Brewarrina, New South Wales
Brewarrina is a town in North West New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a species of Acacia, Cassia tree, "Acacia clumps", "a native standing" or "place where wild gooseberry grows", it is 96 km east of Bourke and west of Walgett on the Kamilaroi Highway, 787 km from Sydney. The population of Brewarrina in 2016 was 1,143. Other towns and villages in the Brewarrina district include; the town is located amid the traditional lands of the Muruwari, Ngemba and Yualwarri peoples. The area has a long Indigenous Australian history and was once the meeting ground for over 5,000 people; the first settlers arrived in the district around 1839-40. The first people to own land where the town now stands were the Lawson brothers, who had two holdings - one called "Walcha" and another called "Moona" The town was first known as "Walcha Hut" but this changed to "Brewarrina". In 1859, somewhere between 300-400 Aboriginal people were massacred by white settlers in an event known as the Hospital Creek Massacre, recollections of which vary.
A memorial was erected by the local Aboriginal Land Council near the site of the massacre. In 1859 a riverboat called; this opened the possibility of developing the town as a port, by the early 1860s Brewarrina was recognised as the furthest navigable point on the Darling River. Brewarrina became a port for shipping wool to Adelaide via the Murray rivers; the town was formally surveyed and laid out in 1861 and proclaimed on 28 April 1863. The paddle steamer Wandering Jew of 66 tonnes, 22 × 4.4 × 1.5 m, was built in 1866 and registered at Sydney. On 15 December 1914, Wandering Jew was lost due to a fire on Brewarrina. "The Wandering Jew represents an earlier maritime era and provides a direct link to the riverine heritage of Brewarrina. Its colourful history and repeated damage by fire is evocative of the dramas associated with riverboat travel"; the 1870s were something of a boom time for Brewarrina. The courthouse was built in 1871; the Telegraph reached town in 1873. The Mechanics Institute formed in 1873.
The following year two hotels, two stores and the Commercial Bank all opened, in 1875 The Parish of Brewarrina was formed and public school was opened. All this development was due to Cobb and Co, which had a number of coach services passing through the town. There was a service from Byrock, one from Dubbo via Warren and, in 1874, a direct service from Brewarrina to Enngonia, north of Bourke; the number of people moving through the town at this time would have been considerable and would have given rise to the increase in stores and hotels. The Barwon Bridge opened in 1888, the previous method of crossing the Barwon River was by punt and pontoon; the impetus for Brewarrina bridge, was to capture the New South Wales wool trade from the river paddle steamers and direct it away from Melbourne and Adelaide to Sydney. It is a rare bridge because it, the lift bridge at North Bourke, are the only surviving examples of the first series of lift bridges in New South Wales; the bridge has been assessed as being of state significance and is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
In 1901 the Brewarrina railway line opened to Brewarrina on the Nyngan to Bourke line. The Brewarrina Line closed in 1974, the wood-framed Brewarrina Station burned to the ground in 1980; the local telephone exchange was established in 1913. The town was surveyed in 1920. Brewarrina was used as a location for the Australian silent film Moora Neya, or The Message of the Spear; the Brewarrina Ngemba Billabong has a strong cultural history. From 1876 to 1967 the Ngemba Billabong was the Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission for local Aboriginal people whose land was taken for grazing; the entire 261 hectare property is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register. The Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission was the oldest institutional-type community in the state, it ran until 1965. Brewarrina Mission was the first institution formally established by the Aborigines Protection Board as part of its policy to segregate Aboriginal people. In August 1987 Brewarrina erupted into a riot, triggered by the death in police custody of Lloyd James Boney.
On 10 August 1987 the Prime Minister Bob Hawke announced a Royal Commission into indigenous deaths in custody. Brewarrina has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: Brewarrina Aboriginal Fish Traps The Old Mission Road: Brewarrina Aboriginal Mission Site Brewarrina's most significant feature is its Aboriginal fish traps. Known in the local Aboriginal language as Baiame's Ngunnhu, it is believed that Ngemba, Wonkamurra and Gomolaroi people have shared and maintained the traps for thousands of years. The age of the fish traps is unknown, but they may be the oldest human construction in the world. Locals claim that the traps are at least 40,000 years old and thus the oldest surviving human-made structure in the world. Consisting of river stones arranged to form small channels, the traps direct fish into small areas from which they are plucked; the traps form a complex net of linked ponds along 500 m of the river. They can be altered to suit seasonal changes. People use their expert knowledge of the environment to maximise their catch.
