1.
Elbe
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The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and its total length is 1,094 kilometres. The Elbes major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, the Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany, much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people, the Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres in the Krkonoše on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic near Labská bouda. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí, and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové and then to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west, at the village of Káraný, a little above Brandýs nad Labem, it picks up the Jizera. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava, or Moldau, upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer, and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře, in its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge, from the sluice of Geesthacht on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides, the tidal Elbe section is called the Low Elbe. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe, Reiherstieg. Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe was separated from the stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort and these hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel, a bit more downstream the Low Elbes two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunited the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel, the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe used to reunite, leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea, the Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague
2.
Ebla
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Ebla, was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh, Ebla was an important center throughout the third millennium BC and in the first half of the second millennium BC. Karl Moore described the first Eblaite kingdom as the first recorded world power, starting as a small settlement in the early Bronze Age, Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria. Ebla was destroyed during the 23rd century BC, it was rebuilt and was mentioned in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The second Ebla was a continuation of the first, ruled by a new royal dynasty and it was destroyed at the end of the third millennium BC, which paved the way for the Amorite tribes to settle in the city, forming the third Ebla. The third kingdom also flourished as a center, it became a subject. Ebla maintained its prosperity through a vast trading network, artifacts from Sumer, Cyprus, Egypt and as far as Afghanistan were recovered from the citys palaces. The kingdom had its own language, Eblaite and the organization of Ebla had features different from the Sumerian model. Women enjoyed a status and the queen had major influence in the state. The pantheon of gods was mainly north Semitic and included deities exclusive to Ebla, the city was excavated starting in 1964, and became famous for the Ebla tablets, an archive of about 20,000 cuneiform tablets found there, dated to around 2350 BC. A possible meaning of the word Ebla is white rock, referring to the outcrop on which the city was built. Ebla was first settled around 3500 BC, its growth was supported by many agricultural settlements. The city benefited from its role as an entrepôt of growing international trade, archaeologists designate this early habitation period Mardikh I, it ended around 3000 BC. Mardikh I is followed by the first and second kingdoms era between about 3000 and 2000 BC, designated Mardikh II. I. J. Gelb consider Ebla as part of the Kish civilization, the early period between 3000 and 2400 BC is designated Mardikh IIA. General knowledge about the history prior to the written archives is obtained through excavations. The first stages of Mardikh IIA is identified with building CC, and structures form a part of building G2. Toward the end of period, a hundred years war with Mari started
3.
Flag of Elba
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The flag was used during the period of stay of Napoleon Bonaparte as sovereign of the island of Elba, from 4 May 1814 to 26 February 1815. The flag, donated by Napoleon on his arrival on the island, was hoisted on the highest point of Portoferraio on the day of the landing of the emperor on the island, the original flag is kept in the Napoleon residence, Palazzina dei Mulini in Portoferraio. The meaning of the chosen by the Emperor has long been, and continues to be. There are different theories about the origin of the red stripe on a white background, one of those, is that the red and white colors were chosen from the Polish flag in honor of the Major Jan Paweł Jerzmanowski who followed Napoleon in his exile on Elba. Many authors agree however that Napoleon was inspired by a book on flags. The British Commissioner designated to accompany Napoleon on Elba, Neil Campbell, confirms this version writing in his diary, robert Christophe mentions that The Emperor himself designed the flag. During the five days of the journey, he studied books about Elba which he brought from Fontainebleau. Inspired by the Medici coat of arms, the ancient rulers of the island, he designed a new flag with a white background and this flag is white, divided diagonally by a diagonal checkered band in red and white, starting from the top of the mast. As Vincenzo Mellini Ponçe de Léon wrote, it reminded the inhabitants of Elba of their first lords, the House of Appiano, among the various hypotheses about the meaning of bees, one is that Napoleon wanted to symbolize the unity and hard work of Elba inhabitants. Another one, however, aroused greater foundation, attributes to Napoleon himself the explanation thereof, the golden bees are however, very often a symbol in the Napoleon iconography. The bee was chosen by Napoleon to link the new dynasty to the ancient kingdom of France. Golden bees, being found in 1653 in Tournai in the tomb of Childeric I, father of Clovis I and they represented a sign of immortality and resurrection. It is often believed that the flag of Elba has been borrowed from the Polish Cavalry, all Polish soldiers, whom arrived on Elba with Napoleon, were assembled under the command of Major Jan Paweł Jerzmanowski, into a single Cavalry Squadron. The squadron assumed the name of Polish Cavalry - Napoleon Squadron - Guard of Napoleon on Elba Island and was given the flag of Elba and they were later assigned to the Grande Armée during the Hundred Days. There is no trace of the existence of the Squadron before 1814, principality of Elba This article is based on the corresponding article in Italian Wikipedia
4.
Tyrrhenian Sea
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The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy. It is named for the Tyrrhenian people, identified since the 6th century BCE with the Etruscans of Italy, the sea is bounded by the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian peninsula to the east, and the island of Sicily. The maximum depth of the sea is 3,785 metres, the Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near where the African and Eurasian Plates meet, therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes such as Mount Marsili are found in its depths. The eight Aeolian Islands and Ustica are located in the part of the sea. On the Southwest, A line running from Cape Lilibeo to the South extreme of Cape Teulada in Sardinia, in the Strait of Bonifacio, A line joining the West extreme of Cape Testa in Sardinia with the Southwest extreme of Cape Feno in Corsica. On the North, A line joining Cape Corse in Corsica, with Tinetto Island and thence through Tino, there are four exits from the Tyrrhenian Sea, The Tyrrhenian Basin is divided into two basins, the Vavilov plain and the Marsili plain. They are separated by the ridge known as the Issel Bridge. Its name derives from the Greek name for the Etruscans, who were said to be emigrants from Lydia, the Etruscans settled along the coast of modern Tuscany and referred to the water as the Sea of the Etruscans. The main ports of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Italy are, Naples, Palermo, Civitavecchia, Salerno, Trapani, in France the most important port is Bastia. Note that even though the port of Rome is frequently used. Instead, the port of Rome refers to the facilities at Civitavecchia, some 68 km to the northwest of Rome. Giglio Porto is an island port in this area. It rose to prominence, when the Costa Concordia ran aground a few metres off the coast of Giglio, the ship was recently removed and towed to Genoa. In Greek mythology, it is believed that the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea housed the four winds kept by Aeolus, the winds are the Mistral from the Rhône valley, the Libeccio from the southwest, and the Sirocco and Ostro from the south
5.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
6.
Tuscan Archipelago
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The Tuscan Archipelago is a chain of islands between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, west of Tuscany, Italy. The islands proximity to major cities has made them a favourite tourist location. History and literature have ensured that most people are familiar with the islands of Elba, the Archipelago extends to 166 kilometres from the northernmost Island of Gorgona to the southernmost Giannutri and 56 kilometres from the western Island of Capraia to the Tuscan coast. The origin of the dates to the Triassic period according to the type of the rocks. The Würm glaciation was followed by a phase, and the sea rose slowly to reach its current level. The archipelago is distinguished by some endemism which are protected in order to avoid the loss of the biodiversity of fauna, the Falco peregrinus brookei nests at Elba and Capraia, the shearwater and the rare Audouins gull are common in all the islands. Rich productivity of the coastal waters provide habitats for marine life even whales and dolphins including fin. The archipelago is characterized by a Mediterranean climate with high insolation all year round, the archipelago’s flora change from island to island, the smaller have a vegetation similar each other as the macchia mediterranea and the garrigue formed by evergreen plants. The Elba have a complex orography and a relevant mountain as the Mount Capanne which favoured the preservation of the chestnut, the holm oak, Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy,10 kilometres from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park and it is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 50 kilometres east of the French island of Corsica. Isola del Giglio is an Italian island and comune situated in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, the island is one of seven that form the Tuscan Archipelago, lying within the Arcipelago Toscano National Park. The island has a population of about 400, Montecristo is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province of Livorno, the island has an area of 10.39 km2 and is approximately 4.3 km wide at its widest point, the coasts are steep, and extend for 16 km. The island is a nature reserve and forms part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. The small island of Pianosa, about 10.25 km2 in area, has a perimeter of 26 km. Gorgona is the northernmost island in the Tuscan Archipelago, between Corsica and Livorno, this diminutive island has been valued most for its wildlife, especially marine birds, and its isolation. The latter quality resulted in the foundation of Gorgona Abbey in the Middle Ages, after its closure the monastery grounds and buildings were appropriated in 1869, at the foundation of an agricultural penal colony, which is currently in use. The Formiche di Grosseto is a group of islets which emerge sharply in the Tuscan Archipelago, palmaiola is an islet placed in the middle of Piombino Channel, at 3 kilometres from Elba and 7 kilometres from Piombino, it is part of the comune of Rio Marina
7.
