1.
Elizabethan era
–
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in English history marked by the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historians often depict it as the age in English history. In terms of the century, the historian John Guy argues that England was economically healthier, more expansive. This golden age represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw the flowering of poetry, music, the era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of Englands past style of theatre. It was an age of exploration and expansion abroad, while back at home and it was also the end of the period when England was a separate realm before its royal union with Scotland. The Elizabethan Age may be viewed especially highly when considered in light of the failings of the periods preceding Elizabeths reign, the Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism. England was also compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come to an end under the weight of Spanish domination of the peninsula, France was embroiled in its own religious battles due to significant Spanish intervention, that would only be settled in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes. The one great rival was Spain, which England clashed both in Europe and the Americas in skirmishes that exploded into the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604 and this drained both the English Exchequer and economy that had been so carefully restored under Elizabeths prudent guidance. English commercial and territorial expansion would be limited until the signing of the Treaty of London the year following Elizabeths death, economically, the country began to benefit greatly from the new era of trans-Atlantic trade, persistent theft of Spanish treasure, and the African slave trade. The Victorian era and the early 20th century idealised the Elizabethan era, the Encyclopædia Britannica maintains that he long reign of Elizabeth I, 1558–1603, was Englands Golden Age. Merry England, in love with life, expressed itself in music and literature, in architecture and this idealising tendency was shared by Britain and an Anglophilic America. In popular culture, the image of those adventurous Elizabethan seafarers was embodied in the films of Errol Flynn, in response and reaction to this hyperbole, modern historians and biographers have tended to take a more dispassionate view of the Tudor period. Elizabethan England was not particularly successful in a military sense during the period, having inherited a virtually bankrupt state from previous reigns, her frugal policies restored fiscal responsibility. Her fiscal restraint cleared the regime of debt by 1574, and this general peace and prosperity allowed the attractive developments that Golden Age advocates have stressed. The Elizabethan Age was also an age of plots and conspiracies, frequently political in nature, high officials in Madrid, Paris and Rome sought to kill Elizabeth, a Protestant, and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic. That would be a prelude to the recovery of England for Catholicism. In 1570, the Ridolfi plot was thwarted, in 1584, the Throckmorton Plot was discovered, after Francis Throckmorton confessed his involvement in a plot to overthrow the Queen and restore the Catholic Church in England
Elizabethan era
–
Queen Elizabeth
Elizabethan era
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The National Armada memorial in
Plymouth using the Britannia image to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (William Charles May, sculptor, 1888)
Elizabethan era
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Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. Detail from The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession, c. 1572, attributed to
Lucas de Heere.
Elizabethan era
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The Spanish Armada fighting the English navy at the
Battle of Gravelines in 1588.
2.
Privateer
–
A privateer was a private person or ship that engaged in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, a percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission. Since robbery under arms was common to trade, all merchant ships were already armed. During war, naval resources were auxiliary to operations on land so privateering was a way of subsidizing state power by mobilizing armed ships, the letter of marque of a privateer would typically limit activity to one particular ship, and specified officers. Typically, the owners or captain would be required to post a performance bond, in the United Kingdom, letters of marque were revoked for various offences. Some crews were treated as harshly as naval crews of the time, some crews were made up of professional merchant seamen, others of pirates, debtors, and convicts. Some privateers ended up becoming pirates, not just in the eyes of their enemies, william Kidd, for instance, began as a legitimate British privateer but was later hanged for piracy. The investors would arm the vessels and recruit large crews, much larger than a merchantman or a vessel would carry. Privateers generally cruised independently, but it was not unknown for them to form squadrons, a number of privateers were part of the English fleet that opposed the Spanish Armada in 1588. Privateers generally avoided encounters with warships, as such encounters would be at best unprofitable, for instance, in 1815 Chasseur encountered HMS St Lawrence, herself a former American privateer, mistaking her for a merchantman until too late, in this instance, however, the privateer prevailed. The United States used mixed squadrons of frigates and privateers in the American Revolutionary War, the practice dated to at least the 13th century but the word itself was coined sometime in the mid-17th century. England, and later the United Kingdom, used privateers to great effect and these privately owned merchant ships, licensed by the crown, could legitimately take vessels that were deemed pirates. The increase in competition for crews on armed merchant vessels and privateers was due, in a large part, because of the chance for a considerable payoff. Whereas a seaman who shipped on a vessel was paid a wage and provided with victuals. This proved to be a far more attractive prospect and privateering flourished as a result, during Queen Elizabeths reign, she encouraged the development of this supplementary navy. Over the course of her rule, she had allowed Anglo-Spanish relations to deteriorate to the point where one could argue that a war with the Spanish was inevitable. By using privateers, if the Spanish were to take offense at the plundering of their ships, some of the most famous privateers that later fought in the Anglo-Spanish War included the Sea Dogs. In the late 16th century, English ships cruised in the Caribbean and off the coast of Spain, at this early stage the idea of a regular navy was not present, so there is little to distinguish the activity of English privateers from regular naval warfare
Privateer
–
East Indiaman Kent battling
Confiance, a privateer vessel commanded by
French corsair Robert Surcouf in October 1800, as depicted in a painting by
Ambroise Louis Garneray.
Privateer
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Boarding of the
Triton (a British East Indiaman) by the French corsair
Hasard.
Privateer
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CSS Savannah, a
Confederate privateer.
Privateer
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Woodes Rogers ' men search Spanish ladies for their jewels in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1709
3.
Basingstoke
–
Basingstoke is the largest town in Hampshire. It is situated in south central England, and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon and it is located 30 miles northeast of Southampton,48 miles southwest of London, and 19 miles northeast of the county town and former capital Winchester. According to the 2011 census the town had a population of 107,355 and it is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke. Basingstoke is often nicknamed Doughnut City or Roundabout City because of the number of large roundabouts, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the mid 1960s as a result of an agreement between London County Council and Hampshire County Council. Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, at the start of World War II the population was little more than 13,000. It still has a market, but is now larger than Hampshire County Councils definition of a market town. It is also the location of the European headquarters of the TaylorMade-Adidas Golf Company, other industries include publishing, IT, telecommunications, insurance and electronics. The name Basingstoke is believed to have derived from the towns position as the outlying. The ending -stoke means outlying settlement or possibly refers to a stockade that surrounded the settlement in early medieval times. Basing, now Old Basing, a village 2 miles to the east, is thought to have the same etymology and it remained the main settlement until changes in the local church moved the religious base from St Marys Church, Basing, to the church in Basingstoke. The site of Winklebury camp is now home to Fort Hill Community School, nearby, to the west, Roman Road marks the course of a Roman road that ran from Winchester to Silchester. Further to the east, another Roman road ran from Chichester through the villages of Upton Grey. The Harrow Way is an Iron-age ancient route that runs to the south of the town, the first recorded historical event here was the victory gained by Æthelred of Wessex and Alfred the Great over the Danes in 871. Again, in 904, Basingstoke saw a battle between Edward the Elder, Alfreds only son, and his cousin Æthelwald. Basingstoke is recorded as being a site in the Domesday Book. During the Civil War, and the siege of Basing House between 1643 and 1645, the town played host to large numbers of Parliamentarians. During this time, St. Michaels Church was damaged whilst being used as a store and lead was stripped from the roof of the Chapel of the Holy Ghost. It had been incorporated in 1524, but was out of use after the Civil War
Basingstoke
–
Clockwise from top: Town centre viewed from Churchill Way at night, The Anvil theatre,
Basingstoke railway station,
St Michael's Church, high-rise flats in Churchill Plaza, and the AA Building (
Fanum House)
Basingstoke
–
The remains of the 16th-century
Chapel of the Holy Ghost, Basingstoke
Basingstoke
–
St Michael's Church
4.
