Vesdre
The Weser or Vesdre and Vesder is a river in eastern Belgium, in the province of Liège, is a right tributary to the river Ourthe. Its source lies in the High Fens, close to the border with Germany near Monschau, it flows through an artificial lake, through the towns Eupen, Verviers and Chaudfontaine. The Vesdre flows into the Ourthe a few kilometers from Liège, its total length is 64 kilometres. The water of the Vesdre has a high acidity, which made it suitable for the textiles industry around Verviers; the Vesdre was the far eastern end of the backbone of Walloon industry. Nowadays, the water of the Vesdre is used as drinking water. List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia
Charleroi
Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By January 1, 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593; the metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of 1,462 square kilometres with a total population of 522,522 by January 1, 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, Ghent. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or Carolos; the municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities, nicknamed the Pays Noir, part of the larger sillon industriel. Though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, the landscape remains dotted with spoil tips and old industrial buildings. Charleroi lies around 50 kilometres south of Brussels; the municipality comprises: I. the central city of Charleroiand the following former municipalities, merged into Charleroi in 1977: Neighboring municipalities: Similar to the rest of Belgium Charleroi has an oceanic climate as a result of the Gulf Stream influence warming winters, while moderating summer warmth in spite of its inland position.
The Charleroi area was settled in the prehistoric period, with traces of metallurgical and commercial activities along the Sambre. Several public buildings and villas were built in the area in the Roman period. Burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found; the first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, which lists various neighboring towns and related tithe duties. During the Middle Ages, Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur; the history of the city of Charleroi began in 1666. In the spring of that year, Francisco Castel Rodrigo, Governor of the Netherlands at the service of five-year-old Charles II of Spain, expropriated the area from the local lords to build a fortress near the Sambre. In September of that same year, the name Charnoy was replaced by that of the newly founded city of Charles-Roi, so named in honor of Charles II; the chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy for the year 1666.
A year Louis XIV’s armies, under the command of the Vicomte de Turenne, besieged the unfinished fortress. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban completed the fortification work. Shortly after its foundation, the new city was in turn besieged by the Dutch, ceded to the Spanish in 1678, taken by the French in 1693, ceded again to the Spanish in 1698 taken by the French, the Dutch and the Austrians in 1714; the French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, but it was ceded back to Austria in 1748, beginning a period of prosperity under Joseph II. Glass and coal industries, which had sprung up a century earlier, could now flourish. Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the civil uprising that led to the United States of Belgium; the Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on November 6, 1792, took it back again four months later. On June 12, 1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, invested Charleroi and won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Fleurus.
The city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After France's defeat in 1814, the whole area was annexed to the Netherlands, new walls were built around the city. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, just before the Battle of Waterloo; the Belgian Revolution of 1830 gave the area its freedom from the Netherlands and ushered in a new era of prosperity, still based on glass and coal, hence the area’s name, Pays Noir. After the Industrial Revolution, Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the economic opportunities, the population grew rapidly. Following the Industrial revolution in Wallonia, Charleroi from the 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out. In 1886, 12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux. In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; these miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and Charleroi during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886.
Walloon miners from Charleroi emigrated to Alberta, Canada. The working men of Charleroi always played an important role in Belgian general strikes and during the Belgian general strike of 1936, the General strike against Leopold III of Belgium and the 1960-1961 Winter General Strike. By 1871, the fortified walls around the city were torn down. Heavy fighting took place during World War I due to the city's strategic location on the Sambre; the city was badly damaged with further destruction only being prevented by a treaty agreed with the German forces which required the payment of 10 million Belgian Francs, foodstuffs and armaments. Spirou magazine which featured the popular cartoon characters Lucky Luke and the Smurfs was launched by the publishing company Éditions Dupuis in 1938. After World War II, Charleroi witnessed a general decline of its heavy industry. Following the merger with several surrounding municipalities in 1977, the city as of 2013
Namur
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, Walloon Government and administration. Namur stands at the confluence of the Sambre and Meuse rivers and straddles three different regions – Hesbaye to the north, Condroz to the south-east, Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse to the south-west; the city of Charleroi is located to the west. The language spoken is French; the City of Namur includes the old communes of Beez, Saint-Servais, Saint-Marc, Champion, Flawinne, Suarlée, Vedrin, Cognelée, Gelbressée, Marche-les-Dames, Jambes, Naninne, Wépion, Erpent, Lives-sur-Meuse, Loyers. The town began as an important trading settlement in Celtic times, straddling east-west and north-south trade routes across the Ardennes; the Romans established a presence. Namur came to prominence during the early Middle Ages when the Merovingians built a castle or citadel on the rocky spur overlooking the town at the confluence of the two rivers.
