1.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
2.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
3.
Reservoir
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A reservoir is a storage space for fluids. These fluids may be water, hydrocarbons or gas, a reservoir usually means an enlarged natural or artificial lake, storage pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created by controlling a stream that drains a body of water. They can also be constructed in river valleys using a dam, alternately, a reservoir can be built by excavating flat ground or constructing retaining walls and levees. Tank reservoirs store liquids or gases in storage tanks that may be elevated, at grade level, tank reservoirs for water are also called cisterns. Underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, a dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are typically located at a part of a valley downstream of a natural basin. The valley sides act as walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength. In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, construction of a reservoir in a valley will usually need the river to be diverted during part of the build, often through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs the new top water level exceeds the height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir, where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or quantity, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water. Such reservoirs are usually formed partly by excavation and partly by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may substantially reduce many contaminants and almost eliminate any turbidity. The use of reservoirs also allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time. Service reservoirs store fully treated potable water close to the point of distribution, many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers, often as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is relatively flat. Other service reservoirs can be almost entirely underground, especially in hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909, when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe
4.
Spring (hydrology)
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A spring is any natural situation where water flows from an aquifer to the Earths surface. It is a component of the hydrosphere, a spring may be the result of karst topography where surface water has infiltrated the Earths surface, becoming part of the area groundwater. The groundwater then travels through a network of cracks and fissure—openings ranging from intergranular spaces to large caves, the water eventually emerges from below the surface, in the form of a karst spring. The forcing of the spring to the surface can be the result of an aquifer in which the recharge area of the spring water table rests at a higher elevation than that of the outlet. Spring water forced to the surface by elevated sources are artesian wells and this is possible even if the outlet is in the form of a 300-foot-deep cave. In this case the cave is used like a hose by the higher elevated area of groundwater to exit through the lower elevation opening. Non-artesian springs may simply flow from a higher elevation through the earth to a lower elevation, still other springs are the result of pressure from an underground source in the earth, in the form of volcanic activity. The result can be water at elevated temperature such as a hot spring, the action of the groundwater continually dissolves permeable bedrock such as limestone and dolomite, creating vast cave systems. The term seep refers to springs with small flow rates in which the water has filtered through permeable earth. Fracture springs, discharge from faults, joints, or fissures in the earth, tubular springs, in which the water flows from underground caverns. Spring discharge, or resurgence, is determined by the springs recharge basin, factors that affect the recharge include the size of the area in which groundwater is captured, the amount of precipitation, the size of capture points, and the size of the spring outlet. Water may leak into the system from many sources including permeable earth, sinkholes. In some cases entire creeks seemingly disappear as the water sinks into the ground via the stream bed, grand Gulf State Park in Missouri is an example of an entire creek vanishing into the groundwater system. The water emerges 9 miles away, forming some of the discharge of Mammoth Spring in Arkansas, human activity may also affect a springs discharge--withdrawal of groundwater reduces the water pressure in an aquifer, decreasing the volume of flow. Springs are often classified by the volume of the water they discharge, the largest springs are called first-magnitude, defined as springs that discharge water at a rate of at least 2800 liters or 100 cubic feet of water per second. The scale for spring flow is as follows, Minerals become dissolved in the water as it moves through the underground rocks and this may give the water flavor and even carbon dioxide bubbles, depending on the nature of the geology through which it passes. This is why spring water is bottled and sold as mineral water. Springs that contain significant amounts of minerals are sometimes called mineral springs, Springs that contain large amounts of dissolved sodium salts, mostly sodium carbonate, are called soda springs
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Lake
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A lake is an area of variable size filled with water, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land, apart from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, and therefore are distinct from lagoons, Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams, which are usually flowing. Most lakes are fed and drained by rivers and streams, natural lakes are generally found in mountainous areas, rift zones, and areas with ongoing glaciation. Other lakes are found in endorheic basins or along the courses of mature rivers, in some parts of the world there are many lakes because of chaotic drainage patterns left over from the last Ice Age. All lakes are temporary over geologic time scales, as they will fill in with sediments or spill out of the basin containing them. The word lake comes from Middle English lake, from Old English lacu, from Proto-Germanic *lakō, cognates include Dutch laak, Middle Low German lāke as in, de, Moorlake, de, Wolfslake, de, Butterlake, German Lache, and Icelandic lækur. Also related are the English words leak and leach, none of these definitions completely excludes ponds and all are difficult to measure. For this reason, simple size-based definitions are used to separate ponds. One definition of lake is a body of water of 2 hectares or more