1.
House of Representatives (Belize)
–
The House of Representatives of Belize is one of two chambers of the National Assembly, the other being the Senate. It was created under the 1981 constitution, members are commonly called Area Representatives. Area Representatives are elected by winning a majority of votes in their respective constituencies under the first-past-the-post system, the body is directly descended from the British Honduras Legislative Assembly created in 1954 with nine elected members. It has been expanded several times since, to 18 in 1961,28 in 1984,29 in 1993, the leader of the majority party in the Belize House typically becomes Prime Minister of Belize. The current parliament first met on Friday 13 November 2015, so the election must be held no later than 13 February 2021. The United Democratic Party led by Dean Barrow increased its majority from 17 seats to 19 seats, while the Peoples United Party won 12 seats. List of Speakers of the House of Representatives of Belize Belize House of Representatives
2.
Constituencies of Belize
–
Belizes 6 districts are politically divided into 31 constituencies. Each constituency sends one representative to Belizes House of Representatives for 5-year terms and this election is known as the General Election. Each person votes for the candidate they would want to represent their constituency in Central Government, each political party nominates a candidate or Standard Bearer for each constituency. The winner becomes the Area Representative of the constituency, while the loser generally remains the Standard Bearer of that constituency for political party. Coming out of January 2008, the most populous constituency had a population of 7,085 while the least populous constituency had a voting population of 3,195. In Belizes 2003 General Elections,29 constituencies voted in their Area Representatives for Belizes House of Representatives, since then it was noted that the difference in voting populations between the most and least populous constituencies was rather large. In 2004 a Task Force was appointed by the Elections and Boundaries Commission to study the matter and their Final Report was submitted in October 2004. It is noted that the Elections and Boundaries Department has the right to occasionally reassess constituencies, among several things that their report suggested, the expansion of the Cayo Districts number of constituencies to six had the most impact. Later the following year the law was passed to two additional constituencies within the boundaries of Cayo. The newly created constituencies are Belmopan, containing the city of that name. These new constituencies held their first-ever election during the General Election in 2008, note that these populations are for Belizean citizens who are eligible to vote and does not represent actual population. As of March 2015 the voting population of Belize is estimated at 148,026 while the population is estimated at 301,300. The Voter Age Population, i. e. all persons over the age of eighteen, is 161,677, of these, more than 91 percent are actually registered. Males slightly outnumber females in the population, though the gap is noticeable in the urban areas such as Belize City. Below is the order for the creation of Belizes current constituencies. The British Honduras Legislative Assembly becomes the Belize House of Representatives,1979 The following were renamed, Stann Creek District, Stann Creek Town renamed Dangriga, Stann Creek Rural renamed Stann Creek West
3.
City
–
A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
4.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Belize
–
Belize, formerly British Honduras, is an independent country on the eastern coast of Central America. Belize is bordered on the north by Mexico, on the south and west by Guatemala and its mainland is about 290 km long and 110 km wide. Belize has an area of 22,800 square kilometres and a population of 368,310 and it has the lowest population density in Central America. The countrys population growth rate of 1. 87% per year is the second highest in the region, Belizes abundance of terrestrial and marine species and its diversity of ecosystems gives it a key place in the globally significant Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Belize has a society, composed of many cultures and languages that reflect its rich history. English is the language of Belize, with Belizean Kriol being the unofficial language. Over half the population is multilingual, with Spanish being the second most common spoken language, Belize is considered a Central American and Caribbean nation with strong ties to both the Latin American and Caribbean regions. Belize is a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch, Belize is known for its September Celebrations, its extensive coral reefs, and punta music. The origin of the name Belize remains unclear, the earliest known record of the name appears in the journal of the Dominican priest Fray José Delgado, dating to 1677. Delgado recorded the names of three rivers that he crossed while travelling north along the Caribbean coast, Rio Soyte, Rio Xibum. The names of these waterways, which correspond to the Sittee River, Sibun River and it is likely that Delgados Balis was actually the Mayan word belix, meaning muddy-watered. Others have suggested that the name derives from a Spanish pronunciation of the name of the Scottish buccaneer Peter Wallace, there is no proof that Wallace settled in this area and some scholars have characterized this claim as a myth. Writers and historians have suggested other possible etymologies, including postulated French. Many aspects of this culture persist in the area despite nearly 500 years of European domination, prior to about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages, they later domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers. A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture, between about 2500 BC and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilisation emerged. The peak of this occurred during the classic period, which began about 250 AD. The Maya civilisation spread across what is now Belize around 1500 BC, the recorded history of the middle and southern regions is dominated by Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people. North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai, in the late Classic Era of Maya civilisation, as many as 1 million people may have lived in the area that is now Belize
6.
Cayo District
–
Cayo District is a district located in the west part of Belize. It is the first-most extensive, second-most populous and third-most densely populated of the six districts of Belize, the districts capital is the town of San Ignacio. The nations capital, Belmopan, is located within the district, Cayo District is primarily an agricultural district, with the chief crops being citrus fruit, as well as bananas. Recently, oil was found in Spanish Lookout and it is now in production, in addition to the ruins listed above there are several other important nature reserves including two National Parks, Blue Hole and Guanacaste National Park. Ecotourism is also a part of the regions economy. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census, Cayo Districts total population is of 73,202 residents, the total number of households is 15,497 and the average household size is 4.7. The southern half of Cayo District is very low densely populated, a large majority of the districts population lives north of the 17th parallel. In 2010, the population of Cayos urban areas was of 36,455,17,939 males and 18,516 females. 7,468 total households and a 4.9 average household size, the total population of Cayos rural areas was of 36,747,18,864 males and 17,883 females. 8,029 total households and a 4.6 average household size, the Lodge at Chaa Creek Kaana Boutique Resort & Spa Map Cayo South GoToCayoBelize. com Best of Cayo
7.
United Democratic Party (Belize)
–
The United Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in Belize. It is the party, having won the 2008,2012 and 2015 general elections. It also holds the mayoralty of the countrys largest city, Belize City, a centre-right conservative party, the UDP is led by Prime Minister of Belize Dean Barrow. In 1973 political opposition in Belize was weak and the ruling Peoples United Party had never lost an election since its foundation. The main opposition parties, the National Independence Party and the Peoples Development Movement met together with a new Liberal Party to consider forming an alliance to fight the PUP, the resulting merger formed the United Democratic Party on 27 September 1973. Controversially, a significant portion of the United Black Association for Development also voted to join the UDP upon foundation, the UDPs first electoral test was the 1974 general election in which it fielded candidates nationwide except in Corozal District, where it supported candidates from the Corozal United Front. It won six seats, and was within 18 votes of winning three more, former Peoples Development Movement head Dean Lindo was subsequently named party leader. The party had success in elections during the 1970s. Its representation in the House of Representatives dropped to five seats, in December 1983 the UDP won Belize City Council elections and the following year they were victorious in the general elections, winning 21 of the 28 seats. However, they lost power in the 1989 elections, winning 13 seats to the PUPs 15, for the 1993 elections the party formed an alliance with the National Alliance for Belizean Rights. The alliance won 16 of the 29 seats, with the UDP taking fifteen, however, they were soundly defeated in the 1998 elections as the PUP won 26 of the 29 seats, after which Esquivel was replaced by Barrow as party leader. The PUP remained in power following the 2003 elections, in which the UDP only won seven seats, after ten years in opposition, the UDP won the 2008 general elections, taking 25 of the 31 seats. Dean Lindo Theodore Aranda Curl Thompson Manuel Esquivel Dean Barrow Official website The Guardian Party newspaper
8.
