1.
Municipalities of Spain
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The municipalities of Spain are the basic level of Spanish local government. There are a total of 8,118 municipalities in Spain, including the cities of Ceuta. In the Principality of Asturias, municipalities are officially named concejos, the area of the municipal territory usually ranges 2–40 km², but municipalities such as Tremp cover more than 300 km². The organisation of the municipalities is governed by a 2 April 1985 law, the Statutes of Autonomy of the various autonomous communities also contain provisions concerning the relations between the municipalities and the autonomous governments. In general, municipalities enjoy a degree of autonomy in their local affairs, many of the functions of the comarcas. Each municipality is a corporation with independent legal personality, its body is called the ayuntamiento. The ayuntamiento is composed of the mayor, the deputy mayors, the mayor and the deputy mayors are elected by the plenary assembly, which is itself elected by universal suffrage on a list system every four years. The plenary assembly must meet publicly at least every three months at the seat of the ayuntamiento, many ayuntamientos also have a governing commission, named by the mayor from among the councillors, it is required for municipalities of more than 5,000 inhabitants. The governing commission, whose role is to assist the mayor between meetings of the assembly, may not include more than one third of the councillors. List of municipalities of Spain Political divisions of Spain
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
4.
Autonomous communities of Spain
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Spain is not a federation, but a highly decentralized unitary state. Some scholars have referred to the system as a federal system in all. There are 17 autonomous communities and two cities that are collectively known as autonomies. The two autonomous cities have the right to become autonomous communities, but neither has yet used this right and this unique framework of territorial administration is known as the State of Autonomies. The autonomous communities are governed according to the constitution and their own organic laws known as Statutes of Autonomy, since devolution was intended to be asymmetrical in nature, the scope of competences vary for each community, but all have the same parliamentary structure. Spain is a country made up of different regions with varying economic and social structures, as well as different languages. While the entire Spanish territory was united under one crown by the 16th century, the constituent territories—be it crowns, kingdoms, principalities or dominions—retained much of their former institutional existence, including limited legislative, judicial or fiscal autonomy. These territories also exhibited a variety of customs, laws. From the 18th century onwards, the Bourbon kings and the government tried to establish a more centralized regime, leading figures of the Spanish Enlightenment advocated for the building of a Spanish nation beyond the internal territorial boundaries. This culminated in 1833, when Spain was divided into 49 provinces and these were the Basque Country and Catalonia. This gave rise to peripheral nationalisms along with Spanish nationalism, therefore, economic and social changes that had produced a national cultural unification in France had the opposite effect in Spain. In a response to Catalan demands, limited autonomy was granted to Catalonia in 1913 and it was granted again in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, when the Generalitat, Catalonias mediaeval institution of government, was restored. During General Francos dictatorial regime, centralism was most forcefully enforced as a way of preserving the unity of the Spanish nation, peripheral nationalism, along with communism and atheism were regarded by his regime as the main threats. When Franco died in 1975, Spain entered into a phase of transition towards democracy, the then Prime Minister of Spain, Adolfo Suárez, met with Josep Tarradellas, president of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile. An agreement was made so that the Generalitat would be restored and limited competencies would be transferred while the constitution was still being written. In the end, the constitution, published and ratified in 1979, found a balance in recognizing the existence of nationalities and regions in Spain, within the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation. The starting point in the organization of Spain was the second article of the constitution. In order to exercise this right, the established a open process whereby the nationalities
5.
Canary Islands
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The Canary Islands, also known as the Canaries, are an archipelago and autonomous community of Spain located on the Atlantic Ocean,100 kilometres west of Morocco. The Canaries are among the outermost regions of the European Union proper and it is also one of the eight regions with special consideration of historical nationality recognized as such by the Spanish Government. The main islands are Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, the archipelago also includes a number of islands and islets, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Oeste and Roque del Este. In ancient times, the chain was often referred to as the Fortunate Isles. The Canary Islands is the most southerly region of Spain and the largest and most populated archipelago of the Macaronesia region, the islands have a subtropical climate, with long hot summers and moderately warm winters. The precipitation levels and the level of maritime moderation varies depending on location and elevation, green areas as well as desert exist on the archipelago. Due to their location above the inversion layer, the high mountains of these islands are ideal for astronomical observation. For this reason, two professional observatories, Teide Observatory on the island of Tenerife and Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma, have built on the islands. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been the largest city in the Canaries since 1768, between the 1833 territorial division of Spain and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a decree ordered that the capital of the Canary Islands be shared, the third largest city of the Canary Islands is San Cristóbal de La Laguna on Tenerife. This city is home to the Consejo Consultivo de Canarias. During the time of the Spanish Empire, the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to the Americas, who came south to catch the prevailing northeasterly trade winds. The name Islas Canarias is likely derived from the Latin name Canariae Insulae, meaning Islands of the Dogs, according to the historian Pliny the Elder, the Mauretanian king Juba II named the island Canaria because it contained vast multitudes of dogs of very large size. Another speculation is that the dogs were actually a species of monk seal, critically endangered. The dense population of seals may have been the characteristic that most struck the few ancient Romans who established contact with these islands by sea. Alternatively, it is said that the inhabitants of the island, Guanches, used to worship dogs, mummified them. The ancient Greeks also knew about a people, living far to the west, who are the dog-headed ones, who worshipped dogs on an island. Some hypothesize that the Canary Islands dog-worship and the ancient Egyptian cult of the god, Anubis are closely connected
6.
Provinces of Spain
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Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces. The layout of Spains provinces closely follows the pattern of the division of the country carried out in 1833. The only major change of provincial borders since that time has been the sub-division of the Canary Islands into two rather than one. Historically, the provinces served mainly as transmission belts for policies enacted in Madrid, the importance of the provinces has declined since the adoption of the system of autonomous communities in the period of the Spanish transition to democracy. They nevertheless remain electoral districts for national elections and as references, for instance in postal addresses. A small town would normally be identified as being in, say, Valladolid province rather than the community of Castile. The provinces were the building-blocks from which the communities were created. Consequently, no province is divided more than one of these communities. Only two capitals of autonomous communities—Mérida in Extremadura and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia—are not also the capitals of provinces, seven of the autonomous communities comprise no more than one province each, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Cantabria, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, and Navarra. These are sometimes referred to as uniprovincial communities, the table below lists the provinces of Spain. For each, the city is given, together with an indication of the autonomous community to which it belongs. The names of the provinces and their capitals are ordered according to the form in which they appear in the main Wikipedia articles describing them. Unless otherwise indicated, their Spanish-language names are the same, locally valid names in Spains other co-official languages are indicated where they differ
7.
Las Palmas (province)
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The Province of Las Palmas is a province of Spain, consisting of the eastern part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of half of the Atlantic archipelago, including the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura. Their total land area is 4,065.78 km² and its capital is the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on the island of Gran Canaria, which is also one of the capitals of the autonomous community. About 38. 5% of the population of 1,011,928 live in the capital. The name Las Palmas is generally used to refer to both the city and the province, there are 34 municipalities in the province, see List of municipalities in Las Palmas. Las Palmas contains the Parque Nacional Timanfaya on the island of Lanzarote, license plates in the province used to start with GC, which referred to the island of Gran Canaria, although the same plates were also issued in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Media related to Province of Las Palmas at Wikimedia Commons Government of the Canary Islands
8.