Hampshire
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Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the capital city of England. The larger South Hampshire metropolitan area has a population of 1,547,000, Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. It is bordered by Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, the southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and the Solent, facing the Isle of Wight. At its greatest size in 1890, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England and it now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres, and measures about 86 kilometres east–west and 76 kilometres north–south. Hampshires tourist attractions include many seaside resorts and two parks, the New Forest and the South Downs. Hampshire has a maritime history and two of Europes largest ports, Portsmouth and Southampton, lie on its coast. The county is famed as home of writers Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Hampshire takes its name from the settlement that is now the city of Southampton. Southampton was known in Old English as Hamtun, roughly meaning village-town, the old name was recorded in the Domesday book as Hantescire, and it is from this spelling that the modern abbreviation Hants derives. From 1889 until 1959, the county was named the County of Southampton and has also been known as Southamptonshire. The region is believed to have continuously occupied since the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 BCE. At this time Britain was still attached to the European continent and was covered with deciduous woodland. The first inhabitants came overland from Europe, these were anatomically and behaviourally modern humans, notable sites from this period include Bouldnor Cliff. Agriculture had arrived in southern Britain by 4000 BCE, and with it a neolithic culture, some deforestation took place at that time, although it was during the Bronze Age, beginning in 2200 BCE, that this became more widespread and systematic. Hampshire has few monuments to show from early periods, although nearby Stonehenge was built in several phases at some time between 3100 BCE and 2200 BCE. It is maintained that by this period the people of Britain predominantly spoke a Celtic language, hillforts largely declined in importance in the second half of the second century BCE, with many being abandoned. Julius Caesar invaded southeastern England briefly in 55 and again in 54 BCE, notable sites from this period include Hengistbury Head, which was a major port. There is a Museum of the Iron Age in Andover, the Romans invaded Britain again in 43 CE, and Hampshire was incorporated into the Roman province of Britannia very quickly
Hampshire
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Southampton from Netley Hospital
Hampshire
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Flag of Hampshire County Council
Hampshire
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The Beaulieu River
Hampshire
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Southampton Docks
5.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
Portugal
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Citânia de Briteiros, in the
Minho Province, is the best preserved
Iron Age and
Castro culture site in Portugal.
Portugal
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Flag
Portugal
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The
Roman Temple of Évora, in the
Alentejo, is a symbol of
Lusitania, Roman rule in Portugal.
Portugal
–
Monument in Porto to
Vimara Peres, first ruler of the County of Portugal
6.
Torbay
–
Torbay /tɔːrˈbeɪ/ is a borough in Devon, England, administered by the unitary authority of Torbay Council. It consists of 62.87 square kilometres of land, spanning the towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, Torbay is roughly equidistant from the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. That the Torbay area has been inhabited since Paleolithic times is shown by human bones, a maxilla fragment known as Kents Cavern 4 may be the oldest example of a modern human in Europe, dating back to 37, 000–40,000 years ago. Roman soldiers are known to have visited Torquay during the period when Britain was a part of the Roman Empire, leaving offerings at a rock formation in Kents Cavern. Both Brixham and Paignton appear in the Domesday Book of 1086 and Paignton was given the status of a borough having a market, the first major building in Torquay was Torre Abbey, a Premonstratensian monastery founded in 1196. William Prince of Orange landed in Brixham on 5 November 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, the historic part of Paignton is inland, the low-lying coastal fringe was originally salt marsh. Paignton remained a fishing village until the early 19th century. The second phase in the expansion of the area began when Torre railway station was opened in December 1848. The railway was extended to Torquay Seafront station in 1858, Paignton in 1859, as a result of its expansion, Torquay was granted borough status in 1872, and 1902 saw its first marketing campaign to summer tourists. Torbay Golf & Country Club opened in 1933, the club and course closed in the mid 1950s. Tor Bay hosted the events for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. The County Borough became the Borough of Torbay under local government reorganisation in 1974 and it was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998 making it responsible for its own affairs. The area is represented nationally at the House of Commons by two MPs, Brixham and part of Paignton fall within the Totnes constituency, with Conservative Sarah Wollaston elected. Torbay is in the South West England constituency of the European Parliament, together with the rest of South West England, until May 2011, Torbay Council had been headed by the first directly elected mayor in the South West region. Conservative candidate Nicholas Bye who won in October 2005, under a system which was later described as a total failure with Bye receiving votes from fewer than 7% of the electorate. However, running as an independent he was defeated in the May 2011 election by Gordon Oliver who stood as a Conservative, for local elections the district is divided into 15 wards. The Council elects 36 councillors in elections every four years. Since the Torbay Council election,2015, the council has a Conservative majority, the composition as of 9 May 2015, There are three main towns around the marine inlet of Tor Bay, Torquay in the north, Paignton in the centre, and Brixham in the south
Torbay
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Torquay Town Hall, the home of Torbay Council
Torbay
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Looking towards Paignton from Torquay. Torbay palms in the foreground.
Torbay
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An open top bus advertising the "English Riviera"
7.
Devon
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Devon, also known as Devonshire, which was formerly its common and official name, is a county of England, reaching from the Bristol Channel in the north to the English Channel in the south. It is part of South West England, bounded by Cornwall to the west, Somerset to the northeast, combined as a ceremonial county, Devons area is 6,707 km2 and its population is about 1.1 million. Devon derives its name from Dumnonia, which, during the British Iron Age, Roman Britain, the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain resulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into the Kingdom of Wessex during the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at the River Tamar by King Æthelstan in 936, Devon was constituted as a shire of the Kingdom of England thereafter. The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the bays contain seaside resorts, fishing towns. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly, and has a low density in comparison to many other parts of England. Dartmoor is the largest open space in southern England at 954 km2, to the north of Dartmoor are the Culm Measures and Exmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is fertile, drained by rivers including the Exe, the Culm, the Teign, the Dart. As well as agriculture, much of the economy of Devon is linked with tourism, in the Brittonic, Devon is known as Welsh, Dyfnaint, Breton, Devnent and Cornish, Dewnens, each meaning deep valleys. One erroneous theory is that the suffix is due to a mistake in the making of the original letters patent for the Duke of Devonshire. However, there are references to Defenascire in Anglo-Saxon texts from before 1000 AD, the term Devonshire may have originated around the 8th century, when it changed from Dumnonia to Defenascir. Kents Cavern in Torquay had produced human remains from 30–40,000 years ago, Dartmoor is thought to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples from about 6000 BC. The Romans held the area under occupation for around 350 years. Devon became a frontier between Brittonic and Anglo-Saxon Wessex, and it was absorbed into Wessex by the mid 9th century. This suggests the Anglo-Saxon migration into Devon was limited rather than a movement of people. The border with Cornwall was set by King Æthelstan on the east bank of the River Tamar in 936 AD, the arrival of William of Orange to launch the Glorious Revolution of 1688 took place at Brixham. Devon has produced tin, copper and other metals from ancient times, Devons tin miners enjoyed a substantial degree of independence through Devons Stannary Parliament, which dates back to the 12th century. The last recorded sitting was in 1748, agriculture has been an important industry in Devon since the 19th century
Devon
–
Menhir at
Drizzlecombe
Devon
Devon
–
Part of the seafront of
Torquay, south Devon, at high tide
Devon
–
Heathland at
Woodbury Common in south east Devon
8.
East Indies
–
The East Indies or Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, the name Indies is derived from the river Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence. The East Indies may also include the former French-held Indochina, former British territories Brunei and Singapore and it does not, however, include the former Dutch New Guinea western New Guinea, which is geographically considered to be part of Melanesia. In colonial times they were just natives, however, the peoples of the East Indies comprise a wide variety of cultural diversity, and the inhabitants do not consider themselves as belonging to a single ethnic group. The major languages in this area draw from a variety of language families, and should not be confused with the term Indic. The extensive East Indies are subdivided into two sections, archaically called Hither India and Further India, the first is the former British India, the second is Southeast Asia. Historically, the king of Abyssinia was identified with Prester John of the Indies, exploration of these regions by European powers first began in the late 15th century and early 16th century led by the Portuguese explorers. The Portuguese described the region they discovered as the Indies. Eventually, the region would be broken up into a series of Indies, the East Indies, which was also called Old Indies or Great Indies, consisting of India, and the West Indies, also called New Indies or Little Indies, consisting of the Americas. The New World was initially thought to be the easternmost part of the Indies by explorer Christopher Columbus, later, to avoid confusion, the New World came to be called the West Indies, while the original Indies came to be called the East Indies. Greater India History of the Americas Indian Spanish West Indies
East Indies
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An 1801 map of the East Indies.
