1.
Flag of Tokelau
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As Tokelau is a non-self-governing territory of New Zealand, the flag of New Zealand has been used as the official flag for Tokelau. However, in May 2008 the local parliament, the General Fono, approved a distinctive flag and this flag has not yet been widely used for official purposes, but an official launch of the new flag was planned for October 2009. The Governor-General presented the flag to the Ulu-o-Tokelau as Tokelaus first official flag on 7 September 2009, a referendum on self-determination in 2006 failed to carry, and another one in October 2007 fell 16 votes short. An alternative and unofficial flag has been reported, the three stars in this flag represent the three atolls which make up the islands of Tokelau. In June 2007 the regional parliament decided over the flag, anthem. The proposed flag depicted a stylized Polynesian canoe and four stars, the stars represent the three main islands and also Swains Island, administered by the United States but claimed by Tokelau. As the required supermajority was not reached in the 2007 self-determination referendum, in May 2008, the General Fono approved the final versions of the national symbols of Tokelau. A national emblem was approved at this time. The flag was approved by the Genral Fono in February 2009, governor General presented the new flag to the Ulu as Tokelaus first official flag on 7 September 2009. An official launch of the new flag was planned for October 2009, badge of Tokelau Tokelau at Flags of the World Tokelau Flag and National Symbol Government of Tokelau College of Arms December 2009 Newsletter newsletter
Flag of Tokelau
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Flag selected by the General Fono in 2007
Flag of Tokelau
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Flag of Tokelau approved by the Fono in 2008 and by the Queen in 2009
2.
Badge of Tokelau
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The national badge of Tokelau depicts a tuluma, which is a traditional Tokelauan carved wooden “tackle box” used by local fishermen. A white cross in the centre of the tuluma and the inscription below Tokelau mo te Atua reflect the influence of Christianity in Tokelau. Tokelaus parliament, the General Fono, uses an identical design surmounted by St Edwards Crown, the General Fono approved a design for a national emblem in May 2008. Prior to 2008, the coat of arms of New Zealand, a new flag was also adopted at the same time. The badge of the General Fono of Tokelau is the emblem with the Royal Crown. It was approved by Garter Principal King of Arms and Queen Elizabeth II and presented to the Ulu-o-Tokelau, Aliki Faipule Salesio Lui, tuluma on the website of Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand
Badge of Tokelau
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Badge of Tokelau
3.
Realm of New Zealand
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The Realm of New Zealand is the entire area in which the Queen of New Zealand is head of state. New Zealand is an independent, sovereign state and it has one Antarctic territorial claim, the Ross Dependency, one dependent territory, Tokelau, and two associated states, the Cook Islands and Niue. The King/Queen of New Zealand, represented by the Governor-General of New Zealand, is head of state throughout the Realm of New Zealand, the exact scope of the realm is defined by the 1983 Letters Patent constituting the office of Governor-General. It constitutes one of 16 realms within the Commonwealth, the Cook Islands and Niue became New Zealands first Pacific colonies in 1901 and then protectorates. From 1965 the Cooks were self-governing, so was Niue from 1974, Tokelau came under New Zealand control in 1925 and remains a non-self-governing territory. The British government took possession of territory in 1923 and entrusted it to the administration of New Zealand. Neither Russia nor the United States recognises this claim, and the matter is left unresolved by the Antarctic Treaty and it is largely uninhabited, apart from scientific bases. New Zealand citizenship law treats all parts of the realm equally, so most people born in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, further conditions apply for those born from 2006 onwards. A governor-general represents the head of state in the area of the realm, essentially, Governors-General take on all the dignities and reserve powers of the head of state. From 31 August 2011 until 31 August 2016 the Governor-General was Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, dame Patsy Reddy was appointed to assume the position on 14 September 2016. The Realm of New Zealand is not a federation or a sovereign state. Both the Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in association with New Zealand. As such, the Parliament of New Zealand is not empowered to pass legislation in respect of these states. In foreign affairs and defence issues New Zealand acts on behalf of these countries, as the Governor-General is resident in New Zealand, the Cook Islands Constitution provides for the distinct position of Queens Representative. This individual is not subordinate to the Governor-General and acts as the representative of the Queen in right of New Zealand. Since 2013, Tom Marsters is the Queens Representative to the Cook Islands and this arrangement effectively allows for the de facto independent actions of internal and most external areas of governance. According to Niues Constitution of 1974, the Governor-General of New Zealand acts as the Queens representative, in the Cook Islands and Niue the New Zealand High Commissioner is the diplomatic representative from New Zealand. John Carter is the New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, mark Blumsky was the New Zealand High Commissioner to Niue from 2010 until he was replaced by Ross Ardern in early 2014
Realm of New Zealand
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New Zealand
4.
Fakaofo
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Fakaofo, formerly known as Bowditch Island, is a South Pacific Ocean atoll located in the Tokelau Group. The actual land area is only about 3 km², consisting of islets on a reef surrounding a central lagoon of some 45 km². According to the 2006 census 483 people officially live on Fakaofo, of those present 70% belong to the Congregational Church and 22% to the Catholic Church. The main settlement on the island is Fale on Fale Islet, located two kilometres to the west of it is the relatively large Fenua Fala Islet, where a second settlement was established in 1960. Other islets in the group include Teafua, Nukumatau, Nukulakia, Fenua Loa, Saumatafanga, Motu Akea, Matangi, Lalo, fakaofos Council of Elders is made up of citizens over the age of 60. The island was sighted by the whale ship General Jackson in 1835, in Twenty Years Before The Mast, Charles Erskine wrote The people found on this island had no knowledge of fire, which I believe, is the only instance of the kind on record. This book should not be confused with another book with a title by Richard Henry Dana. In a village on the island is a slab monument, personifying Tui Tokelau. Between 1856 and 1979, the United States claimed that it held sovereignty over the island, in 1979, the U. S. conceded that Tokelau was under New Zealand sovereignty, and a maritime boundary between Tokelau and American Samoa was established by the Treaty of Tokehega
Fakaofo
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The atoll of Fakaofo, southernmost of the Tokelau Islands
Fakaofo
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Fakaofo (village) square
Fakaofo
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Natives of Fakaofo; engraving after a drawing by
Alfred Thomas Agate
5.
English language
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English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
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The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
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Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
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Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
6.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
Demonym
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Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has not adopted the term "demonyn" for these adjectives and nouns
7.
Politics of Tokelau
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The politics of Tokelau takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency. The head of state of Tokelau is Queen Elizabeth II in right of her Realm of New Zealand, the monarch is hereditary, the administrator is appointed by the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The head of government is Afega Gaualofa, who presides over the Council for the Ongoing Government of Tokelau, the Council consists of the faipule and pulenuku of each of the three atolls. The office of head of government rotates between the three faipule for a one-year term, the Tokelau Amendment Act of 1996 confers legislative power on the General Fono, a unicameral body. The number of each atoll receives in the Fono is determined by population — Fakaofo and Atafu each have eight. Faipule and pulenuku also sit in the Fono, on 11 November 2004, Tokelau and New Zealand took steps to formulate a treaty that would transform Tokelau from a New Zealand territory to an entity that is in free association with New Zealand. Besides drafting a treaty, a United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination had to take place, the referendum, supervised by the UN, started on 11 February 2006 and finished on 15 February 2006. Although a 60% majority voted in favour of the proposal, a majority was required for the referendum to succeed. In June 2006, Kolouei OBrien announced that the Fono had agreed to another referendum. This second referendum took place between 20 and 24 October 2007 and again fell short of the majority required for independence. For the period 2011–13, the following were the faipule of the three atolls, sharing the following ministerial portfolios, foua Toloa was Ulu o Tokelau for the period from February 2011 to February 2012. Constitutional history of Tokelau Tokelauan general election,2008 The Modern House of Tokelau, Self-determination in a Pacific Atoll Nation Tokelau wonders, What have we done wrong
Politics of Tokelau
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Tokelau
8.
Constitutional monarchy
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A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign exercises their authorities in accordance with a written or unwritten constitution. A constitutional monarchy may refer to a system in which the acts as a non-party political head of state under the constitution. Political scientist Vernon Bogdanor, paraphrasing Thomas Macaulay, has defined a constitutional monarch as a sovereign who reigns, in addition to acting as a visible symbol of national unity, a constitutional monarch may hold formal powers such as dissolving parliament or giving royal assent to legislation. Many constitutional monarchies still retain significant authorities or political influence however, such as through certain reserve powers, the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms are all constitutional monarchies in the Westminster tradition of constitutional governance. Three states – Malaysia, Cambodia and the Holy See – are elective monarchies, the oldest constitutional monarchy dating back to ancient times was that of the Hittites. These were scattered noble families that worked as representatives of their subjects in an adjutant or subaltern federal-type landscape, the most recent country to move from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy was Bhutan, between 2007 and 2008. At the same time, in Scotland the Convention of Estates enacted the Claim of Right Act 1689, although Queen Anne was the last monarch to veto an Act of Parliament when in 1707 she blocked the Scottish Militia Bill, Hanoverian monarchs continued to selectively dictate government policies. For instance George III constantly blocked Catholic Emancipation, eventually precipitating the resignation of William Pitt the Younger as Prime Minister in 1801, Queen Victoria was the last monarch to exercise real personal power but this diminished over the course of her reign. In 1839 she became the last sovereign to keep a Prime Minister in power against the will of Parliament when the Bedchamber crisis resulted in the retention of Lord Melbournes administration, today, the role of the British monarch is by convention effectively ceremonial. No person may accept significant public office without swearing an oath of allegiance to the Queen, with few exceptions, the monarch is bound by constitutional convention to act on the advice of the Government. Constitutional monarchy also occurred briefly in the years of the French Revolution. As originally conceived, a monarch was head of the executive branch and quite a powerful figure even though his or her power was limited by the constitution. In many cases the monarchs, while still at the top of the political and social hierarchy, were given the status of servants of the people to reflect the new. In the course of Frances July Monarchy, Louis-Philippe I was styled King of the French rather than King of France, following the Unification of Germany, Otto von Bismarck rejected the British model. However this model of constitutional monarchy was discredited and abolished following Germanys defeat in the First World War. Later, Fascist Italy could also be considered as a constitutional monarchy and this eventually discredited the Italian monarchy and led to its abolition in 1946. After the Second World War, surviving European monarchies almost invariably adopted some variant of the constitutional monarchy model originally developed in Britain, nowadays a parliamentary democracy that is a constitutional monarchy is considered to differ from one that is a republic only in detail rather than in substance. However, three important factors distinguish monarchies such as the United Kingdom from systems where greater power might otherwise rest with Parliament, other privileges may be nominal or ceremonial
Constitutional monarchy
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Constitutional monarchies with representative
parliamentary systems are shown in green. Other constitutional monarchies are shown in light green.
9.
