1.
Keyhole Markup Language
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Keyhole Markup Language is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within Internet-based, two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Keyhole Earth Viewer and it was created by Keyhole, Inc, which was acquired by Google in 2004. KML became a standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium in 2008. Google Earth was the first program able to view and graphically edit KML files, other projects such as Marble have also started to develop KML support. The KML file specifies a set of features for display in Here Maps, Google Earth, Maps and Mobile, each place always has a longitude and a latitude. Other data can make the more specific, such as tilt, heading, altitude. KML shares some of the same grammar as GML. Some KML information cannot be viewed in Google Maps or Mobile, KML files are very often distributed in KMZ files, which are zipped KML files with a. kmz extension. These must be legacy compression compatible, otherwise the. kmz file might not uncompress in all geobrowsers. The contents of a KMZ file are a single root KML document and optionally any overlays, images, icons, the root KML document by convention is a file named doc. kml at the root directory level, which is the file loaded upon opening. By convention the root KML document is at level and referenced files are in subdirectories. An example KML document is, The MIME type associated with KML is application/vnd. google-earth. kml+xml, the longitude, latitude components are as defined by the World Geodetic System of 1984. The vertical component is measured in meters from the WGS84 EGM96 Geoid vertical datum, if altitude is omitted from a coordinate string, e. g. then the default value of 0 is assumed for the altitude component, i. e. A formal definition of the reference system used by KML is contained in the OGC KML2.2 Specification. This definition references well-known EPSG CRS components, the KML2.2 specification was submitted to the Open Geospatial Consortium to assure its status as an open standard for all geobrowsers. In November 2007 a new KML2.2 Standards Working Group was established within OGC to formalize KML2.2 as an OGC standard. Comments were sought on the standard until January 4,2008. The OGC KML Standards Working Group finished working on change requests to KML2.2, the official OGC KML2.3 standard was published in August 4,2015
2.
GPS eXchange Format
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GPX, or GPS Exchange Format, is an XML schema designed as a common GPS data format for software applications. It can be used to describe waypoints, tracks, and routes, the format is open and can be used without the need to pay license fees. Location data is stored in tags and can be interchanged between GPS devices and software, common software applications for the data include viewing tracks projected onto various map sources, annotating maps, and geotagging photographs based on the time they were taken. These are the data contained in GPX files. Ellipsis means that the element can be repeated. Additional data may exist within every markup but is not shown here and it consists of the WGS84 coordinates of a point and possibly other descriptive information. TrkType is a track, made of at least one segment containing waypoints, that is, a Track Segment holds a list of Track Points which are logically connected in order. To represent a single GPS track where GPS reception was lost, or the GPS receiver was turned off, rteType is a route, an ordered list of routepoint leading to a destination. Conceptually, tracks are a record of where a person has been, technically, a track is made of a sufficient number of trackpoints to precisely draw every bend of a path on a bitmap. The routepoints may be crossings or junctions or as distant as stopover towns, hence, such a project can be saved and reloaded in a GPX file. A process called routing computes a route and may produce a GPX route made of the routepoints where some driver action takes place, the GPX points may contain the text of those instructions. The GPX file may contain both route and track so that a program can get points from the track even if it has no access to a vector map. The minimum properties for a GPX file are latitude and longitude for every single point. Some vendors, such as Humminbird and Garmin, use extensions to the GPX format for recording street address, phone number, business category, air temperature, depth of water, and other parameters. Latitude and longitude are expressed in degrees, and elevation in meters. Dates and times are not local time, but instead are Coordinated Universal Time using ISO8601 format, the following is a truncated GPX file produced by a Garmin Oregon 400t hand-held GPS unit. Concepts Point of Interest OpenStreetMap, a project to create free editable maps using, among others. File formats Exchangeable image file format Geography Markup Language KML, the equivalent format compatible with Google Earth, NMEA0183 NMEA2000 TCX, Garmin Training Center XML Software GPSBabel, used to upload/download/convert GPX files GPX, the GPS Exchange Format
3.
Cozad, Nebraska
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Cozad is a city in Dawson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,977 at the 2010 census, the town is on the Great Plains of central Nebraska, along the Union Pacific Railroad and U. S. Highway 30, just north of the Platte River. The 100th meridian, which marks the eastward boundary of the arid plains. In the early 1860s, it was a stop along the Pony Express, Cozad is part of the Lexington, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. Cozad was founded in 1873 by John J. Cozad, a native of Ohio, Cozad is located at 40°51′44″N 99°59′3″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 2.62 square miles. Cozad was settled by John Jackson Cozad, father of painter Robert Henri, Cozad also founded Cozaddale, Ohio, a small, unincorporated village 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati. As of the census of 2010, there were 3,977 people,1,656 households, the population density was 1,517.9 inhabitants per square mile. There were 1,881 housing units at a density of 717.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 92. 4% White,0. 4% African American,0. 4% Native American,0. 3% Asian,5. 2% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 13. 3% of the population. 31. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 15. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.92. The median age in the city was 39.3 years. 26. 2% of residents were under the age of 18, 7% were between the ages of 18 and 24, 24% were from 25 to 44,24. 9% were from 45 to 64, and 17. 8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48. 5% male and 51. 5% female, as of the census of 2000, there were 4,163 people,1,722 households, and 1,127 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,007.2 people per square mile, there were 1,851 housing units at an average density of 892.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 93. 39% White,0. 17% African American,0. 43% Native American,0. 43% Asian,3. 82% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 10. 95% of the population. 30. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14. 7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.95. In the city, the population was out with 26. 4% under the age of 18,7. 8% from 18 to 24,27. 0% from 25 to 44,22. 2% from 45 to 64
4.
Prime Meridian
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A prime meridian is a meridian in a geographical coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a meridian and its antimeridian form a great circle. This great circle divides the sphere, e. g. the Earth, if one uses directions of East and West from a defined prime meridian, then they can be called Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. The most widely used modern meridian is the IERS Reference Meridian and it is derived but deviates slightly from the Greenwich Meridian, which was selected as an international standard in 1884. The notion of longitude was developed by the Greek Eratosthenes in Alexandria, and Hipparchus in Rhodes, but it was Ptolemy who first used a consistent meridian for a world map in his Geographia. The main point is to be comfortably west of the tip of Africa as negative numbers were not yet in use. His prime meridian corresponds to 18°40 west of Winchester today, at that time the chief method of determining longitude was by using the reported times of lunar eclipses in different countries. Ptolemys Geographia was first printed with maps at Bologna in 1477, but there was still a hope that a natural basis for a prime meridian existed. The Tordesillas line was settled at 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. This is shown in Diogo Ribeiros 1529 map, in 1541, Mercator produced his famous 41 cm terrestrial globe and drew his prime meridian precisely through Fuertaventura in the Canaries. His later maps used the Azores, following the magnetic hypothesis, but by the time that Ortelius produced the first modern atlas in 1570, other islands such as Cape Verde were coming into use. In his atlas longitudes were counted from 0° to 360°, not 180°W to 180°E as is usual today and this practice was followed by navigators well into the 18th century. In 1634, Cardinal Richelieu used the westernmost island of the Canaries, Ferro, 19°55 west of Paris, the geographer Delisle decided to round this off to 20°, so that it simply became the meridian of Paris disguised. In the early 18th century the battle was on to improve the determination of longitude at sea, between 1765 and 1811, Nevil Maskelyne published 49 issues of the Nautical Almanac based on the meridian of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Maskelynes tables not only made the lunar method practicable, they made the Greenwich meridian the universal reference point. In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D. C.22 countries voted to adopt the Greenwich meridian as the meridian of the world. The French argued for a line, mentioning the Azores and the Bering Strait. In October 1884 the Greenwich Meridian was selected by delegates to the International Meridian Conference held in Washington, united States to be the common zero of longitude and standard of time reckoning throughout the world
5.