9.
Table Bay
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Table Bay is a natural bay on the Atlantic Ocean overlooked by Cape Town and is at the northern end of the Cape Peninsula, which stretches south to the Cape of Good Hope. It was named because it is dominated by the flat-topped Table Mountain, bartolomeu Dias was the first European to explore this region in 1486. The bay, although famous for centuries as a haven for ships, is actually a rather poor natural harbour and is exposed to gales from both the SE and NW. Many sailing ships seeking refuge in the bay during the 17th and 18th centuries were driven ashore by storms, the Dutch colonists nevertheless persisted with their efforts on the shores of Table Bay, because good natural harbours along this coastline are almost non-existent. Eventually a harbour was built in Table Bay by a process of reclamation and was defended by breakwaters to protect shipping. The older part of structure is called the Victoria Dock. The newer part is called the Duncan Dock, robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, is in this bay
Table Bay
–
An aerial view of Table Bay from
Bloubergstrand, to the north of Cape Town.
Table Mountain is visible in the distance on the far side of the bay.
Table Bay
–
Table Bay, the harbour and the
City Bowl from the summit of Table Mountain.
Table Bay
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Dutch ships off Table Bay in the 17th century
Table Bay
–
Looking over sailing ships in Table Bay in 1727 with
Table Mountain in the background
10.
Cape Correntes
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Cape Correntes is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It is named after the exceptionally fast southward current that passes here, part of the Mozambique Current and it is also a confluence point of winds, with the capacity to produce unpredictably violent gusts and whirlwinds. Medieval dhows of the Kilwa Sultanate rarely sailed below it, thereby making Cape Correntes the southern boundary of the Swahili Coast, local legends said the cape was inhabited by mermaids that lured unfortunate sailors to their deaths. It is estimated that 30% of the ships lost in the yearly Portuguese India Armadas in the 16th and 17th centuries capsized around Cape Correntes, ascensão e Declínio da Carreira da Índia, Vasco da Gama e a Índia, Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,1999, vol. Retrieved from the internet 2003 Theal, George McCall The Beginning of South African History
Cape Correntes
–
French map of
Mozambique Channel, c. 1791. Cape Correntes is denoted at the bottom entrance.
11.
Zanzibar
–
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres off the coast of the mainland, the capital is Zanzibar City, located on the island of Unguja. Its historic centre is Stone Town, which is a World Heritage Site, the name Zanzibar is apparently derived from the Persian zang-bâr signifying black coast. Zanzibars main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism, in particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzanias Mafia Island, are called the Spice Islands. Zanzibar is the home of the endemic Zanzibar red colobus monkey, the Zanzibar servaline genet, the word Zanzibar came from Arabic Zanjibār, which is in turn from Persian Zang-bār, a compound of Zang + bār. The presence of microlithic tools suggest that it has been home to humans for at least 20,000 years, a Greco-Roman text between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, mentioned the island of Menuthias, which is probably Unguja. Little is known about the history of Zanzibar between the time of the Periplus and the death of Muhammad in 632 CE, from that point forward, wars in Asia and increasing trade motivated Persians, Arabs, and Indians to visit or migrate to Zanzibar. Persian traders used Zanzibar as a base for voyages between the Middle East, India, and Africa and they established garrisons on the islands and built the first Zoroastrian fire temples and mosques in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact of these traders and immigrants on the Swahili culture is uncertain, during the Middle Ages, Zanzibar and other settlements on the Swahili Coast were advanced. The littoral contained a number of autonomous trade cities and these towns grew in wealth as the Bantu Swahili people served as intermediaries and facilitators to local, Arab, Persian, Indonesian, Malaysian, Indian, and Chinese merchants. This interaction contributed in part to the evolution of the Swahili culture, although a Bantu language, Swahili as a consequence today includes some elements that were borrowed from other civilizations, particularly Arabic loanwords. With the wealth that they had acquired through trade, some of the Arab traders also became rulers of the coastal cities, vasco da Gamas visit in 1498 marked the beginning of European influence. In 1503 or 1504, Zanzibar became part of the Portuguese Empire when Captain Ruy Lourenço Ravasco Marques landed and demanded and received tribute from the sultan in exchange for peace, Zanzibar remained a possession of Portugal for almost two centuries. It initially became part of the Portuguese province of Arabia and Ethiopia and was administered by a governor general, around 1571, Zanzibar became part of the western division of the Portuguese empire and was administered from Mozambique. It appears, however, that the Portuguese did not closely administer Zanzibar, the first English ship to visit Unguja, the Edward Bonaventure in 1591, found that there was no Portuguese fort or garrison. The extent of their occupation was a depot where produce was purchased and collected for shipment to Mozambique. In other respects, the affairs of the island were managed by the local king and this hands-off approach ended when Portugal established a fort on Pemba around 1635 in response to the Sultan of Mombasas slaughter of Portuguese residents several years earlier
Zanzibar
–
The old castle in Zanzibar
Zanzibar
Zanzibar
–
The Harem and Tower Harbour of Zanzibar (p.234), London Missionary Society
Zanzibar
–
A
Zanj slave gang in Zanzibar (1889)
12.
Cape Comorin
–
Kanyakumari pronunciation, also known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin, is a town in Kanyakumari District in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The name comes from the Devi Kanya Kumari Temple in the region and it is the southernmost tip of peninsular India. Kanyakumari town is the tip of the Cardamom Hills, an extension of the Western Ghats range. The nearest town is Nagercoil, the headquarters of Kanyakumari District,22 km away. Kanyakumari has been a town since Sangam period and is a popular tourist destination, ptolemys geography describes commercial relations between western India and Alexandria, the chief eastern emporium of the Roman Empire. He identified Kanyakumari along with the Gulf of Mannar as a center for pearl fishery and he also identifies Korkai, a place to the east of Kanyakumari, as an emporium of pearl trade. Kanyakumari District consists of those known locally as Nanjil Nadu. The names of the villages of the such as Azhagiapaandipuram, Bhoothapandy. Nanjilnadu was under the rule of Pandiyas till the early 10th century, the Kalkulam and Vilavancode taluks were under the rule of the Chera Dynasty. Veera Kerala Varma, one such chieftain, styled himself as Nanjil Kuravan, the annexation commenced by Veera Kerala Varma was to a large extent continued by his successors and completed by AD1115. For about four centuries, the Venad was ruled by powerful kings who were making incursions into the Pandian territories. As a result, Vijayanagar kings proceeded against Venad, in 1609 Kanyakumari fell into the hands of Viswanatha Nayak of Madurai. Consequent on this, there was no threat to Nanjilnadu until 1634. During the regime of Ravi Varma and Marthanda Varma, Venad was disturbed by the internal strife, sanda Sahib of Arcot took advantage of this situation and attacked Nanjilnadu. After Marthanda Varma, Venad had weak rulers and as a result there was frequent interference by the British whose control was established over Venad. From 1947 to 1956, it was under the rule of Maharaja of Travancore. During the period between 1956–1961, the system has fallen in line with that of other districts in Tamil Nadu. Kanyakumari has been a centre for art and religion for centuries
Cape Comorin
–
Kanyakumari
Cape Comorin
–
Thiruvalluvar Statue at Night
Cape Comorin
–
Gandhi Memorial Kanyakumari
Cape Comorin
–
Thiruvalluvar Statue
13.
