1.
Plant
–
Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
Plant
–
Green algae from
Ernst Haeckel 's
Kunstformen der Natur, 1904.
Plant
–
Had'n
Plant
–
Dicksonia antarctica, a species of
tree fern
Plant
–
A petrified log in
Petrified Forest National Park.
2.
United States Department of Agriculture
–
Approximately 80% of USDAs $140 billion budget goes to the Food and Nutrition Service program. The largest component of the FNS budget is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, after the resignation of Thomas Vilsack on January 13,2017 and the departure of President Barack Obama from office on January 20,2017, the acting Secretary of Agriculture is Michael Young. Activities in this include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides healthy food to over 40 million low-income. The USDA also is concerned with assisting farmers and food producers with the sale of crops and it plays a role in overseas aid programs by providing surplus foods to developing countries. This aid can go through USAID, foreign governments, international bodies such as World Food Program, the Agricultural Act of 1949, section 416 and Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, also known as Food for Peace, provides the legal basis of such actions. The USDA is a partner of the World Cocoa Foundation, early in its history, the economy of the United States was largely agrarian. Officials in the government had long sought new and improved varieties of seeds, plants. In 1837 Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, a Yale-educated attorney interested in improving agriculture, became Commissioner of Patents and he began collecting and distributing new varieties of seeds and plants through members of the Congress and agricultural societies. In 1839, Congress established the Agricultural Division within the Patent Office and allotted $1,000 for the collection of agricultural statistics, Ellsworth was called the Father of the Department of Agriculture. In 1849, the Patent Office was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior, in the ensuing years, agitation for a separate bureau of agriculture within the department or a separate department devoted to agriculture kept recurring. Lincoln called it the peoples department, in the 1880s, varied advocacy groups were lobbying for Cabinet representation. Business interests sought a Department of Commerce and Industry, and farmers tried to raise the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet rank, finally, on February 9,1889, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law elevating the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet level. In 1887, the Hatch Act provided for the funding of agricultural experiment stations in each state. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 then funded cooperative extension services in each state to teach agriculture, home economics, with these and similar provisions, the USDA reached out to every county of every state. During the Great Depression, farming remained a way of life for millions of Americans. The Department of Agricultures Bureau of Home Economics, established in 1923, published shopping advice and recipes to stretch family budgets and make food go farther. USDA helped ensure that continued to be produced and distributed to those who needed it, assisted with loans for small landowners. The Department of Agriculture was authorized a budget for Fiscal Year 2015 of $139.7 billion, the Washington Post reports that he said There are days when I have literally nothing to do, he recalled thinking as he weighed his decision to quit
United States Department of Agriculture
–
The
Jamie L. Whitten Building in
Washington D.C., the USDA headquarters.
United States Department of Agriculture
–
Seal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
–
Harvey Washington Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture's Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff, not long after he joined the division in 1883
United States Department of Agriculture
–
The
Beagle Brigade are part of the USDAs
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This piece of luggage at
Washington Dulles International Airport may contain contraband.
3.
Quebec City
–
Quebec City, French, Ville de Québec, officially Québec) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The citys landmarks include the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the skyline, and La Citadelle, the National Assembly of Quebec, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Musée de la civilisation are found within or near Vieux-Québec. Thus, Québec is officially spelled with an accented é in both Canadian English and French, although the accent is not used in common English usage. Quebec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, while many of the major cities in Latin America date from the sixteenth century, among cities in Canada and the U. S. few were created earlier than Quebec City. Also, Quebecs Old Town is the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, French explorer Jacques Cartier built a fort at the site in 1535, where he stayed for the winter before going back to France in spring 1536. He came back in 1541 with the goal of building a permanent settlement, Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and diplomat on 3 July 1608, and at the site of a long abandoned St. Lawrence Iroquoian settlement called Stadacona. Champlain, also called The Father of New France, served as its administrator for the rest of his life, the name Canada refers to this settlement. Although called the cradle of the Francophone population in North America, the place seemed favourable to the establishment of a permanent colony. In 1629 there was the surrender of Quebec, without battle, however, Samuel de Champlain argued that the English seizing of the lands was illegal as the war had already ended, he worked to have the lands returned to France. As part of the negotiations of their exit from the Anglo-French War. These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the lands in Quebec and Acadia were returned to the French Company of One Hundred Associates. In 1665, there were 550 people in 70 houses living in the city, one-quarter of the people were members of religious orders, secular priests, Jesuits, Ursulines nuns and the order running the local hospital, Hotel-Dieu. Quebec City was the headquarters of many raids against New England during the four French, in the last war, the French and Indian War, Quebec City was captured by the British in 1759 and held until the end of the war in 1763. France ceded New France, including the city, to Britain in 1763, at the end of French rule in 1763, forests, villages, fields and pastures surrounded the town of 8,000 inhabitants. The town distinguished itself by its architecture, fortifications, affluent homes of masonry and shacks in the suburbs of Saint-Jean. Despite its urbanity and its status as capital, Quebec City remained a small city with close ties to its rural surroundings. Nearby inhabitants traded their farm surpluses and firewood for imported goods from France at the two city markets, during the American Revolution revolutionary troops from the southern colonies assaulted the British garrison in an attempt to liberate Quebec City, in a conflict now known as the Battle of Quebec
Quebec City
–
Clockwise from top left: Saint Louis Gate in the Ramparts;
Parliament Hill and Bassin Louise waterfront area;
Château Frontenac and Holy Trinity Cathedral in
Vieux-Québec;
Quebec National Assembly;
Pierre Laporte Bridge with
Quebec Bridge in the background
Quebec City
–
Flag
Quebec City
–
Quebec Settlement, 1608
Quebec City
–
Port of Quebec City in the early 20th century
4.
Montreal
–
Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
Montreal
–
Clockwise from top:
Downtown Montreal as seen from the
Champlain Bridge;
McGill University;
Saint Joseph's Oratory; the
Old Montreal featuring the
Montreal Clock Tower and the
Jacques Cartier Bridge during the
Montreal Fireworks Festival; a view of the
Notre-Dame Basilica from
Place d'Armes; and the
Olympic Stadium.
Montreal
–
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Montreal
–
Saint Jacques Street (formerly St. James Street), in 1910
Montreal
–
Bonsecours Market in autumn.
5.
Vernalization
–
Vernalization is the induction of a plants flowering process by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter, or by an artificial equivalent. After vernalization, plants have acquired the ability to flower, vernalization is sometimes used to refer to herbal plants requiring a cold dormancy to produce new shoots and leaves but this usage is discouraged. Many plants grown in temperate climates require vernalization and must experience a period of low temperature to initiate or accelerate the flowering process. This ensures that development and seed production occurs in spring. The needed cold is often expressed in chill hours, typical vernalization temperatures are between 5 and 10 degrees Celsius. Many monocarpic winter annuals and biennials, including some ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana and winter cereals such as wheat, scientists in the early 19th century had discussed how some plants needed cold temperatures to flower. In 1857 an American agriculturist John Hancock Klippart, Secretary of the Ohio Board of Agriculture, reported the importance, one of the most significant works was by a German plant physiologist Gustav Gassner who made a detailed discussion in his 1918 paper. Lysenko himself translated the term into vernalization, after Lysenko the term was used to explain the ability of flowering in some plants after a period of chilling due to physiological changes and external factors. The formal definition was given in 1960 by a French botanist P. Chouard, lysenkos 1928 paper on vernalization and plant physiology drew wide attention due to its practical consequences for Russian agriculture. Severe cold and lack of snow had destroyed many early winter wheat seedlings. By treating wheat seeds with moisture as well as cold, Lysenko induced them to bear a crop planted in spring. Early research on vernalization focused on plant physiology, the availability of molecular biology has made it possible to unravel its underlying mechanisms. Due to plant flowering requiring the successful co-operation of several metabolic pathways, Arabidopsis thaliana is a much-studied model for vernalization. Some ecotypes, called winter annuals, have delayed flowering without vernalization, the genes that underlie this difference in plant physiology have been intensively studied. The reproductive phase change of A. thaliana occurs by a sequence of two related events, first, the transition, then the floral transition. Bolting is a robust predictor of flower formation, and hence a good indicator for vernalization research, in winter annual Arabidopsis, vernalization of the meristem appears to confer competence to respond to floral inductive signals. A vernalized meristem retains competence for as long as 300 days in the absence of an inductive signal, at the molecular level, flowering is repressed by the protein Flowering Locus C, which binds to and represses genes that promote flowering, thus blocking flowering. Winter annual ecotypes of Arabidopsis have a copy of the gene FRIGIDA
Vernalization
–
Many species of
henbane require vernalization before flowering.
6.
Sunset Magazine
–
Sunset is a lifestyle magazine in the United States. Sunset focuses on homes, cooking, gardening, and travel, the magazine is published monthly by the Sunset Publishing Corporation, part of Southern Progress Corporation, itself a subsidiary of Time Warner. Sunset began in 1898 as a magazine for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company. The Sunset Limited was the train on the Southern Pacific Railroads Sunset Route. Sunset Magazine was started to be available onboard and at the station, the inaugural issue featured an essay about Yosemite, with photographs by noted geologist Joseph LeConte. Poetry featuring railroad themes and a string of short stories in which characters swapped tall tales, always aboard a train. Most of these stories were penned by Paul Shoup, who later abandoned fiction to become president of the Southern Pacific. On April 18,1906, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed the Sunset offices, the May 1906 edition was a six-page emergency issue, in stark contrast to the 214-page April 1906 edition. Soon, however, the magazine was trumpeting its hometowns revival, in articles like San Franciscos Future, in A San Francisco Pleasure Cure, an early story by Sinclair Lewis published in the magazine, a tired businessman revived himself through a visit to the rebuilt city. In 1914, the sold the magazine to its employees. The format resembled other national general interest magazines of the day such as Colliers, fiction and poetry became more ambitious, featuring authors such as Jack London, Dashiell Hammett, Mary Austin, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Sunset cover art in its early years was of high quality, contributors of cover art included Will James, Maynard Dixon, and Cornelia Barns. In the 1920s, the magazine became unprofitable, as it grew thinner, in 1929, Lawrence W. Lane, a former advertising executive with Better Homes and Gardens, purchased Sunset, and changed the format to what would become its current Western lifestyle emphasis. The Lane family would own Sunset for the next 62 years, during the Depression, weighty ruminations on politics and economics were replaced with frivolous articles like March 1935s Little Toes, What Now. Which began This is the season all the little toes are going not to market. Sunset began Kitchen Cabinet, a readers recipes feature still published today, essays on home architecture became more specifically geared to the West, with a series of sumptuously photographed articles championing the Western ranch house. Travel and garden coverage grew similarly focused and specific, in 1932, Sunset became the first magazine in the nation to publish different editions for different parts of its circulation area, allowing it to better tailor gardening advice to its readers. Sunset eliminated the use of bylines, and articles were increasingly how-tos, giving it a voice of authority and it was a successful formula, by 1938 the magazine was again profitable
Sunset Magazine
–
First edition cover
Sunset Magazine
–
Sunset Magazine
Sunset Magazine
–
Sunset, July 1904, art by Maynard Dixon
Sunset Magazine
–
Sunset from January 1907. Cover illustration by
Maynard Dixon.
7.
North Atlantic Current
–
The North Atlantic Current, also known as North Atlantic Drift and North Atlantic Sea Movement, is a powerful warm western boundary current that extends the Gulf Stream north-eastward. The NAC originates from where the Gulf Stream turns north at the Southeast Newfoundland Rise, the NAC flows northward east of the Grand Banks, from 40°N to 51°N, before turning sharply east to cross the Atlantic. It transports more warm water to northern latitudes than any other boundary current. It reaches speeds of 2 knots near the North American coast, directed by topography, the NAC meanders heavily but, in contrast to the meanders of the Gulf Stream, the NAC meanders remain stable without breaking off into eddies. The colder parts of the Gulf Stream turn northward near the tail of the Grand Banks at 50°W where the Azores Current branches off to flow south of the Azores, from there the NAC flow north-eastward east of the Flemish Cap. Approaching the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it turns eastward and becomes much broader. It then splits into a colder, north-eastern branch and an eastern branch. West of Continental Europe, it splits into two major branches, one branch goes southeast, later to become the Canary Current as it passes northwest Africa and turns southwest. The other major branch continues north along the coast of Northwestern Europe, other branches include the Irminger Current and the Norwegian Current. The North Atlantic Current, together with the Gulf Stream, have a reputation for having a considerable warming influence on European climate. The principal cause for differences in climate between North America and Europe is, however, winds rather than ocean currents. North Atlantic Oscillation Ocean gyre Physical oceanography Notes Sources The North Atlantic Current, elizabeth Rowe, Arthur J. Mariano, Edward H. Ryan, The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies
North Atlantic Current
–
Schematic of the world's ocean currents
8.
