1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Gilbert Islands
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The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. They form the part of Kiribati. The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands are arranged in an approximate north-to-south line, as the crow flies it is approximately 420 nautical miles between the northernmost island, Makin, and the southernmost, Arorae. In a geographical sense, the equator serves as the line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. The International Hydrographic Organization considers the Gilberts wholly within the South Pacific Ocean, another method of grouping the Gilbert Islands is by former administrative districts, the Northern, Central, and Southern Gilberts. A group of the southern Gilberts is called the Kingsmill Group, the Gilberts form a continuous chain of seamounts with the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands to the north. In official north-south order, the islands and atolls are, The Northern Gilberts geographically and traditionally encompass Butaritari, Makin, Marakei, Abaiang and they have unique tonal accents with differences particularly noted amongst Butaritari and Makin inhabitants. Traditionally, Butaritari and Makin were ruled by a chief who lived on Butaritari Island, the northern Gilberts have a greater mean rainfall in comparison to the southern and central Gilberts allowing cultivation of a wider crop range. Butaritari and Makin supply most of the bananas sold in Kiribati, the cultivation of taro or babai has been historically easier in the northern Gilberts due to a higher water table and regular rainfall. The Central Gilberts or nuka have traditionally included Maiana, Abemama, Kuria, however, the latter three are considered the main islands that have unique historical and cultural characteristics which distinguish the Central Gilberts from the north and south. Tembinok, the last king of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka died in the part of the 20th century. The Southern Gilberts include the atolls of Nonouti, South and North Tabiteuea, Beru, Nikunau, Onotoa, Tamana, the islands had been inhabited by Micronesians for several millennia. In 1606 Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands, Captain John Byron passed through the islands in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of HMS Dolphin. French captain Louis Duperrey was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago and he commanded La Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth. Two ships of the United States Exploring Expedition, USS Peacock and USS Flying Fish, under the command of Captain Hudson, while in the Gilberts, they devoted considerable time to mapping and charting reefs and anchorages. A British protectorate was first proclaimed over the Gilberts by Captain Davis of HMS Royalist on 27 May 1892, British official Arthur Mahaffy visited the Islands in 1909. He noted that the villages are kept in order and the roads are scrupulously clean. A hospital was on island, as well
3.
Atoll
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An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim, the coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu, meaning an administrative subdivision, the distribution of atolls around the globe is instructive, most of the worlds atolls are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas. The northernmost atoll of the world is Kure Atoll at 28°24 N, the southernmost atolls of the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°58 S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°29 S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at this latitude coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream. However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while there is no atoll directly on the equator, the closest atoll to the Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati, with its southern tip just 12 km north of the equator. In most cases, the area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 meters, measured by total area, Lifou is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island. More sources however list as the largest atoll in the world in terms of land area Kiritimati, the remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km², the largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface, at this point, the island has become an atoll. Atolls are the product of the growth of marine organisms. Volcanic islands located beyond the water temperature requirements of hermatypic organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface
4.
Kiribati
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Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 100,000, more than half of live on Tarawa Atoll. The nation comprises 33 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island and they have a total land area of 800 square kilometres and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers. Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line is indented to bring the Line Islands in the day as the Kiribati Islands. The International Date Line circumscribes Kiribati by swinging far to the east, almost reaching the 150°W meridian, Kiribatis easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, have the most advanced time on Earth, UTC+14 hours. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979, the capital and now most populated area, South Tarawa, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. The name Kiribati was adopted at independence and it is local enunciation of Gilberts. This name derives from the archipelago that forms the nation. It was named the Gilbert Islands after the British explorer Thomas Gilbert and he sighted many of the islands in 1788 while mapping out the Outer Passage route from Port Jackson to Canton. The Kiribati archipelago was named Îles Gilbert, in about 1820, by Russian admiral Adam von Krusenstern, both their maps, published in 1820, were written in French. The archipelagos name was incorporated in the entire Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916, the spelling of Gilberts in the Gilbertese language as Kiribati may be found in books in Gilbertese prepared by missionaries and others. It is often suggested that the name for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru. The pronunciation differs, Kiribas is the pronunciation as ti in Kiribatese makes an s sound. The area now called Kiribati has been inhabited by Micronesians speaking the same Oceanic language since sometime between 3000 BC and AD1300, the area was not isolated, invaders from Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, later introduced Polynesian and Melanesian cultural aspects, respectively. Intermarriage tended to blur cultural differences and resulted in a significant degree of cultural homogenisation, chance visits by European ships occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries, as these ships attempted circumnavigations of the world or sought sailing routes from the south to north Pacific Ocean. The passing trade gave rise to European, Chinese, Samoan and other residents from the 1830s, they included beachcombers, castaways, traders and missionaries. In 1892 local authorities on each of the Gilbert Islands agreed to Captain Davis RN declaring them part of a British protectorate with the nearby Ellice Islands
5.
North Tarawa
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It is administratively separate from neighbouring South Tarawa, and is governed by the Eutan Tarawa Council, based at Abaokoro village. North Tarawa has an area of 15.26 km2. It is made up of several islets, the widest part of North Tarawa can be found in the village of Buariki, Buota was joined by a bridge to South Tarawa in 1995 and has since increased in population and is becoming more like part of urban South Tarawa. Abatao is not accessible by road, but the channel can be walked at low tide. For people in Abatao and Buota, it is easier to access schools, clinics. Apart from the bridge from Buota to Tanaea, small causeways connect the villages of Tebwangoroi and Taratai, Tebwangoroi, the atoll has a protected area that is designated as the North Tawara Conservation Area. Abaokoro accommodates the main service infrastructures such as the offices of Eutan Tarawa Council, the secondary school. With the rapid growth of population in South Tarawa, people are choosing to settle in North Tarawa in greater numbers, especially in Abatao and Buota, there are 14 villages in North Tarawa. Only 16% of the workforce are in employment, but a further 17% earn cash from market oriented activities. There is a trade in local food, building materials and other items from North Tarawa. North Tarawa has a place in Kiribati mythology, the tree of life or tree of knowledge or Uekera was planted in Buariki village in North Tarawa by Nei Tekanuea. Spirits who lived in a tree in Samoa migrated northward carrying branches from the tree and it was these spirits, together with Nareau the Wise who created the islands of Tungaru Tarawa was governed as one island, under a king, until Colonial times. The colonial administrative centre of Kiribati was originally located at Taratai in North Tarawa, the administrative centre was later moved to South Tarawa, which remains the capital of Kiribati to this day. There are regular services from urban South Tarawa to the main villages of North Tarawa. The road from South Tarawa ends at the channel between Buota and Abatao, but this channel can be walked at low tide, so that the southern islets of North Tarawa can be accessed on foot. The Island Council operates a guest house at Abaokoro, providing accommodation for Government workers and other visitors. There are also several independent homestays and lodges in North Tarawa
6.
