1.
Atoll
–
An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim, the coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu, meaning an administrative subdivision, the distribution of atolls around the globe is instructive, most of the worlds atolls are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas. The northernmost atoll of the world is Kure Atoll at 28°24 N, the southernmost atolls of the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°58 S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°29 S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at this latitude coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream. However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while there is no atoll directly on the equator, the closest atoll to the Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati, with its southern tip just 12 km north of the equator. In most cases, the area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 meters, measured by total area, Lifou is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island. More sources however list as the largest atoll in the world in terms of land area Kiritimati, the remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km², the largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface, at this point, the island has become an atoll. Atolls are the product of the growth of marine organisms. Volcanic islands located beyond the water temperature requirements of hermatypic organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface
2.
Fiji
–
Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealands North Island. Fiji is an archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, the two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 860,000. The capital, Suva on Viti Levu, serves as Fijis principal cruise port, about three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levus coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like Nadi or Lautoka. Viti Levus interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain, Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific due to an abundance of forest, mineral, and fish resources. Today, the sources of foreign exchange are its tourist industry. The countrys currency is the Fijian dollar, Fijis local government, in the form of city and town councils, is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development. The majority of Fijis islands were formed through volcanic activity starting around 150 million years ago, today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC, and was settled first by Austronesians and later by Melanesians, Europeans visited Fiji from the 17th century, and, after a brief period as an independent kingdom, the British established the Colony of Fiji in 1874. Fiji was a Crown colony until 1970, when it gained independence as a Commonwealth realm, a republic was declared in 1987, following a series of coups détat. In a coup in 2006, Commodore Frank Bainimarama seized power, later in 2009, Iloilo was replaced as President by Ratu Epeli Nailatikau. After years of delays, an election was held on 17 September 2014. Bainimaramas FijiFirst party won with 59. 2% of the vote, Fijis main island is known as Viti Levu and it is from this that the name Fiji is derived, though the common English pronunciation is based on that of their island neighbours in Tonga. Its emergence can be described as follows, Fijians first impressed themselves on European consciousness through the writings of the members of the expeditions of Cook who met them in Tonga. They were described as warriors and ferocious cannibals, builders of the finest vessels in the Pacific. They inspired awe amongst the Tongans, and all their Manufactures, especially bark cloth and clubs, were highly valued and much in demand. They called their home Viti, but the Tongans called it Fisi, and it was by this foreign pronunciation, Fiji, first promulgated by Captain James Cook, that these islands are now known. Feejee, the Anglicised spelling of the Tongan pronunciation, was used in accounts and other writings until the late 19th century, by missionaries and other travellers visiting Fiji. Pottery art from Fijian towns shows that Fiji was settled before or around 3500 to 1000 BC, the first settlements in Fiji were started by voyaging traders and settlers from the west about 5000 years ago
3.
Tonga
–
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is a Polynesian sovereign state and archipelago comprising 169 islands of which 36 are inhabited. The total surface area is about 750 square kilometres scattered over 700,000 square kilometres of the southern Pacific Ocean and it has a population of 103,000 people of whom 70% reside on the main island of Tongatapu. Tonga stretches across approximately 800 kilometres in a north-south line and it is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, Niue to the east, Kermadec to the southwest, and New Caledonia and Vanuatu to the farther west. Tonga became known in the West as the Friendly Islands because of the reception accorded to Captain James Cook on his first visit in 1773. He arrived at the time of the festival, the yearly donation of the First Fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga. According to the writer William Mariner, the wanted to kill Cook during the gathering. From 1900 to 1970, Tonga had British protected state status, the country never relinquished its sovereignty to any foreign power. In many Polynesian languages including Tongan, the word tonga means south, the name of Tonga is cognate to the Hawaiian region of Kona. In Malay, the name of Tonga is also cognate to the word Tenggara, an Austronesian-speaking group linked to the archaeological construct known as the Lapita cultural complex reached and inhabited Tonga around 1500–1000 BCE. Scholars have much debated the exact dates of the settlement of Tonga. Not much is known before European contact because of the lack of a writing system, in the 15th century and again in the 17th, civil war erupted. The Tongan people first encountered Europeans in 1616 when the Dutch vessel Eendracht, captained by Willem Schouten, later came other Dutch explorers, including Jacob Le Maire, and in 1643 Abel Tasman. In 1845, the young warrior, strategist, and orator Tāufaʻāhau united Tonga into a kingdom. He held the title of Tuʻi Kanokupolu, but had been baptised by Methodist missionaries with the name Siaosi in 1831. Tonga became a state under a Treaty of Friendship with Britain on 18 May 1900. The treaty posted no higher permanent representative on Tonga than a British Consul, under the protection of Britain, Tonga maintained its sovereignty, and remained the only Pacific nation to retain its monarchical government. The Tongan monarchy follows a succession of hereditary rulers from one family. The 1918 flu pandemic, brought to Tonga by a ship from New Zealand, killed 1,800 Tongans, the Treaty of Friendship and Tongas protection status ended in 1970 under arrangements established by Queen Salote Tupou III prior to her death in 1965
4.