North Pole
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The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earths axis of rotation meets its surface. The North Pole is the northernmost point on the Earth, lying diametrically opposite the South Pole and it defines geodetic latitude 90° North, as well as the direction of true north. At the North Pole all directions point south, all lines of longitude converge there, along tight latitude circles, counterclockwise is east and clockwise is west. The North Pole is at the center of the Northern Hemisphere, while the South Pole lies on a continental land mass, the North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean amid waters that are almost permanently covered with constantly shifting sea ice. This makes it impractical to construct a permanent station at the North Pole, however, the Soviet Union, and later Russia, constructed a number of manned drifting stations on a generally annual basis since 1937, some of which have passed over or very close to the Pole. Since 2002, the Russians have also established a base, Barneo. This operates for a few weeks during early spring, studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage, with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later. The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at 4,261 m by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m by USS Nautilus in 1958. The nearest land is said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about 700 km away. The nearest permanently inhabited place is Alert in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent variation of latitude, as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earths surface, the wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the eight-month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer and it is desirable to tie the system of Earth coordinates to fixed landforms. Of course, given plate tectonics and isostasy, there is no system in all geographic features are fixed. Yet the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service and the International Astronomical Union have defined a framework called the International Terrestrial Reference System. As early as the 16th century, many eminent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea and it was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, one of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82°45′ North. In 1871 the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, another British Royal Navy attempt on the pole, part of the British Arctic Expedition, by Commander Albert H. Markham reached a then-record 83°2026 North in May 1876 before turning back. An 1879–1881 expedition commanded by US naval officer George W. DeLong ended tragically when their ship, over half the crew, including DeLong, were lost
6.
Arctic Ocean
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The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the worlds five major oceans. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean, located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America. It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter, the summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center uses satellite data to provide a record of Arctic sea ice cover. The Arctic may become ice free for the first time in human history within a few years or by 2040, for much of European history, the north polar regions remained largely unexplored and their geography conjectural. He was probably describing loose sea ice known today as growlers or bergy bits, his Thule was probably Norway, early cartographers were unsure whether to draw the region around the North Pole as land or water. The makers of navigational charts, more conservative than some of the more fanciful cartographers, tended to leave the region blank and this lack of knowledge of what lay north of the shifting barrier of ice gave rise to a number of conjectures. In England and other European nations, the myth of an Open Polar Sea was persistent, john Barrow, longtime Second Secretary of the British Admiralty, promoted exploration of the region from 1818 to 1845 in search of this. In the United States in the 1850s and 1860s, the explorers Elisha Kane, even quite late in the century, the eminent authority Matthew Fontaine Maury included a description of the Open Polar Sea in his textbook The Physical Geography of the Sea. Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick. Fridtjof Nansen was the first to make a crossing of the Arctic Ocean. The first surface crossing of the ocean was led by Wally Herbert in 1969, in a dog sled expedition from Alaska to Svalbard, with air support. The first nautical transit of the pole was made in 1958 by the submarine USS Nautilus. Since 1937, Soviet and Russian manned drifting ice stations have extensively monitored the Arctic Ocean, scientific settlements were established on the drift ice and carried thousands of kilometres by ice floes. In World War II, the European region of the Arctic Ocean was heavily contested, the Arctic Ocean occupies a roughly circular basin and covers an area of about 14,056,000 km2, almost the size of Antarctica. The coastline is 45,390 km long and it is surrounded by the land masses of Eurasia, North America, Greenland, and by several islands. It is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Bering Strait and to the Atlantic Ocean through the Greenland Sea, countries bordering the Arctic Ocean are, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the United States. There are several ports and harbours around the Arctic Ocean In Alaska, in Canada, ships may anchor at Churchill in Manitoba, Nanisivik in Nunavut, Tuktoyaktuk or Inuvik in the Northwest territories
7.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
8.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
9.
Southern Ocean
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As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions, smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters. By way of his voyages in the 1770s, Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. Since then, geographers have disagreed on the Southern Oceans northern boundary or even existence, considering the part of the Pacific, Atlantic. Others regard the seasonally-fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary, Borders and names for oceans and seas were internationally agreed when the International Hydrographic Bureau, the precusor to the IHO, convened the First International Conference on 24 July 1919. The IHO then published these in its Limits of Oceans and Seas, Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia. Map publishers using the term Southern Ocean on their maps include Hema Maps, Southern Ocean is an obsolete name for the Pacific Ocean or South Pacific, coined by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to discover it, who approached it from the north. The South Seas is an archaic synonym. A1745 British Act of Parliament established a prize for discovering a Northwest Passage to the Western and Southern Ocean of America, authors using Southern Ocean to name the waters encircling the unknown southern polar regions used varying limits. James Cooks account of his second voyage implies New Caledonia borders it, peacocks 1795 Geographical Dictionary said it lay to the southward of America and Africa, John Payne in 1796 used 40 degrees as the northern limit, the 1827 Edinburgh Gazetteer used 50 degrees. The United Kingdoms South Australia Act 1834 described the waters forming the southern limit of the new colony of South Australia as the Southern Ocean. The Colony of Victorias Legislative Council Act of 1881 delimited part of the division of Bairnsdale as along the New South Wales boundary to the Southern ocean. The limit then followed the west coast of Tasmania southwards to the South East Cape and then went eastwards to Broughton Island, New Zealand, the northern limits of the Southern Ocean were moved southwards in the IHOs 1937 second edition of the Limits of Oceans and Seas. From this edition, much of the northern limit ceased to abut land masses. As is discussed in detail below, prior to the 2002 edition the limits of oceans explicitly excluded the seas lying within each of them. The Great Australian Bight was unnamed in the 1928 edition, and it therefore encompassed former Southern Ocean waters but was technically not inside any of the three adjacent oceans by 1937. To perform direct comparisons of current and former limits of oceans it is necessary to consider, or at least be aware of, the limits of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans have therefore been extended South to the Antarctic Continent. The IHO readdressed the question of the Southern Ocean in a survey in 2000, of its 68 member nations,28 responded, and all responding members except Argentina agreed to redefine the ocean, reflecting the importance placed by oceanographers on ocean currents
10.
Antarctica
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It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
11.
South Pole
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The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth, situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole should not be confused with the South Magnetic Pole, the South Pole is at the center of the Southern Hemisphere. For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the point of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. However, the Earths axis of rotation is actually subject to very small wobbles, the geographic coordinates of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as 0°, at the South Pole, all directions face north. For this reason, directions at the Pole are given relative to grid north, along tight latitude circles, clockwise is east, and counterclockwise is west, opposite to the North Pole. The Geographic South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica. It sits atop a featureless, barren, windswept and icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 metres above sea level, and is located about 1,300 km from the nearest open sea at Bay of Whales. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 metres thick at the Pole, the polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 metres per year in a direction between 37° and 40° west of grid north, down towards the Weddell Sea. Therefore, the position of the station and other artificial features relative to the geographic pole gradually shift over time. The Geographic South Pole is marked by a stake in the ice alongside a small sign, these are repositioned each year in a ceremony on New Years Day to compensate for the movement of the ice. The sign records the respective dates that Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott reached the Pole, followed by a quotation from each man. A new marker stake is designed and fabricated each year by staff at the site, the Ceremonial South Pole is an area set aside for photo opportunities at the South Pole Station. It is located around 180 metres from the Geographic South Pole, Amundsens Tent, The tent was erected by the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on its arrival on 14 December 1911. It is currently buried beneath the snow and ice in the vicinity of the Pole and it has been designated a Historic Site or Monument, following a proposal by Norway to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. In 1820, several expeditions claimed to have been the first to have sighted Antarctica, with the very first being the Russian expedition led by Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The first landing was probably just over a year later when American Captain John Davis, the basic geography of the Antarctic coastline was not understood until the mid-to-late 19th century
12.
