1.
Antarctica
–
It contains the geographic South Pole and is situated in the Antarctic region of the Southern Hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14,000,000 square kilometres, it is the fifth-largest continent, for comparison, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages 1.9 km in thickness, Antarctica, on average, is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Antarctica is a desert, with precipitation of only 200 mm along the coast. The temperature in Antarctica has reached −89.2 °C, though the average for the quarter is −63 °C. Anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 people reside throughout the year at the research stations scattered across the continent. Organisms native to Antarctica include many types of algae, bacteria, fungi, plants, protista, vegetation, where it occurs, is tundra. The continent, however, remained neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of easily accessible resources. In 1895, the first confirmed landing was conducted by a team of Norwegians, Antarctica is a de facto condominium, governed by parties to the Antarctic Treaty System that have consulting status. Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, and thirty-eight have signed it since then, the treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, prohibits nuclear explosions and nuclear waste disposal, supports scientific research, and protects the continents ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists from many nations, the name Antarctica is the romanised version of the Greek compound word ἀνταρκτική, feminine of ἀνταρκτικός, meaning opposite to the Arctic, opposite to the north. Aristotle wrote in his book Meteorology about an Antarctic region in c.350 B. C, marinus of Tyre reportedly used the name in his unpreserved world map from the 2nd century A. D. Before acquiring its present geographical connotations, the term was used for locations that could be defined as opposite to the north. For example, the short-lived French colony established in Brazil in the 16th century was called France Antarctique, the first formal use of the name Antarctica as a continental name in the 1890s is attributed to the Scottish cartographer John George Bartholomew. Antarctica has no population and there is no evidence that it was seen by humans until the 19th century. Explorer Matthew Flinders, in particular, has credited with popularising the transfer of the name Terra Australis to Australia. Cook came within about 120 km of the Antarctic coast before retreating in the face of ice in January 1773. The first confirmed sighting of Antarctica can be narrowed down to the crews of ships captained by three individuals, according to various organisations, ships captained by three men sighted Antarctica or its ice shelf in 1820, von Bellingshausen, Edward Bransfield, and Nathaniel Palmer
Antarctica
–
Adelie penguins in Antarctica
Antarctica
–
Antarctica
Antarctica
–
Painting of
James Weddell 's second expedition in 1823, depicting the brig Jane and the cutter Beaufroy.
Antarctica
–
Nimrod Expedition South Pole Party (left to right):
Wild,
Shackleton,
Marshall and
Adams
2.
Spanish Empire
–
The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there. Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
Spanish Empire
–
Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs (The return of Columbus to Spain).
Spanish Empire
–
Flag
Spanish Empire
–
The death of French general
Gaston de Foix at the
Battle of Ravenna (1512).
Spanish Empire
–
Upon the death of
Ferdinand the Catholic, the lordship of the Spanish Indies became Kingdoms of the Indies.
3.
Conquistador
–
Conquistadors /kɒŋˈkɪstəˌdɔːrz/ is a term used to refer to the soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire or the Portuguese Empire in a general sense. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, conquering territory and they colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Portugal established a route to China in the early 16th century, sending ships via the southern coast of Africa, human infections gained worldwide transmission vectors for the first time, from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. The spread of diseases, including smallpox, flu and typhus. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports, by the late 16th century silver imports from America provided one-fifth of Spains total budget. The conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics, firearms and their units would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups. Their armies were composed of Iberian and other European soldiers. Native allied troops were largely equipped with armament and armour that varied geographically. Some groups consisted of men without military experience, Catholic clergy which helped with administrative duties. These native forces often included African slaves and Native Americans and they not only fought in the battlefield but served as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, and scribes. India Catalina and Malintzin were Native American women slaves who worked for the Spaniards, Castilian law prohibited foreigners and non-Catholics from settling in the New World. However, not all conquistadors were Castilian, many foreigners Hispanicised their names and/or converted to Catholicism to serve the Castilian Crown. For example, Ioánnis Fokás was a Castilian of Greek origin who discovered the strait that bears his name between Vancouver Island and Washington State in 1592, german-born Nikolaus Federmann, Hispanicised as Nicolás de Federmán, was a conquistador in Venezuela and Colombia. The origin of people in mixed expeditions was not always distinguished. Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America unless they were married and accompanied by a husband, women who travelled thus include María de Escobar, María Estrada, Marina Vélez de Ortega, Marina de la Caballería, Francisca de Valenzuela, Catalina de Salazar. Some conquistadors married Native American women or had illegitimate children, European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, writing, theology, Latin, Greek, and history, Kings army officers taught military arts. An uneducated young recruit could become a leader, elected by their fellow professional soldiers
Conquistador
–
Conquistadors and their native
Tlaxcalan allies enter Tenochtitlan
Conquistador
–
The surrender of
Granada in 1492. The last
Moorish sultan of Granada,
Muhammad XII, before
Ferdinand and Isabella.
Conquistador
–
Christopher Columbus 's first landing in the Americas in 1492
Conquistador
–
Hernando De Soto and Spanish Conquistadores seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.
4.
Strait of Magellan
–
The Strait of Magellan, also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is the most important natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the Strait of Magellan was called the Dragons Tail, and there were also the Cape of Good Hope and the coast of Africa. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer and navigator in the service of Charles I of Spain, the fleet would become known as the Armada de las Molucas or Fleet of the Moluccas. The expeditionary fleet of five ships set sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on September 20,1519, before the passage of the Strait, Álvaro de Mesquita became captain of the San Antonio, and Duarte Barbosa of Victoria. Later, Serrão became captain of Concepcion, San Antonio, charged to explore Magdalen Sound, failed to return to the fleet, instead sailing back to Spain under Estêvão Gomes who imprisoned the captain Mesquita. Magellans ships entered the strait on November 1,1520, All Saints Day, magellans chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, called it the Patagonian Strait, and others Victoria Strait, commemorating the first ship entering it. Within seven years it was being called Estrecho de Magallanes in honor of Magellan, the Spanish Empire and the Captaincy General of Chile used it as the southern boundary of their territory. The first Spanish colony was established in 1584 by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and these towns suffered severe food shortages, and when the English navigator Sir Thomas Cavendish landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement. He renamed the place Port Famine, other early explorers included Francis Drake. In February 1696 the first French expedition, under the command of M. de Gennes reached the Strait of Magellan, the expedition is described by the young French explorer, engineer and hydrographer François Froger in his A Relation of a Voyage. A report on the survey was presented at two meetings of the Geographical Society of London in 1831, Chile took possession of the Strait of Magellan on May 23,1843. President Bulnes of Chile ordered this expedition after consulting the Chilean libertador Bernardo OHiggins, the first Chilean settlement was Fuerte Bulnes, situated in a forested zone on the north side of the strait. Fuerte Bulnes was later abandoned, and in 1848 the city of Punta Arenas was founded farther north where the Magellanic forests meets the Patagonian plains. In Tierra del Fuego, across the strait from Punta Arenas, Argentina effectively recognized Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan in the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina. Argentina had previously claimed all of the strait, or at least the third of it. In 1840 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company was the first to use steamships for commercial traffic in the strait, until the Panama Canal opened in 1914, the Strait of Magellan was the main route for steamships traveling from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Sailing ships, however, partly because of winds and currents in the strait, generally preferred the Drake Passage. The strait is approximately 570 kilometres long and about 2 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, the northwestern portion of the strait is connected with other sheltered waterways via the Smyth Channel
Strait of Magellan
–
A replica of the
Victoria, one of Magellan's ships, in the
Museo Nao Victoria,
Punta Arenas.
Strait of Magellan
–
Strait of Magellan, in
South America 's southern tip.
Strait of Magellan
–
Map showing the extent of the
Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Strait of Magellan area during the
last glacial period. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots.
Strait of Magellan
–
The
County of Peebles and Cavenga are used as a
breakwater for the harbour at
Punta Arenas.
5.
Terra Australis
–
Terra Australis is a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. The existence of Terra Australis was not based on any survey or direct observation and this theory of balancing land has been documented as early as the 5th century on maps by Macrobius, who uses the term Australis on his maps. Terra Australis was one of names applied to the largest landmass of what is now known as the continent of Australia. Other names for the hypothetical landmass have included Terra Australis Ignota, other names for the hypothetical continent have included Brasiliae Australis, Magallanica or Magellanica, La Australia del Espíritu Santo, and La grande isle de Java. Other names actually used for the continent were New Holland and Australia, Aristotle speculated, Now since there must be a region bearing the same relation to the southern pole as the place we live in bears to our pole. His ideas were expanded by Ptolemy, who believed that the Indian Ocean was enclosed on the south by land. Marcus Tullius Cicero used the term cingulus australis in referring to the Antipodes in Somnium Scipionis, the land in this zone was the Terra Australis. Christian thinkers did not discount the idea that there might be land beyond the southern seas, the first depiction of Terra Australis on a globe was probably on Johannes Schöners lost 1523 globe on which Oronce Fine is thought to have based his 1531 double cordiform map of the world. On this landmass he wrote recently discovered but not yet completely explored, the body of water beyond the tip of South America is called the “Mare Magellanicum, ” one of the first uses of navigator Ferdinand Magellans name in such a context. Schöner called the continent Brasiliae Australis in his 1533 tract, Opusculum geographicum, explorers of the Age of Discovery, from the late 15th century on, proved that Africa was almost entirely surrounded by sea, and that the Indian Ocean was accessible from both west and east. These discoveries reduced the area where the continent could be found, however, as new lands were discovered, they were often assumed to be parts of the hypothetical continent. Where Schöner departs most conspicuously from Waldseemüller is in his globes depiction of an Antarctic continent, the Zeytung described the Portuguese voyagers passing through a strait between the southernmost point of America, or Brazil, and a land to the south west, referred to as vndtere Presill. This supposed “strait” was in fact the Rio de la Plata, on this slender foundation he constructed his circum-Antarctic continent to which, for reasons that he does not explain, he gave an annular, or ring shape. Further, the distance is only moderate from this Region of Brazil to Malacca, on this scrap of information, united with the concept of the Antipodes inherited from Graeco-Roman antiquity, Schöner constructed his representation of the southern continent. His strait served as inspiration for Ferdinand Magellans expedition to reach the Moluccas by a westward route and it was taken up by his followers, the French cosmographer Oronce Fine in his world map of 1531, and the Flemish cartographers Gerardus Mercator in 1538 and Abraham Ortelius in 1570. Schöners concepts influenced the Dieppe school of mapmakers, notably in their representation of Jave la Grande, there was much interest in Terra Australis among Norman and Breton merchants at that time. In 1566 and 1570, Francisque and André dAlbaigne presented Gaspard de Coligny, Admiral of France, although the Admiral gave favourable consideration to these initiatives, they came to nought when Coligny was killed in 1572. Adjoining Guinea on the right are the numerous and vast Solomon Islands which lately became famous by the voyage of Alvarus Mendanius, juan Fernandez, sailing from Chile in 1576, claimed he had discovered the Southern Continent
Terra Australis
–
1570 map by
Abraham Ortelius depicting "Terra Australis Nondum Cognita" as a large continent on the bottom of the map and also an Arctic continent
Terra Australis
–
Terra Australis recenter inventa sed nondum plene cognita (“Terra Australis, recently discovered but not yet fully known”).
Johannes Schöner, globe of 1533: southern hemisphere.
Terra Australis
–
1604 copy of the 1602 Chinese map
Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, which depicts 墨瓦喇尼加 mòwǎlǎníjiā ("Magellanica") as a large continent in the South.
