1.
Arabian Sea
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The Arabian Sea is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by northeastern Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula, and on the east by India. Historically the sea has been known by names including the Erythraean Sea. Its total area is 3,862,000 km2 and its depth is 4,652 metres. The Gulf of Aden is in the southwest, connecting the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea through the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, the Arabian Sea has been crossed by important marine trade routes since the third or second millennium BCE. Major seaports include Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, the Port of Karachi and the Gwadar Port in Pakistan, other important ports include in India, Kandla Port, and Mormugao in Goa. The largest islands in the Arabian Sea include Socotra, Masirah Island, Astola Island, the Arabian Seas surface area is about 3,862,000 km2. The maximum width of the Sea is approximately 2,400 km, the biggest river flowing into the Sea is the Indus River. There are also the gulfs of Khambhat and Kutch on the Indian coast, the countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Pakistan, India and the Maldives. There are several cities on the seas coast including Mumbai, Surat, Karachi, Gwadar, Pasni, Ormara, Aden, Muscat, Keti Bandar, Salalah, Duqm. International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Arabian Sea as follows, the Eastern limit of the Gulf of Aden. A line joining Ràs al Hadd, East point of Arabia, a line running from the South extremity of Addu Atoll, to the Eastern extreme of Ràs Hafun. The Western limit of the Laccadive Sea, by the time of Julius Caesar, several well-established combined land-sea trade routes depended upon water transport through the Sea around the rough inland terrain features to its north. Each major route involved transhipping to pack animal caravan, travel through country and risk of bandits. Later the kingdom of Axum arose in Ethiopia to rule a mercantile empire rooted in the trade with Europe via Alexandria, Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai is the largest port in the Arabian Sea, and the largest container port in India. The Port of Karachi is Pakistans largest and busiest seaport, handling about 60% of the nations cargo and it is located between the Karachi towns of Kiamari and Saddar, close to the main business district and several industrial areas. The geographic position of the places it in close proximity to major shipping routes such as the Strait of Hormuz. The history of the port is intertwined with that of the city of Karachi, several ancient ports have been attributed in the area including Krokola, Morontobara, Barbarikon (the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and Debal. It warns sailors about whirlpools and advises them to safety in Kaurashi harbour if they found themselves drifting dangerously
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Body of water
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A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, generally on a planets surface. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, a body of water does not have to be still or contained, Rivers, streams, canals, and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are also considered bodies of water. Most are naturally occurring geographical features, but some are artificial, there are types that can be either. For example, most reservoirs are created by engineering dams, similarly, most harbors are naturally occurring bays, but some harbors have been created through construction. Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways, some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans. The term body of water can also refer to a reservoir of water held by a plant, note that there are some geographical features involving water that are not bodies of water, for example waterfalls, geysers and rapids. Arm of the sea - also sea arm, used to describe a sea loch, arroyo - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally. Artificial lake or artificial pond - see reservoir or impoundment, barachois - a lagoon separated from the ocean by a sand bar. Bay - an area of water bordered by land on three sides, similar to, but smaller than a gulf, bayou - a slow-moving stream or a marshy lake. Bight - a large and often only slightly receding bay, or a bend in any geographical feature, billabong - see Oxbow lake, a pond or still body of water created when a river changes course and some water becomes trapped. Boil - see Seep Brook - a small stream, canal - an artificial waterway, usually connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans. Channel - the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean consisting of a bed. See also stream bed and strait, earth scientists generally use the term to describe a circular or round inlet with a narrow entrance, though colloquially the term is sometimes used to describe any sheltered bay. Basin - a region of land where water from rain or snowmelt drains downhill into another body of water, such as a river, lake, creek - an inlet of the sea, narrower than a cove. Delta - the location where a river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, distributary or distributary channel - a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Draw - a usually dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, fjord - a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity. Glacier - a large collection of ice or a river that moves slowly down a mountain. Glacial Pothole - see Kettle Gulf - a part of a lake or ocean that extends so that it is surrounded by land on three sides, similar to, but larger than a bay, headland - an area of water bordered by land on three sides
4.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
5.
Somali language
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Somali /səˈmɑːli, soʊ-/ is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in Greater Somalia, Somali is an official language of Somalia, a national language in Djibouti, and a working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. It is used as a language by a few neighboring ethnic minority groups. Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, as Lowland East Cushitic along with Afar, Somali is the best-documented Cushitic language, with academic studies of the language dating back to the late 19th century. Somali is spoken by Somalis in Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya and it is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups and individuals in these areas. Somali is the second most widely spoken Cushitic language after Oromo, as of 2006, there were approximately 16.6 million speakers of Somali, of which around 8.3 million resided in Somalia. The language is spoken by an estimated 95% of the countrys inhabitants, constitutionally, Somali and Arabic are the two official languages of Somalia. Somali has been a national language since January 1973, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council declared it the Somali Democratic Republics primary language of administration and education. Somali was thereafter established as the language of academic instruction in forms 1 through 4. It later expanded to include all 12 forms in 1979, in 1972, the SRC adopted a Latin orthography as the official national alphabet over several other writing scripts that were then in use. Concurrently, the Italian-language daily newspaper Stella dOttobre was nationalized, renamed to Xiddigta Oktoobar, the state-run Radio Mogadishu has also broadcast in Somali since 1943. Somali is recognized as a working language in the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Although it is not a language of Djibouti, it constitutes a major national language there. Somali is used in television and radio broadcasts, with the government-operated Radio Djibouti transmitting programs in the language from 1943 onwards and it is officially mandated with preserving the Somali language. As of 2013, Somali is also one of the languages available on Google Translate. Somali linguistic varieties are divided into three main groups, Northern, Benadir and Maay. Northern Somali forms the basis for Standard Somali and it is spoken by more than 60% of the entire Somali population, with its speech area stretching from northern Somalia to parts of the eastern and southwestern sections of the country. This widespread modern distribution is a result of a series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral
6.
Yemen
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Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen, is an Arab country in Western Asia, occupying South Arabia, the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is the second-largest country in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 km2, the coastline stretches for about 2,000 km. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the south, although Yemens constitutionally stated capital is the city of Sanaa, the city has been under rebel control since February 2015. Because of this, Yemens capital has been relocated to the port city of Aden. Yemens territory includes more than 200 islands, the largest of these is Socotra, Yemen was the home of the Sabaeans, a trading state that flourished for over a thousand years and probably also included parts of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. In 275 AD, the region came under the rule of the later Jewish-influenced Himyarite Kingdom, Christianity arrived in the fourth century, whereas Judaism and local paganism were already established. Islam spread quickly in the century and Yemenite troops were crucial in the expansion of the early Islamic conquests. Administration of Yemen has long been notoriously difficult, several dynasties emerged from the ninth to 16th centuries, the Rasulid dynasty being the strongest and most prosperous. The country was divided between the Ottoman and British empires in the twentieth century. The Zaydi Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was established after World War I in North Yemen before the creation of the Yemen Arab Republic in 1962, South Yemen remained a British protectorate known as the Aden Protectorate until 1967 when it became an independent state and later, a Marxist state. The two Yemeni states united to form the modern republic of Yemen in 1990, Yemen is a developing country, and the poorest country in the Middle East. Under the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen was described as a kleptocracy, according to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, Yemen ranked 164 out of 182 countries surveyed. President Saleh stepped down and the powers of the presidency were transferred to Vice President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the transitional process was disrupted by conflicts between the Houthis and al-Islah, as well as the al-Qaeda insurgency. In September 2014, the Houthis took over Sanaa, later declaring themselves in control of the government in a coup détat, since then, a Saudi-led intervention has taken place, however, it could not stop the civil war. Instead, the Saudis and the others have destroyed some hospitals, schools and homes, Yemen was mentioned in Old South Arabian inscriptions as Yamnat. In Arabic literature, the term includes much greater territory than that of the republic of Yemen. It stretches from the northern Asir Region in southwestern Saudi Arabia to Dhofar Governorate in southern Oman, one etymology derives Yemen from yumn, meaning felicity, as much of the country is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix, as opposed to Arabia Deserta, al-Yaman significantly plays on the notion of the land to the right, when in Mecca facing the dawn, complementary to Al-Sham, the Land to the Left, referring to the Levant
7.
Somalia
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Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, Somalia has the longest coastline on Africas mainland, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Climatically, hot conditions prevail year-round, with monsoon winds. Somalia has an population of around 12.3 million. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis, who have inhabited the northern part of the country. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated in the southern regions, the official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, both of which belong to the Afroasiatic family. Most people in the country are Muslim, with the majority being Sunni, in antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial centre. It is among the most probable locations of the fabled ancient Land of Punt, during the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Empire, the Adal Sultanate, the Warsangali Sultanate, and the Geledi Sultanate. The toponym Somalia was coined by the Italian explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, Italian occupation lasted until 1941, yielding to British military administration. British Somaliland would remain a protectorate, while Italian Somaliland in 1949 became a United Nations Trusteeship under Italian administration, in 1960, the two regions united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government. The Supreme Revolutionary Council seized power in 1969 and established the Somali Democratic Republic, led by Mohamed Siad Barre, this government later collapsed in 1991 as the Somali Civil War broke out. Various armed factions began competing for influence in the power vacuum, during this period, due to the absence of a central government, Somalia was a failed state, and residents returned to customary and religious law in most regions. A few autonomous regions, including the Somaliland and Puntland administrations emerged in the north, the early 2000s saw the creation of fledgling interim federal administrations. The Transitional National Government was established in 2000, followed by the formation of the Transitional Federal Government in 2004, in 2006, the TFG, assisted by Ethiopian troops, assumed control of most of the nations southern conflict zones from the newly formed Islamic Courts Union. The ICU subsequently splintered into more radical groups such as Al-Shabaab, by mid-2012, the insurgents had lost most of the territory that they had seized. In 2011–2012, a political process providing benchmarks for the establishment of permanent democratic institutions was launched, within this administrative framework a new provisional constitution was passed in August 2012, which reformed Somalia as a federation. Somalia has maintained an informal economy, mainly based on livestock, remittances from Somalis working abroad, Somalia has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic. During the Stone Age, the Doian and Hargeisan cultures flourished here, the oldest evidence of burial customs in the Horn of Africa comes from cemeteries in Somalia dating back to the 4th millennium BCE
8.