Gorgona (Italy)
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Gorgona is the northernmost island in the Tuscan Archipelago, a group of islands off the west coast of Italy. Between Corsica and Livorno, this island has been valued most for its wildlife, especially marine birds. The latter quality resulted in the foundation of Gorgona Abbey in the Middle Ages, after its closure the monastery grounds and buildings were appropriated in 1869, at the foundation of an agricultural penal colony, which is currently in use. Gorgona is located about 19 nautical miles out from Livorno. It is a ride of about 1.5 hours, however. It grants a standing concession exclusively to one group for supervised tours, private boats may approach the island no closer than 500 m except in emergencies. Capraia is 35 km away, Corsica,60 km, the only landing place is Cala dello Scalo, an inlet on the northeast side surrounded by cliffs, the site of the only beach. A fishing village over the beach is now inhabited by workers of the Penal Colony and, above all in the summer, by families of heirs of the old settlers. On the cliff overlooking the bay is a site, the Torre Nuova, new tower. From the beach an unpaved road leads up to the settlement at the head of a pass between the two prominent heights, Punta Gorgona at 254 metres to the south and Punta Zirri at 213 m to the north. On the cliffs at the west side of the island on the side of the pass is the Torre Vecchia, old tower. Occupation of the island has been primarily on the slopes and terraces of the east coast. A number of monastery and other buildings were constructed there, the prison, which has been structured as a working farm, has taken over or takes responsibility for maintaining this entire region. Prisoners work in agriculture or raise animals or learn whatever building trades are useful to the enterprise and their living space is rather big with good rooms as cells, some spaces for group activities and a pleasant soccer 5 field. Most of the work outdoors, in the village area too. So interaction with residents and outsiders is controlled, the ecology of Gorgona is under the protection of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, dating from 1996, with headquarters at Portoferraio, Elba. Most of the island is in its state, 90% of it being forested with maquis,2 m to 5 m high. The flowers in open country include Lavandula stoechas, Helichrysum italicum, Cistus incanus, Cistus salvifolius
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Capraia
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The island has a population of about 400. Capraia is 62 kilometres from the city of Livorno by sea, the island is accessible by ferries that depart from the port of Livorno. Capraia is of volcanic origin, has an area of 19 square kilometres and it is about 8 kilometres long and about 4 kilometres wide. It has a coastline that is about 30 kilometres in circumference, the island is part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park and marine sanctuary. The islands small harbour, Porto di Capraia, is connected to the village by the one, the village, dominated by the Fortress of St George, preserves its original characteristics unaltered. Sites of tourist interest include the Church of the Assunta, the Church of St Nicola and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church and Convent of St Antonio, the Fortress is not open to visitors. The island produces wine, and is a centre of the anchovy fishery, about 40 kilometres to the north is the island of Gorgona, which is also famous for its anchovies. In the summer the island is also a stopping point for yachts sailing between Livorno, Elba, and Corsica. The Greeks called the island Aegyllon or Aegyllion and its current name may have originated in the Etruscan carpa - stone - a word that comes from the archaic Greek Kalpe - sepulchral stone. The Romans called the island Capraria, its name possibly then morphing to reflect the presence of wild goats, in the 4th century AD it housed a cenobium, where the church of St. Stephen now stands. The early 5th century poet Rutilius recorded that the island was a mess, in 1055 it was raided by Saracen pirates, and later the Republic of Pisa owned it. It became part of the Republic of Genoa after the Battle of Meloria, in 1540 the Genoese built the Fortress of St. George on a pre-existing fortification that the African corsair Turgut Reis had demolished. The Genoese also built three coastal watch towers to protect against pirates and it is the only tower with a square shape, which makes it somewhat similar to the De Redin towers on Malta. Torre delle Barbici is in a dilapidated state. Since 2009 a path connects it to the port, in 1767 troops under Pasquale Paoli of the new independent Corsican Republic occupied Capraia. In 1796 the British, under Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, occupied the island for a short time, after the Congress of Vienna in 1815 annexed the Republic of Genoa to the Kingdom of Sardinia, Capraia became part of the province of Genoa. Then in 1925, it was assigned to Livorno, between 1873 and 1986 a penal colony occupied almost two-thirds of Capraia. In 1986 the government closed the penal colony and opened the island to visitors and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Capraia
9.
Pianosa
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The small island of Pianosa, about 10.25 km2 in area, has a coastal perimeter of 26 km and forms part of Italys Tuscan Archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea. In Roman times the island was named Planasia because of its flatness - its highest point stands at 29 m above sea level and it is a triangular-shaped land mass 14 km south west of Elba, and is a frazione of the municipality of Campo nellElba. The vegetation consists mainly of Mediterranean species as lentisco, fennel, juniperus, rosemary and pinus halepensis, the island is a stopping place for migrating birds in their seasonal passage from North to South. The sea around Pianosa is rich in fish because the coast was unapproachable for a long time, grouper, dory, dentex, moray, crawfish and many other species of fish inhabit the seas around the island. Fishing tools and ceramic of the Mesolithic were found as well as artefacts in quartz, the ancient Romans Planasia had buildings and was extensively cultivated. It became noted in history when the princeps Augustus banished his grandson, Postumus remained there until his murder by an assassin sent by Tiberius, around the death of Augustus in 14 AD. In the 4th century a small Christian community lived in Pianosa and these are on two levels and are the largest north of Rome,700 catacombs were discovered, indicating a fair number of residents. Pisa had the island in custody after the victory in a battle in those waters occurred in 874. In the Middle Ages the islands ownership was disputed by Pisa, in 1238 Genoa sent troops on the island supposing the inhabitants exercised the piracy, destroyed the village and the fortifications built by the Pisans and made prisoners the 150 inhabitants. Pianosa returned shortly after to Pisa, but Genoa had the supremacy of the Tyrrhenian Sea after the Battle of Meloria, the island returned to Pisan control under an agreement that required the Pisans leave it uncultivated and uninhabited, but the pact was not honoured. The Appiano family, who ruled Pisa, gave the island on rent to the family De Leis then to the Landi in 1344. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V of Spain on August 15,1552 consigned to Cosimo I de Medici the Principality of Piombino in exchange of a loan of 200,000 scudi. On April 9,1809 the Archipelago returned to Tuscany, which was ruled by the French, on 10 May British marines and sailors from HMS Seahorse and HMS Halcyon landed on Pianosa, the landing parties destroyed the forts and captured about 100 prisoners during four hours of fighting. British losses were one killed and one wounded. The landing party also sent the farmers back to Elba and left the island a desert, napoleon went to Pianosa from Elba twice, rebuilt the tower, emplaced a garrison to defend the island, and built some houses to settle farmers. The Congress of Vienna assigned Elba and the Tuscan Archipelago to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1864 a structure able to contain 350 prisoners was built, the captives cultivated cereals, produced oil and wine as Sangiovese and Procanico, there were poultry, pigs, and cattle farms. From 1884 until 1965 Pianosa, because of its dry climate, hosted convicts, coming from all over Italy, at the beginning of the 1900s, the population on the island was 21 civilians,80 prison guards,40 soldiers, and 800 prisoners
10.
