1.
Geography
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Geography is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, the features, the inhabitants, and the phenomena of Earth. The first person to use the word γεωγραφία was Eratosthenes, Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of the Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. It is often defined in terms of the two branches of geography and physical geography. Geography has been called the world discipline and the bridge between the human and the physical sciences, Geography is a systematic study of the Earth and its features. Traditionally, geography has been associated with cartography and place names, although many geographers are trained in toponymy and cartology, this is not their main preoccupation. Geographers study the space and the temporal database distribution of phenomena, processes, because space and place affect a variety of topics, such as economics, health, climate, plants and animals, geography is highly interdisciplinary. The interdisciplinary nature of the approach depends on an attentiveness to the relationship between physical and human phenomena and its spatial patterns. Names of places. are not geography. know by heart a whole gazetteer full of them would not, in itself and this is a description of the world—that is Geography. In a word Geography is a Science—a thing not of mere names but of argument and reason, of cause, just as all phenomena exist in time and thus have a history, they also exist in space and have a geography. Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main fields, human geography and physical geography. The former largely focuses on the environment and how humans create, view, manage. The latter examines the environment, and how organisms, climate, soil, water. The difference between these led to a third field, environmental geography, which combines physical and human geography. Physical geography focuses on geography as an Earth science and it aims to understand the physical problems and the issues of lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, and global flora and fauna patterns. Physical geography can be divided into broad categories, including, Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns. It encompasses the human, political, cultural, social, and it requires an understanding of the traditional aspects of physical and human geography, as well as the ways that human societies conceptualize the environment. Integrated geography has emerged as a bridge between the human and the geography, as a result of the increasing specialisation of the two sub-fields. Examples of areas of research in the environmental geography include, emergency management, environmental management, sustainability, geomatics is concerned with the application of computers to the traditional spatial techniques used in cartography and topography
2.
Geographic information system
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A geographic information system is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data. What goes beyond a GIS is a spatial data infrastructure, a concept that has no such restrictive boundaries, in general, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries, analyze spatial information, edit data in maps, Geographic information science is the science underlying geographic concepts, applications, and systems. GIS is a term that can refer to a number of different technologies, processes. It is attached to operations and has many applications related to engineering, planning, management, transport/logistics, insurance, telecommunications. For that reason, GIS and location intelligence applications can be the foundation for many location-enabled services that rely on analysis, GIS can relate unrelated information by using location as the key index variable. Locations or extents in the Earth space–time may be recorded as dates/times of occurrence, and x, y, and z coordinates representing, longitude, latitude, all Earth-based spatial–temporal location and extent references should be relatable to one another and ultimately to a real physical location or extent. This key characteristic of GIS has begun to open new avenues of scientific inquiry, the first known use of the term geographic information system was by Roger Tomlinson in the year 1968 in his paper A Geographic Information System for Regional Planning. Tomlinson is also acknowledged as the father of GIS, previously, one of the first applications of spatial analysis in epidemiology is the 1832 Rapport sur la marche et les effets du choléra dans Paris et le département de la Seine. The French geographer Charles Picquet represented the 48 districts of the city of Paris by halftone color gradient according to the number of deaths by cholera per 1,000 inhabitants and this was one of the earliest successful uses of a geographic methodology in epidemiology. The early 20th century saw the development of photozincography, which allowed maps to be split into layers, for one layer for vegetation. This work was drawn on glass plates but later plastic film was introduced, with the advantages of being lighter, using less storage space and being less brittle. When all the layers were finished, they were combined into one using a large process camera. Once color printing came in, the idea was also used for creating separate printing plates for each color. Computer hardware development spurred by nuclear weapon research led to general-purpose computer mapping applications by the early 1960s, the year 1960 saw the development of the worlds first true operational GIS in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada by the federal Department of Forestry and Rural Development. A rating classification factor was added to permit analysis. CGIS was an improvement over computer mapping applications as it provided capabilities for overlay, measurement and it supported a national coordinate system that spanned the continent, coded lines as arcs having a true embedded topology and it stored the attribute and locational information in separate files. As a result of this, Tomlinson has become known as the father of GIS, CGIS lasted into the 1990s and built a large digital land resource database in Canada
3.
Geography of China
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The east and south of the country consists of fertile lowlands and foothills, and is the location of most of Chinas agricultural output and human population. The west and north of the country is dominated by sunken basins, rolling plateaus and it contains part of the highest tableland on earth, the Tibetan Plateau, and has much lower agricultural potential and population. More recently, the 18,000 km coastline has been used extensively for export-oriented trade, the Peoples Republic of China has an area of about 9,600,000 km2. The exact land area is sometimes challenged by border disputes, most notably about Taiwan, Aksai Chin, the Trans-Karakoram Tract, the area of the Peoples Republic of China is 9,596,960 km2 according to the CIAs The World Factbook. Both countries are smaller than Russia and Canada and larger than Brazil, in general, the land is high in the west and descends to the east coast. Mountains, plateaus and hills account for nearly 70 percent of the land surface. Most of the arable land and population are based in lowland plains and basins. Northeast plain Northeast of Shanhaiguan a narrow sliver of flat coastal land opens up into the vast Manchurian Plain, the plains extend north to the crown of the Chinese rooster, near where the Greater and Lesser Hinggan ranges converge. The Changbai Mountains to the east divide China from the Korean peninsula, compared with the rest of the area of China, here live the most Chinese people due to its adequate climate and topography. North plain The Taihang Mountains form the side of the triangular North China Plain. The other two sides are the Pacific coast to the east and the Yangtze River to the southwest, the vertices of this triangle are Beijing to the north, Shanghai to the southeast, and Yichang to the southwest. This alluvial plain, fed by the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers, is one of the most heavily populated regions of China, the only mountains in the plain are the Taishan in Shandong and Dabie Mountains of Anhui. Beijing, m at the tip of the North China Plain, is shielded by the intersection of the Taihang. Further north are the grasslands of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. To the south are agricultural regions, traditionally home to sedentary populations, the Great Wall of China was built in the mountains across the mountains that mark the southern edge of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. The Ming-era walls run over 2,000 km east to west from Shanhaiguan on the Bohai coast to the Hexi Corridor in Gansu. South East of the Tibetan Plateau, deeply folded mountains fan out toward the Sichuan Basin, the floor of the basin has an average elevation of 500 m and is home to one of the most densely farmed and populated regions of China. The Sichuan Basin is capped in the north by the continuation of the Kunlun range, the Qinling
4.
