1.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
2.
Astronomer
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An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who concentrates their studies on a specific question or field outside of the scope of Earth. They look at stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies, as well as other celestial objects — either in observational astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers work on include, planetary science, solar astronomy, there are also related but distinct subjects like physical cosmology which studies the Universe as a whole. Astronomers usually fit into two types, Observational astronomers make direct observations of planets, stars and galaxies, and analyze the data, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial bodies work, there are further subcategories inside these two main branches of astronomy such as planetary astronomy, galactic astronomy or physical cosmology. Today, that distinction has disappeared and the terms astronomer. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a Ph. D. in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend the majority of their time working on research, although quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments. The number of astronomers in the United States is actually quite small. The American Astronomical Society, which is the organization of professional astronomers in North America, has approximately 7,000 members. This number includes scientists from other such as physics, geology. The International Astronomical Union comprises almost 10,145 members from 70 different countries who are involved in research at the Ph. D. level. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes usually just a few weeks per year, analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers time. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes, most universities also have outreach programs including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums as a public service to encourage interest in the field. Those who become astronomers usually have a background in maths, sciences. Taking courses that teach how to research, write and present papers are also invaluable, in college/university most astronomers get a Ph. D. in astronomy or physics. Keeping in mind how few there are it is understood that graduate schools in this field are very competitive
3.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
4.
Cape of Good Hope
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The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa. In fact, the southernmost point of Africa is Cape Agulhas, when following the western side of the African coastline from the equator, however, the Cape of Good Hope marks the point where a ship begins to travel more eastward than southward. Thus, the first modern rounding of the cape in 1488 by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was a milestone in the attempts by the Portuguese to establish trade relations with the Far East. Dias called the cape Cabo das Tormentas, which was the name of the Cape of Good Hope. As one of the capes of the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a waypoint on the Cape Route and the route followed by clipper ships to the Far East and Australia. The term Cape of Good Hope is also used in three ways, It is a section of the Table Mountain National Park, within which the cape of the same name, as well as Cape Point. Prior to its incorporation into the park, this section constituted the Cape Point Nature Reserve. It was the name of the early Cape Colony established by the Dutch in 1652, just before the Union of South Africa was formed, the term referred to the entire region that in 1910 was to become the Cape of Good Hope Province. When Eudoxus was returning from his voyage to India the wind forced him south of the Gulf of Aden. Somewhere along the coast of East Africa, he found the remains of the ship, due to its appearance and the story told by the natives, Eudoxus concluded that the ship was from Gades and had sailed anti-clockwise around Africa, passing the Cape and entering the Indian Ocean. This inspired him to repeat the voyage and attempt a circumnavigation of the continent, organising the expedition on his own account he set sail from Gades and began to work down the African coast. The difficulties were too great, however, and he was obliged to return to Europe, after this failure he again set out to circumnavigate Africa. Although some, such as Pliny, claimed that Eudoxus did achieve his goal, in the 1450 Fra Mauro map, the Indian Ocean is depicted as connected to the Atlantic. It sailed for 40 days in a south-westerly direction without ever finding anything other than wind and water. According to these people themselves, the ship went some 2,000 miles ahead until - once favourable conditions came to an end - it turned round and sailed back to Cape Diab in 70 days. The ships called junks that navigate these seas carry four masts or more, some of which can be raised or lowered, and have 40 to 60 cabins for the merchants and only one tiller. They can navigate without a compass, because they have an astrologer, thus one can believe and confirm what is said by both these and those, and that they had therefore sailed 4,000 miles
5.