Central Time Zone
–
The North American Central Time Zone is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time is six hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, during summer most of the zone uses daylight saving time, and changes to Central Daylight Time which is five hours behind UTC. The province of Manitoba is the province or territory in Canada that observes Central Time in all areas. Also, most of the province of Saskatchewan is on Central Standard Time year-round, major exceptions include Lloydminster, a city situated on the boundary between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city charter stipulates that it shall observe Mountain Time and DST, putting the community on the time as all of Alberta, including the major cities of Calgary. As a result, during the summer, clocks in the province match those in Alberta. The Central Time Zone is the second most populous in the US after the Eastern Time Zone, lanett and Valley observe Eastern Time historically because they were textile mill towns and the original home office of their mills was in West Point, Georgia. Some eastern counties observe Central Time because they are close to the border of the Middle Tennessee counties surrounding the Nashville metropolitan area. Louisiana Michigan, All of Michigan observes Eastern Time except the four Upper Peninsula counties that border Wisconsin, other westernmost counties from this area such as Ontonagon observe Eastern Time. South Dakota, Eastern half as divided by the Missouri river adjacent to the state capital, note, the metropolitan area of Pierre is Central, including Fort Pierre. Wisconsin Most of Mexico—roughly the eastern three-fourths—lies in the Central Time Zone, except for six northwestern states, the federal entities of Mexico that observe Central Time, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua all use Central Standard Time year-round. The Galápagos Islands in Ecuador uses Central Standard Time all year-round, Daylight saving time is in effect in much of the Central time zone between mid-March and early November. The modified time is called Central Daylight Time and is UTC−5, in Canada, Saskatchewan does not observe a time change. One reason that Saskatchewan does not take part in a change is that, geographically. The province elected to move onto permanent daylight saving by being part of the Central Time Zone, Mexico decided not to go along with this change and observes their horario de verano from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In December 2009, the Mexican Congress allowed ten border cities, eight of which are in states that observe Central Time, to adopt the U. S. daylight time schedule effective in 2010
9.
Tropical monsoon climate
–
Tropical monsoon climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C in every month of the year and feature wet and dry seasons, as Tropical savanna climates do. Tropical monsoon climates however features its driest month seeing on average less than 60 mm and this latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical savanna climate, whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation and also less than 100 – of precipitation. In essence, a monsoon climate tends to either see more rainfall than a tropical savanna climate or have less pronounced dry seasons. Additionally, a monsoon climate tends to see less variance in temperatures during the course of the year than a tropical savanna climate. This climate has a driest month which nearly always occurs at or soon after the winter solstice for that side of the equator, there are generally two versions of a tropical monsoon climate, Less pronounced dry seasons. Regions with this variation of the monsoon climate typically see copious amounts of rain during the wet season. However, unlike most tropical climates, a sizeable amount of precipitation also falls during the dry season. In essence, this version of the monsoon climate generally has less pronounced dry seasons than tropical savanna climates. Extraordinarily rainy wet seasons and pronounced dry seasons and this variation features pronounced dry seasons similar in length and character to dry seasons observed in tropical savanna climates. However, this is followed by a period of extraordinary rainfall. In some instances, up to 1,000 mm of precipitation is observed per month for two or more consecutive months, Tropical savanna climates generally do not see this level of sustained rainfall. Tropical monsoon climates are most commonly found in South and Central America, however, there are sections of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and North America that also feature this climate. The major controlling factor over a tropical climate is its relationship to the monsoon circulation. The monsoon is a change in wind direction. In Asia, during the summer there is a flow of air. In the “winter” an offshore air flow is prevalent, the change in direction is due to the difference in the way water and land heat. October is the hottest month no matter whether is it in the southern or northern hemisphere and this is because October is the shoulder season of the year as if it is the end of the wet season and no winter winds blowing. Changing pressure patterns that affect the seasonality of precipitation occur in Africa though it generally differs from the way it operates in Asia
10.
Capital (political)
–
A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
11.
Americas
–
The Americas, also collectively called America, encompass the totality of the continents of North America and South America. Together they make up most of the land in Earths western hemisphere, along with their associated islands, they cover 8% of Earths total surface area and 28. 4% of its land area. The topography is dominated by the American Cordillera, a chain of mountains that runs the length of the west coast. The flatter eastern side of the Americas is dominated by river basins, such as the Amazon, St. Lawrence River / Great Lakes basin, Mississippi. Humans first settled the Americas from Asia between 42,000 and 17,000 years ago, a second migration of Na-Dene speakers followed later from Asia. The subsequent migration of the Inuit into the neoarctic around 3500 BCE completed what is regarded as the settlement by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The first known European settlement in the Americas was by the Norse explorer Leif Ericson, however, the colonization never became permanent and was later abandoned. The voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1502 resulted in permanent contact with European powers, diseases introduced from Europe and Africa devastated the indigenous peoples, and the European powers colonized the Americas. Mass emigration from Europe, including numbers of indentured servants. Decolonization of the Americas began with the American Revolution in 1776, the population is over 1 billion, with over 65% of them living in one of the three most populous countries. As of the beginning of the 2010s, the most populous urban agglomerations are Mexico City, New York, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, all of them megacities. The name America was first recorded in 1507 in the Cosmographiae Introductio, apparently written by Matthias Ringmann and it first applied to both North and South America by Gerardus Mercator in 1538. Amerigen means land of Amerigo and derives from Amerigo and gen, America accorded with the feminine names of Asia, Africa, and Europa. When conceived as a continent, the form is generally the continent of America in the singular. However, without a context, singular America in English commonly refers to the United States of America. In some countries of the world, America is considered a continent encompassing the North America and South America subcontinents, the first inhabitants migrated into the Americas from Asia. Habitation sites are known in Alaska and the Yukon from at least 20,000 years ago, beyond that, the specifics of the Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research and discussion. Widespread habitation of the Americas occurred during the glacial maximum
12.
Belize City
–
Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households and it is located at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, which is a tributary of the Belize River. The Belize River empties into the Caribbean Sea 5 miles from Belize City on the Philip Goldson Highway on the coast of the Caribbean, the city is the countrys principal port and its financial and industrial hub. Several cruise ships drop anchor outside the port and are tendered by local citizens, the city was almost entirely destroyed in 1961 when Hurricane Hattie swept ashore on October 31. It was the capital of British Honduras until the government was moved to the new capital of Belmopan in 1970, Belize City was founded as Belize Town in 1638 by British lumber harvesters. It had been a small Maya city called Holzuz, Belize Town was ideal for the British as a central post because it was on the sea and a natural outlet for local rivers and creeks down which the British shipped logwood and mahogany. Belize Town also became the home of the thousands of African slaves brought in by the British to assist in the forest industry. It was the site for the 1798 Battle of St. Georges Caye, won by the British against would-be invaders. For this reason, historians say that the capital was the Colony. Belize Town slowly improved its infrastructure and has been the object of numerous infrastructural projects, the city has also been hit hard by Hurricane Richard and by the 2016 Hurricane Earl. Fires on Northside and Southside have burnt out great stretches of housing, the city is also susceptible to flooding problems in the rainy season, but timely repairs and a letup in the rain usually help. Belize City spreads out Mile 6 on the Western Highway and Mile 5 on the Northern Highway, politically, it is divided into ten constituencies, described below. Freetown, the westernmost constituency on Northside, is home to the Belama, Coral Grove, Buttonwood Bay, within the city proper it extends up to around the former Belize Technical College area. Caribbean Shores includes Kings Park, a suburb north and west of Freetown Road, West Landivar. Pickstock inhabits the banks of the Haulover Creek extending to Barrack Road, St. Johns Cathedral stands on the southern end of Albert Street. St. John’s is the oldest Anglican Church in Central America, the orange bricks came to Belize aboard British ships as ballast. Construction began in 1812, and the church was completed in 1820, St. John’s is the only Anglican cathedral in the world outside England where the crowning of kings took place. Fort George is perhaps the most colonial area in the City and contains Memorial Park, the Baron Bliss Grave and Baron Bliss Lighthouse, on the Southside, Lake Independence, Collet and Port Loyola are home to some of the citys poorest residents
13.
