1.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
2.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
3.
Saint-Louis, Senegal
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Saint-Louis, or Ndar as it is called in Wolof, is the capital of Senegals Saint-Louis Region. Located in the northwest of Senegal, near the mouth of the Senegal River, Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal from 1673 until 1902 and French West Africa from 1895 until 1902, when the capital was moved to Dakar. From 1920 to 1957 it also served as the capital of the colony of Mauritania. The heart of the old city is located on a narrow island in the Senegal River,25 km from its mouth. At this point the river is separated from the Atlantic Ocean to the west by a sand spit, the Langue de Barbarie. Yet a third part of the city, Sor, lies on the mainland and is nearly surrounded by tidal marshes. Saint-Louis is situated on the Mauritanian border, though the crossing is at Rosso,100 km upstream. Three characteristics give Saint-Louis its distinctive appearance, the Sahel, the marshes. The marshes are flood basins that form during the season when the river overflows into the countryside, creating ponds and stretches of mangroves that attract birds like flamingos. The Langue de Barbarie, a 600 km long stretch of sand from Nouadhibou in Mauritania to Saint-Louis and its vegetation mainly consists of Filao trees, propagated to prevent soil erosion in sandy and salty soils. A2011 documentary described Saint-Louis as the African city most threatened by rising sea levels, Saint-Louis was established in 1659 by French traders on an uninhabited island called Ndar. It was baptized Saint-Louis-du-Fort in homage to the former French king Louis IX and it was the first permanent French settlement in Senegal. The fortified factory commanded trade along the Senegal River, slaves, hides, beeswax, ambergris and, later, gum arabic were exported. During the Seven Years War, in 1758 British forces captured Senegal, in February 1779, French forces recaptured Saint-Louis. In the late 18th century, Saint Louis had about 5,000 inhabitants, Saint-Louis became the leading urban centre in sub-Saharan Africa”. Between 1659 and 1779, nine chartered companies succeeded one another in administering Saint-Louis, as in Gorée, a Franco-African Creole, or Métis, merchant community characterized by the famous signares, or bourgeois women entrepreneurs, grew up in Saint-Louis during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Métis were important to the economic, social, cultural and political life of the city and they created a distinctive urban culture characterized by public displays of elegance, refined entertainment and popular festivities. They controlled most of the river trade and they financed the principal Catholic institutions
4.
Senegal
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Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country in West Africa. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania in the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast, and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal also borders The Gambia, a country occupying a narrow sliver of land along the banks of the Gambia River, Senegal also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. Senegals economic and political capital is Dakar and it is the westernmost country in the mainland of the Old World, or Afro-Eurasia, and owes its name to the Senegal River, which borders it to the east and north. The name Senegal comes from the Wolof Sunuu Gaal, which means Our Boat, Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of about 15 million. The climate is Sahelian, but there is a rainy season, the territory of modern Senegal has been inhabited by various ethnic groups since prehistory. Organized kingdoms emerged around the century, and parts of the country were ruled by prominent regional empires such as the Jolof Empire. The present state of Senegal has its roots in European colonialism, which began during the mid-15th century, the establishment of coastal trading posts gradually led to control of the mainland, culminating in French rule of the area by the 19th century, albeit amid much local resistance. Senegal peacefully attained independence from France in 1960, and has since been among the politically stable countries in Africa. Senegals economy is centered mostly on commodities and natural resources, major industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair. As in most African nations, agriculture is a sector, with Senegal producing several important cash crops, including peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons. Owing to its stability, tourism and hospitality are also burgeoning sectors. A multiethnic and secular nation, Senegal is predominantly Sunni Muslim with Sufi, French is the official language, although many native languages are spoken and recognized. Since April 2012 Senegals president has been Macky Sall, Senegal has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie since 1970. Senegal is named after the Senegal River, the etymology of which is contested, one popular theory is that it stems from the Wolof phrase sunu gaal, which means our canoe, resulting from a miscommunication between 15th-century Portuguese sailors and Wolof fishermen. The our canoe theory has been embraced in modern Senegal for its charm. It is frequently used in appeals to national solidarity, frequently heard in the media, modern historians believe the name probably refers to the Sanhaja, Berbers who lived on the northern side of the river. A competing theory is that it derives from the town of Sanghana
5.
Mauritania
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Mauritania /mɔːrɪˈteɪniə/, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of western Africa. The country derives its name from the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, approximately 90% of Mauritanias land is within the Sahara and consequently the population is concentrated in the south, where precipitation is slightly higher. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast, the government was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup détat led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, about 20% of Mauritanians live on less than US$1.25 per day. Mauritania suffers from several human rights issues, including slavery, as at least 4% of the population are enslaved against their will, the Bafours were primarily agriculturalist, and among the first Saharan people to abandon their historically nomadic lifestyle. With the gradual desiccation of the Sahara, they headed south, many of the Berber tribes claimed Yemeni origins. There is little evidence to such claims, but a 2000 DNA study of Yemeni people suggested there might be some ancient connection between the peoples. Other peoples also migrated south past the Sahara to West Africa, in 1076, Moorish Islamic warrior monks attacked and conquered the large area of the ancient Ghana Empire. Over the next 500 years, Arabs overcame fierce resistance from the population to dominate Mauritania. The Char Bouba war was the final effort of the peoples to repel the Yemeni Maqil Arab invaders. The invaders were led by the Beni Hassan tribe, the descendants of the Beni Hassan warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society. Hassaniya, a Berber-influenced Arabic dialect that derives its name from the Beni Hassan, berbers retained a niche influence by producing the majority of the regions marabouts, those who preserve and teach Islamic tradition. Imperial France gradually absorbed the territories of present-day Mauritania from the Senegal River area and upwards, in 1901, Xavier Coppolani took charge of the imperial mission. Through a combination of strategic alliances with Zawiya tribes, and military pressure on the Hassane warrior nomads, he managed to extend French rule over the Mauritanian emirates. Trarza, Brakna and Tagant quickly submitted to treaties with the colonial power, Adrar was finally defeated militarily in 1912, and incorporated into the territory of Mauritania, which had been drawn up and planned in 1904. Mauritania was part of French West Africa from 1920, French rule brought legal prohibitions against slavery and an end to inter-clan warfare. During the colonial period, 90% of the population remained nomadic, many sedentary peoples, whose ancestors had been expelled centuries earlier, began to trickle back into Mauritania. After gaining independence, larger numbers of indigenous Sub-Saharan African peoples entered Mauritania, educated in French language and customs, many of these recent arrivals became clerks, soldiers, and administrators in the new state
6.