Lau Islands
–
The Lau Islands of Fiji are situated in the southern Pacific Ocean, just east of the Koro Sea. Of this chain of about sixty islands and islets, about thirty are inhabited, the Lau Group covers a land area of 188 square miles, and had a population of 10,683 at the most recent census in 2007. While most of the northern Lau Group are high islands of volcanic origin, administratively the islands belong to Lau Province. The British explorer James Cook reached Vatoa in 1774, by the time of the discovery of the Ono Group in 1820, the Lau archipelago was the most mapped area of Fiji. Political unity came late to the Lau Islands, historically, they comprised three territories, the Northern Lau Islands, the Southern Lau Islands, and the Moala Islands. Around 1855, the renegade Tongan prince Enele Maafu conquered the region, calling himself the Tui Lau, or King of Lau, he promulgated a constitution and encouraged the establishment of Christian missions. The first missionaries had arrived at Lakeba in 1830, but had been expelled, the Tui Nayau, who had been the nominal overlord of the Lau Islands, became subject to Maafu. The title Tui Lau was left vacant from his uncle, Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, in 1958 as referenced in Mara, the Northern Lau Islands, which extended as far south as Tuvuca, were under the overlordship of Taveuni and paid tribute to the Tui Cakau. In 1855, however, Maafu gained sovereignty over Northern Lau, establishing Lomaloma, on Vanua Balavu, the Southern Lau Islands extended from Ono-i-Lau, in the far south, to as far north as Cicia. They were the chiefdom of the Tui Nayau, but with Maafus conquest in the 1850s. The Moala Islands had closer affiliation with Bau Island and Lomaiviti than with Lau and they have remained administratively a part of the Lau Province ever since. Since they lie between Melanesian Fiji and Polynesian Tonga, the Lau Islands are a point of the two cultural spheres. Lauan villages remain very traditional, and the inhabitants are renowned for their wood carving. Lakeba especially was a meeting place between Tongans and Fijians. The south-east trade winds allowed sailors to travel from Tonga to Fiji, the Lau Island culture became more Fijian rather than Polynesian beginning around 500 BC. However, Tongan influence can still be found in names, language, food, unlike the square-shaped ends characterizing most houses elsewhere in Fiji, Lauan houses tend to be rounded, following the Tongan practice. In early July 2014, Tongas Lands Minister, Lord Maʻafu Tukuiʻaulahi, at the time that news of the proposal first broke, it had not yet been discussed with the Lau Provincial Council. Many Lauans have Tongan ancestors and some Tongans have Lauan ancestors, Tongas Lands Minister is named after Enele Maafu, historically, the Minerva Reefs have been part of the fishing grounds belonging to the people of Ono-i-Lau, an island in the Lau Group
5.
Henry Mangles Denham
–
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham, CMG was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station. Denham entered the navy at the age of 12 and specialised in hydrographic work and he was promoted to lieutenant in 1822. From October 1827, he was lieutenant-commander in HMS Linnet, surveying the coast of France, from September 1828 to March 1835, he surveyed the Bristol Channel, and the ports of Liverpool and Milford. On 28 February 1839 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, from 15 January 1842 he was commander in HMS Lucifer, commanded by Frederick William Beechey, surveying the coast of Ireland. On 30 July 1845, he was commander of HMS Avon. On 18 February 1852 Denham was made captain of HMS Herald, as captain of HMS Herald, he carried out major survey work around Australia, New Caledonia and other parts of the Southwest Pacific in the period 1852 to 1861. The voyage of HMS Herald earned him a place in the history of maritime surveying. Some of the Heralds charts are still in use, at the time of Denhams voyages, the south-west Pacific was a mission field, a site of commercial activity, and a colonial outpost. The natural history specimens gathered by naturalists William Grant Milne and John MacGillivray on the expedition resulted in significant additions to botanical and ornithological collections, the voyage began in England on 21 February 1852, arriving in Australia on 18 February 1853. The ship then began its survey by visiting Lord Howe Island, the Isle of Pines and Aneityum, New Zealand and Raoul Island, Fiji, after a second visit to Fiji, the Herald was involved with the resettlement of the Pitcairn Islanders to Norfolk Island. A third visit was undertaken to Fiji, followed by the survey of Port Jackson, New South Wales, Bass Strait, King George Sound. After three visits to the Coral Sea, the Herald began the first leg of its voyage, Sydney to Surabaya, departing Surabaya on 21 November 1860. From 10 May 1864 to 21 November 1866, Denham served as Commander-in-Chief, in 1866, he was knighted for his hydrographical services and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He retired with the rank of Vice Admiral in 1871, the town of Denham, Western Australia named is after him, as is the New Caledonian endemic tree Meryta denhamii. Denham island, British Columbia was named after him by a fellow Royal Navy surveyor, in 1826, he married Isabella, daughter of Rev. Joseph Cole, of Carmarthen. A son Fleetwood James Denham served under his father on Herald and he was buried near the beach at the head of Denham Bay. John MacGillivray William Grant Milne European and American voyages of scientific exploration David, the voyage of HMS Herald to Australia and the South-west Pacific 1852-1861 under the command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham. The Vegetation of the Kermadec Islands, transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 42,1909, p.121
6.
