1.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
2.
1917 Atlantic hurricane season
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The 1917 Atlantic hurricane season featured nine known tropical cyclones, four of which made landfall. The first system appeared on July 6 east of the Windward Islands, after crossing the islands and traversing the Caribbean Sea, the storm struck Honduras, Belize, and Mexico, before dissipating on July 14. After more than three weeks without tropical cyclogenesis, another tropical storm developed west of Bermuda, as the storm brushed eastern New England, four ships sank near Nantucket, causing 41 fatalities. The same cyclone brought damaging winds to Nova Scotia before transitioning into a cyclone on August 10. A hurricane developed over the central Atlantic Ocean on August 30, elsewhere, the hurricane had little impact, becoming extratropical on September 5. After the third system, a series of four depressions formed. The fourth hurricane brought devastation to Jamaica, Cuba, and portions of the Gulf Coast of the United States, overall, the storm left six deaths and inflicted at least $170,000 in damage. The seasons activity can be quantified in an accumulated cyclone energy rating of 61, historical weather maps indicated a trough east of the Windward Islands on July 6. Around 06,00 UTC, a depression formed about 80 mi southeast of Barbados. Moving west-northwestward, the crossed the Windward Islands and entered the Caribbean Sea early on July 7. Later that day, the system intensified into a tropical storm, after peaking with winds of 50 mph on July 8, it began to weaken and fell to tropical depression intensity early on July 10. Early the next day, the depression struck Honduras, before emerging into the Caribbean Sea. The system struck Belize around 06,00 UTC on July 12, at midday on July 14, the storm struck south of Tampico, Tamaulipas. In the city of Veracruz,4 in of rain fell in a 24-hour period, an area of low pressure developed into a tropical storm to the west of Bermuda at 00,00 UTC on August 6. Initially the storm drifted westward and strengthened minimally, by August 9, it curved northward and began to accelerate. Offshore the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts, four ships were lost, the storm continued northeastward and made landfall in Saint John County, New Brunswick while becoming extratropical at 00,00 UTC on August 11. The remnants dissipated over the Labrador Sea later that day, in Nova Scotia, dozens of boats were beached. Wind speeds up to 64 mph in Yarmouth damaged trees, power lines, windows, crops were impacted throughout the Annapolis Valley
3.
1915 Galveston hurricane
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The 1915 Galveston hurricane was a deadly hurricane that struck Leeward Islands, Hispaniola, Cuba and Texas, in mid August of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season. The 1915 storm caused a deal of destruction in its path, leaving 275-400 people dead. A Cape Verde type hurricane, the 1915 Hurricane was detected as a storm moving westward on August 5. Then it was observed on August 10 as a Category 1 hurricane. By that time, the storm was centered north of Barbados, on August 11, the eye of the hurricane passed south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. A weather station in San Juan recorded a 29.60 inch pressure reading, the hurricane continued to move westward between 18 and 20 mph where it brushed Haiti and made landfall in Jamaica. A barometric pressure reading of 29.68 inch was reported in Jamaica, the 1915 hurricane then turned slightly west-northwest, brushing Cuba as it went along. Unfazed by the landfall on Jamaica, the hurricane rapidly intensified and was located near Isle of Pines, on the 15th, the hurricane was in the central Gulf of Mexico still moving in a northwesterly direction. On August 16, the center of the storm was approaching the east coast of Texas, on the 17th, the hurricane made landfall southwest of Galveston, Texas. Atmospheric pressure at landfall was at 27.76 inches and 135 mph winds, after leaving Galveston, the weakening storm took a turn to the northeast and passed Houston as a Category 1 hurricane before dropping to tropical storm status later that day. On August 20, the storm passed over Missouri and the Ohio Valley before finally becoming extratropical on August 23. Forecasters began to issue advisories to weather stations in the United States when the storm was detected on August 5, forecasters then began to issue warnings to Haiti and Cuba on August 11. Evacuation reports in both Cuba and Haiti, however, are unavailable, after the storm hit Jamaica, forecasters predicted the storm might hit southern and western Cuba. Between August 12 and 13, forecasters began to issue storm warnings to the Florida Keys and Miami. By August 13, the hurricane trekked westward as forecast, at 5 PM, the tropical storm warnings were then changed to hurricane warnings which extended to the Florida Panhandle. On the 14th, however, the hurricane did not recurve north and warnings for Miami and later the Florida Keys were dropped, because the 1915 hurricane was large, forecasters began to issue tropical storm warnings from coastal Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. In addition, warnings were issued in Brownsville, Texas, since it was clear that the hurricane would make landfall in Texas, the warnings were changed for the entire Texas coastline. After the hurricane made landfall, officials continued to issue warnings until the storm dissipated on August 23, when the hurricane made landfall in Galveston, it brought heavy rains and strong winds, leaving $921 million in damage
4.