History of geography
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The history of geography includes many histories of geography which have differed over time and between different cultural and political groups. In more recent developments, geography has become an academic discipline. Geography derives from the Greek γεωγραφία – geographia, a translation of which would be to describe or write about the Earth. The first person to use the word geography was Eratosthenes, however, there is evidence for recognizable practices of geography, such as cartography prior to the use of the term geography. The known world of Ancient Egypt saw the Nile as the centre, various oases were known to the east and west, and were considered locations of various gods 12. To the South lay the Kushitic region, known as far as the 4th cataract, punt was a region south along the shores of the Red Sea. Various Asiatic peoples were known as Retenu, Kanaan, Que, Harranu, at various times especially in the Late Bronze Age Egyptians had diplomatic and trade relationships with Babylonia and Elam. The Mediterranean was called the Great Green and was believed to be part of a world encircling ocean, Europe was unknown although may have become part of the Egyptian world view in Phoenician times. The oldest known world maps date back to ancient Babylon from the 9th century BC, the best known Babylonian world map, however, is the Imago Mundi of 600 BC. The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the encircling ocean, the descriptions of five of them have survived. The ancient Greeks saw the poet Homer as the founder of geography and his works the Iliad and the Odyssey are works of literature, but both contain a great deal of geographical information. Homer describes a circular world ringed by a massive ocean. The works show that the Greeks by the 8th century BC had considerable knowledge of the geography of the eastern Mediterranean. The poems contain a number of place names and descriptions. Thales of Miletus is one of the first known philosophers known to have wondered about the shape of the world and he proposed that the world was based on water, and that all things grew out of it. He also laid down many of the astronomical and mathematical rules that would allow geography to be studied scientifically and his successor Anaximander is the first person known to have attempted to create a scale map of the known world and to have introduced the gnomon to Ancient Greece. From these accounts he wrote a prose account of what was known of the world. A similar work, and one that survives today, is Herodotus Histories
5.
Holarctic
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These regions are further subdivided into a variety of ecoregions. Many ecosystems, and the animal and plant communities that depend on them, are found across continents in large portions of this realm. The continuity of these results from the shared glacial history of the realm. The floristic Boreal Kingdom corresponds to the Holarctic realm, within the Holarctic realm, there are a variety of ecosystems. The type of ecosystem found in an area depends on the latitude, in the far north, a band of arctic tundra circles the shore of the Arctic Ocean. The ground beneath this land is permafrost, frozen year-round, in these difficult growing conditions, few plants can survive. South of the tundra, the boreal forest stretches across North America and this land is characterized by coniferous trees. South of here, the ecosystems become more diverse, some areas are covered in temperate grassland, while others are covered in temperate forest, dominated by deciduous trees. The southern extent of the Holarctic typically reaches into the desert, a variety of animal species are distributed across continents, throughout much of the Holarctic realm. Some of these included the brown bear, grey wolf, red fox, wolverine, moose, caribou, golden eagle, the brown bear is found in mountainous and semi-open areas distributed throughout the Holarctic. It once occupied much larger areas, but has driven out by human development. Today it is found in remaining wilderness areas. The grey wolf is found in a variety of habitats from tundra to desert. The red fox is an adaptable predator. It has the widest distribution of any terrestrial carnivore, and is adapted to a range of habitats. Like the wolf, it is distributed throughout the majority of the Holarctic, the wolverine is a large member of the weasel family found primarily in the arctic and in boreal forests, ranging south in mountainous regions. It is distributed in areas throughout Eurasia and North America. The moose is the largest member of the deer family and it is found throughout most of the boreal forest through continental Eurasia into Scandinavia, eastern North America, and boreal and montane regions of western North America
6.
Kriging
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Under suitable assumptions on the priors, kriging gives the best linear unbiased prediction of the intermediate values. Interpolating methods based on criteria such as smoothness need not yield the most likely intermediate values. The method is used in the domain of spatial analysis. The technique is known as Wiener–Kolmogorov prediction, after Norbert Wiener. Krige sought to estimate the most likely distribution of gold based on samples from a few boreholes, the English verb is to krige and the most common noun is kriging, both are often pronounced with a hard g, following the pronunciation of the name Krige. The word is sometimes capitalized as Kriging in the literature, the basic idea of kriging is to predict the value of a function at a given point by computing a weighted average of the known values of the function in the neighborhood of the point. The method is closely related to regression analysis. The kriging estimation may also be seen as a spline in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space, Kriging with polynomial trend surfaces is mathematically identical to generalized least squares polynomial curve fitting. Kriging can also be understood as a form of Bayesian inference, Kriging starts with a prior distribution over functions. A set of values is then observed, each associated with a spatial location. Now, a new value can be predicted at any new spatial location, the resulting posterior distribution is also Gaussian, with a mean and covariance that can be simply computed from the observed values, their variance, and the kernel matrix derived from the prior. In geostatistical models, sampled data is interpreted as the result of a random process, a stochastic process is, in the context of this model, simply a way to approach the set of data collected from the samples. The first step in geostatistical modulation is to create a process that best describes the set of observed data. A value from location x 1 is interpreted as a realization z of the random variable Z, in the space A, where the set of samples is dispersed, there are N realizations of the random variables Z, Z, ⋯, Z, correlated between themselves. The set of random variables constitutes a random function of only one realization is known z - the set of observed data. With only one realization of each random variable its theoretically impossible to determine any statistical parameter of the variables or the function. The proposed solution in the geostatistical formalism consists in assuming various degrees of stationarity in the random function, judging such a hypothesis as appropriate is equivalent to considering the sample values sufficiently homogeneous to validate that representation. Classical methods are, Ordinary kriging assumes constant unknown mean only over the neighborhood of x 0
7.
