1.
English Channel
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The English Channel, also called simply the Channel, is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France, and links the southern part of the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest to 33.3 km in the Strait of Dover and it is the smallest of the shallow seas around the continental shelf of Europe, covering an area of some 75,000 km2. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the English Channel as follows, a line joining Isle Vierge to Lands End. The southwestern limit of the North Sea, the IHO defines the southwestern limit of the North Sea as a line joining the Walde Lighthouse and Leathercoat Point. The Walde Lighthouse is 6 km east of Calais, and Leathercoat Point is at the end of St Margarets Bay. The Strait of Dover, at the Channels eastern end, is its narrowest point and it is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part, reducing to a depth of about 45 m between Dover and Calais. Eastwards from there the adjoining North Sea reduces to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries. It reaches a depth of 180 m in the submerged valley of Hurds Deep,48 km west-northwest of Guernsey. The eastern region along the French coast between Cherbourg and the mouth of the Seine river at Le Havre is frequently referred to as the Bay of the Seine. There are several islands in the Channel, the most notable being the Isle of Wight off the English coast. The coastline, particularly on the French shore, is indented, several small islands close to the coastline, including Chausey. The Cotentin Peninsula in France juts out into the Channel, whilst on the English side there is a parallel channel known as the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The Celtic Sea is to the west of the Channel, the time difference of about six hours between high water at the eastern and western limits of the Channel is indicative of the tidal range being amplified further by resonance. It was never defined as a border and the names were more or less descriptive. It was not considered as the property of a nation, strangely, before the development of the modern nations, British scholars very often referred to it as Gaulish and the French one as British or English. The name English Channel has been used since the early 18th century. In modern Dutch, however, it is known as Het Kanaal, later, it has also been known as the British Channel or the British Sea having been called the Oceanus Britannicus by the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy. The same name is used on an Italian map of about 1450, the Anglo-Saxon texts often call it Sūð-sǣ as opposed to Norð-sǣ
2.
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
3.
Channel Islands
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The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, and although they are not part of the United Kingdom, it is responsible for the defence, the Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations nor of the European Union. They have a population of about 168,000. The total area of the islands is 198 km2, the two bailiwicks have been administered separately since the late 13th century, each has its own independent laws, elections, and representative bodies. Any institution common to both is the rather than the rule. The Bailiwick of Guernsey is divided into three jurisdictions – Guernsey, Alderney and Sark – each with its own legislature, the term Channel Islands began to be used around 1830, possibly first by the Royal Navy as a collective name for the islands. The permanently inhabited islands of the Channel Islands are, Jersey Guernsey Alderney Sark Herm Jethou Brecqhou There are also several uninhabited islets and they are an incorporated part of the commune of Granville. While they are popular with visitors from France, Channel Islanders rarely visit them as there are no transport links from the other islands. Chausey is referred to as an Île normande, Îles Normandes and Archipel Normand have also, historically, been used in Channel Island French to refer to the islands as a whole. The lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean, the earliest evidence of human occupation of the Channel Islands has been dated to 250,000 years ago when they were attached to the landmass of continental Europe. The islands became detached by rising sea levels in the Neolithic period, hoards of Armorican coins have been excavated, providing evidence of trade and contact in the Iron Age period. Evidence for Roman settlement is sparse, although evidently the islands were visited by Roman officials, the Roman name for the Channel Islands was I. Lenuri and is included in the Peutinger Table The traditional Latin names used for the islands derive from the Antonine Itinerary, gallo-Roman culture was adopted to an unknown extent in the islands. In the sixth century, Christian missionaries visited the islands, samson of Dol, Helier, Marculf and Magloire are among saints associated with the islands. In the sixth century, they were included in the diocese of Coutances where they remained until reformation. The islands were inhabited by Britons, who also inhabited Wales, south west England, from the beginning of the ninth century, Norse raiders appeared on the coasts. Norse settlement succeeded initial attacks, and it is from this period that many names of Norse origin appear. In 933, the islands were granted to William I Longsword by Raoul King of Western Francia, in 1066, William II of Normandy invaded and conquered England, becoming William I of England, also known as William the Conqueror
4.
Crown dependencies
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The Crown dependencies are the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey in the English Channel. Being independently administered jurisdictions, they do not form part of either the United Kingdom or the British Overseas Territories and they are self-governing possessions of the Crown. Internationally, the dependencies are considered territories for which the United Kingdom is responsible rather than as sovereign states, as a result, they are not member states of the Commonwealth of Nations. However, they do have a relationship with the Commonwealth, the European Union and they are not part of the European Union, although they are within the EUs customs area. In each case, the head of government is referred to as a Chief Minister, the Crown is defined differently in each crown dependency. Legislation of the Isle of Man defines the Crown in right of the Isle of Man as being separate from the Crown in right of the United Kingdom and this constitutional concept is also worded as the Crown in right of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Each Bailiwick is a Crown dependency and each is headed by a Bailiff, each Bailiwick has its own legal and healthcare systems, and their own separate immigration policies, with local status in one Bailiwick having no jurisdiction in the other. The two Bailiwicks exercise bilateral double taxation treaties, since 1961, the Bailiwicks have had separate courts of appeal, but generally the Bailiff of each Bailiwick has been appointed to serve on the panel of appellate judges for the other Bailiwick. The Bailiwick of Guernsey comprises three separate jurisdictions, Guernsey, which also the nearby islands of Herm and Jethou. Sark, which includes the nearby island of Brecqhou. Alderney, including smaller surrounding uninhabited islands, the parliament of Guernsey is the States of Deliberation, the parliament of Sark is called the Chief Pleas, and the parliament of Alderney is called the States of Alderney. The three parliaments together can also approve joint Bailiwick-wide legislation that applies in those parts of the Bailiwick whose parliaments approve it. Guernsey issues its own coins and banknotes, Guernsey banknotes Coins of the Guernsey pound These circulate freely in both Bailiwicks alongside UK coinage and English and Scottish banknotes and they are not legal tender within the UK. There are no parties in any of the parliaments, candidates stand for election as independents. e. 5432 on 2 wheels and on 4 wheels, the Bailiwick of Jersey consists of the island of Jersey and a number of surrounding uninhabited islands. The parliament is the States of Jersey, the first known mention of which is in a document of 1497, Jersey issues its own coins and banknotes, Jersey banknotes Coins of the Jersey pound These circulate freely in both Bailiwicks alongside UK coinage and English and Scottish banknotes. They are not legal tender within the UK but are legal currency backed by deposits at the Bank of England, there are few political parties, as candidates generally stand for election as independents. The Isle of Mans Tynwald claims to be the worlds oldest parliament in continuous existence, candidates often stand for election as independents, rather than being selected by political parties
5.
Jersey
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Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom, ruled by the Crown in right of Jersey, off the coast of Normandy, France. Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy, whose dukes went on to become kings of England from 1066. After Normandy was lost by the kings of England in the 13th century, and the ducal title surrendered to France, Jersey, Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems, and the power of self-determination. The Lieutenant Governor on the island is the representative of the Queen. The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, although the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the Channel Islands are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an identity separate from that of the UK. The definition of United Kingdom in the British Nationality Act 1981 is interpreted as including the UK, Jersey is not fully part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, notably being treated as within the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods. The name Caesarea has been used as the Latin name for Jersey since William Camdens Britannia, the Latin name Caesarea was also applied to the colony of New Jersey as Nova Caesarea. Andium, Agna and Augia were used in antiquity, scholars variously surmise that Jersey and Jèrri derive from jarð or jarl, or perhaps a personal name, Geirr. The ending -ey denotes an island, Jersey history is influenced by its strategic location between the northern coast of France and the southern coast of England, the islands recorded history extends over a thousand years. La Cotte de St Brelade is a Palaeolithic site inhabited before rising sea levels transformed Jersey into an island, Jersey was a centre of Neolithic activity, as demonstrated by the concentration of dolmens. Evidence of Bronze Age and early Iron Age settlements can be found in locations around the island. In June 2012 it was announced what could be Europes largest hoard of Iron Age coins had been found in Grouville by two persons using metal detectors, the hoard may be worth up to £10 M. People had been searching for treasure for 30 years. It was reported that the hoard weighed about three quarters of a tonne and could contain up to 50,000 Roman and Celtic coins, in 2012 the same two men had found 60 Iron Age coins in the same area. Jersey was part of Neustria with the same Gallo-Frankish population as the continental mainland, Jersey was invaded by Vikings in the 9th century. In 933 it was annexed to the future Duchy of Normandy, together with the other Channel Islands, Cotentin and Avranchin, by William Longsword, count of Rouen and it became one of the Norman Islands
6.