Djibouti
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Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, the remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti occupies an area of just 23,200 km2. In antiquity, the territory was part of the Land of Punt and then the Sabean, nearby Zeila was the seat of the medieval Adal and Ifat Sultanates. It was subsequently renamed to the French Territory of the Afars, a decade later, the Djiboutian people voted for independence. This officially marked the establishment of the Republic of Djibouti, named after its capital city, Djibouti joined the United Nations the same year, on 20 September 1977. In the early 1990s, tensions over government representation led to armed conflict, Djibouti is a multi-ethnic nation with a population of over 846,687 inhabitants. Arabic and French are the two official languages. About 94% of residents adhere to Islam, a religion that has been predominant in the region for more than 1,000 years, the Somali Issa and Afar make up the two largest ethnic groups. Both speak Afroasiatic languages, which serve as recognized national languages, Djibouti is strategically located near some of the worlds busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. It serves as a key refueling and transshipment center, and is the principal port for imports from. A burgeoning commercial hub, the nation is the site of various military bases. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development regional body also has its headquarters in Djibouti City, the Djibouti area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations arrived in the region during this period from the familys proposed urheimat in the Nile Valley, other scholars propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there. Pottery predating the mid-2nd millennium has been found at Asa Koma, the sites ware is characterized by punctate and incision geometric designs, which bear a similarity to the Sabir culture phase 1 ceramics from Malayba in Southern Arabia. Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho. Handoga, dated to the fourth millennium BP, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths, additionally, between Djibouti City and Loyada are a number of anthropomorphic and phallic stelae. The structures are associated with graves of rectangular shape that are flanked by vertical slabs, the Djibouti-Loyada stelae are of uncertain age, and some of them are adorned with a T-shaped symbol
9.
Red Sea
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The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait, to the north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez. The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion, the sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley. The Red Sea has an area of roughly 438,000 km2, is about 2250 km long and. It has a depth of 2211 m in the central median trench. However, there are also extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life, the sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species, and 200 soft and hard corals. It is the worlds northernmost tropical sea, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Red Sea as follows, On the North. The Southern limits of the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, a line joining Husn Murad and Ras Siyyan. Red Sea is a translation of the Greek Erythra Thalassa, Latin Mare Rubrum, Arabic, البحر الأحمر. Al-Baḥr Al-Aḥmar, Somali Badda Cas and Tigrinya Qeyyiḥ bāḥrī, the name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the waters surface. A theory favored by modern scholars is that the name red is referring to the direction south. The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages used color words to refer to the cardinal directions, herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably. Historically, it was known to western geographers as Mare Mecca. Some ancient geographers called the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf or Gulf of Arabia. C, in that version, the Yam Suph is translated as Erythra Thalassa. The Red Sea is one of four seas named in English after common color terms — the others being the Black Sea, the White Sea and the Yellow Sea. The direct rendition of the Greek Erythra thalassa in Latin as Mare Erythraeum refers to the part of the Indian Ocean. The earliest known exploration of the Red Sea was conducted by ancient Egyptians, one such expedition took place around 2500 BC, and another around 1500 BC. Both involved long voyages down the Red Sea, historically, scholars argued whether these trips were possible
10.
Bab-el-Mandeb
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The Bab-el-Mandeb or Mandeb Strait is a strait located between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. In 2006, an estimated 3.3 million barrels of oil passed through the strait per day, the distance across is about 20 miles from Ras Menheli in Yemen to Ras Siyyan in Djibouti. Near the coast of Djibouti lies a group of islands known as the Seven Brothers. There is a surface current inwards in the channel, but a strong undercurrent outwards in the western channel. Paleo-environmental and tectonic events in the Miocene epoch created the Danakil Isthmus, during the last 100,000 years eustatic sea level fluctuations have led to alternate opening and closing of the straits. According to the recent single origin hypothesis, the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb were probably witness to the earliest migrations of modern humans. It is presumed that at time, the oceans were much lower. The Kingdom of Aksum was a regional power in the Horn of Africa. It extended its rule across the strait with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom shortly before the rise of Islam, the United Kingdom unilaterally seized the island of Perim in 1799 on behalf of its Indian empire. Britain reasserted its ownership in 1857 and erected a lighthouse there in 1861, using it to command the Red Sea and the trade routes through the Suez Canal. On February 22,2008, a company owned by Tarek bin Laden unveiled plans to build a bridge named Bridge of the Horns across the strait, linking Yemen with Djibouti. Middle East Development LLC has issued a notice to construct a bridge passing across the Red Sea that would be the longest suspended passing in the world, the project has been assigned to engineering company COWI in collaboration with architect studio Dissing+Weitling, both from Denmark. It was announced in 2010 that Phase 1 had been delayed, the Bab-el-Mandeb is also a sub-region in the Arab League, which includes Djibouti, Yemen, and Eritrea. 91 Notice-to-Proceed Launches Ambitious Red Sea Crossing Sea crossing
11.
Aden
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Aden is a port city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea, some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people, Adens ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of a dormant volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BC, the modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden, Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centres, Crater, the original port city, Maalla, the modern port, Tawahi, known as Steamer Point in the colonial period, and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbour that comprises the modern port, the volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbour and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port, both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1978. From March to July 2015, the Battle of Aden raged between Houthis and loyalists to President Hadi, water, food, and medical supplies ran short in the city. On 14 July, the Saudi Army launched an offensive to retake Aden for Hadis government, within three days the Houthis had been removed from the city. A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself, some also believe that Cain and Abel are buried somewhere in the city. The ports convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at times throughout history. The same work describes Aden as a village by the shore, there is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the isthmus was not then so developed as it is today. Although the pre-Islamic Himyar civilization was capable of building large structures, fortifications at Mareb and other places in Yemen and the Hadhramaut make it clear that both the Himyar and the Sabean cultures were well capable of it. Thus, watch towers, since destroyed, are possible, however, the Arab historians Ibn al Mojawir and Abu Makhramah attribute the first fortification of Aden to Beni Zureea. Abu Makhramah has also included a biography of Muhammad Azim Sultan Qamarbandi Naqsh in his work. The aim seems to have been twofold, to hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods. In its original form, some of work was relatively feeble. After 1175 AD, rebuilding in a solid form began. According to Muqaddasi, Persians formed the majority of Adens population in the 10th century, the envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden
12.
Berbera
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Berbera is a city in the Woqooyi Galbeed province in the of Republic of Somaliland. In antiquity, Berbera was part of a chain of commercial port cities along the Somali seaboard and it later served as the capital of the British Somaliland protectorate from 1884 to 1941, when it was replaced by Hargeisa. In 1960, the British Somaliland protectorate gained independence as the State of Somaliland, located strategically on the oil route, the city has a deep seaport, which serves as the regions main commercial harbor. Berbera preserves the ancient name of the coast along the shore of the Gulf of Aden. The city was later mentioned by the Islamic traveller Ibn Said as well as Ibn Batutta in the thirteenth century. In 1546, the Ottoman Empire occupied the regions of Somalia including Berbera. It also made Zeila the regional capital due to the strategic location on the Red Sea. The major Somali clan of Isaaq in Somalia, caravans from Harar and the Hawd, lieutenant C. J. on the hill-side immediately over the spring. From which I infer that it was a place of considerable antiquity, burton, recognizing the importance of the port city wrote, It was not long before these words proved prescient. In 1874-75, the Egyptians obtained a firman from the Ottomans by which they secured claims over the city, at the same time, the Egyptians received British recognition of their nominal jurisdiction as far east as Cape Guardafui. In actuality, however, Egypt had little authority over the interior and their period of rule on the coast was brief, the British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it from their British India colony until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905, generally, the British did not have much interest in the resource-barren region. The stated purposes of the establishment of the protectorate were to secure a supply market, check the traffic in slaves, hence, the regions nickname of Adens butchers shop. Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast, in August 1940, during the East African Campaign, British Somaliland was briefly occupied by Italy after a large invasion force defeated British colonial troops at the Battle of Tug Argan. During this period, the British rounded up soldiers and governmental officials to evacuate them from the territory through Berbera, in total,7,000 people, including civilians, were evacuated. The Somalis serving in the Somaliland Camel Corps were given the choice of evacuation or disbandment, in March 1941, the British forces recaptured the protectorate during Operation Appearance after a six-month occupation. The first WW2 Australian POWs were taken here in 1940. In the post-independence period, Berbera was administered as the part of the Woqooyi Galbeed province of Somalia, a slow process of infrastructural reconstruction subsequently began in Berbera and other towns in the region
13.
Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, after 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17,1869. It extends from the terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels, in 2012,17,225 vessels traversed the canal. The original canal was a waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it, in general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km to speed the canals transit time, the expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities, the New Suez Canal, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel and this side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. Ancient west–east canals were built to travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II. Another canal, probably incorporating a portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II, the legendary Sesostris may have started work on an ancient canal joining the Nile with the Red Sea. In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote, One of their kings tried to make a canal to it, so he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote,165. Later the Persian king Darius had the idea, and yet again Ptolemy II. This proved to be the canal made by the Persian king Darius I
14.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
15.
Indian Ocean
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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
16.
International Hydrographic Organization
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The International Hydrographic Organization is the inter-governmental organisation representing hydrography. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the seas, oceans. It does this through the setting of standards, the co-ordination of the endeavours of the worlds national hydrographic offices. The IHO enjoys observer status at the United Nations where it is the competent authority on hydrographic surveying. When referring to hydrography and nautical charting in Conventions and similar Instruments, it is the IHO standards, the IHO was established in 1921 as the International Hydrographic Bureau. The present name was adopted in 1970 as part of a new international Convention on the IHO adopted by the member nations. The former name International Hydrographic Bureau was retained to describe the IHO secretariat until 8 November 2016, there were substantial differences in hydrographic procedures charts, and publications. In 1889, an International Maritime Conference was held at Washington, D. C. similar proposals were made at the sessions of the International Congress of Navigation held at Saint Petersburg in 1908 and the International Maritime Conference held at Saint Petersburg in 1912. In 1919 the hydrographers of Great Britain and France cooperated in taking the steps to convene an international conference of hydrographers. London was selected as the most suitable place for this conference, and on 24 July 1919 and this is still the major purpose of the IHO. As a result of the conference, a permanent organization was formed, the IHB, now the IHO, began its activities in 1921 with 18 nations as members. The Principality of Monaco was selected as the seat of the organization as a result of the offer of Albert I, the IHO develops hydrographic and nautical charting standards. These standards are adopted and used by its 86 member countries and others in their surveys, nautical charts. Much has been done in the field of standardisation since the Bureau was founded, the IHO has encouraged the formation of Regional Hydrographic Commissions. Each RHC coordinates the national surveying and charting activities of countries within each region, the 15 RHCs plus the IHO Hydrographic Commission on Antarctica effectively cover the world. The IHO, in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, directs the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans programme, in 2010 the IHO introduced a new, contemporary hydrographic geospatial standard for modelling marine data and information, known as S-100. S-100 and any dependent product specifications are underpinned by an on-line registry accessible via the IHO website, S-100 is aligned with the ISO19100 series of geographic standards, thereby making it fully compatible with contemporary geospatial data standards. Because S-100 is based on ISO19100, it can be used by other providers for their maritime-related data
17.
Ras Siyyan
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Ras Siyyan or Ras Siyan is a peninsula in the Obock Region of Djibouti, on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, about 20 km southwest of Perim Island. The Ras Siyyan volcano is inactive but young, having erupted through a 21. To the west of Ras Siyyan there is a shallow bay or lagoon, about 2.5 km wide. The bay is fringed with patches of bushes, in spite of the little input of freshwater. Abundant sea grasses form large beds in the bay, and Sharks breed there in October, an isolated white rock, Rocher Siyyan, lies in the bay about 800 m southwest of the volcanic hill. The hill of Ras Siyyan is sometimes considered the seventh of the Seven Brothers islands, the other six lie from about 4.5 km to 14.5 km to the east
18.
Gulf of Tadjoura
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The Gulf of Tadjoura, is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean in the Horn of Africa. It lies south of the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, or the entrance to the Red Sea, the gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters. Most of its coastline is the territory of Djibouti, except for a stretch on the southern shore. The Gulf other marine habitats include sea grass beds, salt pans, the sale will however follow any occupation. The area of the gulf is 347 km2, the length is 64 km and the width varies from 26 km. The gulf is relatively shallow with the depth decreasing from the entrance to the gulf to the continent. The coast is mostly sloping, there are abundant sandy dunes, with palm trees. The southern shores are smooth. At the entrance of the Gulf is the group of islands of Moucha. At the bottom of the Gulf, separated only by a neck of land, Ghoubbet-el-Kharab. On the West – The meridian of Ghoubbet-el-Kharab, the Gulf of Tadjoura is home to many small islands. Geographically the biggest island in the Gulf of Tadjoura is Moucha Island, the wildlife of the Gulf of Tadjoura is diverse, and entirely unique due to the gulfs geographic distribution. The Gulf of Tadjoura has hosted some of the most magnificent marine fauna and flora, from corals, to dugongs, Gulf of Tadjoura is a diverse cradle for many species who depend on each other for survival. The Gulf of Tadjoura is far more densely populated on the Djiboutian shore, Tadjoura is beautifully surrounded by the green Goda Mountains. The hills of this mountain are 1700 meters, due to coral reefs, the Gulf of Tadjoura is a heaven for divers and snorkelers. It attracts 40% of foreign tourists visiting Djibouti, passenger transport on the gulf includes a number of ferry lines which connect the following ports, Djibouti City, Tadjoura and Obock. Media related to Gulf of Tadjoura at Wikimedia Commons
19.
Obock
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Obock is a small port town in Djibouti. It is located on the shore of the Gulf of Tadjoura. The town is home to an airstrip and has ferries to Djibouti City, the French form Obock derives from Arabic Oboh, deformation of Oboki, a name given to the Wadi Dari in its middle part, upstream of its coastal delta. Obock is located in east of the northern coast of the Gulf of Tadjoura, during the Middle Ages, Obock was ruled by the Ifat Sultanate and the Adal Sultanate. The Ottoman Empire had control over the area from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and it later was part of the French Somaliland protectorate in the first half of the 20th century. Obock was originally significant as the site of the first French colony in the region, the French were interested in having a coaling station for steamships, which would become especially important upon the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. By 1885, Obock had 800 inhabitants and a school, however, the anchorage was more exposed than the site of Djibouti on the south side of the Gulf of Tadjoura, and the colonial administration moved there in 1894. The population of Obock subsequently declined, however, until the occupation of Tadjoura in 1927, Obock remained the only place on the northern coast of the Gulf of Tadjoura with a colonial administration. It became the capital of the District Dankali in 1914, then a position from 1927 which was subsumed into the Circle of Adaels in 1929. During its time as a French colony, Obock issued its own stamps, for more detail see Postage stamps. It is classified as hot and semi-arid, Obock is 13 m above sea level on the plateau of Gazelles in desert terrain. The sky is clear and bright throughout the year. Hasna Mohamed Dato, politician Abdallah Mohamed Kamil, politician
20.
Cape Guardafui
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Cape Guardafui, also known as Ras Asir and historically as Aromata promontorium, is a headland in the autonomous Puntland region in Somalia. Coextensive with the Gardafuul administrative province, it forms the apex of the Horn of Africa. Its shore at 51°2752E is the easternmost point on mainland Africa, Cape Guardafui is located at 11°49′N 51°15′E, near the Gulf of Aden. The archipelago of Socotra lies off the cape in the Indian Ocean, fifteen leagues west of Guardafui is Ras Filuk, a steep cliff jutting into the Gulf of Aden from flatland. The mountain is believed to correspond with the ancient Elephas Mons or Cape Elephant described by Strabo, in the early 19th century, Somali seamen barred entry to their ports along the coast, while engaging in trade with Aden and Mocha in adjacent Yemen using their own vessels. The agreement stipulated that the British would pay an annual subsidies to protect shipwrecked British crews, capital for the project was raised by a firm in Marseilles, but the deal subsequently fell through. Britain ceded to Italy sovereignty over the region where is located Cape Guardafui in 1894. Starting in 1899, the Italians undertook detailed studies and surveys to build a lighthouse, thus, it is only in the early 1920s that the authorities of Italian Somaliland finally made good on their promise to build a lighthouse. The first one, inaugurated in April 1924 as the Francesco Crispi Lighthouse, was a simple, simultaneously, a wireless station to monitor maritime traffic, which had been built in the nearly village of Tohen, was activated. The striking new lighthouse was built in the shape of an Italian fascist Fascio littorio, the lighthouse, which is no longer in use, still has the huge stone axe blade characteristic of fascist symbolism. A stone lighthouse and radio station were built in the headland. The lighthouse has an original Fascio littorio exterior stone as a decoration, carved out of the Bari region, it consists of five districts and has its capital at Alula. It is the largest region in Puntland, it has the longest coast, the main resources of the region are, 1) Frankincense - produces more than 1.5 million kg of various types - Maydi, Beeyo, Falaxfalax and sweet gum. 6)26 Natural water springs - along the escarpment there are water springs. Main projects, 1) International port at Guardafuul - from Alula to Olog, 2) International Airport 3) Developing main roads - Lafagoray, Gumayo, Dhabaqa and Hursale Maritime history of Somalia Geography of Somalia
21.
Monsoon
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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
22.