Terra Australis
–
Terre Australle, 1583.
6.
Tierra del Fuego
–
Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, with an area of 48,100 km2. Tierra del Fuego is divided between Chile and Argentina, with the controlling the eastern half of the main island. The southernmost extent of the archipelago is at about latitude 55 S, the earliest known human settlement in Tierra del Fuego dates to around 8,000 B. C. Europeans first explored the islands during Ferdinand Magellans expedition of 1520, Tierra del Fuego, today, petroleum extraction dominates economic activity in the north of Tierra del Fuego, while tourism, manufacturing, and Antarctic logistics are important in the south. The earliest human settlement occurred around 8,000 B. C, the Yaghan were some of the earliest known humans to settle in Tierra del Fuego. Archeological sites with characteristics of their culture have found at locations such as Navarino Island. The name Tierra del Fuego derives from the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, sailing for the Spanish Crown and he believed he was seeing the many fires of the Yaghan, which were visible from the sea, and that the Indians were waiting in the forests to ambush his armada. In 1525 Francisco de Hoces was the first to speculate that Tierra del Fuego was one or more islands rather than part of what was then called Terra Australis, francis Drake in 1578 and a Dutch VOC expedition in 1616 learned more about the geography. The latter expedition named Cape Horn, on his first voyage with the HMS Beagle in 1830, Robert FitzRoy picked up four native Fuegians, including Jemmy Button and brought them to England. The surviving three were taken to London to meet the King and Queen and were, for a time and they returned to Tierra del Fuego in the Beagle with FitzRoy and Charles Darwin, who made extensive notes about his visit to the islands. During the second half of the 19th century, the archipelago began to come under Chilean, both countries sought to claim the whole archipelago based on de jure Spanish colonial titles. Salesian Catholic missions were established in Río Grande and Dawson Island, anglican missions were established by British colonists at Keppel Island in the Falklands in 1855 and in 1870 at Ushuaia on the main island, which continued to operate through the 19th century. Thomas Bridges learned the language and compiled a 30, 000-word Yaghan grammar and it was published in the 20th century and considered an important ethnological work. An 1879 Chilean expedition led by Ramón Serrano Montaner reported large amounts of gold in the streams. This prompted massive immigration to the island between 1883 and 1909. Numerous Argentines, Chileans and Croatians settled in the main island, julius Popper, a Romanian explorer, was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the region. Granted rights by the Argentine government to exploit any gold deposits he found in Tierra del Fuego, despite the missionaries efforts, many natives died
Tierra del Fuego
–
Tierra del Fuego archipelago in the bottom half of the image
Tierra del Fuego
–
Selknam men hunting
Tierra del Fuego
–
View of
Puerto Williams
Tierra del Fuego
–
The city of
Ushuaia
7.
Inter caetera
–
It remains unclear to the present whether the pope was issuing a donation of sovereignty or a feudal infeodation or investiture. Differing interpretations have been argued since the bull was issued, with some arguing that it was meant to transform the possession and occupation of land into lawful sovereignty. Others, including the Spanish crown and the conquistadors, interpreted it in the widest possible sense, the Inter caetera bull and others similar to it, particularly Dudum siquidem, made up the Bulls of Donation. Before Christopher Columbus received support for his voyage from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain, upon Columbuss return from his first voyage to the Americas, his first landing was made in the Portuguese Azores, a subsequent storm drove his ship to Lisbon on 4 March 1493. Hearing of Columbuss discoveries, the Portuguese king informed him that he believed the voyage to be in violation of the 1479 Treaty of Alcáçovas. The treaty had been ratified with the 1481 papal bull Aeterni regis, which confirmed previous bulls of 1452,1455 and it was the Kings understanding that the terms of the treaty acknowledged Portuguese claims to all territory south of the Canaries. Columbuss arrival in supposedly Asiatic lands in the western Atlantic Ocean in 1492 threatened the unstable relations between Portugal and Spain. With word that King John was preparing a fleet to sail to the west, Spanish and Portuguese delegates met and debated from April to November 1493, without reaching an agreement. Columbus was still in Lisbon when he sent a report of his success to the Spanish monarchs, on 11 April, the Spanish ambassador conveyed the news to Pope Alexander VI, a Spaniard native of Valencia, and urged him to issue a new bull favorable to Spain. They were at Barcelona, in touch with Rome. The camera apostolica became almost an extension of the Spanish Court, the Pope issued edicts dated 3 and 4 May 1493. The third superseded the first two, a final edict, Dudum siquidem of 26 September 1493, supplemented the Inter caetera. The first bull, Inter Caetera, dated 3 May, recognized Spains claim to any discovered lands not already held by a Christian prince, both parties found this too vague. The third bull, also entitled Inter Caetera, dated 4 May, one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the islands commonly known as the Azores and Cape Verde. Diffie notes that it has suggested that this change may have been prompted by the Portuguese ambassador. The Inter caetera and the following Treaty of Tordesillas defined and delineated a zone of Spanish rights exclusive of Portugal, in relation to other states the agreement was legally ineffective. Spains attempts to persuade other European powers on the validity of the Inter caetera were never successful. e. The said line to be distant one hundred leagues towards the west and south from any of the commonly known as the Azores
Inter caetera
–
The
Cantino planisphere of 1502 shows the line of the Treaty of Tordesillas.
Inter caetera
–
The meridian to the right was defined by Inter caetera, the one to the left by the
Treaty of Tordesillas. Modern boundaries and cities are shown for purposes of illustration.
8.
Treaty of Tordesillas
–
This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage, named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia. The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Castile, the treaty was signed by Spain,2 July 1494 and by Portugal,5 September 1494. Originals of both treaties are kept at the Archivo General de Indias in Spain and at the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Portugal. This treaty would be observed fairly well by Spain and Portugal, despite considerable ignorance as to the geography of the New World, however and those countries generally ignored the treaty, particularly those that became Protestant after the Protestant Reformation. The Treaty of Tordesillas was intended to solve the dispute that had been created following the return of Christopher Columbus and his crew, on his way back to Spain he first reached Lisbon, in Portugal. There he asked for another meeting with King John II to show him the newly discovered lands, also, the Portuguese King stated that he was already making arrangements for a fleet to depart shortly and take possession of the new lands. After reading the letter the Catholic Monarchs knew they did not have any power in the Atlantic to match the Portuguese. The bull did not mention Portugal or its lands, so Portugal could not claim newly discovered lands even if they were east of the line. The Portuguese King John II was not pleased with that arrangement, feeling that it gave him far too little land—it prevented him from possessing India, by 1493 Portuguese explorers had reached the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese were unlikely to go to war over the islands encountered by Columbus, the treaty effectively countered the bulls of Alexander VI but was subsequently sanctioned by Pope Julius II by means of the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis of 24 January 1506. Even though the treaty was negotiated without consulting the Pope, a few sources call the line the Papal Line of Demarcation. Very little of the divided area had actually been seen by Europeans. Castile gained lands including most of the Americas, which in 1494 had little proven wealth, the easternmost part of current Brazil was granted to Portugal when in 1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral landed there while he was en route to India. Some historians contend that the Portuguese already knew of the South American bulge that makes up most of Brazil before this time, the line was not strictly enforced—the Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian. However, the Catholic Monarchs attempted to stop the Portuguese advance in Asia, by claiming the meridian line ran around the world, Portugal pushed back, seeking another papal pronouncement that limited the line of demarcation to the Atlantic. This was given by Pope Leo X, who was friendly toward Portugal and its discoveries, for a period between 1580 and 1640, the treaty was rendered meaningless, as the Spanish King was also King of Portugal. It was superseded by the 1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it occupied in South America, however, the latter treaty was immediately repudiated by the Catholic Monarch. The First Treaty of San Ildefonso settled the problem, with Spain acquiring territories east of the Uruguay River, the Treaty of Tordesillas only specified the line of demarcation in leagues from the Cape Verde Islands
Treaty of Tordesillas
–
Front page of the Portuguese-owned treaty
Treaty of Tordesillas
–
Early Tordesillas lines in South America (1495–1545)
Treaty of Tordesillas
–
Dutch map of the Moluccas (north is at right)
9.
International law
–
International law is the set of rules generally regarded and accepted as binding in relations between states and between nations. It serves as a framework for the practice of stable and organized international relations, International law differs from state-based legal systems in that it is primarily applicable to countries rather than to private citizens. National law may become law when treaties delegate national jurisdiction to supranational tribunals such as the European Court of Human Rights or the International Criminal Court. Treaties such as the Geneva Conventions may require national law to conform to respective parts, much of international law is consent-based governance. This means that a member is not obliged to abide by this type of international law. This is an issue of state sovereignty, however, other aspects of international law are not consent-based but still are obligatory upon state and non-state actors such as customary international law and peremptory norms. The term international law can refer to three distinct legal disciplines, Public international law, which governs the relationship between states and international entities. It includes these legal fields, treaty law, law of sea, international law, the laws of war or international humanitarian law, international human rights law. Private international law, or conflict of laws, which addresses the questions of jurisdiction may hear a case. The two traditional branches of law are, jus gentium – law of nations jus inter gentes – agreements between nations. Several legal systems developed in Europe, including the systems of continental European states and English common law, based on decisions by judges. Some doubt the effectiveness of law, as they see the implementation of international law as a policy option among others to tackle global dilemmas. They say that international law must be evaluated with other, possibly more effective, International law is sourced from decision makers and researchers looking to verify the substantive legal rule governing a legal dispute or academic discourse. The sources of law applied by the community of nations to find the content of international law are listed under Article 38. Many scholars agree that the fact that the sources are arranged sequentially in the Article 38 of the ICJ Statute suggests a hierarchy of sources. The sources have influenced by a range of political and legal theories. During the 20th century, it was recognized by legal positivists that a state could limit its authority to act by consenting to an agreement according to the principle pacta sunt servanda. Public international law concerns the treaty relationships between the nations and persons which are considered the subjects of international law, evidence of consensus or state practice can sometimes be derived from intergovernmental resolutions or academic and expert legal opinions
International law
–
Created in 1945, the
United Nations is responsible for much of the current framework of international law.
International law
–
The
First Geneva Convention (1864) is one of the earliest formulations of international law.
International law
–
The
Italian thinker
Sir Alberico Gentili is acknowledged to be the founder of the science of international law.
10.
