1.
Samoa
–
The Independent State of Samoa, commonly known as Samoa and, until 1997, known as Western Samoa, is a unitary parliamentary democracy with eleven administrative divisions. The two main islands are Savaii and Upolu with four smaller islands surrounding the landmasses, the Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a language and cultural identity. Samoa is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, which includes American Samoa, was called Navigator Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans seafaring skills. The oldest date so far for remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s. The origins of the Samoans are closely studied in research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century, jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768, contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society arriving in Sapapalii from The Cook Islands and Tahiti. However, Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in Samoa from 1889 until his death in 1894, wrote in A Footnote to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, … the Samoans are gentle people. The Germans in particular began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands, especially on the island of Upolu, the United States laid its own claim and formed alliances with local native chieftains, most conspicuously on the islands of Tutuila and Manua. Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights and this was followed by an eight-year civil war, during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, a massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, the Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mataafa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships, after several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated. American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the USS Philadelphia, the eastern island-group became a territory of the United States and was known as American Samoa
2.
Tropical cyclone
–
Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds
3.
Pacific Ocean
–
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
4.
Apia
–
Apia is the capital and the largest city of Samoa. From 1900 to 1919, it was the capital of German Samoa, the city is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoas second largest island. Apia is the city in Samoa and falls within the political district of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban Area has a population of 36,735 and is referred to as the City of Apia. The geographic boundaries of Apia Urban Area is mainly from Letogo village to the new industrialized region of Apia known as Vaitele, Apia was originally a small village, from which the countrys capital took its name. Apia village still exists within the modern capital of Apia which has grown into a sprawling urban area with many villages. Like every other settlement in the country, Apia village has its own matai chiefly leaders, the modern capital Apia was founded in the 1850s and has been the official capital of Samoa since 1959. All the ships were sunk, except the British cruiser Calliope, nearly 200 American and German lives were lost, as well as six ships sunk or damaged beyond repair. Western Samoa was ruled by Germany as German Samoa from 1900 to 1914 with Apia as capital, in August 1914, the Occupation of German Samoa by an expeditionary force from New Zealand started. In what became known as Black Saturday, a peaceful Mau gathering in the town resulted in the killing of paramount chief Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III by New Zealand constabulary on 28 December 1929, Apia is situated on a natural harbour at the mouth of the Vaisigano River. It is on a coastal plain with Mount Vaea, the burial place of writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Two main ridges run south on either side of the Vaisigano River, the more western of these is Cross Island Road, one of the few roads cutting north to south across the middle of the island to the south coast of Upolu. Apia features a tropical rainforest climate with consistent temperatures throughout the year, Apias driest months are July and August when on average about 80 millimetres of rain falls. Its wettest months are December through March when average monthly precipitation easily exceeds 300 millimetres, Apias average temperature for the year is 26 °C. Apia is part of the Tuamasaga political district and of election district Vaimauga West, there is no city administration for Apia. Apia consists of some 45 individual, independent villages, Apia proper is just a small village between the mouths of the Vaisigano and Mulivai rivers, and is framed by Vaisigano and Mulivai villages, together constituting Downtown Apia. The citys historical haphazard growth from village to colonial trading post to the major financial, problems of flooding are commonplace in the wet season, given the low flood-prone valley that the city is built on. In the inner-city village of Sogi, there are major shoreline pollution, the disparate village administrations of Apia has resulted in a lack of a unified and codified legislative approach to sewerage disposal
5.
Samoan crisis
–
The Samoan Crisis was a confrontation standoff between the United States, Imperial Germany and Great Britain from 1887–1889 over control of the Samoan Islands during the Samoan Civil War. The standoff ended on 15 and 16 March when a hurricane wrecked all six warships in the harbour, Calliope was able to escape the harbour and survived the storm. Robert Louis Stevenson did not witness the storm and its aftermath at Apia but did, Samoan Civil War First Samoan Civil War Second Samoan Civil War Siege of Apia German Samoa Conroy, Robert. Only luck kept the United States from being occupied by Kaiser Wilhelm IIs army between 1899 and 1904, amerika Samoa, A History of American Samoa and Its United States Naval Administration. Hurricane at Apia, Samoa, 15–16 March 1889, the New Empire, An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898. Ithaca, New York, Cornell University Press, after the Storm, True Stories of Disaster and Recovery at Sea. A Footnote to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, glory for the Squadron, HMS Calliope in the Great Hurricane at Samoa 1889. Journal of the Australian Naval Institute
6.
