1.
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
2.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
3.
Baja California
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Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of 70,113 km2, or 3. 57% of the mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California Peninsula, north of the 28th parallel. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Sonora, the U. S. State of Arizona, and the Gulf of California and its northern limit is the U. S. state of California. The state has an population of 3,165,776 much more than the sparsely populated Baja California Sur to the south. Over 75% of the lives in the capital city, Mexicali, in Ensenada. Other important cities include San Felipe, Rosarito and Tecate, additionally, there is a large immigrant population from the United States due to its proximity to San Diego and the cheaper cost of living compared to San Diego. There is also a significant population from Central America, many immigrants moved to Baja California for a better quality of life and the number of higher paying jobs in comparison to the rest of Mexico and Latin America. Baja California is the twelfth largest state by area in Mexico and its geography ranges from beaches to forests and deserts. The backbone of the state is the Sierra de Baja California, where the Picacho del Diablo and this mountain range effectively divides the weather patterns in the state. In the northwest, the weather is semi-dry and mediterranean, in the narrow center, the weather changes to be more humid due to altitude. It is in area where a few valleys can be found, such as the Valle de Guadalupe. To the east of the range, the Sonoran Desert dominates the landscape. In the south, the weather becomes drier and gives way to the Vizcaino Desert, the state is also home to numerous islands off both of its shores. In fact, the westernmost point in Mexico, the Guadalupe Island, is part of Baja California, the Coronado, Todos Santos and Cedros Islands are also on the Pacific Shore. On the Gulf of California, the biggest island is the Angel de la Guarda, separated from the peninsula by the deep, the first people came to the peninsula at least 11,000 years ago. At that time two main groups are thought to have been present on the peninsula. In the south were the Cochimí, in the north were several groups belonging to the Yuman language family, including the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay, Cocopa, and Quechan
4.
Baja California Sur
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Before becoming a state on October 8,1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It is bordered to the north by the state of Baja California, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, the state has maritime borders with Sonora and Sinaloa to the east, across the Gulf of California. The state is home to the tourist resorts of Cabo San Lucas and its largest city and capital is La Paz. The state is the part of the Baja California Peninsula. With a territory of 73,909 km², it is about 750 km long, the state is divided into five municipalities. Comondú is located in the center of the state with its seat at Ciudad Constitución and it borders the municipalities of Mulegé, Loreto and La Paz with the Pacific Ocean to the west. Mulegé is in the north of the state with its capital in Santa Rosalía and it borders the municipalities of Comondú and Loreto with Baja California Norte to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Gulf of California to the east. It accounts for almost 45% of the state’s territory, the municipality of La Paz is in the south of the state. It is the second largest municipality, accounting for just over 27% of the territory of the state and it borders the municipalities of Comondú and Los Cabos and extends from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of California. The municipality of Los Cabos is at the tip of the state, with its seat at San José del Cabo. The municipality is one of the most important tourist destinations in Mexico, the municipality borders that of La Paz to the north, with the rest defined by the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. The municipality of Loreto is in the center of the state and it borders the municipalities of Mulegé and Comondú with the Gulf of California to the east. Its major cities are La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, Ciudad Constitución, Santa Rosalia, the territory is primarily mountains or mountain ranges and coastal plains. The mountain ranges parallel the coastline and are of volcanic rock, the local name for the main mountain range is the Sierra de la Giganta and the highest peak is the Sierra de la Laguna at 2080m above sea level. The coastal plains are significantly wider on the Pacific side, averaging about 40 km, with much wider plains such as those of Santa Clara, Berrendo and these areas are dominated by sedimentary rock, especially limestone of marine origin. The state is divided into five regions, Central Desert, La Serranía, the Vizcaíno Desert, the Central Desert has desert plants, with vegetation springing up during short and irregular rains. The La Serranía is the mountain areas with significant tree cover. The Magdalena Plains is a large, flat area near the Pacific coast, the climate of the state is dry, with an average annual temperature of 18–22°C and average annual rainfall of less than 200mm
5.
Chihuahua (state)
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Chihuahua, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Its capital city is Chihuahua City and it is located in Northwestern Mexico and is bordered by the states of Sonora to the west, Sinaloa to the southwest, Durango to the south, and Coahuila to the east. To the north and northeast, it has a border with the U. S. adjacent to the U. S. states of New Mexico. Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico by area, with an area of 247,455 square kilometres, the state is consequently known under the nickname El Estado Grande. Although Chihuahua is primarily identified with the Chihuahuan Desert for namesake, it has more forests than any state in Mexico. Due to its variant climate, the state has a variety of fauna. The state is characterized by rugged mountainous terrain and wide river valleys. On the slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, there are vast prairies of short yellow grass, most of the inhabitants live along the Rio Grande Valley and the Conchos River Valley. The etymology of the name Chihuahua has long disputed by historians. The most accepted theory explains that the name was derived from the Nahuatl language meaning The place where the water of the rivers meet, Chihuahua has a diversified state economy. The three most important economic centers in the state are, Ciudad Juárez, a manufacturing center, Chihuahua, the state capital, and Delicias. Today Chihuahua serves as an important commercial route prospering from billions of dollars from international trade as a result of NAFTA, on the other hand the state suffers the fallout of illicit trade and activities especially at the border. The earliest evidence of inhabitants of modern day Chihuahua was discovered in the area of Samalayuca. Clovis points have been found in northeastern Chihuahua that have dated from 12,000 BC to 7000 BC. It is thought that these inhabitants were hunter gatherers, inhabitants of the state later developed farming with the domestication of corn. An archeological site in northern Chihuahua known as Cerro Juanaqueña revealed squash cultivation, irrigation techniques, between AD300 and 1300 in the northern part of the state along the wide, fertile valley on the San Miguel River the Casas Grandes culture developed into an advanced civilization. The Casas Grandes civilization is part of a prehistoric archaeological culture known as Mogollon which is related to the Ancestral Pueblo culture. Paquime was the center of the Casas Grandes civilization, extensive archaeological evidence shows commerce, agriculture, and hunting at Paquime and Cuarenta Casas
6.
Coahuila
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The state is located in Northeastern Mexico on the US border. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of Nuevo León to the east, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí to the south, and Durango and Chihuahua to the west. To the north, Coahuila accounts for a 512 kilometres stretch of the Mexico–United States border, with an area of 151,563 square kilometres, it is the nations third-largest state. In 2010, Coahuilas population is 2,748,391 inhabitants, the Spanish explored the north of Mexico some decades after their victory in Tenochtiitlán the capital of the Aztecs. Such exploration was delayed because the climate was harsher and there was no gold. The first Spanish settlement in the now called Coahuila was at Minas de la Trinidad in 1577. Saltillo was settled in 1586, to part of the province of Nueva Vizcaya of the Vice-royalty of New Spain. Later it became one of the first provinces of Nueva Extremadura to be explored by Europeans, Coahuila and Texas was one of the constituent states of the newly independent United Mexican States under their 1824 Constitution, and included Texas, Coahuila and Nuevo León. Later in the same year Nuevo León was detached, but Texas remained a part of the state until 1836, Monclova was the capital of the state from 1833 to 1835. In 1840 Coahuila briefly became a member of the short lived Republic of the Rio Grande, on February 19,1856, Santiago Vidaurri annexed Coahuila to his state, Nuevo León, but it regained its separate status in 1868. During the Mexican Revolution, Francisco Villa attacked the city of Torreón, on April 4,2004, the border city of Piedras Negras was flooded. More than 30 people died and more than 4,000 lost their homes, in 2007 Coahuila became the first state in Mexico to offer civil unions to same-sex couples. The Sierra Madre Oriental runs northwest to southeast through the State, the northernmost fingers of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra del Burro and the Sierra del Carmen, reach to the border with the United States at the Rio Grande. East of the range, the land slopes gently toward the Rio Grande, and is drained by rivers, including the Salado and its tributary. The Tamaulipan mezquital, a dry shrubland ecoregion, occupies the portion of the State. The portion of the State west of the Sierra Madre Oriental lies on the Mexican Plateau, the Bolsón de Mapimí is a large endorheic basin which covers much of the western portion of the State and extends into adjacent portions of Chihuahua, Durango, and Zacatecas. The Nazas River, which flows east from Durango, and the Aguanaval River, Torreón, the most populous city in the State, lies on the Nazas in the irrigated Laguna Region, the, which straddles the border of Coahuila and Durango. Maderas del Carmen lies on the border of the State
7.