Leopold Amery
–
Leopold Amery was born in Gorakhpur, India, to an English father and a Hungarian Jewish mother. His father was Charles Frederick Amery, of Lustleigh, Devon and his mother Elisabeth Johanna Saphir, who was the sister of the orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner, had come to India from England, where her parents had settled and converted to Protestantism. In 1877, his mother moved back to England from India, in 1887, Amery went to Harrow School, where he was a contemporary of Winston Churchill. Amery represented Harrow at gymnastics and held the top position in examinations for a number of years, he won prizes. After Harrow, he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he performed well and he gained a First in classical moderations in 1894, in literae humaniores in 1896 and was proxime accessit to the Craven scholar in 1894 and Ouseley scholar in Turkish in 1896. He also won a half-blue in cross-country running and he was elected a fellow of All Souls College. Undoubtedly intelligent, he could speak Hindi at 3, Amery was born in India and he could converse in French, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Serbian and Hungarian. During the Second Boer War Amery was a correspondent for The Times, in 1901, in his articles on the conduct of the war, he attacked the British commander, Sir Redvers Henry Buller, which contributed to Bullers sacking. Amery was the correspondent to visit Boer forces and was nearly captured with Churchill. Amery later edited and largely wrote The Times History of the South African War, the Boer War had exposed deficiencies in the British Army and in 1903, Amery wrote The Problem of the Army and advocated its reorganisation. In The Times he penned articles attacking free trade using the pseudonym Tariff Reformer and in 1906 and he was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers, set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Amery turned down the chance to be editor of The Observer in 1908 and he narrowly failed to win the Wolverhampton East by-election held in 1908 by eight votes. In the Birmingham South by-election of 1911 he was unopposed as a Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament, according to AJP Taylor, Amery was a rare Conservative to promote only protectionism as merely the beginning of a planned economy. During World War I, Amerys knowledge of Hungarian led to his employment as an Intelligence Officer in the Balkans campaign, later, as a parliamentary under-secretary in Lloyd Georges national government, he helped draft the Balfour Declaration,1917. He also encouraged Zeev Jabotinsky in the formation of the Jewish Legion for the British Army in Palestine. Amery was opposed to the constitution of the League of Nations because he believed that the world was not equal and so the League and he instead believed that the world was tending towards larger and larger states that made up a balanced world of inherently stable units. He contrasted that idea with what he called US President Woodrow Wilsons facile slogan of self-determination and he was First Lord of the Admiralty under Andrew Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin. Amery defended the financing of the Singapore Naval Base against both Liberal and Labour attacks, Amery was Colonial Secretary in Baldwins government from 1924 to 1929
Leopold Amery
–
The Right Honourable Leo Amery
CH
Leopold Amery
–
Lord President of the Council
Leopold Amery
–
Prime Minister Leader of the House of Commons
11.
Falkland Islands
–
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 miles east of South Americas southern Patagonian coast, the archipelago, with an area of 4,700 square miles, comprises East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, the islands capital is Stanley on East Falkland. Controversy exists over the Falklands discovery and subsequent colonisation by Europeans, at various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, although Argentina maintains its claim to the islands, in April 1982, Argentine forces temporarily occupied the islands. British administration was restored two months later at the end of the Falklands War, most Falklanders favour the archipelago remaining a UK overseas territory, but its sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The population primarily consists of native-born Falkland Islanders, the majority of British descent, other ethnicities include French, Gibraltarian and Scandinavian. Immigration from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, under the British Nationality Act 1983, Falkland Islanders are British citizens. The islands lie on the boundary of the oceanic and tundra climate zones. They are home to bird populations, although many no longer breed on the main islands because of competition from introduced species. Major economic activities include fishing, tourism and sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports, oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina. The Falkland Islands take their name from the Falkland Sound, a strait separating the two main islands. The name Falkland was applied to the channel by John Strong, Strong named the strait in honour of Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, the Treasurer of the Navy who sponsored their journey. The name Falklands was not applied to the islands until 1765, the term Falklands is a standard abbreviation used to refer to the islands. The Spanish name for the archipelago, Islas Malvinas, derives from the French Îles Malouines — the name given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1764, Bougainville, who founded the islands first settlement, named the area after the port of Saint-Malo. The port, located in the Brittany region of western France, was in turn named after St. Malo, in Spanish, the territory was designated as Islas Malvinas. The nomenclature used by the United Nations for statistical processing purposes is Falkland Islands, although Fuegians from Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited at the time of their discovery by Europeans. Claims of discovery date back to the 16th century, but no consensus exists on whether these early explorers discovered the Falklands or other islands in the South Atlantic, whether or not the settlements were aware of each others existence is debated by historians
Falkland Islands
–
Naval confrontation during the 1914
Battle of the Falkland Islands; painting by
William Lionel Wyllie
Falkland Islands
–
Flag
Falkland Islands
–
Government House in
Stanley is the Governor's
official residence.
Falkland Islands
–
Colony of
southern rockhopper penguins on
Saunders Island
12.
South Atlantic
–
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the worlds oceans with a total area of about 106,460,000 square kilometres. It covers approximately 20 percent of the Earths surface and about 29 percent of its surface area. It separates the Old World from the New World, the Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Eurasia and Africa to the east, and the Americas to the west. The Equatorial Counter Current subdivides it into the North Atlantic Ocean, in contrast, the term Atlantic originally referred specifically to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and the sea off the Strait of Gibraltar and the North African coast. The Greek word thalassa has been reused by scientists for the huge Panthalassa ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea hundreds of years ago. The term Aethiopian Ocean, derived from Ancient Ethiopia, was applied to the Southern Atlantic as late as the mid-19th century, many Irish or British people refer to the United States and Canada as across the pond, and vice versa. The Black Atlantic refers to the role of ocean in shaping black peoples history. Irish migration to the US is meant when the term The Green Atlantic is used, the term Red Atlantic has been used in reference to the Marxian concept of an Atlantic working class, as well as to the Atlantic experience of indigenous Americans. Correspondingly, the extent and number of oceans and seas varies, the Atlantic Ocean is bounded on the west by North and South America. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Denmark Strait, Greenland Sea, Norwegian Sea, to the east, the boundaries of the ocean proper are Europe, the Strait of Gibraltar and Africa. In the southeast, the Atlantic merges into the Indian Ocean, the 20° East meridian, running south from Cape Agulhas to Antarctica defines its border. In the 1953 definition it extends south to Antarctica, while in later maps it is bounded at the 60° parallel by the Southern Ocean, the Atlantic has irregular coasts indented by numerous bays, gulfs, and seas. Including these marginal seas the coast line of the Atlantic measures 111,866 km compared to 135,663 km for the Pacific. Including its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers an area of 106,460,000 km2 or 23. 5% of the ocean and has a volume of 310,410,900 km3 or 23. 3%. Excluding its marginal seas, the Atlantic covers 81,760,000 km2 and has a volume of 305,811,900 km3, the North Atlantic covers 41,490,000 km2 and the South Atlantic 40,270,000 km2. The average depth is 3,646 m and the maximum depth, the bathymetry of the Atlantic is dominated by a submarine mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It runs from 87°N or 300 km south of the North Pole to the subantarctic Bouvet Island at 42°S, the MAR divides the Atlantic longitudinally into two halves, in each of which a series of basins are delimited by secondary, transverse ridges. The MAR reaches above 2000 m along most of its length, the MAR is a barrier for bottom water, but at these two transform faults deep water currents can pass from one side to the other
South Atlantic
–
The Atlantic Ocean as seen from the western coast of
Portugal
South Atlantic
–
The Atlantic Ocean, not including
Arctic and
Antarctic regions
South Atlantic
–
The Atlantic Ocean as seen from
Atlantic City, New Jersey.
South Atlantic
–
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina view of the Atlantic Ocean.
13.
South Georgia Island
–
South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic that is part of the British Overseas territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 167.4 kilometres long and 1.4 to 37 km wide. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by a commercial Spanish ship named León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756
South Georgia Island
–
Central South Georgia
Cumberland Bay –
Thatcher Peninsula with
King Edward Cove (
Grytviken) –
Allardyce Range, featuring the summit of
Mount Paget. (NASA imagery)
South Georgia Island
–
Flag
South Georgia Island
–
Map by James Cook (1777, south facing upwards)
South Georgia Island
–
The church at
Grytviken
14.
South Orkneys
–
The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 kilometres north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. They have an area of about 620 square kilometres. The islands are claimed both by Britain, and by Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica, under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty claims are held in abeyance. Britain and Argentina both maintain bases on the islands, the Argentinian base, Orcadas, established 1904, is sited on Laurie Island. The 11 buildings of the Argentinian station house up to 45 people during the summer, the British Antarctic Survey base, Signy Research Station, is located on Signy Island and was established in 1947. Initially operated year-round, since 1995/6 the Signy Research Station has been only from November to April each year. Apart from personnel at the bases, there are no permanent inhabitants on the islands, the South Orkney Islands were discovered in 1821 by two sealers, the American Nathaniel Brown Palmer and the British George Powell. The Islands were originally named Powells Group, with the island named Coronation Island as it was the year of the coronation of King George IV. In 1823, James Weddell visited the Islands, gave the archipelago its present name, the South Orkney Islands are located at roughly the same latitude south as the Orkney Islands are north, although it is not known if this was a factor behind the naming of the islands. Bruce surveyed the islands, reverted some of Weddells name changes, and established a meteorological station and this base, renamed Orcadas in 1951, is still in operation today and is thus the oldest research station continuously staffed in the Antarctic. The Islands were subsequently administered as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies, in 1962, the islands became part of the newly established British Antarctic Territory. The Argentinian claim to the dates from 1925. It was originally justified by the Argentinian occupation of the Laurie Island base, the islands are situated at latitudes about 60°30 to 60°83 S and longitudes 44°25 to 46°25 W in the Southern Ocean. As a group of islands, the South Orkney Islands are at approximately 60°35′S 045°30′W, the archipelago comprises four main islands. Coronation Island is the largest, measuring about 30 miles long, Laurie Island is the easternmost of the islands. The other main islands are Powell and Signy, smaller islands in the group include Robertson Islands, the Saddle Islands, and Acuña Island. The total area of the archipelago is about 240 square miles, the Inaccessible Islands about 15 nmi to the west are considered part of the South Orkneys. The climate of the South Orkneys is generally cold, wet, summers are short and cold when the average temperatures reach about 3.5 °C and fall to about −12.8 °C in July
South Orkneys
–
Signy Island base and panorama
South Orkneys
–
Signy Island base
South Orkneys
–
A 1944 stamp of the Falkland Islands
overprinted for use in the South Orkneys.
South Orkneys
–
Average air temperature readings of 1901 to 2007;
NASA.
15.
South Shetlands
–
The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands, lying about 120 kilometres north of the Antarctic Peninsula, with a total area of 3,687 square kilometres. By the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the islands sovereignty is neither recognized nor disputed by the signatories, the islands have been claimed by the United Kingdom since 1908 and have been part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962. They are also claimed by the governments of Chile and by Argentina, several countries maintain research stations on the islands. Most of them are situated on King George Island, benefitting from the airfield of the Chilean base Eduardo Frei, there are sixteen research stations to date in different parts of the islands, with Chilean stations being the greatest in number. Research is often a shared duty of nations, with the Chilean-United States Shirreff Base being one example, the Dutchman Dirck Gerritsz in 1599, or the Spaniard Gabriel de Castilla in 1603, supposedly sailed south of the Drake Passage in the South Shetland Islands area. In 1818 Juan Pedro de Aguirre obtained permission from the Buenos Aires authorities to establish a base for sealing on some of the islands near the South Pole. Thus Livingston Island became the first land discovered south of the 60th southern latitude. Smith revisited the South Shetlands, landed on King George Island on 16 October 1819, meanwhile, the Spanish Navy ship San Telmo sank in September 1819 whilst trying to go through the Drake Passage. Parts of her wreckage were found months later by sealers on the north coast of Livingston Island. From December 1819 to January 1820, the islands were surveyed and mapped by Lieutenant Edward Bransfield on board the Williams, the discovery of the islands attracted British and American sealers. The first sealing ship to operate in the area was the brig Espirito Santo, the ship arrived at Rugged Island off Livingston Island, where its British crew landed on Christmas Day 1819, and claimed the islands for King George III. A narrative of the events was published by the master, Joseph Herring. The Espirito Santo was followed from the Falkland Islands by the American brig Hersilia, commanded by Captain James Sheffield, having circumnavigated the Antarctic continent, the Russian Antarctic expedition of Fabian von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev arrived at the South Shetlands in January 1821. The Russians surveyed the islands and named them, landing on both King George Island and Elephant Island, the name New South Britain was used briefly, but was soon changed to South Shetland Islands. The name South Shetland Islands is now established in international usage, both island groups lie at a similar distance from the South Pole and North Pole respectively, but the South Shetlands are much colder. Seal hunting and whaling was conducted on the islands during the 19th, from 1908 the islands were governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependency, but they have only been occupied since the establishment of a scientific research station in 1944. The archipelago, together with the nearby Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia, is a popular tourist destination during the austral summer. As a group of islands, the South Shetland Islands are located at 62°0′S 58°0′W and they are within the region 61° 00–63°37 South, 53° 83–62°83 West
South Shetlands
–
South Shetland Islands and
Antarctic Peninsula. Astronaut photo, 2011.
