Cambrian
The Cambrian Period was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 55.6 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 541 million years ago to the beginning of the Ordovician Period 485.4 mya. Its subdivisions, its base, are somewhat in flux; the period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name of Wales, where Britain's Cambrian rocks are best exposed. The Cambrian is unique in its unusually high proportion of lagerstätte sedimentary deposits, sites of exceptional preservation where "soft" parts of organisms are preserved as well as their more resistant shells; as a result, our understanding of the Cambrian biology surpasses that of some periods. The Cambrian marked a profound change in life on Earth. Complex, multicellular organisms became more common in the millions of years preceding the Cambrian, but it was not until this period that mineralized—hence fossilized—organisms became common; the rapid diversification of life forms in the Cambrian, known as the Cambrian explosion, produced the first representatives of all modern animal phyla.
Phylogenetic analysis has supported the view that during the Cambrian radiation, metazoa evolved monophyletically from a single common ancestor: flagellated colonial protists similar to modern choanoflagellates. Although diverse life forms prospered in the oceans, the land is thought to have been comparatively barren—with nothing more complex than a microbial soil crust and a few molluscs that emerged to browse on the microbial biofilm. Most of the continents were dry and rocky due to a lack of vegetation. Shallow seas flanked the margins of several continents created during the breakup of the supercontinent Pannotia; the seas were warm, polar ice was absent for much of the period. Despite the long recognition of its distinction from younger Ordovician rocks and older Precambrian rocks, it was not until 1994 that the Cambrian system/period was internationally ratified; the base of the Cambrian lies atop a complex assemblage of trace fossils known as the Treptichnus pedum assemblage. The use of Treptichnus pedum, a reference ichnofossil to mark the lower boundary of the Cambrian, is difficult since the occurrence of similar trace fossils belonging to the Treptichnids group are found well below the T. pedum in Namibia and Newfoundland, in the western USA.
The stratigraphic range of T. pedum overlaps the range of the Ediacaran fossils in Namibia, in Spain. The Cambrian Period was followed by the Ordovician Period; the Cambrian is divided into ten ages. Only three series and six stages are named and have a GSSP; because the international stratigraphic subdivision is not yet complete, many local subdivisions are still used. In some of these subdivisions the Cambrian is divided into three series with locally differing names – the Early Cambrian, Middle Cambrian and Furongian. Rocks of these epochs are referred to as belonging to Upper Cambrian. Trilobite zones allow biostratigraphic correlation in the Cambrian; each of the local series is divided into several stages. The Cambrian is divided into several regional faunal stages of which the Russian-Kazakhian system is most used in international parlance: *Most Russian paleontologists define the lower boundary of the Cambrian at the base of the Tommotian Stage, characterized by diversification and global distribution of organisms with mineral skeletons and the appearance of the first Archaeocyath bioherms.
The International Commission on Stratigraphy list the Cambrian period as beginning at 541 million years ago and ending at 485.4 million years ago. The lower boundary of the Cambrian was held to represent the first appearance of complex life, represented by trilobites; the recognition of small shelly fossils before the first trilobites, Ediacara biota earlier, led to calls for a more defined base to the Cambrian period. After decades of careful consideration, a continuous sedimentary sequence at Fortune Head, Newfoundland was settled upon as a formal base of the Cambrian period, to be correlated worldwide by the earliest appearance of Treptichnus pedum. Discovery of this fossil a few metres below the GSSP led to the refinement of this statement, it is the T. pedum ichnofossil assemblage, now formally used to correlate the base of the Cambrian. This formal designation allowed radiometric dates to be obtained from samples across the globe that corresponded to the base of the Cambrian. Early dates of 570 million years ago gained favour, though the methods used to obtain this number are now considered to be unsuitable and inaccurate.
