbo-alternators that drove the twin main propellers, gave a top speed of 22 kn and the ship also had stern and bow thruster propellers to propel her sideways for easier berthing. She had stabilisers that halved the amount she rolled and the frequency with which she did so.</p><br>
<p>The hull was divided by 13 watertight bulkheads into 14 watertight compartments.</p><br>
<p>The lifeboat compliment was eight large fibreglass lifeboats, two 26-foot motor lifeboats each with a capacity of 50 people, six 31-foot standard lifeboats each with a capacity of 99 people, and additionally 36 inflatable rafts, each with a capacity of 25 people.</p><br>
<h2>Service</h2><br>
<p>Wahine entered service on 1 August 1966 with her first sailing from Wellington. Between then and the end of the year she made 67 crossings to Lyttelton.</p><br>
<p>On a normal crossing the crew compliment was usually 126: in the deck department, the master, three officers, one radio operator and 19 sailors managed the overall operation; in the engine department, eight engineers, two electricians, one donkeyman and 12 general workers supervised the operation of the engines; in the victualing department, 60 stewards, seven stewardesses, five cooks and four pursers catered to the needs of the passengers.</p><br>
<p>On trips made during the day she could carry 1,050 passengers, on overnight crossings 927, in over 300 single-, two-, three- and four-berth cabins, with two dormitory-style cabins each sleeping 12 passengers. Common areas included a cafeteria, lounge, smoke room, gift shop, two enclosed promenades and open decks. Wahine had two vehicle decks with a combined capacity for more than 200 cars.</p><br>
<h2>Final crossing</h2><br>
<p>On the evening of 9 April 1968 she departed from Lyttelton for a routine overnight crossing, carrying 610 passengers and 123 crew.</p><br>
<h3>Extreme weather conditions</h3><br>
<p>In the early morning of 10 April two violent storms merged over Wellington, creating a single extratropical cyclone that was the worst recorded in New Zealand&#39;s history. Cyclone Giselle was heading south after causing much damage in the north of the North Island. It hit Wellington at the same time as another storm that had driven up the West Coast of the South Island from Antarctica. The winds in Wellington were the strongest ever recorded. At one point they reached 275 km/h and in one Wellington suburb alone ripped off the roofs of 98 houses. Three ambulances and a truck were blown onto their sides when they tried to go into the area to rescue injured people.</p><br>
<p>As the storms hit Wellington Harbour, Wahine was making her way out of Cook Strait on the last leg of her journey. Although there were weather warnings when she set out from Lyttelton, there was no indication that storms would be severe or any worse than those often experienced by vessels crossing the Cook Strait.</p><br>
<h3>Aground in Wellington Harbour</h3><br>
<p>At 0550 hrs, with winds gusting at between 100 km/h and 155 km/h, Captain Hector Gordon Robertson decided to enter harbour. Twenty minutes later the winds had increased to 160 km/h, and she lost her radar. A huge wave pushed her off course and in line with Barrett Reef. Robertson was unable to turn her back on course, and decided to keep turning around and back out to sea.</p><br>
<p>For 30 minutes she battled into the waves and wind, but by 0610 hrs she was not answering her helm and had lost control of her engines. At 0640 hrs she was driven onto the southern tip of Barrett Reef, near the harbour entrance less than a mile from shore. She drifted along the reef, shearing off her starboard propeller and gouging a large hole in her hull on the starboard side of the stern, beneath the waterline. Passengers were told that she was aground but there was no immediate danger. They were directed to don their lifejackets and report to their muster stations. as a routine "precautionary measure".</p><br>
<p>The storm continued to grow more intense. The wind increased to over 250 km/h and she dragged her anchors and drifted into the harbour. At about 1100 hrs, close to the western shore at Seatoun, her anchors finally held. At about the same time the tug Tapuhi reached her and tried to attach a line and bring her in tow, but after 10 minutes the line broke. Other attempts failed, but the deputy harbourmaster, Captain Galloway, managed to climb aboard from the pilot boat.</p><br>
<p>Throughout the morning, the danger of the ship sinking seemed to pass as the vessels location was in an area where the water depth did not exceed 10 meters (30 ft), and the crews worst-case scenario was the clean-up once the vessel either arrived in Wellington or had grounded in shallower water. There was indication that the ship would even sail again that evening as usual, albeit later than scheduled while the damage done by the reef was repaired.</p><br>
<h3>Disaster unfolding</h3><br>
<p>At about 1315 hrs the combined effect of the tide and the storm swung Wahine around, providing a patch of clear water sheltered from the wind. As she suddenly listed further and reached the point of no return, Robertson gave the order to abandon ship. In an instance similar to what had occurred during the sinking of the Italian passenger liner off the coast of New England in 1956, the severe starboard list left the four lifeboats on the port side useless: only the four on the starboard side could be launched.</p><br>
<p>The first starboard motor lifeboat, boat S1, capsized shortly after being launched. Those aboard were thrown into the water, and many were drowned in the rough sea, including two children and several elderly passengers. Survivor Shirley Hick, remembered for losing two of her three children in the disaster, recalled this event vividly, as her three-year-old daughter Alma had drowned in this lifeboat. Some managed to hold onto the overturned boat as it drifted across the harbour to the eastern shore, towards Eastbourne.</p><br>
<p>The three remaining standard lifeboats, which according to a number of survivors were severely overcrowded, did manage to reach shore. Lifeboat S2 reached Seatoun beach on the western side of the channel with about 70 passengers and crew, as did Lifeboat S4, which was severely overcrowded with over 100 people. Heavily overcrowded Lifeboat S3 landed on the beach near Eastbourne, about 3 mi away on the opposite side of the channel.</p><br>
<p>Wahine launched her life rafts, but waves up to 6 m high capsized some of them and many people were killed. She sank in 38 ft of water. forcing hundreds of passengers and crew into the rough sea. When the weather cleared, the sight of her foundering in the harbour urged many vessels to race to the scene, including the ferry, tugs, fishing boats, yachts and small personal craft. They rescued hundreds of people. Over 200 passengers and crew reached the rocky shore of the east side of the channel, south of Eastbourne. As this area was desolate and unpopulated, many survivors were exposed to the elements for several hours while rescue teams tried to navigate the gravel road down the shoreline. It was here that a number of bodies were recovered.</p><br>
<p>At about 1430 hrs Wahine rolled completely onto her starboard side.</p><br>
<p>Some of the survivors reached the shore only to die of exhaustion or exposure. Fifty-one people died at the time, and two more died later from their injuries, 53 victims in all. Most of the victims were middle-aged or elderly, but included three children; they died from drowning, exposure or injuries from being battered on the rocks. Forty-six bodies were found; 566 passengers were safe, as were 110 crew, and six were missing.</p><br>
<h2>Aftermath</h2><br>
<h3>Investigation</h3><br>
<p>Ten weeks after the disaster, a Court of Inquiry found errors of judgement had been made, but stressed that the conditions at the time had been difficult and dangerous. The free surface effect caused Wahine to capsize due to a build-up of water on the vehicle deck, although several specialist advisers to the inquiry believed that she had grounded a second time, taking on more water below decks.</p><br>
<p>The report of the inquiry stated that more lives would almost certainly have been lost if the order to abandon ship had been given earlier or later. The storm was so strong that rescue craft would not have been able to help passengers any earlier than about midday. Charges were brought against her officers but all were acquitted.</p><br>
<p>Early hopes that she could be salvaged were abandoned when the magnitude of structural damage became clear. As the wreck was a navigational hazard, preparations were made over the next year to refloat her and tow her into Cook Strait for scuttling. However a similar storm in 1969 broke up the wreck, and it was dismantled (partly by the Hikitia floating crane) where it lay.</p><br>
<h3>Memorials</h3><br>
<p>Wahine Memorial Park marks the disaster with a bow thruster, near where the survivors reached the shore at Seatoun. J G Churchill Park in Seatoun has a memorial plaque, the ship&#39;s anchor and chain (one link per victim), and replica ventilators. A plaque and the main mast are at the parking area next to Burdans Gate on the eastern side of the harbour, on the coast where many of the survivors and dead washed up. The fore-mast is part of another memorial in Frank Kitts Park in central Wellington. The Museum of Wellington City & Sea has a permanent commemorative exhibition on its maritime floor that includes artifacts and a film about the storm and the sinking.</p><br>
<p>In 2013, Ngaire Lilly ( née Bowen ), a survivor of the Wahine, wrote her own book about the event.</p><br>
<h2>Replacement ship</h2><br>
<p>It was more than a year before the Union Company ordered a ferry to replace Wahine. In May 1969 it ordered, built by a different British shipyard and to a new design. She had accommodation for 159 fewer passengers, and like Wahine could carry more than 200 cars.</p><br>
<p>Rangatira did not enter service until March 1972, almost four years after Wahine was wrecked. She was a commercial failure, carrying on average only just over half the number of passengers and a third of the vehicles for which she had capacity. From 1974 the NZ Ministry of Transport subsidised the "Steamer Express", but in 1976 it withdrew the subsidy and the service ceased.</p><br>
<p>Dur-Sharrukin , present day Khorsabad, was the Assyrian capital in the time of Sargon II of Assyria. Khorsabad is a village in northern Iraq, 15 km northeast of Mosul. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BC. After the unexpected death of Sargon in battle, the capital was shifted 20 km south to Nineveh.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Sargon II ruled from 722 to 705 BC. The demands for timber and other materials and craftsmen, who came from as far as coastal Phoenicia, are documented in contemporary Assyrian letters. The debts of construction workers were nullified in order to attract a sufficient labour force. The land in the environs of the town was taken under cultivation, and olive groves were planted to increase Assyria&#39;s deficient oil-production. The great city was entirely built in the decade preceding 706 BC, when the court moved to Dur-Sharrukin, although it was not completely finished yet. Sargon was killed during a battle in 705. After his unexpected death his son and successor Sennacherib abandoned the project, and relocated the capital with its administration to the city of Nineveh, 20 km south. The city was never completed and it was finally abandoned a century later when the Assyrian empire fell.</p><br>
<h3>Destruction by ISIL</h3><br>
<p>On 8 March 2015 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant reportedly started the plunder and demolition of Dur-Sharrukin, according to the Kurdish official from Mosul Saeed Mamuzini. The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry launched the related investigation on the same day.</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<p>The town was of rectangular layout and measured 1758.6 by 1635 metres. The enclosed area comprised 3 square kilometres, or 288 hectares. The length of the walls was 16280 Assyrian units, which according to Sargon himself corresponded to the numerical value of his name.Fuchs, Die Inschriften Sargons II. aus Khorsabad, 42:65; 294f. See the discussion by Eckart Frahm, "Observations on the Name and Age of Sargon II and on Some Patterns of Assyrian Royal Onomastics,"</p><br>
<p>The city walls were massive and 157 towers protected its sides. Seven gates entered the city from all directions. A walled terrace contained temples and the royal palace. The main temples were dedicated to the gods Nabu, Shamash and Sin, while Adad, Ningal and Ninurta had smaller shrines. A temple tower, ziqqurat, was also constructed. The palace was adorned with sculptures and wall reliefs, and the gates were flanked with winged-bull shedu statues weighing up to 40 tons. Sargon supposedly lost at least one of these winged bulls in the river.</p><br>
<p>In addition to the great city, there was a royal hunting park and a garden that included "all the aromatic plants of Hatti and the fruit-trees of every mountain", a "record of power and conquest", as Robin Lane Fox has observed. Surviving correspondence mentions the moving of thousands of young fruit trees, quinces, almonds, apples and medlars.</p><br>
<p>"On the central canal of Sargon&#39;s garden stood a pillared pleasure-pavilion which looked up to a great topographic creation: a man-made Garden Mound. This Mound was planted with cedars and cypresses and was modelled after a foreign landscape, the Amanus mountains in north Syria, which had so amazed the Assyrian kings. In their flat palace-gardens they built a replica of what they had encountered."</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Dur-Sharrukin is roughly a square with a border marked by a city wall 24 meters thick with a stone foundation pierced</p><br>
<p>by seven massive gates. A mound in the northeast section marks the location of the palace of Sargon II. At the time of its construction, the village on the site was named Maganuba.</p><br>
<p>The site was first noticed by the French Consul General at Mosul, Paul-Émile Botta in 1842. Botta believed, however, that Khorsabad was the site of biblical Nineveh. The site was excavated by Botta in 1842-44, joined in the later stages by artist Eugène Flandin. Victor Place resumed the excavations from 1852 to 1855.</p><br>
<p>A significant number of the items recovered by the French at Dur-Sharrukin were lost in two river shipping incidents. In 1853, Place attempted to move two 30-ton statues and other material to Paris from Khorsabad on a large boat and four rafts. All of the vessels except two of the rafts were scuttled by pirates. In 1855, Place and Jules Oppert attempted to transport the remaining finds from Dur-Sharrukin, as well as material from other sites being worked by the French, mainly Nimrud. Almost all of the collection, over 200 crates, was lost in the river. Surviving artifacts from this excavation were taken to the Louvre in Paris.</p><br>
<p>The site of Khorsabad was excavated 1928–1935 by American archaeologists from the Oriental Institute in Chicago. Work in the first season was led by Edward Chiera and concentrated on the palace area. A colossal bull estimated to weigh 40 tons was uncovered outside the throne room. It was found split into three large fragments. The torso alone weighed about 20 tons. This was shipped to Chicago. The preparation and shipment of the bull back to the Oriental Institute was incredibly arduous. The remaining seasons were led by Gordon Loud and Hamilton Darby. Their work examined one of the city gates, continued work at the palace, and excavated extensively at the palace&#39;s temple complex. Since Dur-Sharrukin was a single-period site that was evacuated in an orderly manner after the death of Sargon II, few individual objects were found. The primary discoveries from Khorsabad shed light on Assyrian art and architecture.</p><br>
<p>In 1957, archaeologists from the Iraqi Department Antiquities, led by Fuad Safar excavated at the site, uncovering the temple of Sibitti.</p><br>
<p>The West Kennet Long Barrow is a Neolithic tomb or barrow, situated on a prominent chalk ridge, near Silbury Hill, one-and-a-half miles south of Avebury in Wiltshire, England. The site was recorded by John Aubrey in the 17th century and by William Stukeley in the 18th century.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists classify it as a chambered long barrow and one of the Severn-Cotswold tombs. It has two pairs of opposing transept chambers and a single terminal chamber used for burial. The stone burial chambers are located at one end of one of the longest barrows in Britain at 100 m: in total it is estimated that 15,700 man-hours were expended in its construction. The entrance consists of a concave forecourt with a facade made from large slabs of sarsen stones which were placed to seal entry.</p><br>
<p>The construction of the West Kennet Long Barrow commenced about 3600 BC, which is some 400 years before the first stage of Stonehenge, and it was in use until around 2500 BC. The mound has been damaged by indiscriminate digging, but archaeological excavations in 1859 and 1955-56 found at least 46 burials, ranging from babies to elderly persons. The bones were disarticulated with some of the skulls and long bones missing. It has been suggested that the bones were removed periodically for display or transported elsewhere with the blocking facade being removed and replaced each time. Recent re-analysis of the dating evidence suggests that the 46 people all died within 20 – 30 years of each other, and that the tomb was open for 1,000 years.</p><br>
<p>The latest excavations also revealed that the side chambers occur inside an exact isosceles triangle, whose height is twice the length of its base. Artefacts associated with the burials include Neolithic Grooved ware similar to that found at nearby Windmill Hill.</p><br>
<p>It is thought that this tomb was in use for as long as 1,000 years and at the end of this period the passage and chamber were filled to the roof by the Beaker people with earth and stones, among which were found pieces of Grooved ware, Peterborough ware and Beaker pottery, charcoal, bone tools, and beads. Stuart Piggott, who excavated this mixture of secondary material, suggested that it had been collected from a nearby mortuary enclosure showing that the site had been used for ritual activity long after it was used for burial. The finds from the site are displayed at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, including some of the most impressive beakers from Britain.</p><br>
<p>Michael Dames (see References) put forward a composite theory of seasonal rituals, in an attempt to explain the Long Barrow and its associated sites (the Avebury henge, Silbury Hill, The Sanctuary and Windmill Hill).</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The West Kennet Long Barrow is located at Ordnance Survey mapping six-figure grid reference SU 104677.</p><br>
<p>The Princeton Quadrangle Club, often abbreviated to "Quad", is one of the eleven eating clubs at Princeton University that remain open. Located at 33 Prospect Avenue, the club is currently "sign-in," meaning it permits any second semester sophomore, junior or senior to join. The club&#39;s tradition of openness is demonstrated as far back as 1970, when Quadrangle became one of the first coeducational eating clubs .</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The club was formed in 1896 in a house built on the south side of Prospect Avenue. In its early years, it changed its location several times. In 1901, it moved to the north side of "the Street," and in 1903 it moved back to the south side, where the Princeton Tower Club now stands. In 1910 it moved to a house built in 1887 for James McCosh, the eleventh president of Princeton University. In 1915, Quadrangle Club sold the McCosh house and built its own house, designed by Henry Milliken, Princeton Class of 1905 in a classic brick Georgian Revival structure. The club has existed in this building since 1916.</p><br>
<p>F. Scott Fitzgerald described Quadrangle Club in This Side of Paradise as "Literary Quadrangle." Fitzgerald later commented that he might have felt more comfortable in "Literary Quadrangle" with contemporaries such as John Peale Bishop, an American poet.</p><br>
<p>In 2016, Quad signed-in 115 new members, a 342% increase from the year before and more than any other sign-in eating club except for Terrace Club. The current Chairman of the Board is alumnus Dinesh Maneyapanda.</p><br>
<h2>Musical tradition</h2><br>
<p>With some funding from the Princeton Undergraduate Student Government, the Quadrangle Club has hosted to some of the biggest concerts on Princetons campus, including Barenaked Ladies in 1993, Lifehouse in 2003, Maroon 5 in 2004, Rihanna in 2006, and T-Pain in 2013. These concerts have been documented as having drawn more than half of the universitys entire undergraduate population. Below is a listing of the groups that have performed at the club in recent years at the semiannual University-wide festival called "Lawnparties".</p><br>