Brewarrina Ngemba Billabong has been declared a World Conservation Union Category V and VI protected area. It was declared an Indigenous Protected Area in November 2010; the ready availability of fish made Brewarrina one of the great intertribal meeting places of pre-European eastern Australia. Brewarr
Murray–Darling basin
The Murray–Darling basin is a large geographical area in the interior of southeastern Australia. Its name is derived from the Murray River and the Darling River; the basin, which drains around one-seventh of the Australian land mass, is one of the most significant agricultural areas in Australia. It spans most of the states of New South Wales and Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, parts of the states of Queensland and South Australia; the basin is 3,375 kilometres in length, with the Murray River being 2,508 km long. Most of the 1,061,469 km2 basin is flat, low-lying and far inland, receives little direct rainfall; the many rivers it contains tend to be long and slow-flowing, carry a volume of water, large only by Australian standards. The Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Irrigation Scheme has a significant role in providing security of water flows to the Murray-Darling Basin; the Scheme provides 2,100 gigalitres of water a year to the Basin, providing additional water for an irrigated agriculture industry worth about A$3 billion per annum, representing more than 40% of the gross value of the nation's agricultural production.
The basin was once home to a large number of Aboriginal people whose traditional lifestyle and cultures were altered by the arrival of Europeans, while others were outright killed by the settlers. Although some tribes organised resistance, such as the Maraura, whose territory lay around the Rufus River above Renmark and the Tanganekald near The Coorong, they were either killed, exiled, or succumbed to disease; the Murray–Darling basin is home to many native animal species. The true numbers may not be known, but a confident estimate has been made of these animals and the current status of their population. Among the aboriginal fauna in the region, the study found that there were: 80 species of mammals, with 62 extinct and 10 endangered 55 species of frogs, with 18 endangered 46 species of snakes, with five endangered 5 species of tortoises, with none endangered 34 species of fish, with up to half either threatened or of conservation significanceHistorical records show that the previous abundances of fish provided a reliable food source.
The bountiful fish became concentrated when the early stages of a flood left shallow water across the floodplain. Today 24 native freshwater fish and another 15-25 marine and estuarine species are existent in the basin, a low biodiversity. Over Christmas 2018 and January 2019 there were two mass deaths of fish in the waters of the basin, the first numbering 10,000, the second in the 100,000s. Species affected were golden perch, silver perch and bony herring; some blamed the draining of water from the Menindee Lakes by WaterNSW, with only 2.5% of the original water volume in the lakes being left. Four varieties of carp were used to stock up fish dams. Since they have made their way into the river systems, where they spread quite quickly. Human introduction by anglers using small carp illegally as live bait has increased their distribution; these fish are mobile and can survive in shallow water and through long periods of low dissolved oxygen content. Carp are a problem because they feed by sucking gravel from the riverbed and taking all the edible material off it, before returning the rest to the water.
This stirs up all the sediment. A project for developing daughterless carp. Cane toads have entered the upper reaches of the Darling Basin and there are several reports of individuals being found further down the system. Cane toads are toxic to native carnivores; this area is one of the physiographic provinces of the larger East Australian basins division, encompasses the smaller Naracoorte Platform and Encounter Shelf physiographic sections. Total water flow in the Murray–Darling basin 1885 to the present has averaged around 24,000 gigalitres per year; this is the lowest rate of the world's major river systems. About 6.0 percent of Australia's total rainwater falls into the basin. In most years only half of this quantity in dry years much less. Estimated total annual flows for the basin have ranged from 5,000 gigalitres in 1902 to 57,000 gigalitres in 1956. Despite the magnitude of the basin, the hydrology of the streams within it is quite varied; these waters are divided into four types: The Darling and Lachlan basins.