Urbanism
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Urbanism is the study of the characteristic ways of interaction of inhabitants of towns and cities with the built environment. It is a component of disciplines such as urban planning. However, in some contexts internationally Urbanism is synonymous with Urban Planning, many architects, planners, and sociologists investigate the way people live in densely populated urban areas. There is a variety of approaches within urbanism. Manuel Castells suggested that within a society, premium infrastructure networks selectively connect together the most favored users and places. Part of the philosophy of William James, one of the fathers of pragmatism, was to encourage people to actively reach out to the points where they can critically engage with others. The theme of democracy was also central to John Deweys version of pragmatism and he believed that in a democratic society, every sovereign citizen is capable of achieving personality. He argued that the concept of place should be open to experimentation for the hope of realising a better world, according to Richard J. Bernstein, these themes are also basic applications of urbanism. Under pragmatism, place is defined throughout continuous interactions with its dwellers and this approach can be seen in the theory of placemaking that emerged in the 1960s, epitomised by Jan Gehls quote First life, then spaces, then buildings – the other way around never works. Anti-foundationalism and fallibilism are related to pragmatism, in the context of those, pragmatists argue that the idea of space needs to be able to cope with unpredictability and change. The notion of a community as inquirers emphasises that the idea of place will be sustained only as long as there is a community to support it, douglas Kelbaugh identifies three paradigms within urbanism, New Urbanism, Everyday Urbanism, and Post-Urbanism. Paul L. Knox refers to one of many trends in contemporary urbanism as the aestheticization of everyday life, alex Krieger states that urban design is less a technical discipline than a mind-set based on a commitment to cities
8.
Valley
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A valley is a low area between hills, often with a river running through it. In geology, a valley or dale is a depression that is longer than it is wide, the terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys. Most valleys belong to one of two main types or a mixture of them, with respect to the cross section of the slopes or hillsides. A valley in its broadest geographic sense is known as a dale. A valley through which a river runs may also be referred to as a vale, a small, secluded, and often wooded valley is known as a dell or in Scotland as a glen. A wide, flat valley through which a river runs is known in Scotland as a strath, a mountain cove is a small valley, closed at one or both ends, in the central or southern Appalachian Mountains which sometimes results from the erosion of a geologic window. A small valley surrounded by mountains or ridges is sometimes known as a hollow, a deep, narrow valley is known as a cwm. Similar geological structures, such as canyons, ravines, gorges, gullies, chines, a valley formed by erosion is called an erosional valley, a valley formed by geologic events such as drop faults or the rise of highlands is called a structural valley. A valley formed by flowing water, or river valley, is usually V-shaped, the exact shape will depend on the characteristics of the stream flowing through it. Rivers with steep gradients, as in mountain ranges, produce steep walls, shallower slopes may produce broader and gentler valleys. However, in the lowest stretch of a river, where it approaches its base level, it begins to deposit sediment, in prehistory, the rivers were used as a source of fresh water and food, as well as a place to wash and a sewer. The proximity of water moderated temperature extremes and provided a source for irrigation, most of the first civilizations developed from these river valley communities. In geography, a vale is a river valley, usually with a particularly wide flood plain or flat valley bottom. In Southern England, vales commonly occur between the escarpment slopes of pairs of chalk formations, where the dome has been eroded, exposing less resistant underlying rock. Rift valleys, such as the Albertine Rift, are formed by the expansion of the Earths crust due to tectonic activity beneath the Earths surface, there are various forms of valley associated with glaciation that may be referred to as glacial valleys. A valley carved by glaciers is normally U-shaped, the valley becomes visible upon the recession of the glacier that forms it. When the ice recedes or thaws, the remains, often littered with small boulders that were transported within the ice. Floor gradient does not affect the shape, it is the glaciers size that does
9.
Regions of North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
10.
Regions of Africa
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The continent of Africa can be conceptually subdivided into a number of regions or subregions. One common approach categorises Africa directionally, e. g. by cardinal direction, North Africa lies north of the Sahara, West Africa is the portion roughly west of 10° east longitude, excluding Northern Africa and the Maghreb. West Africa contains large portions of the Sahara Desert and the Adamawa Mountains, Southern Africa consists of the portion generally south of -10° latitude and the great rainforests of Congo. This approach is taken, for example, in the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, the Sahel region covers a belt of grasslands south of the Sahara stretching from Senegal to Sudan. The Sudan region lies just below the Sahel but is more humid. Sudanian Savanna The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and it encompasses Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti. Ethiopian Highlands Sub-Saharan Africa is the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, the Guinea region is distinguished from the neighboring Sudan region by its rainforests and runs along the Atlantic coast from Guinea to Nigeria. Sudan Negroland Rhodesia Mayombe The Congo Basin is the rainforest region The Chad Basin The Chad Basin is the largest endorheic drainage basin in Africa, the region contains Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda. French has also kept a role in the Maghreb countries. Francophone Africa is an area in West Africa and Central Africa, plus Madagascar. Lusophone Africa consists of the widely separated countries of Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, Equatorial Guinea is the only African country where the Spanish language is official, though French and more recently Portuguese have also been added as official languages. Swahili is widely used as a language in East Africa. Ethiopia and Somalia use the Afro-Asiatic Amharic and Somali languages, respectively, as their official languages, Eritrea and parts of Ethiopia use the Tigrinya language and Arabic language as working languages. Niger–Congo languages and Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken in most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Nilo-Saharan occupies a smaller area but is highly diverse, and may be related as a parent or sibling of Niger–Congo. Afro-Asiatic languages are spoken in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, khoisan languages are spoken in desert areas of Southern Africa, but were formerly spoken over a larger area, and are thought to include two small languages in the African Great Lakes. Austronesian languages originating from Southeast Asia are spoken in Madagascar, a slightly less common, but equally important method of division of the continent is by investment factors. For the purposes of investing, Africa is not a destination with a single set of standardized risk factors. The investment approach was first developed by global, independent financial analytics provider and investment consultant, Maghreb region Otherwise known as the western portion of Northern Africa, these countries form the Arab Maghreb Union, established in 1989
11.