English people
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The English are a nation and an ethnic group native to England, who speak the English language. The English identity is of medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn. Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD, England is one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons, they founded what was to become England along with the later Danes, Normans, in the Acts of Union 1707, the Kingdom of England was succeeded by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Over the years, English customs and identity have become closely aligned with British customs. The English people are the source of the English language, the Westminster system and these and other English cultural characteristics have spread worldwide, in part as a result of the former British Empire. The concept of an English nation is far older than that of the British nation, many recent immigrants to England have assumed a solely British identity, while others have developed dual or mixed identities. Use of the word English to describe Britons from ethnic minorities in England is complicated by most non-white people in England identifying as British rather than English. In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office for National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their national identity. They found that while 58% of white people in England described their nationality as English and it is unclear how many British people consider themselves English. Following complaints about this, the 2011 census was changed to allow respondents to record their English, Welsh, Scottish, another complication in defining the English is a common tendency for the words English and British to be used interchangeably, especially overseas. In his study of English identity, Krishan Kumar describes a common slip of the tongue in which people say English, I mean British. He notes that this slip is made only by the English themselves and by foreigners. Kumar suggests that although this blurring is a sign of Englands dominant position with the UK and it tells of the difficulty that most English people have of distinguishing themselves, in a collective way, from the other inhabitants of the British Isles. In 1965, the historian A. J. P. Taylor wrote, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago and it meant indiscriminately England and Wales, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and even the British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so, bonar Law, by origin a Scotch Canadian, was not ashamed to describe himself as Prime Minister of England Now terms have become more rigorous. The use of England except for a geographic area brings protests and this version of history is now regarded by many historians as incorrect, on the basis of more recent genetic and archaeological research. The 2016 study authored by Stephan Schiffels et al, the remaining portion of English DNA is primarily French, introduced in a migration after the end of the Ice Age
7.
Normans
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The Normans were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse raiders and pirates from Denmark, Iceland and Norway who, under their leader Rollo, through generations of assimilation and mixing with the native Frankish and Gallo-Roman populations, their descendants gradually adopted the Carolingian-based cultures of West Francia. The distinct cultural and ethnic identity of the Normans emerged initially in the first half of the 10th century, the Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and even the Near East. The Normans were famed for their spirit and eventually for their Christian piety. They adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, their becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and their chief men were specially lavish through their desire of good report. They were, moreover, a race skillful in flattery, given to the study of eloquence, so that the boys were orators. They were enduring of toil, hunger, and cold whenever fortune laid it on them, given to hunting and hawking, delighting in the pleasure of horses, and of all the weapons and garb of war. The treaty offered Rollo and his men the French lands between the river Epte and the Atlantic coast in exchange for their protection against further Viking incursions. The area corresponded to the part of present-day Upper Normandy down to the river Seine. The territory was equivalent to the old province of Rouen. Before Rollos arrival, its populations did not differ from Picardy or the Île-de-France, the Norman language was forged by the adoption of the indigenous langue doïl branch of Romance by a Norse-speaking ruling class, and it developed into the regional language that survives today. The Normans thereafter adopted the growing feudal doctrines of the rest of France, the new Norman rulers were culturally and ethnically distinct from the old French aristocracy, most of whom traced their lineage to Franks of the Carolingian dynasty. Most Norman knights remained poor and land-hungry, and by 1066 Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation, many Normans of Italy, France and England eventually served as avid Crusaders under the Italo-Norman prince Bohemund I and the Anglo-Norman king Richard the Lion-Heart. Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold in Southern Italy, probably as the result of returning pilgrims stories, the Normans entered Southern Italy as warriors in 1017 at the latest. In 999, according to Amatus of Montecassino, Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem called in at the port of Salerno when a Saracen attack occurred. The Normans fought so valiantly that Prince Guaimar III begged them to stay, the Hauteville family achieved princely rank by proclaiming prince Guaimar IV of Salerno Duke of Apulia and Calabria. He promptly awarded their elected leader, William Iron Arm, with the title of count in his capital of Melfi
8.
Portuguese people
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Portuguese people are an ethnic group indigenous to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and their predominant religion is Christianity, Portuguese people were a key factor to the Age of Exploration, discovering several lands unknown to the Europeans in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, helping to pave the way for Globalization. There are around 10 million native Portuguese in Portugal, out of a population of 10.34 million. A small minority of about 15,000 speak the Mirandese language, in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Vimioso, all of the speakers are bilingual with Portuguese. An even smaller minority of no more than 2,000 people speak Barranquenho, some people from the former colonies have been migrating to Portugal since the 1900s. More recently, a number of Slavs, especially Ukrainians, Moldovans, Romanians and Russians. There is also a Chinese minority, in addition, there is a small minority Gypsies of about 40,000 people, Muslims about 34,000 people and an even smaller minority of Jews of about 5,000 people. Between 1886 and 1966, Portugal lost to more than any West European country except Ireland. From the middle of the 19th century to the late 1950s, about 40 million Brazilians have relatively recent Portuguese background, due to massive immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. About 1.2 million Brazilian citizens are native Portuguese, significant verified Portuguese minorities exist in several countries. Portuguese Sephardic Jews are also in Israel, the Netherlands, the United States, France, Venezuela, Brazil, in Brazil many of the colonists were also originally Sephardic Jews, who, converted, were known as New Christians. In the United States, there are Portuguese communities in New Jersey, the New England states, in the Pacific, Hawaii has a sizable Portuguese element that goes back 150 years, Australia and New Zealand also have Portuguese communities. Canada, particularly Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, has developed a significant Portuguese community since 1940, argentina and Uruguay had Portuguese immigration in the early 20th century. So has Chile where an estimated 50,000 descendants live, an estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the countrys African possessions gained independence in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution, while others moved to Brazil and South Africa. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Equatorial Guinea, in 1989 some 4,000,000 Portuguese were living abroad, mainly in France, Germany, Brazil, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Venezuela, and the United States. Portuguese constitute 13% of the population of Luxembourg, in areas such as Thetford and the crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey, the Portuguese form the largest ethnic minority groups at 30% of the population, 20% and 3% respectively. The British capital London is home to the largest number of Portuguese people in the UK, with the majority being found in the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth and Westminster. The Portuguese diaspora communities still are very attached to their language, their culture and their national dishes, in colonial times, over 700,000 Portuguese settled in Brazil, and most of them went there during the gold rush of the 18th century
9.
Geography
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Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of Earth. The first person to use the word γεωγραφία was Eratosthenes, Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of the Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. It is often defined in terms of the two branches of geography and physical geography. Geography has been called the world discipline and the bridge between the human and the physical sciences, Geography is a systematic study of the Earth and its features. Traditionally, geography has been associated with cartography and place names, although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the space and the temporal database distribution of phenomena, processes, because space and place affect a variety of topics, such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary. The interdisciplinary nature of the approach depends on an attentiveness to the relationship between physical and human phenomena and its spatial patterns. Names of places. are not geography. know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself and this is a description of the world—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause, just as all phenomena exist in time and thus have a history, they also exist in space and have a geography. Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main fields, human geography and physical geography. The former largely focuses on the environment and how humans create, view, manage. The latter examines the environment, and how organisms, climate, soil, water. The difference between these led to a third field, environmental geography, which combines physical and human geography. Physical geography focuses on geography as an Earth science and it aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, and global flora and fauna patterns. Physical geography can be divided into broad categories, including, Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns. It encompasses the human, political, cultural, social, and it requires an understanding of the traditional aspects of physical and human geography, as well as the ways that human societies conceptualize the environment. Integrated geography has emerged as a bridge between the human and the geography, as a result of the increasing specialisation of the two sub-fields. Examples of areas of research in the environmental geography include, emergency management, environmental management, sustainability, geomatics is concerned with the application of computers to the traditional spatial techniques used in cartography and topography
10.
Nautical mile
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A nautical mile is a unit of measurement defined as exactly 1852 meters. Historically, it was defined as one minute of latitude, which is equivalent to one sixtieth of a degree of latitude. Today it is an SI derived unit, being rounded to a number of meters. The derived unit of speed is the knot, defined as one mile per hour. The geographical mile is the length of one minute of longitude along the Equator, there is no internationally agreed symbol. M is used as the abbreviation for the mile by the International Hydrographic Organization and by the International Bureau of Weights. NM is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization, nm is used by the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Nmi is used by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the word mile is from the Latin word for a thousand paces, mīlia. In 1617 the Dutch scientist Snell assessed the circumference of the Earth at 24,630 Roman miles, around that time British mathematician Edmund Gunter improved navigational tools including a new quadrant to determine latitude at sea. He reasoned that the lines of latitude could be used as the basis for a unit of measurement for distance, as one degree is 1/360 of a circle, one minute of arc is 1/21600 of a circle. These sexagesimal units originated in Babylonian astronomy, Gunter used Snells circumference to define a nautical mile as 6,080 feet, the length of one minute of arc at 48 degrees latitude.3 metres. Other countries measure the minute of arc at 45 degrees latitude, in 1929, the international nautical mile was defined by the First International Extraordinary Hydrographic Conference in Monaco as 1,852 meters. Imperial units and United States customary units used a definition of the nautical mile based on the Clarke Spheroid, the United States nautical mile was defined as 6,080.20 feet based in the Mendenhall Order foot of 1893. It was abandoned in favour of the nautical mile in 1954.181 meters. It was abandoned in 1970 and, legally, references to the unit are now converted to 1,853 meters. Conversion of units Orders of magnitude
11.