Mali
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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
7.
River
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A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of water, small rivers can be referred to using names such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill. There are no official definitions for the term river as applied to geographic features. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location, examples are run in parts of the United States, burn in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek, but not always, Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle. Potamology is the study of rivers while limnology is the study of inland waters in general. Extraterrestrial rivers of liquid hydrocarbons have recently found on Titan. Channels may indicate past rivers on other planets, specifically outflow channels on Mars and rivers are theorised to exist on planets, a river begins at a source, follows a path called a course, and ends at a mouth or mouths. The water in a river is confined to a channel. In larger rivers there is also a wider floodplain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may be wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in areas where the floodplain of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing. Rivers can flow down mountains, through valleys or along plains, the term upriver refers to the direction towards the source of the river, i. e. against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term describes the direction towards the mouth of the river. The term left bank refers to the bank in the direction of flow. The river channel typically contains a stream of water, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting streams of water. Extensive braided rivers are now found in only a few regions worldwide and they also occur on peneplains and some of the larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite rare
8.
West Africa
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West Africa, also called Western Africa and the West of Africa, is the westernmost subregion of Africa. Early human settlers from northern Holocene societies arrived in West Africa around 12,000 B. C, sedentary farming began in, or around the fifth millennium B. C, as well as the domestication of cattle. By 1500 B. C, ironworking technology allowed an expansion of productivity. Northern tribes developed walled settlements and non-walled settlements that numbered at 400, in the forest region, Iron Age cultures began to flourish, and an inter-region trade began to appear. The desertification of the Sahara and the change of the coast cause trade with upper Mediterranean peoples to be seen. Local leather, cloth, and gold also contributed to the abundance of prosperity for many of the following empires. Also, based on the archaeology of city of Kumbi Saleh in modern-day Mauritania, three great kingdoms were identified in Bilad al-Sudan by the ninth century. They included Ghana, Gao and Kanem, the Sosso Empire sought to fill the void, but was defeated by the Mandinka forces of Sundiata Keita, founder of the new Mali Empire. In the 15th century, the Songhai would form a new dominant state based on Gao, in the Songhai Empire, under the leadership of Sonni Ali, further east, Oyo arose as the dominant Yoruba state and the Aro Confederacy as a dominant Igbo state in modern-day Nigeria. The Kingdom of Nri was a West African medieval state in the present-day southeastern Nigeria, the Kingdom of Nri was unusual in the history of world government in that its leader exercised no military power over his subjects. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a third of Igboland, the Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters. The Oyo Empire was a Yoruba empire of what is today Western, established in the 15th century, the Oyo Empire grew to become one of the largest West African states. It rose through the organizational skills of the Yoruba, wealth gained from trade. The Benin Empire was an empire located in what is now southern Nigeria. Its capital was Edo, now known as Benin City, Edo and it should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin, formerly called Dahomey. The Benin Empire was one of the oldest and most highly developed states in the hinterland of West Africa. Olfert Dapper, a Dutch writer, describing Benin in his book Description of Africa and its craft was the most adored and treasured bronze casting in the history of Africa. It was annexed by the British Empire in 1897 during the invasion, in the early 19th century, a series of Fulani reformist jihads swept across Western Africa
9.
River source
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The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the furthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. As an example of the definition above, the USGS at times considers the Missouri River as a tributary of the Mississippi River. But it also follows the first definition above in using the combined Missouri - lower Mississippi length figure in lists of lengths of rivers around the world. This definition, from geographer Andrew Johnston of the Smithsonian Institution, is used by the National Geographic Society when pinpointing the source of rivers such as the Amazon or Nile. A definition given by the state of Montana agrees, stating that a source is never a confluence but is in a location that is the farthest, along water miles. Under this definition neither a lake nor a confluence of tributaries can be a river source. Likewise, the source of the Amazon River has been determined this way, when not listing river lengths, however, alternative definitions may be used. In the case of the Missouri River, Lewis and Clark would have had to travel to the east. to reach the source. Sometimes the source of the most remote tributary may be in an area that is more marsh-like, for example, the source of the River Tees is marshland. The furthest stream is often called the headstream. Headwaters are often small streams with cool waters because of shade and they may also be glacial headwaters, waters formed by the melting of glacial ice. Headwater areas are the areas of a watershed, as opposed to the outflow or discharge of a watershed. The river source is often but not always on or quite near the edge of the watershed, for example, the source of the Colorado River is at the Continental Divide separating the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean watersheds of North America. A river is considered a geographic feature, with only one mouth. For an example, note how the Mississippi River and Missouri River sources are officially defined, U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Mississippi River, Length,2,340 miles, Source, 47°14′22″N 95°12′29″W U. S. For example, The River Thames rises in Gloucestershire, the White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. The word source, when applied to lakes rather than rivers or streams, refers to the lakes inflow
10.
