1.
Mariana Islands
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They lie south-southeast of Japan, west-southwest of Hawaii, north of New Guinea and east of the Philippines, demarcating the Philippine Seas eastern limit. The islands were named after the Spanish queen Mariana of Austria, spaniards, who in the early 16th century were the first Europeans to arrive, eventually annexed and colonized the archipelago. The indigenous inhabitants are the Chamoru and they further reported findings which suggested that Tinian is likely to have been the first island in Oceania to have been settled by humans. The Mariana Islands are the part of a submerged mountain range that extends 1,565 miles from Guam to near Japan. Geographically, the Marianas are the northernmost islands of an island group called Micronesia. The Mariana Islands have a land area of 1,005 km2. They are composed of two units, Guam, a US territory the Northern Mariana Islands, which make up a Commonwealth of the United States. In the northern volcanic group a maximum elevation of about 2,700 feet is reached, there are craters showing signs of activity, coral reefs fringe the coasts of the southern isles, which are of slight elevation. The lowest point on the Earths crust, the Mariana Trench, is near the islands and is named after them. The islands are part of a structure known as the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc system. This subduction region, just east of the chain, forms the noted Mariana Trench. Owing to the moistness of the soil cryptogams are numerous, as are also most kinds of grasses, on most of the islands there is a plentiful supply of water. The fauna of the Marianas, though inferior in number and variety, is similar in character to that of the Carolines and certain species are indigenous to both island groups. The climate though damp is healthy, while the heat, being tempered by the winds, is milder than that of the Philippines. The majority of islands in the Marianas which still retain their indigenous names end in the letters -an, e. g. Guahan, Agrigan, Agrihan, Aguihan/Aguigan, Pagan, Sarigan, etc. The islands are part of a structure known as the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Arc system. This water is heated and boiled as the plate is carried farther downward, archeological studies of human activity on the islands has revealed potteries with red-slipped, circle- and punctate-stamped designs found in the Mariana Islands dating between 1500 and 1400 BC. These artifacts show similar aesthetic with the found in Northern and Central Philippines, the Nagsabaran pottery
2.
Mount Tapochau
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Mount Tapochau is the highest point on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is located in the center of the island, north of San Vicente village and northwest of Magicienne Bay, the mountain offers a 360 degree view of the island. Mount Tapochau was vital in World War II as a result of this, as of 2016, the only road up to Mount Tapochau is a long, winding, uphill climb over endless loose rocks and massive potholes. The road looks as though it has been eroded by heavy rain over many years. This path would be dangerous to traverse in wet weather and should only be approached in a heavy duty vehicle in dry weather, the base of Mount Tapochau is covered with phosphate, manganese ore, sulphur, and coral limestone. The peak is also a limestone formation, history of Mount Taptochau Geology of Mount Tapochau Geological sections across Saipan
3.
Northern Mariana Islands
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The CNMI includes all islands in the Mariana Archipelago except Guam which is the southernmost island of the chain and a separate U. S. territory. The United States Department of the Interior cites a landmass of 183.5 square miles, according to the 2010 United States Census,53,883 people were living in the CNMI at that time. The vast majority of the population resides on Saipan, Tinian, the administrative center is Capitol Hill, a village in northwestern Saipan. However, most publications consider Saipan to be the capital because the island is governed as a single municipality, the first people of the Mariana Islands immigrated at some point between 4000 BC and 2000 BC from Southeast Asia. After first contact with Spaniards, they became known as the Chamorros, a Spanish word similar to Chamori. The ancient people of the Marianas raised colonnades of megalithic capped pillars called latte stones upon which they built their homes, the first European explorer of the area, the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, arrived in 1521. He landed on Guam, the southernmost island of the Marianas, the Spanish ships were met offshore by the native Chamorros, who delivered refreshments and then helped themselves to a small boat belonging to Magellans fleet. This led to a clash, in Chamorro tradition, little property was private and taking something one needed, such as a boat for fishing. The Spanish did not understand this custom, and fought the Chamorros until the boat was recovered, three days after he had been welcomed on his arrival, Magellan fled the archipelago. Spain regarded the islands as annexed and later made part of the Spanish East Indies. In 1734, the Spanish built a palace in Guam for the governor of the islands. Its remains are visible even in the 21st century, see the Plaza de España article, Guam operated as an important stopover between Manila and Mexico for galleons carrying gold between the Philippines and Spain. Some galleons sunk in Guam remain, in 1668, Father Diego Luis de San Vitores renamed the islands Las Marianas in honor of his patroness the Spanish regent Mariana of Austria, widow of Felipe IV. Most of the native population died from Spanish diseases or married non-Chamorro settlers under Spanish rule. New settlers, primarily from the Philippines and the Caroline Islands, were brought to repopulate the islands, the Chamorro population gradually recovered, and Chamorro, Filipino, and Carolinian languages and other ethnic differences remain in the Marianas. During the 17th century, Spanish colonists forcibly moved the Chamorros to Guam, by the time they were allowed to return to the Northern Marianas, many Carolinians from present-day eastern Yap State and western Chuuk State had settled in the Marianas. Both languages, as well as English, are now official in the Commonwealth, the Northern Marianas experienced an influx of immigration from the Carolines during the 19th century. Both this Carolinian subethnicity and Carolinians in the Carolines archipelago refer to themselves as the Refaluwasch, the indigenous Chamoru word for the same group of people is gupalao
4.
Pacific Islander
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Pacific Islander is a term used to refer to the peoples of the Pacific Islands. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the Pacific islands consist of three regions, The islands scattered across a triangle covering the region of the Pacific Ocean. The triangle is bound by the Hawaiian Islands in the north, New Zealand in the west, the rest of Polynesia includes the Samoan islands, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue Island, Tokelau and Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna, and Pitcairn Island. The islands of Kiribati, Nauru, the Marianas, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, the Pacific islands may also refer to any of the other islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ethnolinguistically, those Pacific islanders who reside in Oceania are divided into two different ethnic classifications, Austronesian language peoples Austronesian peoples who speak the Oceanian languages, numbering about 2.3 million, who occupy Polynesia, Micronesia, and most of the smaller islands of Melanesia. The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901 was enacted to restrict entry of Pacific Islanders to Australia, in 2008 a Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme was announced as a three-year pilot scheme. The scheme provides visas for workers from Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, the pilot scheme includes one country each from Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia, countries which already send workers to New Zealand under its seasonal labour scheme. Australias pilot scheme also includes Papua New Guinea, in 20137.4 percent of the New Zealand population identified with one or more Pacific ethnic groups, although 62.3 percent of these were born in New Zealand. Those with a Samoan background make up the largest proportion, followed by Cook Islands Maori, Tongan, some smaller island populations such as Niue and Tokelau have the majority of their nationals living in New Zealand. To celebrate the diverse Pacific island cultures, the Auckland region hosts several Pacific island festivals and it includes people who indicate their race as Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, and Other Pacific Islander or provide other detailed Pacific Islander responses. The term Pacific Islands American is used for ethnic Pacific islander residents in U. S. states, honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press. American History Unbound, Asians and Pacific Islanders, xiv,499 pp. Smelt, R. & Lin, Y. Cultures of the world, New Zealand, tarrytown, NY, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark Thomas, Nicholas, Islanders, The Pacific in the Age of Empire, Yale University Press,2010. Asian Pacific Americans in the U. S. Army Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Association
5.