Gulf Coast of the United States
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The Gulf Coast of the United States is the coastline along which the Southern United States meets the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, the economy of the Gulf Coast area is dominated by industries related to energy, petrochemicals, fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism. The Gulf Coast is made of many inlets, bays, the coast is also intersected by numerous rivers, the largest of which is the Mississippi River. Much of the land along the Gulf Coast is, or was and these landforms protect numerous bays and inlets providing as a barrier to oncoming waves. The central part of the Gulf Coast, from eastern Texas through Louisiana, the eastern part of the Gulf Coast, predominantly Florida, is dotted with many bays and inlets. The Gulf Coast climate is humid subtropical for the most part, although the tip of Florida. Much of the year is warm to hot along the Gulf Coast, while the 3 winters months bring periods of cool, the area is vulnerable to hurricanes as well as floods and severe thunderstorms. Tornadoes are infrequent at the coast but do occur, however the frequency at which they occur in inland portions of Gulf Coast states is much greater. Earthquakes are extremely rare to the area, but a surprising 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico on September 10,2006, the Gulf Coast is a major center of economic activity. The marshlands along the Louisiana and Texas coasts provide breeding grounds, the Port of South Louisiana and the Port of Houston are two of the ten busiest ports in the world by cargo volume. As of 2004, seven of the top ten busiest ports in the U. S. are on the Gulf Coast. The discovery of oil and gas deposits along the coast and offshore, the coast contains nearly 4,000 oil platforms. S. Before Europeans arrived in the region, the region was home to several kingdoms that had extensive trade networks with empires such as the Aztecs. Shark and alligator teeth and shells from the Gulf have been found as far north as Ohio, the first Europeans to settle the Gulf Coast were primarily the French and the Spanish. The Louisiana Purchase and the Texas Revolution made the Gulf Coast a part of the United States during the first half of the 19th century. As the U. S. population continued to expand its frontiers westward, the development of sugar and cotton production allowed the South to prosper. Two major events were turning points in the history of the Gulf Coast region. The first was the American Civil War, which caused damage to some economic sectors in the South
5.
Caribbean Sea
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The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. The entire area of the Caribbean Sea, the islands of the West Indies. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas and has an area of about 2,754,000 km2, the seas deepest point is the Cayman Trough, between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, at 7,686 m below sea level. The Caribbean coastline has many gulfs and bays, the Gulf of Gonâve, Gulf of Venezuela, Gulf of Darién, Golfo de los Mosquitos, Gulf of Paria, the Caribbean Sea has the worlds second biggest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. It runs 1,000 km along the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, the name Caribbean derives from the Caribs, one of the regions dominant Native American groups at the time of European contact during the late 15th century. During the first century of development, Spanish dominance in the region remained undisputed, from the 16th century, Europeans visiting the Caribbean region identified the South Sea as opposed to the North Sea. The Caribbean Sea had been unknown to the populations of Eurasia until 1492, at that time the Western Hemisphere in general was unknown to Europeans. Following the discovery of the islands by Columbus, the area was colonised by several Western cultures. As of 2015 the area is home to 22 island territories, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Caribbean Sea as follows, On the North. In the Windward Channel – a line joining Caleta Point and Pearl Point in Haïti, in the Mona Passage – a line joining Cape Engano and the extreme of Agujereada in Puerto Rico. From Galera Point through Trinidad to Galeota Point and thence to Baja Point in Venezuela, note that, although Barbados is an island on the same continental shelf, it is considered to be in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Caribbean Sea. The Caribbean Sea is an oceanic sea largely situated on the Caribbean Plate, the Caribbean Sea is separated from the ocean by several island arcs of various ages. The youngest stretches from the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands to the north east of Trinidad, the larger islands in the northern part of the sea Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico lie on an older island arc. The geological age of the Caribbean Sea is estimated to be between 160 and 180 million years and was formed by a fracture that split the supercontinent called Pangea in the Mesozoic Era. It is assumed the proto-caribbean basin existed in the Devonian period, in the early Carboniferous movement of Gondwana to the north and its convergence with the Euramerica basin decreased in size. The next stage of the Caribbean Seas formation began in the Triassic, powerful rifting led to the formation of narrow troughs, stretching from modern Newfoundland to the west coast of the Gulf of Mexico which formed siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. In the early Jurassic due to powerful marine transgression, water broke into the present area of the Gulf of Mexico creating a vast shallow pool, the emergence of deep basins in the Caribbean occurred during the Middle Jurassic rifting. The emergence of these marked the beginning of the Atlantic Ocean
6.
