1.
Portuguese people
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Portuguese people are an ethnic group indigenous to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and their predominant religion is Christianity, Portuguese people were a key factor to the Age of Exploration, discovering several lands unknown to the Europeans in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, helping to pave the way for Globalization. There are around 10 million native Portuguese in Portugal, out of a population of 10.34 million. A small minority of about 15,000 speak the Mirandese language, in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Vimioso, all of the speakers are bilingual with Portuguese. An even smaller minority of no more than 2,000 people speak Barranquenho, some people from the former colonies have been migrating to Portugal since the 1900s. More recently, a number of Slavs, especially Ukrainians, Moldovans, Romanians and Russians. There is also a Chinese minority, in addition, there is a small minority Gypsies of about 40,000 people, Muslims about 34,000 people and an even smaller minority of Jews of about 5,000 people. Between 1886 and 1966, Portugal lost to more than any West European country except Ireland. From the middle of the 19th century to the late 1950s, about 40 million Brazilians have relatively recent Portuguese background, due to massive immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. About 1.2 million Brazilian citizens are native Portuguese, significant verified Portuguese minorities exist in several countries. Portuguese Sephardic Jews are also in Israel, the Netherlands, the United States, France, Venezuela, Brazil, in Brazil many of the colonists were also originally Sephardic Jews, who, converted, were known as New Christians. In the United States, there are Portuguese communities in New Jersey, the New England states, in the Pacific, Hawaii has a sizable Portuguese element that goes back 150 years, Australia and New Zealand also have Portuguese communities. Canada, particularly Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, has developed a significant Portuguese community since 1940, argentina and Uruguay had Portuguese immigration in the early 20th century. So has Chile where an estimated 50,000 descendants live, an estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the countrys African possessions gained independence in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution, while others moved to Brazil and South Africa. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Equatorial Guinea, in 1989 some 4,000,000 Portuguese were living abroad, mainly in France, Germany, Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela, and the United States. Portuguese constitute 13% of the population of Luxembourg, in areas such as Thetford and the crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey, the Portuguese form the largest ethnic minority groups at 30% of the population, 20% and 3% respectively. The British capital London is home to the largest number of Portuguese people in the UK, with the majority being found in the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Westminster. The Portuguese diaspora communities still are very attached to their language, their culture and their national dishes, in colonial times, over 700,000 Portuguese settled in Brazil, and most of them went there during the gold rush of the 18th century
2.
El Jadida
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El Jadida is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, located 106 km south of the city of Casablanca in the region of Doukkala-Abda and the province of El Jadida. It has a population of 194,934, from the sea, El Jadidas old city has a very un-Moorish appearance, it has massive Portuguese walls of hewn stone. According to UNESCO, the most important buildings from the Portuguese period are the cistern, the city, and particularly its neighboring town of Sidi Bouzid, becomes extremely busy in the summer season with an influx of mainly Moroccan holiday-makers. Nearby is the resort complex of Mazagan, which attracts the Moroccan elite as well as many international visitors from the Persian Gulf as well as from Europe. Mazagan has a course designed by Gary Player, casino, nightclub. Between Mazagan and El Jadida is the Pullman Hotel, attached to which is Royal Golf El Jadida, the presence of nearby ports and factories is responsible for the pollution of El Jadidas beaches. At present, the main exports are beans, almonds, maize, chickpeas, wool, hides, wax. It imports cotton, sugar, tea and rice, the city is expanding as of 2014, partly as a result of increased activity at the nearby Jorf Lasfar port and industrial area. The underground chamber, measuring 34 meters by 34 meters, was constructed with five rows of five stone pillars and its visual qualities are such that several movies have been filmed within the cavernous space, of which Orson Welles Othello is the best known internationally. The design of the Fortress of Mazagan is a response to the development of artillery in the Renaissance. The star form of the fortress measures c 250m by 300m, the slightly inclined, massive walls are c 8m high on average, with a thickness of 10m, enclosing a patrolling peripheral walkway 2m wide. At the present time the fortification has four bastions, the Angel Bastion in the east, St Sebastian in the north, St Antoine in the west, and the Holy Ghost Bastion in the south. The fifth, the Governor’s Bastion at the entrance, is in ruins. Numerous colonial-era Portuguese cannons are still positioned on top of the bastions, a ditch, c 20m wide and 3m deep, formerly filled with seawater, surrounded the fort. During the time of the French Protectorate the ditch was filled in earth and a new entrance gate was opened leading to the main street, the Rua da Carreira. Along this street are situated the best preserved buildings, including the Catholic Church of the Assumption. El Jadida, previously known as Mazagan, was seized by the Portuguese in 1502, the Portuguese built a citadel in 1514, and a larger fortification in 1541. The Portuguese would continue to control the city until 1769, when they abandoned Mazagão, upon their forced departure, the Portuguese destroyed the Governors Bastion and evacuated to the Portuguese colony of Brazil, where they founded a new settlement called Nova Mazagão
3.
Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
4.