Salinity
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Salinity is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water. This is usually measured in g salt k g sea water, a contour line of constant salinity is called an isohaline – or sometimes isohale. Salinity in rivers, lakes, and the ocean is conceptually simple, conceptually the salinity is the quantity of dissolved salt content of the water. Salts are compounds like sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, the concentration of dissolved chloride ions is sometimes referred to as chlorinity. Operationally, dissolved matter is defined as that which can pass through a fine filter. Salinity can be expressed in the form of a mass fraction, Seawater typically has a mass salinity of around 35 g/kg, although lower values are typical near coasts where rivers enter the ocean. Rivers and lakes can have a range of salinities, from less than 0.01 g/kg to a few g/kg. The Dead Sea has a salinity of more than 200 g/kg, whatever pore size is used in the definition, the resulting salinity value of a given sample of natural water will not vary by more than a few percent. A bottled seawater product known as IAPSO Standard Seawater is used by oceanographers to standardize their measurements with enough precision to meet this requirement, measurement and definition difficulties arise because natural waters contain a complex mixture of many different elements from different sources in different molecular forms. The chemical properties of some of these depend on temperature and pressure. Many of these forms are difficult to measure with high accuracy, different practical definitions of salinity result from different attempts to account for these problems, to different levels of precision, while still remaining reasonably easy to use. For many purposes this sum can be limited to a set of eight major ions in natural waters, the major ions dominate the inorganic composition of most natural waters. Exceptions include some pit lakes and waters from some hydrothermal springs, the concentrations of dissolved gases like oxygen and nitrogen are not usually included in descriptions of salinity. However, carbon dioxide gas, which when dissolved is partially converted into carbonates and bicarbonates, is often included. Silicon in the form of acid, which usually appears as a neutral molecule in the pH range of most natural waters. The term salinity is, for oceanographers, usually associated with one of a set of measurement techniques. As the dominant techniques evolve, so do different descriptions of salinity, the distinctions between these different descriptions are important to physical oceanographers but are obscure and confusing to nonspecialists. Salinities were largely measured using titration-based techniques before the 1980s, titration with silver nitrate could be used to determine the concentration of halide ions to give a chlorinity
23.
Per mille
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A per mille, also spelled per mil, per mill, permil, permill, or permille is a sign indicating parts per thousand. Per mil should not be confused with parts per million, the sign is written ‰, which looks like a percent sign with an extra zero in the divisor. It is included in the General Punctuation block of Unicode characters and it is accessible in Windows using ALT+0137. The term is common in other European languages where it is used in contexts, such as blood alcohol content. Examples of common use include, Legal limits of blood-alcohol content for driving a vehicle in some countries. Seawater salinity, for example, the salinity is 35‰
24.
Dhow
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Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with lateen sails used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Historians are divided as to whether the dhow was invented by Arabs or Indians, larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty, smaller ones typically around twelve. The exact origins of the dhow are lost to history, most scholars believe that it originated in India between 600 BC to 600 AD Some claim that the sambuk, a type of dhow, may be derived from the Portuguese caravel. The Yemeni Hadhrami people, as well as Omanis, for centuries came to Beypore, in Kerala and this was because of the good timber in the Kerala forests, the availability of good coir rope, and the skilled carpenters who specialized in ship building. In former times, the planks of a dhows hull were held together by coconut rope. Beypore dhows are known as Uru in Malayalam, the language of Kerala. Settlers from Yemen, known as Baramis, are active in making urus in Kerala. In the 1920s, British writers identified Al Hudaydah as the center for dhow building and those built in Al Hudaydah were smaller in size, and used for travel along the coasts. They were constructed of found in Yemen. Even to the present day, dhows make commercial journeys between the Persian Gulf and East Africa using sails as their means of propulsion. Their cargo is mostly dates and fish to East Africa and mangrove timber to the lands in the Persian Gulf and they often sail south with the monsoon in winter or early spring, and back again to Arabia in late spring or early summer. For celestial navigation, dhow sailors have used the kamal. The latter is a device that determines latitude by finding the angle of the Pole Star above the horizon. Baghlah – from the Arabic language word for mule, a heavy ship, the traditional deep-sea dhow. Baqarah or baggarah – from the Arabic word for cow, old type of small dhow similar to the Battil. Battil – featured long stems topped by large, club-shaped stem heads, badan – a smaller vessel requiring a shallow draft. Boum or dhangi – a large-sized dhow with a stern that is tapering in shape, the Arab boum has a very high prow, which is trimmed in the Indian version. Ghanjah or kotiya – a large vessel, similar to the Baghlah, with a curved stem, a fishing or trading dhow with a broad hull similar to the Jalibut, common in Lamu Island and the coast of Oman
25.
Persian Gulf
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The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, the Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War and it is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait. The gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, the body of water is historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf. Some Arab governments refer to it as the Arabian Gulf or The Gulf, the name Gulf of Iran is used by the International Hydrographic Organization. The Persian Gulf is geologically young, having been formed around 15,000 years ago. Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast, the Persian Gulf is about 56 km wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states of the region. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Persian Gulfs southern limit as The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Oman and this limit is defined as A line joining Ràs Limah on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh on the coast of Iran. The Persian Gulf and its areas are the worlds largest single source of crude oil. Safaniya Oil Field, the worlds largest offshore oilfield, is located in the Persian Gulf, large gas finds have also been made, with Qatar and Iran sharing a giant field across the territorial median line. Using this gas, Qatar has built up a substantial liquefied natural gas, the oil-rich countries that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as the Persian Gulf States. In 550 BC, the Achaemenid Empire established the first ancient empire in Persis, consequently, in the Greek sources, the body of water that bordered this province came to be known as the Persian Gulf. In the travel account of Pythagoras, several chapters are related to description of his travels accompanied by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great, to Susa and Persepolis, and the area is described. This water channel separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate, has enjoyed an Iranian Identity since at least 2200 years ago. Before being given its present name, the Persian Gulf was called many different names, the classical Greek writers, like Herodotus, called it the Red Sea. In Babylonian texts, it was known as the sea above Akkad, the name of the gulf, historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf after the land of Persia, has been disputed by some Arab countries since the 1960s
26.
Petroleum
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Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earths surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation and it consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock, Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a variety of materials. Concern over the depletion of the earths finite reserves of oil, the burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming. The word petroleum comes from Greek, πέτρα for rocks and Greek, the term was found in 10th-century Old English sources. It was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, and is now important across society, including in economy, politics and technology. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China, early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. The mythological origins of the oil fields at Yenangyaung, and its hereditary monopoly control by 24 families, Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century, both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. In 1848 Young set up a small business refining the crude oil, Young eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. The production of oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated 17 October 1850. In 1850 Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E. W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian, the worlds first oil refinery was built in 1856 by Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America, edwin Drakes 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is popularly considered the first modern well
27.
World economy
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The world economy or global economy is the economy of the world, considered as the international exchange of goods and services that is expressed in monetary units of account. Beyond the minimum standard concerning value in production, use, and exchange the definitions, representations, models and it is inseparable from the geography and ecology of Earth. Typical examples are illegal drugs and other market goods, which by any standard are a part of the world economy. Rather, market valuations in a local currency are typically translated to a monetary unit using the idea of purchasing power. This is the method used below, which is used for estimating worldwide economic activity in terms of real US dollars or euros, however, the world economy can be evaluated and expressed in many more ways. It is unclear, for example, how many of the worlds 7.13 billion people have most of their economic activity reflected in these valuations, the following two tables list the Country Groups with individual countries designated by the IMF. Members of the G-20 major economies are in bold, the following two tables list the twenty largest economies by GDP, twenty largest economies by GDP, and the twenty economies with the largest shares of global economic growth from 2014 to 2015. Members of the G-20 major economies are in bold, the following is a list of the twenty largest economies by nominal GDP at a specific year according to International Monetary Fund. The following is a list of twenty largest economies by GDP at a year according to the CIA World Factbook. €320 billion, $319 billion, €250 trillion Unemployment rate,8. 7%, World military expenditure in 2012, estimated to $1.756 trillion Military expenditures – percent of GDP, roughly 2% of gross world product. To promote exports, many government agencies publish on the web economic studies by sector and country. Among these agencies include the USCS and FAS in the United States, EDC and AAFC in Canada, Ubifrance in France, UKTI in the UK, HKTDC and JETRO in Asia, Austrade and NZTE in Oceania. net
28.
Djibouti (city)
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Djibouti City is the capital and largest city of Djibouti, which is named after it. It is located in the coastal Djibouti Region on the Gulf of Tadjoura, Djibouti City has a population of around 529,000 inhabitants, which counts for over 70% of the countrys population. The settlement was founded in 1888 by the French, on land leased from the ruling Somali, during the ensuing period, it served as the capital of French Somaliland and its successor the French Territory of the Afars and Issas. Known as the Pearl of the Gulf of Tadjoura due to its location, Djibouti City is strategically positioned near the worlds busiest shipping lanes and acts as a refueling, the Port of Djibouti is the principal maritime port for imports to and exports from neighboring Ethiopia. Additionally, the city hosts a number of embassies, and is the headquarters of many international organizations, non-profit organizations. Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport is the domestic airport, connecting the capital to various major global destinations. Djibouti City has the second-largest economy of any city in the Horn of Africa after Addis Ababa, from 1862 until 1894, the land to the north of the Gulf of Tadjoura was called Obock. It was ruled by Somali and Afar Sultans, local authorities with whom France signed various treaties between 1883 and 1887 to first gain a foothold in the region, the French subsequently founded Djibouti City in 1888, in a previously uninhabited stretch of coast. In 1896, the settlement was made the capital of French Somaliland, the city later grew considerably in size following the construction of the Imperial Ethiopian Railway. It at the time had a population of 15,000 residents, Djibouti became the center of exports from southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden, including trade in Harari coffee and khat. When Germany invaded France in 1940, Djibouti fell under the control of the Axis-allied Vichy French, in response, the United Kingdom closed the port, but it could not prevent local French from providing information on the passing ship convoys. In December 1942, about 4,000 British troops occupied the town, Djibouti city had about 22,046 residents. It then became the headquarters of the succeeding French Territory of the Afars, since independence in 1977, the city has served as the administrative and commercial capital of the Republic of Djibouti. Djibouti City is a multi-ethnic town and it has a population of around 529,000 residents, making it by far the largest settlement in the country. The two largest ethnic groups are the Somali and the Afars, who are attached to the Hamitic anthropological group. The citys urban landscape is shaped by many communities, the majority of local residents speak Somali or Afar as a first language, which are the mother tongues of the Somali and Afar ethnic groups, respectively. Both languages belong to the larger Afroasiatic family, there are two official languages in Djibouti, Arabic and French. Arabic is of social, cultural and religious importance, in formal settings, it consists of Modern Standard Arabic
29.