San Ignacio, Belize
–
San Ignacio and Santa Elena are towns in western Belize. San Ignacio serves as the hub of Cayo District. It got its start from Mahogany and chicle production during British colonialism, over time it attracted people from the surrounding areas, which led to the diverse population of the town today. San Ignacio is the largest settlement in Cayo District and the second largest in the country, the town was originally named El Cayo by the Spanish. On October 19,1904, El Cayo was officially declared a town by the government of British Honduras, in the past a creek ran between the Macal and the Mopan rivers one mile outside of San Ignacio going toward Benque Viejo. This creek then fulfilled the definition of an area of land surrounded by water and thus the name Cayo. The demise of the creek, however, took away the distinction for the classification of a cayo from the western town of El Cayo. San Ignacio is situated on the banks of the Macal River, about 63 miles west of Belize City and 22 miles west of the countrys capital, the town has an area of approximately 2.5 square miles. The population is largely Mestizo and Kriol, with some Lebanese, San Ignacio also boasts a fairly large Chinese population, most of whom emigrated from Guangzhou in waves in the mid-20th century. The Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout is situated a few miles outside San Ignacio, the 2010 census counted 17,878 inhabitants in San Ignacio and Santa Elena, of whom 8,751 are males and 9,127 are females. The total number of households is 4,351 and the household size is 4.1. In recent years San Ignacio has absorbed the formerly separate village of Santa Elena, San Ignacio and its sister-town Santa Elena make up Belizes second largest urban area. The two towns are connected by Belizes only suspension bridge, the one-lane Hawkesworth Bridge across the Macal river, the two are collectively referred to as the Twin Towns although San Ignacio has a larger population. As of 2010, Santa Elena has a population of 7,389 compared with San Ignacios population of 10,489, San Ignacio is currently governed by a town council affiliated with the United Democratic Party. The mayor is Earl Trapp, also of the UDP, town council elections are held every three years to elect the mayor and council. Both UDP and Peoples United Party candidates participate in town elections, the next municipal elections are scheduled for March 2018. At the national level, the San Ignacio/Santa Elena area is represented by three constituencies in the Belize House of Representatives, Cayo Central, Cayo North and Cayo North East, San Ignacio has three main colleges. Sacred Heart College of Catholic denomination is the largest institution, with both a school and a junior college division, and is one of the largest high schools in Belize
14.
Planned community
–
A planned community, or planned city, is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in an ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in these communities, the term new town refers to planned communities of the new towns movement in particular, mainly in the United Kingdom. It was also common in the European colonization of the Americas to build according to a plan either on ground or on the ruins of earlier Native American cities. C. in the United States. In Egypt, a new capital city east of Cairo has been proposed, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia, Putrajaya, is also a planned city. Abu Dhabi and some of the recently built cities in the Persian Gulf region are also planned cities, prior to the boom, these were just villages or towns. The city of Gaborone was planned and constructed in the 1960s, in 2012, President Teodoro Obiang decided to move the capital to a new jungle site at Oyala. Konza Technology City is a city that is hoped to become a hub of African science. The capital, Abuja, is a city and was built mainly in the 1980s. Upon completion, the new city which is still under development is anticipating 250,000 residents, centenary City, in the Federal Capital Territory, is another planned smart city under development. The city is designed to become a major tourist attraction to the country, a list of Nigerian cities and neighbourhoods that went through a form of planning are as follows, Abuja, one of the most populous planned cities, and the fastest growing city in the world. Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State Lekki, a new city in Lagos State Lekki Free Zone, a trade zone in the Lekki Orange Island. Victoria Island in Lagos, Lagos State A number of cities were set up during the apartheid-era for a variety of ethnic groups, Planned settlements set up for white inhabitants included Welkom, Sasolburg and Secunda. Additionally the majority of settlements in South Africa were planned in their early stages, some settlements were also set up for non whites such as the former homeland capital of Bhisho. Naypyidaw is the capital of Myanmar, also known as Burma and it is administered as the Naypyidaw Union Territory, as per the 2008 Constitution. On 6 November 2005, the capital of Burma was officially moved to a greenfield 3.2 km west of Pyinmana, and approximately 300 km north of Yangon. The capitals official name was announced on 27 March 2006, Burmese Armed Forces Day, much of the city was still under construction as late as 2012. As of 2009, the population was 925,000, which makes it Burmas third largest city, after Yangon, famous examples are Changan in Tang dynasty and Beijing
15.
Belize River
–
The Belize River runs 290 kilometres through the center of Belize. It drains more than one-quarter of the country as it winds along the edge of the Maya Mountains to the sea just north of Belize City. The Belize river valley is largely tropical rain forest, also known as the Old River, the Belize River begins where the Mopan River and Macal River join just east of San Ignacio, Belize. The Belize River – Mopan River Catchment contains over 45 percent of the population of Belize, the Belize River, in spite of 78 runs or rapids, is passable via the Mopan to the Guatemalan border. Early on, loggers using the river encountered the Maya and had conflicts with them, in 1807 there was a request for “arms and ammunitions” for the loggers. In the late 1820s, the Methodist minister Thomas Wilkinson found three to four men working at camps most of the year. By the late 19th century there were over 130 small settlements along the river, burrell Boom just above Belize Town served as a catch-point for logs. The major source of degradation is the deforestation in the upper reaches of the Mopan River. Traditional slash and burn agricultural practices also contribute to watershed degradation, there are a number of Maya archaeological sites in the watershed of the Belize River and its tributaries, Mopan River, Macal River, and Chaa Creek. These sites include Xunantunich, Chaa Creek, and Cahal Pech
16.
Hurricane Hattie
–
Hurricane Hattie was the strongest and deadliest tropical cyclone of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, reaching a peak intensity equivalent to that of a Category 5 hurricane. Moving generally northward, the quickly became a hurricane and later major hurricane the following day. Hattie then turned westward west of Jamaica and strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane and it weakened to Category 4 before making landfall south of Belize City on October 31. The storm turned southwestward and weakened rapidly over the terrain of Central America. Hattie first affected the southwestern Caribbean, where it produced hurricane-force winds and it was initially forecast to continue north and strike Cuba, prompting evacuations on the island. While turning west, Hattie dropped heavy rainfall of up to 11.5 in on Grand Cayman, the country of Belize, at the time known as British Honduras, sustained the worst damage from the hurricane. The former capital, Belize City, was buffeted by strong winds, the territory governor estimated that 70% of the buildings in the city had been damaged, leaving more than 10,000 people homeless. The destruction was so severe that it prompted the government to relocate inland to a new city, overall, Hattie caused about $60 million in losses and 307 deaths in the territory. Although damage was heavier in Hattie than a hurricane in 1931 that killed 2,000 people, elsewhere in Central America, Hattie killed 11 people in Guatemala and one in Honduras. For several days toward the end of October 1961, a low-pressure area persisted in the western Caribbean Sea, on October 25, an upper-level anticyclone moved over the low, the next day, a trough over the western Gulf of Mexico provided favorable outflow for the disturbance. At 0000 UTC on October 27, a ship nearby reported winds of 46 mph. Later that day, the airport on San Andres Island reported easterly winds of 60 mph, after being classified, Hattie moved steadily northward, passing very near or over San Andres Island. A station on the recorded a pressure of 991 mbar and sustained winds of 80 mph. Late on October 28, a Hurricane Hunters flight encountered a much stronger hurricane, at the time, gale-force winds extended outward 140 mi to the northeast and 70 miles to the southwest. Early on October 29, a trough extending from Nicaragua to Florida was expected to allow Hattie to continue northward, later that day, Hattie was forecast to be an imminent threat to the Cayman Islands and western Cuba. Around that time, a ridge to the north turned the hurricane northwestward. With the strengthening ridge to its north, Hattie began restrengthening after retaining the intensity for about 24 hours. Initially, forecasters at the Miami Weather Bureau predicted the storm to turn northward again, early on October 30, the Hurricane Hunters confirmed the increase in intensity, reporting winds of 140 mph
17.