Durango
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Durango, officially Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico, with a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexicos second-lowest population density, after Baja California Sur. The city of Victoria de Durango is the capital, named after the first president of Mexico. Sedentary life began in Durango around 500 B. C. in response to population growth, the exceptions were the Acaxee, Humas, and Xiximes who were constantly at war but always on the look-out for final settlements in the region of the Quebradas. On the east bank of the state a longitudinal zone can be found, the Indios Laguneros traveled interchangeably between this area, they were characterized by their rebellious attitude, instability, religious customs and for being hunters and gatherers. These Natives of which so little was recorded were the first inhabitants of the region long before they were exterminated by the Spanish colonists, today, only a few remain of the Tepehuanos, Huicholes, Coras and Tarahumara tribes. By around 200–300 A. D. Durango along with the central zone of present-day Mexico was inhabited by sedentary groups that were link to the cultures located further south. The state was connected by a commercial network that linked it to areas as north as New Mexico. Spanish explorer Francisco de Ibarra, the first to colonize Durango, on July 8,1563, he founded the capital city and named it Durango for the town Durango, Biscay, Spain. Additionally many of the soldiers who came on the expedition of Captain Francisco de Ibarra, in 1552 Spanish Captain Ginés Vázquez del Mercado discovered one of the worlds richest iron-ore deposits which was named after him, present-day Cerro de Mercado. Gradually, in the decades, the Franciscans followed by the Jesuits began the evangelization of Nueva Vizcaya. The establishment of garrisons in Northern Mexico provided security to the people immersed in isolation, the new routes enjoined the military camps and thus emerged the Courier of the Provinces, a government scheme adopted by the Spanish monarchs in 1767. The new territory began to split in the colonial period, the first to emerge was the Sinaloa Province, which then included the areas known today as Sonora and Arizona. At the time that Porfirio Díaz was at the head of the Republic, Durango also experienced local dictatorships such as that of Governor Juan Manuel Flores, esteban Fernandez, who also became governor, was reelected in 1908 after his four-year term only to leave in 1911. Durango played an important role in the Mexican Revolution. On November 21,1910, Duranguense military personnel Jesús Agustín Castro and Oreste Pereyra, the splitting of the territories continued with the government of Enrique R. At the half century, the educational crusade began which bestowed upon Durango colleges of education such as Instituto Tecnológico de Durango. The latter was based on the historical Instituto Juarez, which dates back to the eighteenth century and this was a late colonization for the Spanish, due mostly to heavy resistance by the indigenous population
8.
Sinaloa
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Sinaloa, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, compose the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 18 municipalities and its capital city is Culiacán Rosales and it is located in Northwestern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Sonora to the north, Chihuahua and Durango to the east, to the west, Sinaloa has a significant share of coastline on the Gulf of California. The state covers an area of 57,377 square kilometers and it is known to be a stronghold territory for the Sinaloa Cartel. In addition to the city, the states important cities include Mazatlán. Prior to the coming of the Spaniards, much of Sinaloa was inhabited by the Cáhita peoples, in 1531, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán with a force of over 10,000 men, defeated a force of 30,000 Cahíta warriors at the site of Culiacán. Beltrán de Guzmán established a Spanish and allied Indian outpost at San Miguel de Culiacán, over the next decade, the Cahíta suffered severe depopulation from smallpox and other diseases the Spanish brought. The Spanish organized Sinaloa as part of the gobierno of Nueva Galicia, the first capital of Nueva Vizcaya was located in San Sebastián, near Copala, but the capital moved to Durango in 1583. Starting in 1599, Jesuit missionaries spread out from a base at what is now Sinaloa de Leyva and by 1610, in 1601, the Jesuits movement into the eastern part of Sinaloa led to the Acaxee going to war. The Spanish eventually managed to reassert authority in the Sierra Madre Occidental region, after Mexican independence, Sinaloa was joined with Sonora as Estado de Occidente, but it became a separate, sovereign state in 1830. Sinaloa is traversed by rivers, which carve broad valleys into the foothills. The largest of these rivers are the Culiacán, Fuerte, Sinaloa has a warm climate on the coast, moderately warm climate in the valleys and foothills, moderately cold in the lower mountains, and cold in the higher elevations. Its weather characteristics vary from subtropical, found on coastal plains, temperatures range from 22 °C to 43 °C with rain and thunderstoms during the summer months and dry conditions throughout most of the year. Numerous species of plants and animals are found within Sinaloa, notable among the tree species is the elephant tree, Bursera microphylla. Culturally, it is known for its popular styles of music banda and it is the only place in the continent where the ancient Mesoamerican ballgame is played, in a handful of small, rural communities not far from Mazatlán. The ritual ballgame was central in the society, religion and cosmology of all the great Mesoamerican cultures including the Mixtecs, Aztecs, the Sinaloa version of the game is called ulama and is very similar to the original. There are efforts to preserve this 3500-year-old unique tradition by supporting the communities and its rich cuisine is well-known for its variety particularly in regard to mariscos and vegetables. Sushi is a popular dish here, the Sinaloa Cartel has significantly influenced the culture of Sinaloa
9.
Sonora
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Sonora, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Sonora, is one of 31 states that, with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities, the city is Hermosillo. Sonora is located in Northwest Mexico, bordered by the states of Chihuahua to the east, Baja California to the northwest and Sinaloa to the south. To the north, it shares the U. S. –Mexico border with the states of Arizona and New Mexico, and on the west has a significant share of the coastline of the Gulf of California. Sonoras natural geography is divided into three parts, the Sierra Madre Occidental in the east of the state, plains and rolling hills in the center, and the coast on the Gulf of California. It is primarily arid or semiarid deserts and grasslands, with only the highest elevations having sufficient rainfall to support other types of vegetation, Sonora is home to eight indigenous peoples, including the Mayo, the Yaqui, and Seri. It has been important for its agriculture, livestock, and mining since the colonial period. With the Gadsden Purchase, Sonora lost more than a quarter of its territory, from the 20th century to the present, industry, tourism, and agribusiness have dominated the economy, attracting migration from other parts of Mexico. Several theories exist as to the origin of the name Sonora and they encountered the Opata, who could not pronounce Señora, instead saying Senora or Sonora. A third theory, written by Father Cristóbal de Cañas in 1730, states that the name comes from the word for a water well, sonot. The first record of the name Sonora comes from explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, Francisco de Ibarra also traveled through the area in 1567 and referred to the Valles de Señora. Evidence of human existence in the dates back over 10,000 years. The first humans were hunter gatherers who used tools made from stones, seashells. During much of the period, the environmental conditions were less severe than they are today, with similar. The oldest Clovis culture site in North America is believed to be El Fin del Mundo in northwestern Sonora and it was discovered during a 2007 survey. It features occupation dating around 13,390 calibrated years BP, in 2011, remains of Gomphothere were found, the evidence suggests that humans did in fact kill two of them here. Agriculture first appeared around 400 BCE and 200 CE in the river valleys, the lowland central coast, however, seems never truly to have adopted agriculture. Because Sonora and much of the northwest does not share many of the traits of that area
10.
Tamaulipas
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Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities and its capital city is Ciudad Victoria, the capital city was named after Guadalupe Victoria, the first President of Mexico. It is located in Northeastern Mexico and it is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the southeast, San Luis Potosí to the southwest and Nuevo León to the west. To the north, it has a 370 km stretch of the U. S. –Mexico border along the state of Texas and this state is known to be both a territorial struggle for the Gulf Cartel and the Los Zetas. The name Tamaulipas is derived from Tamaholipa, a Huastec term in which the tam- prefix signifies place, there is no scholarly agreement on the meaning of holipa, but high hills is a common interpretation. Another explanation of the name is that it is derived from Ta ma holipam. In addition to the city, Ciudad Victoria, the states largest cities include Reynosa, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo. The area known as Tamaulipas has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years, several different cultures have come and gone during that period. Tamaulipas was originally populated by the Olmec people and later by Chichimec and Huastec tribes, between 1445 and 1466, Mexica armies commanded by Moctezuma I Ilhuicamina conquered much of the territory and transformed it into a tributary region for the Mexica empire. However, the Aztecs never fully conquered certain mostly nomadic indigenous groups in the area, although Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs rather quickly, it took a gradual process for Spain to subjugate the inhabitants of Tamaulipas in the 16th and 17th centuries. The first permanent Spanish settlement in the area was Tampico in 1554, further settlement was done by Franciscan missionaries, widespread cattle and sheep ranching by the Spanish bolstered the area’s economy while forcing native populations from their original lands. Repeated indigenous rebellions kept the area unstable and weakened colonial interest in the region, what is now Tamaulipas was first incorporated as a separate province of New Spain in 1746 with the name Nuevo Santander. The local government capital during this time moved from Santander to San Carlos, the territory of this time spanned from the San Antonio river to the north east to the Gulf of Mexico, then south to the Panuco River near Tampico and west to the Sierra Madre Mountains. The area became a haven for rebellious Indians who fled there after increased Spanish settlements in Nuevo León, one of these groups was known as Lipan. By 1790 Europeans turned their attention from the groups and focused on containing the Apache invaders. In northeastern Coahuila and adjacent Texas, Spanish and Apache displacements created an ethnic mix. Here the local Indians mixed with displaced groups from Coahuila and Chihuahua, some groups, to escape the pressure, combined and migrated north into the Central Texas highlands. In 1824, after the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, during the fights between centralists and federalists that soon followed, the successful Texas Revolution led to the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836
11.