South Tarawa
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South Tarawa is the capital and hub of the Republic of Kiribati and home to approximately half of Kiribatis total population. The South Tarawa population centre consists of all the islets from Betio in the West to Bonriki in the East, connected by the South Tarawa main road. The Roman Catholic diocese is based in Teaorereke, the Kiribati Protestant Church in Antebuka, at the local government level, South Tarawa has two administrative subdivisions, Betio Town Council, on Betio, Teinainano Urban Council, from Bairiki to Tanaea. South Tarawa is a string of islets between the Tarawa Lagoon to the north, with a depth of 25 metres. The island has been built from sediments from the lagoon, the process of soil accumulation is driven by the dominant easterly trade winds, and can be reversed during extended periods of westerly winds during El Niño–Southern Oscillations. All of these islets are now joined by causeways, forming one long islet on the reef along the side of the Tarawa Lagoon. Most of South Tarawa is less than 3 metres above sea level with a width of only 450 metres. At the time of the 1978 Census, South Tarawa had a population of 17,921 with most residents living in the population centres of Betio, Bairiki. Since Kiribati became independent in 1979, the population of South Tarawa has almost tripled, all of South Tarawa is now urbanised, and is effectively one continuous settlement from the Northeastern end of the island, Tanaea, to its Southwestern end at Betio. Buota in North Tarawa is also connected to the South Tarawa main road and is growing rapidly. Betio was the location of the Battle of Tarawa, the highest point on South Tarawa is only a few meters above sea level, making the island extremely vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. Already the effects of rising sea-levels and associated soil salination are starting to threaten limited fresh water supplies, the weather in South Tarawa is warm and humid all year round and average rainfalls are relatively high. However rainfall is unpredictable, varying with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. South Tarawa has very limited resources for its rapidly growing population. During the frequent droughts, the source of water is the shallow freshwater lens which permeates the coral rock of the atoll. The water lenses at Bonriki and Buota have been declared as water reserves, other previously declared water reserves have been relinquished for urbanisation, or abandoned due to over-pumping and pollution from human settlement. Most schools and community buildings have no water supply at all, because of the shortage of fresh water, sanitation systems must use saltwater for flushing. The current sanitation network on South Tarawa is performing poorly
7.
Battle of Tarawa
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The Battle of Tarawa was a battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that was fought from November 20 to November 23,1943. It took place at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Americans died in the fighting, mostly on and around the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of Tarawa Atoll. The Battle of Tarawa was the first American offensive in the critical central Pacific region and it was also the first time in the Pacific War that the United States faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing. The Gilbert Islands are part of Micronesia and they became a colony of the British Empire in January 1916. They were invaded and occupied by the Empire of Japan in December 1941, the battle was fought almost two years later. In July 1979 the islands became independent from the United Kingdom, in order to set up forward air bases capable of supporting operations across the mid-Pacific, to the Philippines, and into Japan, the U. S. planned to take the Mariana Islands. Naval doctrine of the time held that in order for attacks to succeed, land-based aircraft would be required to weaken the defenses, the nearest islands capable of supporting such an effort were the Marshall Islands, northeast of Guadalcanal. Thus, to launch an invasion of the Marianas, the battle had to start far to the east. Following the completion of the Guadalcanal campaign, the 2nd Marine Division had been withdrawn to New Zealand for rest, losses were replaced and the men given a chance to recover from the malaria and other illnesses that had weakened them through the fighting in the Solomons. On July 20,1943, the Joint Chiefs directed Admiral Chester Nimitz to prepare plans for an operation in the Gilbert Islands. Located about 2,400 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, Betio is the largest island in the Tarawa Atoll, the small, flat island lies at the southernmost reach of the lagoon, and was the base of the majority of the Japanese troops. Shaped roughly like a long, thin triangle, the island is approximately 2 miles long. It is narrow, being only 800 yards wide at its widest point, a long pier was constructed jutting out from the north shore onto which cargo ships could unload cargo while anchored beyond the 500-metre -wide shallow reef which surrounded the island. The northern coast of the faces into the lagoon, while the southern and western sides face the deep waters of the open ocean. Following Colonel Evans Carlsons diversionary Makin Island raid of August 1942, the 6th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force reinforced the island in February 1943. In command was Rear Admiral Tomonari Saichiro, an engineer who directed the construction of the sophisticated defensive structures on Betio. Upon their arrival, the 6th Yokosuka became a force. Tomonaris primary goal in the Japanese defensive scheme was to stop the attackers in the water or pin them on the beaches, a tremendous number of pill boxes and firing pits were constructed, with excellent fields of fire over the water and sandy shore
8.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
9.
Breadfruit
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Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family originating in the South Pacific and that was eventually spread to the rest of Oceania. Its name is derived from the texture of the ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread. According to DNA fingerprinting studies, breadfruit has its origins in the region of Oceania from New Guinea through the Indo-Malayan Archipelago to western Micronesia, the trees have been widely planted in tropical regions elsewhere, including lowland Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. In addition to the serving as a staple food in many cultures. Sir Joseph Banks and others saw the value of breadfruit as a highly productive food in 1769, in 1787, William Bligh was appointed Captain of the HMS Bounty, and ordered to proceed to the South Pacific to collect the plants. Although Bligh won the Royal Society medal for his efforts, the introduction was not entirely successful, Breadfruit trees grow to a height of 26 m. The large and thick leaves are cut into pinnate lobes. All parts of the tree yield latex, which is useful for boat caulking, the trees are monoecious, with male and female flowers growing on the same tree. The male flowers emerge first, followed shortly afterward by the female flowers, the latter grow into capitula, which are capable of pollination just three days later. Pollination occurs mainly by bats, but cultivated varieties produce fruit without pollination. The compound, false fruit develops from the perianth, and originates from 1. Breadfruit is one of the food plants, with a single tree producing up to 200 or more grapefruit-sized fruits per season. In the South Pacific, the trees yield 50 to 150 fruits per year, usually round, productivity varies between wet and dry areas. Studies in Barbados indicate a potential of 16 to 32 tons per hectare. The ovoid fruit has a surface, and each fruit is divided into many achenes, each achene surrounded by a fleshy perianth. Most selectively bred cultivars have seedless fruit, whereas seeded varieties are mainly for their edible seeds. Breadfruit is usually propagated using root cuttings, Breadfruit is closely related to the breadnut, from which it might have been naturally selected. It is noticeably similar in appearance to its relative of the same genus, Breadfruit has hundreds of varieties and thousands of common names varying according to its geographic distribution, and is cultivated in some 90 countries
10.