White people
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White people is a racial classification specifier, used for people of Europid ancestry, with the exact implications dependent on context. The contemporary usage of people or a white race as a large group of populations contrasting with black, American Indian. It is today used as a racial classifier in multiracial societies, such as North Africa, United States. The term white race or white people entered the major European languages in the later 17th century, in the context of racialized slavery, description of populations as white in reference to their skin color predates this notion and is found in Greco-Roman ethnography and other ancient sources. Scholarship on race generally distinguishes the concept from pre-modern descriptions of collective difference. In the literature of the Ancient Near East and Classical Antiquity and we know that Egyptians were not oblivious to skin color, however, because artists paid attention to it in works of art, to the extent the pigments at the time permitted. Classicist James Dee states the Greeks do not describe themselves as white people—or as anything else because they had no word in their color vocabulary for themselves. Peoples skin color did not carry meaning, what mattered is where they lived. Religious conversion was sometimes described figuratively as a change in skin color, similarly, the Rigveda uses krsna tvac black skin as a metaphor for irreligiosity. The Ancient Egyptian funerary text known as the Book of Gates distinguishes four groups in a procession and these are the Egyptians, the Levantine/Canaanite peoples or Asiatics, the Nubians and the fair-skinned Libyans. The Egyptians are depicted as a reddish brown, the Nubians as black skinned, the Semites from the Levant and Canaan as light skinned. Herodotus described the Scythian Budini as having blue eyes and bright red hair. And the Egyptians – quite like the Colchians – as melánchroes and he also gives the possibly first reference to the common Greek name of the tribes living south of Egypt, otherwise known as Nubians, which was Aithíopes. Later Xenophon described the Aethiopians as black and the Persian troops as white compared to the skin of Greek troops. These color adjectives are found in contrast to the standard set by the own group. According to historian Irene Silverblatt, Race thinking … made social categories into racial truths, Alastair Bonnett argues that white identity, as it is presently conceived, is an American project, reflecting American interpretations of race and history. According to Gregory Jay, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Before the age of exploration, group differences were based on language, religion. … the European had always reacted a bit hysterically to the differences of skin color, in the 16th and 17th centuries, East Asian peoples were almost uniformly described as white, never as yellow
6.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
7.
Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
8.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
9.
Municipality
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It is to be distinguished from the county, which may encompass rural territory and/or numerous small communities such as towns, villages and hamlets. The term municipality may also mean the governing or ruling body of a given municipality, a municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district. The term is derived from French municipalité and Latin municipalis, a municipality can be any political jurisdiction from a sovereign state, such as the Principality of Monaco, or a small village, such as West Hampton Dunes, New York. The power of municipalities range from virtual autonomy to complete subordination to the state, municipalities may have the right to tax individuals and corporations with income tax, property tax, and corporate income tax, but may also receive substantial funding from the state. Similar terms include Spanish ayuntamiento, also called municipalidad, Polish gmina, Dutch/Flemish Gemeente, in Australia, the term local government area is used in place of the generic municipality. Here, the LGA Structure covers only incorporated areas of Australia, incorporated areas are legally designated parts of states and territories over which incorporated local governing bodies have responsibility. In Canada, municipalities are local governments established through provincial and territorial legislation, the Province of Ontario has different tiers of municipalities, including lower, upper, and single tiers. Types of upper tier municipalities in Ontario include counties and regional municipalities, nova Scotia also has regional municipalities, which include cities, counties, districts, or towns as municipal units. In India, a Nagar Palika or Municipality is a local body that administers a city of population 100,000 or more. Under the Panchayati Raj system, it directly with the state government. Generally, smaller cities and bigger towns have a Nagar Palika. Nagar Palikas are also a form of local self-government entrusted with duties and responsibilities. Such a corporation in Great Britain consists of a head as a mayor or provost, since local government reorganisation, the unit in England, Northern Ireland and Wales is known as a district, and in Scotland as a council area. A district may be awarded borough or city status, or can retain its district title, in Jersey, a municipality refers to the honorary officials elected to run each of the 12 parishes into which it is subdivided. This is the highest level of government in this jurisdiction. In the United States, municipality is usually understood as a city, town, village, or other local government unit, in the Peoples Republic of China, a direct-controlled municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing. In Taiwan, a municipality is a city with equal status to a province, Kaohsiung, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Taipei. In Portuguese language usage, there are two words to distinguish the territory and the administrative organ, when referring to the territory, the word concelho is used, when referring to the organ of State, the word município is used
10.
Guam
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Guam is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, Guam is one of five American territories with a civilian government. The capital city is Hagåtña and the most populous city is Dededo, in 2015,161,785 people resided on Guam. Guamanians are American citizens by birth, Guam has an area of 210 sq mi and a population density of 770/sq mi. It is the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia, among its municipalities, Mongmong-Toto-Maite has the highest density at 3, 691/sq mi, whereas Inarajan and Umatac have the lowest density at 119/sq mi. The highest point is Mount Lamlam at 406 meters above sea level, the Chamorros, Guams indigenous people, settled the island approximately 4,000 years ago. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to visit the island on March 6,1521, Guam was colonized in 1668 with settlers, like Diego Luis de San Vitores, a Catholic missionary. Between the 16th century and the 18th century, Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons, during the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on June 21,1898. Under the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the United States on December 10,1898, Guam is among the seventeen Non-Self-Governing Territories of the United Nations. Before World War II, Guam and three other territories – American Samoa, Hawaii, and the Philippines – were the only American jurisdictions in the Pacific Ocean. On December 7,1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Guam was captured by the Japanese, during the occupation, Guamanians were subjected to beheadings, forced labor, rape, and torture. Guam endured hostilities when American forces recaptured the island on July 21,1944, since the 1960s, the economy is supported by two industries, tourism and the United States Armed Forces. The original inhabitants of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are believed to be descendants of Austronesian people originating from Southeast Asia as early as 2000 BC and they evolved into the Chamorro people. The ancient-Chamorro society had four classes, chamorri, matua, achaot, the matua were located in the coastal villages, which meant they had the best access to fishing grounds, whereas the manachang were located in the interior of the island. Matua and manachang rarely communicated with other, and matua often used achaot as intermediaries. There were also makåhna, skilled in healing and medicine, belief in spirits of ancient Chamorros called Taotao mona still persists as a remnant of pre-European culture. Their society was organized along matrilineal clans, Latte stones are stone pillars that are found only in the Mariana Islands, and, they are a recent development in Pre-Contact Chamorro society. The latte-stone was used as a foundation on which thatched huts were built, Latte stones consist of a base shaped from limestone called the haligi and with a capstone, or tåsa, made either from a large brain coral or limestone, placed on top
11.
Tinian
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Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguijan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the four constituent municipalities of the Northern Marianas, Tinians largest village is San Jose. Tinian is about 5 nautical miles southwest of Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel and it has a land area of 39 square miles, with its highest elevation at Mount Lasso at 171 meters. The island has a variety of flora and fauna, and limestone cliffs, the Tinian monarch is the islands only endemic bird species and it is threatened by habitat loss. There is a variety of life and coral reefs surrounding the island. Its clear, warm waters are ideal for snorkeling, scuba diving, the population of Tinian was 3,136, which corresponds to less than 5 percent of all residents of the Northern Mariana Islands and a population density of 35 people per km2. Most of the inhabitants are Chamorros and members of other groups of islands in the Caroline Islands. There are also minorities of Filipino, Bangladeshi, East Asian, around 3000 years ago, Tinian was ruled by the Chamorro Chief Taga, who built the biggest stone home with latte stones. A beach on Tinian and the charter airline were named after him. Tinian, together with Saipan, was possibly firstly sighted by Europeans by the Spanish expedition of Ferdinand Magellan, when it made a landfall in the southern Marianas on 6 March 1521. Again, it is likely it was sighted by Gonzalo Gómez de Espinosa in 1522 on board of Spanish ship Trinidad and this would have happened after the sighting of the Maug Islands in between the end of August and end of September. The Spanish formally occupied Tinian in 1669, with the expedition of Diego Luis de San Vitores who named it Buenavista Mariana. From 1670, it became a port of call for Spanish and occasional English, Dutch and French ships as a station for food. The native population, estimated at 40,000 at the time of the Spanish arrival, shrank to less than 1400 due to European-introduced diseases, the survivors were forcibly relocated to Guam in 1720 for better control and assimilation. Under Spanish rule, the island was developed into ranches for raising cattle and pigs, after the Spanish–American War of 1898, Tinian was occupied by the United States. However, it was sold by Spain to the German Empire in 1899. In 1914, during World War I, the island was captured by the Empire of Japan, the island was settled by ethnic Japanese, Koreans and Okinawans, who developed large-scale sugar plantations. Initial efforts to settle the island met with difficulties, including an infestation of scale insects, by June 1944, some 15,700 Japanese civilians were resident on Tinian
12.
