1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
3.
Southern Alps
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The Southern Alps are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealands South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the islands western side. The term Southern Alps generally refers to the range, although separate names are given to many of the smaller ranges that form part of it. The range includes the South Islands Main Divide, which separates the water catchments of the heavily populated eastern side of the island from those on the west coast. Politically, the Main Divide forms the boundary between the Canterbury and West Coast Regions, the Southern Alps run 500 km north to south. Their tallest peak is Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand at 3,724 metres, the mountains are cut through with glacial valleys and lakes. A chain of lakes are found on the eastern side of the ridge from Lake Coleridge in the north to Lake Wakatipu in Otago in the south. Settlements include Maruia Springs, a spa near Lewis Pass, the town of Arthurs Pass, the Southern Alps were named by Captain Cook on 23 March 1770, who described their prodigious height. They had previously noted by Abel Tasman in 1642, whose description of the South Islands west coast is often translated as a land uplifted high. The climate is cold with snow and ice year-round at the highest points, because of its orientation perpendicular to the prevailing westerly winds, the range creates excellent wave soaring conditions for glider pilots. The town of Omarama, in the lee of the mountains, has gained a reputation for its gliding conditions. The prevailing westerlies also create a pattern known as the Norwest arch, in which moist air is pushed up over the mountains. This weather pattern is visible in summer across Canterbury and North Otago. Over the last 45 million years, the collision has pushed up a 20 km thickness of rocks on the Pacific Plate to form the Alps, although much of this has been eroded away. Uplift has been most rapid during the last 5 million years, despite the substantial uplift, most of the relative motion along the Alpine Fault is transverse, not vertical. However, significant dip-slip occurs on the boundary to the north and east of the North Island, in the Hikurangi Trench. The mountains are rich in flora with about 25% of the plant species being found above the treeline in alpine plant habitats. The cold windswept slopes above the treeline are covered with areas of fellfield, to the east, the Alps descend to the high grasslands of Canterbury and Otago. Plants adapted to the alpine conditions include woody shrubs like Hebe, Dracophyllum, and Coprosma, wildlife of the mountains includes the endemic rock wren and the kea, a large parrot that was once hunted as a pest
4.
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
5.
Mountain pass
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A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. At lower elevations it may be called a hill pass, the highest vehicle-accessible pass in the world appears to be Mana Pass, located in the Himalayas on the border between India and China. Mountain passes make use of a gap, saddle or col, a topographic saddle is analogous to the mathematical concept of a saddle surface, with a saddle point marking the highest point between two valleys and the lowest point along a ridge. On a topographic map, passes are characterized by lines with an hourglass shape. Passes are often found just above the source of a river, a pass may be very short, consisting of steep slopes to the top of the pass, or may be a valley many kilometres long, whose highest point might only be identifiable by surveying. Roads have long been built – and more recently railways – through passes, some high and rugged passes may have tunnels bored underneath to allow faster traffic flow throughout the year. The top of a pass is frequently the only ground in the area. If a national border follows a mountain range, a pass over the mountains is typically on the border, and there may be a control or customs station. For instance Argentina and Chile share the worlds third-longest international border,5,300 kilometres long, the border runs north-south along the Andes mountains, with a total of 42 mountain passes. On a road over a pass, it is customary to have a roadside sign giving the name of the pass. As well as offering relatively easy travel between valleys, passes also provide a route between two mountain tops with a minimum of descent. As a result, it is common for tracks to meet at a pass, passes traditionally were places for trade routes, communications, cultural exchange, military expeditions etc. A typical example is the Brenner pass in the Alps, some mountain passes above the tree line have problems with snow drift in the winter. This might be alleviated by building the road a few meters above the ground, there are many words for pass in the English-speaking world. In the United States, pass is very common in the West, the gap is common in the southern Appalachians, notch in parts of New England. Scotland has the Gaelic term bealach, while Wales has the similar bwlch, the roads at Mana Pass at 5,610 metres and Marsimik La at 5,582 metres, on and near the China-India border respectively, appear to be worlds two highest motorable passes. Media related to Mountain passes at Wikimedia Commons
6.
South Island
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The South Island or Te Waipounamu is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, the South Island covers 150,437 square kilometres and has a temperate climate. In the early stages of European settlement of the country, the South Island had the majority of the European population, in prose, the two main islands of New Zealand are called the North Island and the South Island, with the definite article. Charcoal drawings can be found on rock shelters in the centre of the South Island. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly stylised reptiles, some of the birds pictured are long extinct, including moa and Haasts eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, early inhabitants of the South Island were the Waitaha. They were largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāti Mamoe in the 16th century, Kāti Mamoe were in turn largely absorbed via marriage and conquest by the Kāi Tahu who migrated south in the 17th century. While today there is no distinct Kāti Mamoe organisation, many Kāi Tahu have Kāti Mamoe links in their whakapapa and, a notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship. In the early 18th century, Kāi Tahu, a Māori tribe who originated on the east coast of the North Island, There they and Kāti Mamoe fought Ngāi Tara and Rangitāne in the Wairau Valley. Ngāti Māmoe then ceded the east coast regions north of the Clarence River to Kāi Tahu, Kāi Tahu continued to push south, conquering Kaikoura. By the 1730s, Kāi Tahu had settled in Canterbury, including Banks Peninsula, from there they spread further south and into the West Coast. In 1827-1828 Ngāti Toa under the leadership of Te Rauparaha successfully attacked Kāi Tahu at Kaikoura, Ngāti Toa then visited Kaiapoi, ostensibly to trade. When they attacked their hosts, the well-prepared Kāi Tahu killed all the leading Ngāti Toa chiefs except Te Rauparaha, Te Rauparaha returned to his Kapiti Island stronghold. After destroying Te Maiharanuis village they took their captives to Kapiti, John Stewart, though arrested and sent to trial in Sydney as an accomplice to murder, nevertheless escaped conviction. In the summer of 1831–32 Te Rauparaha attacked the Kaiapoi pā, Kaiapoi was engaged in a three-month siege by Te Rauparaha, during which his men successfully sapped the pā. They then attacked Kāi Tahu on Banks Peninsula and took the pā at Onawe, in 1832-33 Kāi Tahu retaliated under the leadership of Tūhawaiki and others, attacking Ngāti Toa at Lake Grassmere. Kāi Tahu prevailed, and killed many Ngāti Toa, although Te Rauparaha again escaped, fighting continued for a year or so, with Kāi Tahu maintaining the upper hand. Ngāti Toa never again made an incursion into Kāi Tahu territory
7.