Montecristo
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Montecristo, formerly Oglasa, is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea and part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Administratively it belongs to the municipality of Portoferraio in the province of Livorno, Italy. The island has an area of 10.39 km2, it is approximately 4.1 km wide at its widest point and is 3.4 km long, the coasts are steep, and extend for 16 km. The island is a nature reserve and forms part of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park. Much of the fame is derived from the fact that it provides the setting for part of the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The history of the island begins with the Iron Age, the Etruscans exploited the forests of oak needed to fuel the bloomeries of the mainland where the iron ore of Elbas mines was melted. The Greeks gave Montecristo its oldest known name, Oglasa or Ocrasia, the Romans, however, knew it under the name Mons Jovis, and erected an altar to Iuppiter Optimus Maximus on the highest mountain, of which some traces remain. During the imperial age, the Romans opened some quarries to extract granite, perhaps used in the construction of villas on the islands of Giglio, Elba, and Giannutri. Around the middle of the fifth century AD, the caves of the island home to several hermits escaping from the Vandals of Genseric. They christened the island Mons Christi, from which the name is derived. At the beginning of the century, Pope Gregory the Great submitted them to the monastic rule of the Benedictines. In 1216, the joined the order of the Camaldolese. Thanks to the donations of several families, the monastery became powerful and rich. The island was once a possession of Pisa, but was acquired by the Principality of Piombino. In 1553, Ottoman pirate Dragut, heading for Elba, stormed the monastery, enslaved the monks, after that, the island was uninhabited. In the second half of the century, together with most of the Tuscan Archipelago, it became part of the Stato dei Presidi. The island was annexed to the French Empire under Napoleon, after his fall, the first attempts to colonise Monte Cristo, at the time owned by Charles Cambiagi, were made in 1840 by two German hermits, Augustin Eulhardt and Joseph Keim, who eventually abandoned the attempt. In 1843, other people arrived with the intention of cultivating the island, young Tyrolean Adolph Franz Obermüller, also during 1843, there were other attempts of colonisation by French agriculturalist George Guiboud, which ended with yet another failure
11.
Isola del Giglio
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Isola del Giglio is an Italian island and comune situated in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Tuscany, and is part of the Province of Grosseto. The island is one of seven that form the Tuscan Archipelago, the island is separated by a 16-kilometre stretch of sea from the nearest point of the mainland, the promontory of Monte Argentario. Mainly mountainous, it consists almost entirely of granite, culminating in the Poggio della Pagana, ninety percent of its surface is covered by Mediterranean vegetation, alternating with large pine forests and numerous vineyards which allow the production of the local Ansonaco wine. The coast is 27 kilometres long, made up of rocks, smooth cliffs and several bays, Arenella, Cannelle, Caldane and Campese, the municipality is composed of the islands of Giglio and Giannutri. Three principal settlements are located on the island, Giglio Porto, located on the eastern coastal side. It is divided into the quarters of Chiesa, Moletto and Saraceno, Giglio Castello, located upon a hill between the two other localities and characterized by the majestic walls of a fortress. It is divided into the quarters of Casamatta, Centro, Cisterna, Giglio Campese, it is located on the north-western coastal side and is a modern sea resort. The modern island was formed probably 4.5 to 5 million years ago, later, it was probably an Etruscan military stronghold. Wondering, Igiliums wooded heights I view Afar, and must not cheat them of the praise Due to their fame. In 1241, the Sicilian and Pisan fleet of Emperor Frederick II destroyed a Genoese fleet in the Battle of Giglio, from 1264, Isola del Giglio was a Pisan dominion, from which it passed to the Medici family. It suffered several Saracen attacks, which ended only in 1799, on 14 June 1646, Grand Admiral Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé was killed at the Battle of Orbetello, at sunset on his flagship the Grand Saint Louis. Alongside its history, the island was always renowned for its ore, many columns. The island houses the remains of a Roman villa of Domitius Ahenobarbus, no traces of the once existing Temple of Diana can be seen now. The church of San Pietro Apostolo in Giglio Castello has a crucifix attributed to the sculptor Giambologna. The island is also the site of an Etruscan shipwreck dating back to the early Iron age, the cargo of the ship included copper and lead ingots, iron spits, amphorae and a Corinthian helmet. Even a wooden writing tablet with stylus was preserved, the finds are almost completely lost now. Isola del Giglio is connected to Tuscany by ferries Toremar and Maregiglio, in 2012, the island received prolonged international media attention, following the 13 January 2012 running aground of the cruise liner Costa Concordia, just off the islands shore. Most of the more than 4,200 passengers and crew were rescued and taken to the island, at least 30 people died and 64 were injured, with 2 missing. The people of the rushed to help, providing hot drinks and blankets
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Giannutri
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The island has a coastal perimeter of 11 km, is stretched approximately 2.8 km from Punta del Capo Rosso to Punta Secca and 2 km from Punta San Francesco to Punta della Salvezza. The island landscape has three hills, Poggio del Cannone and Monte Mario in the part and Poggio Capel Rosso. The island’s flora is prevalently a high macchia mediterranea in the part which become garrigue in the southern. The mild climate has favoured the growth of such as euphorbia, palm trees. The marine flora is abundant in sponges, madreporaria, black coral, the island, as all that of the Tuscan Archipelago, is a place where the bird migration take a stop along their seasonal movement from North to South. The Audouins gull, Puffinus yelkouan, Black-eared wheatear, Marmoras warbler, Giannutri was mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historiae and by the Latin geographer Pomporio Mela in his Dechorographia. The island was inhabited by Romans of which are the vestiges of a magnificent Roman villa, remained locked for almost 15 years, in 1806 a small military garrison was sent on the island. On 10 May 1809, a party from HMS Seahorse and HMS Halcyon landed on the Pianosa. The landing party destroyed the forts and captured about 100 prisoners during four hours of fighting. British losses were one killed and one wounded. The Minister of Finances Quintino Sella, with a Royal decree, in 1908 the Comune sold the island to the family Ruffo della Scaletta which remained the owner until the death of the Prince Rufo. In the 1960s and 1970s the real estate investing transformed radically the island, in a few years an holiday resort at Cala Spalmatoio and many houses scattered through the island were built. The Società Porto Romano declared bankruptcy and the owners of the houses were obliged to form a society, called Libero Consorzio Giannutri. Villa Domizia, also known as Villa Domitia was built probably in the 1st or 2nd century by the Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus who was the owner of the island. The Villa is placed in the part of the island on an height, close to Punta Scaletta and Cala Maestra. The rooms employed as residence and the others were disposed on the highest level accessible by stairs, in the back of the residential quarter are the remains of a long building, with 8 rooms aligned, likely used by the monks as convent and since then called Conventaccio. The Villa is connected to Cala Maestra through a set of stairs, the Calidarium, formed by a rectangular room from whose walls passed the warm air, was placed halfway between the Villa and Cala Maestra and was richly adorned with marbles and mosaic floor. The Romans built a harbour and a wharf at Cala Maestra cutting the rock in order to have more space
13.
Mount Capanne
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Mount Capanne is the highest mountain on the Italian island of Elba and in the province of Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. It is located in the part of the island, reaching a height of 1,019 metres in elevation above the Mediterranean Sea. The mountain is part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, the Monte Capanne summit can be reached in 14 minutes via cable car, which departs from Marciana. The mountain has Matorral shrublands and woodlands habitats, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands. Tuscan Archipelago Media related to Monte Capanne at Wikimedia Commons
14.
