1.
Asia
–
Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
2.
Southeast Asia
–
Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
3.
Thailand
–
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam, is a country at the centre of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total area of approximately 513,000 km2, Thailand is the worlds 51st-largest country and it is the 20th-most-populous country in the world, with around 66 million people. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has switched between parliamentary democracy and military junta for decades, the latest coup being in May 2014 by the National Council for Peace and Order. Its capital and most populous city is Bangkok and its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. The Thai economy is the worlds 20th largest by GDP at PPP and it became a newly industrialised country and a major exporter in the 1990s. Manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism are leading sectors of the economy and it is considered a middle power in the region and around the world. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens, by outsiders prior to 1949, it was usually known by the exonym Siam. The word Siam has been identified with the Sanskrit Śyāma, the names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word. The word Śyâma is possibly not its origin, but a learned, another theory is the name derives from Chinese, Ayutthaya emerged as a dominant centre in the late fourteenth century. The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam, the signature of King Mongkut reads SPPM Mongkut King of the Siamese, giving the name Siam official status until 24 June 1939 when it was changed to Thailand. Thailand was renamed Siam from 1945 to 11 May 1949, after which it reverted to Thailand. According to George Cœdès, the word Thai means free man in the Thai language, ratcha Anachak Thai means kingdom of Thailand or kingdom of Thai. Etymologically, its components are, ratcha, -ana- -chak, the Thai National Anthem, written by Luang Saranupraphan during the extremely patriotic 1930s, refers to the Thai nation as, prathet Thai. The first line of the anthem is, prathet thai ruam lueat nuea chat chuea thai, Thailand is the unity of Thai flesh. There is evidence of habitation in Thailand that has been dated at 40,000 years before the present. Similar to other regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions of India, Thailand in its earliest days was under the rule of the Khmer Empire, which had strong Hindu roots, and the influence among Thais remains even today. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into Siam from India in the time of the Indian Emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire, later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire. The Menam Basin was originally populated by the Mons, and the location of Dvaravati in the 7th century, the History of the Yuan mentions an embassy from the kingdom of Sukhothai in 1282
4.
Indonesia
–
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a unitary sovereign state and transcontinental country located mainly in Southeast Asia with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the worlds largest island country, with more than seventeen thousand islands. At 1,904,569 square kilometres, Indonesia is the worlds 14th-largest country in terms of area and worlds 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea. It has an population of over 260 million people and is the worlds fourth most populous country. The worlds most populous island, Java, contains more than half of the countrys population, Indonesias republican form of government includes an elected legislature and president. Indonesia has 34 provinces, of which five have Special Administrative status and its capital and countrys most populous city is Jakarta, which is also the most populous city in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, other neighbouring countries include Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the second highest level of biodiversity. The country has abundant natural resources like oil and natural gas, tin, copper, agriculture mainly produces rice, palm oil, tea, coffee, cacao, medicinal plants, spices and rubber. Indonesias major trading partners are Japan, United States, China, the Indonesian archipelago has been an important region for trade since at least the 7th century, when Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Indonesia consists of hundreds of native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, a shared identity has developed, defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesias national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, articulates the diversity that shapes the country, Indonesias economy is the worlds 16th largest by nominal GDP and the 8th largest by GDP at PPP, the largest in Southeast Asia, and is considered an emerging market and newly industrialised country. Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, Indonesia is a member of the G20 major economies and World Trade Organization. The name Indonesia derives from the Greek name of the Indós, the name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and, his preference, in the same publication, one of his students, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia, they preferred Malay Archipelago, the Netherlands East Indies, popularly Indië, the East, and Insulinde
5.
Brunei
–
Brunei, officially the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, the country is surrounded by the state of Sarawak. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang, Brunei is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, the remainder of the islands territory is divided between the nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. Bruneis population was 408,786 in July 2012, the maritime state was visited by Spains Magellan Expedition in 1521 and fought against Spain in the 1578 Castille War. During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline, the Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke and installed him as the White Rajah, and it ceded Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British resident as colonial manager in 1906, after the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, an armed rebellion against the monarchy was ended with the help of the British. Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, Economic growth during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. It has developed wealth from petroleum and natural gas fields. Brunei has the second-highest Human Development Index among the Southeast Asian nations, after Singapore, according to the International Monetary Fund, Brunei is ranked fifth in the world by gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. The IMF estimated in 2011 that Brunei was one of two countries with a debt at 0% of the national GDP. Forbes also ranks Brunei as the fifth-richest nation out of 182, based on its petroleum, according to legend, Brunei was founded by Awang Alak Betatar, later to be Sultan Muhammad Shah. He moved from Garang, a place in the Temburong District to the Brunei River estuary, according to legend, upon landing he exclaimed, Baru nah, from which the name Brunei was derived. He was the first Muslim ruler of Brunei, before the rise of the Bruneian Empire under the Muslim Bolkiah Dynasty, Brunei is believed to have been under Buddhist rulers. It was renamed Barunai in the 14th century, possibly influenced by the Sanskrit word varuṇ, the word Borneo is of the same origin. In the countrys name, Negara Brunei Darussalam, darussalam means abode of peace. The people are pagans and are men of goodwill and their colour is whiter than that of the other sort. in this island justice is well administered. One of the earliest Chinese records is the 977 AD letter to Chinese emperor from the ruler of Po-ni, which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo
6.
Mount Kinabalu
–
Mount Kinabalu is a mountain in Sabah, Malaysia. It is protected as Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site, Kinabalu is the highest peak in Borneos Crocker Range and is the highest mountain in the Malay Archipelago as well as the highest mountain in Malaysia. Mount Kinabalu is also the 20th most prominent mountain in the world by topographic prominence, Mount Kinabalu includes the Kinabalu montane alpine meadows ecoregion in the montane grasslands and shrublands biome. Among this rich collection of wildlife are famous such as the gigantic Rafflesia plants. Mount Kinabalu has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status, Lows Peak can be climbed quite easily by a person in good physical condition and there is no need for mountaineering equipment at any point on the main route. Other peaks along the massif, however, require rock climbing skills, a recent botanical survey of the mountain estimated a staggering 5,000 to 6,000 plant species, which is more than all of Europe and North America combined. It is therefore one of the worlds most important biological sites, the flora covers the mountain in zones of different types of habitat as one climbs up, beginning with a lowland belt of fig trees and insectivorous pitcher plants. Then between 2,600 to 3,200 m is a layer of trees such the conifer Dacrydium gibbsiae and dwarf shrubs, mosses, lichens, liverworts. Finally many of the worlds richest variety of orchids are found on the high rockier slopes and these plants have high levels of endemism. The parasitic Rafflesia plant, which has the largest single flower in the world, is found in Kinabalu, though it should be noted that blooms of the flower are rare. Meanwhile another Rafflesia species, Rafflesia tengku-adlinii, can be found on the neighbouring Mount Trus Madi and this diversity is greatest in the lowland regions. However, most of Kinabalus endemic species are found in the mountain forests, the variety of plant life is also habitat for a great variety of birds and mammals. Twenty-four birds are found on the mountain. The mountain is home to some 100 mammalian species mostly living high in the trees, including one of the four great apes, other mammals include three kinds of deer, the Malayan weasel, oriental small-clawed otter, and leopard cat. Endemic mammals include the shrew and Bornean ferret-badger. Endemic annelids number less than a known species but include the Kinabalu giant red leech that preys on various earthworms. In the summit zone, at least 26 endemic species of land snail exist, Kinabalu Park was established in 1964 and the nearby mountains were protected as the Crocker Range National Park in 1984. However even national park status does not guarantee full protection, as logging permits were granted on Trus Madi in 1984
7.
Indian Ocean
–
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the worlds oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km2. It is bounded by Asia on the north, on the west by Africa, on the east by Australia, the Indian Ocean is known as Ratnākara, the mine of gems in ancient Sanskrit literature, and as Hind Mahāsāgar, in Hindi. The northernmost extent of the Indian Ocean is approximately 30° north in the Persian Gulf, the oceans continental shelves are narrow, averaging 200 kilometres in width. An exception is found off Australias western coast, where the width exceeds 1,000 kilometres. The average depth of the ocean is 3,890 m and its deepest point is Diamantina Deep in Diamantina Trench, at 8,047 m deep, Sunda Trench has a depth of 7, 258–7,725 m. North of 50° south latitude, 86% of the basin is covered by pelagic sediments. The remaining 14% is layered with terrigenous sediments, glacial outwash dominates the extreme southern latitudes. The major choke points include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, the Lombok Strait, the Strait of Malacca, the Indian Ocean is artificially connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, which is accessible via the Red Sea. All of the Indian Ocean is in the Eastern Hemisphere and the centre of the Eastern Hemisphere is in this ocean, marginal seas, gulfs, bays and straits of the Indian Ocean include, The climate north of the equator is affected by a monsoon climate. Strong north-east winds blow from October until April, from May until October south, in the Arabian Sea the violent Monsoon brings rain to the Indian subcontinent. In the southern hemisphere, the winds are milder. When the monsoon winds change, cyclones sometimes strike the shores of the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean is the warmest ocean in the world. Long-term ocean temperature records show a rapid, continuous warming in the Indian Ocean, Indian Ocean warming is the largest among the tropical oceans, and about 3 times faster than the warming observed in the Pacific. Research indicates that human induced greenhouse warming, and changes in the frequency, among the few large rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean are the Zambezi, Shatt al-Arab, Indus, Godavari, Krishna, Narmada, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Jubba and Irrawaddy River. The oceans currents are controlled by the monsoon. Two large gyres, one in the northern hemisphere flowing clockwise and one south of the equator moving anticlockwise, during the winter monsoon, however, currents in the north are reversed. Deep water circulation is controlled primarily by inflows from the Atlantic Ocean, the Red Sea, north of 20° south latitude the minimum surface temperature is 22 °C, exceeding 28 °C to the east. Southward of 40° south latitude, temperatures drop quickly, surface water salinity ranges from 32 to 37 parts per 1000, the highest occurring in the Arabian Sea and in a belt between southern Africa and south-western Australia
8.
