120 résultats pour "ethnic"
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Ethnic Groups in Canada - Canadian History.
Ontario and the Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island). Most of the Irish live in rural areas of NovaScotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, and Québec. The Welsh are by far the smallest group among the British Canadians, and they have also settled inthe Atlantic provinces and Ontario. B Culture The language spoken by British Canadians is mostly English, but some Welsh speak their own Celtic language and some Scots, Gae...
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Kenya - country.
threatens fish and other water life in the lake by depriving them of oxygen. Kenya is well known for its game parks—including Masai Mara Game Park and Tsavo National Park in the south, and Marsabit National Reserve in the north—whichattract large numbers of tourists and much revenue. Conservation of wildlife within reserves has thus received high priority. About 13 percent (2007) of Kenya’s totalland is protected. There are 229 (2004) threatened species in Kenya. Threatened habitats include the...
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Croatia - country.
III PEOPLE OF CROATIA The total population of Croatia at the time of the 1991 census was 4,784,265; a 2008 estimate was 4,491,543. During and after the war ethnic Serbs fled Croatia whileethnic Croats moved in. Croatia’s population growth rate in 2008 was -0.04 percent, despite population gains due to immigration. Croatia’s natural population growthrate, which measures births and deaths, has been negative since 1998. Life expectancy at birth was 75 years in 2008. The population density in 2008...
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Vietnam - country.
E Natural Resources Vietnam’s most valuable natural resource is its land, particularly the fertile, alluvial soils in the Red and Mekong deltas. Some 29 percent of the land is currently beingcultivated. Vietnam has some valuable mineral resources, including gold, iron, tin, zinc, phosphate, chromite, apatite, and anthracite coal. Most deposits are located in the northernpart of the country. Few attempts were made to extract these minerals until the French takeover of Vietnam at the end of the 1...
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Sri Lanka - country.
acacias, and orchids are found in many areas. The animal life of Sri Lanka includes 88 species of mammals, 21 of which are threatened with extinction. The Asian elephant, cheetah, leopard, and several species ofmonkey are endangered and officially protected. The island’s many species of primates include the long-tailed langur, toque macaque, and slender loris. Other mammalsinclude the sloth bear, several species of deer, mongoose, and wild boar. Reptiles are numerous, with 144 known species. Som...
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Fiji Islands - country.
the early 1990s. Fishing is done mainly at a subsistence level, but commercial fishing is increasing. The country also receives income from the sale of licenses to foreignvessels to fish in Fiji’s exclusive economic zone. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, and construction, employs 34 percent of Fiji’s wage earners and, in 2006, contributed 26 percent of GDP. The governmentinstituted tax-free incentives in 1988 that created a flourishing garment industry. Ready-made garments are now the...
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Kazakhstan - country.
mismanagement. Between 1949 and 1991 the Soviet government conducted about 70 percent of all of its nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, mostly in the northeastern area near the city ofSemipalatinsk (now Semey). Nearly 500 nuclear explosions occurred both above and below ground near Semipalatinsk, while more than 40 nuclear detonationsoccurred at other testing grounds in western Kazakhstan and in the Qyzylqum desert. More than 1 million of Kazakhstan’s inhabitants were exposed to dangerous levelsof ra...
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Afghanistan - country.
D Climate Most of Afghanistan has a subarctic mountain climate with dry and cold winters, except for the lowlands, which have arid and semiarid climates. In the mountains and afew of the valleys bordering Pakistan, a fringe effect of the Indian monsoon, coming usually from the southeast, brings moist maritime tropical air in summer.Afghanistan has clearly defined seasons: Summers are hot and winters can be bitterly cold. Summer temperatures as high as 49°C (120°F) have been recorded in thenorth...
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Uganda - country.
Uganda’s population is predominantly rural and is concentrated in the south, particularly in the crescent at the edge of Lake Victoria and in the southwest. Almost allUgandans are black Africans. Foreign residents make up less than 4 percent of the population and come mostly from neighboring states. In 2008 Uganda’s population was estimated at 31,367,972. The estimated growth rate of the population in 2008 was 3.6 percent. The birth rate was 48 per 1,000people and the death rate 12 per 1,000. Th...
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Uzbekistan - country.
