1.
National Library of Australia
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In 2012–2013, the National Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, and an additional 15,506 metres of manuscript material. In 1901, a Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was established to serve the newly formed Federal Parliament of Australia, from its inception the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library was driven to development of a truly national collection. The present library building was opened in 1968, the building was designed by the architectural firm of Bunning and Madden. The foyer is decorated in marble, with windows by Leonard French. In 2012–2013 the Library collection comprised 6,496,772 items, the Librarys collections of Australiana have developed into the nations single most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage. Australian writers, editors and illustrators are actively sought and well represented—whether published in Australia or overseas, approximately 92. 1% of the Librarys collection has been catalogued and is discoverable through the online catalogue. The Library has digitized over 174,000 items from its collection and, the Library is a world leader in digital preservation techniques, and maintains an Internet-accessible archive of selected Australian websites called the Pandora Archive. A core Australiana collection is that of John A. Ferguson, the Library has particular collection strengths in the performing arts, including dance. The Librarys considerable collections of general overseas and rare materials, as well as world-class Asian. The print collections are further supported by extensive microform holdings, the Library also maintains the National Reserve Braille Collection. The Library has acquired a number of important Western and Asian language scholarly collections from researchers, williams Collection The Asian Collections are searchable via the National Librarys catalogue. The National Library holds a collection of pictures and manuscripts. The manuscript collection contains about 26 million separate items, covering in excess of 10,492 meters of shelf space, the collection relates predominantly to Australia, but there are also important holdings relating to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific. The collection also holds a number of European and Asian manuscript collections or single items have received as part of formed book collections. Examples are the papers of Alfred Deakin, Sir John Latham, Sir Keith Murdoch, Sir Hans Heysen, Sir John Monash, Vance Palmer and Nettie Palmer, A. D. Hope, Manning Clark, David Williamson, W. M. The Library has also acquired the records of many national non-governmental organisations and they include the records of the Federal Secretariats of the Liberal party, the A. L. P, the Democrats, the R. S. L. Finally, the Library holds about 37,000 reels of microfilm of manuscripts and archival records, mostly acquired overseas and predominantly of Australian, the National Librarys Pictures collection focuses on Australian people, places and events, from European exploration of the South Pacific to contemporary events. Art works and photographs are acquired primarily for their informational value, media represented in the collection include photographs, drawings, watercolours, oils, lithographs, engravings, etchings and sculpture/busts
National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
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National Library of Australia as viewed from
Lake Burley Griffin,
Canberra
National Library of Australia
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The original National Library building on Kings Avenue, Canberra, was designed by Edward Henderson. Originally intended to be several wings, only one wing was completed and was demolished in 1968. Now the site of the Edmund Barton Building.
National Library of Australia
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The library seen from Lake Burley Griffin in autumn.
2.
Durban
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Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. Durbans metropolitan municipality ranks third among the most populous areas in South Africa after Johannesburg. It is also the second most important manufacturing hub in South Africa after Johannesburg and it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa and it is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the citys warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches. It is the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal which is the 2nd most populous province in South Africa and it has the highest number of dollar millionaires added per year of any South African city with the number rising 200% between 2000 and 2014. In May 2015, Durban was officially recognised as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, La Paz, Havana, Beirut, archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. He named the area Natal, or Christmas in Portuguese, accompanying Farewell was an adventurer named Henry Francis Fynn. Fynn was able to befriend the Zulu King Shaka by helping him to recover from a wound he suffered in battle. As a token of Shakas gratitude, he granted Fynn a 30-mile strip of coast a hundred miles in depth. During a meeting of 35 European residents in Fynns territory on 23 June 1835, it was decided to build a town and name it dUrban after Sir Benjamin dUrban. The Voortrekkers established the Republic of Natalia in 1838, with its capital at Pietermaritzburg, piet Retief, leader of the Voortrekkers in Natal, negotiated with the Zulu King, Dingane, in order to obtain land for their farming purposes. After negotiations were concluded, Dingane however reneged and had Retief, thereafter the Zulus attacked and killed more than 500 Voortrekkers at Retiefs laager. The Voortrekkers retaliated and broke Dinganes power at the Battle of Blood River, the force arrived on 4 May 1842 and built a fortification that was later to be The Old Fort. On the night of 23/24 May 1842 the British attacked the Voortrekker camp at Congella, the attack failed, and the British had to withdraw to their camp which was put under siege. A local trader Dick King and his servant Ndongeni were able to escape the blockade and rode to Grahamstown, the reinforcements arrived in Durban 20 days later, the Voortrekkers retreated, and the siege was lifted. Fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban, a British governor was appointed to the region and many settlers emigrated from Europe and the Cape Colony. The British established a sugar industry in the 1860s. Farm owners had a difficult time attracting Zulu labourers to work on their plantations, as a result of the importation of Indian labourers, Durban has the largest Asian community on the African continent, and has the largest Indian population outside of India
Durban
Durban
Durban
Durban
3.
British colonies
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The territorial evolution of the British Empire is considered to have begun with the foundation of the English colonial empire in the late 16th century. Since then, many territories around the world have been under the control of the British Empire or its predecessor states. When the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the union of the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, the latter countrys colonial possessions passed to the new state. Similarly, when Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom, collectively, these territories are referred to as the British Empire. Upon much of Ireland gaining independence in 1922 as the Irish Free State, from 1714 to 1837 the British throne was held by a series of kings who were also the rulers of the German state of Hanover. However, this was purely a personal union, with Hanover maintaining its political independence otherwise, the nature of the territories ruled as part of the British Empire varied enormously. No uniform system of government was ever applied to any of these, a number of countries within the British Empire gained independence in stages during the earlier part of the 20th century. Many of the territories of the British Empire are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Fifteen of these retain the British monarch as Head of State, the British monarch is also Head of the Commonwealth, but this is a purely symbolic and personal title, members of the Commonwealth are fully sovereign states. The British Empire refers to the possessions and territories under the control of the Crown. Although the Crown claimed absolute sovereignty over them, they were never part of the United Kingdom. The natures of the administration of the Empire changed both by time and place, and there was no system of government in the Empire. Colonies were territories that were intended to be places of permanent settlement, the Crown claimed absolute sovereignty over them, although they were not formally part of the United Kingdom itself. Generally their law was the law of England together with whatever British Acts of Parliament were also applied to them. Over time, a number of colonies were granted responsible government, a Crown colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later the British Empire, which were directly controlled by the Crown. Crown colonies were ruled by an appointed by the monarch. By the middle of the 19th century, the sovereign appointed royal governors on the advice of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and this became the main method of creating and governing colonies. There also existed lower houses which were usually named Legislative Assembly or House of Assembly, the lower house was usually elected, but suffrage was restricted to free white men only, usually with property ownership restrictions
British colonies
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The British Empire in 1897, marked in traditional pink.
British colonies
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Animated map showing growth and decline of the British Empire
4.
Cape Town
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Cape Town is a coastal city in South Africa. It is the second-most populous urban area in South Africa after Johannesburg and it is also the capital and primate city of the Western Cape province. As the seat of the Parliament of South Africa, it is also the capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the city is famous for its harbour, for its natural setting in the Cape Floristic Region, and for such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. As of 2014, it is the 10th most populous city in Africa and it is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. The city was named the World Design Capital for 2014 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, in 2014, Cape Town was named the best place in the world to visit by both the American New York Times and the British Daily Telegraph. Located on the shore of Table Bay, Cape Town was first developed by the Dutch East India Company as a station for Dutch ships sailing to East Africa, India. Jan van Riebeecks arrival on 6 April 1652 established the first permanent European settlement in South Africa, Cape Town quickly outgrew its original purpose as the first European outpost at the Castle of Good Hope, becoming the economic and cultural hub of the Cape Colony. Until the Witwatersrand Gold Rush and the development of Johannesburg, Cape Town was the largest city in South Africa, the earliest known remnants in the region were found at Peers Cave in Fish Hoek and date to between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was later renamed by John II of Portugal as Cape of Good Hope because of the optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India. Vasco da Gama recorded a sighting of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, in the late 16th century, Portuguese, French, Danish, Dutch and English but mainly Portuguese ships regularly stopped over in Table Bay en route to the Indies. They traded tobacco, copper and iron with the Khoikhoi in exchange for fresh meat, the settlement grew slowly during this period, as it was hard to find adequate labour. This labour shortage prompted the authorities to import slaves from Indonesia, many of these became ancestors of the first Cape Coloured communities. Some of these, including grapes, cereals, ground nuts, potatoes, apples and citrus, had an important, the Dutch Republic being transformed in Revolutionary Frances vassal Batavian Republic, Great Britain moved to take control of its colonies. Britain captured Cape Town in 1795, but the Cape was returned to the Dutch by treaty in 1803, British forces occupied the Cape again in 1806 following the Battle of Blaauwberg. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, Cape Town was permanently ceded to Britain and it became the capital of the newly formed Cape Colony, whose territory expanded very substantially through the 1800s. With expansion came calls for independence from Britain, with the Cape attaining its own parliament. Suffrage was established according to the non-racial, but sexist Cape Qualified Franchise, the discovery of diamonds in Griqualand West in 1867, and the Witwatersrand Gold Rush in 1886, prompted a flood of immigrants to South Africa
Cape Town
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Clockwise from top: Cape Town CBD,
Strand,
Clifton beach,
Table Mountain,
Port of Cape Town,
Cape Town City Hall
Cape Town
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Coat of arms
Cape Town
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Arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck in
Table Bay by
Charles Bell
Cape Town
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View of Table Bay with ships of the
Dutch East India Company, c. 1683
5.