These have variable flows from year to year, with the smallest annual flow being as little as 1 percent of the long-term mean and the largest more than ten times the mean. Periods of zero flow in most rivers can extend in the drier parts to years. Flows in these rivers are not seasonal. In the northern regions the majority of floods occur in the summer from monsoonal penetration. For most of the Darling and Lachlan catchments it is typical to see high or low flows begin in winter and extend to the following autumn. High water extraction rates for irrigation and mining have compromised these rivers; the southwestern basins. These have a marked winter rainfall maximum and lower precipitation variability tha
Fishing net
A fishing net is a net used for fishing. Nets are devices made from fibers woven in a grid-like structure; some fishing nets are called fish traps, for example fyke nets. Fishing nets are meshes formed by knotting a thin thread. Early nets were woven from grasses and other fibrous plant material. Cotton was used. Modern nets are made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until and are still used. Fishing nets have been used in the past, including by stone age societies; the oldest known fishing net is the net of Antrea, found with other fishing equipment in the Karelian town of Antrea. The net was made from willow, dates back to 8300 BC. Fishing net sinkers from 27,000 BC were discovered in Korea, making them the oldest fishing implements discovered, to date, in the world; the remnants of another fishing net dates back to the late Mesolithic, were found together with sinkers at the bottom of a former sea. Some of the oldest rock carvings at Alta have mysterious images, including intricate patterns of horizontal and vertical lines sometimes explained as fishing nets.
American Native Indians on the Columbia River wove seine nets from spruce root fibers or wild grass, again using stones as weights. For floats they used sticks made of cedar which moved in a way which frightened the fish and helped keep them together. With the help of large canoes, pre-European Maori deployed seine nets which could be over one thousand metres long; the nets were woven from green flax, with stone weights and light wood or gourd floats, could require hundreds of men to haul. Fishing nets are well documented in antiquity, they appear in Egyptian tomb paintings from 3000 BC. In ancient Greek literature, Ovid makes many references to fishing nets, including the use of cork floats and lead weights. Pictorial evidence of Roman fishing comes from mosaics. In a parody of fishing, a type of gladiator called retiarius was armed with a trident and a cast net, he would fight against a secutor or the murmillo, who carried a short sword and a helmet with the image of a fish on the front. Between 177 and 180 the Greek author Oppian wrote a didactic poem about fishing.
He described various means of fishing including the use of nets cast from boats, scoop nets held open by a hoop, various traps "which work while their masters sleep". Here is Oppian's description of fishing with a "motionless" net: The fishers set up light nets of buoyant flax and wheel in a circle round about while they violently strike the surface of the sea with their oars and make a din with sweeping blow of poles. At the flashing of the swift oars and the noise the fish bound in terror and rush into the bosom of the net which stands at rest, thinking it to be a shelter: foolish fishes which, frightened by a noise, enter the gates of doom; the fishers on either side hasten with the ropes to draw the net ashore. In Norse mythology the sea giantess. References to fishing nets can be found in the New Testament. Jesus Christ was reputedly a master in the use of fishing nets; the tough, fibrous inner bark of the pawpaw was used by Native Americans and settlers in the Midwest for making ropes and fishing nets.
The archaeological site at León Viejo has fishing net artifacts including fragments of pottery used as weights for fishing nets. Fishing nets have not evolved and many contemporary fishing nets would be recognized for what they are in Neolithic times. However, the fishing lines from which the nets are constructed have hugely evolved. Fossilised fragments of "probably two-ply laid rope of about 7 mm diameter" have been found in one of the caves at Lascaux, dated about 15,000 BC. Egyptian rope dates back to 4000 to 3500 BC and was made of water reed fibers. Other rope in antiquity was made from the fibers of date palms, grass, leather, or animal hair. Rope made of hemp fibres was in use in China from about 2800 BC. Ropes and lines are twisted or braided together to provide tensile strength, they are used for pulling, but not for pushing. The availability of reliable and durable ropes and lines has had many consequences for the development and utility of fishing nets, influences the scale at which the nets can be deployed.
Twine Braided fishing line Multifilament fishing line Monofilament fishing line Fishing line Manila rope Abacá rope Some types of fishing nets, like seine and trammel, need to be kept hanging vertically in the water by means of floats at the top. Various light "corkwood"-type woods have been used around the world as fishing floats. Floats shapes; these days they are brightly coloured so they are easy to see. Small floats were made of cork, but fishermen in places where cork was not available used other materials, like birch bark in Finland and Russia, as well as the pneumatophores of mangrove apple in Southeast Asia; these materials have now been replaced by plastic foam. Subsistence fishermen in some areas of Southeast Asia make corks for fishing nets by shaping the pneumatophores of mangrove apple into small floats. Entelea: The wood was used by Māori for the floats of fishing nets Native Hawaiians made fishing net floats from low density wiliwili wood. Glass floats were large glass balls for long oceanic nets, now substituted by hard plastic.