Temperate
–
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of Earth lie between the tropics and the polar regions. The temperatures in these regions are relatively moderate, rather than extremely hot or cold. The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer to the Arctic Circle, the south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Antarctic Circle. In some climate classifications, the zone is often divided into several smaller climate zones. These include Humid subtropical climate, Mediterranean climate, oceanic, subtropical climates are located between 23. 5° and 35. 0° north or south latitude on the eastern or leeward sides of landmasses. This climate has long, generally hot, summers and short, mild winters and these climates may occur in southern Asia, the southeastern United States, parts of eastern Australia, and in eastern coastal South America. Mediterranean climates, occur between 30° and 42° north and south latitude, on the sides of landmasses. This climate has hot summers and short mild winters, however, seasonal rainfall is the opposite of that of the subtropical humid type. These climates occur near the rimlands of the Mediterranean Sea, in western Australia, in California, the oceanic climates occur in the higher middle latitudes, between 45° and 60° north and south latitude. They are created by the flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have cool summers and cool winters, annual rainfall is spread throughout the entire year. Regions with this climate include Western Europe, northwestern North America, the Continental climates occur in middle latitudes, between 35° or 40° to 55°. These climates are normally inland or on sides of landmasses. They feature warm to hot summers and cold winters, with a large temperature variation. Regions with this climate include northern temperate Asia, the northern United States, southern Canada, the vast majority of the worlds human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the northern hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land. The richest temperate flora in the world is found in southern Africa, geographical zone Habitat Köppen climate classification Middle latitudes Polar circle Subtropics
Temperate
–
The different geographical zones
9.
Maritime climate
–
Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 °C in the warmest month, and above 0 °C in the coldest month. It typically lacks a dry season, as precipitation is evenly dispersed throughout the year. Oceanic climates generally have cool summers and mild to cool winters, Oceanic climates are most dominant in Europe, where they spread much farther inland than in other continents. Oceanic climates can have much storm activity as they are located in the belt of the stormy westerlies, many oceanic climates have frequent cloudy or overcast conditions due to the near constant storms and lows tracking over or near them. Precipitation is both adequate and reliable throughout the year in oceanic climates, extended months of rain and cloudy conditions are common in oceanic climates. Seattle is an example of this, between October and May, Seattle experiences high rainfall and is mostly or partly cloudy six out of every seven days. In most areas with a climate, precipitation comes in the form of rain for the majority of the year. However, some areas with this climate see some snowfall annually during winter, outside of Australia and parts of New Zealand, most areas with an oceanic climate experience at least one snowstorm per year. In the poleward locations of the climate zone, snowfall is more frequent. Overall temperature characteristics of the oceanic climates feature cool temperatures and infrequent extremes of temperature, summers are cool, with the warmest month having a mean temperature below 22 °C. Poleward of the latter is a zone of the subpolar oceanic climate, with long and cold winters and cool. Examples of this climate include parts of coastal Iceland in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile, Oceanic climates are not necessarily always found in coastal locations on the aforementioned parallels, however, in most cases oceanic climates parallel higher middle latitude oceans. The polar jet stream, which moves in a west to east direction across the middle latitudes, advancing low pressure systems, storms, in coastal areas of the higher middle latitudes, the prevailing onshore flow creates the basic structure of most oceanic climates. Oceanic climates are a product and reflection of the adjacent to them. In summer, high pressure pushes the prevailing westerlies north of many oceanic climates. As a result of the Gulf Stream, west-coast areas located in high latitudes like Ireland, the UK, Oceanic climates in Europe occur mostly in Northwest Europe, from Ireland and Great Britain eastward to central Europe. Most of France, Germany, Norway, the north coast of Spain, examples of oceanic climates are found in London, Bergen, Dublin, Berlin, Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Biarritz, Bayonne, Zürich, Copenhagen and Paris. With decreasing distance to the Mediterranean Sea, the climate of Northwest Europe gradually changes to the subtropical dry-summer or Mediterranean climate of southern Europe
Maritime climate
–
Seattle, a city with an oceanic climate
Maritime climate
–
World map showing oceanic climate zones, as defined by the
Köppen climate types "Cfb", "Cfc", "Cwb" and "Cwc"
Maritime climate
–
Curitiba, capital city of Brazilian
Paraná state features a subtropical highland climate
10.
Grampian Mountains
–
The Grampian Mountains or Grampians are one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, occupying a considerable portion of the Scottish Highlands in northeast Scotland. The range includes many of the highest mountains in the British Isles, including Ben Nevis, there is some ambiguity about the extent of the range. In the introduction of Wyness the author, writing about Deeside, many maps and books have given its name as ‘the Grampians’ but although children have to learn this at school, they do not learn it at home and nowhere is it used in local speech. Some map-makers have confused the issue by printing ‘Grampians’ over the Cairngorms, both Wyness and Watson roughly agree where the eastern, northern, and western limits of The Cairngorms lie. The Grampians extend southwest to northeast between the Highland Boundary Fault and the Great Glen and this includes the Cairngorms and the Lochaber hills. The range includes Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui, the mountains are composed of granite, gneiss, marble, schists and quartzite. The other major mountain ranges in Scotland are the Northwest Highlands, a number of rivers and streams rise in the Grampians, the Tay, Spey, Cowie Water, Burn of Muchalls, Burn of Pheppie, Burn of Elsick, Cairnie Burn, Don, Dee and Esk. The area is sparsely populated. The Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus recorded Mons Graupius as the site of the defeat of the native Caledonians by Gnaeus Julius Agricola circa 83 AD, the spelling Graupius comes from the Codex Aesinas, a mediaeval copy of Tacituss Germania believed to be from the mid-9th century. Graupius was incorrectly rendered Grampius only in the 1476 printed edition of Tacituss biography of Agricola, the name Grampians is believed to have first been applied to the mountain range in 1520 by the Scottish historian Hector Boece, an adaptation of the incorrect Mons Grampius. Thus the range owes its name to this day to a typesetters mistake, in the Middle Ages, this locale was known as the Mounths, a name still held by a number of geographical features. Until the 19th century, they were considered to be more than one range. This view is held by many today, and they have no single name in the Scottish Gaelic language or Doric dialect of the Lowland Scots. In both languages, a number of names are used, Grampian Region was translated into Scots Gaelic as Roinn a Mhonaidh. Wyness, Fenton, Royal Valley, The Story Of The Aberdeenshire Dee, Alex P. Reid & Son, Aberdeen MacGillonie Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Grampians, The
Grampian Mountains
–
The
Cairngorms from
Beinn a' Ghlò.
Grampian Mountains
–
View of the Grampian Mountains, 1831
11.
Southern Uplands
–
The Southern Uplands are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotlands three major geographic areas. The term is used both to describe the region and to collectively denote the various ranges of hills and mountains within this region. An overwhelmingly rural and mainly agricultural region, the Southern Uplands are partly forested, the Southern Uplands consist mainly of Silurian sedimentary deposits deposited in the Iapetus Ocean from 400–500 million years ago. The Caledonian orogeny is named for Caledonia, a Latin name for Scotland, the majority of the rocks are weakly metamorphosed coarse greywacke. Levels of deformation associated with these faults is highly variable, but is pervasive in the finer-grained sediments, secondary mineralisation has further altered these Lower Palaeozoic rocks which are hosts for some distinctive springs, some of which have been exploited for tourism, such as those around Moffat. There are several ranges of hills and mountains within the Southern Uplands, from east to west these are, Cheviot Hills straddling the eastern end of the Anglo-Scottish border. Tweedsmuir or Manor Hills south of Tweedsmuir, Lowther Hills between Clydesdale/Annandale and Nithsdale. Carsphairn and Scaur Hills between Nithsdale and the Glenkens, Galloway Hills west of the Glenkens. Although the summits are not as high as many in the Scottish Highlands nor other famous mountain regions, parts of the Southern Uplands are remote and mountainous, containing about 120 Marilyns. The region is drained by rivers, the most important of which are Scotlands third and fourth longest, the River Clyde at 106 mi. Several significant rivers drain southwards into the Solway Firth and Irish Sea including the River Cree, River Dee, River Nith, River Annan, there are numerous lochs in the Southern Uplands, particularly in the west. The largest is Loch Ken which arises from the damming of the Water of Ken, to the east of Moffat is the largest natural body of water in the Southern Uplands, St. Marys Loch together with the adjacent Loch of the Lowes and nearby Loch Skeen. There are several reservoirs in the vicinity including Megget Reservoir, Talla Reservoir. The area has a diversity of species and habitats. The uplands support black and red grouse, mountain hares, raptors such as eagles and hen harriers. The western hills are home to red deer, roe deer, the western forests have one fifth of the Scottish population of red squirrels. Ospreys are present at St Marys Loch and along the River Tweed, brown trout are common in many burns and a number of the rivers in the area have populations of sea trout, salmon and otters. The two unitary authorities of Dumfries and Galloway in the west and the Scottish Borders in the east cover almost all of the Southern Uplands, along its northern margins, the councils of South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and East Lothian extend into the region
Southern Uplands
–
The hills around Durisdeer from the A702 road
Southern Uplands
–
Looking east across Nithsdale to the Lowther Hills – from Cairnkinna in the Scaur hills
Southern Uplands
–
Grey Mare's Tail in the Moffat Hills from the Bodesbeck Ridge in the Ettrick hills
Southern Uplands
–
Source of the River Clyde where the Daer Water meets the Potrail Water
12.
Pennines
–
The Pennines /ˈpɛnaɪnz/, also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of mountains and hills in Northern England separating North West England from Yorkshire and North East England. The Pennines are an important water catchment area with numerous reservoirs in the streams of the river valleys. The region is considered to be one of the most scenic areas of the United Kingdom. The North Pennines and Nidderdale are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, as are Bowland, parts of the Pennines are incorporated into the Peak District National Park, the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Northumberland National Park. Britains oldest long-distance footpath, the Pennine Way, runs along most of the Pennine Chain and is 268 miles long, various etymologies have been proposed treating Pennine as though it were a native Brittonic/Modern Welsh name related to pen-. He found that the derivation from Bertram was widely believed and considered uncomfortable, in fact, he found repeated comparisons going back at least as early as Camden, many of whose placenames and ideas Bertram incorporated into his work. Bertram was responsible with popularizing the name against other such as Daniel Defoes English Andes. His own form of the name was the Pennine Alps, which today is used for a section of the continental Alps. Those mountains derive their name from the Latin Alpes Pœninæ, the St Bernard Pass whose name has been derived from the Carthaginians, a local god. This was also the used in the invasions of Italy by the Gallic Boii. Various towns and geographical features within the Pennines retain Celtic names, including Penrith, the fell Pen-y-ghent, the River Eden, more commonly, local names result from later Anglo-Saxon and Norse settlements. In Yorkshire and Cumbria, many words of Norse origin, not commonly used in standard English, are part of speech, for example, gill/ghyll, beck, fell. This is located within parts of Cumbria, southern parts of Northumberland. This is within parts of Yorkshire and eastern parts of Derbyshire with foothills also continuing into western parts of Nottinghamshire. This is within the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation of northern Staffordshire and the parts of Derbyshire above the city of Derby. Apart from the uplands in the Lake District fringes, other Cumbrian Fells, the Pennines have been carved from a series of geological structures whose overall form is a broad anticline whose axis extends in a north–south direction. The North Pennines are coincident with the Alston Block, whilst the Yorkshire Dales are coincident with the Askrigg Block, in the south the Peak District is essentially a flat-topped dome. Each of these consists of Carboniferous limestone overlain with Millstone Grit
Pennines
–
Scenery in the
Forest of Bowland
Pennines
–
Stanage Edge in the
Peak District
Pennines
–
Limestone scenery:
Thor's Cave, Staffordshire, from the Manifold Way. Limestone is common in the White Peak and Yorkshire Dales, making those areas distinct from other parts of the Pennines.
13.