Coral reef
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Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups, the polyps belong to a group of animals known as Cnidaria, which also includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons which support, most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated waters. Often called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at depths in tropical waters. Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection, the annual global economic value of coral reefs is estimated between US$29. 8-375 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are sensitive to water temperature. Most of the coral reefs we can see today were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and this means that most modern coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As communities established themselves on the shelves, the reefs grew upwards, Reefs that rose too slowly could become drowned reefs. They are covered by so much water there was insufficient light. Coral reefs are found in the sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands. The vast majority of islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface. In 1842 in his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, Charles Darwin set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs and he theorized uplift and subsidence of the Earths crust under the oceans formed the atolls. Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation and it starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the reef becomes a barrier reef. Darwin predicted that underneath each lagoon would be a bed rock base, where the level of the underlying earth allows, the corals grow around the coast to form what he called fringing reefs, and can eventually grow out from the shore to become a barrier reef
13.
Lagoon
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A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs. Lagoons are commonly divided into coastal lagoons and atoll lagoons and they have also been identified as occurring on mixed-sand and gravel coastlines. There is an overlap between bodies of water classified as coastal lagoons and bodies of water classified as estuaries, lagoons are common coastal features around many parts of the world. Lagoons can also be man-made and used for treatment, as is the case for e. g. aerated lagoons. Lagoons are shallow, often elongated bodies of water separated from a body of water by a shallow or exposed shoal, coral reef. Some authorities include fresh water bodies in the definition of lagoon, the distinction between lagoon and estuary also varies between authorities. Richard A. Davis Jr. restricts lagoon to bodies of water with little or no fresh water inflow, and little or no tidal flow, Davis does state that the terms lagoon and estuary are often loosely applied, even in scientific literature. Timothy M. Kusky characterizes lagoons as normally being elongated parallel to the coast, while estuaries are usually drowned river valleys, coastal lagoons are classified as inland bodies of water. Many lagoons do not include lagoon in their common names, in England, The Fleet at Chesil Beach has also been described as a lagoon. In Latin America, the term laguna in Spanish, which translates to. However, sometimes it is used to describe a full-sized lake, such as Laguna Catemaco in Mexico. The brackish water lagoon may be explicitly identified as a coastal lagoon. In Portuguese the same usage is found, lagoa may be a body of sea water. Lagoon is derived from the Italian laguna, which refers to the waters around Venice, Laguna is attested in English by at least 1612, and had been Anglicized to lagune by 1673. In 1697 William Dampier referred to a Lagune or Lake of Salt water on the coast of Mexico, captain James Cook described an island of Oval form with a Lagoon in the middle in 1769. Atoll lagoons form as coral reefs grow upwards while the islands that the reefs surround subside, unlike the lagoons that form shoreward of fringing reefs, atoll lagoons often contain some deep portions. Coastal lagoons form along gently sloping coasts where barrier islands or reefs can develop off-shore, coastal lagoons do not form along steep or rocky coasts, or if the range of tides is more than 4 metres. Due to the slope of the coast, coastal lagoons are shallow
14.
Volcano
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A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. Earths volcanoes occur because its crust is broken into 17 major, therefore, on Earth, volcanoes are generally found where tectonic plates are diverging or converging. This type of volcanism falls under the umbrella of plate hypothesis volcanism, Volcanism away from plate boundaries has also been explained as mantle plumes. These so-called hotspots, for example Hawaii, are postulated to arise from upwelling diapirs with magma from the boundary,3,000 km deep in the Earth. Volcanoes are usually not created where two plates slide past one another. Erupting volcanoes can pose hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. Historically, so-called volcanic winters have caused catastrophic famines, the word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano, a volcanic island in the Aeolian Islands of Italy whose name in turn comes from Vulcan, the god of fire in Roman mythology. The study of volcanoes is called volcanology, sometimes spelled vulcanology, at the mid-oceanic ridges, two tectonic plates diverge from one another as new oceanic crust is formed by the cooling and solidifying of hot molten rock. Most divergent plate boundaries are at the bottom of the oceans, therefore, most volcanic activity is submarine, black smokers are evidence of this kind of volcanic activity. Where the mid-oceanic ridge is above sea-level, volcanic islands are formed, for example, subduction zones are places where two plates, usually an oceanic plate and a continental plate, collide. In this case, the plate subducts, or submerges under the continental plate forming a deep ocean trench just offshore. In a process called flux melting, water released from the subducting plate lowers the temperature of the overlying mantle wedge. This magma tends to be very viscous due to its high content, so it often does not reach the surface. When it does reach the surface, a volcano is formed, typical examples of this kind of volcano are Mount Etna and the volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Because tectonic plates move across them, each volcano becomes dormant and is eventually re-formed as the plate advances over the postulated plume and this theory is currently under criticism, however. The most common perception of a volcano is of a mountain, spewing lava and poisonous gases from a crater at its summit, however. The features of volcanoes are more complicated and their structure. Some volcanoes have rugged peaks formed by lava domes rather than a summit crater while others have features such as massive plateaus
15.
Banzai Cliff
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Banzai Cliff overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is a historic site at the northern tip of Saipan island in the Northern Mariana Islands. Not far away, a cliff named Suicide Cliff overlooks the coastal plain. At Banzai Cliff, some who jumped did not die and were rescued by American ships, a 7. 5-acre area at the site was listed on the U. S. National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Suicide Cliff National Register of Historic Places listings in the Northern Mariana Islands
16.
Volcanic cone
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Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature, types of volcanic cones include stratocones, spatter cones, tuff cones, and cinder cones. Stratocones are large cone-shaped volcanoes made up of lava flows, explosively erupted pyroclastic rocks, unlike shield volcanoes, they are characterized by a steep profile and periodic, often alternating, explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. Some have collapsed craters called calderas, the central core of a stratocone is commonly dominated by a central core of intrusive rocks that range from around 500 meters to over several kilometers in diameter. This central core is surrounded by generations of lava flows, many of which are brecciated. The typical stratocone is an andesitic to dacitic volcano that is associated with subduction zones and they are also known as either stratified volcano, composite cone, bedded volcano, cone of mixed type or Vesuvian-type volcano. A spatter cone is a low, steep-sided hill or mound that consists of welded lava fragments, called spatter, typically, spatter cones are about 3–5 meters high. In case of a fissure, lava fountaining will create broad embankments of spatter, called spatter ramparts. Spatter cones are circular and cone shaped, while spatter ramparts are linear wall-like features. Spatter cones and spatter ramparts are typically formed by lava fountaining associated with mafic, highly fluid lavas, as blobs of molten lava, spatter, are erupted into the air by a lava fountain, they can lack the time needed to cool completely before hitting the ground. Consequently, the spatter are not fully solid, like taffy, as they land, as a result, the spatter builds up a cone that is composed of spatter either agglutinated or welded to each other. They are characterized by rims that have a maximum relief of 100–800 meters above the crater floor. They typically have a rim to rim diameter of 300–5,000 meters, a tuff cone consists typically of thick-bedded pyroclastic flow and surge deposits created by eruption-fed density currents and bomb-scoria beds derived from fallout from its eruption column. The tuffs composing a tuff cone have commonly been altered, palagonitized, by either its interaction with groundwater or when it was deposited warm and wet. The pyroclastic deposits of tuff cones differ from the deposits of spatter cones by their lack or paucity of lava spatter, smaller grain-size. Typically, but not always, tuff cones lack associated lava flows and they are characterized by rims that have a low, broad topograhic profiles and gentle topographic slopes that are 25 degrees or less. The maximum thickness of the pyroclastic debris comprising the rim of a tuff ring is generally thin
17.