Pre-Columbian era
–
For this reason the alternative terms of Precontact Americas, Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Latin America the term used is Pre-Hispanic. Other civilizations were contemporary with the period and were described in European historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya civilization, had their own written records, because many Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, men like Diego de Landa destroyed many texts in pyres, even while seeking to preserve native histories. Only a few documents have survived in their original languages, while others were transcribed or dictated into Spanish, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture. Indigenous American cultures continue to evolve after the pre-Columbian era, many of these peoples and their descendants continue traditional practices, while evolving and adapting new cultural practices and technologies into their lives. Now, the study of pre-Columbian cultures is most often based on scientific. Asian nomads are thought to have entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait, genetic evidence found in Amerindians maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. Over the course of millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America, exactly when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate. One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago, however, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed. Some genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas dates from between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago, the chronology of migration models is currently divided into two general approaches. The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no earlier than 14, 000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second belief is the long chronology theory, which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at an earlier date, possibly 50. In that case, the Eskimo peoples would have arrived separately and at a later date, probably no more than 2,000 years ago. The North American climate was unstable as the ice age receded and it finally stabilized by about 10,000 years ago, climatic conditions were then very similar to todays. Within this timeframe, roughly pertaining to the Archaic Period, numerous archaeological cultures have been identified, the unstable climate led to widespread migration, with early Paleo-Indians soon spreading throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. The paleo-indians were hunter-gatherers, likely characterized by small, mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family and these groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. During much of the Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct giant land animals such as mastodon, Paleo-Indian groups carried a variety of tools
18.
Maya civilization
–
The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. The Archaic period, prior to 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture, the first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC, in the Late Preclassic a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop a number of city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful, the Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, in the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonized the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city in 1697. Classic period rule was centred on the concept of the divine king, kingship was patrilineal, and power would normally pass to the eldest son. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader. Maya politics was dominated by a system of patronage, although the exact political make-up of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic, the aristocracy had greatly increased, resulting in the reduction in the exclusive power of the divine king. Maya cities tended to expand haphazardly, and the city centre would be occupied by ceremonial and administrative complexes, different parts of a city would often be linked by causeways. The principal architecture of the city consisted of palaces, pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, the Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing that was the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books, there are also a great many examples of Maya text found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a complex series of interlocking ritual calendars. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice, the Maya civilization developed within the Mesoamerican cultural area, which covers a region that spreads from northern Mexico southwards into Central America. Mesoamerica was one of six cradles of civilization worldwide, the Mesoamerican area gave rise to a series of cultural developments that included complex societies, agriculture, cities, monumental architecture, writing, and calendrical systems
19.
Land reclamation
–
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill, is the process of creating new land from ocean, riverbeds, or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as ground or land fill. In a number of jurisdictions, including parts of the United States. In Alberta, Canada, for example, reclamation is defined by the government as The process of reconverting disturbed land to its former or other productive uses. In Oceania it is referred to as land rehabilitation. Land reclamation can be achieved with a number of different methods, the most simple method involves simply filling the area with large amounts of heavy rock and/or cement, then filling with clay and dirt until the desired height is reached. The process is called infilling and the used to fill the space is generically called infill. Draining of submerged wetlands is often used to land for agricultural use. Deep cement mixing is used typically in situations in which the material displaced by either dredging or draining may be contaminated, the creation of new land was for the need of human activities. Notable examples include, Much of the coastlines of Mumbai, India and it took over 150 years to join the original seven islands of Mumbai. Much of the coastlines of Mainland China, Hong Kong, North Korea and it is estimated that nearly 65% of tidal flats around the Yellow Sea have been reclaimed. Inland lowlands in the Yangtze valley, China, including the areas of important cities like Shanghai, Much of the coastline of Karachi, Pakistan. A part of the Hamad International Airport in Qatar, around 36 square kilometres, the entire island of The Pearl-Qatar situated in West Bay, Qatar. The city-state of Singapore, where land is in supply, is also famous for its efforts on land reclamation. The Palm Islands, The World and hotel Burj al-Arab off Dubai in the United Arab Emirates The Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and it is one of the six divisions of Malé City. The Eko Atlantic in Lagos, Nigeria, mexico City, the chinampas are a famous example. Parts of Panama City urban and street development are based on reclaimed land, aeroparque Jorge Newbery, in Buenos Aires, Argentina One of the earliest large scale projects was the Beemster Polder in the Netherlands, realized in 1612 adding 70 square kilometres of land. In Hong Kong the Praya Reclamation Scheme added 20 to 24 hectares of land in 1890 during the phase of construction
20.
British Honduras
–
British Honduras was the name of a territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, after it became a British Crown colony in 1862. In 1964 it became a self-governing colony, the colony was renamed Belize in June 1973 and gained full independence in September 1981. British Honduras was the last continental possession of the United Kingdom in the Americas, for history prior to 1862 and following 1981, see History of Belize and History of Belize#Independence. The Treaty of Versailles between Britain and Spain gave the British rights to cut logwood between the Hondo and Belize rivers, the Convention of London expanded this concession to include the area between the Belize and Sibun rivers. As the British consolidated their settlement and pushed deeper into the interior in search of mahogany in the late 18th century, in the second half of the 19th century, however, a combination of events outside and inside the colony redefined the position of the Maya. During the Caste War in Yucatán, a struggle that halved the population of the area between 1847 and 1855, thousands of refugees fled to the British settlement. The Legislative Assembly had given large landowners in the colony firm titles to their vast estates in 1855, the Maya could only rent land or live on reservations. Nevertheless, most of the refugees were small farmers who, by 1857, were growing quantities of sugar, rice, corn. In 1857 the town of Corozal, then six years old, had 4,500 inhabitants, second in only to Belize Town. By 1862 about 1,000 Maya established themselves in ten villages in this area, one group of Maya, led by Marcos Canul, attacked a mahogany camp on the Bravo River in 1866, demanding ransom for their prisoners and rent for their land. A detachment of British troops sent to San Pedro was defeated by the Maya later that year. Early in 1867, more than 300 British troops marched into the Yalbac Hills and destroyed the Mayan villages, provision stores, the Maya returned, however, and in April 1870, Canul and his men marched into Corozal and occupied the town. Two years later, Canul and 150 men attacked the barracks at Orange Walk, after several hours of fighting, Canuls group retired. Canul, mortally wounded, died on 1 September 1872 and that battle was the last serious attack on the colony. In the 1880s and 1890s, Mopán and Kekchí Maya fled from forced labour in Guatemala and they settled in several villages in southern British Honduras, mainly around San Antonio in Toledo District. The Maya could use Crown lands set aside as reservations, under the policy of indirect rule, a system of elected alcaldes, adopted from Spanish local government, linked these Maya to the colonial administration. The Mopán and Kekchí Maya maintained their languages and a sense of identity. But in the north, the distinction between Maya and Spanish was increasingly blurred, as a Mestizo culture emerged
21.
George Cadle Price
–
George Cadle Price, PC, OCC, was a Belizean statesman who served twice as the head of government of Belize from 1961–84 and 1989–93. He served as First Minister and Premier under British rule until independence in 1981 and was the nations first prime minister after independence that year and he is considered to have been one of the principal architects of Belizean independence. Today he is referred to by many as the Father of the Nation, born in Belize City in what was then British Honduras, to William and Irene Price, he entered politics in 1947 with his election to the Belize City Council. In 1949, with the devaluation of the British Honduran dollar he and it was the start of the peaceful, constructive Belizean revolution. George Price received his education at Holy Redeemer Primary School. He survived the hurricane of 1931 which destroyed SJC at Loyola Park, under the Jesuits he was exposed to the teachings of Catholic social justice, in particular the encyclical Rerum novarum. Throughout his life Price remained a devout Roman Catholic and attended Mass daily, the war in Europe prevented him from completing his studies in Rome and, instead, George Price returned to Belize. He was hired by local businessman Robert Sidney Turton as his private secretary and he also rallied a few SJC graduates, some of them later members of the PUP, to contest elections in 1944 and 1947 for the local Town Board, being successful in 1947. Price also contributed to the Belize Billboard, then run by Philip Goldson, Price, upon the formation of the Peoples Committee in 1950, was named its Assistant Secretary, and in a famous speech later that year claimed that National Unity propelled the PCs actions. With the formation of the PUP, Prices stature rose and he ascended through the party ranks until he became Party Leader following a dispute in 1956. Elected to the newly created Legislative Assembly in 1954, he also served as mayor of Belize City from 1956 to 1962. In 1956, Price became party leader of the PUP, as First Minister, a post he held since 1961, he led the team which began negotiations over independence with Great Britain. He maintained that post as Premier in 1964, in 1981 Belize gained its independence, and Price served as the countrys first prime minister and foreign minister until 1984. The PUP was defeated in the elections by the United Democratic Party under Manuel Esquivel, Price continued to lead the PUP from outside the National Assembly while Florencio Marin became Leader of the Opposition. Price resumed the post of prime minister after successfully returning to the House in the 1989 election, serving until 1993, in October 1996 he announced his resignation as party leader, and on 10 November 1996 was formally succeeded by Said Musa. Price remained a member of the Belize House until the 2003 election, in September 2000, Price became the first person to receive Belizes highest honour, the Order of National Hero, for the prominent role he played in leading his country to independence. He has received honours in other Caribbean and Central American countries. In 1982, he was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Price died on 19 September 2011, at the age of 92
22.