Malay Peninsula
–
The Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southernmost point of the Asian mainland, the area contains the southernmost tip of Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, and Southern Thailand. The Titiwangsa Mountains are part of the Tenasserim Hills system, and they form the southernmost section of the central cordillera which runs from Tibet through the Kra Isthmus into the Malay Peninsula. The Strait of Malacca separates the Malay Peninsula from the Indonesian island of Sumatra while the south coast is separated from the island of Singapore by the Straits of Johor, the Malay term Tanah Melayu is derived from the word Tanah and Melayu, thus it means the Malay land. The term can be found in various pre-modern Malay texts, of which the oldest dating back to the early 17th century and it is frequently mentioned in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, a well known classical work that began as oral tales associated with the legendary heroes of Malacca Sultanate. Tanah Melayu in the text is consistently employed to refer to the area under Melakan dominance, prior to the foundation of Melaka, reference to Malay peninsula was made in different terms from various foreign sources. According to several Indian scholars, the word Malayadvipa, mentioned in the ancient Indian text, Vayu Purana, may possibly refer to the Malay peninsula. Another Indian source, an inscription on the wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple, recorded the word Malaiur. The Greek source, Geographia, written by Ptolemy, labelled a geographical part of Golden Chersonese as Maleu-kolon, a term thought to derive from Sanskrit malayakolam or malaikurram. During the same era, Marco Polo made a reference to Malauir in his travelogue, as a kingdom located in the Malay peninsula, possibly similar to the one mentioned in Yuan chronicle
Malay Peninsula
–
Photo of Malay Peninsula taken by the crew of Expedition 28 on board the
International Space Station.
Malay Peninsula
14.
Penang
–
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts, Penang Island, where the city, George Town, is located. Penang is bordered by Kedah to the north and the east, known as the Silicon Valley of the East for its industries, Penang is also one of the most urbanised and economically-important states in the country. George Town, which was founded by the British in 1786, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Penang has the third highest Human Development Index in Malaysia, after the State of Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Its heterogeneous population is diverse in ethnicity, culture, language. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite, Penang Lang or Penangkaran, the name of Penang comes from the modern Malay name Pulau Pinang, which means the island of the areca nut palm. The name Penang may refer either to Penang Island or the state of Penang, Penang is also known as the Pearl of the Orient, 东方之珠 and Pulau Pinang Pulau Mutiara. Penang is shortened as PG in English, or PP in Malay, early Malays called Penang Island Pulau Ka-Satu, meaning The First Island, because it was the largest island encountered on the trading sea-route between Lingga and Kedah. The Siamese, then the overlord of the Kedah Sultanate, referred to the island as Koh Maak, in the 15th century, Penang Island was referred to as Bīnláng Yù in the navigational drawings used by Admiral Zheng He of Ming China in his expeditions to the South Seas. The 16th-century Portuguese historian Emanuel Godinho de Eredias map of the Malay Peninsula in his Description of Malacca in 1613 referred to the island as Pulo Pinaom, archaeological evidence shows that Penang was inhabited by the Semang-Pangan of the Juru and Yen lineage. Both of these are now considered extinct cultures and they were hunter-gatherers of the Negrito stock having short stature and dark complexion, and were dispersed by the Malays as far back as 900 years ago. The last recorded aboriginal settlement in Penang was in the 1920s in Kubang Semang, the first evidence of prehistoric human settlement in what is now Penang were found in Guar Kepah, a cave in Seberang Perai in 1860. Based on mounds of sea shells with human skeletons, stone implements, broken ceramics, and food leftovers inside, other stone tools found in various places on Penang Island pointed to the existence of Neolithic settlements dating to 5,000 years ago. One of the first Englishmen to reach Penang was the navigator, sailing from Plymouth for the East Indies, James reached Batu Ferringhi in June 1592, remaining on Penang Island until September of the same year and pillaging every vessel he encountered. In the early 18th century, ethnic Minangkabaus from Sumatra opened up a settlement on Penang Island, Haji Muhammad Salleh, known as Nakhoda Intan, anchored at Batu Uban and built a seaside settlement in 1734. Later, the Arabs arrived and settled mainly at Jelutong, the Arabs then intermarried with the Minangkabau, this gave rise to the Arab-Minangkabau admixture now described as Malay, as they have assimilated into the local Malay community. However, the history of Penang only began in 1786. On 17 July that year, Captain Francis Light, an English trader-adventurer of the British East India Company, landed on Penang Island, Fort Cornwallis was later built at the site where he first set foot
Penang
–
George Town, Penang as seen from
Penang Hill, the highest point on
Penang Island.
Penang
Penang
–
Aerial evening scene of Penang Island
Penang
–
Kapitan Keling Mosque built in 1801.
15.
Ceylon
–
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
Ceylon
–
Avukana Buddha statue, a 12 metres (39 ft) standing Buddha statue belongs to the reign of
Dhatusena of Anuradhapura, 5th century
Ceylon
–
Flag
Ceylon
–
Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century CE, in a 1535 publication.
Ceylon
–
The
Sigiriya rock fortress
16.
Rye, East Sussex
–
In medieval times, however, as an important member of the Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel and almost entirely surrounded by the sea. Rye is officially a parish but with its historic roots has the status of a town. There is a fishing fleet, and Rye Harbour has facilities for yachts. The name of Rye is believed to come from rie meaning a bank, medieval maps show that Rye was originally located on a huge embayment of the English Channel called the Rye Camber, which provided a safe anchorage and harbour. Probably as early as Roman times, Rye was important as a place of shipment, the Mermaid Inn originally dates to 1156. Rye, as part of the Saxon Manor of Rameslie, was given to the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy by King Æthelred, it was to remain in Norman hands until 1247. As one of the two Antient Townes, Rye was to become a limb of the Cinque Ports Confederation by 1189, the protection of the town as one of the Cinque Ports was very important, due to the commerce that trading brought. One of the oldest buildings in Rye is Ypres Tower, which was built in 1249 as Baddings Tower, to defend the town from the French and it is now part of the Rye Museum. Rye received its charter from King Edward I in 1289, and acquired privileges, the Landgate dates from 1329 in the early years of the reign of King Edward III. It is still the only route into the medieval centre of Rye and is suitable only for light vehicles. In 2015, some 25 tonnes of pigeon excrement that had built up had to be removed from Landgate Arch for fear of damaging the ancient structure, the River Rother originally took an easterly course to flow into the sea near what is now New Romney. However, the violent storms in the 13th century cut the town off from the sea, destroyed Old Winchelsea, then the sea and the river combined in about 1375 to destroy the eastern part of the town and ships began use the current area to unload their cargoes. Two years later the town was sacked and burnt by the French, Rye was considered one of the finest of the Cinque Ports even though constant work had to be done to stop the gradual silting-up of the river and the harbour. Acts of Parliament had to be passed to enable the Rother to be kept navigable at all, with the coming of bigger ships and larger deepwater ports, Ryes economy began to decline, and fishing and particularly smuggling became more important. Imposition of taxes on goods had encouraged smuggling since 1301, but by the end of the 17th century it became widespread throughout Kent and Sussex, with wool being the largest commodity. When luxury goods were added, smuggling became a criminal pursuit. Since 1803 there have been stationed at Rye although the lifeboat station is now at Rye Harbour approx 2 miles down-river from the town. The worst disaster in its history occurred in 1928, when the Mary Stanford Lifeboat sank with all hands, the incident is recorded by a tablet at Winchelsea church, by the imposing memorial at Rye Harbour Church and by the folk-song The Mary Stanford of Rye
Rye, East Sussex
–
The Ypres tower, Rother,
Rye Harbour and marshes seen from the tower of St Mary's church, Rye.
Rye, East Sussex
–
The South Gate at Rye, 1785, by
Samuel Hieronymus Grimm
Rye, East Sussex
–
The windmill
Rye, East Sussex
–
Interior of St Mary's
17.
British East India Company
–
The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
British East India Company
–
Imperial entities of India
British East India Company
–
Company flag after 1801
British East India Company
–
James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601
British East India Company
–
Red Dragon fought the Portuguese at the
Battle of Swally in 1612, and made several voyages to the
East Indies.
18.