In the 10th century, it became a county in its own right. The town developed somewhat unevenly, as the counts of Namur could only build on the north bank of the Meuse - the south bank was owned by the bishops of Liège and developed more into the town of Jambes. In 1262, Namur fell into the hands of the Count of Flanders, was purchased by Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1421. After Namur became part of the Spanish Netherlands in the 1640s, its citadel was strengthened. Louis XIV of France invaded in 1692, annexing it to France, his renowned military engineer Vauban rebuilt the citadel. French control was short-lived, as William III of Orange-Nassau captured Namur only three years in 1695 during the War of the Grand Alliance. Under the Barrier Treaty of 1709, the Dutch gained the right to garrison Namur, although the subsequent Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave control of the Spanish Netherlands to the Austrian House of Habsburg. Thus, although the Austrians ruled the town, the citadel was controlled by the Dutch.
It was rebuilt again under their tenure. General Jean-Baptiste Cyrus de Valence's column laid siege to the city on 19 November 1792 during the War of the First Coalition and, after 12 days, the city surrendered on 1 December and its whole garrison of 3,000 men was taken prisoner. France invaded the region again in 1794, imposing a repressive regime. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the Congress of Vienna incorporated what is now Belgium into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Belgium broke away from the Netherlands in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution, Namur continued to be a major garrison town under the new government; the citadel was rebuilt yet again in 1887. Namur was a major target of the German invasion of Belgium in 1914, which sought to use the Meuse valley as a route into France. On August 21, 1914, the Germans bombarded the town of Namur without warning. Several people were killed. Despite being billed as impregnable, the citadel fell after only three days' fighting and the town was occupied by the Germans for the rest of the war.
Namur fared little better in World War II. The town suffered heavy damage in both wars. Namur continued to host the Belgian Army's paratroopers until their departure in 1977. After the creation of the Walloon Region, Namur was chosen as the seat of its executive and parliament. In 1986, Namur was declared capital of Wallonia, its position as regional capital was confirmed by the Parliament of Wallonia in 2010. Namur is an important commercial and industrial centre, located on the Walloon industrial backbone, the Sambre and Meuse valley, it produces machinery, leather goods and porcelain. Its railway station is an important junction situated on the north-south line between Brussels and Luxembourg City, the east-west line between Lille and Liège. River barge traffic passes through the middle of the city along the Meuse. Namur has taken on a new role as the capital of the federal region of Wallonia, its location at the head of the Ardennes has made it a popular tourist centre, with a casino located in its southern district on the left bank of the Meuse.
The town's most prominent sight is the citadel, open to the public. Namur has a distinctive 18th-century cathedral dedicated to Saint Aubain and a belfry classified by UNESCO as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France which are listed as a World Heritage Site; the Couvent des Soeurs de Notre-Dame used to contain masterpieces of Mosan art by Hugo d'Oignies presented in the Musée des Arts Anciens. Elsewhere there is a museum dedicated to Félicien Rops. An odd Namurois custom is the annual Combat de l'Échasse d'Or, held on the third Sunday in September. Two teams, the Mélans and the Avresses, dress in medieval clothes while standing on stilts and do battle in one of the town's principal squares. Namur possesses a distinguished university, the University of Namur, founded in 1831; the University of Louvain has several facilities in the city through its UCLouvain Namur University Hospital. Since 1986 Namur has been home to the Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film. A jazz and a rock festival both take place in Namur annually.
The local football team is
Natural resource
Natural resources are resources that exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, electrical properties and forces etc. On earth it includes: sunlight, water, land along with all vegetation and animal life that subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances. Particular areas such as the rainforest in Fatu-Hiva are characterized by the biodiversity and geodiversity existent in their ecosystems. Natural resources may be further classified in different ways. Natural resources are components that can be found within the environment; every man-made product is composed of natural resources. A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as fresh water, as well as a living organism such as a fish, or it may exist in an alternate form that must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, rare earth metals and most forms of energy. There is much debate worldwide over natural resource allocations, this is true during periods of increasing scarcity and shortages.
