439 résultats pour "largest"
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Dinosaur - biology.
The behavior of dinosaurs was governed by their metabolism and by their central nervous system. The dinosaurs’ metabolism—the internal activities that supply thebody’s energy needs—affected their activity level. It is unclear whether dinosaurs were purely endothermic (warm-blooded), like modern mammals, or ectothermic (cold-blooded), like modern reptiles. Endotherms regulate their body temperature internally by means of their metabolism, rather than by using the temperature oftheir surroundin...
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Azerbaijan - country.
second most important industrial center after Baku. A Ethnic Groups Azerbaijan, including the autonomous exclave of Naxçivan, is populated mostly by ethnic Azerbaijanis, who are also known as Azeris. The ethnic composition of thecountry changed due to a civil war between the government of Azerbaijan and Armenian secessionists in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Beginning in 1988, when thepeople of Nagorno-Karabakh unilaterally decided to secede from Azerbaijan, nearly the entire Azerbaijani popula...
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Seattle - geography.
Mountains. The area includes the suburban cities of Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Renton, and Issaquah. The Eastside has become home to dozens of high-technologyindustries including Microsoft Corporation, ATL Ultrasound, Nintendo of America, divisions of The Boeing Company, and many other firms. In the 1960s commutersheaded to Seattle jobs from homes on the Eastside. Today, the “reverse commute” from Seattle homes to jobs on the Eastside is just as heavy, and both streams oftraffic cross the same...
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Globalization.
higher living standard for their people. The World Bank made loans to developing countries for dams and other electrical-generating plants, harbor facilities, and otherlarge projects. These projects were intended to lower costs for private businesses and to attract investors. Beginning in 1968 the World Bank focused on low-cost loansfor health, education, and other basic needs of the world’s poor. B International Monetary Fund The IMF makes loans so that countries can maintain the value of thei...
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Yemen - country.
port. Al Ḩudaydah (155,110), in the Tih āmah, is the second largest port. Ta‘izz, (178,043), in the highlands above Aden, is an important commercial and light industrialcenter. Among Yemen’s larger towns are Şa‘dah, far to the north; Dham ār, Yarim, and Ibb, in the middle region; Al Mukall ā, on the southern coast; and in Hadhramaut,the towns of Shib ām, Say‘ ūn, and Tar īm. C Language Nearly all Yemenis speak Arabic. However, the country’s extremely rugged terrain, widely separated population...
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Environment.
escape into space of the infrared energy radiated back out by Earth. This process is referred to as the greenhouse effect. These gases, primarily carbon dioxide,methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor, insulate Earth’s surface, helping to maintain warm temperatures. Without these gases, Earth would be a frozen planet with anaverage temperature of about -18°C (about 0°F) instead of a comfortable 15°C (59°F). If the concentration of these gases rises, they trap more heat within theatmosphere, caus...
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Edmonton - geography.
States airlines. Edmonton has a light-rail transit (LRT) system, which was the first of its kind in Canada, as well as an international airport and three smaller, special-purpose airports. V GOVERNMENT Seventeen separate cities, towns, and counties make up Edmonton’s metropolitan area. Each has its own municipal government, with an elected mayor or reeve andcouncil. In the city of Edmonton, the largest municipality, elections are held every three years for a mayor and for 12 councillors who rep...
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Amazon (river) - geography.
5,000 indigenous groups remain today in Peru, but few are untouched by the outside world.Alison Wright/Corbis The Amazon watershed includes the largest and wettest tropical plain in the world. Heavy rains drench much of the densely forested lowland region throughout the year butespecially between January and June. Seasonal variation in rainfall is reflected by the width, rate of flow, and discharge volume of the river. During the months of maximumprecipitation, broad areas traversed by the Amazo...
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Miami (Florida) - geography.
Port of MiamiThe Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami-Dade, known simply as the Port of Miami, is one of the world’s leading passenger ports. Tourism isan important part of Miami’s economy, and many tourists board cruise ships at the Port of Miami.F. Stuart Westmorland/Photo Researchers, Inc. Miami’s economy, until recently dominated by tourism, is increasingly diversified. Tourism still plays a significant role, with more than 10 million visitors staying overnightin Miami-Dade County each year. A siz...
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St. John's (city, Newfoundland and Labrador) - geography.
I
INTRODUCTION
Harbor of St.