Bakoy River
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The Bakoy or Bakoye River is a river in West Africa. It runs through Guinea and Mali and joins with the Bafing River to form the Sénégal River at Bafoulabé in the Kayes Region of western Mali, in Manding languages, Bakoye signifies white river, Bafing black river and Baloué red river. The source of the Bakoy is at an elevation of 760 m in the granite Monts Ménien to the northwest of Siguiri in Guinea, the river flows north and forms part of the international border between Guinea and Mali. It then meanders across the Manding Plateau and joins its principal affluent, the Baloué, the Bakoy is 560 km in length and drains a basin of around 85,600 km2. The river is seasonal with a flow in September after the start of the West African Monsoon. The large year-to-year variation in the intensity of the West African Monsoon gives rise to changes in the discharge of the Bakoy River. For the exceptionally dry year of 1972, the flow at the Oualia gauging station,54 km upstream of Bafoulabé, was only 30 m3/s while in 1958 the value was 260 m3/s. The average flow over the period 1951-1978 was 156 m3/s corresponding to a discharge of 4.9 km3. At Bafoulabé the average discharge of the Bakoy is between a third and a half of that of the Bafing
11.
Bafing River
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The Bafing River runs through Guinea and Mali and is about 760 kilometres long. It joins with the Bakoy River at Bafoulabé to form the Sénégal River in the Kayes Region of western Mali, in Manding languages, Bafing signifies black river and Bakoye white river. The Bafing forms part of the border between Guinea and Mali. From 1895 to 1898 the railway bridge near the town of Mahina, the Manantali hydroelectric dam, is located on the Bafing River 90 km upstream of Bafoulabé. It forms the largest artificial lake in Mali, Lake Manantali, the dam retains 11.3 km3 of water which is used to power the turbines during the dry season. As a result, the intensity of the flood downstream of the dam has been reduced
12.
Guinea
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Guinea /ˈɡɪni/, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country on the West coast of Africa. Guinea has a population of 10.5 million and an area of 245,860 square kilometres, the president is directly elected by the people and is head of state and head of government. The unicameral Guinean National Assembly is the body of the country. The judicial branch is led by the Guinea Supreme Court, the highest, the country is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. Guinea is a predominantly Islamic country, with Muslims representing 85 percent of the population, Guineas people belong to twenty-four ethnic groups. French, the language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media. Guineas economy is dependent on agriculture and mineral production. It is the second largest producer of bauxite, and has rich deposits of diamonds. The country was at the core of the 2014 Ebola outbreak, human rights in Guinea remain a controversial issue. In 2011 the United States government claimed that torture by security forces, the land that is now Guinea belonged to a series of African empires until France colonized it in the 1890s, and made it part of French West Africa. Guinea declared its independence from France on 2 October 1958, from independence until the presidential election of 2010, Guinea was governed by a number of autocratic rulers. What is now Guinea was on the fringes of the major West African empires, the Ghana Empire is believed to be the earliest of these which grew on trade but contracted and ultimately fell due to the hostile influence of the Almoravids. It was in period that Islam first arrived in the region. The Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa, the most famous being Kankou Moussa, shortly after his reign the Mali Empire began to decline and was ultimately supplanted by its vassal states in the 15th century. The most successful of these was the Songhai Empire, which expanded its power from about 1460 and it continued to prosper until a civil war over succession followed the death of Askia Daoud in 1582. The weakened empire fell to invaders from Morocco at the Battle of Tondibi just three years later, the Moroccans proved unable to rule the kingdom effectively, however, and it split into many small kingdoms
13.
Gouina Falls
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The Gouina Falls or Chutes de Gouina are on the Sénégal River in Mali between the towns of Bafoulabé and Diamou in the Kayes Region, where the river runs north from the Talari Gorges. They have been called the Niagara falls of Mali, the river is about 500 m wide at this point, and drops 16 m over the falls. The volume of water is 12-13 m3 per second in the dry season, the government of Mali and Senegal River Basin Development Authority has investigated the possibility of developing the electric power potential of the Senegal River. Downstream on the Félou Falls, a new Félou Hydroelectric Plant was completed in 2014, on Gouina Falls, construction of the 140 MW Gouina Hydroelectric Plant began in December 2013. It is expected to be complete in 2017
14.
Kayes
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Kayes is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River, with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the region of the same name. The name Kayes comes from the Soninké word karré, which describes a low humid place that floods in rainy season, the city is located 420 kilometres northwest of the capital Bamako. Prior to French colonial expansion, Kayes was a small village and its location on the path of the future Dakar-Niger Railway, and the French need for trade centers, led to the creation of the Kayes market town in 1881. It remains a hub, primarily for Senegalese trade, to this day. Kayes lies on the Route Nationale 1 highway and is 612 km by road from Bamako and 96 km from the border with Senegal. The town has an airport, and lies on the Dakar-Niger Railway which offered regional passenger train service to Bamako three times a week via Kati and Diamou as of 2013. The area is rich in gold and iron, the climate is subject to the West African Monsoon with all the rainfall occurring between June and October. There is almost no rainfall during the seven months of the year. The total annual rainfall is around 650 mm. Kayes is nicknamed the pressure cooker of Africa due to its extreme heat, the town has been described as the hottest continuously inhabited town in Africa. The average daily temperature in the city is 37 °C. Colonial history of Kayes, from Web Site of Dr. Jim Jones, African History Since 1875, view of Sénégal River Bridge at Kayes, Kidira Border Crossing into Mali, December 16,2004 by NKOverland
15.
Atlantic Ocean
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The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
16.
Gorgol River
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The Gorgol River is a river of southern Mauritania that is a tributary of the Sénégal River. The river is formed by the confluence of the Gorgol Noir, the Gorgol joins the Sénégal River at Kaédi. The river basin plays an important in role in Mauritanian economy facilated by investment in the 1970s. The Mauritanian government initiated an irrigation and development scheme in 1975 for the Gorgol River valley where the Foum Gleita Dam across the Gorgol would increase arable land by over 3,600 ha. This project was to be followed by other dams that together would add 30,000 ha for food production, the Gorgol river was a source of concern amongst environmentalists from the mid-1970s with new water damming projects on the river. A report conducted between May and November 1974, revealed the prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis, and the relevant species of snails, particularly affected was the Mbout area nearest the Foum Gleita Dam. Rates of schistisomiasis were lowest in Kaédi near the confluence of the Gorgol and Senegal rivers
17.