Gran Canaria
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Located in the Atlantic Ocean about 150 kilometres off the northwestern coast of Africa and about 1,350 km from Europe. With an area of 1,560 km2 and an altitude of 1,956 m at the Pico de las Nieves, Gran Canaria was populated by the Canarii, who may have arrived as early as 500 BC. The Canarii called the island Tamarán or Land of the Brave, the capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was founded on June 24,1478, under the name Real de Las Palmas, by Juan Rejón, head of the invading Castilian army. In 1492, Christopher Columbus anchored in the Port of Las Palmas on his first trip to the Americas, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is, jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. Gran Canaria is located southeast of Tenerife and west of Fuerteventura, the island is of volcanic origin, mostly made of fissure vents. Gran Canarias surface area is 1,560 km² and its elevation is 1,949 meters. It has a shape, with a diameter of approximately 50 km. About 80% of the volume of the island was formed during the Miocene period and this is called the Old Cycle and is estimated to have lasted some 200,000 years and have emitted about 1000 km3, mostly of fissural alkali basalt. This cycle continued with the emission of trachytes, phonolites and peralkaline rocks and this period was followed by one of erosion, which lasted some 4 million years. A second cycle of volcanic eruptions, known as the Roque Nublo cycle and this shorter cycle emitted about 100 km3. Most of the peaks were formed by erosion from these materials. This period also started with fissural basalts, but ended with violent eruptions of pyroclastic flows, some phonolitic features, like the Risco Blanco, were also formed in its last stages. The third or recent cycle is held to have started some 2.8 million years ago and is considered to be still active, the last eruptions are held to have occurred some 3500 years ago. The changes in volume and, therefore, weight of the island have also caused the island to rise above the sea level during erosive periods. Some of these beaches can be seen in the cliff faces of the more eroded northern coast. Until the conquest, Gran Canaria had extensive forests, but then suffered extensive deforestation as a result of logging, land divisions. This caused the forest cover to be reduced to just 56,000 hectares, however, in the twentieth century reforestation of the ridge of the island was begun, recovering some of the lost forest mass. Much of the summit of the island is forested mostly due to reforestation, Gran Canaria is divided into twenty-one municipalities, The island has a population of 845,676 with 378,628 of those in the capital city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
9.
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
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The Spanish Socialist Workers Party, is a social-democratic political party in Spain. PSOE formed the government in democratic Spain between 1982 and 1996, and between 2004 and 2011 and it is the currently the oldest political party in Spanish history. The party, under Felipe González, formed a majority government after its victory in the 1982 general election, the party then formed a minority government until 1996. PSOE has had ties with the General Union of Workers. For decades, UGT membership was a requirement for PSOE membership, however, since the 1980s, UGT has frequently criticized the economic policies of PSOE, even calling for a general strike on 14 December 1988. PSOE was last in power between 2004 and 2011 general elections, with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero serving as leader of the government, the PSOE is a member of the Party of European Socialists, Progressive Alliance and the Socialist International. In the European Parliament, PSOEs 14 Members of the European Parliament sit in the Socialists and Democrats European parliamentary group, PSOE was founded with the purpose of representing and defending the interests of the working class formed during the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. The ideology of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party has evolved throughout the 20th Century according to relevant historical events and this allowed for the consolidation of the leftist forces in PSOE. Currently, PSOE defines itself as democratic, center-left and progressive. Concerning the territorial model of the realm, PSOE supports asymmetric federalism and it is grouped with other self-styled socialists, social democrats and labour parties in the Party of European Socialists. PSOE was founded on the 2nd of May,1879 in the Casa Labra Pub by the historical Spanish workers leader Pablo Iglesias, the first program of the new political party was passed in an assembly of 40 people, on 20 July of that same year. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1940, PSOE formed part of the Spanish Government during the Second Spanish Republic and as part of the Spanish Popular Front, elected to government in February 1936. The dictator Francisco Franco banned PSOE in 1939, and the party was legalized again in 1977, during Francos rule members of PSOE were persecuted, with many leaders, members and supporters being imprisoned or exiled and even executed. Its 25th Congress was held in Toulouse in August 1972, in 1974 at its 26th Congress in Suresnes, Felipe González was elected Secretary General, replacing Rodolfo Llopis Ferrándiz. González was from the wing of the party, and his victory signaled a defeat for the historic. The direction of the party shifted from the exiles to the people in Spain who hadnt fought the war. Their standing was further boosted in 1978 when the 6 deputies of the Popular Socialist Party agreed to merge with the party, in their 27th congress in May 1979, González resigned because the party would not abandon its Marxist character. In September of that year, the extraordinary 28th congress was called in which González was re-elected when the party agreed to move away from Marxism, European social-democratic parties supported Gonzálezs stand, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany granted them money
10.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
11.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
12.
Western European Time
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Western European Time is a time zone covering parts of western and northwestern Europe. WEST is called British Summer Time in the UK and is known as Irish Standard Time in Ireland. Conversely, Iceland and eastern Greenland are included although both are west of 7. 5°W, in September 2013, a Spanish parliamentary committee recommended switching to WET, a move being considered by MPs. However, the German occupation switched France to German time, two other occupied territories, Belgium and the Netherlands, did the same, and Spain also switched to CET in solidarity with Germany under the orders of General Franco. In the United Kingdom, from 1940 to 1945 British Summer Time was used in winters, between 18 February 1968 and 31 October 1971, BST was used all year round. In Ireland, from 1940 to 1946 Irish Summer Time was used all year round, between 18 February 1968 and 31 October 1971, Irish Standard Time was used all year round. In Portugal, CET was used in the mainland from 1966 to 1976, the autonomous region of the Azores used WET from 1992 to 1993. Iceland Mykines, Faroe Islands Western Ireland Western Portugal Madeira Canary Islands These areas are located between 7°30′ W and 22°30′ W Areas using UTC+1, See Central European Time
13.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
14.
Western European Summer Time
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Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme,1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Also sometimes erroneously referred to as Irish Summer Time, the scheme runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October each year. At both the start and end of the schemes, clock changes take place at 01,00 UTC, during the winter, Greenwich Mean Time is used. The asymmetry reflects temperature more than the length of daylight, Ireland observes Standard Time during the summer months and changes to UTC+0 in winter. As Irelands winter time period begins on the last Sunday in October and finishes on the last Sunday in March, the result is the same as if it observed summer time. The following countries and territories use Western European Summer Time during the summer, starting in 1916, the dates for the beginning and end of BST each year were mandated by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In February 2002, the Summer Time Order 2002 changed the dates and times to match European rules for moving to, note, Until 1 October 1916 time in all of Ireland was based on Dublin Mean Time, GMT −25 minutes. BBC News report, Tundra time call in clocks debate, UK Government Report, Overview of the pros and cons of British Summer Time
15.
List of postal codes in Spain
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Postal codes were introduced and standardized in Spain in 1985, when Correos introduced automated mail sorting. The first two digits of the postal code correspond to one of the fifty provinces of Spain, plus the two cities on the African coast. Some codes are reserved for use at the province capital,070 for official use by Correos. 071 to address state agencies at the given province,080 for P. O. boxes and mail lists. Large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, were divided into postal districts similar to the arrondissement system in Paris, Plaza de España,18 Madrid 8 Travessera de Gràcia,56, 4rt 1a. Barcelona 6 These former postal districts were incorporated into the postal codes, Plaza de España,1828008 Madrid Travessera de Gràcia,56
16.