<p>Note: Fall 2004 a comedy event was held instead of a concert. Fall 2009 the money for the concert was instead donated to the Pace Center.</p><br>
<h2>Notable alumni</h2><br>
<p>Stephen Ailes &#39;33 - United States Secretary of the Army 1964-1965</p><br>
<p>R. W. Apple, Jr. &#39;57 - New York Times editor</p><br>
<p>Jeff Bezos &#39;86 - founder of Amazon.com</p><br>
<p>Eduardo Bhatia &#39;86 - 15th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico</p><br>
<p>John Peale Bishop &#39;17 - writer, poet</p><br>
<p>Kit Bond &#39;60 - former USA senator and governor of Missouri</p><br>
<p>Ralph D. Denunzio &#39;56 - investment banker and chairman of the New York Stock Exchange</p><br>
<p>Robert F. Goheen &#39;40 - president of Princeton University and USA Ambassador to India</p><br>
<p>Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers &#39;87 - US District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California</p><br>
<p>J. Robert Hillier &#39;59 - Founder of Hillier Architecture (sold to RMJM in 2007)</p><br>
<p>David Huebner &#39;82 - United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa</p><br>
<p>Wentworth Miller &#39;95 - Actor, model and screenwriter</p><br>
<p>Neil L. Rudenstine &#39;56 - Former president of Harvard University.</p><br>
<p>George P. Schultz &#39;42 - Former United States Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, and president of Bechtel.</p><br>
<p>Adlai Stevenson &#39;22 - governor of Illinois, USA Ambassador to the United Nations, and Democratic Party nominee for President in 1952 and 1956</p><br>
<p>Robert Venturi &#39;47 - Architect (at Princeton: Wu Hall, Lewis Thomas Laboratory, Frist Campus Center)</p><br>
<p>Sir Gordon Wu &#39;58 - Chairman of Hopewell Holdings</p><br>
<p>Akimiski Island is the largest island in James Bay , Canada, which is part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the territory of Nunavut. It has an area of 3,001 km&sup2, making it the 163rd largest island in the world, and Canada&#39;s 29th largest island. Akimiski Island is only 19 km from the province of Ontario. From the western side of the island, one can see the Ontario coastline.</p><br>
<p>The island&#39;s name is Cree "land across the water".</p><br>
<p>The island has no year-round human inhabitants; however, it is part of the Attawapiskat First Nation&#39;s traditional territory and is frequently used for traditional purposes. The surface of Akimiski is flat and slopes gradually to the north. Most of the vegetation that covers the island consists of lichen, moss, sedges, and dwarf black spruce. The island is a coastal wetland that includes mudflats, tidal marshes, and tidal mudflats. Freshwater streams that flow into southwestern James Bay carry sediments and abundant nutrients that help to sustain the productive waterfowl habitat around Akimiski Island.</p><br>
<p>The Akimiski Island Group includes Akimiski, Gasket, and Gullery Islands; Albert Shoal; and Akimiski Strait Isles.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Mean annual temperature: 2.5 &deg;C</p><br>
<p>Average rainfall: 450 mm</p><br>
<p>Average snowfall: 250 mm</p><br>
<h2>Conservation</h2><br>
<p>Akimiski Island is a Canadian Important Bird Area, site #NU036 (53&deg;10&prime;12&Prime;N latitude, 081&deg;19&prime;48&Prime;W longitude). Its eastern portion is also a federal Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and much of the coastline is a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>The coastal waters and wetlands of Akimiski Island (and James Bay in general) are important feeding grounds for many varieties of migratory birds. Notable species include:</p><br>
<p>Atlantic brant</p><br>
<p>Canada goose</p><br>
<p>Lesser snow goose</p><br>
<p>Marbled godwit</p><br>
<p>Semipalmated sandpiper</p><br>
<p>James Bay and Hudson Bay are funnel-shaped and consequently cause migrating birds from the Arctic to concentrate in this area. During fall migration, there is an abundance of birds when adults and young are present. In the springtime, the birds tend to reside in the southern areas of James Bay until the northern section thaws.</p><br>
<p>Among mammalians, ringed seals, polar bears, and beluga whales can be found in the area.</p><br>
<p>Prince Charles Island is a large, low-lying island with an area of 9,521 km&sup2, making it the worlds 78th largest island and the 19th largest island in Canada. It is located in Foxe Basin, off the west coast of Baffin Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Despite the islands size, it wasn&#39;t discovered until 1932, when the tug captain W. A. Poole first sighted it. His information never made it onto any published map. It was rediscovered in 1948 by Albert-Ernest Tomkinson navigating an Avro Lancaster for the RCAF 408  Squadron, though it was likely known to the local Inuit long before that. The island was named for Prince Charles, who was born the same year. The island is uninhabited and its temperatures are extremely cold.</p><br>
<p>Signal de Botrange  is the highest point in Belgium, located in the High Fens , at 694 m. It is the top of a broad plateau and a road crosses the summit, passing an adjacent café. In 1923, the 6 m Baltia tower was built on the summit to allow visitors to reach an altitude of 700 m. A stone tower built in 1934 reaches 718 m.</p><br>
<p>For several decades a meteorological station was installed at signal Botrange. Since 1999, it was replaced by an automatic station of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium installed on Mount Rigi (scientific station of the High Fens - University of Liege), which is between the signal and the house Baraque Michel.</p><br>
<p>Signal de Botrange experiences stronger winds than the centre of Belgium. Average and extreme temperatures are usually lower than at any other place in Belgium: the minimum temperature recorded (-25.6 °C) does not, however, exceed the absolute record (-30.1 °C), observed in the valley of the Lomme, at Rochefort during a temperature inversion. In winter, for three months, on average, the average temperature remains below 0 °C.</p><br>
<p>Rainfall is much greater than most of the rest of the country, at an annual average of 1450 mm compared with 800 mm in Uccle. Rainfall is also much more common: there are over 200 days of precipitation per year (against just over 170 in Uccle). Maximum temperatures in summer rarely exceed 30 °C. The number of days of frost is over 130 days per year and the number of days of snowfall exceeds 35 days. The maximum thickness of snow was measured on 9 February 1953, at 115 cm of snow. Frost and early snowfall can occur in late September, but that is exceptional. Late snow may sometimes occur until mid-May.</p><br>
<p>At the height of winter the site is used as the start of a number of cross-country skiing routes.</p><br>
<p>Honolulu Hale , located on 530 South King Street in downtown Honolulu in the City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, is the official seat of government of the city and county, site of the chambers of the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu City Council.</p><br>
<p>In the Hawaiian language, hale (pronounced HAH-leh) means house or building. Honolulu Hale means Honolulu House (although the Hawaiian language word order would be Hale Honolulu). In 1978, it was listed as a contributing property to the Hawaii Capital Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Honolulu Hale was an idea started by Joseph J. Fern. Before becoming a mayor-council type of government, Honolulu was administered by the Board of Supervisors. After the creation of the now-defunct County of Oahu, the Board of Supervisors met in city halls located in various downtown Honolulu locations. Supervisor Fern had a vision of a permanent home for the fledgling municipal government, which had only been created in 1900 upon passage of the Hawaiian Organic Act. When the County of Oahu and the Board of Supervisors dissolved in 1907 and established the City & County of Honolulu, Fern became its first mayor and began making preliminary plans for the construction of a city hall. Unfortunately, Fern died in 1920 of diabetes before he could persuade residents of the need for a permanent city hall. Mayor John H. Wilson, who was also the Honolulu Chapter President of the American Association of Engineers, carried on Fern&#39;s dream.</p><br>
<p>Honolulu Hale was finally completed in 1928 with the help of every major architect in town&mdash;C.W. Dickey, Hart Wood, Robert Miller, and Rothwell Kangeter & Lester&mdash;but did not open for business until the following year. It was built in an Italianate Spanish Colonial Revival style that was popular in the islands at the time. Its interior courtyard, staircase, and open ceiling were modeled after the Bargello in Florence. Einar Peterson was commissioned to paint frescoes in the interior while Mario Valdastri was commissioned to install intricate stonework. In 1951, two three-story wings were added to the original structure.</p><br>
<p>A new, high-rise Honolulu Municipal Building was later added at 650 South King Street. In 2006, it was renamed the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building in honor of the city&#39;s most colorful and longest-serving mayors.</p><br>
<p>Surrounding Honolulu Hale are other prominent historic and artistic landmarks: Aliiōlani Hale, Hawaii State Capitol, Iolani Palace, Kawaiahao Church, Sky Gate (a 24 ft high sculpture by Isamu Noguchi), and the Territorial Building. Within walking distance are Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew and Washington Place.</p><br>
<h2>Satellite city halls</h2><br>
<p>There are a number of satellite city halls around Oahu, some of which have limited services.</p><br>
<h3>Locations</h3><br>
<p>Ala Moana Center</p><br>
<p>Pearlridge Uptown</p><br>
<p>Windward City Shopping Center, Kāneohe</p><br>
<p>Fort Street, Downtown</p><br>
<p>Hawaii Kai</p><br>
<p>Kailua</p><br>
<p>Kapolei</p><br>
<p>Kalihi-Pālama</p><br>
<p>Wahiawā</p><br>
<p>Waianae</p><br>
<p>Melville Island is an uninhabited island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago with an area of 42,149 km&sup2;. It is the 33rd largest island in the world and Canada&#39;s eighth largest island. Melville Island is shared by the Northwest Territories, which is responsible for the western half of the island, and Nunavut, which is responsible for the eastern half. The border runs along the 110th meridian west. The mountains on Melville Island, some of the largest in the western Canadian Arctic, reach heights of 1,000 m. There are two subnational pene-exclaves that lie west of the 110th meridian and form part of the Northwest Territories. These can only be reached by land from Nunavut or boat from the Northwest Territories.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island has little or no vegetation. Where continuous vegetation occurs, it usually consists of hummocks of mosses, lichens, grasses, and sedges. The only woody species, the dwarf willow, grows as a dense twisted mat crawling along the ground. However, a diverse animal population exists: polar bear, Peary caribou, muskox, northern collared lemming, Arctic wolf, Arctic fox, Arctic hare, and ermine (stoat) are common. A 2003 sighting of a grizzly bear and grizzly tracks by an expedition from the University of Alberta represent the most northerly reports of grizzly bears ever recorded.</p><br>
<p>Melville Island is one of two major breeding grounds for a small sea goose, the brant goose. DNA analysis and field observations suggest that these birds may be distinct from other brant stocks. Numbering 4,000-8,000 birds, this could be one of the rarest goose stocks in the world.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first European to visit Melville Island was the British explorer Sir William Parry in 1819. He was forced to spend the winter at what is now called "Winter Harbour", until August 1, 1820, owing to freeze-up of the sea. The island is named for Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville who was First Sea Lord at the time. In the search for Franklin&#39;s lost expedition, its east coast was explored as far as Bradford Point by Dr. Abraham Bradford in 1851, while its north and west coasts were surveyed by Francis Leopold McClintock, Richard Vesey Hamilton and George Henry Richards in 1853.</p><br>
<p>In 1930, a large sandstone rock marking Parry&#39;s 1819 wintering site at Winter Harbour, approximately 5.5 m long and 3 m high, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.</p><br>
<h2>Fossil fuel deposits</h2><br>
<p>Melville has surfaced as a candidate for natural gas deposits. The island was believed to have deposits of coal and oil shale since the first half of the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>The first Canadian Arctic island exploratory well was spudded in 1961 at Winter Harbour.</p><br>
<p>It drilled Lower Paleozoic strata to a total depth of 3,823 m. In the 1970s, the northern portion of the island on the east side of the Sabine Peninsula proved to contain a major gas field, known as Drake Point. The lease was owned by Panarctic Oils, a joint operation with the Canadian Government.</p><br>
<p>Starr Family Home State Historic Site is a 3.1 acre historical site operated by the Texas Historical Commission in downtown Marshall, Texas. It was listed as a National Register of Historic Places in 1979. On January 1, 2008, the site was transferred from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Texas Historical Commission.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The site encompasses several structures used by the Starr Family; most notably the main house or Starr Home, Maplecroft, and Rosemont Cottage. Rosemont Cottage is the only remaining portion of Rosemont, the antebellum plantation home that used to stand behind Maplecroft.</p><br>
<p>The site portrays 150 years and four generations of one of the most influential political families in the periods of the Republic of Texas and early statehood. The family donated the site to the State of Texas in 1976 and in 1982 the site was enlarged to include all of the Starr family residences. The Starrs continued to live at the site until 1985; the site was opened to the public in 1986 as a Texas state park.</p><br>
<p>James Frank Starr, commissioned the construction of the main attraction of the park, Maplecroft. The 1871 Starr home is a two-story, frame, late Greek Revival structure with some Victorian styling. Craftsmen, such as shipwrights, and building materials were shipped from New Orleans to Marshall.</p><br>
<p>In 1985, the house and three acres encompassing seven historic buildings was left to the State of Texas upon the death of the last owner, Mrs. Clara Pope Willoughby.</p><br>
<p>Balls Pyramid is an erosional remnant of a shield volcano and caldera that formed about 6.4 million years ago. It lies 20 km southeast of Lord Howe Island in the Pacific Ocean. It is 562 m high, while measuring only 1,100 m in length and 300 m across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. Balls Pyramid is part of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park in Australia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Discovery</h3><br>
<p>The pyramid is named after Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who reported discovering it in 1788. On the same voyage, Ball also reported discovering Lord Howe Island.</p><br>
<p>In The Voyage Of Governor Phillip To Botany Bay With An Account Of The Establishment Of The Colonies Of Port Jackson And Norfolk Island (1789), Arthur Phillip gives this description of the area around Ball&#39;s Pyramid, before describing Lord Howe Island:</p><br>
<p>There lies about four miles from the south-west part of the pyramid, a dangerous rock, which shows itself a little above the surface of the water, and appears not to be larger than a boat. Lieutenant Ball had no opportunity of examining whether there is a safe passage between them or not.</p><br>
<p>The first person to go ashore is believed to have been Henry Wilkinson, a geologist at the New South Wales Department of Mines, in 1882.</p><br>
<h3>Climbing</h3><br>
<p>In 1964 a Sydney team, which included adventurer Dick Smith and other members of the Scouting movement, attempted to climb to the summit of the pyramid; however, they were forced to turn back on the fifth day as they ran short of food and water.</p><br>
<p>The first successful climb to the summit was made on 14 February 1965 by a team of climbers from the Sydney Rock Climbing Club, consisting of Bryden Allen, John Davis, Jack Pettigrew and David Witham.</p><br>
<p>In 1979, Smith returned to the pyramid, together with climbers John Worrall and Hugh Ward. They successfully reached the summit and unfurled a flag of New South Wales provided to them by Premier Neville Wran, declaring the island Australian territory (a formality which it seems had not previously been done).</p><br>
<p>Climbing was banned in 1982 under amendments to the Lord Howe Island Act, and in 1986, all access to the island was banned by the Lord Howe Island Board. In 1990, the policy was relaxed to allow some climbing under strict conditions, which in recent years has required an application to the relevant state minister.</p><br>
<p>In 2014 two yacht-supported climbers successfully made an unauthorised one-day ascent. They bivouacked 80m below the summit and during the night sighted several live Lord Howe Island stick insects.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Like Lord Howe Island and the Lord Howe Seamount Chain, Ball&#39;s Pyramid is based on the Lord Howe Rise, part of the submerged continent of Zealandia.</p><br>
<p>Balls Pyramid has a few satellite islets. Observatory Rock and Wheatsheaf Islet lie about 800 m west-northwest and west-southwest respectively, of the western extremity of Balls Pyramid. Southeast Rock is a pinnacle located about 3.5 km southeast of Ball&#39;s Pyramid.</p><br>
<p>Ball&#39;s Pyramid is positioned in the centre of a submarine shelf. The shelf is 20 km in length and averages 10 km in width and lies under an average depth of 50 m of water. It is separated by a 500 m deep submarine canyon from another shelf on which Lord Howe Island is located. The cliffs of the stack continue under the water surface to the level of the shelf.</p><br>
<h2>Biodiversity</h2><br>
<h3>Melaleuca howeana</h3><br>
<p>A Melaleuca howeana shrub was found growing on Ball&#39;s Pyramid. The bush was growing in a small crevice where water was seeping through cracks in the underlying rocks. This moisture supported relatively lush plant growth which had, over time, resulted in a buildup of plant debris several metres deep.</p><br>
<h3>Dryococelus australis</h3><br>
<p>Ball&#39;s Pyramid supports the last known wild population of Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis).</p><br>
<p>Following the last sighting of the Lord Howe Island stick insect on Lord Howe Island in 1920, the species was presumed extinct. Evidence of continued survival on Balls Pyramid was discovered during the 1964 climb, when a dead specimen was found and photographed. Throughout the following years, several more dead specimens were discovered, but attempts to find live specimens were unsuccessful. In 2001, a team of entomologists and conservationists landed on Balls Pyramid to chart its flora and fauna. As they had hoped, they discovered a population of the Lord Howe Island stick insect living in an area of 6 by, at a height of 100 m above the shoreline, under a single Melaleuca howeana shrub. The population was extremely small, with only 24 individuals. Two pairs were brought to mainland Australia, and new populations have been successfully bred with the ultimate goal of reintroduction to Lord Howe Island.</p><br>
<p>In 2014 an unauthorised climbing team sighted live stick insects in an exposed position 65 metres below the summit of Balls pyramid in a thicket of sedge plants, suggesting that the insects range on Balls Pyramid is more widespread than previously held and its food preferences are not limited to Melaleuca howeana.</p><br>
<p>Thorah Island is a lake island located in the southeast portion of Lake Simcoe, approximately 4 km west from Beaverton in Ontario, Canada. The island, part of Brock Township, is approximately 1,450 acres  in size and the land is divided mainly between wooded and wooded-swamp terrain. Some land has been cleared for farming and recreational purposes but much of the agricultural land has fallen into disuse and has grown over. Centre Road runs from the east side of the island to the west side but is not much more than a dirt path. A small harbour exists on the east side of the island, directly across from Beaverton Harbour. There are several sandy beaches on the west side of the island, but most of the island&#39;s shore is rocky.</p><br>
