id stringlengths 32 32 | url stringlengths 31 1.58k | title stringlengths 0 1.02k | contents stringlengths 92 1.17M |
|---|---|---|---|
83efd0f25f88451fc03651e9dc57f447 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Crab-Nebula | Crab Nebula | Crab Nebula
Crab Nebula, (catalog numbers NGC 1952 and M1), probably the most intensely studied bright nebula, in the constellation Taurus, about 6,500 light-years from Earth. Roughly 10 light-years in diameter, it is assumed to be the remnant of a supernova (violently exploding star) observed by Chinese and other astronomers first on July 4, 1054. The supernova was visible in daylight for 23 days and at night for almost 2 years. There are no records of its observation at the time by Europeans.
The discovery of the object as a nebula is attributed to the English physician and amateur astronomer John Bevis in about 1731. In 1758 it was the first object listed (M1) in Charles Messier’s catalog of nebulous objects. It acquired its name, suggested by its form, in the mid-19th century. In 1921 it was discovered to be still expanding; the present rate is about 1,100 km (700 miles) per second.
The Crab is one of the few astronomical objects from which radiation has been detected over the entire measurable spectrum, from radio waves through infrared and visible wavelengths to ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays. In the late 1960s the Crab pulsar (NP 0532), thought to be the collapsed remnant of the supernova, was discovered near the centre of the nebula. The pulsar, which flashes in radio, visible, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths at 30 times per second, provides the energy that allows the nebula to glow.
|
1aed1a073ae917de6f5f8c9cd5b9b05a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Crazy-Mountains | Crazy Mountains | Crazy Mountains
Crazy Mountains, mountain segment of the northern Rocky Mountains in south-central Montana, U.S. The Crazies extend for 30 miles (48 km) between the Musselshell and Yellowstone rivers. The Crazies are characterized by extremely jagged summits and steep slopes. More than 30 peaks are between 10,000 and 11,000 feet (3,000 and 3,400 metres) in elevation; Crazy Peak (11,230 feet [3,423 metres]) is the highest point. The range includes some 56 alpine lakes and comprises a portion of the Gallatin National Forest.
|
2f0ba2b931aa13354a257faf2cfa6111 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Crowsnest-Pass | Crowsnest Pass | Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest Pass, pass in the Canadian Rockies at the Alberta–British Columbia border, Canada, 7 mi (11 km) south of Crowsnest Mountain. One of the lower passes of the Continental Divide, it has an elevation of 4,449 ft (1,356 m). Noted by Capt. John Palliser’s expedition in 1858, it was used for many years by the North West Mounted Police. In return for a federal subsidy to build a line through the pass, the Canadian Pacific Railway signed the Crow’s Nest Pass Agreement (1897). This route reduced freight rates on grain shipped east to the lake ports and on certain goods shipped west. The agreement, modified in 1925 to reduce rates on grain shipped in both directions, boosted Vancouver as a grain-shipping port.
|
b7f9a7398094a945e7d2f05d46ecdeea | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuba | Cuba | Cuba
Cuba, country of the West Indies, the largest single island of the archipelago, and one of the more-influential states of the Caribbean region.
The domain of the Arawakan-speaking Taino, who had displaced even earlier inhabitants, Cuba was claimed by Christopher Columbus for Spain in 1492. It became the Spanish empire’s most-important source of raw sugar in the 18th century and later earned the sobriquet “Pearl of the Antilles.” Though Spain had to fight several difficult and costly campaigns against independence movements, it retained rule of Cuba until 1898, when it was defeated by the United States and Cuban forces in the Spanish-American War. Cuba soon gained formal independence, though it remained overshadowed by the nearby United States.
On New Year’s Day, 1959, revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the government of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Two years later Castro proclaimed the Marxist-Leninist nature of the revolution. Cuba became economically isolated from its northern neighbour as it developed close links to the Soviet Union. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s isolated Cuba still further, bringing on what Cubans euphemistically call the período especial (“special period”), a time of widespread shortages and financial uncertainty. By the early 21st century, Cuba had loosened some of its more-restrictive economic and social policies, but the United States continued its decades-long economic embargo against the Castro regime, though the December 2014 announcement of the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries held promise of the embargo’s removal.
Life in contemporary Cuba is thus challenging, given the limited access to food, transportation, electrical power, and other necessities. Even so, many Cubans show a fierce pride in their revolutionary society, the only one of its kind in Latin America. The protagonist of anthropologist Miguel Barnet’s novel Canción de Rachel (1969; Rachel’s Song, 1991) describes it thus:
Cuba is a multicultural, largely urban nation, although it has only one major city: Havana (La Habana), the capital and commercial hub of the country, on the northwestern coast. Handsome if rather run-down, Havana has a scenic waterfront and is surrounded by fine beaches, an attraction for increasing numbers of visitors from abroad. Cuba’s other cities—including Santiago, Camagüey, Holguín, and, especially, Trinidad—offer a rich legacy of colonial Spanish architecture to complement contemporary buildings.
Cuba is situated just south of the Tropic of Cancer at the intersection of the Atlantic Ocean (north and east), the Gulf of Mexico (west), and the Caribbean Sea (south). Haiti, the nearest neighbouring country, is 48 miles (77 km) to the east, across the Windward Passage; Jamaica is 87 miles (140 km) to the south; the Bahamas archipelago extends to within 50 miles (80 km) of the northern coast; and the United States is about 90 miles (150 km) to the north across the Straits of Florida.
The country comprises an archipelago of about 1,600 islands, islets, and cays with a combined area three-fourths as large as the U.S. state of Florida. The islands form an important segment of the Antilles (West Indies) island chain, which continues east and then south in a great arc enclosing the Caribbean Sea. The island of Cuba itself is by far the largest in the chain and constitutes one of the four islands of the Greater Antilles. In general, the island runs from northwest to southeast and is long and narrow—777 miles (1,250 km) long and 119 miles (191 km) across at its widest and 19 miles (31 km) at its narrowest point.
Groups of mountains and hills cover about one-fourth of the island of Cuba. The most rugged range is the Sierra Maestra, which stretches approximately 150 miles (240 km) along the southeastern coast and reaches the island’s highest elevations—6,476 feet (1,974 metres) at Turquino Peak and 5,676 feet (1,730 metres) at Bayamesa Peak. Near the centre of the island are the Santa Clara Highlands, the Sierra de Escambray (Guamuhaya), and the Sierra de Trinidad. The Cordillera de Guaniguanico in the far west stretches from southwest to northeast for 110 miles (180 km) and comprises the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra del Rosario, the latter attaining 2,270 feet (692 metres) at Guajaibón Peak. Much of central-western Cuba is punctuated by spectacularly shaped, vegetation-clad hillocks called mogotes. Serpentine highlands distinguish northern and central La Habana and Matanzas provinces, as well as the central parts of Camagüey and Las Tunas.
The plains covering about two-thirds of the main island have been used extensively for sugarcane and tobacco cultivation and livestock raising. The coastal basins of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo and the extensive Cauto River valley lie in the southeast. The Cauto lowland adjoins a series of coastal plains that continue across the island from east to west, including the Southern Plain, Júcaro-Morón Plain, Zapata Peninsula (Zapata Swamp), Southern Karst and Colón Plain, and Southern Alluvial Plain. Cuba’s most extensive swamps cover the Zapata Peninsula and surround the Bay of Pigs (Bahía de Cochinos). The Las Villas Plain of the North, Las Villas Plain of the Northeast, and Northern Plain stretch across much of the opposite coast.
Cuba’s approximately 3,570 miles (5,745 km) of irregular, picturesque coastline are characterized by many bays, sandy beaches, mangrove swamps, coral reefs, and rugged cliffs. There are also some spectacular caverns in the interior, notably the 16-mile- (26-km-) long Cave of Santo Tomás in the Sierra Quemado of western Cuba. The main island is surrounded by a submerged platform covering an additional 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km).
Among the extensive cays and archipelagoes ringing the main island are Los Colorados, to the northwest; Sabana and Camagüey, both off the north-central coast; the Jardines de la Reina (“Queen’s Gardens”), near the south-central coast; and Canarreos, near the southwest coast. Juventud Island (Isla de la Juventud; “Isle of Youth”), formerly called Pinos Island (Isla de los Pinos; “Isle of Pines”), is the second largest of the Cuban islands, covering 850 square miles (2,200 square km). It is technically a part of the Canarreos Archipelago. Hills, dotted with groves of pine and palm, characterize much of the island’s northwest and southeast. Sand and clay plains cover parts of the north, a gravel bed takes up most of the southern part of the island, and bogs dominate the coasts and sparsely inhabited interior.
Cuban rivers are generally short, with meagre flow; of the nearly 600 rivers and streams, two-fifths discharge to the north, the remainder to the south. The Zapata Peninsula is the most extensive of Cuba’s many coastal wetlands.
The main island’s heaviest precipitation and largest rivers are in the southeast, where the Cauto, at 230 miles (370 km) the country’s longest river, lies between the Sierra Maestra and the smaller Sierra del Cristal. The Cauto and its tributaries, notably the Salado, drain the Sierra Maestra and lesser uplands in the provinces of Holguín and Las Tunas. Other rivers in this region include the Guantánamo, Sagua de Tánamo, Toa, and Mayarí. To the west the most important southward-flowing rivers are the Sevilla, Najasa, San Pedro, Jatibonico del Sur, Zaza, Agabama, Arimao, Hondo, and Cuyaguateje. Northward-flowing rivers include the Saramaguacán, Caonao, Sagua la Grande, and La Palma.
Cuban lakes are small and more properly classified as freshwater or saltwater lagoons. The latter include Leche (“Milk”) Lagoon, which has a surface area of 26 square miles (67 square km). It is technically a sound because several natural channels connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. Sea movements generate disturbances in the calcium carbonate deposits at the bottom of the lake to produce the milky appearance of its waters.
|
5ebed785c69ad410cd58b6dceef140ae | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuba/Cultural-institutions | Cultural institutions | Cultural institutions
Havana is Cuba’s cultural hub and the home of most of its museums, libraries, professional associations, and performing troupes. The Cuban Academy of Sciences (1962) and the Cuban Academy of Language (1926) are among the leading learned societies. The José Martí National Library (1901) and the National Archive of Cuba (1840) have significant holdings. Among the major institutions supporting the performing arts are the National Theatre, the National Ballet of Cuba, the House of the Americas, and the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. The National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists has a large membership that promotes literature and the arts. In 1959 the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore was created within the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, with the aim of collecting and classifying the Cuban cultural heritage. It formed the National Folklore Group, which performs Afro-Cuban dances throughout Cuba and abroad and gives international folklore laboratories each year. The activities of the folklore group are complemented by the Institute of Literature and Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences. The revolutionary government has made a special effort to promote study of the African roots of Cuban culture. The Guanabacoa and Regla museums are the main repositories of Afro-Cuban artifacts.
Sports in Cuba are generally under the direction of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education, and Recreation. They are almost a national obsession, and sports figures are treated as national heroes.
Baseball is the national sport and is widely played throughout the country, with leagues organized at national and provincial scales. Fidel Castro himself has been passionately attracted to the sport since his youth. Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 19th century, and until 1959 the island provided the major league clubs of the United States with a constant supply of quality players, a tradition revived with the defection, over the years, of many of the country’s top baseball stars, such as Danys Baez and the brothers Orlando and Livan Hernandez. Cuban baseball teams have consistently captured gold medals in the Pan American Games and the Summer Olympic Games.
In various other international competitions, Cubans have also competed strongly with—and often outperformed—teams from every American country. At the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, for example, Cuban athletes won 29 medals. Eliecer Urrutía set a world mark in the triple jump in 1997, and Javier Sotomayor posted world records in the high jump in 1988 and 1993. Female athletes have also been outstanding in Cuba, with world-class teams in track and field as well as in volleyball. The heavyweight boxer Teófilo Stevenson is representative of another field in which Cubans have consistently excelled. Sport fishing, especially for blue marlin, has a long tradition, Ernest Hemingway being one of the enthusiastic participants. More recently, successful international competitions in sailing, yachting, and powerboat racing have taken place in Cuba. The government provides opportunities for most Cubans to participate in sports and recreational programs.
Cuba celebrates Carnival in late July, most flamboyantly in Santiago de Cuba. During that period Cuba also celebrates what is perhaps its most significant holiday, commemorating Castro’s attack on Fort Moncada on July 26, 1953.
The mass media in Cuba are government organs. Freedom of speech is severely curtailed, and several independent journalists have been imprisoned for allegedly insulting the president.
The three main newspapers are Granma, the Communist Party daily; Juventud Rebelde, the paper of the Communist Youth; and Trabajadores, published by the Cuban Federation of Workers. These are supplemented by provincial newspapers, such as the Tribuna de la Habana and Sierra Maestra in Santiago de Cuba, that focus on local issues. Among the most widely read magazines are the weekly Bohemia, which covers all aspects of the news and is the oldest periodical in Cuba; the monthly Opina, aimed at a younger audience, with information on available consumer goods; and Mujeres, published by the Federation of Cuban Women. A number of specialized cultural magazines and newspapers also have wide readerships.
Two television stations broadcast nationally, and there are several national radio networks and one international; all of these are administered by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television. Programming generally includes news, sports, educational programs, and serials.
The following discussion focuses on Cuba since European contact. For additional treatment in a regional context, see Latin America, history of.
Cuba has been heavily influenced by imperial Spain (from 1492 to 1898), the Soviet Union (from the 1960s to 1991), and the United States (from the 19th century to the present).
In the late 15th century the indigenous Ciboney and Guanahatabey peoples occupied western Cuba, and the more numerous Taino inhabited the rest of the island. Estimates of the total population range as high as 600,000; however, the actual total was probably about 75,000. The Taino were a peaceful people and were highly proficient agriculturalists, related to the Arawakan peoples of South America who migrated to the Greater Antilles. Their houses, called bohíos, formed villages ranging from single families to communities of 3,000 persons. They made pottery, polished stone implements, and idols of religious spirits called zemis. The Taino diet included potatoes, manioc, fruits, and fish. The name Cuba is pre-Hispanic in origin and its exact derivation unknown.
Christopher Columbus sighted the northern coast of Cuba on October 27, 1492, and made landfall there the following day. The Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar began permanent settlement in 1511, founding Baracoa on the northeastern coast with 300 Spaniards and their African slaves.
Within five years Spanish authorities had divided the island into seven municipal divisions, including Havana (La Habana), Puerto Príncipe, Santiago de Cuba, and Sancti Spíritus. Each municipality had its own cabildo, or town council, governing its legal, administrative, and commercial affairs. From 1515, elected representatives of each cabildo formed a body that defended local interests before the royal council, especially on such matters as slave trading and the semifeudal encomienda system, which granted conquistadors control over the Indians in specified areas and the right to exact tribute from them. A bishopric, subordinate to Santo Domingo, was founded at Baracoa in 1518 but later moved to Santiago de Cuba.
The island’s limited gold deposits discouraged early settlement. However, the colony became a staging ground for the exploration of the North American mainland. Such expeditions as that of Hernán Cortés, which attracted 400 Spaniards and 3,000 Indians, depleted the colonial population. The remaining Spanish colonists continued to exploit Indians through the encomienda, but by 1550 the system was no longer feasible because the Indian population had been decimated by European diseases, ongoing social dislocation, maltreatment, and emigration.
By 1570 most residents of the Spanish towns in Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Indian heritages, largely because of the paucity of Spanish females among the immigrants and the military nature of the conquest. Colonial society reflected the stratification of the metropolis, although no sharp divisions had yet developed between Spanish-born and American-born citizens, as would later become commonplace. Until the end of the 16th century, African slaves seemed to enjoy a higher social standing than the indigenous people, probably owing to their cultural affinity to the conquerors.
Throughout the 17th century, colonial life was made more difficult by the ravages of hurricanes, epidemics, pirates, and attacks by rival European countries trying to establish bases in the Caribbean. By 1700, however, peace had returned, and the population reached about 50,000. Havana’s status grew commercially and strategically because of the flota (“fleet”) system of regularly scheduled maritime trade between Spain and its American colonies. In addition, ranching, smuggling, and tobacco farming occupied the colonists. The colony’s administrative costs depended, however, on irregular subsidies from New Spain until 1808.
|
67253fcb1ba239574612052703068c08 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuba/Visual-arts | Visual arts | Visual arts
Cuba has galleries, art museums, and community cultural centres that regularly display the works of Cuban painters. The most important (all in Havana) are the National Museum of Fine Arts, the Haydée Santamaría Gallery of the House of the Americas, the Gallery of Havana, and the Fortress Castle. There Cuba’s foremost contemporary artists—Wifredo Lam, René Portocarrero, Mariano Rodríguez, Servando Cabrera Moreno, Raúl Martínez—share space with younger artists. The Ministry of Culture provides most of the materials needed by artists and also guarantees jobs to graduates of the Higher Institute of Art. Painters in Cuba tend to work in many genres: they design fabrics (called by the trade name Telarte), sets for movies and theatre, and posters for films, books, cultural events, and community campaigns. Posters are one of Cuba’s best-known cultural exports. The Ministry of Culture promotes numerous art exchanges and sends exhibits of Cuban art throughout the world. The government works to promote art from the countries of the developing world, primarily through the Havana Biennial, which started in 1984.
Cuban music has Spanish and African roots, a blend that has contributed to a unique sound in both traditional and popular music. The Cuban rumba, son, guaracha, habanera, bolero, danzón, conga, and cha-cha, as well as salsa and the Nueva Trova (“New Song”) movement, have influenced much of the hemisphere. The Cuban folk anthem “Guantanamera,” which derives from a nostalgic poem by José Martí, is frequently heard throughout Latin America, as are the popular love songs “Habanera Tú” and “Siboney.” Composer-singers Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez, among the founders of the Nueva Trova movement, are acclaimed throughout Latin America for their lyric social criticism. Festivals of Cuban music and song are held throughout the year, encompassing works of every genre from every period, including the internationally popular Afro-Cuban jazz. The worldwide success of the Buena Vista Social Club album (1997) and concert series, as well as the subsequent film documentary (1999), introduced listeners throughout the world to those genres and revived the careers of such once-popular artists as Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, and Omara Portuondo. Classical music is of relatively minor importance in Cuba, but there is a National Symphony Orchestra that also has a chamber orchestra and instrumental ensembles.
One of Cuba’s foremost artistic figures is Alicia Alonso—a dancer of international acclaim, the prima ballerina and founder (1948) of the company that would become the National Ballet of Cuba, and the head of its school. The Ballet of Camagüey, under the direction of Fernando Alonso, was established in 1971, and a second Havana company was founded in the mid-1980s. Besides classical ballet, there is the Modern Dance Company in Havana, the Tumba Francesa (a black folk group) in Santiago de Cuba, and dozens of smaller troupes.
Cuban theatre has been state-supported since 1959, mostly under the direction of the Ministry of Culture. There are several national dramatic groups, such as the Studio Theatre, whose directing councils create their own repertoire. Provincial theatre groups are also well established. Cuban theatre reached a new maturity in the 1980s, producing plays focusing on contemporary social problems as well as developing efforts to integrate music and dance. However, like most aspects of Cuban life, theatre suffered during the “special period” of the 1990s. National and international theatre festivals feature Cuban companies and troupes from the rest of the Americas. The National Theatre has an excellent library, and House of the Americas (Casa de las Américas), an international cultural institution, sponsors regular encuentros (meetings) with theatre professionals. Increasingly, Cuban theatre troupes travel abroad as part of an active exchange program.
Cuban filmmaking since 1959 has been supported by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, which has produced feature and documentary films. The institute also has an extensive film library, and its movie house, the Charles Chaplin Theatre, regularly shows the best of both world and Cuban cinema. The institute provides a variety of support services throughout the hemisphere and sponsors the prestigious annual International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. The Foundation for New Latin American Cinema was established in Havana under the direction of the Colombian writer and Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez. Long popular in Latin America, Cuban films have enjoyed wider international audiences since the 1990s, especially after the critical and commercial success of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío’s film Fresa y chocolate (1994; Strawberry and Chocolate), which won the 1994 Berlin International Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize and was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign language film. Tabío’s Lista de espera (2000; Waiting List) and Fernando Pérez’s La vida es silbar (1999; Life is to Whistle) were also well received.
|
f993e686b1011a7fdc64b8e39d60bd4f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cucuta | Cúcuta | Cúcuta
Cúcuta, in full San José de Cúcuta, capital of Norte de Santander departamento, northeastern Colombia, on the Venezuela border. Founded in 1733 as San José de Guasimal, it became San José de Cúcuta in 1793. In 1875 it was destroyed by an earthquake but then was rebuilt with parks and wide avenues. The nucleus of a livestock and agricultural (primarily coffee and tobacco) zone, Cúcuta has many small industries, is the closest urban centre to the oil fields to the north, and is the home of the Francisco de Paula Santander University (1962). The city, reputed to be a centre of activities involving contraband, has highway (including the Pan-American Highway), railway, river, and air connections to Venezuela, as well as to other cities in northeastern Colombia. Pop. (2003 est.) 682,671.
|
439326c8e4df20922eaf5f934cd759c2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuenca-Spain | Cuenca | Cuenca
Cuenca, city, capital of Cuenca provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Castile–La Mancha, east-central Spain. It lies on a pyramid-like hill above the confluence of the Júcar and Huécar rivers. Originally the Roman Conca, the city was captured from the Moors in 1177 by Alfonso VIII of Castile, who made it an episcopal see in 1182. It served as a cultural and textile centre in the Middle Ages. During the 19th century the city expanded onto nearby lowland and in fact became two cities: the upper, old city and the lower, modern one close to the railway from Madrid. Viewed from below, the Casas Colgantes (“Hanging Houses”) of the old city appear to be suspended. The old city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. The Romanesque-Gothic cathedral (13th century) is notable, and the city is the site of the Provincial Archaeological and Spanish Abstract Art museums.
Cuenca has a considerable trade in timber. Industrial development is slight (tanning, sawmilling, paper milling, and flour milling); manufactured goods include furniture, soap, leather, and woolen goods. Local commerce and services are Cuenca’s main economic activities. Pop. (2007 est.) 52,980.
|
e85a6126a3178af78d58d864db309f75 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cuillin-Hills | Cuillin Hills | Cuillin Hills
Cuillin Hills, also called the Cuillins or the Cuchullins, mountain range, south-central portion of the Atlantic coastal island of Skye, Inner Hebrides island group, Highland council area, Scotland. The Cuillin Hills are among the steepest mountains in the United Kingdom and include 15 peaks above 3,000 feet (900 metres). There are two main ridges—the magnificent Black Cuillins, some peaks of which remained unclimbed until the late 19th century, and the Red Cuillins, around Loch (lake) Coruisk to the south.
|
2aa7d5a2459de4a3c2159b851860798a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Culion-Island | Culion Island | Culion Island
Culion Island, island, one of the Calamian Group, west-central Philippines. The island is the site of Culion Reservation, a therapeutic community founded in 1906 for the treatment of leprosy (Hansen’s disease). Rice and coconuts are grown on the island. Culion, the main settlement, is located on the northeastern coast. Area island, 150 square miles (389 square km). Pop. (2000) Culion mun., 15,090; (2010) Culion mun., 19,543.
|
7b14a9a3db22fa58673181821d84b692 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Cumberland-Island | Cumberland Island | Cumberland Island
…family also secured most of Cumberland Island for the same purpose. Jekyll Island was bought by the state of Georgia and since 1947 has been the site of a state park, and Cumberland Island National Seashore was established in 1972.
|
7602bbd3f0d9cb9bbcfdbc738b38e880 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Curonian-Lagoon | Curonian Lagoon | Curonian Lagoon
Curonian Lagoon, also called Courland Lagoon, German Kurisches Haff, Lithuanian Kuršiu Marios, Russian Kursky Zaliv, gulf of the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Neman River, in Lithuania and Russia. The lagoon, with an area of 625 square miles (1,619 square km), is separated from the Baltic Sea by a narrow, dune-covered sandspit, the Curonian Spit (Lithuanian: Kuršiu Nerija; Russian: Kurskaya Kosa), 60 miles (100 km) long and 1–2 miles (1.5–3 km) wide. A road along the spit connects resort and fishing villages. At its north end, the lagoon is connected to the Baltic Sea by a navigable strait, site of the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda. The east coast of the Curonian Lagoon is low, wooded marshland, part of which forms the Neman River delta. To the south lies the Samland Peninsula, formerly part of East Prussia.
|
7125d09a50b9bfae583fbc76bd204af0 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Custer-South-Dakota | Custer | Custer
Custer, city, seat (1875) of Custer county, southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It lies in the southern Black Hills on French Creek, 5,318 feet (1,621 metres) above sea level. Custer is about 40 miles (65 km) southwest of Rapid City.
The town, the oldest in the Black Hills, was laid out in 1875 after gold was discovered (1874) in French Creek by miners accompanying Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s reconnaissance expedition. The community experienced a short-lived population boom, but soon the miners headed north to other gold centres such as Deadwood and Lead.
Today tourism is the basis of the economy. There are mineral resources in the area, including feldspar, mica, and gemstones, but extraction of many minerals declined in the late 20th century. There is some logging in Black Hills National Forest, of which Custer is the headquarters. Nearby are Custer State Park (headquartered in the city), Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Jewel Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park, and Black Elk Peak, the state’s highest point (7,242 feet [2,207 metres]). Badlands National Park is to the east, and Buffalo Gap National Grassland is east and south. Located 5 miles (8 km) north of Custer are the Indian Museum of North America and Crazy Horse Memorial, an unfinished colossal statue carved out of a mountain; American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski (1908–82) began carving the monumental portrait of the Sioux chief Crazy Horse in 1948 (the face was completed in 1998). Other museums display frontier and wood-carving memorabilia; a log cabin built in 1875 is preserved as a pioneer museum. Inc. 1883. Pop. (2010) 1,999; (2015 est.) 1,952.
|
027f648f2b8ede2ec0d45d365b5153a8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Czech-Republic/Cultural-institutions | Cultural institutions | Cultural institutions
The Czech Republic’s impressive network of public libraries dates back to the 19th century. The largest library is the National Library in Prague, created in 1958 by the merger of several older libraries. Other major collections are in the National Museum Library, also in Prague and founded in 1818, and the State Scientific Library in Brno. Of the republic’s many museums, three in Prague are especially noteworthy: the National Museum (founded 1818), the National Gallery (1796; whose collection is exhibited in several locations), and the Museum of Decorative Arts (1885), the latter housing one of the world’s largest collections of glass. The Prague Zoological Garden is known for Przewalski’s horse, the last of a wild horse subspecies.