Papaya
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The papaya, papaw, or pawpaw is the plant Carica papaya, one of the 22 accepted species in the genus Carica of the family Caricaceae. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, perhaps from southern Mexico and it was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classical civilizations. The papaya is a small, sparsely branched tree, usually with a stem growing from 5 to 10 m tall. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne, the leaves are large, 50–70 cm in diameter, deeply palmately lobed, with seven lobes. All parts of the plant contain latex in articulated laticifers, unusually for such large plants, the trees are dioecious. The flowers are 5-parted and highly dimorphic, the flowers with the stamens fused to the petals. The female flowers have a superior ovary and five contorted petals loosely connected at the base, male and female flowers are borne in the leaf axils, the males in multiflowered dichasia, the female flowers is few-flowered dichasia. The flowers are sweet-scented, open at night and are moth-pollinated, the fruit is a large berry about 15–45 cm long and 10–30 cm in diameter. It is ripe when it feels soft and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue, Papaya is native to Mexico and extends to South America and has become naturalized throughout the Caribbean Islands, Florida and several countries of Africa. Additional crops are grown in India, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Papaya plants grow in three sexes, male, female, hermaphrodite. The male produces only pollen, never fruit, the female will produce small, inedible fruits unless pollinated. The hermaphrodite can self-pollinate since its flowers contain both male stamens and female ovaries, almost all commercial papaya orchards contain only hermaphrodites. Originally from southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America, in cultivation, it grows rapidly, fruiting within three years. It is, however, highly frost-sensitive, limiting its production to tropical climates, temperatures below −2 °C are greatly harmful if not fatal. In Florida and California, growth is limited to southern parts of the states. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil, as standing water will kill the plant within 24 hours, India and Brazil are the major producers of papaya, together providing 57% of the world total of 12.4 million tons in 2013. Gaining in popularity among tropical fruits worldwide, papaya is now ranked fourth in total tropical fruit production after bananas, oranges, global papaya production has grown significantly over the last few years, mainly as a result of increased production in India. Papaya has become an important agricultural export for developing countries, where export revenues of the fruit provide a livelihood for thousands of people, especially in Asia, Carica papaya was the first transgenic fruit tree to have its genome sequenced
11.
Coconut
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The coconut tree is a member of the family Arecaceae and the only species of the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the coconut palm or the seed, or the fruit. The spelling cocoanut is a form of the word. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning head or skull, coconuts are known for their great versatility, as evidenced by many traditional uses, ranging from food to cosmetics. They form a part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits for their quantity of water. When mature, they can be used as seed nuts or processed to give oil from the kernel, charcoal from the hard shell, the endosperm is initially in its nuclear phase suspended within the coconut water. As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the coconut, when dried, the coconut flesh is called copra. The oil and milk derived from it are used in cooking and frying, as well as in soaps. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating, the coconut also has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in India, where it is used in Hindu rituals. Cocos nucifera is a palm, growing up to 30 m tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 m long. Coconuts are generally classified into two types, tall and dwarf. On fertile soil, a coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, botanically, the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers, the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, the exocarp and mesocarp make up the husk of the coconuts. Coconuts sold in the shops of nontropical countries often have had the exocarp removed, the mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores or eyes that are visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed. A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kg and it takes around 6,000 full-grown coconuts to produce a tonne of copra
12.
Pandanus
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Pandanus is a genus of monocots with some 750 accepted species. They are palm-like, dioecious trees and shrubs native to the Old World tropics and subtropics, common names include pandan, screw palm, and screw pine. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae, often called pandanus palms, these plants are not closely related to palm trees. The species vary in size from small shrubs less than 1 m tall, to medium-sized trees 20 m tall, typically with a canopy, heavy fruit. The trunk is stout, wide-branching, and ringed with leaf scars. Depending on the species, the trunk can be smooth, rough, the roots forms a pyramidal tract to hold the trunk. They commonly have many thick prop roots near the base, which provide support as the tree grows top-heavy with leaves, fruit and these roots are adventitious and often branched. The top of the plant has one or more crowns of strap-shaped leaves that may be spiny and they are dioecious, with male and female flowers produced on different plants. The flowers of the tree are 2–3 cm long and fragrant, surrounded by narrow. The female tree produces flowers with round fruits that are also bract-surrounded, typically, the fruit changes from green to bright orange or red as it matures. The fruits can stay on the tree for more than 12 months and these plants grow from sea level to 3,300 m. Pandanus trees are of cultural, health, and economic importance in the Pacific and they grow wild mainly in seminatural vegetation in littoral habitats throughout the tropical and subtropical Pacific, where they can withstand drought, strong winds, and salt spray. They propagate readily from seed, but also are widely propagated from cuttings by local people. Species growing on exposed headlands and along beaches have thick prop roots as anchors in the loose sand. Those prop roots emerge from the stem, usually close to but above the ground, other species are adapted to mountain habitats and riverine forests. The tree is grown and propagated from shoots that form spontaneously in the axils of lower leaves, Pandanus fruit are eaten by animals including bats, rats, crabs, elephants and monitor lizards, but the vast majority of species are dispersed primarily by water. Its fruit can float and spread to other islands without help from man, craftsmen collect the pandan leaves from plants in the wild. Only the mature leaves are cut so the plant will naturally regenerate, the leaves are sliced in fine strips and sorted for further processing
13.
Betio
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Betio is the largest township of Kiribatis capital city, South Tarawa, and the countrys main port. The settlement is located on an islet at the extreme southwest of the atoll. Betio Post Office opened on 5 April 1957 and closed in 1964, due to changing currents resulting from the construction of the causeway Bikeman Island, northeast of Betio, has been submerged since the early 1990s. The island was the scene of the Battle of Tarawa during World War II, relics of the Japanese invasion, and the subsequent American assault on the islet in 1943, remain there. After the battle the airstrip was renamed Hawkins Field, the airstrip no longer exists, but its effect can be seen in the stunted growth of palms along its length. Many bunkers remain, as well as the remains of military equipment and it was also the scene of a massacre by beheading of New Zealand military and civilian coastwatchers by Japanese forces prior to the US landings. The massacre was in retaliation to an American air raid, however, persistent rumours eventually reached the families, and it is believed that the shooting of Japanese prisoners held in a New Zealand POW camp was done in retaliation for this massacre. The New Zealand camp guard who fired on the Japanese prisoners during the riot was the brother of one of the coastwatchers executed on Betio. The RCS Nimanoa was a ketch, whereas Saidu Maru was a steel-hulled vessel, part of which is still visible on the reef off Red Beach. S. In the 2nd and 3rd levels in Call of Duty, World at War -Final Fronts you are a Marine, miller, and you have to take over Betio island for its airfield. One of the American missions on Battlestations, Pacific sees you supporting the Marines who are going to take over the island. The last mission set of Medal of Honor, Pacific Assault is set during the Battle of Tarawa, both games feature the merchant ship and the pier. Betio is depicted in the Franco-Belgian comic Tarawa, atoll sanglant by Jean-Michel Charlier, in chapter 16 of Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, Ishmael recalls his experience as a World War II Marine radioman during the siege of this island. Betio is featured in the game Heroes of the Pacific, where you must fly a mission over Betio in a P-38 Lightning. You also, on the day of the invasion, support the invasion by suppressing pillboxes, Betio is also one of the multiplayer maps in Rising Storm, a Pacific theater expansion to Red Orchestra 2 Betio appears in the popular ArmA II modification, Hell in the Pacific. 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines 2nd Marine Division bear the nickname the Betio Bastards stemming from their service during World War 2 on Tarawa
14.