Great circle
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A great circle, also known as an orthodrome or Riemannian circle, of a sphere is the intersection of the sphere and a plane that passes through the center point of the sphere. This partial case of a circle of a sphere is opposed to a circle, the intersection of the sphere. Any diameter of any great circle coincides with a diameter of the sphere, and therefore all great circles have the same circumference as each other, a great circle is the largest circle that can be drawn on any given sphere. Every circle in Euclidean 3-space is a circle of exactly one sphere. For most pairs of points on the surface of a sphere, there is a great circle through the two points. The exception is a pair of points, for which there are infinitely many great circles. The minor arc of a circle between two points is the shortest surface-path between them. In this sense, the arc is analogous to “straight lines” in Euclidean geometry. The length of the arc of a great circle is taken as the distance between two points on a surface of a sphere in Riemannian geometry. The great circles are the geodesics of the sphere, in higher dimensions, the great circles on the n-sphere are the intersection of the n-sphere with 2-planes that pass through the origin in the Euclidean space Rn+1. To prove that the arc of a great circle is the shortest path connecting two points on the surface of a sphere, one can apply calculus of variations to it. Consider the class of all paths from a point p to another point q. Introduce spherical coordinates so that p coincides with the north pole. Any curve on the sphere that does not intersect either pole, except possibly at the endpoints, can be parametrized by θ = θ, ϕ = ϕ, a ≤ t ≤ b provided we allow φ to take on arbitrary real values. The infinitesimal arc length in these coordinates is d s = r θ ′2 + ϕ ′2 sin 2 θ d t. So the length of a curve γ from p to q is a functional of the curve given by S = r ∫ a b θ ′2 + ϕ ′2 sin 2 θ d t. Note that S is at least the length of the meridian from p to q, S ≥ r ∫ a b | θ ′ | d t ≥ r | θ − θ |. Since the starting point and ending point are fixed, S is minimized if and only if φ =0, so the curve must lie on a meridian of the sphere φ = φ0 = constant
13.
Nunavut
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Nunavut is the newest, largest, and northernmost territory of Canada. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canadas political map since the incorporation of the province of Newfoundland, Nunavut comprises a major portion of Northern Canada, and most of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its vast territory makes it the fifth-largest country subdivision in the world, the capital Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the east, was chosen by the 1995 capital plebiscite. Other major communities include the regional centres of Rankin Inlet and Cambridge Bay and it is Canadas only geo-political region that is not connected to the rest of North America by highway. Nunavut is the largest in area and the second least populous of Canadas provinces and territories. One of the worlds most remote, sparsely settled regions, it has a population of 35,944, mostly Inuit, spread over an area of just over 1,750,000 km2, Nunavut is also home to the worlds northernmost permanently inhabited place, Alert. A weather station farther down Ellesmere Island, Eureka, has the lowest average temperature of any Canadian weather station. Nunavut means our land in Inuktitut, Nunavut covers 1,877,787 km2 of land and 160,935 km2 of water in Northern Canada. This makes it the fifth largest subnational entity in the world, if Nunavut were a country, it would rank 15th in area. It also shares borders with Greenland and the provinces of Quebec, Ontario. Nunavuts highest point is Barbeau Peak on Ellesmere Island, the population density is 0.019 persons/km2, one of the lowest in the world. By comparison, Greenland has approximately the area and nearly twice the population. Nunavut experiences a climate in most regions, owing to its high latitude. In more southerly continental areas very cold climates can be found. The region now known as Nunavut has supported an indigenous population for approximately 4,000 years. Most historians identify the coast of Baffin Island with the Helluland described in Norse sagas, the materials were collected in five seasons of excavation at Cape Tanfield. Scholars determined that these provide evidence of European traders and possibly settlers on Baffin Island and they seem to indicate prolonged contact, possibly up to 1450. So you have to consider the possibility that as remote as it may seem, the ore turned out to be worthless, but Frobisher made the first recorded European contact with the Inuit
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Meighen Island
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Meighen Island is an uninhabited member of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Located at 79°55N 99°30W, it measures 955 km2 in size and is topped with an ice cap, the island is continuously icebound, and its northwestern coast faces onto the open Arctic Ocean. Unlike many Canadian Arctic islands, no traces of Inuit or Thule camps have been found, suggesting the island has never been inhabited, the first known sighting of the island was in 1916, during the Canadian Arctic Expedition by Vilhjalmur Stefansson or perhaps by Frederick Cook in 1909. The island was named after Arthur Meighen, Canadian prime minister 1920-21 and 1926. It is about 40 km west of the next nearest major island, about 4 km to Meighens north, across the Hose Strait, lies small crescent-shaped Perley Island. The Fay Islands lie between Meighen Island and Axel Heiberg Island within the Sverdrup Channel, Meighen Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama, Natural Resources Canada
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Ellef Ringnes Island
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Ellef Ringnes Island is one of the Sverdrup Islands in Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. Also a member of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and Canadian Arctic Archipelago, it is located in the Arctic Ocean, east of Borden Island and it has an area of 11,295 km2, making it the 69th largest island in the world and Canadas 16th largest island. Its highest mount is 260 m, the island was named by Otto Sverdrup for Oslo brewer Ellef Ringnes, one of the sponsors of his expedition. It was first sighted by one of his men in 1901, the island was then claimed by Norway from 1902 until the claim was relinquished in 1930. A High Arctic Weather Station called Isachsen lies on the west coast of the island and it was opened April 3,1948 as part of a joint Canada-U. S. military effort to support a weather station network. When it closed on September 19,1978, it was replaced with a weather system. The station represented the only permanent human settlement of the island. Ellef Ringnes Island was the last landmass to be visited by the Earths wandering Magnetic North Pole and they established a temporary magnetic observatory on Lougheed Island, close to the predicted position of the pole. They determined that the position of the North Magnetic Pole in 1994 was located on the Noice Peninsula, southwest Ellef Ringnes Island. The pole shifted from the island that year and now lies some 250 miles to the NNW, the island is also the location and namesake of an episode of The Secret Saturdays. The first known sighting of Ellef Ringnes Island was in 1901 by a party consisting of Gunerius Isachsen. Members of the Second Norwegian Arctic Expedition of 1898–1902, which was under the command of Otto Sverdrup, the island was named to honour Ellef Ringnes, one of the principal patrons of the expedition. At the time of the discovery of Ellef Ringnes Island, the expedition was based at Goose Fiord on the south coast of Ellesmere Island, the following day, Isachsen and Hassel traveled across Hassel Sound making a landfall at the southern extremity of the island. In the course of the following 20 days, they succeeded in circumnavigating Ellef Ringnes, the resulting map and notes on geological specimens are published in Otto Sverdrups narrative New Land. The federal Department of Transport and the United States Weather Bureau jointly established a station at Isachsen. The station was in operation for thirty years, drilling took place on the island in the seventies by Panarctic Oils. The island is characterized by lowlands and locally by dissected uplands which reflect the diversity of structures. The island is rimmed by low shelving coastal areas, domal structures with cores of diapiric anhydrite and these salt domes create the highest topographic features
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Bathurst Island (Canada)
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A member of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Bathurst Island is one of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in Nunavut, Canada. The area of the island is estimated at 16,042 km2,115 to 117 miles long and from 63 mi to 72 mi to 92.9 mi wide, making it the 54th largest island in the world and Canadas 13th largest island. The island is low-lying with few parts higher than 330 m in elevation, the highest point is 412 m at Stokes Mountain in the Stokes Range. This in turn part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain system. Good soil conditions produce abundant vegetation and support a more prolific wildlife population than other Arctic islands, the island contains both the International Biological Program site Polar Bear Pass and Qausuittuq National Park. Brooman Point Village on the eastern coast of Bathurst Island was the site of Thule native tribes around A. D.1000, william Edward Parry was the first European to discover the island in 1819, charting its southern coast. It was named for Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, British Secretary of State for War, robert Aldrich charted much of its west coast in 1851, while George Henry Richards and Sherard Osborn charted its north coast in 1853. The Earths North Magnetic Pole tracked northwards across Bathurst Island during the 1960s and 1970s, Bathurst Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama, Natural Resources Canada
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Parry Channel
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The Parry Channel is a natural waterway through the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Its eastern two-thirds lies in the territory of Nunavut, while its western third lies in the Northwest Territories and it runs east to west, connecting Baffin Bay in the east with the Beaufort Sea in the west. Its eastern end is the only entrance to the northwest passage. Its western end would be an exit from the archipelago were it not filled with ice. The channel separates the Queen Elizabeth Islands to the north from the rest of Nunavut, named parts of the Channel are, from east to west, Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Viscount Melville Sound and McClure Strait. On the north are Devon Island, Wellington Channel, Cornwallis Island, McDougall Sound, Bathurst Island, Melville Island, Parry Channel is named after Arctic explorer William Edward Parry who in 1819 got as far as Melville Island before being blocked by ice at McClure Strait. The next ship to get this far west was part of the Edward Belcher expedition in 1850