Storm surge
–
Most casualties during tropical cyclones occur as the result of storm surges. The deadliest storm surge on record was the 1970 Bhola cyclone, the low-lying coast of the Bay of Bengal is particularly vulnerable to surges caused by tropical cyclones. The deadliest storm surge in the twenty-first century was caused by the Cyclone Nargis, the next deadliest in this century was caused by the Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people in the central Philippines in 2013 and resulted in economic losses estimated at $14 billion. Louis, Diamondhead and Pass Christian in Mississippi, a high storm surge occurred in New York City from Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, with a high tide of 14 ft. The pressure effects of a tropical cyclone will cause the level in the open ocean to rise in regions of low atmospheric pressure. The rising water level will counteract the low pressure such that the total pressure at some plane beneath the water surface remains constant. This effect is estimated at a 10 mm increase in sea level for every millibar drop in atmospheric pressure, strong surface winds cause surface currents at a 45° angle to the wind direction, by an effect known as the Ekman Spiral. Wind stresses cause a phenomenon referred to as wind set-up, which is the tendency for water levels to increase at the downwind shore, intuitively, this is caused by the storm simply blowing the water towards one side of the basin in the direction of its winds. Because the Ekman Spiral effects spread vertically through the water, the effect is proportional to depth. The pressure effect and the wind set-up on an open coast will be driven into bays in the way as the astronomical tide. The Earths rotation causes the Coriolis effect, which bends currents to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. When this bend brings the currents into more contact with the shore it can amplify the surge. The effect of waves, while powered by the wind, is distinct from a storms wind-powered currents. Powerful wind whips up large, strong waves in the direction of its movement, although these surface waves are responsible for very little water transport in open water, they may be responsible for significant transport near the shore. When waves are breaking on a more or less parallel to the beach. The rainfall effect is experienced predominantly in estuaries, Hurricanes may dump as much as 12 in of rainfall in 24 hours over large areas, and higher rainfall densities in localized areas. As a result, watersheds can quickly surge water into the rivers that drain them and this can increase the water level near the head of tidal estuaries as storm-driven waters surging in from the ocean meet rainfall flowing from the estuary. This situation well exemplified by the southeast coast of Florida
23.
Anthony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale
–
Arthur William James Anthony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale, PC was a prominent British Labour Party politician in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1933 he visited India as a member of the British Universities Debating Team, after university Greenwood continued with political work, which included debating trips to the USA and some freelance journalism. He began, but did not complete, studies for the Bar at the Middle Temple, early employment consisted of a spell as economic secretary to an industrialist and then, in 1938-9, work for the National Fitness Council. In the summer of 1942 he joined the Royal Air Force, in December 1944 he was seconded to the War Cabinet Offices, to work with Monckton on an inquiry into the Mulberry harbours. Greenwood joined the Labour Party at the age of 14 and was a candidate for Colchester before the war. He led the Labour group on Hampstead Borough Council from 1945 until 1949, following boundary changes, he moved to represent Rossendale in 1950. He was vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1950-1, and was in the Shadow Cabinet from 1951 to 1952 and he also served on the partys National Executive Committee from 1954 to 1960 and became the first Chair of Labour Friends of Israel in 1957. Greenwood was the left wing challenger to Hugh Gaitskell in the 1961 leadership election when he received the support of just over a quarter of the Labour MPs. He served successively from 1964 to 1969 as Secretary of State for the Colonies, Minister of Overseas Development and Minister for Housing, on 22 September 1970, he was created a life peer as Baron Greenwood of Rossendale, of East Mersea, in the County of Essex. From 1977 to 1979 he was Chairman of the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities, while in the Lords, Greenwood held a number of business directorships. An oil exploration company, and Chairman of Greenwood Development Holdings Ltd and he was Chairman of Integrated Professional Development Service and a Director of Pochin Ltd. He was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lancaster from 1972 to 1978 and he became Chairman of the Anglo-Israel Association in 1972, was a Trustee of the Jerusalem Educational Trust and Chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel. He gave support to charitable organisations and was a founding member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Greenwood married Gillian Crawshay-Williams, an artist and a great-granddaughter of Thomas Huxley and they had two daughters, Susanna and Dinah. He died in April 1982 aged 70
24.
Secretary of State for the Colonies
–
The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet minister in charge of managing the United Kingdoms various colonial dependencies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies, joint responsibility continued under the Secretary of State for the Colonies, but led to a diminution of the boards status and it became an adjunct to the new Secretarys Department. Following this, colonial duties given to the Home Secretary, then Lord Sydney, following the Treaty of Paris 1783, a new board, named the Committee of Council on Trade and Plantations was established under William Pitt the Younger, by an Order in Council in 1784. In the latter part of the century the United Kingdom also gained control over a number of territories with the status of protectorate. The ministerial responsibility for these territories was initially held by the Foreign Secretary, however, by the early years of the twentieth century the responsibility for each of these territories had been transferred to the Colonial Secretary as well. The League of Nations mandated territories acquired as a result of the Treaty of Versailles became a responsibility of the Colonial Office in the aftermath of the First World War. In 1925 part of the Colonial Office was separated out as the Dominions Office, the new office was responsible for dealing with the Dominions together with a small number of other territories. In the twenty years following the end of the Second World War, in 1968 the Commonwealth Office was subsumed into the Foreign Office, which was renamed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Colonial Secretary never had responsibility for the provinces and princely states of India, from 1768 until 1966 the Secretary of State was supported by an Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, and latterly by a Minister of State
25.
Mopan River
–
The Mopan River is a river in Central America spanning across the Petén Department of Guatemala and the Cayo District of Belize. It merges with the Macal River at Branch Mouth, Belize, forming the Belize River, the drainage area of the combined watershed is 9,434.2 km2. Tributaries of the Mopan include Chiquibul Branch, Ceiba Grande, Salisipuedes, the Mopan Rivers rate of discharge has been measured regularly since 1981 at the river gauge station in Benque Viejo, Belize. According to these measurements, the annual mean discharge varies between 20 and 40 m3/s. The highest rate recorded was 404 m3/s in November 1990. Although the Mopan may contribute to flooding during the rainy season, it responds much slower to rain storms than the other major tributary of the Belize River. Both rivers yield similar volumes on average, but the Mopan watershed is less mountainous than the Macal watershed, the combined Mopan River/Belize River watershed contains 11% of the population of the Peten District in Guatemala and 45% of the population of Belize. The major source of degradation is the deforestation in the upper reaches. Slash-and-burn agricultural practices by native peoples are contributing to such watershed degradation, several important Maya archaeological sites are situated along the Mopan River. From upriver to downriver, these include Ucanal, Arenal, Xunantunich, Actuncan, several of these sites and associated settlement areas have been studied as part of the Mopan Valley Archaeology Project. Archaeological surveys have identified the remains of several hundred ancient structures in these areas, popular activities on the Mopan River include kayaking and river tubing
26.