A more precise date using modern radiometric dating yield a date of 541 ± 0.3 million years ago. The ash horizon in Oman from which this date was recovered corresponds to a marked fall in the abundance of carbon-13 that correlates to equivalent excursions elsewhere in the world, to the disappearance of distinctive Ediacaran fossils. There are arguments that the dated horizon in Oman does not correspond to the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, but represents a facies change from marine to evaporite-dominated strata — which w
Porthmadog
Porthmadog, known locally as "Port", is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. It has been so spelt since 1974. Before 1972 in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire, it lies 5 miles east of Criccieth, 11 miles south-west of Blaenau Ffestiniog, 25 miles north of Dolgellau and 20 miles south of Caernarfon, it had a population of 4,185. It developed in the 19th century as a port exporting slate to England and elsewhere, but since the decline of the industry it has become a shopping centre and tourist destination, it is the terminus of the Ffestiniog Railway. The 1987 National Eisteddfod was held in Porthmadog; the community includes the nearby villages of Morfa Bychan and Tremadog. Porthmadog came into existence after William Madocks built a sea wall, the Cob, in 1810 to reclaim a large proportion of Traeth Mawr from the sea for agricultural use; the diversion of the Afon Glaslyn caused it to scour out a new natural harbour which had a deep enough draught for small ocean-going sailing ships, the first public wharves were built in 1825.
Individual quarry companies followed, building a series of wharves along the shore as far as Borth-y-Gest, slate was carted from Ffestiniog down to the quays along the Afon Dwyryd boated to Porthmadog for transfer to seagoing vessels. In the second half of the 19th-century Porthmadog was a flourishing port, its population expanding from 885 in 1821 to over 3,000 by 1861; the expanding cities of England needed high quality roofing slate, transported to the new port by tramway from the quarries in Ffestiniog and Llanfrothen. The Ffestiniog Railway opened in 1836, followed by the Croesor Tramway in 1864 and the Gorseddau Tramway in 1856, by 1873 over 116,000 tons were exported through Porthmadog in more than a thousand ships. A number of shipbuilders were active at this time, were well known for the three-masted schooners known as Western Ocean Yachts, the last of, built in 1913. By 1841 the trackway across the reclaimed land had been straightened out and was to be developed as Stryd Fawr, the main commercial street of the town.
Along this street were a range of shops and public houses and a post office, with the open green retained. A mineral railway to Tremadog ran along. To the north was an industrial area where foundries, timber saw mills, slate works, a flour mill, soda-pop plant and gasworks were constructed. Porthmadog's role as a commercial port reduced by the opening of the Aberystwyth and Welsh Coast Railway in 1867, was ended by the First World War, when the lucrative German market for slate disappeared; the 19th-century wharves still survive, but the slate warehouses have been replaced by holiday apartments, the harbour is used by leisure yachts. The earliest documented references to the name "Port Madoc" are in the 1830s, coinciding with the opening of the Ffestiniog Railway and the subsequent growth of the town; the first Ordnance Survey map to use the name was published in 1838. The name derives from the founder William Madocks, though there is a belief that it is named after the folklore character Madog ab Owain Gwynedd who gives his name to "Ynys Fadog".
The town was called "Portmadoc" until 1974, when it was renamed with the Welsh spelling. Ynyscynhaiarn was a civil parish in the cantref of Eifionydd. In 1858 a local board of health was established under the provisions of the Public Health Act 1848, from 1889 this formed a second tier of local government in Caernarfonshire. Under the Local Government Act 1894 the local board became an urban district, which by 1902 had changed its name to Portmadoc. In 1934 part of the area was transferred to Dolbenmaen, a smaller area was taken in from Treflys, abolished. Porthmadog Urban District was abolished in 1974, the town became part of Dwyfor District in the new county of Gwynedd, though it retained limited powers as a community. Dwyfor itself was abolished when Gwynedd became a unitary authority in 1996; the town now forms three electoral divisions of each electing one councillor. In 2012 Jason Humphreys, representing Llais Gwynedd, was elected in Porthmadog East. Selwyn Griffiths of Plaid Cymru, retained his seat in Porthmadog West, unelected.
Tremadog is included in the Porthmadog-Tremadog division, which includes Beddgelert and part of Dolbenmaen. In 2012 Alwyn Gruffydd, for Llais Gwynedd, retained the seat. Porthmadog Town Council has 16 elected members. In the 2008 elections 12 councillors were elected unopposed: seven Independents, four for Plaid Cymru and one representing Llais Gwynedd. There were four unfilled seats; the town is divided into six wards: Gest, Morfa Bychan, Porthmadog East, Porthmadog West and Ynys Galch. Since 1950 Porthmadog has been part of Caernarfon parliamentary constituency, has been represented by Hywel Williams of Plaid Cymru since 2001. In the National Assembly for Wales it has since 2007 formed part of Dwyfor-Meirionnydd constituency, represented by Dafydd Elis-Thomas, the Presiding Officer of the assembly, from Plaid Cymru; the constituency forms part of the electoral region of West Wales. Porthmadog is located in Eifionydd on the estuary of the Afon Glaslyn where it runs into Tremadog Bay; the estuary, filled with sediment, deposited by rivers emptying from the melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age, is a haven for migrating birds.