Capture of Recife (1595)
–
An English expedition of ships led by James Lancaster sailed via the Atlantic capturing numerous prizes before he captured Recife. He held the place for nearly a month and then proceeded to defeat a number of Portuguese counterattacks before leaving, the booty captured was substantial, Lancaster chartered Dutch and French ships that were also present there thus making the expedition a military and financial success. Remaining there until September Portuguese and Spanish ships were plundered which although highly profitable had been a disaster in terms lives lost to storms. Lancaster newly returned in 1593, decided on an expedition to Portuguese Brazil and tap the lucrative sugar and spice market. Lancaster mustered a fleet of a joint stock venture in late 1594 with John Watts, Simon Boreman, Paul Bayning, John More. Lancaster had been raised amongst the Portuguese, spoke the language and had been a trader with them before war had broken out, the combined forces soon captured its largest prize yet, a large Spanish galley-frigate. This was great news for Lancaster which gave him more of an incentive to take Recifie. The fleet now totaling nearly fifteen ships would accompany him there, when Lancaster arrived he found three sixty ton Dutch fluitships already there intending to take the cargo and prevent it going back to Portugal. The garrison fled to Olinda almost three miles away who then took refuge and Lancaster with only ten casualties permitted not the slightest disorder after the place was taken. Now in possession of the area Lancaster knew the Portuguese were preparing a counterattack so he strengthened Fort São Jorge which connected Recife with Olinda and he then proceeded at leisure to stow his ships with the goods found in the town of which there nearly 100 houses and store buildings. The Portuguese however intended to drive the English away so made several attempts at retaking the town but each time assaulting the fortified isthmus they were repelled with heavy losses. The next attempt was made via the waters, blazing rafts were sent down the river and at the time an attempt by fire-ships on sea was also made. With this extra number Lancaster ordered an attack Olinda in order to any aggression while they consolidated their gains. This was achieved at night and Olinda was sacked after meeting little resistance with more booty taken, after remaining in possession of Recife for more than twenty days Lancaster knew that he would have to leave soon and prepared to sail. The Portuguese however were observed constructing a battery to command the entrance of the harbor, almost all the officers of the party including Venner, and others to the number of thirty-five were killed before the rest found the safety of the English lines. Buoyed by this success the Portuguese with their Indian allies then launched another attack on the isthmus, after this close call Lancaster decided that the occupation had reached its end and decided to take advantage of leaving unmolested with the destruction of the battery. Lancaster put to sea with fifteen vessels ladened with merchandises but a strong gale outside caused the fleet to be scattered. Lancaster had four ships with him and arrived in the Downs in July, only one ship never made it that being a Portuguese prize heavily damaged in gales and lack of crew so was scuttled
Capture of Recife (1595)
–
Recife in the early 17th century by
Gillis Peeters
Capture of Recife (1595)
–
Sir James Lancaster who commanded the expedition to Recife
Capture of Recife (1595)
–
The coast of Recife with Fort São Jorge on the spit of land on the right.
19.
Pernambuco
–
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. The state of Pernambuco also includes the archipelago Fernando de Noronha and its capital and largest city, Recife, is one of the most important economic and urban hubs in the country. As of 2013 estimates, Recifes metropolitan area is the fifth most populous in the country, in 1982 the city of Olinda, the second oldest city in Brazil, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Recife, the capital and Olinda have one of the most traditional Brazilian Carnivals. Both have architecture of Portugal, with centuries-old casarões and churches, kilometers of beaches, the proximity of the equator guarantees sunshine throughout the year, with average temperatures of 26 °C. Pernambuco comprises a narrow coastal zone, a high inland plateau. Ranges of these form the boundary lines with three states–the Serra dos Irmãos and Serra Vermelha with Piauí, the Serra do Araripe with Ceará. The coastal area is fertile, and was covered by the humid Pernambuco coastal forests. It is now place to extensive sugar cane plantations and it has a hot, humid climate, relieved to some extent by the south-east trade winds. The middle zone, called the region, has a drier climate and lighter vegetation, including the semi-deciduous Pernambuco interior forests. The inland region, called the sertão is high, stony, and dry, the climate is characterized by hot days and cool nights. There are two defined seasons, a rainy season from March to June, and a dry season for the remaining months. The interior of the state is covered mostly by the dry thorny scrub vegetation called caatinga, the Rio São Francisco is the main water source for this area. The climate is mild in the countryside of the state because of the Borborema Plateau. Some towns are located more than 1000 meters above sea level, the island of Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic Ocean,535 km northeast of Recife, has been part of Pernambuco since 1988. The rivers of the include a number of small plateau streams flowing southward to the São Francisco River. The former are the Moxotó, Ema, Pajeú, Terra Nova, Brigida, Boa Vista and Pontai, a large tributary of the Uná, the Rio Jacuhipe, forms part of the boundary line with Alagoas. Originally inhabited by tribes of Tupi-Guarani speaking indigenous peoples, Pernambuco was first settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century
Pernambuco
–
Coat of arms
Pernambuco
Pernambuco
–
Fernando de Noronha Islands
Pernambuco
–
Old Recife
20.
Recife
–
The population of the city proper was 1,625,583 in 2016. The city is located at the confluence of the Beberibe and Capibaribe rivers before they flow into the Atlantic Ocean and it is a major port on the Atlantic Ocean. Its name is an allusion to the reefs that are present by the citys shores. The many rivers, small islands and over 50 bridges found in Recife city centre characterise its geography, as of 2010, it is the capital city with the highest HDI in Northeast Brazil and second highest HDI in the entire North and Northeast Brazil. The Metropolitan Region of Recife is the industrial zone of the State of Pernambuco, major products are those derived from cane, ships, oil platforms, electronics, software. With fiscal incentives by the government, many companies were started in the 1970s and 1980s. Recife stands out as a major tourist attraction of the Northeast, the beach of Porto de Galinhas,60 kilometers south of the city, has been repeatedly awarded the title of best beach in Brazil and has drawn many tourists. The Historic Centre of Olinda,7 kilometers north of the city, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982, the city is an education hub, and home to the Federal University of Pernambuco, the largest university in Pernambuco. Several Brazilian historical figures, such as the poet and abolitionist Castro Alves, Recife and Natal are the only Brazilian cities with direct flights to the islands of Fernando de Noronha, a World Heritage Site. The city was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, additionally, Recife hosted the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 1950 FIFA World Cup. It was a settlement of fishermen and way station for Portuguese sailors. Olinda had been settled in 1536 by captain General Duarte Coelho, the city is named for the long reef recife running parallel to the shoreline which encloses its harbour. The reef is not as sometimes stated, a coral reef, at that time the banks of the Capibaribe River were covered by sugarcane. Recife was capital of the 17th century Dutch Brazil and was called Mauritsstad, the Mascate War of 1710-1711 pitted merchants of Recife against those of nearby Olinda. Due to the proximity to the equator, Recife weather is generally warm. Recife has a number of islands, rivers, waterways and bridges that crisscross the city, Recife is located amidst tropical forests which are distinguished by high rainfall levels resulting in poor soil quality as the rainfall washes away the nutrients. There is an absence of extreme temperatures and a cool breeze due to the winds from the Atlantic Ocean. Recife has a climate, with warm to hot temperatures
Recife
–
From upper left: Old centre of Recife; Recife and its bridges; Aerial View of Boa Viagem Beach; Boa Viagem Beach; The Crystal Tower; Capibaribe River; The neighborhood of Boa Viagem; Agamenon Magalhães Avenue; Recife Sunset.
Recife
–
On Bom Jesus Street worked the British Town Club in London over the Bank, founded by the British. In 1928 there were five clubs in Recife of English origin.
Recife
–
"Campo das Princesas" State Government Palace.
Recife
–
Legislative Assembly of
Pernambuco.
21.