Oceania
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Oceania, also known as Oceanica, is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The term is used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia. The term was coined as Océanie circa 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun, the word Océanie is a French word derived from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός, ocean. Natives and inhabitants of this region are called Oceanians or Oceanicans, as an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of the Philippine islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, in geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania. Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania along with the Maluku Islands, puncak Jaya in Papua is often considered the highest peak in Oceania. Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean and it comprised four regions, Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia, and Melanesia. The area extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south. Not included are the Pacific islands of Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese archipelago, all on the margins of Asia, and the Aleutian Islands of North America. The islands at the extremes of Oceania are Bonin, a politically integral part of Japan, Hawaii, a state of the United States. There is also a geographic definition that excludes land on the Sunda Plate. Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone, Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand, New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone, related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled. The term is used to denote a continent comprising Australia. New Zealand forms the corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia, the history of Oceania in the medieval period was synonymous with the history of the indigenous peoples of Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia
12.
Outline of South America
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to South America. South America is the continent of the two Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. It lies between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the continent is culturally, ethnically and racially diverse, home to indigenous peoples and to descendants of settlers from Europe, Africa and Asia. Due to its history of colonialism most South Americans speak Spanish or Portuguese, Music Information about South American Music
13.
Demographics of Asia
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The continent of Asia covers 29. 4% of the Earths land area and has a population of over 4 billion, accounting for about 56% of the world population. The combined population of both China and India are estimated to be over 2.6 billion people. Economically, most of Asia is traditionally considered part of the Second World, with the significant exception of the industrialized First World countries of Israel, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Asian countries in the G-20 major economies include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Indonesia, Turkey, of these, Japan is also in the G8, and additionally China and India in the G8+5. Russia is also a part of G8 from 1997 until 2014, the Human Development Index of Asian countries range from Low to Very High category. The table below shows the 10 highest and lowest countries according to their Human Development Index scores based on the 2015 report
14.
Demographics of Africa
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The population of Africa has grown rapidly over the past century, and consequently shows a large youth bulge, further reinforced by a low life expectancy of below 50 years in some African countries. The population doubled in the period 1982–2009 and quadrupled from 1955–2009, as of 2013, the total population of Africa is estimated at 1.1 billion, representing approximately 15% of the worlds population. According to UN estimates, the population of Africa may reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050 and nearly 4.4 billion by 2100. More than 40% of the population is below 15 years old in most sub-Saharan countries, as well as the Sudan but with the exception of South Africa, thirty-four out of fifty-three African countries are counted among the worlds Least Developed Countries. HIV/AIDS is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, with some 11% of adult population infected, Africas population has rapidly increased over the last 40 years, and consequently, it is relatively young. In some African states, half or more of the population is under 25 years of age, the total number of people in Africa grew from 221 million in 1950 to 1.1 billion in 2013. Speakers of Bantu languages predominate in southern, central and southeast Africa, the Bantu farmers from West Africas inland savanna progressively expanded over most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Bantu-speaking Africans also predominate in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and are found in parts of southern Cameroon, in the Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as the San have long been present. Together with the Khoikhoi, they form the Khoisan, the San are the pre-Bantu indigenous people of southern Africa, while Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of Central Africa. The Niger–Congo-speaking Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Akan and Wolof ethnic groups are the largest and most influential, in the central Sahara, Mandinka or Mande groups are most significant. The peoples of North Africa comprise three main groups, Berbers in the northwest, Egyptians and Libyans in northeast, and Nilo-Saharan-speaking peoples in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the 7th century introduced the Arabic language and Islam to the region, the Semitic Phoenicians and Hyksos, the Indo-Iranian Alans, the Indo-European Greeks, Romans and Vandals settled in North Africa as well. Berber-speaking populations still make significant communities within Morocco and Algeria and are also present in smaller numbers in Tunisia. The Berber-speaking Tuareg and other peoples are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa. In Mauritania, There is a small Berber community and Niger–Congo-speaking peoples in the South, small communities of Afro-Asiatic-speaking Beja nomads can also be found in Egypt and Sudan. In the Horn of Africa, Afro-Asiatic-speaking groups predominate, in southern Ethiopia and Eritrea, Nilotic peoples related to those in South Sudan are also found, while Bantu and Khoisan ethnic minorities inhabit parts of southern Somalia. Prior to the movements of the post-World War II era. By the end of 1977, more than one million Portuguese were thought to have returned from Africa, nevertheless, White Africans remain an important minority in many African states, particularly South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Réunion
15.
