- published: 04 Oct 2007
- views: 209421
- author: moots65
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- Afar people
- Agistment
- Agotes
- Albania
- Allgäu
- Alphorn
- Alps
- Altiplano
- Amerindians
- Angola
- Appalachians
- Appenzell
- Apple
- Ardebil
- Argentina
- Aromanians
- Aryan
- Asturias
- Austria
- Bakhtiari people
- Balkan mountains
- Balkans
- Basalt
- Basotho
- Bavaria
- Bee
- Berber people
- Bhutan
- Bishkek
- Bolivia
- Bothy
- Brazil
- Brokeback Mountain
- Bulgaria
- Bulls of Guisando
- Butter
- Cairnamounth
- Cantabria
- Cantabrian Mountains
- Caspian Sea
- Cattle
- Caucasus
- Causey Mounth
- Chad
- Chaouis
- Cheese
- Chile
- China
- Citrus
- County Mayo
- Cowboy
- Cowhand
- Criollo people
- Dairy
- Dalarna
- Dinaric Alps
- Drovers' road
- Droving
- Early Irish law
- Ehden
- Elsick Mounth
- England
- Erris
- Eurasian Steppe
- Fars Province
- Flag of Kyrgyzstan
- Flood-meadow
- France
- Gaucho
- Gausdal
- Georgia (country)
- Ghuzz
- Goat
- Grape
- Grassy bald
- Greece
- Gudbrandsdal
- Gujjar
- Hay
- Heath (habitat)
- Hebrides
- Heidal
- Herd
- Himalaya
- Hindu Kush
- Huaso
- Huns
- Hälsingland
- Härjedalen
- India
- Industrialization
- Iran
- Ireland
- Italy
- Jengis Khan
- Jämtland
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kfarsghab
- Kham Magar
- Kilcommon
- Kuchis
- Kumis
- Kyrgyz people
- Kyrgyzstan
- Lamini
- Latin
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Livestock
- Llanero
- Maasai people
- Madrid
- Makran
- Maloti mountains
- Massif Central
- Meadow
- Medelpad
- Medieval
- Mediterranean
- Mesta
- Middle Ages
- Milk
- Mongolia
- Montane
- Morlachs
- Morocco
- Mulberry
- Mälaren
- Navajo people
- Navarre
- Nepal
- Nomad
- Nomadic pastoralism
- North Africa
- North Governorate
- North Mayo
- Norway
- Norwegian language
- Oghuz Turks
- Old Norse
- Olive
- Ottadal
- Ottoman empire
- Ovambo people
- Pakistan
- Pannage
- Pantanal
- Paraguay
- Pas valley
- Pastoralism
- Pasture
- Patagonia
- Pear
- Perú
- Pig
- Plateau
- Portugal
- Province of Mendoza
- Province of Neuquén
- Public land
- Pyrenees
- Qadisha
- Romania
- Rundale
- Sami people
- Sarakatsani
- Scandinavia
- Schwingen
- Scotland
- Scottish Gaelic
- Scottish Highlands
- Sea-level
- Shah Ismail
- Sheep
- Shepherd
- Shieling
- Silkworm
- Slovenia
- Snowdonia
- Somali people
- South Africa
- Spain
- Stockman (Australia)
- Swedish language
- Swiss Alps
- Switzerland
- Tamerlane
- Tanzania
- Taureg people
- Tibetan Plateau
- Toponymy
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- Tree line
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- Turan
- Turkey
- Ukraine
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- WP IPA for Welsh
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Aegean sea
The Aegean Sea (/ɨˈdʒiːən/; Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος, Egeo Pelagos [eˈʝeo ˈpelaɣos] (
listen); Turkish: Ege Denizi or historically Turkish: Adalar Denizi) is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The Aegean Islands are within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The Aegean Region consists of nine provinces in southwestern Turkey, in part bordering on the Aegean sea.
The sea was traditionally known as Archipelago (in Greek, Αρχιπέλαγος, meaning "chief sea"), but in English this word's meaning has changed to refer to the Aegean Islands and, generally, to any island group.
The Aegean Sea covers about 214,000 square kilometres (83,000 sq mi) in area, and measures about 610 kilometres (380 mi) longitudinally and 300 kilometres (190 mi) latitudinally. The sea's maximum depth is 3,543 metres (11,624 ft), east of Crete. The Aegean Islands are found within its waters, with the following islands delimiting the sea on the south (generally from west to east): Kythera, Antikythera, Crete, Kasos, Karpathos and Rhodes.
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Albania
Albania (
i/ælˈbeɪniə/ al-BAY-nee-ə, Albanian: Shqipëri/Shqipëria; Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë pronounced Albanian pronunciation: [ɾɛpuˈblika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs]), is a country in Southern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 mi) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania is a member of the UN, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe, World Trade Organisation, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and one of the founding members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Albania has been a potential candidate for accession to the European Union since January 2003, and it formally applied for EU membership on 28 April 2009.
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Altiplano
The Altiplano (Spanish for high plain), in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. Lake Titicaca is its best known geographical feature.
The Altiplano is an area of inland drainage (endorheism) lying in the central Andes, occupying parts of northern Chile and Argentina, western Bolivia and southern Peru. Its height averages about 3,750 meters (12,300 feet), slightly less than that of the Tibetan Plateau. Unlike conditions in Tibet, the Altiplano is dominated by massive active volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone to the west, such as Ampato (6288 m), Tutupaca (5816 m), Parinacota (6348 m), Guallatiri (6071 m), Cerro Paroma (5728 m), Cerro Uturuncu (6008 m) and Licancabur (5916 m), and the Cordillera Real in the north east with Illampu (6368 m), Huayna Potosi (6088 m), Ancohuma (6427 m) and Illimani (6438 m). The Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas on the planet, lies to the southwest of the Altiplano; to the east lies the humid Amazon Rainforest.
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Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (Portuguese: República de Angola, pronounced: [ʁɨˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈɡɔla];Kikongo, Kimbundu, Umbundu: Repubilika ya Ngola), is a country in southern Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city. The exclave province of Cabinda has borders with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Portuguese were present in some—mostly coastal—points of the territory of what is now Angola, from the 16th to the 19th century, interacting in diverse ways with the peoples that lived there. In the 19th century they slowly and hesitantly began to establish themselves in the interior. Angola as a Portuguese colony encompassing the present territory was not established before the end of the 19th century, and "effective occupation", as required by the Berlin Conference (1884) was achieved only by the 1920s. Independence was achieved in 1975, after a protracted liberation war. After independence, Angola was the scene of an intense civil war from 1975 to 2002. The country has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy has on average grown at a two-digit pace since the 1990s, especially since the end of the civil war. In spite of this, standards of living remain low for the majority of the population, and life expectancy and infant mortality rates in Angola are among the worst-ranked in the world. At the same time, a minority has reached comfortable life standards, and the dominant stratum has succeeded in accumulating considerable wealth, so that social inequality in Angola is one of the highest in the world.
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Appalachians
The Appalachian Mountains (i/ˌæpəˈleɪʃɨn/ or /ˌæpəˈlætʃɨn/), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period, and once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before they were eroded. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines and valleys oriented in opposition to any road running east-west.
Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines the Appalachian Highlands physiographic division as consisting of thirteen provinces: the Atlantic Coast Uplands, Eastern Newfoundland Atlantic, Maritime Acadian Highlands, Maritime Plain, Notre Dame and Mégantic Mountains, Western Newfoundland Mountains, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, Saint Lawrence Valley, Appalachian Plateaus, New England province, and the Adirondack provinces. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which are often said to have more in common with the Canadian Shield than the Appalachians.
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Ardebil
Ardabil (Persian: اردبیل, also Romanized as Ardabīl and Ardebīl) is a historical city in north-western Iran. The name Ardabil probably comes from the Zoroastrian name of "Artavil" which means a holy place. Ardabil is the center of Ardabil Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 412,669, in 102,818 families. The dominant majority of whom are ethnic Azeris followed by Kurds and Talyshes. Notable for its silk and carpet trade tradition, the ancient Ardabil Carpets are considered some of the best of the classical Persian carpet creations. Ardabil is also known as the seat of a World Heritage Site: the sanctuary and tomb of Shaikh Safî ad-Dîn, eponym of the Safavid Dynasty.
Ardabil is about 70 km from the Caspian Sea, 210 km from the city of Tabriz. It has an average altitude of 1263 m and total area of 18.011 km².
Neighboring on the Caspian Sea and the Republic of Azerbaijan, this city is of great political and economical significance.
The province of Ardabil has been blessed with splendid natural beauty and numerous sights.
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Argentina
Argentinai/ˌɑrdʒənˈtiːnə/, officially the Argentine Republic (Spanish: República Argentina [reˈpuβlika aɾxenˈtina]), is a country in South America, the continent's second largest by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth-largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.
Argentina's continental area is between the Andes mountain range in the west and the Atlantic Ocean in the east. It borders Paraguay and Bolivia to the north, Brazil and Uruguay to the northeast, and Chile to the west and south. Argentine claims over Antarctica, as well as overlapping claims made by Chile and the United Kingdom, are suspended by the Antarctic Treaty of 1961. Argentina also claims the Falkland Islands (Spanish: Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom as British Overseas Territories.
A recognised middle power, Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy, with a "very high" rating on the Human development index. Within Latin America, Argentina has the fifth highest nominal GDP per capita and the highest in purchasing power terms. Analysts have argued that the country has a "foundation for future growth due to its market size, levels of foreign direct investment, and percentage of high-tech exports as share of total manufactured goods", and it is classed by investors as middle emerging economy. Argentina is a founding member of the United Nations, Mercosur, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, and is one of the G-15 and G-20 major economies.
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Asturias
Asturias (English /əˈstʊriəs/, /əˈstjʊəriəs/, /ɑːˈstʊərjəs/), officially the Principality of Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias [pɾinθiˈpaðo ðe asˈtuɾjas]; Asturian: Principáu d'Asturies [pɾinθiˈpaw ðasˈtuɾjes]), is an autonomous community of Spain. It is coextensive with the province of Asturias, and contains nearly all of the territory that was part of the Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages. The autonomous community of Asturias is bordered by Cantabria to the east, by Castile and León to the south, by Galicia to the west, and by the Bay of Biscay to the north.
The most important cities are the communal capital, Oviedo (Uviéu), the seaport and largest city Gijón (Xixón), and the industrial town of Avilés. Other popular municipalities include Cangas de Onís (Cangues d'Onís), Cangas del Narcea, Gozón, Grado (Grau), Langreo (Llangréu), Laviana (Llaviana), Lena (Ḷḷena), Llanes, Mieres, Siero, Valdés, Vegadeo (A Veiga) and Villaviciosa (see also List of municipalities and comarcas in Asturias).
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: 
Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Balkan mountains
The Balkan mountain range (Bulgarian and Serbian: Стара планина, Stara planina, "Old Mountain"; Bulgarian pronunciation: [ˈstarɐ plɐniˈna]; Serbian pronunciation: [stâːraː planǐna]) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka / Vrška Čuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea. The highest peaks of the Stara planina are in central Bulgaria. The highest peak is Botev (2,376 m), located in the Central Balkan National Park (established 1991). The mountain gives the name of the Balkan Peninsula. Stara planina played an enormous role in the history of Bulgaria and the development of the Bulgarian nation and people.
In earlier times the mountains were known as the Haemus Mons. Scholars consider that Haemus (Greek Haimos) is derived from an unattested Thracian word[dubious – discuss][citation needed] *saimon, meaning 'mountain range'. Other names used to refer to the mountains in different time periods include Aemon, Haemimons, Hem, Emus, the Slavonic Matorni gori, the Turkish Kodzhabalkan and Balkan. "Balkan" comes from a Turkish word meaning "a chain of wooded mountains". In places like Turkmenistan and the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea one still encounters this name, such as the Balkan Peninsula and the Balkan Province in Turkmenistan.
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Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈbaɪ.ɐn] ( listen)), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany. Bavaria is Germany's second most populous state (after North Rhine-Westphalia), with 12.5 million inhabitants, more than any of the three sovereign states on its borders. Bavaria's capital is Munich.
One of the oldest states of Europe, it was established as a duchy in the mid first millennium. In the 17th century, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, and Bavaria has since been a free state (republic). Modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia.
The Bavarians emerged in a region north of the Alps, originally inhabited by the Gauls, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Raetia and Noricum. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, probably did not migrate from elsewhere. Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, Heruli. The name "Bavarian" ("Baiuvarii") means "Men of Baia" which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources c. 520. Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early-8th century. Bavaria was, for the most part, unaffected by the Protestant Reformation.
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Bhutan
Coordinates: 27°25′01″N 90°26′06″E / 27.417°N 90.435°E / 27.417; 90.435
Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, tr ʼbrug-yul, "Druk Yul"; Devanagari भूटान, Bhūṭān), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby country of Nepal to the west by the Indian state of Sikkim, and from Bangladesh to the south by the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.
Bhutan existed as a patchwork of minor warring fiefdoms until the early 17th century, when the area was unified by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who fled religious persecution in Tibet and cultivated a separate Bhutanese identity. In the early 20th century, Bhutan came into contact with the British Empire, after which Bhutan continued strong bilateral relations with India upon its independence. In 2006, Business Week rated Bhutan the happiest country in Asia and the eighth-happiest in the world, based on a global survey.
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Bishkek
Bishkek (in Kyrgyz and Russian: Бишкек), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and the largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of Chuy Province which surrounds the city, even though the city itself is not part of the province but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
The name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz word for a churn used to make fermented mare's milk (kumis), the Kyrgyz national drink. Founded in 1825 as the Kyrgyz-Khokand fortress of "Bishkek", then, in 1862, named as the Russian fortress Pishpek (крепость Пишпек), in 1926 the city was renamed Frunze (Фрунзе), after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament restored the city's historical name.
Bishkek is situated at about 800 metres (2,600 ft) altitude just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range, which rises up to 4,855 metres (15,928 ft) and provides a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan. The Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur line.
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Bolivia
Coordinates: 16°42′43″S 64°39′58″W / 16.712°S 64.666°W / -16.712; -64.666 Bolivia (i/bəˈlɪviə/, Spanish: [boliˈβja]) officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia (Spanish: Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, Quechua: Bulivya Mamallaqta, Aymara: Wuliwya Suyu), is a landlocked country in central South America. It is bordered by Brazil to the north and east, Paraguay and Argentina to the south, Chile to the southwest, and Peru to the west.
Prior to European colonization, the Andean region of Bolivia was a part of the Inca Empire – the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century. During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called Upper Peru and was under the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included most of Spain's South American colonies. After declaring independence in 1809, 16 years of war followed before the establishment of the Republic, named for Simón Bolívar, on 6 August 1825. Bolivia has struggled through periods of political instability, dictatorships and economic woes.
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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Bulgaria
Coordinates: 42°45′N 25°30′E / 42.75°N 25.5°E / 42.75; 25.5
Bulgariai/bʌlˈɡɛəriə/ (Bulgarian: България, IPA: [bɤ̞ɫˈɡarijɐ]), is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and the Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 14th-largest country. Its location has made it a historical crossroad for various civilisations and as such it is the home of some of the earliest metalworking, religious and other cultural artifacts in the world.
Prehistoric cultures began developing on Bulgarian lands during the Neolithic period. Its ancient history was marked by the presence of the Thracians, and later by the Greeks and Romans. The emergence of a unified Bulgarian ethnicity and state dates back to the First Bulgarian Empire, which dominated most of the Balkans and functioned as a cultural hub for Slavic peoples during the Middle Ages. With the downfall of the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1396, its territories came under Ottoman rule for nearly five hundred years. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 resulted in the Third Bulgarian State, recognised in 1908. The following years saw several conflicts with its neighbours, which prompted Bulgaria to align with Germany in both World Wars. In 1946 it became a Communist republic with a single-party system until 1989, when the Communist Party allowed multi-party elections. After 1990 Bulgaria transitioned to democracy and a market-based economy.
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Bulls of Guisando
The Bulls of Guisando (Spanish: Toros de Guisando) are a set of celtiberian sculptures located on the hill of Guisando in the municipality of El Tiemblo, Ávila, Spain. The sculptures, made of granite, represent quadrupeds identified as bulls or pigs. The balance of opinion favours bulls: there are holes which have been interpreted as sockets for horns.
The Bulls of Guisando are examples of a type of ancient sculpture called verracos of which hundreds are known. They are associated with the territory of a celtiberian tribe called the Vettones. The Bulls may have been made during the 2nd century BC. Whether they are in their original position is debatable. There are some Latin graffiti on them which may mean they were repositioned in Roman times.