They are used not only to keep fishing nets afloat, but for dropline and longline fishing. Larger floats have marker flags for easier spotting. Glass floats are popular collectors’ items, they were once used by fishermen in many parts of the world to keep fishing nets, as well as longlines o
Trabucco
The trabucco is an old fishing machine typical of the coast of Abruzzi region and in the coast of Gargano, where it is protected as historical monuments by the homonym National Park. Spread along the coast of southern Adriatic in the Italian provinces of Chieti and Foggia and in some parts of the coast of southern Tyrrhenian Sea. A trabucco is a massive construction built from wood, which consists of a platform anchored to the rock by large logs of Aleppo pine, jutting out into the sea, from where two long arms called antennae stretch out suspended some feet above the water and supporting a huge, narrow-meshed, net; the morphology of the Gargano coast and of Abruzzo determined the presence of two different types of trabucco: the Garganic trabucco is anchored to a rocky platform, longitudinally extended to the coastline, from which the antennae depart. The variant of Abruzzo and Molise called bilancia insists on shallower coasts and therefore is characterized by the presence of a platform, transversal to the coast, connected by a tight bridge made of wooden boards.
A bilancia has just one winch electrically operating when the sea is calm. Abruzzo bilancia has a net much smaller than that of Gargano trabucco, another feature that differentiates the two types is the length and number of antennae, more extensive Gargano in Termoli balances were more than two antennae, Gargano always two or more. According with some historians of Apulia, the trabuccco was invented in the region imported from Phoenicians; the earliest documented existence dates back to 18th century, during which Gargano fishermen, during that period sparsely populated, devised an ingenious technique of fishing which wasn't subject to weather conditions in the area. Trabucchi were built in the most prominent promontories jutting nets out to sea through a system of monumental wooden arms: a trabucco allows to fish without having to be submitted to sea conditions using the morphology of Gargano rocky coast; the trabucco is built with traditional wood Aleppo pine -the typical pine of Gargano and common throughout the South-Western Adriatic- because this material is limitless modeled, elastic and resistant to salt.
Some trabucchi have been rebuilt in recent years, thanks to public funds. However, since they lost their economic function in the past centuries when they were the main economical source of entire families of fishermen, trabucchi rose into the role of cultural and architectural symbols and tourist attraction; the fishing technique, quite efficacious, is "on sight". It consists of intercepting, with wide nets, the flows of fish moving along the ravines of the coast. Trabucchi are located where the sea is deep enough, are built on rocky peaks oriented southeast or north in order to exploit the favorable marine current; the net is lowered into the water through a complex system of winches and promptly pulled up to retrieve its catch. At least two men are entrusted with the tough task of operating the winches that maneuver the giant net. Small trabucchi of Abruzzo and Molise Coast are electrically powered; the trabucco is managed at least by four fishermen called ""trabuccolanti"" who share the duties of watching the fish and maneuvering.
The trabuccos are a distinguishing feature of the coastal landscape of the lower Adriatic. Their presence is attested on the lower Tyrrhenian Sea. Disseminated throughout the Trabocchi Coast in the Abruzzi region where are those called travocchi in the province of Campobasso, Termoli and south of Ortona and in the Gargano coast, more present in the area between Peschici and Vieste, the ancient trabucchi are protected by the National Park of Gargano, which adopted them as a sign of respect for tradition and environment of the Gargano, as a symbol of civilization, are now following the favorite subject of artists and craftsmen; the Trabocchi Coast is a stretch of coast province of Chieti, which includes the countries situated between Francavilla al Mare and Vasto. The coast is full of quaint fishing overflow; the coast is known for the presence of the so-called " Dannunzio's hermitage", where stands the villa that the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio used with his mistress for the writing of his novel Trionfo della morte.