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
12.
Zacatecas
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Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatecas is located in North-Central Mexico. The state is best known for its deposits of silver and other minerals, its colonial architecture. Its main economic activities are mining, agriculture and tourism, Zacatecas is located in the center-north of Mexico, and covers an area of 75, 284km2, the tenth largest state in the country. It borders the states of Jalisco, Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosí, Coahuila and Durango and is divided into fifty eight municipalities and 4,882, towns, cities and other communities. The state has an altitude of 2230 meters above sea level. The state has three geographical regions, the Sierra Madre Occidental in the west, the Mexican Plateau. Most of it is in the Sierra Madre Occidental with highly rugged with peaks of over 2,500 meters above sea level, the mountains of the southeast and northeast are lower but there large valleys such as the Juchipila and Tlaltenango. Most of the territory has only small mesas and other areas of flat land, in the center of the state, there is a small mountain chain called the Sierra de Fresnillo, from which much of the state’s mineral wealth comes from. In the extreme northwest, there is another important mountain chain called the Sierra de Sombrerete, marked by a mountain called Sombreretillo, near this chain is another called the Sierra de Órganos. No major rivers run through the state and most of the run only during the rainy season. The state belongs to two basins, the south east of the state belongs to the Lerma River basin, which eventually empties in the Pacific Ocean. Rivers belonging to this include the San Pedro, Juchipila, Jerez. The other basin is smaller and endorheic, and does not empty into any ocean, the state has eighty dams with a total capacity of 595,337 million cubic meters. The largest of these are the Leobardo Reynoso in Fresnillo, Miguel Aleman in Tlaltenango, much of the state’s water is underground divided into twenty hydraulic zones. These are accesses with over 5,800 wells mostly for agricultural use, most of the territory has a cool, dry climate, although areas in the south have more moisture, with most rain falling between June and September. The driest and coldest areas are in the northeast, known as the Salado because of its saltwater lakes, 75% of the state is arid or semi arid. 14% is arable and 79% is apt for the grazing of livestock, the average annual temperature is 16C with most of the state being temperate
13.
Nomad
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A nomad is a member of a community of people who live in different locations, moving from one place to another. Among the various ways nomads relate to their environment, one can distinguish the hunter-gatherer, as of 1995, there were an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world. Nomadic hunting and gathering, following seasonally available wild plants and game, is by far the oldest human subsistence method, pastoralists raise herds, driving them, or moving with them, in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism is also a lifestyle adapted to regions such as steppe, tundra, or ice and sand. For example, many groups in the tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic and these nomads sometimes adapt the use of high technology such as solar photovoltaics to reduce their dependence on diesel fuel. These groups are known as peripatetic nomads, a nomad is a person with no settled home, moving from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. The word Nomad comes from a Greek word that one who wanders for pasture. Most nomadic groups follow an annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements. Nomadic peoples traditionally travel by animal or canoe or on foot, today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Most nomads live in tents or other portable shelters, Nomads keep moving for different reasons. Nomadic foragers move in search of game, edible plants, the Australian Aborigines, Negritos of Southeast Asia, and San of Africa, for example, traditionally move from camp to camp to hunt and to gather wild plants. Some tribes of the Americas followed this way of life, Pastoral nomads make their living raising livestock, such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, or yaks. These nomads travel to find more camels, goats, and sheep through the deserts of Arabia, the Fulani and their cattle travel through the grasslands of Niger in western Africa. Some nomadic peoples, especially herders, may move to raid settled communities or avoid enemies. Nomadic craftworkers and merchants travel to find and serve customers and they include the Lohar blacksmiths of India, the Romani traders, and the Irish Travellers. Most nomads travel in groups of families called bands or tribes and these groups are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. A council of adult males makes most of the decisions, though some tribes have chiefs, in the case of Mongolian nomads, a family moves twice a year. These two movements would generally occur during the summer and winter, the winter location is usually located near mountains in a valley and most families already have their fixed winter locations
14.
Mayo people
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The Mayo or Yoreme are an indigenous group in Mexico, living in the states of Southern Sonora, Northern Sinaloa and small settlements in Durango. Mayo people originally lived near the Mayo River and Fuerte River valleys, the Mayo sustain themselves mainly by agriculture and fishing, but also create artwork and crafts. In their own language they call themselves Yoreme, the term Mayo means the people of the river bank and comes from the Mayo River. The Mayo language belongs to the a Cahita branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family and it is closely related to Yaqui and it is spoken by approximately 40,000 people. They own traditional authorities, who are elected by vote and their hierarchy is respected on par with the Mexican civil laws, the earliest inhabitants of this region hunted, fished, and gathered plants. They gradually developed a technique that allowed them to settle in various communities. On arrival of the Spaniards in the states of Sonora and Sinaloa, the Mayos were part of an Indian confederacy with the Apaches, Pima. Their purpose was the joint defense of the invasion of other groups, mutual respect for their territory, currently, most Mayo farm, often with advanced techniques. They fish and make handicrafts intended for use by the community and they build their adobe or wood houses, depending on the climate and location. The first traces of settlements in the Mayo region date from 180 CE in the present municipality of Huatabampo, after the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish military campaigns were organized to subdue the Mayo region to the Spanish crown in 1531. However it was not achieved until 1599, through the mediation of Jesuit missionaries, the Jesuit Pedro Méndez tried evangelizing the Mayo. However, Mayos did not cease to resist the Spaniards, in 1740 marked an armed uprising, which ended with the victory again for the Spanish, after which a period of peace lasted almost a century. For 1867 the Mayo returned to take up arms with the Yaquis against the government of Mexico and they achieve a peace agreement after the Mexican Revolution with the distribution of land as communal property. The Mayo fought with Alvaro Obregóns constitutionalist fighter during the revolution, the main Mayo festival takes place during Easter and portrays the passion of Christ. Other festivals celebrated St. Juan Bautista, St. Francis of Assisi, the Mayo Flag was designed by a young Sonoran individual, whose name is not known. A deer surrounded by stars, called masochoquim or Deer of the stars in Cahita culture, stands on an orange field, fernando Valenzuela, professional baseball player Joel Huiqui, professional association football player David Yetman, Thomas Van Devender. Mayo Ethnobotany, Land, History, and Traditional Knowledge in Northwest Mexico, apuntes históricos Sonorenses, La conquista temporal y espiritual del Yaqui y del Mayo. Crumrine, Lynne S. Ceremonial Exchange as a Mechanism in Tribal Integration Among the Mayos of Northwest Mexico, anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona 14,1969
15.
Yaqui
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The Yaqui or Yoeme are Native Americans who inhabit the valley of the Río Yaqui in the Mexican state of Sonora and the Southwestern United States. They also have small settlements in Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Durango, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe is based in Tucson, Arizona. Yaqui people also live elsewhere in the southwestern United States, especially Nevada, the Yaqui territory comprises three distinct areas, a mountainous area, a fishing area and cropland. Today the population is about 32,000, having been reduced because of the wars they fought for their survival for more than 50 years. At the end of the 19th century, under the government of Porfirio Diaz, they were confronted and many were deported to plantations in Yucatan and Quintana Roo. Many of them returned to their homeland on foot, and others immigrated to Arizona in order to escape the repression of the Mexican government, the Yaqui population in Arizona is currently about 8,000 and the Tribe is recognized by the United States government. Today, in addition to the inhabitants of the traditional Yaqui area, since they did not return to their villages, they form their own colonies inside of various prominent cities. In the capital of Sonora, the city of Hermosillo, colonies such as La Matanza, El Coloso and these are places in which the inhabitants make an effort to conserve the traditions and culture of the Yaqui Nation. The patio is used for raising animals and, in the remote areas, is where the latrine is installed. The Yaqui language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan language family, Yaqui speak a Cahitan language, a group of about 10 mutually-intelligible languages formerly spoken in much of the states of Sonora and Sinaloa. Most of the Cahitan languages are extinct, only the Yaqui and Mayo still speak their language. About 15,000 Yaqui speakers live in Mexico and 1,000 in the U. S. A, the Yaqui call themselves Hiaki or Yoeme, the Yaqui word for person. The Yaqui call their homeland Hiakim, from which some say the name Yaqui is derived and they may also describe themselves as Hiaki Nation or Pascua Hiaki, meaning The Easter People, as most had converted to Catholicism under Jesuit influence in colonial Mexico. Many folk etymologies account for how the Yoeme came to be known as the Yaqui, when the Spanish first came into contact with the Yaqui in 1533, they occupied a territory along the lower course of the Yaqui River. They were estimated to number 30,000 people living in 80 rancherias in an area about 60 miles long and 15 miles wide, some Yaqui lived near the mouth of the river and were dependent upon the sea for subsistence. Most lived in communities, growing beans, maize. A few lived an existence in the deserts and mountains. Captain Diego de Guzmán, leader of an expedition to lands north of the Spanish settlements
16.