Regions of Italy
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The regions of Italy are the first-level administrative divisions of Italy, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are 20 regions, of five are constitutionally given a broader amount of autonomy granted by special statutes. Each region, except for the Aosta Valley, is divided into provinces, regions are autonomous entities with powers defined in the Constitution. As the administrative districts of the state during the Kingdom of Italy. The original draft list comprised the Salento region, friuli and Venezia Giulia were separate regions, and Basilicata was named Lucania. Abruzzo and Molise were identified as regions in the first draft. They were later merged into Abruzzo e Molise in the constitution of 1948. Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional Elections of 1970, the ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions, where it was historically rooted. Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a reform in 2001. In June 2006 the proposals, which had been associated with Lega Nord. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55. 3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria, number of regions controlled by each coalition since 1995, Macroregions are the first-level NUTS of the European Union. These regions, whose statutes are approved by their councils, were created in 1970. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had residual legislative powers, the regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law. Yet their financial autonomy is quite modest, they just keep 20% of all levied taxes, Article 116 of the Italian Constitution grants to five regions home rule, acknowledging their powers in relation to legislation, administration and finance. These regions became autonomous in order to take into account cultural differences, moreover, the government wanted to prevent their secession from Italy after the Second World War. Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol constitutes a special case, the region is nearly powerless, and the powers granted by the regions statute are mostly exercised by the two autonomous provinces within the region, Trentino and South Tyrol. In this case, the regional institution plays a coordinating role, the latter is directly elected by the citizens of each region, with the exceptions of Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, where he is chosen by the regional council. Under the 1995 electoral law, the winning coalition receives a majority of seats on the council
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Tuscany
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Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy, Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is considered a nation within a nation. Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto. The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited destination in the region. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val dOrcia are also internationally renowned, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year. In 2012, the city of Florence was the worlds 89th most visited city, roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north and east, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany has a western coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres, surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds of the total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres, and mountains. Plains occupy 8. 4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres —mostly around the valley of the River Arno, many of Tuscanys largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa. The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks, following this, the Villanovan culture saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms. City-states developed in the late Villanovan before Orientalization occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose, the Etruscans created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory, throughout their existence, they lost territory to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts. Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks, the cultures of Greece, one reason for its eventual demise was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, however, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, in the years following 572, the Longobards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia
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Provinces of Italy
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In Italy, a province is an administrative division of intermediate level between a municipality and a region. There are currently 107 provinces in Italy, a further 4 such cities were added later. The reorganization of the Italian provinces became operative by January 2015, a province of the Italian Republic is composed of many municipalities. Usually several provinces together form a region, the region of Aosta Valley is the sole exception – it is not subdivided into provinces, the three main functions devolved to provinces are, local planning and zoning, provision of local police and fire services, transportation regulation. The number of provinces in Italy has been growing in recent years. Usually, the name is the same as that of its capital city. According to the 2014 reform, each province is headed by a President assisted by a body, the Provincial Council, and an executive body. President and members of Council are elected together by mayors and city councilors of each municipality of the province, the Executive is chaired by the President who appoint others members, called assessori. Since 2015 the President and others members of the Council will not receive a salary, in each province there is also a Prefect, a representative of the central government who heads an agency called prefettura-ufficio territoriale del governo. The Questor is the head of States Police in the province, there is also a provinces police force depending from local government, called provincial police. Sardinia - following the outcome of the referendums of 2012 it was decreed that such institutions should be reformed or abolished by March 2013. In January 2014 the Sardinian Regional Administrative Court declared unconstitutional the abolition of the Sardinian provinces, sicily - provinces were replaced by Free Communal Consortia in 2013. In 1861, at the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, however, at that time the national territory was smaller than the current one, regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige and Lazio were not included in the kingdom. In 1866, following the Third Independence War, territories of Veneto, Friuli, there were therefore nine more provinces, Belluno, Mantua, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso, Venice, Verona, Vicenza and Udine, all previously part of the Austrian Empire. Eventually, in 1870, following the annexion of Rome and its province from the Papal States, after the First World War, new territories were annexed to Italy. The Province of Trento was created in 1920, Provinces of La Spezia, Trieste and Ionio in 1923. In 1924 the new provinces of Fiume, Pola, and Zara were created, in 1927, following a Royal charter, a general province rearrangement took place. 17 new provinces were created and the province of Caserta was suppressed, in the same year the institution of circondari, sub-provincial wards created before the unification, was abolished
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Province of Livorno
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The province of Livorno is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and its capital is the city of Livorno. The province was formed in 1925 with land from the provinces of Pisa and it has an area of 1,211 square kilometres and a total population of 343,003. There are 20 comuni in the province, the coastline of the area is known as Costa degli Etruschi. The province of Livorno is coastal and contains a number of coastal towns, Livorno is a highly important port for tourism and trading, and a number of watchtowers are located nearby the city. At Calafuria, the sea contains sponges, shellfish, fish, the coastlines of Quercianella and Castiglioncello are rocky. The waters around the province of Livorno sometimes contain dolphins, the town Marina di Bibbona was initially founded as a fort due to its strategic coastal position. Town San Vincenzo contains a tower for strategic reasons. The sand of Golfo di Baratti is silver and black due to its high concentration. The province is subdivided into 20 comuni and this is the complete list of comuni in the province of Livorno, At 30 April 2014, the main comuni by population are, Official website Livorno Tourist Board Site
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Portoferraio
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Portoferraio is a town and comune in the province of Livorno, on the edge of the eponymous harbour of the island of Elba. It is the islands largest city, because of its terrain, many of its buildings are situated on the slopes of a tiny hill surrounded on three sides by the sea. It was founded by Cosimo I de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in 1548, with the name of Cosmopoli and it had three forts and a massive line of walls, all still visible today. The city remained to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany until the 18th century, a British garrison withstood the Siege of Porto Ferrajo in 1801, but the 1802 Treaty of Amiens transferred the town to France. In 1814 it was handed over to Napoleon Bonaparte, as the seat of his first exile, in the 19th century, the city grew quickly, due to the construction of infrastructures and the exploitation of new iron mills in Rio Marina. Portoferraio then became the shipping port of the ore towards the mainland, whence the current name. After the end of the Napoleonic Era, Portoferraio returned to Tuscany, here brigand Carmine Crocco was imprisoned until his death for his revolution against the reign of Victor Emmanuel II and the anarchist Giovanni Passannante who attempted to kill king Umberto I. During World War II, Portoferraio became the scene of battle when Elba was occupied by German forces, in late June 1944, an Allied force composed mainly of Free French troops liberated the island in a fight which lasted two days. Portoferraio was taken by French troops on 18 June, but was damaged by the fighting, portoferraios economy suffered from the end of mining activities starting from the 1970s, but in the following decades it gained a status as an internationally renowned tourist resort. The town center is crowded around the small marina drawn in a natural cove and it was built by Leopod II Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1788, the stone tower is 25 metres high and has a double balcony and lantern. On the same tower is an additional light identified by the number 2072.2. E. F. that emits a red fixed light at 60 metres above sea level
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Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
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Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
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Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
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Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
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Piombino