South Shetlands
–
Map of the South Shetland Islands.
South Shetlands
–
Williams Point, discovered on 19 February 1819
South Shetlands
–
Norwegian
whaling boat,
Half Moon Island
16.
South Sandwich Islands
–
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia, South Georgia is 165 kilometres long and 1 to 35 km wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres southeast of South Georgia, the total land area of the territory is 3,903 square kilometres. There is no permanent population on the islands, the United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was formed in 1985, Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938. Argentina maintained a station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by the commercial Spanish ship León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756. At one time it was confused with Pepys Island, which was discovered by Dampier and Cowley in 1683, captain James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1775 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under the 1843 British Letters Patent. In 1882–1883, a German expedition for the First International Polar Year was stationed at Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island, the scientists of this group observed the transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century, the waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as Earl Spencer, in late 1801. South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century, a Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at Grytviken in 1904. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken, the station remained in operation until 1965. Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands, one was called a charnel house boiling wholesale in vaseline by an early 20th-century visitor. With the end of the industry, the stations were abandoned. Apart from a few preserved buildings such as the museum and church at Grytviken, in 1908, the United Kingdom issued further Letters Patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic. The Letters Patent covered South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, the South Sandwich Islands, in 1909, an administrative centre and residence were established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken
South Sandwich Islands
–
Central South Georgia
Cumberland Bay –
Thatcher Peninsula with
King Edward Cove (
Grytviken) –
Allardyce Range, featuring the summit of
Mount Paget. (NASA imagery)
South Sandwich Islands
–
Flag
South Sandwich Islands
–
Map by James Cook (1777, south facing upwards)
South Sandwich Islands
–
The church at
Grytviken
17.
Graham Land
–
Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. The line dividing them is roughly 69 degrees south, Graham Land is named after Sir James R. G. Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of John Biscoes exploration of the west side of Graham Land in 1832. It is claimed by Argentina, Britain and Chile, Graham Land is the closest part of Antarctica to South America. Until the discoveries of the British Graham Land Expedition of 1934–1937, mount Brading,4 nautical miles east of the northeast corner of Larsen Inlet. Argentina calls the area Tierra de San Martín and also calls the northern peninsula Península Trinidad or Tierra de la Trinidad, similarly, Chile calls the entire Antarctic Peninsula Tierra de OHiggins. British Graham Land Expedition U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Graham Land Media related to Graham Land at Wikimedia Commons
Graham Land
–
A 1944 stamp of the Falkland Islands
overprinted for use in Graham Land.
Graham Land
–
Northern Graham Land and the surrounding islands. 1
Antarctic Peninsula, 2
James Ross Island, 3
D'Urville Island, 4
Joinville Island, 5
Dundee Island, 6
Snow Hill Island, 7
Vega Island, 8
Seymour Island, 9
Andersson Island, 10
Paulet Island, 11
Lockyer Island, 12
Eagle Island, 13
Jonassen Island, 14
Bransfield Island, 15
Astrolabe Island, 16
Tower Island
18.
Stanley, Falkland Islands
–
Stanley is the capital of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2012 census, the town had a population of 2,121, Stanley is represented by five members of the Legislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands, currently Jan Cheek, Barry Elsby, Michael Poole, Gavin Short and Mike Summers. Stanley is the shopping centre on the islands and the hub of East Falklands road network. The Falkland Islands Company owns several shops and a hotel, Stanley has four pubs, eleven hotels and guesthouses, three restaurants, a fish and chip shop and the main tourist office. There are three churches, including the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, a bomb disposal unit in the town is a legacy of the Falklands War. The town hall serves as a post office, philatelic bureau, law court, the police station also contains the islands only prison, with a capacity of thirteen in the cells. The community centre includes a pool, a sports centre, library. A grass football pitch is located by the community centre and hosts regular games, Stanley Racecourse, located on the west side of Stanley, holds a two-day horse racing meeting every year on 26 and 27 December. The Christmas races have been here for over one hundred years. Stanley Golf Course has an 18-hole course and a club house and it is also located to the west of Stanley. King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is the main hospital, with doctors practice and surgery, radiology department, dental surgery. Several bus and taxi companies operate out of Stanley, Stanley is also home to the Falkland Islands Radio Station, the Stanley office of the British Antarctic Survey, and the office of the weekly Penguin News newspaper. A nursery and garden centre is here, in whose greenhouses some of the islands vegetables are grown. The original capital of the islands was at Port Louis to the north of the present site of Stanley, captains Francis Crozier and James Clark Ross were recruited by Governor Richard Moody in his quest to find a new capital for The Falklands. Both Crozier and Ross were among the Royal Navys most distinguished seafarers and they spent 5 months in the islands with their ships Terror and Erebus. Governor Moody however, decided to move the capital to Port Jackson, Stanley Harbour was considered to have a deeper anchorage for visiting ships. Work on the settlement began in 1843 and it became the capital in July 1845 and it was named after Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time
Stanley, Falkland Islands
–
Aerial view of Stanley, Falkland Islands
Stanley, Falkland Islands
–
The Port Stanley post office, with British red post and telephone boxes.
Stanley, Falkland Islands
–
The
cathedral and whalebone arch
Stanley, Falkland Islands
–
The Falklands War Memorial, Stanley
19.
Governor of the Falkland Islands
–
The role and powers of the Governor are set out in Chapter II of the Falkland Islands Constitution. The Governor in office resides at Government House, which serves as the official residence, the history of the leadership on the islands is closely related to the history of the Falkland Islands themselves. The first settlement on the islands was at Port St. Louis and was led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the first leader of a British settlement was John McBride, Captain of HMS Jason, in 1766 at Port Egmont. The French settlement of Port St. Louis was transferred to the Spanish in 1767 and renamed Puerto Soledad, the British chose to withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1776 due to the pressure of the American War of Independence. The Spanish settlement ended in 1811 as a result of the Peninsular war, in 1829 Luis Vernet was proclaimed Military and Civil Commander of Puerto Luis by the United Provinces of South America, which elicited a protest from the British Government. In 1831, Vernet seized three US vessels and imprisoned their crews for contravening his regulations on sealing, prompting a raid by the USS Lexington, in response, the United Kingdom sent a task force to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in 1833. The Falklands were then settled, mainly by people from Wales, the first Governor of the Falklands was Richard Clement Moody, who was Governor from 1841 to 1848. Moody selected the site for and founded Stanley and Moody Brook is named after him, there was then a British government on the islands until 1982 when the Falklands were invaded and occupied by Argentina for 74 days. Following the Argentine surrender at the end of the Falklands War, in 2009 a new constitution was established which further defined the role and powers of the Governor. The Governor is appointed by the Queen on the advice of her Secretary of State for Foreign, the appointment is actually made by a Royal Commission under the royal sign-manual. Under the Constitution, executive authority of the Falkland Islands is vested in the Queen, in addition, the Attorney General and the Commander of the British Forces in the South Atlantic attend council meetings by invitation, although they cannot vote in the Council meetings. The Governor also acts as the Presiding Officer of the Executive Council, the Governor also appoints the members and can remove members of the Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy after consulting Legislative Assembly. On the advice of the Advisory Committee, the Governor may grant pardons to convicted of any offence. In most cases, the Governor must consult with the Executive Council, in all these instances the members of the Executive Council can appeal to the Secretary of State. Under section 23 of the constitution, before entering upon the functions of his or her office, the Governor must take the oath of allegiance, archived from the original on 2012-09-25. The Falkland Islands Constitution Order 2008, archived from the original on November 23,2009
Governor of the Falkland Islands
–
Standard of the Governor of The Falkland Islands
20.
Whaling
–
Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products like meat, oil and blubber. Its earliest forms date to at least circa 3000 BC, various coastal communities have long histories of subsistence whaling and harvesting beached whales. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually In 1986, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries, notably Japan, Norway, and Iceland, wish to lift the ban on certain whale stocks for hunting, anti-whaling countries and environmental groups oppose lifting the ban. Whaling began in times and was initially confined to coastal waters. Early whaling affected the development of disparate cultures – such as Norway. The Basques were the first to catch whales commercially, and dominated the trade for five centuries, spreading to the far corners of the North Atlantic and even reaching the South Atlantic. Although prehistoric hunting and gathering is considered to have had little ecological impact. Whale oil is used today and modern commercial whaling is primarily done for food. The primary species hunted are the common minke whale and Antarctic minke whale, recent scientific surveys estimate a population of 103,000 in the northeast Atlantic. International cooperation on whaling began in 1931 and culminated in the signing of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in 1946. Its aim is to, provide for the conservation of whale stocks. The International Whaling Commission was set up under the ICRW to decide hunting quotas, non-member countries are not bound by its regulations and conduct their own management programs. The IWC voted on July 23,1982, to establish a moratorium on commercial whaling beginning in the 1985–86 season. Since 1992, the IWCs Scientific Committee has requested that it be allowed to give proposals for some whale stocks. At the 2010 meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco, Japan, Norway and Iceland have urged the organisation to lift the ban. A coalition of anti-whaling nations has offered a plan that would allow these countries to continue whaling. Their plan would also completely ban whaling in the Southern Ocean, opponents of the compromise plan want to see an end to all commercial whaling, but are willing to allow subsistence-level catches by indigenous peoples
Whaling
–
Eighteenth-century engraving showing Dutch whalers hunting
bowhead whales in the
Arctic
Whaling
–
One of the oldest known whaling paintings, by
Bonaventura Peeters, at The
Mariners' Museum
Whaling
–
A modern whaling vessel
Whaling
–
Young butchered
beluga on the beach of the
inuit village of
Salluit,
Quebec.
21.
South Pole
–
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth, situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of the United States Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, which was established in 1956 and has been permanently staffed since that year. The Geographic South Pole should not be confused with the South Magnetic Pole, the South Pole is at the center of the Southern Hemisphere. For most purposes, the Geographic South Pole is defined as the point of the two points where the Earths axis of rotation intersects its surface. However, the Earths axis of rotation is actually subject to very small wobbles, the geographic coordinates of the South Pole are usually given simply as 90°S, since its longitude is geometrically undefined and irrelevant. When a longitude is desired, it may be given as 0°, at the South Pole, all directions face north. For this reason, directions at the Pole are given relative to grid north, along tight latitude circles, clockwise is east, and counterclockwise is west, opposite to the North Pole. The Geographic South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica. It sits atop a featureless, barren, windswept and icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 metres above sea level, and is located about 1,300 km from the nearest open sea at Bay of Whales. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 metres thick at the Pole, the polar ice sheet is moving at a rate of roughly 10 metres per year in a direction between 37° and 40° west of grid north, down towards the Weddell Sea. Therefore, the position of the station and other artificial features relative to the geographic pole gradually shift over time. The Geographic South Pole is marked by a stake in the ice alongside a small sign, these are repositioned each year in a ceremony on New Years Day to compensate for the movement of the ice. The sign records the respective dates that Roald Amundsen and Robert F. Scott reached the Pole, followed by a quotation from each man. A new marker stake is designed and fabricated each year by staff at the site, the Ceremonial South Pole is an area set aside for photo opportunities at the South Pole Station. It is located around 180 metres from the Geographic South Pole, Amundsens Tent, The tent was erected by the Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen on its arrival on 14 December 1911. It is currently buried beneath the snow and ice in the vicinity of the Pole and it has been designated a Historic Site or Monument, following a proposal by Norway to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. In 1820, several expeditions claimed to have been the first to have sighted Antarctica, with the very first being the Russian expedition led by Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. The first landing was probably just over a year later when American Captain John Davis, the basic geography of the Antarctic coastline was not understood until the mid-to-late 19th century
South Pole
–
The Geographic South Pole. (The flag used on the flagpole is interchangeable.)