Demographics of Oceania
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Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania vary, with it being defined in various ways, the term is sometimes used more specifically to denote Australasia as a geographic continent, or biogeographically as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone. The demographic table below shows all inhabited states and territories of Oceania, the information in this chart comes from the CIA World Factbook or the United States Department of State, unless noted otherwise or not available, where sources differ, references are included. Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of Oceania ^ a, Papua New Guinea has over 860 non-official languages, ^ b, Melanesian pidgin is lingua franca in much of the country, but English remains the official language. ^ c, Samoan and English were declared the official languages of American Samoa in June,2010, ^ d, Palaun is the official language in all islands except Sonsoral, Tobi, and Angaur. ^ e, Based on a 1969 estimate, ^ f, English, while not an official language, is widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes. ^ g, Norfuk was made the official language of Norfolk Island in 2005. ^ h, While no valid literacy data is available, Norfolk Island is assumed to have a literacy rate roughly at a par with Australias literacy rate of 99%. ^ i, On Atafu, all Congregational Christian Church of Samoa, on Nukunonu, all Roman Catholic, on Fakaofo, ^ j, While no valid literacy data is available, Niue is assumed to have an adult literacy rate of almost 100%. ^ k, The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold any statistical information on the rate of the Pitcairn population. ^ l, The residents of the Pitcairn Islands are descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers, ^ m, Much of the information on these two websites is taken from the censuses of other countries, and are not based on independent US government research. The remaining figures are based on estimates, and have used only where census information from the nation in question is incomplete, unclear
16.
Outer Continental Shelf
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The Outer Continental Shelf is a peculiarity of the political geography of the United States. The OCS is the part of the internationally recognized continental shelf of the United States which does not fall under the jurisdictions of the individual U. S. States. Formally, the OCS is governed by Title 43, Chapter 29 Submerged Lands, Subchapter III Outer Continental Shelf Lands, louisiana is extended 3 nautical miles seaward of the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. All other States seaward limits are extended 3 international nautical miles seaward of the baseline from which the breadth of the sea is measured. Federal jurisdiction is defined under accepted principles of international law.01. Thus the landward boundary of the continental shelf is a legal construct rather than a physical construct. For legislation concerning the OCS, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation has jurisdiction within the United States Senate. In the House of Representatives, the Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy, jurisdiction, under the OCSLA, the Secretary of the Interior is responsible for the administration of mineral exploration and development of the OCS. The OCSLA has been amended several times, most recently as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, on October 1,2011, BOEMRE was divided into two bureaus, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. BSEE is the charged to provide regulatory oversight of deepwater oil drilling
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Tied island
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Tied islands, or land-tied islands as they are often known, are landforms consisting of an island that is connected to land only by a tombolo, a spit of beach materials connected to land at both ends. St Ninians Isle, in the Shetland Islands off the north coast of Scotland, is an example of this, Islands portal Glossary of geology and related sciences. Jesse V. Howell, American Geological Institute, media related to Tied islands at Wikimedia Commons
18.
Outline of geography
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to geography, Geography – study of earth and its people. An academic discipline – a body of knowledge given to − or received by − a disciple, a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, Geography has been called the world discipline. A field of science – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer reviewed research is published. There are many geography-related scientific journals, a natural science – field of academic scholarship that explores aspects of natural environment. A social science – field of scholarship that explores aspects of human society. An interdisciplinary field – a field that crosses boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged. Many of the branches of physical geography are also branches of Earth science, etymology of geography, from Greek γεωγραφία - geographia, lit. Earth describe-write geo- – a prefix taken from the Greek word γη or γαια meaning earth, geo- is a prefix for many words dealing in some way with the earth. Words that include this suffix usually are about a work, an art, Physical geography – examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation & life, soil, water, and landforms are produced and interact. Geomorphology – study of landforms and the processes that them, and more broadly, hydrology – study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout the Earth, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability. Glaciology – study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice, biogeography – study of the distribution of species spatially and temporally. Over areal ecological changes, it is tied to the concepts of species and their past, or present living refugium, their survival locales. It aims to reveal where organisms live, and at what abundance, climatology – study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time. Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes. Pedology – study of soils in their environment that deals with pedogenesis, soil morphology. Palaeogeography – study of what the geography was in times past, most often concerning the physical landscape, coastal geography – study of the dynamic interface between the ocean and the land, incorporating both the physical geography and the human geography of the coast. It involves an understanding of coastal weathering processes, particularly wave action, sediment movement and weather, Quaternary science – focuses on the Quaternary period, which encompasses the last 2.6 million years, including the last ice age and the Holocene period. Landscape ecology – the relationship between spatial patterns of development and ecological processes on a multitude of landscape scales and organizational levels
19.
Indian subcontinent
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Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, sometimes, the term South Asia is used interchangeably with Indian subcontinent. There is no consensus about which countries should be included in each and it is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the twentieth century. It was especially convenient for referring to the region comprising both the British India and the states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent also has a geological significance and it was, like the various continents, a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of basins, each drifting in various directions. The geological region called the Greater India once included the Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, as a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene. The Indian subcontinent has been a particularly common in the British Empire. The region, state Mittal and Thursby, has also labelled as India, Greater India. The BBC and some sources refer to the region as the Asian Subcontinent. Some academics refer to it as South Asian Subcontinent, the terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably. There is no accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or Indian subcontinent. In dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies a large, distinguishable subdivision of a continent, the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, Austrolasia and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago and this geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the active areas. The English term mainly continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent, physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east
20.