Snowdonia
–
Snowdonia is a mountainous region in north Wales and a national park of 823 square miles in area. It was the first to be designated of the three parks in Wales, in 1951. The English name for the area derives from Snowdon, which is the highest mountain in Wales at 3,560 ft, in Welsh, the area is named Eryri. The term ‘Eryri’ first appeared in a manuscript in the 9th-century Historia Brittonum, in the Middle Ages the title Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdonia was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, his grandfather Llywelyn Fawr used the title Prince of north Wales and Lord of Snowdonia. This is apparent in books published prior to 1951, such as the classic travelogue Wild Wales by George Borrow, F. J. North, as editor of the book Snowdonia, states When the Committee delineated provisional boundaries, they included areas some distance beyond Snowdonia proper. The traditional Snowdonia thus includes the ranges of Snowdon and its satellites, the Glyderau, the Carneddau and it does not include the hills to the south of Maentwrog. As Eryri, this area has a place in Welsh history, tradition. Snowdonia National Park was established in 1951 as the national park in Britain, following the Peak District. It covers 827 square miles, and has 37 miles of coastline, the park is governed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, which is made up of local government and Welsh representatives, and its main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth. Unlike national parks in countries, Snowdonia are made up of both public and private lands under central planning authority. The makeup of land ownership at Snowdonia is as follows, More than 26,000 people live within the park,58. 6% of the population could speak Welsh in 2011. While most of the land is open or mountainous land. Since the local government re-organisation of 1998, the park partly in the county of Gwynedd. Unusually, Snowdonia National Park has a hole in the middle, around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog and this was deliberately excluded from the park when it was set up to allow the development of new light industry to replace the reduced slate industry. The Snowdonia Society is a charity formed in 1967. It is a group of people with an interest in the area. Amory Lovins led the successful 1970s opposition to stop Rio Tinto digging up the area for a massive mine. Research indicates that there were 3.67 million visitors to Snowdonia National Park in 2013, total tourist expenditure was £433.6 million in 2013
Snowdonia
–
View of
Llyn Llydaw from
Crib Goch
Snowdonia
–
Panorama of some of the
Snowdon Massif including Snowdon (centre right) taken from
Mynydd Mawr. The
Glyderau are visible in the distance.
Snowdonia
–
Southern edge. Waymarked path near Llyn Barfog in
Gwynedd
Snowdonia
–
Rain coming in over
Llyn Cowlyd north of
Capel Curig
14.
Snaefell
–
Snaefell is the highest mountain and the only summit higher than 2,000 feet on the Isle of Man, at 2,037 feet above sea level. The summit is crowned by a station, cafe and several communications masts. It is a saying in the Isle of Man that on a clear day six kingdoms can be seen from the top. Some versions add a seventh kingdom, that of Manannán, the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road passes over the slopes of Snaefell, and is the highest section of the Snaefell Mountain Course over which the Isle of Man TT Races are held. Walkers often use the car park on this road near the Bungalow railway station from which there is a path to the peak. The trail has sections of gravel, slate stones, grass, while the angle of ascent steepens significantly closer to the summit, special climbing equipment is not required. However, caution is required in areas as the grass, earth. Average climb time on foot on a dry footpath is about 45 minutes, a geodetic marker embedded in the small, concrete obelisk indicates the true mountain summit. The rock cairn standing nearby has a plaque on top. Computer generated summit panoramas North South Index Snaefell Mountain Railway Cold War RADAR Site Snaefell Fell Race
Snaefell
–
Snaefell
Snaefell
–
Footpath entry near Bungalow railway station typically used to climb Snaefell
Snaefell
–
The
Snaefell Mountain Railway on the ascent of Snaefell
Snaefell
–
Defunct hotel (now
concession stand) near the summit
15.
Isle of Man
–
The Isle of Man, also known simply as Mann, is a self-governing crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Northern Ireland. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann, the Lord of Mann is represented by a Lieutenant Governor. Foreign relations and defence are the responsibility of the British Government, the island has been inhabited since before 6500 BC. Gaelic cultural influence began in the 5th century and the Manx language, in 627, Edwin of Northumbria conquered the Isle of Man along with most of Mercia. In the 9th century, Norsemen established the Kingdom of the Isles, magnus III, King of Norway, was also known as King of Mann and the Isles between 1099 and 1103. In 1266, the became part of Scotland under the Treaty of Perth. After a period of alternating rule by the kings of Scotland and England, the short form often used in English, Mann, is derived from the Manx Mannin, though sometimes the name is written as Man. The earliest recorded Manx form of the name is Manu or Mana, the Old Irish form of the name is Manau or Mano. Old Welsh records named it as Manaw, also reflected in Manaw Gododdin, the name for an ancient district in north Britain along the lower Firth of Forth. The oldest known reference to the calls it Mona, in Latin, in the 1st century CE, Pliny the Elder records it as Monapia or Monabia. Later Latin references have Mevania or Mænavia, and Eubonia or Eumonia by Irish writers and it is found in the Sagas of Icelanders as Mön. The name is cognate with the Welsh name of the island of Anglesey, Ynys Môn, usually derived from a Celtic word for mountain. The name was at least secondarily associated with that of Manannán mac Lir in Irish mythology, later, a Manannán is recorded as the first king of Mann in a Manx poem. The island was cut off from the islands around 8000 BC. The first residents were hunter gatherers and fishermen, examples of their tools are kept at the Manx Museum. There were also the local Ronaldsway and Bann cultures, during the Bronze Age, burial mounds became smaller. Bodies were put in stone-lined graves with ornamental containers, the Bronze Age burial mounds created long-lasting markers around the countryside. The ancient Romans knew of the island and called it Insula Manavia although it is whether they conquered the island
Isle of Man
–
The Braaid in central Isle of Man, with remnants of a Celtic-Norse
roundhouse and two
longhouses, c. 650–950 AD
Isle of Man
–
Flag
Isle of Man
–
The
Calf of Man seen from
Cregneash
Isle of Man
–
A composite satellite image of the Isle of Man
16.
North Sea
–
The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and it is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of around 570,000 square kilometres. The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery, the North Sea was the centre of the Vikings rise. Subsequently, the Hanseatic League, the Netherlands, and the British each sought to dominate the North Sea and thus the access to the markets, as Germanys only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important through both World Wars. The coast of the North Sea presents a diversity of geological and geographical features, in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats. Due to the population, heavy industrialization, and intense use of the sea and area surrounding it. In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean, in the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively. In the north it is bordered by the Shetland Islands, and connects with the Norwegian Sea, the North Sea is more than 970 kilometres long and 580 kilometres wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres and a volume of 54,000 cubic kilometres. Around the edges of the North Sea are sizeable islands and archipelagos, including Shetland, Orkney, the North Sea receives freshwater from a number of European continental watersheds, as well as the British Isles. A large part of the European drainage basin empties into the North Sea including water from the Baltic Sea, the largest and most important rivers flowing into the North Sea are the Elbe and the Rhine – Meuse watershed. Around 185 million people live in the catchment area of the rivers discharging into the North Sea encompassing some highly industrialized areas, for the most part, the sea lies on the European continental shelf with a mean depth of 90 metres. The only exception is the Norwegian trench, which extends parallel to the Norwegian shoreline from Oslo to a north of Bergen. It is between 20 and 30 kilometres wide and has a depth of 725 metres. The Dogger Bank, a vast moraine, or accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris and this feature has produced the finest fishing location of the North Sea. The Long Forties and the Broad Fourteens are large areas with uniform depth in fathoms. These great banks and others make the North Sea particularly hazardous to navigate, the Devils Hole lies 200 miles east of Dundee, Scotland. The feature is a series of trenches between 20 and 30 kilometres long,1 and 2 kilometres wide and up to 230 metres deep. Other areas which are less deep are Cleaver Bank, Fisher Bank, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the North Sea as follows, On the Southwest
North Sea
–
North Sea
North Sea
–
The German North Sea coast
North Sea
–
The
Afsluitdijk (Closure-dike) is a major dam in the Netherlands
North Sea
–
Zuid-Beveland,
North Sea flood of 1953
17.
Isles of Scilly
–
The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago off the south western tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is the southernmost location in England and the United Kingdom, the population of all the islands at the 2011 census was 2,203. Scilly forms part of the county of Cornwall, and some services are combined with those of Cornwall. However, since 1890, the islands have had a local authority. Since the passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has had the status of a county council, the adjective Scillonian is sometimes used for people or things related to the archipelago. The Duchy of Cornwall owns most of the land on the islands. Tourism is a part of the local economy, along with agriculture — particularly the production of cut flowers. Scilly has been inhabited since the Stone Age, and until the early 20th century its history had been one of subsistence living, farming and fishing continue, but the main industry now is tourism. The islands may correspond to the Cassiterides visited by the Phoenicians, however, the archipelago itself does not contain much tin—it may be that the islands were used as a staging post. It is likely that until recent times the islands were much larger. The word Ennor is a contraction of the Old Cornish En Noer, remains of a prehistoric farm have been found on Nornour, which is now a small rocky skerry far too small for farming. There once was an Iron Age Britain community here that extended into Roman times and this community was likely formed by immigrants from Brittany, probably the Veneti who were active in the tin trade that originated in mining activity in Cornwall and Devon. At certain low tides the sea becomes shallow enough for people to walk between some of the islands and this is possibly one of the sources for stories of drowned lands, e. g. Lyonesse. Ancient field walls are visible below the tide line off some of the islands. Some of the Cornish language place names appear to reflect past shorelines. The whole of southern England has been sinking in opposition to post-glacial rebound in Scotland, this has caused the rias on the southern Cornish coast, e. g. River Fal. Scilly has been identified as the place of exile of two heretical 4th century bishops, Instantius and Tiberianus, who were followers of Priscillian, in 995, Olaf Tryggvason became King Olaf I of Norway. 960, Olaf had raided various European cities and fought in several wars, in 986 he met a Christian seer on the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
–
Aerial photo of the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
–
View from
Tresco, the second largest of the islands
Isles of Scilly
–
Looking across Tresco, one of the 5 inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly 45 km (27.96 mi) from the coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom
Isles of Scilly
–
Olaf Tryggvason, who visited the islands in 986. It is said an encounter with a cleric there led him to Christianise
Norway.
18.
Karasjok
–
Karasjok or Kárášjohka, in Finnish Kaarasjoki. is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok, other villages include Dorvonjárga, Šuoššjávri, and Váljohka The municipality of Karasjok was established on 1 January 1866 when it was separated from the old Kistrand municipality. Initially, the population of Karasjok was 515, the municipal borders have not changed since that time. Karasjok is a Norwegianized form of the Northern Sami language name Kárášjohka, the meaning of the first element could be káráš from Northern Sami which could mean food plate of wood, or from Finnish, kara, something that sticks. The last element is johka which means river, as do Finnish word joki too. The name of the municipality was Karasjok until 1990 when it was changed to Kárášjohka-Karasjok and it was the third municipality in Norway to get a Sami name. In 2005, the name was changed, such that either Kárášjohka or Karasjok can be used. The coat-of-arms is from modern times and they were granted on 27 June 1986. The three gold-colored flames on a red background, the flames were chosen as a symbol for the importance of fire to the local Sami people. The fire brings both heat and thus survival during the winters, but it is also a major threat. The fire is also the point around which people gather and it is a guard against dangers, the flag contains three flames also because Kárásjoga-Karasjok is a place where three peoples live, the Sami, Norwegians, and Kvens. The Church of Norway has one parish within the municipality of Karasjok and it is part of the Indre Finnmark deanery in the Diocese of Nord-Hålogaland. There is a border crossing between Dorvonjárga and Karigasniemi, over the Anarjohka river. The European route E06 highway passes through the municipality from Lakselv to Tana bru, the nearest airport is Lakselv Airport, about 80 kilometres from Karasjok village. The municipality is governed by a council of elected representatives. The municipal council of Karasjok is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows, The municipality is situated along the river basin of the Deatnu / Tana river and its tributaries. It includes large tracts of the high Finnmarksvidda plateau, lakes in the region include Čorotjávri, Gásadatjávri, Iešjávri, and Idjajávri
Karasjok
–
Karasjok kommune Kárášjoga gielda
Karasjok
–
Map of Karasjok municipality
Karasjok
–
From the centre of Karasjok, July 2005
Karasjok
–
Entering Karasjok municipality
19.