South Pole
–
1. South Geographic Pole 2.
South Magnetic Pole (2007) 3.
South Geomagnetic Pole (2005) 4.
South Pole of Inaccessibility
South Pole
–
The Ceremonial South Pole in 1998. (Background structures shown have since been replaced or altered.)
South Pole
–
Argentine soldiers saluting the flag after erecting the pole in 1965
22.
British Empire
–
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
British Empire
–
A replica of The Matthew,
John Cabot 's ship used for his second voyage to the
New World.
British Empire
–
Flag
British Empire
–
African slaves working in 17th-century
Virginia, by an unknown artist, 1670.
British Empire
–
Fort St. George was founded at
Madras in 1639.
23.
Governor-general
–
Governor-General or governor general, in modern usage, is the title of an office-holder appointed to represent the monarch of a sovereign state in the governing of an independent realm. Governors-General have also previously been appointed in respect of major colonial states or other territories held by either a monarchy or republic, in modern usage, the term governor-general originated in those British colonies which became self-governing within the British Empire. In these cases, the Crowns representative in the federated Dominion was given the title of governor general. Another non-federal state, Newfoundland, was a Dominion for 16 years with the Kings representative retaining the title of governor throughout this time, since 2016, the title governor-general has been given to all representatives of the sovereign in independent Commonwealth realms. In these countries the governor-general acts as the representative, performing the ceremonial and constitutional functions of a head of state. The only other nation which uses the designation is Iran. In Iran, the authority is headed by a governor general. As such they held the prerogative powers of the monarch. The monarch or imperial government could overrule any governor-general, though this could often be cumbersome, the governors-general are entitled to wear a unique uniform, which are not generally worn today. If of the rank of general, equivalent or above. The report resulting from the 1926 Imperial Conference stated, in other words, the political reality of a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire with a governor-general answerable to the sovereign became clear. British interference in the Dominion was not acceptable and independent country status was clearly displayed, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were clearly not controlled by the United Kingdom. The governor-general, however, is appointed by the monarch. Executive authority is vested in the monarch, though much of it can be exercisable only by the governor-general on behalf of the sovereign of the independent realm. Except in rare cases, the only acts in accordance with constitutional convention and upon the advice of the national prime minister. The governor-general is still the representative of the sovereign and performs the same duties as they carried out historically. In some realms, the monarch could in principle overrule a governor-general, in Australia the present Queen is generally assumed to be head of state, since the governor-general and the state governors are defined as her representatives. However, since the governor-general performs almost all national regal functions, to a lesser extent, uncertainty has been expressed in Canada as to which officeholder—the monarch, the governor general, or both—can be considered the head of state
Governor-general
–
Lord Tweedsmuir was
Governor General of Canada from 1935 to 1940. The uniform shown here was the unique ceremonial dress for Governors General of Canada.
Governor-general
–
Tim Healy First
Governor-General of the Irish Free State
24.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
Australia
–
Aboriginal rock art in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Australia
Australia
–
Portrait of Captain
James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770
Australia
–
Tasmania's
Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed
Australian Convict Sites.
25.
New Zealand
–
New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
New Zealand
–
The Waitangi sheet from the
Treaty of Waitangi
New Zealand
–
Flag
New Zealand
–
Painting of
Mount Earnslaw by John Turnbull Thomson, oil on canvas, 1888
New Zealand
–
John Key,
Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008
26.
Ross Dependency
–
The Ross Dependency is a region of Antarctica defined by a sector originating at the South Pole, passing along longitudes 160° east to 150° west, and terminating at latitude 60° south. It is claimed by New Zealand, the Dependency takes its name from Sir James Clark Ross, who discovered the Ross Sea, and includes part of Victoria Land, and most of the Ross Ice Shelf. Ross Island, Balleny Islands and the small Scott Island also form part of the Dependency, following his discovery of Victoria Land in 1841, James Clark Ross took possession of this territory, along with the surrounding sea, on behalf of Britain. The Order in Council then went on to appoint the Governor-General and this Order in Council was published in the New Zealand Gazette on 16 August 1923, and on 14 November 1923, the Governor-General issued regulations extending New Zealand law to the Ross Dependency. Sir Francis stated that, The boundaries of New Zealand are not extended to include the Ross sea, but his excellency was required in all matters of legislation and regulation for the Ross Territory to comply with instructions from the colonial secretary. Technically, the claim is that of the Queen and she can exercise it through any of her Governments, at an Imperial conference in 1930, it was agreed that the Governors-General of the Dominions would be appointed by the King on the advice of the Dominion in question. And following the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931, then in the year 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed by twelve nations which included both the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The actual amount of land mass claimed is not large, most of the area defined as being in the Ross Dependency is either in the Ross Sea or the Antarctic Ocean. It is the second-smallest of the claims which were prior to the implementation of the Antarctic Treaty System. Officers of the Government of the Ross Dependency are annually appointed to run the Dependency, the New Zealand Geographic Board has named many features within the Dependency. The Dependency has a runway at Williams Field, and depending on conditions and time of year. This guarantees accessibility by wheeled and ski equipped aircraft year round, from 1969 to 1995 New Zealand operated a summer-only base called Vanda Station in the Dry Valley area of the dependency. Greenpeace maintained its own Antarctic station in the Ross Dependency called World Park Base from 1987 to 1992, as this base was a non-governmental entity, the official policy of the signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty was not to give any support or assistance to it. The expedition was criticised by scientists in the Antarctic because the rescue, timeline of New Zealands links with Antarctica New Zealand, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. south-pole. com/homepage
Ross Dependency
–
Aerial photo of
Mount Erebus on
Ross Island.
Ross Dependency
–
Flag
27.
Commander-in Chief
–
A commander-in-chief is the person or body that exercises supreme operational command and control of a nations military forces or significant elements of those forces. In the latter case, the element is those forces within a particular region. Often, a given countrys commander-in-chief need not be or have been an officer or even a veteran. This follows the principle of civilian control of the military, the role of commander-in-chief derives from the Latin, imperator. Imperatores of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire possessed imperium powers, in its modern use, the term first applied to King Charles I of England in 1639. It continued to be used during the English Civil War, a nations head of state usually holds the nominal position of commander-in-chief, even if effective executive power is held by a separate head of government. Governors-general and colonial governors are also often appointed commander-in-chief of the forces within their territory. A commander-in-chief is sometimes referred to as commander, which is sometimes used as a specific term. The term is used for military officers who hold such power and authority, not always through dictatorship. The term is used for officers who hold authority over an individual military branch. According to the Constitution of Albania, The President of the Republic of Albania is the Commander-in-chief of Albanian Armed Forces, the incumbent Commander-in-chief is President Bujar Nishani. The Ministry of Defense is the government department that assists and serves the President in the management of the armed forces, the Minister for Defence and several subordinate ministers exercise this control through the Australian Defence Organisation. The Constitution states, in Article 80, that the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Armed Forces. e, the cabinet under the chairmanship of the Federal Chancellor, as defined in Article 69. The commander-in-chief is the president, although executive power and responsibility for national defense resides with the prime minister and he retired on 7 April 1972 and relinquished all authority and duties to the President of Bangladesh. Article 142 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 states that the Brazilian Armed Forces is under the command of the President of the Republic. The Sultan of Brunei is the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, the powers of command-in-chief over the Canadian Armed Forces are vested in the Canadian monarch, and are delegated to the Governor General of Canada, who also uses the title Commander-in-Chief. In this capacity, the general is entitled to the uniform of a general/flag officer, with the crest of the office. According to the National Defence Act, the Minister of National Defence is responsible and accountable to parliament for all related to national defence
Commander-in Chief
–
President Cristina Fernández of
Argentina, as the Commander-in-chief of the
Argentine Armed Forces.
Commander-in Chief
–
Governor General The Lord Gowrie (right) signing the
declaration of war against
Japan with
Prime Minister John Curtin (left) looking on. (8 December 1941)
Commander-in Chief
–
Former
President Lula, with his wife
Marisa Letícia, reviews troops during
Independence Day military parade in
Brasília, Brazil.
Commander-in Chief
28.
United Kingdom
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
United Kingdom
–
Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
–
Flag
United Kingdom
–
The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
–
The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
29.
Meridian (geography)
–
A meridian is the half of an imaginary great circle on the Earths surface, terminated by the North Pole and the South Pole, connecting points of equal longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude indicating how many degrees north or south of the Equator the point is, each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude. Each is also the length, being half of a great circle on the Earths surface. Most maps show the lines of longitude, the position of the prime meridian has changed a few times throughout history, mainly due to the transit observatory being built next door to the previous one. Such changes had no significant practical effect, historically, the average error in the determination of longitude was much larger than the change in position. The adoption of WGS84 as the system has moved the geodetic prime meridian 102.478 metres east of its last astronomic position. The position of the current geodetic prime meridian is not identified at all by any kind of sign or marking in Greenwich, but can be located using a GPS receiver. The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies, meaning midday, the same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a. m. and p. m. used to disambiguate hours of the day when utilizing the 12-hour clock. Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian, the angle between the magnetic and the true meridian is the magnetic declination, which is relevant for navigating with a compass. Searchable PDF prepared by the author, C. A. White, resources page of the U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Meridian
Meridian (geography)
–
The prime meridian at Greenwich, England. The meridian is actually 102.5 meters east of this point since the adoption of
WGS84.
30.