Biggleswade
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Biggleswade is a market town and civil parish located on the River Ivel in Bedfordshire, England. New housing developments mean that expansion is predicted to continue into the foreseeable future, Biggleswade is located about 40 miles north of Central London and 20 miles to the west-south-west of Cambridge. Situated with a station on the East Coast Main Line, Biggleswade is around half-an-hour from the city by train. In 2011 the population of the town was about 16,550, the Biggleswade civil parish also includes the nearby hamlet of Holme, Bedfordshire. The town lies just off the A1, Britains Great North Road between London and Edinburgh - and the B1040, which leads to Potton in the north, Biggleswade is also situated on the A6001, which leads to Langford and Henlow to the south. At the north end of Biggleswade past Shortmead House lies a solar farm, whilst a wind farm of ten turbines sits beyond the south end of the town. The area around Biggleswade is thought to have been inhabited from around 10,000 BC, in Roman times, a loop road known as the White Way passed through Biggleswade, linking up with the Ermine Way at Godmanchester. Biggleswade is mentioned in the Domesday Book, the entry reads Bichelesuuade/Pichelsuuade, Ralph de lIsle. 2 mills Variations on spelling include Bykeleswad, in 1396, the spelling Bykleswade and its variations occur in Law records of the 15th century, e. g. in 1430. In 2001 a gold bearing the name Coenwulf was discovered at Biggleswade on a footpath beside the River Ivel. The 4.33 g mancus, worth about 30 silver pennies, is only the eighth known Anglo-Saxon gold coin dating to the mid to late Anglo-Saxon period, the coins inscription, DE VICO LVNDONIAE, indicates that it was minted in London. In 1132, Henry I granted the manor of Biggleswade to Bishop Alexander – Alexander the Magnificent – of Lincoln to help endow Lincoln Cathedral. The town was granted a charter to hold a market during the reign of King John – a market is held in the market place in the centre of the town every Tuesday and Saturday. The medieval Church of St Andrew is the parish church. Biggleswade Castle existed in earlier times, as did a manor at Stratton Park Moated Enclosure, on 16 June 1785 there was a large fire in the town. The fire started at the Crown Inn and spread rapidly through the neighbouring streets, by the time the fire had been brought under control, nearly one-third of the town had been destroyed, including 103 houses leaving 332 people homeless. A national appeal was launched to raise funds for the people who had lost their homes. In the local church there is a stained glass window depicting the fire
6.
Royal Astronomical Society
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The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research. It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV, a Supplemental Charter in 1915 opened up the fellowship to women. Meetings are held in Burlington House, in Piccadilly, London and they are involved in the production of astronomical journals and periodicals. The society has over 3000 members, around a third of whom live outside the UK, in addition, those members of the public who have an interest in astronomy and geophysics and wish to support the work of the society may become Friends of the RAS. One of the activities of the RAS is publishing refereed journals. It publishes two primary research journals, the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in astronomy and the Geophysical Journal International in geophysics and it also publishes the magazine A&G which includes reviews and other articles of wide scientific interest in a glossy format. Fellowship is open to anyone over the age of 18 who is considered acceptable to the society, as a result of the societys foundation in a time before there were many professional astronomers, no formal qualifications are required. However, around three quarters of fellows are professional astronomers or geophysicists, the society acts as the professional body for astronomers and geophysicists in the UK and fellows may apply for the Science Councils Chartered Scientist status through the society. The fellowship passed 3,000 in 2003, in 2009 an initiative was launched for those with an interest in astronomy and geophysics but without professional qualifications or specialist knowledge in the subject. Such people may join the Friends of the RAS, which offers popular talks, visits, ordinary meetings featuring lectures about research topics in astronomy and geophysics are normally held in Burlington House in London on the second Friday of every month from October through to May. Reports of the meetings appear in The Observatory magazine, scientific discussion meetings about particular research topics are held on the day of the ordinary meetings. These allow several speakers to present new research results and experts to present reviews of scientific fields, discussion meetings on two different topics within astronomy and geophysics frequently take place in parallel at different locations within Burlington House. The Society occasionally hosts meetings in other parts of the United Kingdom, the Society also sponsors the National Astronomy Meeting, a week-long general conference of professional astronomers, normally held each spring at a university campus in the United Kingdom. The Society holds occasional lunchtime public lectures in Central London aimed at a general, non-specialist, the Royal Astronomical Society has a more comprehensive collection of books and journals in astronomy and geophysics than the libraries of most universities and research institutions. The library receives some 300 current periodicals in astronomy and geophysics and its collection of astronomical rare books is second only to that of the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh in the UK. The RAS library is a resource not just for the society but also the wider community of astronomers, geophysicists. The society promotes astronomy to members of the public through their outreach pages for students, teachers. The RAS has a role in relation to UK public examinations, such as GCSEs
7.