Oystercatchers and curlews are common and, in summer, there are flocks of sandwich terns. To the west looms Moel y Gest, which rises 863 feet above the town
Estuary
An estuary is a enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environments, they are subject both to marine influences—such as tides and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The mixing of sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among the most productive natural habitats in the world. Most existing estuaries formed during the Holocene epoch with the flooding of river-eroded or glacially scoured valleys when the sea level began to rise about 10,000–12,000 years ago. Estuaries are classified according to their geomorphological features or to water-circulation patterns, they can have many different names, such as bays, lagoons, inlets, or sounds, although some of these water bodies do not meet the above definition of an estuary and may be saline.
The banks of many estuaries are amongst the most populated areas of the world, with about 60% of the world's population living along estuaries and the coast. As a result, many estuaries suffer degradation from a variety of factors including: sedimentation from soil erosion from deforestation and other poor farming practices; the word "estuary" is derived from the Latin word aestuarium meaning tidal inlet of the sea, which in itself is derived from the term aestus, meaning tide. There have been many definitions proposed to describe an estuary; the most accepted definition is: "a semi-enclosed coastal body of water, which has a free connection with the open sea, within which sea water is measurably diluted with freshwater derived from land drainage". However, this definition excludes a number of coastal water bodies such as coastal lagoons and brackish seas. A more comprehensive definition of an estuary is "a semi-enclosed body of water connected to the sea as far as the tidal limit or the salt intrusion limit and receiving freshwater runoff.
This broad definition includes fjords, river mouths, tidal creeks. An estuary is a dynamic ecosystem having a connection to the open sea through which the sea water enters with the rhythm of the tides; the sea water entering the estuary streams. The pattern of dilution varies between different estuaries and depends on the volume of fresh water, the tidal range, the extent of evaporation of the water in the estuary. Drowned river valleys are known as coastal plain estuaries. In places where the sea level is rising relative to the land, sea water progressively penetrates into river valleys and the topography of the estuary remains similar to that of a river valley; this is the most common type of estuary in temperate climates. Well-studied estuaries include the Severn Estuary in the United Kingdom and the Ems Dollard along the Dutch-German border; the width-to-depth ratio of these estuaries is large, appearing wedge-shaped in the inner part and broadening and deepening seaward. Water depths exceed 30 m.
Examples of this type of estuary in the U. S. are the Hudson River, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay along the Mid-Atlantic coast, Galveston Bay and Tampa Bay along the Gulf Coast. Bar-built estuaries are found in place where the deposition of sediment has kept pace with rising sea level so that the estuaries are shallow and separated from the sea by sand spits or barrier islands, they are common in tropical and subtropical locations. These estuaries are semi-isolated from ocean waters by barrier beaches. Formation of barrier beaches encloses the estuary, with only narrow inlets allowing contact with the ocean waters. Bar-built estuaries develop on sloping plains located along tectonically stable edges of continents and marginal sea coasts, they are extensive along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U. S. in areas with active coastal deposition of sediments and where tidal ranges are less than 4 m. The barrier beaches that enclose bar-built estuaries have been developed in several ways: building up of offshore bars by wave action, in which sand from the sea floor is deposited in elongated bars parallel to the shoreline, reworking of sediment discharge from rivers by wave and wind action into beaches, overwash flats, dunes, engulfment of mainland beach ridges due to sea level rise and resulting in the breaching of the ridges and flooding of the coastal lowlands, forming shallow lagoons, elongation of barrier spits from the erosion of headlands due to the action of longshore currents, with the spits growing in the direction of the littoral drift.