Australian Antarctic Territory
–
The Australian Antarctic Territory is a part of Antarctica. It was claimed by the United Kingdom and placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1933 and it is the largest territory of Antarctica claimed by any nation. In 1961, the Antarctic Treaty came into force, as a result, only four other states recognise Australias claim to sovereignty in Antarctica. AAT consists of all the islands and territory south of 60°S and between 45°E and 160°E, except for Adélie Land, which divides the territory into Western AAT and it is bounded by Queen Maud Land in the West and by Ross Dependency in the East. The area is estimated at 5,896,500 km2, the territory is inhabited by the staff of research stations. The Australian Antarctic Division administers the area primarily by maintaining three year-round stations, which support research projects. Australia claims an Exclusive Economic Zone from the Australian Antarctic Territory, however, the Australian proclamation of an Antarctic EEZ is contested. The effect of Article IV of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty would seem to be that an EEZ cannot be claimed in relation to territory to which that Treaty applies, whaling in Australian Antarctic territorial waters is controversial and has received international attention. Anti-whaling protest groups, in particular Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, have been active within the Australian Antarctic territorial waters. Sea Shepherd small boat crews have had encounters with Japanese ships that claim to be on research expeditions while opponents argue this is only a cover for banned commercial whaling. The Australian Whale Sanctuary, in Australian Antarctic territory, is not recognised by the government of Japan, anti-whaling legislation passed by the Australian Government applies to Australian territorial waters. Active and closed stations in the territory, from West to East, The United Kingdom first claimed Victoria Land on 9 January 1841, in 1933, a British imperial order transferred most of the territory south of 60° S and between meridians 160° E and 45° E to Australia. C2004C00416 / Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act 1933 The borders with Adélie Land were fixed definitively in 1938, in 1947, Britain transferred Heard Island and McDonald Islands to the territory. On 13 February 1954, Mawson Station was established as the first Australian station on the continent proper, Australias claim to sovereignty over the Australian Antarctic Territory is recognised by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, France and Norway. Neither Japan nor Spain recognise this claim, and Japan does not recognise the Australian claim to the Australian Antarctic territorial waters in which Japanese ships conduct whaling, during the early 1980s there was a brief debate in Australia on whether or not to allow mining on the mineral-rich continent. Several mining proposals have been discussed and have all been rejected, on the 9 August 2011, influential Australian think-tank, the Lowy Institute, published a report warning Canberra against complacency when it comes to its claim. The global treaty banning resource exploitation becomes reviewable in 2041, and these include coal seams, manganese, iron and uranium, while Antarcticas forecast oil reserves are estimated as among the largest in the world after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Lowys national security fellow Ellie Fogarty said in the paper that Australia cannot adequately patrol its claim and it also lacks an ice-breaking ship in the region
Australian Antarctic Territory
–
Davis Station
Australian Antarctic Territory
–
Flag
Australian Antarctic Territory
–
This 1959 cover commemorated the opening of the Wilkes post office.
31.
Statute of Westminster 1931
–
It thus became a statutory embodiment of the principles of equality and common allegiance to the Crown set out in the Balfour Declaration of 1926. It was a step in the development of the Dominions as separate states. The Statute of Westminsters relevance today is that it sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown. The Statute of Westminster gave effect to certain political resolutions passed by the Imperial Conferences of 1926 and 1930, in particular, the Balfour Declaration of 1926. Both Canada and the Irish Free State pushed for the ability to amend the laws themselves. After the Statute was passed, the British parliament could no longer make laws for the Dominions, other than with the request, before then, the Dominions had legally been self-governing colonies of the United Kingdom. However, the Statute had the effect of making them sovereign nations once they adopted it, Ireland and South Africa are now republics and Newfoundland is part of Canada. Adopting section 4 clarified that Britain could legislate with effect on Australia as a whole only with Australias request, however, this capacity was never used. That authority remained in effect until the Constitution Act,1982, which transferred it to Canada and these disagreements were resolved only in time for the passage of the Canada Act 1982, thus completing the patriation of the Canadian constitution to Canada. At that time, the Canadian parliament also repealed sections 4 and 7 of the Statute of Westminster, the Statute of Westminster remains a part of the constitution of Canada by virtue of section 52 of the Constitution Act,1982. As a consequence of the adoption, the Parliament of Canada gained the ability to abolish appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Criminal appeals were abolished in 1933, while civil appeals continued until 1949, the passage of the Statute of Westminster meant that changes in British legislation governing the succession to the throne no longer automatically applied to Canada. The Free States constitution gave the Oireachtas sole and exclusive power of making laws, originally, the UK government had wanted to exclude from the Statute of Westminster the legislation underpinning the 1921 treaty, from which the Free States constitution had emerged. President W. T. Cosgrave objected, although he promised the Executive Council would not amend the legislation unilaterally, the other Dominions backed Cosgrave and, when an amendment to similar effect was proposed at Westminster by John Gretton, parliament duly voted it down. He went on to present the Statute as largely the fruit of the Free States efforts to secure for the other Dominions the same benefits it already enjoyed under the treaty. After Éamon de Valera led Fianna Fáil to victory in the Free State election of 1932, he began removing the elements of the constitution. De Valera initially considered invoking the Statute of Westminster in making these changes, abolishing the Oath of Allegiance in effect abrogated the 1921 treaty. Generally, the British thought that this was morally objectionable but legally permitted by the Statute of Westminster, however, the Free State had also abolished the right of appeal to the JCPC
Statute of Westminster 1931
32.
Peter I Island
–
Peter I Island is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Bellingshausen Sea,450 kilometres from Antarctica. It is claimed as a dependency of Norway, and along with Queen Maud Land, Peter I Island is 11 by 19 kilometres long and 156 square kilometres, slightly larger than Staten Island. The tallest peak is the ultra and 1, 640-meter tall Lars Christensen Peak, nearly all of the island is covered by a glacier and it is surrounded most of the year by pack ice, making it inaccessible almost all year round. There is little life on the island apart from seabirds and seals, the island was first sighted by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen on 21 January 1821 and was named for Peter I of Russia. Since then, the sovereignty over the island belongs to the tsar, not until 2 February 1929 did anyone set foot on the island, when Nils Larsen and Ola Olstads Second Norvegia Expedition, financed by Lars Christensen, was successful. They claimed it for Norway, who annexed it in 1931, the next landing occurred in 1948 and the island has been subject to some scientific research and a limited amount of tourism. The island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty in 1961, since 1987, there has been an automated meteorological station on the island. Three amateur radio DX-peditions have visited the island and there are sporadic landings by tourists, the first sighting of Peter I Island was made on 21 January 1821 by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausens expedition, who commanded the ships Vostok and Mirnyy under the Russian flag. He named the island for Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia, drift ice made it impossible for Bellinghausen to come nearer than 25 kilometers from the island. It was the first land to have been spotted south of the Antarctic Circle, in 1926 and 1927, Norwegian Eyvind Tofte circumnavigated and surveyed the island from Odd I. However, he was prevented from landing. The Norwegian whale-ship owner Lars Christensen financed several expeditions to the Antarctic, in part for research, the first expedition to land on the island was the Christensen-financed second Norvegia expedition, led by Nils Larsen and Ola Olstad. They landed on 2 February 1929 and claimed the island for Norway, Larsen attempted to land again in 1931, but was hindered by pack ice. On 6 March 1931, a Norwegian royal proclamation declared the island under Norwegian sovereignty, the next landing occurred on 10 February 1948 by Larsens ship Brategg. Biological, geological and hydrographic surveys underwent for three days, before the ice forced the expedition to leave. The expedition built a hut and placed a copy of the document of occupation from 1929 inside, on 23 June 1961, Peter I Island became subject to the Antarctic Treaty, after Norways signing of the treaty in 1959. Since then, there have been several landings on the island by various nations for scientific investigations, in 1987, the Norwegian Polar Institute sent five scientists to spend eleven days on the island. The main focuses were aerial photography and topographical measurements to allow an accurate map of the island to be produced, the second important area was marine biological investigations, although also geological, biological and other surveys were conducted
Peter I Island
–
The first landing on the island (1929).
Peter I Island
–
Flag
Peter I Island
–
Coastline of Peter I Island, visited during an expedition of
RV Polarstern in 1994.
33.
Sovereignty
–
Sovereignty is understood in jurisprudence as the full right and power of a governing body to govern itself without any interference from outside sources or bodies. In political theory, sovereignty is a term designating supreme authority over some polity. It is a basic principle underlying the dominant Westphalian model of state foundation, derived from Latin through French souveraineté, its attainment and retention, in both Chinese and Western culture, has traditionally been associated with certain moral imperatives upon any claimant. The concept of sovereignty has been discussed throughout history, and is still actively debated and it has changed in its definition, concept, and application throughout, especially during the Age of Enlightenment. The current notion of state sovereignty contains four aspects consisting of territory, population, authority, Sovereignty is a hypothetical trade, in which two potentially conflicting sides, respecting de facto realities of power, exchange such recognitions as their least costly strategy. The Roman jurist Ulpian observed that, The imperium of the people is transferred to the Emperor, the Emperor is not bound by the law. Emperor is the law making and abiding force, Ulpian was expressing the idea that the Emperor exercised a rather absolute form of sovereignty, although he did not use the term expressly. Classical Ulpians statements were known in medieval Europe, but sovereignty was an important concept in medieval times, Medieval monarchs were not sovereign, at least not strongly so, because they were constrained by, and shared power with, their feudal aristocracy. Furthermore, both were strongly constrained by custom, Sovereignty existed during the Medieval Period as the de jure rights of nobility and royalty, and in the de facto capability of individuals to make their own choices in life. 1380–1400, the issue of sovereignty was addressed in Geoffrey Chaucers Middle English collection of Canterbury Tales. The story revolves around the knight Sir Gawain granting to Dame Ragnell, his new bride, what is purported to be wanted most by women and we desire most from men, From men both lund and poor, To have sovereignty without lies. For where we have sovereignty, all is ours, Though a knight be ever so fierce and it is our desire to have master Over such a sir. Jean Bodin, partly in reaction to the chaos of the French wars of religion, in his 1576 treatise Les Six Livres de la République Bodin argued that it is inherent in the nature of the state that the sovereign must have both great and perpetual authority. Bodin rejected the notion of transference of sovereignty from people to the ruler, however, although he is often connected with absolutism, Bodin held some moderate opinions on how government should in practice be carried out. Thus, Bodin’s sovereign was restricted by the law of the state. Bodin believed that “the most divine, most excellent, and the form most proper to royalty is governed partly aristocratically and partly democratically”. With his doctrine that sovereignty is conferred by law, Bodin predefined the scope of the divine right of kings. During the Age of Enlightenment, the idea of sovereignty gained both legal and moral force as the main Western description of the meaning and power of a State
Sovereignty
–
The frontispiece of
Thomas Hobbes '
Leviathan, depicting the Sovereign as a massive body wielding a
sword and
crozier and composed of many
individual people.
34.
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
–
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was a Norwegian aviation pioneer, polar explorer and businessman. Among his achievements, he is regarded as the founder of the Royal Norwegian Air Force. Riiser-Larsen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1890, in 1909, aged nineteen, he joined the Norwegian Naval Academy and in 1915 the newly formed Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. After World War I, he served as the head of the RNoNASs factory until a more senior officer was appointed. In 1921, he joined the Aviation Council, then part of the Norwegian Ministry of Defence and this gave him the opportunity to study the fledgling military and civil aviation infrastructure for which the Council was responsible. He also became a frequent pilot on the air used by the new aviation companies. Riiser-Larsens years of exploration began in 1925 when his compatriot Roald Amundsen. Riiser-Larsen agreed and secured the use of two Dornier Do J Wal seaplanes, the expedition, however, was forced to land close to the Pole, badly damaging one of the planes. Riiser-Larsen somehow managed to coax the overloaded plane into the air, the following year, Riiser-Larsen rejoined Amundsen for another attempt to fly over the Pole, this time with Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile in his recently renamed airship, the Norge. Leaving Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, the Norge completed the two days later, landing near Teller, Alaska. Riiser-Larsen also became involved in a search for Amundsen, when he as passenger in a French naval flyingboat went missing while he was en route to join the search for Nobile, eventually Nobile and most of his team were found, but Amundsen was not. The Norvegia expeditions were a sequence of Antarctic expeditions financed by the Norwegian shipowner, by the end of the second expedition, two small islands in the Southern Ocean, Bouvet Island and Peter I Island, had been annexed. In 1929 Christensen decided to include aeroplanes in the next expedition, Riiser-Larsen then supervised and took part in mapping most of the Antarctic in this and three further expeditions. More territory was annexed, this time the large area of the continent known as Queen Maud Land. In 1939, the Norwegian military was downsized and Riiser-Larssen was among those officers finding themselves out of work, however, he was quickly offered a new job by the shipping company Fred. Olsen & Co. as manager of its newly formed airline and he invited some former naval pilots to join the airline and soon made it the most successful in Norway. In 1946, DNL would be one of the four Scandinavian airlines merged to create the present-day Scandinavian Airlines System, when Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Riiser-Larsen rejoined the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. However, both the Norwegian Army and Royal Norwegian Navy Air Services were quickly overwhelmed by the Wehrmacht before he saw combat, by the end of the war, however, many of the pilots under his command had become critical of his leadership
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
–
Riiser-Larsen in 1925
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
–
Riiser-Larsen during one of Amundsen's expeditions
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen
–
Riiser-Larsen (left) with
Birger Fredrik Motzfeldt in 1959
35.