<p>Thorah as well as three other islands in Lake Simcoe were ceded by the Chippewa Indians in 1856 to the British Crown on the agreement that the land would be sold and the proceeds invested for the descendants of the ceding chiefs. Following this sale William Napier made the first survey of the island in 1856.</p><br>
<p>Thorah was originally used as a recreational destination in the late nineteenth century by a group of four businessmen from Toronto who came to the island to camp and fish. The island currently (2005) has a seasonal population of 147 that include several descendants of the original group.</p><br>
<p>Today the island is used by the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph as an isolated mating station for the Buckfast Bee lines maintained by the research centre.</p><br>
<p>The island was also named Canise (or Kanise) Island by Governor John Graves Simcoe in 1793 to honour a local native chief by that name. In the above-mentioned treaty between the natives and the British the island is known as Plum Island. Neither of these names are in popular use today.</p><br>
<p>Efate is an island in the Pacific Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in Vanuatu. It is also known as Île Vate.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>It is the most populous (approx. 66,000) island in Vanuatu. Efates land area of 899.5 km² makes it Vanuatus third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national capital. Its highest mountain is Mount McDonald with a height of 647 m.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Captain James Cook named it Sandwich Island "in honour of my noble patron, the Earl of Sandwich" on his 1774 voyage on HMS Resolution.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, Efate served an important role as a United States military base.</p><br>
<p>On March 13, 2015, Port Vila, the island&#39;s largest human settlement and the capital of Vanuatu, bore extensive damage from Cyclone Pam.</p><br>
<h2>Politics</h2><br>
<p>Efate became an independent commune in 1889 when residents declared the region as Franceville. However, by 1890 the commune was broken up.</p><br>
<p>Efate is governed by both the Port Vila Municipality and the Shefa Provincial Council, whose governance is the town limits of Port Vila only, and rural Efate and the outer Efate Islands, respectively.</p><br>
<h2>Small Islands off Efate</h2><br>
<p>North and west of Efate are small islands called Eratoka (Hat) Island, Lelepa, Nguna, Pele and Emao. Eratoka Island is a small island that, when seen from a distance looks like a floppy hat. This is where the famous Chief Roi Mata, along with his 20 wives, were buried. Nguna, Pele and Emao are stratovolcanoes, which may form the rim of a volcanic caldera to their north.</p><br>
<h2>Survivor</h2><br>
<p>Efate was used as the location for 3 seasons the reality game show, Survivor. The island was used for season 9 of the American edition of Survivor (titled Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire), season 2 of Australian Survivor (titled Australian Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu) and season 6 of the French edition (titled Koh-Lanta: Vanuatu). Much of the Survivor: Vanuatu and Australian Celebrity Survivor was filmed approximately 30 minutes from Port Vila near Mangililu and Gideon’s Landing, the latter of which is now a commonly visited tourist attraction.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The capital of Port Vila is the hub of tourism in Vanuatu receiving approximately 60 000 tourists annually by air transport, cruise ships and the yachting community. Due to the British and French influence both cuisines are readily available in the capital. Budget dining include the scattered Chinese eateries across Vila and the Mummas Market downtown. Outside of Port Vila a more rustic destination awaits, with most people living a traditional lifestyle: cooking island food or aelan kakae, tending their gardens daily as subsistence agriculture is the dominant economy in Vanuatu, and swimming at the beach.</p><br>
<p>Port Vila services the domestic carrier Air Vanuatu which goes to the outer islands of Vanuatu. Popular destinations such as Tanna and Santo can be reached daily from Port Vila, while more remote locations can be reached on a less regular basis. The island is served by Bauerfield International Airport.</p><br>
<p>Efate offers a range of tourism attractions and activities including Mele Cascades, Eton Beach, Tanalilui Road Markets, Round Island Tour, Buggy Fun Rental, Diving and Sunset Cruises.</p><br>
<p>Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street, near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the business district and Harvard University surrounding that intersection, which is the historic center of Cambridge. Adjacent to Harvard Yard, the historic heart of Harvard University, the Square  functions as a commercial center for Harvard students, as well as residents of western Cambridge and the inner western and northern suburbs of Boston. These residents use the Harvard station, a major MBTA Red Line subway and bus transportation hub.</p><br>
<p>In an extended sense, the name "Harvard Square" can also refer to the entire neighborhood surrounding this intersection for several blocks in each direction. The nearby Cambridge Common has become a park area with a playground, baseball field, and a number of monuments, several relating to the Revolutionary War.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The heart of Harvard Square is the junction of Massachusetts Avenue and Brattle Street. Massachusetts Avenue enters from the southeast (a few miles after crossing the Charles River from Boston at MIT), and turns sharply to the north at the intersection, which is dominated by a large pedestrian space incorporating the MBTA subway entrance, an international newsstand, a visitor information kiosk, and a small open-air performance space ("The Pit"). Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street merge from the southwest, joining Massachusetts Avenue at "Nini&#39;s Corner", where another newsstand is located. The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society main building forms the western streetwall at the intersection, along with a bank and some retail shops.</p><br>
<h3>Nearby places</h3><br>
<p>The walled enclosure of Harvard Yard is adjacent, with Harvard University, Harvard Extension School, Harvard Art Museums, Semitic Museum, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and Museum of Natural History just short walks away.</p><br>
<p>Other institutions in the general neighborhood include the Cambridge Public Library, Lesley College, the Longy School of Music, the Episcopal Divinity School, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, American Repertory Theater, the Cooper-Frost-Austin House, the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House, and the Longfellow House–Washington&#39;s Headquarters National Historic Site.</p><br>
<p>The high pedestrian traffic makes Harvard Square a gathering place for street musicians and buskers, who must obtain a permit from the Cambridge Arts Council. Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, who attended nearby Tufts University, is known to have played here during her college years. Amanda Palmer, of The Dresden Dolls, regularly performed here as a "living statue". Another frequent performer over the years has been indie rock guitarist Mary Lou Lord. A small bronze statue of "Doo Doo" (a puppet created by Igor Fokin) sits at the corner of Brattle and Eliot streets, in honor of Fokin and all the street performers.</p><br>
<h3>Other features</h3><br>
<p>Until 1984, the Harvard Square stop was the northern terminus of the Red Line, and it still functions as a major transfer station between subway, bus, and trackless trolley. Automobile traffic can be heavy, and parking is difficult. Most of the bus lines serving the area from the north and west run through a tunnel adjacent to the subway tunnel. Originally built for streetcars (which last ran in 1958) and still used by trackless trolleys as well as ordinary buses, the tunnel lessens bus traffic in central Harvard Square, and lets buses cross the Square without encountering automobile traffic. The tunnel also allows safer and covered access between the subway and the buses.</p><br>
<p>At the center of the Square is the old Harvard Square Subway Kiosk, now a newsstand, Out of Town News, stocking newspapers and magazines from around the world. A video of it appears in transitional clips used on CNN. A public motion art installation, Lumen Eclipse, has been introduced at the Tourist Information Booth showing monthly exhibitions of local, national and international artists.</p><br>
<p>The office of NPR&#39;s Car Talk radio show faces the square, with a stencil in the window that reads "Dewey, Cheetham & Howe," the fictional law firm often referenced on the show. The popular show has referenced this by asking its viewers to send in answers to the "Puzzler" to "Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Harvard Square, Cambridge (our fair city), MA 02138".</p><br>
<p>The sunken region next to the newsstand and the subway entrance is called "The Pit". Its arena-like appearance attracts skateboarders and, more generally, young, high-school aged people from surrounding neighborhoods who are associated with countercultural movements such as the punk, hardcore, straight edge, and goth subcultures. The contrast between these congregants, and the often older and more conservatively dressed people associated with nearby Harvard University and the businesses in the Square, occasionally leads to tension. Also, Harvard sports teams and clubs, including the track teams and all-male social clubs, are known to make use of this contrast through encouraging or sometimes forcing their newest members to engage in humorous or humiliating performances in "The Pit" as part of these members&#39; initiations into the group. The overall scene was later fondly recalled by singer songwriter Amanda Palmer as a hangout for "Cool People".</p><br>
<p>Across the street to the east of The Pit, an outdoor cafe features always-busy tables for chess players, including US Federation Life Master Murray Turnbull, who has displayed his "Play the Chessmaster" sign here since 1982.</p><br>
<p>In the southwest area of the Square neighborhood, on Mount Auburn St, stands the Igor Fokin Memorial. This memorial, created by sculptor Konstantin Simun, pays tribute not only to the late "beloved puppeteer," but to all street performers that are an integral part of the square, especially during summer months.</p><br>
<p>A number of other public squares dot the surrounding streets, notably Brattle Square and Winthrop Square, with a wide variety of street performers throughout the year. Brattle Street itself is home to the Brattle Theater (a non-profit arthouse theater) and the American Repertory Theater. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, one block further down JFK Street, is on the bank of the Charles River. Cambridge Common is two blocks north.</p><br>
<p>The Square often attracts activists for unconventional political factions and has its share of panhandlers. Although Tom Magliozzi has derided it as "the bum capital of the world", its also very likely one of the worlds best places to people-watch, having many benches, terraces, and sidewalk restaurants and cafes dedicated for that purpose, and an affluent, ambient shopping population to sustain most anyone&#39;s interest.</p><br>
<p>"The Garage" is a small, multi-story shopping mall, named thus because it was formerly a parking garage. The original car ramp has been preserved, and is a central feature of this adaptive reuse project. One of the main attractions in The Garage is a Newbury Comics store.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Although today a commercial center, the Square had famous residents in earlier periods, including the colonial poet Anne Bradstreet.</p><br>
<h3>Transformation</h3><br>
<p>Discussions of how the Square has changed in recent years usually center on the gentrification of the Harvard Square neighborhood and Cambridge in general. The Square also used to be a neighborhood shopping center, including a grocery store (Sages) and a Woolworth&#39;s five and ten. Although a hardware store (Dickson Hardware at 26 Brattle Street) survives amid chain drug stores and bank branches, the Square is mainly a regional rather than neighborhood shopping destination, serving students and commuters.</p><br>
<p>In 1981 and 1987 the Harvard Square Theater was converted into a multiplex cinema; it later became part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain and then closed on July 8, 2012. During the late 1990s, some locally run businesses with long-time shopfronts on the Square&mdash;including the unusual Tasty Diner, a tiny sandwich shop open long hours, and the Wursthaus, a German restaurant with an extensive beer menu&mdash;closed to make way for national chains. Elsies Lunch, a long-popular deli, has also closed; what remained of its small corner storefront space facing Lowell House on Mount Auburn Street is now occupied by an ATM. Another long-time restaurant, the 64-year-old Leos Place, closed in December 2013 when the landlord of the property terminated their lease. The owners are hoping to reopen in a new location.</p><br>
<p>The student co-op, the Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society ("The Coop", founded in 1882) is now managed by Barnes & Noble, though it is still overseen by a board elected by its membership of Harvard and MIT students and staff. Schoenhof&#39;s Foreign Books is owned by the French Éditions Gallimard. Major bookstores Paperback Booksmith, Reading International, and Barilari Books had closed by the end of the 1990s. WordsWorth Books at 30 Brattle Street closed in 2004, after 29 years as a fixture in the Square. In the same year, the famous Grolier Poetry Bookshop announced that it would be sold (although it survived under new management). Globe Corner Bookstore converted to an exclusively online business, serving its last walk-in customer on July 4, 2011.</p><br>
<p>Following national trends, the former Harvard Trust Company has been absorbed into the national Bank of America through a series of mergers. The iconic Out of Town News is owned by the UK-based Hudson Group. Still, several establishments remain as longstanding, locally-run businesses with unique styles. Examples include Leavitt & Pierce tobacconists (est. 1883), Laflamme Barber Shop (est. 1898), Harvard Book Store (est. 1932), Cardullos Gourmet Shoppe (est. 1950), Charlies Kitchen (est. 1951), the Brattle Theater (est. 1953), the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant (est. 1954), Club Passim (est. 1958), Café Pamplona (est. 1959), Mr. Bartleys Burger Cottage (est. 1960), Dickson Brothers Hardware (est. 1961), Million Year Picnic comics (est. 1970), Algiers Coffee House (est. 1970), and Grendels Den (est. 1971).</p><br>
<p>Raven Used Books arrived in 2005, helping to preserve Harvard Square&#39;s reputation as a center for used and new book browsing and sales.</p><br>
<p>A 2012 proposal suggested major changes to the pedestrian island in the heart of Harvard Square, including possible removal of the landmark Out of Town News kiosk. Reaction to the proposal was mixed, and no changes have been approved.</p><br>
<h2>In film and other media</h2><br>
<p>The 1969 film Goodbye, Columbus takes place in Harvard Square near the film&#39;s conclusion, after the Richard Benjamin character learns that his girlfriend, Brenda Potimkin (played by Katharine Ross), an undergraduate at Radcliffe College, had left her diaphragm in the top drawer of her bureau at home for her mother to discover.</p><br>
<p>The 1970 film Love Story, by the late Harvard University alumnus and Yale University professor of classics Erich Segal, takes place almost entirely in and around Harvard Square during its first two-thirds, while Harvard undergraduates Oliver Barrett and Jenny Cavalieri meet; finish college; get married; and Oliver goes to Harvard Law School while Jenny teaches school, living in a second-story walk-up in what looks like Watertown. The film continues to be screened annually to incoming freshmen at Harvard College during orientation week.</p><br>
<p>The 1973 film The Paper Chase, set at Harvard Law School, features Harvard Square landmarks of its era, including the old Out of Town Newsstand, the old MBTA Harvard station kiosk with its "8 Minutes to Park Street" sign, and the now-defunct Kupersmith&#39;s Florists.</p><br>
<p>The 1977 film Between the Lines features similar Harvard Square footage as well as aerial footage of the Back Bay.</p><br>
<p>The 1994 film With Honors has a scene filmed in Harvard Square in which the Out of Town Newsstand is featured. In the scene, Monty approaches Simon as he (Simon) is attempting to sell newspapers he took out of a vending machine.</p><br>
<p>Various parts of the 1997 film Good Will Hunting were filmed in and around Harvard Square, most notably at the former Tasty Sandwich Shop and the outdoor seating area of the square&#39;s largest Au Bon Pain café.</p><br>
<p>The 2005 documentary film Touching History; Harvard Square, the Bank, and The Tasty Diner chronicles the changing face of the Square, as a small diner (The Tasty) closes its doors to make way for a large retail space.</p><br>
<p>Ben Affleck shot portions of his film The Town (2010) in Grendel&#39;s Den on Winthrop Street, locally famous in the 1970s for its chocolate fondue.</p><br>
<p>The 2010 film The Social Network, about the Harvard student origins of Facebook, featured aerial footage of the area near Holyoke Center.</p><br>
<p>Gwydir River, a major inland perennial river of the Barwon catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<p>The river rises at the junction of the Rocky River and Boorolong Creek, at Yarrowyck, northwest of Uralla and flows generally northwest and west, joined by over thirty-four tributaries, including the Horton and Mehi rivers, before reaching its confluence with the Barwon River, north east of Collarenebri; descending 616 m over its 488 km course.</p><br>
<p>The flow of the river is impounded by Copeton Dam, with storage used for town water supply, stock, domestic use and irrigation. The Gwydir River below Copeton Dam provides some of the wildest whitewater rafting available in Australia. Before the construction of Copeton Dam and much diversionary work, the Gwydir River flowed into the Gingham and Lower Gwydir Wetlands.</p><br>
<p>The Gwydir Highway was named after the river.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Gwydir river rises on the southern part of the Northern Tablelands, near the town of Uralla, and flows about 668 km generally north west and then west onto the plains where it branches somewhat, eventually joining the Barwon River, mostly as its main branch the Mehi River, which branches off to the east of Moree, before passing though it. The upper Gwydir River also passes the towns of Bundarra, Bingara, Gravesend, and Pallamallawa. Further tributaries above Moree are the Carole/GilGil Creeks to the north that flow into the Barwon River when during times of high rainfall/runoff.</p><br>
<p>The Gwydir River further splits into two anabranches west of Moree - the Lower Gwydir or "Big Leather Watercourse" is the southern channel, and the "Gingham Channel" is the northern branch. The Gingham Channel flows west, joining the Ballone Creek before it flows into the Big Leather Watercourse. The Big Leather Watercourse then joins the Mehi River to the south. In turn, the Mehi River joins the Barwon River near the town of Collarenebri.</p><br>
<p>Over its entire distance, the Gwydir River falls around 616 m in elevation from its headwaters, at an elevation of 760 m above sea level to when it joins the Barwon River at an elevation of 144 m above sea level. The Gwydir River&#39;s total length is 488 km, in which space and thirty-four tributaries feed into it over its entire length; including the Horton River, Warialda Creek, Laura Creek and Moredun Creek.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The traditional custodians of the land surrounding the Gwydir River were the Aboriginal Kamilaroi peoples.</p><br>
<p>Explorer Allan Cunningham crossed the river at Gravesend in 1827 and named it after his patron, Peter Burrell, Baron Gwydyr, who took his title from Gwydir Castle in Wales. The Commonwealth Electoral Division of Gwydir, which was created in 1901 and ceased to exist at the 2007 federal election, was named for the Gwydir River. In Australia the name is pronounced to rhyme with "wider," whereas the Welsh name is pronounced roughly "Gwidd-eer."</p><br>