Richard Toll
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Richard Toll is a town in northern Senegal, lying on the south bank of the River Senegal, just east of Rosso. Originally a colonial town, it was named for the park of the Chateau de Baron Roger, a rice growing scheme was originally initiated by Frances colonial development organisation, FIDES, in 1949 with an initial cultivated area of 6,000 hectares. The towns main industry is sugar, marie Laforêt has a song about Richard Toll. Before Colonization there were two villages Ndiangué, and Xhouma, which were inhabited by the Mbodi people descendants of Brack. In 1817 the governor under colonial rule Schmaltz created L’Escale community on the Senegal River, in 1822, the new governor the Baron Roger sent a botanist and pépiniériste named Michelle Claude Richard to work in L’Escale and named it Richard’s Toll, meaning Richards Farm in local language. At this time there were 28 residents, and 1148 nomadic workers living in Toll, the size of toll then grew greatly in 1945 with the creation of the Mission Agricole du Senegal, which also brought other institutions such as a hospital, and chapel, and a school. By 1980 Richard Toll had six quartiers, Escale, Ndaingué, Ndiaw, Khouma Wolof, Khouma Peul, since then the city has grown and evolved into what it is today with the addition of quartiers such as Campement, Thiaback, GAE2, and Taouey. The latest estimate of the available at the mayors office with was from 2005 which was at 46,547. Women constituted 52. 01% of the population, and men 47. 99%, there are two markets in Toll, the Richard Toll market, and the Xhouma Market. The Richard Toll market is a larger than the Xhouma market. It is located in the part of the city, and encompasses about 3 square city blocks although it is hard to tell where the market ends. I would estimate that there are over 50 established stores, the Xhouma market is located on the eastern side of town in a primarily Pulaar area. It is located off the road, as opposed to the Richard Toll market which is in more of a city grid. The main economic activities in Richard Toll are agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, less popular economic activities are transportation, tourism, and artisanal goods. Richard Toll is most known for its refinery, which is French owned
18.
Ferlo
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The Ferlo Desert, also known as the Ferio Desert, is a desert in northern-central Senegal. It is inhabited by the Serer and the Fulani, the Ferlo Desert occupies an area of some 70,000 km2, over one-third of the countrys total area. It forms part of the region of Djourbel which extends to within 45 miles to the east of Dakar to the west and south of St Louis, the Senegal River flows through the region, and valleys occur in the Sine Saloum Delta north of The Gambia. There are endless plains and sand dunes, with scattered rocks, the plain is crossed by the courses of numerous tributaries of the Senegal River, which for most of the year are dry and fill with water only occasionally during the rainy season. The climate is dry, characterised by a long dry season. The wet season, in the period from July to September, is short, due to the arid climate the region is sparsely populated, the area was also plagued by drought in the early 1970s and again in 1983-1984. Linguère, with nearly 13,000 inhabitants, is the largest town in this region, desertification has also contributed to a regional population decline. The semi-desert zone of the Ferlo is known for its baobab trees, the national reserves Ferlo Nord Wildlife Reserve and Ferlo Sud Wildlife Reserve lie within the Ferlo desert region. Ferlo Nord Wildlife Reserve, established in 1971, covers an area of 6,000 square kilometres, Ferlo Sud Wildlife Reserve was established the following year, and is a little larger at 6,337 square kilometres. This region of Senegal is destitute, and living conditions are difficult, the population are mainly engaged in ranching. The main crops cultivated are millet, cowpeas, peanuts, watermelons and squash, the natural grasslands of the desert have undergone change. Until the mid-1950s the region was visited by people and livestock only during the rainy season, from the mid-1950s, boreholes were drilled and began to provide water to areas of the desert, which enabled pastureland to be used by the farmers all year round. By 1955, fifty wells were reported along the main routes to be providing water. Spate irrigation has since developed in the region, and temporary ponds may cover an area of several hectares during the wet season from July to October
19.
Rosso
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Rosso is the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of year-round navigation, the town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott. Rosso was once the capital of the Emirate of Trarza, a Precolonial Sahrawi dominated state in Africa, under French colonial rule Senegal and Mauritania were administered as a single entity. When independence came, the new frontier was drawn along the Senegal River and this article refers to Mauritanian Rosso, on the northern bank of the river. Originally a staging-post for the gum arabic trade, Rosso has grown rapidly since independence, from a population of a mere 2300 in 1960 it has now overtaken Kaédi to become the 3rd largest city in the country with 48922 inhabitants. Rosso occupies a position at the international ferry-crossing on the main road between Nouakchott and the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Economically the town has benefited but its fortunes are very dependent on the state of relations between the two countries, from 1990-92 the border crossing was closed, due to the Mauritania–Senegal Border War, and there have been repeated movements of refugees in both directions through the town. Rosso has the highest annual rainfall in the country at 300mm/yr and is one of the towns which serve the narrow strip of agricultural land stretching along the southern frontier of Mauritania. But even here the Sahara is encroaching, major irrigation projects have been carried out on the northern bank of the Senegal River, financed by the United Arab Emirates, allowing an expansion in the production of cash crops such as mint. In 2004 however up to 80% of crops were lost as a result of the infestation of locusts which affected the whole of the western Sahel and this was followed by a severe drought. It was a bitter irony then that in August 2005 some 10,000 people were displaced by flooding, the city is near the Diawling National Park. Rosso is also known for the internationally renowned Satara Zone Housing project, a small library, set up by the local Catholic priest, has been functioning since 2005. A technology institute - ISET - was opened in 2009, offering courses in agriculture, the current Mayor, Professor Yerim Fassa, a doctor, was elected in 2007. Rosso has been twinned with Moissy-Cramayel since 1986, Rosso Town Hall Institut supérieur des études technologiques
20.