Barrier beaches form in shallow water and are parallel to the shoreline, resulting in long, narrow estuaries. The average water depth is less than 5 m, exceeds 10 m. Examples of bar-built estuaries are Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. Fjords were formed where pleistocene glaciers deepened and widened existing river valleys so that they become U-shaped in cross s
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is electricity produced from hydropower. In 2015, hydropower generated 16.6% of the world's total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity, was expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years. Hydropower is produced in 150 countries, with the Asia-Pacific region generating 33 percent of global hydropower in 2013. China is the largest hydroelectricity producer, with 920 TWh of production in 2013, representing 16.9 percent of domestic electricity use. The cost of hydroelectricity is low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity; the hydro station consumes no water, unlike gas plants. The average cost of electricity from a hydro station larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5 U. S. cents per kilowatt hour. With a dam and reservoir it is a flexible source of electricity since the amount produced by the station can be varied up or down rapidly to adapt to changing energy demands. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, in many cases, has a lower output level of greenhouse gases than fossil fuel powered energy plants.
Hydropower has been used since ancient times to perform other tasks. In the mid-1770s, French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published Architecture Hydraulique which described vertical- and horizontal-axis hydraulic machines. By the late 19th century, the electrical generator was developed and could now be coupled with hydraulics; the growing demand for the Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. In 1878 the world's first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William Armstrong, it was used to power a single arc lamp in his art gallery. The old Schoelkopf Power Station No. 1 near Niagara Falls in the U. S. side began to produce electricity in 1881. The first Edison hydroelectric power station, the Vulcan Street Plant, began operating September 30, 1882, in Appleton, with an output of about 12.5 kilowatts. By 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the U. S. and Canada. By 1889 there were 200 in the U. S. alone. At the beginning of the 20th century, many small hydroelectric power stations were being constructed by commercial companies in mountains near metropolitan areas.
Grenoble, France held the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism with over one million visitors. By 1920 as 40% of the power produced in the United States was hydroelectric, the Federal Power Act was enacted into law; the Act created the Federal Power Commission to regulate hydroelectric power stations on federal land and water. As the power stations became larger, their associated dams developed additional purposes to include flood control and navigation. Federal funding became necessary for large-scale development and federally owned corporations, such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Bonneville Power Administration were created. Additionally, the Bureau of Reclamation which had begun a series of western U. S. irrigation projects in the early 20th century was now constructing large hydroelectric projects such as the 1928 Hoover Dam. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers was involved in hydroelectric development, completing the Bonneville Dam in 1937 and being recognized by the Flood Control Act of 1936 as the premier federal flood control agency.
Hydroelectric power stations continued to become larger throughout the 20th century. Hydropower was referred to as white coal for its plenty. Hoover Dam's initial 1,345 MW power station was the world's largest hydroelectric power station in 1936; the Itaipu Dam opened in 1984 in South America as the largest, producing 14,000 MW but was surpassed in 2008 by the Three Gorges Dam in China at 22,500 MW. Hydroelectricity would supply some countries, including Norway, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Brazil, with over 85% of their electricity; the United States has over 2,000 hydroelectric power stations that supply 6.4% of its total electrical production output, 49% of its renewable electricity. The technical potential for hydropower development around the world is much greater than the actual production: the percent of potential hydropower capacity that has not been developed is 71% in Europe, 75% in North America, 79% in South America, 95% in Africa, 95% in the Middle East, 82% in Asia-Pacific.
The political realities of new reservoirs in western countries, economic limitations in the third world and the lack of a transmission system in undeveloped areas result in the possibility of developing 25% of the remaining technically exploitable potential before 2050, with the bulk of that being in the Asia-Pacific area. Some countries have developed their hydropower potential and have little room for growth: Switzerland produces 88% of its potential and Mexico 80%. Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator; the power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called the head. A large pipe delivers water from the reservoir to the turbine; this method produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, the excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir.
When the demand becomes greater, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumped-storage schemes provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the daily capacity factor of the generation system. Pumped storag
A470 road
The A470 referred to as the Cardiff to Glan Conwy Trunk Road, is a 186 miles long road in Wales that connects Cardiff on the south coast to Llandudno on the north coast. It has undergone considerable road improvement in the last two decades. While one had to navigate the narrow roads of Llanidloes and Dolgellau, both these market towns are now bypassed due to extensive road modernisation; the 26 miles from Cardiff Bay to Merthyr Tydfil are direct and good quality dual carriageway, but most of the route from north of Merthyr to Llandudno is single carriageway which has seen considerable improvement in the last 20–30 years. The road travels through two of Wales's national parks; the southernmost point of the route is outside the Wales Millennium Centre. It runs up Lloyd George Avenue, continues along St. Mary Street in central Cardiff; the road becomes North Road, after a tidal flow system running to Maindy and goes over the flyover at the Gabalfa interchange of the A48 and the A469. It becomes an urban dual-carriageway along Manor Way, with a 40 mph speed limit and with many traffic-signalled crossings.