<p>The iron lattice bridges crossing the Gwydir River at Bundarra and Bingara are regarded as significant bridges of the colonial period. Around mid-1838 a war of extirpation, according to local magistrate Edward Denny Day, was waged all along the Gwydir River. Aborigines in the district were repeatedly pursued by parties of mounted and armed stockmen and Day claimed that great numbers of them had been killed at various spots.</p><br>
<h2>Agriculture</h2><br>
<p>A lot of irrigated cotton is grown near Moree, as well as many other crops, livestock and agricultural enterprises. The cotton industry relies on irrigation and has been affected by recent drought with water allocations to farms severely reduced. In 2006 it was calculated that the cotton industry consumed 87% of the agricultural water taken from the Gwydir River.</p><br>
<p>Irrigation in the upper Gwydir led to a severe reduction in environmental flows downstream. The reduction in water flow has affected landholders who traditionally used waters from the river to supplement stock drinking water and for minor watering of pasture and small areas of crops. It also stopped periodical flushes of water into ephemeral creeks, watercourses and wetlands in the more remote off-river properties. These conflicts resulted in the establishment of the Gwydir Regulated River Management Committee in 1997 and a management plan which came into effect on 1 July 2004.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<h3>Wetlands</h3><br>
<p>Some 800 hectare of the privately owned Gwydir Wetlands were designated on 14 June 1999 as a Ramsar site as a wetland of international importance.</p><br>
<p>Some 1,021 km&sup2; of the Gwydir Wetlands have been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area because, when they receive adequate water inflows, they support more breeding waterbirds than any other site in the country. At times more than half a million nesting waterbirds have been present, including over 1% of the world populations of nankeen night herons, intermediate egrets, and of white and straw-necked ibises. The endangered Australasian bittern has been recorded.</p><br>
<p>The Namoi River snapping turtle or Bell&#39;s turtle (Elseya belli) is found only in the upper reaches of the Namoi, Gwydir and Macdonald Rivers on the NSW North West Slopes.</p><br>
<p>Talbragar River, a perennial stream that is part of the Macquarie catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Upper Hunter and Orana districts of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<p>The river rises on the western side of the Liverpool Range on south slopes of Great Dividing Range, north of Cassilis and flows generally south west, joined by fifteen tributaries, including the Coolaburragundy River, and reaching its confluence with the Macquarie River near Dubbo; descending 876 m over its 277 km course.</p><br>
<p>The river flows through the Dunedoo and is noted for its influence on flood, particularly for its capacity for rapid rise and fall, due to the wide catchment, and the effect of its flood water on Dubbo.</p><br>
<h2>European history</h2><br>
<p>The Talbragar River was first encountered by Europeans in the late 1820s when it was called the Putterbatta River. The first bridge over the Talbragar was built in the 1850s, near Dunedoo, by Thomas New.</p><br>
<p>Galveston Bay is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, located along the upper coast of Texas. It is connected to the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by sub-tropic marshes and prairies on the mainland. The water in the bay is a complex mixture of sea water and fresh water which supports a wide variety of marine life.</p><br>
<p>The bay has played a significant role in the history of Texas. Galveston Island is home to the city of Galveston, the earliest major settlement in southeastern Texas and the states largest city toward the end of the 19th century. While a devastating hurricane in 1900 hastened Galvestons decline, the subsequent rise of Houston as a major trade center, facilitated by the dredging of the Houston Ship Channel across the western half of the bay, ensured the bay&#39;s continued economic importance.</p><br>
<p>Today, Galveston Bay is encompassed by the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-largest in the United States with a population of over 6.6 million. The Port of Houston, which has facilities spread across the northwestern section of the bay, is the second-busiest port in the nation by overall tonnage. Other major ports utilizing the bay include the Port of Texas City and the Port of Galveston. With its diverse marine life, Galveston Bay also produces more seafood than any bay in the nation except the Chesapeake.</p><br>
<p>"Galveston Bay is the second most productive estuary in the nation, producing more seafood than any other bay—trailing only Chesapeake Bay, which is over six times Galveston Bay’s size!"</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Gulf Coast gained its present configuration during the most recent glacial period approximately 18 ka (thousands of years ago). Low global sea levels allowed the Texas mainland to extend significantly further south than it is presently, and the Trinity River had carved a 170 ft deep canyon through present-day Bolivar Roads on its way to the coast. As the glacial period came to a close, rising sea levels initially filled this narrow canyon, followed by the broad lowlands of present-day Trinity Bay. Rapid sea level rise between 7.7 and 5.5 ka shifted the Gulf coastline northward to its contemporary latitude. This was quickly followed by the formation of Galveston Island (5.5 ka), a barrier island, and Bolivar Peninsula (2.5 ka), which began as a spit. in the early 19th century, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas</p><br>
<p>Human settlement in what is now Texas began at least 10,000 years ago following migrations into the Americas from Asia during the last ice age. The first substantial settlements in the area are believed to have been the Karankawa and Atakapan tribes, who lived throughout the Gulf coast region.</p><br>
<p>Though several Spanish expeditions charted the Gulf Coast, it was explorer José Antonio de Evia who in 1785 gave the bay and the island the name Galvezton in honor of Spanish viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez. Louis Aury established a naval base at the harbor in 1816 to support the Mexican War of Independence. His base was soon appropriated by pirate Jean Lafitte, who temporarily transformed Galveston Island and the bay into a haven for outlaws before being ousted by the United States Navy.</p><br>
<p>Following its independence from Spain, the new nation of Mexico claimed Texas as part of its territory. Settlements were established around the bay, including Galveston, Anahuac, Lynchburg, and San Jacinto. Following growing unrest, Texas revolted and gained independence in 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, near the bay along the San Jacinto River. The new Republic of Texas grew rapidly and joined the United States in 1845.</p><br>
<p>After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, residents of Galveston strongly supported secession and sided with the Confederacy as the Civil War broke out. However, separation from the Union did not last long; the citys harbor was blockaded by the federal navy starting in July 1861, followed by a full-scale occupation after the Battle of Galveston Harbor in October 1862. However, at the Battle of Galveston in January 1863, a small Confederate force managed to overwhelm the Unions naval forces in the bay and retake the island. Despite this victory, the Union continued to blockade the outlets of Galveston Bay until the end of the war.</p><br>
<p>Reconstruction was swift in southeast Texas. Ranching interests were major economic drivers on the mainland in the 19th century. The city of Galveston became a major USA commercial center for shipping cotton, leather products and cattle, and other goods produced in the growing state. Railroads were built around the shore and new communities continued to emerge. Commercial fishing developed as a substantial industry, particularly oysters, finfish, and later, shrimp.</p><br>
<p>The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 devastated the city of Galveston and heavily damaged communities around the bay. Growth moved inland to Houston as fear of the risks posed by establishing businesses at Galveston limited the island&#39;s ability to compete. Texas City emerged as another important port in the area. Shipping traffic through the bay expanded dramatically after the federal government completed the dredging of the Houston Ship Channel to a depth of 25 ft in 1914. By the end of the 1930s, the Port of Houston was the largest cotton port and third-largest port by overall tonnage in the United States.</p><br>
<p>The Texas oil boom began in 1901 and by 1915 oil production by the bay was fully underway. Oil wells and refineries quickly developed throughout the area.</p><br>
<p>Industrialization and urbanization led to pollution of the bay. By the 1970s, the bay was described by USA Representative Robert C. Eckhardt as "the most polluted body of water in the USA" Drilling for oil and groundwater, as well as large wakes from increasing shipping in the bay, led to land subsidence and erosion along the shoreline, especially in the Baytown–Pasadena area. Over the past few decades, approximately 100 acre of the historic San Jacinto battleground has been submerged, Sylvan Beach, a popular destination in La Porte, has been severely eroded, and the once prominent Brownwood neighborhood of Baytown has been abandoned.</p><br>
<p>The establishment of NASAs Johnson Space Center near the bay in the Clear Lake Area in 1963 brought new growth. By the 1970s, Houston had become one the nations largest cities, and its expansion connected it with the bay communities. The bay&#39;s shoreline became heavily urbanized. Today, the bay is a major destination for recreational and tourist activities, including boating, ecotourism, and waterfowl hunting.</p><br>
<p>Hurricane Ike, the most economically and environmentally destructive event on the bay since 1900, struck in 2008. A proposal to build a flood barrier system to prevent against future storm surge, the Ike Dike, is being considered by the state government.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Galveston Bay covers approximately 600 square miles, and is 30 mi long and 17 mi wide. The Galveston Bay system consists of four main sub-bays: Galveston Bay proper (upper and lower), Trinity Bay, East Bay, and West Bay. At Galveston Pier the maximum recorded tidal range was 3 feet, over the course of a month (August 2017) the range was 1.9 feet.</p><br>
<p>A majority (54%) of the bay&#39;s inflow comes from the Trinity River, which contributes 7.5 e6acre-feet of freshwater annually. The San Jacinto River, accounting for 28% of inflow volume, contributes another 500,000 acre-feet. Local watersheds contribute the remaining 18%.</p><br>
<p>Galveston Bay has three outlets to the Gulf of Mexico: Bolivar Roads (the exit of the Houston Ship Channel) between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula, San Luis Pass at the west end of Galveston Island, and Rollover Pass across Bolivar Peninsula. Many smaller bays and lakes are connected to the main system, including Christmas Bay, Moses Lake, Dickinson Bay, Clear Lake, Ash Lake, Black Duck Bay, and San Jacinto Bay.</p><br>
<p>The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, an inland waterway consisting of natural islands and man-made canals, runs between the bay and the Gulf.</p><br>
<h3>Climate</h3><br>
<p>The climate around the Bay is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa in Köppen climate classification system). Prevailing winds from the south and southeast bring heat from the deserts of Mexico and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.</p><br>
<p>Melosi (2007), pg. 13</p><br>
<p>Summer temperatures regularly exceed 90 &deg;F and the area&#39;s humidity drives the heat index even higher. Winters in the area are temperate with typical January highs above 60 &deg;F and lows are near 40 &deg;F. Snowfall is generally rare. Annual rainfall averages well over 40 in a year with some areas typically receiving over 50 in.</p><br>
<p>Hurricanes are an ever-present threat during the fall season. Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula are generally at the greatest risk. However, though the island and the peninsula provide some shielding,</p><br>
<p>the bay shoreline still faces significant danger from storm surge.</p><br>
<h2>Ecosystem</h2><br>
<p>This unique and complex mixing of waters from different sources provides nursery and spawning grounds for many types of marine life including crabs, shrimp, oysters, and many varieties of fish thereby supporting a substantial fishing industry. The deeper navigation channels of the bay provide suitable habitats for bottlenose dolphins, which feed on the abundant fish varieties. Additionally, the system of bayous, rivers, and marshes that rings the bay supports its own collection of ecosystems, containing diverse wildlife and enabling freshwater farming of crawfish.</p><br>
<p>The wetlands that surround the bay support a variety of fauna. Notable terrestrial species include the American alligator and the bobcat, while bird species include the yellow rail, purple gallinule, and pelican.</p><br>
<h3>Pollution</h3><br>
<p>The Houston Area Research Council (HARC) and Galveston Bay Foundation periodically release the Galveston Bay Report Card, which grades a number of metrics indicative of the health of the bays ecosystem and waters. The 2016 reports assigns a "C" grade for toxins in bay sediments, noting high concentrations of mercury and pyrene. The presence of the San Jacinto Pits Superfund site in the Houston Ship Channel, which contains large amounts of dioxin, is considered a significant threat to the bays health.</p><br>
<p>The entire bay is covered by seafood consumption advisories set by the Texas Department of State Health Services, but the strictness of these standards varies by location. In the Ship Channel, advisories recommend against the consumption of all fish and blue crab, while in the lower bay, advisories only apply to catfish.</p><br>
<p>In the early 1990s, the Houston Ship Channel had the fifth-highest level of toxic chemicals in the nation due to industrial discharge, with over 18.2 e6lb discharged between 1990 and 1994. However, the bay has generally benefitted from improving water quality since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.</p><br>
<p>Excessive ozone levels can occur due to industrial activities; nearby Houston is ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States. The industries located along the ship channel are a major cause of the pollution.</p><br>
<p>On March 22, 2014, a barge carrying nearly 1 e6gal of marine fuel oil collided with another ship in the Houston Ship Channel, causing the contents of one of the barge&#39;s 168,000 gal tanks to leak into Galveston Bay.</p><br>
<h3>Urban development</h3><br>
<p>Galveston Bay is located in the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-largest in the United States, and home to one of the nation&#39;s most significant shipping centers.</p><br>
<p>Houston, the nation&#39;s fourth-largest city, is the economic and cultural center of the region. Other significant communities bordering the bay include Texas City, Pasadena, Baytown, Seabrook, Kemah, Clear Lake, and Anahuac. The bay is bordered by four counties: Brazoria, Chambers, Harris, and Galveston. Important ports that serve the bay include the Port of Houston, the Port of Texas City, and the Port of Galveston. The Houston Ship Channel, which connects the Port of Houston to the Gulf, passes through the bay. It is a partially man-made feature created by dredging the Buffalo Bayou, the ship channel subbays, and Galveston Bay.</p><br>
<p>The area has a broad industrial base including the energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, transportation, and health care sectors. The bayside communities in particular are home to the Johnson Space Center, which houses the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center, Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Ellington Airport (home of the Houston Spaceport), and a high concentration of petrochemical refineries.</p><br>
<p>Weisman (2008), pg. 166,</p><br>
<p>"The industrial megaplex that begins on the east side of Houston and continues uninterrupted to the Gulf of Mexico, 50 miles away, is the largest concentration of petroleum refineries, petrochemical companies, and storage structures on Earth."</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>A large commercial fishing industry has grown around Galveston Bay, with significant production of shrimp, blue crab, eastern oyster, black drum, flounder, sheepshead, and snapper. In 2007, the Port of Galveston produced 19.2 e6lb of seafood with a value of $40.1 million.</p><br>
<p>Galveston Bay supports a significant recreation and tourism industry, especially as a result of its proximity to major population centers. Over 40% of Greater Houston residents participate annually in hiking and swimming along the bay, while 20% go fishing and 15% go boating. The five counties surrounding the bay are home to 88,000 registered pleasure crafts. Fishing expenditures (such as the purchase of fishing bait or lodging) along Galveston Bay and Sabine Lake generate approximately $650 million annually. The recreational fishing industry supports over 3,000 jobs in the bay area.</p><br>
<p>With over 600 species of birds, Galveston Bay is a popular destination for birdwatching. This sort of ecotourism generates millions in annual revenue for Chambers County, which is home to the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and High Island.</p><br>
<p>Wast Water or Wastwater is a lake located in Wasdale, a valley in the western part of the Lake District National Park, England. The lake is almost 3 mi long and more than 1/3 mile wide. It is the deepest lake in England at 258 ft, and is owned by the National Trust. It is one of the finest examples of a glacially over-deepened valley. The surface of the lake is about 200 feet above sea level, while its bottom is over 50 feet below sea level.</p><br>
<h2>Surroundings</h2><br>
<p>The head of the Wasdale Valley is surrounded by some of the highest mountains in England, including Scafell Pike, Great Gable and Lingmell. The steep slopes on the southeastern side of the lake, leading up to the summits of Whin Rigg and Illgill Head, are known as the "Wastwater Screes" or on some maps as "The Screes". These screes formed as a result of ice and weathering erosion on the rocks of the Borrowdale Volcanic Group, that form the fells to the east of the lake, towards Eskdale. They are approximately 2,000 feet, from top to base, the base being about 200 feet below the surface of the lake.</p><br>
<p>A path runs the length of the lake, through the boulders and scree fall at the base of this craggy fell-side. On the northwestern side are the cliffs of Buckbarrow (a part of Seatallan) and the upturned-boat shape of Yewbarrow. Wast Water is the source of the River Irt which flows into the Irish Sea near Ravenglass.</p><br>
<h2>Name origin and pronunciation</h2><br>
<p>"Wastwater" comes from "Wasdale" plus English "water". " Wasdale lake or the lake of Vatnsá, lake river. The present name rather curiously contains the reflexes of both Old Norse vatn water, lake, and Old English wæter water, with the meaning lake probably influenced by the Old Norse vatn.</p><br>
<p>The valley is pronounced as in was, not with a hard a: the name of the lake similarly but with a soft "s" as in "thou wast". The lake is named "Wast Water" on Ordnance Survey maps but the spelling "Wastwater" is used with roughly equal frequency, including by its owner, the National Trust, along with the Cumbria Tourist Board, and the Lake District National Park Authority.</p><br>
<h2>Points of interest</h2><br>
<h3>The Lady in the Lake</h3><br>
<p>In 1976, The Wasdale Lady in the Lake, Margaret Hogg, was murdered by her husband and her body was disposed of in the lake. She was found after eight years, with her body preserved like wax due to the lack of oxygen in the water.</p><br>
<h3>Underwater gnomes</h3><br>
<p>In February 2005 it was reported that a "gnome garden" complete with picket fence had been placed in the lake as a point of interest for divers to explore. It was removed from the bottom of Wastwater after three divers died in the late 1990s. It is thought the divers spent too much time too deep searching for the ornaments. Police divers report a rumour that the garden had been replaced at a depth beyond the lowest they were allowed to dive.</p><br>