Brittany
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Brittany is a cultural region in the north-west of France. Brittany has also referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain. It is bordered by the English Channel to the north, the Celtic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and its land area is 34,023 km². Since reorganisation in 1956, the administrative region of Brittany comprises only four of the five Breton departments. The remaining area of old Brittany, the Loire-Atlantique department around Nantes, at the 2010 census, the population of historic Brittany was estimated to be 4,475,295. Of these, 71% lived in the region of Brittany, while 29% lived in the Loire-Atlantique department, in 2012, the largest metropolitan areas were Nantes, Rennes, and Brest. Brittany is the homeland of the Breton people and is recognised by the Celtic League as one of the six Celtic nations. A nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the French Republic, the word Brittany, along with its French, Breton and Gallo equivalents Bretagne, Breizh and Bertaèyn, derive from the Latin Britannia, which means Britons land. This word had been used by the Romans since the 1st century to refer to Great Britain and this word derives from a Greek word, Πρεττανικη or Βρεττανίαι, used by Pytheas, an explorer from Massalia who visited the British Islands around 320 BC. This term probably comes from a Gallic word, aremorica, which close to the sea. Another name, Letauia, was used until the 12th century and it possibly means wide and flat or to expand and it gave the Welsh name for Brittany, Llydaw. Later, authors like Geoffrey of Monmouth used the terms Britannia minor, breton-speaking people may pronounce the word Breizh in two different ways, according to their region of origin. Breton can be divided into two dialects, the KLT and the dialect of Vannes. KLT speakers pronounce it and would write it Breiz, while the Vannetais speakers pronounce it, the official spelling is a compromise between both variants, with a z and an h together. In 1941, efforts to unify the dialects led to the creation of the so-called Breton zh, on its side, Gallo language has never had a widely accepted writing system and several ones coexist. For instance, the name of the region in that language can be written Bertaèyn in ELG script, or Bertègn in MOGA, Brittany has been inhabited by humans since the Lower Paleolithic. This population was scarce and very similar to the other Neanderthals found in the whole of Western Europe and their only original feature was a distinct culture, called Colombanian. One of the oldest hearths in the world has found in Plouhinec
12.
Cotentin Peninsula
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The Cotentin Peninsula, also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain, to its west lie the Channel Islands and to the southwest lies the Brittany Peninsula. The peninsula lies wholly within the department of Manche, in the region of Normandy, the Cotentin peninsula is part of the Armorican Massif and lies between the estuary of the Vire river and Mont Saint-Michel Bay. It is divided into three areas, the headland of Cap de la Hague, the Cotentin Pass, and the valley of the Saire River and it forms the bulk of the department of Manche. Its southern part, known as le Marais, crosses from east to west from just north west of Saint Lo and east of Lessay, the largest town in the peninsula is Cherbourg on the north coast, a major cross-channel port. The western coast of the peninsula, known as the Côte des Îles faces the Channel Islands, ferry links serve Carteret and the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney from Dielette. Off the east coast of the lies the island of Tatihou. The oldest stone in France is found in outcroppings on the coast of Cap de la Hague, Cotentin was almost an island at one time. Only a small strip of land in the heath of Lessay connected the peninsula with the mainland. Thanks to the so-called portes à flot, which close at flood and open at ebb and which were built in the west coast and in the Baie des Veys, on the east coast, the Côte des Havres lies between the Cape of Carteret and the Cape of Granville. To the northwest, there are two sand dune systems, one stretching between Siouville-Hague and Vauville, the other one stretching between Cap of Carteret and Baubigny, the peninsula formed part of the Roman geographical area of Armorica. The town known today as Coutances, capital of the Unelli, the base of the peninsula, called in Latin the pagus Constantinus, joined together with the pagus Coriovallensis centred upon Cherbourg to the north, subsequently became known as the Cotentin. Under the Carolingians it was administered by viscounts drawn successively from members of the Saint-Sauveur family, King Alan the Great of Brittany waged war successfully on the Norsemen. As the result of his conquests, the Cotentin Peninsula was included theoretically in the territory of the Duchy of Brittany, the Dukes of Brittany suffered continuing Norse invasions and Norman raids. Eventually the Cotentin Peninsula was lost to Brittany after only 70 years of political domination, meanwhile, Vikings settled on the Cotentin in the ninth and tenth centuries. There are indications of an industry there dating to the ninth century. They were followed by Anglo-Norse and Anglo-Danish people, who established as farmers and it became part of Normandy in the early tenth century. Many placenames there are derived from the Norse language, examples include La Hague from hagi meadow or enclosure and La Hougue from haugr meaning a hill or mound
13.
Normandy
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Normandy is one of the regions of France, roughly corresponding to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Administratively, Normandy is divided into five departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and it covers 30,627 km², forming roughly 5% of the territory of France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France, Normans is the name given to the inhabitants of Normandy, and the region is the homeland of the Norman language. The historical region of Normandy comprised the region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the départements, or departments of Mayenne. For a century and a following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman. Archaeological finds, such as paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC, when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the methods, Roman roads. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, in the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, Christianity also began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast, the Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis, the Vikings started to raid the Seine Valley during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, after attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagnes empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Norwegian Viking leader Hrólfr Ragnvaldsson, Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he, the name Normandy reflects Rollos Viking origins. The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and they became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Saxons and indigenous Franks and Celts. Besides the Norman conquest of England and the subsequent conquests of Wales and Ireland, Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the Norman conquest of southern Italy and Crusades. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor, the 14th century Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands
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Saint Helier
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Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of about 33,500, roughly 34. 2% of the population of Jersey. The greater part of St Helier is rural, the parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles, being 9% of the total land area of the Island. The parish arms are two crossed axes on a blue background, the blue symbolising the sea, and the axes symbolising the martyrdom of Helier at the hands of Saxon pirates in 555 AD. It is thought that the site of St Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul, before land reclamation and port construction started, boats could be tied up to the churchyard wall on the seaward side. An Abbey of St Helier was founded in 1155 on LIslet, closed at the Reformation, the site of the abbey was fortified to create the castle that replaced Mont Orgueil as the Islands major fortress. The new Elizabeth Castle was named after the Queen by the Governor of Jersey 1600-1603, la Cohue stood on one side of the square, now rebuilt as the Royal Court and States Chamber. The market cross in the centre of the square was pulled down at the Reformation, george II gave £200 towards the construction of a new harbour - previously boats would be beached on a falling tide and unloaded by cart across the sands. Many of St Heliers road names and street names are bilingual English/French or English/Jèrriais, the names in the various languages are not usually translations, distinct naming traditions survive alongside each other. The Royal Square was also the scene of the Battle of Jersey on 6 January 1781, john Singleton Copleys epic painting The Death of Major Pierson captures an imaginative version of the scene. As harbour construction moved development seaward, a growth in population meant that marshland, settlement by English immigrants added quarters of colonial-style town houses to the traditional building stock. Continuing military threats from France spurred the construction of a fortress, Fort Regent, on the Mont de la Ville. This was the start of Jerseys agricultural prosperity in the 19th century, from the 1820s, peace with France and better communications by steamships and railways to coastal ports encouraged an influx of English-speaking residents. Speculative development covered the basin north of the central coastal strip as far as the hills within a period of about 40 years. In the second half of the 19th century, hundreds of trucks laden with potatoes and this prompted a programme of road-widening which swept away many of the ancient buildings of the town centre. Pressure for redevelopment has meant that few buildings remain in urban St Helier which date to before the 19th century. Pierre Le Sueur, reforming Constable of St Helier, was responsible for installing sewerage, an obelisk with fountain in the town centre was raised to his memory following his premature death in office from overwork. In the 1970s, a programme of pedestrianisation of the streets was undertaken
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Capital city
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A capital city is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other region, usually as its seat of government. A capital is typically a city that encompasses the offices and meeting places of its respective government. In some jurisdictions, including countries, the different branches of government are located in different settlements. In some cases, a distinction is made between the capital and the seat of government, which is in another place. The word capital derives from the Latin caput, meaning head, in several English-speaking states, the terms county town, county seat, and borough seat are also used in lower subdivisions. In unitary states, subnational capitals are known as administrative centres. The capital is often, but not necessarily, the largest city of its constituent, historically, the major economic centre of a state or region often becomes the focal point of political power, and becomes a capital through conquest or federation. Examples are Ancient Babylon, Abbasid Baghdad, Ancient Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Changan, Ancient Cusco, Madrid, Paris, London, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Vienna, and Berlin. Some of these cities are or were also religious centres, e. g. Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, Ancient Babylon, Moscow, Belgrade, Paris, and Peking. A capital city that is also the economic, cultural. The convergence of political and economic or cultural power is by no means universal, traditional capitals may be economically eclipsed by provincial rivals, e. g. Nanking by Shanghai, Quebec City by Montreal, and numerous US state capitals. The decline of a dynasty or culture could also mean the extinction of its city, as occurred at Babylon. Although many capitals are defined by constitution or legislation, many long-time capitals have no legal designation as such, for example Bern, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London, Paris, are located in or near them. In Canada, there is a capital, while the ten provinces. The states of such countries as Mexico, Brazil, and Australia all have capital cities, for example, the six state capitals of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. In Australia, the capital cities is regularly used, to refer to the aforementioned state capitals plus the federal capital Canberra and Darwin. Abu Dhabi is the city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In unitary states which consist of multiple constituent countries, such as the United Kingdom or the Kingdom of Denmark, the national capitals of Germany and Russia, the Stadtstaat of Berlin and the Federal City of Moscow, are also constituent states of both countries in their own right
16.