There are various methods of categorizing natural resources, these include source of origin, stage of development, by their renewability. On the basis of origin, natural resources may be divided into two types: Biotic — Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere, such as forests and animals, the materials that can be obtained from them. Fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum are included in this category because they are formed from decayed organic matter. Abiotic – Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material. Examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, rare earth metals and heavy metals including ores such as gold, copper, etc. Considering their stage of development, natural resources may be referred to in the following ways: Potential resources — Potential resources are those that may be used in the future—for example, petroleum in sedimentary rocks that, until drilled out and put to use remains a potential resource Actual resources — Those resources that have been surveyed and qualified and, are used—development, such as wood processing, depends on technology and cost Reserve resources — The part of an actual resource that can be developed profitably in the future Stock resources — Those that have been surveyed, but cannot be used due to lack of technology—for example, hydrogenMany natural resources can be categorized as either renewable or non-renewable: Renewable resources — Renewable resources can be replenished naturally.
Some of these resources, like sunlight, wind, etc, are continuously available and their quantity is not noticeably affected by human consumption. Though many renewable resources do not have such a rapid recovery rate, these resources are susceptible to depletion by over-use. Resources from a human use perspective are classified as renewable so long as the rate of replenishment/recovery exceeds that of the rate of consumption, they replenish compared to Non-renewable resources. Non-renewable resources – Non-renewable resources either form or do not form in the environment. Minerals are the most common resource included in this category. By the human perspective, resources are non-renewable when their rate of consumption exceeds the rate of replenishment/recovery; some resources naturally deplete in amount without human interference, the most notable of these being radio-active elements such as uranium, which decay into heavy metals. Of these, the metallic minerals can be re-used by recycling them, but coal and petroleum cannot be recycled.
Once they are used they take millions of years to replenish. Resource extraction involves any activity; this can range in scale to global industry. Extractive industries are, along with agriculture, the basis of the primary sector of the economy. Extraction produces raw material, processed to add value. Examples of extractive industries are hunting, mining and gas drilling, forestry. Natural resources can add substantial amounts to a country's wealth, however, a sudden inflow of money caused by a resource boom can create social problems including inflation harming other industries and corruption, leading to inequality and underdevelopment, this is known as the "resource curse". Extractive industries represent a large growing activity in many less-developed countries but the wealth generated does not always lead to sustainable and inclusive growth. People accuse extractive industry businesses as acting only to maximize short-term value, implying that less-developed countries are vulnerable to powerful corporations.
Alternatively, host governments are assumed to be only maximizing immediate revenue. Researchers argue; these present opportunities for international governmental agencies to engage with the private sector and host governments through revenue management and expenditure accountability, infrastructure development, employment creation and enterprise development and impacts on children girls and women. A strong civil society can play an important role in ensuring effective management of natural resources. Norway can ser
Heavy industry
Heavy industry is industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products. Because of those factors, heavy industry involves higher capital intensity than light industry does, it is often more cyclical in investment and employment. Transportation and construction along with their upstream manufacturing supply businesses have been the bulk of heavy industry throughout the industrial age, along with some capital-intensive manufacturing. Traditional examples from the mid-19th century through the early 20th included steelmaking, artillery production, locomotive erection, machine tool building, the heavier types of mining. From the late 19th century through the mid-20th, as the chemical industry and electrical industry developed, they involved components of both heavy industry and light industry, soon true for the automotive industry and the aircraft industry. Modern shipbuilding is considered heavy industry. Large systems are characteristic of heavy industry such as the construction of skyscrapers and large dams during the post–World War II era, the manufacture/deployment of large rockets and giant wind turbines through the 21st century.
Many East Asian countries rely on heavy industry as key parts of their overall economies. This reliance on heavy industry is a matter of government economic policy. Among Japanese and Korean firms with "heavy industry" in their names, many are manufacturers of aerospace products and defense contractors to their respective countries' governments such as Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries and Korea's Hyundai Rotem, a joint project of Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Heavy Industries. In 20th-century communist states, the planning of the economy focused on heavy industry as an area for large investments to the extent of painful opportunity costs on the production–possibility frontier; this was motivated by fears of failing to maintain military parity with foreign capitalist powers. For example, the Soviet Union's manic industrialization in the 1930s, with heavy industry as the favored emphasis, sought to bring its ability to produce trucks, artillery and warships up to a level that would make the country a great power.