Faroe Islands
–
The Faroe Islands, also spelled the Faeroes, is an archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic, about halfway between Norway and Iceland,320 kilometres north-northwest of Scotland. Its area is about 1,400 square kilometres with a population of 49,188 in 2016, the Faeroe Islands is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm. The land of the Faeroes is rugged, and these islands have an oceanic climate, windy, wet, cloudy. Despite this island groups northerly latitude, temperatures average above freezing throughout the year because of the Gulf Stream, between 1035 and 1814, the Faeroes were part of the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway. In 1814, the Treaty of Kiel granted Denmark control over the islands, the Faroe Islands have been a self-governing country within the Kingdom of Denmark since 1948. The Faroese have control of most domestic matters, areas that remain the responsibility of Denmark include military defence, the police department, the justice department, currency, and foreign affairs. However, as they are not part of the customs area as Denmark, the Faroe Islands have an independent trade policy. The islands also have representation in the Nordic Council as members of the Danish delegation, the people of the Faroe Islands also compete as national team in certain sports. In Danish, the name Færøerne may reflect an Old Norse word fær, the morpheme øerne represents a plural of ø in Danish. The Danish name thus translates as the islands of sheep, in Faroese, the name appears as Føroyar. Oyar represents the plural of oy, older Faroese for island, the modern Faeroese word for island is oyggj. In the English language, their name is sometimes spelled Faeroe, archaeological evidence shows settlers living on the Faroe Islands in two successive periods prior to the arrival of the Norse, the first between 400 and 600 and the second between 600 and 800. Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have also found early cereal pollen from domesticated plants, archaeologist Mike Church noted that Dicuil mentioned what may have been the Faroes. He also suggested that the living there might have been from Ireland, Scotland or Scandinavia. A Latin account of a made by Brendan, an Irish monastic saint who lived around 484–578. This association, however, is far from conclusive in its description, Dicuil, an Irish monk of the early 9th century, wrote a more definite account. 800, bringing Old West Norse, which evolved into the modern Faroese language, according to Icelandic sagas such as Færeyjar Saga, one of the best known men in the island was Tróndur í Gøtu, a descendant of Scandinavian chiefs who had settled in Dublin, Ireland. Tróndur led the battle against Sigmund Brestursson, the Norwegian monarchy, a traditional name for the islands in Irish, Na Scigirí, possibly refers to the Skeggjar Beards, a nickname given to island dwellers
Faroe Islands
–
Tinganes in
Tórshavn, seat of a part of the Faroese government.
Faroe Islands
–
Flag
Faroe Islands
–
Queen
Margrethe II, monarch of the
Unity of the Realm, during a visit to
Vágur in 2005.
Faroe Islands
–
NASA satellite image of the Faroe Islands.
20.
Lofoten Islands
–
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten is known for a distinctive scenery with mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the worlds largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude, Lofoten was originally the old name of the island Vestvågøya. The first element is ló and the last element is derived from Norse fótr, there is evidence of human settlement extending back at least 11,000 yrs in Lofoten, and the earliest archaeological sites. Are only about 5,500 yrs old, at the transition from the early to late Stone Age, Iron Age agriculture, livestock, and significant human habitation can be traced back to ~250 BCE. The town of Vågan is the first known town formation in northern Norway and it existed in the early Viking Age, maybe earlier, and was located on the southern coast on eastern Lofoten, near todays village Kabelvåg in Vågan municipality. However, the Lofotr Viking Museum with the reconstructed 83-meter-long longhouse is located near Borg on Vestvågøy, which has many archeological finds from the Iron Age and Viking Age. The islands have for more than 1,000 years been the centre of great cod fisheries, especially in winter, when the cod migrates south from the Barents Sea and gathers in Lofoten to spawn. Bergen in southwestern Norway was for a time the hub for further export south to different parts of Europe. In the lowland areas, particularly Vestvågøy, agriculture plays a significant role, Lofotr was originally the name of the island of Vestvågøy only. Later it became the name of the chain of islands, the chain of islands with its pointed peaks looks like a lynx foot from the mainland. In Norwegian, it is always a singular, another name one might come across, is Lofotveggen or the Lofoten wall. The archipelago looks like a wall when seen from elevated points around Bodø or when arriving from the sea, some 100 kilometres long. In 1941, the islands were raided by British Commandos during Operation Claymore in March, Lofoten is located at the 68th and 69th parallels north of the Arctic Circle in North Norway. It is well known for its natural beauty within Norway, Lofoten encompasses the municipalities of Vågan, Vestvågøy, Flakstad, Moskenes, Værøy, and Røst. The principal islands, running north to south are, Southern tip of Hinnøya. Southern 60% of Austvågøy Gimsøy Vestvågøy Flakstadøya Moskenesøya Further to the south are the small and isolated islands of Værøy, the total land area amounts to 1,227 square kilometres, and the population totals 24,500. Many will argue that Hinnøya, the part of Austvågøy and several hundred smaller islands, skerries
Lofoten Islands
–
Reine, Lofoten, seen from top of Reinebringen.
Lofoten Islands
–
Svolvær in Lofoten, Norway. View from the ferry harbour.
Lofoten Islands
–
A mountain massif of
Flakstadøya island backgrounding the road to Nusfjord village.
Lofoten Islands
–
Nusfjord.
21.
Longyearbyen
–
Longyearbyen (Norwegian pronunciation, is the largest settlement and the administrative centre of Svalbard, Norway. As of December 2015, the town had a population of 2,144, Longyearbyen is located in the Longyear Valley and on the shore of Adventfjorden, a bay of Isfjorden located on the west coast of Spitsbergen. Since 2002, Longyearbyen Community Council has had many of the same responsibilities of a municipality, including utilities, education, cultural facilities, fire brigade, roads, the town is the seat of the Governor of Svalbard. It is the worlds northernmost settlement of any kind with greater than 1,000 permanent residents, known as Longyear City until 1926, the town was established by and named after John Munro Longyear, whose Arctic Coal Company started coal mining operations in 1906. Operations were taken over by Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1916, the town was almost completely destroyed by the German Kriegsmarine on 8 August 1943, but was rebuilt after the Second World War. Traditionally, Longyearbyen was a town, but most mining operations have moved to Sveagruva since the 1990s, while the town has seen a large increase in tourism. This has seen the arrival of such as the University Centre in Svalbard. The community is served by Svalbard Airport, Longyear and Svalbard Church, in 1896, Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab started tours to Hotellneset. To accommodate tourists, they built a hotel, but it was not profitable and was closed after the 1897 season. However, two families overwintered in 1898–99 and Norway Post operated a post office at Hotellneset from 1897 to 1899, the first commercially viable coal on Svalbard was harvested by Søren Zakariassen in 1899. In 1901, Bergen-Spitsbergen Kullgrube-kompani started mining coal in Adventtoppen, the American industrialist John Munroe Longyear visited Spitsbergen as a tourist in 1901, where he met with an expedition prospecting for coal. He returned to Spitsbergen 1903, where he met Henrik B, næss in Adventfjorden, who gave him samples and information on coal fields. Along with his associate Frederick Ayer, Longyear bought the Norwegian claims on the west side of Adventfjorden, in 1906, the Boston-based Arctic Coal Company, with Ayer and Longyear as the main shareholders, started mining in Mine 1a, after having built docks and housing. The company had American administration, but mostly Norwegian labourers, Coal was transported the 1.2 kilometers from the mine to the port using an aerial tramway. In 1913, the company started work to open Mine 2a. Following financial difficulties during the First World War, the operations were bought by Store Norske. That year, SNSK built five new barracks, including one that was made into a hospital, SNSK introduced its own money with approval from Norges Bank, consisting entirely of banknotes at par with Norwegian krone. The American community buried their dead at Hotellneset, in 1918, eleven people were killed by the Spanish flu and a graveyard was established in Longyear City
Longyearbyen
–
The town centre of Longyearbyen, Svalbard
Longyearbyen
–
Longyear City in 1908
Longyearbyen
–
Summer 1925 at Longyearbyen.
Longyearbyen
–
Mine 2b was mined from 1938 to 1969 and today it is a heritage site
22.
Simrishamn
–
Simrishamn is a locality and the seat of Simrishamn Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,527 inhabitants in 2010. Simrishamn is, despite its population, for historical reasons normally still referred to as a city. Simrishamn is a coastal town, built around the main street. The climate of Simrishamn is mild, because it is warmed by the Gulf Stream, and the zone of Simrishamn is 8a. Simrishamn is first mentioned in 1161 and as a town in 1361, simris has been interpreted as at the mouth of the slow-flowing and hamn as port or harbour, meaning present-day Tommarpsån. It has been speculated that the name should have something to do with the Cimbri, in 1658, when Scania under the Treaty of Roskilde was permanently transferred from Denmark to Sweden, the town had a population of about 200 people. The growth was small until about 1810 when it reached 700 inhabitants. The local government reform of 1971 made Simrishamn the seat of Simrishamn Municipality with about 20,000 inhabitants, simris Runestones Media related to Simrishamn at Wikimedia Commons Simrishamn - Official site Österlen - Official site
Simrishamn
–
Street in Simrishamn
Simrishamn
Simrishamn
–
Saint Nicolai Church, a medieval church in central Simrishamn
Simrishamn
–
Harbour
23.
Sweden
–
Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
Sweden
–
A
Vendel-era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden
–
Flag
Sweden
–
A
romantic nationalist interpretation of
Valdemar IV taking control over
Gotland. The final battle outside the walls of Visby in 1361 ended with a massacre of 1,800 defenders of the city.
Sweden
–
Stockholm in mid-17th century
24.
Karesuando
–
Karesuando is the northernmost locality in Sweden. It is situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden and it is a church village of Sweden, located at the Muonio River on the border with Finland. On the Finnish side of the river, the Finnish village of Karesuvanto is located, according to Finnish tradition they are one and the same village, but they are usually considered different, since there is a national border between them. The Lutheran vicar and botanist Lars Levi Laestadius served in Karesuando from 1826 to 1849 and it was here that he founded the revivalist movement known to this day as Laestadianism. The area is traditionally Finnish speaking, and the border was drawn for political reasons in 1809, later of course a cultural and language difference has grown because of school and church influence. Karesuando is the northernmost point on European route E45, media related to Karesuando at Wikimedia Commons
Karesuando
–
Karesuando Church in August 2005
25.
Pajala
–
Pajala is a locality and the seat of Pajala Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 1,958 inhabitants in 2010. Lars Levi Laestadius, the famous botanist, Lutheran minister, and founder of the revivalist movement Laestadianism and he lived in Kengis, but in 1869 his house and grave and the whole church of Kengis were moved to Pajala. The town was bombed by Soviet airplanes during the Finnish/Soviet Winter War. No human deaths were recorded, although two persons were slightly injured, Soviet officers later inspected the destruction and the Soviet Union paid damages to Sweden in 1940. The events in Mikael Niemis book Populärmusik från Vittula occur mainly in Pajala, Vittula, or more properly Vittulajänkkä, is a colloquial name for a certain garden suburb in Pajala. In another portrait of Pajala by Niemi, the crime novel Mannen som dog som en lax, Pajala has a harsh subarctic climate that is somewhat moderated by the influence of the North Atlantic. Its inland position and lower elevation cause warmer summers, and winters are a bit milder than most areas on similar parallels
Pajala
–
Pajala Church, July 2004
26.