E Environmental Issues The evaporation of the Aral Sea is one of the worst ecological disasters in the world. The Aral has shrunk so much that it now holds only about one-fifth the volume ofwater it held in 1960. The shrinkage is due to irrigation withdrawals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a practice that began on a massive scale in the early 1960s aspart of the Soviet Union’s ill-conceived drive to increase cotton yields in Central Asia. Growing cotton in the naturally arid and saline soil...
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Europe .
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Europe - Geography.
D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...
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Laos - country.
by the year 2025. About one-quarter of Laos’s people live in mountainous regions. The rest live in upland valleys or on the flood plains of the Mekong and its tributaries.Just over three-quarters of the population live in rural areas, although the proportion of people living in urban areas is steadily increasing. Vientiane is the capital and largest city of Laos. Louangphrabang, the former royal capital, is an increasingly popular tourist destination. Other major cities are theregional capitals...
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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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Estonia - country.
protest the expansion of open-pit phosphorite mining in northeastern Estonia. Their success in stopping the expansion prompted further demonstrations as part of thecountry’s independence movement. Since independence Estonia has taken measures to protect the environment. The government has ratified international agreementsto reduce emissions of hazardous wastes and greenhouse gases, as well as to protect biodiversity, wetlands, and endangered species. Estonians cherish thecountryside, and 31 perc...
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Fascism.
values as coming before a radical political transformation. Others argue that a radical political transformation will then be followed by a change in values. Fascists claimthat the nation has entered a dangerous age of mediocrity, weakness, and decline. They are convinced that through their timely action they can save the nation fromitself. Fascists may assert the need to take drastic action against a nation's 'inner' enemies. Fascists promise that with their help the national crisis will end an...
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Guyana - country.
European patterns of living. People of mixed African and European ancestry form a distinct group in Guyana, maintaining closer social ties to the European communitythan to the African Guyanese community. Asians from the Indian subcontinent began to arrive in the 19th century, following the abolition of slavery in Guyana, to work as indentured and contract laborers. Theycontinued to arrive until 1917, when Britain outlawed indentured servitude. Thousands of Indians chose to remain in Guyana after...
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Democratic Republic of the Congo - country.
Except in the high elevations, the country’s climate is very hot and humid. The average annual temperature in the low central area is about 27°C (about 80°F).Temperatures are considerably higher in February, the hottest month. At altitudes above about 1,500 m (about 5,000 ft) the average annual temperature is about 19°C(about 66°F). Average annual rainfall is about 1,500 mm (about 60 in) in the north and about 1,300 mm (about 50 in) in the south. Frequent heavy rains occur fromApril to November...
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Ghana - country.
times of depressed cacao prices, Ghana has significantly increased exports of timber to generate needed revenue. In 1988 Ghana initiated a conservation plan called the Forest Resource Management Project. In 1989 Ghana restricted the export of 18 tree species, and in 1994 thecountry banned the export of raw logs. About 4.8 percent (1997) of the country’s land is officially protected, but illegal logging threatens Ghana’s remaining forests. Deforestation, overgrazing, and periodic drought have led...
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Serbia - country.
Minority groups speak their own languages, such as Albanian and Hungarian. Bosniaks generally speak Bosnian and write it with the Latin alphabet. Serbs are by tradition Orthodox Christians. The Roman Catholic and Protestant churches also have adherents in Serbia. Most of the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo areSunni Muslims ( see Sunni Islam), as are the Bosniaks of the Sandžak region. Bosniaks are descendants of Slavs who converted to Islam in the 15th and 16th centuries. B Education The leading in...
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Wars of Yugoslav Succession.
of Yugoslav succession was over. In January 1992 members of the European Community (EC; after 1993 the European Union, EU) recognized Slovenia’s independencealong with that of Croatia. The United States and other countries did so shortly thereafter. IV THE WAR IN CROATIA As the Yugoslav army withdrew from Slovenia in July 1991, a second and far more serious conflict erupted in Croatia. But the road to war in Croatia began more than ayear earlier. In April and May 1990 the Croatian Democratic U...