Minquiers
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The Minquiers are a group of islands and rocks, about 15 km south of Jersey. The Minquiers forms part of the Bailiwick of Jersey and they are administratively part of the Parish of Grouville. At low tide, the shelf around the Minquiers has a larger surface area than Jersey itself. The largest of these is Maîtresse, which is about 50 m long and 20 m wide and has ten stone cottages in various states of repair. However, they have no permanent inhabitants, though fishermen, vraic collectors, yachtsmen, kayakers, the etymology of the name is disputed, and could either come from the Breton language minihi meaning a sanctuary, or from minkier meaning a seller of fish. The most significant islands in the group are, Maîtresse Île / Maîtr Île Les Maisons, Others include, Le Niêsant Les Faucheurs La Haute Grune. Thousands of years ago, around the time of the last glacial period, when sea level was lower, in 933 CE, the Duchy of Normandy annexed the islets, along with the other Channel Islands and the Cotentin Peninsula. After William, Duke of Normandy conquered England in 1066, the islands remained united to the Duchy until Philip Augustus conquered mainland Normandy in 1204, in 1259 Henry III did homage to the French king for the Channel Islands. Edward III, in the 1360 Treaty of Brétigny, waived his claims to the crown of France and to Normandy, the 1911 Britannica says that Maîtresse Île affords a landing and shelter for fishermen. A small company of Wehrmacht soldiers on the Minquiers were among the last to surrender in World War II, a French fishing boat, skippered by Lucian Marie, approached the island of Minquiers and anchored nearby. This was on 23 May 1945, three weeks after the war in Europe ended, in 1950 Britain and France went to the International Court of Justice for friendly discussions to decide to which country the Minquiers and Écréhous belonged. The French fished in the waters, but Jersey exercised various administrative rights, the ICJ considered the historical evidence, and in its Judgment of 17 November 1953 awarded the islands to Jersey. In 1998 some French invaded the Minquiers on behalf of the King of Patagonia in retaliation for the British occupation of the Falkland Islands, the Union Jack was restored the next day. Notably, Les Minquiers are mentioned at length by Victor Hugo in his novel Ninety-Three and he mentions how treacherous they are, and says that their combined area is bigger than mainland Jersey itself. Hugo lived in both Guernsey and Jersey at various points in his life, and so was familiar with local lore. The British/French dispute over Les Minquiers is an element in Nancy Mitfords novel Dont Tell Alfred. Les Minquiers feature in the adventure novel The Wreck of the Mary Deare, by Hammond Innes. The Minquiers are designated protected under the Ramsar convention, files on the ICJ case can be found in the National Archives, mostly in the FO371 sequence
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Pierres de Lecq
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Only three of the rocks remain visible at high tide, LÊtaîthe, La Grôsse and La Vouêtaîthe. The area has one of the greatest tidal ranges in the world, the name Paternosters is connected with a legend relating to the colonisation of Sark in the 16th century. According to this legend a boatload of women and children was wrecked on the reef, superstitious sailors would say the Lords Prayer when passing the rocks, hence the name Paternosters. The rocks are a Ramsar site, and support a variety of cetaceans including dolphins. It is considered to form a biogeographical boundary
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Les Platons
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Les Platons is the highest point of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency, with an elevation of 136 metres. It is located in the Vingtaine de la Ville-à-lÉvêque in the parish of Trinity, there are radio transmitters, and a radar station located at Les Platons. In October 1955, Les Platons was used as a site for a transmitter to bring BBC Television transmissions to the Channel Islands. It transmitted BBC Television on the VHF405 line service on Channel 4 from Monday 3 October 1955, from 1955 the site was also used to bring the BBC national radio stations to the Channel Islands. Before 1955 the Channel Islands had no transmitters, and received radio transmissions of the BBC national radio stations from mainland England, the BBC started FM transmissions on 16 October 1961 from Les Platons, of the Home, Light and Third Programmes. Later this became 91.1 as Radio 2,94.75 as Radio 3, the Fremont Point transmitter would go on the air in September 1962 bringing Independent Television to the Channel Islands for the first time in the form of the ITV franchise Channel Television. In due course Fremont Point became the television transmitter site for the Channel Islands. It started broadcasting UHF625 television in 1976 along with the introduction for the first time of BBC Two, Les Platons television transmissions ceased in 1985 when the old VHF405 line transmissions ceased in the UK. From 1985 onwards Les Platons has been a radio transmitter site only, geography of Jersey Les Platons, Jersey, Channel Islands, Planet Ware
19.
Saint Clement, Jersey
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Saint Clement is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey in the Channel Islands. It is in the south east of the Island, and contains some of the suburbs of Saint Helier and it is the smallest parish by surface area, but the second most densely populated. St. Clement stretches west to east from Le Dicq to within a mile of La Rocque harbour. Its surface area is around 1,044 acres, the parish is subdivided into three vingtaines, and is administered at local level by the Connétable. Much of the parish lies below equinoctial high-tide level and was flooded before Le Dicq was built to try to hold back the sea somewhat. There are remains of a submerged forest underneath the sand at Grève dAzette that show how the parish has reduced in size as the sea has advanced. Large floods in 1688,1796 and 1812 led to the coast road at Le Hocq being swept away by the sea, in pre-Norman times, the area now known as St. Clement was known as Petravilla or Pierreville. In 1172 it was recorded that a chapel existed in the parish, in the 16th and 17th centuries the parish was believed to be the centre of a witch movement. According to beliefs, the rock at Rocque Berg was the focus for witchcraft in Jersey, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, many French Protestants settled in the parish – as recorded on the church register. In the mid 19th century, the town began to spread east from St. Helier into the west of the parish, today there is relatively little open green space west of Samarès Lane into St. Helier. The famous French writer Victor Hugo lived in Marina Terrace, St. Clement for some time and it was the Connétable of St. Clement at the time who escorted Hugo onto a steamer bound for Guernsey when he had insulted the British Royal Family in some of his letters. The population of St. Clement, according to the 2011 census is 9,221, aside from the two deputies who sit in the States of Jersey and represent the parish, St. Clement also has its own local administration. The current Connétable of St. Clement is Mr. Len Norman, the seat of the parish administration is the Salle Paroissiale, or Parish Hall, which is pictured above and located at Le Hocq. This is the newest parish hall in the island, the parish hall in St. Clement was located at Caldwell Hall. St. Clement has two schools and one secondary school within its borders. Le Rocquier School is a school, on La Grande Route de St Clement. The original school buildings were replaced with a new building in 2006, the parish school of St. Clement is located on Rue de la Chapelle, a short distance from Le Rocquier School. The original buildings dates back to 1901, and was replaced in 2006 with a new building on the opposite side of the road
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Headland
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A headland is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water. It is a type of promontory, a headland of considerable size often is called a cape. Headlands are characterised by high, breaking waves, rocky shores, intense erosion, headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides, headlands and bays form on discordant coastlines, where bands of rock of alternating resistance run perpendicular to the coast. Bays form where weak rocks are eroded, leaving bands of rocks forming a headland. Through the deposition of sediment within the bay and the erosion of the headlands, coastlines eventually straighten out then start the same process all over again
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Dune
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In physical geography, a dune is a hill of loose sand built by wind or the flow of water. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water, most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter slip face in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack, a dune field is an area covered by extensive sand dunes. Dunes occur, for example, in deserts and along some coasts. Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach, in most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, Dunes can form under the action of water flow, and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed. The modern word dune came into English from French c,1790, which in turn came from Middle Dutch dūne. Crescent-shaped mounds are generally wider than they are long, the slipfaces are on the concave sides of the dunes. These dunes form under winds that blow consistently from one direction, some types of crescentic dunes move more quickly over desert surfaces than any other type of dune. A group of dunes moved more than 100 metres per year between 1954 and 1959 in Chinas Ningxia Province, and similar speeds have been recorded in the Western Desert of Egypt. The largest crescentic dunes on Earth, with mean crest-to-crest widths of more than three kilometres, are in Chinas Taklamakan Desert. They may be composed of clay, silt, sand, or gypsum, eroded from the floor or shore, transported up the concave side of the dune. Examples in Australia are up to 6.5 km long,1 km wide and they also occur in southern and West Africa, and in parts of the western United States, especially Texas. Straight or slightly sinuous sand ridges typically much longer than they are wide are known as linear dunes and they may be more than 160 kilometres long. Some linear dunes merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes, many form in bidirectional wind regimes. The long axes of these dunes extend in the resultant direction of sand movement, linear loess hills known as pahas are superficially similar. These hills appear to have formed during the last ice age under permafrost conditions dominated by sparse tundra vegetation. Radially symmetrical, star dunes are pyramidal sand mounds with slipfaces on three or more arms that radiate from the center of the mound
22.