<p>PC Kenny McMahon, a member of the North West Police Underwater Search Unit, said "Wastwater is quite clear at the bottom, but theres nothing to see. At a depth of about 48 m, divers had taken gnomes down and put a picket fence around them. But several years ago there were a number of fatalities and the Lake District National Park Authority asked us to get rid of them. We went down there, put them in bags and removed the lot. But now theres a rumour about a new garden beyond the 50 m depth limit. As police divers we can&#39;t legally dive any deeper so, if it exists, the new garden could have been purposefully put out of our reach."</p><br>
<h3>Water extraction</h3><br>
<p>Water was first pumped from the lake during World War II to supply the Royal Ordnance Factory at Drigg. It is pumped to the nearby Sellafield nuclear facility as an industrial water supply. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is allowed to extract from the lake a maximum of 18,184.4 m³ a day (over 4 million gallons), or 6,637,306 m³ a year, to use on that site.</p><br>
<h3>Favourite view</h3><br>
<p>On 9 September 2007, Wast Water was announced as the winner of a vote to determine "Britain&#39;s Favourite View" by viewers of ITV.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<p>Clockwise from River Irt</p><br>
<p>Countess Beck</p><br>
<p>Smithy Beck</p><br>
<p>Goat Gill</p><br>
<p>Nether Beck</p><br>
<p>Over Beck</p><br>
<p>Mosedale Beck</p><br>
<p>Lingmell Beck</p><br>
<p>Hollow Gill</p><br>
<p>Straighthead Gill</p><br>
<h2>In literature</h2><br>
<p>In the book Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Mr Chipping meets his wife at Wasdale Head.</p><br>
<p>Orcas Island  is the largest of the San Juan Islands, which are located in the northwestern corner of Washington state in San Juan County, Washington, United States.</p><br>
<h2>History and naming of the island</h2><br>
<p>The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of Horcasitas, or Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, the Viceroy of Mexico who sent an exploration expedition under Francisco de Eliza to the Pacific Northwest in 1791. During the voyage, Eliza explored part of the San Juan Islands. He did not apply the name Orcas specifically to Orcas Island, but rather to part of the archipelago. In 1847, Henry Kellett assigned the name Orcas to Orcas Island during his reorganization of the British Admiralty charts. Kelletts work eliminated the patriotically American names that Charles Wilkes had given to many features of the San Juans during the Wilkes Expedition of 1838–1842. Wilkes had named Orcas Island "Hull Island", after Commodore Isaac Hull. Other features of Orcas Island named by Wilkes include "Ironsides Inlet" for East Sound and "Guerrier Bay" for West Sound. One of the names Wilkes gave remains: Mount Constitution. Wilkes names follow a pattern: Isaac Hull was the commander of "Old Ironsides" (the ) and won fame after capturing the British warship Guerriere in the War of 1812. The islands were first claimed by Spain, then by England, who agreed that all below the 49th parallel was part of the US, in the treaty signed after the War of 1812. The Oregon territory, which then included Washington state and this island. was used jointly by the US and England until 1848, but border disputes specifically concerning the San Juan Islands, including the Pig War (1859), were not settled until 1871.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>With a land area of 57.3 square miles (148.4 km²) and a population of 5,387 (2010 census), Orcas Island is slightly larger, but less populous, than neighboring San Juan Island. Orcas is shaped like a pair of saddlebags, separated by fjord-like Eastsound, with Massacre Bay on the south side, and tiny Skull Island just off the coast. At the northern end of the island is the village of Eastsound, the largest population center on Orcas and the second largest in San Juan County. In 1989, the people of San Juan County asked the federal government to purchase a Lummi Nation site on Orcas Island&#39;s Madrona Point in Eastsound. The land was given to the Lummi who agreed to operate it as Madrona Point Park, a private preserve characterized by hundreds of twisting madrona trees sprouting from the rocky shoreline. Several years ago, the Lummi tribe declared the land sacred ancestral burial grounds and the park was closed following incidents of vandalism. Public access has been denied since that time.</p><br>
<p>Other, smaller towns - or hamlets - on the island include Orcas (where the inter-island/mainland ferry lands), West Sound (technically part of Eastsound), Deer Harbor, Rosario (technically part of Eastsound), Olga and Doe Bay. There are a number of former settlements that no longer exist, which were mostly built up around the lime kiln industry, including Ocean, Newhall, and Dolphin Bay.</p><br>
<p>Orcas Island is accessible by air via Eastsound Airport or water landings by seaplane as well as by water via the Washington State Ferry system or private watercraft. During the summer season, there is an island shuttle that runs from the ferry landing to Eastsound and other points.</p><br>
<h2>Island access and sights</h2><br>
<p>The state supports island access through the Washington State Ferries system. In addition, the island can be accessed through a variety of private air and sea charter services.</p><br>
<p>The Orcas Island Historical Museum is located down town Eastsound and is the only object-based, interpretive heritage facility for the island, with a permanent collection containing approximately 6000 objects, paper documents and photographs.</p><br>
<p>Orcas Island is also home to three historic camps: Camp Orkila, Four Winds Westward Ho and Camp Indralaya.</p><br>
<p>The Lambiel Museum is a small private collection in the home of local resident Leo Lambiel. Lambiel&#39;s museum contains a collection of works inspired by the San Juan Islands, including works by Helen Loggie. The museum is open to the public by appointment.</p><br>
<h2>Public services</h2><br>
<p>The Orcas Island School District operates three schools: Orcas Island Elementary School housed in the islands historic Nellie S. Milton school building; Orcas Island Middle School; and Orcas Island High School. All of the islands public schools are located in Eastsound.</p><br>
<p>The Orcas Island Public Library is located in Eastsound and serves a population of approximately 5,000 card holders. The Orcas Island Library District is a junior-taxing district that funds the Orcas Island Public Librarys operating budget through property taxes. The annual Library Fair sells books donated by Orcas Island residents and visitors, the proceeds of which are donated back to the Librarys operating budget. The Library also sponsors lifelong learning classes, the Crossroads lecture series, Sustainable Orcas Island, as well as other community outreach programs.</p><br>
<h2>Moran State Park</h2><br>
<p>Mount Constitution (elevation 2409 feet/734 meters) is the highest point in the San Juan islands. The mountain is part of Moran State Park, the largest public recreation area in the San Juan Islands. Moran State Park encompasses over 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) of woodland and has several lakes and numerous waterfalls. The park was given to the Island.</p><br>
<p>Shaw Island is the smallest of the four San Juan Islands served by the Washington State Ferries. The island has a land area of 19.952 km² and a small year-round population of 240 . During the summer time, weekends swell with other residents and the occasional tourist. The Wilkes Expedition, in 1841, named the island after John Shaw, a United States Naval Officer.</p><br>
<h2>Amenities, roads and public facilities</h2><br>
<p>Shaw Island has a County park, a historic general store, and a post office at the ferry landing. A library and museum are located near the middle of the island.</p><br>
<p>The University of Washington also owns property throughout the island, notably the Cedar Rock Reserve on the south side of the island. The stated vision for these properties are "to maintain and restore native biodiversity and ecosystem function and to facilitate education and research that is consistent with these goals" and "to maintain important parts of the cultural landscape."</p><br>
<p>Shoreline access is best at the Shaw County Park, due to its vast beachline. There are 11.5 mi of asphalt and 2.37 mi of gravel public roads on Shaw. The primary roads are three loops in the interior of the island, with branches to the ferry dock, Shaw Island County Park, Neck Point, and Broken Point.</p><br>
<h2>Nuns</h2><br>
<p>There are three Catholic religious institutes of nuns on Shaw Island. Benedictine nuns established a monastery on 150 acres in the 1970s; while the Sisters of Mercy have owned an unofficial retreat on the island since the 1980s.</p><br>
<p>Nuns of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist ran the island&#39;s only store and the ferry terminal for almost 3 decades, until 2004, relocating elsewhere.</p><br>
<h2>Historical structures</h2><br>
<p>Shaw Island has an operational historic one-room school (although a second room was later added), with classes for elementary and middle school students. Known as the Little Red Schoolhouse, it has been in continuous use since it was built in 1890 and is the longest- running school in the state of Washington. The building is listed on the USA National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>Shaw Island also has a small library and historical museum.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Shaw Island was featured during the fifth-season episode "Access" of the political drama The West Wing as the site of a standoff between terrorist suspects and the US government, similar to the Waco, Texas Branch Davidian standoff.</p><br>
<p>The Wingecarribee River , a perennial river that is part of the Hawkesbury–Nepean catchment, is located in the Southern Highlands region of New South Wales, Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Course and features</h2><br>
<p>Wingecarribee River rises on the heights at Robertson below Wingecarribee Reservoir, near the village of Glenquarry, and flows generally northwest, joined by two minor tributaries and through the Belanglo State Forest and Bangadilly National Park, before reaching its confluence with the Wollondilly River north of the locality of Tugalong, northwest of Berrima. The river descends 393 m over its 73 km course.</p><br>
<p>In its upper reaches, the feeder creeks of the Wingecarribee form the Wingecarribee Swamp, the only substantial peat bog in New South Wales. Most of the swamp has been drained and the remaining section of the swamp is the habitat of a number of endangered species. The river runs through a valley on the plateau that is home to a popular camp, Biloela.</p><br>
<p>The Moss Vale Road crosses the river at Bong Bong, between Bowral and Moss Vale. At Berrima, the river is crossed by the Hume Freeway.</p><br>
<p>The Shoalhaven Scheme pumps water from the Shoalhaven River into the Wingecarribee Reservoir and this water supply augments the water supply for greater metropolitan Sydney.</p><br>
<p>Lake Burragorang is an Australian man-made water supply dammed reservoir.</p><br>
<p>Lake Burragorang is impounded by Warragamba Dam and is located in the lower Blue Mountains of New South Wales, within the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site. The 2,031 GL reservoir collects water from the converged flows of the Coxs, Kowmung, Nattai, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, and Warragamba rivers and their associated tributaries. The reservoir is the major water storage for greater metropolitan Sydney, and its dam wall is located approximately 60 km southwest of the Sydney central business district.</p><br>
<h2>Pre-lake history</h2><br>
<p>Before the construction of the dam, Burragorang Valley had been inhabited by white settlers since the 19th century, and for thousands of years before, the Burragorang valley was part of the tribal lands of the Gundungarra nation, an indigenous tribe that called the Burragorang valley, along with the Blue Mountains and Megalong Valley, their tribal land. A number of farming towns (including the town of Burragorang) and coal mines were located in the area. All of these are now underwater. Construction of Warragamba dam commenced in 1948 and was completed in 1960.</p><br>
<h2>Capacity</h2><br>
<p>The reservoirs usable capacity is 2,027 GL. Prior to April 2006, the usable capacity was 1,857 GL, before the Deep Water Storage Recovery project was completed. There are fears, however, that population pressures may stretch the reservoirs ability to furnish Sydney residents with needed water well into the 21st century. The city&#39;s population is rising by about 50,000 every year, and while water restrictions were imposed late in 2003, a serious drought could complicate matters.</p><br>
<p>There have been times when the reservoir has become seriously depleted. On 8 February 2007 the lake recorded an all-time low of 32.5% of capacity, although by late 2008 the water level had returned to 60% of capacity. To prevent any chance of water supply failure, the NSW Government authorised the construction and operation of the Sydney Desalination Plant to augment Sydney&#39;s water supply.</p><br>
<p>The dam reached maximum capacity and spilled in March 2012, the first time it had done so in fourteen years.</p><br>
<h2>Public access</h2><br>
<p>Lake Burragorang is surrounded by a 3 km wide exclusion zone to protect the integrity of the water supply; access into this zone is restricted. There are two access corridors for bushwalkers: Coxs River to Mount Cookem, and Belloon Pass to Yerranderie. Limited public vehicle access is allowed on fire trail W4 from Sheahys Creek to Yerranderie.</p><br>
<h2>Power station</h2><br>
<p>A hydroelectric power station at Warragamba Dam begins operating once the level in the reservoir reaches to within 1 m of full capacity. Its output is 50 MW, but the dam water level has not been high enough for it to operate since 1998.</p><br>
<h2>Statistical overview</h2><br>
<p>Tuggerah Lake, an intermittently open intermediate wave dominated barrier estuary that is part of the Tuggerah Lakes, is located within the local government area in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The lake is located near Wyong and is situated about 90 km north of Sydney.</p><br>
<h2>Features and location</h2><br>
<p>Drawing its catchment from the Wyong River, Ourimbah Creek and Tumbi Creek, at the southern half of Tuggerah Lake, the lake is generally quite shallow with an average depth of 2.4 m. When full, Tuggerah Lake covers an area of around 5,400 hectare.</p><br>
<p>Heavy rains in June 2007 caused Tuggerah Lake to flood, affecting areas of Long Jetty, Killarney Vale and Chittaway Point. On the sea side of the peninsula is Norah Head and its historic lighthouse.</p><br>
<h3>Urban areas</h3><br>
<p>The lake adjoins extensive areas of suburban development. Much of the original settlement bordering the lake was oriented towards domestic tourism; with Sydney residents drawn to the area and staying in camp and early cabin-style accommodation clustered around towns of The Entrance and Long Jetty, from there spreading to Toukley on the northern lakeshore.</p><br>
<p>Many towns surround the lake including Lake Munmorah, The Entrance, Killarney Vale, Berkeley Vale, Tumbi Umbi, Wyong, Kanwal, Gorokan and Toukley.</p><br>
<p>South of The Entrance is Long Jetty, so named for the jetty built to service the first sub-division of land at The Entrance. The original jetty was washed away in a flood at Easter 1927; the present structure replaced it, built in 1927–28 to a length of 1,152 ft. Parts of the jetty have fallen into disrepair and it requires frequent periodic repairs and replacement of its structure and decking.</p><br>
<h3>Fishing and boating</h3><br>
<p>Tuggerah Lake is well known for its recreational fishing with species such as luderick, bream, flathead and whiting caught from the shoreline and boats. Prawns can be plentiful over the summer months during the dark of the new moon. Fishing in Tuggerah Lake is generally poor during late winter and early spring, particularly when westerly winds are prevalent.</p><br>
<p>Special purpose markers (coloured yellow) around Terilbah Island and Pelican Island denote areas where net and trap fishing are restricted. Other parts of the lake may have permanent or temporary fishing restrictions in force.</p><br>
<p>Due to its large size and shallow depth strong winds can whip up a steep choppy surface that can be hazardous to small boats, however Tuggerah Lake is considered quite safe for most forms of small recreational watercraft if common sense and general safe boating practices are followed. Many parts of Tuggerah Lake are quite shallow with sand or weed flats exposed at low water. Marked channels should be navigated with care and at reduced speed. Mobile phone coverage is available across the entire lake.</p><br>
<h2>Environment</h2><br>
<p>Substantial residential and commercial development, involving excavation and alteration of native vegetation and natural watercourses in the lake catchment and hinterland, has given rise to siltation and changes in the make up of the lakebed and foreshore. During 2004 and 2005 the Tuggerah Lakes Restoration project has been attempting to restore and revive the lake system. Urbanisation and development have caused increased nutrients to build up in the lake stimulating weed growth. Restoration work has focussed on inshore removal of weed and ooze; foreshore reclamation and reinstatement; pollutant traps; and channel dredging to increase the tidal exchange of water with the sea.</p><br>
<p>Wyrrabalong National Park borders the lake and the sea separating the residential areas of Toukley and The Entrance, and preserves the last significant littoral rainforest on the Central Coast. The lake is part of the Tuggerah Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for a variety of water and woodland birds.</p><br>
<p>Lake Illawarra (Aboriginal Tharawal language: various adaptions of Elouera, Eloura, or Allowrie; Illa, Wurra, or Warra meaning pleasant place near the sea, or, high place near the sea, or, white clay mountain is located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, situated about 100 km south of Sydney, Australia.</p><br>
<p>The lake environment is administered by the Lake Illawarra Authority, a New South Wales statutory authority established pursuant to the with the aim of transforming the degraded waters and foreshores of Lake Illawarra into an attractive recreational and tourist resource.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>Located south of the city of Wollongong, north of the city of Shellharbour, and 5 km northeast of Dapto, Lake Illawarra receives runoff from the Illawarra escarpment through Macquarie Rivulet and Mullet Creek, drawing from a catchment area of 238 km&sup2;. With an average depth of 2.1 m, the relatively shallow lake, brought about because of infilling by sand which has been eroded from the surrounding catchments, covers a surface area of 35.8 km&sup2;. At an elevation of 0.3 m, the maximum volume of water held in the lake is 74,275 ML.</p><br>
<p>The narrow tidal entrance to the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean is located at Windang.</p><br>
<p>Located on the western shore of Lake Illawarra at Yallah is the natural gas-powered Tallawarra Power Station. The power station draws water from the lake for cooling purposes, and returns water to the lake via an onsite water management system that ensures water quality is maintained at levels above the catchment average.</p><br>
<p>The lake&#39;s location within the sprawling Wollongong urban area means that Lake Illawarra is vulnerable to pollution and urban run-off.</p><br>
<h3>Recreation</h3><br>
<p>Lake Illawarra is popular for recreational fishing, prawning and sailing. On 12 January 2009, it is suspected a man was bitten by a bull shark whilst snorkelling at Windang, near the mouth of Lake Illawarra.</p><br>
<p>Birds found at the lake include pelicans, cormorants, musk ducks, hoary-headed grebes, black swans, black ducks, grey teal ducks, herons, ibises and spoonbills.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The traditional custodians of the land surrounding what is now known as Lake Illawarra are the Aboriginal Tharawal and Wadi Wadi peoples. Lake Illawarra was a valuable source of food and spirituality. Burial sites and middens (shell and camp rubbish heaps) discovered at Windang and surrounding areas indicate that the Wadi Wadi used the area extensively and performed various corroborees and ceremonies in the area. The name Illawarra is derived from various adaptions of the Aboriginal Tharawal language words of elouera, eloura, or allowrie; illa, wurra, or warra mean generally a pleasant place near the sea, or high place near the sea, or white clay mountain.</p><br>
<p>Matthew Flinders and George Bass called the lake Tom Thumbs Lagoon on Flinders chart, named after their little boat the Tom Thumb, when they were there in March 1796.</p><br>