Colonial Brazil
–
Slaves, especially those brought from Africa, provided most of the working force of the Brazilian export economy after a brief period of Indian slavery to cut brazilwood. The boom and bust economic cycles were linked to export products, gold and diamonds were discovered and mined in southern Brazil through the end of the colonial era. Brazilian cities were largely port cities and the administrative capital was moved several times in response to the rise. Unlike Spanish America that fragmented in many republics, Brazil remained as an administrative unit with a monarch. Like Spanish America with European Spanish, Brazil had linguistic integrity of Portuguese, both Spanish America and Brazil were Roman Catholic. The Portuguese identified brazilwood as a red dye and an exploitable product. Its maritime exploration then proceeded down the coast of West Africa and they sought the sources of gold, ivory, and African slaves that were high value goods of the African trade. The Portuguese set up fortified trading factories, whereby permanent, fairly small commercial settlements anchored trade in a region, the initial costs of setting up these commercial posts was borne by private investors, who in turn received hereditary titles and commercial advantages. From the Portuguese crowns point of view, its realm was expanded with relatively little cost to itself, the most decisive of these treaties was the Treaty of Tordesillas, signed in 1494, that created the Tordesillas Meridian, dividing the world between those two kingdoms. All land discovered or to be discovered east of that meridian was to be the property of Portugal, the Tordesillas Meridian divided South America into two parts, leaving a large chunk of land to be exploited by the Spaniards. The Treaty of Tordesillas was arguably the most decisive event in all Brazilian history, the present extent of Brazils coastline is almost exactly that defined by the treaty of Madrid, which was approved in 1750. On April 22,1500, during the reign of King Manuel I, although it is debated whether previous Portuguese explorers had already been in Brazil, this date is widely and politically accepted as the day of the discovery of Brazil by Europeans. Álvares Cabral was leading a fleet of 13 ships and more than 1000 men following Vasco da Gamas way to India. The place where Álvares Cabral arrived is now known as Porto Seguro, after the voyage of Álvares Cabral, the Portuguese concentrated their efforts on the lucrative possessions in Africa and India and showed little interest in Brazil. Between 1500 and 1530, relatively few Portuguese expeditions came to the new land to chart the coast, in Europe, this wood was used to produce a valuable dye to give color to luxury textiles. Over time, the Portuguese realized that some European countries, especially France, were also sending excursions to the land to extract brazilwood. Worried about foreign incursions and hoping to find riches, the Portuguese crown decided to send large missions to take possession of the land. In 1530, an expedition led by Martim Afonso de Sousa arrived in Brazil to patrol the entire coast, ban the French, at first, Brazil was set up as fifteen private, hereditary captaincies
Colonial Brazil
–
Portuguese map by Lopo Homem (c. 1519) showing the coast of Brazil and natives extracting brazilwood, as well as Portuguese ships.
Colonial Brazil
Colonial Brazil
–
The brazilwood tree, which gives Brazil its name, has dark, valuable wood and provides red dye.
Colonial Brazil
–
Portuguese map (1574) by
Luís Teixeira, showing the location of the hereditary captaincies of Brazil.
22.
Carrack
–
A carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted ocean-going sailing ship and was developed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Europe. Carracks were first used for European trade from the Mediterranean to the Baltic, in its most advanced forms, it was used by the Portuguese for trade with the African coast and finally with Asia and America from the 15th century into the 17th century. With linguistic variation, these ships were called carraca or nau in Portuguese, Spanish and Genoese, caraque or nef in French, kraak in Dutch and Flemish. Originally the word carrack meant ship and was used in the Mediterranean for any large ship long before the ocean-going carrack was developed in the later 15th century, the word carrack probably derives from an ancient middle-eastern Akkadian word for a type of river barge. In its most developed form, the carrack was a carvel built ocean-going ship, large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and for a large cargo, the later carracks were square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen-rigged on the mizzenmast. They had a rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle. By the Late Middle Ages the cog, and cog-like square-rigged vessels equipped with a rudder at the stern, were used along the coasts of Europe, from the Mediterranean. Given the conditions of the Mediterranean, galley type vessels were used there. These and similar ship types were familiar to Portuguese navigators and shipwrights, in addition to the average tonnage naus, some large naus were also built in the reign of John II of Portugal, but were only widespread after the turn of the century. The Portuguese carracks were very large ships for their time. The origin of the word carrack is usually traced back through the medieval European languages to the Arabic and its attestation in Greek literature is distributed in two closely related lobes. The first distribution lobe, or area, associates it with light and fast merchantmen found near Cyprus. The second is an extensive attestation in the Oxyrhynchus corpus, where it seems most frequently to describe the Nile barges of the Ptolemaic pharaohs, both of these usages may lead back through the Phoenician to the Akkadian kalakku, which denotes a type of river barge. The Akkadian term is assumed to be derived from a Sumerian antecedent, Sumerian antecedent A modern reflex of the word is found in Arabic and Turkish kelek raft, riverboat. A typical three-masted carrack such as the São Gabriel had six sails, bowsprit, foresail, mainsail, mizzensail and two topsails. From around 1515, Portugal had trade exchanges with Goa in Portuguese India, consisting of 3 to 4 carracks leaving Lisbon with silver to purchase cotton and spices in India. Out of these, only one went on to Ming China in order to purchase silk. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited on the grounds that the ships were smuggling priests into Japan, in the middle of the 16th century the first galleons were developed from the carrack
Carrack
–
The first portrayed carrack in a Sienese painting from 1300 by A. Lorenzetti.
Carrack
–
Famous nau Frol de la Mar (launched in 1501 or 1502), in the 16th-century "Roteiro de Malaca"
Carrack
–
Nao Victoria, one of the most famous carracks, a
replica of Magellan's ship
Carrack
–
Columbus' Ships (G.A. Closs, 1892): The Santa Maria and Pinta are shown as carracks; the Niña (left), as a caravel.
23.
Richard Hakluyt
–
Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. Hakluyt was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, between 1583 and 1588 he was chaplain and secretary to Sir Edward Stafford, English ambassador at the French court. He was the promoter of a petition to James I for letters patent to colonize Virginia. The Hakluyt Society publishes scholarly editions of records of voyages. Some of Hakluyts ancestors established themselves at Yatton, and must have ranked amongst the landowners of the county. A man named Walter Hakelut was knighted in the 34th year of Edward I and later killed at the Battle of Bannockburn, records also show that a Thomas Hakeluytt was in the wardship of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Richard Hakluyt, the second of four sons, was born in Eyton in Herefordshire in 1553, Hakluyts father, also named Richard Hakluyt, was a member of the Worshipful Company of Skinners whose members dealt in skins and furs. He died in 1557 when his son was aged five years. Hakluyts cousin, also named Richard Hakluyt, of the Middle Temple and he took his Bachelor of Arts on 19 February 1574, and shortly after taking his Master of Arts on 27 June 1577, began giving public lectures in geography. He was the first to both the old imperfectly composed and the new lately reformed mappes, globes, spheares. Hakluyt held on to his studentship at Christ Church between 1577 and 1586, although after 1583 he was no longer resident in Oxford, Hakluyt was ordained in 1578, the same year he began to receive a pension from the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers to study divinity. The pension would have lapsed in 1583, but William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Hakluyts Voyages brought him to the notice of Lord Howard of Effingham, and Sir Edward Stafford, Lord Howards brother-in-law. Although this was his visit to Continental Europe in his life. The manuscript, lost for almost 300 years, was published for the first time in 1877, Hakluyt revisited England in 1584, and laid a copy of the Discourse before Elizabeth I together with his analysis in Latin of Aristotles Politicks. His objective was to recommend the enterprise of planting the English race in the parts of North America. Hakluyts other works during his time in Paris consisted mainly of translations and compilations, with his own dedications and these latter writings, together with a few letters, are the only extant material out of which a biography of him can be framed. Hakluyt interested himself in the publication of the journal of René Goulaine de Laudonnière. The same year, his edition of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De Orbe Nouo Decades Octo saw the light at Paris and this work contains an exceedingly-rare copperplate map dedicated to Hakluyt and signed F. G. it is the first on which the name Virginia appears
Richard Hakluyt
–
Hakluyt depicted in
stained glass in the west window of the south
transept of
Bristol Cathedral –
Charles Eamer Kempe, c. 1905.