Sunshine duration
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It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
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Met Office
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The Met Office is the United Kingdoms national weather service. It is an agency and trading fund of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy led by CEO, Rob Varley and chief scientist. The Met Office makes meteorological predictions across all timescales from weather forecasts to climate change, the Met Office was established in 1854 as a small department within the Board of Trade under Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy as a service to mariners. The loss of the vessel, the Royal Charter, and 459 lives off the coast of Anglesey in a violent storm in October 1859 led to the first gale warning service. FitzRoy established a network of 15 coastal stations from which visual gale warnings could be provided for ships at sea, the new electric telegraph enabled rapid dissemination of warnings and also led to the development of an observational network which could then be used to provide synoptic analysis. The Met Office started in 1861 to provide forecasts to newspapers. Publication of forecasts ceased in May 1866 after FitzRoy’s death but recommenced in April 1879, in 1936 the Met Office split with services to the Royal Navy being provided by its own forecasting services. It became an agency of the Ministry of Defence in April 1990. It has a worldwide presence – including a centre in Aberdeen. Royal Navy weather forecasts are provided by naval officers, not Met Office personnel. The Shipping Forecast is produced by the Met Office and broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the Met Office issues Severe Weather Warnings for the United Kingdom through the National Severe Weather Warning Service. These warn of events that may affect transport infrastructure and endanger peoples lives. In March 2008, the system was improved and a new stage of warning was introduced, on 10 November, the first named storm was Abigail. The principal weather products for UK customers are 36-hour forecasts from the operational 1, the Met Offices Global Model forecast has consistently been in the top 3 for global weather forecast performance in independent verification to WMO standards. Products for other regions of the globe are sold to customers abroad, if necessary, forecasters may make adjustments to the computer forecasts. Data is stored in the Met Offices own PP-format, formed in 2009, the Flood Forecasting Centre is a joint venture between the Environment Agency and the Met Office to provide flood risk guidance for England and Wales. The Centre is jointly staffed from both parent organisations and is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter, in Scotland this role is performed by the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service, a joint venture between the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Met Office. The Met Office makes seasonal forecasts and distributes them to customers and users globally, Met Office research has broken new ground in seasonal forecasting for the extratropics and has demonstrated its abilities in its seasonal predictions of the North Atlantic Oscillation
24.
Arable land
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Arable land is, according to one definition, land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops. In Britain, it was contrasted with pasturable lands such as heaths which could be used for sheep-rearing. A quite different kind of definition is used by various agencies concerned with agriculture, the abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for ‘Arable land’ are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable, a briefer definition appearing in the Eurostat glossary similarly refers to actual, rather than potential use, land worked regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations the worlds Arable land amounted to 1,407 M ha, out of a total 4,924 M ha land used for agriculture, as for year 2013. Agricultural land that is not arable according to the FAO definition above includes, Permanent crop - land that produces crops from woody vegetation, other non-arable land includes land unsuitable for any agricultural use. Although such limitations may preclude cultivation, and some will in some cases preclude any agricultural use, for example, US NRCS statistics indicate that about 59 percent of US non-federal pasture and unforested rangeland is unsuitable for cultivation, yet such land has value for grazing of livestock. Similar examples can be found in many rangeland areas elsewhere, land incapable of being cultivated for production of crops can sometimes be converted to arable land. New arable land makes more food, and can reduce starvation and this outcome also makes a country more self-sufficient and politically independent, because food importation is reduced. This process is extremely expensive. An alternative is the Seawater Greenhouse which desalinates water through evaporation and condensation using solar energy as the energy input. This technology is optimized to grow crops on land close to the sea. The people covered the islands with a layer of seaweed. Israel, The construction of desalination plants along Israels coast allowed agriculture in areas that were formerly desert. The desalination plants, which remove the salt from water, have created a new source of water for farming, drinking. Slash and burn agriculture uses nutrients in wood ash, but these expire within a few years, terra preta, fertile tropical soils created by adding charcoal. Some examples of fertile land being turned into infertile land are. Rainforest deforestation, The fertile tropical forests are converted into infertile desert land, for example, Madagascars central highland plateau has become virtually totally barren, as a result of slash-and-burn deforestation, an element of shifting cultivation practiced by many natives
25.
NASA
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower established NASA in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29,1958, disestablishing NASAs predecessor, the new agency became operational on October 1,1958. Since that time, most US space exploration efforts have led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station. Currently, NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for unmanned NASA launches. NASA shares data with various national and international such as from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite. Since 2011, NASA has been criticized for low cost efficiency, from 1946, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had been experimenting with rocket planes such as the supersonic Bell X-1. In the early 1950s, there was challenge to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year. An effort for this was the American Project Vanguard, after the Soviet launch of the worlds first artificial satellite on October 4,1957, the attention of the United States turned toward its own fledgling space efforts. This led to an agreement that a new federal agency based on NACA was needed to conduct all non-military activity in space. The Advanced Research Projects Agency was created in February 1958 to develop technology for military application. On July 29,1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, a NASA seal was approved by President Eisenhower in 1959. Elements of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and the United States Naval Research Laboratory were incorporated into NASA, earlier research efforts within the US Air Force and many of ARPAs early space programs were also transferred to NASA. In December 1958, NASA gained control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA has conducted many manned and unmanned spaceflight programs throughout its history. Some missions include both manned and unmanned aspects, such as the Galileo probe, which was deployed by astronauts in Earth orbit before being sent unmanned to Jupiter, the experimental rocket-powered aircraft programs started by NACA were extended by NASA as support for manned spaceflight. This was followed by a space capsule program, and in turn by a two-man capsule program. This goal was met in 1969 by the Apollo program, however, reduction of the perceived threat and changing political priorities almost immediately caused the termination of most of these plans. NASA turned its attention to an Apollo-derived temporary space laboratory, to date, NASA has launched a total of 166 manned space missions on rockets, and thirteen X-15 rocket flights above the USAF definition of spaceflight altitude,260,000 feet. The X-15 was an NACA experimental rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft, developed in conjunction with the US Air Force, the design featured a slender fuselage with fairings along the side containing fuel and early computerized control systems
26.
Geology of Jersey
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The geology of Jersey is characterised by the Late Proterozoic Brioverian volcanics, the Cadomian Orogeny, and only small signs of later deposits from the Cambrian and Quaternary periods. The kind of rocks go from conglomerate to shale, volcanic, intrusive and plutonic rocks of many compositions. The Brioverian rocks were formed between 900 and 700 mya and they were named after Briovère, the native name for St. Lô, in Normandy, which is the first area these rocks were described from. They start with turbidites in the west, centre and south of Jersey, including at St Ouens Bay, the Brioverian sedimentary rocks are all well bedded and were originally the mid and outer parts of a submarine fan. This constitutes the Jersey Shale Formation, the shale is found at Gorey Harbour in the east coast, and La Belle Hougue Point, and Le Mont Mado granite has an occurrence. The shale is more eroded, and this has affected the shape of the island by the concave St Ouenss Bay. The deepest valleys are cut into soft rock. Other sediments associated with the shale are mudstone, and fine grained sandstone, various sedimentary structures include flute and bounce castes, ripple lamination, graded bedding, cross bedding, and boudinage. The shale layers have been identified as Association IV in the submarine fan, the sandstone is Association III of the submarine fan. Greywacke is termed Association IV along with the shale and it is found in the same areas as the shale. In an analysis of the greywacke it has fragments with 70% quartz, 10% to 15% plagioclase and microcline feldspar, 2% dark iron containing minerals, with carbon flakes, the minerals contained are very diverse indicating a broad source area. Conglomerate, termed Association I from the parts of the fan, is found in lenticular bodies near St Peters Valley. The pebbles in the conglomerate are of multiple kinds of rock, the granite intrusions at the boundary of the formation have caused metamorphism and intrusion by dykes. In the LÊtacq area the metamorphis has produces spotted hornfels with a grey colour, the spots are darker, containing cordierite and biotite. At St. Ouëns Bay the metamorphosis of greywacke has made hornblende-hornfels, Regional metamorphism has converted the shale to a low greenschist facies, where clay is converted to chlorite. The sediments were carried by rivers from the Le Vast Arc, a strip of land oriented east north east, the sea at this time was termed l Océan de la Manche. These sediments were uplifted and are overlaid by volcanic rocks of the Jersey Volcanic Group around 530 Mya, the magma came from the subduction zones below and to the north of the island. Andesite from St. Saviours Andesite Formation is in the centre and it is coloured grey and includes some basalt and pyroclastic fallout such as tuff and agglomerate
27.