Continent
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A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven regions are regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in size to smallest, they are, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, in geology, areas of continental crust include regions covered with water. Islands are frequently grouped with a continent to divide all the worlds land into geopolitical regions. Under this scheme, most of the countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean are grouped together with the continent of Australia to form a geopolitical region called Oceania. By convention, continents are understood to be large, continuous, discrete masses of land, many of the seven most commonly recognized continents identified by convention are not discrete landmasses separated completely by water. Earths major landmasses all have coasts on a single, continuous World Ocean, the most restricted meaning of continent is that of a continuous area of land or mainland, with the coastline and any land boundaries forming the edge of the continent. From this perspective the edge of the shelf is the true edge of the continent. In this sense the islands of Great Britain and Ireland are part of Europe, while Australia, as a cultural construct, the concept of a continent may go beyond the continental shelf to include oceanic islands and continental fragments. In this way, Iceland is considered part of Europe and Madagascar part of Africa, extrapolating the concept to its extreme, some geographers group the Australasian continental plate with other islands in the Pacific into one continent called Oceania. This divides the land surface of Earth into continents or quasi-continents. The ideal criterion that each continent be a discrete landmass is commonly relaxed due to historical conventions, of the seven most globally recognized continents, only Antarctica and Australia are completely separated from other continents by ocean. Several continents are defined not as absolutely distinct bodies but as more or less discrete masses of land, Asia and Africa are joined by the Isthmus of Suez, and North and South America by the Isthmus of Panama. In both cases, there is no separation of these landmasses by water. Both these isthmuses are very narrow compared to the bulk off the landmasses they unite, North America and South America are treated as separate continents in the seven-continent model. However, they may also be viewed as a continent known as America or the Americas. This viewpoint was common in the United States until World War II and this remains the more common vision in Latin American countries, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece, where they are taught as a single continent. The criterion of a landmass is completely disregarded if the continuous landmass of Eurasia is classified as two separate continents, Europe and Asia
21.
Canadian Shield
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Composed of igneous rock resulting from its long volcanic history, the area is covered by a thin layer of soil. Human population is sparse, and industrial development is minimal, while mining is prevalent, the Canadian Shield is a physiographic division, consisting of five smaller, physiographic provinces, the Laurentian Upland, Kazan Region, Davis, Hudson and James. The shield extends into the United States as the Adirondack Mountains, the Canadian Shield is U-shaped and is a subsection of the Laurentia craton signifying the area of greatest glacial impact creating the thin soils. The Canadian Shield is more than 3.96 billion years old, the Canadian Shield once had jagged peaks, higher than any of todays mountains, but millions of years of erosion have changed these mountains to rolling hills. The Canadian Shield was the first part of North America to be elevated above sea level and has remained almost wholly untouched by successive encroachments of the sea upon the continent. It is the Earths greatest area of exposed Archean rock, the metamorphic base rocks are mostly from the Precambrian Supereon, and have been repeatedly uplifted and eroded. Today it consists largely of an area of low relief 300 to 610 m above sea level with a few monadnocks, during the Pleistocene Epoch, continental ice sheets depressed the land surface, scooped out thousands of lake basins, and carried away much of the regions soil. When the Greenland section is included, the Shield is approximately circular, bounded on the northeast by the northeast edge of Greenland and it covers much of Greenland, Labrador, most of Quebec north of the St. In total, the area of the Shield covers approximately 8,000,000 km2. The underlying rock structure also includes Hudson Bay, the Canadian Shield is among the oldest on earth, with regions dating from 2.5 to 4.2 billion years. The multitude of rivers and lakes in the region is caused by the watersheds of the area being so young. It has some of the oldest volcanoes on the planet and it has over 150 volcanic belts whose bedrock ranges from 600 to 1200 million years old. Each belt probably grew by the coalescence of accumulations erupted from numerous vents, many of Canadas major ore deposits are associated with Precambrian volcanoes. The Sturgeon Lake Caldera in Kenora District, Ontario, is one of the worlds best preserved mineralized Neoarchean caldera complexes, the Canadian Shield also contains the Mackenzie dike swarm, which is the largest dike swarm known on Earth. Mountains have deep roots and float on the denser mantle much like an iceberg at sea, as mountains erode, their roots rise and are eroded in turn. The rocks that now form the surface of the Shield were once far below the Earths surface, the high pressures and temperatures at those depths provided ideal conditions for mineralization. Although these mountains are now eroded, many large mountains still exist in Canadas far north called the Arctic Cordillera. This is a vast deeply dissected mountain range, stretching from northernmost Ellesmere Island to the northernmost tip of Labrador, the ranges highest peak is Nunavuts Barbeau Peak at 2,616 metres above sea level
22.
Plate tectonics
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The theoretical model builds on the concept of continental drift developed during the first few decades of the 20th century. The geoscientific community accepted plate-tectonic theory after seafloor spreading was validated in the late 1950s, the lithosphere, which is the rigid outermost shell of a planet, is broken up into tectonic plates. The Earths lithosphere is composed of seven or eight major plates, where the plates meet, their relative motion determines the type of boundary, convergent, divergent, or transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries. The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 100 mm annually, tectonic plates are composed of oceanic lithosphere and thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent boundaries, subduction carries plates into the mantle, the material lost is balanced by the formation of new crust along divergent margins by seafloor spreading. In this way, the surface of the lithosphere remains the same. This prediction of plate tectonics is also referred to as the conveyor belt principle, earlier theories, since disproven, proposed gradual shrinking or gradual expansion of the globe. Tectonic plates are able to move because the Earths lithosphere has greater strength than the underlying asthenosphere. Lateral density variations in the result in convection. Plate movement is thought to be driven by a combination of the motion of the seafloor away from the ridge and drag, with downward suction. Another explanation lies in the different forces generated by forces of the Sun. The relative importance of each of these factors and their relationship to other is unclear. The outer layers of the Earth are divided into the lithosphere and asthenosphere and this is based on differences in mechanical properties and in the method for the transfer of heat. Mechanically, the lithosphere is cooler and more rigid, while the asthenosphere is hotter, in terms of heat transfer, the lithosphere loses heat by conduction, whereas the asthenosphere also transfers heat by convection and has a nearly adiabatic temperature gradient. The key principle of plate tectonics is that the lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic plates, Plate motions range up to a typical 10–40 mm/year, to about 160 mm/year. The driving mechanism behind this movement is described below, tectonic lithosphere plates consist of lithospheric mantle overlain by either or both of two types of crustal material, oceanic crust and continental crust. Average oceanic lithosphere is typically 100 km thick, its thickness is a function of its age, as passes, it conductively cools
23.