Xhosa Wars
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The Xhosa Wars, were a series of nine wars or flare-ups between the Xhosa tribes and European settlers in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. These events were the military action in the history of African colonialism. The reality of the conflicts between the Europeans and Xhosa involves a balance of tension, at times, tensions existed between the various Europeans in the Cape region, tensions between Empire administration and colonial governments, and tensions and alliances of the Xhosa tribes. Alliances with Europeans introduced to the Xhosa tribes the use of firearms, even so, the Xhosa lost most of their territory and were incorporated into the British Empire. The Xhosa include some groups that have adopted the Xhosa language and several groups that are now classed as being Xhosa, such as the Mfengu nation, European settlement in and around Cape Town later spread into the valleys. By the second half of the 18th century, Europeans, predominantly trekboers, moved eastward up the coast, the Xhosa were already established in the area and herded cattle. Competition for land ensued, particularly after the arrival of groups of British settlers in 1820. The First Xhosa War broke out in 1779 between Boer frontiersmen and the Xhosa, in December 1779 an armed clash started. This led to Adreaan Van Jaarsveld capturing a number of cattle from the Xhosa. It started when the Gqunukhwebe clans of the Xhosa started to back into the Zuurveld. Some frontiersmen, under Barend Lindeque, allied themselves with Ndlambe to repel the Gqunukhwebe, panic ensued and farms were abandoned. The third war started in January 1799 with a Xhosa rebellion that General T. P, fearing general Khoi rising, the government made peace with the Xhosa and allowed them to stay in Zuurveld. After that in 1801 another Graaff-Reinet rebellion started forcing more Khoi Desertions, the commandos could achieve no result so in February 1803, a peace was arranged. Leaving the Xhosas still in Zuurveld, the Fourth War was the first experienced under British rule. The Zuurveld acted as a zone between the Cape Colony and Xhosa territory, empty of the Boers and British to the west. In 1811, the Xhosa occupied the area, and flashpoint conflicts with the settlers followed, about four thousand British immigrants subsequently settled on the Fish River. Grahams Town arose on the site of Colonel Grahams headquarters, in time this became Grahamstown, the fifth frontier war, also known as the War of Nxele, initially developed from an 1817 judgment by the Cape Colony government about stolen cattle and their restitution by the Xhosa. An issue of overcrowding brought on a war between the Ngqika and the Gcaleka Xhosa
Xhosa Wars
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Resistance fighters defend a stronghold in the forested Water Kloof during the 8th Xhosa war of 1851. Xhosa, Kat River Khoi-khoi and some army deserters are depicted
Xhosa Wars
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Map of the Cape Colony in 1809, showing its eastward expansion
Xhosa Wars
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The murder of Chief Hintsa is an enduring atrocity in the memory of the Xhosa nation.
Xhosa Wars
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Sir
Andries Stockenström, 1st Baronet, and veteran of several Xhosa wars.
6.
Augustus Gregory
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Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, KCMG was an English-born Australian explorer. Between 1846 and 1858 he undertook four major expeditions and he was appointed a Member of the Queensland Legislative Council. Augustus Charles Gregory was born at Farnsfield, Nottingham, England and he was the second of five brothers born to Joshua Gregory and Frances Churchman. Among his brothers were Francis Thomas Gregory, who became a noted explorer. Joshua William Gregory, born 1815, died 20 September 1850 aged 35, Augustus Charles Gregory, born 1 August 1819, died 1905 aged 86 Francis Thomas Gregory, born 1821. A. C. Gregory was educated privately by tutors and later by his mother, in 1829, the family emigrated to Western Australia on board the Lotus, arriving at the Swan River Colony only four months after its establishment. For much of the 1830s, Augustus took jobs to supplement the familys income, for a while he worked for a chemist, and later in partnership with his brother Joshua William as a contract surveyor. In December 1841, he joined the Government Survey Office, in 1846, with his two brothers, F. T. Gregory and H. C. Gregory, he made his first exploration, with four horses and seven weeks provisions they left T. N. Two years later, Gregory lead an expedition to examine the course of the Gascoyne River and, in particular, the party left on 2 September 1848, crossing the Murchison River 25 September, but the country was very dry and it became difficult to water the horses. Gregory decided to turn again in the beginning of October. The party returned to Perth on 12 November after having found good pastures, despite water supply difficulties, about 1500 miles were covered in a period of 10 weeks. In 1854 while Assistant Surveyor of Western Australia, Gregory was asked to lead an expedition to the interior, Gregory had his brother, H. C. Gregory, as second in command and Baron von Mueller as botanist, there were 19 men altogether, with 50 horses and 200 sheep. The party left Moreton Bay by sea on 12 August 1855, on the next day their vessel grounded on a reef and it was impossible to float off until 10 September. They proceeded to Pearce Point, and at the end of the month the party reached the estuary of the Victoria River, the party split up, with one group going up the river in a schooner, while Gregory led the other over the range. They were reunited on 20 October, establishing a camp 20 km west of todays Timber Creek, Gregory led several forays up the Victoria River and traced Sturts Creek for 300 miles until it disappeared in the Tanami Desert. The core team returned to the camp in the dry season of 1856
Augustus Gregory
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Augustus Charles Gregory, c. 1903
Augustus Gregory
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Gregory's Tree above Victoria River, appr. 20 west of Timber Creek
Augustus Gregory
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Rainworth, residence of Sir Augustus Charles Gregory, Bardon, ca. 1885
Augustus Gregory
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Sir Augustus Charles Gregory lying in state, Brisbane, 1905
7.
Royal Geographical Society
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The Royal Geographical Society is the UKs learned society and professional body for geography, founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences. Today, it is the centre for geographers and geographical learning. The Society has over 16,500 members and its work reaches millions of people each year through publications, research groups, the Geographical Society of London was founded in 1830 under the name Geographical Society of London as an institution to promote the advancement of geographical science. It later absorbed the older African Association, which had been founded by Sir Joseph Banks in 1788, as well as the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. Like many learned societies, it had started as a club in London. Founding members of the Society included Sir John Barrow, Sir John Franklin, under the patronage of King William IV it later became known as The Royal Geographical Society and was granted its Royal Charter under Queen Victoria in 1859. From 1830 –1840 the RGS met in the rooms of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street, London and from 1854 -1870 at 15 Whitehall Place, London. In 1870, the Society finally found a home when it moved to 1 Savile Row, London – an address that became associated with adventure. The Society also used a lecture theatre in Burlington Gardens, London which was lent to it by the Civil Service Commission, however, the arrangements were thought to be rather cramped and squalid. A new impetus was given to the Societys affairs in 1911, with the election of Earl Curzon, the premises in Savile Row were sold and the present site, Lowther Lodge in Kensington Gore, was purchased for £100,000 and opened for use in April 1913. In the same year the Societys ban on women was lifted, Lowther Lodge was built in 1874 for the Hon William Lowther by Norman Shaw, one of the most outstanding domestic architects of his day. Extensions to the east wing were added in 1929, and included the New Map Room, the extension was formally opened by HRH the Duke of York at the Centenary Celebrations on 21 October 1930. The history of the Society was closely allied for many of its years with colonial exploration in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, the polar regions. It has been a key associate and supporter of many explorers and expeditions, including those of Darwin, Livingstone, Stanley, Scott, Shackleton, Hunt. The early history of the Society is inter-linked with the history of British Geography, exploration, information, maps, charts and knowledge gathered on expeditions was sent to the RGS, making up its now unique geographical collections. The Society published its first journal in 1831 and from 1855, accounts of meetings, in 1893, this was replaced by The Geographical Journal which is still published today. With the advent of a systematic study of geography, the Institute of British Geographers was formed in 1933, by some academic Society fellows. Its activities included organising conferences, field trips, seminars and specialist research groups and publishing the journal, the RGS and IBG co-existed for 60 years until 1992 when a merger was discussed
Royal Geographical Society
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Lowther Lodge, Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) headquarters, designed by
Richard Norman Shaw
Royal Geographical Society
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Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
Royal Geographical Society
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2012 Poster for exhibition in the glass Pavilion on centenary of Scott's final expedition to the South Pole
Royal Geographical Society
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Statue of
Shackleton by
Charles Sargeant Jagger outside the society headquarters
8.