Langue de Barbarie
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The Langue de Barbarie is a thin, sandy peninsula, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, located in western Senegal, in the neighbourhood of the city of Saint-Louis. The peninsula separates the ocean from the section of the Senegal River. The Langue de Barbarie National Park is located at the edge of the peninsula. Covering an area of 2,000 hectares, it is home to an abundant variety of bird species, a 4 metres breach was cut in the peninsula near the city of Saint-Louis on 3 October 2003 to help counter possible flooding. However, the breach quickly widened to 800 m and separated the southern end of the peninsula permanently from the main country, effectively transforming it into an island. As of December 2013 the sea has claimed over 3 km of land and has caused the loss of villages and tourist resorts in addition to changes in the flora, Langue de Barbarie National Park travel guide from Wikivoyage Opening hours and pricing
21.
Dam
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A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity, a dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, the first known appearance of dam occurs in 1165. However, there is one village, Obdam, that is mentioned in 1120. The word seems to be related to the Greek word taphos, so the word should be understood as dike from dug out earth. The names of more than 40 places from the Middle Dutch era such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the level, for Mesopotamias weather affected the Tigris. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan,100 kilometres northeast of the capital Amman and this gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high and 1 m-wide stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC, the Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, located about 25 km south of Cairo, was 102 m long at its base and 87 m wide. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a dam for flood control. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III, two dams called Ha-Uar running east-west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km2 and is today as Berkat Qaroun. One of the wonders of the ancient world was the Great Dam of Marib in Yemen. Repairs were carried out during various periods, most important around 750 BC and these extensive works were not actually finalized until 325 AD and allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres. By the mid-late 3rd century BC, an intricate water-management system within Dholavira in modern-day India was built, the system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. Eflatun Pınar is a Hittite dam and spring temple near Konya and it is thought to be from the time of the Hittite empire between the 15th and 13th century BC
22.
Manantali Dam
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The Manantali Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Bafing river in the Senegal River basin,90 kilometres to the south-east of Bafoulabé, in Malis Kayes Region. The World Bank declined to fund the dam in 1979, considering it an unreasonable investment, however, financing was secured mainly from Europe and construction on the dam began in 1982. It was completed in 1988, but without the hydropower plant, in 1989 the Mauritania–Senegal Border War stopped all work on the project. A Swiss journalist who visited Manantali in 1988 described the project as a car without a motor. In 1993 Carl–Dieter Spranger, then Germanys minister for development assistance, called Manantali an act of economic, when the conflict subsided in 1991 the OMVS sought a new loan package for the hydropower plant, which was finally put together in 1997. The dam began to produce electricity for Senegal, Mali and Mauritania in 2001, today the dam is managed by the tripartite Manantali Energy Management Company, the Société de gestion de l’énergie de Manantali created in 1997. SOGEM in turn has signed a 15-year concession contract with the private company EEM, OMVS is represented on the board of SOGEM. Citing contractual difficulties in executing the contract, Eskom has entered into an agreement with SOGEM to terminate it as of 1 October 2011, according to the companys 2011 financial report. The total cost of the dam, its associated hydropower plant, the construction cost of the related Diama Dam further downstream was an additional 50m Euro. The three benefiting African countries also contributed to the financing, 64% of the foreign financing was through soft loans and 36% through grants. The European Community, the Islamic Development Bank, the West African Development Bank, the government of Norway had declined to finance the dam because of concerns about its health impact. The expected benefits included electricity generation, increased production through irrigation. About 55% of the electricity is used in Mali, 30% in Senegal, in 2006 in Mali more than 90% of all electricity generated came from Manantali, in Mauritania 34% and in Senegal 13%. The dam has not resolved the problem of the three countries, where power outages regularly occur and the few existing industries have to produce their own power. As for the efficiency of the project, the European evaluation calculated an economic rate of return of the hydropower component of 8%. A World Bank evaluation even calculated a rate of return of 12 to 24%. However, these economic benefits did not translate into financial benefits for two reasons, First, bulk electricity tariffs were set at only half of production costs. Second, the power utilities of the three countries that buy the electricity in bulk regularly pay only about half their bills
23.
Diama Dam
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The Diama Dam, sometimes referred to as the Maka–Diama Dam, is a gravity dam on the Senegal River, spanning the border of Senegal and Mauritania. It is located next to the town of Diama, Senegal and about 22 km north of Saint-Louis, additionally, a ship lock built within the dam provides for navigation upstream. Plans for the dam were first drawn in 1970 when the states within the Senegal River Basin Development Authority agreed to develop the Senegal River. The Diama Dam was to be constructed in conjunction with the Manantali Dam which was to be located upstream in Mali. Construction on the Diama Dam began on 15 September 1981 and was completed on 12 August 1986, the Manantali Dam was completed in 1988. The Diama project was funded by a US$149.5 million loan from the African Development Bank, the main section of the dam with ship lock and spillway is 170 m long while a 440 m long embankment dam section extends north to the edge of the river. A dike further extends the dam to the north, the dam is 18 m tall and it is spillway has a maximum discharge of 6,500 m3/s. Schistosomiasis Félou Hydroelectric Plant – upstream Gouina Hydroelectric Plant – upstream Manantali Dam – upstream
24.