Languages of Spain
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The languages of Spain, or Spanish languages, are the languages spoken or once spoken in Spain. Romance languages are the most widely spoken in Spain, of which Spanish, various other languages have co-official or recognised status in specific territories, and a number of unofficial languages and dialects are spoken in certain localities. In terms of the number of speakers and dominance, the most prominent of the languages of Spain is Spanish, Catalan is spoken by 17%, Galician by 7%, and Basque by 2% of the population. Distribution of the regional languages in Spain, Aranese, co-official in Catalonia. It is spoken mainly in the Pyrenean comarca of the Aran Valley and it is a variety of Gascon, which in turn is a variety of the Occitan language. Basque, co-official in the Basque Country and northern Navarre, Basque is the only non-Romance language with an official status in mainland Spain. Catalan, co-official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and, as a distinct variant Valencian and it is recognised—but not official—in Aragon. Furthermore, it is spoken without official recognition in the municipality of Carche. It is also spoken without official recognition in the adjacent western parts of the Principality of Asturias and Castile, in the cases of Catalan and Galician, they are the main languages used by the Catalan and Galician regional governments and local administrations. A number of citizens in these areas consider their language as their primary language. In addition to these, there are a number of endangered and recognised minority languages, Aragonese. Leonese, recognised—but not official—in Castile and León, spoken in the provinces of León and Zamora. Asturian and Leonese are closely related to the local Mirandese which is spoken on an adjacent territory, Mirandese is recognised and has some local official status. With the exception of Basque, which appears to be an isolate, all of the languages present in mainland Spain are Indo-European languages. Afro-Asiatic languages, such as Arabic or Berber, are spoken by the Muslim population of Ceuta and Melilla and by recent immigrants elsewhere. Others, such as Pilar Vázquez Cuesta, argue that they have become separate languages due to differences in phonetics and vocabulary usage. The official and widespread position is that Galician and Portuguese should be considered independent languages, Portuguese proper is still spoken by local people in three border areas, The town of La Alamedilla, in Salamanca province. The so-called Cedillo-horn, including Cedillo and Herrera de Alcántara, the town of Olivenza, in Badajoz province, and its surrounding territory, which used to be Portuguese until the 19th century and is still claimed by Portugal
17.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
18.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
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Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city and capital of the Canary Islands, the capital of Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and of the island of Tenerife. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 within its administrative limits, the urban zone of Santa Cruz extends beyond the city limits with a population of 507,306 and 538,000 within urban area. It is the second largest city in the Canary Islands and the city on the island of Tenerife. Santa Cruz is located in northeast quadrant of Tenerife, about 210 kilometres off the northwestern coast of Africa within the Atlantic Ocean, the distance to the nearest point of mainland Spain is about 1,300 kilometres. The port is of importance and is the communications hub between Europe, Africa and Americas, with cruise ships arriving from many nations. The city is the focus for domestic and inter-island communications in the Canary Islands, there are several faculties of the La Laguna University in Santa Cruz, including the Fine Arts School and the Naval Sciences Faculty. Its harbour is one of Spains busiest, it comprises three sectors and it is important for commercial and passenger traffic, as well as for being a major stopover for cruisers en route from Europe to the Caribbean. The city also has one of the worlds largest carnivals, the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife now aspires to become a World Heritage Site, and is the most important of Spain and the second largest in the world. The main landmarks of the city include the Auditorio de Tenerife, the Santa Cruz Towers, Santa Cruz de Tenerife hosts the first headquarters of the Center UNESCO in the Canary Islands. In 2012, the British newspaper The Guardian included Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the list of the five best places in the world to live, the area where Santa Cruz currently lies belonged to Menceyato Guanche Anaga, which was the most easterly of the island. The area was known to the Guanches, the first inhabitants of the island, the famous Mummy of San Andrés is one of the most important archaeological remains of the aboriginal past of the region. Besides caves with remains of mummified animals and stones with engravings ruprestres. This area belonged to the Menceyato de Anaga, one of nine in which the island was divided, later, it became one of the most important ports of the Atlantic and the Canary Islands, a status it retains to this day. This former fishermens village rose to prominence after a Volcano destroyed the port of Garachico in the 18th century, Santa Cruz became the major port on the Island. It first won its independence from La Laguna and, in the 19th century, was awarded the status of Capital of the Province of Canary Islands by King Ferdinand VII, between 1833 and 1927 Santa Cruz de Tenerife was the sole capital of the Canary Islands. In 1927 a Royal decree ordered that the status of city of the Canary Islands would be shared with Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. This arrangement remains in place today, as of 2012 the merger is no longer part of the political agenda. Santa Cruz is divided administratively into five districts, which in turn are subdivided into districts, in 1990, the population peaked above the 200,000 mark
19.
List of municipalities of Spain
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This is a list of lists of the municipalities of Spain. The municipalities list links are listed below, by autonomous community, according to the provisional reports released on 18 December 2014, there is a total of 8,122 municipalities in Spain, including the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla. Burgos is the province with the most municipalities and Las Palmas the one with the least, Spain has a population of 46,745,807 inhabitants, distributed to 8,117 municipalities. Municipalities of Spain List of metropolitan areas in Spain by population List of submerged places in Spain
20.
List of metropolitan areas in Spain
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This is a list of the largest metropolitan areas in Spain by population. Not all cities were included in this survey, calculations by Francisco Ruiz from data of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística. As well as metropolitan area data, Ruiz has produced larger conurbation data for some areas, the conurbation figure is used where available, and is cited as such, otherwise, the metropolitan area figure is used. The figures differ between the reports due to the difference in dates and differences in methodology. For example, ESPON considers Oviedo–Gijón–Avilés as a single FUA, while Urban Audit has separate LUZs for Oviedo, similarly, Vilanova i la Geltrú is included in Barcelona metropolitan area by ESPON, but as a separate conurbation by Ruiz. Demographics of Spain List of cities of Spain Largest European cities and metropolitan areas Largest urban areas of the European Union Spain Largest Cities in Europe Spanish Cities
21.
Hot desert climate
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An area that features this climate usually experiences from 25 to 200 mm per year of precipitation and in some years may experience no precipitation at all. Averages may be even less such as in Arica, Chile, there are usually two or three variations of a desert climate, a hot desert climate, a cold desert climate and, sometimes, a mild desert climate. To determine whether a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold is determined. If the areas precipitation is less than half the threshold. Hot desert climates are found under the subtropical ridge where there is largely unbroken sunshine for the whole year due to the stable descending air. These areas are located between 30 degrees south and 30 degrees north latitude, under the subtropical latitudes called the horse latitudes, hot desert climates are generally hot, sunny and dry year-round. Hot desert climates also reach similar latitudes in the Middle East, North Africa, hot desert climates usually feature hot, sometimes exceptionally hot, periods of the year. In many locations featuring a hot climate, maximum temperatures of over 40 °C are not uncommon in summer. The world absolute heat records, over 50 °C, are generally in the hot deserts, some desert locations consistently experience very high temperatures all year long, even during wintertime. These locations feature some of the highest annual average temperatures recorded on Earth and this last feature is seen in some parts of deserts of Africa and Arabia. During colder periods of the year, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing or below due to the radiation loss under the clear skies. However, very rarely do temperatures drop far below freezing, only one region in Europe has a hot desert climate, Province of Almeria, Province of Alicante and Province of Murcia in South Eastern Spain. Cold desert climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though summers typically are not quite as hot as summers in hot desert climates, unlike hot desert climates, cold desert climates tend to feature cold winters with rare snow. Cold desert climates are found at higher altitudes than hot desert climates. A cold desert climate is found in temperate zones, usually in the rain shadow of high mountains. A classic example of this is the Patagonian Desert in Argentina bounded by the Andes to its west, in the case of Central Asia, mountains restrict precipitation from the monsoon. The Gobi desert in Mongolia is an example of this. Though hot in summer, it shares the cold winters of the rest of Central Asia
22.