Victoria River (Northern Territory)
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The Victoria River is a river in the Victoria Bonaparte bioregion of the Northern Territory, Australia. Part of the adjoining the river mouth has been identified as the Legune Important Bird Area because of its importance for waterbirds. However, the longest permanent river in the Northern Territory, as defined by standards, is the Katherine/Daly River. This is a river with two separating European names. This great river was, until recently, deemed as two separate due to the European naming conventions of the time. The river has 56 tributaries including the Camfield River, Wickham River, Battle Creek, Angalarri River, Gidyea Creek, the river also flows through several waterholes such as Catfish waterhole and Four Mile Waterhole. Large areas of rice-grass floodplain grasslands are found along the river. Several large cattle stations are found along the length of the river including Riveren where the river originates, Victoria River Downs, Wave Hill, crew members of the Beagle followed the river upstream into the interior for more than 200 kilometres. In August 1855 Augustus Gregory sailed from Moreton Bay and at the end of September reached the estuary of the Victoria River and he sailed up the river and carried out extensive exploration. In 1847 Edmund Kennedy went on an expedition to trace the route of the River Victoria of Thomas Mitchell with a view to finding whether there was a route to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This River Victoria was later renamed the Barcoo River, list of rivers of Northern Territory
Victoria River (Northern Territory)
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Victoria River access, near the roadhouse Victoria River crossing
Victoria River (Northern Territory)
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Killing an Alligator, Victoria River from Volume 2 of John Lort Stokes' 1846 book Discoveries in Australia.
9.
David Livingstone
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The Nile sources, he told a friend, are valuable only as a means of opening my mouth with power among men. It is this power which I hope to remedy an immense evil and his subsequent exploration of the central African watershed was the culmination of the classic period of European geographical discovery and colonial penetration of Africa. His meeting with Henry Morton Stanley on 10 November 1871 gave rise to the popular quotation Dr. Livingstone and he was the second of seven children born to Neil Livingstone and his wife Agnes. David was employed at the age of 10 in the mill of Henry Monteith & Co. in Blantyre Works. He and his brother John worked twelve-hour days as piecers, tying broken cotton threads on the spinning machines and he was a student at the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School in 1838–40, with his courses covering medical practice, midwifery, and botany. Neil Livingstone was a Sunday school teacher and teetotaller who handed out Christian tracts on his travels as a tea salesman. He extensively read books on theology, travel, and missionary enterprises and this rubbed off on the young David, who became an avid reader, but he also loved scouring the countryside for animal, plant, and geological specimens in local limestone quarries. Other significant influences in his life were Thomas Burke, a Blantyre evangelist. At age nineteen, David and his left the Church of Scotland for a local Congregational church, influenced by preachers like Ralph Wardlaw. For Livingstone, this meant a release from the fear of eternal damnation, Livingstones reading of missionary Karl Gützlaffs Appeal to the Churches of Britain and America on behalf of China enabled him to persuade his father that medical study could advance religious ends. Livingstones experiences in H. Monteiths Blantyre cotton mill were important from ages 10 to 26. To enter medical school, he required some knowledge of Latin, a local Roman Catholic named Daniel Gallagher helped him learn Latin to the required level. Later in life, Gallagher became a priest and founded the third oldest Catholic Church in Glasgow, St Simons, a painting of both Gallagher and Livingstone by Roy Petrie hangs in that churchs coffee room. In addition, he attended divinity lectures by Wardlaw, a leader at this time of vigorous anti-slavery campaigning in the city, shortly after, he applied to join the London Missionary Society and was accepted subject to missionary training. He qualified as a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow on 16 November 1840, Livingstone hoped to go to China as a missionary, but the First Opium War broke out in September 1839 and the LMS suggested the West Indies instead. In 1840, while continuing his studies in London, Livingstone met LMS missionary Robert Moffat, on leave from Kuruman. He was excited by Moffats vision of expanding missionary work northwards, buxtons arguments that the African slave trade might be destroyed through the influence of legitimate trade and the spread of Christianity. Livingstone, therefore, focused his ambitions on Southern Africa, during this time, Livingstone was attacked by a lion while staying in an African village, trying to defend the villages sheep from the animal
David Livingstone
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David Livingstone
David Livingstone
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Livingstone's birthplace in Blantyre.
David Livingstone
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David Livingstone's birthplace The National Trust, having taken over the running of the museum from the original Trust, has recreated the look of the room of Livingstone's family using furnishings and artefacts from around 1800.
David Livingstone
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The journeys of Livingstone in Africa between 1851 and 1873
10.
Zambezi
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The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is 1,390,000 square kilometres, the Zambezis most noted feature is Victoria Falls. Other notable falls include the Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye Falls, near Sioma in Western Zambia, there is also a smaller power station at Victoria Falls. The area around the source is a monument, forest reserve. Eastward of the source, the watershed between the Congo and Zambezi basins is a belt of high ground, running nearly east-west. This distinctly cuts off the basin of the Lualaba from that of the Zambezi, in the neighborhood of the source the watershed is not as clearly defined, but the two river systems do not connect. The region drained by the Zambezi is a vast broken-edged plateau 900–1200 m high, composed in the interior of metamorphic beds. Coal is also found in the district just below Victoria Falls, gold-bearing rocks occur in several places. The river flows to the south-west into Angola for about 240 kilometres, then is joined by tributaries such as the Luena. It turns south and develops a floodplain, with extreme variation between the dry and rainy seasons. It enters dense evergreen Cryptosepalum dry forest, though on its western side, where it re-enters Zambia it is nearly 400 metres wide in the rainy season and flows rapidly, with rapids ending in the Chavuma Falls, where the river flows through a rocky fissure. The river drops about 400 metres in elevation from its source at 1,500 metres to the Chavuma Falls at 1,100 metres, in a distance of about 400 kilometres. From this point to the Victoria Falls, the level of the basin is very uniform, the first of its large tributaries to enter the Zambezi is the Kabompo River in the north-western province of Zambia. A major advantage of the Kabompo River was irrigation, civilization was built on farming, and the surplus of crops. The savanna through which the river has flowed gives way to a wide floodplain, a little farther south is the confluence with the Lungwebungu River. This is the beginning of the Barotse Floodplain, the most notable feature of the upper Zambezi, for more than 200 km downstream the annual flood cycle dominates the natural environment and human life, society and culture. Eighty kilometres further down, the Luanginga, which with its tributaries drains an area to the west. A few kilometres higher up on the east the main stream is joined in the season by overflow of the Luampa/Luena system
Zambezi
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The Zambezi River at the junction of Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana
Zambezi
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Victoria Falls, the end of the upper Zambezi and beginning of the middle Zambezi
Zambezi
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Annotated view of the Zambezi river delta from space.
Zambezi
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The Zambezi's delta.
11.
Victoria Falls
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Victoria Falls, or Mosi-oa-Tunya, is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has been described by CNN as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world, Livingstone named his discovery in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain, but the indigenous Tonga name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—The Smoke That Thunders—continues in common usage as well. The World Heritage List officially recognizes both names, the nearby national park in Zambia is named Mosi-oa-Tunya, whereas the national park and town on the Zimbabwean shore are both named Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North Americas Niagara Falls, in height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by Argentina and Brazils Iguazu Falls. For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley, bounded by low. The rivers course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the approaches the falls. There are no mountains, escarpments, or deep valleys, only a flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometres in all directions. The falls are formed as the width of the river plummets in a single vertical drop into a transverse chasm 1708 metres wide. The depth of the chasm, called the First Gorge, varies from 80 metres at its end to 108 metres in the centre. At less than full flood, additional islets divide the curtain of water into separate parallel streams, the main streams are named, in order from Zimbabwe to Zambia, Devils Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls and the Eastern Cataract. The Zambezi river, upstream from the falls, experiences a rainy season from late November to early April, at full moon, a moonbow can be seen in the spray instead of the usual daylight rainbow. During the flood season, however, it is impossible to see the foot of the falls and most of its face, close to the edge of the cliff, spray shoots upward like inverted rain, especially at Zambias Knife-Edge Bridge. At this time it becomes possible to walk across some stretches of the river at the crest and it is also possible to walk to the bottom of the First Gorge at the Zimbabwean side. Water entering the Second Gorge makes a right turn and has carved out a deep pool there called the Boiling Pot. Reached via a footpath from the Zambian side, it is about 150 metres across. Its surface is smooth at low water, but at high water is marked by enormous, slow swirls and heavy boiling turbulence. Objects—and humans—that are swept over the falls, including the occasional hippopotamus or crocodile, are frequently found swirling about here or washed up at the north-east end of the Second Gorge. This is where the bodies of Mrs Moss and Mr Orchard, the recent geological history of Victoria Falls can be seen in the form of the gorges below the falls
Victoria Falls
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Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls
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David Livingstone gazing upon the Falls, in bronze, from the Zambian shore.