Monterrey
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Monterrey, is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, in Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation, Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the base of many significant international corporations. It is one of the wealthiest cities in Mexico with a GDP PPP of 130.7 billion dollars in 2012, Monterreys GDP PPP per capita is of approximately 32,000 dollars. It is considered a Beta World City, cosmopolitan and competitive, rich in history and culture, Monterrey is considered one of the most developed cities in the entire country and often regarded as the most americanized in Mexico. A. Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery and Heineken, which features Norteño capital and Grupo ALFA, Monterrey is located in northeast Mexico, at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental. The uninterrupted settlement of Monterrey starts in 1596, with its founding by Diego de Montemayor, in the years after the Mexican War of Independence, Monterrey became an important business center. With the establishment of Fundidora Monterrey, the city experienced a great industrial growth, prior to the European foundation of the city, there was no established nation state, and the population instead consisted of some indigenous semi-nomad groups. Carved stone and cave painting in surrounding mountains and caves have allowed historians to identify four major groups in present-day Monterrey, Azalapas, Huachichiles, Coahuiltecos and Borrados. In the 16th century, the valley in which Monterrey is located was known as the Extremadura Valley, in 1580 he arrived in the newly granted lands but it was not until 1582 that he established a settlement called San Luis Rey de Francia within present-day Monterrey. The New Kingdom of León extended westwards from the port of Tampico to the limits of Nueva Vizcaya, Monterrey was also the point of emigration from Europe, people from Portugal, Spain, France, Russia went to Monterrey seeing it as a good place to live in. Most of the Monterrey people descent from a creole Spanish heritage, during the years of Spanish rule, Monterrey remained a small city, and its population varied from a few hundred to only dozens. The city was a place that facilitated trade between San Antonio, Tampico and from Saltillo to the center of the country, tampicos port brought many products from Europe, while Saltillo concentrated the Northern Territories trade with the capital, Mexico City. San Antonio was the key trade point with the foreign colonies. In 1824, the New Kingdom of León became the State of Nuevo León, in 1846, the earliest large-scale engagement of the Mexican-American War took place in the city, known as the Battle of Monterrey. Mexican forces were forced to surrender but only after successfully repelling U. S. forces during the first few advances on the city, the battle inflicted high casualties on both sides, much of them resulting from hand-to-hand combat within the walls of the city center. Many of the generals in the Mexican War against France were natives of the city, including Mariano Escobedo, Juan Zuazua, during the last decade of the 19th century, the city of Monterrey was linked by railroad, which benefitted industry. In 1986, several games of the 1986 FIFA World Cup were hosted. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert caused great damage to the city, the conference resulted in the adoption of the Monterrey Consensus, which has become one relevant reference point for international development and cooperation
17.
Durango City
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Durango, officially Victoria de Durango and also known as Ciudad de Durango, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Durango. It stands at an altitude of 1,880 metres above sea level, the city was founded on July 8,1563 by Spanish Basque explorer Francisco de Ibarra. During the Spanish colonial era the city was the capital of the Nueva Vizcaya province of New Spain, as of 2010, the city had a total population of 518,709, up from 463,830 as of 2005. It serves as seat of Durango Municipality which had a population of 582,267 in 2010. The municipality has a large land area of 10,041 square kilometres and includes such outlying communities as El Nayar. The city of Durango was built on a valley in which a primitive Spanish village named Nombre de Dios was founded. According to the 1921 Mexican census, the city had a population of 67,456 out of which 21,300 were European immigrants, the city of Durango is located in the northwestern part of the country, and Midwestern part of the Mexican plateau. It is between 22 °40 and 26 °50 north latitude and between the meridian 102 °2555 and 107 °0850 west latitude relative to Greenwich, the municipality is 10.041 square kilometers. Its longest measured lengths are 520 kilometers and 480 kilometers from east to west, the city of Durango has a semi-arid climate, classified as BSk in the Köppen climate classification system. The climate is temperate in the western portion, with the annual temperature being 15 °C. In the eastern region, the annual temperature is 19 °C. Winters are mild, with a daytime high of 21 °C in January. As a result of the altitude and aridity during the winter months. Occasionally, temperatures can go above 30 °C while cold fronts from the north can push temperatures below −5 °C. During the winter months, the climate is dominated by the ridge, resulting in dry conditions and many days are clear and sunny. Precipitation is rare, with March being the driest month, summers are warm to hot with June being the hottest month, with an average high of 30 °C and a low of 14 °C. Generally, this occurs around in mid-June. Afternoon storms are common in the summer and they can be accompanied with hail or thunderstorms, July and August have warm temperatures, averaging 28 °C though slightly cooler due to the presence of the rain
18.
Francisco de Ibarra
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Francisco de Ibarra was a Basque explorer, founder of the city of Durango, and governor of the Spanish province of Nueva Vizcaya, in present-day Durango and Chihuahua. Francisco de Ibarra was born about 1534 in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, the young Ibarra noted silver in the vicinity of present-day Fresnillo, but passed it by. He explored further and founded towns at San Martín and Avino, in 1562, Ibarra headed another expedition to push farther into northwest Mexico. In particular, he was searching for the golden city of Copala. He did not find the treasure, but explored and conquered what is now the Mexican state of Durango. Ibarra was appointed governor of the newly formed province of Nueva Vizcaya in 1562, in 1564, Ibarra, following rumors of rich mineral deposits, crossed the Sierra Madre Occidental to conquer what is now southern Sinaloa. Prospectors discovered silver veins in the new territory, and in 1565, de Ibarra founded the towns of Copala, soldiers under Ibarras direction explored north from Durango in 1567, and founded the town of Santa Bárbara in present-day Chihuahua to mine the silver they found there. Francisco de Ibarra died on 3 June 1575 in Pánuco, Sinaloa, one of the silver-mining cities that he founded
19.
Basques
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The Basques are an indigenous ethnic group characterised by the Basque language, a common Basque culture and shared ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. The Basques are known as, Euskaldunak in Basque Vasco in Spanish Basque in French, the English word Basque may be pronounced /bɑːsk/ or /bæsk/ and derives from the French Basque, which is derived from Gascon Basco, cognate with Spanish Vasco. These, in turn, come from Latin Vasco, plural Vascones, several coins from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC found in the Basque Country bear the inscription barscunes. The place where they were minted is not certain, but is thought to be somewhere near Pamplona, in Basque, the people call themselves the euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal- and -dun, euskaldun literally means a Basque speaker. Therefore, the neologism euskotar, plural euskotarrak, was coined in the 19th century to mean a culturally Basque person, alfonso Irigoyen posits that the word euskara is derived from an ancient Basque verb enautsi to say and the suffix -ara. Thus euskara would literally mean way of saying, way of speaking, one item of evidence in favour of this hypothesis is found in the Spanish book Compendio Historial, written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay. He records the name of the Basque language as enusquera and it may, however, be a writing mistake. In the 19th century, the Basque nationalist activist Sabino Arana posited an original root euzko which, he thought, on the basis of this putative root, Arana proposed the name Euzkadi for an independent Basque nation, composed of seven Basque historical territories. Aranas neologism Euzkadi is still used in both Basque and Spanish, since it is now the official name of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. Since the Basque language is unrelated to Indo-European, it has long thought to represent the people or culture that occupied Europe before the spread of Indo-European languages there. A comprehensive analysis of Basque genetic patterns has shown that Basque genetic uniqueness predates the arrival of agriculture in the Iberian Peninsula and it is thought that Basques are a remnant of the early inhabitants of Western Europe, specifically those of the Franco-Cantabrian region. Basque tribes were mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, the Aquitani. There is enough evidence to support the hypothesis that at that time, castile deprived Navarre of its coastline by conquering key western territories, leaving the kingdom landlocked. The Basques were ravaged by the War of the Bands, bitter partisan wars between local ruling families, weakened by the Navarrese civil war, the bulk of the realm eventually fell before the onslaught of the Spanish armies. However, the Navarrese territory north of the Pyrenees remained beyond the reach of an increasingly powerful Spain, Lower Navarre became a province of France in 1620. Nevertheless, the Basques enjoyed a deal of self-government until the French Revolution and the Carlist Wars. On either side of the Pyrenees, the Basques lost their native institutions, labourd, Lower Navarre, and Soule were integrated into the French department system, with Basque efforts to establish a region-specific political-administrative entity failing to take off to date. The corresponding Basque names of these territories are Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, the BAC only includes three of the seven provinces of the currently called historical territories
20.