Syracuse University
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Syracuse University, commonly referred to as Syracuse, Cuse, or SU, is a private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. The institutions roots can be traced to the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded in 1831 by the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, after several years of debate over relocating the college to Syracuse, the university was established in 1870, independent of the college. Since 1920, the university has identified itself as nonsectarian, although it maintains a relationship with The United Methodist Church, the campus is in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, east and southeast of downtown, on one of the larger hills. Its large campus features a mix of buildings, ranging from nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival structures to contemporary buildings. Syracuse University athletic teams, known as the Orange, participate in 20 intercollegiate sports, SU is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference for all NCAA Division I athletics, except for the mens rowing and womens ice hockey teams. SU is also a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary was founded in 1831 by the Genesee Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lima, New York, south of Rochester. In 1850, it was resolved to enlarge the institution from a seminary into a college, or to connect a college with the seminary, however, the location was soon thought by many to be insufficiently central. Its difficulties were compounded by the set of technological changes. The trustees of the college then decided to seek a locale whose economic. Meanwhile, there were years of dispute between the Methodist ministers, Lima, and contending cities across the state, over proposals to move Genesee College to Syracuse. At the time, the ministers wanted a share of the funds from the Morrill Land Grant Act for Genesee College and they agreed to a quid pro quo donation of $25,000 from Senator Cornell in exchange for their support for his bill. Cornell insisted the bargain be written into the bill and Cornell became New York States Land Grant University in 1865. In 1869, Genesee College obtained New York State approval to move to Syracuse, but Lima got an injunction to block the move. By that time, however, the injunction had been made moot by the founding of a new university on March 24,1870. On that date the State of New York granted the new Syracuse University its own charter, the City of Syracuse had offered $100,000 to establish the school. Bishop Jesse Truesdell Peck had donated $25,000 to the school and was elected the first president of the Board of Trustees. Rev. Daniel Steele, a former Genesee College president, served as the first administrative leader of Syracuse until its Chancellor was appointed, the university opened in September 1871 in rented space downtown. George F. Comstock, a member of the new Universitys Board of Trustees, had offered the school 50 acres of farmland on a hillside to the southeast of the city center
23.
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
24.
Kingdom of Castile
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The Kingdom of Castile was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region and it began as the County of Castile, an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León in the 9th century. During the 10th century its counts increased their autonomy, but it was not until 1065 that it was separated from León, between 1072 and 1157 it was again united with León, and after 1230 this union became permanent. Throughout this period the Castilian kings made conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. Castile and León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, according to the chronicles of Alfonso III of Asturias, the first reference to the name Castile can be found in a document written during AD800. The name reflects its origin as a march on the frontier of the Kingdom of Asturias, protected by castles. The County of Castile, bordered in the south by the northern reaches of the Spanish Sistema Central mountain system and it was re-populated by inhabitants of Cantabria, Asturias, Vasconia and Visigothic and Mozarab origins. It had its own Romance dialect and customary laws, the areas that they settled didnt extend far from the Cantabrian southeastern ridges, and not beyond the southern reaches of the high Ebro river valleys and canyon gores. Subsequently, the region was subdivided, separate counts being named to Alava, Burgos, Cerezo & Lantarón, the minority of Count García Sánchez led Castile to accept Sancho III of Navarre, married to the sister of Count García, as feudal overlord. García was assassinated in 1028 while in León to marry the princess Sancha, Sancho III, acting as feudal overlord, appointed his younger son Ferdinand as Count of Castile, marrying him to his uncles intended bride, Sancha of León. At the Battle of Tamarón Bermudo was killed, leaving no surviving offspring, in right of his wife, Ferdinand then assumed the royal title as king of León and Castile, for the first time associating the royal title with the rule of Castile. When Ferdinand I died in 1065, the territories were divided among his children, Sancho II became King of Castile, Alfonso VI, King of León and García, King of Galicia, while his daughters were given towns, Urraca, Zamora, and Elvira, Toro. Sancho II allied himself with Alfonso VI of León and together they conquered, Sancho later attacked Alfonso VI and invaded León with the help of El Cid, and drove his brother into exile, thereby reuniting the three kingdoms. Urraca permitted the greater part of the Leonese army to take refuge in the town of Zamora, Sancho laid siege to the town, but the Castilian king was assassinated in 1072 by Bellido Dolfos, a Galician nobleman. As a result, Alfonso VI recovered all his territory of León. This was the union of León and Castile, although the two kingdoms remained distinct entities joined only in a personal union. The sworn oath taken by El Cid before Alfonso VI in Santa Gadea de Burgos regarding the innocence of Alfonso in the matter of the murder of his brother is well known, under Alfonso VI, there was an approach to the rest of Europeans kingdoms, including France. He gave his daughters, Elvira, Urraca and Theresa, in marriage to Raymond of Toulouse, Raymond of Burgundy, in the Council of Burgos in 1080 the traditional Mozarabic rite was replaced by the Roman one
25.
Christopher Columbus
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Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean and those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World. Western imperialism and economic competition were emerging among European kingdoms through the establishment of routes and colonies. During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipelago that he named San Salvador. Over the course of three voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America. These voyages had, therefore, an impact in the historical development of the modern Western world. He spearheaded the transatlantic trade and has been accused by several historians of initiating the genocide of the Hispaniola natives. Columbus himself saw his accomplishments primarily in the light of spreading the Christian religion, Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies for which he had set course. He called the inhabitants of the lands that he visited indios, the name Christopher Columbus is the Anglicisation of the Latin Christophorus Columbus. His name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo and, in Spanish and he was born before 31 October 1451 in the territory of the Republic of Genoa, though the exact location remains disputed. His father was Domenico Colombo, a wool weaver who worked both in Genoa and Savona and who also owned a cheese stand at which young Christopher worked as a helper. Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo were his brothers, Bartolomeo worked in a cartography workshop in Lisbon for at least part of his adulthood. He also had a sister named Bianchinetta, Columbus never wrote in his native language, which is presumed to have been a Genoese variety of Ligurian. In one of his writings, he says he went to sea at the age of 10, in 1470, the Columbus family moved to Savona, where Domenico took over a tavern. In the same year, Christopher was on a Genoese ship hired in the service of René of Anjou to support his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. Some modern historians have argued that he was not from Genoa but, instead and these competing hypotheses have generally been discounted by mainstream scholars. In 1473, Columbus began his apprenticeship as business agent for the important Centurione, Di Negro, later, he allegedly made a trip to Chios, an Aegean island then ruled by Genoa. In May 1476, he took part in a convoy sent by Genoa to carry valuable cargo to northern Europe
26.
Francis Drake
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Sir Francis Drake, vice admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. With his incursion into the Pacific he inaugurated an era of privateering, Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588 and he died of dysentery in January 1596 after unsuccessfully attacking San Juan, Puerto Rico. His exploits made him a hero to the English but a pirate to the Spaniards, King Philip II was said to have offered a reward of 20,000 ducats, about £4 million by modern standards, for his life. Francis Drake was born in Tavistock, Devon, England, although his birth is not formally recorded, it is known that he was born while the Six Articles were in force. Drake was two and twenty when he obtained the command of the Judith and this would date his birth to 1544. A date of c.1540 is suggested from two portraits, one a miniature painted by Nicholas Hilliard in 1581 when he was allegedly 42 and he was the eldest of the twelve sons of Edmund Drake, a Protestant farmer, and his wife Mary Mylwaye. The first son was alleged to have named after his godfather Francis Russell. Because of religious persecution during the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549, there the father obtained an appointment to minister the men in the Kings Navy. He was ordained deacon and was vicar of Upnor Church on the Medway. Drakes father apprenticed Francis to his neighbour, the master of a used for coastal trade transporting merchandise to France. The ship master was so satisfied with the young Drakes conduct that, being unmarried and childless at his death, Francis Drake married Mary Newman in 1569. She died 12 years later, in 1581, in 1585, Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham—born circa 1562, the only child of Sir George Sydenham, of Combe Sydenham, who was the High Sheriff of Somerset. After Drakes death, the widow Elizabeth eventually married Sir William Courtenay of Powderham. At age 23, Drake made his first voyage to the Americas, sailing with his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, on one of a fleet of ships owned by his relatives. In 1568 Drake was again with the Hawkins fleet when it was trapped by the Spaniards in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulúa, following the defeat at San Juan de Ulúa, Drake vowed revenge. He made two voyages to the West Indies, in 1570 and 1571, of which little is known, in 1572, he embarked on his first major independent enterprise. He planned an attack on the Isthmus of Panama, known to the Spanish as Tierra Firme and the English as the Spanish Main
27.
Pieter van der Does
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Pieter van der Does was a Dutch admiral. He was the son of Jacob van der Does, schepen of Leiden during its siege, Pieter van der Does was born in Leiden. In 1586 he became superintendent of the Dutch fleet which witnessed the defeat of the Spanish Armada two years later, in 1588 he was wounded at the siege of Geertruidenberg. In 1587 he was bailiff and dijkgraaf of the Rijnland water board. On 23 December 1588 he received the post of vice-admiral of west Holland, in 1594 he was wounded during the siege of Groningen. For his services the States of Holland and West Friesland granted him the fiefdoms of Vriesekoop and Rijnsaterwoude, in 1597 he was vice-admiral in the Admiralty of the Maze and in 1599 a vice-admiral in the Admiralty of Amsterdam. In May 1599 he led a Dutch and Zeeland fleet which set out to blockade the Iberian coast as part of the Eighty Years War, en route they attacked the Spanish possession of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, but this was heavily defended and the attack was unsuccessful. It then moved to attack Spanish possessions in West Africa around Sao Tomé, where van der Does died, either of wounds received at Las Palmas or of malaria. Ebben, M. A. De aanval van Pieter van der Does op Las Palmas de Gran Canaria en de Nederlandse expansie rond 1600,1999 Lem, A. van der, Ebben, M. A. Fagel, R. P. & Sicking, L. H. J. De Opstand in de Nederlanden, 1555-1609
28.
Suez Canal
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The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It was constructed by the Suez Canal Company between 1859 and 1869, after 10 years of construction, it was officially opened on November 17,1869. It extends from the terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. Its length is 193.30 km, including its northern and southern access channels, in 2012,17,225 vessels traversed the canal. The original canal was a waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass. It contains no locks system, with seawater flowing freely through it, in general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez, the canal is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag. In August 2014, construction was launched to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km to speed the canals transit time, the expansion was planned to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. At a cost of $8.4 billion, this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities, the New Suez Canal, as the expansion was dubbed, was opened with great fanfare in a ceremony on 6 August 2015. On 24 February 2016, the Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel and this side channel, located at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal anytime of day and night. Ancient west–east canals were built to travel from the Nile River to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II. Another canal, probably incorporating a portion of the first, was constructed under the reign of Necho II, the legendary Sesostris may have started work on an ancient canal joining the Nile with the Red Sea. In his Meteorology, Aristotle wrote, One of their kings tried to make a canal to it, so he first, and Darius afterwards, stopped making the canal, lest the sea should mix with the river water and spoil it. Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder wrote,165. Later the Persian king Darius had the idea, and yet again Ptolemy II. This proved to be the canal made by the Persian king Darius I
29.
Suez Crisis
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The Suez Crisis, also named the Tripartite Aggression and the Kadesh Operation or Sinai War, was an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel, followed by the United Kingdom and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal, after the fighting had started, political pressure from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations led to a withdrawal by the three invaders. The episode humiliated Great Britain and France and strengthened Nasser, on October 29, Israel invaded the Egyptian Sinai. Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to cease fire, which was ignored, on November 5, Britain and France landed paratroopers along the Suez Canal. The Egyptian forces were defeated, but they did block the canal to all shipping and it later became clear that the Israeli invasion and the subsequent Anglo-French attack had been planned beforehand by the three countries. The three allies had attained a number of their objectives, but the Canal was now useless and heavy political pressure from the United States. U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had strongly warned Britain not to invade, historians conclude the crisis signified the end of Great Britains role as one of the worlds major powers. The Suez Canal was closed from October 1956 until March 1957, Israel fulfilled some of its objectives, such as attaining freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, after ten years of work financed by the French, the canal instantly became strategically important, as it provided the shortest ocean link between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The canal eased commerce for trading nations and particularly helped European colonial powers to gain, in 1875, as a result of debt and financial crisis, the Egyptian ruler was forced to sell his shares in the canal operating company to the British government of Benjamin Disraeli. They were willing buyers and obtained a 44 percent share in the operations for less than £4 million. With the 1882 invasion and occupation of Egypt, the United Kingdom took de facto control of the country as well as the canal proper, the 1888 Convention of Constantinople declared the canal a neutral zone under British protection. In ratifying it, the Ottoman Empire agreed to international shipping to pass freely through the canal, in time of war. The Convention came into force in 1904, the year as the Entente cordiale between Britain and France. Following the Japanese surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Port Arthur, the British denied the Russian fleet use of the canal and forced it to steam around Africa, giving the Japanese forces time to consolidate their position in East Asia. The importance of the canal as an intersection was again apparent during the First World War. The attempt by German and Ottoman forces to storm the canal in February 1915 led the British to commit 100,000 troops to the defense of Egypt for the rest of the war. The canal continued to be strategically important after the Second World War as a conduit for the shipment of oil, petroleum business historian Daniel Yergin wrote of the period, In 1948, the canal abruptly lost its traditional rationale
30.
San Antonio, Texas
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San Antonio, officially the City of San Antonio, is the seventh-most populated city in the United States and the second-most populous city in the state of Texas, with a population of 1,409,019. It was the fastest growing of the top 10 largest cities in the United States from 2000 to 2010, the city straddles South Texas and Central Texas and is on the southwestern corner of an urban megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. San Antonio serves as the seat of Bexar County, recent annexations have extended the citys boundaries into Medina County and, though for only a very tiny area near the city of Garden Ridge, into Comal County. Due to its placement, the city has characteristics of other urban centers in which there are sparsely populated areas. San Antonio is the center of the San Antonio–New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area, growth along the Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 corridors to the north, west and east make it likely that the metropolitan area will continue to expand. San Antonio was named for Saint Anthony of Padua, whose feast day is on June 13, the city contains five 18th-century Spanish frontier missions, including The Alamo and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, which were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015. Other notable attractions include the River Walk, the Tower of the Americas, the Alamo Bowl, the city is home to the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs and hosts the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, one of the largest such events in the country. The U. S. Kelly Air Force Base operated out of San Antonio until 2001, the remaining portions of the base were developed as Port San Antonio, an industrial/business park and aerospace complex. San Antonio is home to six Fortune 500 companies and the South Texas Medical Center, at the time of European encounter, Payaya Indians lived near the San Antonio River Valley in the San Pedro Springs area, calling the vicinity Yanaguana, meaning refreshing waters. In 1691, a group of Spanish Catholic explorers and missionaries came upon the river and Payaya settlement on June 13 and they named the place and river San Antonio in his honor. It was years before any Spanish settlement took place, father Antonio de Olivares visited the site in 1709, and he was determined to found a mission and civilian settlement there. He directed Martin de Alarcón, the governor of Coahuila and Texas, differences between Alarcón and Olivares resulted in delays, and construction did not start until 1718. The families who clustered around the presidio and mission formed the beginnings of Villa de Béjar, on May 1, the governor transferred ownership of the Mission San Antonio de Valero to Fray Antonio de Olivares. On May 5,1718 he commissioned the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar on the west side of the San Antonio River, one-fourth league from the mission. On February 14,1719, the Marquis of San Miguel de Aguayo proposed to the king of Spain that 400 families be transported from the Canary Islands, Galicia, or Havana to populate the province of Texas. By June 1730,25 families had reached Cuba, and 10 families had sent to Veracruz before orders from Spain came to stop the re-settlement. Under the leadership of Juan Leal Goraz, the group marched overland from Veracruz to the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar, due to marriages along the way, the party now included 15 families, a total of 56 persons. They joined the community established in 1718
31.