Victoria Falls
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First Gorge, from Zambian side
Victoria Falls
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Satellite image showing the broad Zambezi falling into the narrow cleft and subsequent series of zigzagging gorges (top of picture is north).
12.
Gold prospecting
–
Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector, although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospecting has also become a popular outdoor recreation. Prospecting for placer gold is normally done with a pan or similar instrument to wash free gold particles from loose surface sediment. The use of gold pans is centuries old, but is common among prospectors and miners with little financial backing. Deeper placer deposits may be sampled by trenching or drilling, geophysical methods such as seismic, gravity or magnetics may be used to locate buried river channels that are likely locations for placer gold. Sampling and assaying a placer gold deposit to determine its economic viability is subject to many pitfalls, once placer gold is discovered, the gold pan is usually replaced by sluices or mechanical devices to wash greater volumes of material. Discovery of placer gold has often resulted in discovery of gold deposits when the placers are traced to their sources. Prospectors for hardrock, or lode gold deposits, can use many tools and it is done at the simplest level by surface examination of rock outcrops, looking for exposures of mineral veins, hydrothermal alteration, or rock types known to host gold deposits. Field tools may be nothing more than a hammer and hand lens. Hardrock gold deposits are more varied in mineralogy and geology than placer deposits, as with placer gold, the sophistication of methods used to prospect for hardrock gold vary with the financial resources of the prospector. Drilling is often used to explore the subsurface, surface geophysical methods may be used to locate geophysical anomalies associated with gold deposits. Samples of rocks or soil may be collected for geochemical laboratory assay, hardrock gold particles may be too small to see, even with a microscope. Most gold today is produced in large open-pit and deep underground mines, however, small-scale gold mining is still common, especially in developing countries. A recent study by Australian scientists found that termites have been found to excrete trace deposits of gold, according to the CSIRO, the termites burrow beneath eroded subterranean material which typically masks human attempts to find gold, and ingest and bring the new deposits to the surface. They believe that studying termite nests may lead to invasive methods of finding gold deposits
Gold prospecting
–
A gold pan.
Gold prospecting
–
Gold nuggets in a pan also from the Blue Ribbon Mine in Alaska.
Gold prospecting
–
Old workings in a
drywash in southern Arizona.
Gold prospecting
–
Using a
metal detector in a Southern California
desert, an individual prospector found this
gold nugget, known as the
Mojave Nugget, weighing 156 troy ounces (4.9 kg).
13.
Mashonaland
–
Mashonaland is a region in northern Zimbabwe. It is the home of the Shona people, the two had separate administrations for part of the BSA Company colonial period. Revolt broke out against the British South Africa Company in 1896, the British prevailed, executed some leaders, and tried to reform the system. In 1923, the became part of the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia. In 1970, an administrative reform led to Mashonaland being divided into a northern, most recently, in 1983, it was divided into the current three sectors and the capital city of Harare was given its own provincial status as well. Since the constitutional amendments that took effect in 1988, each is run by an appointed by the president. The territory is composed of a plateau that slopes gradually to the north. The lowest land is on its border, which is formed by the Zambezi River. A small part straddles the plateau at its edge and here the land drains into the Save River. To the south, the Munyati River forms the border with the current, the Nyangadzi river forms the border with Manicaland to the east. Much of the landform is rolling low hills divided by river valleys, about half the land is over 1200 m altitude and the central watershed in the south and centre is at 1500–1650 m. Only a few isolated mountains and the spine of the Umvukwes Range in the west rise higher, memories of Mashonaland, by G. W. H. Knight-Bruce,1895 account by Anglican bishop. James Anta, African Missionary to Mashonaland
Mashonaland
–
Map of Zimbabwe showing Mashonaland
14.
Rhodesia
–
Rhodesia, commonly known from 1970 onwards as the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territorial terms to modern Zimbabwe. With its capital in Salisbury, Rhodesia was considered a de facto successor state to the former British colony of Southern Rhodesia, the UDI administration initially sought recognition as an autonomous realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, but reconstituted itself as a republic in 1970. Following a brutal guerrilla war fought with two African nationalist organisations, Rhodesian premier Ian Smith conceded to bi-racial democracy in 1978, however, a provisional government subsequently headed by Smith and his moderate colleague Abel Muzorewa failed in appeasing international critics or halting the bloodshed. It finally achieved internationally recognised independence in April 1980, the nation was renamed the Republic of Zimbabwe. A wholly landlocked area, Rhodesia was bordered by South Africa to the south, Bechuanaland to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest, the state was named after Cecil Rhodes, whose British South Africa Company acquired the land in the late 19th century. The official name of the country, according to the constitution adopted concurrently with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, was Rhodesia and this naming dispute dated back to October 1964, when Northern Rhodesia became independent from Britain and concurrently changed its name to Zambia. The Southern Rhodesian colonial government in Salisbury felt that in the absence of a Northern Rhodesia, Salisbury went on using the shortened name in an official manner nevertheless, while the British government continued referring to the country as Southern Rhodesia. This situation continued throughout the UDI period, the shortened name was used by many people including the British government in the House of Commons. Southern Rhodesia subsequently gained international recognition of its independence in April 1980, in 1922, faced with the decision to join the Union of South Africa as a fifth province or accept nearly full internal autonomy, the electorate cast its vote against South African integration. In view of the outcome of the referendum, the territory was annexed by the United Kingdom on 12 September 1923, shortly after annexation, on 1 October 1923, the first constitution for the new Colony of Southern Rhodesia came into force. By colonial standards, public services were well-organised and praised for their efficiency, as it began to appear that decolonisation was inevitable and indigenous black populations were pressing heavily for change, the federation was dissolved in 1963. Rhodesian colonials initially balked at the suggestion, some felt they had a right to political control, at least for the time being. The authorities were also disturbed by the chaos which was plaguing other African nations at the time. Harold Wilson and his incoming Labour government took a harder line on demanding that these points be legitimately addressed before an independence agenda could be set. By 1964, growing dissatisfaction with the ongoing negotiations ousted Salisburys incumbent Winston Field, replacing him with Ian Smith, Smith, the colonys first Rhodesian-born leader, soon came to personify resistance to liberals in British government and those agitating for change at home. Emboldened by the results of referendum and the subsequent general election. Harold Wilson countered by warning that such a procedure would be considered treasonous, although he specifically rejected using armed force against the English kith. Wilsons refusal to consider a military option encouraged Smith to proceed with his plans, on 11 November 1965, following a brief but solemn consensus, Rhodesias leading statesmen issued their countrys unilateral declaration of independence
Rhodesia
–
Ian Smith signs the Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Rhodesia
–
Flag (1968)
Rhodesia
–
White soldier interrogates Rhodesian villagers about insurgent activity in late 1977. This photograph would become one of the most enduring images of the bush war.
Rhodesia
–
The
Umniati was downed by ZIPRA insurgents using a
SA-7 Grail surface-to-air missile on 12 February 1979. All 59 passengers and crew aboard were killed.
15.
James Chapman (explorer)
–
James Chapman, was a South African explorer, hunter, trader and photographer. A son of James Chapman and Elizabeth Greeff of Malmesbury and brother to Henry Samuel Chapman, he was educated in Cape Town and he was appointed as chief clerk in the Native Affairs Department in 1848. A year later he settled in Potchefstroom where he became one of the first storekeepers, shortly after, in 1852, he ventured across the Limpopo River and into Bamangwato country. He became friendly with Khama, one of the sons of Sekgoma, early the following year found him on the Zambesi River which he explored to within 70 miles of the Victoria Falls, almost beating David Livingstone to their discovery. By 1854 he had teamed up with Samuel H. Edwards, another explorer, an easygoing man, he was able to get on with the Bushman hunters of the semi-desert interior and spent long periods in their company, obtaining valuable help from them. Returning to Ngami, he travelled north to the Okavango River, crossing Damaraland, here he busied himself with cattle-trading in Damaraland, before setting out on an expedition with his brother Henry and Thomas Baines and lasting from December 1860 to September 1864. Their aim was to explore the Zambesi from the Victoria Falls down to its delta, however, these plans were bedevilled by sickness and misfortune. They did reach the Zambesi, but did not get to explore the mouth, on 23 July 1862 they reached the Victoria Falls. It was on this expedition that Baines painted many of his famous scenes which were reproduced in an album of prints and his attempt at exploring the Zambesi ruined his health and exhausted his finances. He returned to Cape Town in 1864, dispirited and fever-stricken, the expedition was notable since it was the first time that a stereoscopic camera had been used to record its progress. The size of the negatives was about 6 x 4.5 inches, prints of these photographs are at the Africana Museum in Johannesburg. Sir George Grey commissioned him to capture animals and to compile glossaries of the Bantu languages. Chapman kept diaries throughout his journeys, but his Travels in the Interior of South Africa appeared only in 1868, Chapman travelled at times with Francis Galton and C. J. Andersson. He attempted to farm at Anawood on the banks of the Swakop river in 1863 and 1864, from 1864 until 1870 he lived at various places in South Africa, but returned as a trader and hunter to Hereroland and Ovamboland between 1870 and 1871. He died at Du Toits Pan near Kimberley, on 4 February 1872, in 1857 he married Catherine Cecelia Roome, daughter of Capt. William Roome, and Catherine Cecelia Bushnell. James and Catherine had four children, one of their sons, William James Bushnell Chapman became a trader, hunter and farmer. He came to Namibia as a child in 1864, spent ten years in Cape Town and he traded and hunted in Ovamboland in 1875, then went to Angola in 1881 and farmed at Humpata pt, Humpata. He finally resettled in 1928 with other Angola Boers in the Gobabis district of Namibia, another son, Charles Henry Chapman, was born in Cape Town and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger
James Chapman (explorer)
–
Victoria Falls
Thomas Baines (1865)
16.
South West Africa
–
South West Africa was the name for modern-day Namibia when it was ruled by the German Empire and later South Africa. As a German colony from 1884, it was known as German South West Africa, germany had a difficult time administering the territory, which experienced many insurrections, especially those led by guerilla leader Jacob Morenga. The main port, Walvis Bay, and the Penguin Islands were annexed by Britain in 1878, following the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, Walvis Bay became part of the Cape Province. As part of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty in 1890, a corridor of land taken from the border of Bechuanaland. It was named the Caprivi Strip after the German Chancellor Leo von Caprivi, in 1915, during South West Africa Campaign of the First World War, South Africa captured the German colony. After the war, it was declared a League of Nations Class C Mandate territory under the Treaty of Versailles, from 1922, this included Walvis Bay, which, under the South West Africa Affairs Act, was governed if it were part of the mandated territory. South West Africa remained a League of Nations Mandate until World War II, the Mandate was supposed to become a United Nations Trust Territory when League of Nations Mandates were transferred to the United Nations following the Second World War. This was to the advantage of the National Party, which enjoyed support from the predominantly Afrikaners. Between 1950 and 1977, all of South West Africas parliamentary seats were held by the Nationalists, an additional consequence of this was the extension of apartheid laws to the territory. The ICJ also clarified that the General Assembly was empowered to receive petitions from the inhabitants of South West Africa and to call for reports from the mandatory nation, the General Assembly constituted the Committee on South West Africa to perform the supervisory functions. In 1956, the Court further ruled that the Committee had the power to grant hearings to petitioners from the mandated territory, in 1960, Ethiopia and Liberia filed a case in the International Court of Justice against South Africa alleging that South Africa had not fulfilled its mandatory duties. This case did not succeed, with the Court ruling in 1966 that they were not the parties to bring the case. There was a struggle between South Africa and forces fighting for independence, particularly after the formation of the South West Africa Peoples Organisation in 1960. In 1966, the General Assembly passed resolution 2145 which declared the Mandate terminated and it also ruled that all member states of the United Nations were under an obligation not to recognise as valid any act performed by South Africa on behalf of Namibia. South West Africa became known as Namibia by the UN when the General Assembly changed the name by Resolution 2372 of 12 June 1968. In 1977, South Africa transferred control of Walvis Bay back to the Cape Province, the territory became the independent Republic of Namibia on 21 March 1990, although Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands were only incorporated into Namibia in 1994. The South African authorities established 10 bantustans in South West Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s in accordance with the Odendaal Commission and these bantustans were replaced with separate ethnicity based governments in 1980
South West Africa
–
Map of the black homelands in
Namibia as of 1978
17.
Alfred Russel Wallace
–
Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection. This prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species and he was considered the 19th centurys leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the father of biogeography. Wallace was one of the leading thinkers of the 19th century. Wallace was strongly attracted to unconventional ideas and his advocacy of spiritualism and his belief in a non-material origin for the higher mental faculties of humans strained his relationship with some members of the scientific establishment. Aside from scientific work, he was a social activist who was critical of what he considered to be an unjust social and his interest in natural history resulted in his being one of the first prominent scientists to raise concerns over the environmental impact of human activity. Since its publication in 1869 it has never been out of print, Wallace had financial difficulties throughout much of his life. Alfred Wallace was born in the Welsh village of Llanbadoc, near Usk and he was the seventh of nine children of Thomas Vere Wallace and Mary Anne Greenell. Mary Anne was English, Thomas Wallace was probably of Scottish ancestry and his family, like many Wallaces, claimed a connection to William Wallace, a leader of Scottish forces during the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century. Thomas Wallace graduated in law, but never practised law and he owned some income-generating property, but bad investments and failed business ventures resulted in a steady deterioration of the familys financial position. His mother was from a middle-class English family from Hertford, north of London, when Wallace was five years old, his family moved to Hertford. There he attended Hertford Grammar School until financial difficulties forced his family to him in 1836. Wallace then moved to London to board with his older brother John and this was a stopgap measure until William, his oldest brother, was ready to take him on as an apprentice surveyor. While in London, Alfred attended lectures and read books at the London Mechanics Institute, here he was exposed to the radical political ideas of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen and of Thomas Paine. He left London in 1837 to live with William and work as his apprentice for six years, at the end of 1839, they moved to Kington, Hereford, near the Welsh border, before eventually settling at Neath in Glamorgan in Wales. Between 1840 and 1843, Wallace did land surveying work in the countryside of the west of England, by the end of 1843, Williams business had declined due to difficult economic conditions, and Wallace, at the age of 20, left in January. One result of Wallaces early travels is a controversy about his nationality. Since Wallace was born in Monmouthshire, some sources have considered him to be Welsh, one Wallace scholar has stated that the most reasonable interpretation is therefore that he was an Englishman born in Wales
Alfred Russel Wallace
–
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace
–
A photograph from Wallace's autobiography shows the building Wallace and his brother John designed and built for the Neath
Mechanics' Institute.
Alfred Russel Wallace
–
A map from
The Malay Archipelago shows the physical geography of the archipelago and Wallace's travels around the area. The thin black lines indicate where Wallace travelled, and the red lines indicate chains of volcanoes.
Alfred Russel Wallace
–
An illustration from The Malay Archipelago depicts the
flying frog Wallace discovered.
18.
The Malay Archipelago
–
It was published in two volumes in 1869, delayed by Wallaces ill health and the work needed to describe the many specimens he brought home. The book went through ten editions in the century, it has been reprinted many times since. At the same time, he describes his experiences, the difficulties of travel, the preface notes that he travelled over 14,000 miles and collected 125,660 natural history specimens, mostly of insects though also thousands of molluscs, birds, mammals and reptiles. The Malay Archipelago attracted many reviews, with interest from scientific, geographic, church, the book is much cited, and is Wallaces most successful, both commercially and as a piece of literature. In 1847, Wallace and his friend Henry Walter Bates, both in their twenties, agreed that they would jointly make a collecting trip to the Amazon towards solving the problem of origin of species. Wallace and Bates had been inspired by reading the American entomologist William Henry Edwardss pioneering 1847 book A Voyage Up the River Amazon, the ship and his collection were destroyed by fire at sea near the Guianas. Rather than giving up, Wallace wrote about the Amazon in both prose and poetry, and then set sail again, this time for the Malay Archipelago. The preface summarises Wallaces travels, the thousands of specimens he collected, and some of the results from their analysis after his return to England. In the preface he notes that he travelled over 14,000 miles and collected 125,660 specimens, mostly of insects,83,200 beetles,13,100 butterflies and moths,13,400 other insects. He also returned to England 7,500 shells,8,050 birds,310 mammals and 100 reptiles, the book is dedicated to Charles Darwin, but as Wallace explains in the preface, he has chosen to avoid discussing the evolutionary implications of his discoveries. The first chapter describes the geography and geology of the islands with particular attention to the role of volcanoes and earthquakes. The following chapters describe in detail the places Wallace visited, Wallace includes numerous observations on the people, their languages, ways of living, and social organisation, as well as on the plants and animals found in each location. He talks about the patterns he observes and their implications for natural history. He also narrates some of his experiences during his travels. The Malay Archipelago was largely written at Treeps, Wallaces wifes family home in Hurstpierpoint and it was first published in 1869 in two volumes by Macmillan, and the same year in one volume by Harper & Brothers. Wallace returned to England in 1862, but explains in the Preface that given the quantity of specimens and his poor health after his stay in the tropics. He noted that he could at once have printed his notes and journals, the book went through 10 editions, with the last published in 1890. The illustrations are, according to the Preface, made from Wallaces own sketches, photographs, Wallace thanks Walter and Henry Woodbury for some photographs of scenery and native people
The Malay Archipelago
–
Title page of first edition
The Malay Archipelago
–
Fold-out coloured map at front of book, showing Wallace's travels around the archipelago. The deep water that separates
Borneo from
Sulawesi (Celebes) and forms the
Wallace line is shown in darker green, shallow water in pale green.