Czechs enjoy a variety of outdoor activities, including golf, canoeing, cycling, and hiking, as well as winter sports such as cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and ice hockey. The Czech Republic’s ice hockey team distinguished itself throughout the 1990s, winning the world championships in 1996 and 1999 and taking the gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The former Czechoslovakia also produced world-class football (soccer) teams and finished second in the World Cup competition in 1934 and 1962. Jaroslav Drobny, Jan Kodeš, Martina Navratilova, Ivan Lendl, and Hana Mandlikova head an impressive list of Czechs who have experienced international success in tennis.
The Czech Republic made its Olympic debut at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, though Czech athletes (representing Bohemia and later Czechoslovakia) had begun participating in 1900. Indeed, early Czech Olympic heroes include long-distance runner Emil Zátopek, “the bouncing Czech,” who won three gold medals at the Helsinki Games in 1952, and gymnast Vera Cáslavská, the winner of many Olympic gold medals and world championships in the 1960s.
All publishers and news media were, until the political changes in late 1989, subject to censorship through the government’s Office for Press and Information. The government owned all telephone, telegraph, television, and radio systems, and news was disseminated by the official Czechoslovak News Agency. In the postcommunist years, with the abolition of censorship, the introduction of a free-market economy, and the advent of the Internet, dissemination of information changed radically. During the 1990s many new newspaper and book publishers came into existence, although, owing to unstable economic conditions, many of these enterprises were fairly short lived. Widely read daily newspapers include Mladá fronta Dnes (“Youth Front Today”), Právo (“Right”), and Hospodářské noviny (“Economic News”), all published in Prague.
State control of radio and television broadcasting ended in 1991. The Czech Republic has several nationwide radio networks that broadcast news and cultural programs as well as a number of local radio stations. The nation has two state-run television networks. Independent commercial stations also operate, among them Nova Television and Prima Television.
|
7a2c40b6df4c1b6866a649efc38d8d03 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Czech-Republic/Government-and-society | Government and society | Government and society
On December 16, 1992, the Czech National Council adopted a new constitution establishing the Czech Republic as a parliamentary democracy. This document reflects the Western liberal tradition of political thought and incorporates many of the principles codified in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which was adopted by the former Czechoslovak Federal Assembly in January 1991. The constitution provides for a bicameral Parliament consisting of a Chamber of Deputies (elected on a proportional basis for four-year terms) and a Senate (elected on a district basis for six-year terms).
Executive power is shared by the prime minister and the president. Directly elected by popular vote to a five-year term, the president, who is also the head of state, appoints a prime minister, who heads the government and advises the president on the appointment of other members of the government.
The Czech Republic was formerly divided into 77 okresy (districts). These units are still recognized, but in 2000 the country reestablished 13 kraje (regions) and one hlavní mesto (city) that reflect administrative divisions in place from 1948 to 1960. Local governments have the power to raise local taxes and are responsible for roads, utilities, public health, and schools.
The Czech Republic’s judicial system consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and the Supreme Court as well as high, regional, and district courts. Military courts are under the jurisdiction of the department of defense. During the 1990s, the Czech government took steps to modify its legal system (based on pre-1918 Austrian criminal code) to meet standards set by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The electoral system is one of universal direct suffrage. There are several prominent political parties, including the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Social Democratic Party, the Green Party, and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. Some parties that enjoyed significant support in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, such as the Freedom Union, the Christian and Democratic Union–Czech People’s Party, and the Civic Democratic Alliance, have lost importance or disbanded.
The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Czechoslovakia in mid-1991 coincided with the disbanding of the Warsaw Pact. At partition, apportioning military resources was one of the major tasks of the new Czech and Slovak defense ministries. Two-thirds of the matériel went to the Czech military, which includes ground and air forces and frontier guards. The Czech Republic, along with Poland and Hungary, became a member of NATO in 1999. At the end of 2004, the military had transformed itself from an organization dependent on conscription to an all-volunteer force.
To restructure the health care system inherited from the communist era, the Czech Republic sought to end state control of health services, create a system that would include privately administered facilities, and introduce a funding structure to underwrite the system. By 1994 privatization had been accomplished and the number of privately administered health care facilities had increased tremendously. Poor economic and organizational handling of the restructuring, however, resulted in spiraling health care costs that initially proved difficult to address. Despite the increased cost of health care, however, Czechs benefited from greater access to advanced medical technologies and procedures and enjoy a level of health care that compares favourably with that of other EU countries. The overall level of social subsidies during the postcommunist era declined, although the government attempted to keep something of the social safety net intact.
Beginning in the late 1980s, the shortage of housing in the Czech Republic was a severe problem that was not adequately addressed until the start of the 21st century, when the housing situation, for the most part, stabilized. Although about half of existing housing was constructed between 1950 and 1990—much of it prefabricated high-rise urban apartment buildings known as paneláks, referring to the panel blocks used in construction—the general condition of Czech housing is relatively good in comparison with many other countries of the former Soviet bloc. The growth of building societies within the Czech banking sector has played an important role in the increase in home construction and ownership.
Children aged 3 to 6 may attend state kindergartens. Compulsory education lasts 10 years, from age 6 to 16. Most students 15 to 18 years of age continue their education either at a general secondary school, which prepares them for college or university studies, a vocational school, or a technical school. Since 1990 many private and religious schools have been established.
Enrollment in colleges and universities in the Czech Republic is low in comparison with other European countries, such as Poland, Austria, and Germany, which all have university enrollments at least twice as high. The leading institutions of higher education, providing four to five years of intensive study, have long-standing traditions. Charles University (founded 1348) and the Czech Technical University (founded 1707), both in Prague, are among the oldest universities in central Europe. Brno has two universities, and Olomouc has one. Since 1990 a number of teachers’ colleges have been redesignated as universities. Research work is carried out at universities and at special research institutions affiliated with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
|
4bb6abb9bbe6a37149e20d4247387a56 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Czech-Republic/Land | Land of the Czech Republic | Land of the Czech Republic
The country is bordered by Poland to the north and northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest. The Bohemian Massif occupies the major portion of the Czech Republic. It consists of a large, roughly ovoid elevated basin (the Bohemian Plateau) encircled by mountains divided into six major groups. In the southwest are the Šumava Mountains, which include the Bohemian Forest (Böhmerwald). In the west are the Berounka River highlands. In the northwest, the Ore Mountains (Czech: Krušné hory; German: Erzgebirge) form the frontier with Germany. The point at which the Elbe (Labe) River breaches this range is the lowest in the country, with an elevation of 384 feet (117 metres). The so-called Sudeten system of mountains (a name never applied in the Czech language) in the northeast forms most of the border with Poland west of the city of Ostrava. The highest point in the Czech Republic, Mount Sněžka, with an elevation of 5,256 feet (1,602 metres), is found in the major segment of this system, the Giant Mountains (Czech: Krkonoše; German: Riesengebirge). Farther to the east is the Oder (Odra) River lowland, a small fringe along the Polish border. Finally, southeast of the Bohemian Plateau are the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, which include the spectacular Moravian Karst.
In the east the Outer Carpathian Depressions, known to geographers as the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, include the valleys of the upper Oder and Morava rivers and the headstreams of the Dyje. Along the Czech-Slovak border rise the Little Carpathian (Bílé Karpaty) and Javorníky ranges, the westernmost of the Western Carpathian Mountains that dominate Slovakia.
The Czech Republic lies in the headwater area of the central European watershed. The Elbe River rises near the Czech-Polish border and sweeps southwestward across Bohemia, receiving the Jizera, Vltava, and Ohře rivers before flowing northward into Germany. The Vltava is navigable from Prague to Mělník, where it empties into the Elbe. From that point onward river traffic can travel all the way to Hamburg. The Morava River, flowing south toward the Danube (Dunaj) River, drains most of Moravia in the east. The Oder River rises in the northeastern Czech Republic and flows northward into Poland. There also are many smaller rivers of little economic importance. Larger rivers such as the Vltava are sources of hydroelectric power. The country is rich in mineral springs, and groundwater reserves are extensively used.
The soil profile of the Czech Republic consists of some rich, black chernozems and good-quality brown soils in the drier and lower areas. Podzols are found in the wet districts, and stony mountain soils are typical at high elevations. Alluvial soils occur in the river basins, and heavy clay soils are found in the eastern ridges.
The Czech climate is mixed. Continental influences are marked by large fluctuations in both temperature and precipitation, while moderating oceanic influences diminish from west to east. In general, temperatures decrease with increasing elevation but are relatively uniform across the lower portions of the country. The mean annual temperature at Cheb in the extreme west is 45 °F (7 °C) and rises to only 48 °F (9 °C) at Brno in southern Moravia. High temperatures can exceed 90 °F (32 °C) in Prague during July, and low temperatures may drop as low as 0 °F (−17 °C) in Cheb during February. The growing season is about 200 days in the south but less than half that in the mountains.
Annual precipitation ranges from 18 inches (450 mm) in the central Bohemian basins to more than 60 inches (1500 mm) on windward slopes of the Krkonoše Mountains of the north. Maximum precipitation falls during July, while the minimum occurs in February. There are no recognizable climatic zones but rather a succession of small and varied districts; climate thus follows the topography in contributing to the diversity of the natural environment.
Although large areas of the original forest cover have been cleared for cultivation and for timber, woodlands remain a characteristic feature of the Czech landscape. Oak, beech, and spruce dominate the forest zones in ascending order of elevation. In the highest reaches can be found taiga and tundra vegetation characteristic of more-northerly or more-elevated regions elsewhere in Europe. The timberline runs at about 4,500 feet (1,400 metres) above sea level. At these higher elevations, as in the Giant Mountains, the tree cover below the timberline consists of little more than dwarf pine. The Alpine zone supports grasses and low-growing bushes.
The country’s wildlife is extensive and varied. Large mammals include bears, wolves, lynx, and wildcats (Felis sylvestris). Smaller mammals, such as marmots, otters, martens, and minks, also inhabit the forests and wetlands. Game birds, especially pheasants, partridges, wild geese, and ducks, are common. Rarer species, such as eagles, vultures, ospreys, storks, eagle owls, bustards, and capercaillies, generally are protected.
The preservation of the natural heritage is an important goal of the Czech government. Rare or endangered species such as the mouflon (a mountain sheep) are bred in game reserves, and nature reserves have been created to preserve especially important landscapes, notably the Šumava Forest, Moravian Karst, and Jizera Mountains. Tourists are given controlled access to the reserve areas. Krkonoše National Park, established in 1963, protects glacial landscapes and Alpine vegetation as well as some relict boreal-Arctic species, such as the Alpine shrew (Sorex alpinus); despite these preservation efforts, however, the park has been extensively developed as a ski resort.
|
874e552a96eda8ec349920f4d6a57d75 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Czech-Republic/Literature | Literature of the Czech Republic | Literature of the Czech Republic
Czech literature can claim a remote ancestry in the vernacular writing connected with the mission sent to Moravia in 863 ce by the Byzantine emperor Michael III. As Christianity reached the Slavs of Bohemia from the west under the political aegis of the Frankish empire, Prince Rostislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (reigned 846–870), sought help from the east. The mission was led by an experienced scholar and diplomat, Cyril (originally named Constantine), and his brother Methodius (see Saints Cyril and Methodius). The brothers translated the greater part of the Bible and the essential liturgical texts into what must have been a Slavonic literary language of Cyril’s devising, based on the Macedonian-Slavonic vernacular of his native Salonika but enriched from other sources, notably Greek and the Slavonic of Moravia.
The most noteworthy literary monuments of this language (now known as Old Church Slavonic) are the Lives of the two brothers, which were almost certainly written before 900 (though they are preserved only in later copies). Other Old Church Slavonic texts, however, can be assigned to the Czech era, notably the Legends about Wenceslas I (Václav), prince of Bohemia (ruled 921–929), and his grandmother, Saint Ludmila, probably from the 10th century. The Old Church Slavonic language, used for a while along with Latin, fell out of use after 1097, when the last Slavonic monastery in Bohemia was taken over by Benedictine monks.
Writing in the Czech language emerged in the late 13th century, establishing a generally continuous tradition of vernacular literature. Chivalrous romances and chronicles, legends of the saints, love lyrics, satires, translations of the Bible, and religious prose were written in the 14th and 15th centuries. The main repository, however, of highly developed literary Czech was the Kralice Bible, a comprehensive translation of the Bible published between 1579 and 1593 by the Unitas Fratrum (Bohemian Brethren, or Moravian Brethren) scholars and named for the small Moravian town where it was printed. It was mainly thanks to this single book that the Czech literary language was preserved during its suppression for two centuries until it was resuscitated during the national revival. During the Counter-Reformation there was a serious decline in the social and administrative use of Czech, though the Baroque period brought fresh impulses to popular poetry and influenced both Roman Catholic and non-Catholic writers. There was a renewed flowering of Czech literature during the 19th century (commonly referred to as the Czech National Revival) that started as a widespread cultural enterprise, manifested in translations, schools, poetry, newspapers, theatre, novels, and operas. Later, the movement took on distinctly political overtones.
For the Czechs to become full-fledged members of the 19th-century community of European nations, their history had to be constructed and their language rediscovered, reconstructed, and codified. Josef Dobrovský, a Jesuit priest and scholar who wrote in German, published an outstanding systematic grammar of the Czech language. František Palacký, a historian turned politician, published the first volume of an ambitious history of the Czech nation in German in 1836. After 1848 Palacký continued his history in the Czech language only, though volumes published thereafter appeared in both Czech and German.
Meanwhile, the Romantic literary movement of western Europe began to affect the emerging Czech literature. The Czech Romantic school of poetry, dating from the early 19th century, is best represented by Karel Hynek Mácha and Karel Jaromír Erben. In Bohemia the Romantic movement gave way in the 1840s to a more descriptive and pragmatic approach to literature. Božena Němcová’s novel Babička (1855; The Grandmother, also translated as Granny) became a lasting favourite with Czech readers, while the journalist and poet Karel Havlíček Borovský tried to acquaint the Czechs with some of the stark facts of political life. Jan Neruda, in his poetry and short stories, domesticated literary sophistication within a familiar Prague framework. Toward the end of the 19th century, the historical novels of Alois Jirásek began to claim a wide readership, while poetry moved through Parnassian, Symbolist, and Decadent phases.
The making, and breaking, of the Czechoslovak state between the two world wars was reflected in its literature. Jaroslav Hašek’s sequence of novels Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války (1921–23; The Good Soldier Schweik) made a mockery of authority, especially that of the former Austro-Hungarian army. Karel Čapek wrote popular plays, novels, and travel books, many of which have been translated into English. Vítězslav Nezval, František Halas, Vladimír Holan, Josef Hora, and Nobel Prize winner Jaroslav Seifert were among other writers whose poetry came to prominence during the first half of the 20th century. As World War II and German-imposed censorship closed in, poetry became even more popular than in peacetime; the brief life and work of Jiří Orten is an outstanding example of his tragic generation.
Before the destruction of Czech Jewry by the Nazis and the expulsion of the German minority at the end of the war, Bohemia and Moravia had a strong German literary tradition. About the mid-19th century, Adalbert Stifter’s descriptions of nature and the common people inspired local followers in the borderland between Bavaria and Bohemia. During the first half of the 20th century, the German-Jewish group of writers in Prague—Franz Kafka, Franz Werfel, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Max Brod—achieved international recognition.
Among the postwar generation of writers, Bohumil Hrabal became well-known for his haunting short stories. While Hrabal remained largely apolitical, after 1948 the majority of Czech writers became enthusiastic members of the Communist Party. Communism had strong domestic roots and thrived as an ideology among intellectuals as well as organized workers, as communist propagandists successfully integrated strong doses of anti-German hatred with pan-Slavic solidarity and socialist visions of utopia.
The Stalinist purges of the 1950s and the uprisings of 1956, however, discredited the party and gave birth to a reform movement. Before and after 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, Czech writers were at the forefront of the communist reform movement. They paid a high price for their political commitment: a number of writers, including Milan Kundera and Josef Škvorecký, were forced to live and work abroad. Ludvík Vaculík and Ivan Klíma, writers of the same generation and of similar convictions, were among those whose novels were circulated in Prague as underground publications. Since 1989, Czech writers have continued to have a major political influence, perhaps most obviously exemplified by the fact that Czechs elected a prominent dissident playwright, Václav Havel, as their first postcommunist president.
|
6aeb70f1a365a38c5368eb816fadbb49 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia, Czech and Slovak Československo, former country in central Europe encompassing the historical lands of Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia. Czechoslovakia was formed from several provinces of the collapsing empire of Austria-Hungary in 1918, at the end of World War I. In the interwar period it became the most prosperous and politically stable state in eastern Europe. It was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1938–45 and was under Soviet domination from 1948 to 1989. On January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia separated peacefully into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A brief treatment of the history of Czechoslovakia follows. For full treatment, including a discussion of the region prior to 1918, see Czechoslovak history.
The political union of Czechs and Slovaks after World War I was feasible because the two ethnic groups are closely related in language, religion, and general culture. An independent Czechoslovak state was declared by Tomáš Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, and other leaders on October 28, 1918, and was quickly recognized by France and other Allied opponents of Austria. Bohemia and Moravia, populated by Czechs, constituted its western portion, while Slovakia occupied the eastern portion. Czechs and Slovaks together accounted for roughly two-thirds of the new country’s population; other nationalities within the state’s borders included Germans, Hungarians, Ruthenians, and Poles.
Under the leadership of Masaryk, who served as president from 1918 to 1935, Czechoslovakia became a stable parliamentary democracy and the most industrially advanced country in eastern Europe. But after the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933, the significant German minority in the Sudetenland of western Czechoslovakia began to lean toward Hitler’s National Socialism. With the acquiescence of Britain and France, Hitler annexed the German-speaking Sudeten areas of Czechoslovakia in 1938. By 1939 Germany had occupied all of Bohemia and Moravia and turned the two regions into a German protectorate. Slovakia received nominal autonomy, though it was dominated by Germany.
The liberation of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops during World War II helped bolster the Communist Party while hindering the numerous other parties that emerged. Clever maneuvering and unfailing support from the Soviet Union enabled the Communists to stage a virtual coup d’état in 1948, and a people’s republic was formed. Gradually, with Soviet supervision, internal opposition was crushed while the country’s industry was nationalized and its agriculture was collectivized.
In the 1960s a progressively deteriorating economy discredited the government and led to grudgingly granted, and limited, reforms. When these failed, the Communist Party’s leadership passed to the Slovak first secretary, Alexander Dubček, in January 1968. He instituted a more openly reformist program, “socialism with a human face,” that encouraged non-Communists to participate in government and restored a number of civil liberties. The brief period of liberalization became known as the Prague Spring. In August 1968, however, Warsaw Pact troops invaded the country and seized Dubček, transporting him to Moscow. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia, Dubček saw his reforms rolled back, and hard-line communists restored the country to conformity with Soviet-bloc norms.
The country’s new Communist leaders concentrated on making the state-run economy more productive while also stifling internal political dissent. Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and ’80s was thus one of the more prosperous but also one of the more repressive countries in eastern Europe. In late 1989, however, a wave of democratization swept through eastern Europe with the encouragement of the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. Czechoslovakia’s Communist leadership found itself confronted by mass demonstrations in Prague opposed to its policies, and the party soon gave in to the demands for reform. In December the Communists formed a coalition government with non-Communist opposition groups. A multiparty political system was written into law, the writer and former dissident Václav Havel became the country’s new president, and free elections to the Federal Assembly were held in June 1990, with non-Communists winning resounding majorities.
With the end of Communist rule and the reemergence of true multiparty democracy (the so-called Velvet Revolution), disagreements between the two halves of the country escalated. In particular, Slovaks resisted the Czechs’ preference for rapid privatization of the country’s state-run industries. The results of parliamentary elections in June 1992 highlighted these differences, and talks between Czech and Slovak leaders later that year resulted in the peaceful dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. As part of the so-called Velvet Divorce, two new countries were created, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, on January 1, 1993.
|
b9d623f3bf5b1b7e2dbc728f500c57af | https://www.britannica.com/place/Da-Lat | Da Lat | Da Lat
Da Lat, city, southern Vietnam, northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Situated on a lake on the Lam Vien Plateau at 4,920 feet (1,500 metres) above sea level, Da Lat sits among pine-covered hills with picturesque waterfalls nearby. Founded in the 19th century and named for the Da (now Cam Ly) River, which traverses the city, and the Lat population, it was developed by the French as a hill station (resort), summer capital, and centre of big-game hunting. Its temperate climate is frostless yet cool year-round; the bulk of the 70 inches (1,750 mm) of annual rainfall comes during the southwest monsoon from July to October.
Since the mid-20th century Da Lat has served as a centre for the growing of temperate-zone vegetables for sale in Ho Chi Minh City. The rich red soil supports rubber, tea, and coffee plantations as well. Da Lat has a college. There is a commercial airport at Lien Hiep (Lien Khang) to the south. Da Lat is linked by highway to Ho Chi Minh City and other sites on the main highway. Phan Rang, a port on the South China Sea, is 57 miles (92 km) to the southeast. Pop. (1999) 143,825; (2009) 184,755.
|
9096b2d6f1ff0db938235809e7ce5c22 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dahuk | Dahūk | Dahūk
Dahūk, also spelled Dohuk or Dhok, city, capital of Dahūk muḥāfaẓah (governorate), northern Iraq, lying near the northern end of the Tigris River valley. The area in which it is situated is unsuitable for cultivation but is good for fruit orchards and pasturage. Dahūk has a fruit-canning plant and a textile mill. It was a popular tourist destination before the start of the Iraq War in 2003. Pop. (2001 est.) 40,100.
|
8ef26206e993050dbe48bbf9b827bded | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalarna | Dalarna | Dalarna
Dalarna, formerly Dalecarlia, län (county) and traditional landskap (province), central Sweden. It extends from the Norwegian border in the west nearly to the town of Gävle, on the Gulf of Bothnia in the east. Dalarna county came into being in 1997 when Kopparberg county was renamed; the county capital is Falun. Dalarna province is coextensive with but slightly larger than Dalarna county and includes a small portion of northwestern Gävleborg county.
Dalarna’s undulating terrain descends from an elevation of about 3,900 feet (1,200 metres) in the northwest to less than 1,000 feet (300 metres) in the southeast. The fjäll, or uplands, are characteristically barren. Elsewhere the county is largely forested. Tributaries of the Dal River cut deep valleys through the western portion of the county; one of these, the Österdal River, flows into and out of Lake Siljan, one of Sweden’s largest lakes. Much of the Bergslagen mining region lies within the county.
Dalarna is of historical importance, twice (1434 and 1521) having been instrumental in freeing Sweden from Danish rule. The copper mine at Falun and the iron of Bergslagen helped finance Sweden’s rise to power in the 17th century, climaxed by the military campaigns of Gustav II Adolf in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48).
The region around Lake Siljan is an agricultural area and a centre of tourism. Bergslagen is one of Sweden’s largest mining regions; although iron is of primary importance, there are deposits of gold, silver, lead, and copper as well. Lumbering, sawmilling, woodworking, and textile weaving are also important industries. Area 11,739 square miles (30,404 square km). Pop. (2005 est.) 276,042.
|
439b6aa528dbc7fe4f3a19c9965a8947 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalby | Dalby | Dalby
Dalby, town, southeastern Queensland, Australia. It lies along Myall Creek near the Condamine River, about 130 miles (210 km) northwest of Brisbane.
Founded as Myall Creek Station in 1841, it was renamed for Dalby, on the Isle of Man, in the British Isles. It became a town in 1854. Dalby is the commercial centre for the northern Darling Downs, the state’s most productive wheat region. Other local products include lamb, beef, pork, sorghum, cotton, barley, and beans. Dalby has a grain receival depot, agricultural processing facilities, and one of the largest cattle markets in Australia. A coal mine and power station have been in operation since the early 21st century. Dalby holds an annual Cotton Week festival (March), which takes place over 10 days. Pop. (2006) urban centre, 9,778; (2011) urban centre, 10,861.
|
4ec459f8c70c713f8ad8ba151a85e454 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalian | Dalian | Dalian
Dalian, Wade-Giles romanization Ta-lien, Russian Dalny, conventional and Japanese Dairen, formerly Lüda, city and port, southern Liaoning sheng (province), northeastern China. It consists of the formerly independent cities of Dalian and Lüshun, which were amalgamated (as Lüda) in 1950; in 1981 the name Dalian was restored, and Lüshun became a district of the city.
Situated at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, Dalian has a good deepwater harbour that is ice-free throughout the year. It has an extremely important strategic position, commanding the entrance to the Bo Hai (Gulf of Chihli) and maritime access to Tianjin. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 2,181,583; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 3,167,000.
Lüshun, historically known in the West as Port Arthur, long was an important port of entry for southern Manchuria (Northeast China). It was used as a staging post in the 2nd century bce by Chinese colonists of the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) in northern Korea and by the Tang dynasty (618–907) in campaigns in the 7th century. During the 15th and 16th centuries, under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), it was a fortified port for Chinese settlements in the Liaodong area. It was captured by the Manchus in 1633 and became the headquarters of a coastal defense unit under the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12). In 1878 it was chosen as the chief base for the Beiyang (“North Ocean”) fleet, China’s first modern naval force, and was again fortified.
Captured by the Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, it was leased to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the war. However, after the intervention of the Western powers that followed, it was returned to China. Russia, which was eager to acquire an ice-free port on the Pacific, occupied the Liaodong Peninsula in 1897 after the Germans had taken Jiaozhou (Kiaochow) on the southern side of the Shandong Peninsula. In 1898 Russia acquired a lease of the Liaodong Peninsula and the right to build a railway connecting it with the Chinese Eastern Railway at Harbin in Heilongjiang province—and thus with the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The Russians constructed a heavily fortified naval base for their Pacific fleet at Port Arthur, began the development of a commercial port in nearby Dalny (Dalian), and in 1903 completed the rail link to Harbin. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, Port Arthur was one of the principal Japanese objectives. In May 1904 the Japanese army cut off the Liaodong Peninsula from the mainland and seized the port of Dalian (called Dairen by the Japanese). The Russian forces withdrew to their supposedly impregnable base at Port Arthur, but it too was eventually taken by the Japanese.
The Treaty of Portsmouth (1905), which concluded the war, transferred Port Arthur to Japan. The Japanese renamed it Ryojun and made it the administrative and military headquarters of their Kwantung Provincial Government (later transferred to Dairen) and of the Kwantung army command (later transferred to Mukden [now Shenyang]). The naval base was strengthened and became a base for Japanese military operations not only in Manchuria but also in northern China.
The Yalta Conference (February 1945) had envisioned the return of the Liaodong territory to the Soviet Union after World War II, and, under a treaty of friendship and alliance concluded in Moscow later that year between China and the Soviet Union, it was agreed that the Port Arthur naval base was to be used jointly by the two countries for 30 years but that the Soviet Union would be responsible for its defense and the Russians would have control of the peninsula, apart from the port of Dairen.
The last Soviet forces finally withdrew from Lüshun (Port Arthur) in 1955, after which it became an important Chinese naval base. Present-day Lüshun district is a fine city laid out on Western lines. It consists of two separate parts: the old (eastern) town, which contains the port installations, and the new (western) town, which is largely residential.