Nueva Vizcaya, New Spain
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Nueva Vizcaya was the first province in the north of New Spain to be explored and settled by the Spanish. It consisted mostly of the area which is today the states of Chihuahua, Spanish exploration of the area began in 1531 with Nuño Beltrán de Guzmáns expedition. He named the city he founded Villa de Guadalajara after his birthplace. The Spanish regent Queen Joanna replaced this with Nuevo Reino de Galicia, especially under the leadership of Francisco de Ibarra, settlements moved north into the interior of the continent after silver was discovered around Zacatecas. Ibarra named the new area Nueva Vizcaya after his homeland in Spain, Nueva Vizcaya included the modern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Durango, the eastern parts of Sonora y Sinaloa and the southwest part of Coahuila. The region was under the jurisdiction of the Royal Audience of Guadalajara, as part of the Bourbon Reforms, the northern provinces of the Viceroyalty were organized into the Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North in 1777. The Internal Provinces were originally designed to function independently from the New Spanish Viceroy, in 1787, an intendancy was established in Durango to promote economic and population growth. Another intendancy was also set up at Arizpe, Sonora, in 1788, the Internal Provinces were divided into two Commandancies, east and west. From 1788 to 1793, Nueva Vizcaya became part of the Western Internal Provinces, the Crown restored the dual Commandancies again in 1813, and this division remained until independence in 1821. The Mexican War of Independence started in 1810, a month before Hidalgo’s capture, a number of insurgents were detained, and a conflict at San Francisco between several hundred men occurred early in 1812. After the call of the Junta to reconvene the Spanish Cortes, Guereña served from April 4,1811, until his death on September 10,1813, and was a signatory of the Spanish Constitution of 1812. The Constitution was well received in the provinces, but was suspended by the viceroy in 1813, colonial liberals who supported the Constitution continued both legal and extra-legal efforts to reinstate it. He promptly arrested the plotters, but the men were pardoned through the efforts of authorities. A brief rebellion by the Opatas of Durango in 1820 was quelled without any serious bloodshed, the war also imperiled the northern frontier. The trade and tribute system, which the Viceroyalty had established at the end of the 18th century to pacify the tribes, had broken down due to the war. During this period Chihuahua began to suffer from renewed Apache raids, at the same time the Jesuits, who had been suppressed decades earlier, were permitted to reëstablish their missions. Tensions grew with the young United States, which followed the French boundaries of the recently-purchased Louisiana Territory, in 1819, explorer Zebulon Pike was sent to explore the disputed territory and was arrested by the authorities. A turning point came later year, when General Agustin de Iturbide rose against the viceregal authorities
21.
Mexicali
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Mexicali is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California and seat of the Municipality of Mexicali. The city maintains a highly educated and skilled population, as it has modernized, mexicalis economy has been historically based on agricultural products, and to this day it remains a large sector of the economy. As time has progressed, however, its economy has gone from being agricultural to include industry. Mexicali became the center for the aerospace industry in Mexico when Rockwell Collins established an operation there in 1966. Rockwell Collins is the oldest company under the program nationwide. The Spaniards arrived in the area crossing the Sonoran Deserts Camino del Diablo or Devils Road. This led to the evangelization of the area by Catholic missionaries, nowadays, indigenous Cocopah people still inhabit a small government-protected corner of the Colorado River delta near the junction of the Hardy and the Colorado. The Cocopah mostly work on agricultural ejidos or fishing, the early European presence in this area was limited to Anzas and subsequent Spanish expeditions across the Colorado Desert and subsequent travelers on the Sonora Road opened by them. Also the presence of the Jesuits who attempted to establish a mission in what is now Fort Yuma and they left after a revolt by the Yuma in 1781. After this, the Spanish had little to do with the corner of the Baja California Peninsula, perceiving it as an untamable. Later in the 1820s, the Mexican authorities reopened the Sonoran Road, the Sonoran Road provided a route for American fur trappers, and later American troops of Kearny and Cooke passing through the area during the Mexican–American War. Herds of cattle and sheep were driven into California across this desert trail also and this route became a U. S. This mail route remained in use until 1877 when the Southern Pacific Railroad came to Yuma making it obsolete and these sediments extended far to the west of the river itself, accumulating in a shallow basin below the Sierra de Cucapá. However, from time period until the 1880s, the area was almost completely unpopulated. However, around 1900, the area with any real population, aside from the Cocopah, were concentrated in Los Algodones. In 1900, the U. S. -based California Development Company received permission from the government of Díaz to cut a canal through the deltas Arroyo Alamo, to attract farmers to the area, the developers named it the Imperial Valley. In 1903, the first 500 farmers arrived, by late 1904,405 km² of valley were irrigated, with 10,000 people settled on the land harvesting cotton, fruits, and vegetables. The concentration of housing units that straddled the border was called Calexico on the U. S. side
22.
La Paz, Baja California Sur
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La Paz is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur and an important regional commercial center. The city had a 2010 census population of 215,178 people and its surrounding municipality, which is the fourth-largest municipality in Mexico in geographical size, reported a population of 251,871 persons living on a land area of 20,275 km2. On May 3,1535, Hernán Cortés arrived in the bay by La Paz and named it Santa Cruz, he attempted to start a colony, in 1596 Sebastián Vizcaíno arrived, giving the area its modern name, La Paz. From January 10,1854 to May 8,1854 it served as the capital of William Walkers Republic of Sonora, the project collapsed due to lack of US support and pressure from the Mexican government to retake the region. La Paz has a desert climate, the climate of La Paz is typically dry, warm and sunny with a year around average of between 24 and 33 °C. Summer months are typically between 34 and 36 °C and can be humid, the winter months are the coldest with temperatures dropping below 15 °C at night, but mostly maxima are from 20 to 25 °C. Breezes from Bahía de La Paz moderate the temperature, the bay also acts as a barrier against seasonal storms in the Gulf of California. Rainfall is minimal at most times of year, although erratic downpours can bring heavy rains, rain tends to be concentrated in a short, slightly rainier season that peaks in August and September, following the pattern of the North American Monsoon. The driest season, where it is common to have no rain, La Paz averages over 300 days of sunshine annually and its known to be very hot in the summer. During the summer the cooling Coromuel winds, a phenomenon unique to the La Paz area, blow during the night from the Pacific over the Peninsula. As with most of the Gulf of California, the temperature of the water changes substantially over the course of the year, with temperatures around 68 °F during winter and around 85 °F during summer. The population of La Paz has grown greatly since the 2000 census, tourists also visit the citys balnearios. Its diving, snorkeling, and kayaking are considered world class, La Paz is also favored by water enthusiasts for its marinas, boat yards, marine supply stores and cruiser club activities. The surrounding waters provide adventure for experienced boat captains and their customers, novice captains enjoy the nearby island coves for day and overnight trips. A wealth of experienced sailors and boaters willing to share their expertise are readily available, industries include silver mining, agriculture, fishing and pearls. Tourism is also an important source of employment for this coastal community, along with the areas marinas, new developments are emerging because of the proximity to the United States, the mild weather, the city services, and the peaceful atmosphere. When Aero California existed, its headquarters were in La Paz, La Paz is served by Manuel Márquez de León International Airport with flights to the most important cities of Mexico, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey. Airlines flying into La Paz include Aeroméxico Connect, Volaris and VivaAerobus, two ferry services operate from the port of Pichilingue outside the city, connecting the Baja California peninsula to the mainland at Mazatlán and Topolobampo, near Los Mochis
23.