Standing above the Narrows, at the top of Signal Hill, is Cabot Tower, built in 1897 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland by John Cabot andthe diamond jubilee marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria to the British throne. The tower has been a national historic site since 1958. In 1901Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi set up a listening post just below the tower and successfully received the first wireless transmission from Europe. St. John...
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Jakarta - geography.
than half the households use piped water for drinking. Fewer still use piped water for bathing and washing. Only a small part of Jakarta is served by piped sewers and manyhomes lack septic tanks. III ECONOMY Jakarta developed as a center of trade under the Europeans and it continues to play an important role in international and domestic commerce. The metropolitan region isIndonesia's largest economic center; it attracts most of Indonesia's domestic and foreign investment and, as the administr...
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Buenos Aires (city) - geography.
Casa Rosada, Buenos AiresThe Casa Rosada (Pink House) is Argentina’s presidential palace, containing the offices of the president. Located on the Plaza de Mayoin downtown Buenos Aires, the palace also contains a museum that is open to the public.Eduardo Gill/Black Star/PNI The Plaza de Mayo, situated close to the waterfront at the eastern edge of Buenos Aires, was the starting point for the original settlement. As the city expanded outward in asemicircle, the plaza continued to serve as the prin...
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Pyramids (Egypt) - history.
out, to the king’s burial chamber, which ideally was located directly underneath the pyramid’s center point. Sometimes, in addition to the burial chamber, there werestorage chambers within the pyramid. These chambers held objects used in burial rituals as well as items for the deceased to use in the afterlife. Some of these items werevaluable, and in later years people robbed many of the pyramids and stole the objects. Pyramid of Khafre at GizaThe pyramids at Giza in Egypt are among the best-kno...
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South America - geography.
B Natural Regions Tierra del Fuego, ArgentinaUshuaia, on Argentina’s island of Tierra del Fuego, is the world’s southernmost city. Argentina claims part of the Tierra del Fuegoarchipelago, including the largest island, known as Tierra del Fuego or Great Island, and Staten Island. Chile claims the remainder ofthe islands in the territory.R. Van Nostrand/Photo Researchers, Inc. Rising abruptly from the northwestern and western coasts of the continent are the Andes. They consist of a single chain...
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San Jose (California) - geography.
The San Jose metropolitan area is an economic powerhouse. It is the single most important high-technology center in the United States, specializing in aerospace andcomputer technology. Assisting in the area’s steady innovation is its many venture capital firms, which loan money to entrepreneurs starting new companies. It isestimated that the region contains one-half of the leading venture capital firms in the world. Among the nation’s largest companies in the San Jose metropolitan regionare Inte...
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Sydney (Australia) - geography.
kept pace with demand, mostly through the outward expansion of the metropolitan area. More housing has been created recently in inner areas, including the CBD, onredeveloped industrial sites and in converted commercial buildings. Several outlying areas are part of the greater Sydney conurbation (a large urban area formed by urban sprawl). To the west are areas of commercial strip development extending from Penrith through the Blue Mountains; to the north are the Central Coast area centered on...
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Foreign Trade.
tax policies. Direct government support of various domestic industries is also viewed as a nontariff barrier to trade, because such support puts the aided industries at anunfair advantage among trading nations. V 20TH-CENTURY TRENDS In the first half of the 20th century, equal tariffs for similar goods was not the policy of all nations. Countries levied differential tariffs (charging lower tariffs to favorednations) and established other restrictive trading practices as weapons to fight unfrien...
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Berlin - geography.
new offices of the federal government. Near Tiergarten is the Kulturforum complex, including the Museum of Applied Arts, and the Bauhaus Archives and Museum, whichdocuments the modernist Bauhaus school of architecture and design that flourished from 1919 to 1933. A museum complex lines the south edge of Tiergarten. West of the city center, in the contemporary borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, is the Kurfürstendamm, a boulevard that became the commercial center of West Berlinafter the end of...
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Jakarta - geography.
voluntary movement of families to Indonesia's less populated islands). Jakarta is a magnet for migrants from other areas of Indonesia; during the late 1980s an estimated 250 migrants arrived daily. Most were between the ages of 15 and39 years, many with six years of education or less. There is also a significant number of commuters and seasonal migrants who work in government, manufacturing,and services. In addition, many of these temporary residents are engaged in informal employment as drivers...
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Mexico City - geography.
Chapultepec Park also contains several museums. The most important is the National Museum of Anthropology. Other museums include Mexico's Museum of Modern Art andthe Museum of Natural History. (These museums are described below in the section Education and Culture .) Mexico City's major north-south artery is the Avenida Insurgentes, which stretches 30 km (21 mi). It crosses the Paseo de la Reforma just north of the tourist area knownas the Zona Rosa (Spanish for “Pink Zone”). Within this nei...