Zeila
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Zeila, also known as Zaila, is a port city in the northwestern Salal region of Somaliland. The town evolved into an early Islamic center with the arrival of Muslims shortly after the hijra, the city subsequently came under British protection in the 18th century. This campaign is known as the Conquest of Abyssinia. Zeila is situated in the Awdal region in northwest Somalia, located on the Gulf of Aden coast near the Djibouti border, the town sits on a sandy spit surrounded by the sea. It is known for its reef, mangroves and offshore islands. Landward, the terrain is unbroken desert for fifty miles. Berbera lies 170 miles southeast of Zeila, while the city of Harar in Ethiopia is 200 miles to the west, the travelogue mentions the Barbaroi trading frankincense, among various other commodities, through their port cities such as Avalites. Competent seamen, the Periplus author also indicates that they sailed throughout the Red Sea, the document describes the Barbarois system of governance as decentralized, and essentially consisting of a collection of autonomous city-states. It also suggests that the Berbers who live in the place are very unruly, Islam was introduced to the area early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. In the late 9th century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. He also mentioned that the Adal kingdom had its capital in the city, according to I. M. Adals history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia. By 1330, the Moroccan historian and traveler Ibn Batutta would describe the city as dominated by Muslims from the Zaidi Shiite denomination, shiia influence can still be seen in various areas, as in the southern Somalia veneration of Fatimah, the Prophet Muhammads daughter. Zeilas importance as a port is further confirmed by Al-Idrisi and Ibn Said, who describe it as a town of considerable size. This action provoked the Abyssinian Emperor into raising an army and capturing the Sultans capital, through extensive trade with Abyssinia and Arabia, Adal attained its height of prosperity during the 14th century. It sold incense, myrrh, slaves, gold, silver and camels, Zeila had by then started to grow into a huge multicultural metropolis, with Persian Gulf Arab, Somali, Afar, Amhara, and even Persian inhabitants. The city was instrumental in bringing Islam to the Oromo. In 1332, the Zeila-based King of Adal was slain in a campaign aimed at halting the Abyssinian Emperor Amda Seyons march toward the city. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Saad ad-Din II, was killed by Dawit I of Ethiopia in Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen
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Somaliland
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Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is a self-declared state internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. Somaliland lies in northwestern Somalia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and it is bordered by Puntland State of Somalia to the east, Djibouti to the northwest, and Ethiopia to the south and west. Its claimed territory has an area of 137,600 square kilometres, the capital and the largest city is Hargeisa, with the population of around 1,200,000 residents. In 1988, the Siad Barre regime launched a crackdown against the Hargeisa-based Somali National Movement and other militant groups, the conflict left the countrys economic and military infrastructure severely damaged. Since then, the territory has been governed by elected governments that seek international recognition as the Government of the Republic of Somaliland. The central government maintains informal ties with foreign governments, who have sent delegations to Hargeisa. Ethiopia also maintains an office in the region. However, Somalilands self-proclaimed independence remains unrecognised by any country or international organisation and it is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, an advocacy group whose members consist of indigenous peoples, minorities, and unrecognised or occupied territories. The earliest human artefacts in the area are the Laas Geel cave paintings, the region is sometimes thought to be part of the Land of Punt. Islam was introduced to the northern Somali littoral early on from the Arabian peninsula, various Muslim Somali kingdoms were formed around this period in the area. In the 14th century, the Zeila-based Adal Sultanate battled the forces of the Ethiopian emperor Amda Seyon I, the Ottoman Empire later occupied Berbera and environs in the 1500s. Muhammad Ali, Pasha of Egypt, subsequently established a foothold in the area between 1821 and 1841, the British garrisoned the protectorate from Aden and administered it as part of British India until 1898. British Somaliland was then administered by the Foreign Office until 1905, generally, the British did not have much interest in the resource-barren region. The stated purposes of the establishment of the protectorate were to secure a supply market, check the traffic in slaves, hence, the regions nickname of Adens butchers shop. Colonial administration during this period did not extend administrative infrastructure beyond the coast, on 1 July 1960, the protectorate and the Trust Territory of Somaliland united as planned to form the Somali Republic. A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa, with Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President, on 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, the Somali people ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. In 1967, Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal became Prime Minister, a position to which he was appointed by Shermarke, Shermarke was assassinated two years later by one of his own bodyguards. His murder was followed by a military coup détat on 21 October 1969
31.
Bosaso
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Bosaso is a city in Somalia, and the most populous city in the state of Puntland. Bosaso, according to a made in 2005, had a population of around 164,906 residents. First settled in the 14th century, it is among the oldest cities in Somalia and it currently serves as the nations main seaport. Bosaso was previously known as Bandar Qasim, a derived from A Somali trader of the same name. It is believed that Qasims favourite camel was called Boosaas, from which derived the current name of the town, the town was thus first called Bandar Qassim after its founder, then later dubbed Bosaso after its founders trusted camel. Local tradition recounts that the massive embankment marks the grave of a community matriarch and it is the largest such structure in the wider Horn region. The town would eventually be administered through the official Bari region in the post-independence period, in recent years, it has served as a refueling station for maritime transport between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf ports, and has also become an important commercial point of entry. Bosaso is situated in northeastern Somalia, on the Gulf of Aden coast, nearby settlements include to the east Rehiss, to the northeast Mareroo, to the west Baalade Valley, to the southwest Baalade valley, and to the southeast Dureera. The largest cities in the country most proximate to Bosaso are Erigavo, Burao, shimbiris, the highest peak in Somalia, is located some 220 km to the southwest in the Cal Madow mountain range. Bosaso is among the seven cities and towns earmarked for the reforestation initiative, Bosaso has a hot desert climate. It has an annual relative humidity of around 60%. The average daily mean temperature year-round is 30 °C, with an annual high of 35 °C. Average low temperatures are coolest during the months of December to February. The weather slowly heats up in the spring, as the April rainy season begins, average high temperatures later peak during the summer months of June to August, when they consistently exceed 40 °C. Come September, cooler weather starts to set in again, rainfall reaches a high over this period, with an average precipitation of 7 mm in November. Total rainfall year-round is around 19 mm. Bosasos total population is estimated at about 164,906 residents in 2005, an additional 50,000 registered internally displaced people primarily from conflict-stricken parts of southern Somalia have also sought refuge in camps on the outskirts of the city. Furthermore, Bosaso is a port for boats carrying emigrants from within the country as well as adjacent territories across the Gulf of Aden to settle in the Persian Gulf states. Bosaso also has a significant number of Meheri Arabs, known as Arab Salah, Bosaso city affairs are managed by the Bosaso Municipality
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Crater (Aden)
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Crater, also Kraytar, is a district of the Aden Governorate, Yemen. It is situated in a crater of an ancient volcano which forms the Shamsan Mountains, in 1991, the population was 70,319. As of 2003, the district had a population of 76,723 people, in the closing days of British rule in 1967, Crater District became the focus of the Aden Emergency, sometimes called the last imperial war. After a mutiny of hundreds of soldiers in the South Arabian Federation Army on 20 June, the Crater was occupied by Arab fighters while British forces blocked off its two main entrances. In July, a British infantry battalion, led by Lt. Col. Colin Mitchell of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, entered the Crater and managed to occupy the entire district overnight with no casualties. Craters climate is dominated all year by the anticyclone, or subtropical high, with its descending air, elevated inversions. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Bwh
33.