Richard Hakluyt
–
Signature
Richard Hakluyt
–
The library of
Christ Church, Oxford, by an unknown artist, from
Rudolph Ackermann 's History of Oxford (1813)
Richard Hakluyt
–
The Norman chapter house of Bristol Cathedral (engraving 1882). Hakluyt was a member of the chapter.
24.
Sir Henry Middleton
–
Sir Henry Middleton was a sea captain and adventurer. He negotiated with the sultan of Ternate and the sultan of Tidore, competed against Dutch and Portuguese interests in the East Indies and he was taken on at the Woolwich ship yards working first on the East India Companys Red Dragon. The company was organising its first expedition to East India, the prominent Elizabethan trader and privateer, James Lancaster was to command the four ships. Second in command was Middletons brother John, a captain who secured Henry as a mercantile agent with a berth on the voyage. They set off in April 1601 arriving in Aceh, Sumatra in June 1602, Middleton was sent onwards to Priaman on the west coast where he procured substantial quantities of pepper and cloves before returning home safely in the summer of 1603. In 1604 Middleton commanded a second voyage heading for the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and they would encounter severe Dutch East India Company hostility, which saw the beginning of Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices. The Second Voyage used the four ships. With the Red Dragon now under the command of Middleton, the fleet departed Gravesend on 25 March 1604 but were delayed at the Downs as they did not have the correct complement of men. Middleton had lost the wind conditions but ordered that they should sail on to Plymouth. Despite these delays, on 7 April, the fleet passed Cabo da Roca, by 15 April had reached the Canary Islands and sailed on to the central Atlantic Ocean. On 24 April 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa, they anchored at Maio, Cape Verde and set ashore in search of fresh food and they were due to set sail early the next morning, but became aware that one of their merchants was missing. A search party numbering 150 men was sent out to search for him, the fleet crossed the equator on 16 May, and sighted the Cape of Good Hope just under two months later. At least eighty of the crew were suffering from scurvy but, with the weather against them, having landed at Table Bay, the company traded successfully with the local inhabitants, securing over two hundred sheep and a number of beeves. On 3 August, Middleton took his pinnace and a company of men in boats to hunt whales in the bay. Having harpooned one whale a larger animal attacked, causing the boat to flood, with great difficulty, the pinnace was rescued and brought ashore where it took the ships carpenters three days to repair. The younger whale was dragged to shore, its oil was intended for their lamps, following attacks from the native population, the fleets company returned to their ships on 14 August, and then, with fair winds, set sail five days later. On 21 December, the fleet anchored within the islands of Sumatra and they had lost a number of men to scurvy and Middleton himself was too ill to land and present the King of Bantam with a letter from King James until 31 December. It was decided that the Hector and Susan would return to England with their cargoes of pepper, the ships departed on 16 January, and just under a month later made anchor off Ambiona having lost more men to flux on the way
Sir Henry Middleton
–
1614 painting by
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom showing English, Dutch and Spanish ships in a bay in the East Indies.
Sir Henry Middleton
–
The Isle of Amboina
Sir Henry Middleton
–
"Moluccæ Insulæ Celeberrimæ", a map by
Willem Blaeu first published in 1630 of the Moluccas.
25.
Caesalpinia echinata
–
Paubrasilia is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. The sole species it contains, P. echinata, is a Brazilian timber tree commonly known as Brazilwood or Pernambuco tree and this plant has a dense, orange-red heartwood that takes a high shine, and it is the premier wood used for making bows for stringed instruments. The wood also yields a red dye called brazilin, which oxidizes to brazilein, the name pau-brasil was applied to other species of Caesalpinia in the medieval period, and transferred to P. echinata in the 16th century. The name of Brazil is shortened from Terra do Brasil land of brazilwood, the Middle Latin adjective brasilium is thought to be derived from an early Romance or Middle Latin brasa, loaned from a West Germanic word meaning ember, burning charcoal. The South American trees soon became the source of red dye. Brazilwood trees were such a part of the exports and economy of the land that the country which sprang up in that part of the world took its name from them and is now called Brazil. Botanically, several species are involved, all in the family Fabaceae. The term brazilwood is most often used to refer to the species Caesalpinia echinata, the tree is also known by other names, as ibirapitanga, Tupi for red wood, or pau de pernambuco, named after the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. In the bow-making business it is usual to refer to species other than Paubrasilia echinata as Brazilwood, examples include Pink Ipê, Massaranduba. The highly prized Paubrasilia echinata is usually called Pernambuco wood in this particular context, the brazilwood tree may reach up to 15 metres in height, and the dark brown bark flakes in large patches, revealing the lustrous blood-red heartwood underneath. The leaves are pinnate and each consists of between 9 and 19 small, leathery leaflets, which are oblong in shape. The flower stalk, or inflorescence, is also branched and contains between 15 and 40 yellow, strongly perfumed flowers, which may be pollinated by bees, the petals are usually yellow with a blood-red blotch. The fruits are oval-shaped woody seedpods, measuring up to 7.3 cm long and 2.6 cm across, they hang off the branches and after the seeds are expelled, the branches, leaves and fruit are covered with small thorns. There are some important differences between geographically distinct populations and it is thought that separate subspecies of the pau brasil may exist and this tree may have some medicinal properties and has been used as an astringent and antidiuretic by local people, extracts have been tested as possible cancer treatments. Starting in the 16th centuries, brazilwood became highly valued in Europe, a related wood Sappanwood coming from Asia was traded in powder form and used as a red dye in the manufacture of luxury textiles, such as velvet, in high demand during the Renaissance. When Portuguese navigators discovered present-day Brazil, on April 22,1500, they saw that brazilwood was extremely abundant along the coast and in its hinterland. In a few years, a hectic and very profitable operation for felling and shipping all the logs they could get was established. In addition, this plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius
Caesalpinia echinata
–
Caesalpinia echinata
Caesalpinia echinata
–
A cello bow
Caesalpinia echinata
Caesalpinia echinata
26.
East India Company
–
The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
East India Company
–
Imperial entities of India
East India Company
–
Company flag after 1801
East India Company
–
James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601
East India Company
–
Red Dragon fought the Portuguese at the
Battle of Swally in 1612, and made several voyages to the
East Indies.
27.
Red Dragon (1595)
–
Scourge of Malice or Malice Scourge or Mare Scourge was a 38-gun ship ordered by George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland. She was built and launched at Deptford Dockyard in 1595, the Earl used her as his flagship during raids on the Spanish Main, where she provided additional force to support his fleet. She was later renamed Red Dragon and used by the East India Company during at least five voyages to the East Indies, the first recorded performance of the play Hamlet took place on the ship in 1607, as it was anchored off the coast of Sierra Leone. In the 1590s, the Earl of Cumberlands passion for adventure was at its peak. As a result, he declared that he would have his own ship built, the ship is variously recorded as being between 600 and 900 tons and was named by Queen Elizabeth I as Scourge of Malice. Having had Scourge of Malice built, the Earl then departed in his new ship, however, the fleet had only travelled as far as Plymouth when he was recalled to London by the Queen. He returned, leaving the remainder of the fleet to continue without him. With the repairs completed, the Earl set sail again on 6 March 1598. After Sir Francis Drakes defeat at San Juan in 1595, the Earl of Cumberland was under orders to capture Brazil from the Spanish. Following Drakes attack, the fort at San Juan was left with 200 men and 150 volunteers, bolstered by a further 200 men when reinforcements arrived from Spain. By the time the Earls fleet appeared off the coast of the islands on 16 June 1598, many of the Spanish soldiers had lost their discipline and turned to theft due to dysentery and the lack of food. Two initial attacks by the English were fruitless, costing them lives without any gain, the Earl of Cumberland himself almost drowning trying to cross the San Antonio channel. Knowing that the Spanish were short of supplies, the English preferred to lay siege to the castle of El Morro rather than destroy it, and on 29 June allowed the Spanish commander and troops to leave. Before they left, the English sacked the town, burning houses to the ground and stealing whatever caught their eye, the fleet lost two vessels and over a thousand men. Formed on 31 December 1600, the East India Companys first voyage departed on 13 February 1601. The flagship of the fleet was Malice Scourge, purchased from the Earl of Cumberland for £3700 who had initially asked for £4000. )The Company subsequently renamed the vessel Red Dragon. The other vessels in the fleet were Hector, Ascension, Susan and Gift, in spite of their February departure, the fleet did not clear the English Channel until early April due to delays from contrary winds. They landed at the Canary Islands, and then, keeping too close to Africa, fell into the Doldrums, where they remained for a month
Red Dragon (1595)
–
The Red Dragon, Captain Lancaster, in the Strait of Malacca, Anno 1602.
