The best things to do in Dominica

Dominica is fast becoming my favourite country in the Caribbean. Unlike a lot of other islands around with beautiful pristine beaches and packed holiday resorts, Dominica is a million miles away from that.

2024/11/02

Welcome to Panama

Watch the diversity KLM's destination Panama has to offer. Panama A Unique Experience. Visit Panama will give you a taste of Panama with the old and new Panama city, the Panama Canal, Rain Forest, the Caribbean and Pacific Coasts. Special attention is given to the Caribbean archipelagos Bocas Del Toro and San Blas.

2024/11/02

Independence Day of Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda, islands that form an independent state in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, at the southern end of the Leeward Islands chain. There is one dependency, the small island of Redonda. The capital is St. John’s, on Antigua. Land Antigua’s coastline is intricate, with bays and headlands fringed with reefs and shoals; several inlets, including Parham and English Harbour, afford anchorage for shipping, and St. John’s has a deepwater harbour. The island has an area of 108 square miles (280 square km). It is mostly low and undulating, but in the west there are volcanic rocks that rise to 1,330 feet (405 metres) at Mount Obama (formerly Boggy Peak). An absence of mountains and forests distinguishes Antigua from the other Leeward Islands. Because there are no rivers and few springs, droughts occur despite a mean annual rainfall of some 40 inches (1,000 mm). The average January temperature is around 77 °F (25 °C); that of August, 82 °F (28 °C). Summer highs can reach 90 °F (32 °C). Barbuda, formerly Dulcina, lies 25 miles (40 km) north of Antigua. A coral island, flat and well-wooded, with highlands rising to 143 feet (44 metres) at Lindsay Hill in the northeast, it is 62 square miles (161 square km) in area. Barbuda is without streams or lakes and receives less rainfall than Antigua. Codrington, the only settlement, lies on a lagoon to the west. The climate is similar to that of Antigua. Redonda, an uninhabited rock, lies 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Antigua. It rises sheer to a height of 1,000 feet (305 metres) and is 0.5 square mile (1.25 square km) in area. Phosphate deposits are located there. People The majority of the population is of African descent. Most of Antigua’s inhabitants live in St. John’s. The language is English, and some two-thirds of the people are Christian. The single largest denomination is Anglicanism. There are also large proportions of Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals, Moravians, and Methodists. Economy Agriculture, once the mainstay of the economy, has been largely supplanted by tourism. Sugarcane was long the dominant crop on Antigua, but its production is now insignificant. Barbuda was never involved in the sugar plantation system, its inhabitants always having been fishermen and subsistence farmers. Their traditional system of land tenure is threatened by tourism development. Fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, mangoes, and eggplants, are now cultivated on the islands. Manufacturing plays a small role in the economy; most activity involves processing agricultural products and making clothing and textiles and concrete blocks. An international airport is near St. John’s. Government and society Antigua and Barbuda is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary form of government. The British monarch is nominal head of state, represented by a governor-general. The constitution allows for a two-chamber legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Executive power is vested in a Council of Ministers headed by the prime minister, who is the head of government. Primary and postprimary education is compulsory. History of Antigua and Barbuda Antigua was visited in 1493 by Christopher Columbus, who named it for the Church of Santa Maria de la Antigua in Sevilla, Spain. It was colonized by English settlers in 1632 and remained a British possession although it was raided by the French in 1666. The early colonizers were also attacked by Caribs, who were once one of the dominant peoples of the West Indies. At first tobacco was grown, but in the later 17th century sugar was found to be more profitable. The nearby island of Barbuda was colonized in 1678. The crown granted the island to the Codrington family in 1685. It was planned as a slave-breeding colony but never became one; the slaves who were imported came to live self-reliantly in their own community. The emancipation in 1834 of slaves, who had been employed on the profitable sugar estates, gave rise to difficulties in obtaining labour. An earthquake in 1843 and a hurricane in 1847 caused further economic problems. Barbuda reverted back to the crown in the late 19th century, and its administration came to be so closely related to that of Antigua that it eventually became a dependency of that island. The Leeward Islands colony, of which the islands were a part, was defederated in 1956, and in 1958 Antigua joined the West Indies Federation. When the federation was dissolved in 1962, Antigua persevered with discussions of alternative forms of federation. Provision was made in the West Indies Act of 1967 for Antigua to assume a status of association with the United Kingdom on February 27, 1967. As an associated state, Antigua was fully self-governing in all internal affairs, while the United Kingdom retained responsibility for external affairs and defense. By the 1970s Antigua had developed an independence movement, particularly under its prime minister George Walter, who wanted complete independence for the islands and opposed the British plan of independence within a federation of islands. Walter lost the 1976 legislative elections to Vere Bird, who favoured regional integration. In 1978 Antigua reversed its position and announced it wanted independence. The autonomy talks were complicated by the fact that Barbuda, long a dependency of Antigua, felt that it had been economically stifled by the larger island and wanted to secede. Finally, on November 1, 1981, Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence, with Vere Bird as the first prime minister. The state obtained United Nations and Commonwealth membership and joined the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Bird’s Antigua Labour Party (ALP) won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the prime minister firm control of the islands’ government. Richard Tolson David Lawrence Niddrie Janet D. Momsen The postindependence political landscape of Antigua and Barbuda remained relatively stable, although the government was the subject of intermittent scandals and corruption allegations. The country also acquired a reputation as a somewhat lax tax haven. Bird retained office until his retirement in 1994, after which his son, Lester, served as prime minister from 1994 to 2004. He was succeeded by Baldwin Spencer of the United Progressive Party, who also spent a decade in office. In 2009 the economy suffered after one of the country’s largest investors, U.S. financier Robert Allen Stanford, was arrested and charged with fraud; in 2012 a Texas court found him guilty of having run a Ponzi scheme from his offshore bank on Antigua. In the June 2014 legislative elections the ALP regained power under Gaston Browne. Browne and the ALP then retained power in early elections held in March 2018. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Antigua-and-Barbuda    