The field around the Bulls was the place where the Treaty of the Bulls of Guisando was signed between Henry IV of Castile and his half-sister Isabella of Castille on September 18, 1468, which granted her the title of Princess of Asturias thus ending a civil war in Castile.
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Cantabria
Cantabria (English /kænˈtɑːbriə/, /kænˈtæbriə/; Spanish: [kanˈtaβɾja]) is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community (province of Biscay), on the south by Castile and León (provinces of León, Palencia and Burgos), on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay).
Cantabria belongs to Green Spain, the name given to the strip of land between the Bay of Biscay and the Cantabrian Mountains, so called because of its particularly lush vegetation, due to the wet and moderate oceanic climate. The climate is strongly influenced by Atlantic Ocean winds trapped by the mountains; the average precipitation is about 1,200 mm (47 inches).
Cantabria is the richest region in the world for archaeological sites from the Upper Paleolithic period, although the first signs of human occupation date from Lower Paleolithic. The most significant site for cave paintings is that in the cave of Altamira, dating from about 16,000 to 9000 BC and declared, along with nine other Cantabrian caves, as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
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Cantabrian Mountains
The Cantabrian Mountains or Cantabrian Range (Spanish: Cordillera Cantábrica) are one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. They extend for more than approximately 180 miles (300 km) across northern Spain, from the western limit of the Pyrenees to the edges of the Galician Massif close to Galicia, along the coast of the Cantabrian Sea. The Cantabrian Mountains offer a wide range of trails for hiking, as well as many challenging climbing routes. Skiing is possible in the ski resorts of Alto Campoo, Valgrande-Pajares and Manzaneda.
These mountains are a distinct physiographic province of the larger Alpine System physiographic division. Their easternmost end meets the Sistema Ibérico.
The Cantabrian Mountains stretch east-west, nearly parallel to the sea, as far as the pass of Leitariegos, also extending south between León and Galicia. The range's western boundary is marked by the valley of the river Miño (Portuguese: Minho), by the lower Sil, which flows into the Miño, and by the Cabrera River, a small tributary of the Sil.
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Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia (for endonyms, see below), is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea. It is home to the Caucasus Mountains, which contain Europe's highest mountain, Mt. Elbrus. Politically, the Caucasus region is separated between northern and southern parts.
The northern portion of the Caucasus is known as the Ciscaucasus and the southern portion as the Transcaucasus.
The Ciscaucasus contains the larger majority of the Greater Caucasus Mountain range, also known as the Major Caucasus mountains. It includes Southwestern Russia and northern parts of Georgia and Azerbaijan.
The Transcaucasus is bordered on the north by Russia, on the west by the Black Sea and Turkey, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. It includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands. All of Armenia, Azerbaijan (excluding the northern parts) and Georgia (excluding the northern parts) are in South Caucasus.
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Causey Mounth
The Causey Mounth is an ancient drovers' road over the coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This route was developed as the main highway between Stonehaven and Aberdeen around the 12th century AD and it continued to function as the principal route connecting these two cities until the mid 20th century, when modern highway construction of the A90 road occurred in this area. There are extant paved and usable sections of this road over part of the alignment; however, many parts of the ancient route are no more than footpaths, and in some cases the road has vanished into agricultural fields. Constructed in the Middle Ages, the Causey Mounth was created as an elevated rock causeway to span many of the boggy areas such as the Portlethen Moss. A considerable portion of the alignment of the Causey Mounth is illustrated on the UK Ordnance Survey Map. although a large fraction of the route cannot be navigated by a conventional passenger vehicle (particularly at the crossing of the Burn of Pheppie).
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Chad
Chadi/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.
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Chile
Chile (i/ˈtʃɪliː/ or /ˈtʃɪleɪ/), officially the Republic of Chile (Spanish: República de Chile [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈtʃile] ( listen)), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Along with Ecuador, it is one of two countries in South America that do not border Brazil. Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica, although all claims are suspended under the Antarctic Treaty.
Chile's distinctive shape—4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide—makes it the longest country in the world, north to south, with the fifth lengthiest coastline at over 78 thousand kilometers. The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama—through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an Oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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County Mayo
County Mayo (Irish: Contae Mhaigh Eo) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552 according to the 2011 census. The county was formed in 1585, and its boundaries reflect the Mac William Íochtar lordship at that time.
Mayo is the third largest of Ireland’s 32 counties in area and 15th largest in terms of population. It is the second largest of Connacht’s five counties in both size and population. The main population centres are Castlebar and Ballina, located in the centre and in the north-east of the county respectively. There is a distinct geological difference between the north and the south of the county. The north consists largely of poor subsoils and is covered with large areas of extensive Atlantic blanket-bog, whereas the south is largely a limestone landscape. Agricultural land is therefore more productive in the south than in the north.
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Dalarna
Dalarna (help·info), English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States.
Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland. It is also bounded by Norway in the west.
The word "Dalarna" means "the dales" (valleys). The area is a popular vacation destination for Swedes from the south, who often travel there to relax during summer vacations, drawn by good fishing lakes, beautiful campgrounds, and deep forests. Many such Swedes own or rent a second residence in Dalarna, where they are likely to have a vegetable garden and apple trees. In mid-June, summerfest celebrations and dances are held in many of the small villages and, of course, in the larger cities. Dalarna is a region full of historical associations, possessing strong local characteristics in respect of its products, and especially of its people. In the western districts of Älvdalen and Lima some people in villages speak a traditional dialect, the Dalecarlian language. Historically, the people of Dalecarlia - called Dalecarlians, or Dalesmen (dalkarlar, dalmasar) and Daleswomen (dalkullor) - are famous for their love of independence.
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Ehden
Ehden (اٍهدن in Arabic) is a mountainous town situated in the heart of the northern mountains of Lebanon and on the southwestern slopes of Mount Makmal and Kornet el Sawda, the highest peak in Lebanon. Its occupants are primarily the people of Zgharta as it is part of the Zgharta District.
The mountain town is located 1500 m above sea level, and is 25 km from Zgharta, 110 km from Beirut (the country’s capital) and 30 km from Tripoli, Lebanon.
Ehden is a famous summer resort and touristic center often called "the Bride of Summer Resorts in the North of Lebanon."
Gastronomy is one of the most prominent tourist attractions in Ehden, especially in summer. Kebbeh Meshwyeh (krass), a traditional cuisine, is particularly notable in this town.
Ehden is derived from Aramaic, meaning "the mountain’s base and slope". The location of Ehden at the base of Mar Sarkis Mountain supports this explanation. This view is supported by Anis Frayha who writes:
The name of Ehden comes from Adon, Adonis meaning "power, stability and tranquillity". It is corroborated by the Arabic root Hdn meaning "steadiness, calm and fertility". Adon means also "the base and the mountaintop" translating into "top of the mountain and its base".
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England
Englandi/ˈɪŋɡlənd/ is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separate it from continental Europe. Most of England comprises the central and southern part of the island of Great Britain in the North Atlantic. The country also includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight.
The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Palaeolithic period, but it takes its name from the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in AD 927, and since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century, has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world. The English language, the Anglican Church, and English law—the basis for the common law legal systems of many other countries around the world—developed in England, and the country's parliamentary system of government has been widely adopted by other nations. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the world's first industrialised nation. England's Royal Society laid the foundations of modern experimental science.
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Erris
Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over 210,000 acres (850 km2), much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name Erris derives from the Irish 'Iar Ros' meaning 'western promontory'. To its north is the wild Atlantic Ocean and the bays of Broadhaven and Sruth Fada Conn and to its west is Blacksod Bay. Its main promontories are the Doohoma Peninsula, Mullet Peninsula, Erris Head, the Dún Chiortáin and Dún Chaocháin peninsulas and Benwee Head.
There are five Catholic parishes in Erris: Kilcommon, Kilmore, Kiltane, Belmullet and Ballycroy.
Much of Erris is a Gaeltacht area, with first-language speakers of Irish in the following areas of the barony: An Fál Mór, Tamhaiin na hUltaí, Glais, Eachléim, Tearmann, Tránn, An Mullach Rua, Cartúr, An Baile Úr, Cill Ghallagáin, Ceathrú na gCloch, Port a' Chluaidh, Ros Dumhach and Ceathrú Thaidhg. The area with the most Irish speakers is Ceathrú Thaidhg.
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Fars Province
Coordinates: 29°37′N 52°32′E / 29.617°N 52.533°E / 29.617; 52.533
Fars Province (Persian: استان فارس Ostān-e Fārs pronounced [fɑː(r)s]), originally spelled Pars (پارس), is one of the 31 provinces and known as Cultural Capital of Iran. It is in the south of the country and its center is Shiraz. It has an area of 122,400 km². In 2006, this province had a population of 4.57 million people, of which 61.2% were registered as urban dwellers, 38.1% villagers, and 0.7% nomad tribes. The etymology of the word "Persian" (Pārs-ian : پارسیان) is derived from the cultural capital of Iran and found in many ancient names associated with Iran.
Fars or Pars is the original homeland of the Persian people. The native name of the Persian language is Fârsi or Pârsi. Persia and Persian both derive from the Hellenized form Πέρσις Persis of the root word Pârs. The Old Persian word was Pârsâ.
The word Fars is derived from 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 Pârsa, the Old Persian name for Persia and its capital, Persepolis. Fars is the Arabized version of Pârs, as Arabic has no [p] phoneme.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] ( listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Georgia (country)
Georgiai/ˈdʒɔrdʒə/ (Georgian: საქართველო Sakartvelo, IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen)) is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.
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Greece
Greecei/ˈɡriːs/ (Greek: Ελλάδα, Ellada, IPA: [eˈlaða] ( listen) historically in Katharevousa and Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellas, IPA: [eˈlas] and [helːás] respectively), officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Elliniki Dimokratia, IPA: [eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia]), is a country in Southern Europe, politically considered part of Western Europe.Athens is the capital and the largest city in the country (its urban area also including Piraeus). The population of the country is around 11 million.
Greece has land borders with Albania, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of mainland Greece, the Ionian Sea to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km (8,498 mi) in length, featuring a vast number of islands (approximately 1,400, of which 227 are inhabited), including Crete, the Dodecanese, the Cyclades, and the Ionian Islands among others. Eighty percent of Greece consists of mountains, of which Mount Olympus is the highest at 2,917 m (9,570 ft).
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Hebrides
The Hebrides ( /ˈhɛbrɨdiːz/; Scottish Gaelic: Innse Gall) comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English-speaking peoples. This diversity is reflected in the names given to the islands, which are derived from the languages that have been spoken there in historic and perhaps prehistoric times.
A variety of artists have been inspired by their Hebridean experiences. Today the economy of the islands is dependent on crofting, fishing, tourism, the oil industry and renewable energy. The Hebrides lack biodiversity in comparison to mainland Britain, but these islands have much to offer the naturalist. Seals, for example, are present around the coasts in internationally important numbers.
The Hebrides have a diverse geology ranging in age from Precambrian strata that are amongst the oldest rocks in Europe to Tertiary igneous intrusions.
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Hindu Kush
Coordinates: 35°N 71°E / 35°N 71°E / 35; 71
The Hindu Kush (Pashto/Persian: ھندوکُش, Urdu: سلسلہ کوہ ہندوکش) is an 800 km (500 mi) long mountain range that stretches between central Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. The highest point in the Hindu Kush is Tirich Mir (7,708 m or 25,289 ft) in Chitral District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
It is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakoram Range, and is a sub-range of the Himalayas.
The names Hindu Kush (Persian: ھندوکُش), Hindu Kūh (ھندوکوه) and Kūh-e Hind (کوهِ ھند) are usually applied to the entire range separating the basins of the Kabul and Helmand rivers from that of the Amu River (ancient Oxus) or more specifically to that part of the range, northwest of the Afghan capital Kabul. Sanskrit documents refer to the Hindu Kush as Pāriyātra Parvata (पारियात्र पर्वत). Greek geographers adapted the Sanskrit to "Paropanisadae" by Greeks in the late first millennium BC.
The Persian-English dictionary indicates that the word 'Kush' is derived from the verb Kushtar - to slaughter or carnage. Kush is probably also related to the verb Koshtan, meaning to kill.
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Hälsingland
Hälsingland (help·info) is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. It borders to Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and to the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland.
In English the province is sometimes referred to as Helsingia.
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Hälsingland the province constitutes the northern part of the administrative county, län, Gävleborg County. Minor parts of the province are in Jämtland County and in Västernorrland County.
The coat of arms were granted in 1560 in the era of King Gustav Vasa. At that time, Hälsingland was known for its large scale goat breeding, and the arms depicted a standing goat facing heraldic right. Blazon: Sable, a Goat rampant Or attired and hoofed Gules. This, combined with the arms of Gästrikland, forms the coat of arms for Gävleborg County.
The terrain is mostly of the mountainous rocky, sloping down towards the coast. The highest elevation in its northern parts is 530 meters, and 600 meters in the western parts. Circa 85% of the land area is covered with woods, and the wood industry has historically been the main source of income. Apart from some areas around the river systems, notable around river Ljusnan, the soil is barren. Large areas consist of rocks and bogs, and is additionally unsuitable for agriculture.
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Härjedalen
Härjedalen (help·info) is a historical province or landskap in the centre of Sweden. It borders the country of Norway as well as the provinces of Dalarna, Hälsingland, Medelpad, and Jämtland. The province originally belonged to Norway, but was ceded to Sweden in the Treaty of Brömsebro, 1645.
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no current administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Härjedalen there is a municipality, kommun, Härjedalen Municipality, which is located in the southern part of Jämtland County. The municipality does not exactly correspond to the province, but is larger.
The arms is represented with a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Argent a Sledgehammer Sable with Core Gules between Tongs of the second and two Hammers adorsed in pale of the second handled Gules.". It was granted in 1660. Since 1974 Härjedalen Municipality uses the same coat of arms, but without the coronet.
Four-fifths of the province is situated above 500 metres of altitude, constituting a part of the Scandinavian mountain range. Sweden's highest village Högvålen, at 835 metres, is also within the province.
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′N 08°00′W / 53.333°N 8°W / 53.333; -8
Ireland (pronounced [ˈaɪrlənd] ( listen); Irish: Éire [ˈeːɾʲə] ( listen); Ulster Scots: Airlann or Airlan) is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth. To its east is the larger island of Great Britain, from which it is separated by the Irish Sea.
Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the northeast of the island. The population of Ireland is approximately 6.4 million. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland and just under 1.8 million live in Northern Ireland.
Relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain epitomise Ireland's geography with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild but changeable oceanic climate, which avoids extremes in temperature. Thick woodlands covered the island until the 17th century. Today, it is one of the most deforested areas in Europe. There are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jämtland
Jämtland (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjɛmtˌlanː] ( listen)) (Latin: Iemptia) or Jamtland (Jamtish: [ˈjamtˌlanː]) is a historical province or landskap in the center of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders to Härjedalen and Medelpad in the south, Ångermanland in the east, Lapland in the north and Trøndelag and Norway in the west. Jämtland covers an area of 34,009 square kilometres, 8.3% of Sweden's total area and is the second largest province in Sweden. It has a population of 112,717, the majority of whom live in Storsjöbygden, the area surrounding lake Storsjön. Östersund is Jämtland's only city and is the 24th most populous city in Sweden.
Jämtland was originally an autonomous peasant republic, its own nation with its own law, currency[citation needed] and parliament. However, Jämtland lacked a public administration and is thus best regarded as an anarchy, in its true meaning.[clarification needed] Jämtland was conquered by Norway in 1178 and stayed Norwegian for over 450 years until it was ceded to Sweden in 1645. The province has since been Swedish for roughly 350 years, though the population did not gain Swedish citizenship until 1699. The province's identity is manifested with the concept of a republic within the kingdom of Sweden[citation needed], although this is only done semi-seriously.
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Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan (i/ˌkɑːzəkˈstɑːn/ or /ˌkæzəkˈstæn/) (Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, pronounced [qɑzɑqstɑ́n]; Russian: Казахстан [kəzɐxˈstan]), officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Europe. The ninth largest country in the world by land area, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of 2,727,300 square kilometres (1,053,000 sq mi) is larger than Western Europe. It is neighbored clockwise from the north by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and also borders on a significant part of the Caspian Sea. Although Kazakhstan does not share a border with Mongolia, its most easterly point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Mongolia's western tip. The terrain of Kazakhstan ranges from flatlands, steppes, taigas, rock-canyons, hills, deltas, and snow-capped mountains to deserts. With 16.6 million people (2011 estimate) Kazakhstan has the 62nd largest population in the world, though its population density is less than 6 people per square kilometre (15 per sq. mi.). The capital was moved in 1998 from Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city, to Astana.