HMS Herald (1822)
–
HMS Herald was an Atholl-class 28-gun sixth-rate corvette of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1821 as HMS Termagant, commissioned in 1824 as Herald, after serving as a chapel ship from 1861, she was sold for breaking in 1862. Termagant was launched at the East India Company dockyard at Cochin, lieutenant Robert Wallace Dunlop commissioned on 30 July 1822 to sail her to the United Kingdom. She arrived at Portsmouth on 7 July 1823, in July Captain Lord Henry Frederick Thynne took command, though he had nominally been appointed about a year earlier, on 30 July 1822. She was renamed Herald on 15 May 1824, and commissioned on 16 July 1824, at this time she was rated a yacht. Commander Henry John Leeke recommissioned her on 31 May 1824 and he sailed her to St Petersburg, the West Indies, back to England from Havana, then to Quebec, and finally to Malta. Captain Sir Augustus William James Clifford recommissioned Herald on 27 May 1826 to carry the Duke of Devonshire on an embassy to Russia, commanderHenry Eden replaced Clifford in November 1826, only to hand over command to Commander Edward William Curry Astley in April 1827. On 7 April 1829 Commander George Berkeley Maxwell replaced Astley, Maxwell sailed Herald to St Petersburg, Cartagena, Quebec, and home. Herald was paid off in 1830 and she then underwent fitting for sea between April and July 1830. On 20 November 1830 Captain Robert Godon took command at Portsmouth and he paid her off in January 1831. She then underwent fitting for sea again between November 1837 and August 1838, Captain John Nias recommissioned Herald on 24 May 1838 for the East Indies and China. During the period 1841–42 she was involved in actions off Canton in the commanded by Sir William Parker in the First Anglo-Chinese War. Herald was paid off at Chatham in 1842, Herald was converted at Sheerness to a survey ship between July 1844 and June 1845. At that time her armament was reduced to eight guns, Henry Kellett recommissioned Herald 8 February 1845 for surveying in the Pacific. Together with HMS Pandora she conducted a survey of the coast of British Columbia after the Oregon boundary dispute with the United States, Herald was assigned in 1848 to join the search for Sir John Franklin who had been exploring the Northwest Passage. During this voyage Herald sailed through the Bering Strait across the Chukchi Sea and discovered Herald Island and she was then paid of in 1848. From 1852 to 1861, under the command of Captain Henry Mangles Denham, Herald carried out a survey of the Australian coast and Fiji Islands, the naturalists on the voyage were John MacGillivray, William Milne and Denis Macdonald as Assistant Surgeon-zoologist. However following disagreements with the captain, John MacGillivray disembarked at Sydney in January 1854 and she was the first sailing ship to enter the Fitzroy Dock, Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour
7.
Libertarianism
–
Libertarianism is a collection of political philosophies that uphold liberty as a core principle. Libertarians seek to maximize freedom and autonomy, emphasizing freedom of choice, voluntary association, individual judgment. Libertarians share a skepticism of authority and state power, however, they diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing political and economic systems. Various schools of libertarian thought offer a range of views regarding the functions of state and private power. Some libertarians advocate laissez-faire capitalism and strong private property rights, such as in land, infrastructure, an additional line of division is between minarchists and anarchists. While minarchists think that a centralized government is necessary, anarchists and anarcho-capitalists propose to completely eliminate the state. The first recorded use of the term libertarian was in 1789, the word was again used in a political sense in 1802, in a short piece critiquing a poem by the author of Gebir, and has since been used with this meaning. Déjacque also used the term for his anarchist publication Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social, in the mid-1890s, Sébastien Faure began publishing a new Le Libertaire while Frances Third Republic enacted the lois scélérates, which banned anarchist publications in France. Libertarianism has frequently used as a synonym for anarchism since this time. Although the word continues to be widely used to refer to socialists internationally. Libertarianism in the United States has been described as conservative on issues and liberal on personal freedom. There is contention about whether right, left, and socialist libertarianism represent distinct ideologies as opposed to variations on a theme, all libertarians begin with a conception of personal autonomy from which they argue in favor of civil liberties and a reduction or elimination of the state. Right-libertarianism developed in the United States in the century and is the most popular conception of libertarianism in that region. It is commonly referred to as a continuation or radicalization of classical liberalism, right-libertarians value the social institutions that enforce conditions of capitalism, while rejecting institutions that function in opposition to these institutions. These may be the byproducts of conservatism, one or more of its historically specific, but they are not its animating purpose. Such a view might seem miles away from the defense of the free market, with its celebration of the atomistic. When the libertarian looks out upon society, he does not see isolated individuals, he sees private, often hierarchical, groups, where a father governs his family and an owner his employees. Left-libertarianism encompasses those libertarian beliefs that claim the Earths natural resources belong to everyone in a manner, either unowned or owned collectively
8.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