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Prince of Wales Island (Nunavut)
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For administrative purposes it is divided between Qikiqtaaluk and Kitikmeot regions. It is a low tundra-covered island with an irregular coastline deeply indented by Ommanney Bay in the west and its area has been estimated at 33,339 km2. Prince of Wales Island is the worlds 40th largest island and the 10th largest in Canada and its European discovery came in 1851 by Francis Leopold McClintocks sledge parties during the searches for John Franklins last expedition. McClintock, along with Sherard Osborn and William Browne, charted the northern half of the island and its southern half was charted by Allen Young in 1859. It was named after Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria, then ten years old and he later became King Edward VII. Media related to Prince of Wales Island at Wikimedia Commons Prince of Wales Island in the Atlas of Canada - Toporama, Natural Resources Canada
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Victoria Strait
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Victoria Strait is a strait in northern Canada that lies in Nunavut off the mainland in the Arctic Ocean. It is between Victoria Island to the west and King William Island to the east, from the north the strait links the MClintock Channel and the Larsen Sound with the Queen Maud Gulf to the south. The strait is about 100 mi long and anywhere from 50 to 80 mi wide, the strait is wide, with almost no islands, save for the rather large Royal Geographical Society Island near the Queen Maud Gulf at the extreme south of the strait. The strait has never been surveyed, however charted potions indicate several patches where the water is only 30 feet of depth. Ships drawing up to 30 feet have navigated the strait, most of the year the strait is covered with rough, heavy ice. Much of this is polar ice which has flowed down the McClintock Channel from the Viscount Melville Sound, large-scale breakup of the ice in the strait begins by late July and continues into late September when it begins to freeze again. Near the entrance of Victoria Strait was where HMS Terror and HMS Erebus became trapped during John Franklins expedition and were abandoned in 1848, due to the hazards of the strait, a longer route was used which went around King William Island. This route was easier despite having an even shallower bottom, in 1967, the Victoria Strait was used for the first time by an icebreaker, the John A. Macdonald, when travelling to the western Arctic to assist shipping. It was crossed again by the same icebreaker in 1975, and later in 1976 by the icebreakers CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and CCGS J. E. Bernier
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Queen Maud Gulf
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Queen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait, to the east lies Simpson Strait, in 1839 it was crossed by Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson. It was named by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1905 for the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales, the wreck of the HMS Erebus from lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 to the Northwest Passage was found in 2014. The wreck lies at the bottom of the portion of Queen Maud Gulf
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Manitoba
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Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is one of the three provinces and Canadas fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years, in the late 17th century, fur traders arrived in the area when it was part of Ruperts Land and owned by the Hudsons Bay Company. In 1869, negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba led to an uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada. The rebellions resolution led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province, Manitobas capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is Canadas eighth-largest census metropolitan area. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, four of the provinces five universities and all four of its professional sports teams are in Winnipeg. The name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Cree, the name derives from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit, a place referring to what are now called The Narrows in the centre of Lake Manitoba. It may also be from the Assiniboine for Lake of the Prairie, the lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies. Thomas Spence chose the name to refer to a new republic he proposed for the south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel also chose the name, and it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870 and it adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, and is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline. The Port of Churchill is Canadas only Arctic deep-water port and the shortest shipping route between North America and Asia, Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the worlds second-largest bay, Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Ruperts Land. It was a area of the Hudsons Bay Company, with many rivers. The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, Manitobas major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipegs east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg. This basins rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, major watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill rivers
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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North Dakota
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North Dakota is the 39th state of the United States, having been admitted to the union on November 2,1889. The state capital is Bismarck, and the largest city is Fargo, North Dakota is the 19th most extensive but the 4th least populous and the 4th least densely populated of the 50 United States. The development has driven strong job and population growth, and low unemployment, North Dakota is located in the U. S. region known as the Great Plains. The state shares the Red River of the North with Minnesota on the east, South Dakota is to the south, Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are to the north. North Dakota is situated near the middle of North America with a marker in Rugby. With an area of 70,762 square miles, North Dakota is the 19th largest state, the western half of the state consists of the hilly Great Plains as well as the northern part of the Badlands, which are to the west of the Missouri River. The states high point, White Butte at 3,506 feet, the region is abundant in fossil fuels including natural gas, crude oil and lignite coal. The Missouri River forms Lake Sakakawea, the third largest man-made lake in the United States, the central region of the state is divided into the Drift Prairie and the Missouri Plateau. The eastern part of the consists of the flat Red River Valley. Its fertile soil, drained by the meandering Red River flowing northward into Lake Winnipeg, Devils Lake, the largest natural lake in the state, is also found in the east. Eastern North Dakota is overall flat, however, there are significant hills, most of the state is covered in grassland, crops cover most of eastern North Dakota but become increasingly sparse in the center and farther west. This diverse terrain supports nearly 2,000 species of plants, the state of North Dakota is home to the geographical center of North America located near Rugby, North Dakota North Dakota has a continental climate with hot summers and cold winters. The temperature differences are rather extreme because of its far inland position and being in the center of the Northern Hemisphere, with equal distances to the North Pole. As such, summers are almost subtropical in nature, but winters are cold enough to plant hardiness is very low. Native American peoples lived in what is now North Dakota for thousands of years before the coming of Europeans and their tribes included the Mandan people, the Dakota people and the Yanktonai, the latter two from the Lakota peoples. The first European to reach the area was the French-Canadian trader Pierre Gaultier, sieur de La Vérendrye, in 1762 the region became part of Spanish Louisiana until 1802. Dakota Territory was settled sparsely by European Americans until the late 19th century, with the advantage of grants of land, they vigorously marketed their properties, extolling the region as ideal for agriculture. An omnibus bill for statehood for North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and his successor, Benjamin Harrison, signed the proclamations formally admitting North Dakota and South Dakota to the Union on November 2,1889
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South Dakota
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South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, South Dakota is the 17th most expansive, but the 5th least populous and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. Once the southern portion of the Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2,1889, Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 171,000, is South Dakotas largest city. South Dakota is bordered by the states of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, the state is bisected by the Missouri River, dividing South Dakota into two geographically and socially distinct halves, known to residents as East River and West River. Eastern South Dakota is home to most of the states population, West of the Missouri, ranching is the predominant agricultural activity, and the economy is more dependent on tourism and defense spending. Most of the Native American reservations are located in West River, the Black Hills, a group of low pine-covered mountains sacred to the Sioux, are located in the southwest part of the state. Mount Rushmore, a major tourist destination, is located there, South Dakota experiences a temperate continental climate, with four distinct seasons and precipitation ranging from moderate in the east to semi-arid in the west. The ecology of the state features species typical of a North American grassland biome, humans have inhabited the area for several millennia, with the Sioux becoming dominant by the early 19th century. In the late 19th century, European-American settlement intensified after a rush in the Black Hills. Encroaching miners and settlers triggered a number of Indian wars, ending with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, historically dominated by an agricultural economy and a rural lifestyle, South Dakota has recently sought to diversify its economy in areas to attract and retain residents. South Dakotas history and rural character still strongly influence the culture of the state, South Dakota is situated in the north-central United States, and is considered a part of the Midwest by the U. S. Census Bureau, it is also part of the Great Plains region. The culture, economy, and geography of western South Dakota have more in common with the West than the Midwest, South Dakota has a total area of 77,116 square miles, making the state the 17th largest in the Union. Black Elk Peak, formerly named Harney Peak, with an elevation of 7,242 ft, is the states highest point, while the shoreline of Big Stone Lake is the lowest, with an elevation of 966 ft. South Dakota is bordered to the north by North Dakota, to the south by Nebraska, to the east by Iowa and Minnesota, the geographical center of the U. S. is 17 miles west of Castle Rock in Butte County. The North American continental pole of inaccessibility is located between Allen and Kyle,1,024 mi from the nearest coastline, the Missouri River is the largest and longest river in the state. Other major South Dakota rivers include the Cheyenne, James, Big Sioux, Eastern South Dakota has many natural lakes, mostly created by periods of glaciation. Additionally, dams on the Missouri River create four large reservoirs, Lake Oahe, Lake Sharpe, Lake Francis Case, South Dakota can generally be divided into three regions, eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. The Missouri River serves as a boundary in terms of geographic, social, at times the Black Hills are combined with the rest of western South Dakota, and people often refer to the resulting two regions divided by the Missouri River as West River and East River