Seawater
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Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the oceans has a salinity of about 3. 5% This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately 35 grams of dissolved salts. Average density at the surface is 1.025 kg/l, seawater is denser than both fresh water and pure water because the dissolved salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume. The freezing point of seawater decreases as salt concentration increases, at typical salinity, it freezes at about −2 °C. The coldest seawater ever recorded was in 2010, in a stream under an Antarctic glacier, seawater pH is typically limited to a range between 7.5 and 8.4. However, there is no universally accepted reference pH-scale for seawater, although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 31 g/kg and 38 g/kg, seawater is not uniformly saline throughout the world. Where mixing occurs with fresh water runoff from river mouths, near melting glaciers or vast amounts precipitation, the most saline open sea is the Red Sea, where high rates of evaporation, low precipitation and low river run-off, and confined circulation result in unusually salty water. The salinity in isolated bodies of water can be considerably greater still, historically, several salinity scales were used to approximate the absolute salinity of seawater. A popular scale was the Practical Salinity Scale where salinity was measured in practical salinity units, the current standard for salinity is the Reference Salinity scale with the salinity expressed in units of g/kg. The density of surface seawater ranges from about 1020 to 1029 kg/m3, depending on the temperature, at a temperature of 25 °C, salinity of 35 g/kg and 1 atm pressure, the density of seawater is 1023.6 kg/m3. Deep in the ocean, under pressure, seawater can reach a density of 1050 kg/m3 or higher. The density of seawater also changes with salinity, brines generated by seawater desalination plants can have salinities up to 120 g/kg. The density of typical seawater brine of 120 g/kg salinity at 25 °C, seawater pH is limited to the range 7.5 to 8.4. The speed of sound in seawater is about 1,500 m/s, and varies with temperature, salinity. The thermal conductivity of seawater is 0.6 W/mK at 25 °C, the thermal conductivity decreases with increasing salinity and increases with increasing temperature. Seawater contains more dissolved ions than all types of freshwater, however, the ratios of solutes differ dramatically. Bicarbonate ions also constitute 48% of river water solutes but only 0. 14% of all seawater ions, differences like these are due to the varying residence times of seawater solutes, sodium and chlorine have very long residence times, while calcium tends to precipitate much more quickly. The most abundant dissolved ions in seawater are sodium, chloride, magnesium, sulfate and its osmolarity is about 1000 mOsm/l
25.
Weir
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A weir /ˈwɪər/ is a barrier across the horizontal width of the river that alters the flow characteristics of the water and usually results in a change in the vertical height of the river level. There are many designs of weir, but commonly water flows freely over the top of the weir crest before cascading down to a lower level, Weirs are commonly used to prevent flooding, measure discharge and help render rivers navigable. In some locations the terms dam and weir are synonymous, a dam is usually specifically designed to impound water behind a wall, whilst a weir is designed to alter the river flow characteristics. A common distinction between dams and weirs is that flows over the top of a weir or underneath it for at least some of its length. Accordingly the crest of a spillway on a large dam may therefore be referred to as a weir. Weirs can vary in size both horizontally and vertically, with the smallest being only a few inches in height whilst the largest may be hundreds of metres long, some common weir purposes are outlined below. Weirs allow hydrologists and engineers a method of measuring the volumetric flow rate in small to medium-sized streams/rivers or in industrial discharge locations. Since the geometry of the top of the weir is known and all flows over the weir. However, this can only be achieved in locations where all water flows over the top of the weir crest, if these conditions are not met it can make flow measurement complicated, inaccurate or even impossible. The discharge calculation can be summarised as, Q = C L H n Where Q is flow rate of fluid C is the flow coefficent for the structure, Flow measurement weirs must be well maintained if they are to remain accurate. As weirs are a physical barrier they can impede the movement of fish and other animals up. This can have an effect of fish species that migrate as part of their breeding cycle. For example, weirs in the Great Lakes region have helped to prevent invasive Sea lamprey from colonising further upstream, mill ponds are created by a weir impounding water that then flows over the structure. The energy created by the change in height of the water can then be used to power waterwheels and power mill, Weirs are commonly used to control the flow rates of rivers during periods of high discharge. Sluice gates can be altered to increase or decrease the volume of flowing downstream. Weirs of this purpose are commonly found upstream of towns and villages, by slowing the rate at which water moves downstream even slightly a disproportionate effect can be had on the likelihood of flooding. On larger rivers a weir can also alter the characteristics of a river to the point that vessels are able to navigate areas previously inaccessible due to extreme currents or eddies. Many larger weirs will have built in that allow boats and river users to shoot the weir
26.
Gouina Hydroelectric Plant
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The Gouina Hydroelectric Plant is a run-of-the-river-type hydroelectric installation currently being constructed on Gouina Falls along the Senegal River in Mali. It is located about 18 km southeast of Diamou in the Kayes Region and it is the fourth project of the Senegal River Basin Development Authority and its ground-breaking ceremony on 17 December 2013 was attended by the heads of state of each member country. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz laid the foundation stone, preliminary construction had been suspended due to the 2012 Malian coup détat and subsequent Northern Mali conflict. The plant is expected to be complete in 2017 and will power to Mauritania, Mali. The plant will cost US$329 million and the 280 km of lines will cost US$65 million. It will have a capacity of 140 megawatts and will use the outflows of the Manantali Dam upstream to regulation water flow into the plant. A1,230 m long weir just above the fall will direct water into a channel which will feed the power house just downstream of the falls. The power house will contain three 46.6 MW Kaplan turbine-generators, the difference in elevation the water fall and weir provide will afford a hydraulic head of 22.5 m. Manantali Dam – upstream Félou Hydroelectric Plant – downstream Diama Dam – downstream
27.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
28.
Tributary
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A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean, tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean. A confluence, where two or more bodies of water together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from, distributaries are most often found in river deltas. Right tributary and left tributary are terms stating the orientation of the relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction, for example, the American River receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago Rivers North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork, the South Branch has its South Fork, forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here, the handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream, for instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river, the Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third, and higher orders, with the first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary, another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure, stored as a tree data structure
29.