Monarchy of New Zealand
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The Crown is the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the New Zealand government, which is a Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. Most of the powers are exercised by the elected parliamentarians, the ministers of the Crown generally drawn from amongst them. The New Zealand monarchy has its roots in the British Crown, from which it has evolved to become a distinctly New Zealand institution, however, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role. New Zealand shares the same monarch with the other 15 monarchies in the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations, supports of the monarchy argue it costs New Zealand taxpayers only a small outlay for royal engagements and tours and the expenses of the governor-generals establishment. Monarchy New Zealand states his figure is one dollar per person per year. Thus, New Zealands line of succession remains identical to that of the United Kingdom, as such, the rules for succession are not fixed, but may be changed by a constitutional amendment. The Constitution Act 1986 specifies that should a regent be installed in the United Kingdom, upon a demise of the Crown, the late sovereigns heir immediately and automatically succeeds, without any need for confirmation or further ceremony—hence arises the phrase The King is dead. It is customary, though, for the accession of the new monarch to be proclaimed by the governor-general on behalf of the Executive Council of New Zealand. Following an appropriate period of mourning, the monarch is crowned in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual. After an individual ascends the throne, he or she continues to reign until death. One of the first post-Second World War examples of New Zealands status as an independent monarchy was the alteration of the title by the Royal Titles Act 1953. This is one of the key differences from the Queens role in England and this is done in reciprocation to the sovereigns Coronation Oath, wherein he or she promises to govern the Peoples of. According to their laws and customs. Though this power stems from the people, all New Zealanders live under the authority of the monarch, the government of New Zealand is defined by the constitution as the Queen acting on the advice of her Executive Council. In the construct of constitutional monarchy and responsible government, the advice tendered is typically binding, meaning the monarch reigns. The Royal Prerogative also extends to foreign affairs, the sovereign or the governor-general conducts treaties, alliances, the governor-general, on behalf of the Queen, also accredits New Zealand high commissioners and ambassadors, and receives similar diplomats from foreign states. In addition, the issuance of passports falls under the Royal Prerogative, the Crown is further responsible for summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the House of Representatives, after which the governor-general usually calls for a general election. The sovereign is responsible for rendering justice for all her subjects, however, she does not personally rule in judicial cases, instead the judicial functions of the Royal Prerogative are performed in trust and in the Queens name by Officers of Her Majestys Court
Monarchy of New Zealand
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Queen of New Zealand
Monarchy of New Zealand
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Coat of arms of New Zealand
Monarchy of New Zealand
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Charles, Prince of Wales, is the
heir apparent to the New Zealand throne
Monarchy of New Zealand
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The ministers of the
Fifth Labour Government with then
Governor-General Dame
Silvia Cartwright, 20 October 2005
10.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
Elizabeth II
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The Queen in March 2015
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 3, April 1929
Elizabeth II
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Princess Elizabeth aged 7, painted by
Philip de László, 1933
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth in
Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, April 1945
11.
Administrator of Tokelau
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The Administrator of Tokelau is an official of the New Zealand Government, responsible for supervising the government of the dependent territory of Tokelau. Certain of the Administrators powers and functions are set forth in the Tokelau Act 1948, the Administrator is assisted by a permanent staff of civil servants, which form the Office of the Administrator of Tokelau, a part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Besides these roles, the Office assists Tokelau to develop appropriate legal, governance, the Administrator acts as a representative, not of the Queen personally, but of the New Zealand Government. The Administration of Tokelau may also be overruled by the New Zealand Parliament, the Administrator is appointed by the New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs. This Colony was administered by officials responsible ultimately to the Colonial Office in London, in 1925, Tokelau was separated from the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, becoming its own colony. In reality, however, it was administered from New Zealand and this situation continued up until 1948, when sovereignty over Tokelau was transferred from the United Kingdom to New Zealand. In recent years, Administrators have tended to be civil servants, politicians
Administrator of Tokelau
–
Tokelau
12.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
New Zealand
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The Waitangi sheet from the
Treaty of Waitangi
New Zealand
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Flag
New Zealand
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Painting of
Mount Earnslaw by John Turnbull Thomson, oil on canvas, 1888
New Zealand
–
John Key,
Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008
13.
Geography of Tokelau
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Tokelau is an island country in the southern Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400. Its capital rotates yearly between the three atolls, Tokelau lies north of the Samoan Islands, Swains Island being the nearest, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands, and northwest of the Cook Islands. Until 1976, the name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is a leader in energy, being the first 100% solar powered nation in the world. Tokelau is a free and democratic nation with elections every three years, all run as independents, there are no political parties in Tokelau. The most spoken language in Tokelau is Tokelauan, at 93. 5%, a dependent territory of New Zealand, it is sometimes referred to by its older colonial name, the Union Islands. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a non-self-governing territory, however, Tokelau is officially referred to as a nation by both the New Zealand government and the Tokelauan government. The basis of Tokelaus legislative, administrative and judicial systems is the Tokelau Islands Act 1948, in 1992, the head of government was established, who is elected every 3 years. The national anthem is God Save the Queen, nonetheless, Tokelau continues to decrease in population. The largest settlement in Tokelau is Fale, Tokelau has the smallest economy in the world and has a life expectancy of 69, comparable with other Oceanian island nations. The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning north wind, the islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976, Tokelau includes three atolls in the South Pacific Ocean between longitudes 171° and 173° W and between latitudes 8° and 10° S, about midway between Hawaii and New Zealand. They lie about 500 kilometres north of Samoa, the atolls are Atafu, Nukunonu, both in a group of islands once called the Duke of Clarence Group, and Fakaofo, once Bowditch Island. Their combined land area is 10.8 km2, the atolls each have a number of coral islands, where the villages are situated. The highest point of Tokelau is just 5 metres above sea level, there are no ports or harbours for large vessels, however, all three atolls have a jetty to and from which supplies and passengers are shipped. Tokelau lies in the Pacific tropical cyclone belt, Swains Island was claimed by the United States pursuant to the Guano Islands Act, as were the other three islands of Tokelau, which claims were ceded to Tokelau by treaty in 1979. This established a defined boundary between American Samoa and Tokelau. Tokelauans have proved reluctant to push their national identity in the political realm
Geography of Tokelau
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Nukunonu Lagoon in Tokelau.
Geography of Tokelau
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Flag
Geography of Tokelau
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The
atoll of
Fakaofo, southernmost of the Tokelau Islands.
Geography of Tokelau
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A barge leaves the landing ramp in Nukunono to collect cargo and passengers from the MV Tokelau
14.
Demographics of Tokelau
–
Tokelau is an island country in the southern Pacific Ocean that consists of three tropical coral atolls with a combined land area of 10 km2 and a population of approximately 1,400. Its capital rotates yearly between the three atolls, Tokelau lies north of the Samoan Islands, Swains Island being the nearest, east of Tuvalu, south of the Phoenix Islands, southwest of the more distant Line Islands, and northwest of the Cook Islands. Until 1976, the name was Tokelau Islands. Tokelau is a leader in energy, being the first 100% solar powered nation in the world. Tokelau is a free and democratic nation with elections every three years, all run as independents, there are no political parties in Tokelau. The most spoken language in Tokelau is Tokelauan, at 93. 5%, a dependent territory of New Zealand, it is sometimes referred to by its older colonial name, the Union Islands. In 2007, the United Nations General Assembly designated Tokelau a non-self-governing territory, however, Tokelau is officially referred to as a nation by both the New Zealand government and the Tokelauan government. The basis of Tokelaus legislative, administrative and judicial systems is the Tokelau Islands Act 1948, in 1992, the head of government was established, who is elected every 3 years. The national anthem is God Save the Queen, nonetheless, Tokelau continues to decrease in population. The largest settlement in Tokelau is Fale, Tokelau has the smallest economy in the world and has a life expectancy of 69, comparable with other Oceanian island nations. The name Tokelau is a Polynesian word meaning north wind, the islands were named the Union Islands and Union Group by European explorers at an unknown time. Tokelau Islands was adopted as the name in 1946, and was contracted to Tokelau on 9 December 1976, Tokelau includes three atolls in the South Pacific Ocean between longitudes 171° and 173° W and between latitudes 8° and 10° S, about midway between Hawaii and New Zealand. They lie about 500 kilometres north of Samoa, the atolls are Atafu, Nukunonu, both in a group of islands once called the Duke of Clarence Group, and Fakaofo, once Bowditch Island. Their combined land area is 10.8 km2, the atolls each have a number of coral islands, where the villages are situated. The highest point of Tokelau is just 5 metres above sea level, there are no ports or harbours for large vessels, however, all three atolls have a jetty to and from which supplies and passengers are shipped. Tokelau lies in the Pacific tropical cyclone belt, Swains Island was claimed by the United States pursuant to the Guano Islands Act, as were the other three islands of Tokelau, which claims were ceded to Tokelau by treaty in 1979. This established a defined boundary between American Samoa and Tokelau. Tokelauans have proved reluctant to push their national identity in the political realm
Demographics of Tokelau
–
Nukunonu Lagoon in Tokelau.
Demographics of Tokelau
–
Flag
Demographics of Tokelau
–
The
atoll of
Fakaofo, southernmost of the Tokelau Islands.
Demographics of Tokelau
–
A barge leaves the landing ramp in Nukunono to collect cargo and passengers from the MV Tokelau
15.
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
This is a list of countries and dependent territories by population. For instance, the United Kingdom is considered as a single entity while the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are considered separately, in addition, this list includes certain states with limited recognition not found in ISO 3166-1. The population figures do not reflect the practice of countries that report significantly different populations of citizens domestically, some countries, notably Thailand, do not report total population, exclusively counting citizens, for total populations an international agency must issue an estimate. Also given in percent is each countrys population compared to the population of the world, figures used in this chart are based on the most up to date estimate or projections by the national census authority where available, and are usually rounded off. Where updated national data are not available, figures are based on the projections for 2016 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Because the compiled figures are not collected at the time in every country, or at the same level of accuracy. Furthermore, the addition of figures from all countries may not equal the world total, a handful of nations have not conducted a census in over 30 years, providing high error margin estimates only. Areas that form parts of sovereign states, such as the countries of the United Kingdom, are counted as part of the sovereign states concerned. Note, All dependent territories or constituent countries that are parts of states are shown in italics
List of countries and dependencies by population
–
A map of world population in 2014
16.
Gross domestic product
–
Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
Gross domestic product
–
Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocks) in no particular order
17.