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Nebraska
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Nebraska /nᵻˈbræskə/ is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. Its area is just over 77,220 sq mi with almost 1.9 million people and its largest city is Omaha, which is on the Missouri River. The state is crossed by many trails and was explored by the Lewis. Nebraska was admitted as the 37th state of the United States in 1867 and it is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan. Nebraska is composed of two major regions, the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of rolling hills. The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska, characterized by treeless prairie, the state has a large agriculture sector and is a major producer of beef, pork, corn, and soybeans. Two major climatic zones are represented in Nebraska, the half of the state has a humid continental climate, and the western half. Indigenous peoples lived in the region of present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before European exploration. The historic tribes in the state included the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, when European exploration, trade, and settlement began, both Spain and France sought to control the region. In the 1690s, Spain established trade connections with the Apaches, by 1703, France had developed a regular trade with the native peoples along the Missouri River in Nebraska, and by 1719 had signed treaties with several of these peoples. After war broke out between the two countries, Spain dispatched an expedition to Nebraska under Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur in 1720. The party was attacked and destroyed near present-day Columbus by a force of Pawnees and Otoes. The massacre of the Villasur expedition effectively put an end to Spanish exploration of Nebraska for the remainder of the 18th century, in 1762, during the Seven Years War, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain. Frances withdrawal from the area left Britain and Spain competing for dominance along the Mississippi, by 1773, later that year, Mackays party built a trading post, dubbed Fort Carlos IV, near present-day Homer. In 1819, the United States established Fort Atkinson as the first U. S. Army post west of the Missouri River, the army abandoned the fort in 1827 as migration moved further west. European-American settlement did not begin in any numbers until after 1848, on May 30,1854, the US Congress created the Kansas and the Nebraska territories, divided by the Parallel 40° North, under the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The Nebraska Territory included parts of the current states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, the territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha
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Kansas
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Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ is a U. S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas is named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribes name is said to mean people of the wind or people of the south wind. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous, tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. When it was opened to settlement by the U. S. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided. The abolitionists eventually prevailed, and on January 29,1861, after the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles is the 15th largest state by area and is the 34th most populous of the 50 United States with a population of 2,911,641, residents of Kansas are called Kansans, officially. Mount Sunflower is Kansass highest point at 4,041 feet, for a millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, in 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, from 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state, the Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30,1854, establishing the U. S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery, the secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas, Kansas was admitted to the United States as a free state on January 29,1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature and his application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record
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Oklahoma
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Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central United States. Oklahoma is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the 50 United States, the states name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning red people. The name was settled upon statehood, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged, on November 16,1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, or informally Okies, and its capital, a major producer of natural gas, oil, and agricultural products, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. In 2007, it had one of the economies in the United States, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahomas primary economic anchors, with nearly two-thirds of Oklahomans living within their metropolitan statistical areas. With small mountain ranges, prairie, mesas, and eastern forests, most of Oklahoma lies in the Great Plains, Cross Timbers, interior Highlands—a region especially prone to severe weather. The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw phrase okla humma, literally meaning red people, equivalent to the English word Indian, okla humma was a phrase in the Choctaw language used to describe Native American people as a whole. Oklahoma later became the de facto name for Oklahoma Territory, and it was approved in 1890. Oklahoma is the 20th-largest state in the United States, covering an area of 69,898 square miles and it is one of six states on the Frontier Strip and lies partly in the Great Plains near the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states. It is bounded on the east by Arkansas and Missouri, on the north by Kansas, on the northwest by Colorado, on the far west by New Mexico, much of its border with Texas lies along the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, a failed continental rift. The geologic figure defines the placement of the Red River, the Oklahoma panhandles Western edge is out of alignment with its Texas border. The Oklahoma/New Mexico border is actually 2.1 to 2.2 miles east of the Texas line, the border between Texas and New Mexico was set first as a result of a survey by Spain in 1819. It was then set along the 103rd Meridian, in the 1890s, when Oklahoma was formally surveyed using more accurate surveying equipment and techniques, it was discovered the Texas line was not set along the 103rd Meridian. Surveying techniques were not as accurate in 1819, and the actual 103rd Meridian was approximately 2.2 miles to the east and it was much easier to leave the mistake than for Texas to cede land to New Mexico to correct the surveying error. The placement of the Oklahoma/New Mexico border represents the true 103rd Meridian, cimarron County in Oklahomas panhandle is the only county in the United States that touches four other states, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado and Kansas. Its highest and lowest points follow this trend, with its highest peak, Black Mesa, at 4,973 feet above sea level, situated near its far northwest corner in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The states lowest point is on the Little River near its far southeastern boundary near the town of Idabel, Oklahoma, which dips to 289 feet above sea level
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Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
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Coahuila
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The state is located in Northeastern Mexico on the US border. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west. To the north, Coahuila accounts for a 512 kilometres stretch of the Mexico–United States border, with an area of 151,563 square kilometres, it is the nations third-largest state. In 2010, Coahuilas population is 2,748,391 inhabitants, the Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in Tenochtiitlán the capital of the Aztecs. Such exploration was delayed because the climate was harsher and there was no gold. The first Spanish settlement in the now called Coahuila was at Minas de la Trinidad in 1577. Saltillo was settled in 1586, to part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya of the Vice-royalty of New Spain. Later it became one of the first provinces of Nueva Extremadura to be explored by Europeans, Coahuila and Texas was one of the constituent states of the newly independent United Mexican States under their 1824 Constitution, and included Texas, Coahuila and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1836, Monclova was the capital of the state from 1833 to 1835. In 1840 Coahuila briefly became a member of the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande, on February 19,1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868. During the Mexican Revolution, Francisco Villa attacked the city of Torreón, on April 4,2004, the border city of Piedras Negras was flooded. More than 30 people died and more than 4,000 lost their homes, in 2007 Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions to same-sex couples. The Sierra Madre Oriental runs northwest to southeast through the State, the northernmost fingers of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra del Burro and the Sierra del Carmen, reach to the border with the United States at the Rio Grande. East of the range, the land slopes gently toward the Rio Grande, and is drained by rivers, including the Salado and its tributary. The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the portion of the State. The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, the Bolsón de Mapimí is a large endorheic basin which covers much of the western portion of the State and extends into adjacent portions of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The Nazas River, which flows east from Durango, and the Aguanaval River, Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the, which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango. Maderas del Carmen lies on the border of the State
30.