Belize dollar
–
The Belize dollar is the official currency in Belize. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively BZ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and it is divided into 100 cents. The official value is pegged at 2 BZ$ =1 US$. i. e. one third of a pound sterling, in 1825, an imperial order-in-council was passed for the purpose of introducing the British sterling coinage into all the British colonies. This order-in-council made sterling coinage legal tender, it set the rate between sterling and the Spanish dollar at $1 = 4s 4d. This exchange rate was supposed to be based on the value of the silver in the Spanish dollars as compared to the value of the gold in the British sovereigns. The realistic exchange rate would have been $4.80 = £1, remedial legislation came about in 1838 with a new order-in-council, which did not apply to the British North American colonies due to minor rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada. The 1838 legislation introduced the rating of $1 = 4s 2d. The Bahamas would later adopt this same approach, the British shilling, referred to locally as a Maccaroni, was equal to one quarter of a dollar, and the system was working very satisfactorily. For a period in the middle of the nineteenth century British Honduras operated the British sterling monetary system just like Jamaica, in the wake of the international silver crisis of 1873 the silver peso of neighbouring Guatemala drove the British currency out of circulation. At that time, the Canadian dollar was on the gold standard and this is the point where the currency history of British Honduras diverges from that of the rest of the British West Indies. In 1885,1 cent coins were issued, followed by higher denominations in 1894. This year also saw the first issue of banknotes by the government and a switch from the silver Guatemalan peso to the gold U. S. dollar as the base for the currency, with $4.866 =1 pound. The rate of $4.866 as opposed to $4.80 is explained by the fact that when the US dollar was first created in 1792, hence, the US dollar was at a slight discount in relation to the Spanish dollar. Following the introduction of the US dollar gold standard to British Honduras, when the United Kingdom abandoned the gold standard in 1931 the British Honduras dollar continued with its attachment to the US dollar and as such it did not become part of the sterling bloc. The sterling bloc should not be confused with the sterling area, in 1949 the British pound was devalued from US$4.03 to US$2.80. Since the British Honduras dollar was pegged to the US dollar, protests ensued which led to a devaluation of the British Honduran dollar to a value of 70 U. S. cents. Following Harold Wilsons devaluation of sterling in November 1967, the British Honduran dollar again devalued in sympathy with the British pound to 60 US cents. In 1978, the link to the British pound of BZ$4 = £1 was abandoned and this new rate which still continues today, reflects the devaluation of 50% in relation to the original parity with the US dollar in 1885, which last applied in 1949
27.
Hummingbird Highway (Belize)
–
Hummingbird Highway is one of the four major highways in Belize. It connects the George Price Highway outside of Belmopan, Cayo District to the Southern Highway outside of Dangriga and it partially follows, and sometimes uses the infrastructure of, the former Stann Creek Railway. A paving project was completed in 1994, all the citrus produced in Belize travels along this highway to the two major processing plants in Stann Creek district. There are quite a few villages along the highway. The Hummingbird Highway is the only Highway in Belize which cuts through the mountains of Belize, the highway rests in a valley which comprises citrus orchards in the lowland and untouched jungle habitat on the outskirts and beyond
28.
Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary
–
The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature reserve in the Stann Creek District of south-central Belize. It was established to protect the forests, fauna and watersheds of an approximately 400 square kilometres area of the slopes of the Maya Mountains. The reserve was founded in 1990 as the first wilderness sanctuary for the Jaguar and is regarded as a site for Jaguar preservation in the world. Habitation by the ancient Mayas occurred in the Cockscomb Basin as early as 10,000 BCE, however, the first modern exploration in recorded history of the basin did not occur until 1888. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is actually comprised by two adjacent geographic basins, the West Basin is drained by the Swasey Branch, which is one of the main tributaries to the Monkey River. The East Basin consists of the watershed of South Stann Creek. The reserve is generally lozenge-shaped, spanning an east–west dimension of approximately 36 km, elevation extremes are 50 m above sea level in the lower reaches of South Stann Creek to 1,160 m atop Victoria Peak. The Swasey Branch exits through the south transverse range via a deep 300 m gorge, South Stann Creek flows out of the East Basin on the south in a meandering gentle gradient that was easily navigated by the British explorers in the 1880s. The site consists of two distinct adjacent watersheds and is accessible via a low-intensity trail system to accommodate visitors and research environmental scientists, the principal uplifted rock formations in the Sanctuary are quartzite and sandstone. Principal plant communities and habitats are Belizean pine forests, elfin scrub, Petén-Veracruz moist forests, sheltered valley forests, the principal forest type is tropical moist broadleaf forest, which covers moderate to steep slopes, and in some cases sheltered mountain valleys. While much of this forest is secondary due to Mayan era farming as well as modern logging, dominant trees in this forest type are mahogany and cedar, which were prized and hence heavily logged from the early 1900s to late in the 20th century. Fast flowing clear mountain streams flow to the floors of the two basins to yield a more turbid water quality, especially during periods of peak rain. This site is known worldwide as the habitat for the jaguar. The riparian zone forest areas generally feature lush broadleaf rainforest intruding into the verges of fast flowing mountain streams as well as the languid meandering valley drainages. There are particularly interesting assemblages of vegetation along the rocky bedded mountain streams which have frequent rapids, waterfalls, due to the density of vegetation and frequent precipitation events, the forest floor often appears fresh and verdant even after several rainless days. Mayan Throughout much of the foothills of the slopes in southern Belize. At about the time as exploitation of these resources was virtually complete. In 1986, Rabinowitz and Archie Carr III convinced the government of Belize to establish a no hunting zone with respect to jaguars in a portion of the Cockscomb Basin
29.
Wet season
–
The rainy season, or monsoon season, is the time of year when most of a regions average annual rainfall occurs. It usually lasts one or more months, the term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. In contrast to areas with savanna climates and monsoon regimes, Mediterranean climates have wet winters, some areas with pronounced rainy seasons will see a break in rainfall mid-season, when the intertropical convergence zone or monsoon trough moves to higher latitudes in the middle of the warm season. When the wet season occurs during a season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. In the wet season, air quality improves, fresh water quality improves, rivers overflow their banks, and some animals retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures, particularly in tropical areas. Some animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wet season, often, the previous dry season leads to food shortages in the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. In areas where the rainfall is associated with a wind shift. Further, much of the total each day occurs in the first minutes of the downpour. However, since rain forests have rainfall spread evenly through the year and it is different for places with a Mediterranean climate. This shift in the jet stream brings much of the precipitation to the region. The peninsula of Italy has weather very similar to the western United States in this regard, areas with a savanna climate in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ghana, Burkina Faso, Darfur, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Botswana have a distinct rainy season. Also within the climate regime, Florida and South Texas have a rainy season. Northern Guyana has two wet seasons, one in spring and the other in early winter. In western Africa, there are two rainy seasons across southern sections, but only one across the north. Within the Mediterranean climate regime, the west coast of the United States and the Mediterranean coastline of Italy, Greece, similarly, the wet season in the Negev desert of Israel extends from October through May. At the boundary between the Mediterranean and monsoon climates lies the Sonoran desert, which receives the two rainy seasons associated with each climate regime, the wet season is known by many different local names throughout the world
30.
Sunshine duration
–
It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
31.
University of Belize
–
The University of Belize is an English-speaking multi-locational institute for higher education, and the national university of the Belize. The institution offers certificates, diplomas, associate degrees, bachelor begrees, the UB Central Campus is found in Belmopan City, the campus is the site of a clean solar energy project which will help make the university self sustainable and off the grid. The universitys colors are purple and gold, its mascot is the Black Jaguar, belizean nationalists long wished to decolonize the educational system and rely less on foreign academic institutions. In 1979 the ruling Peoples United Party established the Belize College of Arts, Science, the government secured funds from the European Economic community for construction of a campus in Belmopan, but the campus was never built. On February 24,1986, it was announced at a meeting of the National Council on Education that BELCAST would be closed, nationalists were dismayed that the new University College of Belize would be administered by non-Belizeans. Intense political controversy arose in 1991 when it was discovered that the university had not been properly accredited, a new PUP government severed its agreement with Ferris State College, and the state of Belize assumed full control over the university. Except for the last one, all institutions forming UB were located in Belize City, many of the campuses functional today were once their own individual schools until their merger into todays University of Belize. Address, Corner Stann Creek Street and University Drive, Belmopan Former site of the UCB outpost, it is where most programs, home of the Regional Language Center where students from Latin American countries learn English, the Information Technology Department, and all the science labs. Located in Central Farm, Cayo on the George Price Highway in the Cayo District and it offered two year programs in Applied Sciences/Agriculture and Natural Resources. After the amalgamation, it remained almost wholly intact as the Department of Agriculture, location, University Drive, West Landivar, Belize City Former site of Belize Teachers College, the Faculties of Education and Arts and Nursing, Allied Health and Social Work share space on campus. Location, Freetown Road, Belize City Former site of Belize Technical College, shares spaces with Belize District Institute of Vocational and Technical Education, marine field stations, Hunting Caye and Calabash Caye field station. The University of Belize in collaboration with San Pedro Junior College offers a B. Sc. in Tourism Management, four passes in CXC subjects, which must include English and Mathematics. ATLIB English and Math general test pass, or combined score of 890 on the SAT or 18 on the ACT, Bachelors, Associate Degree from recognized institutions, scores same as above. Transfer credits allowed for courses graded C+ or higher, credit transferability is subject to the universitys criteria. Diploma, Bachelors Degree from a recognized institution, the university has four main faculties, each with departments. Each department offers degrees from associate degrees to bachelor degrees, the Environmental Research Institute, the newest department of the university, was inaugurated in January 2010. Belize has a wealth of resources, including the longest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere. Recognizing this, the work of the ERI is focused on producing results that are relevant to the management of Belizes natural resources
32.