John Herschel
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Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH FRS was an English polymath, mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer, who also did valuable botanical work. He was the son of Mary Baldwin and astronomer William Herschel, nephew of astronomer Caroline Herschel, Herschel originated the use of the Julian day system in astronomy. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus, Herschel was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, the son of Mary Baldwin and William Herschel. He studied shortly at Eton College and St Johns College, Cambridge and it was during his time as an undergraduate that he became friends with Charles Babbage and George Peacock. He left Cambridge in 1816 and started working with his father and he took up astronomy in 1816, building a reflecting telescope with a mirror 18 inches in diameter and with a 20-foot focal length. Between 1821 and 1823 he re-examined, with James South, the stars catalogued by his father. He was one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820, Herschel was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order in 1831. He served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society three times, 1827–29, 1839–41 and 1847–49, a further complementary volume was published posthumously, as the General Catalogue of 10,300 Multiple and Double Stars. His views were published in an article entitled Light in 1828, the voyage to South Africa was made in order to catalogue the stars, nebulae, and other objects of the southern skies. This was to be a completion as well as extension of the survey of the northern heavens undertaken initially by his father William Herschel. He arrived in Cape Town on 15 January 1834 and set up a private 21 ft telescope at Feldhausen at Claremont, amongst his other observations during this time was that of the return of Comet Halley. Herschel collaborated with Thomas Maclear, the Astronomer Royal at the Cape of Good Hope, during this time, he also witnessed the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae. While in southern Africa, he engaged in a variety of scientific pursuits free from a sense of strong obligations to a larger scientific community. It was, he recalled, probably the happiest time in his life. Herschel used a camera lucida to obtain accurate outlines of the specimens, some 112 of the 132 known flower studies were collected and published as Flora Herscheliana in 1996. As their home during their stay in the Cape, the Herschels had selected Feldhausen, here John set up his reflector to begin his survey of the southern skies. — we must not impugn the Scripture Chronology, but we must interpret it in accordance with whatever shall appear on fair enquiry to be the truth for there cannot be two truths. And really there is enough, for the lives of the Patriarchs may as reasonably be extended to 5000 or 50000 years apiece as the days of Creation to as many thousand millions of years
8.
George Everest
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Colonel Sir George Everest FRS, FRAS was a Welsh surveyor and geographer, and the Surveyor General of India from 1830 through 1843. This survey was started by William Lambton in 1806 and it lasted for several decades, in 1865, Mount Everest was named in his honour in the English language, despite his objections, by the Royal Geographical Society. This enormous peak was surveyed by Radhanath Sikdar and named by Everests successor, Andrew Scott Waugh, Everest was born in Gwernvale Manor, just west of Crickhowell in Brecknockshire, Wales, in 1790, and he was baptised in Greenwich. Commissioned into the Royal Artillery, in 1818, Lt. Everest was appointed as assistant to Colonel William Lambton, on Lambtons death in 1823, Everest succeeded to the post of superintendent of the survey, and in 1830 he was appointed as the Surveyor-General of India. Everest retired in 1843 and he returned to the UK, where he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and he was dubbed a knight in 1861, and in 1862 he was elected as the vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society. Everest died in London in 1866 and is buried in St Andrews Church, Hove, Sir George had several siblings, including two younger brothers. Georges first younger brother was the Rev. Robert Everest, M. A. chaplain to the East India Company and author of A Journey Through the United States and Part of Canada. His second was the Rev. Thomas Roupell Everest, M. A. the father of Mary Everest, Sir Georges third daughter, Ethel Everest, was an associate of Emma Cons, and friend of Lilian Baylis. She