<p>In Lake Illawarra: an ongoing history, Joseph Davis provides a wide-ranging environmental and historical biography of the lake and its foreshores. The book also contains many images and photographs depicting the lake. Davis edited John Brown of Brownsville: his manuscripts, letterbook and the records of Dapto Show Society 1857-1904 that deals with the man who did most to protect the vegetation of the lake islands, and he authored Gooseberry & Hooka: the island reserves of Lake Illawarra 1829-1947, the latter examining the records of John Brown and others and deals with the history of these two islands and how they survived to become nature refuges rather than recreation reserves.</p><br>
<p>The Basilica of St. Francis Xavier is a parish church in the Archdiocese of Dubuque located in Dyersville, Iowa, United States. The church was named in honor of the missionary Saint Francis Xavier. It was raised to the status of a Minor Basilica in 1956. The church and rectory were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Dyersville was originally settled by English immigrants. Within a few years the English moved on, and many German immigrants began to arrive in the area. A parish was founded to serve these immigrants in 1859. The first St. Francis Xavier Church was completed in 1862. The parish grew quickly and the church had to be doubled in size by 1869. By the 1880, it became clear that with the increasing Catholic population of Dyersville and the surrounding area that the old church building would no longer be adequate.</p><br>
<p>A new church building program was begun in the mid-1880s. The parish decided on a large Gothic Revival style building in order to serve the increased population. Dubuque architects Fridolin Heer, Sr. and his son Fridolin Heer, Jr. designed the church. The priest at the time, Anton Kortenkamp (1834-1889), also had the foresight to have the altar placed upon a foundation of solid rock, which is one of the requirements for an altar to be consecrated. Construction was begun in 1887, and the cornerstone was laid on June 3, 1888. The new church was dedicated by Bishop John Hennessy on December 3, 1889. When the building was dedicated, special trains brought people from all over the state of Iowa to witness the ceremony. It cost approximately $100,000 dollars to build the church. After the completion of the present building, the old church was converted into classrooms. It was later torn down after a new school was completed. Electric lights were added to the church in 1904.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the church is decorated with a number of paintings and frescoes. Much of this work was done by Milwaukee artists Alphonse Brielmaier and his sister Lottie from 1904 to 1905. Work to either touch-up the original frescoes or to partially cover some of them was done in 1930 and 1955.</p><br>
<p>The rectory was built to the west of the church in 1935. The 68 by brick residence contains 14 rooms. The rooms are a combination of private living space and offices. A. J. Osterhaus Construction of Dyersville was the contractor who built the rectory. A garage and a passageway connects it to the Basilica.</p><br>
<p>The move to elevate St. Francis Xavier to a minor basilica began in the 1940s. Then-Father Mathias M. Hoffman, who had served as a military chaplain in Europe in World War I and World War II, began to advance the cause to Vatican officials. The cause was furthered when a high ranking German Cardinal, Konrad von Preysing, visited the church. In the mid-1950s the church building was consecrated. On the interior there are a number of small gold crosses on the side walls, marking the twelve places where the church walls were anointed with chrism when the church was consecrated. Once consecrated a church building may never be used for any other purpose and only a consecrated church can be elevated to the rank of a Basilica. Previously the parish had worked hard to attain and maintain a debt-free status, a preliminary requirement before a church can be consecrated.</p><br>
<p>On May 11, 1956 the church was elevated to the rank of a Minor Basilica by Pope Pius XII. It was the twelfth church in the United States to receive this honor. A mass officially naming the church as a Basilica attracted crowds from all over the state, as well as many high ranking clergy.</p><br>
<p>An addition was made to the south side of the Basilica in 1989. It contains a handicapped elevator, restrooms and access to the basement of the Basilica.</p><br>
<p>In the mid-1990s, the parish began to offer a Tridentine Mass at 12:00 p.m. on Sundays. This mass is either said or sung in Latin according to the 1962 Rite. At other times the Noon Mass is offered in Spanish.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the church was refurbished from 2000 to 2001. The paintings and frescoes were cleaned. Other frescoes that were hidden under coats of paint were restored. The Baldacchino, the main altars, the side altars, and the statues were cleaned and restored. This was possible due to a gift from a parishioner.</p><br>
<h2>The church building</h2><br>
<p>The basilica features Ruskinian Gothic Revival architecture. The two steeples are 212 ft tall with 14 ft crosses that cap the spires. This helps make the church visible from miles away across the rolling lightly forested farmland. Pilots often use these steeples as landmarks during flights. The church is a rectangular structure that measures 174.5 by and is 76 ft high. It has a polygonal apse on its west side. The interior includes columns and vaulted ceilings. The church has a seating capacity of about 1,000 people. There are about 5,000 people total in the parish.</p><br>
<p>The church has 64 large cathedral glass windows. There are two notable windows in the church. The first is the rose window above the entrances to the church, installed in 1959. It replaced a conventional church window on which the framework had become deteriorated. An Indian motif was selected in recognition of many local Indian tribes that inhabited this area 150 years earlier.</p><br>
<p>The two side altars were designed by J. E. Brielmaier and erected by the Dubuque Altar Company in March 1897. They measure 36 by and are made of butternut. The ornate pulpit from 1906 sits to the left of the altar. Also carved in butternut, it was originally located in the nave and had a carved canopy over it. It was moved into chancel in the 1940s and the canopy was removed at that time. The images carved on the pulpit include the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John as well as the Apostles Peter and Paul; and five Doctors of the Western Church: Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. A free-standing altar was commissioned from the John C. Kaiser Company of Dubuque and created by Fritz Ganshirt. It was installed in 1973.</p><br>
<p>Above the high altar is a large central painting of the heavenly liturgy mentioned in Revelations 5: the Adoration of the Mystical Lamb of God. To the right are images of the prophets that include John the Baptist, Noah holding the ark, David playing the harp, Melichisedech holding bread and wine, Moses holding the Ten Commandments, and the Three Magi with their gifts. The image of Msgr. M.M. Hoffmann, the pastor when the church was named a Basilica, was added in 2000. To the left are images of saints that include the Blessed Virgin Mary, George with a spear, Lawrence with a gridiron, Stephen with stones, Joseph with a lily, Rose of Lima with a crown of roses, Peter with keys, Paul with sword, Henry the King, Boniface, Francis of Assisi, Francis Xavier, Catherine, and Cecilia playing the organ. An image of the Rev. George W. Heer, who was pastor of the parish when the original painting was done, was added during its restoration.</p><br>
<p>The Stations of the Cross that line side walls were installed in 1959. The plaster bas reliefs replaced the original set that dated from 1870, which had deteriorated.</p><br>
<p>The images on the center aisle were installed in 1998. It is the first floor of its kind in the United States to combine "epoxy based terrazzo, and computer generated water jet laser cutting for the brass molds." The symbols in the floor include the coats of arms of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Pope Pius XII, the Basilica, and the Papal insignia of the Tiara and Keys.</p><br>
<p>The 37-rank organ located in the rear gallery is a custom made instrument designed for the Basilica by the Wicks Organ Company of Highland, Illinois. The organ was designed keeping in mind the size of the church and the acoustical qualities of the building. It was built in 1971 and replaced the Basilica&#39;s original pipe organ.</p><br>
<p>Because one of the roles of the basilica is to serve as the Pope&#39;s church in the event he would visit the area, the church features a special bell called a Tintinnabulum, and an umbrella called an Umbraculum. Visitation of the Pope has been heavily rumored in Vatican circles as part of the next North American trip, scheduled for 2019, and funds are expected to be appropriated so that the umbrella can be opened all the way.</p><br>
<h2>Panoramas</h2><br>
<p>Lake Valencia , formerly Lake Tacarigua, is a lake within Carabobo State and Aragua State in northern Venezuela.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>It is the third largest lake in Venezuela, after Lake Maracaibo and Lake Guri reservoir.</p><br>
<p>Lake Valencia is located in one of the "Aragua valleys," between the parallel sub-mountain ranges in the Cordillera de la Costa Central, of the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges system.</p><br>
<p>The endorheic lake has natural discharge level at 427 m above sea level; the water level declined below this height about 250 years ago. Its surface level currently is 410 m above sea level, and is about 30 km long, has an area of 350 km². The maximum depth is 39 m, the mean depth 18 m. The lake has a number of small islands, with some inhabited.</p><br>
<p>Its drainage basin (watershed area) of 2,646 km². The most important river emptying into the lake is the Aragua River. Others include the El Limón River, Guacara River, Güigüe River, Mariara River and Turmero River, which flow through or near their respective cities, El Limón, Guacara, Güigüe, Mariara and Turmero.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lake was formed approximately 2-3 million years ago due to faulting and subsequent damming of the Valencia River. The lake has been completely dry during several discrete periods of its geologic history.</p><br>
<p>Alexander von Humboldt visited the lake in 1800. He documented the negative impact of the surrounding population&#39;s land cultivation on the ecosystem. Deforestation and water diversion for irrigation led to dramatically reduced water levels. Lake Valencia is where Humboldt developed his conception of anthropogenic climate change. He later wrote:When forests are destroyed, as they are everywhere in America by the European planters, with an imprudent precipitation, the springs are entirely dried up, or become less abundant, The beds of the rivers remaining dry during a part of the year, are converted into torrents, whenever great rains fall on the heights. The sward and moss disappearing from the brush-wood on the sides of the mountains, the waters falling in rain are no longer impeded in their course: and instead of slowly augmenting the level of the rivers by progressive filtrations, they furrow during heavy showers the sides of the hills, bear down the loose soil, and form those sudden inundations that devastate the country.Since 1976 Lake Valencia water levels have risen due to diversion of water from neighboring watersheds—it currently acts as a reservoir for the surrounding urban centers (such as Maracay and Valencia).</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The lake suffers from algal blooms caused by continual influx of untreated wastewater from the surrounding urban, agricultural, and industrial land uses. This contributes to ongoing eutrophication, contamination, and salinization of the lake.</p><br>
<p>Despite its picturesque location between the Cordillera de la Costa to the north and the Serrania del Interior to the south, Lake Valencia&#39;s poor water quality limits opportunities for tourism and recreational activities. Due to pollution and other human induced changes, almost 60% of the native fish species in the lake were lost between 1960 and 1990.López-Rojas, H., and</p><br>
<p>A. L. Bonilla-Rivero (2000) Anthropogenically induced fish diversity reduction in Lake Valencia Basin, Venezuela. Biodiversity & Conservation 9(6): 757-765 Among the fish in the lake is the diamond tetra, which is commonly kept in aquaria, while two species of catfish, Lithogenes valencia and Pimelodella tapatapae are entirely endemic to the lake basin.</p><br>
<p>The Bight of Biafra  is a bight off the West African coast, in the easternmost part of the Gulf of Guinea.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town Mafra in southern Portugal), between Capes Formosa and Lopez, is the most eastern part of the Gulf of Guinea; it contains the islands Fernando Po, Prince’s and St Thomas’s. The name Biafra - as indicating the country - fell into disuse in the later part of the 19th century</p><br>
<p>The Bight of Biafra extends east of the Bight of Benin from the River Delta of the Niger in the north until it reaches Cape Lopez in Gabon. Besides the Niger River, other rivers reaching the bay are the Cross River, Wouri River, Calabar River, Ndian, Wouri, Sanaga, Nyong River, Ntem, Mbia, Mbini, Muni and Komo River.</p><br>
<p>The main islands in the Bay are Bioko and Príncipe; other important islands are Ilhéu Bom Bom, Ilhéu Caroço, Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico. Countries located at the Bight of Bonny are Nigeria (eastern coast), Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Island and Rio Muni), and Gabon (northern coast).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Bight of Biafra accounted for 13% (1.6 million) of the total number of slaves exported from the Western African coast. The Bight of Benin to the west accounted for 17% while Central Africa to the south accounted for 48%.</p><br>
<p>By the middle of the eighteenth century, Bonny had emerged as the major slave trading port on the Bight of Biafra outpacing the earlier dominant slave ports at Elem Kalabari (also known then as New Calabar) and Old Calabar. These 3 ports together accounted for over 90% of the slave trade emanating from the Bight of Biafra.</p><br>
<p>Between 1525 and 1859, Britain dominated the slave trade from the Bight of Biafra accounting for over two-thirds of slaves exported to the New World.</p><br>
<p>However, in 1807, Great Britain made illegal the international trade in slaves, and the Royal Navy was deployed to forcibly prevent slavers from the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, West Africa and Arabia from plying their trade.</p><br>
<p>Earlier, in 1777, Portugal transferred control of Fernando Po and Annobon to Spanish suzerainty thus introducing Spain into the early colonial history of the Bight of Biafra.</p><br>
<p>On 30 June 1849, Britain established its military influence over the Bight of Biafra by building a naval base and consulate on the island of Fernando Po, under the authority of the British Consuls of the Bight of Benin:</p><br>
<p>May 1852 - 1853 Louis Fraser</p><br>
<p>1853 - April 1859 Benjamin Campbell</p><br>
<p>April 1859 - 1860 George Brand</p><br>
<p>1860 - January 1861 Henry Hand</p><br>
<p>January 1861 - May 1861 Henry Grant Foote</p><br>
<p>May 1861 - 6 August 1861 William McCoskry (acting)</p><br>
<p>On 6 August 1861, the Bight of Biafra and the neighboring Bight of Benin (under its own British consuls) became a united British consulate, again under British consuls:</p><br>
<p>1861 - December 1864 Richard Francis Burton</p><br>
<p>December 1864 - 1873 Charles Livingstone</p><br>
<p>1873 - 1878 George Hartley</p><br>
<p>1878 - 13 September 1879 David Hopkins</p><br>
<p>13 September 1879 - 5 June 1885 Edward Hyde Hewett.</p><br>
<p>In 1967, the Eastern Region of Nigeria seceded from the Nigerian State and adopted the name of its coastline, the adjoining Bight of Biafra; becoming the newly independent Republic of Biafra. This independence was short-lived as the new state lost the ensuing Nigerian Civil War. In 1975, by decree, the Nigerian government changed the name of the Bight of Biafra to the Bight of Bonny.</p><br>
<p>Nahal Sorek , also Soreq, is one of the largest, most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. It is mentioned in the Book of Judges 16:4 of the Bible as the border between the ancient Philistines and the Tribe of Dan of the ancient Israelites. It is known in Arabic as Wadi Surar.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>The Midrash (Numbers Rabbah 9) states that the sorek is a "fruitless tree" (the word ריק req means "empty" in Hebrew), implying a moral lesson and metaphor suggesting that Samson&#39;s involvement in his affair with Delilah was eventually "fruitless". However, another etymology suggests that "sorek" means "special vine" and refers to the grapes and wines grown in the area.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Nahal Sorek was the place where Delilah lived, and Samson came to meet her for the first time. It was also the place she enticed him to tell her the secret of his strength, and where he was eventually captured by the Philistines:</p><br>
<p>In the 19th century, Nahal Sorek served as an important connection between the two major cities in the area, Jaffa and Jerusalem. Because railways at the time were reliant on water sources, several surveyors who planned the first railway in the Middle East, the Jaffa–Jerusalem line, decided to use Nahal Sorek as the main route for the line. The digging of numerous tunnels for the future High-speed railway to Jerusalem is underway, which will avoid the Nahal Sorek route and shorten the line. However, the older railway along Nahal Sorek was also refurbished and should remain in use even after high-speed rail service begins (the Nahal Sorek line drops off/picks up passengers in a different area of Jerusalem than the high-speed rail will service, and as of 2013 is expected to continue to link Jerusalem to cities other than Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion International Airport).</p><br>
<p>While still being adjacent to the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway today, Nahal Sorek mainly serves as a tourist attraction. Several small water reservoirs exist along its route, notably near Tal Shahar and Yesodot. Waterfalls are located on several of its tributaries, including Ayanot Dekalim in Beit Shemesh, Ein Sifla on Nahal HaMe&#39;ara, and others.</p><br>
<p>The Nahal Sorek Nature Reserve, first declared in 1965, and since expanded, spans over 11000 dunams, from the Avshalom Cave Nature Reserve near Beit Shemesh, to moshav Nes Harim.</p><br>
<p>Near the mouth of the Sorek River are two large seawater desalination plants, Palmachim and Sorek, the latter being, when used at full capacity, the largest of its kind in the world (as of 2013).</p><br>
<p>Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugdunum  was an important Roman city in Gaul. The city was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis and was an important city in the western half of the Roman Empire for centuries. Two emperors, Claudius and Caracalla, were born in Lugdunum. In the time period 69–192 AD the city population could be as large as 50,000 to 100,000. Even figures of up to 200,000 people are proposed by Albert Grenier.</p><br>
<p>The original Roman city was situated west of the confluence of the Rhône and Saône, on the Fourvière heights. By the late centuries of the empire much of the population was located in the Saône River valley at the foot of Fourvière.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The Roman city was founded as Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity and the blessing of the gods. The city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum (and occasionally Lugudunum) by the end of the 1st century AD. During the Middle Ages, Lugdunum was transformed to Lyon by natural sound change.</p><br>
<p>Lugdunum is a latinization of the Gaulish *Lugudunon, meaning "Fortress (or hill) of (the god) Lugus" or, alternately "Fortress of the champion" (if *lugus is a common noun cognate with Old Irish lug "warrior, hero, fighter").</p><br>
<p>The Celtic god Lugus was apparently popular in Ireland and Britain as is found in medieval Irish literature as Lug(h) and in medieval Welsh literature as Lleu (also spelled Llew).</p><br>
<p>According to Pseudo-Plutarch, Lugdunum takes its name from an otherwise unattested Gaulish word lugos, that he says means "raven" (κόρακα), and the Gaulish word for an eminence or high ground (τοπον έξέχοντα), dunon.</p><br>