Education
–
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves. Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has an effect on the way one thinks, feels. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy, in most regions education is compulsory up to a certain age. Etymologically, the education is derived from the Latin ēducātiō from ēducō which is related to the homonym ēdūcō from ē-. Education began in prehistory, as trained the young in the knowledge. In pre-literate societies this was achieved orally and through imitation, story-telling passed knowledge, values, and skills from one generation to the next. As cultures began to extend their knowledge beyond skills that could be learned through imitation. Schools existed in Egypt at the time of the Middle Kingdom, plato founded the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in Europe. The city of Alexandria in Egypt, established in 330 BCE, there, the great Library of Alexandria was built in the 3rd century BCE. European civilizations suffered a collapse of literacy and organization following the fall of Rome in CE476, after the Fall of Rome, the Catholic Church became the sole preserver of literate scholarship in Western Europe. The church established cathedral schools in the Early Middle Ages as centres of advanced education, some of these establishments ultimately evolved into medieval universities and forebears of many of Europes modern universities. During the High Middle Ages, Chartres Cathedral operated the famous, founded in 1088, the University of Bologne is considered the first, and the oldest continually operating university. The Renaissance in Europe ushered in a new age of scientific and intellectual inquiry and appreciation of ancient Greek, around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed a printing press, which allowed works of literature to spread more quickly. The European Age of Empires saw European ideas of education in philosophy, religion, arts, the Enlightenment saw the emergence of a more secular educational outlook in Europe. In most countries today, full-time education, whether at school or otherwise, is compulsory for all children up to a certain age, formal education occurs in a structured environment whose explicit purpose is teaching students. Usually, formal education takes place in a environment with classrooms of multiple students learning together with a trained, certified teacher of the subject. Most school systems are designed around a set of values or ideals that govern all educational choices in that system, such choices include curriculum, organizational models, design of the physical learning spaces, student-teacher interactions, methods of assessment, class size, educational activities, and more
33.
The arts
–
The arts represent an outlet of expression that is usually influenced by culture in society and which in turn helps to change culture. As such, the arts are a manifestation of peoples internal creative impulse. Some art forms combine a visual element with performance or artwork with the written word, from prehistoric cave paintings to modern day films, art serves as a vessel for storytelling and conveying humankinds relationship with its environment. A debate exists in the arts and video game cultures over whether video games can be counted as an art form. In its most basic definition, art is a documented expression of a sentient being through or on an accessible medium so that anyone can view. The act itself of producing an expression can also be referred to as a certain art, or as art in general. If this solidified expression, or the act of producing it, is good or has value depends on those who access and rate it and this public rating is dependent on various subjective factors. Merriam-Webster defines the arts as painting, sculpture, music, theater, literature, etc. considered as a group of activities done by people with skill, and the study and application of the arts to the human environment. In Ancient Greece, all art and craft was referred to by the same word, thus, there was no distinction between the arts. Ancient Greek art brought the veneration of the form and the development of equivalent skills to show musculature, poise, beauty. Ancient Roman art depicted gods as idealized humans, shown with characteristic distinguishing features, in Byzantine and Gothic art of the Middle Ages, the dominance of the church insisted on the expression of biblical and not material truths. Eastern art has worked in a style akin to Western medieval art, namely a concentration on surface patterning. A characteristic of this style is that the colour is often defined by an outline. This is evident in, for example, the art of India, Tibet, religious Islamic art forbids iconography, and expresses religious ideas through geometry instead. The Artes Mechanicae were practised and developed in guild environments, the modern distinction between artistic and non-artistic skills did not develop until the Renaissance. In modern academia, the arts are usually grouped with or as a subset of the humanities, some subjects in the humanities are history, linguistics, literature, theology, philosophy, and/or logic. Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a variety of tools. It generally involves making marks on a surface by applying pressure from a tool, common tools are graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax colour pencils, crayons, charcoals, pastels, and markers
34.
Management
–
Management is the administration of an organization, whether it be a business, a not-for-profit organization, or government body. The term management may also refer to the people who manage an organization, management is also an academic discipline, a social science whose objective is to study social organization and organizational leadership. Individuals who aim at becoming management researchers or professors may complete the Doctor of Business Administration or the PhD in business administration or management, in larger organizations, there are generally three levels of managers, which are typically organized in a hierarchical, pyramid structure. Senior managers provide direction to the managers who report to them. Middle managers, examples of which would include branch managers, regional managers and section managers, middle managers communicate the strategic goals of senior management to the front-line managers. Lower managers, such as supervisors and front-line team leaders, oversee the work of regular employees, in smaller organizations, the roles of managers have much wider scopes. A manager can perform several roles or even all of the commonly observed in a large organization. There are many smaller organizations than larger ones. Views on the definition and scope of management include, According to Henri Fayol, to manage is to forecast and to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate, fredmund Malik defines it as the transformation of resources into utility. Management included as one of the factors of production - along with machines, materials, peter Drucker saw the basic task of management as twofold, marketing and innovation. Nevertheless, innovation is also linked to marketing, peter Drucker identifies marketing as a key essence for business success, but management and marketing are generally understood as two different branches of business administration knowledge. Management involves identifying the mission, objective, procedures, rules and this implies effective communication, an enterprise environment implies human motivation and implies some sort of successful progress or system outcome. As such, management is not the manipulation of a mechanism, not the herding of animals, management does not need to be seen from enterprise point of view alone, because management is an essential function to improve ones life and relationships. Management is therefore everywhere and it has a range of application. Based on this, management must have humans, communication, plans, measurements, motivational psychological tools, goals, and economic measures may or may not be necessary components for there to be management. At first, one views management functionally, such as measuring quantity, adjusting plans and this applies even in situations where planning does not take place. Critics, however, find this definition useful but far too narrow, one habit of thought regards management as equivalent to business administration and thus excludes management in places outside commerce, as for example in charities and in the public sector. More broadly, every organization must manage its work, people, processes, technology, nonetheless, many people refer to university departments that teach management as business schools
35.
Social science
–
Social science is a major category of academic disciplines, concerned with society and the relationships among individuals within a society. It in turn has many branches, each of which is considered a social science, the social sciences include economics, political science, human geography, demography, psychology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, jurisprudence, history, and linguistics. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to the field of sociology. A more detailed list of sub-disciplines within the sciences can be found at Outline of social science. Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of the sciences as tools for understanding society. In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic, using multiple methodologies, the term social research has also acquired a degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share in its aims and methods. Social sciences came forth from the philosophy of the time and were influenced by the Age of Revolutions, such as the Industrial Revolution. The social sciences developed from the sciences, or the systematic knowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, the beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the grand encyclopedia of Diderot, with articles from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of the sciences is also reflected in other specialized encyclopedias. The modern period saw social science first used as a distinct conceptual field, Social science was influenced by positivism, focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding the negative, metaphysical speculation was avoided. Auguste Comte used the term science sociale to describe the field, taken from the ideas of Charles Fourier, following this period, there were five paths of development that sprang forth in the social sciences, influenced by Comte on other fields. One route that was taken was the rise of social research, large statistical surveys were undertaken in various parts of the United States and Europe. Another route undertaken was initiated by Émile Durkheim, studying social facts, a third means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which social phenomena were identified with and understood, this was championed by figures such as Max Weber. The fourth route taken, based in economics, was developed and furthered economic knowledge as a hard science, the last path was the correlation of knowledge and social values, the antipositivism and verstehen sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded this distinction. In this route, theory and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject, around the start of the 20th century, Enlightenment philosophy was challenged in various quarters. The development of social science subfields became very quantitative in methodology, examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social research of medicine, sociobiology, neuropsychology, bioeconomics and the history and sociology of science. Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of action and its implications. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a discipline of applied mathematics
36.