Julius von Haast
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Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast KCMG, known as Julius Haast and later as Julius von Haast, was a German geologist. He founded Canterbury Museum at Christchurch, New Zealand, Johann Franz Julius Haast was born on 1 May 1822 in Bonn, a town in the Kingdom of Prussia, to a merchant and his wife. As a child, he attended a school but was also educated at a grammar school in Cologne. After completing his schooling, he then entered the University of Bonn. As a young man, he travelled throughout Europe before basing himself in Frankfurt, working in the trading of books, on 26 October 1846, Haast married Antonia Schmitt at Frankfurt, Germany. The marriage, although unhappy, produced a son named Robert two years later. Haast was fluent in English and, in 1858, was contracted by a British shipping firm, A. Willis, Gann & Company and he travelled to London and in September of that year embarked abroad the Evening Star, destined for New Zealand. He arrived in Auckland on 21 December 1858 and, the following day, Haast discovered the two men had a shared interest in geology and they quickly became friends. Haast accompanied Hochstetter on his journey to Drury a few days later and also present on the trip were several of Hochstetters fellow scientists as well as the explorer and surveyor Charles Heaphy. Hochstetters report on the Drury coal field was received and he was formally asked to conduct geological surveys of New Zealand. His work with the Novara expedition largely complete, he agreed to stay on in new Zealand for several months although his salary would be paid by the Austrian government, over the next few weeks, Haast accompanied Hochstetter on geological expeditions of the area around Auckland. Hochstetter then turned his attention south, towards the Waikato province, the Waikato, apart from a few roads and trails, was largely unknown and the expedition, which left Auckland on 7 March 1859, had to make its own maps as they journeyed south. In three months, they travelled as far as Lake Taupo and also went as far west as Kāwhia Harbour and as east as Maketu, arriving back in Auckland on 24 May 1859, the party, which included a photographer, had covered 1000 kilometres. Numerous samples had been taken and sketches and photographs taken on the added to the scientific knowledge of the area. The next month, Hochstetter and Haast departed for the Coromandel, during his time in Nelson, while Hochstetter was carrying out his own fieldwork, Haast conducted several digs for moa bones and extracted several near-complete skeletons of the long extinct bird. He was also tasked by Hochstetter with carrying out independent fieldwork in Golden Bay, at Shakespeare Bay, near what is now Picton, he correctly predicted gold could be found based on his inspection of the rocks in the area. Haast returned to Nelson on 24 September September and met up with Hochstetter, there was one final expedition, to investigate a newly discovered coal field in Golden Bay, at the end of September, before Hochstetter sailed for Sydney on 2 October. Following Hochstetters departure from New Zealand, Haast was requested by the Nelson Provincial Council to build on the work already completed
8.
Canterbury Province
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The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Canterbury Province was founded in December 1850 by an association of influential Englishmen associated with the Church of England, the Charlotte Jane and the Randolph—the first two of the First Four Ships—arrived in the area on 16 December 1850, later celebrated as the provinces initial Anniversary Day. Elections were held in 1853 for Superintendent and, later that year and these elections predated any elected national assembly. The franchise was extended to men over the age of 21 who owned property in the province, the first meeting place was the former office of the Guardian and Advertiser, Canterburys second newspaper, on Chester Street near the Avon River. In 1866, the moved to Guise Brittans house, which later became part of the Clarendon Hotel. One session in 1858 was held in the hall on what is now High Street. On 28 September 1859, the council first met in what known as the Timber Chamber of the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings. The Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings was used from November 1865, following the West Coast Gold Rush, the portion of the province west of the Southern Alps was split off as Westland in 1867. Upon the establishment of the University of New Zealand in 1870, on the east coast the province was bounded by the Hurunui River in the north and the Waitaki River in the south. The boundary on the west coast was largely undefined before the West Coast became its own province. In 1868 the West Coast was separated from the Province with the formation of the County of Westland on the West Coast with the line defined as the crest of the Southern Alps. In 1873 the County formed its own Province, the short-lived Westland Province, in the south the course of the Waitaki River was not known and disputes arose with the Province of Otago over pastoral leases in the inland high country. In the 1860s South Canterbury made two bids to become separate province but this was rejected by the national government, when the province was abolished, the area was distributed across eight counties. The Ferrymead Railway was the first railway to be opened and closed in New Zealand and it was made obsolete by the opening of a new 8 miles line through a tunnel giving Christchurch access to the better port of Lyttelton. The mainlines of the Canterbury Provincial Railways were Irish gauge with some lines in Colonial gauge. These lines were all absorbed into the New Zealand Railways Department in 1876. Charles Simeon was the officer for the first election of a Superintendent. Canterbury had four Superintendents, The Executive Council is comparable to a cabinet, the following 26 Executive Councils existed, Each New Zealand province celebrates an anniversary day
