1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
3.
Connacht
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Connacht /ˈkɒnɔːt/ or Connaught is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of the country. Two of its greatest kings, Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair and his son Ruaidri Ua Conchobair greatly expanded the kingdoms dominance, the English colony in Connacht shrank from c. Only with in the late 1500s, during the Tudor conquest of Ireland, was Connacht shired into its present counties, the province of Connacht has the greatest number of Irish language speakers at between 5–10% of the population. There are Gaeltacht areas in Counties Galway and Mayo, the province of Connacht has no official function for local government purposes, but it is an officially recognised subdivision of the Irish state. It is listed on ISO-3166-2 as one of the four provinces of Ireland, along with counties from other provinces, Connacht lies in the Midlands-North-West constituency for elections to the European Parliament. The Irish language is spoken in the Gaeltacht areas of Counties Mayo and Galway, the Galway Gaeltacht is the largest Irish-speaking region in Ireland covering Cois Fharraige, parts of Connemara, Conamara Theas, Aran Islands, Dúithche Sheoigeach and Galway City Gaeltacht. Irish-speaking areas in County Mayo can be found in Iorras, Acaill, according to the 2011 census Irish is spoken outside of the education system on a daily basis by 14,600 people. There are between 40, 000–55,000 Irish speakers in the province, over 30,000 in Galway, there is also the 4,265 attending the 18 Gaelscoils and three Gaelcholáiste outside the Gaeltacht across the province. The GDP of the province of Connacht is around 15 billion euro, the province is divided into five counties, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo. Connacht is the smallest of the four Irish provinces, with a population of 542,547, Galway is the only official city in the province. The highest point of Connacht is Mweelrea, in County Mayo, the largest island in Connacht is Achill. The biggest lake is Lough Corrib, much of the west coast is ruggedly inhospitable and not conducive for agriculture. It contains the main areas in Connacht, including the Twelve Bens, Maumturks, Mweelrea, Croagh Patrick, Nephin Beg, Ox Mountains. Killary Harbour, Irelands only true fjord, is located at the foot of Mweelrea, Connemara National Park is in County Galway. The Aran Islands, featuring prehistoric forts such as Dún Aonghasa, have been a regular tourist destination since the 19th century, inland areas such as east Galway, Roscommon and Sligo have enjoyed greater historical population density due to better agricultural land and infrastructure. Rivers and lakes include the River Moy, River Corrib, the Shannon, Lough Mask, Lough Melvin, Lough Allen, the largest urban area in Connacht is Galway, with a population of 76,778. Other large towns in Connacht are Sligo, Castlebar and Ballina, the name Connacht comes from the medieval ruling dynasty, the Connacht, later Connachta, whose name means descendants of Conn, from the mythical king Conn of the Hundred Battles. Before the Connachta dynasty, the province was known as Cóiced Ol nEchmacht, in Modern Irish, the province is usually called Cúige Chonnacht, the Province of Connacht, where Chonnacht is plural genitive case with lenition of the C to Ch
4.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
5.
Leenaun
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Leenaun, also Leenane, is a village and 1,845 acre townland in County Galway, Ireland. It is on the shore of Killary Harbour, on the edge of Connemara. The village is at the junction of the N59 and R336 roads in a valley between the mountains of Munterowen West and Devilsmother, with a view of Ben Gorm mountain to the north. The village is on the shore of Killary Harbour fjord, the ancient woods at Maam Valley are nearby, as is the Delphi Valley in County Mayo. The World famous Kylemore Abbey and the scenic Renvyle peninsula are situated some miles to the south, following torrential rain on 18 July 2007, the only river bridge in the village was swept away, cutting the town in half. It was part of the N59 national secondary road and had there for 182 years. A permanent replacement bridge was constructed with increased traffic capacity, leenaun was the setting for the film The Field and of Martin McDonaghs plays The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lonesome West. Mac ind Óclaich Connemara List of towns and villages in Ireland
6.