Eocene
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The Eocene Epoch, lasting from 56 to 33.9 million years ago, is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the Eocene is marked by a period in which the concentration of the carbon isotope 13C in the atmosphere was exceptionally low in comparison with the more common isotope 12C. As with other periods, the strata that define the start and end of the epoch are well identified. The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς and καινός, the Eocene epoch is conventionally divided into early, middle, and late subdivisions. The corresponding rocks are referred to as lower, middle, the Ypresian stage constitutes the lower, the Priabonian stage the upper, and the Lutetian and Bartonian stages are united as the middle Eocene. The Eocene Epoch contained a variety of different climate conditions that includes the warmest climate in the Cenozoic Era. During this period of time, little to no ice was present on Earth with a difference in temperature from the equator to the poles. Following the maximum was a descent into an icehouse climate from the Eocene Optimum to the Eocene-Oligocene transition at 34 million years ago. During this decrease ice began to reappear at the poles, greenhouse gases, in particular carbon dioxide and methane, played a significant role during the Eocene in controlling the surface temperature. For the early Eocene there is discussion on how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere. This is due to numerous proxies representing different atmospheric carbon dioxide content, for contrast, today the carbon dioxide levels are at 400 ppm or 0. 04%. At about the beginning of the Eocene Epoch the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere more or less doubled. During the early Eocene, methane was another gas that had a drastic effect on the climate. In comparison to carbon dioxide, methane has much effect on temperature as methane is ~34 times more effective per molecule than carbon dioxide on a 100-year scale. Most of the methane released to the atmosphere during this period of time would have been from wetlands, swamps, the atmospheric methane concentration today is 0. 000179% or 1.79 ppmv. Due to the climate and sea level rise associated with the early Eocene, more wetlands, more forests. Comparing the early Eocene production of methane to current levels of atmospheric methane, biogenic production of methane produces carbon dioxide and water vapor along with the methane, as well as yielding infrared radiation
18.
Limestone
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Limestone is a sedimentary rock, composed mainly of skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, forams and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate, about 10% of sedimentary rocks are limestones. The solubility of limestone in water and weak acid solutions leads to karst landscapes, most cave systems are through limestone bedrock. The first geologist to distinguish limestone from dolomite was Belsazar Hacquet in 1778, like most other sedimentary rocks, most limestone is composed of grains. Most grains in limestone are skeletal fragments of organisms such as coral or foraminifera. Other carbonate grains comprising limestones are ooids, peloids, intraclasts and these organisms secrete shells made of aragonite or calcite, and leave these shells behind when they die. Limestone often contains variable amounts of silica in the form of chert or siliceous skeletal fragment, some limestones do not consist of grains at all, and are formed completely by the chemical precipitation of calcite or aragonite, i. e. travertine. Secondary calcite may be deposited by supersaturated meteoric waters and this produces speleothems, such as stalagmites and stalactites. Another form taken by calcite is oolitic limestone, which can be recognized by its granular appearance, the primary source of the calcite in limestone is most commonly marine organisms. Some of these organisms can construct mounds of rock known as reefs, below about 3,000 meters, water pressure and temperature conditions cause the dissolution of calcite to increase nonlinearly, so limestone typically does not form in deeper waters. Limestones may also form in lacustrine and evaporite depositional environments, calcite can be dissolved or precipitated by groundwater, depending on several factors, including the water temperature, pH, and dissolved ion concentrations. Calcite exhibits a characteristic called retrograde solubility, in which it becomes less soluble in water as the temperature increases. Impurities will cause limestones to exhibit different colors, especially with weathered surfaces, Limestone may be crystalline, clastic, granular, or massive, depending on the method of formation. Crystals of calcite, quartz, dolomite or barite may line small cavities in the rock, when conditions are right for precipitation, calcite forms mineral coatings that cement the existing rock grains together, or it can fill fractures. Travertine is a banded, compact variety of limestone formed along streams, particularly there are waterfalls. Calcium carbonate is deposited where evaporation of the leaves a solution supersaturated with the chemical constituents of calcite. Tufa, a porous or cellular variety of travertine, is found near waterfalls, coquina is a poorly consolidated limestone composed of pieces of coral or shells. During regional metamorphism that occurs during the building process, limestone recrystallizes into marble
19.
Leucaena leucocephala
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Leucaena leucocephala is a small fast-growing mimosoid tree native to southern Mexico and northern Central America, but is now naturalized throughout the tropics. Common names include white leadtree, jumbay, river tamarind, Subabul, the specific name is derived from the Greek words λευκό, meaning white, and κέφαλος, meaning head, referring to its flowers. L. leucocephala is used for a variety of purposes, such as firewood, fiber, during the 1970s and 1980s, it was promoted as a miracle tree for its multiple uses. It has also described as a conflict tree because it is used for forage production. The legume is promoted in several countries of Southeast Asia, most importantly as a source of quality animal feed, the legume provides an excellent source of high-protein cattle fodder. However, the fodder contains mimosine, an amino acid. In many cases this acid is metabolized by ruminants to goitrogenic DHP in the rumen, such measures have facilitated Leucaena use for fodder in Australia and elsewhere. It is also efficient in nitrogen fixation, at more than 500 kg/ha/year and it has a very fast growth rate, young trees reach a height of more than 20 ft in two to three years. L. leucocephala is considered one of the 100 worst invasive species by the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. It is a invasive species in the arid parts of Taiwan, The Bahamas, the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong. The plant is found in parts of the U. S. including California, Arizona, Texas. It grows quickly and forms thickets that crowd out all native vegetation. In urban areas, it is an unwanted species, growing along arid roadsides, in carparks. This species is susceptible to insect infestations, in the 1980s, a widespread loss in Southeast Asia was due to pest attack by psyllids. In India, this tree was promoted for afforestation due to its fast-growing nature. However, it is now considered unsuitable for planting because of its tendency to get uprooted in rain. Eight of every 10 trees uprooted by wind in Pune are subabuls, the seeds contain mimosine, an amino acid known to be toxic to nonruminant vertebrates. L. leucocephala is an allelopathic tree, phytotoxic allelochemicals, such as mimosine and certain phenolic compounds, including p-hydroxycinnamic acid, protocatechuic acid, and gallic acid, have been identified in the leaves of the species
20.
Coconut
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The coconut tree is a member of the family Arecaceae and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit. The spelling cocoanut is a form of the word. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning head or skull, coconuts are known for their great versatility, as evidenced by many traditional uses, ranging from food to cosmetics. They form a part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their quantity of water. When mature, they can be used as seed nuts or processed to give oil from the kernel, charcoal from the hard shell, the endosperm is initially in its nuclear phase suspended within the coconut water. As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the coconut, when dried, the coconut flesh is called copra. The oil and milk derived from it are used in cooking and frying, as well as in soaps. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating, the coconut also has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in India, where it is used in Hindu rituals. Cocos nucifera is a palm, growing up to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m long. Coconuts are generally classified into two types, tall and dwarf. On fertile soil, a coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, botanically, the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers, the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, the exocarp and mesocarp make up the husk of the coconuts. Coconuts sold in the shops of nontropical countries often have had the exocarp removed, the mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores or eyes that are visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed. A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kg and it takes around 6,000 full-grown coconuts to produce a tonne of copra
21.
Papaya
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The papaya, papaw, or pawpaw is the plant Carica papaya, one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the family Caricaceae. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, perhaps from southern Mexico and it was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classical civilizations. The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a stem growing from 5 to 10 m tall. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne, the leaves are large, 50–70 cm in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. All parts of the plant contain latex in articulated laticifers, unusually for such large plants, the trees are dioecious. The flowers are 5-parted and highly dimorphic, the flowers with the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base, male and female flowers are borne in the leaf axils, the males in multiflowered dichasia, the female flowers is few-flowered dichasia. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night and are moth-pollinated, the fruit is a large berry about 15–45 cm long and 10–30 cm in diameter. It is ripe when it feels soft and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue, Papaya is native to Mexico and extends to South America and has become naturalized throughout the Caribbean Islands, Florida and several countries of Africa. Additional crops are grown in India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Papaya plants grow in three sexes, male, female, hermaphrodite. The male produces only pollen, never fruit, the female will produce small, inedible fruits unless pollinated. The hermaphrodite can self-pollinate since its flowers contain both male stamens and female ovaries, almost all commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodites. Originally from southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, in cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within three years. It is, however, highly frost-sensitive, limiting its production to tropical climates, temperatures below −2 °C are greatly harmful if not fatal. In Florida and California, growth is limited to southern parts of the states. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil, as standing water will kill the plant within 24 hours, India and Brazil are the major producers of papaya, together providing 57% of the world total of 12.4 million tons in 2013. Gaining in popularity among tropical fruits worldwide, papaya is now ranked fourth in total tropical fruit production after bananas, oranges, global papaya production has grown significantly over the last few years, mainly as a result of increased production in India. Papaya has become an important agricultural export for developing countries, where export revenues of the fruit provide a livelihood for thousands of people, especially in Asia, Carica papaya was the first transgenic fruit tree to have its genome sequenced
22.