Sabaeans
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The Sabaeans or Sabeans were an ancient people speaking an Old South Arabian language who lived in what is today Yemen, in the south west of the Arabian Peninsula. The kingdom of Saba has been identified with the land of Sheba. The view that the kingdom of Sheba was the ancient Semitic civilization of Saba in Southern Arabia is controversial. The Kingdom fell after a long but sporadic civil war between several Yemenite dynasties claiming kingship, resulting in the rise of the late Himyarite Kingdom. Sabaeans are mentioned in the books of Job, Joel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, and in ayat 2,62,5,69. The origin of the Sabaean Kingdom is uncertain, the Sabaean kingdom was finally conquered by the Ḥimyarites in the late 3rd century and at that time the capital was Marib. It was located along the strip of desert called Sayhad by medieval Arab geographers, the Sabaean people were South Arabian people. The Sabaeans, like the other Yemenite kingdoms of the period, were involved in the extremely lucrative spice trade, especially frankincense. They left behind inscriptions in the monumental Musnad alphabet, as well as numerous documents in the cursive Zabūr script. The Book of Job mentions the Sabaens for slaying his livestock, each of these temples had a characteristic geometric shape, a characteristic color, and an image made of one of the seven metals. They had two sects, star and idol worshippers, and the doctrine was similar to one that come from Hermes Trismegistus. The Sabaeans were mentioned in the Quran twice as قوم سبأ, the Quran mentions the kingdom of the Saba in the 34th Chapter. The Quranic narrative, from sura 27, has Suleiman getting reports from the Hoopoe bird about the kingdom of Saba, Suleiman sends a letter inviting her to submit fully to the One God, Allah, Lord of the Worlds according to the Islamic text. The Queen of Saba is unsure how to respond and asks her advisors for counsel and they reply by reminding her that they are of great toughness in a reference to their willingness to go to war should she choose to. She replies that she fears if they were to lose, Suleiman may behave as any other king would, entering a country, despoiling it and she decides to meet with Suleiman in order to find out more. Suleiman receives her response to him and asks if anyone can bring him her throne before she arrives. A jinn under the control of Suleiman proposed that he will bring it before Suleiman rises from his seat, One who had knowledge of the Book proposed to bring him the throne of Bilqis in the twinkling of an eye and accomplished that immediately. The queen arrives at his court, is shown her throne and asked and she replied, as though it were it
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Piracy off the coast of Somalia
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Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the second phase of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century. Since 2005, many organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy. Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion a year in trade in 2011 according to Oceans Beyond Piracy. According to the German Institute for Economic Research, an industry of profiteers also arose around the piracy. Insurance companies significantly increased their profits from the attacks, as the firms hiked rate premiums in response. In response, the fishermen began forming armed groups to stop the foreign ships and they eventually turned to hijacking commercial vessels for ransom as an alternate source of income. The pirates also believed that they were protecting their fishing grounds and exacting justice and this is reflected in the names adopted by some of the pirate networks, such as the National Volunteer Coast Guard, which are testimony to the pirates initial motivations. However, as piracy became more lucrative, other reports have speculated that financial gain became the primary motive for the pirates. Combined Task Force 150, a multinational task force, took on the role of fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area within the Gulf of Aden. The increasing threat posed by piracy has also caused concern in India since most of its trade routes pass through the Gulf of Aden. The Indian Navy responded to concerns by deploying warships in the region on October 2008. In September 2008, Russia announced that it too would join international efforts to combat piracy. By the end of 2011, pirates had managed to only four ships off the coast of Somalia,22 fewer than the 26 they had captured in each of the two previous years. They also attempted unsuccessful attacks on 52 other vessels,16 fewer than the year prior, as of October 2016, there were no major vessels or hostages remaining in pirate captivity. According to another source, there were 151 attacks on ships in 2011, compared to 127 in 2010 –, pirates had held 10 vessels and 159 hostages in February 2012. In 2011, pirates earned $146m, an average of $4.87 million per ship, an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 pirates operated. By February 20121,000 had been captured and were going through legal processes in 21 countries. About 25 military vessels from EU and NATO countries, China, Russia, India and Japan patrolled approximately 8.3 million km2 of ocean, on 16 July 2012, the EU launched a new operation, EUCAP Nestor
35.
Biodiversity
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Biodiversity, a contraction of biological diversity, generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. One of the most widely used definitions defines it in terms of the variability within species and it is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation within an area, biome, terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics and these tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 per cent of earths surface, and contain about 90 percent of the worlds species. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, there are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, the number and variety of plants, animals and other organisms that exist is known as biodiversity. It is a component of nature and it ensures the survival of human species by providing food, fuel, shelter, medicines. The richness of biodiversity depends on the conditions and area of the region. All species of plants taken together are known as flora and about 300,000 species of plants are known to date, all species of animals taken together are known as fauna which includes birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, insects, crustaceans, molluscs, etc. Rapid environmental changes typically cause mass extinctions, more than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species, that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct. Estimates on the number of Earths current species range from 10 million to 14 million, of which about 1.2 million have been documented and over 86 percent have not yet been described. More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described, the total amount of related DNA base pairs on Earth is estimated at 5.0 x 1037 and weighs 50 billion tonnes. In comparison, the mass of the biosphere has been estimated to be as much as 4 TtC. In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the Last Universal Common Ancestor of all living on Earth. The age of the Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, there are microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone discovered in Western Australia. Other early physical evidence of a substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old meta-sedimentary rocks discovered in Western Greenland. More recently, in 2015, remains of life were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. According to one of the researchers, If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe
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Fish
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A fish is any member of a group of animals that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic craniate animals that lack limbs with digits. They form a group to the tunicates, together forming the olfactores. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous, tetrapods emerged within lobe-finned fishes, so cladistically they are fish as well. However, traditionally fish are rendered obsolete or paraphyletic by excluding the tetrapods, because in this manner the term fish is defined negatively as a paraphyletic group, it is not considered a formal taxonomic grouping in systematic biology. The traditional term pisces is considered a typological, but not a phylogenetic classification, the earliest organisms that can be classified as fish were soft-bodied chordates that first appeared during the Cambrian period. Although they lacked a true spine, they possessed notochords which allowed them to be more agile than their invertebrate counterparts, fish would continue to evolve through the Paleozoic era, diversifying into a wide variety of forms. Many fish of the Paleozoic developed external armor that protected them from predators, the first fish with jaws appeared in the Silurian period, after which many became formidable marine predators rather than just the prey of arthropods. Fish are abundant in most bodies of water and they can be found in nearly all aquatic environments, from high mountain streams to the abyssal and even hadal depths of the deepest oceans. With 33,100 described species, fish exhibit greater species diversity than any group of vertebrates. Fish are an important resource for humans worldwide, especially as food, commercial and subsistence fishers hunt fish in wild fisheries or farm them in ponds or in cages in the ocean. They are also caught by fishers, kept as pets, raised by fishkeepers. Fish have had a role in culture through the ages, serving as deities, religious symbols, fish do not represent a monophyletic group, and therefore the evolution of fish is not studied as a single event. Early fish from the record are represented by a group of small, jawless. Jawless fish lineages are mostly extinct, an extant clade, the lampreys may approximate ancient pre-jawed fish. The first jaws are found in Placodermi fossils, the diversity of jawed vertebrates may indicate the evolutionary advantage of a jawed mouth. It is unclear if the advantage of a hinged jaw is greater biting force, improved respiration, fish may have evolved from a creature similar to a coral-like sea squirt, whose larvae resemble primitive fish in important ways. The first ancestors of fish may have kept the form into adulthood. Fish are a group, that is, any clade containing all fish also contains the tetrapods
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Coral
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Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria. They typically live in colonies of many identical individual polyps. The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans, a coral group is a colony of myriad genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is an animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening, an exoskeleton is excreted near the base. Over many generations, the colony creates a large skeleton that is characteristic of the species. Individual heads grow by reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning, polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously over a period of one to several nights around a full moon and these are commonly known as zooxanthellae and the corals that contain them are zooxanthellate corals. Such corals require sunlight and grow in clear, shallow water, other corals do not rely on zooxanthellae and can live in much deeper water, with the cold-water genus Lophelia surviving as deep as 3,000 metres. Some have been found on the Darwin Mounds, north-west of Cape Wrath, Corals have also been found as far north as off the coast of Washington State and the Aleutian Islands. In his Scala Naturae, Aristotle classified corals as zoophyta, animals that had characteristics of plants and were therefore hypothetically in between animals and plants, the Persian polymath Al-Biruni classified sponges and corals as animals, arguing that they respond to touch. The phylogeny of Anthozoans is not clearly understood and a number of different models have been proposed, within the Hexacorallia, the sea anemones, coral anemones and stony corals may constitute a monophyletic grouping united by their eight-fold symmetry and cnidocyte trait. The Octocorallia appears to be monophyletic, and primitive members of this group may have been stolonate, the cladogram presented here comes from a 2014 study by Stampar et al. which was based on the divergence of mitochondrial DNA within the group and on nuclear markers. Corals are classified in the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria and they are divided into three subclasses, Hexacorallia, Octocorallia, and Ceriantharia. The Hexacorallia include the stony corals, the sea anemones and the zoanthids and these groups have polyps that generally have 6-fold symmetry. The Octocorallia include blue coral, soft corals, sea pens and these groups have polyps with 8-fold symmetry, each polyp having eight tentacles and eight mesenteries. Fire corals are not true corals, being in the order Anthomedusa of the class Hydrozoa, Corals are sessile animals in the class Anthozoa and differ from most other cnidarians in not having a medusa stage in their life cycle. The body unit of the animal is a polyp, most corals are colonial, the initial polyp budding to produce another and the colony gradually developing from this small start
38.