Tropical rainforest climate
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A tropical rainforest climate, also known as an equatorial climate, is a tropical climate usually found along the equator. Regions with this climate typically feature tropical rainforests, and it is designated Af by the Köppen climate classification. One day in an equatorial climate can be similar to the next. A tropical rainforest is found at latitudes within 10 degrees North and South of the equator. The climate is most commonly found in South America, Central Africa, however, tropical rainforest microclimates are found in many other regions, while not everywhere along the equatorial region features a tropical rainforest climate. Additionally, while tropical rainforest climates are located near the equator. For instance, Santos, Brazil and Fort Lauderdale, United States are not only far removed from the equator, yet both of these cities feature a tropical rainforest climate, albeit with noticeably cooler and warmer periods of the year
15.
Cyclone
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In meteorology, a cyclone is a large scale air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure. A cyclone differs from a hurricane or typhoon only on the basis of location, a hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and a cyclone occurs in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean. Cyclones are characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate about a zone of low pressure, the largest low-pressure systems are polar vortices and extratropical cyclones of the largest scale. Warm-core cyclones such as cyclones and subtropical cyclones also lie within the synoptic scale. Mesocyclones, tornadoes and dust devils lie within the smaller mesoscale, Upper level cyclones can exist without the presence of a surface low, and can pinch off from the base of the Tropical Upper Tropospheric Trough during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclones have also seen on extraterrestrial planets, such as Mars. Cyclogenesis describes the process of formation and intensification. Extratropical cyclones begin as waves in large regions of enhanced mid-latitude temperature contrasts called baroclinic zones and these zones contract and form weather fronts as the cyclonic circulation closes and intensifies. Later in their cycle, extratropical cyclones occlude as cold air masses undercut the warmer air. A cyclones track is guided over the course of its 2 to 6 day life cycle by the flow of the subtropical jet stream. Weather fronts mark the boundary between two masses of air of different temperature, humidity, and densities, and are associated with the most prominent meteorological phenomena. Strong cold fronts typically feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather, such fronts form west of the circulation center and generally move from west to east, warm fronts form east of the cyclone center and are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog. Warm fronts move poleward ahead of the cyclone path, occluded fronts form late in the cyclone life cycle near the center of the cyclone and often wrap around the storm center. Tropical cyclogenesis describes the process of development of tropical cyclones, Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core. Cyclones can transition between extratropical, subtropical, and tropical phases, mesocyclones form as warm core cyclones over land, and can lead to tornado formation. Waterspouts can also form from mesocyclones, but more often develop from environments of high instability, henry Piddington published almost 40 papers dealing with tropical storms from Calcutta between 1835 and 1855 in The Journal of the Asiatic Society. He also coined the term cyclone, meaning the coil of a snake, in 1842, he published his landmark thesis, Laws of the Storms. There are a number of characteristics common to all cyclones
16.
Precipitation
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In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, graupel, Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and precipitates. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but suspensions, because the vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated, Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers, moisture that is lifted or otherwise forced to rise over a layer of sub-freezing air at the surface may be condensed into clouds and rain. This process is active when freezing rain is occurring. A stationary front is often present near the area of freezing rain, provided necessary and sufficient atmospheric moisture content, the moisture within the rising air will condense into clouds, namely stratus and cumulonimbus. Eventually, the droplets will grow large enough to form raindrops. Lake-effect snowfall can be locally heavy, thundersnow is possible within a cyclones comma head and within lake effect precipitation bands. In mountainous areas, heavy precipitation is possible where upslope flow is maximized within windward sides of the terrain at elevation, on the leeward side of mountains, desert climates can exist due to the dry air caused by compressional heating. The movement of the trough, or intertropical convergence zone. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 cubic kilometres of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres over land. Given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres, Climate classification systems such as the Köppen climate classification system use average annual rainfall to help differentiate between differing climate regimes. Precipitation may occur on celestial bodies, e. g. when it gets cold, Mars has precipitation which most likely takes the form of frost. Precipitation is a component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 km3 of water falls as precipitation each year,398,000 km3 of it over the oceans, given the Earths surface area, that means the globally averaged annual precipitation is 990 millimetres. Mechanisms of producing precipitation include convective, stratiform, and orographic rainfall, Precipitation can be divided into three categories, based on whether it falls as liquid water, liquid water that freezes on contact with the surface, or ice
17.
Bonriki International Airport
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Bonriki International Airport is an international airport in Kiribati, serving as the main gateway to the country. It is located in its capital, South Tarawa, which a group of islets in the atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Fijis national carrier, Fiji Airways, and Kiribatis state-owned airline, Air Kiribati, Nauru Airlines provided a service to Nauru International Airport, via Honiara, the capital of Solomon Islands, and further to Brisbane, Australia. This service was suspended from July 2008 to November 2009, Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways both serve all 16 other airports in the Gilbert Islands, but not all these destinations are flown directly from Tarawa. The longer runway at Mullinix became the base for the VII Bomber Command Headquarters, in addition, the USAAF stationed the B-24 Liberator-equipped 11th Bombardment Group and B-25 Mitchell-equipped 41st Bombardment Group at the airfield. In April 1944, the units moved forward to Kwajalein Airfield in the Marshall Islands. By the end of the war, the Americans abandoned the facilities, the airport resides at an elevation of 9 feet above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 09/27 with a surface measuring 2,011 by 41 metres. USAAF in the Central Pacific Arrivals and Departures for Bonriki Airport Current weather for Tarawa, Kiribati at NOAA/NWS Accident history for TRW / NGTA at Aviation Safety Network
18.
House of Assembly (Kiribati)
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The House of Assembly of Kiribati has 46 members,44 elected for a four-year term in single-seat and multi-seat constituencies,1 delegate from Banaba Island and 1 ex officio member. Created by the Constitution of 12 July 1979, its seat has been at Ambo on South Tarawa since October 2000, from 1979 to 2000, it was at Bairiki. The current Kiribati Electoral Commissioner is Rine Ueara, the Kiribati voters last went to the polls on 30 December 2015 to elect 44 MPs in 23 electoral districts. The House of Assembly has a Speaker, elected by its members from outside Parliament, politics of Kiribati List of legislatures by country Official website
19.
Bairiki
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Bairiki is one of the largest towns in South Tarawa of Kiribati. The State House, the National Stadium, the High Commissions of Australia and New Zealand as well as the embassy of Taiwan, Bairiki is administered by the Teinainano Urban Council or TUC. As at the 2010 Census the population of Bairiki was 3,524, Bairiki is sometimes considered the capital of Kiribati because at one time both the Parliament and the Presidency were located there. However Parliament now meets on Ambo islet, and the ministries are scattered throughout South Tarawa. Bairiki is an islet near the Western end of South Tarawa, Bairiki is a small islet, with a land area of less than half a square km. The village community of Bairiki lives in crowded conditions. The city has connections to Betio and Nanikai Bairiki National Stadium Media related to South Tarawa at Wikimedia Commons
20.