Gunboat diplomacy
–
A country negotiating with a Western power would notice that a warship or fleet of ships had appeared off its coast. The mere sight of such power almost always had a considerable effect, aside from military conquest, gunboat diplomacy was the dominant way to establish new trade partners, colonial outposts, and expansion of empire. The British diplomat and naval thinker James Cable spelled out the nature of diplomacy in a series of works published between 1971 and 1993. He further broke down the concept into four key areas, Definitive Force, purposeful Force, application of naval force to change the policy or character of the target government or group. Catalytic Force, a designed to buy a breathing space or present policy makers with an increased range of options. Expressive Force, use of navies to send a political message, interestingly this aspect of gunboat diplomacy is undervalued and almost dismissed by Cable. Military diplomacy is a sub-set of this, tending to refer only to the role of military attachés, Gunboat diplomacy is considered a form of hegemony. However, during Woodrow Wilsons presidency, conventional gunboat diplomacy did occur, most notably in the case of the U. S. Armys occupation of Veracruz in 1914, during the Mexican Revolution. Gunboat diplomacy in the post-Cold War world is largely based on naval forces. U. S. administrations have frequently changed the disposition of their naval fleets to influence opinion in foreign capitals. Ansons visit to Canton in 1741 Second Barbary War Opium War Don Pacifico Incident Second Anglo-Burmese War Opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C, Diplomacy Far Removed, A Reinterpretation of the U. S. Decision to Open Diplomatic Relations with Japan, political Applications of Limited Naval Forces, London 1971 Wiechmann, Gerhard, Die preußisch-deutsche Marine in Lateinamerika 1866–1914. Eine Studie deutscher Kanonenbootpolitik, Bremen 2002, Wiechmann, Gerhard, Die Königlich Preußische Marine in Lateinamerika 1851 bis 1867. Ein Versuch deutscher Kanonenbootpolitik, in, Sandra Carreras/Günther Maihold, Preußen und Lateinamerika, im Spannungsfeld von Kommerz, Macht und Kultur, p. 105–144, Münster 2004. Deutsche Kanonenbootpolitik in China im Zeitalter des Imperialismus, Bochum 2004, healy, D. Gunboat Diplomacy in the Wilson Era. The U. S. Navy in Haiti 1915–1916, Madison WIS1976, hagan, K. J. American Gunboat Diplomacy and the Old Navy 1877–1889, Westport/London 1973. Preston, A. /Major, J. Send a Gunboat, a study of the Gunboat and its role in British policy, 1854–1904, London 1967. Krüger, Henning, Zwischen Küstenverteidigung und Weltpolitik, Die politische Geschichte der preußischen Marine 1848 bis 1867, Bochum 2008
7.
Atmospheric pressure
–
Atmospheric pressure, sometimes also called barometric pressure, is the pressure exerted by the weight of air in the atmosphere of Earth. In most circumstances atmospheric pressure is approximated by the hydrostatic pressure caused by the weight of air above the measurement point. As elevation increases, there is less overlying atmospheric mass, so that atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing elevation. On average, a column of air one square centimetre in cross-section, measured from sea level to the top of the atmosphere, has a mass of about 1.03 kilograms and that force is a pressure of 10.1 N/cm2 or 101 kN/m2. A column 1 square inch in cross-section would have a weight of about 14.7 lb or about 65.4 N and it is modified by the planetary rotation and local effects such as wind velocity, density variations due to temperature and variations in composition. The standard atmosphere is a unit of pressure defined as 101325 Pa, the mean sea level pressure is the average atmospheric pressure at sea level. This is the pressure normally given in weather reports on radio, television. When barometers in the home are set to match the weather reports, they measure pressure adjusted to sea level. The altimeter setting in aviation, is an atmospheric pressure adjustment, average sea-level pressure is 1013.25 mbar. In aviation weather reports, QNH is transmitted around the world in millibars or hectopascals, except in the United States, Canada, however, in Canadas public weather reports, sea level pressure is instead reported in kilopascals. The highest sea-level pressure on Earth occurs in Siberia, where the Siberian High often attains a sea-level pressure above 1050 mbar, the lowest measurable sea-level pressure is found at the centers of tropical cyclones and tornadoes, with a record low of 870 mbar. Pressure varies smoothly from the Earths surface to the top of the mesosphere, although the pressure changes with the weather, NASA has averaged the conditions for all parts of the earth year-round. As altitude increases, atmospheric pressure decreases, one can calculate the atmospheric pressure at a given altitude. Temperature and humidity affect the atmospheric pressure, and it is necessary to know these to compute an accurate figure. The graph at right was developed for a temperature of 15 °C, at low altitudes above the sea level, the pressure decreases by about 1.2 kPa for every 100 meters. See pressure system for the effects of air pressure variations on weather, Atmospheric pressure shows a diurnal or semidiurnal cycle caused by global atmospheric tides. This effect is strongest in tropical zones, with an amplitude of a few millibars and these variations have two superimposed cycles, a circadian cycle and semi-circadian cycle. The highest adjusted-to-sea level barometric pressure recorded on Earth was 1085.7 hPa measured in Tosontsengel
Media related to 1889 Apia cyclone at Wikimedia Commons