The cities of the coast are: Francavilla al Mare Ortona San Vito Chietino Rocca San Giovanni Fossacesia Torino di Sangro Casalbordino Vasto San Salvo Paula Hardy, Abigail Hole, Olivia Pozzan, Puglia & Basilicata, 2008, ISBN 1-74179-089-1, page 93 P. Barone, L. Marino, O. Pignatelli, I Trabocchi, Macchine da pesca della costa adriatica, CIERRE edizioni, 1999 M. Fasanella, G. De Nittis, Il Trabucco, Vieste FG, Grafiche Laconeta, 1992 Pietro Cupido, Traboccanti e Briganti, Ortona CH, Edizioni Menabò, Libreria D'Abruzzo Teresa Maria Rauzino, Rita Lombardi, Raffaella Specchiulli, Ignazio Polignone, I trabucchi della costa garganica Trabucco's area of diffusion Gargano Peschici Rodi Garganico San Menaio Vico del Gargano ViesteArea of diffusion of Trabocco or Bilancia variants Ortona San Vito Chietino Termoli Vasto Chinese fishing nets
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley; the countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania and Herzegovina, Italy and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands located along the Croatian part of its eastern coast, it is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres. The Otranto Sill, an underwater ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas; the prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast and back to the strait along the western coast. Tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally; the Adriatic's salinity is lower than the Mediterranean's because the Adriatic collects a third of the fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean, acting as a dilution basin.
The surface water temperatures range from 30 °C in summer to 12 °C in winter moderating the Adriatic Basin's climate. The Adriatic Sea sits on the Apulian or Adriatic Microplate, which separated from the African Plate in the Mesozoic era; the plate's movement contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountain chains and Apennine tectonic uplift after its collision with the Eurasian plate. In the Late Oligocene, the Apennine Peninsula first formed, separating the Adriatic Basin from the rest of the Mediterranean. All types of sediment are found in the Adriatic, with the bulk of the material transported by the Po and other rivers on the western coast; the western coast is alluvial or terraced, while the eastern coast is indented with pronounced karstification. There are dozens of marine protected areas in the Adriatic, designed to protect the sea's karst habitats and biodiversity; the sea is abundant in flora and fauna—more than 7,000 species are identified as native to the Adriatic, many of them endemic and threatened ones.
The Adriatic's shores are populated by more than 3.5 million people. The earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Etruscan and Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the shores were under Rome's control. In the Middle Ages, the Adriatic shores and the sea itself were controlled, to a varying extent, by a series of states—most notably the Byzantine Empire, the Croatian Kingdom, the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire; the Napoleonic Wars resulted in the First French Empire gaining coastal control and the British effort to counter the French in the area securing most of the eastern Adriatic shore and the Po Valley for Austria. Following Italian unification, the Kingdom of Italy started an eastward expansion that lasted until the 20th century. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the eastern coast's control passed to Yugoslavia and Albania; the former disintegrated during the 1990s. Italy and Yugoslavia agreed on their maritime boundaries by 1975 and this boundary is recognised by Yugoslavia's successor states, but the maritime boundaries between Slovenian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, Montenegrin waters are still disputed.
Italy and Albania agreed on their maritime boundary in 1992. Fisheries and tourism are significant sources of income all along the Adriatic coast. Adriatic Croatia's tourism industry has grown faster economically than the rest of the Adriatic Basin's. Maritime transport is a significant branch of the area's economy—there are 19 seaports in the Adriatic that each handle more than a million tonnes of cargo per year; the largest Adriatic seaport by annual cargo turnover is the Port of Trieste, while the Port of Split is the largest Adriatic seaport by passengers served per year. The origins of the name Adriatic are linked to the Etruscan settlement of Adria, which derives its name from the Illyrian adur meaning water or sea. In classical antiquity, the sea was known as Mare Adriaticum or, less as Mare Superum, " upper sea"; the two terms were not synonymous, however. Mare Adriaticum corresponds to the Adriatic Sea's extent, spanning from the Gulf of Venice to the Strait of Otranto; that boundary became more defined by Roman authors – early Greek sources place the boundary between the Adriatic and Ionian seas at various places ranging from adjacent to the Gulf of Venice to the southern tip of the Peloponnese, eastern shores of Sicily and western shores of Crete.