Kerguelen Plateau
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The Kerguelen Plateau is an oceanic plateau and a large igneous province in the southern Indian Ocean. It is also a microcontinent and submerged continent and it is about 3,000 km to the southwest of Australia and is nearly three times the size of Japan. The plateau extends for more than 2,200 km in a northwest–southeast direction, the plateau was produced by the Kerguelen hotspot, starting with or following the breakup of Gondwana about 130 million years ago. A small portion of the plateau breaks sea level, forming the Kerguelen Islands plus the Heard, intermittent volcanism continues on the Heard and McDonald Islands. To the north of Broken Ridge lies the linear Ninety East Ridge which continues almost due north into the Bay of Bengal and is considered to be a hotspot track. One of the largest LIPs in the world, the Kerguelen Plateau covers an area of 1,250,000 km2, located on the Antarctic Plate, the Kerguelen Plateau is separated from Australia by the Southeast Indian Ridge and from Africa by the Southwest Indian Ridge. These two ridge meet at the Rodriguez Triple Junction and it is separated from Antarctica by Princess Elizabeth Trough and the Cooperation Sea. The eastern margin north of the William Ridge is steep and formed during the breakup between the Kerguelen Plateau and the Broken Ridge, the southern part of the margin is separated from the Australian–Antarctic Basin by the deep Labuan Basin. From the initial opening of the Indian Ocean until present, the Kerguelen hotspot has produced several now widely dispersed large scale structures, the oldest volcanism that can be attributed to the Kerguelen plume are the Bunbury Basalt in southwestern Australia and the Rajmahal Traps in eastern India. The formation of the oldest portion of the Kerguelen LIP and these continental basalts are linked to the opening of the eastern Indian Ocean. The Bunbury Basalt is not of flood basalt dimension which suggest that the underlying the newly formed Kerguelen hotspot was neither significantly hot, wet. In contrast, the magmatism that produced the Australia–India breakup 136–158 Ma created the Wallaby Plateau, the output from the Kerguelen hotspot peaked 120–95 Ma, 12–70 Ma after the India–Antarctica breakup. The peak output of the Kerguelen hotspot coincides with one or several microcontinent formations, parts of the Kerguelen Plateau, the Elan Bank and the SKP, were originally attached to India and are composed of continental lithosphere. One or several ridge jumps transformed the Elan Bank into a microcontinent and dispersed continental fragments in the SKP, the ridge jump that made the Elan Bank a microcontinent occurred after 124 Ma. The development of the Southern Kerguelen Plateau 118–119 Ma contributed to the oceanic anoxic event 1, around 83.5 Ma sea floor spreading between India and Antarctica was asymmetric in the Kerguelen Plateau region with two-thirds of the sea floor created being added to the Antarctic Plate. A ridge jump eventually resulted in parts of the Kerguelen Plateau being transferred from the Indian to the Antarctic Plate, the Kerguelen hotspot produced the 5,000 km long Ninety East Ridge 82–38 Ma, and geochemical evidence suggests that this occurred at or near a spreading ridge. The lack of a structure on the Antarctic Plate, however. As the Antarctic Plate then moved over the Kerguelen hotspot the NKP formed over relatively old oceanic crust, flood basalts in the Kerguelen archipelago formed 30–24 Ma and less voluminous and more recent volcanism occurred until 1 Ma
24.
Zealandia
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It has variously been described as a continental fragment, a microcontinent and a continent. The name and concept for Zealandia were proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995, the land mass may have been completely submerged about 23 Ma ago, and most of it remains submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean. As such, and due to other considerations, such as crustal thickness and density. Zealandia supports substantial inshore fisheries and contains gas fields, of which the largest known is New Zealands Maui gas field, permits for oil exploration in the Great South Basin were issued in 2007. Offshore mineral resources include iron sands, volcanic massive sulfides and ferromanganese nodule deposits, Zealandia is largely made up of two nearly parallel ridges, separated by a failed rift, where the rift breakup of the continent stops and becomes a filled graben. The ridges rise above the sea floor to heights of 1, 000–1,500 m, about 25 Ma ago, the southern part of Zealandia began to shift relative to the northern part. The resulting displacement by approximately 500 km along the Alpine Fault is evident in geological maps, movement along this plate boundary has also offset the New Caledonia Basin from its previous continuation through the Bounty Trough. Compression across the boundary has uplifted the Southern Alps, although due to rapid erosion their height reflects only a fraction of the uplift. Farther north, subduction of the Pacific Plate has led to extensive volcanism, including the Coromandel, associated rifting and subsidence has produced the Hauraki Graben and more recently the Whakatane Graben and Wanganui Basin. Volcanism on Zealandia has also taken place repeatedly in various parts of the fragment before, during. This volcanism is widespread across Zealandia but generally of low volume apart from the mid to late Miocene shield volcanoes that developed the Banks. In addition, it took place continually in numerous limited regions all through the Late Cretaceous, however, its causes are still in dispute. During the Miocene, the section of Zealandia might have slid over a stationary hotspot. Zealandia is occasionally divided by scientists into two regions, North Zealandia and South Zealandia, the latter of which contains most of the Median Batholith crust. These two features are separated by the Alpine Fault and Kermadec Trench and by the wedge-shaped Hikurangi Plateau and this was widely covered by news media. New Caledonia lies at the end of the ancient continent. These land masses are two outposts of the Antarctic Flora, including Araucarias and Podocarps and these were buried by volcanic mud flows and gradually replaced by silica to produce the fossils now exposed by the sea. During glacial periods, more of Zealandia becomes a rather than a marine environment
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Madagascar
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Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar, and numerous smaller peripheral islands, consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The islands diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the growing human population. The first archaeological evidence for human foraging on Madagascar dates to 2000 BC, human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around AD1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa, other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is divided into 18 or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands. Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by an assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles, the monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, since 1992, the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in an uprising in 2009, president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign. Constitutional governance was restored in January 2014, when Hery Rajaonarimampianina was named president following a 2013 election deemed fair, Madagascar is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and the Southern African Development Community. Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries, according to the United Nations, Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, Christianity, ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health, and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascars development strategy. As of 2017, the economy has been weakened by the 2009-2013 political crisis, in the Malagasy language, the island of Madagascar is called Madagasikara and its people are referred to as Malagasy. The islands appellation Madagascar is not of origin, but rather was popularized in the Middle Ages by Europeans. On St. Laurences Day in 1500, Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias landed on the island, polos name was preferred and popularized on Renaissance maps. At 592,800 square kilometres, Madagascar is the worlds 47th largest country, the country lies mostly between latitudes 12°S and 26°S, and longitudes 43°E and 51°E. Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros, the nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west
26.
New Caledonia
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New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean,1,210 km east of Australia and 16,136 km east of Metropolitan France. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea, locals refer to Grande Terre as Le Caillou. New Caledonia has an area of 18,576 km2. Its population of 268,767 consists of a mix of Kanak people, people of European descent, Polynesian people, the capital of the territory is Nouméa. The earliest traces of human presence in New Caledonia date back to the Lapita period, the Lapita were highly skilled navigators and agriculturists with influence over a large area of the Pacific. British explorer Captain James Cook was the first European to sight New Caledonia, on 4 September 1774 and he named it New Caledonia, as the northeast of the island reminded him of Scotland. The west coast of Grande Terre was approached by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse in 1788, shortly before his disappearance, from then until 1840, only a few sporadic contacts with the archipelago were recorded. Contacts became more frequent after 1840, because of the interest in sandalwood from New Caledonia, the trade ceased at the start of the 20th century. The victims of this trade were called Kanakas, like all the Oceanian people, the first missionaries from the London Missionary Society and the Marist Brothers arrived in the 1840s. In 1849, the crew of the American ship Cutter was killed, cannibalism was widespread throughout New Caledonia. On 24 September 1853, under orders from Napoleon III, Admiral Febvrier Despointes took formal possession of New Caledonia, a few dozen free settlers settled on the west coast in the following years. New Caledonia became a colony, and from the 1860s until the end of the transportations in 1897, about 22,000 criminals. Among the convicts were many Communards arrested after the failed Paris Commune, including Henri de Rochefort, between 1873 and 1876,4,200 political prisoners were relegated in New Caledonia. Only 40 of them settled in the colony, the rest returned to France after being granted amnesty in 1879 and 1880. In 1864, nickel was discovered on the banks of the Diahot River and with the establishment of the Société Le Nickel in 1876, mining began in earnest. The French imported labourers to work in the mines, first from neighbouring islands, then from Japan, the Dutch East Indies, the French government also attempted to encourage European immigration, without much success. The indigenous population was excluded from the French economy, even as workers in the mines, and they were ultimately confined to reservations. This sparked a violent reaction in 1878 as High Chief Atal of La Foa managed to unite many of the central tribes, the Europeans brought new diseases such as smallpox and measles
27.
Australia (continent)
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It is the smallest of the seven traditional continents in the English conception. When sea levels were lower during the Pleistocene ice age, including the Last Glacial Maximum about 18,000 BC, geologically, a continent extends to the edge of its continental shelf, so the now-separate islands are considered part of the continent. Due to the spread of animals, fungi and plants across the single Pleistocene landmass the separate lands have a related biota, New Zealand is not part of the continent of Australia, but of the separate, submerged continent of Zealandia. New Zealand and Australia are both part of the regions known as Australasia and Oceania. The term Oceania is often used to denote the region encompassing the Australian continent, with a total land area of 8.56 million square kilometres, the Australian continent is the smallest and lowest human inhabited continent on Earth. The continental shelf connecting the islands, half of which is less than 50 metres deep, covers some 2.5 million square kilometres, including the Sahul Shelf and Bass Strait. As the country of Australia is mostly on a single landmass, archaeological terminology for this region has changed repeatedly. In the early 1970s, the term Greater Australia was introduced for the Pleistocene continent, then at a 1975 conference and consequent publication, the name Sahul was extended from its previous use for just the Sahul Shelf to cover the continent. Others have used Meganesia with different meanings, travel writer Paul Theroux included New Zealand in his definition and others have used it for Australia, New Zealand, another biologist, Richard Dawkins, coined the name Australinea in 2004. Australia-New Guinea has also been used, the continent primarily sits on the Indo-Australian Plate. Because of its location on its tectonic plate Australia doesnt have any active volcanic regions. The lands were joined with Antarctica as part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana until the plate began to drift north about 96 million years ago, for most of the time since then, Australia–New Guinea remained a continuous landmass. When the last glacial period ended in about 10,000 BC, rising sea levels formed Bass Strait, separating Tasmania from the mainland. Then between about 8,000 and 6,500 BC, the lowlands in the north were flooded by the sea, separating New Guinea, the Aru Islands, and the Australian mainland. A northern arc consisting of the New Guinea Highlands, the Raja Ampat Islands, the Outer Banda Arc was accreted along the northwestern edge the continent, it includes the islands of Timor, Tanimbar, and Seram. As the continent drifted north from Antarctica, a fauna, flora. Marsupials and monotremes also existed on other continents, but only in Australia–New Guinea did they out-compete the placental mammals, animal groups such as macropods, monotremes, and cassowaries are endemic to Australia. There were three reasons for the enormous diversity that developed in animal, fungal and plant life