<p>An early folk-etymology of Gaulish Lugduno as "Desired Mountain", is recorded in a gloss in the 9th-century Endlichers Glossary, but this may in fact reflect a native Frankish speakers attempt at linking the first element of the name, Lugu- (which, by the time this gloss was composed, would have been pronounced lu&#39;u, the -g- having become silent) with the similar-sounding Germanic word for "love", *luβ.</p><br>
<p>Another early medieval folk-etymology of the name, found in gloss on the Latin poet Juvenal, connects the element Lugu- to the Latin word for "light", lux (luci- in compounds) and translates the name as "Shining Hill" (lucidus mons).</p><br>
<h2>Pre-Roman settlements and the area before the founding of the city</h2><br>
<p>Archeological evidence shows Lugdunum was a pre-Gallic settlement as far back as the neolithic era, and a Gallic settlement with continuous occupation from the 4th century BC. It was situated on the Fourvière heights above the Saône river. There was trade with Campania for ceramics and wine, and use of some Italic-style home furnishings before the Roman conquest.</p><br>
<p>Gaul was conquered for the Romans by Julius Caesar between 58 and 53 BC. His description, De Bello Gallico, is our principal written source of knowledge of pre-Roman Gaul, but there is no specific mention of this area.</p><br>
<h2>Founding of the Roman city</h2><br>
<p>In 44 BC, ten years after the conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar was assassinated and civil war erupted. According to the historian Cassius Dio, in 43 BC, the Roman Senate ordered Munatius Plancus and Lepidus, governors of central and Transalpine Gaul respectively, to found a city for a group of Roman refugees who had been expelled from Vienne (a town about 30 km to the south) by the Allobroges and were encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers. Dio Cassius says this was to keep them from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. Epigraphic evidence suggests Munatius Plancus was the principal founder of Lugdunum.</p><br>
<p>Lugdunum seems to have had a population of several thousand at the time Roman foundation. The citizens were administratively assigned to the Galerian tribe. The aqueduct of the Monts d&#39;Or, completed around 20BC, was the first of at least four aqueducts supplying water to the city.</p><br>
<p>Within 50 years Lugdunum increased greatly in size and importance, becoming the administrative centre of Roman Gaul and Germany. By the end of the reign of Augustus, Strabo described Lugdunum as the junction of four major roads (the Via Agrippa): south to Narbonensis, Massilia and Italy, north to the Rhine river and Germany, northwest to the sea (the English Channel), and west to Aquitania.</p><br>
<p>The proximity to the frontier with Germany made Lugdunum strategically important for the next four centuries, as a staging ground for further Roman expansion into Germany, as well as the "de facto" capital city and administrative centre of the Gallic provinces. Its large and cosmopolitan population made it the commercial and financial heart of the northwestern provinces as well. The imperial mint established a branch in 15 BC, during the reign of Augustus, and produced coinage for the next three centuries (see picture).</p><br>
<h2>Attention from the Emperors</h2><br>
<p>In its 1st century, Lugdunum was many times the object of attention or visits by the emperors or the imperial family. Agrippa, Drusus, Tiberius, and Germanicus (born himself in Lugdunum) were among the governor generals who served in Lugdunum. Augustus is thought to have visited at least three times between 16 and 8 BC. Drusus lived in Lugdunum between 13 and 9 BC. In 10 BC his son Claudius (the future emperor) was born there. Tiberius stopped in Lugdunum in 5–4 BC, on his way to the Rhine, and again in 21 AD, campaigning against the Andecavi. Caligulas visit in 39–40 was longer, stranger, and better documented by Suetonius. Claudius and Nero also contributed to the citys importance and growth.</p><br>
<p>In 12 BC, Drusus completed an administrative census of the area and dedicated an altar to his stepfather Augustus at the junction of the two rivers. Perhaps to promote a policy of conciliation and integration, all the notable men of the three parts of Gaul were invited. Caius Julius Vercondaridubnus, a member of the Aedui tribe, was installed as the first priest of the new imperial cult sanctuary, which was subsequently known as the Junction Sanctuary or the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls. The altar, with its distinctive vertical end poles, was engraved with the names of 60 Gallic tribes, and was featured prominently on coins from the Lugdunum mint for many years. The "council of the three Gauls" continued to be held annually for nearly three centuries, even after Gaul was divided into provinces.</p><br>
<p>Southeastern Gaul became increasingly Romanized. By 19 AD at least one temple, and the first amphitheater in Gaul (now known as the Amphithéâtre des Trois-Gaules) had been built on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse hill. In 48 AD, emperor Claudius asked the Senate to grant the notable men of the three Gauls the right to accede to the Senate. His request was granted and an engraved bronze plaque of the speech (the Claudian Tables) was erected in Lugdunum. Today, the pieces of the huge plaque are the pride of the Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon.</p><br>
<p>Suetonius reported Caligula&#39;s visit to Lugdunum in 39-40 AD at the beginning of his third consulate as characteristic of his reign. Spectacles were staged at the amphitheater to honor and entertain him and his guest, Ptolemy, king of Mauretania (whom Caligula later had murdered). A rhetoric contest was held in which the losers were required to expunge their work with their tongues. He auctioned furniture brought from the palace in Rome, assigning prices and purchasers.</p><br>
<p>Claudius was born in Lugdunum in 10 BC and lived there for at least two years. As emperor, he returned in 43 AD en route to his conquest of Britain and stopped again after its victorious conclusion in 47. A fountain honoring his victory has been uncovered. He continued to take a supportive interest in the town, making the notables of the town eligible to serve in the Roman Senate, as described above.</p><br>
<p>During Claudius reign, the citys strategic importance was enhanced by the bridging of the Rhône river. Its depth and swampy valley had been an obstacle to travel and communication to the east. The new route, termed the compendium, shortened the route south to</p><br>
<p>Vienne and made the roads from Lugdunum to Italy and Germany more direct. By the end of his reign, the city&#39;s official name had become Colonia Copia Claudia Augusta Lugudunenisium, abbreviated CCC AVG LVG.</p><br>
<p>Nero also took an interest in the city. Citizens of Lugdunum contributed four million sesterces to the recovery after the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD. In reciprocal appreciation, Nero contributed the same amount to the rebuilding of Lugdunum after a similarly devastating fire a few years later. Although the destructiveness of the fire is described in a letter from Seneca to Lucilius, archeologists have not been able to uncover a confirmatory layer of ash.</p><br>
<p>The Lyonnais admiration of Nero was not universally shared; tyranny, extravagance, and negligence fostered resentment, and coups were planned. In March 68 AD, a Romanized Aquitainian named Caius Julius Vindex, who was governor of Gallia Lugdunensis led an uprising intended to replace Nero with Galba, a Roman governor of Spain. The citizens of Vienne, however, responded more enthusiastically than the Lyonnais, most of whom remained loyal to Nero. A small force from Vienne briefly besieged Lugdunum, but withdrew when Vindex was defeated by the Rhine legions a few weeks later at Vesontio. Despite the defeat of Vindex, rebellion grew. Nero committed suicide in June and Galba was proclaimed emperor. The loyalty of Lugdunum to Nero was not appreciated by his successor, Galba, who punished some of Nero&#39;s supporters by confiscations of property.</p><br>
<p>In another turnabout for Lugdunum, Galba&#39;s policies were immediately unpopular, and in January, 69 AD, the Rhine legions quickly threw their support to Vitellius as emperor. They arrived at friendly Lugdunum, where they were persuaded by the Lyonnais to punish nearby Vienne. Vienne quickly laid down weapons and paid a "ransom" to forestall plundering. Meanwhile, Vitellius arrived in Lugdunum, where, according to Tacitus, he formally declared himself Imperator, punished unreliable soldiers, and celebrated with feasts, and with games in the amphitheater. Fortunately for Lugdunum, the would-be emperor and his army hurried into Italy, defeated Otho, and was in turn defeated by Vespasian and the army of the East, bringing the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors to an end.</p><br>
<p>Despite a lack of imperial visits for most of the next century, Lugdunum prospered, until Septimius Severus and the Battle of Lugdunum (see below) brought devastation in 197 AD.</p><br>
<h2>Growth and prosperity in the first centuries of the Empire</h2><br>
<p>In the 2nd century, Lugdunum prospered and grew to a population of 40,000 to 200,000 persons. Four aqueducts brought water to the city&#39;s fountains, public baths, and wealthy homes. The aqueducts were well engineered and included several siphons.</p><br>
<p>It continued to be a provincial capital with additional government functions and services such as the mint and customs service. Lugdunum had at least two banks and became the principal manufacturing center for pottery, metal working, and weaving in Gaul. Lyonnais terra cotta, pottery and wine were traded throughout Gaul, and many other items were crafted for export.</p><br>
<p>The city itself was run by a "senate" of decurions (the ordo decurionum) and a hierarchy of magistrates: quaestors, aediles, and duumvirs. The social classes of the time consisted of the decurions at the top, who could aspire to Senate status, followed by the knights (equites), and the Augustales, six of whom were in charge of the municipal imperial cult. This latter status was the highest distinction to which a wealthy freedman could aspire. Many of the wealthy merchants and craftsmen were freedmen. Below them were the workmen and slaves.</p><br>
<p>The Rhône and Saône rivers were navigable, as were most of the rivers of Gaul, and river traffic was heavy. The Lyonnais company of boatmen (nautae) was the largest and "most honored" in Gaul. Archeological evidence suggests the right bank of the Saône had the largest concentration of wharves, quays and warehouses. Lyonnais boatmen dominated the wine trade from Narbonensis and Italy, as well as oil from Spain, to the rest of Gaul.</p><br>
<p>The heavy concentration of trade made Lugdunum one of the most cosmopolitan cities of Gaul, and inscriptions attest to a large foreign-born population, especially Italians, Greeks, and immigrants from the oriental provinces of Asia Minor and Syria-Palestine.</p><br>
<p>There is evidence of numerous temples and shrines in Lugdunum. Traditional Gallic gods like mallet-bearing Sucellus and the mother goddesses called the Matres (depicted with cornucopiae) continued to be worshiped somewhat syncretistically along with the Roman gods. Additional religious cults came with the oriental immigrants, who brought the eastern mystery religions to the Rhône valley. A major shrine of the Phrygian goddess Cybele was built in nearby Vienne, and she also seems to have found special favor in Lugdunum in the late 1st century and 2nd century.</p><br>
<h2>Christianity and the first martyrs</h2><br>
<p>The cosmopolitan hospitality to eastern religions may have allowed the first attested Christian community in Gaul to be established in Lugdunum in the 2nd century, led by a bishop Pothinus (:fr:Pothin de Lyon)—who probably was Greek. In 177 it also became the first in Gaul to suffer persecution and martyrdom.</p><br>
<p>The event was described in a letter from the Christians in Lugdunum to counterparts in Asia, later retrieved and preserved by Eusebius. There is no record of a cause or a triggering event but mob violence against the Christians in the streets culminated in a public interrogation in the forum by the tribune and town magistrates. The Christians publicly confessed their faith and were imprisoned until the arrival of Legate of Lugdonensis, who gave his authority to the persecution. About 40 of the Christians were martyred - dying in prison, beheaded, or killed by beasts in the arena as a public spectacle. Among the latter were Bishop Pothinus, Blandina, Doctor Attalus, Ponticus, and the deacon Sanctus of Vienne. Their ashes were thrown into the Rhône.</p><br>
<p>Nevertheless, the Christian community either survived or was reconstituted, and under Bishop Irenaeus it continued to grow in size and influence.</p><br>
<h2>Battle of Lugdunum</h2><br>
<p>The 2nd century ended with another struggle for imperial succession. The emperor Pertinax was murdered in 193, and four generals again "contended for the purple". Two of the rivals, Clodius Albinus and Septimius Severus, initially formed a political alliance. Albinus was a former legate of Britannia and commanded legions in Britain and Gaul. Septimius Severus commanded the Pannonian legions, and led them successfully against Didius Julianus near Rome in 193, and defeated Pescennius Niger in 194. Severus consolidated his power in Rome and broke his alliance with Albinus. The Senate supported Severus and declared Albinus a public enemy.</p><br>
<p>Clodius Albinus had settled with his army near Lugdunum early in 195. There, he had himself proclaimed Augustus and made plans to counter Severus. Under his control, the Lugdunum mint issued coins celebrating his "clemency", as well as one dedicated to the "Genius of Lugdunum." He was joined by an army under Lucius Novius Rufus, the governor of Hispania Tarraconensis. They successfully attacked the German troops of Virius Lupus but were unable to deter them from supporting Severus.</p><br>
<p>Severus brought his army from Italy and Germany toward the end of 196. The armies fought an initial, inconclusive engagement at Tinurtium (Tournus), about 60 km up the Saône from Lugdunum. Albinus retreated with his forces toward Lugdunum.</p><br>
<p>On the 19th of February, 197, Severus again attacked Clodius Albinus to the northwest of the city. Albinus&#39; army was defeated in the bloody and decisive Battle of Lugdunum. Dio Cassius described 300,000 men involved in the battle: although this was one of the largest battles involving Roman armies known, this number is assumed to be an exaggeration. Albinus committed suicide in a house near the Rhône; his head was sent to Rome as a warning to his supporters. His defeated cohorts were dissolved and the victorious legions punished those in Lugdunum who had supported Albinus, by confiscation, banishment, or execution. The city was plundered or at least severely damaged by the battle. Legio I Minervia remained camped in Lugdunum from 198 to 211.</p><br>
<h2>Decline of Lugdunum and the Empire</h2><br>
<p>Historical and archeological evidence indicates that Lugdunum never fully recovered from the devastation of this battle. A major reorganization of imperial administration begun at the end of the 3rd century during the reign of Diocletian and completed a few decades later by Constantine further reduced the importance of Lugdunum. This reorganization standardized size and status of provinces, splitting many of the larger. The new provinces were grouped in larger administrative districts. Lugdunum became the capital of a much smaller region containing only two cities besides Lugdunum: Autun and Langres. The new governor bore the title of consularis. The mint was retained at Lugdunum, as was an administrative tax office and a state-run wool clothing factory.</p><br>
<p>Lugdunum was no longer the chief city and administrative capital of Gaul. Although the city continued, there seems to have been a population shift from the Fourviere heights where the original Roman city was situated to the river valley below. Other evidence suggests other cities surpassed Lugdunum as trading centers.</p><br>
<p>Though the Western Empire persisted another century and a half, the border regions extending along the Rhine River in Germany to the Danube River in Dacia became far more important from a military and strategic standpoint. Cities like Augusta Treverorum (Trier) eclipsed Lugdunum in importance. The status of the western provinces declined further when Constantine made Byzantium (later named Constantinople after his death), the capital of the Eastern part of the Empire.</p><br>
<p>As the Western Empire disintegrated in the 5th century, Lugdunum became the principal city of the Burgundian kingdom.</p><br>
<p>The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m.</p><br>
<p>The Cilician Gates have been a major commercial and military artery for millennia. In the early 20th century, a narrow-gauge railway was built through them, and today, the Tarsus-Ankara Highway (E90, O-21) passes through them.</p><br>
<p>The southern end of the Cilician gates is about 44 km north of Tarsus and the northern end leads to Cappadocia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Yumuktepe (modern Mersin), which guards the Adana side of the gateway, with 23 layers of occupation, is at 4,500 BCE, one of the oldest fortified settlements in the world. The ancient pathway was a track for mule caravans, not wheeled vehicles. In ancient history the Hittites, Greeks, Alexander the Great, the Romans, Mongols, and the Crusaders have all traveled this route during their campaigns. The Bible testifies that Saint Paul of Tarsus and Silas went this way as they went through Syria and Cilicia. The Book of Galatians speaks of the cities of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium - cities visited by Paul on his first journey (Acts 14; Gal. 1:2), with the purpose of strengthening their churches, at the beginning of the second preaching journey (Acts 15:40-41).</p><br>
<p>The distance from the Anatolian plateau to the Cilician plain is about 110 km. In ancient times this was a journey of nearly five days. Saint Paul spoke, according to the Bible, about being in "dangers from rivers" and "dangers from robbers" (2 Cor. 11:26). This may explain why at 4,500 BCE, at the southeastern end of the Cilician Gates was one of the world&#39;s first existing fortresses (later Mersin). The Army of the Ten Thousand, Alexander the Great before the Battle of Issus, Paul of Tarsus on his way to the Galatians, and part of the army of the First Crusade all passed through the Cilician Gates. The Crusaders allied themselves with the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.</p><br>
<p>Above the Gates to the southwest is Gülek Kalesi (Armenian: Kuklak; Arab: Kawlāk), a large fortification of considerable antiquity which retains evidence of Byzantine and Arab periods of occupation, but is primarily an Armenian construction of the 12th and 13th centuries. Its circuit walls and towers at the south and west cover a distance of over 450 meters. Also in the vicinity of the Gates is a fort built in the 1830s by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt during his Syrian campaign against the Ottomans.</p><br>
<p>When German engineers were working on the Baghdad Railway between Istanbul and Baghdad, they were unable to follow the steep-pitched, narrow, and tightly winding ancient track through the Gates. The series of viaducts and tunnels they built are among the marvels of railroad engineering; this route actually follows an ancient secondary road southeast from Pozantı, below Anahşa Dağı with its impressive medieval Armenian fortress. The railroad was opened in 1918; the narrow-gauge working line moved Ottoman troops and war material to the Mesopotamian front in the closing months of World War I.</p><br>
<p>Port Kavkaz  is a small harbour on the Kerch Strait in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The port is able to handle vessels up to 130 m in length, 14.5 m in breadth and with draft up to 5 m.</p><br>
<p>It is the eastern terminal of the railroad and car Kerch Strait ferry line connecting Krasnodar Krai with Crimea (the western terminal of the ferry line is Port Krym).</p><br>
<p>The southern zone of the port has been under renovation to increase the turnover of the port of Kavkaz up to 4 Mt.</p><br>
<p>On August 2014 Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government order to enlarge the area of the port near Crimea with the aim to increase cargo transportation volumes with the use of large ships. The borders of the port were changed to add a deep-water area south of the port of Taman for large vessels to anchor. Plans included an additional 15–18 anchor places for loading large ships. The additional area is 18.4 km&sup2; with depths of 26 -.</p><br>