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?stanbul - geography.
İstanbul hosts a number of annual cultural events. The İstanbul Cultural Festival, held in the summer, offers music and dance performances in more than 50 venuesthroughout the city, including outdoors at Rumelihisar ı. The city also hosts a summer jazz festival. Turkey is one of the world’s largest producers of motion pictures, anda highly regarded international film festival takes place in İstanbul during the early months of the year. V RECREATION With increasing modernization, recreation is...
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Vanuatu - country.
and Luganville. V GOVERNMENT Vanuatu is governed under a constitution that came into effect with the republic’s independence in 1980. The president of Vanuatu serves as head of state, a largelyceremonial office. The president is elected by Vanuatu’s parliament and the heads of regional government councils. The parliament, or legislature, is a single-chamberbody whose membership has increased several times since independence; in 1998 the parliament had 52 members. Members of parliament are chose...
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Yangtze - Geography.
A Agriculture and Industry Today about 400 million people, or about one-third of the population of China, live in the Yangtze Basin. Many are engaged in agriculture. The basin contributes nearlyhalf of China’s crop production, although only one-quarter of the basin is arable. The most fertile areas for farming are the Sichuan Basin, the plains between theYangtze and its tributary the Han, and the plains of the lower basin. In all about 40 percent of the cereals, more than 30 percent of the cott...
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The Gambia - country.
The population of The Gambia (2008 estimate) is 1,735,464, making it one of the least populous countries of Africa. Still, the country has a fairly high overall populationdensity of 174 persons per sq km (449 per sq mi), and the population is increasing at a rate of 2.7 percent a year. Banjul, formerly called Bathurst, is the capital andonly seaport. The largest city is Serrekunda, a transportation hub and commercial center. B Religion and Language The great majority of the people of The Gambia...
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Water Pollution.
Cryptosporidium in the water supply of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sickened more than 400,000 people and killed more than 100. H Thermal Pollution Water is often drawn from rivers, lakes, or the ocean for use as a coolant in factories and power plants. The water is usually returned to the source warmer than when itwas taken. Even small temperature changes in a body of water can drive away the fish and other species that were originally present, and attract other species in placeof them. Thermal pol...
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Rome (Italy) - geography.
country’s best, and in the summer at the Baths of Caracalla. The city also has some 20 theaters and 6 major concert halls, which offer a varied repertory during the fall,winter, and spring. The museums of the city deal with all aspects of the arts and sciences and are among the world’s finest. The oldest art collection in Rome, housed in the CapitolineMuseum, was established in 1471 and contains exceptional antiquities. Among other Roman museums are the National Museum of the Villa Giulia, which...
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Bhutan - country.
languages ( see Indo-Iranian Languages) and follow Hinduism. Nepalese people constitute a significant portion of Bhutan’s population. They are the most recent settlers, occupying south central and southwestern Bhutan. TheNepalese are mainly Rai, Gurung, and Limbu ethnic groups from the eastern mountains of Nepal. Nepalese immigration has been banned since 1959, when theBhutanese government feared the minority would become too populous. Nepalese are not permitted to live in the central Middle Hi...
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Scramble for Africa.
additional territorial grabs. The most significant of these rules stated that colonial powers were obligated to notify each other when they claimed African territory.Further, subsequent “effective occupation” of the claimed area was necessary for the claim to remain valid. Through it all, as Europeans negotiated their rights toAfrican territory, not a single African was present. Once the conference was over, it was clear that a European Scramble for African territories was underway. Southern Afr...
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Louis XIV
I
INTRODUCTION
Louis XIV (1638-1715), king of France (1643-1715), known as the Sun King.
he could defend against attack from his enemies. In the first instance, Louis worked to tighten central control over the array of departments, regions, and duchies that together made up France. To this end, he revivedthe use of regional intendants, officials who were sent to the provinces with instructions to establish order and effective royal justice. Although agents of the centralgovernment, intendants worked closely with the local nobility and legal institutions to establish efficient admini...
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Louis XIV.
he could defend against attack from his enemies. In the first instance, Louis worked to tighten central control over the array of departments, regions, and duchies that together made up France. To this end, he revivedthe use of regional intendants, officials who were sent to the provinces with instructions to establish order and effective royal justice. Although agents of the centralgovernment, intendants worked closely with the local nobility and legal institutions to establish efficient admini...