After the Russians took the lease of the Liaodong Peninsula in 1898, they initially focused much of their attention on building up the existing Chinese naval base at Port Arthur as the headquarters of their Pacific fleet. However, they also selected a minor nearby fishing village on the peninsula called Qingniwa to be developed as a major commercial port, which they called Dalny. They laid out a spacious Western-style city, dredged the harbour, and constructed wharves, piers, and breakwaters. Only the first stage had been completed by the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. After control of the Liaodong Peninsula was transferred to Japan in 1905, the Japanese (who renamed the port Dairen) completed the Russian plan, developing a fine modern city and an efficient modern port. By 1931 Dairen was a major Chinese port, exceeded in its volume of trade only by Shanghai.
Under the Japanese, Dairen became a major industrial centre. A chemical industry was established, and the city also became a centre of cotton-textile production; development of the latter, however, was hampered by the competition of Jinzhou (a short distance north on the Liaodong Peninsula) and by the depressed state of the Japanese cotton industry in the 1930s. Since the completion of the South Manchurian Railway in 1901, it had been the railway’s headquarters; huge railway workshops were built to supply locomotives, rolling stock, and equipment to the railway and also to other rail lines in Korea and northern China. In the 1930s the machine-building industry was further developed with the construction of a large plant belonging to the Dairen Machinery Company. In addition, shipbuilding became important during that decade, and by 1941 the port was producing ships of 8,000 tons.
During the postwar Soviet occupation of the Liaodong Peninsula, the city was less seriously damaged and looted than most of the other Manchurian cities. The merger with neighbouring Lüshun to form Lüda (the name derived by combining the first characters of Lüshun and Dalian) greatly expanded the area and population of the city. Further expansion occurred in 1981, when the name Dalian was restored to the city; the former city of Dalian became Zhongshan district, and Lüshun (under the name Lüshunkou) and Jinzhou were among the other districts created.
The amalgamated city experienced rapid economic growth from 1950. In 1984 Dalian was designated one of China’s “open” cities in the country’s liberalizing economic policy of inviting foreign investment, which further spurred its development. It is now a prosperous industrial centre, noted for the variety and quality of its products. In addition to its importance as a base for shipbuilding and the construction of locomotives, Dalian is a thriving manufacturer of machines, electronics, chemicals, petroleum products, and textiles; high-technology enterprises have become increasingly important. An annual clothing fair hosted by the city attracts large crowds of customers from China and abroad.
Dalian port is among the largest in China, and the city is also a fishing and marine centre. A new harbour, built some 19 miles (31 km) east of the original harbour, is large enough to accommodate vessels of up to 100,000 tons displacement. The city has continued as an important rail terminus and is connected by expressway to Shenyang and from there to other regional centres. Its international airport has regular flights to cities in Japan and Korea, as well as to other major Chinese cities.
Dalian has a number of institutions of higher education, including Dalian Maritime University (1909) and Dalian University of Technology (1949). The city’s thriving fisheries have contributed to the development of a distinctive seafood-based cuisine, and restaurants and catering services are plentiful. Dalian’s beautiful beaches and its unique scenery, which harmoniously combine both Eastern and Western styles of architecture, have contributed to making the city one of China’s major tourist destinations.
|
48e0ad7be70a1459658a3d8b47488127 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalkeith | Dalkeith | Dalkeith
Dalkeith, burgh (town), Midlothian council area and historic county, southeastern Scotland. It is near the capital, Edinburgh, and has an increasing population of workers who commute to that city. Dalkeith is an agricultural and educational centre. The former corn exchange (1854) provides office space and houses a museum. Located 1 mile (1.6 km) south is Newbattle Abbey, former seat of the marquesses of Lothian and now a residential college for adult education. Dalkeith Palace (rebuilt c. 1700) houses the Scottish study centre of the University of Wisconsin. Dalkeith is also the site of the Midlothian campus of Edinburgh College. Pop. (2001) 11,100; (2011) 11,820.
|
a71b7298f91cf9a832c3c868a87e2fea | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalmatia | Dalmatia | Dalmatia
Dalmatia, Serbo-Croatian Dalmacija, region of Croatia, comprising a central coastal strip and a fringe of islands along the Adriatic Sea. Its greatest breadth, on the mainland, is about 28 miles (45 km), and its total length, from the Kvarner (Quarnero) gulf to the narrows of Kotor (Cattaro), is about 233 miles (375 km). The major islands from north to south (with Italian names in parentheses) are Krk (Veglia), Cres (Cherso), Rab (Arba), Pag (Pago), Dugi Otok (Isola Lunga), Brač (Brazza), Hvar (Lesina), Vis (Lissa), Korčula (Curzola), Mljet (Meleda), and Lastovo (Lagosta). A rugged and barren range of mountains, the Dinaric Alps, divides Dalmatia from the interior. With peaks ranging from 1,500 feet (450 m) to more than 6,200 feet (1,900 m), the Dinaric Alps offer only two main passes: the Krka River canyon and the Neretva River valley. The Dalmatian coastline has numerous bays and harbours and is noted for its scenic beauty. The climate is mild, with dry summers, abundant rain in autumn and winter, and very little snow.
The first recorded inhabitants of Dalmatia were Illyrians (the name Dalmatia probably comes from the name of an Illyrian tribe, the Delmata, an Indo-European people who overran the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula beginning about 1000 bce). The Greeks began to settle there from the 4th century, founding a number of colonies on the islands, the most famous of which were Issa (Vis), Pharos (Hvar), and Corcyra Melaina (Korčula), and a few towns on the mainland coast, one of which is Salona (Solin), near modern Split. The Greeks, opposed by the Illyrians, appealed to the Romans for help, and a long series of Roman-Illyrian wars began in 229. The fall of the Dalmatian capital, Delminium, in 155 brought Roman civilization to the country. On the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Dalmatia fell under the power of Odoacer in 481 ce and later under that of Theodoric, to become a battlefield during the wars between the Goths and the Byzantine emperor Justinian I.
By the time permanent Venetian rule had been established (1420), Dalmatia had passed through about 30 changes of sovereignty. Byzantines, Greeks, Magyars, Tatars, Croatian and Serbian princes, Venetians, Sicilians, and Normans were among its conquerors. The Croatian kings and the Venetian doges were the only rulers who held power long enough to leave a permanent mark on Dalmatian character and consciousness.
Venetian rule, established in 1420 when the king of Croatia, Ladislas of Naples, ceded the country to the Venetian republic, ended in 1797. This period was marked by Venetian warfare against the Turks. When the French gave Venice to Austria under the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797), Dalmatia became Austrian also; but in 1805, under the Treaty of Pressburg, Austria had to cede Dalmatia to Napoleon. It was returned to Austria after Napoleon’s fall and remained an Austrian crownland until 1918.
During World War I, by the secret Treaty of London (1915), the Allies had promised large territories, including northern Dalmatia, to the Italians in return for their support. This treaty embittered negotiations for a peace settlement. Finally, the Treaty of Rapallo (November 12, 1920) between Italy and Yugoslavia gave all Dalmatia to the Yugoslavs except the mainland Zadar (Italian: Zara) enclave and the coastal islands of Cres, Lošinj (Lussino), and Lastovo. The Palagruza islands, in the mid-Adriatic, also passed to Italy. During World War II, when Yugoslavia was partitioned by the Axis powers, Dalmatia was annexed by Italy, but it passed to Yugoslavia in its entirety in 1947 as part of the Croatian republic (independent from 1992), with the city of Split serving as provincial capital.
Dalmatia’s principal cities are Zadar, Split (Spalato), Šibenik (Sebenico), Dubrovnik (Ragusa), Trogir (Trau), Korčula, and Kotor. The region’s economy is mainly agricultural. The soil is unsuitable for the cultivation of cereal grains but favours olive trees, vegetables, and, above all, vines. Dalmatian vineyards are rich in wine production. There are deposits of bauxite that are exploited by the aluminum refinery near Šibenik. Abundant reserves of limestone coming from the neighbourhood of Split account for much of Croatia’s cement output. There are also chemical factories as well as food-processing plants. Major shipbuilding yards are at Split. The rivers, except for a few miles on the Krka and on the Neretva, are unsuitable for navigation, but their precipitous fall makes them a natural source of hydroelectric power. Tourism has become a major economic factor; Dubrovnik and Split are major Mediterranean tourist attractions.
|
fe21ece982ebeb24c029407001e03f87 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Damanhur | Damanhūr | Damanhūr
Damanhūr, city, capital of Al-Buḥayrah muḥāfaẓah (governorate) in the western Nile River delta, Lower Egypt. Its name is derived from the ancient Egyptian Timinhor (“City of Horus”) and has historically applied to several centres in Egypt, mostly in the delta. The capital of a Ptolemaic nome, Damanhūr was known as Hermopolis Parva in Hellenistic times. It was first made a provincial capital under Faṭīmid rule (11th century), and in the Middle Ages it prospered as a caravan town on the post road from Cairo to Alexandria. It was severely damaged in 1302 by an earthquake, but in the late 14th century the Mamlūk caliph Barqūq restored its fortifications to thwart Bedouin incursions.
Damanhūr is now a major centre of the western delta. It is the hub of a system of narrow-gauge railways transporting the cotton, dates, vegetables, and cereals of the region’s agricultural hinterland. The city has date-packing, potato-processing, cotton-ginning, and textile industries. Damanhūr is served by the Cairo-Alexandria main railway and is an important branch railway, road, and canal junction. Pop. (2006) 244,043.
|
b7d17c99d8fc96bb42c35bdb5f03b535 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dammam | Dammam | Dammam
Dammam, Arabic Al-Dammām, city, eastern Saudi Arabia. It lies on the Persian Gulf northwest of Bahrain Island and forms a larger metropolitan and industrial complex with Khobar, Qatif, and Dhahran. The discovery of immense oil reserves in the locality in 1938 led to the radical transformation of the once small coastal settlement into a boomtown that is now a major seaport, a petroleum and natural gas centre, the commercial hub of eastern Saudi Arabia, and the eastern terminus of the railroad to Riyadh. Dammam is strikingly modern, with sprawling suburbs; most of the city has been built since the 1940s. Apart from the oil industry, the city’s economy is supported by agriculture, especially dairying. Large herds of imported beef and dairy cattle are kept on experimental farms. King Faisal University opened in the city in 1975. In 1999 King Fahd International Airport opened. Pop. (2010) 903,312.
|
2155ee09f5a80102743226a934370612 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Danelaw | Danelaw | Danelaw
Danelaw, also spelled Danelagh or Danelaga, the northern, central, and eastern region of Anglo-Saxon England colonized by invading Danish armies in the late 9th century. In the 11th and 12th centuries, it was recognized that all of eastern England between the Rivers Tees and Thames formed a region in which a distinctive form of customary law prevailed in the local courts, differing from West Saxon law to the south and Mercian law to the west. The region derived its name from the Old English Dena lagu (“Danes’ law”) under the assumption that its unique legal practices were of Danish origin, an assumption borne out by modern scholarship.
The Danes did not settle the whole of this wide area intensively, but their powerful military aristocracy dominated for a sufficient period to leave its imprint on local custom. The area of the Danelaw is marked by the survival of Danish personal names and place-names; DNA evidence also has confirmed the link between Denmark and the modern inhabitants of Derbyshire. In local administration the hundred was generally called a wapentake, and the hide was generally replaced by the plowland. Its law was distinguished by procedural differences, severe fines for breach of peace, and the existence of an aristocratic jury of presentment to initiate the prosecution of criminal suspects. In the areas of intensive Danish settlement, there were an unusually high number of sokemen, a class of personally free peasants attached to a lord rather than to the land.
|
6cdc5cc356a224482f91d55290237f66 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Danube-River | Danube River | Danube River
Danube River, German Donau, Slovak Dunaj, Hungarian Duna, Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian Dunav, Romanian Dunărea, Ukrainian Dunay, river, the second longest in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 1,770 miles (2,850 km) to its mouth on the Black Sea. Along its course it passes through 10 countries: Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
The Danube played a vital role in the settlement and political evolution of central and southeastern Europe. Its banks, lined with castles and fortresses, formed the boundary between great empires, and its waters served as a vital commercial highway between nations. The river’s majesty has long been celebrated in music. The famous waltz An der schönen, blauen Donau (1867; The Blue Danube), by Johann Strauss the Younger, became the symbol of imperial Vienna. In the 21st century the river has continued its role as an important trade artery. It has been harnessed for hydroelectric power, particularly along the upper courses, and the cities along its banks—including the national capitals of Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), and Belgrade (Serbia)—have depended upon it for their economic growth.
The Danube’s vast drainage of some 315,000 square miles (817,000 square km) includes a variety of natural conditions that affect the origins and the regimes of its watercourses. They favour the formation of a branching, dense, deepwater river network that includes some 300 tributaries, more than 30 of which are navigable. The river basin expands unevenly along its length. It covers about 18,000 square miles (47,000 square km) at the Inn confluence, 81,000 square miles (210,000 square km) after joining with the Drava, and 228,000 square miles (590,000 square km) below the confluences of its most affluent tributaries, the Sava and the Tisza. In the lower course the basin’s rate of growth decreases. More than half of the entire Danube basin is drained by its right-bank tributaries, which collect their waters from the Alps and other mountain areas and contribute up to two-thirds of the total river runoff or outfall.
Three sections are discernible in the river’s basin. The upper course stretches from its source to the gorge called the Hungarian Gates, in the Austrian Alps and the Western Carpathian Mountains. The middle course runs from the Hungarian Gates Gorge to the Iron Gate in the Southern Romanian Carpathians. The lower course flows from the Iron Gate to the deltalike estuary at the Black Sea.
The upper Danube springs as two small streams—the Breg and Brigach—from the eastern slopes of the Black Forest mountains of Germany, which partially consist of limestone. From Donaueschingen, where the headstreams unite, the Danube flows northeastward in a narrow, rocky bed. To the north rise the wooded slopes of the Swabian and the Franconian mountains. Between Ingolstadt and Regensburg the river forms a scenic canyonlike valley. To the south of the river course stretches the large Bavarian Plateau, covered with thick layers of river deposits from the numerous Alpine tributaries. The bank is low and uniform, composed mainly of fields, peat, and marshland.
At Regensburg the Danube reaches its northernmost point, from which it veers south and crosses wide, fertile, and level country. Shortly before it reaches Passau on the Austrian border, the river narrows and its bottom abounds with reefs and shoals. The Danube then flows through Austrian territory, where it cuts into the slopes of the Bohemian Forest and forms a narrow valley. In order to improve navigation, dams and protecting dikes have been built near Passau, Linz, and Ardagger. The upper Danube, some 600 miles (965 km) long, has a considerable average inclination of the riverbed (0.93 percent) and a rapid current of two to five miles per hour. Depths vary from 3 to 26 feet (1 to 8 metres). The Danube swells substantially at Passau where the Inn River, its largest upstream tributary, carries more water than the main river. Other major tributaries in the upper Danube course include the Iller, Lech, Isar, Traun, Enns, and Morava rivers.
In its middle course the Danube looks more like a flatland river, with low banks and a bed that reaches a width of more than one mile. Only in two sectors—at Visegrád (Hungary) and at the Iron Gate—does the river flow through narrow canyonlike gorges. The basin of the middle Danube exhibits two main features: the flatland of the Little Alfold and Great Alfold plains and the low peaks of the Western Carpathians and Transdanubian Mountains.
The Danube enters the Little Alfold plain immediately after emerging from the Hungarian Gates Gorge near Bratislava, Slovakia. There the river stream slows down abruptly and loses its transporting capacity, so that enormous quantities of gravel and sand settle on the bottom. A principal result of this deposition has been the formation of two islands, one on the Slovak side of the river and the other on the Hungarian side, which combined have an area of about 730 square miles (1,900 square km) that support some 190,000 inhabitants in more than 100 settlements. The silting hampers navigation and occasionally divides the river into two or more channels. East of Komárno the Danube enters the Visegrád Gorge, squeezed between the foothills of the Western Carpathian and the Hungarian Transdanubian Mountains. The steep right bank is crowned with fortresses, castles, and cathedrals of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty of the 10th to 15th century.
The Danube then flows past Budapest, and across the vast Great Alfold plain, traversing Croatia, Serbia, and Romania until it reaches the Iron Gate gorge. The riverbed is shallow and marshy, and low terraces stretch along both banks. River accumulation has built a large number of islands, including Csepel Island near Budapest. In this long stretch the river takes on the waters of its major tributaries—the Drava, the Tisza, and the Sava—which create substantial changes in the river’s regime. The average runoff increases from about 83,000 cubic feet (2,400 cubic metres) per second north of Budapest to 200,000 cubic feet (5,600 cubic metres) at the Iron Gate. The river valley looks most imposing there, and the river’s depth and current velocity fluctuate widely. The rapids and reefs of the Iron Gate once made the river unnavigable until a lateral navigation channel and a parallel railway allowed rivercraft to be towed upstream against the strong current.
Beyond the Iron Gate the lower Danube flows across a wide plain; the river becomes shallower and broader, and its current slows down. To the right, above steep banks, stretches the tableland of the Danubian Plain of Bulgaria. To the left lies the low Romanian Plain, which is separated from the main stream by a strip of lakes and swamps. The tributaries in this section are comparatively small and account for only a modest increase in the total runoff. They include the Olt, the Siret, and the Prut. The river is again obstructed by a number of islands. Just south of Cernavodă, the Danube heads northward until it reaches Galați, where it veers abruptly eastward, its left bank briefly traversing Moldovan territory. Near Tulcea, Romania, some 50 miles (80 km) from the sea, the river begins to spread out into its delta.
The river splits into three channels: the Chilia, which carries 63 percent of the total runoff; the Sulina, which accounts for 16 percent; and the Sfântu Gheorghe (St. George), which carries the remainder. Navigation is possible only by way of the Sulina Channel, which has been straightened and dredged along its 39-mile (63-km) length. Between the channels, a maze of smaller creeks and lakes are separated by oblong strips of land called grinduri. Most grinduri are arable and cultivated, and some are overgrown with tall oak forests. A large quantity of reeds that grow in the shallow-water tracts are used in the manufacture of paper and textile fibres. The Danube delta covers an area of some 1,660 square miles (4,300 square km) and is a comparatively young formation. About 6,500 years ago the delta site was a shallow cove of the Black Sea coast, but it was gradually filled by river-borne silt; the delta continues to grow seaward at the rate of 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 metres) annually.
|
d003eb94b8f75f6a64552cc5e166d6a2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Darien-region-Panama | Darién | Darién
Darién, geographic region of the easternmost Isthmus of Panama that extends into northwestern Colombia, around the Gulf of Urabá (a section of the Gulf of Darién), and forms the physiographic link between Central and South America. A hot, humid area typified by tropical rainforests, mangrove swamps, and low mountain ranges with cloud forest vegetation, Darién has always been sparsely populated.
Darién was first reached by Europeans in 1501 and was seen by Christopher Columbus on his last voyage. The first successful European settlement on the mainland of the Americas, Santa María de la Antigua del Darién, was begun in 1510 on the western side of the Gulf of Urabá. From this colony Vasco Núñez de Balboa made his famous march to the Pacific Ocean in 1513. A few years later some colonists left the Darién settlement to found Panama City; eventually, Santa María was abandoned. Another short-lived attempt at colonization was made in the 17th century, when a Scottish trading company founded a settlement about halfway between Portobelo, Panama, and Cartagena, Colombia.
The towns of Darién remain isolated in spite of the construction of small airfields across the region. Towns close to the international border include Jaqué, Yaviza, and El Real de Santa María (in Panama) and Juradó, Salaquí, and Ríosucio (in Colombia). Notable indigenous groups are the Chocó (specifically the Embera and Wounaan, or Waunana) and the Kuna (Cuna); estimates for their combined local populations range widely, from 1,200 to some 25,000. They have traditionally lived in villages scattered throughout the forest, but some families have relocated to towns and cities. In Darién plantains, corn (maize), and rice are cultivated, livestock is raised, and lumber is cut and milled. The Pan-American Highway does not traverse Darién, which effectively blocks land transportation between Central and South America.
A pair of contiguous parks administer a large part of the region—Darién National Park in Panama and Los Katíos National Park in Colombia. The Panamanian park was established as the Alto Darién Forest Reserve in 1972 and elevated to national park status in 1980; it covers some 2,305 square miles (5,970 square km). The Colombian park was established in 1974 and extended in 1980 to cover some 280 square miles (720 square km). UNESCO added Darién National Park to the World Heritage List in 1981, followed by Los Katíos in 1994. Both areas protect a highly diverse assortment of flora and fauna. Among the wildlife are capybaras, jaguars, ocelots, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, harpy eagles, caimans, American crocodiles, and the endemic grey-headed chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps). Annual rainfall in Darién varies from a minimum of 70 inches (1,800 mm) to a maximum of 180 inches (4,500 mm).
Since the late 1990s, Darién has been the site of increased conflict as Colombian groups (guerrillas, narcotics traffickers, and right-wing paramilitary forces) cross the border into Panama and smugglers bring over a growing number of refugees from Colombia’s civil war. The Panamanian government’s inability to defend the region has become a source of growing concern and political debate within Panama.
|
5cc09af103c7a08f433dd4603f7c63b1 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Darkhan | Darkhan | Darkhan
Darkhan, also called Darhan or Darchan, town, northern Mongolia, northwest of Ulaanbaatar. A large industrial complex, built in the late 1960s with Soviet and eastern European aid, makes Darkhan one of the largest industrial centres in Mongolia. A building-industry combine produces concrete, lime cement, bricks, and wood and steel products. Other industries include food processing, vehicle repair, and the production of woolen textiles, carpets, dressed sheepskins, and clothing. A power station, fueled by coal brought by rail from Sharyn Gol, 42 miles (68 km) to the north, supplies power for Sühbaatar and Ulaanbaatar as well as for local industry. Pop. (2010) 74,738.
|
3cb69c833cb54d35680c8f1fe542d6e1 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Daugavpils | Daugavpils | Daugavpils
Daugavpils, German Dünaburg, Russian (formerly) Dvinsk, city, southeastern Latvia. It lies along the Western Dvina (Daugava) River. In the 1270s the Brothers of the Sword, a branch of the Teutonic Knights, founded the fortress of Dünaburg, 12 miles (19 km) above the modern site. The fortress and adjoining town were destroyed, and then refounded on the present location, by Ivan IV the Terrible during the Livonian wars in the 1570s. The end of the Livonian wars saw Dünaburg in Polish possession, and its fortress was rebuilt and strengthened in 1582. Although it was the centre of the province of Latgalia, the town remained of minor importance. It passed to Russia by the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Although strongly fortified in 1811, it fell to Napoleon I the following year. The construction of the St. Petersburg–Warsaw railway in 1861–62 and of the Orel-Riga railway in 1861–66 greatly stimulated the town’s growth. Much damage occurred in World War I, when the front line lay on the Western Dvina, and again in World War II, when the city was in German hands.
Modern Daugavpils is a major rail and road junction, with large locomotive and rollingstock repair shops. Its industries produce electrical instruments, bicycles, synthetic fibre, tire cord, linen, furniture, footwear, and foodstuffs. Daugavpils has a branch of the Riga Polytechnic Institute. Pop. (2008 prelim.) 105,958.
|
a4f68a5150066ada10011d390f590c0c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dax | Dax | Dax
Dax, town, Landes département, Nouvelle-Aquitaine région, southwestern France. It lies on the left bank of the Adour River, 88 miles (142 km) southwest of Bordeaux and 50 miles (80 km) north of the Pyrenees frontier with Spain. The town is a spa resort whose thermal springs and mud baths have been noted for the cure of rheumatism since Roman times, when it was known as Aquae Tarbellicae. Situated on the edge of the Landes Forest, it is also a tourist centre. The remains of its Gallo-Roman walls have been made into a promenade. At the Place de la Fontaine Chaude, near the Roman wall, there are hot springs, the waters of which gush out at a temperature of 147 °F (64 °C). Near the river is a park with a bull ring. Small-scale woodworking and leatherworking are local industries. Pop. (1999) 19,515; (2014 est.) 20,485.
|
3b3d48bda4e2f1c790b0839c25381d7a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dayr-al-Zawr | Dayr al-Zawr | Dayr al-Zawr
Dayr al-Zawr, also spelled Deir ez-Zor, town, eastern Syria. The town is situated on the right bank of the Euphrates River; its name, meaning “monastery of the grove” (zawr, “tamarisk”), is probably derived from the ancient city of Auzara, or Azuara, situated nearby. The Ottomans built the present town in 1867 to curb the nomads of the Euphrates area. Under the Ottomans it was the capital of an administrative region, the seat of the governor, and the site of outposts policing the surrounding country. Occupied by the British after the Ottoman retreat in 1918, Dayr al-Zawr was then taken by Fayṣal I (son of Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, king of Hejaz) for a short time before the French occupation began in 1921. In 1941, during World War II, it was captured by a British force to prevent Syria and Lebanon from falling to Axis troops. In 1946 the town became part of the Republic of Syria.
Dayr al-Zawr is the principal trade centre of the Aleppo-Mosul and Damascus-Mosul roads and is also on several cross-desert routes. Dayr al-Zawr has a university (1977), a cultural centre for painting, sculpture, dramatic art, and folk dancing, and a museum (housed in a shopping mall until a museum building could be completed in the 1980s) that contains objects from such nearby excavations as Tall Birāk, Buqrus, Tall Leilan, and Ashara. The major tourist attraction along the corniche (road along the river) is the suspension bridge across the Euphrates built by the French in 1924. The town serves as a supply and recreation centre for oil exploration teams working in the area. Extensive newer residential construction features single-family houses built in the local stone, with individual gardens. Pop. (2003 est.) 223,212.
|
7f5e8ce4ec4ac6a56626f528cd2619fe | https://www.britannica.com/place/Deal | Deal | Deal
Deal, town (parish), Dover district, administrative and historic county of Kent, eastern England. It is situated on the Strait of Dover, about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Dover. The town has a natural roadstead harbour, the Downs, enclosed by the North and South Forelands and the perilous Goodwin Sands.
It is claimed that Julius Caesar landed there in 55 bce. In 1539 Henry VIII built Deal, Sandown, and Walmer castles, all within the modern town. Walmer, official residence of the lord warden of the Cinque Ports, and Deal are still extant; Sandown was destroyed by the sea. The presence of those castles, and the siltation of the town’s rival, Sandwich, led to a considerable growth in Deal’s mercantile trade. The Downs was the scene of naval battles between the Spanish and Dutch (1639) and the English and Dutch (1666). In 1682 Pennsylvania founder William Penn sailed from Deal on his first voyage to America.