Puerto Rico
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Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea. It is an archipelago that includes the island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones such as Mona, Culebra. The capital and most populous city is San Juan and its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates. The islands population is approximately 3.4 million, Puerto Ricos rich history, tropical climate, diverse natural scenery, renowned traditional cuisine, and attractive tax incentives make it a popular destination for travelers from around the world. Four centuries of Spanish colonial government transformed the ethnic, cultural and physical landscapes primarily with waves of African captives, and Canarian. In the Spanish imperial imagination, Puerto Rico played a secondary, in 1898, following the Spanish–American War, the United States appropriated Puerto Rico together with most former Spanish colonies under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. Puerto Ricans are natural-born citizens of the United States, however, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the United States Congress, which governs the territory with full jurisdiction under the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950. As a U. S. territory, American citizens residing on the island are disenfranchised at the level and may not vote for president. However, Congress approved a constitution, allowing U. S. citizens on the territory to elect a governor. A fifth referendum will be held in June 2017, with only Statehood, in early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government. The outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion or $12,000 per capita at a time with 12. 4% unemployment, the debt had been increasing during a decade long recession. Puerto Ricans often call the island Borinquen – a derivation of Borikén, its indigenous Taíno name, the terms boricua and borincano derive from Borikén and Borinquen respectively, and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage. The island is also known in Spanish as la isla del encanto. Columbus named the island San Juan Bautista, in honor of Saint John the Baptist, eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city. The islands name was changed to Porto Rico by the United States after the Treaty of Paris of 1898, the anglicized name was used by the US government and private enterprises. The name was changed back to Puerto Rico by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by Félix Córdova Dávila in 1931, the ancient history of the archipelago known today as Puerto Rico is not well known. The scarce archaeological findings and early Spanish scholarly accounts from the colonial era constitute the basis of knowledge about them. The first comprehensive book on the history of Puerto Rico was written by Fray Íñigo Abbad y Lasierra in 1786, the first settlers were the Ortoiroid people, an Archaic Period culture of Amerindian hunters and fishermen who migrated from the South American mainland
7.
Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea, consisting of the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles. The island,10,990 square kilometres in area, lies about 145 kilometres south of Cuba, Jamaica is the fourth-largest island country in the Caribbean, by area. Inhabited by the indigenous Arawak and Taíno peoples, the island came under Spanish rule following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, Many of the indigenous people died of disease, and the Spanish imported African slaves as labourers. Named Santiago, the island remained a possession of Spain until 1655, under British colonial rule Jamaica became a leading sugar exporter, with its plantation economy highly dependent on slaves imported from Africa. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British imported Chinese and Indian indentured labour to work on plantations, the island achieved independence from the United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third-most populous Anglophone country in the Americas, Kingston is the countrys capital and largest city, with a population of 937,700. Jamaicans predominately have African ancestry, with significant European, Chinese, Hakka, Indian, due to a high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, Jamaica has a large diaspora around the world, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Jamaica is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Jamaica, an office held by Sir Patrick Allen since 2009. Andrew Holness has served as the head of government and Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2016, the indigenous people, the Taíno, called it Xaymaca in Arawakan, meaning the Land of Wood and Water or the Land of Springs. Colloquially Jamaicans refer to their island as the Rock. Slang names such as Jamrock, Jamdown, or briefly Ja, have derived from this, the Arawak and Taíno indigenous people, originating in South America, settled on the island between 4000 and 1000 BC. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1494, there were more than 200 villages ruled by caciques, the south coast of Jamaica was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. The Taino still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655, the Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any evidence of the Taino/Arawak. Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494 and his probable landing point was Dry Harbour, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that it might have been St. Anns Bay. St. Anns Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land, the capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534. Spanish Town has the oldest cathedral of the British colonies in the Caribbean, the Spanish were forcibly evicted by the English at Ocho Rios in St. Ann. In 1655, the English, led by Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables, the English continued to import African slaves as labourers
8.