Bird's eye chili
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Birds eye chili, bird eye chili, birds chili, chile de arbol, or Thai chili is a chili pepper, a cultivar from the species Capsicum annuum, commonly found in Ethiopia and Southeast Asia. It is often confused with a similar-looking chili derived from the species Capsicum frutescens, Capsicum frutescens are generally smaller and characteristically point to the sky. Birds eye chili can also be found in India, particularly in Meghalaya, Assam and it is used in traditional dishes of the Kerala cuisine. This cultivar is also found in areas of Sri Lanka. It is also an ingredient in kochchi sambal, a salad made using freshly scraped coconut ground with birds eye chilis and seasoned with salt. It is used extensively in Thai, Malaysian, Singaporean, Lao, Khmer, Indonesian, some English speakers also refer to this cultivar as Thai hot, Thai dragon, and boonie pepper. The birds eye chili plant is a perennial with small, tapering fruits, the birds eye chili is small, but is quite hot. They were spread by the Spanish and the Portuguese, together with other now common crops such as maize. This is now called the Columbian Exchange, the chili varieties found in Southeast Asia today were brought by Spanish and Portuguese colonists and traders in the 16th or 17th century. In Vietnamese cuisine, these chilis are used in soups, salads and they are also put in fish sauce as a condiment or eaten raw. In Thai cuisine, these chilis are highly valued for their fruity taste, the more decorative, but slightly less pungent chili, sometimes known as Thai ornamental, has peppers that point upward on the plant, and range from green to yellow, orange, and then red. It is the basis for the hybrid cultivar Numex twilight, essentially the same, but less pungent and these peppers can grow wild in places such as Saipan and Guam. Due to the release of capsaicin through small ventilated pores within the skin of the chili. Having been applied by lightly grazing the area with a ripe chili it can help clean wounds. List of Capsicum cultivars African birds eye chili
23.
Mango
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Mangoes are juicy stone fruit from numerous species of tropical trees belonging to the flowering plant genus Mangifera, cultivated mostly for their edible fruit. The majority of species are found in nature as wild mangoes. The genus belongs to the cashew family Anacardiaceae, mangoes are native to South Asia, from where the common mango or Indian mango, Mangifera indica, has been distributed worldwide to become one of the most widely cultivated fruits in the tropics. Other Mangifera species are grown on a more localized basis. It is the fruit of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Mango trees grow to 35–40 m tall, with a radius of 10 m. The trees are long-lived, as some specimens still fruit after 300 years, in deep soil, the taproot descends to a depth of 6 m, with profuse, wide-spreading feeder roots, the tree also sends down many anchor roots, which penetrate several feet of soil. The leaves are evergreen, alternate, simple, 15–35 cm long, and 6–16 cm broad, when the leaves are young they are orange-pink, rapidly changing to a dark, glossy red, then dark green as they mature. The flowers are produced in terminal panicles 10–40 cm long, each flower is small and white with five petals 5–10 mm long, with a mild, over 400 varieties of mangoes are known, many of which ripen in summer, while some give double crop. The fruit takes three to six months to ripen, the ripe fruit varies in size and color. Cultivars are variously yellow, orange, red, or green, and carry a single flat, oblong pit that can be fibrous or hairy on the surface, ripe, unpeeled mangoes give off a distinctive resinous, sweet smell. Inside the pit 1–2 mm thick is a thin lining covering a single seed, the seed contains the plant embryo. Mangoes have recalcitrant seeds, they do not survive freezing and drying, the English word mango originated from the Malayalam word māṅṅa via Portuguese during spice trade with Kerala in 1498. The origin of the -o ending in English is unclear, when mangoes were first imported to the American colonies in the 17th century, they had to be pickled because of lack of refrigeration. Other fruits were also pickled and came to be called mangoes, especially bell peppers, and by the 18th century, in Mandarin Chinese, mango is 芒果, or mángguǒ in Pinyin. This is most likely a loanword from English, mangoes have been cultivated in South Asia for thousands of years and reached Southeast Asia between the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. By the 10th century CE, cultivation had begun in East Africa, the 14th-century Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta reported it at Mogadishu. Cultivation came later to Brazil, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Mexico, the mango is now cultivated in most frost-free tropical and warmer subtropical climates, almost half of the worlds mangoes are cultivated in India alone, with the second-largest source being China
24.
Taro
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Taro commonly refers to the plant Colocasia esculenta, the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the Araceae family which are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Thus, this describes the dasheen form of taro, another variety of taro is known as eddoe or Colocasia antiquorum. Other species of taro include giant taro, swamp taro, Colocasia esculenta is thought to be native to Southern India and Southeast Asia, but is widely naturalised. It is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a vegetable for its edible starchy corm. It is a staple in African, Oceanic and South Indian cultures and is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants. It is known by local names and often referred to as elephant ears when grown as an ornamental plant. Taro can be grown in fields where water is abundant or in upland situations where water is supplied by rainfall or supplemental irrigation. Taro is one of the few crops that can be grown under flooded conditions and this is due to air spaces in the petiole, which permit underwater gaseous exchange with the atmosphere. For a maximum dissolved oxygen supply, the water should be cool, warm, stagnant water causes basal rotting. For maximum yields, the water level should be controlled so that the base of the plant is always under water, flooded cultivation has some advantages over dry-land cultivation, higher yields, out-of-season production, and weed control. On the other hand, in flooded production systems requires a longer maturation period, investment in infrastructure, and higher operational costs. Like most root crops, taro and eddoes do well in deep, moist or even swampy soils where the rainfall exceeds 2,500 mm. Eddoes are more resistant to drought. The crop attains maturity within six to twelve months after planting in dry-land cultivation, the crop is harvested when the plant height decreases and the leaves turn yellow. These signals are less distinct in flooded taro cultivation. Harvesting is usually done by hand tools, even in mechanized production systems, first, the soil around the corm is loosened, and then, the corm is pulled up by grabbing the base of the petioles. The global average yield is 6.2 tones/hectare but varies according to the region, in Asia, average yields reach 12.6 tones/hectare. Taro contains oxalic acid which forms raphides and it is reduced to safe levels by steeping cubed taro roots in cold water overnight and disposing of the water. Calcium oxalate is highly insoluble and contributes to kidney stones and it has been recommended to consume calcium-rich foods like milk together with taro
25.
Breadfruit
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Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family originating in the South Pacific and that was eventually spread to the rest of Oceania. Its name is derived from the texture of the ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread. According to DNA fingerprinting studies, breadfruit has its origins in the region of Oceania from New Guinea through the Indo-Malayan Archipelago to western Micronesia, the trees have been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere, including lowland Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. In addition to the serving as a staple food in many cultures. Sir Joseph Banks and others saw the value of breadfruit as a highly productive food in 1769, in 1787, William Bligh was appointed Captain of the HMS Bounty, and ordered to proceed to the South Pacific to collect the plants. Although Bligh won the Royal Society medal for his efforts, the introduction was not entirely successful, Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 26 m. The large and thick leaves are cut into pinnate lobes. All parts of the tree yield latex, which is useful for boat caulking, the trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterward by the female flowers, the latter grow into capitula, which are capable of pollination just three days later. Pollination occurs mainly by bats, but cultivated varieties produce fruit without pollination. The compound, false fruit develops from the perianth, and originates from 1. Breadfruit is one of the food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year, usually round, productivity varies between wet and dry areas. Studies in Barbados indicate a potential of 16 to 32 tons per hectare. The ovoid fruit has a surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth. Most selectively bred cultivars have seedless fruit, whereas seeded varieties are mainly for their edible seeds. Breadfruit is usually propagated using root cuttings, Breadfruit is closely related to the breadnut, from which it might have been naturally selected. It is noticeably similar in appearance to its relative of the same genus, Breadfruit has hundreds of varieties and thousands of common names varying according to its geographic distribution, and is cultivated in some 90 countries
26.