History of Jersey
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The island of Jersey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy that held sway in both France and England. Jersey lies in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel and is the largest of the Channel Islands and it has enjoyed self-government since the division of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204. Rising sea levels resulted in it has been an island for approximately 6,000 years and at its current extremes it measures 10 miles east to west and six miles north to south. Evidence dating from the Ice Age period of dating from at least 12,000 BC have been found. Evidence also exists of settled communities in the Neolithic period, which is marked by the building of the burial sites known as dolmens. The number, size, and visible locations of these monuments have suggested that social organisation over a wide area. Archaeological evidence also shows that trading links with Brittany and the south coast of England existed during this time, evidence of occupation and wealth has been discovered in the form of hoards. In 1889, during construction of a house in Saint Helier, a Bronze Age hoard consisting of 110 implements, mostly spears and swords, was discovered in Saint Lawrence in 1976 - probably a smiths stock. Hoards of coins were discovered at La Marquanderie, in Saint Brelade, Le Câtel, in Trinity, in June 2012, two metal detectorists announced that they had uncovered what could be Europes largest hoard of Iron Age Celtic coins. 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins, the hoard is thought to have belonged to a Curiosolitae tribe fleeing Julius Caesars armies around 50 to 60 BC. In October 2012, another metal detectorist reported an earlier Bronze Age find, although Jersey was part of the Roman world, there is a lack of evidence to give a better understanding of the island during the Gallo-Roman and early Middle Ages. The tradition that the island was called Caesarea by the Romans appears to have no basis in fact, the Roman name for the Channel Islands was I. Lenuri and were occupied by the Britons during their migration to Brittany, various saints such as the Celts Samson of Dol and Branwalator were active in the region. A chapel built around 911, now part of the nave of the Parish Church of St Clement. The island took the name Jersey as a result of Viking activity in the area between the 9th and 10th centuries. According to the Rolls of the Norman Exchequer, in 1180 Jersey was divided for administrative purposes into three ministeria, de Gorroic, de Groceio and de Crapau Doit. This was a time of building or extending churches with most parish churches in the island being built/rebuilt in a Norman style chosen by the abbey or priory to which each church had been granted, St Mary and St Martin being given to Cerisy Abbey. The so-called Constitutions of King John are the foundation of modern self-government, from 1204 onwards, the Channel Islands ceased to be a peaceful backwater and became a potential flashpoint on the international stage between England and France
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La Cotte de St Brelade
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La Cotte de St Brelade is a Paleolithic site of early habitation in St Brelade, Jersey. The cave is known as Lé Creux ès Fées. It is the site in the British Isles to have produced late Neanderthal fossils. It was not until after the last Ice Age that the sea eroded the coastline, separating first Guernsey, then Jersey, remains of fire was found in La Cotte. In fact, the earliest dates obtained for artifacts at the come from thermoluminescence dating of burnt flint. The immense timespan represented by the Paleolithic artifacts at La Cotte—nearly 200,000 years—saw considerable cultural changes among the users of the site. The earliest stone tools, dated between around 240,000 years to 200,000 BP, are typical of early Middle Paleolithic sites. These innovations mark a stage between Middle and Upper Paleolithic subsistence strategies. Excavations have taken place from around 1910 onwards, robert R. Marett worked on the palaeolithic site from 1910–1914, recovering some hominid teeth and other remains of habitation by Neanderthal man. He published The Site, Fauna, and Industry of La Cotte de St. Brelade, the teeth were dated using new techniques in 2013, this analysis put them at between 100,000 and 47,000 years old. In 1911, Arthur Smith Woodward was asked by R. R. Marrett to inspected the findings at La Cotte, prince Charles took part in these excavations, directed by Professor C. M. B. These on-going excavations revealed new archaeological levels at the site and determined the presence of deposits younger than 47,000 years ago still present at the site, two hunting episodes of Middle Paleolithic Age at La Cotte Saint-Brelade, Jersey Prehistory and the Beginnings of Civilization. By Jacquetta Hawkes - author, Leonard Woolley - author, making fire in the Stone Age, flint and pyrite published in Geologie en Mijnbouw,1999, vol. 2, pp. 147–164 by Stapert D. Johansen L
29.
Jersey dolmens
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The dolmens of Jersey are neolithic sites, including dolmens, in Jersey. They range over a period, from around 4800 BC to 2250 BC. Before that, La Cotte de St Brelade has evidence of both by our near cousins, the Neanderthals, and early man. By the time the dolmens came to be built, people were settled in Jersey, although it was still at that time connected by a land bridge to the continent of Europe. The new stone age differs from the old in that stone tools were still used – axes, daggers etc. – but the community was now settled and farmed the land, they did not hunt and follow prey. Of their habitations, no remains, it is likely from the evidence found elsewhere that they had fairly basic wooden huts, sealed with mud and clay. Only the dolmens and menhirs remain, the Neolithic sites such as dolmens, passage graves and the like used to be considered to be primarily tombs of chieftains. Possibly drawing from the Egyptian model, a tribe was imagined as labouring away to build a site of stone for a mighty chieftain. A new pharaoh would mean a new tomb, a new pyramid, but the Neolithic sites do not seem to function like that. There is no way of seeing that someone was special. Bodies were often defleshed or burnt before interment, Ancient Jewish burials – where a tomb was used – then the bones gathered up and placed in a burial casket – show a similarity of practice. This is also completely unlike Celtic burials, where tribal chieftains were buried with their chariots. It is immediately clear with these burials that they were for a man of stature, the one site – unfortunately inaccessible – in Jersey where this is seen is Hougue Boete. But with the dolmens, as Mark Patton has pointed out, the remains found are few in number. On the most prominent Jersey site, he comments, “the bones are scattered in the passage and chamber with no apparent organisation, as at La Hougue Bie, Jersey”. In fact, on sites in Britain and Europe, over the Neolithic period. One site had five different methods of burial for only twice that number of people, so if these sites were not tombs, what were they for. Mark Patton suggest that an analogy is that of churches
30.
La Hougue Bie
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La Hougue Bie is a historic site, with museum, in the Jersey parish of Grouville. Hougue is a Jèrriais/Norman language word meaning a mound and comes from the Old Norse word haugr, La Hougue Bie is depicted on the 2010 issue Jersey 1 pound note. The site consists of an 18.6 metre long passage chamber covered by a 12.2 metre high earth mound, the site was first excavated in 1925 by the Société Jersiaise. Fragments of twenty vase supports were found along with the remains of at least eight individuals. Gravegoods, mostly pottery, were also present, at some time in the past, the site had evidently been entered and ransacked. On top of the mound were built two Medieval chapels, the Channel Islands, have five passage graves with side chambers. La Hougue Bie is a Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3500 BC, in Western Europe, it is one of the largest and best preserved passage graves and the most impressive and best preserved monument of Armorican Passage Grave group. Although they are termed passage graves, they were ceremonial sites, whose function was similar to churches or cathedrals. Although many passage graves showed evidence of continued activity into the Late Neolithic period, atop the mound are two medieval chapels, one 12th Century and the other from the 16th Century. This building complex has been altered a great deal through its history - including being engulfed for a period by the The Prince’s Tower, the building was demolished in 1924. During World War II it was used as a key point. This structure is open to the public, and houses an exhibition commemorating the workers from across Europe forced to build defences in Jersey during the German occupation, the site, which is managed by Jersey Heritage, also houses the islands Archeology and Geology Museum. In that section, there is a dedicated to the Jersey Mummy. Archaeology of the Channel Islands Jersey Dolmens Tumulus Nash, G. H, experiencing Space and Symmetry, The Use, Destruction and Abandonment of La Hougue Bie Neolithic Passage Grave, Jersey in G. H. Nash Semiotics and Landscape, The Archaeology of Mind, fourth interim report on the facade area of La Hougue Bie Passage Grave, Jersey. Fifth interim report on the facade and entrance areas of La Hougue Bie Passage Grave, the Archaeology of the Channel Islands. Vol.2, The Bailiwick of Jersey by Jacquetta Hawkes The Prehistoric Foundations of Europe to the Mycenean Age,1940, Hawkes The Archaeology and Early History of the Channel Islands, Heather Sebire,2005. Dolmens of Jersey, A Guide, James Hibbs, a Guide to The Dolmens of Jersey, Peter Hunt, Société Jersiaise,1998
31.