Rainwater tank
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A rainwater tank is a water tank used to collect and store rain water runoff, typically from rooftops via rain gutters. A rainwater catchment or collection system can yield 2358 litres of water from 2.54 cm of rain on a 93 m2 roof, Rainwater tanks are devices for collecting and maintaining harvested rain. Rainwater tanks are installed to use of rain water for later use, reduce mains water use for economic or environmental reasons. Underground rainwater tanks can also be used for retention of stormwater for release at a later time, in arid climates, rain barrels are often used to store water during the rainy season for use during dryer periods. Rainwater tanks may have an initial cost. However, many homes use small scale rain barrels to harvest minute quantities of water for landscaping/gardening applications rather than as a potable water surrogate. These small rain barrels, often recycled from food storage and transport barrels or, in cases, whiskey. While most are properly engineered to screen out mosquitoes, the lack of proper filtering or closed loop systems may create breeding grounds for larvae, with tanks used for drinking water, the user runs a health risk if maintenance is not carried out. If rainwater is used for drinking, it is often filtered first, while rain water is pure it may become contaminated during collection or by collection of particulate matter in the air as it falls. While rain water does not contain chlorine, contamination from airborne pollutants, many water suppliers and health authorities, such as the New South Wales Department of Health, do not advise using rainwater for drinking when there is an alternative mains water supply available. However, reports of associated with rainwater tanks are relatively infrequent. Australian standards may differ greatly from other places in the world where rainwater is used for drinking water. In the United States, rainwater is being used throughout the country for various purposes. In the semi-arid western state of New Mexico, for instance, many residents in the Taos, the smells, tastes, and looks fine standard used in the above paragraph is not an absolute indicator of rainwater safety. Most people who are rainwater users for potable purposes in the USA make certain that their water is safe through filtration, ultraviolet sterilization, certain paints and roofing materials may cause contamination. In particular, a Melbourne Water publication advises that lead-based paints never be used, tar-based coatings are also not recommended, as they affect the taste of the water. Zinc can also be a source of contamination in some paints, as well as galvanized iron or zincalume roofs, particularly when new, roofs painted with acrylic paints may have detergents and other chemicals dissolve in the runoff. Runoff from fibrous cement roofs should be discarded for an entire winter, chemically treated timbers and lead flashing should not be used in roof catchments
5.
Water well
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A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring, or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by a pump, or using containers, such as buckets, placing a lining in the well shaft helps create stability and linings of wood or wickerwork date back at least as far as the Iron Age. Wells have been sunk by hand digging as is the case in rural developing areas. These wells are inexpensive and low-tech as they use mostly manual labour, a more modern method called caissoning uses pre-cast reinforced concrete well rings that are lowered into the hole. Deeper wells can be excavated by hand drilling methods or machine drilling, using a bit in a borehole, drilled wells are usually cased with a factory-made pipe composed of steel or plastic. Drilled wells can access water at greater depths than dug wells. A collector well can be constructed adjacent to a lake or stream with water percolating through the intervening material. The site of a well can be selected by a hydrogeologist, Water may be pumped or hand drawn. Impurities from the surface can easily reach shallow sources and contamination of the supply by pathogens or chemical contaminants needs to be avoided, Well water typically contains more minerals in solution than surface water and may require treatment before being potable. Soil salination can occur as the water falls and the surrounding soil begins to dry out. Another environmental problem is the potential for methane to seep into the water, hand-dug wells are excavations with diameters large enough to accommodate one or more people with shovels digging down to below the water table. The excavation is braced horizontally to avoid landslide or erosion endangering the people digging, a more modern method called caissoning uses reinforced concrete or plain concrete pre-cast well rings that are lowered into the hole. A well-digging team digs under a ring and the well column slowly sinks into the aquifer. Hand-dug wells are inexpensive and low tech as they use mostly manual labour to access groundwater in rural locations in developing countries and they may be built with a high degree of community participation, or by local entrepreneurs who specialize in hand-dug wells. They have been excavated to 60 metres. They have low operational and maintenance costs, in part because water can be extracted by hand bailing, without a pump. The water is coming from an aquifer or groundwater, and can be easily deepened. The yield of existing hand dug wells may be improved by deepening or introducing vertical tunnels or perforated pipes, drawbacks to hand-dug wells are numerous
6.
Reservoir
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A reservoir is a storage space for fluids. These fluids may be water, hydrocarbons or gas, a reservoir usually means an enlarged natural or artificial lake, storage pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created by controlling a stream that drains a body of water. They can also be constructed in river valleys using a dam, alternately, a reservoir can be built by excavating flat ground or constructing retaining walls and levees. Tank reservoirs store liquids or gases in storage tanks that may be elevated, at grade level, tank reservoirs for water are also called cisterns. Underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, a dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are typically located at a part of a valley downstream of a natural basin. The valley sides act as walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength. In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, construction of a reservoir in a valley will usually need the river to be diverted during part of the build, often through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs the new top water level exceeds the height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir, where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or quantity, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water. Such reservoirs are usually formed partly by excavation and partly by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may substantially reduce many contaminants and almost eliminate any turbidity. The use of reservoirs also allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time. Service reservoirs store fully treated potable water close to the point of distribution, many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers, often as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is relatively flat. Other service reservoirs can be almost entirely underground, especially in hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909, when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe