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Piombino is an Italian town and comune of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno. It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the side of Maremma. It has an ancient historical centre, derived from the time in which it was the Etruscans port, in the Middle Ages, it was instead an important port of the Republic of Pisa. Its hinterland hosts an industrial area. Its port is still used, both for industry and for tourism, with ferry-boats to Portoferraio and Olbia. The bounding communes of Piombino are Campiglia Marittima, Follonica, San Vincenzo, the town has 6 civil parishes, Baratti, Fiorentina, Gagno, Populonia, Populonia Stazione and Vignale Riotorto. The area of modern Piombino was settled since ancient times, during the Etruscan era the main city in the area was Populonia, now a frazione within the comune of Piombino. It is also probable that Piombino had already been founded during the Ostrogoth domination, in 1022 the Monastery of San Giustiniano was founded in the area, boosting the activity of fishermen, sailors and workers. In 1115 Piombino submitted to the Republic of Pisa, becoming its main port. During the conflicts between the Pisane and the Genoese the city was sacked various times, in 1248 the Capitano Ugolino Arsopachi built the Channels. In 1445, through his marriage with Caterina Appiani, Rinaldo Orsini acquired the lordship, in 1501–1503 the principality was under Cesare Borgia. In 1509 the Appiani became princes of the Holy Roman Empire with the title of Piombino, after Cosimo I de Medici had occupied it in the course of the war against Siena, in 1553 and 1555 a French-Ottoman fleet attacked Piombino, but was pushed back. In 1594 the Principality of Piombino was created by Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg, in 1634 the title was acquired by the Ludovisi, whose member Niccolò I had married Polissena Appiani in 1632. In 1708 it went to the Boncompagni with Antonio I, in 1801 Napoleon abolished the principate, Piombino and its lands being annexed by the Kingdom of Etruria, in 1809 they were given to Napoleons sister, Elisa Baciocchi. After the Napoleons final defeat and the congress of Vienna, the state of Piombino was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and it became part of the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1860. During World War II, in the days followed the announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile. Battle broke out at 21,15 on 10 September, between the German landing forces and the Italian coastal batteries, tanks, and civilian population, sauro and Carbet were scuttled because of the damage they had suffered. The German attack was repelled, by the dawn of 11 September,120 Germans had been killed, Italian casualties had been 4 killed and a dozen wounded, four Italian submarine chasers were also sunk during the fightning
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Arcipelago Toscano National Park
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Arcipelago Toscano National Park is a large Tuscan Archipelago national park and marine park in the Provinces of Grosseto and Livorno, western Tuscany, Italy. The Tuscan archipelago is located between the Ligurian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Mediterranean Sea, the Italian national park protects 56,776 hectares of sea and 17,887 hectares of island habitats. The highest point in the park is Mount Capanne, at 1,019 metres in elevation, on the island of Elba. List of national parks of Italy Yearbook of the Italian Parks 2005, edited by Comunicazione in association with Federparchi, official Parco Nazionale Arcipelago Toscano website—
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Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
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Sardinia
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Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. It is located in the Western Mediterranean, just south of the French island of Corsica, the regions official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna, and its capital and largest city is Cagliari. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city and its indigenous language and the other minority languages spoken by the Sardinians enjoy equal dignity with Italian under regional law. The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *srd-, later romanised as sardus and it makes its first appearance on the Nora Stone, where the word Šrdn testifies to the names existence when the Phoenician merchants first arrived. According to Timaeus, one of Platos dialogues, Sardinia and its people as well might have named after Sardò. There has also been speculation that identifies the ancient Nuragic Sards with the Sherden, in Classical antiquity, Sardinia was called Ichnusa, Σανδάλιον Sandal, Sardinia and Sardó. Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 24,100 square kilometres and it is situated between 38°51 and 41°18 latitude north and 8°8 and 9°50 east longitude. To the west of Sardinia is the Sea of Sardinia, a unit of the Mediterranean Sea, to Sardinias east is the Tyrrhenian Sea, the nearest land masses are the island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia, the Balearic Islands, and Provence. The Tyrrhenian Sea portion of the Mediterranean Sea is directly to the east of Sardinia between the Sardinian east coast and the west coast of the Italian mainland peninsula, the Strait of Bonifacio is directly north of Sardinia and separates Sardinia from the French island of Corsica. The island has an ancient geoformation and, unlike Sicily and mainland Italy, is not earthquake-prone and its rocks date in fact from the Palaeozoic Era. Due to long erosion processes, the highlands, formed of granite, schist, trachyte, basalt, sandstone and dolomite limestone. The highest peak is Punta La Marmora, part of the Gennargentu Ranges in the centre of the island. The islands ranges and plateaux are separated by wide valleys and flatlands. Sardinia has few rivers, the largest being the Tirso,151 km long, which flows into the Sea of Sardinia, the Coghinas. There are 54 artificial lakes and dams that supply water and electricity, the main ones are Lake Omodeo and Lake Coghinas. The only natural lake is Lago di Baratz. A number of large, shallow, salt-water lagoons and pools are located along the 1,850 km of the coastline, the climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring
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Corsica
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Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 13 regions of France. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, a single chain of mountains make up two-thirds of the island. While being part of France, Corsica is also designated as a territorial collectivity by law, as a territorial collectivity, Corsica enjoys a greater degree of autonomy than other French regions, for example, the Corsican Assembly is able to exercise limited executive powers. The island formed a single department until it was split in 1975 into two departments, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud, with its capital in Ajaccio, the prefecture city of Corse-du-Sud. Bastia, the city of Haute-Corse, is the second-largest settlement in Corsica. After being ruled by the Republic of Genoa since 1284, Corsica was briefly an independent Corsican Republic from 1755 until it was conquered by France in 1769. Due to Corsicas historical ties with the Italian peninsula, the island retains to this day many elements of the culture of Italy, the native Corsican language, whose northern variant is closely related to the Italian language, is recognised as a regional language by the French government. This Mediterranean island was ruled by various nations over the course of history but had several periods of independence. Napoleon was born in 1769 in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio and his ancestral home, Maison Bonaparte, is today used as a museum. The origin of the name Corsica is subject to much debate, to the Ancient Greeks it was known as Kalliste, Corsis, Cyrnos, Cernealis, or Cirné. Of these Cyrnos, Cernealis, or Cirné derive from a corruption of the most ancient Greek name of the island, Σειρηνούσσαι, the claim that latter Greek names are based on the Phoenician word for peninsula are highly unlikely. Corsica has been occupied continuously since the Mesolithic era and it acquired an indigenous population that was influential in the Mediterranean during its long prehistory. The Romans, who built a colony in Aléria, considered Corsica as one of the most backward regions of the Roman world, the island produced sheep, honey, resin and wax, and exported many slaves, not well considered because of their fierce and rebellious character. Moreover, it was known for its wines, exported to Rome. Administratively, the island was divided in pagi, which in the Middle Ages became the pievi, Corsica was integrated by Emperor Diocletian in Roman Italy. In the 5th century, the half of the Roman Empire collapsed, and the island was invaded by the Vandals. Briefly recovered by the Byzantines, it became part of the Kingdom of the Lombards—this made it a dependency of the March of Tuscany. Pepin the Short, king of the Franks and Charlemagnes father, expelled the Lombards, in the first quarter of the 11th century, Pisa and Genoa together freed the island from the threat of Arab invasion
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Tethys Ocean
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It is also referred to as the Tethys Sea or Neotethys. About 250 million years ago, during the Triassic, a new ocean began forming in the end of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. A rift formed along the continental shelf of Southern Pangaea. Over the next 60 million years, that piece of shelf, known as Cimmeria, traveled north, the Tethys Ocean formed between Cimmeria and Gondwana, directly over where the Paleo-Tethys used to be. During the Jurassic Period, Cimmeria finally collided with Laurasia, there it stalled, the ocean floor behind it buckling under, forming the Tethyan Trench. Water levels rose, and the western Tethys shallowly covered significant portions of Europe, thus, ocean currents at that time—around the Early Cretaceous—ran very differently from the way they do today. Between the Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous, Gondwana began breaking up, pushing Africa and India north across the Tethys and opening up the Indian Ocean. As these land masses crowded in on the Tethys ocean from all sides, to as recently as the Late Miocene, the ocean continued to shrink, becoming the Tethys Seaway or second Tethys Sea. Also, throughout the Cenozoic, global sea levels fell hundreds of meters, today, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and the Indian Ocean cover the area once occupied by the Tethys Ocean, and Turkey, Iraq, and Tibet sit on Cimmeria. What was once the arm of the Tethys Sea was the ancestor of the present-day Mediterranean Sea. Other remnants are the Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas, most of the floor of the Tethys Ocean disappeared under Cimmeria and Laurasia. Similar geologic evidence can be seen in the Alpine orogeny of Europe, greece and the Levant also retain many units of limestone and other sedimentary rocks deposited by various stands of the Tethys Ocean. Paleontologists also find the Tethys Ocean particularly important because much of the worlds sea shelves were found around its margins for such a length of time. Marine, marsh-dwelling, and estuarian fossils from these shelves are of considerable paleontological interest, the Solnhofen limestone in Bavaria, originally a coastal lagoon mud of the Tethys Ocean, yielded the famous Archaeopteryx fossil. However, Eduard Suess is generally seen as the first person to provide evidence for the existence of this ancient and extinct sea. In 1893, using records from the Alps and Africa. He named it the Tethys Sea after the Greek sea goddess Tethys, Suess first proposed his concept of Tethys in his four-volume work Das Antlitz der Erde. This concept evolved during the 20th century and after WW2 Tethys was described as an ocean with a wide eastern end
29.