Rajang River
–
The Rajang River is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. The river is located in northwest of Borneo and it originates in the Iran Mountains, the river flows approximately 563 km into Kapit, and then to the South China Sea, making it the longest river in Malaysia. Some of the important tributaries are the Balui River, Katibas River, Ngemah River, Iran River, Pila River, Balleh River, Bangkit River, at mountaintops, rain became snow which accumulated as huge icy sheets, thus making a break in the global hydrological cycle. Due to lack of water discharge into the sea, there was a 120-meter drop of sea levels from the present time, the South China Sea dried up, exposing the Sunda Shelf and previous deep trenches became huge ancient rivers called the North Sunda River. The Asian mainland, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java were connected to Borneo via the landbridge of the exposed Sunda Shelf. The North Sunda River provided vital connection to the north, Baram and Rajang rivers in Sarawak to the east and Pahang River, after the Holocene global temperatures increased, the landbridges and the Sunda River were inudated and the catfish populations were isolated. However, their motives are still in the DNA as an evidence of the previous connections of Rajang River to other rivers in Indochina. Bruit Island is situated inside the Rajang Delta, with a house at the Sirik Point. A total of 30 species of mammals are recorded along the Rajang basin in 2004, the mouth of the river is the only place where the dolphins can be sighted. Totally protected mammals include gibbon, langurs, black giant squirrel, slow loris, civets, otters, bats, treeshrew, and primates are also included under Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998. Wild pigs and deers are the most frequently hunted animals by the locals while primates can be hunted incidentally,122 species of birds were sighted along the Rajang basin in 2004. 21 species were recorded along the mouth of the river while 96 species were recorded in Hose Mountains and 88 species at Lanjak Entimau which are located in the interior of Sarawak. The only endemic species of birds located at Rajang basin is Dusky munia which is found abundantly in paddy fields, other species of birds which are commonly found along the Rajang basin are, Pacific swallow, Little spiderhunter, and Asian glossy starling. 20 species of birds are protected while 7 species of birds are protected under the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998. A total of 164 fish species has been recorded at the Rajang basin in 2005, empurau and Semah fish are considered popular fishes among the locals. Empurau fish is found breeding near the upper tributaries of Rajang such as Balleh River. The biggest town by the river is Sibu, some 60 kilometers upriver from the mouth of the Rajang, other towns which located at its banks are Sarikei, Bintangor, Song and Belaga. The town of Sibu can be assessed by oceangoing vessels for 80 miles while an additional 100 miles of the river can be assessed by shallow-draft craft, the remaining parts of the river which leads into the Sarawak interior can only be assessed by small canoes
9.
Kenyir Lake
–
Tasik Kenyir or Kenyir Lake is an artificial lake located in Hulu Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia created in 1985 by the damming of the Kenyir River. The lake provides water to the Sultan Mahmud Power Station and it is the largest man-made lake in South East Asia with an area of 260,000 hectares. The lake borders Kelantan in the west and Pahang in the south and this immense lake also serves as another gateway to Taman Negara. The lake has an area of 260 km² and contains 340 small islands. Because the lake is a reservoir, the level can vary depending on the month. The water level is highest in March and April, Kenyir Lake is also home to numerous species of freshwater fishes and exotic wildlife. With a water catchment area of 38,000 hectares, the lake is naturally a haven for freshwater fish, a recent study revealed that there are some 300 species of freshwater fish dwelling in the lake. The presence of trees around the lake serves as a perfect breeding ground for these fishes. Algae growing on trees and branches serve as the main form of sustenance for the fishes. From studies and observations conducted by the Department of Fisheries, species such as the big Lampam Sungai, Kelah, Toman, Kawan, Kalui and Kelisa are found in waters and around dead trees. The jungles surrounding Kenyir Lake are home to endangered species, such as Asian elephants. Although an artificial lake, the area has successfully developed for eco-tourism. Fishing is popular, as are jungle treks, waterfalls and caves, according to the locals, the best season for fishing is August when the water level is lower. Popular spots for trekking are Pengkalan Gawi, Bewah at National Park, along the rivers of Saok, Lasir, Tembat. Kayaking, canoeing, boating, rafting and rapids shooting are among the water sport activities available here. Sultan Mahmud Power Station Tasik Kenyir main website Tourism Malaysia - Kenyir Lake Kenyir Information Site by the Central Terengganu Development Board
10.
Physical geography
–
Physical geography is one of the two major sub-fields of geography. Geomorphology seeks to understand landform history and dynamics, and predict future changes through a combination of observation, physical experiment. Thus the field encompasses water in rivers, lakes, aquifers and to an extent glaciers, in which the field examines the process and dynamics involved in these bodies of water. Similar to most fields of physical geography it has sub-fields that examine the bodies of water or their interaction with other spheres e. g. limnology and ecohydrology. Glaciology is the study of glaciers and ice sheets, or more commonly the cryosphere or ice, glaciology groups the latter as continental glaciers and the former as alpine glaciers. Glaciology also has a vast array of sub-fields examining the factors and processes involved in ice sheets and glaciers e. g. snow hydrology, Biogeography is the science which deals with geographic patterns of species distribution and the processes that result in these patterns. The main stimulus for the field since its founding has been that of evolution, plate tectonics, climatology examines both the nature of micro and macro climates and the natural and anthropogenic influences on them. The field is also sub-divided largely into the climates of various regions, meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and short term forecasting. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century, meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by the science of meteorology. Pedology is the study of soils in their natural environment and it is one of two main branches of soil science, the other being edaphology. Pedology mainly deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology, soil classification, palaeogeography is a cross-disciplinary study that examines the preserved material in the stratigraphic record to determine the distribution of the continents through geologic time. Almost all the evidence for the positions of the continents comes from geology in the form of fossils or paleomagnetism, the use of this data has resulted in evidence for continental drift, plate tectonics, and supercontinents. This, in turn, has supported palaeogeographic theories such as the Wilson cycle, coastal geography is the study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography and the human geography of the coast. It involves an understanding of coastal weathering processes, particularly wave action, sediment movement and weathering, coastal geography, although predominantly geomorphological in its research, is not just concerned with coastal landforms, but also the causes and influences of sea level change. Oceanography is the branch of geography that studies the Earths oceans. These diverse topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers blend to further knowledge of the world ocean, Quaternary science is an inter-disciplinary field of study focusing on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years. The field was founded by the German geographer Carl Troll. Landscape ecology typically deals with problems in an applied and holistic context, geomatics is the field of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information
11.
Human geography
–
Human geography attends to human patterns of social interaction, as well as spacial level interdependencies, and how they influence or affect the earths environment. Geography was not recognized as an academic discipline until the 18th century, although many scholars had undertaken geographical scholarship for much longer. The Royal Geographical Society was founded in England in 1830, although the United Kingdom did not get its first full Chair of geography until 1917, the first real geographical intellect to emerge in United Kingdoms geographical minds was Halford John Mackinder, appointed reader at Oxford University in 1887. The society has long supported geographic research and education on geographical topics, though a physician and a pioneer of epidemiology, the map is probably one of the earliest examples of health geography. The now fairly distinct differences between the subfields of physical and human geography have developed at a later date, environmental determinism is the theory, that peoples physical, mental and moral habits are directly due to the influence of their natural environment. However, by the century, environmental determinism was under attack for lacking methodological rigor associated with modern science. A similar concern with human and physical aspects is apparent during the later 19th and first half of the 20th centuries focused on regional geography. With links to possibilism and cultural ecology, some of the notions of causal effect of the environment on society. By the 1960s, however, the revolution led to strong criticism of regional geography. Well-known geographers from this period are Fred K. Schaefer, Waldo Tobler, William Garrison, Peter Haggett, Richard J. Chorley, William Bunge, from the 1970s, a number of critiques of the positivism now associated with geography emerged. Known under the term critical geography, these critiques signaled another turning point in the discipline, behavioral geography emerged for some time as a means to understand how people made perceived spaces and places, and made locational decisions. The more influential radical geography emerged in the 1970s and 1980s and it draws heavily on Marxists theory and techniques, and is associated with geographers such as David Harvey and Richard Peet. Radical geography and the links to Marxism and related theories remain an important part of human geography. Critical geography also saw the introduction of geography, associated with the work of Yi-Fu Tuan. Subfields include, Social geography, Animal geographies, Language geography, Sexuality and Space, Childrens geographies, the subject matter investigated is strongly influenced by the researchers methodological approach. Economic geography examines relationships between economic systems, states, and other factors, and the biophysical environment. Health geography deals with the relations and patterns between people and the environment. This is a sub-discipline of human geography, researching how and why diseases are spread, historical geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and real geographies of the past
12.