Red Dragon (1595)
–
During Red Dragon' s first voyage to the
East Indies, she was commanded by
James Lancaster.
Red Dragon (1595)
–
1614 painting by
Hendrick Cornelisz Vroom showing English, Dutch and Spanish ships in a bay in the
East Indies.
Red Dragon (1595)
–
"Moluccæ Insulæ Celeberrimæ", a map by
Willem Blaeu first published in 1630 of the
Maluku Islands.
28.
Elizabeth I of England
–
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeths birth. Annes marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate, edwards will was set aside and Mary became queen, deposing Lady Jane Grey. During Marys reign, Elizabeth was imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels, in 1558, Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister to the throne and set out to rule by good counsel. She depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers, led by William Cecil, one of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England and it was expected that Elizabeth would marry and produce an heir to continue the Tudor line. She never did, despite numerous courtships, as she grew older, Elizabeth became famous for her virginity. A cult grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, in government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. One of her mottoes was video et taceo, in religion, she was relatively tolerant and avoided systematic persecution. Elizabeth was cautious in foreign affairs, manoeuvring between the powers of France and Spain. She only half-heartedly supported a number of ineffective, poorly resourced military campaigns in the Netherlands, France, by the mid-1580s, England could no longer avoid war with Spain. Englands defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 associated Elizabeth with one of the greatest military victories in English history, Elizabeths reign is known as the Elizabethan era. Some historians depict Elizabeth as a short-tempered, sometimes indecisive ruler, towards the end of her reign, a series of economic and military problems weakened her popularity. Such was the case with Elizabeths rival, Mary, Queen of Scots, after the short reigns of Elizabeths half-siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped forge a sense of national identity. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Palace and was named after both her grandmothers, Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Howard and she was the second child of Henry VIII of England born in wedlock to survive infancy. Her mother was Henrys second wife, Anne Boleyn, at birth, Elizabeth was the heir presumptive to the throne of England. She was baptised on 10 September, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk, Elizabeth was two years and eight months old when her mother was beheaded on 19 May 1536, four months after Catherine of Aragons death from natural causes. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and deprived of her place in the royal succession, eleven days after Anne Boleyns execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, who died shortly after the birth of their son, Prince Edward, in 1537
Elizabeth I of England
–
The "Darnley Portrait" of Elizabeth I (
c. 1575)
Elizabeth I of England
–
The Lady Elizabeth in about 1546, by an unknown artist
Elizabeth I of England
–
The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul, a translation from the French, by Elizabeth, presented to
Catherine Parr in 1544. The embroidered binding with the monogram KP for "Katherine Parr" is believed to have been worked by Elizabeth.
Elizabeth I of England
–
Mary I, by
Anthonis Mor, 1554
29.
Cape of Good Hope
–
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas, when following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish trade relations with the Far East. Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas, which was the name of the Cape of Good Hope. As one of the capes of the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a waypoint on the Cape Route and the route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia. The term Cape of Good Hope is also used in three ways, It is a section of the Table Mountain National Park, within which the cape of the same name, as well as Cape Point. Prior to its incorporation into the park, this section constituted the Cape Point Nature Reserve. It was the name of the early Cape Colony established by the Dutch in 1652, just before the Union of South Africa was formed, the term referred to the entire region that in 1910 was to become the Cape of Good Hope Province. When Eudoxus was returning from his voyage to India the wind forced him south of the Gulf of Aden. Somewhere along the coast of East Africa, he found the remains of the ship, due to its appearance and the story told by the natives, Eudoxus concluded that the ship was from Gades and had sailed anti-clockwise around Africa, passing the Cape and entering the Indian Ocean. This inspired him to repeat the voyage and attempt a circumnavigation of the continent, organising the expedition on his own account he set sail from Gades and began to work down the African coast. The difficulties were too great, however, and he was obliged to return to Europe, after this failure he again set out to circumnavigate Africa. Although some, such as Pliny, claimed that Eudoxus did achieve his goal, in the 1450 Fra Mauro map, the Indian Ocean is depicted as connected to the Atlantic. It sailed for 40 days in a south-westerly direction without ever finding anything other than wind and water. According to these people themselves, the ship went some 2,000 miles ahead until - once favourable conditions came to an end - it turned round and sailed back to Cape Diab in 70 days. The ships called junks that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, thus one can believe and confirm what is said by both these and those, and that they had therefore sailed 4,000 miles
Cape of Good Hope
–
The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point, overlooking Dias beach
Cape of Good Hope
–
Map showing the
Cape Peninsula, illustrating the position of the Cape of Good Hope. The main mountains and their peaks, including
Table Mountain, and its relation to the City of
Cape Town are shown.
Cape of Good Hope
–
Reproduction of the Cross of
Vasco da Gama at the Cape of Good Hope.
Cape of Good Hope
–
Sign at the Cape of Good Hope
30.
Nicobars
–
The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean and one of the most isolated in the world. They are located in Southeast Asia,150 km north of Aceh on Sumatra, located 1,300 km southeast of the Indian subcontinent, across the Bay of Bengal, they form part of the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. UNESCO has declared the Great Nicobar Island as one of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the Nicobar Islands cover a land area of 1,648.13 km2 and had a population of 36,844 at the 2011 Census. The Nicobar Islands are part of an island arc created by the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Eurasia. The climate is warm and tropical, with temperatures ranging from 22 to 30 °C, rainfall is heavy due to annual monsoons and measures around 3000 to 3800 mm each year. The vegetation of the Nicobars is typically divided into the mangrove forests. Additionally, several islands contain extensive inland grasslands, though these are thought to result from human intervention, the Nicobar Islands are recognised as a distinct terrestrial ecoregion, the Nicobar Islands rain forests, with many endemic species. The Nicobar Islands are believed to have inhabited for thousands of years. An indigenous tribe living at the tip of Great Nicobar, called the Shompen. The modern name is derived from the Chola dynasty name for the islands. Marco Polo also referred to this island as Necuverann, the history of organised European colonisation on the islands began with the Danish East India Company in 1754/56. Between 1778 and 1783, William Bolts attempted to establish an Austrian colony on the islands on the assumption that Denmark–Norway had abandoned its claims to the islands. Italy made an attempt at buying the Nicobar Islands from Denmark between 1864 and 1868, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Commerce Luigi Torelli started a negotiation that looked promising, but failed due to the unexpected end of his Office and the first La Marmora Cabinet. The negotiations were interrupted and never brought up again, denmarks presence in the islands ended formally on 16 October 1868 when it sold the rights to the Nicobar Islands to Britain, which in 1869 made them part of British India. During World War II, the islands were occupied by Japan between 1942 and 1945, India occupied the Island after that, as its Territory. Together with the Andaman Islands, they became a territory of India in 1950. On 26 December 2004, the coast of the Nicobar Islands was devastated by a 10–15 m high tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. At least 6,000 people were killed on the Andaman, several islands were heavily damaged with initial reports of islands broken in two or three pieces and coral reefs moved above water
Nicobars
–
Map of Nicobar Islands
Nicobars
–
Locator Map
Nicobars
–
A
Nicobar pigeon. While named after the Nicobar Islands, it is also found widely in the
Malay Archipelago
. PMID 13515823. doi:10.1017/s0025727300023255.