Desert climate
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An area that features this climate usually experiences from 25 to 200 mm per year of precipitation and in some years may experience no precipitation at all. Averages may be even less such as in Arica, Chile, there are usually two or three variations of a desert climate, a hot desert climate, a cold desert climate and, sometimes, a mild desert climate. To determine whether a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold is determined. If the areas precipitation is less than half the threshold. Hot desert climates are found under the subtropical ridge where there is largely unbroken sunshine for the whole year due to the stable descending air. These areas are located between 30 degrees south and 30 degrees north latitude, under the subtropical latitudes called the horse latitudes, hot desert climates are generally hot, sunny and dry year-round. Hot desert climates also reach similar latitudes in the Middle East, North Africa, hot desert climates usually feature hot, sometimes exceptionally hot, periods of the year. In many locations featuring a hot climate, maximum temperatures of over 40 °C are not uncommon in summer. The world absolute heat records, over 50 °C, are generally in the hot deserts, some desert locations consistently experience very high temperatures all year long, even during wintertime. These locations feature some of the highest annual average temperatures recorded on Earth and this last feature is seen in some parts of deserts of Africa and Arabia. During colder periods of the year, night-time temperatures can drop to freezing or below due to the radiation loss under the clear skies. However, very rarely do temperatures drop far below freezing, only one region in Europe has a hot desert climate, Province of Almeria, Province of Alicante and Province of Murcia in South Eastern Spain. Cold desert climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though summers typically are not quite as hot as summers in hot desert climates, unlike hot desert climates, cold desert climates tend to feature cold winters with rare snow. Cold desert climates are found at higher altitudes than hot desert climates. A cold desert climate is found in temperate zones, usually in the rain shadow of high mountains. A classic example of this is the Patagonian Desert in Argentina bounded by the Andes to its west, in the case of Central Asia, mountains restrict precipitation from the monsoon. The Gobi desert in Mongolia is an example of this. Though hot in summer, it shares the cold winters of the rest of Central Asia
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Relative humidity
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Relative humidity is the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor to the equilibrium vapor pressure of water at a given temperature. Relative humidity depends on temperature and the pressure of the system of interest and it requires less water vapor to attain high relative humidity at low temperatures, more water vapour is required to attain high relative humidity in warm or hot air. Humans are sensitive to high humidity because the body uses evaporative cooling, enabled by perspiration. Perspiration evaporates from the more slowly under humid conditions than under arid. For example, if the air temperature is 24 °C and the humidity is zero percent. If the relative humidity is 100 percent at the air temperature. In other words, if the air is 24 °C and contains saturated water vapor, then the human body cools itself at the rate as it would if it were 27 °C. The heat index and the humidex are indices that reflect the effect of temperature. In cold climates, the temperature causes lower capacity for water vapour to flow about. Dry cracked skin can result from dry air, low humidity causes tissue lining nasal passages to dry, crack and become more susceptible to penetration of Rhinovirus cold viruses. Low humidity is a cause of nosebleeds. The use of a humidifier in homes, especially bedrooms, can help with these symptoms, indoor relative humidities should be kept above 30% to reduce the likelihood of the occupants nasal passages drying out. Humans can be comfortable within a range of humidities depending on the temperature—from thirty to seventy percent—but ideally between 50% and 60%. Very low humidity can create discomfort, respiratory problems, and aggravate allergies in some individuals, in the winter, it is advisable to maintain relative humidity at 30 percent or above. Extremely low relative humidities may also cause eye irritation, wooden furniture can shrink, causing the paint that covers these surfaces to fracture. When the temperature is low and the humidity is high. When relative humidity approaches 100 percent, condensation can occur on surfaces, leading to problems with mold, corrosion, decay, condensation can pose a safety risk as it can promote the growth of mold and wood rot as well as possibly freezing emergency exits shut. The basic principles for buildings, above, also apply to vehicles, in addition, there may be safety considerations
33.
Gran Canaria Airport
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Gran Canaria Airport, is a passenger and freight airport on the island of Gran Canaria. It is an important airport within the Spanish air-transport network, as it holds the position in terms of passengers. It is also ranks first of the Canary Islands in all three categories, although the island of Tenerife has higher passenger numbers due to the two airports located on the island. The airport is located in the part of Gran Canaria on the Bay of Gando,19 km south of center of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In 2014 it handled over 10.3 million passengers, ranking as the 5th Spanish airport by passenger transit, Gran Canaria Airport remains as a relevant connecting airport for passengers travelling to West Africa, and to the Atlantic Isles of Madeira and the Azores. It is the base for Binter Canarias, NAYSA, Canaryfly, Ryanair, Norwegian Air Shuttle. Other airlines operate a base for connecting flights to Cape Verde and Gambia. In 1919, Frenchman Pierre George Latécoère was granted clearance from the French & Spanish governments to establish a route between Toulouse & Casablanca. This also included stopovers in Málaga, Alicante and Barcelona, the airport opened on 7 April 1930, after King Alfonso XIII signed a royal order announcing that the military air force installations on the Bay of Gando would become a civilian airfield. In its existence, the airport has become the largest gateway into the Canary Islands, as well as the largest in terms of passenger, in 1946, the old passenger terminal opened, which took two years to build. In 1948 a runway was built, which was completed and fully tarmaced in 1957, in 1963, improvements to the airport were made. This included new parking spaces, enlargement of the terminal and the provision of a visual approach slope indicator system, in 1964, a transmission station was built. In 1966 a new tower was completed, replacing the old control tower that was constructed in 1946. In 1970, work began on the current passenger terminal that is being used to operate flights today, the new terminal opened in March 1973. During this time, a runway was being built and this was completed in 1980. On 18 February 1988, Binter Canarias announced that the main base was to be established at Gran Canaria. The base opened on 26 March 1989, in October 1991, the terminal was enlarged with improved facilities so it could handle more passengers. In December 2010, low cost carrier Ryanair announced the opening of 3 new bases on the Canary Islands, in addition to Gran Canaria these include Lanzarote and Tenerife South
34.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
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Sunshine duration
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It is a general indicator of cloudiness of a location, and thus differs from insolation, which measures the total energy delivered by sunlight over a given period. Sunshine duration is usually expressed in hours per year, or in hours per day, the first measure indicates the general sunniness of a location compared with other places, while the latter allows for comparison of sunshine in various seasons in the same location. Another often-used measure is percentage ratio of recorded bright sunshine duration, an important use of sunshine duration data is to characterize the climate of sites, especially of health resorts. This also takes account the psychological effect of strong solar light on human well-being. It is often used to promote tourist destinations, if the Sun were to be above the horizon 50% of the time for a standard year consisting of 8,760 hours, apparent maximal daytime duration would be 4,380 hours for any point on Earth. However, there are physical and astronomical effects that change that picture, namely, atmospheric refraction allows the Sun to be still visible even when it physically sets below the horizon. For that reason, average daytime is longest in polar areas, places on the Arctic Circle have the longest total annual daytime,4,647 hours, while the North Pole receives 4,575. Because of elliptic nature of the Earths orbit, the Southern Hemisphere is not symmetrical, the Equator has a total daytime of 4,422 hours per year. Given the theoretical maximum of daytime duration for a given location, bright sunshine hours represent the total hours when the sunlight is stronger than a specified threshold, as opposed to just visible hours. Visible sunshine, for example, occurs around sunrise and sunset, measurement is performed by instruments called sunshine recorders. For the specific purpose of sunshine duration recording, Campbell–Stokes recorders are used, when the intensity exceeds a pre-determined threshold, the tape burns. The total length of the trace is proportional to the number of bright hours. Another type of recorder is the Jordan sunshine recorder, newer, electronic recorders have more stable sensitivity than that of the paper tape. In 2003, the duration was finally defined as the period during which direct solar irradiance exceeds a threshold value of 120 W/m². The sky is clear in these regions, and fair weather is virtually perpetual, the descending branch of the Hadley cell and the long-term lack of atmospheric disturbances helps to explain the seemingly endless supply of sunny, cloud-free days in the deserts. Low clouding conditions are associated with rainfall shortage, as seen in these dry regions. In the belt encompassing northern Chad and the Tibesti Mountains, northern Sudan, southern Libya, some places in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula receive 3, 600–3,800 hours of bright sunshine annually. The largest sun-baked region in the world is North Africa, the sunniest month in the world is December in Eastern Antarctica, with almost 23 hours of bright sun daily