provided financial support for the founding of Morley College in south London, one of Sir Georges sons, Lancelot Feilding Everest, was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar by Lincolns Inn. He practised as a barrister in chambers in London and was also the author of The Law of Estoppel. Lancelots eldest son, Cyril Feilding Everest, enlisted in the Canadian Infantry on 17 November 1914 and was killed in action on 9 October 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, Sir Georges niece, Mary Everest, married mathematician George Boole in Gloucestershire on 11 September 1855. In spite of the absence of training, Mary was a fine mathematician in her own right, as was one of her daughters. Alicias son, Leonard Boole Stott, studied medicine and became a pioneer in the treatment and control of tuberculosis, Everest owned a house in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, for about 11 years. He purchased it, sight unseen, from General Whish, although now virtually derelict, it still has its roof, and there have been various plans to make it into a museum. Built in 1832, the house is today as Sir George Everests House and Laboratory. The house is situated in Park Estate about 6 kilometres west of Gandhi Chowk / Library Bazaar and its location has panoramic views of the Doon Valley on one side and the Aglar River valley and the Himalayan Range to the north. The house is under the jurisdiction of the Tourism Department and these underground water cisterns are quite deep and lie uncovered in the front yard outside the house, filled with litter and posing danger of slipping. The interior has been stripped but the fireplaces, roof, the house is secured by steel grills and cannot be entered
9.
Table Mountain
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Table Mountain is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with visitors using the cableway or hiking to the top. The mountain forms part of the Table Mountain National Park, the main feature of Table Mountain is the level plateau approximately 3 kilometres from side to side, edged by impressive cliffs. The plateau, flanked by Devils Peak to the east and by Lions Head to the west and this broad sweep of mountainous heights, together with Signal Hill, forms the natural amphitheatre of the City Bowl and Table Bay harbour. The highest point on Table Mountain is towards the end of the plateau and is marked by Maclears Beacon. It is 1,086 metres above sea level, nou en about 19 metres higher than the station at the western end of the plateau. Legend attributes this phenomenon to a smoking contest between the Devil and a pirate called Van Hunks. When the table cloth is seen, it symbolizes the contest, immediately to the south of Table Mountain is a rugged plateau at a somewhat lower elevation than the Table Mountain Plateau, called the Back Table. The Back Table extends southwards for approximately 6 km to the Constantia Nek-Hout Bay valley, the Atlantic side of the Back Table, is known as the Twelve Apostles, which extends from Kloof Nek to Hout Bay. It is better known by the names of the areas on its the lower slopes, Groote Schuur Estate, Newlands Forest, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cecilia Forest. The upper approximately 600 m portion of the 1 km high table-topped mountain, or mesa, the Graafwater rocks can best be seen just above the contour path on the front of Table Mountain, and around Devils Peak. They can also seen in the cutting along Chapmans Peak Drive. These rocks are believed to have originated in shallow tidal flats, in which a few Ordovician fossils, the overlying TMS probably arose in deeper water, either as a result of subsidence, or a rise in the sea level. The Graafwater rocks rest on the basement consisting of Cape Granite, Devils Peak, Signal Hill, the City Bowl and much of the Cape Flats, however, rest on heavily folded and altered phyllites and hornfelses known informally as the Malmesbury shales. The Cape Granite and Malmesbury shales form the lower, gentler slopes of the Table Mountain range on the Cape Peninsula and they are of late Precambrian age, pre-dating the Graafwater rocks by at least 40 million years. The basement rocks are not nearly as resistant to weathering as the TMS, but significant outcrops of the Cape Granite are visible on the side of Lions Head. The weathered granite soil of the slopes of the Peninsula Mountain range are more fertile than the nutrient-poor soils derived from TMS. Most of the vineyards found on the Cape Peninsula are therefore found on granitic slopes of the Table Mountain range
10.
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
11.