It passes without interruption under the M4 at the giant Coryton roundabout. For the next 15 miles it is a modern high-speed dual carriageway by-passing Tongwynlais and Castell Coch, Taff's Well, to Pontypridd. Heading north to Abercynon, the road now follows the route of the Taff Vale Railways Llancaiach Branch to Quakers Yard roundabout, where it is joined by the A4059 from Abercynon and Hirwaun. From Quakers Yard roundabout, 5.5 miles of dual carriageway takes the road to the Pentrebach roundabout where the A4060 links, to the Merthyr Tydfil roundabout where the road meets the A465 and the dual carriageway ends. A twisting section alongside the Taf Fawr reservoirs of Llwyn-on, Cantref and Beacons takes the road to its highest point at Storey Arms on the pass over the Brecon Beacons before a long descent to Brecon; the remainder of the route north of Brecon consists of older routes now renamed "A470". This artificiality is apparent as a driver following the entire route north to south must diverge from the main line of respective stretches of road no fewer than five times.
A short three lane stretch heads north east before a sharp left turn is required to stay on the road. From this point on the road becomes narrow and twisting and overtaking is problematic except at a few straight sections. Another sharp left turn at a stop sign in Llyswen takes the road alongside the River Wye into Builth Wells; the road continues to follow the Wye to the busy crossroads where it meets the A44 in the centre of Rhayader. On reaching Llangurig, a right turn outside the village takes the road past Llanidloes and through Llandinam, the birthplace of David Davies and now the headquarters of Girl Guides Wales. Another anomalous left turn at a level crossing sets the path for Caersws and Llanbrynmair. Just beyond the village of Talerddig the road descends and crosses under the Shrewsbury–Aberystwyth railway line; the long descent towards Commins Coch is a new stretch of road that replaced a set of road-works that had traffic light controlled single lane working for over 10 years because of unstable ground conditions.
The river bridge at Commins Coch is so narrow and set at such an angle that only one vehicle at a time can pass. At Cemmaes Road the road joins the A487 at a roundabout. A right turn at the roundabout takes the road on to Mallwyd where the A458 joins at yet another roundabout; the country becomes more forested and the road climbs up through Dinas Mawddwy and steeply up the eastern foot-hills of Cadair Idris before dropping down to the Dolgellau by-pass. More sharp twists and turns in the forestry and through the village of Ganllwyd brings the road up onto the high plateau of the Cambrian dome where the road follows the ancient track of Sarn Helen Roman road passing the redundant nuclear power station at Trawsfynydd. A right turn beyond the power station takes the road on to Ffestiniog and Blaenau Ffestiniog before heading over the Crimea Pass to Dolwyddelan. A sharp left turn interrupts the A470 as it becomes the A5 for a short distance towards Betws-y-Coed before turning right again back onto the A470 just before Waterloo Bridge.
Passing down the valley of the River Conwy the road passes through Llanrwst, Tal-y-Cafn and Glan Conwy, at which point there is a dual roundabout that intersects with the A55 North Wales Expressway before descending into Llandudno. The northernmost point of the route is in Llandudno itself at the sea front, where it meets the North Shore Parade, the A547; the route from Cardiff to Brecon was the original A470. It ran into Brecon town centre and joined the A40 road; the old A470 between the by-pass and the town, along Newgate Street, is now the B4601. A4062 was the number for the section from the junction of the A40 and the B4601 – the Brecon bypass to B4602 section; the B4601 was the A40 which ran through the town of Brecon. The B4602 was the westernmost part of the A438; the A438 was the original number for the road from the junction with B4602 to the sharp left turn where A470 turns north in the vicinity of Llanfilo. The A438 continues on from there to Tewkesbury. From north of Llanfilo to Llyswen was the A4073.