Tamaulipas
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Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria, the capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the first President of Mexico. It is located in Northeastern Mexico and it is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the southeast, San Luis Potosí to the southwest and Nuevo León to the west. To the north, it has a 370 km stretch of the U. S. –Mexico border along the state of Texas and this state is known to be both a territorial struggle for the Gulf Cartel and the Los Zetas. The name Tamaulipas is derived from Tamaholipa, a Huastec term in which the tam- prefix signifies place, there is no scholarly agreement on the meaning of holipa, but high hills is a common interpretation. Another explanation of the name is that it is derived from Ta ma holipam. In addition to the city, Ciudad Victoria, the states largest cities include Reynosa, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo. The area known as Tamaulipas has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years, several different cultures have come and gone during that period. Tamaulipas was originally populated by the Olmec people and later by Chichimec and Huastec tribes, between 1445 and 1466, Mexica armies commanded by Moctezuma I Ilhuicamina conquered much of the territory and transformed it into a tributary region for the Mexica empire. However, the Aztecs never fully conquered certain mostly nomadic indigenous groups in the area, although Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs rather quickly, it took a gradual process for Spain to subjugate the inhabitants of Tamaulipas in the 16th and 17th centuries. The first permanent Spanish settlement in the area was Tampico in 1554, further settlement was done by Franciscan missionaries, widespread cattle and sheep ranching by the Spanish bolstered the area’s economy while forcing native populations from their original lands. Repeated indigenous rebellions kept the area unstable and weakened colonial interest in the region, what is now Tamaulipas was first incorporated as a separate province of New Spain in 1746 with the name Nuevo Santander. The local government capital during this time moved from Santander to San Carlos, the territory of this time spanned from the San Antonio river to the north east to the Gulf of Mexico, then south to the Panuco River near Tampico and west to the Sierra Madre Mountains. The area became a haven for rebellious Indians who fled there after increased Spanish settlements in Nuevo León, one of these groups was known as Lipan. By 1790 Europeans turned their attention from the groups and focused on containing the Apache invaders. In northeastern Coahuila and adjacent Texas, Spanish and Apache displacements created an ethnic mix. Here the local Indians mixed with displaced groups from Coahuila and Chihuahua, some groups, to escape the pressure, combined and migrated north into the Central Texas highlands. In 1824, after the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, during the fights between centralists and federalists that soon followed, the successful Texas Revolution led to the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836
31.
Guanajuato
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Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, are the 32 Federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city is Guanajuato, the largest city in the state is León. It is located in North-Central Mexico and it is bordered by the states of Jalisco to the west, Zacatecas to the northwest, San Luis Potosí to the north, Querétaro to the east and Michoacán to the south. It covers an area of 30,608 km2, Guanajuato is located between the arid north of the country and the lusher south, and it is geographically part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, the Mexican Plateau and the Sierra Madre Oriental. This route begins at Dolores Hidalgo, and passes though the Sanctuary of Atotonilco, San Miguel de Allende, Celaya, other important cities in the state include León, the most populous, and Irapuato. Guanajuato is located in the center of Mexico, north-west of Mexico City, bordering the states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Querétaro and it covers an area of 30,589 km² and is ranked 20th out of 31 states. The Sierra Madre Oriental in Guanajuato consists of the Sierra Gorda, the Mexican Plateau extends through the center of the state. Within, it subdivides into various regions parted by low-lying mountain chains such as the Sierra de la Cuatralba, the Trans Mexican Volcanic Belt crosses the state in the south and includes the Bajío area, the Altos de Jalisco and the valleys area in the far south. The state is crossed by several ranges which have mountains between 2,300 and 3,000 meters high. Mountain ranges average 2,305 meters and flat areas lie at around 1,725 meters above sea level. The other important mountain ranges include the Sierra Gorda to the north, the Sierra de Guanjuato in the southeast, the Comanja in the northwest, the state is divided into five regions, taking into consideration geography and climate. These are called Altos de Guanajuato, La Sierra Central, Bajío, La Sierra Gorda, the Altos de Guanajuato, located in the north of the state, are a chain of forested mountains interspersed with pastures, small fields and areas with cacti and other desert plants. They begin near the border with San Luis Potosí, and extend south to Dolores Hidalgo and then to San Miguel de Allende, then to the Querétaro border. The altitude of this varies from 1,800 to peaks over 2,900 meters such as the La Giganta. The climate is semiarid with a rainy season in the summer. However, lows in the winter frequently reach 0 °C or lower with frosts, wildlife is found mostly in the most rugged and inaccessible areas and includes deer, coyotes, eagles and rattlesnakes. La Sierra Gorda is shared between Guanajuato and Querétaro and is considered to be an important biosphere and this area is the most rugged in the state where most of the natural areas and small villages are remain intact due to their inaccessibility. The Sierra Gorda is part of the Sierra Madre Occidental, with variations in its geography
32.