NUI Galway
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NUI Galway is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is located in Irelands westerly city of Galway, a tertiary-level educational institution, it is ranked among the top 2 per cent of universities in the world. The University is ranked #249 in the 2016 QS World University Rankings and has also been awarded the full five QS stars for excellence. The university was founded in 1845 as Queens College, Galway, alumni include the incumbent Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Enda Kenny and Michael D. Higgins respectively, as well as numerous other prominent politicians. Other leading figures in Irish official life to have been educated here include Attorney General Máire Whelan and Comptroller, NUI Galway is a member of the Coimbra Group, a network of 40 long-established European universities. The university opened for teaching in 1849 as Queens College, Galway with 37 professors and 91 students, a year later it became part of the Queens University of Ireland. The Irish Universities Act made this college a constituent college of the new National University of Ireland and it was given special statutory responsibility under the University College, Galway Act in respect of the use of the Irish language as the working language of the college. It retained the title of University College, Galway until the Universities Act changed it to the National University of Ireland, located close to the city centre, it stretches along the River Corrib. The oldest part of the university, the Quadrangle building with its Aula Maxima was designed by John Benjamin Keane, it is a replica of Christ Church, the stone from which it is built was supplied locally. More modern parts of the university sprang up in the 1970s and were designed by architects Scott Tallon Walker, the 1990s also saw considerable development, including the conversion of an old munitions factory into a student centre. A new Human Biology Building is under construction at present, the highly toxic substance asbestos was removed from the university grounds on 13 occasions between March 2010 and June 2014. Nelson Mandela made an appearance at the University in 2003. On what was his last visit to Ireland, Mandela condemned U. S. foreign policy, in 2008, Éamon Ó Cuív was allegedly involved in an altercation with a protesting student on the grounds of the university. Ó Cuív was Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister at the time, in 2009, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was forced to flee from a public discussion in NUI Galway after being jostled by students opposed to the planned reintroduction of college fees. Shortly afterwards, the University announced its withdrawal of support for the Students Union-run RAG week, the Students Union president said she did not believe the decision was justified, with more than €20,000 having been raised for charity in 2009. NUI Galway has also announced details of plans to make the university a campus of the future at a cost of around €400 million, details of the future plans of the University also show a Human Biology building which will incorporate Anatomy, Physiology and other human sciences areas. It formed an alliance with University of Limerick in 2010. It launched its Strategic Plan Vision 2020 in 2015, Angelas College, Sligo has been a college of the National University of Ireland, Galway, it was previously a recognised college of the National University of Ireland
7.
Saint Patrick
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Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the Apostle of Ireland, he is the patron saint of Ireland, along with saints Brigit of Kildare. He is also venerated in the Anglican Communion, the Old Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox Church as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland. The dates of Patricks life cannot be fixed with certainty but there is agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the 5th century. He has been generally so regarded ever since, despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence in Ireland, after becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked, by the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patricks Day is observed on 17 March, the date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday, in the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation, it is also a celebration of Ireland itself. Two Latin works survive which are accepted as having been written by St. Patrick. These are the Declaration and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, the Declaration is the more biographical of the two. In it, Patrick gives an account of his life. Most available details of his life are from subsequent hagiographies and annals, the only name that Patrick uses for himself in his own writings is Pātricius, which gives Old Irish Pátraic and Modern Irish Pádraig, English Patrick and Welsh Padrig. Hagiography records other names he is said to have borne, Magonus appears in the ninth century Historia Brittonum as Maun, descending from British *Magunos, meaning servant-lad. Succetus, which appears in Muirchú moccu Machthenis seventh century Life as Sochet, is identified by Mac Neill as a word of British origin meaning swineherd. The dates of Patricks life are uncertain, there are conflicting regarding the year of his death. His own writings provide no evidence for any dating more precise than the 5th century generally, the Letter to Coroticus implies that the Franks were still pagans at the time of writing, their conversion to Christianity is dated to the period 496–508. The Irish annals for the century date Patricks arrival in Ireland at 432. The date 432 was probably chosen to minimise the contribution of Palladius, who was known to have sent to Ireland in 431
8.
Elevation
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GIS or geographic information system is a computer system that allows for visualizing, manipulating, capturing, and storage of data with associated attributes. GIS offers better understanding of patterns and relationships of the landscape at different scales, tools inside the GIS allow for manipulation of data for spatial analysis or cartography. A topographical map is the type of map used to depict elevation. In a Geographic Information System, digital models are commonly used to represent the surface of a place. Digital terrain models are another way to represent terrain in GIS, USGS is developing a 3D Elevation Program to keep up with growing needs for high quality topographic data. 3DEP is a collection of enhanced elevation data in the form of high quality LiDAR data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, there are three bare earth DEM layers in 3DEP which are nationally seamless at the resolution of 1/3,1, and 2 arcseconds. This map is derived from GTOPO30 data that describes the elevation of Earths terrain at intervals of 30 arcseconds and it uses color and shading instead of contour lines to indicate elevation. Hypsography is the study of the distribution of elevations on the surface of the Earth, the term originates from the Greek word ὕψος hypsos meaning height. Most often it is used only in reference to elevation of land, related to the term hypsometry, the measurement of these elevations of a planets solid surface are taken relative to mean datum, except for Earth which is taken relative to the sea level. In the troposphere, temperatures decrease with altitude and this lapse rate is approximately 6.5 °C/km. S
9.