During the 19th century the town became a popular holiday resort. Although still predominantly maritime in character, with important fishing and boatbuilding activities, the town also lies near Betteshanger, which was the largest of the Kent collieries, and has attracted light industries. Pop. (2001) 20,355; (2011) 20,823.
|
d635018c37894898f9197f772aeaeca9 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Death-Valley | Death Valley | Death Valley
Death Valley, structural depression primarily in Inyo county, southeastern California, U.S. It is the lowest, hottest, and driest portion of the North American continent. Death Valley is about 140 miles (225 km) long, trends roughly north-south, and is from 5 to 15 miles (8 to 24 km) wide. The valley is bounded on the west by the Panamint Range and on the east by the Black, Funeral, and Grapevine mountains of the Amargosa Range. It lies near the undefined border between the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert.
Geologically, Death Valley forms part of the southwestern portion of the Great Basin. It is similar to other structural basins of the region but is unique in its depth. Portions of the great salt pan that forms part of the floor of the valley are the lowest land areas of the Americas. About 550 square miles (1,425 square km) of the valley’s floor lie below sea level. A point in Badwater Basin, lying 282 feet (86 metres) below sea level, is the lowest area in North America. Less than 20 miles (30 km) west is the 11,049-foot (3,368-metre) Telescope Peak, the area’s highest point. Death Valley was an obstacle to movements of pioneer settlers (whence its name was derived) and later was a centre of borax exploitation; its extreme environment now attracts tourists and scientists.
For a short time after its christening in 1849 by a hapless party of emigrants who endured intense suffering while crossing it, Death Valley was little known except to Native Americans (primarily Shoshone) of the area and to prospectors searching the surrounding mountains. The first scientific notice of the valley seems to have been a brief mention published in 1868 by a California state geologist. The area remained seldom visited until the 1870s, when gold and silver were discovered in the surrounding mountains, and 1880s, when borax deposits were found in the valley. Borax production, notably at the Harmony Borax Works (1883–88), gave rise to the famous 20-mule team wagons, which hauled the product to Mojave, California. Several ghost towns are located around the valley, and some still contain ruined buildings. They sprang up from the late 19th to the early 20th century following gold, copper, and silver strikes in the area. Deserted when the mines were depleted, each existed for only a few years. For example, Rhyolite, founded in 1904, was a gold-mining boomtown of 10,000 people with its own stock exchange, electric plant, and opera; in 1911 the main mine was closed, and the town was deserted by 1916.
The geologic history of Death Valley is extremely complex and involves different types of fault activity at various periods, in addition to crustal sinking and even some volcanic activity. Essentially, Death Valley is a graben, or rift valley, formed by the sinking of a tremendous expanse of rock lying between parallel uplifted, tilted-block mountain ranges to the east and west. A type of fault activity called block faulting, in which the movement is predominantly vertical, began to form the valley about 30 million years ago. As crustal blocks sank, they formed the great trough of the valley, and other blocks were uplifted to gradually form the adjacent mountain ranges. As the valley sank, it was filled by sediments that were eroded from the surrounding hills; in the central part of the valley the bedrock floor is buried beneath as much as 9,000 feet (2,745 metres) of sediment. The valley floor has continued to tilt and sink.
The floor of Death Valley is noted for its extremes of temperature and aridity. A record world and North American high shaded air temperature of 134 °F (57 °C) was recorded in 1913, and summer temperatures often exceed 120 °F (49 °C). The hottest summer on record in the valley (1996) saw temperatures top 120 °F on 40 days. Ground temperatures as high as 201 °F (94 °C) have been reported. The high temperatures and low humidity contribute to an exceptionally high evaporation rate.
Winter minimum temperatures rarely fall to the freezing point; the record lowest temperature was 15 °F (−9 °C). Most rainfall is blocked by the mountains to the west, so the valley is extremely arid. In a 50-year period in the 20th century, the average annual rainfall at Furnace Creek was only 1.66 inches (42.2 mm), the maximum annual rainfall was 4.5 inches (114.3 mm), and two years passed with no measurable rainfall.
Most of the surface water in Death Valley is in the saline ponds and marshes around the salt pan. The Amargosa River brings some water into the southern end of the valley from desert areas to the east, but most of its flow is underground. Salt Creek, draining the northern arm of the valley, also has only short stretches of perennial surface flow.
At times in the past, much more water reached Death Valley. During the Wisconsin Glacial Stage of the Pleistocene Epoch, perhaps about 50,000 years ago, a body of water (Lake Manly) filled the valley to a depth of as much as 600 feet (180 metres). More recently, some 2,000 to 5,000 years ago, a shallow lake occupied the floor of the valley, its evaporation producing the present salt pan.
|
585597b15a571c05928de70e5debedf9 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Decelea | Decelea | Decelea
Decelea, also spelled Deceleia, in ancient Greece, an Attic deme (township) on the east end of Mount Párnis overlooking the Athenian plain. Its traditional friendship with Sparta is traced to the legend of Decelus, the hero for whom the deme was named. Decelus indicated to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) where Theseus had hidden their sister Helen at Aphidnae. During the later years of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 bce) the Spartans fortified themselves at Decelea, using it as a base to harass the Athenians, encourage sedition, and cut them off from the port of Oropus and their silver mines at Laurium.
|
ea0c91991ec2f18c3ca00c1bcb5d5f95 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Delaware-county-Pennsylvania | Delaware | Delaware
Delaware, county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., located southwest of Philadelphia and bounded to the east by Cobbs Creek and to the south by New Jersey and Delaware, the Delaware River constituting the border. Ridley Creek State Park is located on Ridley Creek near Springton Reservoir.
In 1682 English Quaker William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania near the confluence of the Delaware River and Chester Creek at the Swedish settlement of Upland, which Penn renamed Chester when he made it the provincial capital. Built by Swedish settlers, the Morton Homestead in Prospect Park is one of the oldest buildings in Pennsylvania (c. 1650). Near Chadds Ford on Brandywine Creek, the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of the Brandywine in the U.S. War of Independence (Sept. 11, 1777). The county was formed in 1789 and named for either the Delaware Indians or the Delaware River. Media replaced Chester as the county seat in 1850. Villanova University was founded in Villanova in 1842, and Swarthmore College was established by Quakers in Swarthmore in 1864.
Some suburbs of Philadelphia are Yeadon, Lansdowne, Darby, and Collingdale. The economy depends on services (health care and business), trade, and manufacturing (aircraft and ships). Delaware county is one of the most densely populated counties in Pennsylvania. Area 184 square miles (477 square km). Pop. (2000) 547,651; (2010) 558,979.
|
6a2baa769a2b46dfbc91aef6ca1ded6f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Delaware-state | Delaware | Delaware
Delaware, constituent state of the United States of America. The first of the original 13 states to ratify the federal Constitution, it occupies a small niche in the Boston–Washington, D.C., urban corridor along the Middle Atlantic seaboard. It ranks 49th among the 50 U.S. states in terms of total area and is one of the most densely populated. The state is organized into three counties—from north to south, New Castle, Kent, and Sussex—all established by 1682. Its population, like its industry, is concentrated in the north, around Wilmington, where the major coastal highways and railways pass through from Pennsylvania and New Jersey on the north and east into Maryland on the south and west. The rest of the state comprises the northeastern corner of the Delmarva Peninsula, which Delaware shares with Maryland and Virginia (hence its name). Most state government operations are located in Dover, the capital.
Historically, geographically, and economically, Delaware has had close ties with Pennsylvania, particularly the city of Philadelphia, where the Delaware River and other transportation arteries direct its commerce. The stability and conservatism that were once characteristics of Delaware, especially in the southern areas that lie adjacent to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, long maintained a grip on political life vastly out of proportion to their proponents’ numbers.
Over the years Delaware has been called the chemical capital, the corporate capital, and the credit-card capital of the United States. Its liberal incorporation laws and a Court of Chancery that specializes in the most-complex issues of corporate governance and finance have encouraged many American and foreign businesses to make Delaware their nominal home. The preponderance of the state’s major corporate, banking, and legal enterprise is located in the northern part of the state. Area 2,489 square miles (6,446 square km). Population (2010) 897,934; (2019 est.) 973,764.
Delaware, located mainly within the Atlantic Coastal Plain, is second only to Florida for having the lowest average elevation. A long sand beach forms the state’s oceanfront, stretching from the border with Maryland, at Fenwick Island, north to Cape Henlopen, at the mouth of Delaware Bay. Only one major break, Indian River Inlet, occurs along the 23-mile (37-km) length of the beach. Much of the beach is a low bar between the ocean and a series of lagoons or shallow bays, but at Bethany Beach, near the southern boundary, and again at Rehoboth Beach, near the northern end, the mainland reaches directly to the ocean.
Much of the shoreline of Delaware Bay is marshy. The mouths of tributaries such as the Murderkill, the Mispillion, and the St. Jones are so shallow that only fishing boats find safe harbours north of Lewes. Farther north, on the banks of the Delaware River, spots of high, dry land appear, as at Port Penn, New Castle, and Edgemoor. The state’s main port, at Wilmington, is located at the confluence of the Delaware River and the Christina, one of its tributaries.
Most of Delaware is drained by streams that run eastward to the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, but the Nanticoke River and its tributaries in southwestern Delaware flow into Chesapeake Bay. So does the Pocomoke River, which drains the Cypress Swamp, or so-called “Burnt Swamp,” in the extreme south of Delaware, athwart the Maryland line.
Most of the Coastal Plain is fertile and level, seldom rising above 60 feet (18 metres) above sea level, but it becomes increasingly sandy to the south. Near its northern edge the plain is intersected by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which has been deepened and straightened for ocean shipping. It shortens the water route between Philadelphia and Baltimore, Md., by several hundred miles and also brings Baltimore closer to the ocean than via Chesapeake Bay. The canal is popularly considered to be the boundary between agricultural downstate Delaware and the northern industrial region. Though the land on either side of it is similar, many Delawareans are convinced that even the weather changes at the canal.
Several high bridges over the canal, the giant twin bridges crossing the Delaware River north of New Castle, and the refinery stacks at Delaware City are the major landmarks on the horizon below the northwestern corner of the state, where the rolling hills of the Piedmont extend south from Pennsylvania. Until the mid-20th century, farmlands, woodlands, streams, and ponds, interspersed by occasional villages, made up most of the state’s landscape to the south of Wilmington. Suburban housing has spread out to encompass the area on either side of the canal and has encroached on New Castle county’s remaining farmland.
The highest point in the state—just off Ebright Road in New Castle county, near the Pennsylvania state line—is only 448 feet (137 metres) above sea level. Peculiar features are Iron and Chestnut hills, which protrude into the plain southwest of Newark and are scarred by open pits where iron ore once was mined.
The centre of Wilmington lies on hills sloping downward toward the confluence of the Christina and its major tributary, the Brandywine. There, navigable water brought shipping close to falls that provided power for manufacturing. The railroads and highways, which followed this fall line along the east coast, have kept Wilmington on major transportation routes between Philadelphia and Baltimore and have promoted the tendency for the urbanization of open land between Wilmington and other cities.
|
69f3dbec8db3dde2a500455184a6c067 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/Belgian-paternalism-and-the-politics-of-decolonization | Belgian paternalism and the politics of decolonization | Belgian paternalism and the politics of decolonization
The paternalistic tendencies of Belgian colonial rule bore traces of two characteristic features of Leopoldian rule: an irreducible tendency to treat Africans as children and a firm commitment to political control and compulsion. The elimination of the more brutal aspects of the Congo Free State notwithstanding, Belgian rule remained conspicuously unreceptive to political reform. By placing the inculcation of Western moral principles above political education and apprenticeship for social responsibility, Belgian policies virtually ruled out initiatives designed to foster political experience and responsibility.
Not until 1957, with the introduction of a major local government reform (the so-called statut des villes [“statute of the cities”]), were Africans afforded a taste of democracy. By then a class of Westernized Africans (évolués), eager to exercise their political rights beyond the urban arenas, had arisen. Moreover, heavy demands made upon the rural masses during the two world wars, coupled with the profound psychological impact of postwar constitutional reforms introduced in neighbouring French-speaking territories, created a climate of social unrest suited for the development of nationalist sentiment and activity.
The publication in 1956 of a political manifesto calling for immediate independence precipitated the political awakening of the Congolese population. Penned by a group of Bakongo évolués affiliated with the Alliance des Bakongo (ABAKO), an association based in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), the manifesto was the response of ABAKO to the ideas set forth by a young Belgian professor of colonial legislation, A.A.J. van Bilsen, in his “Thirty-Year Plan for the Political Emancipation of Belgian Africa.” Far more impatient than its catalyst, the ABAKO manifesto stated: “Rather than postponing emancipation for another thirty years, we should be granted self-government today.”
Under the leadership of Joseph Kasavubu, ABAKO transformed itself into a vehicle of anticolonial protest. Nationalist sentiment spread through the lower Congo region, and, in time, the nationalist wave washed over the rest of the colony. Self-styled nationalist movements appeared almost overnight in every province. Among the welter of political parties brought into existence by the statut des villes, the Congolese National Movement (Mouvement National Congolais; MNC) stood out as the most powerful force for Congolese nationalism. The MNC never disavowed its commitment to national unity (unlike ABAKO, whose appeal was limited to Bakongo elements), and with the arrival of Patrice Lumumba—a powerful orator, advocate of pan-Africanism, and cofounder of the MNC—in Léopoldville in 1958 the party entered a militant phase.
The turning point in the process of decolonization came on January 4, 1959, when anti-European rioting erupted in Léopoldville, resulting in the death of scores of Africans at the hands of the security forces. On January 13 the Belgian government formally recognized independence as the ultimate goal of its policies—a goal to be reached “without fatal procrastination, yet without fatal haste.” By then, however, nationalist agitation had reached a level of intensity that made it virtually impossible for the colonial administration to control the course of events. The Belgian government responded to this growing turbulence by inviting a broad spectrum of nationalist organizations to a Round Table Conference in Brussels in January 1960. The aim was to work out the conditions of a viable transfer of power; the result was an experiment in instant decolonization. Six months later, on June 30, the Congo formally acceded to independence and quickly descended into chaos.
|
5b6159897aee6c5ac0ec0e93b861c130 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/Settlement-patterns | Settlement patterns | Settlement patterns
People have long lived in most regions of Congo. Over time, they became specialized in the exploitation of their natural environments. Forest peoples, such as the Bambuti (Pygmies) of the Ituri Forest, for example, have historically specialized in hunting and fishing, while agriculture has remained secondary or is nonexistent. In the savanna woodlands, inhabitants combine agriculture with hunting and fishing. In some areas in the southern half of the country, people raise small livestock and poultry and also mine copper, iron ore, and other minerals. In the grasslands, inhabitants confine themselves almost solely to agriculture. In the eastern grasslands, agriculture is combined with the raising of large livestock.
More than one-half of the Congolese population is rural, with most people living in scattered villages. The style of housing varies regionally, as does the general size of the villages. A village with 10 to 25 houses is generally considered small, while one with 150 to 200 is large. The most populous areas are the savanna woodlands of the south-central regions and, to some extent, the coastal regions, where the largest villages shelter some 300 to 500 people. The eastern grasslands areas have isolated farms and hamlets.
Some trading and administrative centres, such as Banana, Vivi, and Boma, date from the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th century. Most towns, however, are of more recent origin. Kinshasa, until 1966 called Léopoldville, is the official seat of national political, administrative, and judiciary institutions and is also an important commercial and industrial centre. It is a centre of music, fashion, and popular culture as well. The rapid growth of Kinshasa typifies that of many of the country’s cities. In 1889 it had a population of 5,000; by 1925, when it was recognized as a ville (urban centre), it had grown to 28,000. The city jumped to a population of 250,000 in 1950, 1,500,000 in 1971, and about 4,700,000 in the mid-1990s—an increase of nearly a thousandfold in a little more than a century.
There are a number of other major cities; all are administrative or commercial centres, with the exception of Likasi, which is mainly an industrial and mining town. Kananga is the capital of Kasaï-Occidental (Western Kasai) province. Lubumbashi (formerly Élisabethville), the administrative headquarters of Katanga, is the heavily industrialized capital of the country’s copper-mining zone. Mbuji-Mayi is the capital of Kasaï-Oriental (Eastern Kasai) province and Congo’s diamond centre. Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville), the terminal point of navigation on the Congo River from Kinshasa, is the capital of Orientale province. Bukavu, the headquarters of Sud-Kivu province, is a major tourist centre; Kikwit, the former capital of Bandundu province, is the terminal port on the Kwilu River; and Matadi, the capital of Bas-Congo, is the country’s main port. Mbandaka is a river port and the capital of Équateur province.
All these towns developed during the colonial period, when there were separate sectors for Europeans and Africans. European neighbourhoods were characterized by big houses with large yards, wide paved streets, and adequate electricity. African areas were crowded, with smaller houses and yards and poor, if any, electric supply. These contrasts are still characteristic of the cities, although the formerly European neighbourhoods are now inhabited chiefly by elite Congolese.
Congo’s rate of natural increase is among the highest in the world. More than two-fifths of the population is younger than age 15, with some three-fourths under age 30; on the other hand, only a small fraction of the population is 60 or older. The negligible provision of medical care by the state—along with poverty, violence, and endemic disease—has limited life expectancy, which for both men and women is far below the global average.
|
254c0d1ff2ae64735697a1fbf0798b39 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo/The-arts | The arts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | The arts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Congo’s many ethnic groups and regions have developed a mosaic of traditional arts, including painting, sculpture, music, and dance. There has been a tendency to classify sculpture and carving according to the styles of the areas from which they originate. The southwest is known for the stone and nail-studded nkisi statues of the Kongo people and the masks and figurines of the Yaka. The Kuba, from the south-central region, are known for ndop, statues created in the likeness of the king that can serve as a symbolic representative in his absence. . Luba art dominates the southeast region and reflects the strong influence of women in society through statuettes depicting motherhood. North of the Luba, the Lega produce masks and ivories. Zande and Mangbetu art are included in the northern region. Zande art is characterized by cult statuettes, spear or bow shafts, and anthropomorphic pottery, while Mangbetu art features figures with stylized elongated heads. Other folk traditions include making pottery, weaving raffia, and creating ceremonial dress.
Several contemporary Congolese authors have received international acclaim, including the poets Clémentine Madiya Faik-Nzuji, Kama Kamanda, and Ikole Botuli-Bolumbu; the playwright Ntumb Diur; and the novelists Timothée Malembe and Paul Désiré-Joseph Basembe. The collection and conservation of traditional oral literatures also has been important, and folklorists and ethnographers have produced anthologies of tales from the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri rainforest, proverbs from the Teke, tall tales from the Ngbaka, and other genres of traditional expression.
Music is by far the art form for which Congo is best known. Kinshasa is widely regarded as one of the great music centres of the world, and the influence of Congolese music is felt especially throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In the 1950s musicians playing in nightclubs in the Matonge quarter of Kinshasa, foremost among them Kabesele Tshamala and François Lwambo, forged a style called African jazz (or OK jazz), a style that went on to influence contemporary musicians around the continent—and in Europe and North America as well. The rumba and soukous styles became popular in the 1960s, with performers such as Papa Wemba and the Grand Zaïko Orchestra eventually earning worldwide followings. Coupled with their sound were new dance steps such as the cavacha and silauka, which were widely adapted throughout Africa. The country’s most revered musical figure is Papa Wendo (Wendo Kolosoy; 1925–2008), a singer and musician who helped lay the foundations of Congolese rumba and whose career spanned seven decades. He was coaxed out of retirement in the late 1990s when African-music enthusiasts rediscovered his 1955 hit “Marie Louise” and urged him to perform again. He later appeared with his group, the Victoria Bakolo Miziki Orchestra, at festivals throughout Africa and Europe. The most popular indigenous musical style today is a blend of Cuban merengue, Congolese rumba, and West African highlife sounds, reflecting the many influences that meet in Congo.
The cities, especially Kinshasa, are the greatest creators, propagators, and promoters of national cultural life and arts. The Academy of Fine Arts in Kinshasa offers training programs in painting, sculpture, carving, architecture, and ceramics. The National Institute of the Arts offers training in classical as well as traditional music and drama. Congolese authors write poetry, plays, and novels in French, Lingala, or local languages.
There are museums and public libraries in most large cities, with national museums in Kananga, Mbandaka, and Lubumbashi. The capital city houses the national archives and the National Theatrical Troupe. There are libraries at each of the universities as well.
In precolonial times, the people who lived along the Congo River enjoyed a number of games and sports that drew competitors from far afield. These included riverboat racing, which was conducted in long, low dugout canoes, each powered by two dozen rowers who achieved great speeds; short- and long-distance running; and wrestling, at which the Congolese continue to excel. The missionaries who closely followed the first Europeans into the region introduced volleyball, basketball, and football (soccer), all of which have remained popular in postcolonial times, especially football.
Congo’s tradition of excellence in football dates to the early years of the 20th century, when a Roman Catholic school in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) organized the country’s first team. Raphael de la Kethule, a schoolboy at the time, went on to found the capital’s first sports association and to build its first stadium in 1937. (In 1974 that stadium was the site of a famed heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman known popularly as “the Rumble in the Jungle.”) Kethule’s association, which soon numbered dozens of clubs, grew to include not only football but also gymnastics, swimming, water polo, and tennis. With that firm grounding, Congolese football teams went on to win the African Nations Cup in 1968 and 1974. Congolese basketball teams have earned similar honors, winning several Central African Cup prizes.
Congo organized its national Olympic committee in 1963 and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1968. It sent a team to the 1968 Mexico City Games but did not participate in another Olympiad until the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where it competed under the name Zaire.
Radio is the primary media format in Congo; there are numerous private and public stations, several of which—including Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), which is state run—broadcast throughout the country. In addition to RTNC’s television programming, a number of private television stations are also in operation. Publications include dailies such as Elima, Le Phare, and Le Potential, as well as Mwana Shaba (a Gécamines publication) and L’Aurore Protestante (a religious publication), which are issued monthly. Several publishing houses have been established throughout the country.
|
dbc3afb963a8c64a925b7c39abfc17a7 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Denali-National-Park-and-Preserve | Denali National Park and Preserve | Denali National Park and Preserve
Denali National Park and Preserve, vast region with an unspoiled natural environment of alpine tundra and boreal forest (taiga) in south-central Alaska, U.S. It lies roughly equidistant from Fairbanks to the northeast and Anchorage to the south-southeast and is some 200 miles (320 km) south of the Arctic Circle, in the subarctic climate zone. The park and preserve were created in 1980, encompassing the former Mount McKinley National Park (1917) and an additional 6,405 square miles (16,590 square km). In 1976 it was designated by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve.
The park has an area of 7,408 square miles (19,187 square km). The preserve adds another 2,085 square miles (5,400 square km) and adjoins the park in two units, one on the northwest and the other on the southwest; in addition, Denali State Park borders the national park on the southeast. National park headquarters are at the park’s entrance in the northeast corner. A ranger station at Talkeetna, 100 miles (160 km) south of the entrance, manages mountaineering activities in the park.
The park and preserve encompass the heart of the rugged Alaska Range and a large area of lower hills and outwash plains north of the mountains. Central to the park is Denali, the tallest peak in North America. Denali (“The Great One” or “The High One”) is the ancient Athabaskan Indian name for the mountain. The peak was long named Mount McKinley, for U.S. President William McKinley, but its original name was restored in 2015. Other highlights of the park include the large glaciers of the Alaska Range, Mount Foraker—with an elevation of 17,400 feet (5,304 metres)—and other peaks in the range that exceed heights of 10,000 feet (3,050 metres), the Savage River area west of park headquarters, and the region’s pristine environment.
Denali’s official elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 metres) was established by the United States Geological Survey in September 2015 after a careful remeasurement of the mountain’s height conducted earlier that year. It superseded the value of 20,320 feet (6,194 metres) that had been the official height since the early 1950s. Prior to 2015 other attempts had been made to measure the mountain’s height. One such survey, conducted in 2010, had used advanced radar technology. The result of that measurement, 20,237 feet (6,168 metres), was made public in September 2013, but it was later determined to be inaccurate.
Winters are long and bitterly cold, typically lasting from late September to April. Temperatures in the coldest months can stay below 0 °F (−18 °C) for extended periods of time and can drop to −40 °F (−40 °C) or colder at night. Summers are short (late May to early September) and cool, with high temperatures averaging about 75 °F (24 °C) on the warmest days. Snow can fall in any month. In winter, snow accumulations are heaviest on the south side of the Alaska Range. Temperatures decrease with elevation, and diurnal temperature ranges can be extreme, especially in winter.
Permafrost underlies much of the park and preserve’s area, but the short summer thaw of accumulated snow and the ground’s surface layer releases more than 1,500 species of plants, including some 430 species of flowering plants. The boreal forest environment in the river valleys supports white and black spruce, aspen, balsam poplar, and paper birch. Above the timberline the tundra zone consists of plants adapted to the short growing season: dwarfed shrubs, tiny wildflowers, blueberries, sedges, and cottongrass. Wildlife is abundant in the park and preserve. Large mammals include moose, brown (grizzly) and black bears, wolves, caribou, and Dall sheep. Among the smaller mammal residents are foxes, wolverines, snowshoe hares, hoary marmots, lynx, and voles and lemmings and other rodents. More than 150 species of birds (most of them migrants) have been seen in the park and preserve, including ptarmigans, ravens, owls, golden eagles, and hawks.
The area of the former Mount McKinley National Park is now designated a wilderness area. Private motor vehicles are largely prohibited in the park and preserve, and access is almost entirely by shuttle buses, which operate from late May to mid-September. Denali, first ascended in 1913, is scaled by hundreds of climbers each year. Other popular activities include wildlife viewing and air tours. In the winter, when most of the park’s access road is closed, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, dogsledding, and limited snowmobiling are available. There are few marked trails; except for a small area near the park’s entrance, hiking is strictly cross-country. Summer-only visitor centres are located near the park entrance and in the interior of the park northeast of Denali. The park has several campgrounds but otherwise provides no overnight accommodations. However, there are several privately operated lodges within the park at the end of the access road that are open during the summer.
|
6e3932d36ce59dfe4fa2e071b0d07d2c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Denmark | Denmark | Denmark
Denmark, country occupying the peninsula of Jutland (Jylland), which extends northward from the centre of continental western Europe, and an archipelago of more than 400 islands to the east of the peninsula. Jutland makes up more than two-thirds of the country’s total land area; at its northern tip is the island of Vendsyssel-Thy (1,809 square miles [4,685 square km]), separated from the mainland by the Lim Fjord. The largest of the country’s islands are Zealand (Sjælland; 2,715 square miles [7,031 square km]), Vendsyssel-Thy, and Funen (Fyn; 1,152 square miles [2,984 square km]). Along with Norway and Sweden, Denmark is a part of the northern European region known as Scandinavia. The country’s capital, Copenhagen (København), is located primarily on Zealand; the second largest city, Århus, is the major urban centre of Jutland.