Malaysia
–
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
13.
Peninsular Malaysia
–
Peninsular Malaysia, also known as West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula and surrounding islands. Its area is 130,598 square kilometres and it shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore, across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra. East Malaysia is to the east across the South China Sea, Peninsular Malaysia accounts for the majority of Malaysias population and economy, as of 2015 its population is roughly 25 million. In 1963, the name Malaysia was adopted by the new federation uniting the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, at the time, the Philippines had also contemplated adopting the name. Peninsular Malaysia is also known as West Malaysia or Malaya, in current everyday usage the word Malaya is almost always used jocularly, e. g. Gempar satu Malaya. Which roughly means shakes the whole of Malaya, the term Malaya generally included Singapore until 1946, when Singapore was excluded from the formation of Malayan Union. In Singapore law, Malaya includes Singapore, whereas the term States of Malaya does not, the majority of people on Peninsular Malaysia are ethnic Malays, predominantly Muslim. Large Chinese and Indian populations exist, the Orang Asli are the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia, they numbered around 140,000 and mostly lived in inland parts of the region. Unlike the East Coast, the West Coast is partitioned further into three regions, including, The Northern Region, Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak, the Central Region, Selangor and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. The Southern Region, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor Even though Johor has a coastline facing the South China Sea and these rights were granted as part of Sarawaks 18-point agreement and Sabahs 20-point agreement with Federation of Malaya in forming the Federation of Malaysia. Malaya Malayan dollar Peninsular Malaysia travel guide from Wikivoyage
14.
East Malaysia
–
East Malaysia, also known as Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan or Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo. It consists of the Malaysian states of Sabah, Sarawak, and it lies to the east of Peninsular Malaysia, which is located on the Malay Peninsula. The two are separated by the South China Sea, while East Malaysia is less populated and less developed than West Malaysia, its land mass is larger and it has notably more natural resources, chiefly oil and gas reserves. Some parts of present-day East Malaysia, especially the regions, were once part of the thalassocracy of the Sultanate of Brunei. However, most parts of the region consisted of independent tribal societies. In 1658, the northern and eastern coasts of Sabah were ceded to the Sultanate of Sulu while the west coast of Sabah, beginning in the mid 19th century, Sabah and Sarawak became British protectorates, and, in 1946, they became separate British colonies. Sabah and Sarawak were separate British colonies from Malaya, and did not become part of the Federation of Malaya in 1957, however, each voted to become part of the new Federation of Malaysia along with the Federation of Malaya and Singapore in 1963. Previously, there were efforts to unite Brunei, Sabah, and Sarawak under the North Borneo Federation, Sabah and Sarawak retained a higher degree of local government and legislative autonomy than other states in West Malaysia. For example, both states have their own immigration controls, requiring Malaysian citizens from West Malaysia to carry passports or identity cards when visiting East Malaysia, the islands of Labuan were once part of North Borneo in 1946 before becoming a Federal Territory in Malaysia on 1984. It was used to establish a centre for finance in 1990. The consensus seems to be that Sabah and Sarawak are merely states of the federation with a higher degree of autonomy compared to states in Peninsular Malaysia. There are also separate laws governing Sabah and Sarawak, as opposed to the National Land Code. With regard to the administration of justice, the courts in East Malaysia are part of the court system in Malaysia. The Constitution of Malaysia provides that there shall be two High Courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction – The High Court in Malaya and the High Court in Sabah, the current Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak is Richard Malanjum from Sabah. His office is the fourth highest in the Malaysian judicial system, in 1976, all the Sabah and Sarawak MPs supported the Malaysian parliament bill which downgraded both the states from equal partners to one of the 13 states in the federation. Political parties in Sarawak and Sabah evolved independently of each other, party switching and party leadership tussle are common in both the states. The landscape of East Malaysia is mostly rain forests with areas of mountain rain forest towards the interior regions. The total area of East Malaysia is 200,565 km2, representing approximately 61% of the land area of Malaysia
15.
Malay Peninsula
–
The Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southernmost point of the Asian mainland, the area contains the southernmost tip of Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, and Southern Thailand. The Titiwangsa Mountains are part of the Tenasserim Hills system, and they form the southernmost section of the central cordillera which runs from Tibet through the Kra Isthmus into the Malay Peninsula. The Strait of Malacca separates the Malay Peninsula from the Indonesian island of Sumatra while the south coast is separated from the island of Singapore by the Straits of Johor, the Malay term Tanah Melayu is derived from the word Tanah and Melayu, thus it means the Malay land. The term can be found in various pre-modern Malay texts, of which the oldest dating back to the early 17th century and it is frequently mentioned in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, a well known classical work that began as oral tales associated with the legendary heroes of Malacca Sultanate. Tanah Melayu in the text is consistently employed to refer to the area under Melakan dominance, prior to the foundation of Melaka, reference to Malay peninsula was made in different terms from various foreign sources. According to several Indian scholars, the word Malayadvipa, mentioned in the ancient Indian text, Vayu Purana, may possibly refer to the Malay peninsula. Another Indian source, an inscription on the wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple, recorded the word Malaiur. The Greek source, Geographia, written by Ptolemy, labelled a geographical part of Golden Chersonese as Maleu-kolon, a term thought to derive from Sanskrit malayakolam or malaikurram. During the same era, Marco Polo made a reference to Malauir in his travelogue, as a kingdom located in the Malay peninsula, possibly similar to the one mentioned in Yuan chronicle
16.
Singapore
–
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, sometimes referred to as the Lion City or the Little Red Dot, is a sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree north of the equator, at the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Singapores territory consists of one island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its size by 23%. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, after early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce. Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub, the country has also been identified as a tax haven. Singapore ranks 5th internationally and first in Asia on the UN Human Development Index and it is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing, but does not fare well on the Democracy index. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied, 38% of Singapores 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four languages on the island, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil. English is its language, most Singaporeans are bilingual. Singapore is a multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The Peoples Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959, however, it is unlikely that lions ever lived on the island, Sang Nila Utama, the Srivijayan prince said to have founded and named the island Singapura, perhaps saw a Malayan tiger. There are however other suggestions for the origin of the name, the central island has also been called Pulau Ujong as far back as the third century CE, literally island at the end in Malay. In 1299, according to the Malay Annals, the Kingdom of Singapura was founded on the island by Sang Nila Utama and these Indianized Kingdoms, a term coined by George Cœdès were characterized by surprising resilience, political integrity and administrative stability. In 1613, Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement, which by then was part of the Johor Sultanate. The wider maritime region and much trade was under Dutch control for the following period, in 1824 the entire island, as well as the Temenggong, became a British possession after a further treaty with the Sultan. In 1826, Singapore became part of the Straits Settlements, under the jurisdiction of British India, prior to Raffles arrival, there were only about a thousand people living on the island, mostly indigenous Malays along with a handful of Chinese. By 1860 the population had swelled to over 80,000, many of these early immigrants came to work on the pepper and gambier plantations
17.
Sumatra
–
Sumatra is a large island in western Indonesia that is part of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island that is entirely in Indonesia and the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2, Sumatra is an elongated landmass spanning a diagonal northwest-southeast axis. The Indian Ocean borders the west, northwest, and southwest sides of Sumatra with the chain of Simeulue, Nias. On the northeast side the narrow Strait of Malacca separates the island from the Malay Peninsula, on the southeast the narrow Sunda Strait separates Sumatra from Java. The northern tip of Sumatra borders the Andaman Islands, while on the eastern side are the islands of Bangka and Belitung, Karimata Strait. The Bukit Barisan mountains, which several active volcanoes, form the backbone of the island, while the northeast sides are outlying lowlands with swamps, mangrove. The equator crosses the island at its center on West Sumatra, the climate of the island is tropical, hot and humid with lush tropical rain forest once dominating the landscape. Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit names of Swarnadwīpa and Swarnabhūmi, the first word mentioning the name of Sumatra was the name of Srivijayan Haji Sumatrabhumi, who sent an envoy to China in 1017. Arab geographers referred to the island as Lamri in the tenth through thirteenth centuries, late in the 14th century the name Sumatra became popular in reference to the kingdom of Samudra Pasai, which was a rising power until it was replaced by Sultanate of Aceh. Sultan Alauddin Shah of Aceh, on letters written in 1602 addressed to Queen Elizabeth I of England, referred to himself as king of Aceh, the word itself is from Sanskrit Samudra, meaning gathering together of waters, sea or ocean. European writers in the 19th century found that the inhabitants did not have a name for the island. The Melayu Kingdom was absorbed by Srivijaya, Srivijaya was a Buddhist monarchy centred in what is now Palembang. Dominating the region trade and conquest throughout the 7th to 9th centuries. The empire was a thalassocracy or maritime power that extended its influence from island to island, Palembang was a center for scholarly learning, and it was there the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim I Ching studied Sanskrit in 671 CE before departing for India. On his journey to China, he spent four years in Palembang translating Buddhist texts, Srivijayan influence waned in the 11th century after it was defeated by the Chola Empire of southern India. At the same time, Islam made its way to Sumatra through Arabs, by the late 13th century, the monarch of the Samudra kingdom had converted to Islam. Marco Polo visited the island in 1292, and Ibn Battuta visited twice during 1345–1346, Samudra was succeeded by the powerful Aceh Sultanate, which survived to the 20th century. With the coming of the Dutch, the many Sumatran princely states fell under their control
18.
Borneo
–
Borneo is the third-largest island in the world and the largest island in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, the island is politically divided among three countries, Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory, in the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on an island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state of Brunei, located on the north coast, antipodal to an area of Amazon rainforest, Borneo is itself home to one of the oldest rainforests in the world, and to Bornean orangutans. The island is known by names, internationally it is known as Borneo, after Brunei. The name Brunei possibly was derived from the Sanskrit word váruṇa, meaning either ocean or the mythological Varuna. Indonesian natives called it Kalimantan, which was derived from the Sanskrit word Kalamanthana, prior to that the island was also known by other names. In 977 Chinese records began to use the term Po-ni to refer to Borneo or Brunei, in 1225 it was also mentioned by the Chinese official Chau Ju-Kua. The Javanese manuscript Nagarakretagama, written by Majapahit court poet Mpu Prapanca in 1365, mentioned the island as Nusa Tanjungnagara, to the west of Borneo are the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. To the south and east are islands of Indonesia, Java and Sulawesi, to the northeast are the Philippine Islands. With an area of 743,330 square kilometres, it is the third-largest island in the world and its highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia, with an elevation of 4,095 m. The largest river system is the Kapuas in West Kalimantan, with a length of 1,143 km, other major rivers include the Mahakam in East Kalimantan, the Barito in South Kalimantan, and Rajang in Sarawak. Clearwater Cave, for example, has one of the worlds longest underground rivers, deer Cave is home to over three million bats, with guano accumulated to over 100 metres deep. The South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand now submerge the former low-lying areas of the peninsula, the Borneo rainforest is 140 million years old, making it one of the oldest rainforests in the world. There are about 15,000 species of flowering plants with 3,000 species of trees,221 species of mammals and 420 species of resident birds in Borneo. There are about 440 freshwater fish species in Borneo and it is the centre of the evolution and distribution of many endemic species of plants and animals. The Borneo rainforest is one of the few remaining habitats for the endangered Bornean orangutan
19.
Kalimantan
–
Kalimantan is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It comprises 73% of the islands area, the non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are Brunei and East Malaysia. In Indonesian, the term Kalimantan refers to the island of Borneo. It consists of the two words kal and manthan, the word Kalamanthana is spelled Kalmantan, and then the indigenous people fixed it into Klemantan. The Indonesian territory makes up 73% of the island by area, the non-Indonesian parts of Borneo are of Brunei and East Malaysia, the latter comprising the states of Sabah, Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan. The region within Indonesia is also known as Indonesian Borneo, kalimantans total area is 544,150 square kilometres. Kalimantan is divided into five provinces, 1)North Kalimantan split off East Kalimantan with resulting population, languages of Kalimantan Kalimantan travel guide from Wikivoyage
20.
Tropics
–
The tropics are a region of the Earth surrounding the equator. The tropics are also referred to as the zone and the torrid zone. The tropics include all the areas on the Earth where the Sun is at a point directly overhead at least once during the solar year. The tropics are distinguished from the climatic and biomatic regions of Earth, which are the middle latitudes. Tropical is sometimes used in a sense for a tropical climate to mean warm to hot and moist year-round. Many tropical areas have a dry and wet season, the wet season, rainy season or green season, is the time of year, ranging from one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. Areas with wet seasons are disseminated across portions of the tropics and subtropics, under the Köppen climate classification, for tropical climates, a wet season month is defined as a month where average precipitation is 60 millimetres or more. Tropical rainforests technically do not have dry or wet seasons, since their rainfall is distributed through the year. When the wet season occurs during the season, or summer, precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon. The wet season is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves and vegetation grows significantly, floods cause rivers to overflow their banks, and some animals to retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients diminish and erosion increases, the incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for the wetter regime, unfortunately, the previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. Regions within the tropics may well not have a tropical climate, there are alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile and Argentina. Under the Köppen climate classification, much of the area within the tropics is classed not as tropical but as dry including the Sahara Desert. Tropical plants and animals are those native to the tropics. Tropical ecosystems may consist of rainforests, dry forests, spiny forests, desert. There are often significant areas of biodiversity, and species present, particularly in rainforests. In biogeography, the tropics are divided into Paleotropics and Neotropics, together, they are sometimes referred to as the Pantropic
21.
Tropical rainforest climate
–
A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator. Regions with this climate typically feature tropical rainforests, and it is designated Af by the Köppen climate classification. One day in an equatorial climate can be similar to the next. A tropical rainforest is found at latitudes within 10 degrees North and South of the equator. The climate is most commonly found in South America, Central Africa, however, tropical rainforest microclimates are found in many other regions, while not everywhere along the equatorial region features a tropical rainforest climate. Additionally, while tropical rainforest climates are located near the equator. For instance, Santos, Brazil and Fort Lauderdale, United States are not only far removed from the equator, yet both of these cities feature a tropical rainforest climate, albeit with noticeably cooler and warmer periods of the year
22.
Equator
–
The Equator usually refers to an imaginary line on the Earths surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. The Equator is about 40,075 kilometres long, some 78. 7% lies across water and 21. 3% over land, other planets and astronomical bodies have equators similarly defined. Generally, an equator is the intersection of the surface of a sphere with the plane that is perpendicular to the spheres axis of rotation. The latitude of the Earths equator is by definition 0° of arc, the equator is the only line of latitude which is also a great circle — that is, one whose plane passes through the center of the globe. The plane of Earths equator when projected outwards to the celestial sphere defines the celestial equator, in the cycle of Earths seasons, the plane of the equator passes through the Sun twice per year, at the March and September equinoxes. To an observer on the Earth, the Sun appears to travel North or South over the equator at these times, light rays from the center of the Sun are perpendicular to the surface of the Earth at the point of solar noon on the Equator. Locations on the Equator experience the quickest sunrises and sunsets because the sun moves nearly perpendicular to the horizon for most of the year. The Earth bulges slightly at the Equator, the diameter of the Earth is 12,750 kilometres. Because the Earth spins to the east, spacecraft must also launch to the east to take advantage of this Earth-boost of speed, seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earths axis relative to the plane of revolution. During the year the northern and southern hemispheres are inclined toward or away from the sun according to Earths position in its orbit, the hemisphere inclined toward the sun receives more sunlight and is in summer, while the other hemisphere receives less sun and is in winter. At the equinoxes, the Earths axis is not tilted toward the sun, instead it is perpendicular to the sun meaning that the day is about 12 hours long, as is the night, across the whole of the Earth. Near the Equator there is distinction between summer, winter, autumn, or spring. The temperatures are usually high year-round—with the exception of high mountains in South America, the temperature at the Equator can plummet during rainstorms. In many tropical regions people identify two seasons, the wet season and the dry season, but many places close to the Equator are on the oceans or rainy throughout the year, the seasons can vary depending on elevation and proximity to an ocean. The Equator lies mostly on the three largest oceans, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. The highest point on the Equator is at the elevation of 4,690 metres, at 0°0′0″N 77°59′31″W and this is slightly above the snow line, and is the only place on the Equator where snow lies on the ground. At the Equator the snow line is around 1,000 metres lower than on Mount Everest, the Equator traverses the land of 11 countries, it also passes through two island nations, though without making a landfall in either. Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastwards, the Equator passes through, Despite its name, however, its island of Annobón is 155 km south of the Equator, and the rest of the country lies to the north
23.
Equatorial climate
–
A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator. Regions with this climate typically feature tropical rainforests, and it is designated Af by the Köppen climate classification. One day in an equatorial climate can be similar to the next. A tropical rainforest is found at latitudes within 10 degrees North and South of the equator. The climate is most commonly found in South America, Central Africa, however, tropical rainforest microclimates are found in many other regions, while not everywhere along the equatorial region features a tropical rainforest climate. Additionally, while tropical rainforest climates are located near the equator. For instance, Santos, Brazil and Fort Lauderdale, United States are not only far removed from the equator, yet both of these cities feature a tropical rainforest climate, albeit with noticeably cooler and warmer periods of the year
24.
Climate change
–
Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time. Climate change may refer to a change in weather conditions. Climate change is caused by such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics. Certain human activities have also identified as significant causes of recent climate change. Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations, more recent data are provided by the instrumental record. The most general definition of change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, the term climate change is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic climate change is caused by activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earths natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect. A related term is climatic change, in 1966, the World Meteorological Organization proposed the term climatic change to encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, regardless of cause. Change was a given and climatic was used as an adjective to describe this kind of change, when it was realized that human activities had a potential to drastically alter the climate, the term climate change replaced climatic change as the dominant term to reflect an anthropogenic cause. Climate change was incorporated in the title of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate change, used as a noun, became an issue rather than the technical description of changing weather. On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the Sun and this energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions. Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or forcing mechanisms, there are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings. There are also key factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change. Forcing mechanisms can be internal or external. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the system itself
25.
Sea level
–
Mean sea level is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earths oceans from which heights such as elevations may be measured. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is the midpoint between a low and mean high tide at a particular location. Sea levels can be affected by factors and are known to have varied greatly over geological time scales. The careful measurement of variations in MSL can offer insights into ongoing climate change, the term above sea level generally refers to above mean sea level. Precise determination of a sea level is a difficult problem because of the many factors that affect sea level. Sea level varies quite a lot on several scales of time and this is because the sea is in constant motion, affected by the tides, wind, atmospheric pressure, local gravitational differences, temperature, salinity and so forth. The easiest way this may be calculated is by selecting a location and calculating the mean sea level at that point, for example, a period of 19 years of hourly level observations may be averaged and used to determine the mean sea level at some measurement point. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land, hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates. In the UK, the Ordnance Datum is the sea level measured at Newlyn in Cornwall between 1915 and 1921. Prior to 1921, the datum was MSL at the Victoria Dock, in Hong Kong, mPD is a surveying term meaning metres above Principal Datum and refers to height of 1. 230m below the average sea level. In France, the Marégraphe in Marseilles measures continuously the sea level since 1883 and it is used for a part of continental Europe and main part of Africa as official sea level. Elsewhere in Europe vertical elevation references are made to the Amsterdam Peil elevation, satellite altimeters have been making precise measurements of sea level since the launch of TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. A joint mission of NASA and CNES, TOPEX/Poseidon was followed by Jason-1 in 2001, height above mean sea level is the elevation or altitude of an object, relative to the average sea level datum. It is also used in aviation, where some heights are recorded and reported with respect to sea level, and in the atmospheric sciences. An alternative is to base height measurements on an ellipsoid of the entire Earth, in aviation, the ellipsoid known as World Geodetic System 84 is increasingly used to define heights, however, differences up to 100 metres exist between this ellipsoid height and mean tidal height. The alternative is to use a vertical datum such as NAVD88. When referring to geographic features such as mountains on a topographic map, the elevation of a mountain denotes the highest point or summit and is typically illustrated as a small circle on a topographic map with the AMSL height shown in metres, feet or both. In the rare case that a location is below sea level, for one such case, see Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
26.
Monsoon
–
Usually, the term monsoon is used to refer to the rainy phase of a seasonally changing pattern, although technically there is also a dry phase. The term is sometimes used for locally heavy but short-term rains. The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the West African and Asia-Australian monsoons, the inclusion of the North and South American monsoons with incomplete wind reversal has been debated. The south-west monsoon winds are called Nairutya Maarut in India, the English monsoon came from Portuguese monção, ultimately from Arabic mawsim and/or Hindi mausam, perhaps partly via early modern Dutch monsun. Strengthening of the Asian monsoon has been linked to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau after the collision of the Indian sub-continent and Asia around 50 million years ago. Because of studies of records from the Arabian Sea and that of the wind-blown dust in the Loess Plateau of China, testing of this hypothesis awaits deep ocean sampling by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. The monsoon has varied significantly in strength since this time, largely linked to climate change. A study of marine plankton suggested that the Indian Monsoon strengthened around 5 million years ago, then, during ice periods, the sea level fell and the Indonesian Seaway closed. When this happened, cold waters in the Pacific were impeded from flowing into the Indian Ocean and it is believed that the resulting increase in sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean increased the intensity of monsoons. Five episodes during the Quaternary at 2.22 Ma,1.83 Ma,0.68 Ma,0.45 Ma and 0.04 Ma were identified which showed a weakening of Leeuwin Current. The weakening of the LC would have an effect on the sea surface temperature field in the Indian Ocean, thus these five intervals could probably be those of considerable lowering of SST in the Indian Ocean and would have influenced Indian monsoon intensity. The impact of monsoon on the weather is different from place to place. In some places there is just a likelihood of having a more or less rain. In other places, quasi semi-deserts are turned into green grasslands where all sorts of plants. The Indian Monsoon turns large parts of India from a kind of semi-desert into green lands, see photos only taken 3 months apart in the Western Ghats. In places like this it is crucial for farmers to have the right timing for putting the seeds on the fields, Monsoons are large-scale sea breezes which occur when the temperature on land is significantly warmer or cooler than the temperature of the ocean. These temperature imbalances happen because oceans and land absorb heat in different ways, in contrast, dirt, sand, and rocks have lower heat capacities, and they can only transmit heat into the earth by conduction and not by convection. Therefore, bodies of water stay at an even temperature
27.
China
–
China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
28.
North Pacific
–
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
29.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
30.
Perlis
–
Perlis, also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia. It lies at the part of the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and has the Satun. It is bordered by the state of Kedah to the south and it was called Palit by the Siamese when it was under their influence. Perlis had a population of 227,025 as of 2010, the capital of Perlis is Kangar, and the Royal capital is Arau. Another important town is Padang Besar, at the Malaysia–Thailand border, the main port and ferry terminal is at the small village of Kuala Perlis, linking mostly to Langkawi Island. Perlis has a snake farm and research centre at Sungai Batu Pahat. Among the main tourist attractions are Perlis State Park and Gua Kelam, Perlis was originally part of Kedah, although it occasionally came under rule by Siam or Aceh. After the Siamese conquered Kedah in 1821, the British felt their interests in Perak to be threatened and this resulted in the 1826 Burney and Low Treaties formalising relations between the two Malay states and Siam, their nominal overlord. In the Burney Treaty, the exiled Kedah sultan Ahmad Tajuddin was not restored to his throne, Sultan Ahmad and his armed supporters then fought unsuccessfully for his restoration over twelve years. In 1842, the Sultan finally agreed to accept Siamese terms, however, Siam separated Perlis into a separate principality directly vassal to Bangkok. The Siamese made Raja Long Krok as the Governor of Siam in Perlis while Syed Hussain Jamalullail as deputy governor and this made Perlis as a sovereign state. His descendants still rule Perlis, but as rajas, instead of as sultans, as with Kedah, the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 forced Siam to relinquish its southern Malay vassal states of Kelantan, Trengganu, and Monthon Syburi to Great Britain. The British installed a Resident in the Perlis Royal capital of Arau, Perlis was returned to Siam in World War II as a reward for Siams alliance with Japan, but this brief annexation ended with the Japanese surrender. After World War II, Perlis returned to British rule until it became part of the Malayan Union, then the Federation of Malaya in 1957, since 1945, the Raja or hereditary monarch has been Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin. He was the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 13 December 2001 to 12 December 2006, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra was the Regent of Perlis during the five-year period when Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin was Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The Chief Executive or Menteri Besar is Azlan Man of Barisan Nasional, the Coat of Arms of Perlis consists of a sturdy green wreath of padi, indicating the wealth of the kingdom and the chief economic activity of the people. The shield in the centre represents the pride of the people, inside the shield is a ring of golden rice surrounding the name Perlis written in the Jawi script. The ethnic composition for the year 2000 in Perlis was, Malay, Chinese, Indian and others
31.
Cameron Highlands District
–
The Cameron Highlands is Malaysia’s most extensive hill station. It occupies an area of 712 square kilometres, to the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan, to the west, it shares part of its border with Perak. It is the smallest constituency in Pahang, surveyed by Sir William Cameron in 1885, the outpost consists of three districts, namely Ringlet, Tanah Rata and Ulu Telom. Its eight sub-districts are Ringlet, Tanah Rata, Brinchang, the Bertam Valley, Kea Farm, Tringkap, Kuala Terla, all are nestled at elevations ranging from 1,100 metres to 1,600 metres above sea level. The mean annual temperature of the retreat is about 18 °C, during the day, the temperature seldom rises over 25 °C, at night, it can drop to as low as 9 °C at the higher reaches. The resort has a population of more than 38,000 people. It comprises Bumiputeras, Chinese, Indians, non-Malaysian citizens, most of the residents here are entrepreneurs, service industry employees, farm workers, retirees or government servants. The languages spoken are Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English, islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism are the main religions of the haven. Developed in the 1930s, the tableland is one of the oldest tourist spots in Malaysia, the Cameron Highlands can be accessed by road via Tapah, Simpang Pulai, Gua Musang or Sungai Koyan. Tapah and Simpang Pulai are the two approaches from Perak, Gua Musang and Sungai Koyan are the entryways from Kelantan and Pahang, respectively. The Cameron Highlands were named after Sir William Cameron, a British surveyor who was commissioned by the colonial government to map out the Pahang-Perak border area in 1885. In a statement concerning his expedition, Cameron mentioned he saw “a sort of vortex on the mountains, while for a wide area we have gentle slopes and plateau land. ”When approached, the late Sir Hugh Low. A narrow path to “Cameron’s Land” was then carved through the jungle, forty years later, the tableland was given another review when Sir George Maxwell visited the locale to see if it could be turned into a resort. He spent about nine days surveying the territory. On his return from the highlands, Maxwell described the terrain as being oval in shape. ”After comparing it with Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka and Baguio in the Philippines. In mid-1925, an Agricultural Experiment Station was set up to confirm if cinchona, tea, coffee, fruits, in December 1925, a superintendent was appointed to supervise the 200-acre plantation on Mount Beremban. While research at the station was being carried out, the colonial office assigned Captain C. C, best, a surveyor from the Federated Malay States to trace the Telom River. He made a map of the head waters of the Telom and his exploration has established definitely that the area at the Ulu of the Bertang is incomparably the most suitable for development. ”This report, coupled with the confirmation that tea could also be grown
32.