Banana
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The banana is an edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains, in contrast to dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be green, yellow, red, purple. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant, almost all modern edible parthenocarpic bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, the old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used. Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between bananas and plantains. Especially in the Americas and Europe, banana usually refers to soft, sweet, dessert bananas, particularly those of the Cavendish group, by contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. In other regions, such as Southeast Asia, many kinds of banana are grown and eaten. The term banana is used as the common name for the plants which produce the fruit. This can extend to members of the genus Musa like the scarlet banana, pink banana. It can also refer to members of the genus Ensete, like the snow banana, both genera are classified under the banana family, Musaceae. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant, all the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a corm. Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, and are mistaken for trees. Bananas grow in a variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least 60 cm deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. The leaves of plants are composed of a stalk and a blade. The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath, the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, the edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem the edges are forced apart, cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions
27.
Mariana fruit dove
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It has a red forehead, greyish head, back and breast, and yellow belly patch and undertail coverts. The female lays a white egg. The chick and egg are tended to by both parents and its diet consists mainly of fruits. Culturally, the Mariana fruit dove is an important symbol of the region. This species is the bird of the Northern Marianas Islands. In 2005, the Mariana fruit dove was originally chosen as the mascot of the 2006 Micronesian Games in Saipan. However, the website for the games shows a tropicbird as the official symbol instead of the Mariana fruit dove. The species faces extinction due to habitat loss throughout its range, a larger threat to the Mariana fruit dove has been the accidental introduction of the Brown tree snake to Guam during World War II. The snakes decimated the bird populations of the island, which were unaccustomed to predators. They are extinct on Guam since 1984 and the Mariana fruit dove is highly endangered on other islands in its range, the spread of the snakes to other Northern Marianas Islands could be devastating. Several zoos have started captive breeding programs, the St. Louis Zoo, in St. Louis, Missouri, has one of the most successful captive breeding programs. Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small size and invasive alien species. BirdLife Species Factsheet St. Louis Zoo, Mariana Fruit Dove Marianas Fruit Dove Chosen Micronesian Games Mascot
28.
White-throated ground dove
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The white-throated ground dove or paluman apaka in Chamorro is a species of ground dove in the genus Gallicolumba. Their distribution is on the Northern Mariana Islands inhabiting the native forests and it has become extirpated from Guam by predation from the introduced brown tree snake Boiga irregularis. Single birds do turn up every few years but are most likely individuals dispersing from the island of Rota. The birds are shy and tend to keep well hidden. 5–140 g, the male white-throated ground dove has a chocolate brown body with white head and breast while the females are shade of brown with no white on the body
29.
Bridled white-eye
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The bridled white-eye is a species of bird in the Zosteropidae family. It is endemic to the Mariana Islands, where it is restricted to the islands of Tinian, Saipan and Aguijan in the Northern Mariana Islands. The populations remain abundant on all three islands, the Rota subspecies Zosterops rotensis is listed as critically endangered with an estimated population of only 720 birds. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, plantations, and rural gardens
30.
Golden white-eye
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The golden white-eye is a species of bird in the white-eye family Zosteropidae. It is the species within the genus Cleptornis. The golden white-eye was once considered to be a honeyeater in the family Meliphagidae and although it is now known to be a white-eye, its position within that family is still uncertain. The species is restricted to the islands of Saipan and Aguijan in the Northern Mariana Islands, the golden white-eye has golden plumage and a pale eye-ring. It feeds on insects, fruit, and nectar and forages in pairs or small family groups, the bird is monogamous and lays two eggs in a small cup nest. Fossil evidence shows the golden white-eye once also occurred on Tinian, despite its current abundance on Saipan and Aguijan, and the fact that it has among the highest recorded densities for any bird, it is nevertheless considered to be critically endangered. It is threatened by the brown tree snake, which has become established on nearby Guam. Efforts are under way to control the snakes and breed the white-eye in zoos, the species was once called the golden honeyeater as it was considered to be a honeyeater. It was placed within the genus Ptilotis by French naturalist Émile Oustalet when he described the species in 1889 and it was subsequently moved into the genus Cleptornis, which had been provisionally established by Oustalet in case the species proved to be distinct. Behavioural and morphological characteristics led American ornithologist Harold Douglas Pratt, Jr. to suggest in 1987 that it was related to the white-eyes, subsequent studies have supported the idea that this species was a white-eye. Its generic name, Cleptornis, is derived from the Ancient Greek kleptes, a robber or thief, and ornis, a bird. This is not a reference to any aspect of the golden white-eyes behaviour, the specific epithet marchei refers to the French explorer and writer Antoine-Alfred Marche, who procured the original specimens. The golden white-eye is endemic to the Northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, within its range, it occupies a variety of habitats, both natural and man-made. It is common in forests, particularly limestone forests, but also occurs in open shrubland. On Saipan, the habitats it is absent from are the marshes around Lake Susupe. The golden white-eye differs from the other white-eyes in having large eyes and it is a large white-eye,14 cm long and weighing around 20 g. The species has bright, unmistakable plumage, with, an orange-yellow head coupled with a pale eye-ring, a back, wings, and tail. The bill and legs are also orange, the plumage of both sexes is similar, the males can be told from the females only when examined in the hand, since the males have longer wings than the females
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Micronesian myzomela
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The Micronesian myzomela is a species of bird in the honeyeater family Meliphagidae. The species forms a superspecies with a number of related and similar looking island and mainland myzomelas across the Pacific and it in turn is composed of seven insular subspecies. It is distributed throughout the Northern Mariana Islands, including Rota, Tinian and Saipan, as well as Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae in Micronesia, the species once also occurred in Guam, but that population is now almost certainly extinct. Forests, mangroves, scrubland, secondary scrub, savanna, agricultural and plantations, the Micronesian myzomela primarily feeds on nectar, but will also take insects and other small invertebrates. One study estimated that the ratio of nectar to insects was 60,40 and they occur singly and in pairs, occasionally small groups will gather at good sources of nectar. They are territorial and aggressive at defending their territories from others of the same species, the species is an important pollinator within its range, after its extinction on Guam the island as left without pollinators, with resulting effects on the ecosystem
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Nightingale reed warbler
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The nightingale reed warbler or Guam reed warbler is an extinct song bird endemic to Guam. The Chamorro name for the bird is ga ‘kaliso and it has not been reported since the late 1960s and presumed extinct. The Pagan reed warbler, Aguiguan reed warbler, and Saipan reed warbler are considered subspecies by some taxonomists, the reasons nightingale reed warbler declined through several introduced species. One of them is the tree snake and has decimated the populations of several other bird species on Guam. Others include rats, cats and feral ungulates, escaped domesticated animals living in the wild, an introduced plant, Ivy Gourd, destroyed the canopy of the trees nightingale reed warblers build their nests in. Wetland destruction, fires and pesticides, as well as intense human land use reduced the habitat for the nightingale reed warblers and others species
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Lissachatina fulica
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Lissachatina fulica is a species of large land snail that belong in the Achatinidae family. It is also known as the giant African snail or giant African land snail. This snail species has been considered a significant cause in pest issues around the world, internationally, it is the most frequently occurring type of snail invasive species. Outside of its range this snail thrives in many types of habitat in areas with mild climates. It feeds voraciously and is a vector for plant pathogens, causing damage to agricultural crops. It competes with native snail taxa, is a nuisance pest of urban areas and this snail is listed as one of the top 100 invasive species in the world. This species has found in China since 1931 and its initial point of distribution in China was Xiamen. The snail has also established in the Pratas Islands, of Taiwan, throughout India, the Pacific, Indian Ocean islands. The species was established in the United States in 1936 and they were brought to the U. S. through imports. They were intended to be used for educational uses and to be pets, some were also introduced because they were accidentally shipped with other cargo. Eradication is currently underway in Florida, the species has recently been observed in Bhutan, where it is an invasive species. It has begun to attack agricultural fields and flower gardens and it is believed there that dogs have died as a result of consuming the snail. The adult snail is around 7 centimetres in height and 20 centimetres or more in length, the shell has a conical shape, being about twice as high as it is broad. Either clockwise or counter-clockwise directions can be observed in the coiling of the shell, shell colouration is highly variable, and dependent on diet. Typically, brown is the predominant colour and the shell is banded, the shell is particularly tough and has the highest heavy metal content of any snail species. The giant African snail is native to East Africa, and can be traced back to Kenya and it is a highly invasive species, and colonies can be formed from a single gravid individual. In many places, release into the wild is illegal, the giant snail can now be found in agricultural areas, coastland, natural forest, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub and shrublands, urban areas, and wetlands. The giant African snail is a herbivore, it eats a wide range of plant material, fruit