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Wars of Yugoslav Succession .
of Yugoslav succession was over. In January 1992 members of the European Community (EC; after 1993 the European Union, EU) recognized Slovenia’s independencealong with that of Croatia. The United States and other countries did so shortly thereafter. IV THE WAR IN CROATIA As the Yugoslav army withdrew from Slovenia in July 1991, a second and far more serious conflict erupted in Croatia. But the road to war in Croatia began more than ayear earlier. In April and May 1990 the Croatian Democratic U...
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Ukraine - country.
a major hazard, especially to Ukraine’s water supply. The Chernobyl’ complex was finally shut down completely in December 2000, with the financial assistance ofWestern nations. The funds were to pay for the completion of two other nuclear power plants that would produce enough power to make up for the loss of the powersupply from the Chernobyl’ plant. III PEOPLE OF UKRAINE The population of Ukraine was estimated in 2008 at 45,994,287, giving the country a population density of 76 persons per s...
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Armenia (country) - country.
because of ethnic tension brought on by a secessionist conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inhabited predominantly by Armenians in western Azerbaijan. In thereverse direction, many Armenian refugees entered Armenia from Azerbaijan during the conflict. Armenia’s official state language is Armenian, an Indo-European language with no surviving close relatives. It has a unique 38-letter alphabet that dates from the early5th century. Of its many spoken dialects, the most important are Eastern or Y...
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Latvia - country.
The population of Latvia is about 2,245,423 (2008 estimate), yielding an average population density of 35 persons per sq km (91 per sq mi). Latvia is highly urbanized.Some 66 percent of the population lives in urban areas, with nearly one-third of the total population residing in the capital, Rīga. Other important cities includeDaugavpils, an industrial center in the southeast, on the Daugava River; Liep āja, an important port on the Baltic Sea; Jelgava, an industrial center near Rîga; J ūrmala,...
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Kyrgyzstan - country.
are Bishkek, the capital, located on the Chu River in the far north; and Osh, located in the Fergana Valley. A Ethnic Groups Ethnic Kyrgyz make up about 65 percent of the population of Kyrgyzstan. Uzbeks, who live primarily in the Fergana Valley, constitute about 14 percent of thepopulation. Russians, who live principally in Bishkek and other industrial centers, make up about 13 percent of the population. Other ethnic groups include Hui (ChineseMuslims, also known as Dungans), Ukrainians, Uygur...
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Turkmenistan - country.
A Ethnic Groups With Turkmens constituting 77 percent of the population, Turkmenistan is the most ethnically homogeneous of the Central Asian republics. Uzbeks make up the largestminority group, with about 9 percent of the population. Other ethnic groups include Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Azeris (ethnic Azerbaijanis), Armenians, andBaluch. In 1993 a bilateral treaty between Turkmenistan and Russia granted dual citizenship to Russians in the republic. At the 1995 census Russians cons...
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Bosnia and Herzegovina - country.
Serb military campaigns in 1992 and 1993 and Croat campaigns in 1993 and 1995 were aimed at expelling others from areas claimed by these groups. By the end ofthe war almost all non-Serbs had been expelled from Serb-claimed lands in eastern and northern Bosnia, and non-Croats from Croat-claimed lands in southwesternBosnia. In turn, most non-Muslims had left land under Muslim control in northwestern Bosnia. The largest cities had mixed populations in 1991, but the war and its aftermath made them a...
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Burundi - country.
D Way of Life Most Burundians live in self-contained compounds of small round grass huts scattered over the country’s many hills. The rugo , the traditional Tutsi hut, is divided into sections and surrounded by an enclosure and cattle corrals. Families farm scattered plots of land on different soils at different altitudes to minimize crop failure. Thefloors of valleys are avoided due to higher temperatures and tsetse fly infestation. Social roles are largely determined by ethnicity, with the T...
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Hungary - country.
Northern Hungary lacks sufficient water, especially between July and October, when precipitation levels are typically low. Canals irrigate the Great Hungarian Plain,which is subject to drought. Because of the country’s mainly flat terrain, only limited water resources can be harnessed for hydroelectric power. F Environmental Issues Rapid industrialization in Hungary following World War II contributed significantly to a number of major environmental problems, including air, water, and soil pollu...
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Albania - country.
Joining the international community in its concern over the degradation of the environment, Albania is party to international agreements concerning biodiversity, climatechange, and wetlands. III THE PEOPLE OF ALBANIA In 2008 Albania’s population estimate was 3,619,778, resulting in an average density of 132 persons per sq km (342 per sq mi). More and more people have left ruralareas for urban ones, particularly in the northern districts, such that in 2005 some 45 percent of the population live...