Lists of mountains and hills in the British Isles
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The mountains and hills of Great Britain, and to a lesser extent Ireland, are the subject of a considerable number of lists that categorise them by height, topographic prominence, or other criteria. They are commonly used as a basis for peak bagging, whereby hillwalkers attempt to reach all the summits on a given list. The oldest and best known of these lists is that of the Munros, mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet, other well-known lists include the Corbetts, Wainwrights and Marilyns. There is no consensus on the definition of mountain, but in Great Britain. The UK government defines mountain as land over 600 metres for the purposes of freedom of access, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. In practice, mountains in Scotland are frequently referred to as no matter what their height, as reflected in names such as the Cuillin Hills. In Wales, the distinction is more a term of land use, the Munros are mountains in Scotland over 3,000 ft. The list was compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. There are 282 Munros and 227 further tops, all of them in the Scottish Highlands, list of Munros The Murdos are an attempt to apply objective criteria to the Munros and their associated tops. They comprise all the summits in Scotland over 3,000 feet with a prominence of at least 30 metres, there are currently 442 Murdos, compared to 282 Munros or 509 Munros plus tops. The list was compiled by Alan Dawson, all Murdos are also Munro Tops, but many Munro Tops fail to qualify as Murdos because of insufficient relative height. Before 1997 there were seven Murdos that were not Munro Tops, all seven were included in the 1997 edition of Munros Tables, plus two non-Murdos, Little Pap on Lochnagar and Knights Peak on Sgurr nan Gillean or a UK top-tier administrative area. There are now 347 Hardys with the recent addition of 5 low lying English coastal estuary islands,61 hill ranges,96 islands and 190 administrative areas,183 are in England,31 in Wales,107 in Scotland and 26 in Northern Ireland. The list was first compiled in the 1990s by Ian Hardy, the Marilyns were supplemented in 2007 by the HuMPs which reduces the Prominence requirement to 100m. The list was compiled by Mark Jackson from a number of sources. There are almost 3,000 British HuMPs, including three in the Channel Islands, More recently, Mark Jackson compiled the TuMPs, a list of all hills in Britain having a prominence of 30 metres. By definition, all Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops, Hewitts, there are over 16,000 TuMPs, approximately half of that number that did not appear in previously researched lists were researched by Mark Jackson between 2006 and 2009. Since 2012 the list has been published and maintained by the editors of The Database of British and Irish Hills, a list of mountains, over 2, 000-foot-high, in England and Wales was published by Buxton & Lewis in 1986
10.
Fell
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A fell is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain range or moor-covered hills. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, the Isle of Man, parts of Northern England, the English word fell comes from Old Norse fell, fjall. It is cognate with Icelandic fjall/fell, Faroese fjall, Danish fjeld, Swedish fjäll, today, generally, fell refers to the mountains and hills of the Lake District and the Pennine Dales. Names that originally referred to grazing areas have applied to these hilltops. This is the case with Seathwaite Fell, for example, which would be the common grazing land used by the farmers of Seathwaite, the fellgate marks the road from a settlement onto the fell, as is the case with the Seathwaite Fell. The word fell is also used in the names of breeds of livestock, bred for life on the uplands, such as Rough Fell sheep. It is also found in place names across the North of England, often attached to the name of a community. In northern England, there is a Lord of the Fells – this ancient aristocratic title being associated with the Lords of Bowland. As the most mountainous region of England, the Lake District is the area most closely associated with the sport of fell running, fellwalking is also the term used locally for the activity known in the rest of Great Britain as hillwalking. The word fell also enjoys limited use in Scotland, with for example the Campsie Fells in Central Scotland, one of the most famous examples of the use of the word fell in Scotland is Goat Fell, the highest point on the Isle of Arran. Criffel and the nearby Long Fell in Galloway may be seen from the northern Lake District of England, peel Fell in the Kielder Forest is situated on the border between the Scottish Borders to the North and the English county of Northumberland to the South. In Norway, fjell, in usage, is generally interpreted as simply a summit of greater altitude than a hill. Professor of geography at the University of Bergen, Anders Lundeberg, has summed up the problem by stating that There simply is no fixed and unambiguous definition of fjell. Ivar Aasen defined fjell as a tall berg, primarily referring to a berg that reaches an altitude where trees dont grow, lower berg are referred to as berg, the fixed expression til fjells refers to mountains as a collective rather than a specific location or specific summit. According to Ivar Aasen berg refers to cliffs, bedrock and notable elevations of the surface underpinned by bedrock, for all practical purposes, fjell can be translated as mountain and the Norwegian language has no other commonly used word for mountain. In Sweden, fjäll refers to any mountain or upland high enough that forest will not naturally survive at the top, in effect a mountain tundra. Fjäll is primarily used to describe mountains in the Nordic countries, in Finnish, the mountains characteristic of the region of Lapland are called tunturi. They are round inselbergs rising from the flat surroundings