China under Mao Zedong pursued a similar strategy culminating in the Great Leap Forward of 1958–1960, an attempt to industrialize and collectivize. This industrialization attempt failed to create industrialization and instead caused the Great Chinese Famine, in which 25-30 million people died prematurely. Heavy industry is sometimes a special designation in local zoning laws; this allows industries with heavy impacts to be sited with forethought. For example, the zoning restrictions for landfills take into account the heavy truck traffic that will exert expensive wear on the roads leading to the landfill. Definition of'Heavy Industry' according to Investopedia.com
Human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that deals with the study of people and their communities, cultures and interactions with the environment by studying their relations with and across space and place. Human geography attends to human patterns of social interaction, as well as spatial level interdependencies, how they influence or affect the earth's environment; as an intellectual discipline, geography is divided into the sub-fields of physical geography and human geography, the latter concentrating upon the study of human activities, by the application of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Geography was not recognized as a formal academic discipline until the 18th century, although many scholars had undertaken geographical scholarship for much longer through cartography; the Royal Geographical Society was founded in England in 1830, although the United Kingdom did not get its first full Chair of geography until 1917. The first real geographical intellect to emerge in United Kingdom's geographical minds was Halford John Mackinder, appointed reader at Oxford University in 1887.
The National Geographic Society was founded in the United States in 1888 and began publication of the National Geographic magazine which became, continues to be, a great popularizer of geographic information. The society has long supported geographic education on geographical topics; the Association of American Geographers was founded in 1904 and was renamed the American Association of Geographers in 2016 to better reflect the international character of its membership. One of the first examples of geographic methods being used for purposes other than to describe and theorize the physical properties of the earth is John Snow's map of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak. Though Snow was a physician and a pioneer of epidemiology rather than a geographer, his map is one of the earliest examples of health geography; the now distinct differences between the subfields of physical and human geography have developed at a date. This connection between both physical and human properties of geography is most apparent in the theory of environmental determinism, made popular in the 19th century by Carl Ritter and others, has close links to the field of evolutionary biology of the time.
Environmental determinism is the theory, that people's physical and moral habits are directly due to the influence of their natural environment. However, by the mid-19th century, environmental determinism was under attack for lacking methodological rigor associated with modern science, as a means to justify racism and imperialism. A similar concern with both human and physical aspects is apparent during the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries focused on regional geography; the goal of regional geography, through something known as regionalisation, was to delineate space into regions and understand and describe the unique characteristics of each region through both human and physical aspects. With links to and cultural ecology some of the same notions of causal effect of the environment on society and culture remain with environmental determinism. By the 1960s, the quantitative revolution led to strong criticism of regional geography. Due to a perceived lack of scientific rigor in an overly descriptive nature of the discipline, a continued separation of geography from its two subfields of physical and human geography and from geology, geographers in the mid-20th century began to apply statistical and mathematical models in order to solve spatial problems.
Much of the development during the quantitative revolution is now apparent in the use of geographic information systems. Well-known geographers from this period are Fred K. Schaefer, Waldo Tobler, William Garrison, Peter Haggett, Richard J. Chorley, William Bunge, Torsten Hägerstrand. From the 1970s, a number of critiques of the positivism now associated with geography emerged. Known under the term'critical geography,' these critiques signaled another turning point in the discipline. Behavioral geography emerged for some time as a means to understand how people made perceived spaces and places, made locational decisions; the more influential ` radical geography' emerged in the 1980s. It draws on Marxist's theory and techniques, is associated with geographers such as David Harvey and Richard Peet. Radical geographers seek to say meaningful things about problems recognized through quantitative methods, provide explanations rather than descriptions, put forward alternatives and solutions, be politically engaged, rather than using the detachment associated with positivists..
Radical geography and the links to Marxism and related theories remain an important part of contemporary human geography. Critical geography saw the introduction of'humanistic geography', associated with the work of Yi-Fu Tuan, which pushed for a much more qualitative approach in methodology; the changes under critical geography have led to contemporary approaches in the discipline such as feminist geography, new cultural geography, "demonic" geographies, the engagement with postmodern and post-structural theories and philosophies. The primary fields of study in human geography focus around the core fields of: Cultural geography is the study of cultural products and norms - their variation across spaces and places, as well as their relations, it focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religio