Cuba
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Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and it is south of both the U. S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti, and north of Jamaica. Havana is the largest city and capital, other cities include Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, with an area of 109,884 square kilometres, prior to Spanish colonization in the late 15th century, Cuba was inhabited by Amerindian tribes. It remained a colony of Spain until the Spanish–American War of 1898, as a fragile republic, Cuba attempted to strengthen its democratic system, but mounting political radicalization and social strife culminated in the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1952. Further unrest and instability led to Batistas ousting in January 1959 by the July 26 Movement, since 1965, the state has been governed by the Communist Party of Cuba. A point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, a nuclear war broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America, Cuba is a Marxist–Leninist one-party republic, where the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Independent observers have accused the Cuban government of human rights abuses. It is one of the worlds last planned economies and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee, according to the Human Development Index, Cuba is described as a country with high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care, the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language. The exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as where fertile land is abundant, authors who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Taíno, the Guanajatabey, and the Ciboney people. The ancestors of the Ciboney migrated from the mainland of South America, the Taíno arrived from Hispanola sometime in the 3rd century A. D. When Columbus arrived they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having a population of 150,000. The name Cuba comes from the native Taíno language and it is derived from either coabana meaning great place, or from cubao meaning where fertile land is abundant. The Taíno were farmers, while the Ciboney were farmers as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers, Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa, other towns soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital
9.
1900 Galveston hurricane
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It remains to the present day the deadliest single day event in US history. The hurricane appears to have started as a trough from West Africa, causing unsettled weather in the Caribbean. Owing to contradictory forecasts, the people of Galveston felt no alarm until the hurricane warning of September 7. Next morning a storm surge of 15 ft washed over the long, flat island-city which was only 8 ft above sea level, knocking buildings off their foundations, the disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston, as the hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. The whole island of Galveston was presently raised by 17 ft, the Hurricane of 1900, also known as the Great Galveston Hurricane, made landfall on September 8,1900, in Galveston, Texas, in the United States. It had estimated winds of 145 miles per hour at landfall and it was the deadliest hurricane in US history, and the second costliest hurricane in U. S. history based on the dollars 2005 value. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States, the hurricane occurred before the practice of assigning official code names to tropical storms was instituted, and thus it is commonly referred to under a variety of descriptive names. Typical names for the storm include the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the Great Galveston Hurricane, and, especially in older documents and it is often referred to by Galveston locals as the Great Storm or the 1900 Storm. The storms origins are unclear, because of the limited observation ability at the end of the 19th century. Ship reports were the only tool for observing hurricanes at sea, and because wireless telegraphy was in its infancy. The 1900 storm, like many powerful Atlantic hurricanes, is believed to have begun as a Cape Verde–type hurricane—a tropical wave moving off the western coast of Africa. The first formal sighting of the hurricanes precursor occurred on August 27, about 1,000 miles east of the Windward Islands, the storm passed through the Leeward Islands on August 30, probably as a tropical depression as indicated by barometric pressure reports from Antigua. Three days later, Antigua reported a severe thunderstorm passing over, followed by the hot, by September 1, U. S. Weather Bureau observers were reporting on a storm of moderate intensity southeast of Cuba. Continuing westward, the storm made landfall on southwest Cuba on September 3, on September 5, it emerged into the Florida Straits as a tropical storm or a weak hurricane. However, a region of high pressure had pushed the storm to the west into the Gulf of Mexico, details of the storm were not widespread, damage to telegraph lines limited communication. The Weather Bureaus central office in Washington, D. C. ordered storm warnings raised from Pensacola, Florida, by the afternoon of September 7, large swells from the southeast were observed on the Gulf, and clouds at all altitudes began moving in from the northeast. Both of these observations are consistent with a hurricane approaching from the east, the Galveston Weather Bureau office raised its double square flags, a hurricane warning was in effect. The ship Louisiana encountered the hurricane at 1 p. m. that day after departing New Orleans, captain Halsey estimated wind speeds of 100 mph
10.
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
11.