Though small in territory and population, Denmark has nonetheless played a notable role in European history. In prehistoric times, Danes and other Scandinavians reconfigured European society when the Vikings undertook marauding, trading, and colonizing expeditions. During the Middle Ages, the Danish crown dominated northwestern Europe through the power of the Kalmar Union. In later centuries, shaped by geographic conditions favouring maritime industries, Denmark established trading alliances throughout northern and western Europe and beyond, particularly with Great Britain and the United States. Making an important contribution to world culture, Denmark also developed humane governmental institutions and cooperative, nonviolent approaches to problem solving.
This article covers principally the land and people of continental Denmark. However, the Kingdom of Denmark also encompasses the Faroe Islands and the island of Greenland, both located in the North Atlantic Ocean. Each area is distinctive in history, language, and culture. Home rule was granted to the Faroes in 1948 and to Greenland in 1979, though foreign policy and defense remain under Danish control.
Denmark is attached directly to continental Europe at Jutland’s 42-mile (68-km) boundary with Germany. Other than this connection, all the frontiers with surrounding countries are maritime, including that with the United Kingdom to the west across the North Sea. Norway and Sweden lie to the north, separated from Denmark by sea lanes linking the North Sea to the Baltic Sea. From west to east, these passages are called the Skagerrak, the Kattegat, and The Sound (Øresund). Eastward in the Baltic Sea lies the Danish island of Bornholm.
Denmark proper is a lowland area that lies, on average, not more than 100 feet (30 metres) above sea level. The country’s highest point, reaching only 568 feet (173 metres), is Yding Forest Hill (Yding Skovhøj) in east-central Jutland.
The basic contours of the Danish landscape were shaped at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., about 2,600,000 to 11,700 years ago) by the so-called Weichsel glaciation. This great glacial mass withdrew temporarily during several warmer interstadial periods, but it repeatedly returned to cover the land until it retreated to the Arctic north for the last time about 10,000 years ago. As a result, the barren layers of chalk and limestone that earlier constituted the land surface acquired a covering of soil that built up as the Weichsel retreated, forming low, hilly, and generally fertile moraines that diversify the otherwise flat landscape.
A scenic boundary representing the extreme limit reached by the Scandinavian and Baltic ice sheets runs from Nissum Fjord on the western coast of Jutland eastward toward Viborg, from there swinging sharply south down the spine of the peninsula toward Åbenrå and the German city of Flensburg, just beyond the Danish frontier. The ice front is clearly marked in the contrast between the flat western Jutland region, composed of sands and gravels strewn by meltwaters that poured west from the shrinking ice sheet, and the fertile loam plains and hills of eastern and northern Denmark, which become markedly sandier toward the prehistoric ice front. (See also Scandinavian Ice Sheet.)
In northern Jutland, where the long Lim Fjord separates the northern tip (Vendsyssel-Thy) from the rest of the peninsula, there are numerous flat areas of sand and gravel, some of which became stagnant bogs. Burials and ritual deposits interred in these bogs in antiquity—especially during the Bronze Age and the Iron Age—have been recovered by archaeologists. In more recent centuries these bogs were a valued source of peat for fuel. In the 20th century they were drained to serve as grazing areas for livestock.
In places along the northern and southwestern coasts of Jutland, salt marshes were formed by the evaporation of an inland sea that existed during the late Permian Epoch (approximately 260 to 250 million years ago). Senonian chalk, deposited about 100 million years ago, is exposed in southeastern Zealand, at the base of Stevns Cliff (Stevns Klint) and Møns Cliff (Møns Klint), and at Bulbjerg, in northwestern Jutland. Younger limestone of the Danian Age (about 65 million years old) is quarried in southeastern Zealand.
On Bornholm, outcroppings reveal close affinities with geologic formations in southern Sweden. Precambrian granites more than 570 million years old—among the oldest on the Earth’s surface—are exposed across extensive areas on the northern half of the island. On the southern half, sandstone and shales of the Cambrian Period (about 540 to 490 million years ago) overlie the older granites.
The longest river in Denmark is the Gudenå. It flows a distance of 98 miles (158 km) from its source just northwest of Tørring, in east-central Jutland, through the Silkeborg Lakes (Silkeborg Langsø) and then northeast to empty in the Randers Fjord on the east coast. There are many small lakes; the largest is Arresø on Zealand. Large lagoons have formed behind the coastal dunes in the west, such as at the Ringkøbing and Nissum fjords.
In most of Denmark the soil rests on glacially deposited gravel, sand, and clay, under which lie ancient chalk and limestone. The subterranean limestone resulted in a permeation of the soil with calcium, which diminished its value for agriculture when it was first brought under cultivation in the Neolithic Period. Through millennia of cultivation, however, the soil improved greatly, so that more than half of the land surface is excellent for farming.
|
a7f916553519e8ed912eb3d836c61c27 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Denver-International-Airport | Denver International Airport | Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport is a major hub in the country’s air traffic pattern. It is served by almost all major U.S. airlines; carriers link Denver with other Colorado cities, with neighbouring states, and with international destinations. Railroad lines in Colorado are mainly bulk-freight carriers using…
|
17f6c37e7dbefe956a2d0bba8b372455 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dera-Ghazi-Khan | Dera Ghazi Khan | Dera Ghazi Khan
Dera Ghazi Khan, town, Punjab province, central Pakistan, in the floodplain of the Indus River. The town was founded by Ghāzī Khān, son of a Baloch chieftain and vassal of the Langah sultans of Multan. Incorporated as a municipality in 1867, the town was partially destroyed by a flood of the Indus in 1908–09. The new town (founded 1911) is connected with Multan by road over the Taunsa Barrage and with Ghazi Ghat and Muzaffargarh by a bridge of boats over the Indus at low water. Rug and carpet weaving and the production of wooden toys are traditional industries; newer industries include rice and flour milling, cotton textiles, and rope and fibre products. The town has a hospital and a college affiliated with the University of the Punjab. Wheat, millet, and dates are the chief crops grown in the surrounding area, and cattle breeding is widespread. Pop. (1981) 102,007; (1998) 188,149.
|
3de5c397493affa6ec8cb1d54cdd4ba0 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Derry-City-and-Strabane | Derry City and Strabane | Derry City and Strabane
Derry City and Strabane, district, northwestern Northern Ireland. It is bounded to the north by Lough Foyle, to the northeast by the Causeway Coast and Glens district, to the east by the Mid Ulster district, to the south by the Fermanagh and Omagh district, and to the west and northwest by the republic of Ireland. The district’s administrative body, the Derry City and Strabane District Council, meets in Londonderry (Derry). Derry City and Strabane was created in 2015 by the merger of the districts of Derry and Strabane. Pop. (2011) 147,720.
|
b78fd71ad1c29fc2430452476d8c188f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Desna-River | Desna River | Desna River
Desna River, river that rises in the Smolensk Upland in western Russia and flows for about 700 miles (1,130 km) south into the Dnieper River near Kiev, Ukraine.
|
2df1bf263bb51a87a15772271c034f38 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Devonport-Tasmania | Devonport | Devonport
Devonport, city, northern Tasmania, Australia. It lies near the mouth of the Mersey River, which empties into Bass Strait.
One of the state’s largest communities, it was formed through the amalgamation in 1893 of the villages of Torquay (east bank) and Formby (west), both of which had been founded in the 1850s. It was the centre of a municipality from 1907 and was designated a city in 1981.
A major service centre with port facilities, Devonport is on the Bass Highway and a rail line (freight only) to Launceston, 45 miles (70 km) southeast, and has ferry and air links to Melbourne. The city exports processed foods, potatoes, cement, and sawed timber. Nearby is Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park (the location of Cradle Mountain), and the Bass Strait Maritime Centre has exhibits on the seagoing history of Devonport and the strait. Pop. (2006) local government area, 24,011; (2011) local government area, 24,615.
|
876d9744991302c29c575d04248fa2c0 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dholavira | Dholavira | Dholavira
Also in Kachchh is Dholavira, which appears to be among the largest Harappan settlements so far identified; a nine-year excavation at the site completed in 2001 yielded a walled Indus valley city that dated to the mid-3rd millennium bce and covered some 3.5 acres (1.4 hectares). The Archaeological Survey…
|
2aae8889ad0d1880a95ffd97935ec4f0 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dickinson-Dam | Dickinson Dam | Dickinson Dam
The Dickinson Dam, a part of the reclamation plan for the Missouri River valley, impounds Edward Arthur Patterson Lake just southwest of the city. The Dickinson Museum Center houses exhibits and collections pertaining to natural and regional history as well as cultural heritage. The Ukrainian Cultural…
The Dickinson Dam, impounding Edward Arthur Patterson Lake, and the Heart Butte Dam, impounding Lake Tschida, are units of a Missouri River basin irrigation and flood-control project.
|
c49d4eae1cb5770cc035fabf5fdd4d6c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Diomede-Islands | Diomede Islands | Diomede Islands
Diomede Islands, Russian Ostrova Gvozdeva, two small islands in the Bering Strait, lying about 2.5 miles (4 km) apart and separated by the U.S.–Russian boundary, which coincides with the International Date Line. The larger island, Big Diomede (Russian: Ostrov Ratmanova [Ratmanov Island]), has an area of 4 square miles (10 square km) and is part of Chukotskiy autonomous district, in Russia. It has no permanent population but is the site of an important Russian weather station. To the east lies Little Diomede Island, a part of Alaska, inhabited by Chukchi people who are skilled seamen. The islands’ first European visitor was the Danish navigator Vitus Jonassen Bering on Aug. 16 (St. Diomede’s Day), 1728. Pop. (2008 est.) Little Diomede Island (Diomede city), 146.
|
c9a58f15ab201c89d36b1e1cdfd07444 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dirk-Hartog-Island | Dirk Hartog Island | Dirk Hartog Island
Dirk Hartog Island, Australian island in the Indian Ocean, just north of Edel Land Peninsula, Western Australia. Naturaliste Channel passes north to enter Denham Sound (which washes the eastern shore), and Shark Bay lies to the northeast. The island was named after a Dutch navigator who arrived in 1616 and nailed an inscribed pewter plate to a post at its northern extremity (Cape Inscription), which is now the site of a lighthouse. The island, the state’s largest, measures 48 mi (77 km) by 3–7 mi (5–11km), has an area of 239 sq mi (620 sq km), and supports a sheep station. From overhanging limestone cliffs, which rise above 600 ft (180 m) along its seaward (western) edge, it descends to sand dunes along the east. The island’s West Point marks Australia’s westernmost point.
|
83f504c805b61cd2566955ee5731db94 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Discovery-Deep | Discovery Deep | Discovery Deep
The sediments of the Discovery Deep and of several other deposits also have significant metalliferous content but at lower concentrations than that in the Atlantis II Deep, and thus they have not been of as much economic interest. The recovery of sediment located beneath 5,700 to 6,400 feet of…
|
21be6ab4875f92e94489c11f3558d5fe | https://www.britannica.com/place/Diu | Diu | Diu
Diu, formerly Dio, town, Daman and Diu union territory, western India. It is situated on an island in the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay) of the Arabian Sea, off the southern tip of the Kathiawar Peninsula in southeastern Gujarat state.
Diu Island is about 7 miles (11 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide. It is known for its magnificent Cathedral of Sé Matriz and its idyllic beauty. Diu fell to the Portuguese in 1535 and remained a Portuguese colony until 1961. Bitter fighting then broke out at Diu before India asserted control of the island. Diu was part of Goa, Daman, and Diu union territory until 1987, when Goa became a separate state of India. Bajra (pearl millet) and coconuts are the major crops. Other economic activities include fishing, tapping of the toddy palm for its juice, and salt processing. The island has an airport. Pop. (2001) 21,578; (2011) 23,991.
|
aec1749dcdc010419bf4690f1223d2a6 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Divinopolis | Divinópolis | Divinópolis
Divinópolis, city, south-central Minas Gerais estado (state), Brazil. It is situated near the Pará River in highlands at 2,205 feet (672 metres) above sea level.
It was made the seat of a municipality in 1911 and gained city status in 1915. The growing of cassava (manioc), corn (maize), rice, coffee, feijão (beans), sugarcane, and other crops and the raising of livestock are economically important in the surrounding area. Divinópolis is one of the most important industrial centres in Minas Gerais, with textile mills, garment manufacturers, tanneries, dairy factories, and metallurgical plants producing charcoal-based pig iron and steel. One of Brazil’s first facilities for the production of fuel ethanol (distilled from cassava) operated in the city in the 1930s. The Federal University of São João del-Rei maintains a branch campus in Divinópolis, offering courses in fields related to health. Roads, railway, and air service link the city to Belo Horizonte, the state capital, 75 miles (120 km) east. Pop. (2010) 213,016.
|
7c676f9dc4f1e32a9a87231462c99f4d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Diyala-River | Diyālā River | Diyālā River
Diyālā River, Arabic Nahr Diyālā, river, important tributary of the Tigris River, rising in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran near Hamadān as the Sīrvān River and flowing westward across lowlands to join the Tigris just below Baghdad, Iraq. Its total length is 275 miles (443 km). The upper Diyālā drains an extensive mountain area of Iran and Iraq. For 20 miles (32 km) it forms the frontier between the two countries. Thereafter it flows first into a rolling plateau country, forming part of the region known as Assyria and centred on the oil-field area of Khānaqīn, then through the Ḥamrīn Mountains (the southwestern boundary of Assyria) into the flat Tigris lowlands. Several dams, including the Khan Gorge, near the Iranian frontier, divert water for flood control, hydroelectric power, and the irrigation of wheat, rye, cotton, rice, and tobacco in the lower valley. Baʿqūbah, the main riparian centre, lies on the river’s lower course, about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Baghdad.
|
0a6b752e1a2fc6baa369d7cb12ef86eb | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dnieper-River/Hydrology | Hydrology of the Dnieper River | Hydrology of the Dnieper River
The flow characteristics of the Dnieper have been thoroughly studied. Data on the river’s annual runoff date to 1818, while estimates of the maximum discharges—computed from the old high-water marks—extend back more than 250 years. Hundreds of hydrometric stations and posts operate in the Dnieper basin. Under natural conditions the Dnieper had high flows during the spring and fall and low flows during the summer and winter; but dams have altered this regime, so that the river now has pronounced high flows in spring, diminishing flows in summer, and low flows from September to March. Spring snowmelt in the river’s upper basin provides the majority of the annual discharge. About 60 percent of the annual runoff occurs from March to May. The period of stable ice on open water begins in the upper Dnieper at the beginning of December and in the lower Dnieper at the end of December. Thaw starts at the beginning of April in the upper course and in early March in the lower course. The average annual flow of the river at its mouth is some 59,000 cubic feet (about 1,670 cubic metres) per second; for individual years, the variations in runoff can be considerable. The water of the Dnieper is low in minerals and is soft. In a year the river carries an average of 8.6 million tons of dissolved matter to the sea.
The climate of the Dnieper basin is, on the whole, temperate and much milder and damper than that of regions to the east in southwestern Russia located at the same latitude. The continental nature of the climate increases from northwest to southeast. The mean annual air temperature is 41 °F (5 °C) in the upper part of the basin, 45 °F (7 °C) in the middle (near Kiev), and 50 °F (10 °C) in the lower reaches of the Dnieper. Winters in the northeast of the basin are long and persistent, whereas in the south they are shorter and milder with frequent thaws; in the north the mean temperature in January is 16 °F (−9 °C) and in the south 27 °F (−3 °C). The amount of precipitation decreases from north to south. On the slopes of the Valdai Hills and the Minsk Upland, annual precipitation is about 30–32 inches (760–810 mm), while in the lower Dnieper region it is about 18 inches (460 mm). The mean annual precipitation for the upper Dnieper basin (above Kiev) is about 28 inches (710 mm). The precipitation average for the entire basin is about 27 inches (685 mm), with about half falling as rain during the summer and fall.
The Dnieper has diverse aquatic flora and fauna. In its upper course the plankton consist mainly of diatom and protococcal algae, rotifers, and Bosmina. Blue-green algae come from the mouth of the Pripet. In its lower course the amount of plankton decreases sharply under the influence of the reservoirs. More than 60 species of fish live in the Dnieper. Commercially important species include pike, roach, chub, ide, rudd, rapfen, tench, barbel, alburnum, golden shiner, goldfish, carp, catfish, burbot, pike perch, perch, and ruff. In the spring the lower Dnieper serves as a habitat for migratory and semimigratory fish (sturgeon, herring, roach, and others). The reservoirs have been stocked artificially with fish of commercial importance, including whitefish, pike perch, golden shiner, and carp.
The Dnieper basin has been populated since ancient times. It was of central importance in the history of the peoples of eastern Europe, particularly in the founding of the ancient Kievan state. Along this waterway a system of river routes developed in the 4th to 6th century ce as a “route from the Varangians to the Greeks,” connecting the Black Sea with the Baltic and linking the Slavs with both the Mediterranean and the Baltic peoples. Half of the Dnieper (about 700 miles [1,100 km]) borders or passes through Ukrainian territory, and the river is for the Ukrainians the same kind of national symbol that the Volga River is for the Russians.
The first historical information about the Dnieper is recorded by the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century bce); the river is also mentioned later by the ancient writers Strabo and Pliny the Younger. It was first depicted on a map drawn by Ptolemy in the 2nd century ce. Instrument surveys of the Dnieper were begun early in the 18th century.
Under the Soviets, in line with the general plan for water management, much work was undertaken for the multipurpose exploitation of the Dnieper’s water resources. In 1932, in accordance with the Soviet Union’s electrification plan, the river’s first hydroelectric power station was completed at Zaporizhzhya in the region of the rapids. It was the largest power station in Europe until the construction of the huge power stations on the Volga in the 1950s. Completely destroyed by the German army during World War II, the dam was rebuilt in 1947, and its capacity increased. Hydroelectric power stations and reservoirs have also been built on the Dnieper at Kiev (completed 1966), Kaniv (1973), Kremenchuk (1961), Dniprodzerzhinsk (1965), and Kakhovka (1958). As a result of their construction, many problems have been solved: a continuous deepwater route from the mouth of the Pripet to the Black Sea has been created; the chronic water shortages in the Donets Basin and Kryvyy Rih industrial regions have been solved; and irrigation of arid lands in southern Ukraine and Crimea has been made possible.
Regular navigation on the Dnieper extends as far upstream as Orsha, and, when the water is high, to Dorogobuzh. On the upper Dnieper the required depths are maintained by straightening and by dredging. Below the confluence with the Pripet, navigable locks make the passage of modern vessels possible. The principal cargoes are coal, ore, mineral building materials, lumber, and grain. The chief ports are Smolensk, Orsha, Mahilyow, Rechytsa, Loyew, Kiev, Cherkasy, Kremenchuk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Nikopol, Kakhovka, and Kherson.
The Kryvyy Rih region is supplied with water from the Kakhovka Reservoir by means of the Dnieper–Kryvyy Rih Canal. The North Crimea Canal, which was completed in 1971, originates in the reservoir; the canal, 250 miles (400 km) long, is designed for irrigation of the steppes of the Black Sea Lowland and northern Crimea and for the creation of a water route from the Dnieper to the Sea of Azov.
Damming the Dnieper and diverting its waters, however, have radically altered its natural hydrology and ecology. Seasonal flow variations have been reduced, upstream access for anadromous fish has been reduced, effluents from cities and industry (as well as from increased agricultural runoff) have caused pollution, and diversion of water for irrigation and evaporation from reservoirs have lowered the annual outflow of the river by some 20 percent. In addition, the wetlands around the river’s estuary have been seriously damaged by pollution and reduced discharge.
|
d47ced6d980942f44588a7a879513844 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dniester-River | Dniester River | Dniester River
Dniester River, Ukrainian Dnister, Russian Dnestr, Romanian Nistrul, Moldovan Nistru, Turkish Turla, river of southwestern Ukraine and of Moldova, rising on the north side of the Carpathian Mountains and flowing south and east for 840 miles (1,352 km) to the Black Sea near Odessa. It is the second longest river in Ukraine and the main water artery of Moldova.
The Dniester and its tributaries drain a long narrow basin that is about 28,000 square miles (72,000 square km) in area but is nowhere more than about 60–70 miles (100–110 km) wide. The river’s basin is bounded on the north by the Volyn-Podilsk Upland and on the south of the river’s upper course by the Carpathian Mountains. Farther to the south are hilly plains and the Bessarabian Upland, and at the southeasternmost end of the basin is the Black Sea Lowland. The estuary of the Dniester is formed by the incursion of the sea into the lower Dniester River valley, forming a shallow basin that is separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. The Dniester has many tributaries, only 15 of which are more than 60 miles (95 km) long. They include the Stryy, Zolota Lypa, Strypa, Seret, Zbruch, Smotrych, Ushytsya, Murafa, Râut, Bâc, and Botna.
The climate of the river basin is humid, with warm summers. Annual precipitation varies from 40 to 50 inches (1,000 to 1,250 mm) in the Carpathians down to 20 inches (510 mm) near the Black Sea. A large proportion of the land of the basin is under cultivation.
The Dniester frequently floods, causing extensive damage to settled areas. The water level in its middle course varies by 25–35 feet (7.5–10.5 m) at different times of the year because of melting snow and rainfall in the upper part of its basin. The river’s average discharge is about 10,000 cubic feet (300 cubic m) per second, but it has been known to reach 250,000 cubic feet (7,100 cubic m) per second or more at times of flood. Freezing usually occurs at the end of December or the beginning of January and lasts about two months, although in some years there is no icebound period.
Although the basin of the Dniester is densely populated, there are no large towns along the river itself. Lviv and Ternopil (Ukraine), Chișinău (Moldova), and other urban centres lie above the main valley on tributaries.
The Dniester is navigable for about 750 miles (1,200 km) from its mouth; shipping lines run from Soroca to Dubăsari (both in Moldova) and from Dubăsari to the sea. Navigation is made difficult on the lower reaches by shallow water and sandbars. The river is used extensively for carrying logs, which are brought together at the mouths of the Carpathian tributaries and rafted downstream. Fishing is of little importance except near the coast. In the lower reaches and in the Dubăsari Reservoir there are fish hatcheries for sturgeon, whitefish, pike perch, and carp.
|
d64ca923544e2ea0adff68a44311c97c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dnipropetrovsk-Ukraine | Dnipro | Dnipro
Dnipro, formerly (1783–96, 1802–1926) Katerynoslav, or Ekaterinoslav, (1796–1802) Novorosiysk, and (1926–2016) Dnipropetrovsk, city, south-central Ukraine. It lies along the Dnieper River, near its confluence with the Samara. The river was considerably widened by the construction of a dam about 50 miles (80 km) downstream. Founded in 1783 as Katerynoslav on the river’s north bank, the settlement was moved to its present site on the south bank in 1786. The community was known as Novorosiysk from 1796 to 1802, when its old name was restored and it became a provincial centre. Despite the bridging of the Dnieper in 1796 and the growth of trade in the early 19th century, Katerynoslav remained small until industrialization began in the 1880s, when railways were built to Odessa, the Donets Basin, and Moscow. In 1926 the Soviets renamed it Dnipropetrovsk.
Dnipropetrovsk became one of the largest industrial cities of Ukraine. With iron ore from Kryvyy Rih, manganese from Nikopol, coal from the Donets Basin, and electric power from the cascade of hydroelectric plants on the Dnieper, a huge iron and steel industry grew up in the city; castings, plates, sheets, rails, tubes, and wire are among the goods that have been produced. Large engineering industries have made electric locomotives, agricultural machinery, mining and metallurgical equipment, presses, and other heavy machinery, as well as light-industrial machinery and radio equipment. Coke-based chemicals, tires, plastics, paint, clothing, footwear, foodstuffs, and other materials also have been produced.
Dnipro (to which the city’s name was shortened in 2016) has a university and teaching institutes of mining, agriculture, chemical technology, metallurgy, medicine, and railway and constructional engineering. Cultural amenities include several theatres and a philharmonic hall. Newer suburbs have spread to the north bank. The neighbouring suburbs of Ihren (Igren) and Prydniprovsk (Pridneprovsk) were annexed in the 1970s. Pop. (2001) 1,065,008; (2005 est.) 1,056,497.
|
8a571fda019e4ab13e41963e1325db67 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Docklands | Docklands | Docklands
…project was launched to develop Docklands, a 500-acre (200-hectare) site of crumbling industrial and port facilities, into a multiuse complex featuring high-technology businesses, parks and public spaces, restaurants, a theme park, and apartment buildings and other housing. Docklands was expected to become home for 15,000 people and a workplace for…
|
42e57c25146ec0d7af1e441622f44364 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dodger-Stadium | Dodger Stadium | Dodger Stadium
…as the home of baseball’s Dodger Stadium. To ameliorate the housing problem, the city later adopted a rent-control law and enforced building codes against indifferent slumlords, but the supply of low-income units has continued to lag far behind the demand.
Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles was the first tiered stadium to provide column-free views from all seats (1959), followed by Shea Stadium in New York, which added field seat sections that rotate around the stadium to permit conversion from a baseball to a football arrangement…
|
76b00e5ca8cef4db4f935f2bce7b5803 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dominica/Transportation | Transportation of Dominica | Transportation of Dominica
High rainfall and rugged terrain have impeded road building in Dominica. The first road across the island was not completed until 1956, and it was not until 1984 that a major road-rehabilitation project was launched to greatly improve accessibility. The main airport is Melville Hall, located at Marigot, on the northeast coast. A second airport is at Canefield, near Roseau. Larger vessels use the deepwater port at Woodbridge Bay near Roseau, but Portsmouth remains the major banana-shipping port.
The constitution adopted at independence provides for a president as head of state and a prime minister as head of government. The legislative branch of government, called Parliament, consists of the president (ex officio) and a single-chamber House of Assembly. Of the 32 total house members, 21 are elected from constituent districts; 9, called senators, are presidential appointees; and 1, the speaker, is elected either from among members who do not belong to the cabinet or from outside the House of Assembly. The attorney general is also considered a member of the house. The president is elected by the legislature, and the prime minister is appointed by the president from among the elected members of the House of Assembly. The prime minister heads a cabinet chosen by the president from among members of the house, although no more than three cabinet members may be senators. Terms of office are for five years, and there is universal adult suffrage.
Dominica is a member of the Commonwealth, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Dominica uses the Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$), the common currency of the OECS.
There are several major hospitals. Local medical needs are handled by health centres throughout the island. Intestinal diseases, diabetes, anemia, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases constitute the major health problems of Dominica.
Primary education is compulsory and free in government-run schools. There are many secondary schools, a teacher-training college, a medical school, a nursing school, and a branch of the University of the West Indies. Literacy is estimated at nearly 90 percent.