Saltillo
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Saltillo is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 258 kilometres west of the Texas border, as of the 2005 census, Saltillo had a population of 725,095 people. 823,098 people reside within the area, making it the 19th biggest metro area in the country. The metro area comprises the municipalities of Saltillo, Ramos Arizpe, founded in 1577 by Conquistador Alberto del Canto and Spanish colonists, Saltillo is the oldest post-conquest settlement in northern Mexico. Saltillo was a commercial center on the northern frontier which served as a bridge from central Mexico to regions farther northeast, Nuevo León, Nuevo Santander, Coahuila. Saltillo supplied the mines of Zacatecas with wheat. It never rose to prominence, but it did develop a commercial core. Saltillo became administratively more important at the end of the eighteenth century, merchants, most of whom were Iberian-born peninsular Spaniards, constituted the most important economic group, handling a wide variety of goods and sold in shops. They were the branch of the transatlantic merchant sector, with ties to Mexico City merchants. Peninsular merchants in Saltillo married into local society, acquired rural properties. In the late century, an annual trade fair was established, with goods from as far away as China and Europe. Saltillo could produce wheat commercially so long as enterprises had access to water, in the eighteenth century, there was a demand for draft animals, which Saltillo could supply. The city of Saltillo is the seat of the municipality of Saltillo. The current Mayor is Isidro Lopez Villareal from the Partido Accion Nacional, el Cerro del Pueblo and its 4-metre cross overlook the city. The citys elevation, at 1,600 metres, makes it cooler and windier than the city of Monterrey. Saltillo lies near the city of Arteaga and in the Chihuahuan Desert, the city is flanked by the Zapalinamé mountains, which are part of the Sierra Madre Oriental. By looking at the relief of the mountains, one can see, according to local legend, Saltillo is located in the Chihuahuan Desert but temperatures are cooler than other desert cities in Mexico because it is located in an altitude of 1,600 meters. Summers are slightly hot with cool nights, and winters are sunny, rainfall is scarce but more prominent in summer
24.
Hermosillo
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Hermosillo, formerly called Pitic is a city located centrally in the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the capital and largest city as well as the economic center for the state. It contains almost all of the manufacturing and has thirty percent of its population. The major manufacturing sector is automobiles, which was begun in the 1980s, evidence of the areas first inhabitants dates back 3,000 years, much of which are from a site called the San Dieguito Complex, located in the El Pinacate Zone. Evidence of agriculture dates back 2,500 years, in the pre-Hispanic era, this area was inhabited by the Seri, Tepoca, and Pima peoples. The first encounter between the Spanish and natives occurred in the middle of the 16th century, when explorers were sent here in search of nonexistent gold. The first missionaries arrived in the state of Sonora around 1614, what is now the states of Sonora and Sinaloa was loosely organized as the provinces of Sonora, Ostimura and Sinaloa. In 1700, three small Spanish villages were founded in what is now the outskirts of Hermosillo, Nuestra Señora del Pópulo, Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles and la Santísima Trinidad del Pitic. The native peoples here soon became hostile to the Spanish and managed to drive them out several times in the early 18th century, in 1716, the Spanish offered irrigated lands for farmers to natives who agreed to abide by Spanish law. Around 1726, a fort named the Presidio of Pitic was constructed to stop the domination of this area by the natives, however, the situation did not settle soon so that the first church was not built until 1787 and the first formal parish was not established until 1822. During the Mexican War of Independence, Sonora and the town of Pitic stayed loyal to the Spanish Crown, in fact, a general from this area, Alejo García Conde, defeated insurgent José María González Hermosillo, who had been sent here by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. In 1825, the village of Pitic was made the seat of the department of the same name, in 1828, the settlement changed its name to Hermosillo to honor José María González de Hermosillo. A battle between imperial and republican forces occurred here in 1866 during the French Intervention in Mexico, in 1879, the capital of the state of Sonora was moved from Arizpe to Hermosillo. In 1881 the railroad linking Hermosillo with Guaymas and Nogales was finished, allowing for expansion in the area by bringing in mining equipment. Since then, the city has been a center for northwest Mexico. During the Mexican Revolution, forces loyal to Pancho Villa were repulsed by General Manuel M. Diéguez, after the assassination of Francisco I. Madero in 1913, Venustiano Carranza, then governor of Coahuila, here Carranza began the Constitutionalist Movement, and because of this, Hermosillo has the nickname of the revolutionary capital of the country. From the late 19th century and through the first two decades of the 20th, Chinese immigrants came into Sonora state, one of the places in which a significant number settled was the city of Hermosillo
25.
Ciudad Victoria
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Ciudad Victoria, is the capital city of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located in the region of the state. Ciudad Victoria is also the seat of the surrounding Victoria Municipality. According to the 2010 INEGI population count, the city had 305,155 inhabitants, the city and the municipality both rank fourth in population size in the state, behind Reynosa, Matamoros, and Nuevo Laredo. Ciudad Victoria was founded on October 6,1750 with the name Villa de Santa María de Aguayo by José de Escandón y Helguera. On April 20,1825, the town was elevated to the status of city, toward the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the city began undergoing a number of modernizing changes. In 1890, a railroad was completed that passed through Ciudad Victoria on its route between Monterrey and Tampico, several major highways were also completed during the 20th century. In 1896, the first childrens garden/playground in Latin America was established in the city by Estefanía Castañeda Núñez de Cáceres, the city is served by General Pedro J. Méndez International Airport, located 18 kilometers from the city center. List of universities in Ciudad Victoria, Universidad Miguel Aleman Campus Victoría, The Autonomous University of Tamaulipas, emilio Martínez Manaoutou, medic and politic Dr. Carlos Delgado Maldonado, medic, inventor and writer Dr. The city is in a valley between two ranges, the Sierra Madre Oriental to the west and the Sierra de Tamaulipas to the east. Victoria has short winters and long hot summers. Temperatures rarely drop below 0 °C — the lowest recorded temperature was −6 °C, the average annual precipitation is 700 millimeters. Half of this amount falls between May and September, although there is a trend in July. Its Köppen climate classification is Cwa or humid subtropical, its moderate elevation adds to overall precipitation pattern, exceptionally heavy rains brought by occasional North Atlantic tropical cyclones also influence the overall climate and precipitation amounts. Tamaulipas Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México Dirección de Tecnología Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Victoria Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas
26.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
27.
United Nations geoscheme
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The United Nations geoscheme is a system which divides the countries of the world into regional and subregional groups. It was devised by the United Nations Statistics Division based on the M49 coding classification, for instance, UNSD includes Georgia and Cyprus in Western Asia, yet the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and UNESCO include them in Europe. The schema was created for statistical analysis and consists of macro-geographical regions arranged to the extent possible according to continents, within these groupings, smaller, geographical subregions and selected economic and other groupings allow for detailed analysis
28.
Earth
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Earth, otherwise known as the World, or the Globe, is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets, according to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. Earths gravity interacts with objects in space, especially the Sun. During one orbit around the Sun, Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times, thus, Earths axis of rotation is tilted, producing seasonal variations on the planets surface. The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides, stabilizes the Earths orientation on its axis, Earths lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of Earths surface is covered with water, mostly by its oceans, the remaining 29% is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes, rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere. The majority of Earths polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet, Earths interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the Earths magnetic field, and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics. Within the first billion years of Earths history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earths atmosphere and surface, some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago. Since then, the combination of Earths distance from the Sun, physical properties, in the history of the Earth, biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion, occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events. Over 99% of all species that lived on Earth are extinct. Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely, over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival. Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures, politically, the world has about 200 sovereign states, the modern English word Earth developed from a wide variety of Middle English forms, which derived from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe. It has cognates in every Germanic language, and their proto-Germanic root has been reconstructed as *erþō, originally, earth was written in lowercase, and from early Middle English, its definite sense as the globe was expressed as the earth. By early Modern English, many nouns were capitalized, and the became the Earth. More recently, the name is simply given as Earth. House styles now vary, Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, another convention capitalizes Earth when appearing as a name but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the. It almost always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as what on earth are you doing, the oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4. 5672±0.0006 billion years ago. By 4. 54±0.04 Gya the primordial Earth had formed, the formation and evolution of Solar System bodies occurred along with the Sun
29.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
30.
Central Africa
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Central Africa is the core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda. All of the states in the UN subregion of Middle Africa, plus those otherwise commonly reckoned in Central Africa, since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has also been commonly included in the region. The Central African Federation, also called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was made up of what are now the nations of Malawi, Zambia and these states are now typically considered part of Southern Africa. Archeological finds in Central Africa have been discovered dating back over 100,000 years, according to Zangato and Holl, there is evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic and Cameroon that may date back to 3000 to 2500 BCE. Extensive walled settlements have recently found in Northeast Nigeria, approximately 60 km southwest of Lake Chad dating to the first millennium BCE. Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies, leading to the civilizations of Sao, Kanem, Bornu, Shilluk, Baguirmi. Around 1000 BCE, Bantu migrants had reached the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa, halfway through the first millennium BCE, the Bantu had also settled as far south as what is now Angola. The Sao civilization flourished from ca. the sixth century BCE to as late as the sixteenth century CE in northern Central Africa, the Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon. Today, several groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears. The largest Sao archaeological finds have been south of Lake Chad. The Kanem-Bornu Empire was centered in the Chad Basin and it was known as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century CE onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900. The history of the Empire is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or Girgam discovered in 1851 by the German traveller Heinrich Barth, Kanem rose in the 8th century in the region to the north and east of Lake Chad. The Kanem empire went into decline, shrank, and in the 14th century was defeated by Bilala invaders from the Lake Fitri region, the Kanuri people led by the Sayfuwa migrated to the west and south of the lake, where they established the Bornu Empire. By the late 16th century the Bornu empire had expanded and recaptured the parts of Kanem that had been conquered by the Bulala, satellite states of Bornu included the Damagaram in the west and Baguirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad. The Shilluk Kingdom was centered in South Sudan from the 15th century from along a strip of land along the bank of White Nile. The capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda, the kingdom was founded during the mid-fifteenth century CE by its first ruler, Nyikang
31.