The Malay Archipelago
–
"The Great Shielded Grasshopper" drawn and signed by
E. W. Robinson
The Malay Archipelago
–
"Remarkable Beetles Found at Simunjon, Borneo: Neocerambyx æneas, Cladognathus tarandus, Diurus furcellatus, Ectatorhinus Wallacei, Megacriodes Saundersii, Cyriopalpus Wallacei "
19.
Gweru
–
Gweru is a city near the centre of Zimbabwe. It is the capital of the Midlands Province, one of ten provinces in Zimbabwe. It became a municipality in 1914 and achieved city status in 1971, the name changed from Gwelo to Gweru in 1982. Before becoming a municipality, Gweru was known as The Steep Place after the Gweru rivers high banks when it was first settled by the Matabele, founded in 1894 by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson, modern Gweru was initially established as a military outpost. The Nalatale and Danangombe archaeological enclosures lie nearby, the known for its patterned brickwork. The surrounding area has deposits of gold, chrome, iron, asbestos and platinum. Gweru has become one of Africas busiest trade centers thanks to its production of textiles, dairy foods, footwear, Gweru is also well known for vibrant farming activities in beef cattle, crop farming, and commercial gardening of crops for the export market. Railways arrived in Gweru in 1902, national Railways of Zimbabwe have the countrys largest marshalling yard, Dabuka, on the south side of Gweru. As a central city, it has links to all the other cities. It is 164 km from Bulawayo,183 km from Masvingo,471 km from Beitbridge, Road names used are by destination only, for example the Harare-Gweru Road. There are only mainroads, no highways or freeways, Gweru shares an international relationship with the town of Basildon. The primary and secondary system of education has not changed much in structure for several decades, there was a surge of new colleges after 1980 when Zimbabwe gained independence and also when commercial courses became a popular requirement in industry. Midlands College of Commerce It provided courses in most commercial and practical subjects popular during that era for example, typing, bookkeeping, dress-making and these were examined by the UK-based Pitman Examinations Institute. This college stopped operating in the following the death of W. H Shumba in 1994. Founded by Dr Skhanyiso Ndlovu who is now the Minister of Information for Zimbabwe, ZDECO was formed soon after independence and is now one of the countrys largest adult education colleges. This training centre is linked to the Midlands Christian School. Midlands State University - formerly Gweru Teachers College www. msu. ac, the Boggie Clock Tower, located at the intersection of Main Street and Robert Mugabe Way, was built in 1928 in memory of Major William James Boggie. The clock tower is one of the citys most famous landmarks, Parliament Research Department, Gweru Urban Constituency Profile, Parliament of Zimbabwe, Published,2011, Retrieved,28 Apr 2014
Gweru
–
Gweru
Gweru
–
Boggie Clock (High Res)
Gweru
–
Image of the memorial clock tower in a postage stamp
Gweru
–
Gweru streets
20.
Lobengula
–
Lobengula Khumalo was the second and last king of the Northern Ndebele people. Both names, in the language, mean the men of the long shields. The Matabele were descendents of a faction among the Zulu who fled north during the reign of Shaka following the mfecane or difaqane, shakas general Mzilikazi led his followers away from Zulu territory after a falling out. In the late 1830s, they settled in what is now called Matabeleland in western Zimbabwe, the resulting kingdom was an Iron Age society in which the members of the tribe had a privileged position against outsiders whose lives were subject to the will of the king. In return for their privileges, however, the Ndebele people both men and women had to submit to a discipline and status within the hierarchy. That set out their duties and responsibilities to the rest of society, infringements of any social responsibility were punished with death, subject to the kings seldom-awarded reprieve. This tight discipline and loyalty were the secret of the Ndebeles success in dominating their neighbours. After the death of Mzilikazi, the first king of the Ndebele nation, in 1868, several impis disputed Lobengulas ascent, and the question was ultimately decided by the arbitration of the assegai, with Lobengula and his impis crushing the rebels. Lobengulas courage in the led to his unanimous selection as king. The coronation of Lobengula took place at Mhlanhlandlela, one of the military towns. The Ndebele nation assembled in the form of a semicircle, performed a war dance. A great number of cattle were slaughtered, and the choicest meats were offered to Mlimo, the Ndebele spiritual leader, great quantities of millet beer were also consumed. About 10,000 Matabele warriors in full war costume attended the crowning of Lobengula and their costumes consisted of a headdress and short cape made of black ostrich feathers, a kilt made of leopard or other skins and ornamented with the tails of white cattle. Around their arms they wore similar tails and around their ankles they wore rings of brass and their weapons consisted of one or more long spears for throwing and a short stabbing-spear or assegai. For defence, they carried large oval shields of ox-hide, either black, white, red, the Ndebele maintained their position due to the greater size and tight discipline in the army, to which every able-bodied man in the tribe owed service. The Ndebele army, consisting of 15,000 men in 40 regiments based around Lobengulas capital of Bulawayo, Lobengula was a big, powerful, man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes. He had well over 20 wives, possibly many more and his father, Mzilikazi, had around 200 wives. It is said that he weighed about 19 stone and he was a fine warrior but not an equal of his father
Lobengula
–
Lobengula Khumalo
Lobengula
–
The chameleon and the fly: "Did you ever see a
chameleon catch a fly? The chameleon gets behind the fly and remains motionless for some time, then he advances very slowly and gently, first putting forward one leg and then the other. At last, when well within reach, he darts his tongue and the fly disappears.
England is the chameleon and I am that fly." — Lobengula
Lobengula
–
Life in Bulawayo, ca. 1900
Lobengula
–
Lobengula's youngest daughter, ca. 1880-1910
21.
Northern Ndebele people
–
The Northern Ndebele people are a Bantu nation and ethnic group in Southern Africa, who share a common Ndebele culture and Ndebele language. The Northern Ndebele were historically referred to as the Matabele which was a European corruption of Ndebele and their history began when a Zulu chiefdom split from King Shaka in the early 19th century under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former chief in his kingdom and ally. Under his command the disgruntled Zulus went on to conquer and rule the chiefdoms of the Southern Ndebele and this was where the name and identity of the eventual kingdom was adopted. In the course of the migration, large numbers of conquered local clans and individuals were absorbed into the Ndebele nation, adopting the Ndebele language, historically the assimilated people came from the Southern Ndebele, Swazi, Sotho-Tswana, and amaLozwi/Rozvi ethnic groups. They were originally named Matabele in English, a name that is common in older texts, because that is the name as the British first heard it from the Sotho. They are now known as the Ndebele or amaNdebele. Life was simple for the Khumalos until the rise of chief Zwide, the Khumalos had the best land in Zululand, the Mkhuze, plenty of water, fertile soil and grazing ground. But in the early 19th century, they would have to choose a side between the Zulu and the Zwide and they delayed this for as long as they could. To please the Ndwandwe tribe, the Khumalo chief Mashobane married the daughter of the Ndwandwe chief Zwide and sired a son, the Ndwandwes were closely related to the Zulus and spoke the same language, Nguni, using different dialects. When Mashobane did not tell Zwide about patrolling Mthethwa amabutho, Zwide had Mashobana killed, thus his son, Mzilikazi, became leader of the Khumalo. Mzilikazi immediately mistrusted his grandfather, Zwide, and took 50 warriors to join Shaka, Shaka was overjoyed because the Khumalos would be useful spies on Zwide and the Ndwandwes. After a few battles, Shaka gave Mzilikazi the extraordinary honour of being chief of the Khumalos and to remain semi-independent from the Zulu and this caused immense jealousy among Shakas older allies, but as warriors none realised their equal in Mzilikazi. Mzilikazi collected all intelligence for the defeat of Zwide, hence, when Zwide was defeated, Shaka rightly acknowledged he could not have done it without Mzilikazi and presented him with an ivory axe. There were only two axes, one for Shaka and one for Mzilikazi. Shaka himself placed the plumes on Mzilikazis head after Zwide was vanquished, the Khumalos returned to peace in their ancestral homeland. This peace lasted until Shaka asked Mzilikazi to punish a tribe to the north of the Khumalo, after the defeat of Raninsi, Mzilikazi refused to hand over the cattle to Shaka. Shaka, loving Mzilikazi, did nothing about it, but his generals, long disliking Mzilikazi, pressed for action, and thus a first force was sent to teach Mzilikazi a lesson. The force was beaten by Mzilikazis 500 warriors, compared to the Zulus 3,000 warriors
Northern Ndebele people
–
Matebele warrior in dancing dress, by
Thomas Baines
Northern Ndebele people
–
A Matabele
kraal, as depicted by
William Cornwallis Harris, 1836
22.