Carib material culture remains evident in the production and use of dugout canoes and intricate woven baskets. The Carib community underwent a cultural renaissance in the 1990s with the opening of a cultural centre in Roseau and increased tourist interest in Carib art and traditions. The government’s cultural agencies have encouraged the revival of slavery-era traditions, which had almost died out, including Afro-French dances, drama, music, and costumes. France remains an important cultural influence in Dominica because of its linguistic legacy and the proximity of Martinique and Guadeloupe, and Dominica’s French-influenced creole was revived in the 1980s and ’90s with the publication of a dictionary and other texts. Other legacies are the predominance of Roman Catholicism—unusual in a former British colony—and Dominica’s French-influenced cuisine, which features local fish and vegetables.
The Dominica Museum, in Roseau, features exhibits on the island’s natural history, economy, culture, and history. Dominica produced two well-known novelists in the 20th century, both of whom were Creole. Jean Rhys (1890–1979) was famous for Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), a broodingly atmospheric novel set on an island that is clearly Dominica. Her contemporary Phyllis Shand Allfrey (1908–86) became known for The Orchid House (1953), which tells of the physical and spiritual decadence of a white planter family in Dominica. As well as writing fiction, Allfrey was a politician, cofounding the Dominica Labour Party and serving as a minister in the West Indies Federation, and a poet, celebrating her island’s natural beauty in poems such as “The Child’s Return.”
Before colonization the island was a stronghold of the Carib people who had migrated there from South America, driving out the earlier Arawak. It was named by Christopher Columbus, who sighted it on November 3, 1493, a Sunday (Latin: dies dominica, “the Lord’s day”).
The first colonists (1632) were French, but, with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), Great Britain and France agreed to treat the island as neutral ground and leave it to the Caribs. From that time until 1805, Dominica went back and forth between France and Britain. French planters continued to settle in Dominica until 1759, when the British captured the island. It was formally ceded to Britain in 1763. In 1778, French forces from Martinique captured Dominica. The British recaptured the island in 1783. The French, coming that time from Guadeloupe, failed to again retake the island in 1795. The French made a final assault on the island in 1805, and, although they burned the capital, Roseau, they were forced to withdraw.
At first administered as part of the Leeward Islands, in 1771 Dominica was made a separate colony. It was rejoined administratively to the Leewards in 1883 and remained thus until 1940, when it was transferred to the Windward Islands as a separate colony. In 1958 Dominica joined the West Indies Federation. After that organization was dissolved in 1962, discussions for alternative forms of federation took place. Those issues were settled when the British government passed the West Indies Act of 1967, which gave Dominica the status of association with the United Kingdom. Under the 1967 constitution the island became fully self-governing in internal affairs.
|
a4b5815f7d54b5f085b16d0b32bf05f9 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Don-Benito | Don Benito | Don Benito
Don Benito, city, Badajoz provincia (province), in Extremadura comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), western Spain. It lies about 30 miles (50 km) east of Mérida city. Brandy and chocolate are produced there, and watermelons are grown. Sheep are raised in the vicinity. The city was named for a local landowner who founded it in 1469. Pop. (2008 est.) 31,014.
|
202e221e3b7528f95b095ffab80dfe88 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dorchester-county-Maryland | Dorchester | Dorchester
Dorchester, county, southeastern Maryland, U.S., bounded by the Choptank River to the north, Delaware to the east, the Nanticoke River to the southeast, and Chesapeake Bay to the south and west. It consists of a low-lying, marshy peninsula that extends into the bay and includes Barren, Bloodsworth, James, and Hooper islands. Some main waterways are Marshyhope Creek and the Blackwater and Transquaking rivers as well as various inlets, including the Little Choptank and Honga river estuaries and Fishing Bay. The marshlands of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge serve as a stopover for large numbers of migratory birds. The county has been in existence since about 1668, though the exact date of origin is unknown. It was named for Richard Sackville, 3rd earl of Dorset. The port city of Cambridge (founded 1684) is the county seat.
The principal economic activities are agriculture (soybeans, barley, vegetables, and poultry), fishing (crabs and oysters), manufacturing (food processing and electronic equipment), and tourism. Area 558 square miles (1,444 square km). Pop. (2000) 30,674; (2010) 32,618.
|
0edc653ebd75aa74db6332f553933d9f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dorchester-county-South-Carolina | Dorchester | Dorchester
Dorchester, county, southern South Carolina, U.S. The Edisto River forms the southwestern boundary, and the county is also drained by the Ashley River. Dorchester county lies in the flat Coastal Plain, and much of it consists of woodlands and swamps. Francis Beidler Forest is the largest remaining stand of virgin bald cypress and tupelo trees in the world. From Colleton State Park to Givhans Ferry State Park, the Edisto River is a state canoe and kayak trail.
Cusabo Indians inhabited the region when Europeans began settling Carolina in the 1670s. On a bluff overlooking the Ashley River is Old Dorchester State Park, site of a settlement (1696–1778) by Congregationalists from Massachusetts. Middleton Place, an early American landscaped garden, dates from the 18th century. Rice and indigo were important exports from the region in colonial times, when Summerville was among South Carolina’s first inland resorts, favoured by visitors fleeing the malaria of the coastal settlements. The county was established in 1897 and named for Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Agriculture (tobacco, soybeans, and hogs) and manufacturing (plastics, industrial equipment, bricks, and clay tiles) are major components of the local economy; logging and lumber milling traditionally have been important. St. George is the county seat, and Summerville is the largest city. Area 575 square miles (1,489 square km). Pop. (2000) 96,353; (2010) 136,555.
|
e45bb987385bc1f642d1cbcf9d0c0f1b | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dorchester-Massachusetts | Dorchester | Dorchester
Charlestown, Dorchester, Medford, Watertown, Roxbury, and Lynn.
…was elected “teacher” minister at Dorchester, Mass., and became locally celebrated as a preacher and formulator of Congregational creed and policy.
…first recorded meeting was in Dorchester in 1633, when citizens were summoned by the roll of a drum. A year later Charlestown organized the first board of selectmen, the emergence of such local government balancing the power of the colony’s executive. A county system was patterned after the English model,…
|
9e1355a9f0d41b8176d376c5306d7835 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dordogne-River | Dordogne River | Dordogne River
Dordogne River, river in southwestern France, rising in the Massif Central and flowing west for 293 mi (472 km) to Bec d’Ambès, north of Bordeaux, where it unites with the Garonne to form the Gironde Estuary; its drainage basin is about 9,300 sq mi (24,000 sq km). Its headwaters, rising at a height of more than 5,600 ft (1,700 m) on the Puy de Sancy, are formed by the Dore and Dognon rivers. After a torrential descent the Dordogne flows through the spa resorts of Le Mont Dore and La Bourboule, in the Puy de Dôme département. After passing through the Avèze gorges, the river forms a lake 11 mi (18 km) long above the hydroelectric dam of Bort. It is dammed again four more times as it flows through the Dordogne gorges to Argentat (Corrèze département), below which it is joined by a number of tributaries. Skirting Souillac (Lot département), it traverses the Dordogne département, where it receives the Vézère, on the banks of which are Montignac, Lascaux, and Les Eyzies-de-Tayac (famous for their prehistoric caves, which with other caves have become a classic ground for the study of Paleolithic man). Entering the Gironde département, the Dordogne receives the Isle at Libourne before flowing northwest to join the Garonne. Although the river is navigable along the last 112 mi of its course, commercial traffic on the Dordogne is light.
|
68abf26e53132859b67afa6c8a880393 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Douglas-Arizona | Douglas | Douglas
Douglas, city, Cochise county, in Sulphur Springs Valley, southeastern Arizona, U.S. A port of entry (on the Mexican border), it is separated from Aqua Prieta, Mexico, by International Avenue. It was founded in 1901 as a copper-smelting centre and was named for James Douglas, president of the Phelps Dodge (mining) Corporation. Irrigation development, enabling cattle raising and farming, broadened its economy. It now serves as an import point for eastern Sonora, Mexico. Immediately west is Cochise College (1964). Inc. 1905. Pop. (2000) 14,312; (2010) 17,378.
|
1f942879e5ebed2d0273d0e050ee7cf1 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Douglas-Isle-of-Man-British-Isles | Douglas | Douglas
Douglas, municipal borough and capital, since 1869, of the Isle of Man, one of the British Isles. It lies on the island’s east coast, 80 mi (130 km) northwest of Liverpool (across the Irish Sea). Low hills encircle the town, penetrated by the valley of the combined Dhoo (Manx, “dark”) and Glass (Manx, “light”) rivers, from which it takes its name.
Douglas grew rapidly in the 18th century as a result of the smuggling trade and by 1850 was a popular watering place. The Tynwald, or Manx Parliament, and the House of Keys, one of its legislative branches, are situated in the Legislative Buildings, built (1894) on Prospect Hill. The Tynwald Court is composed of the two legislative branches—the House of Keys and the Legislative Council—sitting in joint session, but voting separately. The town’s primary occupations are tourism, light precision engineering, brewing, and mineral water works. At the mouth of the rivers is the harbour, which can be viewed from a two-mile promenade circling it; 7 mi (11 km) southwest is a civil airport.
Of interest are the Tower of Refuge, built in 1832 on the dangerous Conister, or St. Mary’s Rock, in Douglas Bay; Castle Mona (1804); and the Manx Museum. The Tourist Trophy motorcycle races and international cycle races are held each June; the Manx Grand Prix race is in September. The Manx Electric Railway connects Douglas with Ramsey and the summit of Snaefell (2,034 ft [620 m]). The Isle of Man Steam Railway connects Douglas with Port Erin. Pop. (2006) 26,218.
|
fa5598b2eefea07f9f91e696255eec97 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Downey | Downey | Downey
Downey, city, Los Angeles county, southern California, U.S. Situated about 10 miles (16 km) east of the Pacific Ocean, it lies just southeast of central Los Angeles. The area became part of Rancho Los Nietos, a Spanish land grant to Manuel Nieto, in 1784, and, when Nieto’s lands were subdivided among his heirs, part of the Mexican Rancho Santa Gertrudes (1834). In 1859 the rancho was purchased by James P. McFarland and John G. Downey, an Irish immigrant who became governor of California (1860–62), and in 1873 the city was founded. Once the domain of cattle ranchers, the city’s rancho lands were subdivided into farms, and the region developed as an agricultural community, with crops that included grain, corn (maize), beans, mustard, and various fruits (particularly oranges). A railway link was completed in 1874, enabling greater access to markets for the city’s products, which also included poultry. Beginning in the 1920s, agriculture gave way to the aircraft industry, and the city’s oil industry also expanded. After World War II, light industry developed. Downey played a pivotal role in the U.S. space program by being the site for the building of Saturn V booster rockets and lunar-landing modules for the Apollo program; Downey aerospace workers also built five space shuttles (including the ill-fated Columbia and Challenger). The facilities were closed in the late 1990s. Retail businesses, service industries, and manufacturing are now the city’s economic mainstays. Downey is home to the oldest surviving McDonald’s restaurant (opened 1953), a large Coca-Cola bottling factory, and a municipal art museum that houses works by local and national artists. The city’s library contains a collection devoted to the 1970s pop duo the Carpenters, who lived in the city in the 1960s. A community college was established in neighbouring Norwalk in 1955. Inc. 1956. Pop. (2000) 107,323; (2010) 111,772.
|
ecdde26c6a9cd08d902f1bce23a56726 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Drakensberg | Drakensberg | Drakensberg
Drakensberg, the main mountain range of Southern Africa. The Drakensberg rises to more than 11,400 feet (3,475 metres) and extends roughly northeast to southwest for 700 miles (1,125 km) parallel to the southeastern coast of South Africa. Rock and cave art several thousands of years old has been found in the range. There are many game reserves and parks. In 2000 uKhahlamba/Drakensberg Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Drakensberg is part of the Great Escarpment and separates the extensive high plateaus of the South African interior from the lower lands along the coast. From its northeastern termination in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, the range extends through Lesotho to Eastern Cape province. The range separates Mpumalanga and Free State provinces and Lesotho on the plateau from lower-lying Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal province near the coast. The Drakensberg is the main watershed of South Africa and is the source of the Orange River.
The most-elevated stretch of the Drakensberg, in eastern and southern Lesotho, is composed of severely eroded basalt capping a sandstone base. Its pinnacles and broken and fractured blocks present a steep eastern scarp (10,000 to more than 11,000 feet [3,000 to 3,300 metres] in elevation) along the length of the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal; a steep southern scarp (8,000 to 10,000 feet [2,400 to 3,000 metres] in elevation) lies along the length of the Lesotho–Eastern Cape province border. The local Zulu name for the eastern face, Quathlamba, meaning “barrier of pointed spears” or “piled-up rocks,” is an accurate physical description of this part of the Drakensberg. Immediately below the steep scarps to the south and east are sandstone terraces with basalt outcrops and deep valleys running to the sea; this is an area of many game reserves and scenic national parks.
Northeast of the juncture of the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, and Lesotho borders, the Drakensberg becomes progressively less elevated, the steep eastern escarpment giving way to gentle slopes; north of the town of Belfast in Mpumalanga province, the range once again becomes more rugged, attaining heights of more than 7,600 feet (2,300 metres). The western and northern sides of the Drakensberg shelve gradually into the interior plateau, though in Lesotho the range descends into a jumble of weathered basalt mountains, where waterfalls and deep gorges are commonplace.
The Drakensberg of Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal is snowcapped in winter. Mountaineering is challenging, and some peaks remain unclimbed because of difficult access. The natural tussock steppe is not farmed or developed, and this area is dotted with mountain resorts and camping grounds.
|
f0aedd55ac6f25cb40442c9c442eb547 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dublin/Administration-and-society | Administration and society | Administration and society
Dublin is the headquarters for government departments, their advisory committees, and associated agencies. The two houses of the Irish parliament, the Dáil and the Seanad (Senate), meet at Leinster House. The judiciary is based at the Four Courts. More than 40 countries maintain embassies, and several others are represented by consuls, both honorary and professional.
The Dáil abolished the county of Dublin in 1994, substituting the Dublin Region of three new counties—Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin—and the City of Dublin, which has both county and city government powers. The Dáil also replaced city corporations with city councils as the administrative bodies in 2002. The Dublin Regional Authority coordinates the plans, reviews the budgets, and monitors the spending of EU funds by the three counties and Dublin City Council (formerly Dublin Corporation). The council is the largest local authority in Ireland, consisting of more than 50 councillors elected every five years by proportional representation. The council is led by a lord mayor chosen annually by the councillors from among themselves. The lord mayor chairs meetings, but the role is otherwise principally ceremonial; a city manager performs the executive functions. Through the Local Appointments Commission, the state’s Department of the Environment names the managers. Just under one-third of the Irish electorate lives in the Dublin Region’s 12 constituencies, which are represented by 47 members of the proportionally elected Dáil.
Police services are a national responsibility, and Ireland is divided into six police regions. The Dublin Metropolitan Region embraces the city, the whole of the Dublin Region, and small portions of County Kildare to the west and County Wicklow to the south.
The city is home to numerous parks. St. Stephen’s Green, first enclosed in the 1660s and laid out in 1880 in its present form with flower beds, trees, a lake, a fountain, a bandstand dating from 1887, and memorials to various Dubliners, is in the centre of the city. Immediately to the south are the Iveagh Gardens, perhaps the least known of Dublin’s parks. Landscaped in 1863, they include a maze, archery grounds, woodland, fountains, a grotto, and a cascade. The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin to the north of the city contain some 20,000 different plants.
The Dublin Fire Brigade is run by the city council on behalf of the three other local authorities in the urban area. The brigade also provides an emergency ambulance service for the Greater Dublin area, and several fire stations have ambulances that operate.
In 2005 the Health Boards system responsible for providing national health care was abolished. In its place a Health Service Executive (HSE) was established. Dublin is divided into two HSE regions. The regions have their own public health ambulance service. There are several private ambulance services, including air ambulances. Dublin contains numerous public and private hospitals, including four university hospitals—the Mater Misericordiae, Beaumont, St. Vincent’s, and St. James’s. All have departments of international repute ranging from children’s care to transplants and diagnostics. The Mater is associated with University College Dublin and is the national centre for cardiothoracic surgery. Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons is one of the five recognized colleges of the National University of Ireland. Beaumont Hospital, opened in 1987, is the principal undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research centre associated with the Royal College, whose campus it shares. It is the national centre for neurosurgery. St. Vincent’s is the teaching hospital of University College Dublin and a leading biomedical research institute. St. James’s Hospital, which replaced several older hospitals, is associated with Trinity College and houses the Centre for Advanced Clinical Therapeutics, the Dementia Services Information and Development Centre, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, and the National Medicines Information Centre. St. Patrick’s Hospital, founded in 1746 by a bequest from Jonathan Swift, is a private psychiatric centre still functioning on its original site, just south of Heuston Station.
Founded in 1592, Trinity College is Ireland’s oldest university, though most of its distinguished buildings date from the 18th century. It possesses the largest collection of publications in Ireland, including the early 9th-century Book of Kells and the mid-12th-century Book of Leinster, both lavishly illustrated religious manuscripts. For centuries Trinity was regarded as a bastion of the “Protestant Ascendancy” that governed and effectively owned and controlled most of Ireland. In fact, the college was among the most liberal in the British Isles. In the 18th century, while Roman Catholics were barred by law from taking degrees, they could still attend the college. The Catholic Relief Act (1793) enabled Catholics to take degrees but not to have full standing. All such religious exclusions were dropped in 1873. Nevertheless, Trinity remained almost exclusively Protestant until the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on attending was lifted in 1970.
University College Dublin, established as the Catholic University of Ireland in the 1850s and now a constituent college of the National University of Ireland, is the largest campus in Ireland, with more than 20,000 students. In 1940 Eamon de Valera founded the Institute for Advanced Studies with Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger (who became an Irish citizen) as the director of its School for Theoretical Physics. In 1989 the capital’s newest university, Dublin City University, was created from the National Institute for Higher Education. Also in the city are a number of other institutions of higher education, including colleges of technology, teacher-training colleges, and specialized vocational colleges.
|
1afd7a7504508e560fb8e81f9667953d | https://www.britannica.com/place/Duluth | Duluth | Duluth
Duluth, city, seat of St. Louis county, northeastern Minnesota, U.S. One of Minnesota’s largest cities, it is a major inland port on the western tip of Lake Superior, at the mouth of the St. Louis River, opposite Superior, Wisconsin. Elevation is abrupt, rising 600 feet (180 metres) above the level of the lake in high rock bluffs, once the shoreline of glacial Lake Duluth. Along the crest a 30-mile (50-km) skyline boulevard commands an excellent view of both city and harbour. The combined Duluth-Superior harbour results from a natural breakwater formed by deposits left where river and lake meet. This resulting 9-mile (14-km) strip, Minnesota Point, or Park Point, extends toward Wisconsin Point, separating St. Louis and Allouez bays from Lake Superior. The narrow channel between the two points forms the Superior harbour entrance, and a dredged 300-foot (90-metre) ship canal across Minnesota Point, spanned by an aerial lift bridge, forms the Duluth harbour entrance. The combined harbour is the western terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and, although icebound during the winter months, it is the largest port on the Great Lakes and one of the largest inland seaports in the world. Among the items shipped through it are iron ore from the Mesabi Range, coal from the western United States, and grain from the Red River valley and Canada. Harbour facilities include coal docks, grain elevators, and iron ore docks (which receive taconite from processing plants in northeastern Minnesota).
The area, occupied originally by the Sioux and the Ojibwa, was visited in the 17th century by French voyageurs, including Daniel Greysolon, sieur DuLhut (or Du Luth), who claimed the area for France in 1679 and for whom Duluth was named. The fur-trading post of Fond du Lac, on the St. Louis River, was active until the mid-19th century and was controlled successively by the Hudson’s Bay Company, the North West Company, and the American Fur Company. In 1852 the first settler, George P. Stuntz, arrived. Settlers in search of copper deposits arrived the following year, and Duluth was laid out in 1856. Railway extension into the northwestern wheat region, increased lake commerce following the cutting of the Duluth Ship Canal in 1871, lumbering, and development of the iron ranges brought increasing prosperity.
Duluth is a regional health care, business, retail, education, financial, and cultural centre for northeastern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin. In addition to shipping, economic assets include the railroads, an oil pipeline from Canada, a military air-defense installation at Duluth International Airport, aircraft maintenance facilities, government offices, the tourism industry, and paper milling, food processing, and printing and publishing enterprises. It is the site of a campus of the University of Minnesota (established in 1895, joined system in 1947) and the College of St. Scholastica (1912; affiliated with the Roman Catholic church), as well as a community college (1995).
Duluth’s cultural activities include a symphony orchestra, ballet, and playhouse, as well as the Duluth Art Institute and the Tweed Museum of Art. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum and the Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center preserve the area’s railroading and shipping history. Great Lakes Aquarium is the only all-freshwater aquarium in the United States. Glensheen (1908) is a 22-acre (9-hectare) lakeside estate. Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial (dedicated 2003) commemorates three African Americans murdered in the city. Duluth also features a zoo and a ski resort. The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, held each February, is a round-trip race up the lakeshore to Grand Marais. Jay Cooke State Park is just southwest of the city, and the Fond du Lac Ojibwa reservation is a few miles west. Duluth is the headquarters of Superior National Forest. Inc. 1870; re-inc. 1887. Pop. (2000) 86,918; Duluth Metro Area, 274,486; (2010) 86,265; Duluth Metro Area, 279,771.
|
cd164f2c03d20687c5e2275e0b5527bc | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dunajec-River | Dunajec River | Dunajec River
Dunajec River, river in southern Poland, rising in the Tatra Mountains near the Slovak border and flowing about 156 miles (251 km) northeast into the Vistula River.
The Dunajec River is dammed for hydropower at Rożnów, Czchów, and Czorsztyn. It was the scene of heavy fighting in World War I when the Germans broke through the Russian trenches. In March 1975 Czechoslovakia and Poland modified their border along the Dunajec to permit Poland to construct a dam in the Czorsztyn region, southeast of Kraków. Canoeing through the Pieniny gorge is a notable tourist activity.
|
ca6fb4bf148011a72f04634190b1dc2c | https://www.britannica.com/place/Dusseldorf | Düsseldorf | Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf, city, capital of North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies mainly on the right bank of the Rhine River, 21 miles (34 km) northwest of Cologne. It is the administrative and cultural centre of the industrial Rhine-Ruhr area.
First mentioned in 1159, Düsseldorf (“Village on the Düssel,” a small tributary of the Rhine) was chartered in 1288 by the count of Berg and was the capital of the duchies of Berg and Jülich from 1511 until it passed to the Palatinate-Neuberg line in 1609. Although the town suffered considerably in the Thirty Years’ War and the War of the Spanish Succession, it revived under the elector palatine Johann Wilhelm II (Jan Wellem). After being the capital of the short-lived Napoleonic grand duchy of Berg (1805–13), the town passed to Prussia in 1815. Rapid commercial and economic growth followed the establishment of iron and steel industries in the 1870s. After the widespread devastation suffered during World War II, many of the city’s old buildings were repaired and many new buildings erected.
Düsseldorf has three harbours on the Rhine and one of Germany’s busiest civil airfields at Lohausen. The city is a banking and wholesale centre and is the administrative seat of many of the Ruhr’s businesses. Its industries include iron, steel, chemicals, glass, and textiles.
Düsseldorf’s moated and tree-lined shopping street called the Königsallee is well known. Notable landmarks in the city include the 13th–14th-century Lambertuskirche (Lambertus Church), whose crooked tower has become the town symbol, and the old town hall (1567–88). Of the castle of the electors palatine, burned in 1872, only the tower survives. Other reminders of Düsseldorf’s illustrious past include Jägerhof Castle (1752–63), which houses the town historical collection; Benrath Castle (1755–73), built by Nicolas de Pigage; and the remains of the palace of Frederick I (Frederick Barbarossa).
In the nearby Neander Valley is the Feldhofer Cave, where remains of Neanderthal man were first discovered in 1856. Düsseldorf claims the first German skyscraper, the Wilhelm-Marx-Haus (1924). Among the city’s numerous cultural institutions, the museum of ceramics, the state museum, and the city library (housing a collection of works by and about a native son, the poet Heinrich Heine) are particularly notable. In 2011 a museum dedicated to rock legend Elvis Presley opened in Düsseldorf—it was the largest such institution outside the United States. The city is the seat of the University of Düsseldorf (founded 1965); there is also an academy of art (founded 1767), a conservatory, and several technical institutes. Pop. (2010 est.) city, 588,735; (2010 est.) urban agglom., 1,222,406.
|
d7b983ef42baca02f317fe2d147580ae | https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth | Earth | Earth
Earth, third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system in terms of size and mass. Its single most outstanding feature is that its near-surface environments are the only places in the universe known to harbour life. It is designated by the symbol ♁. Earth’s name in English, the international language of astronomy, derives from Old English and Germanic words for ground and earth, and it is the only name for a planet of the solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology.
Since the Copernican revolution of the 16th century, at which time the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a Sun-centred model of the universe (see heliocentric system), enlightened thinkers have regarded Earth as a planet like the others of the solar system. Concurrent sea voyages provided practical proof that Earth is a globe, just as Galileo’s use of his newly invented telescope in the early 17th century soon showed various other planets to be globes as well. It was only after the dawn of the space age, however, when photographs from rockets and orbiting spacecraft first captured the dramatic curvature of Earth’s horizon, that the conception of Earth as a roughly spherical planet rather than as a flat entity was verified by direct human observation. Humans first witnessed Earth as a complete orb floating in the inky blackness of space in December 1968 when Apollo 8 carried astronauts around the Moon. Robotic space probes on their way to destinations beyond Earth, such as the Galileo and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft in the 1990s, also looked back with their cameras to provide other unique portraits of the planet.
Viewed from another planet in the solar system, Earth would appear bright and bluish in colour. Easiest to see through a large telescope would be its atmospheric features, chiefly the swirling white cloud patterns of midlatitude and tropical storms, ranged in roughly latitudinal belts around the planet. The polar regions also would appear a brilliant white, because of the clouds above and the snow and ice below. Beneath the changing patterns of clouds would appear the much darker blue-black oceans, interrupted by occasional tawny patches of desert lands. The green landscapes that harbour most human life would not be easily seen from space. Not only do they constitute a modest fraction of the land area, which itself is less than one-third of Earth’s surface, but they are often obscured by clouds. Over the course of the seasons, some changes in the storm patterns and cloud belts on Earth would be observed. Also prominent would be the growth and recession of the winter snowcap across land areas of the Northern Hemisphere.
Scientists have applied the full battery of modern instrumentation to studying Earth in ways that have not yet been possible for the other planets; thus, much more is known about its structure and composition. This detailed knowledge, in turn, provides deeper insight into the mechanisms by which planets in general cool down, by which their magnetic fields are generated, and by which the separation of lighter elements from heavier ones as planets develop their internal structure releases additional energy for geologic processes and alters crustal compositions.