Kota Bharu
–
Kota Bharu is a city in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is also the name of the territory or district in which Kota Bharu City is situated, the name means new city or new castle/fort in Malay. Kota Bharu is situated in the part of Peninsular Malaysia. The northeastern Malaysian city is close to the Thailand border, Kota Bharu is home to many mosques, various museums, the unique architecture of the old royal palaces and former royal buildings in the centre of town. Kota Bharu was founded during the late 19th century, prior to this, Kota Bharu was known as Kuala Kelantan. Before Kota Bharu assumed the role, the Kelantanese capital was divided into two which were Kota Kubang Labu and Kota Pengkalan Datu. During the 19th century, Kelantan was a prosperous and populous state which holds a population of around 30,000 to 50,000 people including a thousands of Chinese. One of the production from the state are gold, tin ore, black pepper, areca nut, rice, rattan, bamboo, agarwood, Kota Bharu act as entepot for goods due to its strategic location on the beside the Kelantan River. Besides that, there are also minority Tamil, Siamese and Orang Asli that resides in the city, the total population of Kota Bharu as at 2010 is 491,237. Ranking Population Kota Bharu District Kota Bharus population is 70% Muslim with the remainder consisting of Buddhists, the indigenous peoples that reside in the citys outskirts are generally practicing Christians. The predominantly urban local Chinese community mainly practices Buddhism, morality police are common and apprehend people who engaged in acts perceived as immoral. The Jawi script is used in names and restaurants. Social activities that do not contradict Islamic norms are allowed, government offices and many stores are closed on Fridays and Saturdays, but the vibrant markets remain open except for Islamic prayer times. The conservative Kelantanese state government under PAS has implemented some Islamic laws, however, these regulations apply only to Muslims. The Kota Bharu Municipal Council, the government authority, discourages the use of indecent attire by female employees in retail outlets and restaurants. Those who are caught for dressing indecently may be fined up to RM500, the definition of indecent dressing includes body hugging outfits which show off the body, blouses which show the navel, see through blouses, mini-skirts and tight pants. The Kelantanese culture is influenced by Thai culture because of its geographical proximity to Thailand. The Chinese are much more assimilated to local culture than those in parts of Malaysia
33.
Kelantan
–
Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu, the honorific of the state is Darul Naim. Kelantan is positioned in the north-east of Peninsular Malaysia and it is bordered by Narathiwat Province of Thailand to the north, Terengganu to the south-east, Perak to the west, and Pahang to the south. To the north-east of Kelantan is the South China Sea, Kelantan is located in the north-eastern corner of the peninsula. Kelantan, which is said to translate as the Land of Lightning, is a state with green paddy fields, rustic fishing villages. Kelantan is home to some of the most ancient archaeological discoveries in Malaysia, there are a number of suggestions for the origin of the name Kelantan. One theory, according to historian Mohd Rosli Bin Ismail, proposes that Kelantan is a corruption of gelam hutan, i. e. the Malay word for the cajuput, or swamp tea tree. Other theories claim that the name comes from the Malay word kilatan, shiny/glittery or kolam tanah, Kelantan was called Kalantan by the Siamese when it was under their influence. Kolaan Thana or Kolaam Thana gradually became Kelantan to fit in better with the dialect of the local people. The early history of Kelantan traces distinct human settlement dating back to prehistoric times, early Kelantan had links to the Funan Kingdom, the Khmer Empire, Sri Vijaya, Majapahit and Siam. Around 1411, Raja Kumar, the ruler of Kelantan, became independent of Siam, in 1499, Kelantan became a vassal state of the Malacca Sultanate. With the fall of Malacca in 1511, Kelantan was divided up and ruled by petty chieftains, paying tribute to Patani, by the early 17th century, most of these Kelantan chiefs became subject to Patani. The legendary Cik Siti Wan Kembang was said to have reigned over Kelantan sometime between the 16th and 17th centuries, Long Yunus was succeeded in 1795 by his son-in-law Tengku Muhammad Sultan Mansur of Terengganu. The enthronement of Tengku Muhammad by Terengganu was opposed by Long Yunus sons, thus triggering a war against Terengganu by Long Muhammad, the pro-Terengganu faction was defeated in 1800 and Long Muhammad ruled Kelantan with the new title of Sultan as Sultan Muhammad I. Nevertheless, the death of childless Long Muhammad triggered another civil war among claimants to the throne and his nephew and son of Long Tan, Long Senik Mulut Merah, triumphed over his uncles and cousins and assumed the throne in 1835 as Sultan Muhammad II. Sultan Muhammad II leveraged on his alliance with Siam to form the modern Kelantan state, centered in his new fort on the eastern bank of the Kelantan river. Kelantan was where the Japanese first landed during their invasion of Malaya, in 1943, Kelantan was transferred by the Japanese to Thailand and became a province of Thailand. Kelantan reverted to British protection upon the end of World War 2 in August 1945, Kelantan became part of the Malayan Union in 1946 and then the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948, and together with other Malayan states attained independence on 31 August 1957
34.
Sandakan
–
Sandakan formerly known at various times as Elopura, is a town in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest town in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu and it is located on the east coast of the state in the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. The town has an population of 157,330 while the surrounding municipal area has a total population of 396,290. Before the founding of Sandakan, Sulu Archipelago was the source of dispute between Spain and the Sultanate of Sulu for economic dominance in the region, by 1864, Spain had blockaded the Sultanate possessions in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sultanate of Sulu awarded a German consular service ex-member a piece of land in the Sandakan Bay to seek protection from Germany, in 1878, the Sultanate sold north-eastern Borneo to an Austro-Hungarian consul who later left the territory to a British colonial merchant. The German presence over the area raised concern among the British, the British also encouraged the migration of the Chinese from British Hong Kong to develop the economy of Sandakan. However, the prosperity halted when the Japanese occupied the area, as the war continued and Allied bombing started in 1944, the town was totally destroyed. Unable to fund the costs of the reconstruction, the powers of North Borneo were handed over to the Crown Colony government. Subsequently, the capital of North Borneo was moved to Jesselton. As part of the 1948–1955 Colonial Office Reconstruction and Development Plan, Sandakan is one of the main ports for oil, tobacco, coffee, sago, and timber exports. Other economic activities include fishing, ship building, eco-tourism, a first European settlement was built by a Scottish arms smuggler from Glasgow named William Clark Cowie who named the settlement Sandakan. It was soon renamed Kampong German, due to the presence of several German bases there, when another new settlement was built shortly after the previous Cowie settlement had been destroyed by a fire, it was called as Elopura, meaning beautiful town. The name was given by the British North Borneo Company but the locals persisted to use the old name, besides Elopura, it was also nicknamed Little Hong Kong due to a strong presence of ethnic Chinese migration from Hong Kong. It was Pryer who gave the settlement the name Elopura meaning beautiful town, several years later the settlement was again renamed Sandakan. The name Elopura, however, is used for some local government functions of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. The town is referred as Sandakan nowadays instead of Elopura or Little Hong Kong. However, efforts have made to develop Sandakan so that the town is fitting to have the name of Little Hong Kong again. Since the 18th century, Sandakan start to be ruled by the Sultanate of Sulu, in 1860, the Sultanate of Sulu became important to the British as their archipelago could allow the British to dominate trade routes from Singapore to Mainland China
35.
Sabah
–
Sabah, nicknamed Malay, Negeri Di Bawah Bayu, is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Sabah has a level of autonomy in administration, immigration. It is situated in northern Borneo, bordering the state of Sarawak to the southwest, Kalimantan of Indonesia to the south, Sabah shares maritime borders with Vietnam in the west and the Philippines to the north and east. Kota Kinabalu is the city, the economic centre of the state. Other major towns in Sabah include Sandakan and Tawau, as of the 2015 census in Malaysia, the states population is 3,543,500. Sabah has a climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal. The state has long mountain ranges on the west side which form part of the Crocker Range National Park, Kinabatangan River, second longest river in Malaysia runs through Sabah and Mount Kinabalu is the highest point of Sabah as well of Malaysia. The earliest human settlement in Sabah can be traced back to 20, the state had a trading relationship with China from the 14th century AD. Sabah came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 15th century, the state was subsequently acquired by the North Borneo Chartered Company in the 19th century. During World War II, Sabah was occupied by the Japanese for three years and it became a British Crown Colony in 1946. On 31 August 1963, Sabah was granted self-government by the British, following this, Sabah became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia alongside Sarawak, Singapore, and the Federation of Malaya. Sabah exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture and language, the head of state is the Governor, also known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, while the head of government is the Chief Minister. The government system is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and has one of the earliest state legislature system in Malaysia. Sabah is divided into divisions and districts. Malay is the language of the state, and Islam is the official religion. Sabah is known for its musical instrument, the sompoton. Sabah is the state in Malaysia to celebrate the Kaamatan festival. Sabah has abundant natural resources, and its economy is strongly export-oriented, the primary exports include oil, gas, timber and palm oil
36.