Queen Maud Land
–
Queen Maud Land is a c.2.7 million-square-kilometre region of Antarctica claimed as a dependent territory by Norway. The territory lies between 20° west and 45° east, between the British Antarctic Territory to the west and the Australian Antarctic Territory to the east. On most maps there had been an area between Queen Maud Lands borders of 1939 and the South Pole until June 12,2015 when Norway formally annexed that area. Positioned in East Antarctica, the territory comprises about one-fifth of the area of Antarctica. The claim is named after the Norwegian queen Maud of Wales, Norwegian Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen was the first person known to have set foot in the territory, in 1930. On 14 January 1939, the territory was claimed by Norway, from 1939 until 1945, Nazi Germany claimed New Swabia, which consisted of part of Queen Maud Land. On 23 June 1961, Queen Maud Land became part of the Antarctic Treaty System and it is one of two Antarctic claims made by Norway, the other being Peter I Island. They are administrated by the Polar Affairs Department of the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, most of the territory is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, and a tall ice wall stretches throughout its coast. In some areas further within the ice sheet, mountain ranges breach through the ice, allowing for birds to breed, the region is divided into the Princess Martha Coast, Princess Astrid Coast, Princess Ragnhild Coast, Prince Harald Coast and Prince Olav Coast. The waters off the coast are called the King Haakon VII Sea, there is no permanent population, although there are 12 active research stations housing a maximum average of 40 scientists, the numbers fluctuating depending on the season. Six are occupied year-round, while the remainder are seasonal summer stations, the territory is estimated to cover around 2,700,000 square kilometres. The limits of the claim, put forth in 1939, did not fix the northern and southern limits other than as the beach in Antarctica. With the land lies beyond this beach and the sea beyond. The sea that extends off the coast between the limits of Queen Maud Land is generally called King Haakon VII Sea. There is no land at the coast, the coast consists of a 20-to-30-metre high wall of ice throughout almost the entire territory. It is thus possible to disembark from a ship in a few places. The other major mountain ranges are the Heimefront Range, Orvin Mountains, Wohlthat Mountains, geologically, the ground of Queen Maud Land is dominated by Precambrian gneiss, formed c.1 to 1.2 Ga, before the creation of the supercontinent Gondwana. The mountains consist mostly of crystalline and granitic rocks, formed c.500 to 600 Ma in the Pan-African orogeny during the assembly of Gondwana, in the farthest western parts of the territory, there are younger sedimentary and volcanic rocks
Queen Maud Land
–
The
Drygalski Mountains, a constituent range of the
Orvin Mountains
Queen Maud Land
–
Flag
Queen Maud Land
–
Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, aviator and polar explorer who explored much of Queen Maud Land.
Queen Maud Land
–
Norway's main research station, Troll, in Queen Maud Land.
36.
Maud of Wales
–
Maud of Wales, GCVO, GCStJ, VA, CI was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was the youngest daughter of the British king Edward VII, Maud of Wales was the first queen of Norway since 1380 who was not also queen of Denmark or Sweden. Maud was born on 26 November 1869 at Marlborough House, London and she was the third daughter and fifth child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. She was christened Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria at Marlborough House by John Jackson, Maud had a relatively happy childhood compared to her siblings, who found their upbringing oppressive and stifled. Her fathers favourite child, she was high-spirited and enjoyed riding, the tomboyish Maud was known as Harry to the royal family, after Edward VIIs friend Admiral Henry Keppel, whose conduct in the Crimean War was considered particularly courageous at the time. Maud took part in almost all the visits to the Princess of Waless family in Denmark and later accompanied her mother and sisters on cruises to Norway. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of her paternal aunt Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg, Maud, along with her sisters, Victoria and Louise, received the Imperial Order of the Crown of India from Queen Victoria on 6 August 1887. Like her sisters, she held the Royal Order of Victoria. Maud married relatively late, waiting until her twenties to find a husband. She had initially wanted to marry Prince Francis of Teck, elder brother of her sister-in-law Mary, despite being relatively impoverished from mounting gambling debts and being in a position to possibly benefit from Mauds status, he ignored her advances. On 22 July 1896, Princess Maud married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark, Prince Carl was the second son of Queen Alexandras elder brother, Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, and Princess Louise of Sweden. The brides father gave her Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a residence for her frequent visits to England. It was there that the only child, Prince Alexander, was born on 2 July 1903. Prince Carl was an officer in the Danish navy and he, in June 1905 the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, dissolved Norways 91-year-old union with Sweden and voted to offer the throne to Prince Carl. Mauds membership of the British royal house had some part in why Carl was chosen, following a plebiscite in November, Prince Carl accepted the Norwegian throne, taking the name of Haakon VII, while his young son took the name of Olav. King Haakon VII and Queen Maud were crowned at Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906, Queen Maud never lost her love of Britain, but she quickly adapted to her new country and duties as a queen consort. Maud played a strong and dominant role within the court and family and she disliked representation but performed her role as a queen with great care, and used clothes and jewelry to make a regal impression. She supported charitable causes, particularly associated with children and animals
Maud of Wales
–
Maud following her coronation, wearing the
Queen's Crown,
sceptre and
orb
Maud of Wales
–
Princess Maud of Wales (centre) as a teenager, together with her sisters
Louise (left) and
Victoria (right).
Maud of Wales
–
Wedding of Princess Maud of Wales and Prince Carl of Denmark
Maud of Wales
–
Queen Maud with her husband and their son.
37.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
–
Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
–
Flag
United States
–
The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
–
The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
38.
Chile
–
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres of Antarctica, the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes, the southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. Spain conquered and colonized Chile in the century, replacing Inca rule in northern and central Chile. After declaring its independence from Spain in 1818, Chile emerged in the 1830s as a relatively stable authoritarian republic, in the 1960s and 1970s the country experienced severe left-right political polarization and turmoil. The regime, headed by Augusto Pinochet, ended in 1990 after it lost a referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a coalition which ruled through four presidencies until 2010. Chile is today one of South Americas most stable and prosperous nations and it leads Latin American nations in rankings of human development, competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, state of peace, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. It also ranks high regionally in sustainability of the state, Chile is a founding member of the United Nations, the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. There are various theories about the origin of the word Chile, another theory points to the similarity of the valley of the Aconcagua with that of the Casma Valley in Peru, where there was a town and valley named Chili. Another origin attributed to chilli is the onomatopoeic cheele-cheele—the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a locally known as trile. The Spanish conquistadors heard about this name from the Incas, ultimately, Almagro is credited with the universalization of the name Chile, after naming the Mapocho valley as such. The older spelling Chili was in use in English until at least 1900 before switching over to Chile, stone tool evidence indicates humans sporadically frequented the Monte Verde valley area as long as 18,500 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, migrating Native Americans settled in fertile valleys, settlement sites from very early human habitation include Monte Verde, Cueva del Milodon and the Pali Aike Craters lava tube. They fought against the Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui and his army, the result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish encountered various cultures that supported themselves principally through slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarros lieutenants, who founded the city of Santiago on 12 February 1541. Although the Spanish did not find the gold and silver they sought, they recognized the agricultural potential of Chiles central valley
Chile
–
The
Mapuche people were the original inhabitants of southern and central Chile.
Chile
–
Flag
Chile
–
Pedro de Valdivia
Chile
–
Bernardo O'Higgins, The Supreme Director of Chile.
39.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
–
Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
–
Flag
Soviet Union
–
Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
40.
Nazi Germany
–
Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
Nazi Germany
–
Hitler became Germany's head of state, with the title of
Führer und Reichskanzler, in 1934.
Nazi Germany
–
Flag
Nazi Germany
–
Joseph Goebbels,
Reich Minister of Propaganda
Nazi Germany
–
Ethnic Germans in
Saaz, Czechoslovakia, greet German soldiers with the
Nazi salute, 1938
41.
New Swabia
–
New Swabia was explored by Germany in early 1939 and named after that expeditions ship, the Schwabenland, itself named after the German region of Swabia. Like many other countries, Germany sent expeditions to the Antarctic region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the 19th century ended Germany began to focus on Antarctica. The first German expedition to Antarctica was the Gauss expedition from 1901 to 1903, led by Arctic veteran and geology professor Erich von Drygalski, this was the first expedition to use a hot-air balloon in Antarctica. It also found and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, the second German Antarctic expedition was led by Wilhelm Filchner with a goal of crossing Antarctica to learn if it was one piece of land. As happened with such early attempts, the crossing failed before it even began. The expedition discovered and named the Luitpold Coast and the Filchner Ice Shelf, a German whaling fleet was put to sea in 1937 and, upon its successful return in early 1938, plans for a third German Antarctic expedition were drawn up. The third German Antarctic Expedition was led by Alfred Ritscher, a captain in the German Navy, the main purpose was to find an area in Antarctica for a German whaling station, as a way to increase Germany’s production of fat. Besides the disadvantage of being dependent on imports, it was thought that Germany would soon be at war, another goal was to scout possible locations for a German naval base. On 17 December 1938 the New Swabia Expedition left Hamburg for Antarctica aboard the MS Schwabenland which could also carry, the secret expedition had 33 members plus the Schwabenlands crew of 24. On 19 January 1939 the ship arrived at the Princess Martha Coast, in an area which had lately been claimed by Norway as Queen Maud Land, nazi German flags were placed on the sea ice along the coast. Seven photographic survey flights were made by the ship’s two Dornier Wal seaplanes named Passat and Boreas, eight more flights were made to areas of keen interest and on these trips some of the photos were taken with colour film. Altogether they flew over hundreds of thousands of kilometres and took more than 16,000 aerial photographs. On its return trip to Germany the expedition made oceanographic studies near Bouvet Island and Fernando de Noronha, meanwhile the Norwegian government had learned about the expedition through reports from whalers along the coast of Queen Maud Land. Because the area was first explored by a German expedition, the name Neuschwabenland is still used for the region on some maps, some geographic features mapped by the expedition were not named until the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic Expedition, led by John Schjelderup Giæver. Others were not named until they were remapped from aerial photographs taken by the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, Germany made no formal territorial claims to New Swabia. No whaling station or other lasting bases were built there by Germany until the Georg-von-Neumayer-Station, germanys current Neumayer-Station III is also in the region. List of Antarctic expeditions D. T. Murphy, German exploration of the polar world
New Swabia
–
Location of New Swabia (red) on
Antarctica (grey)
New Swabia
–
Flag
New Swabia
–
MS Schwabenland in 1938
New Swabia
–
1938–1939 expedition logo
42.