Africa
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Africa is the worlds second-largest and second-most-populous continent. At about 30.3 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earths total surface area and 20.4 % of its land area. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, it accounts for about 16% of the human population. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos and it contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states, nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition. Africas population is the youngest amongst all the continents, the age in 2012 was 19.7. Algeria is Africas largest country by area, and Nigeria by population, afarensis, Homo erectus, H. habilis and H. ergaster – with the earliest Homo sapiens found in Ethiopia being dated to circa 200,000 years ago. Africa straddles the equator and encompasses numerous climate areas, it is the continent to stretch from the northern temperate to southern temperate zones. Africa hosts a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and languages. In the late 19th century European countries colonized most of Africa, Africa also varies greatly with regard to environments, economics, historical ties and government systems. However, most present states in Africa originate from a process of decolonization in the 20th century, afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of Africa, which in its widest sense referred to all lands south of the Mediterranean. This name seems to have referred to a native Libyan tribe. The name is connected with Hebrew or Phoenician ʿafar dust. The same word may be found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, under Roman rule, Carthage became the capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis, which also included the coastal part of modern Libya. The Latin suffix -ica can sometimes be used to denote a land, the later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqiya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name. According to the Romans, Africa lay to the west of Egypt, while Asia was used to refer to Anatolia, as Europeans came to understand the real extent of the continent, the idea of Africa expanded with their knowledge. 25,4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya, isidore of Seville in Etymologiae XIV.5.2. Suggests Africa comes from the Latin aprica, meaning sunny, massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning to turn toward the opening of the Ka. The Ka is the double of every person and the opening of the Ka refers to a womb or birthplace
12.
Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope
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The Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, is the oldest continuously existing scientific institution in South Africa. Founded by the British Cape Colony in 1820, it now forms the headquarters building of the South African Astronomical Observatory, the institution was located on a small hill 5 kilometres south-east from the centre of Cape Town. Over the following century a suburb of the city grew up in the area and it has also been the subject of an ICOMOS/IAU Case Study. The Royal Observatory was founded in 1820 by an Order in Council of King George IV of the United Kingdom and it remained a separate entity until 1972 when it was amalgamated with the Republic Observatory Johannesburg to form the present-day South African Astronomical Observatory. Its site is now the headquarters of the South African Astronomical Observatory, in accordance with its mandate, the principal activity of the Observatory was Astrometry and it was over its existence responsible for publishing many catalogues of star positions. An agreement to facilitate this was ratified on 23 September 1970, nevertheless, several telescopes remained in operation until the 1990s. These are rarely made use of today except for public outreach events, alan Cousins was the last serious observer to work from the Royal Observatory site. The Royal Observatory was responsible for a number of significant events in the history of astronomy, the second HM Astronomer, Thomas Henderson, aided by his assistant, Lieutenant William Meadows, made the first observations that led to a believable stellar parallax, namely of Alpha Centauri. However, he lost priority as the discoverer of stellar parallax to Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel who published his own observations of 61 Cygni before Henderson got around to his. This led him to undertake in collaboration with J. C. Kapteyn of Groningen the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, in 1886 he proposed to Admiral A. E. B. Mouchez of Paris Observatory the holding of a congress to promote a photographic catalogue of the whole sky. In 1887 this congress took place in Paris and resulted in the Carte du Ciel project, the Cape Observatory was assigned the zone between declinations −40° and −52°. The Carte du Ciel is regarded as the precursor of the International Astronomical Union and this paper also contains the first suggestion that stars obey a mass-luminosity relationship. A later 20th-century HM Astronomer, H, spencer Jones, was active in an international project for determining the solar parallax through observations of the minor planet Eros. During the 19th century the Observatory was regarded as the advisor to the colonial government on scientific matters. It served as the repository for standard weights and measures of the Colony and was responsible for timekeeping, a magnetic observatory was constructed in 1841 but burned down during the following decade. The Observatory also possesses a series of meteorological records. The history of the Royal Observatory has been the subject of several works, the Royal Observatorys directors were known as His or Her Majestys Astronomers at the Cape
Clerke, Agnes Mary (1893). "Maclear, Thomas". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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