Purchasing power parity
–
Observed deviations of the exchange rate from purchasing power parity are measured by deviations of the real exchange rate from its PPP value of 1. PPP exchange rates help to minimize misleading international comparisons that can arise with the use of exchange rates. For example, suppose that two countries produce the same amounts of goods as each other in each of two different years. But if one countrys GDP is converted into the countrys currency using PPP exchange rates instead of observed market exchange rates. The idea originated with the School of Salamanca in the 16th century, the best-known purchasing power adjustment is the Geary–Khamis dollar. The real exchange rate is equal to the nominal exchange rate. If purchasing power parity held exactly, then the exchange rate would always equal one. However, in practice the exchange rates exhibit both short run and long run deviations from this value, for example due to reasons illuminated in the Balassa–Samuelson theorem. There can be marked differences between purchasing power adjusted incomes and those converted via market exchange rates. This discrepancy has large implications, for instance, when converted via the exchange rates GDP per capita in India is about US$1,965 while on a PPP basis it is about US$7,197. At the other extreme, Denmarks nominal GDP per capita is around US$62,100, the purchasing power parity exchange rate serves two main functions. PPP exchange rates can be useful for making comparisons between countries because they stay fairly constant from day to day or week to week and only change modestly, if at all, from year to year. The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries, people in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and this is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods, furthermore, the basket of goods representative of one economy will vary from that of another, Americans eat more bread, Chinese more rice. Hence a PPP calculated using the US consumption as a base will differ from that calculated using China as a base, additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when more than two countries are to be compared. Various ways of averaging bilateral PPPs can provide a stable multilateral comparison. These are all issues of indexing, as with other price indices there is no way to reduce complexity to a single number that is equally satisfying for all purposes
Purchasing power parity
–
Big Mac hamburgers, like this one from
Japan, are similar worldwide.
Purchasing power parity
–
GDP Per capita by
countries in 2014, calculated using PPP
exchange rates, based on
IMF data.
18.
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
–
The gross domestic product per capita figures on this page are derived from PPP calculations. Such calculations are prepared by various organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and this is why GDP per capita is often considered one of the indicators of a countrys standard of living, although this can be problematic because GDP per capita is not a measure of personal income. Several economies which are not considered to be sovereign states are included in the list because they appear in the sources and these economies are not ranked in the following tables, but are listed in sequence for comparison. Non-sovereign entities, former countries or other groupings are marked in italics. All figures are in current Geary–Khamis dollars, more known as international dollars
List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita
19.
ISO 4217
–
The ISO4217 code list is used in banking and business globally. ISO4217 codes are used on tickets and international train tickets to remove any ambiguity about the price. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself, so Japans currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the dollar, franc, peso and pound being used in dozens of different countries. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency codes last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. Other changes can be seen, however, the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB and these currency units are denominated as one troy ounce of the specified metal as opposed to USD1 or EUR1. The code XTS is reserved for use in testing, the code XXX is used to denote a transaction involving no currency. There are also codes specifying certain monetary instruments used in international finance, the codes for most supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO. The predecessor to the euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU, the use of an initial letter X for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned. Because of this rule ISO4217 can use X codes without risk of clashing with a country code. ISO3166 country codes beginning with X are used for private custom use, consequently, ISO4217 can use X codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes. The inclusion of EU in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list, the ISO4217 standard includes a crude mechanism for expressing the relationship between a major currency unit and its corresponding minor currency unit. This mechanism is called the exponent and assumes a base of 10. For example, USD is equal to 100 of its currency unit the cent. So the USD has exponent 2, the code JPY is given the exponent 0, because its minor unit, the sen, although nominally valued at 1/100 of a yen, is of such negligible value that it is no longer used. Usually, as with the USD, the currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but in some cases 1/1000 is used. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya equal to 5 khoums, some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all and these are given an exponent of 0, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value. There is also a code number assigned to each currency
ISO 4217
–
An
airline ticket showing the price in the ISO 4217 code "
EUR " (bottom left) and not the
currency sign €
ISO 4217
–
A list of exchange rates for various base currencies given by a
money changer in Thailand, with the Thailand Baht as the counter (or quote) currency.
20.
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
Coordinated Universal Time
–
Key concepts
Coordinated Universal Time
–
World map of current time zones
21.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
This is so fundamental to traffic flow that it is sometimes referred to as the rule of the road. About two-thirds of the population use RHT, with the remaining 76 countries and territories using LHT. Countries that use LHT account for about a sixth of the worlds area, in the early 1900s some countries including Canada, Spain, and Brazil had different rules in different parts of the country. During the 1900s many countries standardised within their jurisdictions, and changed from LHT to RHT, in 1919,104 of the worlds territories were LHT and an equal number were RHT. From 1919 to 1986,34 of the LHT territories switched to RHT, many of the countries with LHT are former British colonies in the Caribbean, Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Mozambique, Suriname, East Timor, in Europe, only four countries still drive on the left, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus, all of which are islands. Nearly all countries use one side or the other throughout their entire territory, most exceptions are due to historical considerations and involve islands with no road connection to the main part of a country. China is RHT except the Special Administrative Regions of China of Hong Kong, the United States is RHT except the United States Virgin Islands. The United Kingdom is LHT, but its overseas territories of Gibraltar, according to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, water traffic is RHT. For aircraft the US Federal Aviation Regulations provide for passing on the right, light rail vehicles generally operate on the same side as other road traffic in the country. Many countries use RHT for automobiles but LHT for trains, often because of the influence of the British on early railway systems, in some countries rail traffic remained LHT after automobile traffic switched to RHT, for example in China, Brazil, and Argentina. However, France, Belgium, and Switzerland have used RHT for automobiles since their introduction, there is no technical reason to prefer one side over the other. Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Roman troops kept to the left when marching, in 1998, archaeologists found a well-preserved double track leading to a Roman quarry near Swindon. The first reference in English law to an order for LHT was in 1756, northcote Parkinson, believed that ancient travellers on horseback or on foot generally kept to the left, since most people were right handed. If two men riding on horseback were to start a fight, each would edge toward the left, in the year 1300, Pope Boniface VIII directed pilgrims to keep left. In the late 1700s, traffic in the United States was RHT based on use of large freight wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. The wagons had no seat, so a postilion sat on the left rear horse. Seated on the left, the driver preferred that other wagons pass him on the left so that he could be sure to keep clear of the wheels of oncoming wagons, in France, traditionally foot traffic had kept right, while carriage traffic kept left
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
A sign on
Australia 's
Great Ocean Road reminding foreign motorists to keep left. Such signs are placed at the exit of parking areas associated with scenic views, where other road traffic may at times be sparse.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
Right-hand traffic
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
One of many road signs in the British county of
Kent placed on the right-hand side of the road.
Right- and left-hand traffic
–
The change of traffic directions at the Laos–Thai border takes place on Lao territory just off the
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge.
22.
World Factbook
–
The World Factbook is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available from the National Technical Information Service, Other companies—such as Skyhorse Publishing—also print a paper edition. The Factbook is available in the form of a website that is updated every week. It is also available for download for use off-line, the World Factbook is prepared by the CIA for the use of U. S. Government officials, and its style, format, coverage, and content are primarily designed to meet their requirements. However, it is used as a resource for academic research papers. As a work of the U. S. Government, it is in the domain in the United States. In researching the Factbook, the CIA uses the sources listed below, Other public and private sources are also consulted. However, the CIA requests that it be cited when the Factbook is used, copying the official seal of the CIA without permission is prohibited by U. S. federal law—specifically, the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949. Before November 2001 The World Factbook website was updated yearly, from 2004 to 2010 it was updated every two weeks, since 2010 it has been updated weekly, generally, information currently available as of January 1 of the current year is used in preparing the Factbook. The first, classified, edition of Factbook was published in August 1962, the World Factbook was first available to the public in print in 1975. In 2008 the CIA discontinued printing the Factbook themselves, instead turning printing responsibilities over to the Government Printing Office and this happened due to a CIA decision to focus Factbook resources on the online edition. The Factbook has been on the World Wide Web since October 1994, the web version gets an average of 6 million visits per month, it can also be downloaded. The official printed version is sold by the Government Printing Office, in past years, the Factbook was available on CD-ROM, microfiche, magnetic tape, and floppy disk. Many Internet sites use information and images from the CIA World Factbook, several publishers, including Grand River Books, Potomac Books, and Skyhorse Publishing have re-published the Factbook in recent years. As of July 2011, The World Factbook consists of 267 entities and these entities can be divided into categories. They are, Independent countries This category has independent countries, which the CIA defines as people politically organized into a state with a definite territory. In this category, there are 195 entities, others The Other category is a list of other places set apart from the list of independent countries. Currently there are two, Taiwan and the European Union, dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty This category is a list of places affiliated with another country
World Factbook
–
Cover of the latest government print edition of The World Factbook (2013–14 edition)
World Factbook
–
A map of
Serbia and Montenegro from the 2000 edition of The World Factbook. Notice how the disclaimer is printed in the upper right hand corner. One can see how the capital cities of both republics are individually labeled on the map.
23.
Swains Island
–
Swains Island is an atoll in the Tokelau chain. Culturally a part of Tokelau, it is administered by the United States as part of American Samoa, Swains Island is also known as Olosenga Island or Olohega Island. Owned by the Jennings family and used as a plantation, Swains Island has a population of 17 Tokelauans. The land area is 1.5 km2, Swains Island has also been known at various times as Olosenga Island, Olohega Island, Quiros Island, Gente Hermosa Island, and Jennings Island. Swains Island has an area of 460.9 acres. The central lagoon accounts for 88 acres, there is a small islet of 914 square yards in the eastern part of the lagoon. The atoll is somewhat unusual, featuring a circle of land enclosing a formerly freshwater lagoon cut off from the sea. Recent U. S. Coast Guard visitors to Swains described its lagoon as brackish, as of 2005, the population of Swains Island was 37, all located in the village of Taulaga on the islands west side. A communications building, school, and church rounded out Taulagas buildings, only the church remained standing after Cyclone Percy in 2005, though other structures have since been rebuilt. The 2010 United States Census reported only 17 inhabitants on the island, the village of Etena in the southeast, once home to the expansive residency of Swains unique dynasty of proprietors, is now abandoned. This residency, as it was called, consisted of a rustic four-bedroom house built in the 1800s to accommodate the Jennings family, owners of the island. A visitor to Swains Island in the 1920s described the mansion as being dilapidated, though stately, a road, the Old Belt Road, once ran around the island rim, but it seems to have been reduced in recent years to an overgrown jungle trail. Swains Islanders mainly speak Tokelauan, although English is the administrative language of American Samoa. Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Portuguese navigator sailing for Spain, is believed to have been the first European explorer to have visited Swains Island and he named it Isla de la Gente Hermosa, which means island of the beautiful people in Spanish. Later, there was an expedition from Fakaofo to the island, the male inhabitants of the island either fled or were killed by the invaders, while the women were taken back to Fakaofo. The subsequent infertility of the island, attributed to a curse placed on it by its last chief, led to the failure of the Fakaofoan settlement there. Captain William L. Hudson of the American ship Peacock visited the atoll in 1841, at the request of Commodore Charles Wilkes, but was unable to land due to stormy weather. Fakaofoans returned to the soon after Hudsons visit, and were joined by three Frenchmen, who then left to sell the coconut oil they had accumulated
Swains Island
–
Swains Island
Swains Island
24.
United States Exploring Expedition
–
The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, funding for the original expedition was requested by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, however, Congress would not implement funding until eight years later. In May 1836, the oceanic exploration voyage was finally authorized by Congress, the expedition is sometimes called the U. S. Ex. Ex. for short, or the Wilkes Expedition in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, the expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States, in particular the then-young field of oceanography. During the event, armed conflict between Pacific islanders and the expedition was common and dozens of natives were killed in action and it was to promote commerce and to offer protection to the heavy investment in the whaling and seal hunting industries, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean. Congress also agreed that a ship or ships should be used. At the time, the ships owned by the government capable of such a circumnavigation were those of the navy. So, in fact, Congress had decided that an expedition be authorized. The veteran US Sloop-of-war Peacock was decommissioned and broken down in 1827 to be rebuilt as USS Peacock, intended as an exploration ship. There were to be many unforeseen impediments and it was not until May 18,1836, that an act was passed, which authorized funding, and approved by President Andrew Jackson, Adams political rival. Even with the burden of finance lifted, there were two years of alteration of formation and command before six oddly assorted ships moved down from Norfolk to Hampton Roads on August 9,1838. On August 17, they were joined by the tenders Sea Gull and Flying-Fish, due to light breezes, the expedition did not discharge their pilots until 09,00 August 19, when they passed Cape Henry Light. By 11,00, the fleet was standing to open seas. Originally, the expedition was organized under Commodore Jones, however, several more senior officers had either resigned from or indicated their unwillingness to accept command of the expedition. Command was finally vested in Lieutenant Wilkes, the three duties laid down were daunting to officers trained only in fighting ships. As well, a scientific corps was to be included as an additional command responsibility. There were few officers in the American navy at that time with any surveying experience, the United States Coast Survey, where most of the surveyors were employed and learned their trade, was a civilian organization. Wilkes, who had trained himself in surveying work, cut the excessively large number of scientists down to nine
United States Exploring Expedition
–
"Andes near Alparmarca, Peru: Sketched from an Elevation of 16,000 Feet". Illustration by
Alfred Thomas Agate from the South American portion of the United States Exploring Expedition, digitally restored.
United States Exploring Expedition
–
USS Vincennes at Disappointment Bay,
Antarctica in early 1840
United States Exploring Expedition
–
The attack on Malolo by Alfred Agate.
United States Exploring Expedition
–
Tuvaluan man in traditional costume drawn by
Alfred Thomas Agate in 1841.
25.
Atoll
–
An atoll, sometimes called a coral atoll, is a ring-shaped coral reef including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands/cays on the rim, the coral of the atoll often sits atop the rim of an extinct seamount or volcano which has eroded or subsided partially beneath the water. The lagoon forms over the crater or caldera while the higher rim remains above water or at shallow depths that permit the coral to grow. For the atoll to persist, continued erosion or subsidence must be at a slow enough to permit reef growth upwards and outwards to replace the lost height. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu, meaning an administrative subdivision, the distribution of atolls around the globe is instructive, most of the worlds atolls are in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean has no large groups of atolls, other than eight atolls east of Nicaragua that belong to the Colombian department of San Andres and Providencia in the Caribbean. Reef-building corals will thrive only in tropical and subtropical waters of oceans and seas. The northernmost atoll of the world is Kure Atoll at 28°24 N, the southernmost atolls of the world are Elizabeth Reef at 29°58 S, and nearby Middleton Reef at 29°29 S, in the Tasman Sea, both of which are part of the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The next southerly atoll is Ducie Island in the Pitcairn Islands Group, at this latitude coral reefs would not develop without the warming waters of the Gulf Stream. However, Bermuda is termed a pseudo-atoll because its general form, while there is no atoll directly on the equator, the closest atoll to the Equator is Aranuka of Kiribati, with its southern tip just 12 km north of the equator. In most cases, the area of an atoll is very small in comparison to the total area. Atoll islands are low lying, with their elevations less than 5 meters, measured by total area, Lifou is the largest raised coral atoll of the world, followed by Rennell Island. More sources however list as the largest atoll in the world in terms of land area Kiritimati, the remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km², the largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. In time, subsidence carries the old volcano below the ocean surface, at this point, the island has become an atoll. Atolls are the product of the growth of marine organisms. Volcanic islands located beyond the water temperature requirements of hermatypic organisms become seamounts as they subside and are eroded away at the surface
Atoll
–
Satellite picture of the
Atafu atoll in
Tokelau in the Pacific Ocean
Atoll
–
NASA satellite image of some of the
atolls of the Maldives, which consists of 1,322 islands arranged into 26 atolls.
Atoll
–
Nukuoro from space. Courtesy
NASA.
Atoll
–
Aerial view of
Bora Bora
26.
Atafu
–
Atafu, formerly known as the Duke of York Group, is a group of 42 coral islets within Tokelau in the south Pacific Ocean,500 kilometres north of Samoa. Covering 2.5 square kilometres, it is the smallest of the three islands that constitute Tokelau, and is composed of an atoll surrounding a central lagoon, the atoll lies some 800 kilometres south of the equator at 8°35 South, 172°30 West. According to the 2006 census 524 people officially live on Atafu, of those present, 95% belong to the Congregational Church. The main settlement on the atoll is located on Atafu Island at the corner of the atoll. The Presbyterian church was established on the island in 1858, the first village on Atafu was established at the southern end of the islet, and residents built houses along the lagoon shore to receive the cooling trade winds. The men on Atafu are highly skilled at fishing, and they use traditional methods that are passed on from fathers to sons. They make highly effective lures, fish traps, nets, and seines and they also make well-crafted canoes, which are important vehicles for their fishing expeditions. Atafu lies in the Pacific hurricane belt, in January 1914, a massive storm demolished the church and most of the houses on the islands, and wiped out many of the coconut palms. The atoll is roughly triangular in shape and encloses a lagoon some five kilometres north to south by four kilometres east to west at its widest point, lizards, rats, and seabirds are common on Atafu island. The atoll attracts a variety of fish in large numbers. The eastern side of the lagoon is a continuous thin strip of land with one small break halfway along its length. The smaller Tamaseko Island lies in the close to Alofi. The reef which connects the islands of the atoll is shallow enough that it is possible to walk between the islands at low tide and this also means that there is no boat passage to the lagoon, although the ocean becomes deep very close to the reef. This allows for good anchorage, but also makes for rough seas close to the reef, the flatness of the atoll and its location within the tropical cyclone belt has led to damage to island properties on occasion. It is likely that Polynesians visited the island in ancient times, the European discovery of the atoll came on 21 June 1765, by John Byron, of the HMS Dolphin. Byron found no-one living on the island at time. Atafu was established by Tonuia and his wife Lagimaina, along with their seven children, between 1856 and 1979, the United States claimed that it held sovereignty over the island and the other Tokelauan atolls. In 1979, the U. S. conceded that Tokelau was under New Zealand sovereignty, on 26 August 2007, the attempt by Ralph Tuijn to row from South America to Australia crashlanded on Atafu
Atafu
–
Dawn in the main street
Atafu
–
Satellite image of Atafu
Atafu
–
A traditional canoe or vaka
27.
Nukunonu
–
Nukunonu is the largest atoll within Tokelau, a dependency of New Zealand, in the south Pacific Ocean. It comprises 30 islets surrounding a lagoon, with about 5.5 km2 of land area. The main settlement on the atoll is located on Nukunonu Island at the edge of the lagoon with a concrete bridge joining the two areas of settlement. The islands residents depend upon coconuts, pandanus, and marine life for subsistence, shipping is hampered by the lack of an adequate anchorage. Tokelau has one hotel, the Luana Liki Hotel, and one resort, Falefa Resort, few tourists visit the country and tourism is not widely promoted. There is ambivalence to the idea of tourists with some Tokelauans wanting to keep the country unaffected by the outside world, despite this, visitors are greeted with traditional Polynesian hospitality. The Luana Liki Hotel functions mainly to accommodate official visitors who have included the New Zealand Prime Minister, there is one main shop in Nukunonu which sells a limited range of products. Due to the vagaries of shipping schedules it is at times short of goods, concrete water tanks are incorporated into the base of newly built houses and collect rain water from the roof. Satellite TV dishes are beginning to appear on houses in the village. At the time, the Pandora was searching for mutineers from HMS Bounty, during the early 19th century, Nukunonu’s inhabitants were converted to Roman Catholicism by Samoan missionaries. Between 1856 and 1979, the United States claimed that it held sovereignty over the island, in 1979, the U. S. conceded that Tokelau was under New Zealand sovereignty, and a maritime boundary between Tokelau and American Samoa was established by the Treaty of Tokehega. Local administration consists of a Taupulega, made up of heads of family groups, according to the 2006 census 426 people live on Nukunonu, of which more than 95% belong to the Catholic Church. Te Fakanava List of Guano Island claims
Nukunonu
–
Satellite image of Nukunonu
Nukunonu
–
An arch straddling the main street supports the nave of the Catholic Church
Nukunonu
–
The Luana Liki Hotel
28.
Samoan Islands
–
The Samoan Islands are an archipelago covering 3,030 km2 in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of Samoa and most of American Samoa, the two Samoan jurisdictions are separated by 64 km of ocean. The population of the Samoan Islands is approximately 250,000, sharing a language, Samoan, a culture, known as faa Samoa. Most Samoans are full-blooded and are one of the largest Polynesian populations in the world, the oldest evidence of human activity in the Samoan Islands dates to around 1050 BCE. This comes from a Lapita site at Mulifanua wharf on Upolu island, politically the two jurisdictions of the Samoa Islands are, Samoa, an independent nation, situated at the western half of the islands, gained political independence in 1962. Formerly known as German Samoa and Western Samoa, American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States consisting of the islands to the east. Forerunners to the Tripartite Convention of 1899 were the Washington Conference of 1887, the Treaty of Berlin of 1889, and the Anglo-German Agreement on Samoa of 1899. New Zealand occupied the German colony through 1920, then governed the islands until independence in 1962 as a League of Nations Class C Mandate. Upolu, population 134,400, most populous island in the group, Savaii, population 43,142, largest landmass and most western in the group, most recent volcanic eruptions Mt Matavanu, Mata o le Afi, Mauga Afi. Manono, population 889 Apolima, population 75 Fanuatapu, uninhabited, Namua, uninhabited, has beach fale accommodation for visitors, viewed from Lalomanu beach. Nuulopa, uninhabited, lies in the Apolima Strait between Upolu and Savaii, Nuulua, uninhabited, volcanic tuff ring, land area 25 hectares, conservation habitat for endemic native birdlife. Nuusafee, uninhabited, tiny rocky islet off the south coast of Upolu by the village of Poutasi, Nuutele, uninhabited, volcanic tuff ring, conservation for native birdlife, also viewed from popular Lalomanu beach. The islands of Manono, Apolima and Nuulopa lie in the Apolima Strait between Upolu and Savaii, the four small uninhabited islands Nuutele, Nuulua, Namua and Fanuatapu are situated off the east coast of Upolu and comprise the Aleipata Islands. Tutuila, population 55,876, main island in the territory, aunuu, population 476, located south east of Tutuila. Taū, population 873, largest island in Manua Group Ofu‑Olosega, volcanic doublet comprising Ofu and Olosega, Rose Atoll also known as Motu o Manu, conservation habitat for native birdlife, marine life, green turtle and endangered hawksbill turtle. Swains Island, politically administered by American Samoa but culturally part of Tokelau, the islands are approximately 800 km from Fiji,530 km from Tonga,2,900 km from New Zealand, and 4,000 km from Hawaii, U. S. A. The islands lies between 13° and 14° south latitude and 169° and 173° west longitude, about 480 km from west to east, the larger islands are volcanic in origin, mountainous, and covered in tropical moist forest. Some of the islands are coral atolls with black sand beaches
Samoan Islands
–
Above:
Olosega island in the
Manu'a group, eastern Samoa Islands. Below: out-of-date map of the Samoan Islands (the
International Date Line crosses between
Samoa and
American Samoa as of December 29, 2011)
Samoan Islands
–
German, British and American warships in
Apia harbour, 1899.