Science
–
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations, disciplines which use science, like engineering and medicine, may also be considered to be applied sciences. However, during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics. In the 17th and 18th centuries, scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws, over the course of the 19th century, the word science became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world. It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era and in many historical civilizations. Modern science is distinct in its approach and successful in its results, Science in its original sense was a word for a type of knowledge rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular, it was the type of knowledge which people can communicate to each other, for example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thought. This is shown by the construction of calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible. For this reason, it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense and they were mainly speculators or theorists, particularly interested in astronomy. In contrast, trying to use knowledge of nature to imitate nature was seen by scientists as a more appropriate interest for lower class artisans. A clear-cut distinction between formal and empirical science was made by the pre-Socratic philosopher Parmenides, although his work Peri Physeos is a poem, it may be viewed as an epistemological essay on method in natural science. Parmenides ἐὸν may refer to a system or calculus which can describe nature more precisely than natural languages. Physis may be identical to ἐὸν and he criticized the older type of study of physics as too purely speculative and lacking in self-criticism. He was particularly concerned that some of the early physicists treated nature as if it could be assumed that it had no intelligent order, explaining things merely in terms of motion and matter. The study of things had been the realm of mythology and tradition, however. Aristotle later created a less controversial systematic programme of Socratic philosophy which was teleological and he rejected many of the conclusions of earlier scientists. For example, in his physics, the sun goes around the earth, each thing has a formal cause and final cause and a role in the rational cosmic order. Motion and change is described as the actualization of potentials already in things, while the Socratics insisted that philosophy should be used to consider the practical question of the best way to live for a human being, they did not argue for any other types of applied science
37.
Technology
–
Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, the human species use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. The steady progress of technology has brought weapons of ever-increasing destructive power. It has helped develop more advanced economies and has allowed the rise of a leisure class, many technological processes produce unwanted by-products known as pollution and deplete natural resources to the detriment of Earths environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and raise new questions of the ethics of technology, examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, and the challenges of bioethics. Philosophical debates have arisen over the use of technology, with disagreements over whether technology improves the condition or worsens it. The use of the technology has changed significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th century, the term was uncommon in English, the term was often connected to technical education, as in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The term technology rose to prominence in the 20th century in connection with the Second Industrial Revolution, the terms meanings changed in the early 20th century when American social scientists, beginning with Thorstein Veblen, translated ideas from the German concept of Technik into technology. In German and other European languages, a distinction exists between technik and technologie that is absent in English, which translates both terms as technology. By the 1930s, technology referred not only to the study of the industrial arts, dictionaries and scholars have offered a variety of definitions. Ursula Franklin, in her 1989 Real World of Technology lecture, gave another definition of the concept, it is practice, the way we do things around here. The term is used to imply a specific field of technology, or to refer to high technology or just consumer electronics. Bernard Stiegler, in Technics and Time,1, defines technology in two ways, as the pursuit of life by other than life, and as organized inorganic matter. Technology can be most broadly defined as the entities, both material and immaterial, created by the application of mental and physical effort in order to some value. In this usage, technology refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-world problems and it is a far-reaching term that may include simple tools, such as a crowbar or wooden spoon, or more complex machines, such as a space station or particle accelerator. Tools and machines need not be material, virtual technology, such as software and business methods. W. Brian Arthur defines technology in a broad way as a means to fulfill a human purpose
38.
Nursing
–
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health care providers by their approach to patient care, training, Nurses practice in many specialisms with differing levels of prescriber authority. Many nurses provide care within the scope of physicians. However, nurses are permitted by most jurisdictions to practice independently in a variety of settings depending on training level, Nurses may help coordinate the patient care performed by other members of an interdisciplinary health care team such as therapists, medical practitioners and dietitians. Nurses provide care both interdependently, for example, with physicians, and independently as nursing professionals, Nursing historians face the challenge of determining whether care provided to the sick or injured in antiquity was nursing care. In the fifth century BC, for example, the Hippocratic Collection in places describes skilled care and observation of patients by male attendants, who may have been early nurses. Hence, any one desirous of acquiring a knowledge of anatomy should prepare a dead body and carefully, observe, by dissecting it. Before the foundation of modern nursing, members of religious orders such as nuns, examples exist in Christian, Islamic and Buddhist traditions amongst others. Phoebe, mentioned in Romans 16 has been described in sources as the first visiting nurse. These traditions were influential in the development of the ethos of modern nursing, the religious roots of modern nursing remain in evidence today in many countries. One example in the United Kingdom is the use of the sister to refer to a senior nurse. During the Reformation of the 16th century, Protestant reformers shut down the monasteries and convents and those nuns who had been serving as nurses were given pensions or told to get married and stay home. Nursing care went to the inexperienced as traditional caretakers, rooted in the Roman Catholic Church, were removed from their positions, the nursing profession suffered a major setback for approximately 200 years. Florence Nightingale laid the foundations of professional nursing during the Crimean War and her Notes on Nursing became popular. Agnes Jones, who established a training regime at the Brownlow Hill infirmary, Liverpool. In turn, the modern movement began in Germany in 1836. Within a half century, there were over 5,000 deaconesses in Europe, formal use of nurses in the modern military began in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Nurses saw active duty in the First Boer War, the Egyptian Campaign, hospital-based training came to the fore in the early 1900s, with an emphasis on practical experience
39.
Belizean Creole people
–
Belizean Creoles, also known as Kriols, are Creole descendants of Black African, enslaved and brought to Belize, and English and Scottish log cutters, who were known as the Baymen. Over the years they have intermarried with Miskito from Nicaragua, Jamaicans and other West Indians, Mestizos, and East Indians. These varied peoples have all mixed to create this ethnic group, the Belize Kriol language, developed initially among the Africans and Europeans, was historically spoken only by them. The Creoles constituted the majority of the population until the 1980s, as a result, the use of the Kriol language has become more widespread and is now spoken by about 75% of Belizeans, including the many new immigrants since the late 20th century. In the 21st century, Creoles are found predominantly in areas, such as Belize City, in most coastal towns and villages. Until the early 1980s, Belizean Creoles constituted close to 60% of the population of Belize, but, the demographics of the country have changed markedly. The term Creole denotes an ethnic rather than any narrow standard of physical appearance. In Belize, Creole is the term for any person of at least partial Black African descent who is not Garinagu. Thus, immigrants from Africa and the West Indies who have settled in Belize, the concept of Creole as mixed race has embraced nearly any individual who has Afro-European ancestry combined with any other ethnicity, including Mestizo or Maya. By 1724, the British too were acquiring slaves from Jamaica and elsewhere to cut logwood, in the second half of the eighteenth century the slave population hovered around 3,000, making up about three-quarters of the total population. Most slaves, even if they were brought through West Indian markets, were born in Africa, primarily from Ghana, around the Bight of Benin and Bight of Biafra, Nigeria, the Congo, other slaves were taken from the Wolof, Fula, Hausa and Kongo peoples. The Igbo seem to have been numerous, one section of Belize Town was known as Eboe Town in the first half of the 19th century. At first, many slaves maintained African ethnic identifications and cultural practices, gradually, however, they combined some of their cultures, as well as adapting to elements of Europeans ones in a process of creolization, creating a new, syncretic Creole culture. By most accounts, the slaves in Belize led a life than most in the West Indies. Many escaped to neighboring Spanish colonies, or formed small settlements in the forest. These slaves reputedly assisted in the defense of the settlement for much of the late 18th century. This history has been debated and generates controversy in Belize, there were also substantial numbers in and around the plantations south of Belize City and Placencia. Many Creoles were involved in the trade in sea turtles
Belize