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Belarus - country.
In the last complete census conducted in the Soviet Union in 1989, the population of Belarus was 10,151,806; a 2008 estimate was 9,685,768, giving the country apopulation density of 47 persons per sq km (121 per sq mi). The most notable demographic trend since the 1950s has been the steady migration of the population fromthe villages to urban centers, and the correspondent aging of the population remaining in the rural areas. In 1959 urban residents accounted for 31 percent of thepopulation; in...
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Slovakia - country.
The country is divided informally into the three regions of Western Slovakia, Central Slovakia, and Eastern Slovakia, corresponding to administrative divisions that wereabolished in 1989. Most of Slovakia’s 600,000 Hungarians live in the southern parts of Western and Central Slovakia, which served as the cultural center of Hungary forseveral centuries after Hungary proper was invaded by the Ottomans in the 16th century. The Ruthenian and Ukrainian minorities are concentrated in the northernregio...
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Greece - country.
minerals, such as chromium, copper, uranium, and magnesium, are relatively small. Greece’s small petroleum deposits, located under the Aegean Sea near the island ofThásos, are rapidly being depleted. There are no significant reserves of natural gas. Greece’s forests, probably abundant in ancient times, have been significantly depleted. Subsequent soil erosion has made reforestation efforts difficult. Although muchof Greece’s soil is rocky and dry, the country’s mountains are interspersed with sm...
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Tajikistan - country.
by more than 100 percent due to a high birth rate and improvements in medical care. During the early 1990s, however, the growth rate began to decline due to civilwar and emigration. A Ethnic Groups and Languages Tajiks constitute the largest ethnic group in Tajikistan, making up about 65 percent of the population. The peoples who live in Gorno-Badakhshan, located in the Pamirs,are classified as Tajiks, although their languages and customs are distinct. The largest minority group in the country...
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Bangladesh - country.
F Environmental Issues Waterborne diseases such as cholera are a serious threat to public health in Bangladesh. Until the 1970s, many of Bangladesh’s people became sick from drinkingpolluted water drawn from surface rivers. Aid agencies such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) built shallow wells throughout the country to help provide asafe source of drinking water to Bangladesh’s poor. In the 1990s, however, it was discovered that many of these wells were contaminated by arsenic, a...
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Iran - country.
Zagros mountains. In the more arid central part of the country, wild pistachio and other drought-resistant trees grow in areas that have not been disturbed by humanactivity. Tamarisk and other salt-tolerant bushes grow along the margins of the Dasht-e Kavir. A wide variety of native mammals, reptiles, birds, and insects inhabit Iran. Many species of mammals—including wolves, foxes, bears, mountain goats, red mountainsheep, rabbits, and gerbils—continue to thrive. Others—including Caspian tigers,...
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Thailand - country.
E Natural Resources Thailand possesses a range of mineral resources. Tin is mined in the peninsula. Important gemstones, such as sapphires, are found in the southeast, and coal reserves,particularly lignite, are in the north. Fish are abundant in rivers and coastal waters. In addition to being consumed domestically, fish are also exported. F Climate Thailand experiences a typical monsoon climate. Winds blow from the northeast during the winter months of October to March or April (known as the...
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Ethiopia - country.
constitute about 6 percent of the population. The Somali, who live in the east and southeast, notably in the Ogadēn region, are about equal in number to the Shangalla.The Denakil inhabit the semidesert plains east of the highlands. The nonindigenous population includes Yemenis, Indians, Armenians, and Greeks. B Political Divisions Ethiopia is divided into nine regions composed of specific ethnic groups. The regions, which have a significant degree of autonomy, are Tigray; Afar; Amhara; Oromia;S...
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Sydney (Australia) - geography.
blocks in the eastern suburbs and around railway stations elsewhere; and homes on large lots in the outer suburbs, especially those to the northwest. For publichousing, the state government built a number of high-rise apartment blocks in run-down inner suburbs after World War II (1939-1945). These housing projects weresoon deemed unsuccessful and were discontinued because they fostered crime and other social problems. More recently, public housing has taken the form of separateor semidetached ho...
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Philadelphia (city, Pennsylvania) - geography.
national trend of migration from eastern cities to the warmer climate of the Sun Belt. Whereas in 1950 Philadelphia contained more than 2 million people and ranked as the third largest city in America, the city's population plunged to 1,517,550 by 2000.In 2006, the city's population was estimated at 1,448,394. While the city proper was decreasing in population, the metropolitan area centered on Philadelphia grew. In 2006 the region had 6.2 million inhabitants. Philadelphiaranked as the nation’s...
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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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Cambodia - country.
The population of Cambodia is 14,241,640 (2008 estimate). Population growth per year is estimated at 1.8 percent, one of the highest rates in Asia. The rate of infantmortality is also high. The population density is 81 persons per sq km (209 per sq mi), with the densest concentrations on the heavily cultivated central plain. Themountainous regions of the country, where malaria is widespread, are thinly populated, as are the poorly watered northern provinces. During the late 1970s, under thebruta...
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New York (city) - geography.
The Bronx is the fourth largest and the northernmost of the five boroughs, and the only one on the American mainland. Even so, it is surrounded by water on threesides: Long Island Sound on the east, the Harlem and East rivers on the south, and Hudson River on the west. Encompassing 109 sq km (42 sq mi), it had 1,332,650inhabitants in 2000. Largely residential, the Bronx includes dozens of vibrant neighborhoods. Fieldston is particularly elegant, with great stone houses set among spacious lawns a...
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Miami (Florida) - geography.
VI EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS Colleges and universities in the area include the University of Miami, Florida International University, Barry University, St. Thomas University, and Florida MemorialCollege. Miami-Dade Community College, one of the nation’s largest two-year colleges, has six campuses in the region. Leading museums include the Historical Museumof Southern Florida, the Miami Museum of Science, the Miami Art Museum, the Lowe Art Museum on the campus of the University of M...
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El Salvador - country.
III PEOPLE The Spanish subjugated the native population of El Salvador in the 16th century. Few Spanish women came to the country, however, so many Spanish men took NativeAmerican women as their mates. Today nearly 90 percent of the population is mestizo , of mixed European and Native American descent. People of purely Native American descent represent about 5 to 10 percent of the population, while people of European descent represent only about 1 percent. El Salvador’s population, 5.2 millio...
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Egypt - country.
Egypt has a wide variety of mineral deposits, some of which, such as gold and red granite, have been exploited since ancient times. The chief mineral resource ofcontemporary value is petroleum, found mainly in the Red Sea coastal region, at Al ‘Alamayn (El ‘Alamein) on the Mediterranean, and on the Sinai Peninsula. Otherminerals include phosphates, manganese, iron ore, and uranium. Natural gas is also extracted. D Plants and Animals The vegetation of Egypt is confined largely to the Nile Delta,...
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Israel (country) - country.
harbor in the northern part of the country, and Ashdod, an artificial deepwater port to the south, serve as the main seaports on the Mediterranean. The port of Elat onthe Gulf of Aqaba provides Israel’s only access to the Red Sea, making it extremely important to the country’s shipping interests. D Natural Resources Although much of Israel’s desert regions contain poor soils, the northern Negev, the coastal plains, and the interior valleys provide patches of productive soils. Anestimated 18 per...
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Spain - country.
B Natural Resources Spain has a number of mineral resources. The largest known deposits are of iron ore, zinc, and lead. Spain also produces significant quantities of copper and mercury.These deposits are mined mainly in Huelva province in southwestern Spain, around Cartagena on the Mediterranean, and at various points along the Bay of Biscay inthe north. Additionally, uranium is mined in the region of Extremadura, near the Portuguese frontier, where pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, tungsten, and po...
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Botswana - country.
at birth was 50.2 years, also a significant improvement. The urban population of Botswana has increased rapidly, from 18 percent of the total in 1981 to 51 percent in 2003. Gaborone, the capital, is the largest city and mainbusiness center. Other business centers are Francistown, Selebi-Pikwe, Molepolole, Kanye, and Serowe. Botswana received its name from the country’s principal ethnic group, the Tswana. Other ethnic groups include the Kgalagadi, Kalanga, and Basarwa. There are also asmall numbe...