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Flatworm
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The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, Plathelminthes, or platyhelminths are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates. The digestive cavity has one opening for both ingestion and egestion, as a result, the food cannot be processed continuously. Free-living flatworms are mostly predators, and live in water or in shaded, humid terrestrial environments, cestodes and trematodes have complex life-cycles, with mature stages that live as parasites in the digestive systems of fish or land vertebrates, and intermediate stages that infest secondary hosts. Unlike the other groups, the monogeneans are external parasites infesting aquatic animals. Because they do not have internal body cavities, Platyhelminthes were regarded as a stage in the evolution of bilaterians. However, analyses since the mid-1980s have separated out one subgroup, the remaining Platyhelminthes form a monophyletic group, one that contains all and only descendants of a common ancestor that is itself a member of the group. The redefined Platyhelminthes is part of the Lophotrochozoa, one of the three groups of more complex bilaterians. Hence, the traditional platyhelminth subgroup Turbellaria is now regarded as paraphyletic, since it excludes the wholly parasitic groups, over half of all known flatworm species are parasitic, and some do enormous harm to humans and their livestock. Schistosomiasis, caused by one genus of trematodes, is the second-most devastating of all diseases caused by parasites. Neurocysticercosis, which arises when larvae of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium penetrate the central system, is the major cause of acquired epilepsy worldwide. The threat of parasites to humans in developed countries is rising because of the popularity of raw or lightly cooked foods. However, there is now concern that these planarians may themselves become a threat to native snails. In northwest Europe, there are concerns about the spread of the New Zealand planarian Arthurdendyus triangulatus, like other bilaterians, they have three main cell layers, while the radially symmetrical cnidarians and ctenophores have only two cell layers. Beyond that, they are defined more by what they do not have than by any particular series of specializations, unlike other bilaterians, Platyhelminthes have no internal body cavity, so are described as acoelomates. They also lack specialized circulatory and respiratory organs, both of these facts are defining features when classifying a flatworms anatomy and their bodies are soft and unsegmented. The lack of circulatory and respiratory organs limits platyhelminths to sizes and shapes that enable oxygen to reach, hence, many are microscopic and the large species have flat ribbon-like or leaf-like shapes. The guts of large species have many branches, allowing nutrients to diffuse to all parts of the body, the mesenchyme contains all the internal organs and allows the passage of oxygen, nutrients and waste products. Most platyhelminths have no anus and regurgitate undigested material through the mouth, however, some long species have an anus and some with complex, branched guts have more than one anus, since excretion only through the mouth would be difficult for them
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Platydemus manokwari
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Platydemus manokwari, also known as the New Guinea flatworm, is a species of large predatory land flatworm. Native to New Guinea, it has been introduced to the soil of many countries. It was also introduced into two Pacific islands in an attempt to control an invasion of the Giant East African Snail. It eats a variety of invertebrates including land snails, and has had a significant negative impact on the endemic land snail fauna of some Pacific islands. It has become established in a variety of habitats. This flatworm is relatively large, about 40–65 millimetres in length and its body, however, is quite flat, being less than 2 millimetres in thickness. Both ends of the animal are pointed, but the end is more pointed than the tail end. Near the tip of the end are two eyes. The color of this animal is brown on the upper surface. Platydemus manokwari is native to the island of New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean and this species of large flatworm preys on land mollusks and has been categorized as one of the 100 worst invasive species. It was discovered in 1962 by De Beauchamp in Queensland, Australia, however, Platydemus manokwari does not live in urban coastal areas, perhaps due to environmental factors, such as lack of vegetation. Platydemus manokwari mainly preys on land snails, but it has been known to feed on various soil invertebrates, such as earthworms, slugs. Platydemus manokwari is the main predator of land mollusks, and preys upon the snails during most of their life cycle including young hatchlings. Furthermore, Platydemus manokwari does not recognize early-stage snail eggs as a food source. Platydemus manokwari uses a chemical-based tracking method to follow mucus trails and track down its prey. In areas where the snail population has been exhausted, it has been known to eat other flatworms. The diet of Platydemus manokwari is also affected seasonally and it was thus found that there was a positive correlation between snail mortality and temperature. This seasonal difference can be explained by different foraging behaviors, different microclimactic conditions, there are no known predators of Platydemus manokwari
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Tropical rainforest climate
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A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator. Regions with this climate typically feature tropical rainforests, and it is designated Af by the Köppen climate classification. One day in an equatorial climate can be similar to the next. A tropical rainforest is found at latitudes within 10 degrees North and South of the equator. The climate is most commonly found in South America, Central Africa, however, tropical rainforest microclimates are found in many other regions, while not everywhere along the equatorial region features a tropical rainforest climate. Additionally, while tropical rainforest climates are located near the equator. For instance, Santos, Brazil and Fort Lauderdale, United States are not only far removed from the equator, yet both of these cities feature a tropical rainforest climate, albeit with noticeably cooler and warmer periods of the year
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Tropical monsoon climate
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Tropical monsoon climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 °C in every month of the year and feature wet and dry seasons, as Tropical savanna climates do. Tropical monsoon climates however features its driest month seeing on average less than 60 mm and this latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical savanna climate, whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation and also less than 100 – of precipitation. In essence, a monsoon climate tends to either see more rainfall than a tropical savanna climate or have less pronounced dry seasons. Additionally, a monsoon climate tends to see less variance in temperatures during the course of the year than a tropical savanna climate. This climate has a driest month which nearly always occurs at or soon after the winter solstice for that side of the equator, there are generally two versions of a tropical monsoon climate, Less pronounced dry seasons. Regions with this variation of the monsoon climate typically see copious amounts of rain during the wet season. However, unlike most tropical climates, a sizeable amount of precipitation also falls during the dry season. In essence, this version of the monsoon climate generally has less pronounced dry seasons than tropical savanna climates. Extraordinarily rainy wet seasons and pronounced dry seasons and this variation features pronounced dry seasons similar in length and character to dry seasons observed in tropical savanna climates. However, this is followed by a period of extraordinary rainfall. In some instances, up to 1,000 mm of precipitation is observed per month for two or more consecutive months, Tropical savanna climates generally do not see this level of sustained rainfall. Tropical monsoon climates are most commonly found in South and Central America, however, there are sections of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and North America that also feature this climate. The major controlling factor over a tropical climate is its relationship to the monsoon circulation. The monsoon is a change in wind direction. In Asia, during the summer there is a flow of air. In the “winter” an offshore air flow is prevalent, the change in direction is due to the difference in the way water and land heat. October is the hottest month no matter whether is it in the southern or northern hemisphere and this is because October is the shoulder season of the year as if it is the end of the wet season and no winter winds blowing. Changing pressure patterns that affect the seasonality of precipitation occur in Africa though it generally differs from the way it operates in Asia
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Trade winds