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Plate Tectonics.
ridges. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is an underwater mountain range created at a divergent plate boundary in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of a worldwidesystem of ridges made by seafloor spreading. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is currently spreading at a rate of 2.5 cm per year (1 in per year). The mid-ocean ridges today are60,000 km (about 40,000 mi) long, forming the largest continuous mountain chain on earth. Earthquakes, faults, underwater volcanic eruptions, and vents, oropenings, along...
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Tunisia - country.
mixture of Berber and Arab stock, and they regard themselves as Arabs. Nearly everyone speaks Arabic. The population of Tunisia is concentrated in the coastal plain. It is fairly dense in the hilly north, but the arid plateau, basin, and south are thinly settled. About two-thirds of the country’s people live in urban areas. A Principal Cities The capital and largest city of Tunisia is the seaport of Tunis. Other important cities include Sfax, a port and center of trade on the eastern coast; Sūs...
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Cell (biology) - biology.
proteins, or other proteins required by the cell. While relatively simple in construction, prokaryotic cells display extremely complex activity. They have a greater range of biochemical reactions than those found in theirlarger relatives, the eukaryotic cells. The extraordinary biochemical diversity of prokaryotic cells is manifested in the wide-ranging lifestyles of the archaebacteria andthe bacteria, whose habitats include polar ice, deserts, and hydrothermal vents—deep regions of the ocean un...
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Butterflies and Moths - biology.
The smallest butterflies are certain blues that have wingspans of a mere 0.7 cm (0.25 in). The largest are the female giant birdwings of Papua New Guinea, whichmeasure up to 30 cm (12 in) across. Moths range in size from tiny Microlepidoptera, several groups of small moths with wings no more than 0.16 cm (0.06 in) across, togiant silk moths, such as the atlas moth, which may exceed 30 cm (12 in) in wingspan. IV REPRODUCTION AND LIFE CYCLE Butterflies locate potential mates by sight, identifyin...
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American Westward Movement - U.
British expansion. However, Native Americans of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley lashed out against the English in an attempt to preserve their independence, theirland, and their way of life. With the Ottawa chief Pontiac as their most visible leader, the tribes waged a bloody and costly war. As a result, the British governmentdecided to keep the white settlers apart from the Native Americans. It issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, banning all white settlement beyond the Appalachians andstatin...
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Zimbabwe - country.
contamination—especially from the dieldrin and DDT used in tsetse fly control—has significantly affected wildlife and human health. III PEOPLE AND SOCIETY OF ZIMBABWE In 2008 Zimbabwe’s population was estimated to be 12,382,920, giving the country a population density of 32 persons per sq km (83 per sq mi). With a birth rate of27 per 1,000 and a death rate of 22 per 1,000, Zimbabwe’s population growth rate is 0.6 percent. Life expectancy at birth was estimated at 40 years in 2008, downfrom 59...
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World Energy Supply.
In the 1990s, oil production by non-OPEC countries remained strong and production by OPEC countries rebounded. The result at the end of the 20th century was aworld oil surplus and prices (when adjusted for inflation) that were lower than in 1972. Experts are uncertain about future oil supplies and prices. Low prices have spurred greater oil consumption, and experts question how long world petroleum reservescan keep pace with increased demand. Many of the world’s leading petroleum geologists beli...
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Bird.
I
INTRODUCTION
Bird, animal with feathers and wings. Birds are the only
B Physical Adaptations for Flight The internal body parts of all birds, including flightless ones, reflect the evolution of birds as flying creatures. Birds have lightweight skeletons in which many of themajor bones are hollow. A unique feature of birds is the furculum, or wishbone, which is comparable to the collarbones of humans, although in birds the left and rightportions are fused together. The furculum absorbs the shock of wing motion and acts as a spring to help birds breathe while they...
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Bird - biology.
B Physical Adaptations for Flight The internal body parts of all birds, including flightless ones, reflect the evolution of birds as flying creatures. Birds have lightweight skeletons in which many of themajor bones are hollow. A unique feature of birds is the furculum, or wishbone, which is comparable to the collarbones of humans, although in birds the left and rightportions are fused together. The furculum absorbs the shock of wing motion and acts as a spring to help birds breathe while they...
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Medicine.
C Other Health Professionals Medicine is not restricted to physicians. A wide variety of health care practitioners work in this exciting field. By far the largest professional group is nurses. Registerednurses help physicians during examinations, treatment, and surgery. They observe, evaluate, and record patients’ symptoms, administer medications, and provideother care ( see Nursing). Nurse practitioners perform basic duties once reserved for physicians, such as diagnosing and treating common i...
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Ancient Egypt.
around 4500 BC. The style and decoration of the pottery found at these sites differ from those of pottery found in Upper Egypt. The northern type eventually fell out of use. Other differences between the peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt include the nature of their architecture and the arrangements for burial of the dead, thelatter perhaps signifying differing religious beliefs. B Unification and Early Dynastic Period By 3500 BC, the settlement of Hierakonpolis, located on the west bank...
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Ancient Egypt - USA History.
around 4500 BC. The style and decoration of the pottery found at these sites differ from those of pottery found in Upper Egypt. The northern type eventually fell out of use. Other differences between the peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt include the nature of their architecture and the arrangements for burial of the dead, thelatter perhaps signifying differing religious beliefs. B Unification and Early Dynastic Period By 3500 BC, the settlement of Hierakonpolis, located on the west bank...
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Minneapolis - geography.
into a ten-block shopping center, known as Nicollet Mall, reserved for pedestrians and public transportation; at one end is Gateway Center, a complex that includes severalhigh-rise government and office buildings. Pedestrians may also cross from building to building using skyways, glass-enclosed bridges that cross many downtown streets.The Mall of America, the largest retail and entertainment complex in the United States, is in nearby Bloomington. V EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS Weisman...
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Edwin Hubble.
California. The Hale telescope was the largest telescope in the world from when it went into operation in 1948 until the Keck telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory inHawaii was completed in 1990. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), a powerful telescope launched in 1990 and carried aboard a satellite in orbit around Earth, wasnamed after Hubble and has helped scientists make many important observations. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Montenegro Facts and Figures.
Female Not available Male Not available Education expenditure as a share of gross national product (GNP) Not available Number of years of compulsory schooling Not available GOVERNMENTForm of government Republic Voting qualifications Universal at age 18 Constitution 19 October 2007 Armed forcesTotal number of military personnel Not available Military expenditures as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) Not available ECONOMYGross domestic product (GDP, in U.S.$) 2.5 billion (2006...
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Cleveland (Ohio) - geography.
III POPULATION According to the national census, the population of Cleveland was 505,616 in 1990, a decline of 11.9 percent from the 1980 population of 573,822. The decrease continuedinto the 1990s, falling a further 5.4 percent between 1990 and 2000. The population was 478,403 in 2000. By 2006, Cleveland's population was estimated at 444,313. Thedecrease was attributed to a continuing flight to the suburbs, begun before 1970 and fueled by racial polarization and public school problems. In 2000...
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Scramble for Africa.
additional territorial grabs. The most significant of these rules stated that colonial powers were obligated to notify each other when they claimed African territory.Further, subsequent “effective occupation” of the claimed area was necessary for the claim to remain valid. Through it all, as Europeans negotiated their rights toAfrican territory, not a single African was present. Once the conference was over, it was clear that a European Scramble for African territories was underway. Southern Afr...
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Scramble for Africa - history.
Sir Henry Morton StanleyAnglo-American explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a key figure in the Scramble for Africa. His late 19th-century exploration anddevelopment of the lower Congo River in the name of Belgian king Leopold II led to the creation of the huge Congo Free State asLeopold’s personal property.THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE European competition over African territory in the 1870s heightened once Belgian king Leopold II got involved. Merchants under French government protection had beenadvan...
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Alberta - Geography.
C Climate Except for the mountain areas, summers throughout the province are quite warm. Winters are long and extremely cold. In July, average daily temperatures range fromabout 16°C (about 60°F) along the northern boundary to about 21°C (about 70°F) in the south. In the extreme southeastern section of the province, temperatures of43°C (110°F) have been recorded. In January, average daily temperatures range from about -14°C (about 6°F) at Grande Prairie to about -9°C (about 16°F) atCalgary. Tem...
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Alberta - Canadian History.
C Climate Except for the mountain areas, summers throughout the province are quite warm. Winters are long and extremely cold. In July, average daily temperatures range fromabout 16°C (about 60°F) along the northern boundary to about 21°C (about 70°F) in the south. In the extreme southeastern section of the province, temperatures of43°C (110°F) have been recorded. In January, average daily temperatures range from about -14°C (about 6°F) at Grande Prairie to about -9°C (about 16°F) atCalgary. Tem...