Guerrero
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Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and it is located in Southwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Michoacán to the north and west, México and Morelos to the north, Puebla to the northeast and Oaxaca to the east. The state was named after Vicente Guerrero, one of the most prominent leaders in the Mexican War of Independence and it is the only Mexican state named after a president. The modern entity did not exist until 1849, when it was carved out of territories from the states of Mexico, Puebla and Michoacán. In addition to the city, the states largest cities include Acapulco, Petatlan, Ciudad Altamirano, Taxco, Iguala, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo. Today, it is home to a number of communities, including the Nahuas, Mixtecs. It is also home to communities of Afro-Mexicans in the Costa Chica region, geographically, the state is mountainous and rugged with flat areas limited to small mesas and the coast line. Tourism is the single most important economic factor of the state, however, other sources of employment are scarce in the state, which has caused its ranking as number one in the emigration of workers to the United States. The first humans in the territory were nomadic hunter-gatherers who left evidence of their existence in various caves starting about 20,000 years ago. After that, settlements appeared near the coast because of fishing, at these sites, evidence of weaving, ceramics, basketry and other crafts have been found. Around this time, a grain called teocintle, or the forerunner to corn, Olmec influences can be seen in cave paintings such as those found in Juxtlahuaca and well as stone tools and jade jewelry from the time period. Recent evidence indicates that ancient Guerrero cultures may have influenced the development of the Olmecs. Eventually, the peoples of the Mexcala River area developed their own distinctive culture and it is characterized by its own sculpture and ceramics, distinguished by its simplicity. Olmec influence remained with this culture, especially evident in the grouping of villages, construction of ceremonial centers, later, the culture assimilated aspects of the Teotihuacan model, which included the Mesoamerican ball game. In the 8th century, Toltec influence was felt as they traveled the many routes through here in search of tropical bird plumage. From the 12th century to the 15th, the peoples of the state were influence by the Chichimecas. In the 11th century, new migrations entered the area from the north, which included the Nahuas, who occupied what is now the center of the state, the Nahuas established themselves in Zacatula, Atoyac and Tlacotepec, later conquering the areas occupied by the Chontals and Matlatzincas
33.
List of Antarctic territorial claims
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Seven states maintain a territorial claim on eight territories in Antarctica. These countries have tended to site their scientific observation and study facilities in Antarctica within the claimed territory, according to Argentina and Chile, the Spanish Empire had claims on Antarctica. The capitulación granted to the conquistador Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz explicitly included the south of the Straits of Magellan. This grant established, according to Argentina and Chile, that an animus occupandi existed on the part of Spain in Antarctica. Spains sovereignty claim over parts of Antarctica was, according to Chile and Argentina, internationally recognized with the Inter caetera bull of 1493, Argentina and Chile treat these treaties as legal international treaties mediated by the Catholic Church that was at that time a recognized arbiter in such matters. The United Kingdom reasserted sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the far South Atlantic in 1833, all these territories were administered as Falkland Islands Dependencies from Stanley by the Governor of the Falkland Islands. The motivation for this lay in the need to regulate. Commercial operators would hunt whales in areas outside the boundaries of the Falkland Islands and its dependencies. In 1917, the wording of the claim was modified, so as to include all the territory in the sector stretching to the South Pole. It was the ambition of Leopold Amery, then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in a memorandum to the governor-generals for Australia and New Zealand, he wrote that with the exception of Chile and Argentina and some barren islands belonging to France. It is desirable that the whole of the Antarctic should ultimately be included in the British Empire, the Order in Council then went on to appoint the Governor-General and Commander-in Chief of New Zealand as the Governor of the territory. In 1930, the United Kingdom claimed Enderby Land, in 1933, a British imperial order transferred territory south of 60° S and between meridians 160° E and 45° E to Australia as the Australian Antarctic Territory. Following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, the government of the United Kingdom relinquished all control over the government of New Zealand and this however had no bearing on the obligations of the Governors-General of both countries in their capacity as Governors of the Antarctic territories. Meanwhile, alarmed by these unilateral declarations, the French government laid claim to a strip of the continent in 1924. The basis for their claim to Adélie Land lay on the discovery of the coastline in 1840 by the French explorer Jules Dumont dUrville, the British eventually decided to recognize this claim and the border between Adélie Land and Australian Antarctic Territory was fixed definitively in 1938. The whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic with the view to land for Norway. The first expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad, landed on Peter I Island in 1929, on 6 March 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty and on 23 March 1933 the island was declared a dependency. The 1929 expedition led by Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen and Finn Lützow-Holm named the land mass near the island as Queen Maud Land
34.
Texas panhandle
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The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U. S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost twenty-six counties in the state. The panhandle is an area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north. The Handbook of Texas defines the border of Swisher County as the southern boundary of the Texas Panhandle region. Its land area is 25,823.89 sq mi, the Texas Panhandle is slightly larger in size than the US State of West Virginia. There is an additional 62.75 sq mi of water area and its population as of the 2010 census was 427,927 residents, or 1.7 percent of the states total population. As of the 2010 census, the density for the region was 16.6 per square mile. The Panhandle is distinct from North Texas, which is farther southeast, West of the Caprock Escarpment and north and south of the Canadian River breaks, the surface of the Llano Estacado is rather flat. South of the city of Amarillo, the level terrain gives way to Palo Duro Canyon and this colorful canyon was carved by the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River. North of Amarillo lies Lake Meredith, a reservoir created by Sanford Dam on the Canadian River, the lake, along with the Ogallala Aquifer, provides drinking water and irrigation for this moderately dry area of the high plains. Interstate Highway 40 passes through the panhandle, and also passes through Amarillo, the highway passes through Deaf Smith, Oldham, Potter, Carson, Gray, Donley, and Wheeler Counties. The Texas Panhandle has been identified in the early 21st century as one of the fastest-growing windpower-producing regions in the nation because of its strong, steady winds. Before the rise of Amarillo, the three towns of the Panhandle were Clarendon in Donley County, Mobeetie in Wheeler County. Clarendon moved itself after it was overlooked by the Fort Worth, Mobeetie was reduced even below its original small size with the closure of the United States Armys Fort Elliott in 1890. Tascosa was ruined by the location of the railroad too far north of the town, as of the census of 2000, approximately 402,862 people lived in the panhandle. Of these,68. 9% were non-Hispanic White,23. 8% were Hispanic, only 2. 7% were of some other ethnicity. 92. 3% of inhabitants claimed native birth, and 8. 9% were veterans of the United States armed forces,49. 9% of the population was male, and 50. 1% was female. 13. 2% of the population were 65 years of age or older and it was one of the first regions of the state to break away from its Democratic roots, though Democrats continued to do well at the local level well into the 1980s. However, Republicans now dominate every level of government, holding nearly every elected post above the county level, in the 2008 Presidential Election, John McCain received 78. 82% of the vote, as compared with Barack Obamas 20. 48% share of the vote
35.
New Spain
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New Spain was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire, in the New World north of the Isthmus of Panama. It was established following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521, after 1535 the colony was governed by the Viceroy of New Spain, an appointed minister of the King of Spain, who ruled as monarch over the colony. The capital of New Spain was Mexico City and it developed highly regional divisions, which reflect the impact of climate, topography, the presence or absence of dense indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. The areas of central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations with complex social, political, silver mining not only became the engine of the economy of New Spain, but vastly enriched Spain, and transformed the global economy. New Spain was the New World terminus of the Philippine trade, although New Spain was a dependency of Spain, it was a kingdom not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula. Every privilege and position, economic political, or religious came from him and it was on this basis that the conquest, occupation, and government of the New World was achieved. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was established in 1535 in the Kingdom of New Spain and it was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two in the Spanish empire until the 18th century Bourbon Reforms. The Spanish Empire comprised the territories in the north overseas Septentrion, from North America, to the west of the continent, New Spain also included the Spanish East Indies. To the east of the continent, it included the Spanish West Indies and this was not occupied by many Spanish settlers and were considered more marginal to Spanish interests than the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America starting in the late 18th century, Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest explored and claimed the coast of what is now British Columbia and Alaska. The indigenous societies of Mesoamerica brought under Spanish control were of unprecedented complexity, the societies could provide the conquistadors, especially Hernán Cortés, a base from which the conquerors could become autonomous, or even independent, of the Crown. As a result, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, since the time of the Catholic Monarchs, central Iberia was governed through councils appointed by the monarch with particular jurisdictions. Thus, the creation of the Council of the Indies became another, the crown had set up the Casa de Contratación in 1503 to regulate contacts between Spain and its overseas possessions. A key function was to gather information about navigation to make trips less risky and they were accompanied by maps of the area discussed, many of which were drawn by indigenous artists. The Francisco Hernández Expedition, the first scientific expedition to the New World, was sent to gather information medicinal plants, an earlier Audiencia had been established in Santo Domingo in 1526 to deal with the Caribbean settlements. That Audiencia, housed in the Casa Reales in Santo Domingo, was charged with encouraging further exploration, management by the Audiencia, which was expected to make executive decisions as a body, proved unwieldy. Therefore, in 1535, King Charles V named Don Antonio de Mendoza as the first Viceroy of New Spain. After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 opened up the vast territories of South America to further conquests, the Crown established an independent Viceroyalty of Peru there in 1540
36.