A479 linked the A40 west of Crickhowell to the A44 road at Rhayader. The A479 now runs only from Crickhowell to Llyswe
18th century
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar. During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American and Haitian revolutions; this was an age of violent slave trading, global human trafficking. The reactions against monarchical and aristocratic power helped fuel the revolutionary responses against it throughout the century. In continental Europe, philosophers dreamed of a brighter age. For some, this dream turned into a reality with the French Revolution of 1789, though compromised by the excesses of the Reign of Terror under Maximilien Robespierre. At first, many monarchies of Europe embraced Enlightenment ideals, but with the French Revolution they feared losing their power and formed broad coalitions for the counter-revolution; the Ottoman Empire experienced an unprecedented period of peace and economic expansion, taking part in no European wars from 1740 to 1768. As a consequence the empire did not share in Europe's military improvements during the Seven Years' War, causing its military to fall behind and suffer defeats against Russia in the second half of the century.
18th century music included the classical period. The 18th century marked the end of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as an independent state; the once-powerful and vast kingdom, which had once conquered Moscow and defeated great Ottoman armies, collapsed under numerous invasions. Its semi-democratic government system was not robust enough to rival the neighboring monarchies of the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire which divided the Commonwealth territories between themselves, changing the landscape of Central European politics for the next hundred years. European colonization of the Americas and other parts of the world intensified and associated mass migrations of people grew in size as the Age of Sail continued. Great Britain became a major power worldwide with the French and Indian War in the 1760s and the conquest of large parts of India. However, Britain lost many of its North American colonies after the American Revolution and Indian wars. Napoleon Bonaparte, formed the Franco-Indian alliance with Indian ruler Tipu Sultan and his father emperor Hyder Ali and learnt more about Quran and Islam from them.
Tipu Sultan embarked on an ambitious economic development program that established Mysore Empire as a major economic power, with some of the world's highest real wages and living standards in the late 18th century. Under his reign, Mysore overtook the wealthy Bengal Subah as India's dominant economic power, with productive agriculture and textile manufacturing. Mysore's average income was five times higher than subsistence level at the time. Along his father, he used their French-trained army in alliance and won important victories against the British Empire in the Second Anglo-Mysore War and negotiated the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784; the defeat of the British resulted in the formation of the newly independent United States. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain in the 1770s with the production of the improved steam engine. Despite its modest beginnings in the 18th century, steam-powered machinery would radically change human society and the environment. Western historians have defined the 18th century otherwise for the purposes of their work.
For example, the "short" 18th century may be defined as 1715–1789, denoting the period of time between the death of Louis XIV of France and the start of the French Revolution, with an emphasis on directly interconnected events. To historians who expand the century to include larger historical movements, the "long" 18th century may run from the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 or later. 1700–1721: Great Northern War between the Russian and Swedish Empires. 1701: Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I. 1701–1714: The War of the Spanish Succession is fought, involving most of continental Europe. 1702–1715: Camisard Rebellion in France. 1703: Saint Petersburg is founded by Peter the Great. 1703–1711: The Rákóczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy. 1704: End of Japan's Genroku period. 1704: First Javanese War of Succession. 1706–1713: The War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the battles of Ramillies and Turin. 1707: The Act of Union is passed, merging the Scottish and English Parliaments, thus establishing the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1708: The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merge to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies. 1708–1709: Famine kills one-third of East Prussia's population. 1709: The Great Frost of 1709 marks the coldest winter in 500 years. 1710: The world's first copyright legislation, Britain's Statute of Anne, takes effect. 1710–1711: Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War. 1711–1715: Tuscarora War between British and German settlers and the Tuscarora people of North Carolina. 1715: The first Jacobite rising breaks out. 1716: Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the present-day India-Pakistan border. 1718: The city of New Orleans is founded by the French in North America. 1718–1730: Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire. 1719: Second Javanese War of Succession. 1720: The South Sea Bubble. 1720–1721: The Great Plague of Marseille. 1721: The Treaty of Nystad is signed, ending the Great Northern War.