Earth’s surface is traditionally subdivided into seven continental masses: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. These continents are surrounded by four major bodies of water: the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. However, it is convenient to consider separate parts of Earth in terms of concentric, roughly spherical layers. Extending from the interior outward, these are the core, the mantle, the crust (including the rocky surface), the hydrosphere (predominantly the oceans, which fill in low places in the crust), the atmosphere (itself divided into spherical zones such as the troposphere, where weather occurs, and the stratosphere, where lies the ozone layer that shields Earth’s surface and its organisms against the Sun’s ultraviolet rays), and the magnetosphere (an enormous region in space where Earth’s magnetic field dominates the behaviour of electrically charged particles coming from the Sun).
Knowledge about these divisions is summarized in this astronomically oriented overview. The discussion complements other treatments oriented to the Earth sciences and life sciences. Earth’s figure and dimensions are discussed in the article geodesy. Its magnetic field is treated in the article geomagnetic field. The early evolution of the solid Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is covered in geologic history of Earth. The geologic and biological development of Earth, including its surface features and the processes by which they are created and modified, are discussed in geochronology, continental landform, and plate tectonics. The behaviour of the atmosphere and of its tenuous, ionized outer reaches is treated in atmosphere, while the water cycle and major hydrologic features are described in hydrosphere, ocean, and river. The solid Earth as a field of study is covered in geologic sciences, the methods and instruments employed to investigate Earth’s surface and interior are discussed in Earth exploration, and the history of the study of Earth from antiquity to modern times is surveyed in Earth sciences. The global ecosystem of living organisms and their life-supporting stratum are detailed in biosphere.
|
1354fb978eab7c6106ffb16d65ad5182 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth/Accretion-of-the-early-Earth | Accretion of the early Earth | Accretion of the early Earth
As the gas making up the solar nebula beyond the Sun cooled with time, mineral grains are thought to have condensed and aggregated to form the earliest meteoritic material. In addition, as is suggested by the finding of anomalous concentrations of isotopes in a few meteorites, solid material from outside the solar system, apparently existing prior to the formation of the Sun, was occasionally incorporated into these developing small bodies.
The concentrations of isotopes that decay radioactively and of isotopes that are produced by radioactive decay provide scientists the information required to determine when meteorites and the planets formed. For example, the concentrations of rubidium-87 and the strontium-87 into which it decays, or those of samarium-147 and its decay product neodymium-143, indicate that the oldest meteorites formed some 4.56 billion years ago. Other isotope studies demonstrate that Earth formed within, at most, a few tens of millions of years after the birth of the Sun.
The most abundant elements in the Sun, hydrogen and helium, are severely lacking in the inner, terrestrial planets but are still abundant constituents of the large, gaseous, outer planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. It is thought that only at the distance of Jupiter and beyond—in the colder regions of the solar system, including the zone beyond Neptune in which comets originated (see Kuiper belt; Oort cloud)—could the more volatile substances, which also include water, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, condense and be retained in appreciable amounts during the formation of the planets. Nevertheless, when the relative abundances of the less volatile elements are compared for the Sun, for a class of primitive, largely chemically unaltered meteorites called CI carbonaceous chondrites (considered by many researchers the most pristine samples of original solar system material), and for the estimated composition of Earth, their values are all in close agreement. This is the basis for the chondritic model, which holds that Earth (and presumably the other terrestrial planets) was essentially built up from bodies made of such meteoritic material. This idea is corroborated by isotopic studies of rocks derived from interior regions of Earth considered to be little changed throughout the planet’s history. Thus, it appears that the composition of Earth is roughly what would be expected given the observed elemental abundances in the Sun and accounting for the loss of the more volatile elements.
The dust and grains that condensed out of the cooling nebular gas aggregated gravitationally to form larger fragments of rock. The chondritic meteorites (see chondrite) observed today are basically just such collections of grains and fragments that were compacted together into larger pieces. Through continued accretion, the smaller pieces formed boulders and asteroid-size bodies (planetesimals) and, ultimately, bodies the size of the Moon and Mars. The larger the planetesimals grew, the greater their gravitational attraction and the more effectively they swept up additional particles and rock fragments while circling the Sun. Growth slowed when most bodies were lunar- and Mars-size because they were limited in number and hence effectively isolated one from another in their orbits. As Jupiter increased to its giant size, its powerful gravity perturbed these “embryos” of the terrestrial planets, elongating their orbits and allowing their incremental growth to approximately the mass of Earth to proceed over tens of millions of years.
Stony meteorites and iron meteorites (those composed largely of iron alloyed with nickel and sulfur) both fall on Earth today, and both types are thought to have been present during the formation of the planetesimals that would accrete to become Earth. In other words, Earth seems to have accreted only after most, if not all, solid matter had already condensed. Thus, a wide range of minerals was included in the grains, the larger fragments, and even the planetesimals that were accumulated by the growing planet. Apparently, such an aggregation of dense metallic fragments and less dense rocky fragments is not very stable. Calculations based on the measured strengths of rocks indicate that the metallic fragments probably sank downward as Earth grew. Although the planet was relatively cold at this stage—less than 500 K (440 °F; 230 °C)—the rock was weak. This is an important point because it leads to the conclusion that Earth’s metallic core began to form during accretion of the planet and probably before the planet had grown to one-fifth of its present volume.
|
9227253956fb1c7a8753e49604bf40bb | https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth/Basic-planetary-data | Basic planetary data | Basic planetary data
The mean distance of Earth from the Sun is about 149,600,000 km (92,960,000 miles). The planet orbits the Sun in a path that is presently more nearly a circle (less eccentric) than are the orbits of all but two of the other planets, Venus and Neptune. Earth makes one revolution, or one complete orbit of the Sun, in about 365.25 days. The direction of revolution—counterclockwise as viewed down from the north—is in the same sense, or direction, as the rotation of the Sun; Earth’s spin, or rotation about its axis, is also in the same sense, which is called direct or prograde. The rotation period, or length of a sidereal day (see day; sidereal time)—23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds—is similar to that of Mars. Jupiter and most asteroids have days less than half as long, while Mercury and Venus have days more nearly comparable to their orbital periods. The 23.44° tilt, or inclination, of Earth’s axis to its orbital plane, also typical, results in greater heating and more hours of daylight in one hemisphere or the other over the course of a year and so is responsible for the cyclic change of seasons.
With an equatorial radius of 6,378 km (3,963 miles), Earth is the largest of the four inner, terrestrial (rocky) planets, but it is considerably smaller than the gas giants of the outer solar system. Earth has a single natural satellite, the Moon, which orbits the planet at a mean distance of about 384,400 km (238,900 miles). The Moon is one of the bigger natural satellites in the solar system; only the giant planets have moons comparable or larger in size. Some planetary astronomers consider the Earth-Moon system a double planet, with some similarity in that regard to the dwarf planet Pluto and its largest moon, Charon.
Earth’s gravitational field (see gravitation) is manifested as the attractive force acting on a free body at rest, causing it to accelerate in the general direction of the centre of the planet. Departures from the spherical shape and the effect of Earth’s rotation cause gravity to vary with latitude over the terrestrial surface. The average gravitational acceleration at sea level is about 980 cm/sec2 (32.2 feet/sec2).
Earth’s gravity keeps the Moon in its orbit around the planet and also generates tides in the solid body of the Moon. Such deformations are manifested in the form of slight bulges at the lunar surface, detectable only by sensitive instruments. In turn, the Moon’s mass—relatively large for a natural satellite—exerts a gravitational force that causes tides on Earth. The Sun, much more distant but vastly more massive, also raises tides on Earth. (See celestial mechanics: Tidal evolution.) The tides are most apparent as the twice-daily and daily rises and falls of the ocean water, although tidal deformations occur in the solid Earth and in the atmosphere as well (see tide). The movement of the water throughout the ocean basins as a result of the tides (as well as, to a lesser extent, the tidal distortion of the solid Earth) dissipates orbital kinetic energy as heat, producing a gradual slowing of Earth’s rotation and a spiraling outward of the Moon’s orbit. Currently this slowing lengthens the day by a few thousandths of a second per century, but the rate of slowing varies with time as plate tectonics and sea-level changes alter the areas covered by inland bays and shallow seas. (For additional orbital and physical data, see the table.)
The blankets of volatile gases and liquids near and above the surface of Earth are, along with solar energy, of prime importance to the sustenance of life on Earth. They are distributed and recycled throughout the atmosphere and hydrosphere of the planet.
|
ff93c7f492c0ab2559d59d5fbae21e7a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Earth/Effects-of-planetesimal-impacts | Effects of planetesimal impacts | Effects of planetesimal impacts
During its accretion, Earth is thought to have been shock-heated by the impacts of meteorite-size bodies and larger planetesimals. For a meteorite collision, the heating is concentrated near the surface where the impact occurs, which allows the heat to radiate back into space. A planetesimal, however, can penetrate sufficiently deeply on impact to produce heating well beneath the surface. In addition, the debris formed on impact can blanket the planetary surface, which helps to retain heat inside the planet. Some scientists have suggested that, in this way, Earth may have become hot enough to begin melting after growing to less than 15 percent of its final volume.
Among the planetesimals striking the forming Earth, at least one is considered to have been comparable in size to Mars. Although the details are not well understood, there is good evidence that the impact of such a large planetesimal created the Moon. Among the more persuasive indications is that the relative abundances of many trace elements in rocks from the Moon are close to the values obtained for Earth’s mantle. Unless this is a fortuitous coincidence, it points to the Moon having been derived from the mantle. Computer simulations have shown that a glancing collision of a Mars-size planetary body could have been sufficient to excavate from Earth’s interior the material that would form the Moon. Again, the evidence for such large collisions suggests that Earth was very effectively heated during accretion.
It is apparent, then, that many processes contributing to the early development of Earth occurred almost simultaneously, within tens to hundreds of million of years after the Sun was formed. Meteorites and Earth were formed within this time, and the Moon, which has been dated at more than four billion years in age, apparently was formed in the same time period. Simultaneously, Earth’s core was accumulating and may have been completely formed during the planet’s growth period. In addition to the possible accretional heating caused by planetesimal impacts, the sinking of metal to form the core released enough gravitational energy to heat the entire planet by 1,000 K (1,800 °F; 1,000 °C) or more. Thus, once core formation began, Earth’s interior became sufficiently hot to convect. Although it is not known whether or in what form plate tectonics was active at the surface, it seems quite possible that the underlying mantle convection began even before the planet had grown to its final dimensions. Only later in Earth’s development did radioactivity become an important heat source as well.
|
05cefe9cdc52b65d99349ca8bea9a7ec | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Cambridgeshire | East Cambridgeshire | East Cambridgeshire
East Cambridgeshire, district, administrative and historic county of Cambridgeshire, east-central England. It occupies an area northeast of the city of Cambridge. Situated predominantly within the Fens, an expanse of reclaimed marshland, the district has a slightly elevated chalk upland (which is covered by unstratified glacial drift) in the southeast. Prior to the draining of the Fens in the 17th century, the Isle of Ely was an isolated locale on an island of glacial drift amid the marshlands. Today the town of Ely, with its famous cathedral, is the district seat.
Wicken Fen, 10 miles (16 km) south of Ely, is the only substantial remnant of undisturbed marshland in the Fens. A haunting place rising several feet above the adjacent cultivated lands, Wicken Fen’s 1,880 acres (760 hectares) are a sanctuary for rare insects, birds, and plants.
The section of the Fens around Ely is an important area for sugar beet cultivation; cereals, onions, potatoes, fruits, and various other horticultural produce are also intensively grown.
Littleport, Soham, and Haddenham are local agricultural centres in the Fens. The mostly rural district has few woodlands and little industry. The Stained Glass Museum in the cathedral at Ely displays panels of painted glass representing the development of the craft from the 14th century to the present. Area 251 square miles (651 square km). Pop. (2001) 73,214; (2011) 83,818.
|
9051ede856205cb3a0cbed2fabd3fc8e | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Chicago | East Chicago | East Chicago
East Chicago, industrial city and port, Lake county, northwestern Indiana, U.S., adjoining Gary, Hammond, and Whiting. It is a part of the Chicago-Calumet industrialized metropolitan complex. Laid out in 1887, its industrial development was stimulated by construction of Indiana Harbor, connected with the Grand Calumet River by a 3-mile (5-km) ship canal and including an extensive system of docks. Its industries include iron and steel mills and the manufacture of railroad cars. The neighbourhood of Marktown, a community planned by the Mark Manufacturing Company in the early 20th century to house its employees, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Inc. 1889. Pop. (2000) 32,414; (2010) 29,698.
|
4eea472a3b93f776fa42532e0ff05d41 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Friesland | East Friesland | East Friesland
East Friesland, German Ostfriesland, cultural region bordering the North Sea and encompassing the coastal marshlands and East Frisian Islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) of northwestern Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. The region includes the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park. East Friesland has close cultural ties with West Friesland in the Netherlands and North Friesland on the west coast of the Jutland Peninsula. The Frisians, traditionally known as a Germanic seafaring and commercial people, migrated to northern Germany from the Holland coast in the 12th century. The use of the Frisian language, which is closely related to English, is diminishing in East Friesland; it is spoken only in a few small rural pockets, among these the marshy Saterland region west of Oldenburg. East Friesland is predominantly Protestant.
The modern economy is based on tourism, cattle farming, and related dairy and meat industries. Farms tend to be localized on raised mounds (Würten), where early inhabitants were forced to build for protection against flooding, or the farms are situated in linear strings (Marschhufendörfer) along dikes and canals with their fields extending at right angles in long, narrow strips. The traditional single-story Frisian house is especially adapted to cattle farming. One vast, steeply sloping roof shelters the Diele, a large central threshing floor, and the living quarters and stables are grouped around it. The Diele is entered at the gable end of the building.
|
46682b11eea3cc8a545fd744d3ce92d2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Hartford | East Hartford | East Hartford
East Hartford, urban town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S., across the Connecticut River from Hartford. The area, called Podunk by the Indians, was first settled in 1639 by John Crow. Organized as a parish in 1746 and originally part of Hartford, it was incorporated as a separate town in 1783 and experienced early industrial development (papermaking and the manufacture of gunpowder, glass, cotton goods, hats, and watches). Its area was reduced in 1823 when Manchester was separately incorporated. It now includes the villages of Hockanum and Burnside and is heavily industrialized. East Hartford is the location of the corporate headquarters of Pratt & Whitney, a major manufacturer of airplane engines. Area 18 square miles (47 square km). Pop. (2000) 49,575; Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford Metro Area, 1,148,618; (2010) 51,252; Hartford–West Hartford–East Hartford Metro Area, 1,212,381.
|
0f99c532ccb52325f5bd1886dda7b188 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Hertfordshire | East Hertfordshire | East Hertfordshire
East Hertfordshire, district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, southeastern England, at the northern edge of the Greater London Green Belt. Hertford is the administrative seat for the county of Hertfordshire but shares district administration with Bishop’s Stortford.
The landscape is largely undulating and rural, characterized by medieval manor houses and thatched cottages. The River Lea, navigable to barge traffic from its outlet in the Thames in east-central London northward to the town of Hertford, drains the southwestern part of the district, and the River Stort forms the southeastern boundary before joining the Lea at the district’s southern tip. Cereals are cultivated in the fertile northern and central parts, where the soil consists of unstratified glacial drift. Farther south the less-fertile heavy clays are used primarily as grazing land for dairy cows. Extensive residential development has occurred along the district’s southern edge in towns such as Hertford, Ware, Hoddesdon, and Bishop’s Stortford, which lie within commuting distance of London and its periphery.
The first English canal, the New River aqueduct, 23 miles (40 km) long—was built in 1613—to bring water from springs southeast of Ware southward to sites in what is now northern Greater London to augment London’s water supply; it is still in use, even though the Ware vicinity is no longer the source of the water.
Malt breweries utilizing locally grown cereals are located in Ware, Bishop’s Stortford, and Sawbridgeworth. Other industries in the district include brush making, printing, and light manufacturing. The Rhodes Memorial Museum (founded 1938) at Bishop’s Stortford commemorates the life of Cecil Rhodes, the empire builder of British South Africa. Area 184 square miles (476 square km). Pop. (2001) 128,919; (2011) 137,687.
|
8033debc97016a4ae9237aa574c6082a | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Indies | East Indies | East Indies
East Indies, the islands that extend in a wide belt along both sides of the Equator for more than 3,800 miles (6,100 km) between the Asian mainland to the north and west and Australia to the south. Historically, the term East Indies is loosely applied to any of three contexts. The most restrictive and best-known use is as a synonym for the islands that now constitute the Republic of Indonesia (formerly known as the Netherlands Indies, or Dutch East Indies); these include the Greater Sunda Islands (Borneo, Celebes, Java, and Sumatra), the Lesser Sunda Islands (stretching eastward from Bali to Timor), the Moluccas, and New Guinea (including Papua New Guinea on the eastern half of the island). In a second, larger sense, East Indies refers to the Malay Archipelago (including the Philippines), which now is more commonly called insular (or archipelagic) Southeast Asia. Finally, in its broadest context, the term East Indies encompasses the foregoing plus all of mainland Southeast Asia and India.
|
aa7176dc4cd2612a6847907f0993b8a3 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Lothian | East Lothian | East Lothian
East Lothian, council area and historic county, southeastern Scotland. It lies on the southern coast of the Firth of Forth east of Edinburgh. Much of East Lothian is an undulating coastal lowland, but it extends inland to include part of the upland moors of the Lammermuir Hills. The council area and historic county occupy slightly different areas. A section of the Lammermuir Hills in the southeast belongs to the historic county of East Lothian but forms part of the Scottish Borders council area. In the west the area around Musselburgh is part of East Lothian council area but belongs to the historic county of Midlothian.
In the Middle Ages, East Lothian (frequently called Haddingtonshire until the 20th century) formed part of the larger region known as Lothian. It lay in the path of the English invaders and suffered much destruction during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. In this period the feudal castles of Dirleton, Tantallon, and Hailes were built. There were also nunneries at Haddington and North Berwick, friaries at Haddington, Luffness, and Dunbar, and the holy well at Whitekirk, a place of pilgrimage. The Protestant leader and theologian John Knox was a native of East Lothian, and its people turned to the Reformed church during the 16th century. The last battles fought in the county were those of Dunbar (1650) and Prestonpans (1745).
Conditions were more settled in the 18th century, and there was further development of agriculture. The land was enclosed and drained, industries developed, and woods were planted. The old settlements of group holdings gave way to centralized farms, each with a slated farmhouse, large pantiled service buildings, and a group of rubble-and-pantiled cottages. Mansions were built, and parks were walled and planted. Some new villages were established (Gifford in 1722 and Ormiston in 1732, both of which are of architectural interest), and Haddington and Dunbar developed as market towns.
Farming reached the height of prosperity in the 1870s. In the last years of the 19th century, golfing and holiday facilities were developed at North Berwick, Gullane, and Dunbar. Also, deep coal mines were sunk in the west of the county, notably at Prestonpans, which then became a mining town. Coal mining in East Lothian declined in the mid-20th century, however, and effectively had ceased by 1964.
East Lothian’s manufacturing now consists mainly of food and beverage processing. Musselburgh and other towns in the west are residential suburbs of Edinburgh. Haddington is the administrative centre. Area 262 square miles (679 square km). Pop. (2001) 90,088; (2011) 99,717.
|
1476ab6998da4b350acf1bc2c64bb904 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Providence | East Providence | East Providence
East Providence, city, Providence county, eastern Rhode Island, U.S., on the eastern side of the Seekonk and Providence rivers, opposite Providence city. The site was long occupied by Wampanoag Indians before Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island colony, established himself there in 1636; he left at the request of Plymouth colony. About 1644 it was settled by a company from Weymouth as part of the Massachusetts town (township) of Rehoboth. In 1812 the western part of Rehoboth was set off as the township of Seekonk. It was subsequently decided that western Seekonk belonged to Rhode Island, and that part was incorporated as the township of East Providence in 1862. City status was attained in 1958. Although it is primarily residential, the city has industries, notably jewelry making and the manufacture of machinery. Pop. (2000) 48,688; (2010) 47,037.
|
09016e8163625a5273a14020db71d0b2 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Prussia | East Prussia | East Prussia
East Prussia, German Ostpreussen, former German province bounded, between World Wars I and II, north by the Baltic Sea, east by Lithuania, and south and west by Poland and the free city of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). After World War II its territory was divided between the Soviet Union and Poland.
The name Prussia is linguistically of Baltic origin; its ancient inhabitants, exterminated by the Knights of the Teutonic Order, called themselves Prusi. When the Knights conquered the Polish province of Pomorze (Pomerania) in 1308, the name Prussia was extended westward to the whole territory administered by the Teutonic Order. In 1466 Poland recovered Pomorze; and, between that date and 1701 (when the elector of Brandenburg became king in Prussia), the country held directly by the crown of Poland was called Royal Prussia, to distinguish it from the land retained by the Knights as Poland’s vassals. The latter became a secular duchy (Ducal Prussia) in 1525 and was freed from Polish suzerainty by the Treaty of Wehlau (1657). From 1815 the name East Prussia was given to the easternmost province of the kingdom of Prussia. The boundaries of this province remained unchanged until World War I. Its area was then 14,284 square miles (36,995 square km), and its population in 1910 was 2,064,175 and largely Lutheran. It had long since become a stronghold of Prussian Junkers, a military aristocracy who had vast estates there.
As a result of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the Memel (Klaipėda) territory was taken from Germany (in 1924 it was incorporated into Lithuania); the district of Soldau (Dzialdowo) was given to Poland, while the regency of Marienwerder (Kwidzyn), which was formerly part of the province of West Prussia, joined East Prussia, now territorially separated from the rest of Germany by the Polish Corridor and Danzig.
After World War II, East Prussia was partitioned between Poland (the southern part) and the Soviet Union (the northern part), the frontier running north of Goldap, Bartenstein (Bartoszyce), and Braunsberg (Braniewo). With the exception of the Klaipėda territory, which was reincorporated into Lithuania, the northern part was incorporated into the Russian federation and colonized by Russians. Königsberg became Kaliningrad, Insterburg became Chernyakhovsk, and Tilsit became Sovetsk. In the southern part about 400,000 indigenous Poles remained, and immigrants from pre-1939 Poland replaced the Germans, who either had fled in 1944 or were expelled after the war ended.
|
7576f1219501916d79ba06884e1c8812 | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Staffordshire | East Staffordshire | East Staffordshire
East Staffordshire, borough (district), administrative county of Staffordshire, central England. The borough’s main locality and administrative headquarters is Burton upon Trent.
Nearly all of East Staffordshire lies within the historic county of Staffordshire, except for a small area around Rocester east of the River Dove and the section of Burton upon Trent east of the River Trent, both of which belong to the historic county of Derbyshire. East Staffordshire is essentially a gently rolling rural borough lying between the industrial areas of Stafford to the west, the West Midlands conurbation centring on Birmingham to the south, Derby to the east, and the northern Staffordshire coalfield region (centred on Stoke-on-Trent and also called the Potteries) to the north. It is drained to the east by the Rivers Trent and Dove.
The borough is an area of mixed farming, especially dairying. Burton upon Trent is one of England’s leading brewing centres; the Bass Museum there illustrates the history of brewing from the 18th century and the influence of the pub on social life. The parish of Uttoxeter, 14 miles (22 km) northwest of Burton upon Trent, is the site of one of England’s noted steeplechase courses. Area 149 square miles (387 square km). Pop. (2001) 103,770; (2011) 113,583.
|
d0a5fafc41b74162cce832efe016bd2d | https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Timor | East Timor | East Timor
East Timor, island country in the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands, at the southern extreme of the Malay Archipelago. It occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, the small nearby islands of Atauro (Kambing) and Jaco, and the enclave of Ambeno, including the town of Pante Makasar, on the northwestern coast of Timor. Dili is the capital and largest city.
East Timor is bounded by the Timor Sea to the southeast, the Wetar Strait to the north, the Ombai Strait to the northwest, and western Timor (part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara) to the southwest. The eastern part of Timor island is rugged, with the mountains rising to 9,721 feet (2,963 metres) at Mount Tatamailau (Tata Mailau) in the centre of a high plateau. The area has a dry tropical climate and moderate rainfall. Hilly areas are covered with sandalwood. Scrub and grass grow in the lowlands, together with coconut palms and eucalyptus trees. There are hot springs and numerous mountain streams. Wildlife includes the cuscus (a species of marsupial), monkeys, deer, civet cats, snakes, and crocodiles.
Most of the people are of Papuan, Malayan, and Polynesian origin and are predominantly Christian. About 40 different Papuan and Malayan languages or dialects are spoken, dominated by Tetum. Portuguese is spoken by a small fraction of the population, but it is one of the country’s two official languages, the other being Tetum; Indonesian and English are considered to be “working” languages.
Nearly all of the population is Roman Catholic, with tiny Protestant and Muslim minorities. Some vestiges of traditional religious beliefs are also practiced in conjunction with Catholicism. About seven-tenths of the population is rural. Of those classified as urban, roughly half live in Dili.
Hydrocarbon production (notably from offshore natural gas deposits) is the most important component of East Timor’s economy in terms of value. Marble quarrying for export is also important. Agriculture, long the mainstay of the economy, still employs the great bulk of the working population; chief products include corn (maize), rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, dried beans, coconuts, and coffee. Manufacturing of textiles, garments, handicrafts, and processed coffee are important. Crafts include pottery, wood and ivory carving, plaiting, coir production, and basket making. Roads running parallel to the northeastern coast link Maubara, Manatuto, Tutuala, and Dili. About half of the roads are paved.
The Ambeno area has valuable sandalwood forests, coconut groves, and rice plantations. Its chief town, Pante Makasar, is a port and has an airport. The hilly offshore island of Atauro, which also has an airport, has a population occupied mainly with fishing. The currency is the U.S. dollar.
The Portuguese first settled on Timor in 1520, and the Spanish arrived in 1522. The Dutch took possession of the western portion of the island in 1613. The British governed the island in 1812–15. The Dutch and the Portuguese fought for supremacy over Timor, and Portuguese sovereignty over the island’s eastern half was settled by treaties in 1860 and 1893, although the latter became effective only in 1914. Japanese forces occupied Timor during World War II. East Timor province, including the Ambeno enclave, thereafter remained in Portuguese possession until 1975, when one of the major political parties there, Fretilin (Frente Revolucionária do Timor-Leste Independente [Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor]), gained control of much of the territory and in November declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Early in December Indonesian forces invaded and occupied the area, and in 1976 Indonesia declared it to be an integral part of that country as the province of East Timor (Timor Timur).
Over the next two decades, tens of thousands of East Timorese died (some observers claim as many as 200,000 perished) resisting the Indonesian occupation and annexation or as a result of famine and disease. In response to mounting international pressure, the Indonesian government authorized a referendum there for August 30, 1999, to determine the future of East Timor. Almost four-fifths of the voters supported independence, and the Indonesian parliament rescinded Indonesia’s annexation of the territory. East Timor was returned to its preannexation status of independence but as a non-self-governing territory under UN supervision. However, the transfer of power was accompanied by violence perpetrated by anti-independence militants. Hundreds of people were killed, and thousands fled to the western half of the island; refugees subsequently began returning home.