Orogeny
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An Orogeny is an event that leads to a large structural deformation of the Earths lithosphere due to the interaction between tectonic plates. Orogens or orogenic belts develop when a plate is crumpled and is pushed upwards to form mountain ranges. Orogeny is the mechanism by which mountains are built on continents. The word orogeny comes from Ancient Greek, though it was used before him, the term was employed by the American geologist G. K. Gilbert in 1890 to describe the process of mountain building as distinguished from epeirogeny. Formation of an orogen is accomplished in part by the processes of subduction or convergence of two or more continents. Orogeny usually produces long arcuate structures, known as orogenic belts, generally, orogenic belts consist of long parallel strips of rock exhibiting similar characteristics along the length of the belt. Orogenic belts are associated with zones, which consume crust, produce volcanoes. Geologists attribute the arcuate structure to the rigidity of the descending plate and these island arcs may be added to a continent during an orogenic event. The processes of orogeny can take tens of millions of years, frequently, rock formations that undergo orogeny are severely deformed and undergo metamorphism. Orogenic processes may push deeply buried rocks to the surface, sea-bottom and near-shore material may cover some or all of the orogenic area. If the orogeny is due to two continents colliding, very high mountains can result, an orogenic event may be studied, as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and as a chronological event. The foreland basin forms ahead of the orogen due mainly to loading and resulting flexure of the lithosphere by the mountain belt. The basin migrates with the front and early deposited foreland basin sediments become progressively involved in folding and thrusting. Sediments deposited in the basin are mainly derived from the erosion of the actively uplifting rocks of the mountain range. The fill of many such shows an change in time from deepwater marine through shallow water to continental sediments. Although orogeny involves plate tectonics, the tectonic forces result in a variety of associated phenomena, including magmatism, metamorphism, crustal melting, what exactly happens in a specific orogen depends upon the strength and rheology of the continental lithosphere, and how these properties change during orogenesis. In addition to orogeny, the orogen is subject to other processes, for example, the Caledonian Orogeny refers to the Silurian and Devonian events that resulted from the collision of Laurentia with Eastern Avalonia and other former fragments of Gondwana. The Caledonian Orogen resulted from events and various others that are part of its peculiar orogenic cycle
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Apennine Mountains
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The Apennines or Apennine Mountains are a mountain range consisting of parallel smaller chains extending c. 1,200 km along the length of peninsular Italy. In the northwest they join with the Ligurian Alps at Altare, in the southwest they end at Reggio di Calabria, the coastal city at the tip of the peninsula. The system forms an arc enclosing the east side of the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas, the name originally applied to the north Apennines. However, historical linguists have never found a derivation with which they are universally comfortable, wilhelm Deecke said. its etymology is doubtful but some derive it from the Ligurian-Celtish Pen or Ben, which means mountain peak. The mountains lend their name to the Apennine peninsula, which forms the part of Italy. They are mostly verdant, although one side of the highest peak, Corno Grande is partially covered by Calderone glacier and it has been receding since 1794. The eastern slopes down to the Adriatic Sea are steep, while the western slopes form foothills on which most of peninsular Italys cities are located. The mountains tend to be named from the province or provinces in which they are located, for example, as the provincial borders have not always been stable, this practice has resulted in some confusion about exactly where the montane borders are. Often but not always a feature can be found that lends itself to being a border. The Apennines are divided into three sectors, northern, central, and southern, a number of long hiking trails wind through the Apennines. Of note is European walking route E1 coming from northern Europe and traversing the lengths of the northern, the Grand Italian Trail begins in Trieste and after winding through the Alpine arc traverses the entire Apennine system, Sicily and Sardinia. The northern Apennines consist of three sub-chains, the Ligurian, Tuscan-Emilian, and Umbrian Apennines, the Ligurian Apennines border the Ligurian Sea in the Gulf of Genoa, from about Savona below the upper Bormida River valley to about La Spezia below the upper Magra River valley. The range follows the Gulf of Genoa separating it from the upper Po Valley, the northwestern border follows the line of the Bormida River to Acqui Terme. There the river continues northeast to Alessandria in the Po Valley, the upper Bormida can be reached by a number of roads proceeding inland at a right angle to the coast southwest of Savona, the chief one being the Autostrada Torino-Savona. They ascend to the Bocchetta di Altare, sometimes called Colle di Cadibona,436 m, a bronze plaque fixed to a stone marks the top of the pass. In the vicinity are fragments of the old road and three ruins of former fortifications, at Carcare, the main roads connect with the upper Bormida valley before turning west. The Scrivia, the Trebbia and the Taro, tributaries of the Po River, the range contains dozens of peaks. Toward the southern end the Aveto Natural Regional Park includes Monte Penna, nearby is the highest point of Ligurian Apennines, Monte Maggiorasca at 1,780 m
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Skarn
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Skarns or tactites are calcium-bearing calc–silicate rocks. Skarns are most often formed at the zone between intrusions of granitic magma bodies and carbonate sedimentary rocks such as limestone and dolostone. Hot fluids derived from the magma are rich in silica, iron, aluminium. These fluids mix in the zone, dissolve calcium-rich carbonate rocks. The resulting metamorphic rock may consist of a wide variety of minerals dependent largely on the original composition of the magmatic fluids. Skarns are sometimes associated with mineable accumulations of metallic ores of iron, copper, zinc, lead, gold, in such cases these deposits are called skarn deposits. Skarns are, in their broadest sense, formed by mass and chemical transport and they need not be igneous in origin, two adjacent sedimentary layers such as a banded iron formation and a limestone may react to exchange metals and fluids during metamorphism, creating a skarn. However, the widest use of the word is in describing the metasomatised zones of wall adjacent to granites. Skarns which are created by reaction between metamorphic-sedimentary layers are known as chemical skarns or skarnoids. Skarns must also be distinguished from calc-silicate hornfels, usually by field relationships, skarns of igneous origin are classified as exoskarns or endoskarns. Exoskarns occur at and outside the granite which produced them, and are alterations of wall