1722–1723: Russo-Persian War. 1722–1725: Controversy over William Wood's halfpence leads to the Drapier's Letters and
Ffestiniog Railway
The Ffestiniog Railway is a 1 ft 11 1⁄2 in narrow-gauge heritage railway, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located within the Snowdonia National Park; the railway is 13 1⁄2 miles long and runs from the harbour at Porthmadog to the slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, travelling through forested and mountainous scenery. The line is single track throughout with four intermediate passing places; the first mile of the line out of Porthmadog runs atop an embankment locally called the Cob, the dyke of the Traeth Mawr "polder". The Festiniog Railway Company which owns the railway is the oldest surviving railway company in the world, it owns the Welsh Highland Railway, re-opened in 2011. The two railways share the same track gauge and meet at Porthmadog station, with occasional trains working the entire 40-mile route from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Caernarfon; the railway company is properly known as the "Festiniog Railway Company". The single F spelling is in the official title of the company in the Act.
It is the oldest surviving railway company in the world, having been founded by the Act of Parliament on 23 May 1832 with capital raised in Dublin by Henry Archer, the company's first secretary and managing director. Most British railways were amalgamated into four large groups in 1921 and into British Railways in 1948 but the Festiniog Railway Company, like most narrow-gauge railways, remained independent. In 1921, this was due to political influence, whereas in 1947 it was left out of British Railways because it was closed for traffic, despite vigorous local lobbying for it to be included. Various important developments in the Railway's early history were celebrated by the firing of rock cannon at various points along the line. Cannon were fired, for instance, to mark the laying of the first stone at Creuau in 1833, the railway's opening in 1836, the opening of the Moelwyn Tunnel in 1842; the passing of a Act for the railway saw cannon celebrations, but on this occasion a fitter at Boston Lodge, assisting with firing, lost the fingers of one hand in an accident.
The line was constructed between 1833 and 1836 to transport slate from the quarries around the inland town of Blaenau Ffestiniog to the coastal town of Porthmadog where it was loaded onto ships. The railway was graded so that loaded wagons could be run by gravity downhill all the way from Blaenau Ffestiniog to the port; the empty wagons were hauled back up by horses. To achieve this continuous grade, the line followed natural contours and employed cuttings and embankments built of stone and slate blocks without mortar. Prior to the completion in 1842 of a long tunnel through a spur in the Moelwyn Mountain, the slate trains were worked over the top via inclines, the site of which can still be seen although there are few visible remnants. Up to six trains daily were operated in each direction and a printed timetable was published on 16 September 1856 by Charles Easton Spooner who, following his father, served as Manager and Clerk for 30 years, it shows departures from the Quarry Terminus at 7:30, 9:28, 11:16, 1:14, 3:12 and 5:10.
Trains waited ten minutes at the intermediate stations called Tunnel Halt, Hafod y Llyn and Rhiw Goch. The fastest journey time from Quarry Terminus to Boston Lodge was 1 hour 32 minutes, including three stops. From Boston Lodge, the slate wagons were hauled to and from Porthmadog harbour by horses. Up trains took nearly six hours from Boston Lodge to the Quarry Terminus and each train ran in up to four sections, each hauled by a horse and comprising eight empty slate wagons plus a horse dandy; this timetable gave a maximum annual capacity of 70,000 tons of dressed slate. Two brakesmen travelled on each down train, controlling the speed by the application of brakes as needed. At passing loops, trains passed on the right and this continues to be a feature of Ffestiniog Railway operation. There is evidence for tourist passengers being carried as early as 1850 without the blessing of the Board of Trade, but these journeys would observe the timetable. Hafod y Llyn was replaced by Tan y Bwlch around 1872.
Dinas Station and much of that branch is now all but buried under slate waste. Occasional confusion arises because places named Hafod y Llyn Isaf and Dinas exist on the Welsh Highland Railway, albeit 10 miles or more to the northwest of those on the FR; the railway employed just one police officer. Board of Trade returns for 1884 show. In more recent times the British Transport Police made friendly overtures and were politely informed that the FR had powers to swear its own constables. During the late 1850s it became clear that the line was reaching its operational capacity, while the output of the Blaenau Ffestiniog slate quarries continued to rise. In 1860, the board of the company began to investigate the possibility of introducing steam locomotives to increase the carrying capacity of the railway. Although narrow-gauge steam locomotives had been tried before this few had been built to so narrow a gauge. In 1862 the company advertised for manufacturers to tender to build the line's first locomotives.
In February 1863, the bid of George England and Co. was accepted and production of the first locomotives was begun. The first of these locomotives, Mountaineer' was delivered to P