Sketch (drawing)
–
A sketch is a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work. Sketches can be made in any drawing medium, the term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry medium such as silverpoint, graphite, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water colour. The latter two are referred to as water colour sketches and oil sketches. A sculptor might model three-dimensional sketches in clay, plasticine or wax, sketching is generally a prescribed part of the studies of art students. This generally includes making sketches from a model whose pose changes every few minutes. Underdrawing is drawing underneath the work, which may sometimes still be visible. Most visual artists use, to a greater or lesser degree, the term sketchbook refers to a book of blank paper on which an artist can, drawn sketches. The book might be purchased bound or might comprise loose leaves of sketches assembled or bound together, the ability to quickly record impressions through sketching has found varied purposes in todays culture. Courtroom sketches record scenes and individuals in law courts, Sketches drawn to help authorities find or identify wanted people are called composite sketches. Street artists in popular tourist areas sketch portraits within minutes, doodle Multi-Sketch Etch A Sketch, a toy Urban Sketchers This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Media related to Sketches at Wikimedia Commons
Sketch (drawing)
–
Jesus and the Adulteress. A sketched figure composition by
Rembrandt
Sketch (drawing)
–
Charcoal sketch of willows by
Thomas Gainsborough
Sketch (drawing)
Sketch (drawing)
23.
National Maritime Museum
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The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London, is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings form part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, the museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Like other publicly funded museums in the United Kingdom, the National Maritime Museum does not levy an admission charge. The Museum was created by the National Maritime Act of 1934 Chapter 43, under a Board of Trustees and it is based on the generous donations of Sir James Caird. King George VI formally opened the Museum on 27 April 1937 when his daughter Princess Elizabeth, the first Director was Sir Geoffrey Callender. Since earliest times Greenwich has had associations with the sea and navigation and it was a landing place for the Romans, Henry VIII lived here, the navy has roots on the waterfront, and Charles II founded the Royal Observatory in 1675 for finding the longitude of places. An active loans programme ensures that items from the collection are seen in the UK, through its displays, exhibitions and outreach programmes the Museum also explores our current relationship with the sea and the future of the sea as an environmental force and resource. The museum plays host to exhibitions, including Ships Clocks & Stars in 2014, Samuel Pepys, Plague, Fire, Revolution in 2015 and Emma Hamilton, Seduction. The collection of the National Maritime Museum also includes items taken from the German Naval Academy Mürwik after World War II, including several ship models, the museum has been criticized for possessing what has been described as Looted art. The Museum regards these cultural objects as war trophies, removed under the provisions of the Potsdam Conference, the Museum awards the Caird Medal annually in honour of its major donor, Sir James Caird. The Caird Library is a comprehensive specialist reference library and a research resource for all. The reading room is open Monday to Friday,10. 00–16.45, the Archive and Library holds a fantastic range of resources for finding out more about maritime history. Material includes manuscripts, books, charts and maps dating back to the 15th century, the collection can be used to research maritime history and exploration, the history of the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy and much more, including astronomy and timekeeping. Many of the resources they hold are useful for family historians, including collections of Master’s Certificates dating back to 1845. For news and interesting items from the collection, see Caird Library blog To request items to view in the Library, search Archive catalogue and Library catalogue. The Library has produced a range of guides to help people carry out their own research on a wide range of topics. The guides provide information about the Museums collections and other sources for research into maritime history, find out more about the research guides at Research Guides. The museum was established in 1934 within the 200 acres of Greenwich Royal Park in the buildings formerly occupied by the Royal Hospital School
National Maritime Museum
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National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
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Portrait of Captain
James Cook by
Nathaniel Dance at the National Maritime Museum.
National Maritime Museum
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The
Bretagne, painting by
Jules Achille Noël, 1859, at the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
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Admiral
George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith by George Sanders.
24.
Eastern Cape
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The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London and it was formed in 1994 out of the Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province. Landing place and home of the 1820 settlers, the central and this resulted in several anomalies including the fact that the Province has four supreme courts and enclaves of KwaZulu-Natal in the province. The latter anomaly has fallen away with amendments to municipal and provincial boundaries. The province is made of Mpondo clan. Some of the Mpondo clan went to this province when they were running away from King Shakas war, Mpondo people are more closely related to Xhosa, as they use Xhosa as their main home language. The west is mostly semi-arid Karoo, except in the far south, the coast is generally rugged with interspersed beaches. Most of the province is hilly to very mountainous between Graaff-Reinet and Rhodes including the Sneeuberge, Stormberge, Winterberge and Drakensberg, the highest point in the province is Ben Macdhui at 3001m. Eastern Cape has a shoreline on its east which lines southward, the west is dry with sparse rain during winter or summer, with frosty winters and hot summers. The area Tsitsikamma to Grahamstown receives more precipitation, which is relatively evenly distributed. Further east, rainfall becomes more plentiful and humidity increases, becoming more subtropical along the coast with summer rainfall, the interior can become very cold in winter, with heavy snowfalls occasionally occurring in the mountainous regions between Molteno and Rhodes. Port Elizabeth, Jan Max,25 °C, Min,18 °C, Jul Max,20 °C, Min,9 °C Molteno & Barkly East, Jan Max 28 °C, Min 11 °C, Jul Max,14 °C, Min, -7 °C The landscape is extremely diverse. The western interior is largely arid Karoo, while the east is well-watered, the Addo Elephant National Park, situated 73 km from Port Elizabeth, was proclaimed in 1931. Its 743 km² offers sanctuary to 170 elephants,400 Cape buffalo and 21 black rhino of the very scarce Kenyan sub-species. The National Arts Festival, held annually in Grahamstown, is Africas largest and most colourful cultural event, every year for 11 days the towns population almost doubles, as over 50,000 people flock to the region for a feast of arts, crafts and sheer entertainment. The Tsitsikamma National Park is an 80 km long strip between Natures Valley and the mouth of the Storms River. In the park the visitor finds an almost untouched natural landscape, aliwal North, lying on a splendid agricultural plateau on the southern bank of the Orange River, is one of the countrys most popular inland resorts and is famous for its hot springs. The rugged and unspoilt Wild Coast is a place of spectacular scenery, whittlesea, Eastern Cape, situated in the beautiful Amatola Mountains, is now famous for the first wine estate in the province. The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa and this is largely due to the poverty found in the former homelands, where subsistence agriculture predominates
Eastern Cape
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Aloe ferox on the R61 route between Cofimvaba and Ngcobo.
Eastern Cape
25.
Canberra
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Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of 381,488, it is Australias largest inland city, the city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory,280 km south-west of Sydney, and 660 km north-east of Melbourne. A resident of Canberra is known as a Canberran, the site of Canberra was selected for the location of the nations capital in 1908 as a compromise between rivals Sydney and Melbourne, Australias two largest cities. It is unusual among Australian cities, being a planned city outside of any state, similar to Washington, D. C. in the United States. Following an international contest for the design, a blueprint by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was selected. The Griffins plan featured geometric motifs such as circles, hexagons and triangles, the citys design was influenced by the garden city movement and incorporates significant areas of natural vegetation that have earned Canberra the title of the bush capital. Although the Australian Capital Territory is now self-governing, the Commonwealth Government retains some influence through the National Capital Authority, the Australian Armys officer corps is trained at the Royal Military College, Duntroon and the Australian Defence Force Academy is also located in the capital. The ACT is independent of any state to prevent any one state from gaining an advantage by hosting the seat of Commonwealth power, the ACT has voting representation in the Commonwealth Parliament, and has its own independent Legislative Assembly and government, similar to the states. Compared to the averages, the unemployment rate is lower. Property prices are high, in part due to comparatively restrictive development regulations. An 1830s map of the region by Major Mitchell indeed does mark the Sullivans Creek floodplain between two mountains as Nganbra. Nganbra or Nganbira could readily have been anglicised to the name Canberry, survey plans of the district dated 1837 refer to the area as the Canberry Plain. Although popularly pronounced /ˈkænbərə/ or /ˈkænbɛrə/, the pronunciation at its official naming in 1913 was /ˈkæn. brə/. Before white settlement, the area in which Canberra would eventually be constructed was seasonally inhabited by Indigenous Australians, archaeological evidence of settlement in the region includes inhabited rock shelters, rock paintings and engravings, burial places, camps and quarry sites, and stone tools and arrangements. Artefacts suggests early human activity occurred at some point in the area 21,000 years previously, European exploration and settlement started in the Canberra area as early as the 1820s. There were four expeditions between 1820 and 1824, white settlement of the area probably dates from 1823, when a homestead or station was built on what is now the Acton peninsula by stockmen employed by Joshua John Moore. He formally applied to purchase the site on 16 December 1826, on 30 April 1827, Moore was told by letter that he could retain possession of 1,000 acres at Canberry. The European population in the Canberra area continued to grow throughout the 19th century
Canberra
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Canberra, with the old and new
Parliament House in the centre, viewed from
Mount Ainslie
Canberra
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Blundells Cottage, built around 1860, is one of the few remaining buildings built by the first settlers of Canberra.