Tawau
–
Tawau formerly known as Tawao, is a town and administrative centre of Tawau Division, Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest town in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and it is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan. The town had a population as of 2010 of 113,809. Before the founding of Tawau, the region around it was the subject of dispute between the British and Dutch spheres of influence, in 1893, the first British merchant vessel sailed into Tawau, marking the opening of the towns sea port. In 1898, the British set up a settlement in Tawau, the British North Borneo Chartered Company accelerated growth of the settlements population by encouraging the immigration of Chinese. Consequent to the Japanese occupation of North Borneo, the Allied forces bombed the town, in mid-1944, after the Japanese surrender in 1945,2,900 Japanese soldiers in Tawau became prisoners of war and were transferred to Jesselton. Tawau was rebuilt after the war and by the end of 1947 the economy was restored back into its pre-war status, Tawau was also the main point of conflict during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation from 1963 to 1966. During that time, it was garrisoned by the British Special Boat Section, in December 1963, Tawau was bombed twice by Indonesia and shootings occurred across the Tawau-Sebatik Island international border. Indonesians were found trying to poison the water supply. In January 1965, a curfew was imposed to prevent Indonesian attackers from making contact with Indonesians living in the town, while in June 1965, another attempted invasion by the Indonesian forces was repelled by bombardment by an Australian Destroyer. Military conflict finally ended in December 1966, the main economic activities of the town are, timber, cocoa, oil palm plantations, and prawn farming. The name Tawao was used on a nautical charts by 1857, the East India Company had establish a trading post in Borneo, though there was no significant activity by the Dutch on the east coast. In 1846, Netherlands formed a treaty with the Sultan of Bulungan, when the Dutch began to operate in 1867, the Sultan married his son to the daughter of the Sultan of Tarakan. Around this time, the Dutch sphere of influence reached the Tawao and they controlled the area north of Tawao, overlapping an area controlled by the Sultan of Sulu. On 20 January 1891, a agreement was reached on a line along 4°10 north latitude – on the central division of the Sebatik Island. In the early 1890s, approximately 200 people lived in the Tawao settlement, mostly immigrants from Bulungan in Kalimantan, the settlement was renamed from Tawao to Tawau. Most of those who fled from the Dutch colonisation continued trading with the Dutch, in 1893, a British vessel S. S. Normanhurst sailed into Tawau with a cargo to trade. In 1898, the British built a settlement which grew rapidly when the BNBC sponsored the migration of Chinese to Tawau
37.
Kuching
–
Kuching /ˈkuːtʃɪŋ/, officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division, Kuching was the third capital of Sarawak in 1827 during the administration of the Bruneian Empire. The town continued to receive attention and development during the rule of Charles Brooke such as the construction of a system, hospital, prison, fort. In 1941, the Brooke administration had a Centenary Celebration in Kuching, during World War II, Kuching was occupied by Japanese forces from 1942 to 1945. The Japanese government set up a Batu Lintang camp near Kuching to hold prisoners of war, after the war, the town survived intact. However, the last Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke decided to cede Sarawak as part of British Crown Colony in 1946, Kuching remained as capital during the Crown Colony period. After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Kuching retained its status as capital and was granted city status in 1988. Since then, the Kuching city is divided into two administrative regions managed by two local authorities. The administrative centre of Sarawak state government is located at Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Kuching is a major food destination for tourists and the main gateway for travellers visiting Sarawak and Borneo. The city has one of the major industrial and commercial centres in East Malaysia. The name of Kuching was already in use for the city by the time Brooke arrived in 1841, there are many theories as to the derivation of the word Kuching. It was perhaps derived from the Malay word for cat, kucing or from Cochin, an Indian trading port on the Malabar Coast, some Hindu artefacts can be seen today at the Sarawak State Museum. However, another source reported that the Kuching city was known as Sarawak before the Brooke arrived. The settlement was renamed to Sarawak proper during the kingdom expansion and it was only in 1872 that Charles Brooke renamed the settlement to Kuching. There was one unlikely theory based on a story on miscommunication, according to the story, James Brooke arrived in Kuching on his yacht Royalist. He then asked his local guide about the name of the town, the local guide thinking that James Brooke was pointing towards a cat, and said the word Kuching. However, ethnic Malays in Sarawak usually refer the name of a cat as pusak instead of the Malay word kucing, some source also stated that it was derived from a fruit called mata kucing, a fruit that grows widely in Malaysia and Indonesia. There was also a hill in the city that was named after the fruit, which is called Bukit Mata Kuching
38.
Sarawak
–
Sarawak is one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. The capital city, Kuching, is the centre of the state. Other cities and towns in Sarawak include Miri, Sibu, as of the 2015 census, the total population of Sarawak is 2,636,000. Sarawak has a climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal. It has several prominent cave systems at Gunung Mulu National Park, Rajang River is the longest river in Malaysia, Bakun Dam, one of the largest dams in Southeast Asia, is located on one of its tributaries, the Balui River. Mount Murud is the highest point in Sarawak, the earliest known human settlement in Sarawak, located at the Niah Caves, dates back to 40,000 years ago. A series of Chinese ceramics dated from the 8th to 13th century AD was uncovered at the site of Santubong. The coastal regions of Sarawak came under the influence of the Bruneian Empire in the 16th century, in 1839, James Brooke, a British explorer, arrived in Sarawak. He, and his descendants, governed the state from 1841 to 1946, during World War II, it was occupied by the Japanese for three years. After the war, the last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke, ceded Sarawak to Britain, on 22 July 1963, Sarawak was granted self-government by the British and subsequently became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia, established on 16 September 1963. However, the federation was opposed by Indonesia leading to a three-year confrontation, the creation of the Federation also resulted in a communist insurgency that lasted until 1990. The head of state is the Governor, also known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Sarawak exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture, and language, major ethnic groups in Sarawak are, Iban, Malay, Chinese, Melanau, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu. English and Malay are the two official languages of the state, there is no official religion. The Gawai Dayak is a festival celebrated on a public holiday. The official explanation of the word Sarawak is that it is derived from the Sarawak Malay word serawak, which means antimony. A popular alternative explanation is that it is a contraction of the four Malay words purportedly uttered by Pangeran Muda Hashim, Saya serah pada awak, James Brooke became the first of the White Rajah dynasty to govern Sarawak. Sarawak is nicknamed Land of the Hornbills and these birds are important cultural symbols for the Dayak people, representing the spirit of God. It is also believed if a hornbill is seen flying over residences
39.
Perak
–
Perak also known by its honorific, Darul Ridzuan, or Abode of Grace, one of the 13 states of Malaysia, is the fourth largest state in the country. It borders Kedah at the north, Thai Yala Province to the northeast, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor to the south, and the Straits of Malacca to the west. The states administrative capital of Ipoh was known historically for tin-mining activities until the price of the metal dropped, the royal capital, however remains at Kuala Kangsar, where the palace of the Sultan of Perak is located. The states official name is Perak Darul Ridzuan, Perak means silver in Malay, which is probably derived from the silvery colour of tin. In the 1890s, Perak, with the richest alluvial deposits of tin in the world was one of the jewels in the crown of the British Empire, however, some say the name comes from the glimmer of fish in the water that sparkled like silver. Darul Ridzuan is the states Arabic honorific, and can either land or abode of grace. Legend tells of a Hindu-Malay Kingdom called Gangga Negara in the northwest of Perak, archaeological discoveries indicate that Perak was inhabited since prehistoric times. The modern history of Perak began with the fall of the Malacca Sultanate, Raja Muzaffar Shah, fled the Portuguese conquest of 1511 and established his own dynasty on the banks of the Sungai Perak in 1528. Being rich in tin ore deposits, the dominion was under almost continuous threat from outsiders, the Dutch attempted to control the tin trade in the 17th century, and built defensive forts at the mouth of the Perak River and on Pulau Pangkor. Early history recorded the arrival in Perak of the Dutch in 1641, however, the Dutch attempt to monopolise the tin-ore trading in Perak by influencing Sultan Muzaffar Syah failed. This did not go well with the aristocracy of Perak. In 1651, Temenggung and the people of Perak attacked and destroyed the Dutch plant, the Dutch were forced to leave their base in Perak. The Dutch sent a representative to Perak in 1655 to renew the earlier agreement and to seek compensation for the loss of their plant. The Perak government however did not honour the treaty and was surrounded by the Dutch, in retaliation, the people of Perak, Aceh. In 1670, the Dutch returned to Perak to build Kota Kayu, now known as Kota Belanda, Perak agreed to the construction because of news that the Kingdom of Siam would be attacking the state. Nevertheless, in 1685, Perak once again attacked the Dutch on Pangkor Island, forcing them to retreat, the Dutch attempted to negotiate for a new treaty, but failed. In the 19th century, the Bugis, Acehnese, and the Siamese all attempted to invade Perak, the Perak Sultanate was unable to maintain order as it was embroiled in a protracted succession crisis. In her book The Golden Chersonese and The Way Thither, Victorian traveller and adventurer Isabella Lucy Bird describes how Raja Muda Abdullah turned to his friend in Singapore, Tan, together with an English merchant in Singapore, drafted a letter to Governor Sir Andrew Clarke which Abdullah signed
40.