rocks, typical skarn minerals include pyroxene, garnet, idocrase, wollastonite, actinolite, magnetite or hematite, and epidote. Often, feldspathoids and rare calc-silicates such as scapolite are found in marginal areas. Skarns are a class of rocks and are intimately associated with granite intrusions. Skarns are rarely seen with other types of granites, because of the fluid chemistry, s-type granites are more prone to generating late-stage fluid rich in silica, incompatible elements and halides because they are generally more potassic, oxidised and hydrous. Exoskarns are formed when fluids left over from the crystallisation of the granite are ejected from the mass at the stages of emplacement. When these fluids come into contact with rocks, usually carbonates such as limestone or dolostone. Because these fluids carry dissolved silica, iron, metals, halides and sulfur, uncommon types of skarns are formed in contact with sulfidic or carbonaceous rocks such as black shales, graphite shales, banded iron formations and, occasionally, salt or evaporites. Here, fluids react less via chemical exchange of ions, endoskarns are rarer, generally because the fluids created by a granite are usually formed in equilibrium with the minerals of the granite
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Iron
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Iron is a chemical element with symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series and it is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earths outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earths crust, like the other group 8 elements, ruthenium and osmium, iron exists in a wide range of oxidation states, −2 to +6, although +2 and +3 are the most common. Elemental iron occurs in meteoroids and other low oxygen environments, but is reactive to oxygen, fresh iron surfaces appear lustrous silvery-gray, but oxidize in normal air to give hydrated iron oxides, commonly known as rust. Unlike the metals that form passivating oxide layers, iron oxides occupy more volume than the metal and thus flake off, Iron metal has been used since ancient times, although copper alloys, which have lower melting temperatures, were used even earlier in human history. Pure iron is soft, but is unobtainable by smelting because it is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon. A certain proportion of carbon steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces, where ore is reduced by coke to pig iron, further refinement with oxygen reduces the carbon content to the correct proportion to make steel. Steels and iron alloys formed with metals are by far the most common industrial metals because they have a great range of desirable properties. Iron chemical compounds have many uses, Iron oxide mixed with aluminium powder can be ignited to create a thermite reaction, used in welding and purifying ores. Iron forms binary compounds with the halogens and the chalcogens, among its organometallic compounds is ferrocene, the first sandwich compound discovered. Iron plays an important role in biology, forming complexes with oxygen in hemoglobin and myoglobin. Iron is also the metal at the site of many important redox enzymes dealing with cellular respiration and oxidation and reduction in plants. A human male of average height has about 4 grams of iron in his body and this iron is distributed throughout the body in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin, and transport in plasma. The mechanical properties of iron and its alloys can be evaluated using a variety of tests, including the Brinell test, Rockwell test, the data on iron is so consistent that it is often used to calibrate measurements or to compare tests. An increase in the content will cause a significant increase in the hardness. Maximum hardness of 65 Rc is achieved with a 0. 6% carbon content, because of the softness of iron, it is much easier to work with than its heavier congeners ruthenium and osmium. Because of its significance for planetary cores, the properties of iron at high pressures and temperatures have also been studied extensively
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Ilvaite
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Ilvaite is a sorosilicate of iron and calcium with formula, CaFe2+2Fe3+Si2O7O. Both manganese and magnesium substitute in the structure, ilvaite crystallizes in the monoclinic system in black prismatic crystals and columnar masses. It is black to black to gray and opaque. It has a Mohs hardness of 5.5 to 6, ilvaite is structurally related to lawsonite. It occurs in metamorphic rocks and skarn ore deposits. It also occurs commonly in syenites. Ilvaite was first described in 1811 on the island of Elba and the name ilvaite from the Latin name ilva of the island
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Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
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Iron ore
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Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow. The iron itself is found in the form of magnetite, hematite, goethite, limonite or siderite. Ores containing very high quantities of hematite or magnetite are known as ore or direct shipping ore. Iron ore is the raw material used to make pig iron, indeed, it has been argued that iron ore is more integral to the global economy than any other commodity, except perhaps oil. Metallic iron is virtually unknown on the surface of the Earth except as iron-nickel alloys from meteorites, although iron is the fourth most abundant element in the Earths crust, comprising about 5%, the vast majority is bound in silicate or more rarely carbonate minerals. Prior to the revolution, most iron was obtained from widely available goethite or bog ore, for example during the American Revolution. Prehistoric societies used laterite as a source of iron ore, historically, much of the iron ore utilized by industrialized societies has been mined from predominantly hematite deposits with grades of around 70% Fe. These deposits are referred to as direct shipping ores or natural ores. Iron-ore mining methods vary by the type of ore being mined, there are four main types of iron-ore deposits worked currently, depending on the mineralogy and geology of the ore deposits. These are magnetite, titanomagnetite, massive hematite and pisolitic ironstone deposits, banded iron formations are sedimentary rocks containing more than 15% iron composed predominantly of thinly bedded iron minerals and silica. Banded iron formations occur exclusively in Precambrian rocks, and are weakly to intensely metamorphosed. Banded iron formations may contain iron in carbonates or silicates, banded iron formations are known as taconite within North America. The mining involves moving tremendous amounts of ore and waste, the waste comes in two forms, non-ore bedrock in the mine, and unwanted minerals which are an intrinsic part of the ore rock itself. The mullock is mined and piled in dumps, and the gangue is separated during the beneficiation process and is removed as tailings. Taconite tailings are mostly the mineral quartz, which is chemically inert and this material is stored in large, regulated water settling ponds. The typical magnetite iron-ore concentrate has less than 0. 1% phosphorus, 3–7% silica, currently magnetite iron ore is mined in Minnesota and Michigan in the U. S. Direct-shipping iron-ore deposits are exploited on all continents except Antarctica, with the largest intensity in South America
36.