Roman Catholicism
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The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church or the Universal Church, is the largest Christian church, with more than 1.28 billion members worldwide. As one of the oldest religious institutions in the world, it has played a prominent role in the history, headed by the Bishop of Rome, known as the Pope, the churchs doctrines are summarised in the Nicene Creed and the Apostles Creed. Its central administration is located in Vatican City, enclaved within Rome, the Catholic Church is notable within Western Christianity for its sacred tradition and seven sacraments. It teaches that it is the one church founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christs apostles. The Catholic Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it declares as definitive is infallible. The Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as such as mendicant orders and enclosed monastic orders. Among the sacraments, the one is the Eucharist, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest the sacrificial bread and wine become the body, the Catholic Church practises closed communion, with only baptised members in a state of grace ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist. The Virgin Mary is venerated in the Catholic Church as Queen of Heaven and is honoured in numerous Marian devotions. The Catholic Church has influenced Western philosophy, science, art and culture, Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world, from the late 20th century, the Catholic Church has been criticised for its doctrines on sexuality, its refusal to ordain women and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholic was first used to describe the church in the early 2nd century, the first known use of the phrase the catholic church occurred in the letter from Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Smyrnaeans, written about 110 AD. In the Catechetical Discourses of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, the name Catholic Church was used to distinguish it from other groups that call themselves the church. The use of the adjective Roman to describe the Church as governed especially by the Bishop of Rome became more widespread after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire and into the Early Middle Ages. Catholic Church is the name used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church follows an episcopal polity, led by bishops who have received the sacrament of Holy Orders who are given formal jurisdictions of governance within the church. Ultimately leading the entire Catholic Church is the Bishop of Rome, commonly called the pope, in parallel to the diocesan structure are a variety of religious institutes that function autonomously, often subject only to the authority of the pope, though sometimes subject to the local bishop. Most religious institutes only have male or female members but some have both, additionally, lay members aid many liturgical functions during worship services
21.
Exploration of the Pacific
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Polynesians reached nearly all the Pacific islands by about 1200 AD, followed by Asian navigation in Southeast Asia and West Pacific. Around the Middle Ages Muslim traders linked the Middle East and East Africa to the Asian Pacific coasts. The direct contact of European fleets with the Pacific began in 1512, with the Portuguese, on its western edges, in 1521 a Spanish expedition led by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan was the first known crossing of the Pacific Ocean, who then named it the peaceful sea. Other expeditions from Mexico and Peru discovered various archipelagos in the North and South Pacific, in the 17th and 18th centuries, other European powers sent expeditions to the Pacific, namely the Dutch Republic, England, France, and Russia. Humans reached Australia by at least 40, 000BC which implies some degree of water crossing, people were in the Americas before 10, 000BC. One theory holds that they travelled along the coast by canoe, the Polynesians branched off and occupied Polynesia to the east. Dates and routes are uncertain, but they seem to have started from the Bismarck Archipelago, went west past Fiji to Samoa, far to the southwest, New Zealand was reached about 1250AD. The Chatham Islands, about 500 miles east of New Zealand were reached about 1500, the fact that some Polynesians possessed the South American Sweet potato implies that they may have reached the Americas or, conversely, that people from the Americas may have reached Polynesia. Thor Heyerdahls Kon-Tiki expedition successfully demonstrated that the trip from the Americas to Polynesia using only materials, on the Asian side long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan. Trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian Islands, by at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of this trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404-33 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. An interesting issue is Japanese fishing boats, if one of these was blown out to sea and lacked proper equipment it would be carried by the current to North America. Japanese boats reached Acapulco in 1617, the Aleutians in 1782, Alaska in 1805, if this happened when there were Europeans around to make records, there may have been earlier ones. Spanish explorer Balboa was the first European to sight the Pacific from America in 1513, from 1565 to 1815, a Spanish transpacific route known as the Manila galleons regularly crossed from Mexico to the Philippines and back. On the Asian side the Portuguese and later the Dutch built a trade from the East Indies to Japan. On the American side Spanish power stretched thousands of miles from Mexico to Chile, the vast central Pacific was visited only by the Manila galleons and an occasional explorer. The Pacific recognized, Europeans knew that there was a vast ocean to the west, learned Europeans thought that the world was round and that the two oceans were one. In 1492 Columbus sailed west to what he thought was Asia, when Pedro Álvares Cabral, en route to Asia via the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, reached Brazil, in 1500, the true extent of the Americas began to become known
22.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
23.
United States Exploring Expedition
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The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, funding for the original expedition was requested by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, however, Congress would not implement funding until eight years later. In May 1836, the oceanic exploration voyage was finally authorized by Congress, the expedition is sometimes called the U. S. Ex. Ex. for short, or the Wilkes Expedition in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, the expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States, in particular the then-young field of oceanography. During the event, armed conflict between Pacific islanders and the expedition was common and dozens of natives were killed in action and it was to promote commerce and to offer protection to the heavy investment in the whaling and seal hunting industries, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean. Congress also agreed that a ship or ships should be used. At the time, the ships owned by the government capable of such a circumnavigation were those of the navy. So, in fact, Congress had decided that an expedition be authorized. The veteran US Sloop-of-war Peacock was decommissioned and broken down in 1827 to be rebuilt as USS Peacock, intended as an exploration ship. There were to be many unforeseen impediments and it was not until May 18,1836, that an act was passed, which authorized funding, and approved by President Andrew Jackson, Adams political rival. Even with the burden of finance lifted, there were two years of alteration of formation and command before six oddly assorted ships moved down from Norfolk to Hampton Roads on August 9,1838. On August 17, they were joined by the tenders Sea Gull and Flying-Fish, due to light breezes, the expedition did not discharge their pilots until 09,00 August 19, when they passed Cape Henry Light. By 11,00, the fleet was standing to open seas. Originally, the expedition was organized under Commodore Jones, however, several more senior officers had either resigned from or indicated their unwillingness to accept command of the expedition. Command was finally vested in Lieutenant Wilkes, the three duties laid down were daunting to officers trained only in fighting ships. As well, a scientific corps was to be included as an additional command responsibility. There were few officers in the American navy at that time with any surveying experience, the United States Coast Survey, where most of the surveyors were employed and learned their trade, was a civilian organization. Wilkes, who had trained himself in surveying work, cut the excessively large number of scientists down to nine
24.