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World Meteorological Organization
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The World Meteorological Organization is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873 and its current Secretary-General is Petteri Taalas and the President of the World Meteorological Congresss, its supreme body, is David Grimes. The Organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations. WMO has a membership of 191 Member States and Territories as of February 2014, the Convention of the World Meteorological Organization was signed 11 October 1947 and established upon ratification on 23 March 1950. WMO became the agency of the United Nations in 1951 for meteorology, operational hydrology. It originated from the International Meteorological Organization, which was founded in 1873, the WMO hierarchy, The World Meteorological Congress, the supreme body of the Organization, determines policy. Each member state and territory is represented by a Permanent Representative with WMO when Congress meets every four years, Congress elects the President and Vice-Presidents of the Organization and members of the Executive Council, and appoints the Secretary-General. The Executive Council implements Congress decisions, the Executive Council normally hold a session at least once a year. Six Regional Associations are responsible for the coordination of meteorological, hydrological and they meet once every four years, and elect a president and vice-president. The president of regional association is an ex officio member of the Executive Council. Eight Technical Commissions are responsible for studying meteorological and hydrological operational systems, applications and they establish methodology and procedures and make recommendations to Executive Council and the World Meteorological Congress. The Secretariat is headed by the Secretary-General, who is appointed by the World Meteorological Congress for a term with a maximum tenure of 8 years. The Secretary-General appoints all staff, including the Deputy Secretary-General and the Assistant Secretary-General, the Secretariat currently has around 300 staff. Weather, climate and the water cycle shape almost every aspect of our lives and these powerful natural forces do not recognize national borders, thus global and regional cooperation is essential. Even the accuracy of a weather forecast relies on observations from far beyond national borders. These warnings help to save lives and to protect property. They contribute to economic planning and decision-making, and help minimize the harm that weather, climate, the first step in producing weather forecasts is to gather non-stop observations of the environment from around the world. WMO develops the standards for designing these and other observing instruments and for ensuring that the collected data are quality controlled
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United Nations
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The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict, at its founding, the UN had 51 member states, there are now 193. The headquarters of the UN is in Manhattan, New York City, further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states, the UNs mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its early decades by the Cold War between the US and Soviet Union and their respective allies. The organization participated in actions in Korea and the Congo. After the end of the Cold War, the UN took on major military, the UN has six principal organs, the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Trusteeship Council. UN System agencies include the World Bank Group, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, UNESCO, the UNs most prominent officer is the Secretary-General, an office held by Portuguese António Guterres since 2017. Non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with ECOSOC and other agencies to participate in the UNs work, the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, and a number of its officers and agencies have also been awarded the prize. Other evaluations of the UNs effectiveness have been mixed, some commentators believe the organization to be an important force for peace and human development, while others have called the organization ineffective, corrupt, or biased. Following the catastrophic loss of life in the First World War, the earliest concrete plan for a new world organization began under the aegis of the US State Department in 1939. It incorporated Soviet suggestions, but left no role for France, four Policemen was coined to refer to four major Allied countries, United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and China, which emerged in the Declaration by United Nations. Roosevelt first coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries, the term United Nations was first officially used when 26 governments signed this Declaration. One major change from the Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom, by 1 March 1945,21 additional states had signed. Each Government pledges itself to cooperate with the Governments signatory hereto, the foregoing declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism. During the war, the United Nations became the term for the Allies. To join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis, at the later meetings, Lord Halifax deputized for Mr. Eden, Wellington Koo for T. V. Soong, and Mr Gromyko for Mr. Molotov. The first meetings of the General Assembly, with 51 nations represented, the General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN, and the facility was completed in 1952. Its site—like UN headquarters buildings in Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi—is designated as international territory, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie, was elected as the first UN Secretary-General
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Ultraviolet index
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The ultraviolet index or UV Index is an international standard measurement of the strength of sunburn-producing ultraviolet radiation at a particular place and time. The scale was developed by Canadian scientists in 1992, then adopted and standardized by the UNs World Health Organization and it is primarily used in daily forecasts aimed at the general public, and is increasingly available as an hourly forecast as well. The UV Index is designed as a linear scale, directly proportional to the intensity of UV radiation that causes sunburn on human skin. Public health organizations recommend that people protect themselves if they spend time outdoors when the UV Index is 3 or higher. The UV Index is a scale, with higher values representing a greater risk of sunburn due to UV exposure. An index of 0 corresponds to zero UV radiation, as is essentially the case at night, an index of 10 corresponds roughly to midday summer sunlight with a clear sky when the UV Index was originally designed. Now summertime index values in the teens are common for tropical latitudes, mountainous altitudes, many tanning beds generate even higher UV intensities. A world-record ground-level UV Index of 43.3 was reported at Bolivias Licancabur volcano on December 29,2003, although this may be in error, it is usually within ±1 UV Index unit as that which would be measured. When the UV Index is presented on a basis, it represents UV intensity around the suns highest point in the day, called solar noon. This typically occurs between 11,30 and 12,30, or between 12,30 and 13,30 in areas where daylight saving time is being observed. The calculations are weighted in favor of the UV wavelengths to which human skin is most sensitive, the resulting UV Index cannot be expressed in pure physical units, but is a good indicator of likely sunburn damage. The UV Index is a number related to the intensity of sunburn-producing UV radiation at a given point on the earths surface. Skin damage from sunburn, however, is related to wavelength, the UV power spectrum is therefore multiplied by a weighting curve known as the erythemal action spectrum, and the result integrated over the whole spectrum. This gave Canadian scientists a weighted figure typically around 250 mW/m2 in midday summer sunlight, so, they arbitrarily divided by 25 mW/m2 to generate a convenient index value, essentially a scale of 0 to 11+. To illustrate the spectrum weighting principle, the incident power density in midday summer sunlight is typically 0.6 mW/ at 295 nm,74 mW/ at 305 nm, and 478 mW/ at 325 nm. The erythemal weighting factors applied to these figures are 1.0,0.22, after sporadic attempts by various meteorologists to define a sunburn index, and amid growing concern about ozone depletion, Environment Canada scientists James B. Kerr, C. Thomas McElroy, and David I, Wardle developed the modern UV Index. They introduced it on May 27,1992, making Canada the first country in the world to issue official predictions of UV levels for the next day, many other countries followed suit with their own UV indices, among them the United States in 1994
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Venezuelan people