Geomorphology
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Geomorphology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or near the Earths surface. Geomorphologists work within disciplines such as geography, geology, geodesy, engineering geology, archaeology. This broad base of interests contributes to many styles and interests within the field. Earths surface is modified by a combination of processes that sculpt landscapes, and geologic processes that cause tectonic uplift and subsidence. Many of these factors are strongly mediated by climate, the broad-scale topographies of the Earth illustrate this intersection of surface and subsurface action. Mountain belts are uplifted due to geologic processes, denudation of these high uplifted regions produces sediment that is transported and deposited elsewhere within the landscape or off the coast. On progressively smaller scales, similar ideas apply, where individual landforms evolve in response to the balance of additive processes, often, these processes directly affect each other, ice sheets, water, and sediment are all loads that change topography through flexural isostasy. Topography can modify the climate, for example through orographic precipitation. Many geomorphologists are particularly interested in the potential for feedbacks between climate and tectonics, mediated by geomorphic processes, in addition to these broad-scale questions, geomorphologists address issues that are more specific and/or more local. Fluvial geomorphologists focus on rivers, how they transport sediment, migrate across the landscape, cut into bedrock, respond to environmental and tectonic changes, and interact with humans. Soils geomorphologists investigate soil profiles and chemistry to learn about the history of a landscape and understand how climate, biota. Other geomorphologists study how hillslopes form and change, still others investigate the relationships between ecology and geomorphology. Because geomorphology is defined to comprise everything related to the surface of the Earth and its modification, geomorphologists use a wide range of techniques in their work. These may include fieldwork and field data collection, the interpretation of remotely sensed data, geochemical analyses, geomorphologists may rely on geochronology, using dating methods to measure the rate of changes to the surface. Practical applications of geomorphology include hazard assessment, river control and stream restoration, planetary geomorphology studies landforms on other terrestrial planets such as Mars. Indications of effects of wind, fluvial, glacial, mass wasting, meteor impact, tectonics and this effort not only helps better understand the geologic and atmospheric history of those planets but also extends geomorphological study of the Earth. Planetary geomorphologists often use Earth analogues to aid in their study of surfaces of other planets, other than some notable exceptions in antiquity, geomorphology is a relatively young science, growing along with interest in other aspects of the earth sciences in the mid-19th century. This section provides a brief outline of some of the major figures
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Mouflon
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The mouflon is a subspecies group of the wild sheep. Populations of O. orientalis can be partitioned into the mouflons, the mouflon is thought to be one of the two ancestors for all modern domestic sheep breeds. The wild sheep of Corsica was locally called mufro and mufra, the naturalist Buffon rendered this in French as moufflon. Mouflon have red-brown, short-haired coats with dark back-stripes and light-colored saddle patches, the males are horned, some females are horned, while others are polled. The horns of mature rams are curved in almost one full revolution, mouflon have shoulder heights of about 0.9 m and body weights of 50 kg and 35 kg. Today, mouflon inhabit the Caucasus, Anatolia, northern and eastern Iraq, the range originally stretched further to the Crimean peninsula and the Balkans, where they had already disappeared 3,000 years ago and came back to Bulgaria. On the island of Cyprus, the mouflon or agrino became a different, the Cyprus mouflon population contains only about 3,000 animals. They are now rare on the islands, but are classified as feral animals by the IUCN, a small colony exists in the remote Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and on the Veliki Brijun Island in the Brijuni Archipelago of the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia. In South America, mouflon have been introduced into central Chile, mouflon have been introduced as game animals into Spieden Island in Washington state, and into the Hawaiian islands of Lanai and Hawaii where they have become a problematic invasive species. A small population escaped from an animal enclosure owned by Thomas Watson, Jr. on the island of North Haven, Maine in the 1990s and their normal habitats are steep mountainous woods near tree lines. In winter, they migrate to lower altitudes, the scientific classification of the mouflon is disputed. Five subspecies of mouflon are distinguished by MSW3, Armenian mouflon, Ovis orientalis gmelini, northwestern Iran, Armenia and it has been introduced in Texas, US. European mouflon, O. o. musimon was introduced about 7,000 years ago in Corsica and it has since been introduced in many parts of Europe. Cypriot mouflon, O. o. ophion, also called agrino, in 1997, about 1,200 of this subspecies were counted. The television show Born to Explore with Richard Wiese reported 3,000 are now on Cyprus, esfahan mouflon, O. o. isphahanica, is from the Zagros Mountains, Iran. Laristan mouflon, O. o. laristanica, is a small subspecies, the eastern and the European mouflon often appear in scientific literature as separate species, Ovis musimon and Ovis orientalis. The mouflons are also treated as a subspecies of the domestic sheep, Ovis aries, named with the same subspecific epithet as above, O. a. musimon, O. a. ophion. However, a comparison of the mitochondrial DNA control region found that two subspecies of urial, Ovis vignei arkal and O. v. /o. bochariensis, the ancestral sheep is presumed to have had 60 chromosomes, as in goats
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Wild boar
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The wild boar, also known as the wild swine or Eurasian wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia, North Africa, and the Greater Sunda Islands. Human intervention has spread its range further, making the one of the widest-ranging mammals in the world. Its wide range, high numbers, and adaptability mean that it is classed as least concern by the IUCN, the animal probably originated in Southeast Asia during the Early Pleistocene, and outcompeted other suid species as it spread throughout the Old World. As of 1990, up to 16 subspecies are recognised, which are divided into four regional groupings based on skull height, the species lives in matriarchal societies consisting of interrelated females and their young. Fully grown males are solitary outside the breeding season. The grey wolf is the boars main predator throughout most of its range except in the Far East and the Lesser Sunda Islands. It has a history of association with humans, having been the ancestor of most domestic pig breeds. As true wild boars became extinct in Britain before the development of modern English, the English boar stems from the Old English bar, which is thought to be derived from the West Germanic *bairaz, of unknown origin. Boar is sometimes used specifically to refer to males, and may also be used to refer to male domesticated pigs, the young may be called piglets. The animals specific name scrofa is Latin for sow, the earliest fossil finds of the species come from both Europe and Asia, and date back to the Early Pleistocene. Its closest wild relative is the pig of Malacca and surrounding islands. These subspecies are typically high-skulled, with thick underwool and poorly developed manes, Indian, Includes S. s. davidi and S. s. cristatus. These subspecies have sparse or absent underwool, with long manes and prominent bands on the snout, while S. s. cristatus is high-skulled, S. s. davidi is low-skulled. Eastern, Includes S. s. sibiricus, S. s. ussuricus, S. s. leucomystax, S. s. riukiuanus, S. s. taivanus, and S. s. moupinensis. These subspecies are characterised by a streak extending from the corners of the mouth to the lower jaw. With the exception of S. s. ussuricus, most are high-skulled, the underwool is thick, except in S. s. moupinensis, and the mane is largely absent. It is the most basal of the four groups, having the smallest relative brain size, more primitive dentition, with the exception of domestic pigs in Timor and Papua New Guinea, the wild boar is the ancestor of most pig breeds. Remains of pigs have been dated to earlier than 11,400 BC in Cyprus and those animals must have been introduced from the mainland, which suggests domestication in the adjacent mainland by then
39.
Rain shadow
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A rain shadow is a dry area on the leeward side of a mountainous area. The mountains block the passage of rain-producing weather systems and cast a shadow of dryness behind them, wind and moist air is drawn by the prevailing winds towards the top of the mountains, where it condenses and precipitates before it crosses the top. The air, without much moisture left, advances behind the mountains creating a side called the rain shadow. The condition exists because warm moist air rises by orographic lifting to the top of a mountain range, as atmospheric pressure decreases with increasing altitude, the air has expanded and adiabatically cooled to the point that the air reaches its adiabatic dew point. At the adiabatic dew point, moisture condenses onto the mountain and it precipitates on the top, the air descends on the leeward side, but due to the precipitation it has lost much of its moisture. There are regular patterns of prevailing winds found in round the Earths equatorial region. The zone designated the trade winds is the zone between about 30° N and 30° S, blowing predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, the strongest westerly winds in the middle latitudes can come in the Roaring Forties between 30 and 50 degrees latitude. The Dasht-i-Lut in Iran is in the shadow of the Elburz. The Ordos Desert is rain shadowed by mountain chains including the Kara-naryn-ula, the Sheitenula, and the Yin Mountains, which link on to the south end of the Great Khingan Mountains. The Thar desert is bounded and rain shadowed by the Aravalli ranges to the south-east, the Himalaya to the northeast, Eastern Side of Sahyadri ranges on Deccan e. g. Northern Karnataka & Solapur, Beed, Osmanabad and Vidharba Plateau of India. The central region of Myanmar is in the shadow of the Arakan Mountains and is almost semi-arid with only 750 millimetres of rain as against as much as 5.5 metres on the Rakhine State coast. The High Peaks of Mount Lebanon rain-shadow the northern parts of the Beqaa Valley, the Judean Desert, the Dead Sea and the western slopes of the Moab Mountains on the opposite side are rain-shadowed by the Judean Hills. The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest non-polar desert on Earth because it is blocked from moisture on both sides, Cuyo and Eastern Patagonia is rain shadowed from the prevailing westerly winds by the Andes range and is arid. The Argentinian wine region of Cuyo and Northern Patagonia is almost completely dependent on irrigation, on the largest scale, the entirety of the North American Interior Plains are shielded from the prevailing Westerlies carrying moist Pacific weather by the North American Cordillera. More pronounced effects are observed, however, in valley regions within the Cordillera. Most rainshadows in the western United States are due to the Sierra Nevada, champlain Valley in upstate New York. It is protected by the Adirondack Mountains, hawaii also has rain shadows, with some areas being desert. Orographic lifting produces the worlds second-highest annual precipitation record,12.7 meters, on the island of Kauai, the entire island of Kahoolawe lies in the rain shadow of Mauis East Maui Volcano
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Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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