Samoan Islands
–
Young man dressed as a manaia, the son of a Samoan chief (
matai), circa 1890–1910. (photo by
Thomas Andrew)
Samoan Islands
–
Tonga Trench south of the Samoa Islands and north of
New Zealand.
29.
Tuvalu
–
It comprises three reef islands and six true atolls spread out between the latitude of 5° to 10° south and longitude of 176° to 180°, west of the International Date Line. Tuvalu has a population of 10,640, the total land area of the islands of Tuvalu is 26 square kilometres. The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesians, in 1568, Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to sail through the archipelago, sighting the island of Nui during his expedition in search of Terra Australis. In 1819 the island of Funafuti was named Ellices Island, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. A referendum was held in December 1974 to determine whether the Gilbert Islands, as a consequence of the referendum, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony ceased to exist on 1 January 1976 and the separate British colonies of Kiribati and Tuvalu came into existence. Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 1 October 1978, on 5 September 2000 Tuvalu became the 189th member of the United Nations. The origins of the people of Tuvalu are addressed in the theories regarding migration into the Pacific that began about 3000 years ago, during pre-European-contact times there was frequent canoe voyaging between the nearer islands including Samoa and Tonga. Eight of the nine islands of Tuvalu were inhabited, thus the name, Tuvalu, possible evidence of fire in the Caves of Nanumanga may indicate human occupation for thousands of years. The stories as to the ancestors of the Tuvaluans vary from island to island, on Niutao, Funafuti and Vaitupu the founding ancestor is described as being from Samoa, whereas on Nanumea the founding ancestor is described as being from Tonga. Mendaña made contact with the islanders but was unable to land, during Mendañas second voyage across the Pacific he passed Niulakita on 29 August 1595, which he named La Solitaria. Captain John Byron passed through the islands of Tuvalu in 1764 during his circumnavigation of the globe as captain of the Dolphin, Byron charted the atolls as Lagoon Islands. Chambers and Doug Munro identified Niutao as the island that Francisco Mourelle de la Rúa sailed past on 5 May 1781, mourelles map and journal named the island El Gran Cocal, however, the latitude and longitude was uncertain. Longitude could only be reckoned crudely as accurate chronometers were unavailable until the late 18th century, the name Ellice was applied to all nine islands after the work of English hydrographer Alexander George Findlay. In 1820 the Russian explorer Mikhail Lazarev visited Nukufetau as commander of the Mirny, Louis Isidore Duperrey, captain of La Coquille, sailed past Nanumanga in May 1824 during a circumnavigation of the earth. A Dutch expedition found Nui on the morning of 14 June 1825, whalers began roving the Pacific, although visiting Tuvalu only infrequently because of the difficulties of landing on the atolls. Captain George Barrett of the Nantucket whaler Independence II has been identified as the first whaler to hunt the waters around Tuvalu, in November 1821 he bartered coconuts from the people of Nukulaelae and also visited Niulakita. A shore camp was established on Sakalua islet of Nukufetau, where coal was used to melt down the whale blubber, the Rev. A. W. Elekana began proselytising Christianity. He was trained at Malua Theological College, a London Missionary Society school in Samoa, in 1865 the Rev. A. W. Murray of the LMS – a Protestant congregationalist missionary society – arrived as the first European missionary where he too proselytised among the inhabitants of Tuvalu
Tuvalu
–
Lat. and Long. 8°19′S 179°08′E / 8.32°S 179.13°E / -8.32; 179.13 (
Funafuti)
Tuvalu
–
Flag
Tuvalu
–
A Tuvaluan man in traditional costume drawn by
Alfred Agate in 1841 during the
United States Exploring Expedition.
Tuvalu
–
A man from the
Nukufetau atoll, drawn by
Alfred Agate 1841.
30.
Phoenix Islands
–
The Phoenix Islands or Rawaki are a group of eight atolls and two submerged coral reefs, lying in the central Pacific Ocean east of the Gilbert Islands and west of the Line Islands. They are a part of the Republic of Kiribati, during the late 1930s, they became the site of the last attempted colonial expansion of the British Empire through the Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme. The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, established in 2008, is one of the worlds largest protected areas, the group is uninhabited except for a few families on Kanton. The United States unincorporated territories of Baker Island and Howland Island are often considered northerly outliers of the group, Howland and Baker are statistically grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands, however. The United States previously claimed all the Phoenix Islands under the Guano Islands Act, the Treaty of Tarawa released all US claims to the Phoenix Islands, excluding Baker and Howland. At various times, the islands were considered part of the Gilbert group, the name Phoenix for this group of islands seems to have been settled on in the 1840s, after an island of that name within the group. Phoenix Island was probably named after one of the many whaleships of that name plying these waters in the early 19th century, the Phoenix Islands are a group of eight islands, totalling 28 square kilometres in land area, located in the central Pacific, north of Samoa. The chain comprises a portion of Kiribati, the only island of any commercial importance is Kanton Island. The other islands include Enderbury, Rawaki, Manra, Birnie, McKean, Nikumaroro, Kanton, or Abariringa Island, is the northernmost and sole inhabited island in the Phoenix group. It is a ribbon of land 9 km2, enclosing a lagoon of approximately 40 km2. Kanton is mostly bare coral, covered with herbs, bunch grasses, low shrubs and its lagoon teems with 153 known species of marine life, including sharks, tuna, stingrays and eels. Land fauna includes at least 23 bird species, lizards, rats, hermit crabs, today, the island still exhibits the remains of the airline and military presence, with 41 persons residing there, most living in abandoned structures from the U. S. /UK occupation. Enderbury is a low, flat, small coral atoll lying 63 km ESE of Kanton and its lagoon is rather tiny, comprising only a small percentage of the islands area. Herbs, bunchgrass, morning-glory vines and a few clumps of trees form the main vegetation on the island, while birds, rats and a species of beetle are the known fauna. Heavily mined for guano in the late 19th century, Enderbury has seen little human impact following the evacuation of the last few colonists in 1942, during World War II. Birnie Island is a small, flat coral island about 20 hectares in area and it contains a tiny lagoon, which has all but dried up. A nesting place for flocks of seabirds, Birnie is devoid of trees and is covered with low shrubs. Unlike most of the other Phoenix Islands, Birnie does not appear to have worked for guano or otherwise exploited by humans
Phoenix Islands
–
Entrance to Kanton Island's Lagoon. Village site is to the left.
Phoenix Islands
–
Islands of the Settlement Scheme and
Enderbury Island
31.
Cook Islands
–
The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total area is 240 square kilometres. The Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone, however, covers 1,800,000 square kilometres of ocean, the Cook Islands defence and foreign affairs are the responsibility of New Zealand, but they are exercised in consultation with the Cook Islands. In recent times, the Cook Islands have adopted an independent foreign policy. Although Cook Islanders are citizens of New Zealand, they have the status of Cook Islands nationals, the Cook Islands main population centres are on the island of Rarotonga, where there is an international airport. There is a population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand. In the 2006 census,58,008 self-identified as being of ethnic Cook Islands Māori descent, the Cook Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand, between French Polynesia and American Samoa. There are 15 major islands spread over 2,200,000 km2 of ocean, the islands were formed by volcanic activity, the northern group is older and consists of six atolls, which are sunken volcanoes topped by coral growth. The climate is moderate to tropical, palmerston Island sometimes grouped with the Northern Group. Manuae Winslow Reef The Cook Islands were first settled in the 6th century by Polynesian people who migrated from Tahiti, in 1813 John Williams, a missionary on the Endeavour made the first recorded sighting of Rarotonga. The first recorded landing on Rarotonga by Europeans was in 1814 by the Cumberland, the islands saw no more Europeans until missionaries arrived from England in 1821. Christianity quickly took hold in the culture and many continue to be Christian believers today. The Cook Islands became a British protectorate in 1888, due largely to community fears that France might occupy the territory as it had Tahiti, on 6 September 1900, the leading islanders presented a petition asking that the islands should be annexed as British territory. These instruments did not include Aitutaki and it appears that, though the inhabitants regarded themselves as British subjects, the Crowns title was uncertain, and the island was formally annexed by Proclamation dated 9 October 1900. The islands were included within the boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand in 1901 by Order in Council under the Colonial Boundaries Act,1895 of the United Kingdom. The boundary change became effective on 11 June 1901 and the Cook Islands have had a relationship with New Zealand ever since. When the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act 1948 came into effect on 1 January 1949, the country remained a New Zealand dependent territory until 1965, when the New Zealand Government decided to offer self-governing status to its colony. In that year, Albert Henry of the Cook Islands Party was elected as the first Premier, Henry led the country until he was accused of vote-rigging
Cook Islands
–
Tapuaetai (One Foot Island) in the southern part of
Aitutaki Atoll
Cook Islands
–
Flag
Cook Islands
–
Beach on
Rarotonga
Cook Islands
–
Governor-General
Lord Ranfurly reading the annexation proclamation to
Queen Makea
32.
Renewable energy
–
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources, which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas, electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, based on REN21s 2016 report, renewables contributed 19. 2% to humans global energy consumption and 23. 7% to their generation of electricity in 2014 and 2015, respectively. This energy consumption is divided as 8. 9% coming from biomass,4. 2% as heat energy,3. 9% hydro electricity and 2. 2% is electricity from wind, solar, geothermal. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$286 billion in 2015, with countries like China, globally, there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries, with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer. As of 2015 worldwide, more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable, Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of energy and energy efficiency is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation. In international public opinion there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power. At the national level, at least 30 nations around the already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade, for example, in Denmark the government decided to switch the total energy supply to 100% renewable energy by 2050. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas and developing countries, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity. Renewable energy systems are becoming more efficient and cheaper. Their share of energy consumption is increasing. Growth in consumption of coal and oil could end by 2020 due to increased uptake of renewables, in its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and technological diversification of energy sources, would result in significant energy security and economic benefits. New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the financial crisis better than many other sectors. As of 2011, small solar PV systems provide electricity to a few million households, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity. At the national level, at least 30 nations around the already have renewable energy contributing more than 20% of energy supply. Some countries have much higher long-term policy targets of up to 100% renewables, outside Europe, a diverse group of 20 or more other countries target renewable energy shares in the 2020–2030 time frame that range from 10% to 50%
Renewable energy
–
Wind,
solar, and
biomass are three emerging renewable sources of energy.
Renewable energy
–
The 845 MW
Shepherds Flat Wind Farm near
Arlington, Oregon, USA
Renewable energy
–
The
Three Gorges Dam on the
Yangtze River in China
Renewable energy
–
Satellite image of the 550-megawatt
Topaz Solar Farm in California, USA
33.
Solar power
–
Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics, or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam, Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Most solar installations would be in China and India, Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun. The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is the 850 MW Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, in Qinghai, commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW Ivanpah installation is the largest concentrating solar power plant in the world, long distance transmission allows remote renewable energy resources to displace fossil fuel consumption. Solar power plants use one of two technologies, Photovoltaic systems use solar panels, either on rooftops or in ground-mounted solar farms, concentrated solar power plants use solar thermal energy to make steam, that is thereafter converted into electricity by a turbine. A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is a device that converts light into electric current using the photovoltaic effect, the first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. The German industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens was among those who recognized the importance of this discovery, following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4. 5–6%, the array of a photovoltaic power system, or PV system, produces direct current power which fluctuates with the sunlights intensity. For practical use this usually requires conversion to certain desired voltages or alternating current, multiple solar cells are connected inside modules. Modules are wired together to form arrays, then tied to an inverter, which produces power at the voltage, and for AC. Many residential PV systems are connected to the grid wherever available, in these grid-connected PV systems, use of energy storage is optional. In certain applications such as satellites, lighthouses, or in developing countries, batteries or additional power generators are often added as back-ups, such stand-alone power systems permit operations at night and at other times of limited sunlight. Concentrated solar power, also called concentrated solar thermal, uses lenses or mirrors, contrary to photovoltaics – which converts light directly into electricity – CSP uses the heat of the suns radiation to generate electricity from conventional steam-driven turbines. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists, among the best known are the trough, the compact linear Fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish. Various techniques are used to track the sun and focus light, in all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage. Thermal storage efficiently allows up to 24-hour electricity generation, a parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflectors focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right above the middle of the mirror and is filled with a working fluid
Solar power
–
A
solar PV array on a rooftop in
Hong Kong
Solar power
–
The first three
concentrated solar power (CSP) units of Spain's
Solnova Solar Power Station in the foreground, with the
PS10 and
PS20 solar power towers in the background
Solar power
–
CPV modules on dual axis
solar trackers in Golmud, China
Solar power
–
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System with all three towers under load during February 2014, with the
Clark Mountain Range seen in the distance
34.
Democracy
–
Democracy, in modern usage, is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or elect representatives from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. Democracy is sometimes referred to as rule of the majority, Democracy was originally conceived in Classical Greece, where political representatives were chosen by a jury from amongst the male citizens, rich and poor. The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French, in the 5th century BC, to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens, the term is an antonym to aristocracy, meaning rule of an elite. While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically, the political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In 1906, Finland became the first government to harald a more inclusive democracy at the national level. Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is held by an individual, as in an absolute monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy, are now ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders, No consensus exists on how to define democracy, but legal equality, political freedom and rule of law have been identified as important characteristics. These principles are reflected in all eligible citizens being equal before the law, other uses of democracy include that of direct democracy. In some countries, notably in the United Kingdom which originated the Westminster system, in the United States, separation of powers is often cited as a central attribute. In India, parliamentary sovereignty is subject to the Constitution of India which includes judicial review, though the term democracy is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles also are applicable to private organisations. Majority rule is listed as a characteristic of democracy. Hence, democracy allows for political minorities to be oppressed by the tyranny of the majority in the absence of legal protections of individual or group rights. An essential part of a representative democracy is competitive elections that are substantively and procedurally fair, i. e. just. It has also suggested that a basic feature of democracy is the capacity of all voters to participate freely and fully in the life of their society. While representative democracy is sometimes equated with the form of government. Many democracies are constitutional monarchies, such as the United Kingdom, the term democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens during classical antiquity. The word comes from demos, common people and kratos, strength, led by Cleisthenes, Athenians established what is generally held as the first democracy in 508–507 BC
Democracy
–
A woman casts her vote in the second round of the
2007 French presidential election.
Democracy
–
Cleisthenes, "father of
Athenian democracy ", modern bust.
Democracy
–
Magna Carta, 1215, England.
Democracy
–
The establishment of
universal male suffrage in France in 1848 was an important milestone in the history of democracy.
35.
Political parties
–
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
Political parties
–
In A Block for the Wigs (1783),
James Gillray caricatured Fox's return to power in a coalition with North. George III is the blockhead in the center.
Political parties
–
Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the
Irish Parliamentary Party.
Political parties
–
A poster for the
European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party lists
36.
United Nations General Assembly
–
The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation. The General Assembly is the deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. It has also established a number of subsidiary organs. It can also reconvene for special and emergency special sessions and its composition, functions, powers, voting, and procedures are set out in Chapter IV of the United Nations Charter. The first session was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, other questions are decided by a straightforward majority. Each member country has one vote, apart from approval of budgetary matters, including adoption of a scale of assessment, Assembly resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace, the one state, one vote power structure potentially allows states comprising just five percent of the world population to pass a resolution by a two-thirds vote. During the 1980s, the Assembly became a forum for the North-South dialogue and these issues came to the fore because of the phenomenal growth and changing makeup of the UN membership. In 1945, the UN had 51 members and it now has 193, of which more than two-thirds are developing countries. Because of their numbers, developing countries are able to determine the agenda of the Assembly, the character of its debates. For many developing countries, the UN is the source of much of their diplomatic influence, the Assembly can consider the matter immediately with a view to making recommendations to Members for collective measures to maintain or restore international peace and security. The first session of the UN General Assembly was convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London, the next few annual sessions were held in different cities, the second session in New York, and the third session was in Paris. It moved to the permanent United Nations Headquarters in New York at the start of its seventh regular annual session, on 14 October 1952. In December 1988, in order to hear Yasser Arafat, the General Assembly organised its 29th session in the Palace of Nations, all 193 members states of the United Nations are members of the General Assembly. The agenda for each session is planned up to seven months in advance and this is refined into a provisional agenda 60 days before the opening of the session. Items on the agenda are numbered, the General Assembly votes on many resolutions brought forth by sponsoring states. These are generally statements symbolizing the sense of the community about an array of world issues. Most General Assembly resolutions are not enforceable as a legal or practical matter, the General Assembly has authority to make final decisions in some areas such as the United Nations budget
United Nations General Assembly
–
United Nations (UN) General Assembly hall at the
UN Headquarters,
New York City
United Nations General Assembly
–
United Nations General Assembly
United Nations General Assembly
–
Westminster Central Hall,
London, the location of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946.
United Nations General Assembly
–
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev addresses the 64th session of the UN General Assembly on 24 September 2009
37.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
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One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
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Flag
France
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The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
38.
Montserrat
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Montserrat is a Caribbean island—specifically in the Leeward Islands, which is part of the chain known as the Lesser Antilles, in the British West Indies. It is a British Overseas Territory, Montserrat measures approximately 16 km in length and 11 km in width, with approximately 40 km of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants, on 18 July 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano, in the southern part of the island, became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrats Georgian era capital city of Plymouth, between 1995 and 2000, two-thirds of the islands population was forced to flee, primarily to the United Kingdom, leaving fewer than 1,200 people on the island as of 1997. Visitors are generally not permitted entry into the zone. Relatively quiet since early 2010, the continues to be closely monitored by the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. It is the most studied volcano in the world and Montserrat has been regarded as a Modern Day Pompeii in the Caribbean, a new town and port is being developed at Little Bay, which is on the northwest coast of the island. While this construction proceeds, the centre of government and businesses is at Brades, in 1493, Christopher Columbus named the island Santa María de Montserrate, after the Virgin of Montserrat in the Monastery of Montserrat, on Montserrat mountain, near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Montserrat means serrated mountain in Catalan, archaeological field work in 2012, in Montserrats Centre Hills indicated there was an Archaic occupation between 4000 and 2500 BP. Later coastal sites show the presence of the Saladoid culture, in November 1493, Christopher Columbus passed Montserrat in his second voyage, after being told that the island was unoccupied due to raids by the Caribs. A number of Irishmen settled in Montserrat in 1642, the island was captured by the French in 1666. It was captured shortly afterwards by the English and English control of the island was confirmed under the Treaty of Breda the following year, despite the interruption to English rule, the islands legal status is that of a colony acquired by settlement. A neo-feudal colony developed amongst the redlegs, the colonists began to transport Sub-Saharan African slaves for labour, as was common to most Caribbean islands. The colonists built an economy based on the production of sugar, rum, arrowroot and sea island cotton, by the late 18th century, numerous plantations had been developed on the island. Many Irish continued to be transported to the island, to work as indentured servants, on 17 March 1768, slaves rebelled but failed to achieve freedom. The people of Montserrat celebrate St Patricks Day as a public holiday due to the slave revolt, festivities held that week commemorate the culture of Montserrat in song, dance, food and traditional costumes. In 1782, during the American Revolutionary War, France briefly captured Montserrat after supporting the American rebels, the French returned the island to Great Britain under the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended that conflict. The Irish constituted the largest proportion of the population from the founding of the colony in 1628
Montserrat
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A view of half of the coastline of Little Bay, and a glimpse of Carrs Bay, taken from partway up the headland between Little Bay and Rendezvous Bay, 2012.
Montserrat
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Flag
Montserrat
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Montserrat's coastline.
Montserrat
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Plymouth, the former capital city and major port of Montserrat on 12 July 1997, after
pyroclastic flows burned much of what was not covered in ash.
39.
Life expectancy
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Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of their birth, their current age and other demographic factors including sex. National LEB figures reported by national agencies and international organizations are indeed estimates of period LEB. In the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, LEB was 26 years, for recent years, in Swaziland LEB is about 49, and in Japan, it is about 83. But for those who survive early hazards, a life expectancy of 60 or 70 would not be uncommon, for example, a society with a LEB of 40 may have few people dying at precisely 40, most will die before 30 or after 55. In populations with high infant mortality rates, LEB is highly sensitive to the rate of death in the first few years of life. Mathematically, life expectancy is the number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e x, which means the number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x. Longevity, maximum lifespan, and life expectancy are not synonyms, Life expectancy is defined statistically as the mean number of years remaining for an individual or a group of people at a given age. Longevity refers to the characteristics of the long life span of some members of a population. Maximum lifespan is the age at death for the individual of a species. Moreover, because life expectancy is an average, a person may die many years before or many years after the expected survival. The term maximum life span has a different meaning and is more related to longevity. Life expectancy is also used in plant or animal ecology, life tables, an analysis published in 2011 in The Lancet attributes Japanese life expectancy to equal opportunities and public health as well as diet. The oldest confirmed recorded age for any human is 122 years and this is referred to as the maximum life span, which is the upper boundary of life, the maximum number of years any human is known to have lived. Theoretical study shows that the life expectancy at birth is limited by the human life characteristic value δ. The following information is derived from the 1961 Encyclopædia Britannica and other sources, unless otherwise stated, it represents estimates of the life expectancies of the world population as a whole. In many instances, life expectancy varied considerably according to class, Life expectancy at birth takes account of infant mortality but not prenatal mortality. Life expectancy increases with age as the individual survives the higher mortality rates associated with childhood, for instance, the table above listed the life expectancy at birth among 13th-century English nobles at 30
Life expectancy
–
Life expectancy at birth by region, 1960-2045
40.
Oceania
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Oceania, also known as Oceanica, is a region centred on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The term is used more specifically to denote a continent comprising Australia. The term was coined as Océanie circa 1812 by geographer Conrad Malte-Brun, the word Océanie is a French word derived from the Latin word oceanus, and this from the Greek word ὠκεανός, ocean. Natives and inhabitants of this region are called Oceanians or Oceanicans, as an ecozone, Oceania includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand. New Zealand, along with New Guinea and nearby islands, part of the Philippine islands, Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, in geopolitical terms, however, New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia are almost always considered part of Oceania. Australia and Papua New Guinea are usually considered part of Oceania along with the Maluku Islands, puncak Jaya in Papua is often considered the highest peak in Oceania. Oceania was originally conceived as the lands of the Pacific Ocean and it comprised four regions, Polynesia, Micronesia, Malaysia, and Melanesia. The area extends to Sumatra in the west, the Bonin Islands in the northwest, the Hawaiian Islands in the northeast, Rapa Nui and Sala y Gómez Island in the east, and Macquarie Island in the south. Not included are the Pacific islands of Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese archipelago, all on the margins of Asia, and the Aleutian Islands of North America. The islands at the extremes of Oceania are Bonin, a politically integral part of Japan, Hawaii, a state of the United States. There is also a geographic definition that excludes land on the Sunda Plate. Biogeographically, Oceania is used as a synonym for either the Australasian ecozone or the Pacific ecozone, Oceania is one of eight terrestrial ecozones, which constitute the major ecological regions of the planet. The Oceania ecozone includes all of Micronesia, Fiji, and all of Polynesia except New Zealand, New Zealand, New Guinea, Melanesia apart from Fiji, and Australia constitute the separate Australasian ecozone. The Malay Archipelago is part of the Indomalaya ecozone, related to these concepts are Near Oceania, that part of western Island Melanesia which has been inhabited for tens of millennia, and Remote Oceania which is more recently settled. The term is used to denote a continent comprising Australia. New Zealand forms the corner of the Polynesian Triangle. Its indigenous Māori constitute one of the cultures of Polynesia. It is also, however, considered part of Australasia, the history of Oceania in the medieval period was synonymous with the history of the indigenous peoples of Australasia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia
Oceania
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A map of Oceania from the CIA World Factbook
Oceania
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Geopolitical Oceania
Oceania
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Aoraki / Mount Cook, located on the
South Island of
New Zealand
Oceania
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Satellite image of Oceania
41.
Polynesian languages
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They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. There are approximately forty Polynesian languages, the most prominent of these are Tahitian, Sāmoan, Tongan, Māori and Hawaiian. Because the Polynesian islands were settled relatively recently and because internal linguistic diversification only began around 2,000 years ago, their languages retain strong commonalities. There are still many cognate words across the different islands e. g. tapu, ariki, motu, kava, and tapa as well as Hawaiki, all Polynesian languages show strong similarity, particularly in vocabulary. The vowels are stable in the descendant languages, nearly always a, e, i, o and u. In the Society Islands, k and ng are replaced by the glottal stop, Polynesian languages fall into two branches, Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Tongan and Niuean constitute the Tongic branch, all of the rest are part of the Nuclear Polynesian branch, lexicostatistics is a controversial tool that can identify points in languages from which linguistic relations can be inferred. Pawley published another study in 1967, wilson named this new group Ellicean after the pre-independence name of Tuvalu and presented fine-grained evidence for subgroups within that overarching category. Marck, in 2000, was able to some support for some aspects of Wilsons suggestion through comparisons of shared sporadic sound changes. Proto-Polynesian and Proto-Nuclear-Polynesian *mafu to heal becoming Proto-Ellicean *mafo and this was made possible by the massive Polynesian language comparative lexicon of Biggs and Clark. Wilson has a forthcoming work providing further evidence of fine grained subgroups within Ellicean, Wilsons new work brings the matter to the approximate limits of current data available, incorporating much data unknown to most other researchers. Returning to lexicostatistics, it must be emphasised that the method does not make the best possible use of its short word lists of 100 or 200 words. Dyens massive lexicostatistical study of Austronesian, for instance, showed a great deal of diversity in the Austronesian languages of Western Melanesia and this was sometimes on par with the lexicostatistical distance of Taiwan Austronesian languages from other Austronesian including Taiwan Austronesian languages from each other. The Western Oceanic Melanesian diversity of lexicostatistical studies was never of any interest in terms of attributing any special time depth or subgrouping significance to it, partly because Polynesian languages split from one another comparatively recently, many words in these languages remain similar to corresponding words in others. Certain regular correspondences can be noted between different Polynesian languages, for example, the Māori sounds /k/, /ɾ/, /t/, and /ŋ/ correspond to /ʔ/, /l/, /k/, and /n/ in Hawaiian. Accordingly, man is tangata in Māori and kanaka in Hawaiian, the famous Hawaiian greeting aloha corresponds to Māori aroha, love, tender emotion. Similarly, the Hawaiian word for kava is ʻawa, similarities in basic vocabulary may allow speakers from different island groups to achieve a surprising degree of understanding of each others speech. When a particular language shows unexpectedly large divergence in vocabulary, this may be the result of a name-avoidance taboo situation – see examples in Tahitian, many Polynesian languages have been greatly affected by European colonization
Polynesian languages
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The Central Pacific languages Ocher is Polynesian (not shown:
Rapa Nui)
42.
Samoa
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The Independent State of Samoa, commonly known as Samoa and, until 1997, known as Western Samoa, is a unitary parliamentary democracy with eleven administrative divisions. The two main islands are Savaii and Upolu with four smaller islands surrounding the landmasses, the Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a language and cultural identity. Samoa is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Western Samoa was admitted to the United Nations on 15 December 1976. The entire island group, which includes American Samoa, was called Navigator Islands by European explorers before the 20th century because of the Samoans seafaring skills. The oldest date so far for remains in Samoa has been calculated by New Zealand scientists to a true age of circa 3,000 years ago from a Lapita site at Mulifanua during the 1970s. The origins of the Samoans are closely studied in research about Polynesia in various scientific disciplines such as genetics, linguistics. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century, jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, was the first known European to sight the Samoan islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768, contact was limited before the 1830s, which is when English missionaries and traders began arriving. Christian missionary work in Samoa began in 1830 by John Williams, of the London Missionary Society arriving in Sapapalii from The Cook Islands and Tahiti. However, Robert Louis Stevenson, who lived in Samoa from 1889 until his death in 1894, wrote in A Footnote to History, Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa, … the Samoans are gentle people. The Germans in particular began to show great commercial interest in the Samoan Islands, especially on the island of Upolu, Britain also sent troops to protect British business enterprise, harbour rights, and consulate office. This was followed by a civil war, during which each of the three powers supplied arms, training and in some cases combat troops to the warring Samoan parties. The Samoan crisis came to a critical juncture in March 1889 when all three colonial contenders sent warships into Apia harbour, and a larger-scale war seemed imminent, a massive storm on 15 March 1889 damaged or destroyed the warships, ending the military conflict. The Second Samoan Civil War reached a head in 1898 when Germany, the United Kingdom, the Siege of Apia occurred in March 1899. Samoan forces loyal to Prince Tanu were besieged by a force of Samoan rebels loyal to Mataafa Iosefo. Supporting Prince Tanu were landing parties from four British and American warships, after several days of fighting, the Samoan rebels were finally defeated. American and British warships shelled Apia on 15 March 1899, including the USS Philadelphia, the eastern island-group became a territory of the United States and was known as American Samoa
Samoa
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Studio photo depicting preparation of the
Samoa 'ava ceremony c. 1911.
Samoa
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Flag
Samoa
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Interior of Samoan house, Apia, Urville 1842.
Samoa
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Exiled orator Lauaki Namulauulu Mamoe
43.
Tropical cyclone
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Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as hurricane, typhoon /taɪˈfuːn/, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a storm that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, Tropical cyclones typically form over large bodies of relatively warm water. They derive their energy through the evaporation of water from the ocean surface and this energy source differs from that of mid-latitude cyclonic storms, such as noreasters and European windstorms, which are fueled primarily by horizontal temperature contrasts. The strong rotating winds of a tropical cyclone are a result of the conservation of momentum imparted by the Earths rotation as air flows inwards toward the axis of rotation. As a result, they form within 5° of the equator. Tropical cyclones are typically between 100 and 2,000 km in diameter, Tropical refers to the geographical origin of these systems, which form almost exclusively over tropical seas. Cyclone refers to their nature, with wind blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite direction of circulation is due to the Coriolis effect, in addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge, and tornadoes. They typically weaken rapidly over land where they are cut off from their energy source. For this reason, coastal regions are vulnerable to damage from a tropical cyclone as compared to inland regions. Heavy rains, however, can cause significant flooding inland, though their effects on human populations are often devastating, tropical cyclones can relieve drought conditions. They also carry heat away from the tropics and transport it toward temperate latitudes. Tropical cyclones are areas of low pressure in the troposphere. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level, the environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as warm core systems. The near-surface wind field of a cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm, however, due to the Earths rotation, as air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically in order to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of the troposphere and this radius is typically coincident with the inner radius of the eyewall, and has the strongest near-surface winds of the storm, consequently, it is known as the radius of maximum winds. Once aloft, air flows away from the center, producing a shield of cirrus clouds
Tropical cyclone
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Hurricane Isabel (2003) as seen from orbit during
Expedition 7 of the
International Space Station. The
eye, eyewall, and surrounding
rainbands, characteristics of tropical
cyclones, are clearly visible in this view from space.
Tropical cyclone
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Typhoon Nabi as seen from the
International Space Station, on September 3, 2005.
Tropical cyclone
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Map of the cumulative tracks of all tropical cyclones during the 1985–2005 time period. The
Pacific Ocean west of the
International Date Line sees more tropical cyclones than any other basin, while there is almost no activity in the
Atlantic Ocean south of the
Equator.
Tropical cyclone
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Tropical Storm Franklin, an example of a strongly
sheared tropical cyclone in the
North Atlantic hurricane basin during
2005
44.
American Samoa
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American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of Samoa. American Samoa consists of five islands and two coral atolls. The largest and most populous island is Tutuila, with the Manuʻa Islands, Rose Atoll, All islands except for Swains Island are part of the Samoan Islands, located west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 300 miles south of Tokelau. To the west are the islands of the Wallis and Futuna group, the 2010 census showed a total population of 55,519 people. The total land area is 199 square kilometers, slightly more than Washington, American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the U. S. and one of two U. S. territories south of the Equator, along with the uninhabited Jarvis Island. Tuna products are the exports, and the main trading partner is the United States. American Samoa is noted for having the highest rate of enlistment of any U. S. state or territory. Most American Samoans are bilingual and can speak English and Samoan fluently, Samoan is the same language spoken in neighboring independent Samoa. Contact with Europeans began in the early 18th century, dutchman Jacob Roggeveen was the first known European to sight the Samoan Islands in 1722. This visit was followed by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville who named them the Navigator Islands in 1768, contact was limited before the 1830s, when English missionaries and traders began arriving. The site of battle is called Massacre Bay. Mission work in the Samoas had begun in late 1830 when John Williams of the London Missionary Society arrived from the Cook Islands, by that time, the Samoans had gained a reputation for being savage and warlike, as violent altercations had occurred between natives and European visitors. In March 1889, an Imperial German naval force entered a village on Samoa, three American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships, a compulsory armistice was then called because of the lack of any warships. Forerunners to the Tripartite Convention of 1899 were the Washington Conference of 1887, the Treaty of Berlin of 1889, the following year, the USA formally occupied its portion, a smaller group of eastern islands, one of which contains the noted harbor of Pago Pago. The Navy secured a Deed of Cession of Tutuila in 1900, the territory became known as the US Naval Station Tutuila. On July 17,1911, the US Naval Station Tutuila, in 1918 during the final stages of World War I, the flu pandemic had taken its toll, spreading rapidly from country to country. The result of Poyers quick actions earned him the Navy Cross from the US Navy, with this distinction, American Samoans regarded Poyer as their hero for what he had done to prevent the deadly disease
American Samoa
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Coastline of American Samoa
American Samoa
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Flag
American Samoa
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1896 map of the Samoa Islands.
American Samoa
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German, British and American warships in Apia Harbor, Samoa, 1899.
45.
Guano Islands Act
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The Guano Islands Act is a United States federal law passed by the U. S. Congress that enables citizens of the United States to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano deposits. The islands can be located anywhere, so long as they are not occupied and it also empowers the President of the United States to use the military to protect such interests and establishes the criminal jurisdiction of the United States in these territories. The Act continues to be part of the law of the United States, the most recent Guano Islands Act claim was made to Navassa Island, however, the claim was discarded because a court ruled the island was already under American jurisdiction. In the 1840s, guano came to be prized as a source of saltpeter for gunpowder as well as an agricultural fertilizer, the United States began importing it in 1843 through New York. By the early 1850s, the U. K. imported over 200,000 tons a year, and U. S. imports totaled about 760,000 tons. The Act enables U. S. citizens to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano for the U. S. and this encouraged American entrepreneurs to search and exploit new deposits on tiny islands and reefs in the Caribbean and in the Pacific. This is the beginning of the concept of insular areas in U. S. territories, with insular areas, land could be held by the federal government without the prospect of its ever becoming a state in the Union. The provision was considered and ruled constitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court in Jones v. United States,137 U. S.202. More than 100 islands have been claimed for the United States under the Guano Islands Act, but most claims have been withdrawn. The Act specifically allows the islands to be considered possessions of the U. S. on the other hand, it also does not say that the U. S. cannot retain possession though the guano is exhausted. The Act does not specify what the status of the territory is after it is abandoned by private U. S. interests, the implication is that it reverts to its former status as terra nullius. In most cases, the stems from attempts by a state to expand its exclusive economic zone over the surrounding seas. To cement the U. S. claim to Navassa Island against Haiti, control of Navassa Island was transferred by the Department of the Interior to the Director of the Office of Insular Affairs under Order No.3205 on January 16,1997. Both the Department of the Interior and Insular Affairs would later grant administration responsibilities to the United States Fish, Order No 3210 also established a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea boundary for the United States around Navassa Island. Multiple countries have claimed ownership of Serranilla Bank and the Bajo Nuevo Bank, Bajo Nuevo Bank is the subject of conflicting claims made by a number of sovereign states. In 1899, a claim was made on Fox Island, Quebec, neither the US nor Jamaica recognized his claim before the raft was destroyed in a storm in 1966
Guano Islands Act
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Thirteen Colonies (1776)
46.
Marshall Islands
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The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the island group of Micronesia. The countrys population of 53,158 people is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the south-east, about 27,797 of the islanders live on Majuro, which contains the capital. Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC, Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s, with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526. Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, the islands derive their name from British explorer John Marshall, who visited in 1788. The islands were known by the inhabitants as jolet jen Anij. The European powers recognized Spanish sovereignty over the islands in 1874 and they had been part of the Spanish East Indies formally since 1528. Later, Spain sold the islands to the German Empire in 1884, in World War I the Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands, which in 1919 the League of Nations combined with other former German territories to form the South Pacific Mandate. In World War II, the United States conquered the islands in the Gilbert, along with other Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the US. Self-government was achieved in 1979, and full sovereignty in 1986, Marshall Islands has been a United Nations member state since 1991. The country uses the United States dollar as its currency, the majority of the citizens of the Marshall Islands are of Marshallese descent, though there are small numbers of immigrants from the United States, China, Philippines, and other Pacific islands. The two official languages are Marshallese, which is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, and English, micronesians settled the Marshall Islands in the 2nd millennium BC, but there are no historical or oral records of that period. Over time, the Marshall Island people learned to navigate over long distances by canoe using traditional stick charts. Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar was the first European to see the islands in 1526, commanding the ship Santa Maria de la Victoria, on August 21, he sighted an island at 14°N that he named San Bartolome. On September 21,1529, Álvaro de Saavedra Cerón commanded the Spanish ship Florida and he stood off a group of islands from which local inhabitants hurled stones at his ship. These islands, which he named Los Pintados, may have been Ujelang, on October 1, he found another group of islands where he went ashore for eight days, exchanged gifts with the local inhabitants and took on water. These islands, which he named Los Jardines, may have been Enewetak or Bikini Atoll
Marshall Islands
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Marshall Islanders sailing in traditional costume, circa 1899-1900.
Marshall Islands
–
Flag
Marshall Islands
–
US troops inspecting an enemy bunker,
Kwajalein Atoll. 1944.
Marshall Islands
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Shipping Lane Patrol Kwajalein Island (Marshall Islands-April 1945)
47.
Wake Island
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The island is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States that is also claimed by the Marshall Islands. Wake Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world, Wake Island is administered by the United States Air Force, under an agreement with the Department of the Interior. The center of activity on the atoll is at Wake Island Airfield which is used as a mid-Pacific refueling stop for military aircraft. The 9, 800-foot runway is the longest strategic runway in the Pacific islands, the Base Operations Support contractor at Wake is Chugach Alaska Corporation. About 94 people live on the island, and access to it is restricted, the island fell to Japanese forces, however,12 days later in a second attack, this one with extensive support from Japanese carrier-based aircraft returning from the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wake Island remained occupied by Japanese forces until the end of the war, the submerged and emergent lands at the atoll are a unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. For statistical purposes, Wake Island is grouped as one of the United States Minor Outlying Islands by the International Organization for Standardization, Wake Island derives its name from British sea captain Samuel Wake, who rediscovered the atoll in 1796 while in command of the Prince William Henry. The name is attributed to Captain William Wake, who also is reported to have discovered the atoll from the Prince William Henry in 1792. Wake is located two-thirds of the way between Honolulu,2,300 statute miles to the east and Guam,1,510 statute miles to the west, the closest land is the uninhabited Bokak Atoll 348 mi in the Marshall Islands to the southeast. The atoll is to the west of the International Date Line and is in the Wake Island Time Zone, Sea surface temperatures are warm all year long, reaching above 80 °F in summer and autumn. Typhoons occasionally pass over the island, on September 16,1967, at 10,40 pm local time, the eye of Super Typhoon Sarah passed over the island. Sustained winds in the eyewall were 130 knots, from the north before the eye, there were no serious injuries, and the majority of the civilian population was evacuated after the storm. On August 28,2006, the United States Air Force evacuated all 188 residents, in the ancient Marshallese religion, rituals surrounding the tattooing of tribal chiefs, called Iroijlaplap, were done using fresh human bones, which required a human sacrifice. A man could save himself from being sacrificed if he obtained a wing bone from a large seabird said to have existed on Enen-kio. Small groups would brave traveling to the atoll in hopes of obtaining this bone, no archaeological evidence has been found to suggest that there was ever a permanent or temporary settlement by Marshall Islanders on Wake Island. Wake Island was first encountered by Europeans on October 2,1568 by Spanish explorer, after visiting Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, the expedition headed north and came upon Wake Island, a low barren island, judged to be eight leagues in circumference. Since the date, October 2,1568, was the eve of the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, in 1796, Captain Samuel Wake of the British merchantman Prince William Henry also came upon Wake Island, naming the atoll for himself. In 1823, Captain Edward Gardner, while in command of the British Royal Navys whaling ship H. M. S, bellona, visited an island at 19°15′00″N 166°32′00″E, which he judged to be 20–25 miles long
Wake Island
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Map of Wake Island
Wake Island
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Damaged trees and debris left by
Super Typhoon Ioke in 2006 at the Memorial Chapel on Wake Island.
Wake Island
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Palm trees at Wake Island's
lagoon
Wake Island
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Lieutenant
Charles Wilkes, commander of the
United States Exploring Expedition 1838 - 1842
48.
Geographic location
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic location
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
49.
List of mammals of Tokelau
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This is a list of the mammal species recorded in Tokelau. There are 4 mammal species in Tokelau, all of which are marine mammals of the order Cetacea, the order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, archived from the original on 27 April 2007. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology
List of mammals of Tokelau
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Spinner Dolphin
.svg)
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Wikimedia Atlas of Tokelau
New Zealand
Cook Islands
Niue
Tokelau