Ecoregion
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An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than an ecozone. All three of these are less or greater than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, the biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches, firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible, secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges, rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome, biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers. Some physical, some climatic and some ocean chemical related, the history of the term is somewhat vague as it was used in many contexts, forest classifications, biome classifications, biogeographic classifications, etc. The concept of ecoregion of Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, there is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making the delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Such transition zones are called ecotones, Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or a holistic, “weight-of-evidence” approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the approach is Robert Bailey’s work for the U. S. The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used, according to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across the Earth, the use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and it is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation, Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean of land, WWF ecologists currently divide the land surface of the Earth into 8 major ecozones containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions. The WWF effort is a synthesis of previous efforts to define. Many consider this classification to be decisive, and some propose these as stable borders for bioregional democracy initiatives. The eight terrestrial ecozones follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, ecozone boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like the Himalayas and the Sahara
30.
Species richness
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Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take account the abundances of the species or their relative abundance distributions. Species diversity takes into account both species richness and species evenness, depending on the purposes of quantifying species richness, the individuals can be selected in different ways. They can be, for example, trees found in a plot, birds observed from a monitoring point. Once the set of individuals has been defined, its species richness can be quantified, provided the species-level taxonomy of the organisms of interest is well enough known. Applying different species delimitations will lead to different species richness values for the set of individuals. In practice, people are interested in the species richness of areas so large that not all individuals in them can be observed and identified to species. Then applying different sampling methods will lead to different sets of individuals being observed for the area of interest. When a new individual is added to a set, it may introduce a species that was not yet represented in the set, for this reason, sets with many individuals can be expected to contain more species than sets with fewer individuals. Resampling methods can be used to bring samples of different sizes to a common footing, the observed species richness is affected not only by the number of individuals but also by the heterogeneity of the sample. If individuals are drawn from different environmental conditions, the richness of the resulting set can be expected to be higher than if all individuals are drawn from similar environments. The accumulation of new species with increasing sampling effort can be visualised with a species accumulation curve, such curves can be constructed in different ways. Many organism groups have most species in the tropics, which leads to latitudinal gradients in species richness, there has been much discussion about the relationship between productivity and species richness. Results have varied among studies, such that no consensus on either the pattern or its possible causes has emerged. Species richness is often used as a criterion when assessing the conservation values of habitats or landscapes. However, species richness is blind to the identity of the species, an area with many endemic or rare species is generally considered to have higher conservation value than another area where species richness is similar, but all the species are common and widespread. Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Rapoports rule Scaling pattern of occupancy Species-area curve Species discovery curve Storage effect Kevin J. Gaston & John I, ecosystems and Human Well-being, Current State and Trends, Volume 1
31.
Endemism
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The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, the word endemic is from New Latin endēmicus, from Greek ενδήμος, endēmos, native. Endēmos is formed of en meaning in, and dēmos meaning the people, the term, precinctive, has been suggested by some scientists, and was first used in botany by MacCaughey in 1917. It is the equivalent of endemism, precinction was perhaps first used by Frank and McCoy. That definition excludes artificial confinement of examples by humans in far-off botanical gardens or zoological parks, physical, climatic, and biological factors can contribute to endemism. The orange-breasted sunbird is found in the fynbos vegetation zone of southwestern South Africa. The glacier bear is found only in limited places in Southeast Alaska, political factors can play a part if a species is protected, or actively hunted, in one jurisdiction but not another. There are two subcategories of endemism, paleoendemism and neoendemism, paleoendemism refers to species that were formerly widespread but are now restricted to a smaller area. Neoendemism refers to species that have arisen, such as through divergence and reproductive isolation or through hybridization. Endemics can easily become endangered or extinct if their restricted habitat changes, particularly—but not only—due to human actions, there were millions of both Bermuda petrels and Bermuda cedars in Bermuda when it was settled at the start of the seventeenth century. By the end of the century, the petrels were thought extinct, cedars, already ravaged by centuries of shipbuilding, were driven nearly to extinction in the twentieth century by the introduction of a parasite. Bermuda petrels and cedars are now rare, as are species endemic to Bermuda
32.
Pliny the Elder
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In the latter number will be my uncle, by virtue of his own and of your compositions. Pliny is referring to the fact that Tacitus relied on his uncles now missing work on the History of the German Wars. The wind caused by the sixth and largest pyroclastic surge of the eruption would not allow his ship to leave the shore, and Pliny probably died during this event. Plinys dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79 and a statement of his nephew that he died in his 56th year, Pliny was the son of an equestrian, Gaius Plinius Celer, and his wife, Marcella. Neither the younger nor the elder Pliny mention the names and their ultimate source is a fragmentary inscription found in a field in Verona and recorded by the 16th century Augustinian monk Onofrio Panvinio at Verona. The reading of the inscription depends on the reconstruction, but in all cases the names come through, whether he was an augur and whether she was named Grania Marcella are less certain. Jean Hardouin presents a statement from a source that he claims was ancient, that Pliny was from Verona. Hardouin also cites the conterraneity of Catullus, additional efforts to connect Celer and Marcella with other gentes are highly speculative. Hardouin is the scholar to use his unknown source. He kept statues of his ancestors there, a statue of Pliny on the facade of the Duomo of Como celebrates him as a native son. He had a sister, Plinia, who married into the Caecilii and was the mother of his nephew, Pliny the Younger, whose letters describe his work and study regimen in detail. In one of his letters to Tacitus, Pliny the Younger details how his uncles breakfasts would be light and simple following the customs of our forefathers. This shows that Pliny the Younger wanted it to be conveyed that Pliny the Elder was a good Roman and this statement would have pleased Tacitus. Two inscriptions identifying the hometown of Pliny the Younger as Como take precedence over the Verona theory, one commemorates the youngers career as imperial magistrate and details his considerable charitable and municipal expenses on behalf of the people of Como. Another identifies his father Lucius village as Fecchio near Como and it is likely therefore that Plinia was a local girl and Pliny the Elder, her brother, was from Como. Gaius was a member of the Plinii gens and he did not take his fathers cognomen, Celer, but assumed his own, Secundus. As his adopted son took the same cognomen, Pliny founded a branch, no earlier instances of the Plinii are known. In 59 BC, only about 82 years before Plinys birth, Julius Caesar founded Novum Comum as a colonia to secure the region against the Alpine tribes, whom he had been unable to defeat
33.