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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
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Kfarsghab
Kfarsghab ( known also as Kfar Sghab, Kafarsghab or Kfarseghab; Arabic: كفرصغاب, pronounced [kafarsˤiɣaːb] ( listen)) is a village located in the Zgharta District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. It is situated in the Valley of Qadisha, which is considered a holy and spiritual place in Eastern Christianity.
Kfarsghab is composed of two geographically separated settlements: Kfarsghab, a high mountain village, and Morh Kfarsghab, a plain village, respectively inhabited in summers and in winters. It is a typical organization of pastoral and agricultural Mediterranean communities where seasonal fixed transhumance is still practised.
The Lebanese hailing from Kfarsghab number 20,000 worldwide. 95% of them live outside Lebanon, mainly in Australia and the United States. The population is Maronite Catholic.
The Semitic name of Kfarsghab is composed of two parts: kfar and sghab. The first part, kfar, comes from the Semitic root kpr which in the context corresponds to the common Semitic noun kapar that means village. For the second part, sghab, it comes from the Semitic root sgb which means to make strong, safe. A second possibility could be the name of a person Segub.
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Kilcommon
Kilcommon (Irish: Cill Chomáin) is a civil parish in Erris, north Mayo consisting of two large peninsulas; Dún Chaocháin and Dún Chiortáin. It consists of 37 townlands, some of which are so remote that they have no inhabitants. Habitation is concentrated mainly along both sides of Sruwaddacon Bay which flows into Broadhaven Bay, in villages including Glengad, Pollathomas, Rossport and Carrowteige, and in the Glenamoy area further inland.
Kilcommon parish takes it name from St. Comán who lived around the end of the sixth century AD. The saint is allegedly buried in the old church yard at Pollatomais, near to the entrance where the walls of the old Church can still be seen. In the Ordnance Survey Letters of 1838 (O'Donovan), the writers says "of the old church itself only a part of one gable remains from which little can be learned of its style or age".
Much of the Kilcommon landscape of elevated moorland, borders the Atlantic coast. It is a wild and rugged landscape with large tracts of blanket bog, tiny isolated villages, white sandy beaches and towering cliffs of Benwee Head which, for thousands of years has remained relatively unscathed by over-development by successive generations of Kilcommon inhabitants. Farming is small scale non-intensive. Situated at the mouth of Broadhaven Bay, on its 21st century surface, Kilcommon is characterised by its scenery, huge towering cliffs and rugged sea stacks interspersed with miles of white sandy beaches, tranquil islands and vast tracts of blanket bog with its rare and fragile biodiversity. Unlike the west of Ireland landscape further south in Galway and Clare, there are few huge rocks randomly scattered across this landscape.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Lesotho
Lesotho (i/lɨˈsuːtuː/ li-SOO-too), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, completely surrounded by its only neighboring country, the Republic of South Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. About 40% of the population live below the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day.
The earliest known inhabitants of the area were Khoisan hunter-gatherers. They were largely replaced by Wasja-speaking tribes during Bantu migrations. The Sotho-Tswana people colonized the general region of South Africa between the 3rd and 11th centuries.
The present Lesotho (then called Basutoland) emerged as a single polity under king Moshoeshoe I in 1822. Moshoeshoe, a son of Mokhachane, a minor chief of the Bakoteli lineage, formed his own clan and became a chief around 1804. Between 1821 and 1823, he and his followers settled at the Butha-Buthe Mountain, joining with former adversaries in resistance against the Lifaqane associated with the reign of Shaka Zulu from 1818 to 1828.[citation needed]
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Madrid
Madrid (English /məˈdrɪd/, Spanish: [ma'ðrid]) is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third largest in the European Union after London and Paris. The city spans a total of 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).
The city is located on the Manzanares river in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political centre of Spain. The current mayor is Ana Botella from the People's Party (PP).
Madrid urban agglomeration has the 3rd largest GDP in the European Union and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, environment, media, fashion, science, culture, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, and market size, Madrid is considered the major financial centre of Southern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula; it hosts the head offices of the vast majority of the major Spanish companies, such as Telefónica, Iberia or Repsol. Madrid is the most touristic city of Spain, the fourth-most touristic of the continent, and is the 10th most livable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2010 index. Madrid also ranks among the 12 greenest European cities in 2010. Madrid is currently a Candidate City for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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Makran
Makran (Persian: مکران) (pronounced [mæk'rɑːn]) is a semi-desert coastal strip in the south of Sindh and Balochistan, in Pakistan and Iran, along the coast of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. The name Makran derives from Maka, borne by an overlapping satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire.
Maka was an important early eastern satrapy of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Makra corresponds to modern day Bahrain, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, plus the northern half of Oman as well as Balochistan and the Sindh province of Pakistan.Cyrus the Great united several ancient Iranian tribes to create an empire.
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Maloti mountains
The Maloti Mountains, also spelled Maluti (Afrikaans: Malutiberge), are a mountain range of the highlands of the Kingdom of Lesotho. They extend for about 100 km into the Free State. The Maloti Range is part of the Drakensberg system that includes ranges across large areas of South Africa.
The range forms a high alpine basalt plateau up to 3400m in height. The highest point, 3482 m high Thabana Ntlenyana, is located in the north-east of the range. It is the highest peak of Southern Africa, and the highest in Africa south of the Kilimanjaro. The 3291 m high Namahadipiek, the highest mountain in the Free State, is also part of the Maloti Range. Snow and frost may be found even in summer on the highest peaks.
The sources of two of the principal rivers in South Africa, the Orange River, known as Senqu in Lesotho, and the Tugela River, are in these mountains. Tributaries of the Caledon River, known as Mohokare in Lesotho, which forms the country's western border, also rise here.
The Golden Gate Highlands National Park includes parts of the northeastern end of the Maloti Range. Other parks in this high mountain area are the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho and the uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park spanning parts of both KwaZulu-Natal province and Lesotho. These parks are part of the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area.
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Massif Central
The Massif Central (Occitan: Massís Central / Massís Centrau) is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux.
Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,000 years, these central mountains are separated from the Alps by a deep north-south cleft created by the Rhône River and known in French as the sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhône").
The region was a barrier to communication until the opening of the A75 motorway, which not only made north-south travel easier, but also opened up the Massif Central itself.
It is situated in the middle of southern France and it covers 15 percent of the country.
The following départements are generally considered as part of the Massif Central: Allier, Ardèche, Aude, Aveyron, Cantal, Corrèze, Creuse, Gard, Haute-Loire, Haute-Vienne, Hérault, Loire, Lot, Lozère, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône and Tarn.
The following régions are part of the Massif Central: Auvergne, Limousin. Part of the following régions are in the Massif Central: Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées, and Rhône-Alpes.
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Medelpad
Medelpad (help·info) is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Hälsingland, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Ångermanland and the Gulf of Bothnia.
The province is a part of Norrland and as such considered to be Northern Sweden, although the province geographically is located in the middle of Sweden. It is a common misconception that name "Medelpad" ("middle land" or "middle ground") reflects this, but the name actually refers to the fact that most of the province lies between its two rivers Ljungan and Indalsälven.
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Medelpad the province roughly comprises the southern part of the administrative county, län, Västernorrland County.
The arms of Medelpad symbolises the land between the two rivers Ljungan and Indalsälven. As with other Swedish provinces the arms can be represented showing a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Four times parted per fess wavy, Azure, Argent, Gules, Argent and Azure."
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Mongolia
Mongoliai/mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ (Mongolian: Монгол улс (help·info), literally Mongol country/state) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
The area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Gökturks and others. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols returned to their earlier pattern of constant internal conflict and occasional raids on the Chinese borderlands. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Mongolia came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism. At the end of the 17th century, all of Mongolia had been incorporated into the area ruled by the Qing Dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence, but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish de facto independence from the Republic of China, and until 1945 to gain international recognition.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Navarre
Navarre (English /nəˈvɑr/; Spanish: Navarra; Basque: Nafarroa), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre (Spanish: Comunidad Foral de Navarra [komuniˈðað foˈɾal de naˈβara]; Basque: Nafarroako Foru Erkidegoa [nafaroako foɾu erkidegoa]), is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France. The capital is the city of Pamplona (or Iruña in Basque).
During the time of the Roman Empire, the territory of the province was inhabited by the Vascones, a pre-Roman tribe who populated the southern slopes of the Pyrenees. In the northern, mountaineous areas the Vascones escaped large-scale Roman settlement but not so in the flatter areas to the south which were amenable to large-scale Roman farming.
The area was never fully subjugated either by the Visigoths or by the Moors. In AD 778, the Basques defeated a Frankish army in the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. Two generations later, in 824, the chieftain Iñigo Arista was chosen King of Pamplona, laying a foundation for the later Kingdom of Navarre. That kingdom reached its zenith during the reign of Sancho III of Navarre and covered the area of the present-day Navarre, Basque country, and La Rioja, together with parts of modern Cantabria, Castile and León, and Aragon.
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Nomad
Nomadic people (Greek: νομάδες, nomádes, "those who let pasture herds"), commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world.
Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but traditional nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in industrialized countries. Nomadic cultures are discussed in three categories according to economic specialization: hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads, and "peripatetic nomads".
Nomadic hunting and gathering, following seasonally available wild plants and game, is by far the oldest human subsistence method. Pastoralists raise herds, driving them or moving with them, in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Peripatetic nomads, who offer the skills of a craft or trade to those with whom they travel, are most common in industrialized nations.
Many groups of 'nomadic' hunter-gatherers (also known as foragers) moved from campsite to campsite, following game and wild fruits and vegetables. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were hunter-gatherers until around 10,000 years ago.
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North Governorate
Coordinates: 34°26′N 35°51′E / 34.433°N 35.85°E / 34.433; 35.85
North Governorate (Arabic: الشمال, Aš Šamāl) is one of the governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Tripoli.
The North Governorate is divided into districts, or aqdya. The districts are listed below (capitals in parentheses):
Sunni makes the majority with 53.04%; Christians makes the second most with 44.68%; Shia makes the third with 2.27%; Druze are the last with 0.01%.
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Norway
Norwayi/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and the subantarctic Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 5 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (
i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Pantanal
The Pantanal is a tropical wetland. It is one of the world's largest wetlands of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between 140,000 square kilometres (54,000 sq mi) and 195,000 square kilometres (75,000 sq mi). Various subregional ecosystems exist, each with distinct hydrological, geological and ecological characteristics; up to 12 of them have been defined (RADAMBRASIL 1982).
About 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons, nurturing an astonishing biologically diverse collection of aquatic plants and helping support a dense array of animal species.
The name "Pantanal" comes from the Portuguese word pântano, meaning wetland, bog, swamp or marsh. By comparison, the Brazilian highlands are locally referred to as the planalto, plateau or, literally, high plain.
The Pantanal is a huge, gently-sloped basin that receives runoff from the upland areas (the Planalto highlands) and slowly releases the water through the Paraguay River and tributaries. The formation is a result of the large, concave pre-Andean depression of the earth's crust, related to the Andean orogeny of the Tertiary. It constitutes an enormous internal river delta, in which several rivers flowing from the surrounding plateau merge, depositing their sediments and erosion residues, which have been filling, throughout the years, the large depression area of the Pantanal. This area is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the larger Parana-Paraguay Plain area.[citation needed]
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Paraguay
Paraguay (i/ˈpɛərəɡwaɪ/, PAIR-ə-gwy), officially the Republic of Paraguay (Spanish: República del Paraguay [reˈpuβlika ðel paɾaˈɣwai], Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái [teˈtã paɾaˈɣwaj]), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as Corazón de América, or the Heart of America.
The Guaraní have been living in Paraguay since before the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, when Paraguay became part of the Spanish colonial empire. Following independence from Spain in 1811, Paraguay was ruled by a series of dictators who followed isolationist and protectionist policies. This development was truncated by the disastrous Paraguayan War (1864–1870) in which the country lost 60% to 70% of its population and large amounts of territory. During a large part of the 20th century, Paraguay was ruled by Alfredo Stroessner, who led one of South America's longest lived military dictatorships. In 1989 Stroessner was toppled and free elections were celebrated in 1993. In 1994 Paraguay joined Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay to found Mercosur.
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Pas valley
The Valleys of the Pas and Miera Rivers comprise an administrative comarca in Cantabria, Spain. It is formed by the valleys of said rivers, each one being a natural comarca of its own.
The Pas-Pisueña valley is located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, and through it flow the Pas River and its main tributary, the Pisueña River, which joins the Pas in the township of Vargas, part of the municipality of Puente Viesgo.
In the whole valley, the repopulation allowed by the foundation of several monasteries had great importance. The most important were the San Vicente de Fístoles monastery and the Santa Cruz de Castañeda collegiate church. In addition to the monasteries, several romanesque temples were built during the 11th to 13th centuries, some of which still stand: the aforementioned Santa Cruz de Castañeda church, the Santa María de Cayón church, and the temple of San Miguel de Monte Carceña, among others. These buildings show the peak and the importance that this comarca had during those centuries.
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Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located at the southern end of South America, territory shared by Argentina and Chile, boasting some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the mountain range to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago.
The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native people that his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 180 cm (~5′11″) compared to the 155 cm (~5′1″) average for Spaniards of the time.
The Argentine portion of Patagonia includes the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, as well as the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego archipelago and the southernmost department of Buenos Aires province: Patagones. The Argentine politico-economic Patagonic Region includes the Province of La Pampa.
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Portugal
Portugali/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/ (Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula . Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are part of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.
The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continuously settled since prehistoric times: occupied by Celts like the Gallaeci and the Lusitanians, integrated into the Roman Republic and later settled by Germanic peoples such as the Suebi, Swabians, Vandals and the Visigoths. In the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, which were later expelled by the Knights Templar under the Order of Christ. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from León in 1139, claiming to be the oldest European nation state.
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Pyrenees
Coordinates: 42°40′N 1°00′E / 42.667°N 1°E / 42.667; 1
The Pyrenees ( /ˈpɪərɨniːz/; Spanish: Pirineos or Pirineo, French: Pyrénées, Catalan: Pirineus, Occitan: Pirenèus, Aragonese: Perinés, Basque: Pirinioak or Auñamendiak), also spelled Pyrénées, is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain. It separates the Iberian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe, and extends for about 491 km (305 mi) from the Bay of Biscay (Cap Higuer) to the Mediterranean (Cap de Creus).
For the most part, the main crest forms a massive divider between France and Spain, with the tiny country of Andorra sandwiched in between. Catalonia and Navarre have historically extended on both sides of the mountain range, with small northern portions now in France and much larger southern parts now in Spain.
The adjective related to the noun "Pyrenees" in English is Pyrenean.
In classical mythology, Pyrene is a princess who gave her name to the Pyrenees. The Greek historian Herodotus says Pyrene is the name of a town in Celtic Europe. According to Silius Italicus, she was the virginal daughter of Bebryx, a king in Mediterranean Gaul by whom the hero Hercules was given hospitality during his quest to steal the cattle of Geryon during his famous Labors. Hercules, characteristically drunk and lustful, violates the sacred code of hospitality and rapes his host's daughter. Pyrene gives birth to a serpent and runs away to the woods, afraid that her father will be angry. Alone, she pours out her story to the trees, attracting the attention instead of wild beasts who tear her to pieces.
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Qadisha
Coordinates: 34°16′58.60″N 35°57′5.84″E / 34.282944°N 35.9516222°E / 34.282944; 35.9516222
The Kadisha Valley (also known as Qadisha Valley, Wadi Qadisha, Ouadi Qadisha, or وادي قاديشا in Arabic) is a valley that lies within the Becharre and Zgharta Districts of the North Governorate of Lebanon. The valley is a deep gorge carved by the Kadisha River, also known as the Nahr Abu Ali when it reaches Tripoli. Kadisha means "Holy" in Aramaic, and the valley, sometimes called the Holy Valley, has sheltered Christian monastic communities for many centuries. The integrity of the Valley is at risk due to encroachment of human settlements, illegal building and inconsistent conservation activity. Although it is not yet on the UNESCO "in danger" list, there have been warnings that continued violations may lead to this step.
The long, deep Qadisha Valley is located at the foot of Mount al-Makmal in northern Lebanon. Through it the Holy River, Nahr Qadisha, runs for 35km from its source in a cave (grotto) a little way below the Forest of the Cedars of God. The sides of the valley are steep cliffs that contain many caves, often at more than 1000m and all difficult of access. The most scenic section of the valley stretches for approximately twenty kilometers between Bsharri (بشري), the hometown of Kahlil Gibran, and Tourza (طورزا).
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Romania
Romania (i/roʊˈmeɪniə/ roh-MAY-nee-ə; dated: Roumania; or Rumania;Romanian: România [romɨˈni.a] ( listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and east, and Bulgaria to the south.
At 238,400 square kilometers (92,000 sq mi), Romania is the ninth largest country of the European Union by area, and has the seventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people.
The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact.
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Scotland
Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə] listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.
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Scottish Highlands
The Highlands (Scottish Gaelic: A' Ghàidhealtachd, "the place of the Gaels"; Scots: the Hielands) are an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.
The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. Before the 19th century the Highlands was home to a much larger population, but due to a combination of factors including the outlawing of the traditional Highland way of life following the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the infamous Highland Clearances, and mass migration to urban areas during the Industrial Revolution, the area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. The average population density in the Highlands and Islands is lower than that of Sweden, Norway, Papua New Guinea and Argentina.
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Slovenia
Slovenia (i/sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, Slovene: Slovenija), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija]) is a Slavic nation state, situated in South-Central Europe, at the crossroad of main European cultural and trade routes. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic, member of the European Union and NATO. Relative to its geography, history, economy, culture, and language, it is a very diverse country distinguished by a transitional character. It is characterised by a high economic and social level. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.
The territory of Slovenia is mainly hilly or mountainous and has an exceptionally high landscape and biological diversity and a mosaic structure, which are a result of natural attributes and the long-lasting presence of humans. Four major European geographic units interweave here: the Alps, the Dinaric Alps, the Mediterranean, with a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and the Pannonian Plain. The climate is temperate and significantly influenced by the variety of territory, with a strong interaction of the continental climate, the sub-Mediterranean climate and Alpine climate across most of the country. The country is one of the water-richest in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest.
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Snowdonia
Snowdonia (Welsh: Eryri) is a region in north Wales and a national park of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.
The English name for the area derives from Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales at 3,560 ft (1,085 m). In Welsh, the area is named Eryri. One assumption is that the name is derived from eryr ("eagle"), but others state that it means quite simply Highlands, as leading Welsh scholar Sir Ifor Williams proved. In the Middle Ages the title Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdonia (Tywysog Cymru ac Arglwydd Eryri) was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd; his grandfather Llywelyn Fawr used the title Prince of north Wales and Lord of Snowdonia.
Prior to the designation of the boundaries of the National Park, the term "Snowdonia" was generally used to refer to a much smaller area, namely the upland area of northern Gwynedd centred on the Snowdon massif, whereas the national park covers an area more than twice that size extending far to the south into Meirionnydd. This is apparent in books published prior to 1951 such as the classic travelogue Wild Wales by George Borrow (1862) and The Mountains of Snowdonia by H. Carr & G. Lister (1925). F. J. North, as editor of the book Snowdonia (1949), states "When the Committee delineated provisional boundaries, they included areas some distance beyond Snowdonia proper." The traditional Snowdonia thus includes the ranges of Snowdon and its satellites, the Glyderau, the Carneddau and the Moel Siabod group. It does not include the hills to the south of Maentwrog. As Eryri (see above), this area has a unique place in Welsh history, tradition and culture.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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Spain
Spain (i/ˈspeɪn/ SPAYN; Spanish: España, pronounced: [esˈpaɲa] ( listen)), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a sovereign state and a member of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north and north east by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of 504,030 square kilometres (194,610 sq mi), it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France, and the fourth largest country in Europe after Russia, Ukraine and France.
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Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps (German: Schweizer Alpen, French: Alpes suisses, Italian: Alpi svizzere, Romansh: Alps svizras) are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps. The highest summit in the Swiss Alps is Monte Rosa (4,634 metres) near the Swiss-Italian border. The highest mountain which lies entirely on Swiss territory is the Dom (4,545 metres). Other main summits can be found in the list of mountains in Switzerland.
Since the Middle Ages, transit across the Alps played an important role in history. The region north of the St. Gotthard Pass became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th century.
The Alps cover 65% of Switzerland's surface area (41,285 km²), making it one of the most alpine countries. Despite the fact that Switzerland covers only 14% of the Alps total area (192,753 km²), many alpine four-thousanders (48 of 82) are located in the Swiss Alps and the remaining few are within 20 km of the country's border.
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Switzerland
Switzerland (German: die Schweiz[ˈʃvaɪts]; French: Suisse [sɥis(ə)]; Italian: Svizzera [ˈzvit͡sːɛra]; Romansh: Svizra [ˈʒviːtsrɐ] or [ˈʒviːtsʁːɐ]), in its full name the Swiss Confederation (Latin: Confoederatio Helvetica, hence its abbreviation CH), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western Europe, where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.
Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2 (15,940 sq mi). While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately 8 million people is concentrated mostly on the Plateau, where the largest cities are to be found. Among them are the two global cities and economic centres of Zurich and Geneva.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of armed neutrality—it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815—and did not join the United Nations until 2002. It pursues, however, an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. Switzerland is also the birthplace of the Red Cross and home to a large number of international organizations, including the second largest UN office. On the European level, it is a founding member of the European Free Trade Association and is part of the Schengen Area – although it is notably not a member of the European Union, nor the European Economic Area.
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Tanzania
Coordinates: 6°18′25″S 34°51′14″E / 6.307°S 34.854°E / -6.307; 34.854 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
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Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau (Tibetan: བོད་ས་མཐོ།, Wylie: bod sa mtho), also known as the Qinghai-Tibetan (Qingzang) Plateau (Chinese: 青藏高原; pinyin: Qīngzàng Gāoyuán) is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia or East Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in western China, as well as part of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir. It stretches approximately 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) north to south and 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) east to west. With an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres (14,800 ft), the Tibetan Plateau is sometimes called "the Roof of the World" and is the world's highest and largest plateau, with an area of 2.5 million km2 (0.97 million sq. mi., or about four times the size of France).
The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by massive mountain ranges. The plateau is bordered to the south by the Himalayan range, to the north by the Kunlun Range which separates it from the Tarim Basin, and to the northeast by the Qilian Range which separates the plateau from the Hexi Corridor and Gobi Desert. To the east and southeast the plateau gives way to the forested gorge and ridge geography of the mountainous headwaters of the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers in western Sichuan (the Hengduan Mountains) and southwest Qinghai. In the west the curve of the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir embraces it.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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Ukraine
Ukraine (i/juːˈkreɪn/ yew-KRAYN; Ukrainian: Україна, transliterated: Ukrayina, [ukrɑˈjinɑ]; Russian: Украина; Crimean Tatar: Ukraina) is a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Ukraine borders the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after the Russian Federation.
According to a popular and well established theory, the medieval state of Kievan Rus was established by the Varangians in the 9th century as the first historically recorded East Slavic state which emerged as a powerful nation in the Middle Ages until it disintegrated in the 12th century. By the middle of the 14th century, Ukrainian territories were under the rule of three external powers—the Golden Horde, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Kingdom of Poland. After the Great Northern War (1700–1721) Ukraine was divided between a number of regional powers and, by the 19th century, the largest part of Ukraine was integrated into the Russian Empire with the rest under Austro-Hungarian control. A chaotic period of incessant warfare ensued, with several internationally recognized attempts at independence from 1917 to 1921, following World War I and the Russian Civil War. Ukraine emerged from its own civil war, and on December 30, 1922 Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became one of the founding republics of the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian SSR's territory was enlarged westward during the civil war shortly before, and after World War II, and further south in 1954 with the Crimea transfer. In 1945, the Ukrainian SSR became one of the founding members of the United Nations.
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.
The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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Uruguay
Uruguayi/ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ/, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; (Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced: [re̞ˈpuβ̞lika o̞ɾje̞n̪ˈt̪al̪ d̪e̞l uɾuˈɰwai̯]) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.3 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European ancestry.
Except for the recent union of Timoteo Domínguez Island and Argentina's Martín García Island, Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lies the Uruguay River and the estuary of the Río de la Plata to the southwest. To the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. With an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), Uruguay is the second-smallest nation in South America by area, after Suriname.
Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest European settlements in the country, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil. It is a constitutional democracy, with a president who is both the head of state and the head of government.
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USSR
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] ( listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990. A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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Värmland
Värmland (help·info) is a historical province or landskap in the west of middle Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland and Närke. It is also bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are Vermelandia and Wermelandia. Although the province's land originally was Götaland, the province's current land is Svealand. The origin of the province's name is uncertain. It may refer to the large local lake by the name of Värmeln.
Provinces serve no administrative function in Sweden today. Instead, that function is served by Counties of Sweden; however, in many instances a county has virtually the same border as the province, which is the case with Värmland and its corresponding county Värmland County. The main exception is a smaller part to the south east which belongs to Örebro County.
Arms were granted in 1560, when it depicted a wolverine. This was however too similar to that of Medelpad. In 1567 it was revised into an eagle. In the late 17th century the eagle was black. In 1936 it got its current blazon, when the eagle became blue. Blazon: "Argent, an Eagle displayed Azure beaked, langued and membered Gules."
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Wales
Walesi/ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru;Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.rɨ] ( listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,200 km (750 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey (Ynys Môn), is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Wales is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia (Eryri), which contains Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit.
During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as King of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to what was to become modern Wales, in the early 15th century. Wales was subsequently annexed by England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 since when, excluding those matters now devolved to Wales, English law has been the legal system of Wales and England. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and The Welsh Language Society in 1962. The National Assembly for Wales, created in 1999 following a referendum, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.
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Weald
The Weald ( /ˈwiːld/), also called the Weald of Kent, is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes the Weald's highest points. The Weald was once a vast forest covering this area. The name, Old English in origin, signifies woodland, which still applies today: scattered farms and villages betray the Weald‘s past, often in their names.
The name "Weald" is derived from the Old English weald, meaning "forest" (cognate, German Wald). This comes from a Germanic root of the same meaning, and ultimately from Indo-European. Weald is specifically a West Saxon form; wold is the Anglian form of the word. The Middle English form of the word is wēld, and the modern spelling is a reintroduction of the Anglo-Saxon form attributed to its use by William Lambarde in his A Perambulation of Kent of 1576.
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Zagros
The Zagros Mountains (Arabic: جبال زغروس, Aramaic: ܛܘܪ ܙܪܓܣ, Kurdish: زنجیرهچیاکانی زاگرۆس, Lurish: کو یه لی زاگروس, Persian: رشته كوه زاگرس) are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km (932 mi), from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of Hormuz. The highest points in the Zagros Mountains are Zard Kuh-bakhtiari and Dena. The Hazaran massif in the Kerman province of Iran forms an eastern outlier of the range, the Jebal Barez reaching into Sistan.
The Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates — the Eurasian and Arabian Plates. Recent GPS measurements in Iran have shown that this collision is still active and the resulting deformation is distributed non-uniformly in the country, mainly taken up in the major mountain belts like Alborz and Zagros. A relatively dense GPS network which covered the Zagros in the Iranian part also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in SE Zagros is ~10 mm/yr and ~5mm/yr in the NW Zagros. The NS strike-slip Kazerun fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, i.e. normal shortening in the South-East and oblique shortening in the NW Zagros.
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Zagros mountain
The Zagros Mountains (Arabic: جبال زغروس, Aramaic: ܛܘܪ ܙܪܓܣ, Kurdish: زنجیرهچیاکانی زاگرۆس, Lurish: کو یه لی زاگروس, Persian: رشته كوه زاگرس) are the largest mountain range in Iran and Iraq. With a total length of 1,500 km (932 mi), from northwestern Iran, and roughly correlating with Iran's western border, the Zagros range spans the whole length of the western and southwestern Iranian plateau and ends at the Strait of Hormuz. The highest points in the Zagros Mountains are Zard Kuh-bakhtiari and Dena. The Hazaran massif in the Kerman province of Iran forms an eastern outlier of the range, the Jebal Barez reaching into Sistan.
The Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates — the Eurasian and Arabian Plates. Recent GPS measurements in Iran have shown that this collision is still active and the resulting deformation is distributed non-uniformly in the country, mainly taken up in the major mountain belts like Alborz and Zagros. A relatively dense GPS network which covered the Zagros in the Iranian part also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in SE Zagros is ~10 mm/yr and ~5mm/yr in the NW Zagros. The NS strike-slip Kazerun fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, i.e. normal shortening in the South-East and oblique shortening in the NW Zagros.
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Zanskar
Zanskar (Ladakhi: ཟངས་དཀར་, Hindi: ज़ांस्कर) is a subdistrict or tehsil of the Kargil district, which lies in the eastern half of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The administrative centre is Padum. Zanskar, together with the neighbouring region of Ladakh, was briefly a part of the kingdom of Guge in Western Tibet.
The Zanskar Range is a mountain range in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir that separates Zanskar from Ladakh. Geologically, the Zanskar Range is part of the Tethys Himalaya, an approximately 100-km-wide synclinorium formed by strongly folded and imbricated, weakly metamorphosed sedimentary series. The average height of the Zanskar Range is about 6,000 m (19,700 ft). Its eastern part is known as Rupshu.
Zanskar appears as “Zangskar” mostly in academic studies in social sciences (anthropology, gender studies), reflecting the Ladakhi pronunciation, although the Zanskari pronunciation is Zãhar. Older geographical accounts and maps may use the alternate spelling "Zaskar". An etymological study (Snellgrove and Skorupsky, 1980) of the name reveals that its origin might refer to the natural occurrence of copper in this region, the Tibetan word for which is “Zangs”. The second syllable however seems to be more challenging as it has various meanings: “Zangs-dkar” (white copper), “Zangs-mkhar” (copper palace), or “Zangs-skar” (copper star). Others claim it derives from zan = copper + skar = valley. Crook (1994) partly shares this interpretation but suggests that the origin of this name might also be “Zan-mKhar” (food palace), because the staple food crops are so abundant in an otherwise rather arid region. The locally accepted spelling of the name in Tibetan script is zangs-dkar.
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Ångermanland
Ångermanland (help·info) is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Medelpad, Jämtland, Lapland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name "Ångermanland" comes from the Old Norse "anger", which means "deep fjord" and refers to the deep mouth of the river Ångermanälven. "Ångermanland" is "Angermannia" in Latin.
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, but are cultural and historical entities. The province of Ångermanland is divided between Västernorrland County, which comprises the heartland with minor parts in Västerbotten County and Jämtland County.
The arms is represented showing a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Azure three Salmons nainaint Argent finned Gules, the middle one counternainaint." It is almost identical to the coat of arms of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Ångermanland is the sixth largest of Sweden's provinces with an area of roughly 19,500 km², about the size of Wales. A round 1,000 km² consists of water.
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Östergötland
Östergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (landskap in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia. The corresponding administrative county, Östergötland County covers the entire province and parts of neighbouring provinces.
From 1560, Östergötland was represented with two separate coat-of-arms seals until 1884, when the current one was granted. The coat of arms is represented with a dukal coronet. Blazon: "Gules a Griffin with Dragon Wings, Tail and Tongue rampant Or armed, beaked, langued and membered Azure between four Roses Argent."
From west to east, in the middle parts, extends the Östgöta Plain (Östgöta-slätten). It is largely agricultural. In the southern part of the province, the terrain becomes marked by the south-Swedish highlands, with hills and countless lakes. The northern parts are also hilly, and are otherwise dominated by forests.
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Afar people
The Afar (Afar: Qafár, Feera: ዐፋር ʿāfār, Arabic: عفار, Amharic: አፋር? āfār), also known as the Danakil, are an ethnic group in the Horn of Africa. They primarily live in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although some also inhabit the southern point of Eritrea. Afars speak the Afar language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.
Afar society has traditionally been organized into independent kingdoms, each ruled by its own Sultan.
The earliest surviving written mention of the Afar is from the 13th century Arab writer Ibn Sa'id, who reported that they lived in the area around the port of Suakin, as far south as Mandeb, near Zeila. They are mentioned intermittently in Ethiopian records, first as helping Emperor Amda Seyon in a campaign beyond the Awash River, then over a century later when they assisted Emperor Baeda Maryam when he campaigned against their neighbors the Dobe'a.
Along with the closely related Somali and other adjacent Afro-Asiatic-speaking Muslim peoples, the Afar are also associated with the medieval Adal Sultanate that controlled large parts of the northern Horn of Africa. During its existence, Adal had relations and engaged in trade with other polities in Northeast Africa, the Near East, Europe and South Asia. Many of the historic cities in the Horn region, such as Maduna, Abasa, Berbera, Zeila and Harar, flourished with courtyard houses, mosques, shrines, walled enclosures and cisterns during the kingdom's Golden Age.
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Amerindians
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America and their descendants. Pueblos indígenas (indigenous peoples) is a common term in Spanish-speaking countries. Aborígen (aboriginal/native) is used in Argentina, while "Amerindian" is used in Guyana, but not commonly used in other countries. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans.
According to a prevailing New World migration model, migrations of humans from Eurasia to the Americas took place via Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Strait. The most recent migration could have taken place around 12,000 years ago, with the earliest period remaining a matter of some unresolved contention. These early Paleo-Indians soon spread throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. According to the oral histories of many of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, they have been living there since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation accounts.
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Aryan
Aryan /ˈɛərjən/ is an English language loanword derived from the Sanskrit ārya ('Noble'). In present-day academia, the terms "Indo-Iranian" and "Indo-European" have, according to many, made most uses of the term 'Aryan' minimal, and 'Aryan' is now mostly limited to its appearance in the term "Indo-Aryan" to represent (speakers of) North, West and Central Indian languages.
Western notions of an "Aryan race" rose to prominence in late-19th and early-20th century racialist thought, an idea most notably embraced by Nazi ideology (see master race). The Nazis believed that the "Nordic peoples" (who were also referred to as the "Germanic peoples") represent an ideal and "pure race" that was the purest representation of the original racial stock of those who were then called the Proto-Aryans. The Nazis declared that the Nordics were the true Aryans because they claimed that they were more "pure" (less racially mixed with non-native Indo-European peoples) than other people of what were then called the Aryan peoples (now generally called the Indo-European peoples).
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Austria
Austria (i/ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/; German: Österreich [ˈøːstɐˌʁaɪç] ( listen)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich (help·info)), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,855 square kilometres (32,377 sq mi) and has a temperate and alpine climate. Austria's terrain is highly mountainous due to the presence of the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Austro-Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other local official languages are Burgenland Croatian, Hungarian and Slovene.
The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria became one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon I as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary.
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Bakhtiari people
The Bakhtiari (Persian: بختیاری) are a southwestern Persian tribe. They speak the Bakhtiari dialect, a southwestern Persian dialect, belonging to the Luri dialects.
A small percentage of Bakhtiari are still nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters (sardsīr or yaylāq) and winter quarters (garmsīr or qishlāq). Numerical estimates of their total population widely vary. Bakhtiaris primarily inhabit in Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari and parts of the provinces of Lorestan, Khuzestan, and Isfahan. In Khuzestan, Bakhtiari tribes are primarily concentrated in the eastern part of the province.
In Persian mythology, the Bakhtiari consider themselves to be descendants of Fereydun, a legendary hero from the Persian national epic, Shahnameh.
According to Fars Nama of Ibn Balkhi, after former inhabitants of Bakhtiari regions were mostly perished in the wars, Buyid rulers immigrated new nomads from Isfahan area to Bakhtiari region.
The term "bakhtiari" can be best translated as "companion of chance" or "bearer of good luck" The term has deep Persian roots and is the result of two smaller words "bakht" and "yar" complied together . "Bakht" is the Persian word for "chance" and "yar", "iar", "iari" literally means "companion".
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Basotho
The ancestors of the Sotho people (Basotho or Basuto) have lived in southern Africa since around the fifth century. The Sotho nation emerged from the accomplished diplomacy of Moshoeshoe I who gathered together disparate clans of Sotho–Tswana origin that had dispersed across southern Africa in the early 19th century. Most Sotho today live in South Africa, as the area of the Orange Free State was originally part of Moshoeshoe's nation (modern-day Lesotho).
Pastoralist Bantu speaking people settled in South Africa in about 200–500 CE. Originating in the vicinity of West and Central Africa, waves of Iron Age immigrants spread across the broad Southern African peninsula, easily displacing the aboriginal Stone Age inhabitants of South Africa. By the 19th century, stable patterns of settlement had emerged. Nguni speaking tribes (primarily Zulu and Xhosa) occupied the east and southern coastal regions, while a series of Sotho kingdoms covered the southern portion of the plateau (Free State Province and parts of Gauteng).
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Berber people
Berbers (Berber: ⵉⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⴻⵏ Imazighen / Imaziɣen) are the indigenous ethnic group of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family. Today, varieties of Maghrebi colloquial Arabic are spoken by a large portion of Berbers besides the Berber language itself. Foreign languages like French are used by the educated in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. Spanish is also known by some Berbers in Morocco and in the annexed Western Sahara and Italian in Libya. This presence of European languages was due to Europe's occupation and colonization of the Berber world. Today, most Berber-speaking people live in Morocco and Algeria, smaller Berber-speaking populations are scattered throughout Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Niger, as well as various diasporas living in Europe.
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China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
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Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns, considerable scholarly effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no scholarly consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns.Priscus mentions that the Huns had a language of their own; little of it has survived and its relationships have been the subject of debate for centuries. Most authorities suppose that it may have been a member of the Oghuric branch of the Turkic language family, with the languages Bulgar, Khazar, Turkic Avar and Chuvash. Numerous other languages were spoken within the Hun pax including East Germanic, which was widely used as a lingua franca in the Hunnic territories. Their main military technique was mounted archery.
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Jengis Khan
Genghis Khan (/ˈɡɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/ or /ˈdʒɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/,Mongol: [tʃiŋɡɪs xaːŋ] ( listen); 1162? – August 1227), born Temujin, was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.
He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed "Genghis Khan", he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These included raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus, Khwarezmid Empire, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in Khwarezmia. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.
Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ögedei Khan as his successor and split his empire into khanates among his sons and grandsons. He died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia at an unknown location. His descendants went on to stretch the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia by conquering or creating vassal states out of all of modern-day China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asian countries, and substantial portions of modern Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Many of these invasions resulted in the large-scale slaughter of local populations, which have given Genghis Khan and his empire a fearsome reputation in local histories.
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Kyrgyz people
The Kyrgyz (also spelled Kirgiz, Kirghiz) are a Turkic people living primarily in Kyrgyzstan.
There are several etymological theories on the ethnonym "Kyrgyz."
The word "Kyrgyz" is derived from the Turkic word "forty", with -Iz being an old plural suffix, referring to a collection of forty tribes.
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Maasai people
The Maasai (sometimes spelled "Masai" or "Masaai") are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known of African ethnic groups, due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa. They speak Maa (ɔl Maa), a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family that is related to Dinka and Nuer, and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English. The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 453,000 in Kenya in the 2009 census, compared to 377,000 in 1989 and 400,000 in 2000.
The Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but the people have continued their age-old customs. Recently, Oxfam has claimed that the lifestyle of the Maasai should be embraced as a response to climate change because of their ability to farm in deserts and scrublands. Many Maasai tribes throughout Tanzania and Kenya welcome visits to their village to experience their culture, traditions, and lifestyle.
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Morlachs
Morlachs was an ethnonym used for a population of shepherds that lived in the Dinaric Alps (western Balkans in modern use), seasonally migrating in search for better pastures for their sheep flocks (between mountains, in the summertime, and the sea shores, in the wintertime).
The nature and origin of this population is unclear. They were referred to as the Mavrovlachi meaning "Black Vlachs"; in Greek: Μαυροβλάχοι, in Italian: Morlacchi; in Serbian and Croatian Morlaci [mor-latsi] or Морлаци. In Latin sources there are references to them as Nigri Latini.
Because of the etymology, they are believed to have been Vlachs.[citation needed] Another version of their name comes from the Slavic terms of morski Vlasi meaning "Sea Vlachs". They were a blend of previously Romanized indigenous peoples and new settled Roman army veterans and Roman colonists.
The adjective "black" may be used here with the meaning of "northern", this metaphor probably deriving from the Turkish practice of indicating cardinal directions by colors.
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Navajo people
The Navajo (Navajo: Diné or Naabeehó) of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the Four Corners area of the United States. The Navajo language is spoken throughout the region, although most Navajo speak English as well.
Until they came into contact with the Spanish and Pueblos, the Navajo were hunters and gatherers. They adopted farming techniques and crops from the Pueblo people, growing mainly corn, beans, and squash. As a result of Spanish influence, they began herding sheep and goats, depending on them for food and trade. They spun and wove sheared wool into blankets and clothing which could be used for personal use or trading. They also depended on their flocks of sheep for meat. Their lives depended on sheep so much that, to the Navajo, sheep were a kind of currency and the size of the herd was a mark of social status.
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Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks (a linguistic term designating the Western Turkic or Oghuz languages from the Oghur languages) were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion. The name Oghuz is just the Common Turkic word for "tribe". They are referred to as "Western Turks" because they moved west from other Turkic peoples after the Göktürk empire collapsed, and because the majority of the areas in which they inhabit today (except Turkmenistan and the Turkmen Sahra) are west of the Caspian Sea, while those referred to as "Eastern Turks" live east of the Caspian Sea. The founders of the Ottoman Empire were also Oghuz Turks.
In the 9th century, the Oghuz Turks from the Aral steppes drove the Pecheneg Turks, of the Emba region and the Ural River, toward the west. In the 10th century they inhabited the steppe of the rivers Sari-su, Turgai, and Emba to the north of Lake Balkhash of modern day Kazakhstan. A clan of this nation, the Seljuks, embraced Islam and in the 11th century entered Persia, where they founded the Great Seljuk Empire. Similarly, in the 11th century a Tengriist Oghuz clan—referred to as Uzes or Torks in the Russian chronicles—overthrew Pecheneg supremacy in the Russian steppe. Harried by another Turkic horde, the Kipchaks—a branch of the Kimaks of the middle Irtysh or of the Ob—these Oghuz penetrated as far as the lower Danube, crossed it and invaded the Balkans, where they were either crushed or struck down by an outbreak of plague, causing the survivors either to flee or to join the Byzantine imperial forces as mercenaries (1065).
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Ottoman empire
The Ottoman Empire or Turkish Empire or Sublime Ottoman State or sometimes also referred to as Turkey (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),Modern Turkish: Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire which lasted from 27 July 1299 to 1 November 1922, when the Sultanate was abolished.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history; such that the Ottoman State, its politics, conflicts, and cultural heritage in a vast geography provide one of the longest continuous narratives. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the empire was one of the most powerful states in the world – a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire to the outskirts of Vienna, Royal Hungary (modern Slovakia) and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to Yemen and Eritrea in the south; from Algeria in the west to Azerbaijan in the east; controlling much of southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
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Ovambo people
The Ovambo or Ambo people (endonyms Aawambo [Ndonga], Ovawambo [Kwanyama]) consist of a number of kindred ethnic groups which inhabit Ovamboland in northern Namibia as well as the Southernmost Angolan province Cunene. In Namibia, these are the Ndonga, Kwanyama, Kwambi, Ngandjera, Mbalantu, Mbadja, Kolonkadhi and Kwaluudhi. In Angola, they are the Kwanyama, Kafima, Evale and Ndonga.
The Ambo people migrated south from the upper regions of Zambezi and currently make up the greatest population in Namibia. The reason that they settled in the area where they now live was for the rich soil that is scattered around the Ovamboland. The Ambo population is overall roughly 1,500,000.
The Ambo are part of the great Bantu family. They speak Oshivambo, which includes the Kwanyama, Ongandjera, Mbadja, Ndonga and other dialects.
Flat sandy plains of Northern Namibia and Southern Angola make up Ovamboland, with water courses that bisect the area. These are known as oshanas. In the northern regions of the Ovamboland there are thick belts of tropical vegetation. The average rainfall in this area is around 17 inches during the rainy season. The oshanas can become flooded and sometimes submerge three-fifths of the region. This poses a unique problem for the Ambo people as they have to adapt to the changing weather patterns. In the dry season they are able to use the grassy plains for stock to graze upon.
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Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi or Saami, are the indigenous people inhabiting the Arctic area of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized under the international conventions of Indigenous peoples, and hence the northernmost indigenous people of Europe.Sami ancestral lands span an area of approximately 388,350 km2 (150,000 sq. mi.), which is approximately the size of Sweden, in the Nordic countries. Their traditional languages are the Sami languages and are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. The Sami languages are endangered.
Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including coastal fishing, fur trapping and sheep herding. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding, with which about 10% of the Sami are connected and 2,800 actively involved on a full-time basis. For traditional, environmental, cultural and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in certain regions of the Nordic countries.
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Sarakatsani
The Sarakatsani (Greek: Σαρακατσάνοι, Bulgarian: каракачани, karakachani) are a group of Greektranshumant shepherds inhabiting chiefly Greece, with a smaller presence in neighbouring Bulgaria, southern Albania and the Republic of Macedonia. Historically centered around the Pindus mountains, they have been currently urbanised to a significant degree. Most of them now reside throughout Thrace and Northern Greece and are of Greek Orthodox faith.
Despite the silence of the classical and medieval writers, most scholars argue that the Sarakatsani have ancient origins, descended from pre-classical indigenous pastoralists, citing linguistic evidence and certain aspects of their traditional culture and socioeconomic organization. The anthropological characteristics of the Sarakatsani also classify them as one of the earliest populations on the Balkans and Europe. Their origins have been the subject of broad and permanent interest.
Many of the 19th century descriptions of the Sarakatsani do not differentiate between them and the other great shepherd tribe of Greece, the Vlachs, who are of Latin origin. In many instances the Sarakatsani were simplifyingly described as Vlachs. In his Monograph on Koutsovlachs (Μονογραφία περι Κουτσόβλαχων, 1865, reprinted in 1905), an Epirote Greek named Aravantinos discussed how the Arvanitovlachs were erroneously called Sarakatsani although the latter were of clearly Greek origin.
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Shah Ismail
Ismail I (July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil (Persian: شاه اسماعیل; full name: Abū l-Muzaffar bin Haydar as-Safavī), was a Shah of Azerbaijan (1501), Shah of Iran (1502) and the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736. Isma'il started his campaign in Azerbaijan in 1500 as the leader of the Safaviyya, an Twelver Shia militant religious order and unified all of Iran by 1509. Born in Ardabil in Northwestern Iran, he reigned as Shah Ismail I of Iran from 1502 to 1524.
Ismail played a key role in the rise of Twelver Islam; he converted Iran from Sunni and Ismaili Shi'i Islam, importing religious authorities from the Levant. In Alevism, Shah Ismail remains revered as a spiritual guide.
Ismail was also a prolific poet who, under the pen name Khatā'ī ("Sinner") contributed greatly to the literary development of the Azerbaijani language.
Ismail was born to Martha and Shaykh Haydar on July 17, 1487 in Ardabil. His father, Haydar, was the sheikh of the Safaviyya Sufi order and a direct descendant of its founder, Safi-ad-din Ardabili (1252–1334). Ismail was the last in line of hereditary Grand Masters of the Safaviyah Sufi order, prior to his ascent to a ruling dynasty. As a boy only a year old, he lost his father, the leader of a growing Qizilbash Shi'i community in Azerbaijan, who died in battle. His mother, Martha, was the daughter of Uzun Hasan by his Pontic Greek wife Theodora, better known as Despina Khatun. Theodora was the daughter of Emperor John IV of Trebizond. (She had married Uzun Hassan in a deal to protect Trebizond from the Ottomans.) Ismail grew up bilingual, speaking Persian and Azeri.
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Somali people
Somalis (Somali: Soomaaliyeed, Arabic: الصوماليون) are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Ethnic Somalis number around 15-17 million and are principally concentrated in Somalia (more than 10 million), Ethiopia (4.6 million), Yemen (a little under 1 million), Kenya (900,000), Djibouti (464,600), and an unknown but large number live in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe.
Samaale, the oldest common ancestor of several Somali clans, is generally regarded as the source of the ethnonym Somali. The name "Somali" is, in turn, held to be derived from the words soo and maal, which together mean "go and milk" — a reference to the ubiquitous pastoralism of the Somali people. Another plausible etymology proposes that the term Somali is derived from the Arabic for "wealthy" (dhawamaal), again referring to Somali riches in livestock.
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Tamerlane
Timur (Turkish: Demir "iron", Persian: تمور Timūr, Chagatai: Temür "iron"; 8 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane (from Persian: تيمور لنگ, Timūr-i Lang, Aksak Timur "Timur the Lame" in Turkish), was a Turkic, who conquered West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449, and the great-great-grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled South Asia for centuries.