Gilbert and Ellice Islands
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A referendum was held in December 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert Islands and Ellice Islands should each have their own administration. As a consequence of the referendum, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony ceased to exist on 1 January 1976, the Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the western Pacific Ocean that are recognised as part of the Micronesia subregion of Oceania. The Gilbert Islands are the part of what is now Republic of Kiribati The atolls. In a geographical sense, the equator serves as the line between the northern Gilbert Islands and the southern Gilbert Islands. The Ellice Islands are south of the Gilbert Islands, the Ellice Islands comprises three reef islands and six true atolls spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. The Ellice Islands are midway between Hawaii and Australia, the Ellice Islands are recognised as part of the Polynesia subregion of Oceania. In 1606 Pedro Fernandes de Queirós sighted Butaritari and Makin, which he named the Buen Viaje Islands, french captain Louis Duperrey was the first to map the whole Gilbert Islands archipelago. He commanded La Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth, Funafuti atoll was named Ellices Island after Edward Ellice, a British politician and merchant, by Captain Arent de Peyster, who sighted the islands in 1819 sailing on the ship Rebecca. Ellice owned the cargo of the ship, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands, of what is now Tuvalu, after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. The Gilbert and Ellice Islands were formerly designated an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code GE until 1977, a protectorate was generally established over this area by the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1857 and then in 1877 for the Western Pacific Territories. The sixteen islands of the Gilberts were declared a British Protectorate by Captain Davis R. N. of HMS Royalist between 27 May and 17 June 1892. The Ellice Islands were declared a British Protectorate by Captain Gibson R. N. of HMS Curacoa, the British Western Pacific Territories were administered by a High Commissioner resident in Fiji. A Resident Commissioner, Charles Swayne, was appointed for the Ellice Islands in 1892 and he was succeeded by W. Telfer Campbell in 1896, who established himself on Tarawa Atoll and remained in office until 1908. The role of the British colonial authorities emphasised the procurement of labour for the Ocean Island phosphate mining and keeping order among the workers, the islands became a Crown colony on 12 January 1916 by the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Order in Council,1915. The Union Islands were transferred to New Zealand in 1926, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony continued to be administered by a Resident Commissioner. In 1930 the Resident Commissioner, Arthur Grimble, issued revised laws, Regulations for the good Order and Cleanliness of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the Phoenix Islands were added to the colony in 1937. Banaba Island remained the headquarters of the colony until the British evacuation in 1942 during the Pacific War when Ocean Island, the United States forces landed in Funafuti on 2 October 1942 and on Nanumea and Nukufetau in August 1943 and constructed an airfield on each island and other bases. The atolls of Tuvalu acted as a staging post during the preparation for the Battle of Tarawa, colonel Fox-Strangways, was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony in 1941, who was located on Funafuti
25.
United States Marine Corps
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The U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military officer in the U. S. Armed Forces, is a Marine Corps general, the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working closely with naval forces for training, transportation, and logistics. The USMC operates posts on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world, two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting for independence both at sea and on shore. The role of the Corps has since grown and evolved, expanding to aerial warfare and earning popular titles such as, Americas third air force, and, second land army. By the mid-20th century, the U. S. Marine Corps had become a major theorist of and its ability to rapidly respond on short notice to expeditionary crises gives it a strong role in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy. As of 2016, the USMC has around 182,000 active duty members and it is the smallest of the U. S. The USMC serves as an expeditionary force-in-readiness and this last clause, while seemingly redundant given the Presidents position as Commander-in-chief, is a codification of the expeditionary responsibilities of the Marine Corps. It derives from similar language in the Congressional acts For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps of 1834, in 1951, the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee called the clause one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps. In addition to its duties, the Marine Corps conducts Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure operations, as well as missions in direct support of the White House. The Marine Band, dubbed the Presidents Own by Thomas Jefferson, Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. The Executive Flight Detachment also provides transport to Cabinet members. The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself, for over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies, consulates, in 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of War furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on December 15,1948, during the first year of the MSG program,36 detachments were deployed worldwide. Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at sea and ashore, the Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers, battleships, Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ships landing force, manning the ships weapons and providing shipboard security. Marines would develop tactics and techniques of amphibious assault on defended coastlines in time for use in World War II, during World War II, Marines continued to serve on capital ships
26.
John Murray (publisher)
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Since 2004, it has been owned by conglomerate Lagardère under the Hachette UK brand. The business was founded in London in 1768 by John Murray I, an Edinburgh-born Royal Marines officer, John Murray the elder was one of the founding sponsors of the London evening newspaper The Star in 1788. He was succeeded by his son, John Murray II, who made the house one of the most important. He was a friend of leading writers of the day. He was the publisher of Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, Washington Irving, George Crabbe and his home and office at 50 Albemarle Street in Mayfair was the centre of a literary circle, fostered by Murrays tradition of Four oclock friends, afternoon tea with his writers. Murrays most notable author was Lord Byron, who became a close friend, Murray published many of his major works, paying him over £20,000 in rights. On 10 March 1812 Murray published Byrons second book, Childe Harolds Pilgrimage, on 17 May 1824 Murray participated in one of the most notorious acts in the annals of literature. Byron had given him the manuscript of his memoirs to publish later on. Together with five of Byrons friends and executors, he decided to destroy Byrons manuscripts because he thought the scandalous details would damage Byrons reputation, with only Thomas Moore objecting, the two volumes of memoirs were dismembered and burnt in the fireplace at Murrays office. It remains unknown what they contained, John Murray III also started the Murray Handbooks in 1836, a series of travel guides from which modern-day guides are directly descended. The rights to these guides were sold around 1900 and subsequently acquired in 1915 by the Blue Guides and his successor Sir John Murray IV was publisher to Queen Victoria. Among other works, he published Murrays Magazine from 1887 until 1891, competitor Smith, Elder & Co. was acquired in 1917. His son Sir John Murray V, grandson John Murray VI, in 2002, John Murray was acquired by Hodder Headline, which was itself acquired in 2004 by the French conglomerate Lagardère Group. Since then, it has been an imprint under Lagardère brand Hachette UK, on 26 January 2005, it was announced that the National Library was to be given £17. 7m by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the £31. 2m price offered by John Murray. The Scottish Executive agreed to make a contribution of £8. 3m,1768 – John MacMurray, a former lieutenant of the Marines, buys a bookselling business at 32 Fleet Street. He changes his name to Murray and uses his contacts to build up a thriving business 1807 – The first bestseller. 1858-1864 by David and Charles Livingstone published 1912 – June, Published Behind The Night Light by Nancy Price, a Publisher and His Friends, Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray. The first John Murray, and the late eighteenth-century London book trade, the Seven Lives of John Murray, The Story of a Publishing Dynasty
27.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
28.