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Trade winds also transport African dust westward across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean Sea, as well as portions of southeastern North America. Shallow cumulus clouds are seen within trade wind regimes, and are capped from becoming taller by a trade wind inversion, the weaker the trade winds become, the more rainfall can be expected in the neighboring landmasses. The term trade winds originally derives from the fourteenth century late Middle English word trade. The Portuguese recognized the importance of the winds in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic ocean as early as the 15th century. From West Africa, the Portuguese had to sail away from continental Portugal and they could then turn northeast, to the area around the Azores islands, and finally east to mainland Europe. They also learned that to reach South Africa, they needed to go far out in the ocean, head for Brazil, following the African coast southbound means upwind in the Southern hemisphere. In the Pacific ocean, the wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude Westerlies, was unknown to Europeans until Andres de Urdanetas voyage in 1565. The captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel, for example, Manila galleons could not sail into the wind at all. Between 1847 and 1849, Matthew Fontaine Maury collected enough information to create wind, as part of the Hadley cell circulation, surface air flows toward the equator while the flow aloft is towards the poles. A low-pressure area of calm, light winds near the equator is known as the doldrums, near-equatorial trough, intertropical front. When located within a region, this zone of low pressure. Around 30° in both hemispheres, air begins to descend toward the surface in subtropical high-pressure belts known as subtropical ridges. The subsident air is dry because as it descends, the temperature increases, but the absolute humidity remains constant. This warm, dry air is known as an air mass. An increase of temperature with height is known as a temperature inversion, when it occurs within a trade wind regime, it is known as a trade wind inversion. The surface air flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis effect. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, the trade winds of both hemispheres meet at the doldrums. As they blow across tropical regions, air masses heat up over lower latitudes due to direct sunlight
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Guinness World Records
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The book itself holds a world record, as the best-selling copyrighted book of all time. As of the 2017 edition, it is now in its 63rd year of publication, the international franchise has extended beyond print to include television series and museums. On 10 November 1951, Sir Hugh Beaver, then the director of the Guinness Breweries, went on a shooting party in the North Slob, by the River Slaney in County Wexford. After missing a shot at a golden plover, he involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe. That evening at Castlebridge House, he realised that it was impossible to confirm in reference books whether or not the golden plover was Europes fastest game bird. Beaver knew that there must be numerous other questions debated nightly in pubs throughout Ireland and abroad and he realised then that a book supplying the answers to this sort of question might prove successful. Beavers idea became reality when Guinness employee Christopher Chataway recommended University friends Norris and Ross McWhirter, the twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became The Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. A thousand copies were printed and given away, after the founding of The Guinness Book of Records at 107 Fleet Street, the first 198-page edition was bound on 27 August 1955 and went to the top of the British best seller lists by Christmas. The following year, it launched in the US, and sold 70,000 copies, since then, Guinness World Records has become a household name and the global leader in world records. Because the book became a hit, many further editions were printed, eventually settling into a pattern of one revision a year, published in September/October. The McWhirters continued to compile it for many years, Ross McWhirter was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1975. Following Ross assassination, the feature in the show where questions about records posed by children were answered was called Norris on the Spot, Guinness Superlatives Limited was formed in 1954 to publish the first book. Sterling Publishing owned the rights to the Guinness book in the US for decades, and, under their management, the group was owned by Guinness PLC and subsequently Diageo until 2001, when it was purchased by Gullane Entertainment. Gullane was itself purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002, with offices in New York City and Tokyo, Guinness World Records global headquarters remain in London, while its museum attractions are based at Ripley headquarters in Orlando, Florida, US. Recent editions have focused on record feats by person competitors, many records also relate to the youngest person who achieved something, such as the youngest person to visit all nations of the world, being Maurizio Giuliano. Each edition contains a selection of the records from the Guinness database, as well as new records. The majority of records are no longer listed in the book or on the website. For those unable to wait the 4–6 weeks for a reply, the Guinness Book of Records is the worlds most sold copyrighted book, earning it an entry within its own pages
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Typhoon
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A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean between 180° and 100°E. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, for organizational purposes, the northern Pacific Ocean is divided into three regions, the eastern, central, and western. While the RSMC names each system, the name list itself is coordinated among 18 countries that have territories threatened by typhoons each year. Only the Philippines use their own naming list for systems approaching the country, a typhoon differs from a cyclone or hurricane only on the basis of location. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, within the northwestern Pacific there are no official typhoon seasons as tropical cyclones form throughout the year. While the majority of storms form between June and November, a few storms do occur between December and May, on average, the northwestern Pacific features the most numerous and intense tropical cyclones globally. Like other basins, they are steered by the ridge towards the west or northwest, with some systems recurving near. The Philippines receive the brunt of the landfalls, with China, some of the deadliest typhoons in history have struck China. Southern China has the longest record of typhoon impacts for the region, Taiwan has received the wettest known typhoon on record for the northwest Pacific tropical cyclone basins. The term typhoon is the name in the northwest Pacific for a severe tropical cyclone, whereas hurricane is the regional term in the northeast Pacific. Elsewhere this is called a cyclone, severe tropical cyclone. The Oxford English Dictionary cites Urdu ṭūfān and Chinese tai fung giving rise to early forms in English. The earliest forms -- touffon, later tufan, tuffon, and others -- derive from Urdu ṭūfān, from 1699 appears tuffoon, later tiffoon, derived from Chinese with spelling influenced by the older Urdu-derived forms. The modern spelling dates to 1820, preceded by tay-fun in 1771 and ty-foong. The Urdu source word توفان ṭūfān comes via Persian from Arabic طوفان, the Chinese source is the word tai fung, cited as a common dialect form of Mandarin dà big and fēng wind. In Mandarin the word for the windstorm is 大风 and in Cantonese 大風, the modern Japanese word is also derived from Chinese, 台風. The first character in Japanese has a modern meaning of pedestal or stand. So the Japanese characters originally had a meaning of typhoon wind, the Ancient Greek Τυφῶν is not unrelated and has secondarily contaminated the word
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Latte stone
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A latte stone, or simply latte, is a pillar capped by a hemispherical stone capital with the flat side facing up. Used as building supports by the ancient Chamorro people, they are throughout most of the Mariana Islands. In modern times, the stone is seen as a sign of Chamorro identity and is used in many different contexts. Latte stones have been made of limestone, basalt, or sandstone, typical pillars range in height from 60 centimeters to three meters, and generally narrow towards the top. The pillar was normally quarried and then transported to the construction site, for small to medium-sized lattes, the capstone was a large hemispherical coral head that was gathered from a reef. The massive capstones found in Rota were instead quarried, like the pillars, in Oceania the latte stone is unique to the Marianas, though megaliths of differing construction and purpose are common to Oceanic cultures. Similarities between the stone and the wood posts made by the Ifugao sub-group of the Igorot in the Philippines. The rounded capstones help prevent rats from climbing up the pillar, Latte stones varied greatly in size. The smallest were several feet tall, the largest latte still standing is 16 feet tall, located in Tinian. In Rota, quarried latte would have stood 25 feet high if erected, the largest shaft found here weighs 34 tons while the largest cap weighs 22 tons. The history of the pre-contact Marianas is usually divided into three periods, Pre-Latte, Transitional Pre-Latte, and Latte, undisturbed stones are found usually arranged in parallel pairs of between eight and fourteen lattes framing a rectangular space. The more pairs in the structure, the taller the latte stones, one twenty latte arrangement was found in the current location of the military Ordnance Annex on southern Guam. However, the lack of definitive, consistent evidence means that all theories are disputed, archaeologists who have worked in the Marianas since the end of World War II have noted a distinct difference between latte stones located along the coast, as opposed to those located inland. Coastal latte tend to be placed in sand containing extensive relics of habitation, including shards of pottery, fish and animal bones, human burials were placed within sand containing these archaeological remnants, either within or near sets of lattes. In contrast, the soil in which inland lattes stones are placed rarely has an archaeological stratum or associated burial, the implication is that mainland latte sites were temporarily occupied, and perhaps of a change in burial practice in the later Latte Period. In modern times, latte stones are a symbol of Chamorro identity and are found in a variety of government, business. Concrete lattes are sometimes incorporated into new buildings, while residents of the Marianas will sometimes incorporate actual latte stones into the landscaping around their homes, history of Guam Moai Nan Madol Staddle stones Media related to Latte stones at Wikimedia Commons