In April 2002 Xanana Gusmão—leader of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense; CNRT), one of the former opposition groups—was elected East Timor’s first president. The territory achieved full status as a sovereign state shortly thereafter. Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta—who had been a corecipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Peace—was elected president in May 2007 and succeeded Gusmão. Tensions within the country remained high, however, as indicated by the continued presence of a UN security mission in the country. The situation only worsened after Ramos-Horta swore in Gusmão as prime minister of a coalition government even though the CNRT—renamed, with the same acronym, the National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor (Congresso Nacional de Reconstrução do Timor)—finished second to Fretilin in the July 2007 parliamentary elections.
In February 2008 President Ramos-Horta was seriously injured when he was shot by militant forces in an attempted assassination. He subsequently recovered and served the remainder of his term. Ramos-Horta was unsuccessful in his bid for a second presidential term in 2012, however, and he was succeeded in office by the country’s former army chief, Taur Matan Ruak.
Gusmão’s government weathered the political crisis of 2007–08 and began efforts to improve East Timor’s economy. The country did achieve some significant economic growth during Gusmão’s first term as prime minister, but much of that growth was tied to the heavy dependence on hydrocarbon production. A large proportion of the population still lived in deep poverty, and Gusmão’s government was criticized for having done little to improve conditions for those citizens.
East Timor applied for membership in ASEAN in 2011. When Indonesia’s permanent representative to ASEAN intimated in May 2016 that East Timor would become a member of the organization in 2017, it appeared as if the country’s long wait to join ASEAN was almost over. However, when the Joint Communiqué of ASEAN’s foreign ministers’ meeting was issued in July, it only “looked forward” to “continued discussion” that would take into consideration the results of several feasibility studies, thus leaving the issue of East Timor’s membership unresolved.
The CNRT won a plurality (but not a majority) of seats in the 2012 legislative elections, and Gusmão was again able to form a coalition government. One notable development during his second administration was the departure of the last members of the UN security mission by early 2013. In January 2014 Gusmão announced his intention to step down as prime minister. He delayed that action until mid-February 2015, when he was succeeded by Rui Maria de Araújo of Fretilin, who appointed Gusmão to the post of minister for planning and strategic investment.
With the support of Gusmão and the CNRT, Fretilin’s candidate in the March 2017 presidential election, Francisco Guterres, captured more than 57 percent of the ballots in the first round of voting to exceed the 50 percent threshold necessary to preclude a runoff, and he became the country’s fourth president. A member of the “75 Generation” of resistance fighters who led the struggle for independence, Guterres was better known by his nom de guerre, Lú-Olo. He had run for the presidency unsuccessfully twice before.
|
5341f136c01caaafbe78ec4c4ce7b026 | https://www.britannica.com/place/eastern-Africa | Eastern Africa | Eastern Africa
Eastern Africa, part of sub-Saharan Africa comprising two traditionally recognized regions: East Africa, made up of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda; and the Horn of Africa, made up of Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia.
Eastern Africa consists largely of plateaus and has most of the highest elevations in the continent. The two most striking highlands are in Ethiopia and Kenya, respectively, where large areas reach elevations of 6,500 to 10,000 feet (2,000 to 3,000 metres). Twin parallel rift valleys that are part of the East African Rift System run through the region. The Eastern, or Great, Rift Valley extends from the Red Sea’s junction with the Gulf of Aden southward across the highlands of Ethiopia and Kenya and continues on into Tanzania. The Western Rift Valley curves along the western borders of Uganda and Tanzania. Between the two rift valleys lies a plateau that comprises most of Uganda and western Tanzania and includes Lake Victoria. The volcanic massif of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, reaches 19,340 feet (5,895 metres) in northeastern Tanzania. The Horn of Africa, a major peninsular extension of the African mainland into the Arabian Sea, contains the vast lowland coastal plains of Somalia.
The climate of eastern Africa is generally tropical, though average temperatures tend to be reduced by the region’s high elevations. Precipitation also is affected by varying elevation: Uganda, Tanzania, and western Kenya receive plentiful rainfall, while Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, and northeastern Kenya receive far less. The region’s vegetation ranges from woodlands and grasslands in the wetter regions to thornbushes in semiarid areas. The grasslands of Tanzania and Kenya are renowned for their wildlife, in particular large migratory herds of ungulates (e.g., gnus, zebras, and gazelles) and predators (lions, hyenas, and leopards).
Eastern Africa is populated by 160 different ethnic groups or more, depending on the method of counting. Most of the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia—and some of those in Tanzania and Kenya—speak languages belonging to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Speakers of Nilo-Saharan languages populate Uganda and the rift valley portions of Kenya and Tanzania, while speakers of Bantu languages constitute much of the remainder of these countries’ population.
The largest ethnic groups in eastern Africa are the Oromo, Cushitic speakers who occupy much of southern Ethiopia, and the related Somali, who occupy all of Somalia, southeastern Ethiopia, and much of Djibouti. The Afar are found in both Eritrea and Djibouti. The main ethnic groups of Eritrea, the Tigray and the Tigre, are speakers of Semitic languages. Both the Tigray and the Amhara, another Semitic-speaking group, dominate northwestern Ethiopia. The ethnic fabric in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda is much more fragmented, with many smaller peoples intermingled or occupying discrete territories. The largest numbers of Nilo-Saharan speakers belong to the Luo, Lango, Kalenjin, Maasai, and Karimojong peoples, while the principal Bantu-speaking ethnic groups are the Kikuyu, Chaga, and Kamba.
This article covers the history of the area from ancient times through the 20th century. Coverage of the region’s physical and human geography can be found in the article Africa. For discussion of the physical and human geography of individual countries in the region and of their late colonial and postcolonial history, see Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Area 1,420,236 square miles (3,678,394 square km). Pop. (2009 est.) 293,654,000.
The earliest written accounts of the East African coast occur in the Periplus Maris Erythraei—apparently written by a Greek merchant living in Egypt in the second half of the 1st century ce—and in Ptolemy’s Guide to Geography, the East African section of which, in its extant form, probably represents a compilation of geographic knowledge available at Byzantium about 400. The Periplus describes in some detail the shore of what was to become northern Somalia. Ships sailed from there to western India to bring back cotton cloth, grain, oil, sugar, and ghee, while others moved down the Red Sea to the East African coast bringing cloaks, tunics, copper, and tin. Aromatic gums, tortoiseshell, ivory, and slaves were traded in return.
Because of offshore islands, better landing places, and wetter climate, Arab traders from about 700 seem to have preferred the East African coast to the south of modern Somalia. They sailed there with the northeast monsoon, returning home in the summer with the southwest. They dubbed the part of the coast to which they sailed Azania, or the Land of Zanj—by which they meant the land of the blacks and by which they knew it until the 10th century. South of Sarapion, Nikon, the Pyralaae Islands, and the island of Diorux (about whose precise location only speculation seems possible), the chief town was Rhapta, which may lie buried in the Rufiji delta of present-day Tanzania. Here the situation differed somewhat from that in the north, and, though tortoiseshell and rhinoceros horn were exported from there—as were quantities of ivory and coconut oil—no mention is made of slaves. Rhapta’s main imports were metal weapons and iron tools—suggesting that iron smelting was not yet known. Mafia Island, which lies out to sea here, could perhaps be Menouthias, the only island named in both the Periplus and the Guide, although this could also be either Pemba or Zanzibar (perhaps there has been a conflation of all three in the one name).
There is little information concerning the period until the 8th century. Greek and Roman coins have been found, and there are some accounts of overseas migrations to the coast. No settlements from this period have been found.
A new period opened, it seems, in the 9th century. The first identifiable building sites are dated from this time, and, according to Arab geographers, the East African coast was then generally thought of as being divided into four: (1) Berber (Amazigh) lands, which ran down the Somalian coast to the Shabeelle River, (2) Zanj proper, (3) the land of Sofala in present-day Mozambique, whence gold was beginning to be shipped by about the 10th century, and (4) a vaguely described land of Waq waq, beyond. The only island that is mentioned is Qanbalu, which appears to have been what is now Tanzania’s Pemba Island. Though there is some suggestion that in the 10th century the Muslims had not yet begun to move farther south than Somalia, on Qanbalu they soon became rulers of a pagan population, whose language they adopted. Moreover, at Zanzibar an extant Kūfic inscription (the only one) recording the construction of a mosque by Sheikh al-Sayyid Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad in 1107 confirms that by this time substantial Muslim settlements had been established.
The main coastal settlements were situated on islands, largely, no doubt, because of the greater security these provided against attacks from the mainland; and their populations seem mostly to have been made up from migrants from the Persian Gulf—some from the great port of Sīrāf, others from near Bahrain—though conceivably some too came from Daybul, at the mouth of the Indus River, in northwestern India. They exported ivory (some of it went as far as China) and also tortoiseshell, ambergris, and leopard skins. Such trade goods as they obtained from the interior were apparently bought by barter at the coast.
Ruins at Kilwa, on the southern Tanzanian coast, probably date from the 9th or perhaps from the 8th century. They have revealed an extensive pre-Muslim settlement standing on the edge of what was the finest harbour on the coast. Though there is little evidence to suggest that its inhabitants had any buildings to begin with, wattle-and-daub dwellings appeared in due course, and by the 10th century short lengths of coral masonry wall were being built. The inhabitants, whose main local currency was cowrie shells, traded with the peoples of the Persian Gulf and, by the early 11th century, had first come under Muslim influence. By 1300, like the inhabitants of neighbouring Mafia, they were living in Muslim towns, the rulers of which were Shīʿites. Although no houses were being built of coral, stone mosques were being constructed.
External trade was increasing: glass beads were being imported from India, and porcelains, transshipped either in India or in the Persian Gulf, were arriving from China. There appears also to have been a rather extensive trade with the island of Madagascar.
The most important site of this period yet to have been found is at Manda, near Lamu, on the Kenyan coast. Apparently established in the 9th century, it is distinguished for its seawalls of coral blocks, each of which weighs up to a ton. Though the majority of its houses were of wattle and daub, there were also some of stone. Trade, which seems to have been by barter, was considerable, with the main export probably of ivory. Manda had close trading connections with the Persian Gulf—with Sīrāf in particular. It imported large quantities of Islamic pottery and, in the 9th and 10th centuries, Chinese porcelain. There is evidence of a considerable iron-smelting industry at Manda and of a lesser one at Kilwa.
|
f71e955b1bb8cf000d86e1fc52cc222e | https://www.britannica.com/place/eastern-Africa/The-Horn-of-Africa | The Horn of Africa | The Horn of Africa
The history of the Horn of Africa has largely been dominated by Ethiopia and has been characterized by struggles between Muslim and other herdsmen and Christian farmers for resources and living space. The Christians mostly spoke Semitic languages and the Muslims Cushitic tongues. Although these languages were derived from the same Afro-Asiatic stock, the more apparent differences between the peoples often were excuses for war, which, by the end of the 20th century, was waged under the banner of nationalism and Marxism-Leninism.
When the Ethiopian empire of Aksum emerged into the light of history at the end of the 1st century ce, it was as a trading state known throughout the Red Sea region. Its people spoke Geʿez, a Semitic language, and they mostly worshipped Middle Eastern gods, although here and there a traditional African deity survived. Its port of Adulis received a continuous stream of merchants who offered textiles, glassware, tools, precious jewelry, copper, iron, and steel in return for ivory, tortoiseshell, rhinoceros horn, gold, silver, slaves, frankincense, and myrrh. Aksum, the capital, was five days’ march from the coast onto the Tigray Plateau, from which position it dominated trade routes into the south and west, where the commodities originated.
By the 4th century Aksum had become a regional power and an ally of Constantinople, whose language and culture attracted the ruling elites. Sometime around 321 Emperor Ezana and the Aksumite court converted to the monophysitic Christianity—a belief that Christ had one nature that was both divine and human—of Alexandria’s See of St. Mark. During the next 200 years Christianity penetrated the masses, as foreign and native-born monks proselytized the interior, building churches and establishing monasteries wherever they found pagan temples and shrines.
Through the first half of the 6th century Aksum was the most important state in the Red Sea–Indian Ocean region and even extended its power over the kingdom of the Ḥimyarites on the Arabian Peninsula. In the Horn, Aksum dominated Welo, Tigray, Eritrea, and the important trade routes to and from the Sudan. The capital’s stone buildings, monuments, churches, and 20,000 inhabitants were supported by tribute and taxes extracted from vassals and traders.
In 543 Abraha, the general in charge of Ḥimyar, rebelled and weakened Aksum’s hold over South Arabia. This event marked the end of the empire’s regional hegemony, allowed Persia to assume supremacy, and forced Constantinople into an overland trade route with India and Africa. Aksum’s international trade diminished, a shift reflected in the debasement of the state’s coins. The rise of Islam in Arabia a century later almost completely devastated Aksum, as Muslim sailors swept Ethiopian shipping from the sea-lanes.
Aksum lost its economic vitality, and Adulis and other commercial centres withered. State revenues were greatly reduced, and the government could no longer maintain a standing army, a complex administration, and urban amenities. The culture associated with the outside world quickly became a memory, and Ethiopia learned to exist in local terms. The Christian state moved southward into the rich grain-growing areas of the interior, where the rulers could sustain themselves. There they and the local Cushitic-speaking population, the Agau (Agaw, or Agew), worked out a new political arrangement for Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, another Cushitic people, the Somali, had separated themselves from the Oromo in what is now north-central Kenya. For their livelihood, they depended upon the one-humped Arabian camel, sheep, and goats. During the first centuries ce they migrated in a southeastern direction, finally following the Tana River to the Indian Ocean. They then turned north and peopled the entire Somali peninsula, coming into contact on the coast with Arab and Persian trading communities, from whom they took Islam and a mythological Arabian origin. By the 12th century the entire northern Somali coast was Islamized, providing a basis for proselytism in the interior. But, as the Somali migration and Islam moved westward, they encountered a resurgent Christian Ethiopia.
An amalgamated Christian state, led by Semitized Agau, had reappeared in the 12th century. This Zagwe dynasty gave way in the late 13th century to a dynasty that claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a genealogy providing the legitimacy and continuity so honoured in Ethiopia’s subsequent national history. During the 14th and 15th centuries the Solomonid monarchs expanded their state southward and eastward. By then Muslims dominated Ethiopia’s trade, which exited via Mitsiwa in Eritrea or through Seylac on the northern Somali coast.
The Solomonids permitted Muslim business activities in return for submission and taxes. In 1332 Ifat, a large Muslim polity with its port at Seylac, fed up with being a Christian vassal, declared a holy war against Ethiopia and invaded its territory, destroying churches and forcing conversions to Islam. The Ethiopian emperor, Amda Tseyon, fought back hard, routed the enemy, and carried the frontier of Christian power to the edge of the Shewan Plateau, overlooking the largely Muslim-inhabited Awash valley. One hundred years later, under Emperor Zara Yakob, the Solomonid empire extended its authority southward to modern Bale and Sidamo.
By then Ethiopia faced a challenge from Adal, Ifat’s militant successor. Located in the semidesert Harer region, Adal employed highly mobile Somali and Afar cavalry, whose raiding Ethiopia could not control. Meanwhile, the Solomonid state had begun to decay, owing to succession problems and the sheer complexity of governing a large empire. The Muslims consequently stopped paying tribute and a percentage of their trading profits to the hated Christians. Thereafter, they grew stronger and more daring, responding in part to overpopulation among the Somali.
The distress was exploited by the charismatic Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ghāzī, known to the Ethiopians as Aḥmad Grāñ (“Aḥmad the Left-handed”). A pious, indeed rigorous, Muslim, Aḥmad railed against the secular nature of Adal, mobilized tribesmen to purify the state, and trained his enlistees to use the modern tactics and firearms recently introduced by the Ottomans into the Red Sea region. After he took over Adal about 1526, his refusal to pay tribute triggered a Solomonid invasion in 1527, which his army easily repulsed.
Aḥmad thereupon declared a holy war, led his men into Ethiopia, and won battle after battle, fragmenting the Solomonid state into its component parts. During 1531–32 the Muslims pushed northward, traversing the rich Amhara Plateau north of the Awash and destroying churches and monasteries. Aḥmad Grāñ built a civil administration composed of his own men, remnants of the pre-Solomonid ruling classes, and collaborators. By 1535 he headed a vast Islamic empire stretching from Seylac to Mitsiwa on the coast and including much of the Ethiopian interior, but not the staunchly Christian mountain fastnesses.
There, in 1541, Emperor Galawdewos learned that 400 Portuguese musketeers had disembarked at Mitsiwa in response to pleas for assistance. Though they lost half their strength moving inland, their weapons and tactics inspired Galawdewos to exploit Ethiopia’s difficult terrain by undertaking hit-and-run warfare. Aḥmad never knew where his adversaries would strike and therefore placed his forces in defensive positions, where they lost their mobility, while he and his personal guard acted as a rapidly deployed reserve. Encamped at Weyna Dega near Lake Tana, Aḥmad’s unit was attacked on Feb. 21, 1543, by Galawdewos and a flying column. During the hard-fought battle Aḥmad was killed, and that single death ended the war.
Christian Ethiopia was reprieved, but at a great cost. The country had lost hundreds of thousands of lives, confidence in itself and its religion, and its store of capital. Unable to follow Europe into commercial and then industrial capitalism, Ethiopia rebuilt feudalism, because the state simply had to restore affordable administration. By the early 1550s Galawdewos had fashioned a reasonable facsimile of the high Solomonid empire. Muslims, especially in the border provinces of Ifat, Dawaro (in the modern Arsi region), and Bale, remained disaffected. Christian converts along the periphery of the heartland, south of the Blue Nile and the Awash River, chafed under renewed exploitation, and the Judaized Beta Israel, to the north of Lake Tana, returned to their life of dispossession and economic marginalization. Finally, south of Lake Tana, in modern Gojam, Welega, Ilubabor, Kefa, Gamo Gofa, and Sidamo, a whole range of people remained tributary to the Christian kingdom. From among this last category emerged a new and more fundamental threat to old-fashioned Ethiopia.
The challenge came from the Oromo, a Cushitic-speaking pastoralist people whose original homeland was located on the Sidamo-Borena plain. From there, the related Afar and Somali peoples had hived off northeastward to the Red Sea coast, the Indian Ocean, and the Gulf of Aden, perhaps in some way causing the pressures that finally erupted in Aḥmad Grāñ’s invasion of the Solomonid state. Some Oromo may have climbed onto the high Christian plateaus as early as the late 13th century, only to be repulsed. Garrisons established along the empire’s periphery by Amda Tseyon and Zara Yakob were designed to keep the Oromo out, but, when these defenses were destroyed during the war with Aḥmad Grāñ, the Oromo naturally resumed infiltrating.
The Oromo had an age-set form of government that changed every eight years, when a new warrior class sought its fortune by raiding and rustling in order to provide resources that the natural environment lacked. Every eight years, from the 1540s on, they advanced farther into the well-watered, fertile highlands—a sharp contrast with their arid bush country. Helped by their adversary’s war-weariness, demoralization, and depopulation, the Oromo invariably won territory after territory. By the beginning of the 17th century they had pushed northwestward into the modern regions of Arsi, Shewa, Welega, and Gojam and northeastward into Harerge and Welo, stopping only where they were blocked by forest, high population density, or effective mobilization of Christian forces.
|
ef1a38d7af757e626078f71da17ed47f | https://www.britannica.com/place/Eastern-Alps | Eastern Alps | Eastern Alps
The Eastern Alps, consisting in part of the Rätische range in Switzerland, the Dolomite Alps in Italy, the Bavarian Alps of southern Germany and western Austria, the Tauern Mountains in Austria, the Julian Alps in
Lastly, the Eastern Alps run west to east from the Brenner Pass to Trieste and include the Dolomites (Dolomiti) and Mount Marmolada (10,968 feet [3,343 metres]). The Italian foothills of the Alps, which reach no higher than 8,200 feet (2,500 metres), lie between these great ranges and…
|
00ef100b060eb1a5c6bdb5ce3d7c89bc | https://www.britannica.com/place/Eastham | Eastham | Eastham
Eastham, town (township), Barnstable county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It extends across the northern arm of Cape Cod and includes the village of North Eastham. In December 1620 a shore party of Mayflower Pilgrims landed at the Cape Cod Bay site near the entrance to Wellfleet Harbor and had their first encounter with Native Americans, the Nausets. The meeting is commemorated by a memorial stone adjoining First Encounter Beach. In 1644 Thomas Prence (or Prince), with more than 40 other colonists from Plymouth, returned and organized a settlement known as Nauset, which was incorporated in 1651 and renamed, probably for Eastham, England, or for the settlement’s easterly location. The town’s Old Cove Burial Ground contains the graves of early Pilgrims. After the American Revolution, fishing and coastal trade flourished, but by the mid-19th century farming dominated. The town is now a summer resort and tourist base for Nauset Light Beach, Coast Guard Beach, and other parts of Cape Cod National Seashore. Points of interest include the Eastham Windmill, or Grist Mill (built about 1680), the Swift-Daley House (1741), the Nauset Lighthouse, and the Three Sisters Lighthouses. Area 14 square miles (36 square km). Pop. (2000) 5,453; (2010) 4,956.
|
4552720d8d4f4c8dbbae5e49d4f235c8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Eastmain-River | Eastmain River | Eastmain River
Eastmain River, French Rivière East-main, river in Nord-du-Québec region, western Quebec province, Canada, rising in the Otish Mountains of central Quebec, flowing nearly due west, and discharging into James Bay. Its course of about 500 miles (800 km) is interrupted by numerous falls and rapids. Known earlier under the names of Hudson, Canuse, and Slude, the river was probably discovered in 1685 when the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading post (Eastmain) at its mouth.
|
061e6d3aa199aa0988549d69d20be3b8 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Easton-Maryland | Easton | Easton
Easton, town, seat of Talbot county, eastern Maryland, U.S. It is situated in the tidewater region along the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, near the head of Tred Avon River (estuary). It was settled by Quakers in 1682 and established as a town in 1710 when the area was chosen as the site of the county courthouse (built c. 1712). The town was called Talbot Court House until 1789, when the present name, probably attributable to Easton, England, was adopted.
The town is an agricultural trading centre and has light manufacturing (power tools, distillation equipment, laxatives, and highway flares). The Third Haven Friends Meeting House (1682–84) was the nucleus of an early Quaker settlement and is one of the oldest frame structures for worship in the United States. Nearby are Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (west) and Wye Oak State Park (north), which preserved a 460-year-old white oak, 96 feet (29 metres) high and nearly 32 feet (10 metres) around the trunk, a spectacular example of Maryland’s official state tree; in 2002 the tree was felled in a storm. Easton is noted for its annual Waterfowl Festival (November). Inc. 1906. Pop. (2000) 11,708; (2010) 15,945.
|
68dada553743977bd492f64ea142a3a5 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Eastport | Eastport | Eastport
Eastport, easternmost city of the United States, in Washington county, eastern Maine. It is situated on Moose Island, along Passamaquoddy Bay (bridged to the mainland) of the Atlantic Ocean, 126 miles (203 km) east of Bangor. Settled about 1780, it once included the town of Lubec (which is south and slightly farther east than Eastport) and was known as Moose Island, but upon incorporation as a town (1798) it was renamed for being the nation’s most easterly port. It was captured by British troops during the War of 1812 and remained under martial law until 1818, when it was returned to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Ghent. Eastport was the scene of considerable activity during the 1930s when the federal government began work on the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project to harness the exceptionally high tides (up to 27 feet [8 metres]) of Passamaquoddy Bay for hydroelectric power. The project resulted in the construction of two tidal dams but was never completed.
Eastport’s economy, once heavily dependent on sardine fishing and canning, has diversified. The city has become a major centre of the aquaculture industry; Atlantic salmon are farmed in offshore pens, and nori seaweed is cultivated. Eastport has a textile mill, and logs and paper products are shipped from the city’s deepwater port. Tourism is important. Old Sow, said to be one of the largest whirlpools in the world, is nearby. Pleasant Point, site of the Passamaquoddy Indian Reservation, is just to the north, while across the water to the east is Roosevelt Campobello International Park on Campobello Island. Inc. city, 1893. Pop. (2000) 1,640; (2010) 1,331.
|
08727ff0a266a3646f423b6382d12d6a | https://www.britannica.com/place/Eau-Claire | Eau Claire | Eau Claire
Eau Claire, city, Eau Claire and Chippewa counties, seat (1857) of Eau Claire county, west-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Eau Claire (“Clear Water,” so named by 18th-century French trappers and traders) and Chippewa rivers, 90 miles (150 km) east of St. Paul, Minnesota.
It was settled in 1846 and laid out in 1855 and developed a lumber economy and a strong rivalry with the nearby lumbering community of Chippewa Falls. After local forests were exhausted in the early 20th century, Eau Claire turned to manufacturing (notably, until the early 1990s, rubber tires). The modern economy is based on manufacturing (computer equipment, paper products, and electronics), food processing, and health care; it is also the trading centre for the surrounding agricultural (especially dairying) region. Chippewa Falls, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Eau Claire, is a centre of computer manufacturing and beer production. Eau Claire is the seat of Chippewa Valley Technical College (1912) and the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire (1916). Carson Park, a peninsula on Half Moon Lake, contains the Chippewa Valley Museum and the Paul Bunyan Logging Camp (built in the 1930s), which contains a replica of an 1890s logging camp. Lake Wissota State Park is northeast. Inc. 1872. Pop. (2000) 61,704; Eau Claire Metro Area, 148,337; (2010) 65,883; Eau Claire Metro Area, 161,151.
|
3cc141046c1ba6e18706a67d5d6ad161 | https://www.britannica.com/place/Ech-Cheliff | Ech-Cheliff | Ech-Cheliff
Ech-Cheliff, formerly (until 1981) El-Asnam, or (until 1964) Orléansville, town, northern Algeria. It lies along the Chelif River, south of the Mediterranean Sea port of Ténès. It was founded by the French in 1843 on the site of the ancient Roman settlement of Castellum Tingitanum and is now an important rail junction midway between Algiers and Oran, as well as an agricultural trade centre. In the surrounding region, wheat and barley are the main crops, and citrus fruits, grapes, and beef and dairy cattle are raised in the irrigated areas. Other economic activities include printing, leatherworking, and the processing of fruit juices.
The former El-Asnam area was struck by severe earthquakes in 1954 and 1980; the latter, with a force of about magnitude 7.3, destroyed more than half of the buildings in El-Asnam and killed about 5,000 people. The town’s official name was changed in 1981 because of El-Asnam’s association with earthquake disasters. Pop. (1998) 179,768; (2008) 224,154.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.