2024/11/01

Anniversary of the Algerian Revolution of the Democratic People's Republic

Algeria, large, predominantly Muslim country of North Africa. From the Mediterranean coast, along which most of its people live, Algeria extends southward deep into the heart of the Sahara, a forbidding desert where Earth’s hottest surface temperatures have been recorded and which constitutes more than four-fifths of the country’s area. The Sahara and its extreme climate dominate the country. The contemporary Algerian novelist Assia Djebar has highlighted the environs, calling her country “a dream of sand.”History, language, customs, and an Islamic heritage make Algeria an integral part of the Maghreb and the larger Arab world, but the country also has a sizable Amazigh (Berber) population, with links to that cultural tradition. Once the breadbasket of the Roman Empire, the territory now comprising Algeria was ruled by various Arab-Amazigh dynasties from the 8th through the 16th century, when it became part of the Ottoman Empire. The decline of the Ottomans was followed by a brief period of independence that ended when France launched a war of conquest in 1830. By 1847 the French had largely suppressed Algerian resistance to the invasion and the following year made Algeria a département of France. French colonists modernized Algeria’s agricultural and commercial economy but lived apart from the Algerian majority, enjoying social and economic privileges extended to few non-Europeans. Ethnic resentment, fueled by revolutionary politics introduced by Algerians who had lived and studied in France, led to a widespread nationalist movement in the mid-20th century. A war of independence ensued (1954–62) that was so fierce that the revolutionary Frantz Fanon noted, Terror, counter-terror, violence, counter-violence: that is what observers bitterly record when they describe the circle of hate, which is so tenacious and so evident in Algeria. Negotiations ended the conflict and led to Algerian independence, and most Europeans left the country. Although the influence of the French language and culture in Algeria remained strong, since independence the country consistently has sought to regain its Arab and Islamic heritage. At the same time, the development of oil and natural gas and other mineral deposits in the Algerian interior brought new wealth to the country and prompted a modest rise in the standard of living. In the early 21st century Algeria’s economy was among the largest in Africa. The capital is Algiers, a crowded bustling seaside metropolis whose historic core, or medina, is ringed by tall skyscrapers and apartment blocks. Algeria’s second city is Oran, a port on the Mediterranean Sea near the border with Morocco. Less hectic than Algiers, Oran has emerged as an important centre of music, art, and education. Algeria is bounded to the east by Tunisia and Libya; to the south by Niger, Mali, and Mauritania; to the west by Morocco and Western Sahara (which has been virtually incorporated by the former); and to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. It is a vast country—the largest in Africa and the 10th largest in the world—that may be divided into two distinct geographic regions. The northernmost, generally known as the Tell, is subject to the moderating influences of the Mediterranean and consists largely of the Atlas Mountains, which separate the coastal plains from the second region in the south. This southern region, almost entirely desert, forms the majority of the country’s territory and is situated in the western portion of the Sahara, which stretches across North Africa. Relief The main structural relief features in Algeria were produced by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates along the Mediterranean margin, giving the country its two geographic regions. The Tell, home to most of the country’s population, contains two geologically young massifs, the Tell Atlas (Atlas Tellien) and the Saharan Atlas (Atlas Saharien), that run generally parallel from east to west and are separated by the High Plateau (Hauts