Pulitzer Prize
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The Pulitzer Prize /ˈpʊlᵻtsər/ is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, Prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each receives a certificate. The winner in the service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal. The Pulitzer Prize does not automatically consider all applicable works in the media, entries must fit in at least one of the specific prize categories, and cannot simply gain entrance for being literary or musical. Works can also only be entered in a maximum of two categories, regardless of their properties, each year,102 jurors are selected by the Pulitzer Prize Board to serve on 20 separate juries for the 21 award categories, one jury makes recommendations for both photography awards. For each award category, a jury makes three nominations, the board selects the winner by majority vote from the nominations or bypasses the nominations and selects a different entry following a 75% majority vote. The board can also vote to issue no award, the board and journalism jurors are not paid for their work, however, the jurors in letters, music, and drama receive a $2,000 honorarium for the year, and each chair receives $2,500. Anyone whose work has been submitted is called an entrant, the jury selects a group of nominated finalists and announces them, together with the winner for each category. However, some journalists who were submitted, but not nominated as finalists. For example, Bill Dedman of msnbc, Dedman wrote, To call that submission a Pulitzer nomination is like saying that Adam Sandler is an Oscar nominee if Columbia Pictures enters Thats My Boy in the Academy Awards. Many readers realize that the Oscars dont work that way—the studios dont pick the nominees and its just a way of slipping Academy Awards into a bio. The Pulitzers also dont work that way, but fewer people know that, newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave money in his will to Columbia University to launch a journalism school and establish the Prize. It allocated $250,000 to the prize and scholarships and he specified four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one in education, and four traveling scholarships. After his death, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded June 4,1917, many people have won more than one Pulitzer Prize. Nelson Harding is the person to have won a Prize in two consecutive years, the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1927 and 1928. Four prizes Robert Frost, Poetry Eugene ONeill, Drama Robert E, in rare instances, contributors to the entry are singled out in the citation in a manner analogous to individual winners. Journalism awards may be awarded to individuals or newspapers or newspaper staffs, infrequently, Awards are made in categories relating to journalism, arts, letters and fiction
29.
Bunker
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A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people or valued materials from falling bombs or other attacks. Bunkers are mostly underground, compared to blockhouses which are mostly above ground and they were used extensively in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War for weapons facilities, command and control centers, and storage facilities. Bunkers can also be used as protection from tornadoes, trench bunkers are small concrete structures, partly dug into the ground. Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery, have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems, typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. When a house is purpose-built with a bunker, the location is a reinforced below-ground bathroom with fibre-reinforced plastic shells. Bunkers deflect the blast wave from nearby explosions to prevent ear, nuclear bunkers must also cope with the underpressure that lasts for several seconds after the shock wave passes, and block radiation. A bunkers door must be at least as strong as the walls, in bunkers inhabited for prolonged periods, large amounts of ventilation or air conditioning must be provided. Bunkers can be destroyed with explosives and bunker-busting warheads. The word bunker originates as a Scots word for bench, seat, the word possibly has a Scandinavian origin, Old Swedish bunke means boards used to protect the cargo of a ship. A sense of earthen seat is recorded 1805, with the spelling boncure from whence the use to refer to sand traps in golf, all the early references to its usage in the Oxford English Dictionary are to German fortifications. This type of bunker is a concrete structure, partly dug into the ground. Such bunkers give the defending soldiers better protection than the open trench and they also provide shelter against the weather. The front bunker of a system usually includes machine guns or mortars. The rear bunkers are usually used as posts or Tactical Operations Centers, for storage. Many artillery installations, especially for coastal artillery, have historically been protected by extensive bunker systems, artillery bunkers are some of the largest individual pre-Cold War bunkers. The walls of the Batterie Todt gun installation in northern France were up to 3.5 m thick, typical industrial bunkers include mining sites, food storage areas, dumps for materials, data storage, and sometimes living quarters. They were built mainly by nations like Germany during World War II to protect important industries from aerial bombardment, industrial bunkers are also built for control rooms of dangerous activities, e. g. tests of rocket engines or explosive experiments. They are also built in order to perform experiments in them or to store radioactive or explosive goods
30.
Leon Uris
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Leon Marcus Uris was an American author, known for his historical fiction. His two bestselling books were Exodus and Trinity, Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish American parents Wolf William and Anna Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper and his mother was first-generation Russian American. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States and he derived his last name from Yerushalmi, meaning man of Jerusalem. He was basically a failure, Uris later said of his father, I think his personality was formed by the harsh realities of being a Jew in Czarist Russia. I think failure formed his character, made him bitter, at age six, Uris reportedly wrote an operetta inspired by the death of his dog. He attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated high school. When he was 17 and in his year of high school. He served in the South Pacific with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, where he was stationed in New Zealand, and fought as a radioman in combat on Guadalcanal and Tarawa from 1942 through 1944. He was sent to the US after suffering from fever, malaria. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. Esquire magazine, in 1950, bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously, drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa, he produced the best-selling Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U. S. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie and he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece. His best-known work may be Exodus, which was published in 1958 and it is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, Uris 1967 novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1969. He wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O. K. Corral and his work having to do with the subject of Israel has been criticized for being biased against Arabs. His first wife was Betty Beck, whom he married in 1945 and they had three children before divorcing in 1968. He then married Marjorie Edwards in 1968, who committed suicide by gunshot the following year and his third and last wife was Jill Peabody, with whom he had two children
31.
Battle Cry (Uris novel)
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Battle Cry is a novel by American writer Leon Uris, published in 1953. Many of the events in the book are based on Uriss own World War II experience with the 6th Marine Regiment. The story is told in first person from the viewpoint of the Battalion Communications Chief, Mac. The characters in the come from a variety of backgrounds. The interaction of the characters as they learn to put aside their prejudices and biases to bond, Mac, A Master Tech Sergeant, a career Marine with 30 years of service in the Corps, and the Battalion Communications Chief. He gives his name only as Mac and he is the books primary narrator and provides much of the old hand viewpoint of the story, also providing perspective on changes in the Marine Corps during the war. Daniel Danny Forester, An All-American boy from Baltimore, while the book does not have one central character, the story tends to focus on Danny more than anyone else. Jones, The units clown, from Los Angeles and he goes through Boot Camp with Danny and is assigned to the radio squad. Constantine Ski Zvonski, A street youth from Philadelphia, from a Polish immigrant family and he also goes though Boot Camp with Danny and LQ, and is assigned to the radio squad. Marion Sister Mary Hodgekiss, A small town boy and the intellectual, with a fondness for classical music and poetry. A member of the radio squad, cyril Seabags Brown, A farm boy from Iowa who refers to everybody as Cousin. A member of the radio squad, mortimer Speedy Gray, A cowboy type from Texas. A member of the radio squad, the most openly racist character in the unit. His attitude toward certain other men, particularly Pedro Rojas and Jake Levin, is the source of significant interpersonal conflict, andrew Andy Hookans, A lumberjack from Washington, the big dumb swede. A member of the radio squad, shining Lighttower, A Navajo Native American. Lighttower occasionally plays on the Indian stereotype, talking in native pidgin, a member of the radio squad. Joseph Spanish Joe Gomez, A Hispanic American, the radio squads troublemaker and slacker, jacob Jake Levin, A replacement from Brooklyn who joins the radio squad after Guadalcanal. Pedro Rojas, A Navy hospital corpsman assigned to Headquarters Company, from Texas, the son of Mexican migrant laborers
32.