Mont Orgueil
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Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey that overlooks the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and lé Vièr Châté by Jèrriais-speakers, the site had been fortified in the prehistoric period, but the construction of the castle was undertaken following the division of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204. The castle was first mentioned in 1212, Mont Orgueil was updated with platforms for artillery constructed in 1548 and 1549 under the direction of Henry Cornish, Lieutenant of the Earl of Hertford in Jersey. Cornish complained that earlier repairs to the donjon by Robert Raymont had left it so weak it was vulnerable to musket shot, in 1543 he had asked for a saker cannon that would cover the sands between Grovyll and the castle, where the French had landed in the past. Mont Orgueil was to be superseded by Elizabeth Castle off Saint Helier, walter Raleigh, Governor of Jersey in 1600, rejected a plan to demolish the old castle to recycle the stone for the new fortifications with the words, twere pity to cast it down. The old castle continued to be used as the only prison until the construction of a prison in St. Helier at the end of the 17th century. The English Government found it expedient to send troublesome agitators such as William Prynne, the regicides Thomas Waite, Henry Smith, James Temple, Hardress Waller, and Gilbert Millington were transferred to Mont Orgueil in 1661. During the English Civil War, from March 1643 the then Lieutenant Governor and Bailiif of the island, leaving his wife Anne de Carteret, and their son Philippe de Carteret to occupy Mont Orgueil. It was from Mont Orgueil that the Royalists under Sir George Carteret retook the island from Parliament in November 1643, a report for the States of Jersey in 1691 declared that the barracks accommodation was so dilapidated that it was impossible to quarter troops there. Repairs were carried out 1730–1734 and for the rest of the century, in 1800, the Corbelled Tower was fitted out for use by dAuvergne as his headquarters. In 1846, the castle was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the castle has also hosted subsequent royal ceremonies to welcome George V in 1921 and Elizabeth II, inscriptions mark the occasions. Until the second half of the 19th century, the castle was open to the public on one day a year, Easter Monday and this is believed to be a survival of the pre-Reformation custom of visiting St. Georges Chapel inside the castle on St. Georges Day. The heritage site has been managed by the Jersey Heritage Trust since 1994, in the early 21st century, the Trust planned to build a Tudor hall within the castles keep. Around the same time, a £3 million grant was given to restoration work. In 2004, a commemorative Jersey pound note was put into circulation depicting Mont Orgueil, the castle is depicted on the 2010 issue Jersey 50-pound note. On 2 April 2006, after a building programme, the castle was reopened to the public by the Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey. Restoration work has opened up previously inaccessible areas of the castle to the public, fort Regent Elizabeth Castle Cathcart King, David James, Castellarium Anglicanum, An Index and Bibliography of the Castles in England, Wales and the Islands. V. J. Gorey Castle Mont Orgueil Castle Homepage Bibliography of sources related to Mont Orgueil Castle Time Teams Mont Orguiel Dig Report
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Grosnez Castle
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Grosnez Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle in Saint Ouen, situated in Grosnez in the north-west corner of the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands. Philippe de Carteret held it against the French when they held half of Jersey between 1461 and 1467, but it has been a ruin since the century, Today. Furthermore, there are steps that lead from the rear of Grosnez Castle to a small automated signal station. The name comes from the old Norse words for grey headland - grar nes - an accurate description of the site when seen from the sea, in time the spelling evolved to resemble the French for big nose. A nearby headland to the west has a name, Rouge Nez. Sir John des Roches ordered the castle built around 1330, about the time of the start of the Hundred Years War, the castles purpose was to provide local farmers with a place of refugee from French attacks. The walls are of granite and are thickest on the landward side. The castles position on a clifftop 200 ft above the sea means that the features of the site protect it on three sides. A ditch dug into the rock provides protection on the fourth side, the remains of ruined walls, mostly footings, are still present. A drawbridge and portcullis protected the gatehouse, which is the only surviving remnant. There are traces of six simple buildings, the castle, though, had a number of weaknesses, There were no sally ports for counter-attacks, Most importantly, there was no water well inside the walls. The French captured the castle in 1373 and 1381, the castle was probably last used militarily during the time of the French occupation of Jersey. Governor Harliston approved the dismantling of the ″fort of refuge″ at Grosnez so that the stone could be re-used in fortifying St. Ouens Manor. e. - embezzled the income - and he was investing heavily in renovating the manor buildings. His shortage of money was both what influenced him to marry the daughter of the Plantagenet Governor Harliston, and also led him into conflict with the second governor of the island after 1486. When Matthew Baker was sent to take Harlistons place in 1486, De Carteret was already under some suspicion as a Plantagenet supporter - after all - the rebel Governor Harliston was his father-in-law. When King Henry VII ordered an examination of outstanding accounts by the Exchequer clerks. This, then, is the background to the dismantling of Grosnez Castle -, in 1806, a naval signal station was established at Grosnez to send messages to Guernsey
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Elizabeth Castle
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Elizabeth Castle is a castle and tourist attraction, on a tidal island within the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. It is named after Elizabeth I who was the queen of England around the time the castle was built, the tidal island called LIslet lying in Saint Aubin, Jersey {St Aubins Bay] became the site of the Abbey of Saint Helier. The Crown confiscated the buildings at the Reformation. Surviving buildings were used for military purposes, construction of the earliest parts of the castle, the Upper Ward including the Queen Elizabeth Gate, began in 1594. This work was carried out by the Flemish military engineer Paul Ivy, governors of Jersey moved their official residence from Mont Orgueil to Elizabeth Castle. Sir Walter Raleigh Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603, named the castle Elizabeth Castle after Elizabeth I of England, the Lower Ward was constructed, between 1626 and 1636, on the site of the ruined Abbey church. This area of the castle became a ground, surrounded by a barrack building. Wells and cisterns for water existed within this area, the castle was first used in a military context during the English Civil War in the 17th century. In 1651, a windmill was constructed half-way between Fort Charles and the Lower Ward, in the same year, the Parliamentarian forces landed in Jersey and bombarded the castle with mortars. Jersey was held by Parliamentarians for the nine years until the restoration of the monarchy. In 1668, or shortly afterwards, King Williams Gate was constructed, during the Seven Years War, French prisoners were kept at the island. Perhaps the most well known was Jean-Louis Le Loutre, the castle was next involved in conflict in the late 18th century, this time it was with the French. French troops under Baron Phillipe de Rullecourt landed in St Helier on 6 January 1781, the governor Moise Corbet was tricked into surrendering to the French, but the castle garrison under Captain Mulcaster refused to surrender. The French were eventually defeated by troops under Major Francis Peirson at the Battle of Jersey, both Peirson and de Rullecourt were killed during the battle. The perceived vulnerability of the Island led to the construction of Fort Regent on Le Mont de la Ville, Fort Regent became the site of the main British garrison. A two-story barracks hospital building was constructed in the early 19th century, a plan to link the castle to the mainland as part of an ambitious harbour project in the 19th century was abandoned. A breakwater linking LIslet to the Hermitage Rock on which the Hermitage of Saint Helier is built remains, the British government withdrew the garrison and relinquished the castle to the States of Jersey in 1923. The States then opened it to the public as a museum, during the Second World War the Germans, who occupied the Channel Islands, modernised the castle with guns, bunkers and battlements
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Battle of Jersey
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The Battle of Jersey was an attempt by French forces to invade Jersey and remove the threat the island posed to French and American shipping in the Anglo-French War. Jersey provided a base for British privateers, and France, engaged in the war as an ally of the United States and its commander, Baron Philippe de Rullecourt, died of wounds sustained in the fighting. The battle is remembered for the death of the British officer Major Peirson. Large numbers of privateers operated out of the island, causing chaos amongst French merchant shipping, Jersey privateers even operated off the coast of America. The French government decided to neutralize this threat, aware of the military importance of Jersey, the British government had ordered that the island be heavily fortified. King George III granted approval and funding on 5 July 1778, perhaps four towers had been completed by the time of the Battle of Jersey, none where the French would land. Gun batteries, forts and redoubts already existed around the coast, all adult males had for centuries been required by law to serve in the Jersey Militia which in 1780 comprised some 3,000 men in five regiments, including artillery and dragoons. Regular army units—the entire 95th Regiment of Foot, five each of the 83rd Regiment of Foot and 78th Seaforth Highlanders. A total force amounted to about 6,250 troops of all types were available on the island, a naval force, the Jersey Squadron, was also based in the island, but was on a cruise against the Dutch at the time of the invasion. On 1 May 1779, during the Anglo-French War a French force under the command of the French born Prince of Nassau-Siegen attempted a landing at St Ouens Bay. Early that morning lookouts sighted five large vessels and a number of boats some three leagues off the coast, proceeding towards the coast to effect a landing. Guns on the cutters and small craft supporting the landing fired grapeshot at the defenders on the coast, the defenders were able to prevent the landing, suffering only a few men wounded when a cannon burst. The French vessels withdrew, first holding off a league from the coast before leaving the area entirely, De Rullecourt was an adventurer and a colonel in the French Army. King Louis XVI had promised de Rullecourt the rank of General and the Cordon rouge as soon as he had control of the town of Saint Helier, officially the expedition was a private affair. However, funding, equipment, transport and troops were provided by the French government, in order to conceal their involvement, the government went so far as to order the desertion of several hundred regular troops to De Rullecourts forces. On 5 January 1781 the expedition set out from Granville, consisting of some 2,000 soldiers in four divisions, there was a storm which scattered some ships and only 1,200 initially made it to Jersey. Jersey still celebrated 6 January as Old Christmas Night, and the French landed undetected, the 800 men of the first division landed at La Rocque, Grouville, on the south east coast and passed close by the guards without being noticed. A French officer even said that he had slept beneath the guards, the guards were subsequently put on trial, where it was found they had abandoned their post to go drinking