Timur envisioned the restoration of the Mongol Empire of Genghis Khan. Unlike his predecessors Timur was also a devout Muslim and referred to himself as the Sword of Islam. His armies were inclusively multi-ethnic and multicultural. During his lifetime Timur would emerge as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the formidable Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire and the declining Sultanate of Delhi; Timur had also decisively defeated the Knights Hospitaler at Smyrna and since then referred to himself as a Ghazi. By the end of his reign Timur had also gained complete suzerainty over all the remnants of the Chagatai Khanate, Ilkhanate, Golden Horde and even the Yuan Khanate.
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Taureg people
The Tuareg (also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym Imuhagh) are a Berber people with a traditionally nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.
The Tuareg language, or languages, have an estimated 1.2 million speakers. About half this number is accounted for by speakers of the Eastern dialect (Tamajaq, Tawallammat). Most Tuareg live in the Saharan parts of Niger and Mali but, being nomadic, there is constant movement across national borders, and small groups of Tuareg are also found in southeastern Algeria, southwestern Libya and northern Burkina Faso, and a small community in northern Nigeria.
The name Tuareg is derived from Targa, the Berber name of Libya's Fezzan province. The name Tuareg thus in origin designated the inhabitants of Fezzan from the perspective of the Berbers living closer to the Mediterranean coast, and was adopted from them into English, French and German during the colonial period. The Berber noun targa means "drainage channel" and by extension "arable land, garden". It designated the Wadi al-Haya area between Sabha and Ubari and is rendered in Arabic as bilad al-khayr "good land". There is a widespread Arabic folk etymology of the name, connecting tawariq "abandoned [by God]", reflecting the religious disapproval of residual animist practice among the Tuareg by orthodox Muslims.
wn.com/Taureg_people -
Visigoths
The Visigoths (Latin: Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi) were one of two main branches of the later Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germanic peoples who spread through the late Roman Empire during Late Antiquity or the Migration Period. The Visigoths emerged out of the Gothic groups who entered the Roman Empire in and after 376 and defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. The Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and famously sacked Rome in 410 AD, eventually settling in Spain and Portugal, where they founded a powerful Kingdom.
After numerous years of migration, which led the Visigoths to compare themselves to the Biblical Hebrew people wandering for 40 years in the Sinai Desert, the Visigoths settled in southern Gaul as foederati of the Romans in 418. For unknown reasons, they soon fell out with their hosts and established their own kingdom with its capital at Toulouse. Extending their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Vandals, their rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I at the Battle of Vouillé in 507. Thereafter the only territory north of the Pyrenees that the Visigoths held was Septimania, such that their kingdom became limited to Hispania. The province came to be dominated by the Visigothic small governing elite at the expense of the Byzantine province of Spania and the Suebic Kingdom of Galicia.
wn.com/Visigoths -
Vlach
Vlach ( /ˈvlɑːk/ or /ˈvlæk/) is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Wallachians, Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs. Groups that have historically been called Vlachs include: modern-day Romanians or Daco-Romanians, Aromanians or Macedo-Romanians, Morlachs, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians. Since the creation of the Romanian state, the term in English has mostly been used for those living outside Romania.
The Vlachs, which would develop into the modern Romanian ethnicity, do not become tangible before the High Middle Ages in Kedrenos (11th century), and their prehistory during the Migration period is a matter of scholarly speculation but according to the linguists and to many scholars, the existence of the present Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the low-Danube basin during the Migration period and the Vlachs are all being well considered descendants of Romanised peoples of the area (incl. Thracians, Dacians and Illyrians).
wn.com/Vlach -
Zenaga people
The Sanhaja or Senhaja (also Znaga or Sanhadja; Arabic: صنهاجة Ṣanhājah, Berber: Iẓnagen) were once one of the largest Berber tribal confederations of the Maghreb, along with the Zanata and Masmuda. Many tribes and regions in the Berber world bore and still bear this name, especially in its Berber form.
The meaning of the Berber word Iẓnagen is the oasis people. Its singular form is Aẓnag, which is frequently used today as a family name by many North Africans. In Berber, the word for "oasis" is Aẓnig or Amda.
The tribes of the Sanhaja originates in the northern Sahara. After the arrival of Islam they also spread out to the borders of the historic Sudan as far as the Senegal River and the Niger. From the 9th century Sanhaja tribes began to establish themselves in the Middle Atlas range, in the Rif Mountains and on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. A part of the Sanhaja settled in eastern Algeria and northern Niger (the Kutama), and played an important part in the rise of the Fatimids. The Sanhaja dynasties of the Zirids and Hammadids controlled Ifriqiya until the 12th century.
wn.com/Zenaga_people
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Sangria Gratuite - La Transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:42
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
...
http://wn.com/Sangria_Gratuite_La_Transhumance
Fête de la Transhumance à Die - 2010 (Drôme - France)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:40
- Updated: 21 Jul 2012
(F) Transhumance le 19.06.2010 de Die à Baise (Chamaloc) (GB) Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them. Traditional or fixed transhumance occurs or has occurred throughout the inhabited world, including Scandinavia, Scotland, Caucasus, Chad, Morocco, France, Italy, Ireland, Lebanon, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Iran, Turkey, the Republic of Macedonia, India, Switzerland, Georgia and Lesotho. It is also practised among more nomadic Sami people of Scandinavia. It is often of high importance to pastoralist societies, the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yogurt and cheese) often forming much of the diet of such populations. Map for tourists: maps.google.fr VALPARD FILMS valpardfilms.awardspace.com
http://wn.com/Fête_de_la_Transhumance_à_Die_2010_Drôme_France
Sangria Gratuite "Transhumance"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:38
- Updated: 17 Nov 2012
de la musique
http://wn.com/Sangria_Gratuite_Transhumance
Bulgaria CC Restoration of Long Distance Transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:26
- Updated: 02 Sep 2012
After 1989 (end of communist regime) the stock breeding in Bulgaria has dramatically declined. Mountain pastures maintained for centuries as grazing habitats became unused and subject to succession. As a result many species of plants, birds and mammals are threatened of extinction due to habitat loss. Fund for wild flora and fauna decided to promote and recover the Transhumance (movement of sheep herds in order to ensure year-round grazing) as an attractive, economically-efficient and environmentally friendly way of livestock breeding in Bulgaria. The project established a herd of 500 sheep with the help of the Small Grants Programme in Bulgaria in a typical pastoral landscape of Kotel Mountain. The global impact of the SGP support resulted in the return of the IUCN endangered specie Egyptian vulture.
http://wn.com/Bulgaria_CC_Restoration_of_Long_Distance_Transhumance
Transhumance in the Vallee d'Ossau - Pyrenees, France
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:46
- Updated: 07 Apr 2012
Cows on their way to summer mountain pastures near the Col du Pourtalet
http://wn.com/Transhumance_in_the_Vallee_d'Ossau_Pyrenees,_France
Fête de la Transhumance à Die - 2011 1/2 (Drôme - France)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:09
- Updated: 19 Oct 2012
Transhumance le 26.06.2011 de Die à Baise (Chamaloc) (GB) Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them. Traditional or fixed transhumance occurs or has occurred throughout the inhabited world, including Scandinavia, Scotland, Caucasus, Chad, Morocco, France, Italy, Ireland, Lebanon, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Iran, Turkey, the Republic of Macedonia, India, Switzerland, Georgia and Lesotho. It is also practised among more nomadic Sami people of Scandinavia. It is often of high importance to pastoralist societies, the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yogurt and cheese) often forming much of the diet of such populations. Map for tourists: maps.google.fr VALPARD FILMS valpardfilms.awardspace.com
http://wn.com/Fête_de_la_Transhumance_à_Die_2011_1_2_Drôme_France
TRANSHUMANCE AUBRAC 2011 ALIGOT
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:34
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
PREPARATION DE L'ALIGOT DE L'AUBRAC SUR LE MARCHE LE 22 05 11 Fête de la Transhumance AUBRAC AVEYRON
http://wn.com/TRANSHUMANCE_AUBRAC_2011_ALIGOT
Transhumance 2007
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:23
- Updated: 07 Oct 2012
transhumance en vallée d'Ossau et d'Aspe,juin 2007.
http://wn.com/Transhumance_2007
Fête de la Transhumance à Die - 2011 2/2 (Drôme - France)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:35
- Updated: 28 Jun 2012
Transhumance le 26.06.2011 les animations à Baise (Chamaloc) Dressage / Vautours / Alambic / Danses (GB) Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them. Traditional or fixed transhumance occurs or has occurred throughout the inhabited world, including Scandinavia, Scotland, Caucasus, Chad, Morocco, France, Italy, Ireland, Lebanon, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Iran, Turkey, the Republic of Macedonia, India, Switzerland, Georgia and Lesotho. It is also practised among more nomadic Sami people of Scandinavia. It is often of high importance to pastoralist societies, the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yogurt and cheese) often forming much of the diet of such populations. Map for tourists: maps.google.fr VALPARD FILMS valpardfilms.awardspace.com
http://wn.com/Fête_de_la_Transhumance_à_Die_2011_2_2_Drôme_France
Transhumance 2011 des chèvres des Torcols Besançon 17/04/2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:35
- Updated: 22 Oct 2012
Sur un parcours de 11 km, transhumance à travers les rues de la ville, de la ferme des Torcols à la colline de Planoise - Nombreuses animations à partir de 9 h - Ferme des Torcols,64 chemin de Valentin C'est le printemps... Le moment est venu pour les chèvres de Philippe Moustache de retrouver les pelouses des collines de Besançon et de contribuer ainsi à l'entretien écologique du milieu. A l'arrivée, diverses animations : spectacle théâtral, découvertes naturalistes et autres activités du monde des bergers.
http://wn.com/Transhumance_2011_des_chèvres_des_Torcols_Besançon_17_04_2011
Transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:20
- Updated: 30 May 2012
Transhumance Col de Marchairuz en Suisse
http://wn.com/Transhumance
Transhumance - Laruns, Vallee d'Ossau, Pyrenees, France
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:15
- Updated: 25 Aug 2010
On the nights of July 8 & 9, 2010, the livestock (cows, horses, sheep and goats) of the Vallee d'Ossau were herded through the town of Laruns to their summer pastures near the Col du Pourtalet, a distance of about 18 miles. It is a festive event which has taken place annually for centuries. Unfortunately, a smaller number of shepherds participate each year since it is much easier to transport the animals up to the mountains by truck.
http://wn.com/Transhumance_Laruns,_Vallee_d'Ossau,_Pyrenees,_France
TRANSHUMANCE FESTIVAL, ALLANCHE, THE AUVERGNE
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:20
- Updated: 22 Nov 2012
JOIN JESSICA, HELEN & CHARLIE AS THEY WATCH THE SALER COWS PARADE THROUGH THE VILLAGE STREETS OF ALLANCHE ON THEIR WAY TO THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE AUVERGNE, FRANCE.
http://wn.com/TRANSHUMANCE_FESTIVAL,_ALLANCHE,_THE_AUVERGNE
CocoRosie & Gaspard Yurkievich & Nadia Lauro - Transhumance @ Centre Pompidou
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:57
- Updated: 22 Mar 2012
Start of the performance show Transhumance @ Centre Pompidou in Paris, 11 April 2009. Video by Bianca Casady. Song by Sierra Casady. Fashion : Gaspard Yurkievich. Scenography : Nadia Lauro.
http://wn.com/CocoRosie_Gaspard_Yurkievich_Nadia_Lauro_Transhumance_@_Centre_Pompidou
Crazy transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:38
- Updated: 26 Aug 2010
Moving sheep in overtomwn farm cranham with a traditional method...and very organised theme...!!!
http://wn.com/Crazy_transhumance
TRANSHUMANCE ST REMY DE PROVENCE 24 MAI 2010 Plus de 2000 moutons dans les rues.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:47
- Updated: 30 May 2012
Defilé traditionnel annuel pour le lundi de Pentecotes de plus de 2000 moutons dans les rues.
http://wn.com/TRANSHUMANCE_ST_REMY_DE_PROVENCE_24_MAI_2010_Plus_de_2000_moutons_dans_les_rues
Transhumance in Sardinia: cow bells, voices, street noises.
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:24
- Updated: 04 May 2012
Cows on the road, during the transhumance. Bolotana (Sardinia Island), Dec. 30, 2011
http://wn.com/Transhumance_in_Sardinia_cow_bells,_voices,_street_noises
Ma Transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Updated: 11 Aug 2012
A very short account of the 3 months I spent with a Tuareg community as they were travelling through the Azawak valley for their annual transhumance to the salted plains of the Ighazer. ongtagaste.blogspot.com http
http://wn.com/Ma_Transhumance
Transhumance from Certara to Comano, Ticino, Switzerland, 30/10/2011
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:40
- Updated: 08 May 2012
Highland cattle transhumance from Certara to Comano, Ticino, Switzerland. 30/10/2011
http://wn.com/Transhumance_from_Certara_to_Comano,_Ticino,_Switzerland,_30_10_2011
Transhumance Express
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:09
- Updated: 25 Aug 2010
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of shepherds and their livestock from mountains to fresh lowland based pastures. Tessa McGregor reports from Bulgaria.
http://wn.com/Transhumance_Express
Ty's Transhumance
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:33
- Updated: 21 Jun 2012
In the summer of 2010 our son Ty, 11 at the time, spent a few weeks with cheesemaker Jakob Knaus during transhumance where the cattle was moved up to 6000 feet to Alp Trosen and Alp Flies below the famous Saentis peak. He enjoyed the trip back in time.
http://wn.com/Ty's_Transhumance
Transhumance Aubrac 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:11
- Updated: 12 Sep 2012
Fête de la Transhumance 27 05 12 à Aubrac Arrivée du troupeau de Mr Vieillescazes Bozouls.
http://wn.com/Transhumance_Aubrac_2012
Dj Cedr'x Transhumance 2009
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:31
- Updated: 23 Sep 2009
Festival Electro Open Air 2009 / Seconde Edition.Dj Set / Cedr'x
http://wn.com/Dj_Cedr'x_Transhumance_2009
photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
20 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling President Barack Obama's whirlwind tour of southeast Asia and meetings with dignitaries will have to walk a tightrope between either appearing to endorse military juntas or truly being committed to ongoing pro-democracy movements. Specifically at issue is Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi, a democratic advocate...(size: 5.0Kb)
photo: AP / Sebastian D'souza
21 Nov 2012
MUMBAI, India - India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was one of 10 gunmen who rampaged through the streets of India's financial capital in November 2008, killing 166 people. Kasab was hung at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at a jail in...(size: 4.5Kb)
photo: AP / Melanie Gouby
21 Nov 2012
Hundreds of government soldiers and police in the Democratic Republic of Congo have surrendered to rebels at a stadium in Goma, Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri has reported from the scene. The M23 rebel group, believed to be backed by Rwanda seized the strategic, provincial capital of Goma in eastern Congo on Tuesday, home to more than 1 million...(size: 18.7Kb)
photo: AP / Emilio Morenatti
22 Nov 2012
A new battle is underway in Pakistan with its powerful military front-and-centre, but the fight is not against armed insurgents or ideological extremists - this opponent is a muscle-flexing Supreme Court. For the first time in decades, the military's iron grip over the South Asian country has been challenged, and it remains to be seen if it will...(size: 23.7Kb)
photo: UN / Logan Abassi
21 Nov 2012
A report by the UN says global attempts to curb emissions of CO2 are falling well short of what is needed to stem dangerous climate change. The UN's Environment Programme says greenhouse gases are 14% above where they need to be in 2020 for temperature rises this century to remain below 2C. The authors say this target is still technically...(size: 3.5Kb)
The Guardian
20 Nov 2012
French-Algerian sculptor's latest work uses discarded objects and disused machines to create new forms Rachid Khimoune – in pictures Rachid Khimoune's installation of 1,000 bronze tortoises on Omaha Beach in 2011. Photograph: Benjamin Didier, courtesy Friedman & Valloi gallery...(size: 5.0Kb)
IRINnews
30 Oct 2012
OUAGADOUGOU, 30 October 2012 (IRIN) - As violent incidents between animal breeders and sedentary farmers soar across northern and eastern Burkina Faso northern Burkina Faso, the Ministry of Animal Resources has been holding a series of workshops for the two groups, alongside community leaders, local governors and mayors. The Ministry estimates some...(size: 7.3Kb)
NZ Herald
29 Oct 2012
Spanish shepherds have led a flock of more than 2,000 sheep through central Madrid in defence of ancient grazing, migration and droving rights threatened by urban sprawl and modern agricultural practices. Many tourists and residents were surprised to see traffic cut to allow the ovine parade to...(size: 2.0Kb)
The Daily Telegraph Australia
28 Oct 2012
SPANISH shepherds led a flock of more than 2000 sheep through central Madrid in defence of ancient grazing, migration and droving rights threatened by urban sprawl and modern agricultural practices. Many tourists and residents were surprised to see traffic cut to allow the ovine parade to bleat its...(size: 2.0Kb)
Business Wire
10 Oct 2012
Partnership maximizes operations and distribution for unique selling advantage SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oversea Casing and Superior Farms announced this week that they have begun a partnership where the Superior Farms sales team can sell natural sausage casings to its customers nationwide on Oversea’s behalf. “Our relationship with Superior...(size: 4.7Kb)
The Daily Telegraph
06 Oct 2012
The transformation of a derelict New York railway into an elevated urban park has inspired a similar project to regenerate London’s forgotten places The architects [Y/N] Studio have proposed a dedicated swimming lane, a Lido Line, in Regent’s Canal By Stephen Bayley 7:42PM BST 05 Oct 2012...(size: 19.4Kb)
Scoop
03 Oct 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012, 11:59 am Press Release: ICRC ICRC Bulletin 20 September 2012 South Sudan: water shortages hit crisis point in refugee camps Severe water shortages in refugee camps in South Sudan close to the Sudanese border have helped drive upcontributed to a rise in mortality and malnutrition rates to alarming levels, in what is a...(size: 5.3Kb)
The Guardian
26 Jun 2012
Charles Fréger feeds a revival of interest in the savages, devils, straw men and hybrid figures who people the folk traditions of Europe and testify to humanity's need for myth Truly beastly … a babuger, or mummer, from Bansko, Bulgaria, from Wilder Mann. Photograph: Charles Fréger. Click on image to enlarge...(size: 7.1Kb)
The Daily Mail
24 Jun 2012
Frankly, I'm not surprised that Little Bo Peep lost her sheep. They may be incredibly stupid but they can't half shift when they want to. One minute our inert herd was lumped together under the trees like a clump of giant cotton-wool balls, dopily watching our group of walkers while we waited for the shepherds to arrive. The next they were...(size: 10.1Kb)
The Daily Telegraph Australia
23 Jun 2012
MY ITUNES playlist has often come to my rescue when travelling. When the journey is long, I search for inspiration in songs about the places I'm either heading to or travelling through. I'd been on the road for almost 30 hours when we boarded the train from Nice to Marseilles. Feeling tired, despite a few naps on the flight from Brisbane via Dubai,...(size: 5.4Kb)
Not to be confused with Transhumanism.
This article is about seasonal movement of people and livestock with fixed summer and winter stations. For movement of people and livestock in an irregular pattern, see nomadic pastoralism.
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007) |
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (vertical transhumance) it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with the people necessary to tend them. In contrast, horizontal transhumance is more susceptible to being disrupted by climatic, economic or political change.[1]
Traditional or fixed transhumance occurs or has occurred throughout the inhabited world, including Austria, Bulgaria, Caucasus, Chad, France,Greece, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Macedonia, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, Scandinavia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Georgia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Lesotho. It is also practised among more nomadic Sami people of Scandinavia. It is often of high importance to pastoralist societies, the dairy products of transhumance flocks and herds (milk, butter, yogurt and cheese) often forming much of the diet of such populations. In many languages there are words for the higher summer pastures and frequently these are found as placenanes: e.g. Hafod in Wales.
The term "transhumance" is also occasionally used for nomadic pastoralism – migration of people and livestock over longer distances.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
The term derives from the Latin trans 'across' and humus 'ground'.
Worldwide transhumance patterns[link]
Transhumance developed on every inhabited continent. Although there are substantial cultural and technological variations, underlying practices for taking advantage of remote seasonal pastures are similar.
Europe[link]
The Alps[link]
Main article: Transhumance in the Alps
File:Schwägalp.jpg
Appenzell seasonal rotation of herding to higher or lower pastures.
The traditional economy of the Alps was based on rearing cattle. Seasonal migration between valley and high pastures was critical in feeding an increased number of cattle and supporting a higher human population. That practice has shaped a lot of landscape in the Alps, as without it, most areas below 2000 m would be forests.
While tourism and industry contribute today much to Alpine economy, seasonal migration to high pastures is still practised in Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland, except in their most frequented tourist centers. In some places, cattle are taken care of by local farmer families who move to higher places. In others, this job is for herdsmen employed by the cooperative owning the pastures.
Austria has over 12 000 sites where 70 000 farmers take care of about 500 000 cattle. Alpine pastures amount to a quarter of the farmland.
Bavaria has about 1400 sites hosting 50 000 cattle, about half of them in Upper Bavaria and the other half in the Allgäu.
In Switzerland, about 380 000 cattle including 130 000 cows as well as 200 000 sheep are in summer on high pastures. Milk from cows here is usually made into local cheese specialities, handmade using traditional methods and tools. Alpine pastures amount to 35% of Swiss farmland. Transhumance contributes much to traditional Swiss culture, for example yodeling, alphorn and Schwingen (wrestling) are closely connected to Alpine pastures.
The Balkans[link]
In the Balkans, the Sarakatsani, Aromanians and Yörüks traditionally spent summer months in the mountains and returned to lower plains in the winter. Until the mid-20th century, borders between Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were relatively unobstructed. In summer, some groups went as far north as the Balkan mountains while winter they would spend in warmer plains in vicinity of the Aegean sea. The Morlachs were a population of Vlach shepherds who lived in the Dinaric Alps (western Balkans in modern use), constantly migrating in search for better pastures for their sheep flocks. But as national states appeared in a former domain of the Ottoman empire, new state borders came to separate summer and winter habitats of many of the pastoral groups.
Britain[link]
Wales[link]
In most parts of Wales, farm workers and sometimes the farmer would spend the summer months at a hillside summer house or hafod (pronounced [ˈhavɔd]) where the livestock would graze. Then during the late autumn they would return down to the valleys with the farm workers staying at the main residence or hendref ([ˈheːndrɛv]).[2]
This system of transhumance has not been practised for almost a century although it did continue in Snowdonia after it died out elsewhere in Wales and remnants of the practice can still be found in rural farming communities in the region to this day.[3] Both "Hafod" and "Hendre" commonly survive in Wales as place names and house names. Today, cattle and sheep on many hill farms are still often transported to lowland winter pastures, but now by truck.
Scotland[link]
In many hilly and mountainous areas of Scotland agricultural workers spent summer months in bothies[4] or shielings (airigh in Scottish Gaelic). Examples of major drovers' roads in the eastern part of Scotland include the Cairnamounth, Elsick Mounth and Causey Mounth. This practice has largely died out, but was practised within living memory in the Hebridean Islands and in the Highlands of Scotland. Today much transhumance is carried out by truck, with upland flocks being sent under agistment to lower-lying pasture during winter.
England[link]
In southern England, where the climate is mild and the hills low, transhumance historically took the opposite form to that in Switzerland. Cattle grazed on dry, sandy heath on the hills in winter and rich, low-lying flood-meadows in summer once flood-water receded[citation needed]. The Weald, as another example, was utilised for the grazing of pigs; this type was known as pannage. While this form of pastoralism sees little use today, it has left its mark on English toponymy, as attested by nearby paired placenames such as Winterfold Heath and Somersbury Wood.[5]
Ireland[link]
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This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. |
In Ireland transhumance is known as booleying.[6] Transhumance pastures were known as Booley, Boley, Bouley, Buaile and Boola and these names survive in many placenames, for example Buaile h'Anraoi in Kilcommon parish, Erris, North Mayo where the landscape still clearly shows the layout of the rundale system of agriculture. The practice of booleying was widespread in the west of Ireland up until around the time of the Second World War, when seasonal migration to Scotland and England superseded this ancient system together with more permanent emigration to the USA. Booleying alleviated pressure on the growing crops and provided fresh pasture for livestock.
The average holding on the small farms of County Mayo was only five acres, insufficient to maintain a family for more than part of the year. Booleying was the movement of livestock, usually cattle, from a permanent lowland village to summer pastures in the mountains. The practice would have dated back to the Early Medieval Period or even older. Booleying is mentioned in the Brehon Laws. Booleying is generally associated with the rundale system of agriculture where unenclosed arable fields necessitated the removal of livestock to the mountains so that the crops could grow undisturbed.
The Iberian Peninsula[link]
There is an ancient tradition in the peninsula of raising livestock in open fields, as evidenced by classical Roman references and archaeological remains such as the Bulls of Guisando. (Free range horse and cattle herding would later be brought to the Americas and would especialize as Gaucho and Cowboy practices altogether with a rich social culture of their own with stockbreeding mainly for meat and leather rather than milk, though this may not be totally unexploited).
The exploitation of large herds of pigs and sheep in transhumant style was established by the early Middle Ages, if not earlier, as evidenced by highly-regulated laws in documents of the Mesta. It may have a longer history based in classical methods developed through an earlier politically and legally unified peninsula during the lower Roman Empire: some Visigothic records indicate continuity. Drovers' roads continue to exist, including a well-known one through Madrid.[7] Some bee-keepers work in transhumant style in Spain.
In some high valleys of the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountains, transhumant herding has been the basic or only support of the economy. Regulated passes and pasturage have been especialized between different valleys and communities, due to the seasonal range of exploitation and communities jurisdictions. Unique social groups are associated with the transhumant lifestyle, and are sometimes identified as a remnant of an older ethnic culture now left in isolated minorities such as the "Pasiegos" in Cantabria, "Agotes" in Navarre, "Vaqueiros de alzada" in Asturias.
The Pyrenees[link]
Transhumance in the Pyrenees involves relocation of livestock (cows, sheep, horses) to high mountains for summer months, because farms in the lowland are too small to support a larger herd all year round. Their mountain period starts in late May and early June, and ends in early October. Until the 1970s transhumance concerned mainly dairy cows, and cheesemaking was important activity. In some regions up until this century, nearly all members of a family decamped to higher mountains with their cows, living in rudimentary stone cabins. That system, which evolved during the Middle Ages, lasted into the 20th century, but broke down under pressure from industrialization with concomitant depopulation of countryside.
Scandinavia[link]
In Scandinavia, transhumance is still practised, although arrival of motorized vehicles has changed its character. Common mountain or forest pasture used for transhumance in summer is called seter or bod / bua. The same term is used for a mountain cabin which was used as a summer residence. In summer (usually late June), livestock is moved to a mountain farm, often quite distant from a home farm, preserving meadows in valleys for use as hay. Livestock were typically tended for summer by girls and younger women, who milked and made cheese. Bulls usually remain at the home farm. As autumn approaches and grazing is in short supply, livestock are returned to a home farm.
In Sweden, this system was predominantly used in Värmland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Hälsingland, Medelpad and Ångermanland.
It was common to most regions in Norway due to its highly mountainous nature. "The Gudbrandsdal area includes lateral valleys such as Gausdal, Heidal, Vinstradal, and Ottadal. That area comprises lowland parishes 200 m above sea-level and mountain parishes 800 m above sea-level, fertile soil in the main valley and barren summits in Rondane and Dovrefjell. Forests surround those farms, but higher up, woods give way to a treeless mountain plateau. This is the seterfjell, or summer farm region, once of vital importance both as summer pastureland and for haymaking."[8]
While previously many farms had their own seter, today it is more usual for several farmers to share a modernized common seter (fellesseter). Most of those old seters have been left to decay or are used as cabins.
The name for the common mountain pasture in most Scandinavian languages derives from the old Norse term setr. In (Norwegian) the term is sæter or seter, in (Swedish) säter. The place name appears in Sweden in several forms Säter and Sätra and as a suffix: -säter, -sätra, -sätt and -sättra. Those names appear extensively over Sweden with a centre in the Mälaren basin and in Östergötland.
In the heartland of the Swedish transhumance region the most used term is bod or bua (the word still existing in English as booth), nowadays standarized to fäbod.
Asia[link]
Transhumance practices are found in temperate areas, above ~1000 m in the Himalaya–Hindu Kush area (referred to below as Himalaya); and the cold semi-arid zone north of the Himalaya, through the Tibetan Plateau and northern China to the Eurasian Steppe.
Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan all have vestigial transhumance cultures. For regions of the Himalaya transhumance still provides mainstay for several near-subsistence economies — for example, that of Zanskar in northwest India, Van Gujjars in Western Himalayas, and Kham Magar in western Nepal, although in some cases distances may be great enough to qualify as nomadic pastoralism.
Another example of this way of life is the Bakhtiari tribe of Iran. All along the Zagros mountain range from Azerbaijan to the Arabian Sea, pastoral tribes move back and forth with their herds every year between their home in the valley and one in the foothills."[9]
Kyrgyzstan[link]
In Kyrgyzstan, transhumance practices, which never died out during the Soviet period, have undergone a resurgence in the difficult economic times following independence in 1991. Transhumance is integral to Kyrgyz national culture. Felt tents used on these summer pastures (or jailoo) is known as the yurt and its main structural component is symbolised on their national flag. Those shepherds prize fermented mare's milk drink kumis; a tool used in its production lends its name to the country's capital city, Bishkek.
Lebanon[link]
Examples of fixed transhumance are found in the North Governorate of Lebanon. Towns and villages located in the Qadisha valley are at an average altitude of 1,400 meters. Some settlements, like Ehden and Kfarsghab, are used during summer periods from beginning of June till mid-October. Inhabitants move in October to coastal towns situated at an average of 200 meters above sea level. The transhumance is motivated by agricultural activities (historically by the mulberry silkworm culture). The main crops in the coastal towns are olive, grape and citrus. For the mountain towns, the crops are summer fruits, mainly apples and pears. Other examples of transhumance exist in Lebanon.
Iran[link]
The Qashqai - the story of a Turkic tribe of southern Iran[link]
"To survive, nomads have always been obliged to fight. They lead a wandering life and do not accumulate documents and archives. But in the evenings, around fires that are burning low, the elders will relate striking events, deeds of valour in which the tribes pride themselves. Thus the epic tale is told from father to son, down through the ages. The tribes of Central Asia were forced by wars, strife, upheavals, to abandon their steppes and seek new pasture grounds. . . so the Huns, the Visigoths, and before them the Aryans, had invaded India, Iran, Europe. The Turks, forsaking the regions where they had dwelt for centuries, started moving down through the Turan and Caspian depressions, establishing themselves eventually on the frontiers of the Iranian Empire and in Asia Minor. We are of Turkish language and race; some say that we are descendants of the Turkish Ghuzz Tribe (Oğuz Turks), known for its cruelty and fierceness, and that our name is derived from the Turkish "Kashka" meaning "a horse with a white star on its forehead". Others think this name indicates that we came from Kashgar in the wake of Hulagu. Others still that it means "fugitive". Though these versions differ, we believe that the arrival of our Tribes in Iran coincided with the conquests of Jengis Khan, in the thirteenth century. Soon after, our ancestors established themselves on the slopes of the Caucasus. We are descendants of the "Tribe of the Ak Koyunlu" the "Tribe of the White Sheep" famed for being the only tribe in history capable of inflicting a defeat on Tamerlane. For centuries we dwelt on the lands surrounding Ardebil, but, in the first half of the sixteenth century we settled in southern Persia, Shah Ismail having asked our warriors to defend this part of the country against the intrusions of the Portuguese. Thus, our Tribes came to the Province of Fars, near the Persian Gulf, and are still only separated from it by a ridge of mountains, the Makran. The yearly migrations of the Kashkai, seeking fresh pastures, drive them from the south to the north, where they move to their summer quarters "Yeilak" in the high mountains; and from the north to the south, to their winter quarters, "Qishlaq". In summer, the Kashkai flocks graze on the slopes of the Kuh-è-Dinar; a group of mountains from 12,000 to 15,000 feet, that are part of the Zagros chain. In autumn the Kashkai break camp, and by stages leave the highlands. They winter in the warmer regions near Firuzabad, Kazerun, Jerrè, Farashband, on the banks of the river Mound, till, in April, they start once more on their yearly trek. The migration is organised and controlled by the Kashkai Chief. The Tribes carefully avoid villages and towns such as Shiraz and Isfahan, lest their flocks, estimated at seven million head, might cause serious damage. The annual migration is the largest of any Persian tribe. It is difficult to give exact statistics, but we believe that the Tribes now number 400,000 men, women and children."
— Told to Marie-Tèrése Ullens de Schooten by the 'Il Begh' Malek Mansur, brother of the 'Il Khan', Nasser Khan, chief of the Kashkai Tribes, in 1953.[10]
Oceania[link]
Australia[link]
In Australia, which has a large station (i.e., ranch) culture, stockmen provide the labor to move the herds to seasonal pastures.
Transhumant grazing is an important aspect of the cultural heritage of the Australian Alps, an area of which has been included on the Australian National Heritage List. It started in this region in the 1830s when the alpine plains were used to graze stock during the summer months when pasture lower down was poor. The practice continued during the 19th and 20th centuries and made a considerable contribution to Australia's pastoral industry. Transhumant grazing created a distinctive way of life that is an important part of Australia's pioneering history and culture. There are features in the area that are reminders of transhumant grazing including abandoned stockman's huts, stock yards and stock routes.[11]
Africa[link]
North and northeast Africa[link]
The Berber people of North Africa were traditionally farmers, living in mountains relatively close to the Mediterranean coast, or oasis dwellers. However, the Tuareg and Zenaga of the southern Sahara practice nomadic transhumance, whereas some groups, such as the Chaouis, practiced fixed transhumance. The Somalis and the Afars of Northeast Africa likewise traditionally practice nomadic transhumance.
Sub-Saharan Africa[link]
Maasai are semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania who have pastoral transhumance cultures that revolve around their cattle. That dependence was historically very strong, with even huts of the Maasai built from dried cattle dung. They are related to the Zulu[citation needed], a people who live mainly in South Africa who were also formerly semi-nomadic. In Southern Angola, several peoples - chiefly the Ovambo and part of the Nyaneka-Khumbi - are entirely organized around the practice of transhumance.[12]
Lesotho[link]
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This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. |
Traditional economy of the Basotho in Lesotho is based on rearing cattle. Seasonal migration between valley and high plateaus of the Maloti (basalt mountains of Lesotho) is critical in feeding an increased number of cattle and supporting a higher human population. Pressure on pasture land has increased due to construction of large storage dams in these mountains to provide water to South Africa's arid industrial heartland.
While tourism is starting to contribute to the economy of Lesotho, and more people are moving permanently into Highlands there, seasonal migration still augments this trend. Seasonal migration is part of the job of herdsmen who are employees of farmers who own herds in Lesotho. Growing pressure on pastures is contributing to degradation of sensitive grasslands and could contribute to sedimentation in man-made lakes.
The Americas[link]
North America[link]
Transhumance, in most cases relying on use of public land, continues to be an important ranching practice in the western United States.[13] The American tradition is based on moving herds to higher ground with the greening of highland pastures in spring and summer, and these uplands are often under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service. In the winter, herds use lowland steppe or desert, also often government land under the jurisdiction of the BLM. In California and Texas, a greater proportion of the range is private land. The general pattern is that in summer, ranch families, hired shepherds, or hired cowboys travel to the mountains and stay in a line camp during the summer, or visit the upland ranch regularly using trailers to transport horses to the high country.[14] Traditionally, in the American west shepherds spent most of the year with a herd, searching for the best forage in each season, an activity that peaked in the late nineteenth century. Today, cattle and sheep herds have at least a home base on private land, though this is often a small part of their range. There is a long tradition of Basque shepherds being imported into the U.S. to herd sheep on the public domain.[15] That role has now been supplanted by Peruvian, Chilean, and Mongolian workers. Shepherds take sheep herds into the mountains in the summer and out on the desert in the winter, at times using crop stubble and pasture on private land when it is available. The motion picture Brokeback Mountain portrays this lifestyle in the first act of the story, in which the shepherds take their sheep into BLM lands. There are a number of different forms of transhumance in the United States:
The Navajo people began practicing transhumance in the 1850s, as they were forced out of their traditional homeland in the San Juan River valley.[16]
In the southern Appalachians, livestock, especially sheep, were often pastured on grassy bald mountain tops where wild oats predominate. There is some speculation that these balds are remnants of ancient bison grazing lands (possibly maintained to some extent by early Amerindians). In the absence of transhumance, these balds have been receding in recent decades and may require some form of transhumance to conserve these unique ecosystems.
In California, the home ranch tends to have more private land, largely because of the legacy of the Spanish land grant system. For this reason extensive acreages of Mediterranean oak woodlands and grasslands are stewarded by ranches whose economy depends on summer range on government land under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service.[17]
South America[link]
South American transhumance partially relies on "cowboy" counterparts, the gaucho of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and (with the spelling "gaúcho") southern Brazil, the llanero of Venezuela, the huaso of Chile.
Transhumance is currently practiced at least in Argentina, Chile, Perú and Bolivia,[18] as well as in the Brazilian Pantanal.[19] It mainly involves movement of cattle in the Pantanal and in parts of Argentina, while camelids are rather used at the Altiplano. Goats constitute a big chunk of the transhumance that takes place in North Neuquén and South Mendoza, while sheep are more used in the Patagonian plains. Criollos as well as indigenous people are involved in transhumant practices in South America.
See also[link]
References[link]
- ^ Blench, Roger (2001). Pastoralists in the new millennium. FAO. pp. 12. http://www.odi.org.uk/work/projects/pdn/eps.pdf.
- ^ Gwynn, Eirwen. "On the land – yesterday and today". http://www.tal-y-bont.org/uploads/130_213low.pdf. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "History of Hafod Elwy Hall". Hafodelwyhall.co.uk. http://www.hafodelwyhall.co.uk/history.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ "T. Pennant Tour in Scotland 1769: "Bothay, a dairy-house, where Highland shepherds, or graziers, live during summer with their herds and flocks, and during that season make butter and cheese., Dictionary of the Scots Language, accessed 26 May 2007
- ^ Smith, Gavin (2005). Surrey Place-names. Heart of Albion Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN 1-872883-84-2.
- ^ "World Cultures European". Irish culture and customs. http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/acalend/InventHalloween.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ Govan, Fiona (10 September 2007). "Herdsmen flock to Madrid sheep protest". Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1562731/Herdsmen-flock-to-Madrid-sheep-protest.html. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ *Erling Welle-Strand, Adventure Roads in Norway, Nortrabooks, 1996. ISBN 82-90103-71-9
- ^ Rouhollah Ramazani, The Northern Tie. Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. D. Van Nostrand Company: New Jersey, 1966, p. 85
- ^ Ullens de Schooten, Marie-Tèrése. (1956). Lords of the Mountains: Southern Persia & the Kashkai Tribe. Chatto and Windus Ltd. Reprint: The Travel Book Club. London, pp. 53-54. See also pp. 114-118.
- ^ "Australian Alps National Parks and Reserves, The Alpine Way, Thredbo Village, NSW, Australia (entry AHD105891)". Australian Heritage Database. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=105891. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ Eduardo Cruz de Carvalho & Jorge Vieira da Silva, The Cunene Region: Ecological analysis of an African agropastoralist system, in: Franz-Wilhelm Heimer (ed.), Social Change in Angola, Munique: Weltforum Verlag, 1973, pp. 145-191
- ^ Huntsinger, L., Forero, L. and Sulak A. 2010. Transhumance and pastoralist resilience in the western United States. Pastoralism: Research, Policy, and Practice 1:10-37
- ^ Huntsinger, L., Forero, L. and Sulak A. 2010. Transhumance and pastoralist resilience in the western United States. Pastoralism: Research, Policy, and Practice 1:10-37.
- ^ Starrs, P.F. Let the cowboy ride. 1998. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ "Erosion of Trust". American Scientist. DOI:10.1511/2010.85.348. http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/pub/erosion-of-trust. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
- ^ Sulak, A. and Huntsinger, L. 2007. Public lands grazing in California: untapped conservation potential for private lands? Rangelands 23(3):9-13.
- ^ Andaluz Westreicher, Carlos; Mérega, Juan Luis; y Palmili, Gabriel (2007). "The Economics of Pastoralism: Study on Current Practices in South America". Nomadic Peoples 11 (2): 87. DOI:10.3167/np.2007.110205. pp. 87-105. (Print), 1752-2366 (Online).
- ^ de Abreu, Urbano Gomes Pinto; McManus, Concepta; y Santos, Sandra Aparecida (2010). "Cattle ranching, conservation and transhumance in the Brazilian Pantanal". Pastoralism 1 (1). DOI:10.3362/2041-7136.2010.007. pp. 99-114. (print), 2041-7136 (online).
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Transhumance |
 |
Look up transhumance in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Discussion on Asia
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Discussion on Africa
- Transhumance and 'The Waiting Zone' in North Africa
- Limited traditional transhumance in Australia
- Pastoralism
- Short mention of transhumance in North America
- Swiss land registry of alpine pastures (German)
- La transhumancia in Madrid Spain
- Interview with Lionel Martorell, one of the last transhumant pastors in Eastern Spain
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http://ru.wn.com/Отгонное животноводство
http://fr.wn.com/Transhumance
http://nl.wn.com/Transhumance
http://pt.wn.com/Transumância
http://de.wn.com/Transhumanz
http://it.wn.com/Transumanza
http://pl.wn.com/Transhumancja
http://es.wn.com/Trashumancia
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumance
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Saint Remigius | |
|---|---|
 Saint Remigius baptizes Clovis I, by the Master of Saint Gilles, c. 1500 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) |
|
| Bishop and Confessor | |
| Born | c. 437 Cerny-en-Laonnois, Picardy, France |
| Died | January 13, 533 Rheims, Champagne, France |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church Anglican Communion Orthodox Church |
| Feast | January 13[1][2] October 1 (translation of relics)[2] |
| Attributes | dove, book, lamp |
| Patronage | France |
Saint Remigius, Remy or Remi, (French: Saint Rémi or Saint Rémy; Italian: Remigio; Spanish: Remigio; Occitan: Romieg; Polish: Remigiusz; and Breton: Remig), was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks, (c. 437 – January 13, 533). On 24 December 496 he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Nicene Christianity, was a momentous success for the Catholic Church and a seminal event in European history.
Contents |
Life[link]
Remigius was born, traditionally, at Cerny-en-Laonnois, near Laon, Picardy, into the highest levels of Gallo-Roman society. He is said to have been the son of Emilius, count of Laon (who is not otherwise attested) and of Celina, daughter of the Bishop of Soissons, which Clovis had conquered in 486. He studied at Reims and soon became so noted for his learning and sanctity, in addition to his high status, that he was elected Bishop of Reims in his twenty-second year, though still a layman.[3]
The story of the return of the sacred vessels (most notably the Vase of Soissons), which had been stolen from the church of Soissons testifies to the friendly relations existing between him and Clovis, King of the Franks, whom he converted to Christianity with the assistance of Saint Vedast (Vedastus, Vaast, Waast) and Saint Clotilde, the Burgundian princess who was wife to Clovis. Even before he embraced Christianity, Clovis had showered benefits upon Remigius and the Christians of Reims, and after his victory over the Alamanni in the battle of Tolbiac (probably 496), he requested Remigius to baptize him at Reims (December 24, 496) in the presence of a large company of Franks and Alamanni: according to Saint Gregory of Tours, 3,000 Franks were baptized with Clovis.[4]
King Clovis granted Remigius stretches of territory, in which the latter established and endowed many churches. He erected bishoprics at Tournai; Cambrai; Thérouanne, where he personally ordained the first bishop in 499; Arras, where he installed St. Vedast; and Laon, which he gave to his niece's husband Gunband. In 530 he consecrated Medardus, Bishop of Noyon. Remigius' brother Principius was Bishop of Soissons and also corresponded with Sidonius Apollinaris, whose letters give a sense of the highly cultivated courtly literary Gallo-Roman style all three men shared.[5]
The chroniclers of "Gallia Christiana" record that numerous donations were made to Remigius by the Frankish nobles, which he presented to the cathedral at Reims.
Though Remigius never attended any of the church councils, in 517 he held a synod at Reims, at which after a heated discussion he converted a bishop of Arian views. Although St Remigius's influence over people and prelates was extraordinary, upon one occasion his condoning of the offences of one Claudius, a priest whom Remigius had consecrated, brought upon him the rebukes of his episcopal brethren, who deemed Claudius deserving of degradation. The reply of Remigius, still extant, is able and convincing.
Few authentic works of Remigius remain: his "Declamations" were elaborately admired by Sidonius Apollinaris, in a finely turned letter to Remigius, but are now lost.[6] Four letters survive: one containing his defence in the matter of Claudius, two written to Clovis, and a fourth to Bishop Falco of Tongeren. The "Testament of St. Remigius" is apocryphal. A brief and strictly legendary "Vita" was formerly ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus. Another, according to Jacobus de Voragine, was written by Ignatius, bishop of Reims.[7] A letter congratulating Pope Hormisdas upon his election (523) is apocryphal, and "the letter in which Pope Hormisdas appears to have appointed him vicar of the kingdom of Clovis is proved to be spurious; it is presumed to have been an attempt of Hincmar to base his pretensions for the elevation of Reims to the primacy, following the alleged precedent of Remigius."[8]
A Commentary on the Pauline Epistles (edited Villalpandus, 1699) is not his work, but that of Remigius of Auxerre.[9]
St Remigius' relics were kept in the Cathedral of Reims, whence Hincmar had them translated to Épernay during the Viking invasions and thence, in 1099 to the Abbey of Saint-Rémy. His feast is celebrated on October 1.
[edit] Remi and the Sainte Ampoule
Main article: Holy Ampulla
There was an early legend associated with St. Remigius known as the Legend of the Baptism of Moribund Pagan, according to which a dying pagan asked for baptism at the hands of St. Remigius, but when it was found that there was no Oil of the Catechumens or sacred Chrism available for the proper administration of the baptismal ceremony, St. Remigius ordered two empty vials be placed on an altar and as he prays before them these two vials miraculously filled respectively with the necessary Oil of the Catechumens and Chrism.
Apparently when the sepulcher containing the body of St. Remi was opened in the reign of Charles the Bald and while Hincmar was the Archbishop of Reims, two small vials were found, the contents of which gave off an aromatic scent the likes of which was like nothing known to those present. If one recalls that when St. Remigius died the ancient art of perfumery was still known and practiced in the collapsing Roman Empire, but was unknown in the Carolingian empire four hundred years later. These vials may have originally simply have bottles of unguents used to cover the scent of decay of St. Remigius’ corpse during his funeral, but the memory of the two vials miraculously filled in the story of the Baptism of the Moribund Pagan and the unusual, seemingly otherworldly scents issuing from these two vials found buried with St. Remigius combined to suggest to those present that these two vials were the miraculously filled vials of the legend.
It should be remembered as well that it was not uncommon for chalices, patens and other sacred vessels to be buried with high ranking clergymen.
Hincmar, adroitly combined the discovery of these two vials with their unique, unearthly fragrance, the Legend of the Baptism of the Moribund Pagan and the historical memory that St. Remigius had baptized Clovis into a new Legend identifying one of these vials as the actual vial of Chrism used at the baptism of Clovis to create the new Legend of the Sainte Ampoule, (i.e., that the Chrism used by Remigius when he baptized Clovis was miraculously supplied by heaven itself) which Hincmar then used to strengthen his claim that his own archepiscopal see of Reims—as the possessor of this heavenly sent Chrism—should therefore be recognized as the divinely chosen site for all subsequent sacre/anointings of French kings. The fate of the second vial is uncertain. It has been suggested that since in the original form of the legend this would have been the vial containing the Oil of the Catechumens and that the French coronation ordinals prescribe the Oil of the Catechumens, rather than Chrism, for the anointing of queens, it was subsequently used for anointing the queens of France[10] and it is possible that a vial currently identified by some of the Bourbon Legitimists as the Sainte Ampoulle is actually this second vial.
| Preceded by Bennage |
Archbishop of Reims 459–533 |
Succeeded by Romanus |
See also[link]
References[link]
- ^ Great Synaxaristes: (Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Ρεμίγιος Ἐπίσκοπος Ρημῶν. 13 Ιανουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
- ^ a b January 13. The Roman Martyrology.
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: "St. Remigius"
- ^ The legend of the ampulla of holy oil that was used to anoint the kings crowned at Reims originated after St Remigius' time, with Bishop Hincmar of Reims.
- ^ Book IX, p. viii
- ^ Book IX, p. vii
- ^ Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, October 1: "St. Remigius."
- ^ Philip Schaff, "The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," entry by A. Hauck
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica 1911
- ^ The Legend of the Ste. Ampoule by Sir Francis Oppenheimer, KCMG, Faber & Faber Ltd., 24 Russell Square, London.
Further reading[link]
- Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend, October 1: "St. Remigius."
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Remigius |
- The Life of St. Remigius, Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks
- Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Remigius
- Philip Schaff, "The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," entry by A. Hauck
- Of the life of St. Remigius
 |
Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article St. Remigius. |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Remigius, Saint |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 437 |
| Place of birth | Cerny-en-Laonnois, Picardy, France |
| Date of death | 533 |
| Place of death | Rheims, Champagne, France |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