Return to Mars
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There is also a 1955 juvenile science fiction novel of this name by W. E. Johns. The title Return to Mars was used by authors Anthony Pollock and Brian Crowley in 1989, Return to Mars is a science fiction novel by Ben Bova. This novel is part of the Grand Tour series of novels and it was first published in 1999 and is a sequel to Ben Bovas novel Mars. Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman returned to Earth as a hero, travelling the globe, giving speeches on Mars, now six years later, Waterman gets to return to his beloved red planet, and to the mysterious dwelling in the Valles Marineris region. However, the voyage has sponsorship not from governments, but from corporations, most notably from millionaire Daryl Trumball. Jamie Waterman - main character of the Mars novels by Ben Bova, he drives the discovery of life on Mars. Trumball - a heartless millionaire, whose only joy is to make money and his characters were less enchanting and the inclusion of a saboteur seems like overkill, since the environment he describes more than capable of destroying anyone for simple carelessness
33.
Ben Bova
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Benjamin William Ben Bova is an American writer. Ben Bova was born on November 8,1932 in Philadelphia and he graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1949 and has been inducted into the SPHS Cultural Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements. In 1953, while attending Temple University in Philadelphia, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son, in that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose. Barbara Bova died on September 23,2009, Bova dedicated his 2011 novel, Power Play to Barbara. In March 2013, he announced on his website that he had remarried, Bova was an avid fencer in his younger days and organized Avco Everetts fencing club. Bova is an atheist and is critical of what he sees as the nature of religion. He wrote a piece in 2012, in which he argued that atheists can be just as moral as religious believers. Bova worked as a writer for Project Vanguard in the 1950s. When they conducted research in lasers and fluid dynamics, at Avco Everett he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz. In 1972, Bova became editor of Analog Science Fact & Fiction, at Analog, Bova won six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor. Bova served as the advisor for the failed television series The Starlost. His novel The Starcrossed, loosely based on his experiences, featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend, Bova dedicated the novel to Cordwainer Bird, the pen name Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project. In 1974, he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the childrens television series Land of the Lost. After leaving Analog in 1978, Bova went on to edit Omni, Bova holds the position of President Emeritus of the National Space Society and served as President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1990 to 1992. He appeared as the Guest of Honor at the Florida convention Necronomicon in 1995 and 2011, in 2000, he attended the 58th World Science Fiction Convention as the Author Guest of Honor. In 2007, Stuber/Parent Productions hired him as a consultant to provide insight into what the world may look like in the future, for their film Repo Men starring Jude Law. Also in 2007 he provided consulting services to Silver Pictures on the adaptation of Richard K. Morgans hardboiled cyberpunk science-fiction novel Altered Carbon. He was awarded the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2008 for his work in science fiction
34.
Homer Hickam
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Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His memoir Rocket Boys was a New York Times Best Seller and is studied in many American and international school systems, Hickam has also written a number of best-selling memoirs and novels including the Josh Thurlow historical fiction novels. His books have been translated into many languages, Homer H. Hickam, Jr. is the second son of Homer, Sr. and Elsie Gardener Hickam. He was born and raised in Coalwood, West Virginia, while there, he and a group of boys started building rockets, calling themselves The Big Creek Missile Agency. After working on finding the best way to build rockets, they took their designs to the 1960 National Science Fair, following high school, Hickam attended and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering. During his time at Virginia Tech, he designed a cannon to be fired at games, the cannon was cast out of brass that had been collected from cadet belt buckles and caps, and scrap he got from his father, the superintendent of the coal mine in Coalwood. Named The Skipper, in honor of President John F. Kennedy, the original cannon was retired after being replaced by a second cannon, Skipper II. The second cannon was cast to carry on the tradition at Virginia Tech with original Skipper now kept at the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Museum. A United States Army veteran, Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division from 1967 to 1968 during the Vietnam War and he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and a Bronze Star Medal. In total, Hickam served six years on duty, being discharged from the Army honorably at the rank of Captain in 1971. Following his separation from the service, Hickam worked as an engineer for the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command from 1971 to 1978, between 1978 and 1981, he was an engineer for the 7th Army Training Command in Germany. After returning to the United States in 1981, Hickam was employed by National Aeronautics, during his NASA career, Hickam worked in spacecraft design and crew training. His specialties at NASA included training astronauts in regard to science payloads, prior to his retirement from NASA in 1998, Hickam was the Payload Training Manager for the International Space Station Program. Homer Hickam began writing in 1969 after returning from serving in the Vietnam War and his first writings were magazine stories about scuba diving and his time as a scuba instructor. Then, having dived in many of the wrecks involved, he wrote about the battle against the U-boats along the American east coast during World War II and this resulted in his first book, Torpedo Junction, a military history best-seller published in 1989 by the Naval Institute Press. In 1998, Delacorte Press published Hickams second book, Rocket Boys, Rocket Boys has since been translated into numerous languages and released as an audiobook and electronic book. Rocket Boys was also nominated by the National Book Critics Circle as Best Biography of 1998, in February 1999, Universal Studios released its critically acclaimed film October Sky, based on Rocket Boys. In an interview, Hickam has said of the movie that it was fine for what it is, a low-budget feel-good movie, still, the world needs feel-good movies and it has done a good job of encouraging young people to go after their dreams
35.
Ed Harris
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Edward Allen Ed Harris is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. Harris currently stars in the HBO sci-fi drama series Westworld, as well as Alejandro G. Iñárritus upcoming Starz drama series The One Percent. Harris is a nominee of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Apollo 13, The Truman Show. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing artist Jackson Pollock in his directorial debut Pollock and he also won a Golden Globe Award for playing Senator John McCain in Game Change. In 2015, Harris received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he has two brothers, Paul and Robert. Harris was raised in a middle class Presbyterian family and he graduated from Tenafly High School in 1969, where he played on the football team, serving as the teams captain in his senior year. A star athlete in school, Harris competed in athletics at Columbia University in 1969. When his family moved to New Mexico two years later, Harris followed, having discovered his interest in acting in theater plays. He enrolled at the University of Oklahoma to study drama, Harris began his career on the stage. Harris first film came in 1978 with a minor part in the suspense film Coma. His first major role in a film two years later with Borderline, in which he starred alongside Charles Bronson. In 1981, Harris played the lead, William Billy Davis, the following year, he co-starred as Hank Blaine in the black comedy horror anthology film Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero. In 1983, Harris became well-known after portraying astronaut John Glenn in The Right Stuff, in 1984, he co-starred in the Robert Benton-directed drama film Places in the Heart, during production of this film, Harris met and married his wife Amy Madigan. In 1986, he received a Tony Award nomination in the Best Actor in a Play category for his role in George Furths Precious Sons and he also won the Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance. Harris then portrayed William Walker, a 19th-century American who appointed himself President of Nicaragua and that same year, he played the main role of Harry Nash in the HBO television thriller film The Last Innocent Man. In 1989, his role as David Dave Flannigan in Jacknife earned him his first Golden Globe Award nomination, also in 1989, he portrayed Virgil Bud Brigman in the sci-fi film The Abyss, directed by James Cameron. In 1992, Harris co-starred as Dave Moss in the drama film Glengarry Glen Ross and he won the Valladolid International Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in the film. He next appeared in the films The Firm and Needful Things, the following year, Harris starred in and executive produced the television adaptation of Riders of the Purple Sage
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