Mare Superum on the other hand encompassed both the modern Adriatic Sea and the sea off the Apennine peninsula's southern coast, as far as the Strait of Sicily. Another name used in the period was Mare Dalmaticum, applied to waters off the coast of Dalmatia or Illyricum; the names for the sea in the languages of the surrounding countries include Albanian: Deti Adriatik. In Croatian and Slovene, the sea is referred to as Jadran; the Adriatic Sea is a semi-enclosed sea, bordered in the southwest by the Apennine or Italian Peninsula, in the northwest by the Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in the northeast by Slovenia, Croatia, B
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km and a population of 1.2 million. It is divided into four provinces: L'Aquila, Teramo and Chieti, its western border lies 80 km east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, the Adriatic Sea to the east. Geographically, Abruzzo is divided into a mountainous area in the west, which includes the Gran Sasso d'Italia, a coastal area in the east with beaches on the Adriatic Sea. Abruzzo is considered a region of Southern Italy in terms of its culture, language and economy, although geographically it may be considered central; the Italian Statistical Authority deems it to be part of Southern Italy because of Abruzzo's historic association with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Abruzzo is known as "the greenest region in Europe" as half of its territory, the largest in Europe, is set aside as national parks and protected nature reserves. There are three national parks, one regional park, 38 protected nature reserves.
These ensure the survival of 75% of Europe's living species, including rare species such as the small wading dotterel, the golden eagle, the Abruzzo chamois, the Apennine wolf and the Marsican brown bear. Abruzzo is home to Calderone, Europe's southernmost glacier; the visiting nineteenth-century Italian diplomat and journalist Primo Levi said that the adjectives "forte e gentile" best describe the beauty of the region and the character of its people. "Forte e gentile" has since become the motto of its inhabitants. Abruzzo is divided into four administrative provinces: Human settlements in Abruzzo have existed since at least the Neolithic times. A skeleton from Lama dei Peligni in the province of Chieti dates back to 6,540 BC under radiometric dating; the name Abruzzo appears to be derivative of the Latin word "Aprutium". In Roman times, the region was known as Picenum, Sabina et Samnium, Flaminia et Picenum, Campania et Samnium; the region was known as Aprutium in the Middle Ages, arising from four possible sources: it is a combination of Praetutium, or rather of the name of the people Praetutii, applied to their chief city, the old Teramo.
Many cities in Abruzzo date back to ancient times. Corfinio was known as Corfinium when it was the chief city of the Paeligni, was renamed Pentima by the Romans. Chieti is built on the site of the ancient city of Teate, Atri was known as Adria. Teramo, known variously in ancient times as Interamnia and Teramne, has Roman ruins which attract tourists. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there were a string of invasions and rulers in the region, including the Lombards, Byzantines and Hungarians. Between the 9th and 12th centuries, the region was dominated by the popes. Subsequently, the Normans took over, Abruzzo became part of the Kingdom of Sicily the Kingdom of Naples. Spain ruled the kingdom from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries; the French Bourbon dynasty took over in 1815, establishing the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled until Italian unification in 1860. Until 1963, Abruzzo was part of the Abruzzi region with Molise; the term Abruzzi derives from the time. The territory was administered as Abruzzo Citeriore and Abruzzo Ulteriore I and II from Naples, the capital of the kingdom.
Abruzzo Citeriore is now Chieti province. Teramo and Pescara provinces now comprise what was Abruzzo Ulteriore I. Abruzzo Ulteriore II is now the province of L'Aquila. In the twentieth century, war had a great impact on the region. During the Second World War, Abruzzo was on the Gustav Line, part of the German's Winter Line. One of the most brutal battles was the Battle of Ortona. Abruzzo was the location of two prisoner of war camps, Campo 21 in Chieti, Campo 78 in Sulmona; the Sulmona camp served as a POW camp in World War 1. Geographically, Abruzzo is located in central Italy and southern Italy, stretching from the heart of the Apennines to the Adriatic Sea, includes mountainous and wild land; the mountainous land is occupied by a vast plateau, including Gran Sasso, at 2,912 metres the highest peak of the Apennines, Mount Majella at 2,793 metres. The Adriatic coastline is characterized by long sandy beaches to the North and pebbly beaches to the South. Abruzzo is well known for its landscapes and natural environment and nature reserves, characteristic hillside areas rich in vineyards and olive groves, one of the highest densities of Blue Flag beaches.
The Abruzzo region has two types of climate that are influenced by the Apennine Mountains, dividing the climate of the coastal and sub-Apennine hills from the interior's high mountain ranges. Coastal areas have a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and mild winters and rainy hills with a sublittoral climate where temperatures decrease progressively with increasing altitude and precipitation with altitude. Precipitation is strongly affected by the presence of the Apennines mountain ridges of the region; the Adriatic coast are sidelined rainfall from the west to the barrier effect of the Apennines undergoing the action of gentle winds descending from it. The minimum annual rainfall, however, is found in some inland vall
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