Seabird
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Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene, in general, seabirds live longer, breed later and have fewer young than other birds do, but they invest a great deal of time in their young. Most species nest in colonies, which can vary in size from a few birds to millions. Many species are famous for undertaking long annual migrations, crossing the equator or circumnavigating the Earth in some cases and they feed both at the oceans surface and below it, and even feed on each other. Seabirds can be highly pelagic, coastal, or in some cases spend a part of the year away from the sea entirely, Seabirds and humans have a long history together, they have provided food to hunters, guided fishermen to fishing stocks and led sailors to land. Many species are threatened by human activities, and conservation efforts are under way. There exists no single definition of which groups, families and species are seabirds, and most definitions are in some way arbitrary. In the words of two scientists, The one common characteristic that all seabirds share is that they feed in saltwater. However, by all of the Sphenisciformes and Procellariiformes, all of the Pelecaniformes except the darters. The phalaropes are usually included as well, since although they are waders, loons and grebes, which nest on lakes but winter at sea, are usually categorized as water birds, not seabirds. Although there are a number of sea ducks in the family Anatidae that are truly marine in the winter, many waders and herons are also highly marine, living on the seas edge, but are also not treated as seabirds. Seabirds, by virtue of living in a depositional environment, are well represented in the fossil record. In the Paleogene the seas were dominated by early Procellariidae, giant penguins, modern genera began their wide radiation in the Miocene, although the genus Puffinus might date back to the Oligocene. The highest diversity of seabirds apparently existed during the Late Miocene, Seabirds have made numerous adaptations to living on and feeding in the sea. Wing morphology has been shaped by the niche an individual species or family has evolved, so that looking at a wings shape, longer wings and low wing loading are typical of more pelagic species, while diving species have shorter wings. Seabirds also almost always have webbed feet, to aid movement on the surface as well as assisting diving in some species. The Procellariiformes are unusual among birds in having a sense of smell, which is used to find widely distributed food in a vast ocean. Salt glands are used by seabirds to deal with the salt they ingest by drinking and feeding, the excretions from these glands are almost pure sodium chloride
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Invertebrate
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Invertebrates are animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column, derived from the notochord. This includes all animals apart from the subphylum Vertebrata, familiar examples of invertebrates include insects, crabs, lobsters and their kin, snails, clams, octopuses and their kin, starfish, sea-urchins and their kin, jellyfish, and worms. The majority of species are invertebrates, one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxa have a number and variety of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Some of the invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata are more closely related to the vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the term invertebrate paraphyletic and hence almost meaningless for taxonomic purposes, the word invertebrate comes from the form of the Latin word vertebra, which means a joint in general, and sometimes specifically a joint from the spinal column of a vertebrate. In turn the jointed aspect of vertebra derived from the concept of turning, coupled with the prefix in-, meaning not or without. The term invertebrates is not always precise among non-biologists since it does not accurately describe a taxon in the way that Arthropoda. Each of these describes an valid taxon, phylum, subphylum or family. Invertebrata is a term of convenience, not a taxon, it has very little circumscriptional significance except within the Chordata, the Vertebrata as a subphylum comprises such a small proportion of the Metazoa that to speak of the kingdom Animalia in terms of Vertebrata and Invertebrata has limited practicality. That would at least circumscribe the Chordata, however, even the notochord would be a less fundamental criterion than aspects of embryological development and symmetry or perhaps bauplan. The following text reflects earlier scientific understanding of the term and of animals which have constituted it. According to this understanding, invertebrates do not possess a skeleton of bone and they include hugely varied body plans. Many have fluid-filled, hydrostatic skeletons, like jellyfish or worms, others have hard exoskeletons, outer shells like those of insects and crustaceans. The most familiar invertebrates include the Protozoa, Porifera, Coelenterata, Platyhelminthes, Nematoda, Annelida, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Arthropoda include insects, crustaceans and arachnids. By far the largest number of described species are insects. The following table lists the number of described extant species for major invertebrate groups as estimated in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species,2014.3. The IUCN estimates that 66,178 extant vertebrate species have been described, the trait that is common to all invertebrates is the absence of a vertebral column, this creates a distinction between invertebrates and vertebrates
40.
Pollution
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Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution, Air pollution has always accompanied civilizations. Pollution started from prehistoric times when man created the first fires, metal forging appears to be a key turning point in the creation of significant air pollution levels outside the home. The burning of coal and wood, and the presence of horses in concentrated areas made the cities the cesspools of pollution. The Industrial Revolution brought an infusion of untreated chemicals and wastes into local streams that served as the water supply, king Edward I of England banned the burning of sea-coal by proclamation in London in 1272, after its smoke became a problem. But the fuel was so common in England that this earliest of names for it was acquired because it could be carted away from some shores by the wheelbarrow and it was the industrial revolution that gave birth to environmental pollution as we know it today. London also recorded one of the extreme cases of water quality problems with the Great Stink on the Thames of 1858. Pollution issues escalated as population growth far exceeded view ability of neighborhoods to handle their waste problem, reformers began to demand sewer systems, and clean water. In 1870, the conditions in Berlin were among the worst in Europe. There were no toilets in the streets or squares. Visitors, especially women, often became desperate when nature called, in the public buildings the sanitary facilities were unbelievably primitive. As a metropolis, Berlin did not emerge from a state of barbarism into civilization until after 1870. Chicago and Cincinnati were the first two American cities to enact laws ensuring cleaner air in 1881, as historian Martin Melosi notes, The generation that first saw automobiles replacing the horses saw cars as miracles of cleanliness. By the 1940s, however, automobile-caused smog was an issue in Los Angeles. Other cities followed around the country early in the 20th century. Extreme smog events were experienced by the cities of Los Angeles and Donora, Pennsylvania in the late 1940s, Air pollution would continue to be a problem in England, especially later during the industrial revolution, and extending into the recent past with the Great Smog of 1952. Awareness of atmospheric pollution spread widely after World War II, with fears triggered by reports of fallout from atomic warfare. Then a non-nuclear event, The Great Smog of 1952 in London and this prompted some of the first major modern environmental legislation, The Clean Air Act of 1956
41.
Outline of Earth sciences
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Earth science, Earth science – all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth sciences, and is arguably a special case in planetary science, Earth science is a branch of the physical sciences which is a part of the natural sciences. It in turn has many branches, ecosphere – there are many subsystems that make up the natural environment of the Earth. Many of the subsystems are characterized as spheres, coinciding with the shape of the planet, the four spheres are the atmosphere, the biosphere, the hydrosphere and the geosphere. Thus, there is an overlap with the hydrosphere. Ecology – scientific study of the distribution and abundance of living organisms and how the distribution, Environmental chemistry – Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places. Environmental geology – Environmental geology, like hydrogeology, is a science concerned with the practical application of the principles of geology in the solving of environmental problems. Earth science, and all of its branches, are branches of physical science, history of cartography – history of the study and practice of making maps or globes. History of environmental science – history of an integrated, quantitative, history of environmental chemistry – history of the Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places. History of toxicology – history of the branch of biology, chemistry, history of geology – history of the study of the Earth, with the general exclusion of present-day life, flow within the ocean, and the atmosphere. History of planetary geology – history of the science discipline concerned with the geology of the celestial bodies such as the planets and their moons, asteroids, comets. History of glaciology – history of the study of glaciers, or more generally ice, history of hydrogeology – history of the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rocks of the Earths crust. History of mineralogy – history of the study of chemistry, crystal structure, history of meteorology – history of the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere which explains and forecasts weather events. History of topography – history of the study of shape and features of the Earth and other observable astronomical objects including planets, moons. History of volcanology – history of the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena
42.