Plateaux). The south, consisting of the Sahara, is a solid and ancient platform of basement rock, horizontal and uniform. This region is uninhabited desert with the exception of several oases, but it conceals rich mineral resources, most significantly petroleum and natural gas. The Tell In succession from north to south are intermittent coastal folded massifs and coastal plains. Along with the Tell Atlas, High Plateau, and Saharan Atlas, they form a sequence of five geographically variegated zones that roughly parallel the coast. The coastal ridges and massifs are indented with numerous bays and are often separated from each other by plains—such as the plains of Oran and Annaba—that extend inland. In the same way, the Tell Atlas is not continuous; in the west it forms two distinct ranges separated by interior plains. Thus, the Maghnia Plain separates the Tlemcen Mountains to the south from the Traras Mountains to the northwest. Similarly, the plains of Sidi Bel Abbès and Mascara are nestled between hill ranges to the north and south. The Dahra Massif forms a long range extending from the mouth of the Chelif River in the west to Mount Chenoua in the east; it is separated from the Ouarsenis Massif to the south by plains of the Chelif valley. The relief as a whole, therefore, does not constitute a barrier to communications in the western Tell. However, this is not the case in the central Tell, where the Blida Atlas merges with the Titteri Mountains and the mountainous block of Great Kabylia (Grande Kabylie) joins with the Bibans and Hodna mountains to make north-south communications more difficult. Only the valley of the Wadi Soummam permits communication with the port of Bejaïa. Farther east, from Bejaïa to Annaba, one mountain barrier follows another to separate the plains of Constantine from the sea. The lands south of the plains are dominated by the Hodna, Aurès, and Nemencha ranges. The plains themselves, which have long been used for growing cereal grains, have a distinct local topography and do not present the same features as the High Plateau, which extends westward from the Hodna Mountains into Morocco. The latter is broken by sabkhahs (lake beds encrusted with salt) and is much less favourable to agriculture because it receives less precipitation. To the south of the High Plateau and the plains of Constantine runs the Saharan Atlas, which is formed from a series of ranges oriented southwest to northeast. These decline in elevation from the west, where Mount Aïssa reaches 7,336 feet (2,236 metres) in the Ksour Mountains, to lower summits in the Amour and Oulad Naïl mountains. Higher summits are again found in the Aurès Mountains, where the highest peak in northern Algeria, Mount Chelia, which reaches 7,638 feet (2,328 metres), is located. Only the northern Tell ranges, lying along the tectonic plate boundary, experience much seismic activity. Severe earthquakes there have twice destroyed the town of Chlef (El-Asnam), in 1954 and 1980. An earthquake in 1989 caused severe damage in the zone between the Chenoua massif and Algiers, as did another in 2003 just east of Algiers. The Sahara The Algerian Sahara may be divided roughly into two depressions of different elevation, separated from one another by a central north-south rise called the Mʾzab (Mzab). Each zone is covered by a vast sheet of sand dunes called an erg. The Great Eastern Erg (Grand Erg Oriental) and the Great Western Erg (Grand Erg Occidental), which average 1,300 to 2,000 feet (400 to 600 metres) in height, decline in elevation northward from the foot of the Ahaggar (Hoggar) Mountains to below sea level in places south of the Aurès Mountains. The Ahaggar Mountains in the southern Sahara rise to majestic summits; the tallest, Mount Tahat, reaches an elevation of 9,573 feet (2,918 metres) and is the highest peak in the country. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Algeria    

2024/11/01

Spot de Promotion de la Destination Algérie

2024/10/31

GoTürkiye: Official Travel Guide of Türkiye

Who would you like to glamp here with? Tag them in the comments!