Guinea (region)
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Guinea is a traditional name for the region of the West coast of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It is a naturally moist tropical forest or savanna that stretches along the coast, the etymology of Guinea is uncertain. The term Guinea is extensively used in the 1453 chronicle of Gomes Eanes de Zurara, king John II of Portugal took up the title of Senhor da Guiné from 1483. It is believed the Portuguese borrowed Guineus from the Berber term Ghinawen meaning the burnt people, the Berber terms aginaw and Akal n-Iguinawen mean black and land of the blacks, respectively. A competing theory, first forwarded by Leo Africanus in 1526, claims that Guinea is derived from Djenné, Djenné dominated the gold and salt trade across West Africa, from the 11th century until the 13th century. It is during the period of Djenné dominance that the term Genewah really comes forward into usage in Arab sources, other theories try to connect Guinea to Ghana, but this is less certain. The Ghana Empire is named after the Medieval trading city of Ghanah mentioned already by 11th-century Arab geographers, conversely, it remains possible that both Ghana and Djenné themselves owe their original city names to the Berber appellation for the blacks that lived there. A possible reconciliation of the theories is that the Berber Ghinawen was the source of the Djenné, which in turn gave rise to the Arabic Genewah, historically, the Guinea region was one of the first parts of sub-Saharan Africa to trade with Europeans. In 1478, a Castilian armada of 35 caravels and a Portuguese fleet fought the battle of Guinea in the waters off Elmina, for the hegemony of the Guinea trade. The war ended both with a Portuguese naval victory and the recognition by the Catholic Monarchs of the Portuguese sovereignty over most of the African territories in dispute. This was the first colonial war among European powers, after the Portuguese and Castilians, came the Dutch, French and British. The extensive trade in ivory, gold, and slaves made the region wealthy and these were much smaller than the large states of the wide-open Sahel, but they had far higher population densities and were more centralized politically. The cohesion of these caused the region to show more resistance to European incursions than other areas of Africa. Such resistance, combined with an environment hostile to Europeans. Guinea is often subdivided into Lower Guinea and Upper Guinea, Lower Guinea is one of the most densely populated regions of Africa, covering southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo and stretching into Ghana. It includes the regions as well as the interior. Upper Guinea is far less populated and stretches from Côte dIvoire to Senegal. Within the Republic of Guinea, Lower Guinea refers to the coastal plain
32.
Gulf of Guinea
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The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean between Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian is in the gulf, among the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Guinea are the Niger and the Volta. The coastline on the gulf includes the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny, the Niger River in particular deposited organic sediments out to sea over millions of years which became crude oil. The origin of the name Guinea is thought to be an area in the region, bovill gives a thorough description, The name Guinea is usually said to have been a corrupt form of the name Ghana, picked up by the Portuguese in the Maghrib. The present writer finds this unacceptable, the name Guinea has been in use both in the Maghrib and in Europe long before Prince Henrys time. A passage in Leo points to Guinea having been a form of Jenne, less famous than Ghana but nevertheless for many centuries famed in the Maghrib as a great market. The relevant passage reads, The Kingdom of Ghinea. called by the merchants of our nation Gheneoa, by the inhabitants thereof Genni and by the Portugals. But it seems probable that Guinea derives from aguinaou, the Berber for Negro. Marrakech has a gate, built in the century, called the Bab Aguinaou. The modern application of the name Guinea to the coast dates only from 1481, the name Guinea is still attached to the names of three countries in Africa, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea, as well as New Guinea in Melanesia. The main river shedding its waters in the gulf is the Niger River, the Gulf of Guinea contains a number of islands, the largest of which are in a southwest-northeast chain, forming part of the Cameroon line of volcanoes. Annobón, also known as Pagalu or Pigalu, is an island that is part of Equatorial Guinea, bobowasi Island is an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea that is part of Western region Ghana. Bioko is an island off the west coast of Africa in the Gulf of Guinea that is part of Equatorial Guinea, corisco is an island belonging to Equatorial Guinea. Elobey Grande and Elobey Chico are two small islands belonging to Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe is a Portuguese-speaking island nation in the Gulf of Guinea that became independent from Portugal in 1975. It is located off the western equatorial coast of Africa and consists of two islands, São Tomé and Príncipe and they are located about 140 kilometres apart and about 250 and 225 kilometres, respectively, off the northwestern coast of Gabon. Both islands are part of a volcanic mountain range. São Tomé, the southern island, is situated just north of the Equator. Media related to Gulf of Guinea at Wikimedia Commons The Gulf of Guinea Commission - CGG - GGC
33.
Cape Lopez
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Cape Lopez is a 55 km-long peninsula on the coast of west central Africa, in the country of Gabon. It separates the Gulf of Guinea from the South Atlantic Ocean, lying in the delta of the Ogooué River, it shelters the seaport of Port-Gentil. A lighthouse has existed on the Cape since 1897, the current tower was built in 1911 and it is named after the Portuguese explorer Lopes Gonçalves, who reached it about 1474
34.
Mayombe
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Mayombe is a geographic area on the western coast of Africa occupied by low mountains extending from the mouth of the Congo River in the south to the Kouilou-Niari River to the north. The area includes parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Mayumbe is located in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies on the bank of the Congo River just before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Banana. It extends north from Boma into the Angolan enclave of Cabinda to the west and extends north to the Republic of Congo, Mayumbe is watered by many rivers with swift currents in its hilly and mountainous regions. The three largest are the Shiloango River and two of its tributaries, the Lukula River and the Lubuzi River. The long dry season from June to September in the Mayumbe is not as intense as in the rest of the Lower Congo because of the altitude, temperatures range from 17 to 22, but can drop to 8 ° at night. The long rainy season lasts from October to May, with temperatures of 28-33°, the climate is hot and humid, especially during the rainy season when the humidity is near to 100%. This feeling of constant humidity is increased by the condensation of the vapors of the trade winds that cool the cliffs of the Coastal Range. Flora vary from dense forest to savannah dotted with forest trees, the forests of Mayumbe are old. Some of the trees are valuable, especially the Limba, palm trees are plentiful in the Elais Mayumbe and are found in forests and in the savanna. They form one of the resources of this region for its inhabitants. The areas forests were estimated in 1950 to cover 500,000 hectares, more recently they have declined to 80,000 hectares, of which Limba account for over 40%. Among the ethnic groups that inhabit this region the Yombe, a subset of the Kongo people, are the most numerous, the Mayombe Railway linked Boma to Tshela, with a planned extension to the Republic of Congo. It was dismantled under President Mobutu Sese Seko and the tracks were reused near Gbadolite, the Mayombe in Congo is covered by the Congo-Ocean Railway. Mayombe is famous in Senegal because it is an important stage in the exile of the founder of mouridism, Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, during the French colonial administration
35.
Igboland
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Igboland, also known as Southeastern Nigeria, is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. It is a cultural and common linguistic region in southern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divided by the lower Niger River into two unequal sections – an eastern and a western section and it is characterised by the diverse Igbo culture and the equally diverse Igbo language. Politically, Igboland is divided into several southern Nigerian states, culturally, it is divided into several subgroupings, including the Anioma, Ngwa, Edda Egbebu, Ezaa, Ibeku, Ohuhu, Omuma and the Ekpeye. William Balfour Baikie remarked that in Igbo each person hails, as a sailor would say, from the district where he was born. And yet considerable differences exist between different parts of this country, and the dialects spoken also vary greatly. Igboland is surrounded on all sides by a host of large rivers, in the words of William B. On the north it borders on Igara, Igala and Akpoto, the earliest found settlements in Igboland date back to 4500 BC in the central area, from where the majority of the Igbo-speaking population is believed to have migrated. The northern Igbo Kingdom of Nri, which rose around the 10th century AD, is credited with the foundation of much of Igbolands culture, customs and it is the oldest existing monarchy in present-day Nigeria. In southern Igboland several groups developed, of which the most notable was the Aro confederacy, Igboland was part of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate of the British Empire and was amalgamated into modern-day Nigeria in 1914, the nation gained independence in 1960. Shortly afterwards Igboland was involved in its biggest war during Biafras movement for secession, balkie when signing a trade agreement with Igbo chief, Ezebogo in Asaba on August 30,1885. Early settlement of Igboland dates back to 6000 BC based on early pottery work found in the Okigwe, Oka Igwe, some local Villagers retains the Original name, like Umuzuoka, The Blacksmiths Ezioka, Okigwe, Imoka, etc. Oka, igwe-Nsukka axis. There is, however, evidence of Palaeolithic man settling in southern Nigeria from at least 10,000 years ago, anthropologists at the University of Benin discovered fossils and use of monoliths dating back to 6000 BC at Ugwelle-Uturu in the Okigwe area. Further evidence of ancient settlements were uncovered at a hypothesised Nsukka metal cultural area from 3000 BC, the Nsukka-Okigwe axis forms as a basis for a proposed Proto-Igbo cultural heartland antecedent to contemporary Igbo culture. It is unclear what cultural links there are between these pre-historic artefacts and today, much of the Igbo population is believed to have migrated from a smaller area in this region, starting several independent Igbo-speaking tribes, village-groups, kingdoms and states. The works were based in Igbo Ukwu and further finds were found by archaeology teams led by Thurstan Shaw in 1959-60, the works have been attributed to an isolated bronze industry which had developed without outside influence over time to reach such sophistication. Igbo trade routes of the second millennium reached the cities of Mecca, Medina. There was evidence of beads that originated in India in the 9th century Igbo Ukwu burial sites, the burial site was associated with the Nri Kingdom which began around the same century according to indigenous history
36.