Whale
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Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. They are a grouping within the infraorder Cetacea, usually excluding dolphins. Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the order Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, the two parvorders of whales, baleen whales and toothed whales, are thought to have split apart around 34 million years ago. The whales comprise eight extant families, Balaenopteridae, Balaenidae, Cetotheriidae, Eschrichtiidae, Monodontidae, Physeteridae, Kogiidae, Whales are creatures of the open ocean, they feed, mate, give birth, suckle and raise their young at sea. So extreme is their adaptation to life underwater that they are unable to survive on land. Whales range in size from the 2.6 metres and 135 kilograms dwarf sperm whale to the 29.9 metres and 190 metric tons blue whale, the sperm whale is the largest toothed predator on earth. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the females are larger than males, baleen whales have no teeth, instead they have plates of baleen, a fringe-like structure used to expel water while retaining the krill and plankton which they feed on. They use their throat pleats to expand the mouth to take in huge gulps of water, balaenids have heads that can make up 40% of their body mass to take in water. Toothed whales, on the hand, have conical teeth designed for catching fish or squid. Some species, such as whales, are well adapted for diving to great depths to catch squid. Whales have evolved from land-living mammals, as such they must breathe air regularly, though they can remain submerged for long periods. They have blowholes located on top of their heads, through air is taken in. They are warm-blooded, and have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin, with streamlined fusiform bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers, whales can travel at up to 20 knots, though they are not as flexible or agile as seals. Whales produce a variety of vocalizations, notably the extended songs of the humpback whale. Although whales are widespread, most species prefer the waters of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Species such as humpbacks and blue whales are capable of travelling thousands of miles without feeding, males typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them, mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for one to two years. Once relentlessly hunted for their products, whales are now protected by international law, the North Atlantic right whales nearly became extinct in the twentieth century, with a population low of 450, and the North Pacific gray whale population is ranked Critically Endangered by the IUCN
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Dolphin
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Dolphins are a widely distributed and diverse group of aquatic mammals. They are a grouping within the order Cetacea, excluding whales and porpoises. The dolphins comprise the extant families Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, and Pontoporiidae, there are 40 extant species of dolphins. Dolphins, alongside other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates and their closest living relatives are the hippopotamuses, having diverged about 40 million years ago. Dolphins range in size from the 1.7 m long and 50 kg Mauis dolphin to the 9.5 m and 10 t killer whale, several species exhibit sexual dimorphism, in that the males are larger than females. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers, though not quite as flexible as seals, some dolphins can travel at 55.5 km/h. Dolphins use their conical shaped teeth to capture fast moving prey and they have well-developed hearing which is adapted for both air and water and is so well developed that some can survive even if they are blind. Some species are adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water, although dolphins are widespread, most species prefer the warmer waters of the tropic zones, but some, like the right whale dolphin, prefer colder climates. Dolphins feed largely on fish and squid, but a few, like the killer whale, feed on large mammals, male dolphins typically mate with multiple females every year, but females only mate every two to three years. Calves are typically born in the spring and summer months and females bear all the responsibility for raising them, mothers of some species fast and nurse their young for a relatively long period of time. Dolphins produce a variety of vocalizations, usually in the form of clicks, Dolphins are sometimes hunted in places like Japan, in an activity known as dolphin drive hunting. Besides drive hunting, they face threats from bycatch, habitat loss. Dolphins have been depicted in cultures worldwide. Dolphins occasionally feature in literature and film, as in the film series Free Willy, Dolphins are sometimes kept in captivity and trained to perform tricks, but breeding success has been poor and the animals often die within a few months of capture. The most common dolphins kept are killer whales and bottlenose dolphins, the name is originally from Greek δελφίς, dolphin, which was related to the Greek δελφύς, womb. The animals name can therefore be interpreted as meaning a fish with a womb, the name was transmitted via the Latin delphinus, which in Medieval Latin became dolfinus and in Old French daulphin, which reintroduced the ph into the word. The term mereswine has also historically been used, the term dolphin can be used to refer to, under the parvorder Odontoceti, all the species in the family Delphinidae and the river dolphin families Iniidae, Pontoporiidae, Lipotidae and Platanistidae
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Dugong
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The dugong is a medium-sized marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia and it is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae, its closest modern relative, Stellers sea cow, was hunted to extinction in the 18th century. The dugong is the strictly marine herbivorous mammal. The dugong is the only sirenian in its range, which spans the waters of some 40 countries and territories throughout the Indo-West Pacific, the northern waters of Australia between Shark Bay and Moreton Bay are believed to be the dugongs contemporary stronghold. Like all modern sirenians, the dugong has a body with no dorsal fin or hind limbs. The forelimbs or flippers are paddle-like, the dugong is easily distinguished from the manatees by its fluked, dolphin-like tail, but also possesses a unique skull and teeth. Its snout is sharply downturned, an adaptation for feeding in benthic seagrass communities, the molar teeth are simple and peg-like unlike the more elaborate molar dentition of manatees. The dugong has been hunted for thousands of years for its meat, traditional hunting still has great cultural significance in several countries in its modern range, particularly northern Australia and the Pacific Islands. The dugongs current distribution is fragmented, and many populations are believed to be close to extinction, the IUCN lists the dugong as a species vulnerable to extinction, while the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species limits or bans the trade of derived products. Despite being legally protected in many countries, the causes of population decline remain anthropogenic and include fishing-related fatalities, habitat degradation. With its long lifespan of 70 years or more, and slow rate of reproduction, the word dugong derives from the Tagalog term dugong which was in turn adopted from the Malay duyung, both meaning lady of the sea. Other common local names include sea cow, sea pig and sea camel, Dugong dugon is the only extant species of the family Dugongidae, and one of only four extant species of the Sirenia order, the others forming the manatee family. It was first classified by Müller in 1776 as Trichechus dugon and it was later assigned as the type species of Dugong by Lacépède and further classified within its own family by Gray and subfamily by Simpson. Dugongs and other sirenians are not closely related to marine mammals. Dugongs and elephants share a group with hyraxes and the aardvark. The fossil record shows sirenians appearing in the Eocene, where they most likely lived in the Tethys Ocean, the Stellers sea cow became extinct in the 18th century. No fossils exist of other members of the Dugongidae, molecular studies have been made on dugong populations using mitochondrial DNA. The results have suggested that the population of Southeast Asia is distinct from the others, Australia has two distinct maternal lineages, one of which also contains the dugongs from Africa and Arabia
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Humpback whale
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The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger species, adults range in length from 12–16 m. The humpback has a body shape, with long pectoral fins. It is known for breaching and other distinctive surface behaviors, making it popular with whale watchers, males produce a complex song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time. Its purpose is not clear, though it may have a role in mating, found in oceans and seas around the world, humpback whales typically migrate up to 25,000 km each year. Humpbacks feed in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or subtropical waters to breed and give birth when they fast and their diet consists mostly of krill and small fish. Humpbacks have a repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net technique. Like other large whales, the humpback was a target for the whaling industry, once hunted to the brink of extinction, its population fell by an estimated 90% before a 1966 moratorium. While stocks have partially recovered, entanglement in fishing gear, collisions with ships, the rorquals are believed to have diverged from the other families of the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Miocene. However, it is not known when the members of these families diverged from each other, though clearly related to the giant whales of the genus Balaenoptera, the humpback is the sole member of its genus. The humpback was first identified as de la Nouvelle Angleterre by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his Regnum Animale of 1756. In 1781, Georg Heinrich Borowski described the species, converting Brissons name to its Latin equivalent, in 1804, Lacépède shifted the humpback from the family Balaenidae, renaming it B. jubartes. In 1846, John Edward Gray created the genus Megaptera, classifying the humpback as Megaptera longipinna, the common name is derived from the curving of their backs when diving. The generic name Megaptera from the Greek mega-/μεγα- giant and ptera/πτερα wing, the specific name means New Englander and was probably given by Brisson due to regular sightings of humpbacks off the coast of New England. Some biologists believe that these should be regarded as separate subspecies, humpbacks can easily be identified by their stocky body, obvious hump, black dorsal coloring and elongated pectoral fins. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, the fluked tail, which typically rises above the surface when diving, has wavy trailing edges. Humpbacks have 270 to 400 darkly colored baleen plates on each side of their mouths, the plates measure from 18 in in the front to about 3 ft in the back, behind the hinge. Ventral grooves run from the jaw to the umbilicus, about halfway along the underside of the body
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Bryde's whale
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Brydes whale or the Brydes whale complex putatively comprises two species of rorqual and maybe three. The complex means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The common Brydes whale is a form that occurs worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters. The recently described Omuras whale, was considered a pygmy form of Brydes. Sittang whale refers to the locality of the species. In Thailand, locals distinguished Sittang whales different from B. edeni, in Japan, early whalers called it anchovy or skipjack whale. It preys on the anchovy and it was associated with the skipjack. As modern whaling shifted to the Sanriku area, whalemen confused it for the sei whale, incidentally, anchovies are dominant prey for both species off Japan. They are now called nitari-kujira, for their resemblance to the sei whale, for both putative species, the scientific name B. edeni is commonly used or they are simply referred to B. cf brydei/edeni. Despite terrible weather, he was able to secure almost the entire skull and nearly all its vertebrae and these were sent to Anderson, who described the specimen, which was physically mature, as a new species. In 1950, the Dutch scientist G. C. A, members of the Brydes whale complex are moderately sized rorquals, falling behind sei whales, but being larger than Omuras whale and the relatively small minke whales. At physical maturity, the coastal form off South Africa averages 13.1 m for males and 13.7 m for females, the coastal form near Japan is slightly smaller, with adult males averaging 12.9 m and adult females 13.3 m. At sexual maturity, males average 11.9 m and females 12 m near Japan, sexual maturity is reached at 8–11 years for both sexes in the offshore form off South Africa. At birth, they are 3. 95–4.15 m, the body mass of Brydes whales can range 12–25 metric tons. Brydes whale is a whale, more specifically a rorqual belonging to the same group as blue whales. It has twin blowholes with a low splashguard to the front, like other rorquals, it has no teeth, but has two rows of baleen plates. Brydes whales closely resemble their close relative the sei whale and they are remarkably elongated, with the greatest height of the body being one-seventh their total length – compared to 1/6.5 to 1/6.75 in fin whales and only 1/5.5 in sei whales. Brydes have a rostrum with three longitudinal ridges that extend from the blowholes, where the auxiliary ridges begin as depressions
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Blue whale
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The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales. At up to 30 metres in length and with a recorded weight of 173 tonnes and probably reaching over 181 tonnes. Long and slender, the whales body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally. B. m. indica, found in the Indian Ocean, as with other baleen whales, its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill. Blue whales were abundant in all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century. For over a century, they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the community in 1966. A2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide, the IUCN estimates that there are probably between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales worldwide today. Before whaling, the largest population was in the Antarctic, numbering approximately 239,000, there remain only much smaller concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean groups. There are two groups in the North Atlantic, and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere. As of 2014, the Eastern North Pacific blue whale population had rebounded to nearly its pre-hunting population, Blue whales are rorquals, a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale, Brydes whale, the sei whale, and the minke whale. The family Balaenopteridae is believed to have diverged from the families of the suborder Mysticeti as long ago as the middle Oligocene. It is not known when the members of those families diverged from each other, the blue whale is usually classified as one of eight species in the genus Balaenoptera, one authority places it in a separate monotypic genus, Sibbaldus, but this is not accepted elsewhere. If further research confirms these relationships, it will be necessary to reclassify the rorquals, there have been at least 11 documented cases of blue whale-fin whale hybrid adults in the wild. Arnason and Gullberg describe the distance between a blue and a fin as about the same as that between a human and a gorilla. Researchers working off Fiji believe they photographed a hybrid humpback-blue whale including the discovery through DNA analysis from a sample found in a Japanese market. The first published description of the whale comes from Robert Sibbalds Phalainologia Nova. In September 1692, Sibbald found a whale that had stranded in the Firth of Forth – a male 24 m long – that had black, horny plates. The specific name musculus is Latin and could mean muscle, carl Linnaeus, who named the species in his seminal Systema Naturae of 1758, would have known this and may have intended the ironic double meaning
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