Phoenician language
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Phoenician was a language originally spoken in the coastal region then called Canaan in Phoenician, Arabic, Greek, and Aramaic, Phoenicia in Greek and Latin, and Pūt in the Egyptian language. It is a part of the Canaanite subgroup of the Northwest Semitic languages, other members of the family are Hebrew, Ammonite, Moabite and Edomite. The area where Phoenician was spoken includes modern-day Lebanon, coastal Syria, coastal northern Israel, parts of Cyprus and, at least as a prestige language, some adjacent areas of Anatolia. Phoenician, together with Punic, is known from approximately 10,000 surviving inscriptions. In addition to their inscriptions, the Phoenicians are believed to have left numerous other types of written sources. In their cities by the sea, the air and soil were damp, thus disappeared the literature of the people who taught a large portion of the earth’s population to write. The only written documents of Phoenicians and Carthaginians are monumental inscriptions on stone, a few letters or notes on pieces of broken pottery. Thus, no Tyrian primary sources dating from Hiram I’s time are available, roman authors, such as Sallust, allude to some books written in the Punic language, but none have survived except occasionally in translation or in snippets. Even as late as 1837 only 70 Phoenician inscriptions were known to scholars and these were compiled in Wilhelm Geseniuss Scripturae linguaeque Phoeniciae monumenta, which comprised all that was known of Phoenician by scholars at that time. Basically, its core consists of the edition, or re-edition of 70 Phoenician. However, just to note the advances made in the century, it is noteworthy that Gesenius’ precursor Hamaker. On the other hand only 30 years later the amount of Phoenician inscribed monuments had grown so enormously that Schröder in his compendium Die phönizische Sprache. Entwurf einer Grammatik nebst Sprach- und Schriftproben of 1869 could state that Gesenius knew only a quarter of the material Schröder had at hand himself, the Phoenicians were the first state-level society to make extensive use of the Semitic alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet is the oldest verified consonantal alphabet, or abjad and it has become conventional to refer to the script as Proto-Canaanite until the mid-11th century BCE, when it is first attested on inscribed bronze arrowheads, and as Phoenician only after 1050 BCE. The Phoenician phonetic alphabet is believed to be at least the partial ancestor of almost all modern alphabets. From a traditional perspective, Phoenician was a variety of the Canaanite languages. Through their maritime trade, the Phoenicians spread the use of the alphabet to North Africa and Europe, later, the Etruscans adopted a modified version for their own use, which, in turn, was modified and adopted by the Romans and became the Latin alphabet. Carthaginian colonisation spread Phoenician to the western Mediterranean, where the distinct Punic language developed, Punic also died out, although it seems to have survived slightly longer than the original Phoenician, perhaps into the fifth century CE
34.
Behemoth
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Behemoth is a beast mentioned in Job 40, 15–24. Suggested identities range from a creature to an elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros. Some Young Earth creationists believe it to be a description of a dinosaur, metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity. Job 40, 15–24 describes Behemoth, and then the sea-monster Leviathan, to demonstrate to Job the futility of questioning God, who alone has created these beings and who alone can capture them. Both beasts are chaos monsters destroyed by the deity at the time of creation, in the divine speeches in Job, Behemoth and Leviathan may both be seen as composite and mythical creatures with enormous strength, which humans like Job could not hope to control. But both are reduced to the status of divine pets, with rings through their noses and Leviathan on a leash, according to this text Leviathan lives in the Abyss, while Behemoth the land-monster lives in an invisible desert east of the Garden of Eden. Their Creator will approach them with his mighty sword, then, from the beautiful skin of the Leviathan, God will construct canopies to shelter the righteous, who will eat the meat of the Behemoth and the Leviathan amid great joy and merriment. In the Haggadah, Behemoths strength reaches its peak on the solstice of every solar year. At this time of year, Behemoth lets out a roar that makes all animals tremble with fear. As a result, weak animals live in safety away from the outreach of wild animals and this mythical phenomenon is shown as an example of divine mercy and goodness. Without Behemoths roar, traditions narrate, animals would grow more wild and ferocious, since the 17th century CE there have been many attempts to identify Behemoth. Some scholars have seen him as a creature, usually the hippopotamus, occasionally the elephant, rhinoceros. The reference to Behemoths tail that moves like a cedar presents a problem for most of these readings, biologist Michael Bright suggests that the reference to the cedar tree actually refers to the brush-like shape of its branches, which resemble the tails of modern elephants and hippopotamuses. The Vulgate seems to endorse such a reading by using the word testiculorum, russian-language speakers have used the cognate word бегемот to refer to the hippopotamus from third quarter of the 18th century. Some Young Earth creationists identify Behemoth as possibly a sauropod dinosaur, arguing that no other animal, the Dictionnaire Infernal has depicted Behemoth as a humanoid Elephant Demon with a round belly. This depiction of Behemoth is a soldier of Satan that lives in Hell. Behemoth is a watchman who also presides over the gluttonous banquets and feasts. It is also said that Behemoth has also enjoyed a certain renown for his voice where he was regarded as Hells official demonic singer, the 17th-century political philosopher Thomas Hobbes named the Long Parliament Behemoth in his book Behemoth
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Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Senegal (river)". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 639.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "