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Transylvania -Romania

2006-10-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

Featured Location-Transylvania -Romania

History of Transylvania

Ancient History: Dacia and the Roman Empire

A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC and it reached its maximum extent under Burebista. The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center of Dacia where several important fortified cities, among them Sarmizegetusa, near today's Hunedoara were built.

In 101-102 and 105-106 Trajan, the Roman emperor, fought a military campaign against the Dacians, known as the Dacian Wars. He managed to vanquish them and after the suicide of Decebalus parts of Dacia were incorporated into the Roman province Dacia Trajana. The Romans built mines, access roads and forts to protect them. Colonists from other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land and cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia) and Napoca (now Cluj-Napoca) appeared. The Dacians rebelled frequently and due to increasing pressure from them and the Visigoths in 271, the Emperor Aurelian abandoned Dacia Trajana.

Transylvania throughout the Middle Ages

The former Dacia Trajana province was controlled by the Visigoths and Carpians until they were in turn displaced and subdued by the Huns in 376, under the leadership of Attila. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, the rules of Gepids of Avars succeeded. The region was also influenced during this period by massive Slavic migration. At the beginning of the 9th century and Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire followed by Magyar tribes linking it to the Principality of Hungary.

The early 11th century was marked by the conflict between King Stephen I of Hungary and his maternal uncle Gyula, the ruler of Transylvania. After the defeat of the latter, Transylvania became part of Hungary. The Transylvanian Roman Catholic bishopric and the comitatus system were organised. By the 12th century the Szeklers were established in eastern and southeastern Transylvania as border guards and in the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called Transylvanian Saxons. In 1241-1242, during the Mongol invasion, Transylvania was devastated and a large portion of the population perished.

Transylvania was organized according to the system of Estates, which were privileged groups (universitates) with power and influence in socio-economic and political life, being nonetheless organized according to certain ethnic criteria as well. The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus. The other Estates were Saxons, Szeklers and Romanians (or Vlachs - Universitas Valachorum), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et Olachis). The general assembly (congregatio generalis) of the four Estates had mainly supra-legislative powers in Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country, relationships between the privileged, military issues, etc.

After the Decree of Turda (1366), which openly called for "to expel or to exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians" in Transylvania, the only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility was through conversion to Roman Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, being integrated in the Hungarian nobility, but the most of them declined, thus losing their status and privileges.

In some border regions (Maramureş, Ţara Haţegului) the Orthodox Romanian ruling class of nobilis kenezius (classed as lower nobility in the Kingdom as a whole) had the same rights as the Hungarian nobilis conditionarius. Nevertheless, because of the gradual loss of a nobility of its own, Romanians were no longer able to keep their Universitas Valachorum.

After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political system was based on Unio Trium Nationum (The Union of the Three Nations). According to the Union, which was explicitly directed against serfs and other peasants, society was ruled by three privileged Estates or nations (Nationes), the nobility (mostly Magyars), the Szeklers, and the Saxon burghers.

A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John Hunyadi. His subsequent military exploits against the Ottoman Empire brought him further status as the governor of Hungary in 1446 and papal recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. John Hunyadi was also the father of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

Transylvania as an independent principality

The 16th century was marked by the struggle between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire. After Sultan Suleiman I overran central Hungary and established there the Turkish rule, Transylvania became a semi-independent region where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries.

Due to the fact that Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic religious authority, Protestant preaching such as Lutheranism and Calvinism were able to flourish. In 1568 the Edict of Turda proclaimed four religious expressions -Catholic, Lutheranism, Calvinism and Unitarianism - as "accepted" (receptae), while Orthodoxy, which was the confession of the Romanian population, was proclaimed as "tolerated" (tolerata). The Edict of Turda is considered by mostly Hungarian historians as the first legal guarantee of religious freedom in Christian Europe.

The Báthory family came to power in 1571 and ruled Transylvania as princes under the Ottomans, and briefly under Habsburg suzerainty, until 1600. The latter period of their rule saw a four-sided conflict in Transylvania involving the Transylvanians, the Austrians, the Ottomans, and the Wallachian voivod Michael the Brave. The latter gained control of Transylvania in 1599 after the Battle of Şelimbăr and succeeded in uniting the three principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (the three main parts of present-day Romania). The union did not last long, however, as Michael was assassinated by mercenaries under the command of the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta in August 1601. Basta swore allegiance to the Habsburg Emperor, Rudolph II and by 1604 reclaimed the principality for Catholicism through the Counter Reformation.

The Calvinist magnate of Bihar county Stephen Bocskai managed to obtain, through the Peace of Vienna (June 23, 1606), religious liberty and political autonomy, the restoration of all confiscated estates, the repeal of all "unrighteous" judgments, and a complete retroactive amnesty for all Hungarians in Royal Hungary, as well as his own recognition as independent sovereign prince of an enlarged Transylvania. Under Bocskai's successors Transylvania passed through a period of flourishment both for the religious movements and for the arts and culture. It was one of the few European countries where Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians lived in mutual tolerance, but Orthodox Romanians were denied equal rights.
Austrian rule

After the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Habsburgs gradually began to impose their rule on the formerly autonomous Transylvania. Apart from strengthening the central government and administration, the Habsburgs also promoted the Roman Catholic Church, both as a uniting force and also as an instrument to reduce the influence of the Protestant nobility. In addition, they tried to persuade Orthodox clergymen to join the Greek Catholic Church. From 1711 onward, the princes of Transylvania were replaced with Austrian governors and in 1765 Transylvania was declared a grand principality.

The revolutionary year 1848 was marked by a great struggle between the Hungarians, the Romanians and the Habsburg Empire. Warfare erupted in November with both Romanian and Saxon troops, under Austrian command, battling the Hungarians led by the Polish general Józef Bem. He carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania, and Avram Iancu managed to retreat to harsh terrain of Apuseni Mountains, mounting a guerrilla campaign on Bem's forces. After the intervention by the armies of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Bem's army was defeated decisively at the Battle of Temesvár (Timişoara) on 9 August 1849.

Having quashed the revolution, Austria imposed a repressive regime on Hungary, ruled Transylvania directly through a military governor and granted citizenship to the Romanians. However, in the Compromise of 1867, which established the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the special status of Transylvania ended and it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. While part of Austria-Hungary, a process of Magyarization affected Transylvania's Romanians and German Saxons.
Transylvania as part of Romania

Since the Austro-Hungarian empire had begun to disintegrate after the end of the First World War, the nations living inside proclaimed their independence from the empire. The leaders of Transylvania's Romanian National Party passed a resolution calling for unification of all Romanians in a single state after a mass assembly on 1 December in Alba Iulia which was approved by the National Council of the Germans from Transylvania and the Council of the Danube Swabians from the Banat. In response, the Hungarian General Assembly of Cluj reaffirmed the loyalty of Hungarians from Transylvania to Hungary on December 22 1918.

The Treaty of Versailles placed Transylvania under the sovereignty of Romania, an ally of the Triple Entente, and after the defeat in 1919 of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic by the Romanian army, the Treaties of St. Germain (1919) and Trianon (signed in June 1920) further elaborated the status of Transylvania and defined the new border between the states of Hungary and Romania. King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania were crowned at Alba Iulia in 1922 as King of all Romania.

In August 1940, the second Vienna Award gave the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary but after the Treaty of Paris (1947) at the end of the Second World War the territory was returned to Romania. The post-WWII borders with Hungary, agreed on at the Treaty of Paris were identical with those set out in 1920.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Featured Location~Sweden~Scandinavia

2006-08-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

Featured Location~Sweden~Scandinavia
The Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige is a Nordic country in Scandinavia. It is bordered by Norway in the west, Finland in the northeast, the Skagerrak Strait and the Kattegat Strait in the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia in the east. Sweden has a low population density except in its metropolitan areas, with most of the inland consisting of forests. The country has large natural resources of water, timber, and iron ore. Its citizens enjoy a high standard of living in a country that is generally perceived as clean, modern, and liberal.

Following the end of the Viking Age, Sweden became part of the Kalma"r Union together with Denmark and Norway (Finland at this time was a part of the Swedish kingdom). Sweden left the union in the beginning of the 16th century, and more or less constantly battled its neighbours for many years, especially Russia and the still united Denmark-Norway, which never completely accepted Sweden leaving the union. In the 16th and 17th centuries Sweden extended its territory through warfare and became a Great Power, twice its current size. By 1814 Sweden had lost its empire as well as Finland, previously an integral part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1814, Sweden has been at peace, adopting a non-aligned foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.

Sweden has been a major European exporter of iron, copper and timber since the middle ages. However, improved transportation and communication allowed it to utilize natural assets from different parts of the country on a far larger scale, most notably timber and iron ore. Economic liberalization as well as universal schooling contributed to the rapid industrialization and by the 1890s the country had begun to develop an advanced manufacturing industry. In the 20th century a welfare state began to emerge. Today, Sweden is a generally considered a modern post-industrial country dominated by social liberal political ideas
Source: Wikipedia.org,the free Encyclopedia

Vietnam~Southeast Asia

2006-06-03T04:21:00.000-07:00

Featured Location~Vietnam~Southeast Asia
Source: Wikipedia.org,the free Encyclopedia
Photos by etravelphotos.com
Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a communist country in Southeast Asia. Situated in eastern Indochina—bordering China, Laos, Cambodia, as well as the South China Sea—it is the most populous country among the mainland Southeast Asian countries.

The name of the country comes from the Vietnamese Việt Nam, which is in turn a reordering of Nam Việt—the name of an ancient Kingdom from the ancestral Vietnamese that covered much of today's northern Vietnam and southern China. Its Chinese cognate, Yue/Yuet, was also a name for ethnic groups living in the proximity of southern China during ancient times.

History

The famous Vietnamese legend tells that the Vietnamese people of various tribes were born from the same womb by the marriage of Lạc Long Quân (Dragon Chief) and Âu Cơ. Vietnam was at one point run by the Kornack family. However, most Vietnamese historians consider the Dong Son civilization that covered much of Southeast Asia to be the beginning of Vietnam's history. In 208 BC, a Qin general named Triệu Đà (Zhao Tuo) established a country called Nam Việt which encompassed Southern China and the Red River Delta. The historical significance of the original Nam Việt remains controversial because some historians consider it a Chinese occupation while some believe it was an independent era.

What is known for sure is that for most of the period from 207 BC to the early 10th century, it was under the rule of successive Chinese dynasties. Sporadic independence movements were attempted, but were quickly extinguished by Chinese forces. In 939, the Vietnamese defeated Chinese forces at the Bạch Đằng River and gained independence. They gained complete autonomy a century later. During the rule of the Trần Dynasty, it defeated three Mongol attempts of invasion by the Yuan Dynasty. Feudalism in Vietnam reached its zenith in the Lê Dynasty of the 15th century, especially with Emperor Le Thanh Tong. Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese expanded southward in a process known as nam tiến (southward expansion). They eventually conquered the kingdom of Champa and much of the Khmer empire. The independent period ended in the mid-19th century, when the country was colonized by France.

The French maintained dominant control of their colony until World War II, when Japanese forces invaded and occupied Vietnam, using the country as a base to launch attacks against South East Asia and India. After the war France attempted to reestablish its colony, however a Communist insurgency that had arisen during Japanese occupation forced the French into a bloody eight-year war that culminated in French defeat and shortly afterwards their retreat. The world community divided the country at the 17th parallel into North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Geneva Accords.

Both South and North Vietnam formed strategic partners in the years that followed, the South aligning itself with the United States and the North with China and the Soviet Union. Both Vietnams desired the territory of the other, and over the ten years between the Geneva Conference and formal American military involvement, the governments of both States brutally punished opponents of their regimes.

In 1965 the United States withdrew support for the government of South Vietnam and subsequently committed large numbers of troops in an attempt to defeat the ongoing Communist insurgency in the South, known as the Vietcong. However with military support from the Communist North, as well as logistical support from China and the USSR, the US became entrenched in a costly war and ultimately withdrew following immense domestic political pressure. All American troops were withdrawn by March 29, 1973. The Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973 formally recognized the sovereignty of both sides, however the fighting continued until the North overpowered the South on April 30, 1975 and unified the country under the North Vietnamese rule as The Socialist

After reunification, political and economic conditions deteriorated. Millions of South Vietnamese became boat people over the next two decades. In late 1978, the Cambodian people, with the support of the Vietnamese army, removed the Khmer Rouge from power. Only one month later, however, partially in retaliation, China launched a short-lived incursion into Vietnam: the Sino-Vietnamese War.

In 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam implemented economic reforms known as Đổi Mới (renovation). During much of the 1990s, economic growth was rapid, and Vietnam reintegrated into the international community. It re-established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1995, one year after the United States' trade embargo on Vietnam was repealed.

The Arab Republic of Egypt~Middle East~North Africa

2006-05-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

Featured Location~The Arab Republic of Egypt~Middle East~North Africa
Egypt (Arabic: مصر, romanized Misr, in Egyptian Arabic Máṣr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a Middle Eastern country in North Africa. While the country is geographically situated in Africa, the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is a land bridge to Asia.

Covering an area of about 1,001,450 square kilometres (386,560 mi²), Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel and the Gaza Strip to the northeast; on the north and the east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, respectively.

Egypt is the fifteenth most populous country in the world. The vast majority of its 78.8 million population (2006) live near the banks of the Nile River (about 40,000 km² or 15,450 mi²), where the only arable agricultural land is found. Large areas of land are part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited. About half of the Egyptian people today are urban, living in the densely populated centers of greater Cairo, the largest city in Africa, and Alexandria.

Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most ancient and important monuments, including the Giza Pyramids, the Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings and the Great Sphinx of Giza; the southern city of Luxor contains a particularly large number of ancient artifacts. Today, Egypt is widely regarded as the main political and cultural centre of the Arab and Middle Eastern regions.

History of Egypt and Ancient Egypt

The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A unified kingdom was founded circa 3100 BC by King Narmer, and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native dynasty, known as the Thirtieth Dynasty, fell to the Persians in 343 BC who dug the predecessor of the Suez canal and connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Later, Egypt fell to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Persians again.

It was the Muslim Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the seventh century to the Egyptians, who gradually adopted both. Muslim rulers nominated by the Islamic Caliphate remained in control of Egypt for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the Mamluks took control about 1250 and continued to govern even after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517.

Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub; however, the country also fell heavily into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments, the United Kingdom seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914.

Almost fully independent from the UK since 1922, the Egyptian Parliament drafted and implemented a new constitution in 1923 under the leadership of the popular revolutionary Saad Zaghlul. Between 1924-1936, there existed a short-lived but successful attempt to model Egypt's constitutional government after the European style of government; known as Egypt's Liberal Experiment. The British, however, retained a degree of control which led to continued instability in the government. In 1952, a military coup d'état forced King Farouk I, a constitutional monarch, to abdicate in support of his son King Ahmed Fouad II.
Egypt's capital Cairo is the largest city in Africa and the Middle East

Finally, the Egyptian Republic was declared on 18 June 1953 with General Muhammad Naguib as the first President of the Republic. After Naguib was also forced to resign in 1954 by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the 1952 movement, the latter assumed power as President and nationalized the Suez Canal leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis. Nasser came out of the war an Arab hero, and Nasserism won widespread influence in the region though was met with mixed reactions amongst Egyptians, many of whom had previously been indifferent to Arab nationalism.

Between 1958 and 1961, Nasser undertook to form a union between Egypt and Syria known as the United Arab Republic. This attempt too was met with mixed reactions, and it was clear that many Egyptians resented finding that the name of their country, which had endured for thousands of years, was suddenly eliminated. Three years after the 1967 Six Day War, in which Egypt lost the Sinai to Israel, Nasser died and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, who presented his takeover in terms of a Corrective Revolution. Sadat switched Egypt's Cold War allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet advisors in 1972, and launched the Infitah economic reform, while violently clamping down on religious and secular opposition alike. Egypt's name was also restored.

In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched a surprise attack on Israel in the October War (known also as the Yom Kippur War), which, despite not being a complete military success, was by most accounts a political victory. Both the United States and the USSR intervened, and a cease-fire was reached between Egypt and Israel. In 1979, Sadat made peace with Israel in exchange for the Sinai, a move that sparked enormous controversy in the Arab world and led to Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League (it was readmitted in 1989). Sadat was murdered by a religious fundamentalist in 1981, and succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.
Source: Wikipedia.org,the free Encyclopedia
Photos by etravelphotos.com

Royal Botanic Gardens~Kew~Southwest London~UK

2006-05-04T14:02:00.001-07:00

Featured Location~Royal Botanic Gardens,~Kew~Southwest London~England UK
Source: Wikipedia.org,the free Encyclopedia
Photos by etravelphotos.com

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond upon Thames and Kew in southwest London, England. The current director is Sir Peter Crane.

History

Kew Gardens originated in the exotic garden at Kew Park formed by Lord Capel of Tewkesbury, enlarged and greatly extended by Princess Augusta, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales, for whom Sir William Chambers built several garden structures, of which the lofty Chinese pagoda from 1761 remains. George III enriched the gardens, aided by the skill of William Aiton and of Sir Joseph Banks. The old Kew Park (by then renamed the White House), was demolished in 1802. The "Dutch House" adjoining was purchased by George III in 1781 as a nursery for the royal children. It is a plain brick structure now known as Kew Palace.

In 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden. Under Kew's new director, William Hooker, the gardens were increased to 30 ha (75 acres), and the pleasure grounds, or arboretum, extended to 109 ha (270 acres), and later to its current size of 120 ha (300 acres).

The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. The Temperate house, which is twice as large, followed later in the 19th century. It is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence.

Kew was the location of the successful effort in the 19th century to propagate rubber trees for cultivation outside South America.

1987 saw the opening of Kew's third major conservatory, the Princess of Wales Conservatory (opened by Princess Diana in commemoration of her predecessor Augusta's associations with Kew), which houses 10 different climate zones.

In July 2003, the gardens were put on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

On 10 August 2003, a temperature of 38.1C (100.6F) was recorded at Kew, which is considered by many to be the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK.

Alaska-North America

2006-04-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Featured Location-Alaska-North America
Alaska was first inhabited by humans who came across the Bering Land Bridge. Eventually, Alaska became populated by the Inupiaq, Inuit and Yupik Eskimos, Aleuts, and a variety of American Indian groups. Most, if not all, of the pre-Columbian population of the Americas probably took this route and continued further south and east.

The first written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach Alaska came from Russia. Vitus Bering sailed east and saw Mt. St. Elias. The Russian-American Company hunted sea otters for their fur. The colony was never very profitable, because of the costs of transportation.

The news of the British North America Act, 1867, was nervously received in Washington, DC. It would create, on July 1, 1867, "one dominion under the name of Canada," and this led to expressions of "grave misgivings on the establishment of a monarchial state to the north" in what Canadians then called "the republic to the south." (See McNaughton's excellent Short History of Canada.) U.S. Secretary of State William Seward thus urged, and the United States Senate thus approved, the treaty authorizing the purchase of Alaska from Russia for US$7,200,000 on 9 April 1867. The United States took possession and the American flag was raised over Alaska on 18 October, which is commemorated as Alaska Day.

Russia still used the Julian Calendar in 1867, and the world had not yet been divided into standard time zones - thus, there was no international date line, and the day began in the morning instead of starting at midnight. So, whereas the American day now ends with sunset in western Alaska, the Russian day - in those days - started with sunrise in 'eastern' Alaska. Thus, Friday, October 6, 1867, the day before the physical transfer of ownership, was followed by Friday, October 18, 1867 - which was Saturday, October 7, 1867 in Russia. The change in date was due to America bringing the Gregorian Calendar to Alaska, which the lack of change in day resulted from Alaska's shift from being the starting point of the Russian day to being the ending point of the American day.

The first American administrator of Alaska was Polish immigrant Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski. The purchase was not popular in the United States, where it became known as "Seward's Folly" or "Seward's Icebox." Alaska celebrates the purchase each year on the last Monday of March, calling it Seward's Day.

Upon purchase, the area was called Department of Alaska. Between 1884 and 1912 it was called the District of Alaska. Alaska was granted territorial status in 1912.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act on 7 July 1958, and Alaska formally became a state on January 3, 1959.

Alaska suffered one of the worst earthquakes in recorded history on Good Friday 1964 (see Good Friday Earthquake).

In 1976, the people of Alaska amended the state's constitution, establishing the Alaska Permanent Fund. The fund invests a portion of the state's mineral revenue, including revenue from the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System, "to benefit all generations of Alaskans." In March 2005, the fund's value was over $30 billion.

Prior to 1983, the state lay across four different time zones—Pacific Standard Time (UTC -8 hours) in the southeast panhandle, a small area of Yukon Standard Time (UTC -9 hours) around Yakutat, Alaska–Hawaii Standard Time (UTC -10 hours) in the Anchorage and Fairbanks vicinity, with the Nome area and most of the Aleutian Islands observing Bering Standard Time (UTC -11 hours). In 1983 the number of time zones was reduced to two, with the entire mainland plus the inner Aleutian Islands going to UTC -9 hours (and this zone then being renamed Alaska Standard Time as the Yukon Territory had several years earlier (circa 1975) adopted a single time zone identical to Pacific Standard Time), and the remaining Aleutian Islands were slotted into the UTC −10 hours zone, which was then renamed Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time.

Over the years various vessels have been named USS Alaska, in honor of the state.

During World War II three of the outer Aleutian Islands—Attu, Agattu and Kiska—were occupied by Japanese troops. It was the only territory within the current borders of the United States to have land occupied during the war.
Facts from Wikipedia.org
Photos courtesy etravephotos.com

Aviemore-Inverness-Shire-Highlands of Scotland

2006-04-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

Featured Location-Aviemore- Inverness-Shire-Highlands of Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aviemore (Scottish Gaelic: An Aghaidh Mhòr) is a tourist resort in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. Prior to 1890 it was in an exclave of the county of Moray and from 1890 to 1975 it was in the county of Inverness-shire, until the latter date being within the Civil Parish of Duthil and Rothiemurchus.

The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated within the Cairngorms National Park, Aviemore is one of the largest towns in the park, with a population of 2,397 as of the last census.

It is the first skiing resort to be established in Scotland and is also notable for being near the freely grazing reindeer herd at Glen More, the only one in the United Kingdom.

The resort has variable quality of snow and weather conditions.

The village was transformed in the 1960s by large developments for the tourist industry, and pavements which were designed by John Poulson, later to be the centre of a bribery scandal.

Aviemore lies on the B9152 (the "old" A9 road since the main road from Inverness to Perth was rebuilt further west in the 1980s). Aviemore railway station is on the Highland Main Line and Aviemore is also the southern terminus of the Strathspey Railway, a heritage railway, currently being extended to Grantown-on-Spey

Surfers Paradise-Gold Coast-Australia

2006-04-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Featured Location-Surfers Paradise-Gold Coast-Australia

Surfers Paradise (28°00′S 153°25′E) is a beach resort town on Australia's Gold Coast in Queensland, noted for its many high-rise hotels and apartment buildings. The central feature of the Surfers Paradise CBD is Cavill Mall, which runs through the centre of the main shopping precinct, directly to the beach. The record-breaking Q1 residential tower is situated on Clifford Street in Surfers Paradise.
James Beattie, a farmer (and no relation to current Queensland Premier Peter Beattie) became the first European to settle in the Surfers Paradise area when he staked out an 80 acre farm on the northern bank of the Nerang River, close to the location of present-day Cavill Avenue. The farm proved unsuccessful and was sold in 1877 to German immigrant Johann Meyer, who turned the land into a sugar farm and mill. Meyer also had little luck growing in the sandy soil and within a decade had auctioned off the farm and started a private ferry service and built the Main Beach hotel as tourist attractions. By 1889 Meyer's hotel had become an official postal receiving office and the subdivisions surrounding it were given the name Elston, named by the Southport Postmaster Mr Palmer after his wife's home village in Nottingham, England. The Main Beach Hotel licence lapsed after Meyer's death in 1901 and for the next 16 years Elston was a tourist town without a hotel or post office.

In 1917 a land auction was held by Brisbane real estate company Arthur Blackwood Ltd, who were trying to sell subdivided blocks in Elston as the 'Surfers Paradise Estate', but the auction failed because access to the area was still too difficult. This was the first recorded reference to the Surfers Paradise name, but like the Gold Coast, the title may well have been part of local vernacular prior to the land auction.

Elston began to get considerably more visitors after the opening of the Jubilee Bridge in 1925 and the extension of the South Coast Road; the area was serviced until that time only by Meyer's Ferry at the Nerang River. Suddenly, Elston was no longer cut off by the river and speculators began buying up land around the villages of Elston, and Burleigh Heads. Estates down the coast were heavily promoted and hotels began opening to accommodate both tourists and investors.

Brisbane hotelier Jim Cavill opened the Surfers Paradise Hotel that same year, and suddenly the town had its first real landmark. Located between the ferry jetty and the white surf beach just off the South Coast Road, it became a popular spot and various shops and services sprang up around it. In the following years Cavill led a push to have the name Elston changed to the more marketable Surfers Paradise and in 1933 his lobbying paid off and the town officially acquired its present name.

The boom of the 1950s and 1960s was largely centred on this area and the first of the tall apartment buildings that now characterise the area were constructed in the decades that followed. Little remains of the early vegetation or natural features of the area and even the historical association of the beachfront development with the river is tenuous. The early subdivision pattern remains, although later reclamation of the islands in the Nerang River as housing estates, and the bridges to those islands, has created a contrast reflected in subdivision and building form. Some early remnants survived such as Budd's Beach - a low-scale open area on the river which even in the early history of the area was a centre for boating, fishing and still-water swimming.

Some minor changes have occurred in extending the road along the beachfront since the early subdivision and The Esplanade road is now very much a focus of activity in this part of the Gold Coast. Promenading and people-watching takes place in this area where land use encourages not only residential activity but tourism with supporting shops and restaurants. The intensity of activity, centred on Cavill, Orchid and Elkhorn Avenues, is reflected in the density of building development. Of all places on the Gold Coast the buildings in this area constitute a dominant and enduring image visible from many vantage points in the city from as far south as Burleigh Heads as well as from the mountain resorts of the hinterland and beyond.

source: Wikipedia

Hyderabad-Andhra Pradesh-India

2006-03-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Featured Location-Hyderabad-Andhra Pradesh-India

Hyderabad is a city in southern India which is known for its culture, traditions, history and architectural monuments. The city is 536 metres above sea level on the southern bank of the river Musi. There is another city called Secunderabad connected to Hyderabad and they are called the "Twin Cities". Hyderabad has many places of tourist interest like the Charminar - a historicaland architectural marvel, the Salar Jung Museum and Salar Jung III, contains 35,000exhibits from all over the world. Visit the archaeological museum, the Golconda Fort and Nehru Zoological Park.

Hyderabad is known as the city of pearls and pearl ornaments. The pearl market is situated near Charminar. Products such as silverware, saris, Nirmal and Kalamkari paintings and artefacts, unique Bidri handcrafted items, lacquer bangles studded with stones, silk-ware, cotton-ware and handloom based clothing materials are made and traded through the city for centuries.

Hyderabad city is today known for its IT and IT Enabled Services, Pharmaceuticals and Entertainment industries. Many call centers, Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) firms, dealing with IT and other technological services were set up in the 1990s making it one of the major regions for call center setups in India. Ramoji Film City, one of the largest film studios in the world is located on the outskirts of the city.

Hyderabad is known for its academic institutes and research labs, both public and private institutes with very diverse areas of interest from Developmental Banking at the Institute for Development in Research and Banking Technology, to eye care with state-of-the art medical facilities at the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute. The infrastructural facilities for basic research in Hyderabad are among the best in the country, hosting a large academic population from all over the country and beyond.

Hyderabad has been selected as the location for India's first Fab City, a silicon chip manufacturing facility, being setup with an investment of $3 billion by the AMD-SemIndia consortium.
source: Wikipedia
photo Wikipedia

Tobago-Republic of Trinidad and Tobago-Caribbean

2006-03-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

Featured Location-Tobago-Republic of Trinidad and Tobago-Caribbean

Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean Sea, northeast of the island of Trinidad and south of Grenada. Its name is believed to derive from tobacco.
Known in legend as the home of Robinson Crusoe, Tobago remains an unspoiled paradise island of the Caribbean. It offers great snorkeling; scuba diving; dense rain forest trails to explore; and warm, friendly people to welcome you. Long, lazy days and unforgettable sunsets.

The Tobago Forest Reserve (or the Main Ridge Reserve) claims to be the oldest protected forests in the western world. It was designated as a protected Crown reserve on April 17, 1776 following representations by Soame Jenyns a Member of Parliament in Britain who had the responsibility for the development of Tobago. It has remained a protected area ever since.

This forested area has great biodiversity including many species of birds, mammals, frog and (non-poisonous) snakes. It is also one of the most approachable area of rain-forest since it is relatively small and there are Government appointed guides who provide an authoritative guiding service through the forest at very reasonable cost. The guides are very knowledgeable about the plants and the animals and can call down rare and exotic birds from the canopy by imitating their calls.

Little Tobago, the small neighbouring island supports some of the best dry forest remaining in Tobago. Little Tobago and St. Giles Island are important seabird nesting colonies, with Red-billed Tropicbird, Magnificent Frigatebird and Audubon's Shearwater amongst others.

Tobago is also a popular diving location since it is the most southerly of the Caribbean island with coral communities. Trinidad, which is further south has no significant coral because of low salinity and high silt content which result from its position close in the mouth of Venezuela's River Orinoco. Diving on Tobago tends to be centred at Speyside, almost diametrically across the island from the airport.
source: Wikipedia

Kelowna-British Columbia-Canada

2006-03-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Featured Location-Kelowna-British Columbia-Canada
photo courtesy etravelphotos.com

Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada.
Kelowna is the largest city in the Okanagan Valley and boasts the amenities of a major city--fine dining, unique shops, and a vibrant cultural life. Yet orchards and vineyards thrive within a 10-minute drive of downtown. Kelowna produces wines that have a worldwide reputation. Vineyards are common around and south of the city where the climate is ideal for the many wineries. Notable ones include the Mission Hill Estate Winery, specifically for its unique architectual design. Spectacular vistas await those ready to explore. A delightful day can be spent sampling the award-winning wares of the numerous, internationally acclaimed wineries. You may also wish to visit one of several championship golf courses in the area. Go boating, swimming, and fishing on the lake, or hike or ski one of the three local mountains. In summer, boating is popular and in winter, Alpine skiing at the nearby Big White Ski Resort.

Artifacts suggest that hunters lived in the Kelowna area as far back as 2,000 years ago. However, the first European settlement took place in 1859 by three Oblate missionaries. Father Pandosy, Father Richard and Brother Surel set up a mission for the area’s natives, traders and new settlers. Three of the original buildings remain at the Father Pandosy Mission Provincial Heritage Site.

France-Rhône-Alpes-Megève

2006-03-21T15:58:00.000-08:00

Featured Location- France-Rhône-Alpes-Megève

Megève is a famous ski resort in the Alps, dating back to 1913. It started its development in the 1920s when Baroness Maurice de Rothschild opened its first major hotel in 1921, after becoming disenchanted with St. Moritz as a skiing resort. By the 1950s Megève was one of the most popular ski resorts in Europe, and attracted many celebrities. As well as Megève itself, the skiing area also includes the Combloux, Cote 2000, and Les Contamines resorts. The resort has a skiable area of 8 km², and an uppermost point at 2350 m.
In winter you can enjoy downhill skiing as well as cross-country skiing. In summer activities include sightseeing (Mont Blanc Chamonix) or sports such as tennis, golf, walking and climbing.
source: Wikipedia

Viva Las Vegas

2006-03-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

Featured Location-United States-Nevada-Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas "The Entertainment Capital of the World"

Las Vegas was given its name by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or Meadows (Vega in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.
Las Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails to the west, and became a popular railroad town in the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all the mines in the surrounding area, especially from the town of Bullfrog, that shipped their goods out to the country. With the growth of the railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the building of the Hoover Dam injected new blood into Las Vegas and the city has never looked back. Federal dollars from Hoover Dam soon converted to tourist dollars after the dam was built. The increase in tourism and the legalization of gambling led to the advent of the casino-hotels for which Las Vegas is famous.
source: Wikipedia
From lounges to clubs to pubs, the possibilities for a night out in Vegas are endless. Las Vegas is also a very popular wedding destination...

United States-Florida-Kissimmee

2006-03-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

Featured Location-United States-Florida-Kissimmee

Kissimmee on the northwest shore of Lake Tohopekaliga (locally called "Lake Toho", "West Lake Toho" or simply "West Lake") was founded in the mid-19th Century as Allendale. The name was changed when the city was incorporated in 1883.

From theme parks to bass fishing, River Country, Typhoon Lagoon, Water Mania, Arabian Knights, and Medieval Times. Universal Studios, SeaWorld, and Wet 'n Wild are a 20-minute drive away. Old Towne Square and surrounding gift shops are just a few of the places avid shoppers can visit. The Kissimmee area has an abundance of things to do for every member of the family.

After the opening of nearby Walt Disney World in 1971, Kissimmee and its neighboring city of Saint Cloud began to experience rapid growth which continues to this day.

Cattle ranching was an important part of the local economy for a century or so before the opening of Walt Disney World. After that, tourism and development supplanted cattle ranching to a large measure; however, cattle ranches still remain nearby, particularly in the southern part of Osceola County.

Disneyland awaits..Preparing for your overseas holiday/vacation..a few things to remember..

1. Fill out the emergency information page of your passport. You never know where – or when – this information will be critical.

2. Get a physical and dental exam. Be sure you’re up-to-date on all of your standard vaccinations: measles, mumps, rubella, polio, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. If you’re traveling to Europe, Australia or New Zealand, these basic immunizations should be all you need. Africa, Asia and Latin America, however, require you to show a vaccination certificate for cholera, yellow fever, typhoid and others (such as Malaria). It’ll take a few weeks to get all of these vaccinations completed, so be sure to allow enough time. If you’re not sure which ones are required for your destination, contact your local public health department. They’ll be able to tell you what you need, as well as where to go to get them.

3. Invest in travel health insurance. You may already have it under your current medical plan, however double check to be sure. At the very least, you want to make sure you’re covered for accidents and hospital costs abroad.

4. Learn local customs and laws. What are the standards on tipping? Can women wear shorts? Make a concerted effort to understand, practice and appreciate the way other cultures live. It’ll keep you out of trouble and your experience will be richer for it.

5. Stay abreast of current news. You’d be surprised at the number of foreign countries that post their newspapers online. Be on the lookout for travel advisories or warnings.

6. Learn enough of the language to communicate. When it comes time for assistance, you’ll be glad you did. Plus, locals are more likely to respond warmly if they know you’re trying to speak their language.

Africa - Kenya - Malindi

2006-03-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

Featured Location - Africa - Kenya - Malindi
Malindi is one of the oldest towns in Eastern Africa, renowned for its its relaxed ambiance, beautiful beaches and water sport like deep-sea fishing and goggling.
The town has not changed much since the last hundred years, old houses, small shops, beautiful beach and friendly people.
The place for kite surfing, diving, in the south of Malindi there is the marine reserve with snorkelling, white sand and trips are available in glass bottom boats to see the coral reef and marine life.
Also a perfect start for your Safari to Tsavo National Park or Masai Mara Game Reserve.

Masai Mara Game Reserve.
Masai Mara boils in wildlife. During the dry season from July to October, when the big herds roam through these grounds, wildlife spectacle is unparalleled all around the world, evoking what Africa must have been in the old days of the "great white hunters".
The plains from Mara river to Soit Ololol Escarpment (Esoit Oloololo or Siria), at the west part, is a favourite haunt for Masai Mara's famous black-maned lions, which usually walk these grasslands searching for prey and doze beneath the scattered acacia trees during the day. This area holds beautiful scenics, the flat topped trees vanishing in the haze before the backdrop of the far-off bluish mountains. Another place to find lions is Musiara Swamps, which actually remain dry for a great part of the year. Lions are probably the major attraction in Masai Mara: it is nearly impossible to leave the park without spotting some of them, since their population here is the largest in Kenya.

Tsavo National Park.
At just over 21,000km sq, Tsavo is the largest national park in Kenya and one of the largest in the world. Because of its size the park was split into two, Tsavo West and Tsavo East, for easy administration. Midway between Nairobi and Mombasa the area boasts volcanic hills, four rivers, more than 60 major mammal species and 1000 plant species.

With well over 500 miles of roadways in the Park, tourists are able to see a wide variety of animals, including black rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe and such antelopes as the lesser kudu, gerenuk, fringe-eared oryx, eland, waterbuck and impala. Lion, leopard and cheetah are also listed.

The birds of the Tsavo include bustards, hornbills, sunbirds, weaver birds, heron, egret, secretary bird, vulture, fish eagle, buzzards, kites, harriers, eagles, ostrich and many, many more.

Among the reptiles are crocodile, several species of lizard, common mamba, Egyptian cobra, black-necked cobra, night adder and puff adder.

More pictures from Kenya

Travel with a Difference

2006-02-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

Photos from around the world for your enjoyment