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Venezuelan people are from a multiethnic nation in South America called Venezuela. Venezuelans are predominantly Roman Catholic and speak Spanish, the majority of Venezuelans are the result of a mixture of Europeans, Africans and Amerindians. 51. 6% of the population are Mestizos of mixed European, African and Amerindian ancestry and 43. 6% of Venezuelans consider themselves European or Middle Eastern, an additional 3. 6% identify as Black/African-descendants, while 3. 2% identify as Amerindians. However, archaeological excavations are the evidences that establish certain periods that were taking place on the continent, there are four periods of diversity that develop in the current Venezuela, which also entering a new period, it did not mean the end of the previous. The first migrations to the continent were probably from East Asia to 15,000 years and these early migrants came at first to be located in North America, later moving to the territory of present Venezuela. Now for their offspring, it was clear verify the Asian features on their faces that will adapt to the climate and lifestyle. On August 2,1498, Christopher Columbus, and the Spanish colonizers ships, landed for the first time in American mainland and did so in the current Venezuelan territory. Another group of whites who were born in Venezuela were originally called Creole, representing 20% of the population, they were mostly from the Canary Islands, the other two smaller groups were the original inhabitants and indigenous blacks brought from Africa, they were about 5% of the population. This process is responsible for the majority of Venezuelans who are of mestizo mixed race. The country has a population that reflects its rich history. Many of the peoples were absorbed by the mestizo population. Small numbers are descendants of French, English and Polish, as they emigrated during World War II, black Africans were brought as slaves, mostly coastal lowlands, beginning early in the sixteenth century and continuing into the nineteenth century. Currently, according to the critic DAmbrosio and other academics, about 51. 6% of Venezuelans are mestizos, 45% are white, 2% are black and 1% Indians. Notably, according to scholars, is the fact that virtually there are no pure blacks in Venezuela, including those with the darkest skin. Most of which being limited to black Venezuelans who descend from recent immigrants, the only Venezuelan town where there is a consistent number of them is Colonia Tovar. The population of approximately 28 million people made Venezuela the sixth-most populous country in Latin America, approximately more than one million are living in other countries. More than ninety percent of the Venezuelans live in urban areas – a figure higher than the world average. The literacy rate in Venezuela is also well above the average
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Sindhi people
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Not to be confused with the Sindi people. Sindhis are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the Sindh province of Pakistan, Sindhi culture is highly influenced by Sufi doctrines and principles. Some of the cultural icons are Raja Dahir, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Jhulelal, Sachal Sarmast. After the partition of India in 1947, most Sindhi Hindus and Sindhi Sikhs migrated to India, according to the 1998 census of Pakistan, Hindus constituted about 8% of the total population of Sindh province. Most of them live in areas such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur. Hyderabad is the largest centre of Sindhi Hindus in Pakistan with 100, the original inhabitants of ancient Sindh were believed to be aboriginal tribes speaking languages of the Indus Valley Civilization around 3300 BC. Moen-jo-Daro is the symbol of Indus Valley Civilization in World, the Indo-Aryans are believed to have founded the Vedic civilization that existed between the Sarasvati River and Ganges river around 1500 BC. This civilization helped shape subsequent cultures in South Asia, because of its location at one of the more western edges of South Asia, Sindh was one of the earliest regions to be influenced by Islam after 632 AD. Before this period, it was heavily Hindu, and Buddhist, after 632 AD, it was part of the Islamic empires of the Abbasids and Umayyids. Habbari, Soomra, Samma, Arghun dynasties ruled Sindh, the region received its name, Sindh, from the River Sindhu. The people living in the region are referred to as Sindhi, the terms Hindi and Hindu are derived from the word Sindh and Sindhu, as the ancient Persians pronounced s as h. India is also known as Hindustan and these tribes belong to the same blood line. Among other Sindhi Rajputs are the Bhachos, Bhuttos, Bhattis, Bhanbhro, Mahendros, Buriros, Lakha, Sahetas, Lohanas, Mohano, Dahars, Indhar, Chachar, Dhareja, Rathores, Dakhan, Langah, etc. The Sindhi-Sipahi of Rajasthan and the Sandhai Muslims of Gujarat are communities of Sindhi Rajputs settled in India, closely related to the Sindhi Rajputs are the Jats of Sindh, who are found mainly in the Indus delta region. However, tribes are of importance in Sindh as compared to in Punjab. Identity in Sindh is mostly based on a common ethnicity, with Sindh’s stable prosperity and its strategic geographical position, it was subject to successive conquests by foreign empires. In 712 A. D. Sindh was incorporated into the Caliphate, the Islamic Empire, Muslim Sindhis tend to follow the Sunni Hanafi fiqh with a substantial minority being Shia Ithna ashariyah. Sufism has left an impact on Sindhi Muslims and this is visible through the numerous Sufi shrines which dot the landscape of Sindh
41.
Koreans in Spain
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Koreans in Spain form one of the countrys smaller Asian populations. Among Spanish nationals, men outnumbered women by a ratio of 1.3,1, between 1980 and 2004, a total of 696 people originally holding South Korean nationality became Spanish citizens. This made Koreans in Spain the fifth-largest Korean diaspora population in Western Europe, behind Koreans in the United Kingdom, Koreans in Germany, Koreans in France, and Koreans in Italy. The most recent statistics of the South Korean government, issued in July 2011, show only slight growth compared to the 2005 statistics. Of the 4,080 Koreans recorded as living in Spain,929 had Spanish citizenship,2,108 had permanent residence,216 were on student visas, Koreans in Las Palmas form a community distinct from that on the Spanish mainland. Theirs is the concentration of Koreans in Spain whose presence has resulted in a recognisable Koreatown. They trace their origins to South Korean migrant workers who worked on fishing boats based on the island starting in the 1960s. Many brought their families over and became rooted in Spain, sending their children to local schools, most of the remaining Korean population have shifted away from the fishing industry, and their children have largely entered professional fields, achieving relative affluence. Korean martial artists, though a group, are also well represented, they either run their own dojang. Usun Yoon, an actress and reporter, ahn Eak-tai, a composer of Aegukga died in Majorca, Spain. Alberto Jo Lee, a Korean origin actor born in Barcelona, kimera, a Korean singer who worked mostly in Spain and France
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Chinese people
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A number of ethnic groups within China, as well as people elsewhere with ancestry in the region, may be referred to as Chinese people. Han, the largest ethnic group in China, are referred to as Chinese or ethnic Chinese in English. The Han also form a majority or large minority in other countries, other ethnic groups in China include the Zhuang, Hui, Manchu, and Uyghurs, among many others. The Peoples Republic of China officially recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, the Republic of China officially recognizes 14 tribes of Taiwanese aborigines, who together with unrecognized tribes comprise about 2% of the countrys population. The list of groups in China includes the major ethnic groups of China. During the Qing dynasty the term Chinese people was used by the Qing government to refer to all subjects of the empire, including Han, Manchu, and Mongols. Zhonghua minzu, the Chinese nation, is a concept which includes all 56 ethnic groups living in China that are officially recognized by the government of the Peoples Republic of China. It includes established ethnic groups who have lived within the borders of China since at least the Qing Dynasty, the term zhonghua minzu was used during the Republic of China from 1911–1949 to refer to a subset of five ethnic groups in China. The term zhongguo renmin, Chinese people, was the preferred term during the life of Mao Zedong. The Nationality law of the Peoples Republic of China regulates nationality within the PRC, a person obtains nationality either by birth when at least one parent is of Chinese nationality or by naturalization. All persons holding nationality of the Peoples Republic of China are citizens of the Republic, the Resident Identity Card is the official form of identification for residents of the Peoples Republic of China. The Nationality law of the Republic of China regulates nationality within the Republic of China, a person obtains nationality either by birth or by naturalization. A person with at least one parent who is a national of the Republic of China, the relationship between Taiwanese nationality and Chinese nationality is disputed. The National Identification Card is an identity document issued to people who have household registration in Taiwan, the Resident Certificate is an identification card issued to residents of the Republic of China who do not hold a National Identification Card. Overseas Chinese refers to people of Chinese ethnicity or national heritage who live outside of the Peoples Republic of China or Taiwan as the result of the continuing diaspora, people with one or more Chinese ancestors may consider themselves overseas Chinese. Such people vary widely in terms of cultural assimilation, in some areas throughout the world ethnic enclaves known as Chinatowns are home to populations of Chinese ancestry. In Southeast Asia, Chinese people call themselves 華人, which is distinguished from or the citizens of the Peoples Republic of China or the Republic of China and this is especially so in the Chinese communities of Southeast Asia
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Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