Alfred Ritscher
–
Alfred Ritscher was a German polar explorer. A Kapitän zur See in the Kriegsmarine, he led the third German Antarctic Expedition in 1938-39, Ritscher Peak and Ritscher Upland there are named for him. 1897 Alfred Ritscher made his first trip as a boy on the Bremen ship Emily. In 1903 he passed his exams and earned his masters certificate in 1907. At the beginning of 1912, Ritscher gained a place in the newly created Seehandbuchwerk of the Navy Office and he also took over the leadership of the airborne survey of the expedition and obtained a pilot licence. Ritscher marched over 210 km in seven and a half days, search expeditions were sent after his message about the fate of the Schroeder-Stranz expedition and saved six of the fourteen missing expedition members. During the First World War, Ritscher made reconnaissance flights in support of Marine units in Flanders, after the war he worked as an independent businessman and in 1925 worked as a specialist in aerial navigation with Lufthansa. In 1934, Ritscher divorced his Jewish wife Susan née Loewenthal, also in 1934, Ritscher became an officer in command of the Navy. In 1938, he head of the German Antarctic Expedition 1938/39, with a mandate to set up a base for the German whaling fleet, carry out air exploration. During this expedition he flew over an area of about 600,000 km2 with two Dornier Do J II flying boats, launched from a catapult on the expedition ship. Around 11,000 aerial photographs were taken, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Ritscher was preparing another expedition with improved ski-planes, which was cancelled. 1959, Grand Federal Cross of Merit 1959, Silver Kirchenpauer Medal of the Geographical Society in Hamburg The Ritschergipfel, preliminary Report on the German Antarctic Expedition 1938/39. Inside, Overview table of the area of the German Antarctic Expedition 1938-39. German Antarctic Expedition 1938/39 with the plane of Lufthansa AG M. S. -1 Band, Scientific and flying experiences, Koehler & Amelang, Geographical and Cartographic Institute Mundus, Hamburg, 1954-58. New Swabia List of Antarctic expeditions List of polar explorers United States Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System
Alfred Ritscher
43.
Swastika
–
The Swastika is an ancient religious symbol originating from the Indian subcontinent, that generally takes the form of an equilateral cross with four legs each bent at 90 degrees. It is considered to be a sacred and auspicious symbol in Hinduism, Buddhism, Western literatures older term for the symbol, gammadion cross, derives mainly from its appearance, which is identical to four Greek gamma letters affixed to each other. The name Swastika comes from Sanskrit, and denotes a lucky or auspicious object and it has been used as a decorative element in various cultures since at least the Neolithic Age. It is known most widely as an important symbol, long used in Indian religions, the swastika was adopted by several organizations in pre-World War I-Europe and later, and most notably, by the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany prior to World War II. In many Western countries, the swastika has been highly stigmatized because of its association with Nazism, the word swastika has been in use in English since the 1870s, replacing gammadion. Note that the represented by व in Devanagari, and v in the standard IAST transliteration of Sanskrit, is the labio-dental approximant. The sound persists in modern Hindi and other North Indian languages, an English speaker who is unable to correctly form the Sanskrit labio-dental approximant should say swastika rather than svastika. Swastika in Sanskrit means any lucky or auspicious object, and in particular a mark made on persons and things to denote auspiciousness, or any piece of luck or well-being. It is composed of su, meaning good, well and asti, the phrase swasti therefore means it/he/she is good. The two words spoken together become swasti through sandhi, a process by which sounds modify other sounds spoken close to them, the expression swasti is used as a word on its own, meaning good health or good fortune. The added suffix ka forms an abstract noun, and swastika might thus be translated literally as that which is associated with well-being, corresponding to thing that is auspicious or lucky charm, the word Is recorded first in Vedic Sanskrit. Other names for the symbol include, hooked cross, angled cross or crooked cross, Cross cramponned, cramponnée, or cramponny, in heraldry, as each arm resembles a Crampon or angle-iron. Fylfot, chiefly in heraldry and architecture, gammadion, tetragammadion, or cross gammadion, as each arm resembles the Greek letter Γ. tetraskelion, literally meaning four-legged, especially when composed of four conjoined legs. Whirling logs, can denote abundance, prosperity, healing, chirality describes an absence of reflective symmetry, with the existence of two versions that are mirror images of each other. The mirror-image forms are described as, left-facing and right-facing. The left-facing version is distinguished in some traditions and languages as a symbol from the right-facing swastika. The compact swastika can be seen as an irregular icosagon with fourfold rotational symmetry. Such a swastika proportioned on a 5 ×5 square grid, the Nazi Hakenkreuz used a 5 ×5 diagonal grid, but with the arms unshortened
Swastika
–
Swastika seals from the
Indus Valley Civilization preserved at the
British Museum
Swastika
–
Called svastika in
Sanskrit, it is a
symbol of auspiciousness in
Hinduism,
Buddhism, and
Jainism.
Swastika
–
Ancient Roman mosaics of
La Olmeda, Spain.
Swastika
–
Mosaic swastika in excavated Byzantine (?) church in
Shavei Tzion (Israel)
44.
Orcadas Base
–
Base Orcadas is an Argentine scientific station in Antarctica, and the oldest of the stations in Antarctica still in operation. It is located on Laurie Island, one of the South Orkney Islands, the nearest port is the Argentine city of Ushuaia, which is 1,502 km away. The base has 11 buildings and four main topics of research, continental glaciology, seismology, sea-ice-zone glaciology and it also had the first radiotelegraph in the continent in 1927. The 11 buildings of the house up to 45 people during the summer. In 1903 Dr William S. Bruces Scottish National Antarctic Expedition established Omond House, during the expedition, however, the crew became stuck in the ice and, unable to sail off, were trapped in the station for the winter. Bruce left the station in December of that year for Buenos Aires to fix the ship and obtain supplies and he also offered to transport in his ship the appointed personnel back to the station. Bruce had informed the British officer William Haggard of his intentions in December 1903, on 29 December, Haggard sent a note to the Argentine Foreign Minister, Jose Terry, ratifying the terms of Bruce proposition. Roca submitted the matter to the Oficina Meteorologica Nacional who advised to accept the offer, on January 2,1904, the installations were accepted through a presidential decree. In 1906, Argentina communicated to the community the establishment of a permanent base on the South Orkney Islands. On August 26, Haggard sent a letter to Foreign Minister Manuel Montes de Oca reminding him that South Orkneys Islands were British, the British position was that Argentine personnel was granted permission only for the period of one year. Argentine government ignored the note, considering it out of time, on March 30,1927, naval non-commissioned officer Emilio Baldoni established the first radio telegraph link with Ushuaia. Up to that point, the Orcadas Base remained isolated from the rest of the world until the yearly relief arrived, the radio station allowed for a permanent communication link. The station depended on the Ministry of Agriculture until Argentine Navy relieved the crew with navy personnel on March 3,1951, formal transfer occurred on December 23,1952, when by presidential decree the base was put under the Service of Maritime Hydrography as Destacamento Naval Orcadas. Under the Köppen climate classification system, the station is located under a tundra climate, weather conditions can vary widely from year to year an day since low pressure systems frequently pass through the islands, which influences the climate. Mean monthly temperatures range from −9.4 °C in June to 1.0 °C in February, in summer, the average high is 2.7 °C while the average low is −1.1 °C. During winter, the high is −4.9 °C while the average low is −13.0 °C. Temperatures can occasionally rise above freezing during winter, when low pressure systems pass to the south of the base, they can result in exceptionally mild temperatures, with the highest temperature recorded being 15.2 °C in 1987. However, when this occurs, the weather is stormy and cloudy with reduced visibility, in contrast, when low pressure systems pass to the north, it results in cold and dry conditions with good visibility, causing temperatures to fall to −44.0 °C
Orcadas Base
–
Orcadas Base, 26 December 1996.
Orcadas Base
–
Annual mean temperatures measured at Orcadas Base, 1901–2007
45.
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
–
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was organised and led by William Speirs Bruce, a natural scientist and former medical student from the University of Edinburgh. Although overshadowed in prestige terms by Robert Falcon Scotts concurrent Discovery Expedition and its achievements included the establishment of a manned meteorological station, the first in Antarctic territory, and the discovery of new land to the east of the Weddell Sea. Its large collection of biological and geological specimens, together with those from Bruces earlier travels, Bruce had spent most of the 1890s engaged on expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic regions, and by 1899 was Britains most experienced polar scientist. Bruce reacted by obtaining independent finance, his venture was supported and promoted by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, the expedition has been described as by far the most cost-effective and carefully planned scientific expedition of the Heroic Age. Despite this, Bruce received no honour or recognition from the British Government. After the SNAE, Bruce led no more Antarctic expeditions, although he made regular Arctic trips. The SNAEs permanent memorial is the Orcadas weather station, which was set up in 1903 as Omond House on Laurie Island, South Orkneys and he also spent time working voluntarily under the oceanographer Dr John Murray, helping to classify specimens collected during the Challenger expedition. In 1892 Bruce gave up his studies altogether, and embarked on a voyage to the Antarctic in the whaler Balaena. On his return, he began organising an expedition of his own to South Georgia, claiming that the taste I have had has made me ravenous, but he could not obtain funding. He then worked at a station on the summit of Ben Nevis. This vessel was owned by Prince Albert of Monaco, an oceanographer who became a friend. His recent experiences made it unlikely that there was any person in the British Isles at that time better qualified. Bruces letter, which detailed all his relevant qualifications, was acknowledged, by then, Bruces ideas had progressed away from his original expectation of a junior post on the scientific staff. He now proposed a ship for the expedition, separately financed from Scottish sources. This proposal was denounced by RGS president Sir Clements Markham as mischievous and, in this way the idea of a distinctive Scottish National Antarctic expedition was born. Bruce was supported by the wealthy Coats family, who were prepared to give whole-hearted financial backing to a Scottish expedition under his leadership, however, as a result he had acquired the lasting enmity of Markham. In the autumn of 1901, Bruce purchased a Norwegian whaler, Hekla, during the following months, the ship was completely rebuilt as an Antarctic research vessel, with two laboratories, a darkroom, and extensive specialist equipment. Two huge revolving cylinders, each carrying 6,000 fathoms of cable, were fitted to the deck to enable deep-sea trawling for marine specimens
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
–
SNAE expedition ship
Scotia, in the ice at
Laurie Island,
South Orkneys, 1903–04
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
–
William S. Bruce, SNAE expedition leader
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
–
The Scottish
saltire, emblem of the expedition
Scottish National Antarctic Expedition
–
"Omond House"
46.
Argentina
–
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
Argentina
–
The
Cave of the Hands in
Santa Cruz province, with indigenous artwork dating from 13,000–9,000 years ago
Argentina
Argentina
–
The surrender of Beresford to
Santiago de Liniers during the
British invasions of the Río de la Plata
Argentina
–
Portrait of General
José de San Martin,
Libertador of Argentina,
Chile and
Peru
47.
Second World War
–
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
Second World War
–
Clockwise from top left: Chinese forces in the
Battle of Wanjialing, Australian
25-pounder guns during the
First Battle of El Alamein, German
Stuka dive bombers on the
Eastern Front in December 1943, a U.S. naval force in the
Lingayen Gulf,
Wilhelm Keitel signing the
German Instrument of Surrender, Soviet troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
Second World War
–
The
League of Nations assembly, held in
Geneva,
Switzerland, 1930
Second World War
–
Adolf Hitler at a German
National Socialist political rally in
Weimar, October 1930
Second World War
–
Italian soldiers recruited in 1935, on their way to fight the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Argentina
Australia
Chile
France
New Zealand
Norway.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
United Kingdom
Bouvet Island (Dependency of Norway)
French Southern Territories[33][34]
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (External dependent territory of Australia)
Prince Edward Islands (South African territory)