2024/10/31

Visit Czech Republic

Welcome to the Czech Republic - it's time to experience Czech traditions · What´s Hot · Central Bohemia · Vysočina · East Bohemia · North Bohemia

2024/10/30

Republic of Turkey Day of the Republic

Turkey, country that occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe. Throughout its history it has acted as both a barrier and a bridge between the two continents. Turkey is situated at the crossroads of the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, and eastern Mediterranean. It is among the larger countries of the region in terms of territory and population, and its land area is greater than that of any European state. Nearly all of the country is in Asia, comprising the oblong peninsula of Asia Minor—also known as Anatolia (Anadolu)—and, in the east, part of a mountainous region sometimes known as the Armenian Highland. The remainder—Turkish Thrace (Trakya)—lies in the extreme southeastern part of Europe, a tiny remnant of an empire that once extended over much of the Balkans. The country has a north-south extent that ranges from about 300 to 400 miles (480 to 640 km), and it stretches about 1,000 miles from west to east. Turkey is bounded on the north by the Black Sea, on the northeast by Georgia and Armenia, on the east by Azerbaijan and Iran, on the southeast by Iraq and Syria, on the southwest and west by the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea, and on the northwest by Greece and Bulgaria. The capital is Ankara, and its largest city and seaport is Istanbul. Of a total boundary length of some 4,000 miles (6,440 km), about three-fourths is maritime, including coastlines along the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, as well as the narrows that link the Black and Aegean seas. These narrows—which include the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles—are known collectively as the Turkish straits; Turkey’s control of the straits, the only outlet from the Black Sea, has been a major factor in its relations with other states. Most of the islands along the Aegean coast are Greek; only the islands of Gökçeada and Bozcaada remain in Turkish hands. The maritime boundary with Greece has been a source of dispute between the two countries on numerous occasions since World War II. A long succession of political entities existed in Asia Minor over the centuries. Turkmen tribes invaded Anatolia in the 11th century ce, founding the Seljuq empire; during the 14th century the Ottoman Empire began a long expansion, reaching its peak during the 17th century. The modern Turkish republic, founded in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, is a nationalist, secular, parliamentary democracy. After a period of one-party rule under its founder, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), and his successor, Turkish governments since the 1950s have been produced by multiparty elections based on universal adult suffrage. Land - Relief Turkey is a predominantly mountainous country, and true lowland is confined to the coastal fringes. About one-fourth of the surface has an elevation above 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), and less than two-fifths lies below 1,500 feet (460 metres). Mountain crests exceed 7,500 feet (2,300 metres) in many places, particularly in the east, where Turkey’s highest mountain, Mount Ararat (Ağrı), reaches 16,945 feet (5,165 metres) close to the borders with Armenia and Iran. In the southeast the Uludoruk Peak reaches 15,563 feet (4,744 metres); though further west, the Demirkazık Peak (12,320 feet [3,755 metres]) and Mount Aydos (11,414 feet [3,479 metres]) are also significant peaks. Steep slopes are common throughout the country, and flat or gently sloping land makes up barely one-sixth of the total area. These relief features affect other aspects of the physical environment, producing climates often much harsher than might be expected for a country of Turkey’s latitude and reducing the availability and productivity of agricultural land. Structurally, the country lies within the geologically young folded-mountain zone of Eurasia, which in Turkey trends predominantly east to west. The geology of Turkey is complex, with sedimentary rocks ranging from Paleozoic to Quaternary, numerous intrusions, and extensive areas of volcanic material. Four main regions can be identified: the northern folded zone, the southern folded zone, the central massif, and the Arabian platform. The northern folded zone The northern folded zone comprises a series of mountain ridges, increasing in elevation toward the east, that occupy a belt about 90 to 125 miles (145 to 200 km) wide immediately south of the Black Sea. The system as a whole is referred to as the Pontic Mountains (Doğukaradeniz Dağları). In the west the system has been fractured by the faulting