<p>Panticapaeum  was an ancient Greek city on the eastern shore of Crimea, which the Greeks called Taurica. The city was built on Mount Mithridat, a hill on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus. It was founded by Milesians in the late 7th or early 6th century BC. The ruins of the site are now located in the modern city Kerch.</p><br>
<h2>Early existence</h2><br>
<p>During the first centuries of the city&#39;s existence, imported Greek articles predominated: pottery (see Kerch Style), terracottas, and metal objects, probably from workshops in Rhodes, Corinth, Samos, and Athens. Local production, imitated from the models, was carried on at the same time. Athens manufactured a special type of bowl for the city, known as Kerch ware. Local potters imitated the Hellenistic bowls known as the Gnathia style as well as relief wares—Megarian bowls. The city minted silver coins from the 5th century BC and gold and bronze coins from the 4th century BC. At its greatest extent it occupied 100 hectare. The Hermitage and Kerch Museums contain material from the site, which is still being excavated.</p><br>
<h2>Fifth to first centuries BC</h2><br>
<p>In the 5th–4th centuries BC, the city became the residence first of the Archaeanactids and then of the Spartocids, dynasties of Thracian kings of Bosporus, and was hence itself sometimes called Bosporus. Its economic decline in the 4th–3rd centuries BC was the result of the Sarmatian conquest of the steppes and the growing competition of Egyptian grain.</p><br>
<h3>Mithridates</h3><br>
<p>The last of the Spartocids, Paerisades V, apparently left his realm to Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus. This transition was arranged by one of Mithridates&#39;s generals, Diophantus, who earlier had been sent to Taurica to help local Greek cities against Palacus of Lesser Scythia. The mission did not go smoothly: Paerisades was murdered by Scythians led by Saumacus, and Diophantus escaped to return later with reinforcements to suppress the revolt (c. 110 BC).</p><br>
<p>Half of a century later, Mithridates took his life in Panticapaeum, when, after his defeat in a war against Rome, his son and heir Pharnaces and citizens of Panticapaeum turned against him.</p><br>
<h2>Later history</h2><br>
<p>In about 70 BC an earthquake caused heavy damage to the city. The city was destroyed by the Huns in approximately 370 AD. Later the area came under the control of the Byzantine Empire which built a new town at the site, which became known as Bosphorus in the Middle Ages. This settlement ultimately developed into the modern city of Kerch.</p><br>
<p>Lake El&#39;gygytgyn  is an impact crater lake located in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in northeast Siberia, about southeast of Chaunskaya Bay.</p><br>
<p>The word "Elgygytgyn" means "white lake" in the Chukchi language.</p><br>
<p>The lake is of particular interest to scientists because it has never been covered by glaciers. This has allowed the uninterrupted build-up of of sediment at the bottom of the lake, recording information on prehistoric climate change.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Lake El&#39;gygytgyn is drained to the southeast by the Enmybaam branch of the Belaya River. It is approximately in diameter and has a maximum depth of. The lake is centered within an impact crater with a rim diameter of that formed 3.6 million years ago during the Pliocene. Before it was reliably dated, preliminary papers in the late 1970s suggested either Elgygytgyn or Zhamanshin as the source of the Australasian strewnfield.</p><br>
<h2>Scientific drilling</h2><br>
<p>In late 2008 and early 2009, an international team from Germany, Russia and the USA conducted a drilling program targeting three holes in Elgygytgyn Lake. The resulting cores are designated ICPD Site 5011-1 and 5011-3. This co-sponsored by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), with funding also provided by the USA National Science Foundation (NSF), the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ), the Russian Academy of Sciences Far East Branch (RAS FEB), the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMWF).</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>The conditions in the Elgygytgyn lake are extremely severe for fish life. Even so, there are three species permanently inhabiting the lakes harsh aquatic environment. These are three types of char: Salvelinus boganidae, S. elgyticus (Small-mouth char) and Salvethymus svetovidovi (long-finned char). The two latter species are endemic to the El&#39;gygytgyn lake. The golets (Salvelinus alpinus, голец) has been introduced recently. Fish species in the lake are adapted to its very cold waters, which are generally just above the freezing point, and spend most of the year in total darkness. The surface is frozen for about 10 months of the year. It may start to melt in the summer, but some years it never fully thaws.</p><br>
<p>Lake Inarijärvi  is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the northern part of Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle. The lake is 117 – above sea level and it is regulated at the Kaitakoski power plant in Russia. The freezing period normally extends from November to early June.</p><br>
<p>The best-known islands of the lake are Hautuumaasaari ("Graveyard Island"), which served as a cemetery for ancient Sami people and Ukonkivi ("Ukko&#39;s Stone"), a historical sacrifice place of the ancient inhabitants of the area. There are over 3,000 islands in total. Trout, lake salmon, Arctic char, white fish, grayling, perch and pike are found in Lake Inari.</p><br>
<p>The lake covers 1,040 km&sup2;. It empties northwards through the Paatsjoki at the mouth of the Varangerfjord, which is a bay of Barents Sea.</p><br>
<p>Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials book series, chose this lake to be the home of the witch Serafina Pekkala.</p><br>
<p>Tanais  was an ancient Greek city in the Don river delta, called the Maeotian marshes in classical antiquity. It was a bishopric as Tana and remains a Latin Catholic titular see as Tanais.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The delta reaches into the northeasternmost part of the Sea of Azov, which the Greeks called Lake Maeotis. The site of ancient Tanais is about 30 km west of modern Rostov on Don. The central city site lies on a plateau with a difference up to 20m in elevation in the south. It is bordered by a natural valley to the east, and an artificial ditch to the west.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The site of Tanais was occupied long before the Milesians founded an emporium there. A necropolis of over 300 burial kurgans near the ancient city shows that the site had already been occupied since the Bronze Age, and that kurgan burials continued through Greek and into even Roman times.</p><br>
<p>Greek traders seem to have been meeting nomads in the district as early as the 7th century BC without a formal, permanent settlement. Greek colonies had two kinds of origins, apoikiai of citizens from the mother city-state, and emporia, which were strictly trading stations. Founded late in the 3rd century BC, by merchant adventurers from Miletus, Tanais quickly developed into an emporium at the farthest northeastern extension of the Hellenic cultural sphere. It was a natural post, first for the trade of the steppes reaching away eastwards in an unbroken grass sea to the Altai, the Scythian Holy Land, second for the trade of the Black Sea, ringed with Greek-dominated ports and entrepots, and third for trade from the impenetrable north, with furs and slaves brought down the Don. Strabo mentions Tanais in his Geography (11.2.2).</p><br>
<p>The site for the city, ruled by an archon, was at the eastern edge of the territory of the kings of Bosporus. A major shift in social emphasis is represented in the archaeological site when the propylea gate that linked the port section with the agora was removed, and the open center of public life was occupied by a palatial dwelling in Roman times for the kings of Bosporus. For the first time there were client kings at Tanais: Sauromates (AD 175-211) and his son Rescuporides (c. AD 220), who both left public inscriptions.</p><br>
<p>In AD 330 Tanais was devastated by the Goths, but the site was occupied continuously up to the second half of the 5th century AD. Increasingly, the channel silted up, probably the result of deforestation, and the center of active life shifted, perhaps to the small city of Azov, halfway to Rostov.</p><br>
<p>The city was refounded around the 13th century by the Venetians. Later it was acquired by the maritime Republic of Genoa, who administered it 1332-1471 as Tana nel Mare Maggiore, being an important place for trade with the Golden Horde, like all their Black Sea colonies controlled by the Genoese Consul at Kaffa. It decayed again after 1368. In 1392 it was conquered by Timur, by the Ottoman Turks in 1471, by the Russians in 1696, again by the Turks in 1711 and by the Russian Empire in 1771.</p><br>
<h2>Ecclesiastical History</h2><br>
<p>Circa 1300, under Venetian rule, was established a Diocese of Tana as territory not previously served, maintained under Genua. Most bishops were members of two major and missionary orders. It was exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See, not part of any ecclesiastical province.</p><br>
<p>In 1471, under Ottoman Muslim control, the bishopric was suppressed.</p><br>
<h3>Episcopal Ordinaries</h3><br>
<p>Reginaldo di Spoleto, Dominican order (O.P.) (1300 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Enrico, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1345.08.15 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Apostolic administrator Cosma(s), O.F.M. (20 March 1370 - ?)</p><br>
<p>Giovanni (1380? – ?)</p><br>
<p>Corrado, O.P. (1382? – ?)</p><br>
<p>Matteo (? – ?)</p><br>
<p>Antonio di Lepanto, O.P. (1422.07.03 – death ?)</p><br>
<p>Nicola di Troia, O.F.M. (1425.07.27 – ?)</p><br>
<p>Francesco (? – ?)</p><br>
<p>Basilio, O.F.M. (1439.11.11 – death ?)</p><br>
<p>uncanonical Erboldo (May 1441 - death 15 April 1450), appointed by Antipope Felix V</p><br>
<p>Matteo di Pontremoli, O.P. (1464.09.16 – ?)</p><br>
<h3>Titular see</h3><br>
<p>In 1925 the diocese was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric of Tana, which from 1929 was called Tanais (exclusively from 1942).</p><br>
<p>It is vacant, having had the following near-consecutive incumbents, all of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :</p><br>
<p>Juan José Maíztegui y Besoitaiturria, Claretians (C.M.F.) (1926.07.14 – 1933.02.24) (later Archbishop)</p><br>
<p>Joseph Cui Shou-xun (Tsui Shou-hsün) (崔守恂) (1933.03.06 – 1946.04.11)</p><br>
<p>Andrew Roborecki (1948.03.03 – 1956.11.03)</p><br>
<p>Raúl Francisco Primatesta (1957.06.14 – 1961.06.12) (later Cardinal)</p><br>
<p>Agustín Adolfo Herrera (1961.07.24 – 1965.09.08)</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>In 1823, I.A. Stempkovsky first made a connection between the visible archaeological remains, which were mostly Roman in date, and the "Tanais" mentioned in the ancient Greek sources.</p><br>
<p>Systematic modern excavations began in 1955. A joint Russian-German team has recently been excavating at the site of Tanais, with the aim of revealing the heart of the city, the agora, and defining the extent of Hellenistic influence on the urbanism of the Bosporan Greek city, as well as studying defensive responses to the surrounding nomadic cultures.</p><br>
<p>In his last book Jakten på Odin Thor Heyerdahl advanced a highly controversial idea postulating connections between Tanais and ancient Scandinavia. In preparation of the book he conducted some archaeological research on the site of Tanais. Heyerdal`s idea was based on the old Norse sagas</p><br>
<p>of Snorri Sturlason. (1178 - 1241)</p><br>
<h3>Genetics</h3><br>
<p>9 Y-chromosome markers were obtained from a skeleton. The result was 389I=13, 389II=30, 458=15, 385=11, 393=13, 391=11, 635=23, 437=14, 448=19. This result is characteristic for haplogroup R1a.</p><br>
<p>The Straits of Mackinac  is a series of narrow waterways in the U.S. state of Michigan, between Michigan&#39;s Lower and Upper Peninsulas. The main strait flows under the Mackinac Bridge and connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The main strait is 5 mi wide and 20 fathom deep. Hydrologically, the two connected lakes can be considered one, which is called Lake Michigan–Huron. Historically, the region around the Straits was known by the native Odawa people as Michilimackinac. The Straits of Mackinac is "whipsawed by currents unlike anywhere else in the Great Lakes."</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Straits of Mackinac is a major shipping lane, providing passage for raw materials and finished goods and connecting, for instance, the iron mines of Minnesota to the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. Before the railroads reached Chicago from the east, most immigrants arrived in the Midwest and Great Plains by ships on the Great Lakes. The straits is five miles (8 km) wide at its narrowest point, where it is spanned by the Mackinac Bridge. Before the bridge was built, car ferries transported vehicles across the straits. Today passenger-only ferries carry people to Mackinac Island, which does not permit cars. Visitors can take their vehicles on a car ferry to Bois Blanc Island.</p><br>
<p>Islands in the Straits of Mackinac include the two populated islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinac, and two that are uninhabited: Round and St. Helena islands. At 11 mi in length, Bois Blanc is the largest island in the straits.</p><br>
<p>The straits are shallow and narrow enough to freeze over in the winter. Navigation is ensured for year-round shipping to the Lower Great Lakes by the use of icebreakers.</p><br>
<p>The straits were an important Native American and fur trade route. The Straits of Mackinac are named after Mackinac Island. The local Ojibwe Native Americans in the Straits of Mackinac region likened the shape of the island to that of a turtle, so they named the island Mitchimakinak, meaning "Big Turtle". When the British explored the area, they shortened the name to its present form: Mackinac.</p><br>
<p>Located on the southern side of the straits is the town of Mackinaw City, the site of Fort Michilimackinac, a reconstructed French fort founded in 1715, and on the northern side is St. Ignace, site of a French Catholic mission to the Indians, founded in 1671. The eastern end of the straits was controlled by Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island, a British colonial and early American military base and fur trade center, founded in 1781.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>The straits are patrolled by a detachment of the United States Coast Guard based at Graham Point, St. Ignace. A shipping channel through the winter ice is maintained by the Coast Guard&#39;s Great Lakes icebreaker, USCGC Mackinaw, based in Cheboygan near the eastern edge of the Straits. This vessel went into service during the 2005/06 ice season.</p><br>
<p>Most of the Straits have been set aside by the state of Michigan as the Straits of Mackinac Shipwreck Preserve, a riparian public space dedicated to those personnel who were lost aboard the boats and ships that sank in these dangerous shipping lanes.</p><br>
<p>Lighthouses in the Straits of Mackinac include:</p><br>
<p>The McGulpin Point Light, on McGulpin Point, 3 mi west of Fort Michilimackinac.</p><br>
<p>The Old Mackinac Point Light, in Mackinaw City, which is open to the public.</p><br>
<p>The Round Island Light on Round Island, which is not open to the public but which can be viewed from the Mackinac Island ferry channel.</p><br>
<p>The St. Helena Island Lighthouse, which is not open to the public but is visible from a rest area on USA Highway 2 at Gros Cap west of St. Ignace.</p><br>
<p>The Bois Blanc Light, which is not open to the public, on the northern shore of Bois Blanc.</p><br>
<h2>Enbridge pipeline</h2><br>
<p>West of the iconic Mackinac Bridge is Enbridge&#39;s pipeline, called Enbridge Line 5, which was built in 1953 as an extension of the 1,150 mi Interprovincial Pipe Line Company line bringing oil from the Alberta oil sands to Lake Superior. The 1953 pipeline enters the Straits of Mackinac water on the north shore at St. Ignace, Michigan and lies along the bottom of the Straits which is nearly 250 ft in places. By 2013 Enbridge had increased the "maximum capacity on the lines to 540,000 barrels per day." In selling the idea of the pipeline to residents living near the Straits, the pipeline developers claimed, it was "essential to the defense of the United States and the whole North American continent". Mackinac pipes were specifically engineered to withstand the Straits’ brutal underwater environment. Even some of the company’s staunchest critics concede the twin lines, old as they may be, remain an engineering marvel."</p><br>
<p>The Wapack Trail is one of the oldest public, interstate hiking trails in the United States. Opened in 1923, it follows the Wapack Range north-south for 21 mi, between Mount Watatic in Ashburnham, Massachusetts and North Pack Monadnock mountain in Greenfield, New Hampshire. It is designed primarily for day use by hikers, with minimal camping facilities.</p><br>
<p>The trail passes through the Massachusetts towns of Ashburnham and Ashby, and the New Hampshire towns of New Ipswich, Temple, Sharon, Peterborough, and Greenfield. It also goes over Temple Mountain, and through Miller State Park and the Wapack National Wildlife Refuge, as well as numerous privately owned parcels of land.</p><br>
<p>The trail is overseen by Friends of the Wapack, a non-profit group. Aside from upgrading and maintaining the trail, the group is trying to have the entire length preserved from development.</p><br>
<p>The southern part of the Wapack Trail overlaps with the northern part of the Midstate Trail.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The trail was born in a conversation in the summer of 1922 at the Shattuck Inn in Jaffrey, New Hampshire between Allen Chamberlain, who later became president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and Jaffrey farmer Albert Annett while overlooking the Wapack Range, then known as the Boundary Mountains. The two talked about the possibility of a skyline trail along the ridge of the Boundary Mountains from Mt. Watatic to North Pack Monadnock. Later, Albert brought the idea to fellow farmers Frank Robbins and Marion Buck of Rindge, New Hampshire. The three started cutting the trail near the end of the summer using hand tools. The trail was opened in 1923. Buck named it by joining the Wa from Mt. Watatic and Pack from North Pack Monadnock, and soon the Boundary Mountains became known as the Wapack Range.</p><br>
<h2>Trail running races</h2><br>
<p>There are two running races along the trail. A race in May was started in 2007 by Bogie Dumitrescu. It is 21.5 mi and goes the whole length of the trail beginning at the northern terminus. A longer 50 mi out-and-back ultramarathon version starts at the southern terminus and runs all the way to the northern terminus and back. An out and back segment to Beany Pond is added to bring the distance to 50 mi. Slower runners are stopped after 43 mi.</p><br>
<p>A Labor Day September 18 mi race directed by Paul Funch covers the southern part of the trail. It starts at the Windblown cross-country ski area and proceeds to Mount Watatic and back.</p><br>
<p>The 3 mi long, 7,745 ft elevation, 230-acre , and 200 ft max depth Lake Alice is the largest natural lake found in the western portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the state of Wyoming. It is a unique lake that was created thousands of years ago when a massive landslide peeled from the 9,325-foot  Lake Mountain and dammed Poker Creek with debris. The lake&#39;s outlet flows below the surface through the natural dam and emerges from the mountain as a creek 1 mile  away. The mountainside scar from the landslide is still visible today.</p><br>
<p>Legend has it that the lake was named after a girl who drowned in the lake in the early 1900s.</p><br>
<p>Lake Alice is the home of the only known pure lake strain of naturally reproducing Bonneville cutthroat trout caused by the isolation of the landslide preventing outside genetic influence. At one time the subspecies was thought to be extinct in Wyoming.</p><br>
<p>The nearest city is Cokeville, Wyoming about 34 miles (55 km) to the southwest. Access to the lake requires traversing a winding 28-mile (45 km) dirt mountain road, and fording a creek with water as deep as 18 inches (0.5 m) in the spring time. A high clearance vehicle is recommended. The road ends at Hobble Creek campground and from there a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) hike up a moderately steep mountain trail is required to reach Lake Alice. Nine primitive tent campsites are available though camping is not restricted to a campsite.</p><br>