Canberra
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The opening of
Parliament House in May 1927.
Canberra
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Two of Canberra's best-known landmarks,
Parliament House and
Old Parliament House (foreground). Commonwealth Place runs alongside the lake and includes the International Flag Display.
Questacon is on the right.
26.
Greenwich
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Greenwich is an early-established district of todays London, England, centred 5.5 miles east south-east of Charing Cross. The town lends its name to the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich is generally described as being part of South-east London and sometimes as being part of East London. Greenwich is notable for its history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian. The town became the site of a palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century. The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was rebuilt as the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors by Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873, and they remained an establishment for military education until 1998 when they passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation. The historic rooms within these buildings remain open to the public, other buildings are used by University of Greenwich and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. The town became a resort in the 18th century and many grand houses were built there, such as Vanbrugh Castle established on Maze Hill. From the Georgian period estates of houses were constructed above the town centre, Greenwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created. The place-name Greenwich is first attested in a Saxon charter of 918 and it is recorded as Grenewic in 964, and as Grenawic in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for 1013. It is Grenviz in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Grenewych in the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of 1291, the name means green wic or settlement. An article in The Times of 13 October 1967 stated, East Greenwich, gateway to the Blackwall Tunnel, remains solidly working class, the manpower for one eighth of Londons heavy industry. West Greenwich is a hybrid, the spirit of Nelson, the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum, an industrial waterfront and a number of elegant houses, ripe for development. Royal charters granted to English colonists in North America, often used the name of the manor of East Greenwich for describing the tenure as that of free socage, New England charters provided that the grantees should hold their lands as of his Majesty’s manor of East Greenwich. Grants named the castle of Windsor, places in North America that have taken the name East Greenwich include a township in Gloucester County, New Jersey, a hamlet in Washington County, New York, and a town in Kent County, Rhode Island. Tumuli to the south-west of Flamsteed House, in Greenwich Park, are thought to be early Bronze Age barrows re-used by the Saxons in the 6th century as burial grounds, to the east between the Vanbrugh and Maze Hill Gates is the site of a Roman villa or temple. A small area of red paving tesserae protected by railings marks the spot and it was excavated in 1902 and 300 coins were found dating from the emperors Claudius and Honorius to the 5th century. This was excavated by the Channel 4 television programme Time Team in 1999, broadcast in 2000, the Roman road from London to Dover, Watling Street crossed the high ground to the south of Greenwich, through Blackheath
Greenwich
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Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Greenwich
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The view from
Greenwich Park, with the
Queen's House and the wings of the
National Maritime Museum in the foreground
Greenwich
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Boats at Greenwich at the end of the Great River Race
Greenwich
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The Royal Navy
Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender moored on the riverfront at Greenwich in 2015
27.
Project Gutenberg
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Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks. It was founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library, most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, as of 3 October 2015, Project Gutenberg reached 50,000 items in its collection. The releases are available in plain text but, wherever possible, other formats are included, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that are providing additional content, including regional, Project Gutenberg is also closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an Internet-based community for proofreading scanned texts. Project Gutenberg was started by Michael Hart in 1971 with the digitization of the United States Declaration of Independence, Hart, a student at the University of Illinois, obtained access to a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer in the universitys Materials Research Lab. Through friendly operators, he received an account with an unlimited amount of computer time. Hart has said he wanted to back this gift by doing something that could be considered to be of great value. His initial goal was to make the 10,000 most consulted books available to the public at little or no charge and this particular computer was one of the 15 nodes on ARPANET, the computer network that would become the Internet. Hart believed that computers would one day be accessible to the general public and he used a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence in his backpack, and this became the first Project Gutenberg e-text. He named the project after Johannes Gutenberg, the fifteenth century German printer who propelled the movable type printing press revolution, by the mid-1990s, Hart was running Project Gutenberg from Illinois Benedictine College. More volunteers had joined the effort, all of the text was entered manually until 1989 when image scanners and optical character recognition software improved and became more widely available, which made book scanning more feasible. Hart later came to an arrangement with Carnegie Mellon University, which agreed to administer Project Gutenbergs finances, as the volume of e-texts increased, volunteers began to take over the projects day-to-day operations that Hart had run. Starting in 2004, an online catalog made Project Gutenberg content easier to browse, access. Project Gutenberg is now hosted by ibiblio at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Italian volunteer Pietro Di Miceli developed and administered the first Project Gutenberg website and started the development of the Project online Catalog. In his ten years in this role, the Project web pages won a number of awards, often being featured in best of the Web listings, Hart died on 6 September 2011 at his home in Urbana, Illinois at the age of 64. In 2000, a corporation, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Long-time Project Gutenberg volunteer Gregory Newby became the foundations first CEO, also in 2000, Charles Franks founded Distributed Proofreaders, which allowed the proofreading of scanned texts to be distributed among many volunteers over the Internet
Project Gutenberg
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Michael Hart (left) and Gregory Newby (right) of Project Gutenberg, 2006
Project Gutenberg
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Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
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Formats
28.
Internet Archive
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The Internet Archive is a San Francisco–based nonprofit digital library with the stated mission of universal access to all knowledge. As of October 2016, its collection topped 15 petabytes, in addition to its archiving function, the Archive is an activist organization, advocating for a free and open Internet. Its web archive, the Wayback Machine, contains over 150 billion web captures, the Archive also oversees one of the worlds largest book digitization projects. Founded by Brewster Kahle in May 1996, the Archive is a 501 nonprofit operating in the United States. It has a budget of $10 million, derived from a variety of sources, revenue from its Web crawling services, various partnerships, grants, donations. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California, where about 30 of its 200 employees work, Most of its staff work in its book-scanning centers. The Archive has data centers in three Californian cities, San Francisco, Redwood City, and Richmond, the Archive is a member of the International Internet Preservation Consortium and was officially designated as a library by the State of California in 2007. Brewster Kahle founded the Archive in 1996 at around the time that he began the for-profit web crawling company Alexa Internet. In October 1996, the Internet Archive had begun to archive and preserve the World Wide Web in large quantities, the archived content wasnt available to the general public until 2001, when it developed the Wayback Machine. In late 1999, the Archive expanded its collections beyond the Web archive, Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software. It hosts a number of projects, the NASA Images Archive, the contract crawling service Archive-It. According to its web site, Most societies place importance on preserving artifacts of their culture, without such artifacts, civilization has no memory and no mechanism to learn from its successes and failures. Our culture now produces more and more artifacts in digital form, the Archives mission is to help preserve those artifacts and create an Internet library for researchers, historians, and scholars. In August 2012, the Archive announced that it has added BitTorrent to its file download options for over 1.3 million existing files, on November 6,2013, the Internet Archives headquarters in San Franciscos Richmond District caught fire, destroying equipment and damaging some nearby apartments. The nonprofit Archive sought donations to cover the estimated $600,000 in damage, in November 2016, Kahle announced that the Internet Archive was building the Internet Archive of Canada, a copy of the archive to be based somewhere in the country of Canada. The announcement received widespread coverage due to the implication that the decision to build an archive in a foreign country was because of the upcoming presidency of Donald Trump. Kahle was quoted as saying that on November 9th in America and it was a firm reminder that institutions like ours, built for the long-term, need to design for change. For us, it means keeping our cultural materials safe, private and it means preparing for a Web that may face greater restrictions
Internet Archive
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Since 2009, headquarters have been at 300 Funston Avenue in
San Francisco, a former
Christian Science Church
Internet Archive
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Internet Archive
Internet Archive
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Mirror of the Internet Archive in the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Internet Archive
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From 1996 to 2009, headquarters were in the
Presidio of San Francisco, a former U.S. military base
29.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
Virtual International Authority File
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Screenshot 2012