that produced the Turkish straits; in Thrace the Ergene lowlands are among the largest in the country, and the main mountain range—the Yıldız (Istranca)—reaches only 3,379 feet (1,030 metres). Lowlands also occur to the south of the Sea of Marmara and along the lower Sakarya River east of the Bosporus. High ridges trending east-west rise abruptly from the Black Sea coast, and the coastal plain is thus narrow, opening out only in the deltas of the Kızıl and Yeşil rivers. These rivers break through the mountain barrier in a zone of weakness where summits are below 2,000 feet (600 metres), dividing the Pontic Mountains into western and eastern sections. In the western section, between the Sakarya and Kızıl rivers, there are four main ridges: the Küre, Bolu, Ilgaz, and Köroğlu mountains. East of the Yeşil the system is higher, narrower, and steeper. Less than 50 miles from the coast, peaks rise to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), with a maximum elevation of 12,917 feet (3,937 metres) in the Kaçkar range. Separated by the narrow trough of the Kelkit and Çoruh river valleys stands a second ridge that rises above 8,000 feet (2,400 metres). The southern folded zone The southern folded zone occupies the southern third of the country, from the Aegean to the Gulf of Iskenderun, from which it extends to the northeast and east around the northern side of the Arabian platform. Over most of its length, the Mediterranean coastal plain is narrow, but there are two major lowland embayments. The Antalya Plain extends inland some 20 miles (30 km) from the Gulf of Antalya; the Adana Plain, measuring roughly 90 by 60 miles (145 by 100 km), comprises the combined deltas of the Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers. The mountain system falls into two main parts. West of Antalya a complex series of ridges with a north-south trend reaches 6,500 to 8,200 feet (2,000 to 2,500 metres), but the most prominent feature is the massive Taurus (Toros) mountain system, running parallel to the Mediterranean coast and extending along the southern border. There crest lines are often above 8,000 feet (2,400 metres), and several peaks exceed 11,000 feet (3,400 metres). In the eastern third of the country, the northern and southern fold systems converge to produce an extensive area of predominantly mountainous terrain, with pockets of relatively level land confined to valleys and enclosed basins, as are found around Malatya, Elazığ, and Muş. The central massif The central massif is located in the western half of the country, between the Pontic and Taurus systems. This elevated zone is often referred to as the Anatolian plateau, although its relief is much more varied than this term suggests. At least four subdivisions of the central massif can be identified. Inland from the Aegean as far as a line from Bursa to Denizli, a series of faulted blocks gives a north-south alternation of steep-sided plateaus rising 5,000–6,500 feet (1,500–2,000 metres) and low-lying valley floors. Alluvial plains along the larger rivers, such as the Gediz, Küçükmenderes, and Büyükmenderes, are among the largest in Turkey and are of special agricultural value. East of this section, roughly to a line from Eskişehir to Burdur, is a complex upland zone. The general surface level rises to the east from 1,500 to 3,000 feet (460 to 900 metres); set into the upland are several downfaulted basins, and above it short mountain ranges rise to 6,500 feet. The most distinctive part of the central massif is the area bounded on the south by the Taurus Mountains and on the northeast by a line from Ankara through Lake Tuz to Niğde. There the term plateau is most applicable, with large expanses of flat or gently sloping land at elevations of about 3,000 feet separated by low upswellings in the surface. Measuring some 150 by 200 miles (240 by 320 km), these are by far the most extensive plains in Turkey; however, their agricultural value is reduced by the effects of altitude and location on their climate. The remainder of the central massif, a roughly triangular area with its eastern apex near Sivas, forms a mountainous zone that bounds the plains on their eastern side. Much of this section rises above 5,000 feet (1,500 metres), and there are numerous peaks with elevations of about 6,500 feet. A noteworthy feature is the extensive area of geologically recent volcanic activity in Niğde, Nevşehir, and Kayseri provinces, including the volcanic peaks of Erciyes (12,848 feet [3,916 metres]) and Hasan (10,686 feet [3,257 metres]). More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Turkey  

2024/10/29

Discover SVG: Explore St. Vincent and the Grenadines

One Destination, 32 Islands and Cays, countless possibilities. From St. Vincent's lush tropical rainforest full of eco-adventures, to the idyllic beaches, coral ...

2024/10/29