Rovaniemi
–
Rovaniemi is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the capital and commercial centre of Finlands northernmost province. It is situated about 10 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle and is between the hills of Ounasvaara and Korkalovaara, at the confluence of the river Kemijoki and its tributary, the city and the surrounding Rovaniemen maalaiskunta were consolidated into a single entity on 1 January 2006. The new municipality has an area of 7,581.86 square kilometres, the rova part in the name Rovaniemi has often been considered to be of Saamic origin, as roavve in Saami denotes a forested ridge or hill or the site of an old forest fire. In Southern Saami dialects, however, rova meaning a heap of stones, the niemi part of the name means cape. Different spellings include Inari Sami, Ruávinjargâ, Northern Sami, Roavenjárga and Roavvenjárga, Skolt Sami, periodic clearance of new land for agriculture and the practise of slash-and-burn cultivation began around 750–530 B. C. The Sami are considered to be Laplands most indigenous existing population, the exploitation of Laplands natural resources in the 1800s boosted Rovaniemis growth. Extensive logging sites and gold fever attracted thousands of people to Lapland, as the mining of natural resources was increased, Rovaniemi became the business centre of the province of Lapland. During the Second World War, Finland signed the Moscow Armistice, while the German rear guard was going about the destruction, an ammunition train in Rovaniemi station exploded and set fire to the wooden houses of the town. The German troops suffered casualties, mainly from glass splinters. A Finnish commando unit claimed to have blown up the ammunition train, the cause was then unknown and generally assumed to be the deliberate intent of Rendulic. During these hostilities 90% of all the buildings in Rovaniemi were destroyed, there is a German cemetery 19 km from Rovaniemi where soldiers killed fighting in Lapland during the war are entombed. Because of the nature and numerous recreational opportunities, tourism is an important industry in Rovaniemi. The city has a number of hotels and restaurants located both in the centre and on the outskirts of the town, hosting over 481,000 visitors in 2013, since Rovaniemi represents the capital of the Province of Lapland, many government institutions have their offices there. About 10,000 of the inhabitants are students, local newspapers include the Lapin Kansa, Uusi Rovaniemi and Lappilainen. The last three mentioned buildings are by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Rovaniemi is considered by Finns to be the home town of Santa Claus, and is home to the Santa Claus Village at the Arctic Circle and Santa Park. The Arktikum is a comprehensive museum of Finlands and the worlds Arctic regions
Rovaniemi
–
Rovaniemi from air, October 1999
Rovaniemi
–
Christmas celebration in Rovaniemi, November 2004
Rovaniemi
–
Jätkänkynttilä bridge in sunset
Rovaniemi
–
Rovaniemi in January 2004
27.
Kiruna
–
Kiruna is the northernmost town in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland. It had 18,148 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality in Norrbotten County, Esrange Space Center was established in Kiruna in the 1960s. Also in Kiruna are the Institute of Space Physics and the Department of Space Science belonging to Luleå University of Technology, archeological findings have shown that the region around Kiruna has been inhabited for at least 6,000 years. Centuries before Kiruna was founded in 1900, the presence of iron ore at Kiirunavaara and Luossavaara had been known by the local Sami population, in 1696, Samuel Mört, a bookkeeper of the Kengis works, wrote on the presence of iron in the two hills. Despite the findings of large amounts of ore, no mining was initiated because of the remote location, some ore was extracted in the 19th century. It was extracted in summer and transported in winter, using sleds drawn by reindeer, in 1884, a concession for a railway from Luleå to Narvik was granted to The Northern of Europe Railway Company. The provisional railway between Luleå and Malmberget was finished in 1888 and the first train left Malmberget in March. Around the same time, the English company went bankrupt and had to sell the line to the Swedish state for 8 million Swedish crowns, after a significant rebuild, the railway to Gällivare could be used again and iron ore was extracted at Malmberget by Aktiebolaget Gellivare Malmfält. At the initiative of Robert Schoug, the Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag was founded in 1890, in 1893, Gustaf Broms became CEO of both LKAB and AGM. LKAB pressed for continuing Malmbanan via Luossavaara and Kiirunavaara to the ice-free coast of Norway, the continuation of the railway line to Narvik was controversial, because opponents feared the influence of Russia on an international railway line. The decision to build was finally taken in 1898, the railway came to Kiruna 15 October 1899 and the Swedish and Norwegian sections were joined 15 November 1902. For LKAB, the great expense almost led to bankruptcy in 1901, king Oscar II only opened the railway line 14 July 1903, preferring summer over winter to travel north. On 27 April 1900, Hallmans plan was officially accepted, Gustaf Broms proposed to name the settlements Kiruna, a short and practical name that could also be pronounced by Swedish speaking inhabitants. LKAB appointed Hjalmar Lundbohm, who had finished high school nor his geology studies. Also, provisional buildings served as a church, a school, a hospital, a hotel and a police station. However, official residences were built at a pace. The very first building, B,1, is preserved, in 1899,18 people were registered as living in soon-to-be Kiruna. This increased to 222 in 1900,7,438 in 1910 and 12,884 in 1930, Kiruna became a municipalsamhälle in 1908
Kiruna
–
Clockwise from top: Kiruna skyline by night,
Kiruna Church, the
Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, rocket launch at
Esrange, bell tower at Kiruna Church.
Kiruna
–
An
Iore -hauled train passing Vassijaure
Kiruna
–
Kiruna City Hall in summer
Kiruna
–
Population development in Kiruna town
28.
Oulu
–
Oulu is a city and municipality of 198,804 inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the fifth most populous city in the country, there are no larger cities that are more northerly than Oulu. It is also considered one of Europes living labs, where residents experiment with new technology at a community-wide scale, the city is named after the river Oulujoki, which originates in the lake Oulujärvi. There have been a number of theories for the origin of the name Oulu. One possible source for the name Oulu is a word in the Sami language meaning flood water, at minimum, the structure of the word requires that, if originally given by speakers of a Uralic language, the name must be a derivative. In all likelihood, it also predates Finnish settlement and is thus a loanword from one of the now-extinct Saami languages once spoken in the area. The most probable theory is that the name derives from the Finnish dialectal word oulu, meaning floodwater, two other word families have also been speculated to be related. The first is seen in the Northern Savo dialectal word uula and its Sami counterpart oalli, the second is the Uralic root reconstructed as *uwa, meaning river bed. To either of these roots, some Sami variety would have to be assumed having added further derivational suffixes, Oulu was founded on April 8,1605, by King Charles IX of Sweden, opposite the fort built on the island of Linnansaari. This took place after favourable peace settlements with Russia, which removed the threat of attack via the main east-west waterway, the surrounding areas were populated much earlier. Oulu is situated by the Gulf of Bothnia, at the mouth of river Oulujoki, Oulu was the capital of the Province of Oulu from 1776 to 2009. In 1822, a fire destroyed much of the city. The architect Carl Ludvig Engel, chiefly known for the buildings around Helsinki Senate Square, was enlisted to provide the plan for the rebuilding of the city. With minor changes, this remains the basis for the layout of Oulus town center. The Oulu Cathedral was built in 1832 to his designs, with the spire being finished in 1844, during the Crimean War, Oulus harbour was raided by the British fleet, destroying ships and burning tar houses, leading to international criticism. Once known for wood tar and salmon, Oulu has evolved into a major centre, particularly in IT. Other prominent industries include wood refining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, paper, the municipality of Ylikiiminki was merged with the city of Oulu on January 1,2009. Oulu and the municipalities of Haukipudas, Kiiminki, Oulunsalo, Oulu is divided into 106 city districts
Oulu
–
Top: Rantakatu in downtown Oulu,
Oulu City Hall Middle:
Oulun Lyseon Lukio and the
Oulu Cathedral Bottom: Shops along Kirkkokatu, Radisson Blu Hotel along Ojakatu
Oulu
–
Drawing of central Oulu from the 19th Century
Oulu
–
A satellite image showing the Oulu region in 2007
Oulu
–
Air Guitar World Championships 2012, an annual event held in Oulu since 1996
29.
Jokkmokk
–
Jokkmokk is a locality and the seat of Jokkmokk Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 2,786 inhabitants in 2010. The Sámi name of the place means Rivers Curve, due to the river that runs through it. It is just north of the Arctic Circle, Jokkmokk was a transit center for Sami refugees from Norway during World War II, in addition to the center in Kjesäter. Jokkmokk Market has a history and has a more than 400-year unbroken tradition. The first Thursday in February every year, thousands and thousands of people gather in Jokkmokk for concerts, exhibitions, Jokkmokk Market is still one of the most important social events for the Sámi people in Sápmi. Temperatures during the festival can drop as low as -40°, Ájtte, Svenskt fjäll- och samemuseum is the main museum for Sámi culture in Sweden. Influenced by its inland and northerly position, Jokkmokks variety of a climate is very cold by Swedish standards. Summers are normally relatively tempered in spite of the day-round light, tourist information in Jokkmokk Ájtte Museum of Sami people
Jokkmokk
–
Jokkmokk Church
Jokkmokk
–
A sign with the town's Swedish name (above) and Sami names (below)
Jokkmokk
–
Exhibition in Ájtte Museum of the Sami people, in Jokkmokk
Jokkmokk
–
Alpine garden near Ájtte Museum in Jokkmokk
30.
Tampere
–
Tampere is a city in Pirkanmaa, southern Finland. It is the most populous city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of 223,292 growing to 313,058 people in the urban area, Tampere is the second-largest urban area and third most-populous individual municipality in the country, after Helsinki and Espoo municipalities. Its also the most populous Finnish city outside the Greater Helsinki area and inner Finlands major urban, economic, Tampere is between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two differ in level by 18 metres, the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history. Tampere is dubbed the Manchester of Finland for its industrial past as the center of Finnish industry. Helsinki is approximately 160 kilometres south of Tampere, and can be reached in 1.5 hours by train and 2 hours by car, the distance to Turku is roughly the same. Tampere–Pirkkala Airport is Finlands third-busiest airport, with over 400,000 passengers annually, there have been many debates on the origin of the name Tampere. One theory is that it comes from the Swedish word damber, other suggestions have been the Swedish tamper-dagar, fasting days, and also the Finnish word tammi. Although the name Tampere or its Swedish counterparts Tammer- part cannot be completely confirmed, Tampere was founded as a market place on the banks of the Tammerkoski channel in 1775 by Gustav III of Sweden and four years later,1 October 1779, Tampere was granted full city rights. At this time, it was a small town, consisting of only a few square kilometres of land around the Tammerkoski. Tampere grew as a market town and industrial centre in the 19th century. The towns industrial nature in the 19th and 20th centuries gave it the nickname Manchester of the North, Tampere was the centre of many important political events of Finland in the early 20th century. On 1 November 1905, during the strike, the famous Red Declaration was proclaimed on the Keskustori. In 1918, when Finland had recently gained independence, Tampere also played a major role, Tampere was a red stronghold during the war, with Hugo Salmela in command. White forces captured the town after the Battle of Tampere, seizing about 10,000 Red prisoners on 6 April 1918, prevalent in Tamperes post-World War II municipal politics was the Brothers-in-Arms Axis. From 2007 on, Tampere switched to a new model of having a mayor and four deputy mayors, timo P. Nieminen was elected by the city council as the first mayor of Tampere for the years 2007–09. He was re-elected in 2009 and was succeeded by Anna-Kaisa Ikonen in 2013, after World War II, Tampere was enlarged by joining some neighbouring areas
Tampere
–
Clockwise from top-left: the cityscape (viewed from
Näsinneula), the
Tampere City Hall,
Särkänniemi (from Näsinneula), the
Tampere Hall, the skyline with Näsinneula,
Tammerkoski from the bridge Hämeensilta, and the
Tampere Cathedral.
Tampere
–
Location of Tampere in the
Pirkanmaa region and the
Tampere sub-region
Tampere
–
The old
Finlayson works.
Tampere
–
The
Renaissance Revival Raatihuone (
City Hall), 1890; the "red manifesto" was read from its balcony in 1905.
31.
Sundsvall
–
Sundsvall is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 51,354 as of 2010, the town was chartered in 1621, and a first urban plan for Sundsvall was probably created by Olof Bure in 1642, less likely in 1623. It has a port by the Gulf of Bothnia, and is located 395 km north of Stockholm, the city has burned down and been rebuilt four times. The first time, in 1721, it was set on fire by the Russian army during the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721, according to one historian, Swedish industrialism started in Sundsvall when the Tunadal sawmill bought a steam-engine driven saw in 1849. In the early 20th century Sundsvall was an even greater centre of industry in Sweden than it is today. The first large Swedish strike was the Sundsvall strike in 1879, the industrial heritage makes social democrat and socialist sympathies more prevalent in the Sundsvall region than in Sweden as a whole. In 1888 on the 25 June, strong wind and dry conditions contributed to two city fires in Sweden on the same day, on this day both Umeå and Sundsvall caught fire. The Sundsvall fire was the largest in Swedens history and it is presumed that the fire was caused by a spark from a steamship. After the fire, and unlike Umeå, the decision was to rebuild using stone, Sundsvalls centre was later nicknamed Stenstaden. One advantage of the new construction was that three years the town was arguing that it should be allowed reduced insurance as new rules had been brought in that applied to wooden towns. One disadvantage was that after the only the better off could afford to live in the centre. The main campus of the newly established Mid Sweden University is also located in the city, the university is a collaboration between Östersund, Sundsvall and Härnösand. 1987-2013 there was a festival called Gatufesten in July, from 2014 there´s a new one called Hamnyran. There are two theatres and various musical venues, there is also a small guitar festival and a larger heavy metal festival every autumn called Nordfest. Sundsvall is also home to the unique festival Musikschlaget which is a song contest for groups around Sweden with disabilities. Its airport is Sundsvall-Timrå Airport, also called Midlanda, temperatures are made significantly milder and regulated by the influence from the Gulf Stream. The weather station is located 20 kilometres to the north and somewhat further inland, because of the availability of snow, the Sundsvall Regional Hospital, covering 190 000m2, is cooled down year-round by stored snow, bringing down energy consumption for hospital cooling by 90%. Sundsvall - Official site article Sundsvall from Nordisk Familjebok sundsvallturism. com - Sundsvalls tourist information bureau, sundsvalltown. se - The alternative guide to Sundsvall
Sundsvall
–
Top:Panorama view of downtown Sundsvall, Stenstaden and South Stadsberget, 2nd left:Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet), 2nd right:Court of Appeal for Lower Norrland in Bunsouska Pond, 3rd left:North Gate Arena and Gustav Adolf Church, 3rd right:Sundsvall Theater, Bottom:Kulturmagasiret, Sundsvall Museum and Library
Sundsvall
–
Sundsvall circa 1700, in
Suecia antiqua et hodierna.
Sundsvall
–
The city was burnt on 25 June 1888
Sundsvall
–
Storgatan, the famous main street in Sundsvall in the heart of Stenstaden ("The stone city")
32.
Helsinki
–
Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 629,512, a population of 1,231,595. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres north of Tallinn, Estonia,400 km east of Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities. The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen. It is the worlds northernmost metro area of one million people. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries, Helsinki is Finlands major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europes major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies operating in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region, the nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In 2011, the Monocle magazine ranked Helsinki the most liveable city in the world in its Liveable Cities Index 2011, in the Economist Intelligence Units August 2015 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed among the worlds top ten cities. Helsinki is used to refer to the city in most languages, the Swedish name Helsingfors is the original official name of the city. The Finnish name probably comes from Helsinga and similar names used for the river that is known as the Vantaa River. Helsingfors comes from the name of the parish, Helsinge and the rapids, which flowed through the original village. As part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, one suggestion for the origin of the name Helsinge is that it originated with medieval Swedish settlers who came from Hälsingland in Sweden. Others have proposed that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, other Scandinavian cities located at similar geographic locations were given similar names at the time, for example Helsingør and Helsingborg. The name Helsinki has been used in Finnish official documents and in Finnish language newspapers since 1819, the decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in written Finnish, in Helsinki slang the city is called Stadi. Hesa, is not used by natives to the city, helsset is the Northern Sami name of Helsinki
Helsinki
–
Clockwise from top:
Helsinki Cathedral, view of central Helsinki, Headquarters of
Sanoma, Helsinki city centre at night, beaches at
Aurinkolahti,
Parliament House and
Suomenlinna.
Helsinki
–
Coat of arms
Helsinki
–
Central Helsinki in 1820 before rebuilding. Illustration by
Carl Ludvig Engel.
Helsinki
–
Construction of
Suomenlinna began in the 18th century.
33.
Stockholm
–
The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC. It is also the capital of Stockholm County, Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the countrys GDP and it is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europes top ranking universities, such as the Stockholm School of Economics, Karolinska Institute and it hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the citys most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is known for its decoration of the stations. Swedens national football arena is located north of the city centre, Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Stockholm is the seat of the Swedish government and most of its agencies, including the highest courts in the judiciary, and the official residencies of the Swedish monarch and the Prime Minister. The government has its seat in the Rosenbad building, the Riksdag is seated in the Parliament House, and the Prime Ministers residence is adjacent at the Sager House. After the Ice Age, around 8,000 BCE, there were already a number of people living in the present-day Stockholm area. Thousands of years later, as the ground thawed, the climate became tolerable, at the intersection of the Baltic Sea and lake Mälaren is an archipelago site where the Old Town of Stockholm was first built from about 1000 CE by Vikings. They had a positive impact on the area because of the trade routes they created. Stockholms location appears in Norse sagas as Agnafit, and in Heimskringla in connection with the legendary king Agne, the earliest written mention of the name Stockholm dates from 1252, by which time the mines in Bergslagen made it an important site in the iron trade. The first part of the name means log in Swedish, although it may also be connected to an old German word meaning fortification, the second part of the name means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Stockholms core, the present Old Town was built on the island next to Helgeandsholmen from the mid 13th century onward. The city originally rose to prominence as a result of the Baltic trade of the Hanseatic League, Stockholm developed strong economic and cultural linkages with Lübeck, Hamburg, Gdańsk, Visby, Reval, and Riga during this time
Stockholm
–
Aerial view of the
Old Town,
Skeppsbron,
Stockholm City Hall,
Hötorget buildings,
Ericsson Globe and
Stockholm Palace.
Stockholm
–
Detail of engraving of Stockholm from
Suecia antiqua et hodierna by
Erik Dahlberg and
Willem Swidde, printed in 1693.
Stockholm
–
Panorama over Stockholm around 1868 as seen from a
hot air balloon
Stockholm
–
Kungsträdgården in Stockholm around 1890–1900
34.
Gothenburg
–
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, the city has a population of approximately 550,000 in the urban area, Gothenburg was founded as a heavily fortified, primarily Dutch, trading colony, by royal charter in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus. At a key location at the mouth of the Göta älv, where Scandinavias largest drainage basin enters the sea. Gothenburg is home to students, as the city includes the University of Gothenburg. Volvo was founded in Gothenburg in 1927, the original, parent Volvo Group and the now separate Volvo Car Corporation are still headquartered on the island of Hisingen in the city. Other key companies are SKF and Astra Zeneca, Gothenburg is served by Göteborg Landvetter Airport 30 km southeast of the city center. The smaller Göteborg City Airport,15 km from the city center, was closed to airline traffic in 2015. The city hosts some of the largest annual events in Scandinavia, the Gothenburg Film Festival, held in January since 1979, is the leading Scandinavian film festival with over 155,000 visitors each year. In summer, a variety of music festivals are held in the city, such as Way Out West. The city was named after the Geats, the inhabitants of Gothia, the river on which the city sits is the Göta älv or Gothia River. Göta borg Gothia Fortress is the fort on the Göta Älv, in Dutch, Scots, and English, all languages with a long history in this trade and maritime-oriented city, the name Gothenburg is used for the city. The French form of the city name is Gothembourg, but in French texts, Gothenburg can also be seen in some older English texts. In Spanish the city is called Gotemburgo and these traditional forms are sometimes replaced with the use of the Swedish Göteborg, for example by The Göteborg Opera and the Göteborg Ballet. However, Göteborgs universitet, previously designated as the Göteborg University in English, the Gothenburg municipality has also reverted to the use of the English name in international contexts. Other old variations in Swedish are Götheborgh, and the more common Götheborg, one English text, written in the late 15th century, states the name as Guthaeborg. In 2009, the city launched a new logotype for Gothenburg. Since the name Göteborg contains the Swedish letter ö the idea was to make the more international. As of 2015, the name is spelled Go, teborg on a number of signs in the city
Gothenburg
–
From left to right: First row:
Göta älv with
Barken Viking to the left. Second row:
The Göteborg Opera and
Gunnebo House. Third row: Poseidon at
Götaplatsen and
Gothia Towers including
Svenska Mässan. 4th row:
Gothenburg heritage tram and
Elfsborg Fortress. 5th row:
Ullevi stadium.
Gothenburg
–
Gothenburg, circa 1700 from
Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna
Gothenburg
–
Swedes emigrating to the Americas from Gothenburg
35.
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
–
The Gothenburg Botanical Garden is located in Gothenburg, Sweden, and is one of the larger botanical gardens in Europe. The Gothenburg Botanical Garden is situated in a completely rural area. The Garden was initially funded by a donation from the Charles Felix Lindberg Foundation, Lindberg was a Swedish businessman and donor, who died in 1909. The Gothenburg City Council took the initiative to the Botanical Garden in 1912, the decision was finally taken in 1915 and work started in 1916. The park was opened to the public in 1919 and in 1923 and it was first planned as ”a field for experimentation and biological demonstrations, and a nature park”. Stora Änggården was built in 1812 and renovated under the supervision of the architect Sigfrid Ericson in 1919 and is now used as staff residence, the Gothenburg Botanical Garden was inaugurated in 1923 when Gothenburg celebrated its 300th anniversary. The road outside the Main Entrance is named after him, donations from many sources have played a vital role in the financing of the garden, including financing the construction of the Office Building. The Office Building was designed by the Swedish architect Arvid Bjerke, a wing was added in 1936 to house the herbarium. Land was donated by the City and by private persons and they were designed by the architects Stig Hansson and Walter Kiessling and completed in 1971. In 1975 The Woodlands containing the arboretum with a collection of trees were declared as a Nature reserve in 1975 and was named Änggårdsbergen. The City of Gothenburg handed over the operation of the Garden to Region Västra Götaland Regional Council in 1998, the total area is 175 hectares, of which most constitutes the nature reserve, Änggårdsbergen, including an arboretum. The garden proper is about 40 hectares and there are 16,000 different species, the Rock Garden has received two stars in the Michelin Green Guide. The park is unique in Sweden since it is independent of the city university, currently it is one of the larger botanical gardens in Europe, with its 175 hectares, which include a wild nature reserve in the Änggårdsbergen hills. This reserve is also the site of the Garden’s arboretum with copses of trees from many parts of the world, the cultivated part of the Garden is about 40 hectares in area, of which about half consists of beds of plants. There are also extensive lawns and shrubberies, the symbol of the garden is a white wood anemone. These flowers carpet the valleys of the Woodlands and the Nature Reserve in the spring, the topography of the botanical garden is very varied, much of it consisting of hilly terrain which lends itself naturally to boundaries drawn between different layouts with contrasting vegetation. The huge and dramatic rock garden with its 5,000 species from different continents is internationally acknowledged, the stock of over 500 species and cultivated varieties of Rhododendron offer a gorgeous, scented spectacle in the early summer. At different times of the visitors may also enjoy the world’s largest collection of bulbs
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
–
The mirror pond at the entrance of Gothenburg Botanical Garden
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
–
The Rock Garden at the Gothenburg Botanical Garden.
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
–
Perennials.
Gothenburg Botanical Garden
–
Perennials in bloom.
36.
Oceanic climate
–
Oceanic climates are defined as having a monthly mean temperature below 22 °C in the warmest month, and above 0 °C in the coldest month. It typically lacks a dry season, as precipitation is evenly dispersed throughout the year. Oceanic climates generally have cool summers and mild to cool winters, Oceanic climates are most dominant in Europe, where they spread much farther inland than in other continents. Oceanic climates can have much storm activity as they are located in the belt of the stormy westerlies, many oceanic climates have frequent cloudy or overcast conditions due to the near constant storms and lows tracking over or near them. Precipitation is both adequate and reliable throughout the year in oceanic climates, extended months of rain and cloudy conditions are common in oceanic climates. Seattle is an example of this, between October and May, Seattle experiences high rainfall and is mostly or partly cloudy six out of every seven days. In most areas with a climate, precipitation comes in the form of rain for the majority of the year. However, some areas with this climate see some snowfall annually during winter, outside of Australia and parts of New Zealand, most areas with an oceanic climate experience at least one snowstorm per year. In the poleward locations of the climate zone, snowfall is more frequent. Overall temperature characteristics of the oceanic climates feature cool temperatures and infrequent extremes of temperature, summers are cool, with the warmest month having a mean temperature below 22 °C. Poleward of the latter is a zone of the subpolar oceanic climate, with long and cold winters and cool. Examples of this climate include parts of coastal Iceland in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile, Oceanic climates are not necessarily always found in coastal locations on the aforementioned parallels, however, in most cases oceanic climates parallel higher middle latitude oceans. The polar jet stream, which moves in a west to east direction across the middle latitudes, advancing low pressure systems, storms, in coastal areas of the higher middle latitudes, the prevailing onshore flow creates the basic structure of most oceanic climates. Oceanic climates are a product and reflection of the adjacent to them. In summer, high pressure pushes the prevailing westerlies north of many oceanic climates. As a result of the Gulf Stream, west-coast areas located in high latitudes like Ireland, the UK, Oceanic climates in Europe occur mostly in Northwest Europe, from Ireland and Great Britain eastward to central Europe. Most of France, Germany, Norway, the north coast of Spain, examples of oceanic climates are found in London, Bergen, Dublin, Berlin, Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Biarritz, Bayonne, Zürich, Copenhagen and Paris. With decreasing distance to the Mediterranean Sea, the climate of Northwest Europe gradually changes to the subtropical dry-summer or Mediterranean climate of southern Europe
Oceanic climate
–
Seattle, a city with an oceanic climate
Oceanic climate
–
World map showing oceanic climate zones, as defined by the
Köppen climate types "Cfb", "Cfc", "Cwb" and "Cwc"
Oceanic climate
–
Curitiba, capital city of Brazilian
Paraná state features a subtropical highland climate
37.