Sunda Shelf
–
Geologically, the Sunda Shelf is a southeast extension of the continental shelf of Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Madura, Bali and it covers an area of approximately 1.85 million km2. Sea depths over the shelf rarely exceed 50 metres and extensive areas are less than 20 metres resulting in strong bottom friction, steep undersea gradients separate the Sunda Shelf from the Philippines, Sulawesi, and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Biogeographically, Sundaland is a term for the region of Southeastern Asia which encompasses areas of the Asian continental shelf that were exposed during the last ice age. Sundaland included the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland, as well as the islands of Borneo, Java. The shelf has resulted from millennia of activity and erosion of the Asian continental mass. During glacial periods, the sea level falls, and great expanses of the Sunda Shelf are exposed as a marshy plain, the rise of sea level during a meltwater pulse 14,600 to 14,300 years Before Present was as much as 16 meters within 300 years. Present sea levels submerge a number of Pleistocene Paleo River Systems that drained much of Sundaland during the last glacial maximum 18,000 to 20,000 years ago, to the east of the Sunda Shelf is the Sahul Shelf. Separating these two regions of shallow seas is Wallacea, which encompasses Sulawesi and the thousands of smaller islands making up Nusa Tenggara, within Wallacea lie some of the deepest seas in the world with depths of up to 7,000 metres. Passing between Bali and Lombok, and Borneo and Sulawesi, the Wallacea is marked by a zone of flora. The exposure of the Sunda Shelf during eustatic sea level changes has effects on the El Niño oscillation. W. Earle in 1845 was the first to describe the features of the Sunda and Sahul Shelves, which he termed the Great Asiatic Bank. The Paleo River Systems of the Sunda Shelf are vast submerged river systems that extend present-day river systems, during the driest of the Pleistocene era some four distinct catchment areas form the Malacca, Siam and Sunda River Systems. The Siam River System consists of a northern and a western arm, the northern arm extends the Chao Phraya River to drain the Gulf of Thailand. The Malacca Straights River System is formed by a conflux of waters from Northeastern Sumatra, the Northern Sunda River System, also known as the Great Sunda River System, or Molengraaff River System. Finally the Eastern Sunda River System empties Northern Java and Southern Borneo, Sundaland Sunda Shelf mangroves - Voris, H. and C. Simpson,2000 and 2006, The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois
41.
Sedimentary
–
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the deposition and subsequent cementation of that material at the Earths surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle in place. The particles that form a rock by accumulating are called sediment. Sedimentation may also occur as minerals precipitate from solution or shells of aquatic creatures settle out of suspension. The sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earths crust is extensive, sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust consisting mainly of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata, forming a structure called bedding, sedimentary rocks are also important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores. The study of the sequence of rock strata is the main source for an understanding of the Earths history, including palaeogeography, paleoclimatology. The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and overlaps partly with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such as pedology, geomorphology, geochemistry, sedimentary rocks have also been found on Mars. Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of rock fragments that were cemented by silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, clay minerals, and mica, any type of mineral may be present, clastic sedimentary rocks, are subdivided according to the dominant particle size. Most geologists use the Udden-Wentworth grain size scale and divide unconsolidated sediment into three fractions, gravel, sand, and mud and this tripartite subdivision is mirrored by the broad categories of rudites, arenites, and lutites, respectively, in older literature. The subdivision of these three categories is based on differences in clast shape, conglomerates and breccias), composition. Conglomerates are dominantly composed of rounded gravel, while breccias are composed of dominantly angular gravel, composition of framework grains The relative abundance of sand-sized framework grains determines the first word in a sandstone name. Naming depends on the dominance of the three most abundant components quartz, feldspar, or the lithic fragments that originated from other rocks, all other minerals are considered accessories and not used in the naming of the rock, regardless of abundance. Clean sandstones with open space are called arenites. Muddy sandstones with abundant muddy matrix are called wackes, six sandstone names are possible using the descriptors for grain composition and the amount of matrix. Mudrocks are sedimentary rocks composed of at least 50% silt- and clay-sized particles and these relatively fine-grained particles are commonly transported by turbulent flow in water or air, and deposited as the flow calms and the particles settle out of suspension
42.
Limestone
–
Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
43.
Paleozoic
–
The Paleozoic Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon, from 541 to 252.17 million years ago. It is the longest of the Phanerozoic eras, and is subdivided into six periods, the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous. The Paleozoic comes after the Neoproterozoic era of the Proterozoic and is followed by the Mesozoic, the Paleozoic was a time of dramatic geological, climatic, and evolutionary change. The Cambrian witnessed the most rapid and widespread diversification of life in Earths history, known as the Cambrian explosion, fish, arthropods, amphibians, anapsids, synapsids, euryapsids and diapsids all evolved during the Paleozoic. Life began in the ocean but eventually transitioned onto land, and by the late Paleozoic, Great forests of primitive plants covered the continents, many of which formed the coal beds of Europe and eastern North America. Towards the end of the era, large, sophisticated diapsids and synapsids were dominant, the Paleozoic Era ended with the largest extinction event in the history of Earth, the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The effects of this catastrophe were so devastating that it took life on land 30 million years into the Mesozoic Era to recover, recovery of life in the sea may have been much faster. The Paleozoic era began and ended with supercontinents and in between were the rise of mountains along the margins, and flooding and draining of shallow seas between. At its start, the supercontinent Pannotia broke up, paleoclimatic studies and evidence of glaciers indicate that central Africa was most likely in the polar regions during the early Paleozoic. During the early Paleozoic, the huge continent Gondwana formed or was forming, by mid-Paleozoic, the collision of North America and Europe produced the Acadian-Caledonian uplifts, and a subduction plate uplifted eastern Australia. There are six periods in the Paleozoic Era, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, the Cambrian spans from 541 million years to 485 million years and is the first period of the Paleozoic era of the Phanerozoic. The Cambrian marked a boom in evolution in an event known as the Cambrian explosion in which the largest number of creatures evolved in any period of the history of the Earth. Creatures like algae evolved, but the most ubiquitous of that period were the armored arthropods, almost all marine phyla evolved in this period. During this time, the supercontinent Pannotia begins to break up, the Ordovician spanned from 485 million years to 443 million years ago. The Ordovician is a time in Earths history in many of the biological classes still prevalent today evolved, such as primitive fish, cephalopods. The most common forms of life, however, were trilobites, snails, more importantly, the first arthropods went ashore to colonize the empty continent of Gondwana. By the end of the Ordovican, Gondwana was at the pole, early North America had collided with Europe. Glaciation of Africa resulted in a drop in sea level
44.
Orogeny
–
An Orogeny is an event that leads to a large structural deformation of the Earths lithosphere due to the interaction between tectonic plates. Orogens or orogenic belts develop when a plate is crumpled and is pushed upwards to form mountain ranges. Orogeny is the mechanism by which mountains are built on continents. The word orogeny comes from Ancient Greek, though it was used before him, the term was employed by the American geologist G. K. Gilbert in 1890 to describe the process of mountain building as distinguished from epeirogeny. Formation of an orogen is accomplished in part by the processes of subduction or convergence of two or more continents. Orogeny usually produces long arcuate structures, known as orogenic belts, generally, orogenic belts consist of long parallel strips of rock exhibiting similar characteristics along the length of the belt. Orogenic belts are associated with zones, which consume crust, produce volcanoes. Geologists attribute the arcuate structure to the rigidity of the descending plate and these island arcs may be added to a continent during an orogenic event. The processes of orogeny can take tens of millions of years, frequently, rock formations that undergo orogeny are severely deformed and undergo metamorphism. Orogenic processes may push deeply buried rocks to the surface, sea-bottom and near-shore material may cover some or all of the orogenic area. If the orogeny is due to two continents colliding, very high mountains can result, an orogenic event may be studied, as a tectonic structural event, as a geographical event, and as a chronological event. The foreland basin forms ahead of the orogen due mainly to loading and resulting flexure of the lithosphere by the mountain belt. The basin migrates with the front and early deposited foreland basin sediments become progressively involved in folding and thrusting. Sediments deposited in the basin are mainly derived from the erosion of the actively uplifting rocks of the mountain range. The fill of many such shows an change in time from deepwater marine through shallow water to continental sediments. Although orogeny involves plate tectonics, the tectonic forces result in a variety of associated phenomena, including magmatism, metamorphism, crustal melting, what exactly happens in a specific orogen depends upon the strength and rheology of the continental lithosphere, and how these properties change during orogenesis. In addition to orogeny, the orogen is subject to other processes, for example, the Caledonian Orogeny refers to the Silurian and Devonian events that resulted from the collision of Laurentia with Eastern Avalonia and other former fragments of Gondwana. The Caledonian Orogen resulted from events and various others that are part of its peculiar orogenic cycle
.PNG)