Red River of the South
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The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers in the southern United States of America. The river was named for the country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name. The Mexicans and Indians on the borders of Mexico are in the habit of calling any river, the Red River formed part of the US-Mexico border from the Adams-Onís Treaty until the Texas Annexation and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Red River is the second-largest river basin in the southern Great Plains and it rises in two branches in the Texas Panhandle and flows east, where it acts as the border between the states of Texas and Oklahoma. It forms a border between Texas and Arkansas before entering Arkansas, turning south near Fulton, Arkansas and flowing into Louisiana. The total length of the river is 1,360 miles, the Red River rises near the edge of the northwestern dip slope of the Llano Estacado mesa in two forks in northern Texas and southwestern Oklahoma. The North Fork Red River meets the southern and largest fork near the Texas-Oklahoma border, the southern fork, which is about 120 miles long, is generally called the Prairie Dog Town Fork. It is formed in Randall County, Texas, near the county seat of Canyon, by the confluence of intermittent Palo Duro Creek and Tierra Blanca Creek. The Red River turns and flows southeast through Palo Duro Canyon in Palo Duro Canyon State Park at an elevation of 3,440 feet, then past Newlin, Texas, past that point, it is generally considered the main stem of the Red River. Near Denison, the exits the eastern end of Lake Texoma. The lake is fed by the Washita River from the north. After the river out of the southeastern end of the lake, it runs generally east towards Arkansas. Soon after, the river crosses south into Louisiana and its waters eventually discharge into the Atchafalaya River and flow eastward or southward into the Gulf of Mexico. In 1946, the Red River flood spilled over into Pineville because of insufficient levee height, however, the taller and stronger levee held in Alexandria. Willie E. Kees, Jr. the young newly elected mayor of Pineville, the Red Rivers watershed covers 65,590 square miles and is the southernmost major right tributary of the Mississippi, and the southernmost major river system in the Great Plains. Its drainage basin is mostly in the states of Texas and Oklahoma and its basin is characterized by flat, fertile agricultural land, with only a few major cities. The drainage basin of the Red River is very arid and receives little precipitation, as a result, much of the river above the Texas-Oklahoma border is intermittent, and until the river is past its great bend south in Arkansas, the flow varies widely
37.
Arkansas River
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The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the US states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and it then flows east into the Midwest via Kansas, and finally into the South through Oklahoma and Arkansas. At 1,469 miles, it is the sixth-longest river in the United States, the second-longest tributary in the Mississippi–Missouri system, and its origin is in the Rocky Mountains in Lake County, Colorado, near Leadville. In 1859, placer gold discovered in the Leadville area brought thousands seeking to strike it rich, the Arkansas Rivers mouth is at Napoleon, Arkansas, and its drainage basin covers nearly 170,000 sq mi. In terms of volume, the river is smaller than the Missouri and Ohio Rivers. The Arkansas from its headwaters to the 100th meridian west formed part of the US-Mexico border from the Adams–Onís Treaty until the Texas Annexation or Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Arkansas has three distinct sections in its long path through central North America. At its headwaters, the Arkansas runs as a steep fast-flowing mountain river through the Rockies in its narrow valley and this section supports extensive whitewater rafting, including The Numbers, Browns Canyon, and the Royal Gorge. At Cañon City, Colorado, the Arkansas River valley widens and flattens markedly, just west of Pueblo, Colorado, the river enters the Great Plains. Through the rest of Colorado, Kansas, and much of Oklahoma, it is a typical Great Plains riverway, with wide, shallow banks subject to seasonal flooding, tributaries include the Cimarron River and the Salt Fork Arkansas River. In eastern Oklahoma the river begins to widen further into a more contained consistent channel, the river valley then expands as it encounters much flatter land beginning just west of Little Rock, Arkansas. It continues eastward across the plains and forests of eastern Arkansas until it flows into the Mississippi River. Important cities along the Arkansas River include Pueblo, Colorado, Garden City, Kansas, Wichita, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Fort Smith, Arkansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas. The I-40 bridge disaster of May 2002 took place on I-40s crossing of Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma. The problems over the possession and use of Arkansas River water by Colorado, while Congress approved the Arkansas River Compact in 1949, the compact did not stop further disputes by the two states over water rights to the river. The Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Basin Compact was created in 1965 to promote mutual consideration and it led to the Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Commission, which was charged with administering the compact and reducing pollution. The compact was approved and implemented by states in 1970, and has been in force since then. Through Oklahoma and Arkansas, dams artificially deepen and widen the river to build it into a navigable body of water. Many nations of Native Americans lived near, or along, the 1, the first Europeans to see the river were members of the Spanish Coronado expedition on June 29,1541
38.
Dodge City, Kansas
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Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340, Fort Mann was the first settlement of non-indigenous people in the area that became Dodge City, built by civilians in 1847 to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Mann collapsed in 1848 after an Indian attack, in 1850, the U. S. Army arrived to provide protection in the region and constructed Fort Atkinson on the old Fort Mann site. The army abandoned Fort Atkinson in 1853, in April 1865, the Indian Wars in the West began heating up, and the army constructed Fort Dodge to assist Fort Larned in providing protection on the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Dodge remained in operation until 1882, the town of Dodge City can trace its origins to 1871 when rancher Henry J. Others saw the potential of the region with the Santa Fe Railroad rapidly approaching from the east. In 1872, Dodge City was staked out on the 100th Meridian, the town site was platted and George M. Hoover established the first bar in a tent to serve thirsty soldiers from Fort Dodge. The railroad arrived in September to find a ready and waiting for business. The early settlers in Dodge City traded in buffalo bones and hides, however, with the arrival of the railroad, Dodge City soon became involved in the cattle trade. The idea of driving Texas longhorn cattle from Texas to railheads in Kansas originated in the late 1850s but was cut short by the Civil War, in 1866, the first Texas cattle started arriving in Baxter Springs in southeastern Kansas by way of the Shawnee Trail. However, Texas longhorn cattle carried a tick that spread splenic fever, known locally as Texas Fever, alarmed Kansas farmers persuaded the Kansas State Legislature to establish a quarantine line in central Kansas. The quarantine prohibited Texas longhorns from the settled, eastern portion of the state. With the cattle trade forced west, Texas longhorns began moving north along the Chisholm Trail, in 1867, the main cow town was Abilene, Kansas. Profits were high, and other towns quickly joined in the boom, Newton in 1871, Ellsworth in 1872. With no place else to go, Dodge City suddenly became the queen of the cow towns, a new route known as the Great Western Cattle Trail or Western Trail branched off from the Chisholm Trail to lead cattle into Dodge City. Dodge City became a boomtown, with thousands of cattle passing annually through its stockyards, the peak years of the cattle trade in Dodge City were from 1883 to 1884, and during that time the town grew tremendously. In 1880, Dodge City got a new competitor for the trade from the border town of Caldwell