in area, however, others have defined lakes as waterbodies of 5 hectares and above, or 8 hectares and above. Charles Elton, one of the founders of ecology, regarded lakes as waterbodies of 40 hectares or more. The term lake is used to describe a feature such as Lake Eyre. In common usage, many bear names ending with the word pond. One textbook illustrates this point with the following, In Newfoundland, for example, almost every lake is called a pond, whereas in Wisconsin, the majority of lakes on Earth are fresh water, and most lie in the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes. Canada, with a drainage system has an estimated 31,752 lakes larger than 3 square kilometres and an unknown total number of lakes. Finland has 187,888 lakes 500 square metres or larger, most lakes have at least one natural outflow in the form of a river or stream, which maintain a lakes average level by allowing the drainage of excess water. Some lakes do not have an outflow and lose water solely by evaporation or underground seepage or both. Many lakes are artificial and are constructed for power generation, aesthetic purposes, recreational purposes, industrial use. Globally, lakes are greatly outnumbered by ponds, of an estimated 304 million standing water bodies worldwide, 91% are 1 hectare or less in area
7.
Golf
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Golf is a club and ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not utilize a standardized playing area, the game is played on a course with an arranged progression of 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, there are other standard forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, sand traps, and hazards but each hole on a course is unique in its specific layout and arrangement. Stroke play is the most commonly seen format at all levels, while the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland, the games ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, one theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of the continent, during the first century BC, and eventually evolved into the modern game. Others cite chuiwan as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries, the game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England, the Persian game chaugán is another possible ancient origin. In addition, kolven was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier. The modern game originated in Scotland, where the first written record of golf is James IIs banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery. James IV lifted the ban in 1502 when he became a golfer himself, with golf clubs first recorded in 1503-1504, to many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, a links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage. In 1764, the standard 18-hole golf course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18 holes. Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian, Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course in the world by Guinness World Records. The oldest surviving rules of golf were compiled in March 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York. The levels of grass are varied to increase difficulty, or to allow for putting in the case of the green, while many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the teeing area to the green, some holes may bend either to the left or to the right. This is commonly called a dogleg, in reference to a dogs knee, the hole is called a dogleg left if the hole angles leftwards and dogleg right if it bends right. Sometimes, a holes direction may bend twice, this is called a double dogleg, a regular golf course consists of 18 holes, but nine-hole courses are common and can be played twice through for a full round of 18 holes. Early Scottish golf courses were laid out on links land. This gave rise to the golf links, particularly applied to seaside courses
8.
Olympic Club
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The Olympic Club is an athletic club and private social club in San Francisco, California. First named the San Francisco Olympic Club, it is the oldest athletic club in the United States, established on May 6,1860, its first officers were President, G. W. Bell, Secretary, E. Bonnell, Treasurer, H. G. Hanks and its main City Clubhouse is located in San Franciscos Union Square district, and its three golf courses are in the southwestern corner of the city, at the border with Daly City. The Lakeside Clubhouse is located just north of the Daly City border, the three golf courses are named Lake, Ocean, and Cliffs. Lake and Ocean are 18-hole par-71 courses, and the Cliffs is a nine-hole par-3 course in the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, All three venues are lined with many trees and offer views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The United States Golf Association recognizes the Olympic Club as one of the first 100 golf clubs established in the United States, first named the San Francisco Olympic Club, it is the oldest athletic club in the United States. Established on May 6,1860, its first officers were President, bell, Secretary, E. Bonnell, Treasurer, H. G. Hanks, and Leader, Arthur Nahl. James J. Corbett, the boxing champion from 1892 to 1897. He later went on to boxing at the club for many years. On January 2,1893 the club opened its first permanent clubhouse on Post Street and that building did not survive the San Francisco earthquake. Women who wished to join the Olympic Club but were prevented by its men-only policy built their own athletic club a few doors down. Begun in 1912 and completed in 1917, it provided many of the facilities as the Olympic Club. In 1966, the Club changed its name to the Metropolitan Club of San Francisco, in 1987, San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne filed suit against the Olympic Club for discrimination against women and against minorities. Renne contended that the Clubs lease of City-owned land upon which one hole of the Lake Course, rather than face a protracted legal case with an uncertain outcome, the board voted to accept women as members in 1990. The allegation involving minorities was withdrawn, in 1918, the club took over the Lakeside Golf Club, which had just opened in 1917 but was struggling financially. Lakeside had one 18-hole golf course designed by Wilfrid Reid, and these were designed by Willie Watson, a well-known Scottish architect, and the Lake and Ocean courses opened in 1924. The Ocean course was shortly thereafter damaged by landslides, and Sam Whiting remodeled, in 1953, the Lake course was modified by Robert Trent Jones in preparation for the 1955 U. S. Open. The Ocean course was altered several times over the years, and following heavy damage in 1996 was completely redesigned by Tom Weiskopf
9.