Continental climate
–
In the Köppen climate system, Continental climates were bordered to the south by Temperate climates or C climates and to the north by Boreal climate or E climates. Köppen also defined continental climates as having more than 30 days with continuous snowcover on the ground, Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature. They tend to occur in the latitudes, where prevailing winds come from over land. Continental climates occur mostly in the Northern Hemisphere which has the large landmasses required for this type of climate to develop, most of northern and northeastern China, eastern and southeastern Europe, and the central and upper eastern United States have this type of climate. In Continental climates, Precipitation tends to be moderate in amount, a portion of the annual precipitation falls as snowfall, and snow often remains on the ground for more than a month. Summers in continental climates can feature thunderstorms and frequent cool temperatures, the timing of intermediate spring-like or autumn-like temperatures in this zone vary depending on latitude and/or elevation. For example, spring may arrive as soon as early March in the parts of this zone. Annual precipitation in this zone is usually between 600 millimetres and 1,200 millimetres, most of it in the form of snow during winter and it also has cold winters and warm summers. Most such areas fit Köppen classifications of Dfa, Dwa or Dfb or Dwb, dry summer continental climates exist in high altitude areas near Mediterranean climates. In some cases, the climate classification of BSk can also be considered to be continental as long it has cold winter. Some climatologists use the 0 °C isotherm instead for the coldest month, Continental climates exist where cold air masses infiltrate during the winter and warm air masses form in summer under conditions of high sun and long days. Places with continental climates are as a rule either far from any moderating effects of oceans or are so situated that prevailing winds tend to head offshore. Such regions get quite warm in the summer, achieving temperatures characteristic of tropical climates but are colder than any other climates of similar latitude in the winter. These climates grade off toward subtropical climates equator-ward where winters are less severe, in Europe these climates may grade off into oceanic climates in which the influence of moderating air masses is more marked toward the west. The subarctic climate, with cold, long and dry winters. Canada, Throughout much of southern Canada from the Rocky Mountains to Atlantic Canada, major cities, Whistler, Prince George, Kamloops, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste
Continental climate
–
The snowy city of
Sapporo
Continental climate
–
Af
38.
Frisian Islands
–
The islands shield the mudflat region of the Wadden Sea from the North Sea. The Frisian Islands, along with the mainland coast in the German Bight, form the region of Frisia, generally, the term Frisian Islands is used for the islands where Frisian is spoken and the population is ethnically Frisian. Most of the Frisian Islands are environmentally protected areas, and a wildlife nature reserve is being coordinated between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Natural gas and oil drilling continue, however, and in the vicinity of the Ems, Weser and Elbe estuaries, and ship traffic causes tension between wildlife protection and economic values. During the last ice age, which ended approximately 12,000 years ago, sea level was about 60 metres lower than it is now, and part of what is now the North Sea was dry land. With the melting of the ice caps, the sea rose, reaching the current coast line around the beginning of the Holocene era. Tidal action transported large quantities of sand to form a line of dunes extending over 500 kilometres from the Netherlands to the mouth of the river Elbe in Germany. The sea broke through the dunes in many places to form the Wadden Islands, the Dutch West Frisian and the German East Frisian Islands are barrier islands. They arose along the edge where the water surge piled up sediment. Over time, shoals arose, which ultimately were only covered by infrequent storm floods, once plants began to colonize the sandbanks, the land began to stabilize. In contrast, the North Frisian Islands arose from the remains of old Geestland islands and they are, therefore, often higher and their cores are less exposed to changes than the islands to the south. Beyond the core, however, the processes are at work, as is particularly evident on Sylt, where the south of the island threatens to be broken away. The Danish Islands, the next in the chain to the north, into the 20th century, silt on the islands was a serious problem. To protect them, small woods were planted, long before the beginning of the modern era, there were already humans inhabiting the Wadden area. Up to 800 AD, most inhabitants lived on terpen, the Roman naturalist Pliny, writing in the First Century CE, described the Frisians as. People who live without trees or shrubs, there, two times in each period of a day and a night, the ocean with a fast tide submerges an immense plain, thereby the hiding. Whether the area is sea or land, there this miserable race inhabits raised pieces ground or platforms, which they have moored by hand above the level of the highest known tide. It is for them not possible to keep herds and live on such as the surrounding tribes
Frisian Islands
–
Sand dunes and beach on
Amrum
Frisian Islands
–
The Wadden Islands archipelago, including the Frisian Islands
Frisian Islands
–
De Slufter, a nature reserve on
Texel
Frisian Islands
–
Fortified coast line on
Wangerooge
39.
Vlieland
–
Vlieland is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one town, Oost-Vlieland. It is the second-least densely populated municipality in the Netherlands, Vlieland is one of the West Frisian Islands, lying in the Wadden Sea. It is the island from the west in the chain. The island was separated from the mainland in St. Lucias flood in 1287. Vlieland was named after the Vlie, the seaway between it and Terschelling that was the estuary of the river IJssel in medieval times, the northern part of the island of Texel, Eierland, once was the southwestern part of Vlieland. A storm surge in 1296 probably separated Eierland from Vlieland, until 1942 Vlieland, like Terschelling, was part of the province of North Holland. During the Second World War, Vlieland became part of the German Atlantic Wall, the Germans built two anti-aircraft batteries and stationed more soldiers on the island than there were inhabitants. They also repartitioned the island to Friesland and the situation was not reversed after the war, the mail station in the western part of the island is a reminder that in the past mail was delivered by ferry from Texel. Because of this history, Vlieland natives do not speak Frisian, the original dialect, Vlielands, was related to the dialect of Texel and to other Dutch dialects in North Holland. The last native speaker, Petronella de Boer-Zeylemaker, died in 1993 at the age of 107, Vlieland can be reached by ferry from the Frisian town of Harlingen on the mainland. Ferries are operated by Doeksen and the journey takes 45 minutes to 1.5 hours to cross the Wadden Sea, tourists are not allowed to bring cars with them on the ferry. A summer-only ferry service runs between De Cocksdorp on the island of Texel and the westernmost point of Vlieland. The most common form of transport on the island is the bicycle, a bus service runs from the ferry terminal to the village and campgrounds after the arrival of a ferry, and some time before departure. There is a small heliport near the village, but it is only used for SAR flights. Vlieland, being the outermost of the Frisian barrier islands, sees its climate the most moderated by the North- and Wadden Sea. As is the case with the other West Frisian islands, sunshine hours are among the highest in the Netherlands, and quite possibly among the highest in the North Sea basin. Temperature extremes are rare, on average only 6 times a year does the daytime high exceed 25 degrees, and a high above thirty happens on average only once every three years
Vlieland
–
Lighthouse on Vlieland
Vlieland
–
This article needs additional citations for
verification. Please help improve this article by
adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2015)
Vlieland
–
Beach at
dusk
Vlieland
–
St. Nicolas church (Nicolaas Kerk) in Oost-Vlieland
40.
Terschelling
–
Terschelling is a municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland, Wadden Islanders are known for their resourcefulness in using anything and everything that washes ashore. With few trees to use for timber, most of the farms, the islands are surrounded by shipwrecks, and even today many containers wash ashore that are blown off the decks of container ships in the North Sea. The main source of income on Terschelling is tourism, there is some agriculture, but a large part of the island has become a nature reserve. Terschelling is well known for the yearly Oerol Festival during which performances are played throughout the island, making use of its landscape. Terschelling can be reached by ferry from the mainland Frisian town Harlingen, the island in its current shape was formed in the Middle Ages from a sandy area called De Schelling in the west and the original island Wexalia in the east. The name Wexalia, Wuxalia, or Wecsile is the name of eastern Terschelling. However, this disappeared at the end of the Middle Ages. The last appearance of the name Wexalia is in a treaty between Folkerus Reijner Popma, then ruler of Terschelling, with king Edward IV of England in 1482. The oldest traces of civilisation on Terschelling date from around 850 and this hill was later used as a burial ground and is known as the Striperkerkhof. Historically, tensions existed between the inhabitants of West-Terschelling, with its orientation towards the sea, and the more agriculturally oriented inhabitants of East-Terschelling. In 1612 this led to the division of the island into independent political entities, only after the French occupation at the start of the 19th century was Terschelling again united as one entity. The Dutch navigator Willem Barentsz was born on Terschelling around 1550, in 1666 West-Terschelling was ransacked by the English. The English fleet had originally planned to attack the Dutch merchant fleet which was moored before the coast of Vlieland, when the Dutch vessels retreated towards Terschelling, the English followed, destroyed 150 Dutch vessels, and landed in the harbour of West-Terschelling. The town was burnt to the ground by the English on this occasion which would become known as Holmess Bonfire after the English admiral Sir Robert Holmes, the Great Fire of London in the very same year was considered by some to have been Gods retribution. On the island of Terschelling both Dutch, the language of the Netherlands, and Frisian are spoken. However, the use of the three dialects is on the decline, and all three are slowly being replaced by the standard Dutch language, the island is known for being one of only two Wadden islands where cranberries grow, the other being the island of Vlieland. In 1840, a barrel of cranberries, apparently packed by sailors as an antiscorbutic, washed ashore on the islands coast, the cranberries, finding the environment favourable, established themselves on the island
Terschelling
–
Satellite photo of Terschelling
Terschelling
–
Dutch Topographic map of Terschelling, Dec. 2014
Terschelling
–
The "Bosplaat"
Terschelling
–
Panorama of Terschelling, including Brandaris, the lighthouse of Terschelling.
41.
Heligoland
–
Heligoland is a small German archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were at one time Danish and later British possessions, the islands are located in the Heligoland Bight in the southeastern corner of the North Sea. They are the only German islands not in the vicinity of the mainland. They lie approximately 69 kilometres by sea from Cuxhaven at the mouth of the River Elbe, in addition to German, the local population, who are ethnic Frisians, speak the Heligolandic dialect of the North Frisian language called Halunder. Heligoland used to be called Heyligeland, or holy land, possibly due to the long association with the god Forseti. Heligoland is located 46 kilometres off the German coastline and consists of two islands, the populated triangular 1 km2 main island to the west, and the Düne to the east, Heligoland generally refers to the former island. Düne is somewhat smaller at 0.7 km2, lower and it is not permanently inhabited, but is today the location of Heligolands airport. The main island is divided into the Unterland at sea level, the Oberland consisting of the plateau visible in the photographs. The Mittelland came into being in 1947 as a result of explosions detonated by the British Royal Navy, the main island also features small beaches in the north and the south and drops to the sea 50 metres high in the north, west and southwest. In the latter, the continues to drop underwater to a depth of 56 metres below sea level. Heligolands most famous landmark is the Lange Anna, a standing rock column,47 metres high. The two islands were connected until 1720, when the connection was destroyed by a storm flood. The highest point is on the island, reaching 61 metres above sea level. Although culturally closer to North Frisia in the German district of Nordfriesland, the main island has a good harbour and is frequented mostly by sailing yachts. The climate of Heligoland is typical of a climate, being almost free of pollen. Since there is no land mass in the vicinity, temperatures drop below −5 °C even in the winter. At times, winter temperatures can be higher than in Hamburg by up to 10 °C because cold winds from Russia are weakened. While spring tends to be cool, autumn on Heligoland is often longer and warmer than on the mainland, and statistically
Heligoland
–
Heligoland Helgoland
Heligoland
–
1910 map of Heligoland. These islands' coastlines have changed somewhat since this map was created.
Heligoland
–
Lange Anna
Heligoland
–
Birds-eye view, Heligoland, c. 1890–1900
42.