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Coastal fortifications of Jersey
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The fortifications include castles, forts, towers, Martello towers, artillery batteries, and seawalls. Not infrequently, fortifications from one period are built on the site of fortifications, or very near them. As of 2013, some of the fortifications are museums, or holiday accommodation, private homes, most are under the control of the States of Jersey, Jersey Heritage, the National Trust for Jersey, and the Channel Islands Occupation Society. Coastal towers stand all along the coast of the island, king George III granted approval and funding on 5 July 1778. Work began in 1779, after a failed French landing at St Ouens Bay on 1 May 1779, perhaps four had been completed by the time of the Battle of Jersey in 1781, in which however they played no part. Guernsey, which the French did not attack, had built 15 loophole towers between 1778 and 1779, seymour Tower, which replaced an earlier tower on the same spot at La Rocque, was built of granite and was the only square tower. The other 22 towers that Conway had constructed were round, although frequently called Martello towers, the round towers are taller, and they predate the development of true Martello towers. The round towers differ from Martello towers in several ways, the Jersey towers are mostly built with local granite rather than brick, have a slighter batter, and most importantly, originally did not have a cannon on the top platform. Later, at the onset of the Napoleonic Wars, both the Jersey and Guernsey towers each received a 12-pounder carronade on a mount for the top platform. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II, the Germans also destroyed several towers. Some of the towers have been painted on the seaward side to serve as daymarks. Archirondel is painted red and white, while other towers are painted white and red, or white, in whole or in part, again, the order below is counter-clockwise from the north-west corner of the island. Numismatics The latest Jersey pound note design has a picture of the St Clements tower at Le Hocq and this tower also appears on the reverse of the Jersey 1p coin. The British built eight true Martello towers in Jersey, three between 1808 and 1814, and five between 1834 and 1837, the German occupation forces destroyed one of the second group, LEtacq, during World War II. La Tour Cârrée Le Couperon guardhouse Le Don Hilton Plémont guardhouse, the British built the guardhouse in the 18th Century and by 1812 it had a battery associated with it that was armed with an 18-pounder muzzle-loading gun. During the German occupation, the Germans made a field position of the guardhouse. They added an emplacement with twin guns, a mortar emplacement, an observation post. They also added a Tobruk with a tank turret atop it, during World War II Nazi Germany constructed a considerable number of fortifications in the Channel Islands which form part of the Atlantic Wall
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Jersey Railway
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The Jersey Railway was opened in 1870 and was originally a standard gauge railway,3 3⁄4 miles long, in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Converted to narrow gauge in 1884 and extended giving a length of 7 3⁄4 miles and it is not to be confused with the Jersey Eastern Railway. In 1864 the States of Jersey passed a law authorising the construction of the islands first railway and this standard gauge line was constructed, connecting St. Helier to St. Aubin, and the first train ran 25 October 1870. This railway was not a success and the company declared bankruptcy in 1874, the railway continued to operate but passed through a succession of proprietors until 1883. Meanwhile, the owner of a quarry near La Moye had petitioned to build a railway linking his quarry to St. Aubin. This law passed in June 1871 and the St Aubin & La Moye Railway commenced construction to the gauge of 3 ft 6 in. In 1883 the Jersey Railway and the partially completed St Aubin & La Moye Railway were amalgamated into the Jersey Railways Company Limited, the first through service ran between St Helier and La Corbière on 5 August 1885. This railway too hit financial difficulties and in 1895 entered voluntary liquidation, in 1896 a new company, the Jersey Railways and Tramways Co. Ltd. was formed to take over the assets of the failed company. The railway was improved, with an extension to La Corbière Pavilion opening in 1899 and was successful up to the outbreak of the First World War, the railway continued during the war, but by 1917 traffic had declined significantly. In 1922 the decision was made to introduce railcars to reduce operating costs and these helped the company to revive its fortunes in the mid 1920s with 1925 being the peak in terms of passengers carried and profitability. By 1928 competition from buses and private cars were threatening the railways future, the decline was quite rapid and by 1932 the winter service had been withdrawn. In October 1936 a fire destroyed the roof of St. Aubin station, the line did not reopen for the 1937 summer season, and all remaining locomotives and railcars were scrapped in 1937. The States of Jersey purchased the route of the line from St Helier to La Corbière on 1 April 1937 for the sum of £25,000, the rails were lifted and the smaller stations demolished. The Jersey railway, in its form, was a single track route with passing places at the termini, Millbrook, St Aubin. The main station at the Weighbridge in St Helier was the headquarters of the line and featured an impressive building, glass roof. The locomotive sheds and maintenance workshops were also at this location, the workshops were capable of very heavy repair work and the manufacture of carriages – the distance from the mainland made the railway very self-sufficient. Between St Helier and St Aubin, the railway ran a route along the seafront - between the beach and main promenade road. Millbrook station featured two platforms and a footbridge and it was moved and rebuilt on a new site in 1912 to make way for an extension to the seafront promenade
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Jersey Eastern Railway
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The Jersey Eastern Railway was a railway that began operations on 6 August 1873 in Jersey. The line closed on 21 June 1929 and it is not to be confused with the Jersey Railway. The law authorised the railway from Snow Hill in St Helier, to Gorey and from there to St Catherines Bay in St Martin, there was no mention of gauge. On 15 May 1871, the appointed by the States met to consider objections by landowners. The first turf was dug by Mrs Mourant, wife of Edward Mourant, the line was opened on 6 August 1873, with a train of six carriages taking the States Members and their wives along the track to Grouville Station in 15 minutes. The official opening of Gorey station was on 25 May 1891, the journey of just over six miles from St Helier cost 9d first class return, 6d second class return. In 1923 the Jersey Motor Transport Company started a bus carrying passengers all over the Island. The company itself was liquidated in 1932, most of the land was sold to adjacent landowners, but part of the route can be seen near Fauvic, where it has been preserved as a footpath. The Jersey Eastern Railway Terminus Hotel at Snow Hill remains, and is on the Register of Historic Buildings, north Western 2-4-0T Built by Sharp Stewart in 1870. Locomotive was purchased from the Jersey Railway in 1878 and was withdrawn in 1898, kitson & Co. of Leeds built all four of the following 0-4-2T engines, Caesarea,1872. Normandy Brittany Both Built by Sentinel Waggon Works and purchased in 1927, list of Channel Islands railways The Bailiwick of Jersey, G. R. Balleine Balleines History of Jersey The Jersey Eastern Railway, N. R. P
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German occupation of the Channel Islands
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The Channel Islands were occupied by Nazi German forces for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until their peaceful liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are two British Crown dependencies in the English Channel, near the coast of Normandy, the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Wehrmacht during the war. Anticipating a swift victory over Britain, the occupiers experimented by using a gentle approach that set the theme for the next five years. The island authorities adopted an attitude, giving rise to accusations of collaboration. However, as time progressed the situation grew worse, ending in near starvation for both occupied and occupiers during the winter of 1944-45. Between 3 September 1939, when the United Kingdom declared war against Germany, conscription did not exist, but a number of people travelled to Britain to join up as volunteers. On 10 May 1940 Germany attacked the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg by air and land, the Battle of France was reaching its climax on Empire Day,24 May, when King George VI addressed his subjects by radio, saying, The decisive struggle is now upon us. Let no one be mistaken, it is not mere territorial conquest that our enemies are seeking and it is the overthrow, complete and final, of this Empire and of everything for which it stands, and after that the conquest of the world. And if their will prevails they will bring to its accomplishment all the hatred, the war was moving swiftly towards the islands, but still the islands did not react. Weather conditions determined that only 10 Whitleys reached their intended targets, Two bombers were lost in the action. Thus despite the reluctance of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British government gave up the oldest possession of the Crown without firing a single shot, the Channel Islands served no purpose to the Germans other than the propaganda value of having occupied British territory. The Channel Islands had been demilitarised and declared, on 16 June 1940 the Lieutenant-Governors of each island were instructed to make available as many boats as possible to aid the evacuation of Saint-Malo. Guernsey was too far away to help at short notice. The Bailiff of Jersey called on the Saint Helier Yacht Club in Jersey to help, four yachts set off immediately, with 14 others being made ready within 24 hours. On 17 June 1940, a plane arrived in Jersey from Bordeaux evacuating Brigade General Charles de Gaulle from France. After coffee and refuelling, the plane flew on to Heston, the last troops left the islands on 20 June, departing so quickly that half-consumed meals and bedding were left in Castle Cornet. The realisation of the necessity of civilian evacuation from the Channel Islands came very late, with no forward planning and secrecy being maintained, communications between the island governments and the UK took place in an atmosphere of confusion and misinterpretation. Opinion was divided and chaos ensued with different policies adopted by the different islands, the British government concluded its best policy was to make available as many ships as possible so that islanders had the option to leave if they wanted to