San Francisco State University
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1899 – Founded as San Francisco State Normal School. 1901 – First graduating class 1906 – The 1906 earthquake and fire forces the school to relocate from Nob Hill to a new campus at Buchanan and Haight Streets. 1966 – Beginning of the era of protests led by student organizations including the Black Students Union, Third World Liberation Front. The protests against college policies and off-campus issues such as the Vietnam War included sit-ins, rallies, marches, teach-ins, the protests were marked by counter-protests and widespread charges of corruption and election fraud in the student newspaper. 1968 – A lengthy student strike erupted that developed into an important event in the history of the U. S. in the late 1960s. The strike was led by the Black Student Union and the Third World Liberation Front and this became a major news event for weeks in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. At one point, University president S. I. Hayakawa famously pulled the out of the speakers on top of a van at a student rally. During the course of the strike, large numbers of police drawn from many jurisdictions occupied the campus, SF State is on the semester system. The university awards degrees in 115 areas of specialization, masters degrees in 97. SFSU ranks 18th among the top 20 undergraduate schools whose alumni go on to be admitted to the State Bar, the Cinema department, in the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, was named one of the nations top film schools by Entertainment Weekly in 2000. The university is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities, the College of Business is accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The college of engineering is accredited by the ABET except the computer engineering program, San Francisco State was ranked the 24th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNets Social Mobility Index college rankings. Among Western Universities, of which there are 112, San Francisco State was ranked 10th in terms of diversity by USNWR. Furthermore, U. S. News & World Report ranks San Francisco State as 8th nationally in the number of transfer students, San Francisco State Universitys joint physical therapy masters program with UCSF is consistently ranked among the top 20 in the country. The Philosophical Gourmet Report lists San Francisco State University as one of the top eight universities to earn a terminal MA in philosophy, SFSU is listed as having one of the nations top film schools by Entertainment Weekly having produced countless leading filmmakers. The Universitys College of Extended Learning offers the only American Bar Association-approved paralegal studies program in San Francisco, SFSU was one of the first California State University campuses to offer a doctorate of education. It was also instrumental in the establishment of the International University Of Kyrgyzstan, the University is the only one in California to offer a bachelors degree in technical and professional writing. In 1968, what was then the longest student strike in the nations history resulted in establishment of a College of Ethnic Studies and increased recruiting, in 2002 there was much tension between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students
10.