Rhine
–
The largest city on the river Rhine is Cologne, Germany, with a population of more than 1,050,000 people. It is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe, at about 1,230 km, with an average discharge of about 2,900 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days. The many castles and fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway in the Holy Roman Empire, in the modern era, it has become a symbol of German nationalism. The variant of the name of the Rhine in modern languages are all derived from the Gaulish name Rēnos, spanish is with French in adopting the Germanic vocalism Rin-, while Italian, Occitan and Portuguese retain the Latin Ren-. The Gaulish name Rēnos belongs to a class of river names built from the PIE root *rei- to move, flow, run, the grammatical gender of the Celtic name is masculine, and the name remains masculine in German, Dutch and French. The Old English river name was variously inflected as masculine or feminine, the length of the Rhine is conventionally measured in Rhine-kilometers, a scale introduced in 1939 which runs from the Old Rhine Bridge at Constance to Hoek van Holland. The river length is shortened from the rivers natural course due to a number of canalisation projects completed in the 19th and 20th century. The total length of the Rhine, to the inclusion of Lake Constance and its course is conventionally divided as follows, The Rhine carries its name without distinctive accessories only from the confluence of the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein near Tamins-Reichenau. Above this point is the catchment of the headwaters of the Rhine. It belongs almost exclusively to the Swiss Canton of Graubünden, ranging from Gotthard Massif in the west via one valley lying in Ticino, traditionally, Lake Toma near the Oberalp Pass in the Gotthard region is seen as the source of the Vorderrhein and the Rhine as a whole. The Hinterrhein rises in the Rheinwald valley below Mount Rheinwaldhorn, the Vorderrhein, or Anterior Rhine, springs from Lai da Tuma, near the Oberalp Pass and passes the impressive Ruinaulta formed by the largest visible rock slide in the alps, the Flims Rockslide. A multiday trekking route is signposted along the young Rhine called Senda Sursilvana, the Hinterrhein/Rein Posteriur, or Posterior Rhine, starts from the Paradies Glacier, near the Rheinwaldhorn. One of its tributaries, the Reno di Lei, drains the Valle di Lei on politically Italian territory, after three main valleys separated by the two gorges, Roflaschlucht and Viamala, it reaches Reichenau. The Vorderrhein arises from numerous source streams in the upper Surselva, one source is Lai da Tuma with the Rein da Tuma, which is usually indicated as source of the Rhine, flowing through it. Into it flow tributaries from the south, some longer, some equal in length, such as the Reno di Medel, the Rein da Maighels, and the Rein da Curnera. The Cadlimo Valley in the Canton of Ticino is drained by the Reno di Medel, all streams in the source area are partially, sometimes completely, captured and sent to storage reservoirs for the local hydro-electric power plants. In its lower course the Vorderrhein flows through a gorge named Ruinaulta through the Flims Rockslide, the whole stretch of the Vorderrhein to the Rhine confluence near Reichenau-Tamins is accompanied by a long-distance hiking trail called Senda Sursilvana
Rhine
–
Lorelei rock in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhine
–
Map of the Rhine basin
Rhine
–
The Rein da Tuma is captured in the center of the picture and led into the
Curnera Reservoir
Rhine
–
The outflow from
Lake Toma is traditionally seen as the source of the Rhine
43.
Scheldt
–
The Scheldt is a 350-kilometre long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to Old English sceald shallow, Modern English shoal, Low German schol, Frisian skol, the headwaters of the Scheldt are in Gouy, in the Aisne department of northern France. It flows north through Cambrai and Valenciennes, and enters Belgium near Tournai, in Ghent, where it receives the Lys, one of its main tributaries, the Scheldt turns east. Near Antwerp, the largest city on its banks, the Scheldt flows west into the Netherlands towards the North Sea, today the river therefore continues into the Westerschelde estuary only, passing Terneuzen to reach the North Sea between Breskens in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen and Vlissingen on Walcheren. The Scheldt is an important waterway, and has been navigable from its mouth up to Cambrai. The port of Antwerp, the second largest in Europe, lies on its banks, several canals connect the Scheldt with the basins of the Rhine, Meuse and Seine, and with the industrial areas around Brussels, Liège, Lille, Dunkirk and Mons. In Roman times, it was important for the lanes to Roman Britain. Nehalennia was venerated at its mouth, the Franks took control over the region about the year 260 and at first interfered with the Roman supply routes as pirates. Later they became allies of the Romans, Antwerp was the most prominent harbour in Western Europe. After this city fell back under Spanish control in 1585, the Dutch Republic took control of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, a strip of land on the left bank, and closed the Scheldt for shipping. Access to the river was the subject of the brief Kettle War of 1784, once Belgium had claimed its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, the treaty of the Scheldt determined that the river should remain accessible to ships heading for Belgian ports. Nevertheless, the Dutch government would demand a toll from passing vessels until 16 July 1863, in the Second World War, the Scheldt estuary once again became a contested area. Paget-Tyrell Memorandum of August 7,1916, Section 6
Scheldt
–
The Scheldt in
Antwerp
Scheldt
–
"View of Antwerp with the frozen Scheldt" (1590) by
Lucas van Valckenborch.
Scheldt
–
U.S. President
Harry S. Truman and Secretary of State
James F. Byrnes wave at the HMS Hambledon while on board the
USS Augusta on the River Scheldt as they head to the
Potsdam Conference on August 15, 1945
Scheldt
–
River Scheldt in
Antwerp at sunset
44.
Poland
–
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe, situated between the Baltic Sea in the north and two mountain ranges in the south. Bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, the total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres, making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. With a population of over 38.5 million people, Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world, the 8th most populous country in Europe, Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administrative subdivisions, and its capital and largest city is Warsaw. Other metropolises include Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk and Szczecin, the establishment of a Polish state can be traced back to 966, when Mieszko I, ruler of a territory roughly coextensive with that of present-day Poland, converted to Christianity. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a political association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th and 17th century Europe, Poland regained its independence in 1918 at the end of World War I, reconstituting much of its historical territory as the Second Polish Republic. In September 1939, World War II started with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, followed thereafter by invasion by the Soviet Union. More than six million Polish citizens died in the war, after the war, Polands borders were shifted westwards under the terms of the Potsdam Conference. With the backing of the Soviet Union, a communist puppet government was formed, and after a referendum in 1946. During the Revolutions of 1989 Polands Communist government was overthrown and Poland adopted a new constitution establishing itself as a democracy, informally called the Third Polish Republic. Since the early 1990s, when the transition to a primarily market-based economy began, Poland has achieved a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Poland is a country, which was categorised by the World Bank as having a high-income economy. Furthermore, it is visited by approximately 16 million tourists every year, Poland is the eighth largest economy in the European Union and was the 6th fastest growing economy on the continent between 2010 and 2015. According to the Global Peace Index for 2014, Poland is ranked 19th in the list of the safest countries in the world to live in. The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of Polans that inhabited the Warta River basin of the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century, the origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole. In some foreign languages such as Hungarian, Lithuanian, Persian and Turkish the exonym for Poland is Lechites, historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now Poland. The most famous archaeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement, dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, the Slavic groups who would form Poland migrated to these areas in the second half of the 5th century AD. With the Baptism of Poland the Polish rulers accepted Christianity and the authority of the Roman Church
Poland
–
Reconstruction of a
Bronze Age,
Lusatian culture settlement in
Biskupin, c. 700 BC
Poland
–
Flag
Poland
–
Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler; King
Mieszko II Lambert of Poland being presented with a
Liturgical book by
Matilda of Swabia, 1025–1031
Poland
–
Drawing of the
Battle of Grunwald, which was fought against the
German Order of Teutonic Knights, 15 July 1410
45.
Lithuania
–
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
Lithuania
–
Trakai Island Castle
Lithuania
–
Flag
Lithuania
–
Battle of Grunwald and
Vytautas the Great in the centre
Lithuania
–
The original 20 members of the
Council of Lithuania after signing the
Act of Independence of Lithuania, 16 February 1918.
46.
Alps
–
The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
Alps
–
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, view from the
Savoy side
Alps
Alps
–
An "alp" refers to a high mountain pasture, often with a structure, such as this one on the south side of the Alps, where cows are taken for grazing.
Alps
–
The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.
47.
Carpathians
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The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a mountain range system forming an arc roughly 1,500 km long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe. The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, the Carpathians consist of a chain of mountain ranges that stretch in an arc from the Czech Republic in the northwest through Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine to Romania and Serbia. The highest range within the Carpathians is the Tatras, on the border of Slovakia and Poland, the second-highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks exceed 2,500 m. The divisions of the Carpathians are usually in three sections, Western Carpathians — Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. Eastern Carpathians — southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, the term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The most important cities in or near the Carpathians are, Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, Kraków in Poland, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu and Braşov in Romania, and Uzhhorod in Ukraine. In modern times, the range is called Karpaty in Czech, Polish, Slovak and Карпати in Ukrainian, Carpați in Romanian, Karpaten in German, Kárpátok in Hungarian and Karpati or Карпати in Serbian. Although the toponym was recorded already by Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE, for instance, Havasok was its medieval Hungarian name, Rus and Romanian chronicles referred to it as Hungarian Mountains. The archaic Polish word karpa meant rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, the more common word skarpa means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici, the Western Carpathians were called Carpates, a name that is first recorded in Ptolemys Geographia. In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga, which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns, the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum, inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia by Gervase of Tilbury, has described in his Otia Imperialia in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal, Tarczal or less frequently Montes Nivium, the northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km, the highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km2 and, after the Alps, although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not actually form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, the Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora. The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube, the two ranges meet at only one point, the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains at Orşova in Romania, the valley of the March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe
Carpathians
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Inner
Western Carpathians,
High Tatras,
Slovakia
Carpathians
Carpathians
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Carpathian mountain range
Carpathians
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Portrait of
Hutsuls, living in the Carpathian mountains, c. 1872
48.
Funtensee
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Its primary inflows are the Steingraben, Stuhlgraben and Rennergraben. At an elevation of 1601 m, its area is 3.5 ha. Its outflow toward the Schrainbach is subterranean at a location called Teufelsmühle, on its shore is the Kärlinger Haus mountain hut which is open for the summer season, in addition, there is a winter room available. The valley is surrounded by Viehkogel, Glunkerer, and Stuhljoch which leads to the Funtenseetauern mountain, earliest evidence of use of the area for grazing can be traced to ca 1604-1619. Around 1870 there is evidence of eight active Kaser causing concerns of overgrazing, the Funtenseealm was active through 1964. Known as the coldest spot in Germany, the lake is the site where the record lowest temperature. It is theorised that due to the situation of trapped cold air. Temperatures are regularly monitored by a weather station installed by Jörg Kachelmann. The noise of the water disappearing underground has led to local folklore, the exact route the water takes underground has not yet been established and an extensive cave has not been ruled out but the outflow point is not accessible to humans to investigate
Funtensee
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Funtensee
Funtensee
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North shore with Kärlingerhaus
49.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
Bavaria
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Prehistoric Heunischenburg, in the vicinity of
Kronach
Bavaria
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Flag
Bavaria
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Kingdom of Bavaria 900
Bavaria
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Bavarian stamps during the German empire period
50.
Waksmund
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Waksmund is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Nowy Targ, within Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland. It lies approximately 3 kilometres east of Nowy Targ and 80 km south of the regional capital Kraków, the village has a population of 2,439. The current village was settled by German immigrants under Magdeburg Law in the years 1334-1338, previously, a village under the name Wilcze Pole or Wolfs Field existed. Waksmund lies at an elevation of 565 metres primarily on the bank of the river Dunajec in a hollow between two fossil sandar from the ice age. The westernmost outlier of the Pieniny range, Gisowa Skała, lies a few kilometres to the southeast of the village near to Gronków, within twenty kilometres of Waksmund, three national parks can be found, Gorczański, Tatrzański and Pieniński National Park. Annual precipitation is around 850 millimetres, annual sunshine hours around 1500, snow remains on the ground on average 111 days per year, and the average length of the growing season is 189 days. Spring sees large diurnal ranges - it can be up to 20°C during mid day, whether this is valid or due to faulty equipment can never be known, fact is that Waksmund on such nights can be 5 to 7°C colder than nearby Nowy Targ or Białka Tatrzańska. A similar effect, although far more pronounced, happens at Funtensee in Germany, summers are mild, with average highs around 20 to 25°C, and nighttime lows around 10°C. Józef Kuraś, resistance fighter Andrzej Waksmundzki, chemist
Waksmund
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Waksmund from Gorce
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