Maputaland
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Maputaland is a natural region of Southern Africa. It is located in the part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. In a wider sense it may include the southernmost region of Mozambique. The bird routes and coral reefs off the coast are major tourist attractions, Maputaland is bordered by the Ubombo Mountains in the west and the Indian Ocean in the east. The South African section of Maputaland was also known as Tongaland after the Tonga people who live there. The usually flat region feeds the Phongolo and Mkhuze River, on 11 June 1895, Tongaland was annexed by Great Britain. Tongaland, the name of the region of the Tsonga, has now largely fallen into disuse. It is still found in scientific works though, as well as in the naming of species. Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot Elephant Coast Visitor Guide, the Complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and Transkei. ISBN 0-620-17697-0 Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets
37.
Pool Malebo
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The Pool Malebo – formerly Stanley Pool, also known as Malebo Pool, or Lake Nkunda by local indigenous people in pre-colonial times – is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River. The former name Stanley Pool was named after early European explorer, the Pool Malebo is about 35 km long,23 km wide and 500 km2 in surface area. Its central part is occupied by MBamou or Bamu Island, which is Republic of the Congo territory. The pool is shallow with depths of 3–10 m, while water levels vary by as much as 3 m over the course of a year at an altitude of 272 m. The capitals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo—Kinshasa and Brazzaville and these are the two closest capital cities in the world. The Pool is the beginning of the part of the Congo River upstream to the cities of Mbandaka, Kisangani. Downstream, the river descends hundreds of meters in a series of known as the Livingstone Falls to reach sea level at the port of Boma after a trajectory of 300 km. There are many palm and papyrus swamps along the edges of the river and pool, most fish endemic to the area are catfishes, including the mountain catfish, L. brieni, Leptoglanis mandevillei, L. bouilloni and Atopochilus chabanaudi, an upside-down catfish. The area has over 200 fish species documented, with Mormyrids as the most common with over 40 species, and with the highest diversification
38.
Congo Basin
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The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River, located in west equatorial Africa. The broad region is known simply as the Congo. The basin is a total of 3.7 million square kilometers and is home to some of the largest undisturbed stands of tropical rainforest on the planet, the basin ends where the river empties its load in the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The climate is tropical, with two rainy seasons including very high rainfalls, and high temperature year round. The basin is home to the western lowland gorilla. The basin was the watershed of the Congo River populated by pygmy peoples, belgium, France, and Portugal later established colonial control over the entire region by the late 19th century. Congo is a name for the equatorial Middle Africa that lies between the Gulf of Guinea and the African Great Lakes. It contains some of the largest tropical rainforests in the world and it is home to okapi, bonobo and the Congo peafowl, but is also an important source of African teak, used for building furniture and flooring. An estimated 40 million people depend on woodlands, surviving on traditional livelihoods. At a global level, Congos forests act as the planets second lung and they are a huge carbon sink, trapping carbon that could otherwise become carbon dioxide, the main cause of global warming. The Congo Basin holds roughly 8 percent of the worlds forest-based carbon and these forests also affect rainfall across the North Atlantic. In other words, these distant forests are crucial to the future of climate stability, a moratorium on logging in the Congo forest was agreed with the World Bank and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2002. The World Bank agreed to provide $90 million of development aid to RDC with the proviso that the government did not issue any new concessions granting logging companies rights to exploit the forest, the deal also prohibited the renewal of existing concessions. Greenpeace is calling on the World Bank to think outside the box, if these woodlands are deforested, the carbon they trap will be released into the atmosphere. It says that 8% of the Earths forest-based carbon is stored in the RDCs forests, the government has written a new forestry code that requires companies to invest in local development and follow a sustainable, twenty-five-year cycle of rotational logging. In its current form, the Kyoto protocol does not reward so-called avoided deforestation - initiatives that protect forest from being cut down, but many climate scientists and policymakers hope that negotiations for Kyotos successor will include such measures. If this were the case, there could be an incentive for protecting forests. L’Île Mbiye in Kisangani is part of the Sustainable Forest Management in Africa Symposium project of forest ecosystem conservation conducted by Stellenbosch University, RDC is also looking to expand the area of forest under protection, for which it hopes to secure compensation through emerging markets for forest carbon
39.
Chad Basin
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The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic drainage basin in Africa, centered on Lake Chad. It has no outlet to the sea and contains areas of desert or semi-arid savanna. The drainage basin is roughly coterminous with the basin of the same name. The basin spans seven countries, including most of Chad and a part of Niger. It has a diverse population of about 30 million people as of 2011. A combination of dams, increased irrigation, and reduced rainfall are causing shortages of water, the geological basin, which is smaller than the drainage basin, is a Phanerozoic sedimentary basin formed during the plate divergence that opened the South Atlantic Ocean. The basin lies between the West African Craton and Congo Craton, and formed around the time as the Benue Trough. It covers an area of about 2,335,000 square kilometres and it merges into the Iullemmeden Basin to the west at the Damergou gap between the Aïr and Zinder massifs. The floor of the basin is made of Precambrian bedrock covered by more than 3,600 metres of sedimentary deposits, the basin may have resulted from the intersection of an Aïr-Chad Trough running NW-SE and a Tibesti-Cameroon Trough running NE-SW. The southern part of the basin is underlain by another elongated depression and this runs in an ENE direction and extends from the Yola arm of the Benue trough. At times, parts of the basin were below the sea, in the northeastern part of the Benue Trough where it enters the Chad Basin there are marine sediments from the Late Cretaceous. These sediments seem to be considerably thicker towards the northeast, boreholes under Maiduguri have found marine sediments 400 metres deep, lying over continental sediments 600 metres deep. The sea seems to have retreated from the part of the basin in the Turonian. In the Maastrichtian the west was non-marine, but the southeast probably was still marine, no marine sediments have been found from the Paleocene. Towards the end of this period the climate became drier, around 20, 000-40,000 years ago eolianite sand dunes began to form in the north of the basin. During the Holocene, from 11,000 years ago until recently and it would have drained to the Atlantic Ocean via the Benue River. Stratigraphic records show that Mega-Chad varied in size as the climate changed, the remains of fish and molluscs from this period are found in what are now desert regions. The Chad Basin covers almost 8% of the African continent, with an area of about 2,434,000 square kilometres, the Aïr Mountains and the Termit Massif in Niger form the western boundary
40.
Ennedi Plateau
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For the current region of Chad, see Ennedi Region. The Ennedi Plateau, located in the North-East of Chad, in the Ennedi Region, is a bulwark in the middle of the Sahara. It is assailed by the sands on all sides, that encroach the deep valleys of the Ennedi and it covers an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometres, and its highest point is approximately 1,450 metres above sea level. Only the caravans manage to cross it and this makes the region an area subject to multiple influences, the landscape has structures like towers, pillars, bridges and arches. They are an attraction for tourists. The plateau also has a collection of fauna, including examples of the Desert crocodile. A striking characteristic of this population of crocodiles is dwarfism developed due to their isolation and they survive in only a few pools in river canyons in the area, for example the Guelta dArchei, and are threatened with extinction. The last lions in the Sahara also survived here, until they became extinct, also, any surviving scimitar oryx antelopes that might still live in the wild and the vulnerable Sudan cheetahs are likely to be found in the remote regions of the Ennedi Plateau. It has been suggested that the cryptid Ennedi tiger may live there, examples of petroglyphs or rock paintings have been found in the area, for example those at the lost site of Niola Doa