San Francisco Unified School District
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San Francisco Unified School District, established in 1851, is the only public school district within the City and County of San Francisco, and the first in the state of California. Under the management of the San Francisco Board of Education, the district more than 55,500 students in more than 160 institutions. SFUSD utilizes an intra-district school choice system and requires students and parents to submit a selection application, every year in the fall, the SFUSD hosts a Public School Enrollment Fair to provide families access to information about all the schools in the district. SFUSD has the second highest Academic Performance Index among the seven largest California school districts in California, newsweek’s national ranking of Best High Schools in America named seven SFUSD high schools among the top five percent in the country in 2007. In 2005, two SFUSD schools were recognized by the government as No Child Left Behind Blue-Ribbon Schools. SFUSD previously practiced a race-based admissions system, in 1983 the NAACP sued the school district and won a consent decree that mandated that no more than 45% of any racial group may make up the percentage of students at a single school. At the time, white and black students were the largest demographic groups in the school district, the decree was intended to benefit black children. When it was discovered that Hispanic children also had low test scores, in a five-year period ending in 1999, Asian and Latino students were the largest demographic groups in the SFUSD. On April 15,1998, the Chinese-American group asked a federal court to end the admissions practice. The system required ethnic Chinese students to higher scores than other ethnic groups in order to be admitted to Lowell High School. Waldemar Rojas, the superintendent, wanted to keep the decree because the district had received $37 million in desegregation funds, the NAACP had defended the decree. White parents who were against the racial quotas had a tendency to leave San Francisco. S, District judge, had planned to officially announce the news of the settlement the following day. The district planned to implement a diversity index in which race was one factor, Orrick ordered the district to resubmit the plan without race as a factor or to resubmit the plan under the settlement that had been reached with the Chinese parents. In January 2000 the district agreed to race as a factor of consideration for admission. In 2007 the U. S. Supreme Court had ruled that race may not be a factor for a K-12 school. As of 2007 SFUSD admission factors include race-neutral aspects, such as the status of a students family. Lyanne Melendez of KGO-TV wrote in 2007 but the local courts, while that campus was undergoing upgrades, Bryant was moved to the old Buena Vista Elementary site. After the renovations were completed SF International High School took over the York Street building, dr. George Washington Carver Elementary César Chávez Elementary John Yehall Chin Elementary Chinese Education Center Elementary School, established in 1969
11.
Fort Funston
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Fort Funston is a former harbor defense installation located in the southwestern corner of San Francisco. Formerly known as the Lake Merced Military Reservation, the fort is now an area within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It was named in honor of Frederick N. Funston, a Major General in the United States Army with strong connections to San Francisco, the fort is located on Skyline Boulevard at John Muir Drive, west of Lake Merced. The Fort was constructed upon windswept headlands along the Pacific coast and Ocean Beach below, however, nothing significant was built there until after the American entry into World War I in early 1917. These were Battery Howe with four 12-inch mortars and Battery Bruff with two 5-inch M1900 guns on pedestal mounts and these weapons were relocated from Batteries McKinnon and Sherwood at Fort Winfield Scott, adjacent to the Presidio. Battery Howe was named for Walter Howe, a general and veteran of the Indian wars who died in 1915, Battery Bruff was named after Lawrence Bruff, an Ordnance Corps colonel and instructor at West Point who died in 1911. In 1920 Battery Bruff was disarmed due to a withdrawal from Army service of the 5-inch gun, in the early 1920s, Anti-aircraft Battery No.5 of three 3-inch guns was built at the fort. Following World War I, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1923 caused the cancellation of numerous battleships and battlecruisers building, some of the guns intended for these ships were made available to the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps to defend key ports against a potential naval attack. However, only a few of these weapons were emplaced prior to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, in 1936-1939 Battery Davis was built at Fort Funston, housing two 16-inch Mark 2 Navy guns. It was also the prototype for the Armys M2 carriage, previous ex-Navy 16-inch guns had used a modified M1919 carriage designed for the 16-inch gun M1919. Battery Davis was named for Major General Richmond P. Davis, also, an unnamed battery of four 155 mm guns on concrete Panama mounts was built at the fort circa 1938. In 1940 Battery Davis was joined by Battery Townsley at Fort Cronkhite, a third 16-inch battery, Battery 129 at Fort Barry, was built for the San Francisco area during World War II but not completed or armed. Four additional 155 mm guns on Panama mounts were emplaced as Battery Bluff, also, four 40 mm Bofors gun batteries were placed around the fort. The gun batteries were declared shortly after World War II. Fort Funston later became a Nike missile launch site, hosting sites SF-59L, the fort was inactivated in 1963 and eventually transferred to the National Park Service to be administered as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. At some point Batteries Howe and Bruff were demolished, while the Panama mounts have either destroyed by erosion or buried. The area is covered with a network of trails suitable for hiking or horseback riding, there are two Dutch sand ladders that extend down the dunes to the beach. The beach is known for its sand and strong currents
12.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