Bermuda
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Bermuda is a British Overseas Territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 1,070 km east-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina,1,236 km south of Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Bermuda is an associate member of Caribbean Community. The first person known to have reached Bermuda was the Spanish sea captain Juan de Bermúdez in 1503 and he claimed the islands for the Spanish Empire. Bermúdez never landed on the islands, but made two visits to the archipelago, of which he created a recognisable map, shipwrecked Portuguese mariners are now thought to have been responsible for the 1543 inscription on Portuguese Rock. Subsequent Spanish or other European parties are believed to have released pigs there, the island was administered as an extension of Virginia by the Company until 1614. Its spin-off, the Somers Isles Company, took over in 1615, at that time, the companys charter was revoked, and the English Crown took over administration. The islands became a British colony following the 1707 unification of the parliaments of Scotland and England, after 1949, when Newfoundland became part of Canada, Bermuda became the oldest remaining British Overseas Territory. Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, it is the most populous Territory and its first capital, St. Georges, was established in 1612 and is the oldest continuously inhabited English town in the New World. Bermudas economy is based on insurance and reinsurance, and tourism. Bermuda had one of the worlds highest GDP per capita for most of the 20th century, recently, its economic status has been affected by the global recession. The island is in the belt and prone to severe weather. However, it is protected from the full force of a hurricane by the coral reef that surrounds the island. It is 898 nautical miles northeast of Miami, Florida, and 667 nautical miles from Cape Sable Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada. The islands lie due east of Fripp Island, South Carolina, west-northwest of Cape Verde, southeast of New York City, New York, north-northwest of Brazil and north of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The archipelago is formed by points on the rim of the caldera of a submarine volcano that forms a seamount. The volcano is one part of a range that was formed as part of the process that formed the floor of the Atlantic. It has 103 km of coastline, the two incorporated municipalities in Bermuda are the City of Hamilton and the Town of St George. Bermuda is divided into nine parishes, which have some localities called villages, such as Flatts Village, although usually referred to in the singular, the territory consists of 181 islands, with a total area of 53.3 square kilometres
12.
Apalachicola, Florida
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Apalachicola is a city in Franklin County, Florida, United States, on the shore of Apalachicola Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. The population was 2,231 at the 2010 census, Apalachicola is the county seat of Franklin County. Apalachicola comes from the Apalachicola tribe and is a combination of the Hitchiti words apalahchi, meaning on the other side, in original reference to the settlement and the subgroup within the Seminole tribe, it probably meant people on the other side of the river. Many inhabitants of Apalachicola have said their name means land of the friendly people, a British trading post called Cottonton was founded at this site on the mouth of the Apalachicola River. Gradually after acquisition by the United States and related development in Alabama and Georgia, in 1827, the town was incorporated as West Point. Apalachicola received its current name in 1831, by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, trinity Episcopal Church was incorporated by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida on February 11,1837. The building was one of the earliest prefabricated buildings in the United States, the framework was shipped by schooner from New York City and assembled in Apalachicola with wooden pegs. Botanist Alvan Wentworth Chapman settled in Apalachicola in 1847, in 1860, he published his major work, Flora of the Southern United States. The former elementary school is named in his honor, in 1849, Apalachicola physician Dr. John Gorrie discovered the cold-air process of refrigeration and patented an ice machine in 1850. He had experimented to find ways to lower the temperatures of fever patients. His patent laid the groundwork for development of refrigeration and air conditioning, making Florida. The city has a monument to him, and a replica of his ice machine is on display in the John Gorrie Museum, the John Gorrie Memorial Bridge, originally built in 1935 and rebuilt in 1988, carries U. S.98 across Apalachicola Bay to Eastpoint. Before the development of railways in the Gulf states, Apalachicola was the third busiest port on the Gulf of Mexico, the AN Railway, formerly the Apalachicola Northern Railroad, serves the city. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the sponge trade, Apalachicola is still the home port for a variety of seafood workers, including oyster harvesters and shrimpers. More than 90% of Floridas oyster production is harvested from Apalachicola Bay, every year the town hosts the Florida Seafood Festival. The bay is protected by St. Vincent Island, Flag Island, Sand Island, St. George Island. On April 3,1862, during the American Civil War, union forces occupied west Florida during much of the war. In 1979, Exxon relocated their experimental subsea production system from offshore Louisiana to an artificial reef site off Apalachicola
