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2024/10/28

Czech Republic Independence Proclamation

Czech Republic, also called Czechia, country located in central Europe. It comprises the historical provinces of Bohemia and Moravia along with the southern tip of Silesia, collectively often called the Czech Lands. In 2016 the country adopted the name “Czechia” as a shortened, informal name for the Czech Republic. Despite its landlocked location, there were brief periods in the Middle Ages during which Bohemia had access to the Baltic and Adriatic seacoasts—which no doubt was on William Shakespeare’s mind when he set much of his play The Winter’s Tale there. A region of rolling hills and mountains, Bohemia is dominated by the national capital, Prague. Set on the Vltava River, this picturesque city of bridges and spires is the unique work of generations of artists brought in by the rulers of Bohemia. Perhaps only the French are as focused on their capital, Paris, as the Czechs are on theirs; of the two, Prague has a more magical quality for many. Called “the handsomest city of Europe” since the 18th century, it has intoxicated writers, poets, and musicians alike. While Prague was the birthplace of the writer Franz Kafka and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, Brno, Moravia’s largest city, was the site of Gregor Mendel’s groundbreaking genetic experiments in the 19th century and the birthplace of contemporary novelist Milan Kundera. Moravians are as proud of their vineyards and wine as Bohemians are of their breweries and the Pilsner beer that originated in the town of Plzeň (Pilsen), which is also noted as the site of the Škoda Works—a heavy industrial complex that originated with the Habsburg monarchy. Moravia was equally endowed with skilled labour, which helped make Brno into one of the leading industrial towns in textiles and engineering during the 19th century and Ostrava, in the north, into a major coal-mining region, thanks to the vast fossil fuel deposits stretching over from Silesia. History is always close at hand in the Czech Republic, where stunning castles such as Karlštejn (former keep of the royal crown of St. Wenceslas) and manor houses dot the landscape and medieval town centres abound. During its 1,000-year history, the country has changed shape and reshuffled its population. As the kingdom of Bohemia, it reached its zenith of wealth and power during the 13th and 14th centuries. Through a multitude of cultural, economic, ecclesiastical, and dynastic links, Bohemian kings became directly involved in the affairs of the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and opened the country to German colonization, which brought prosperity through silver mining and rapid urbanization. Prague, with the oldest university north of the Alps (Charles University, 1348), functioned as a royal and imperial capital. However, German colonization, which soon accounted for one-third of the total population and disadvantaged the majority Czechs, brought the seeds of discontent, resulting in an ugly, insolvable conflict in the 20th century. In the early 15th century Bohemia witnessed the Hussite revolution, a pre-Reformation movement named for Jan Hus, a follower of the English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe. Religious antagonism prevailed over ethnic tensions when Czechs and Germans jointly led the Protestant uprising that started the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48) against the Catholic Habsburgs, the Austro-German dynasty that ruled Bohemia from 1526 to 1918. After the Habsburg victory, the German language replaced Czech for almost two centuries—until the Czechs experienced an extraordinary linguistic and cultural revival that coincided with the revolutions of 1848 and the spread of industrialization. In historian František Palacký and composers such as Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, Czech nationalism found its ideal spokesmen. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I brought the Czechs and Slovaks together for the first time as “Czechoslovaks.” The Czechs became the ruling ethnic group in Czechoslovakia, a new state in which Germans and Hungarians lived as unwilling citizens, bound to become disloyal minorities bent on undermining the democratic constitution engendered by the country’s founders, Tomáš G. Masaryk and Edvard Beneš. Many among this German population turned into Nazi sympathizers with the ascent to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany, whose design on the German-speaking border region of Czechoslovakia was appeased by England and France in the Munich Agreement of September 1938. Emasculated, Czechoslovakia succumbed to direct German invasion six months later. Bohemia and Moravia became a protectorate of the “Greater German Empire,” while Slovakia—whose Hungarian districts were ceded to Hungary—was induced by Hitler to proclaim its independence. After six years of brutal Nazi occupation (with its legacy of the Holocaust and the postwar mass expulsion of some three million Bohemian and Slovak [Carpathian] Germans), Czechoslovakia was reconstituted, this time without Ruthenia (Transcarpathian Ukraine), which was annexed by the Soviet Union. A communist coup in February 1948 sealed Czechoslovakia’s fate as a member of the Soviet bloc for the entire Cold War—though briefly, in the Prague Spring of 1968, a reform movement took over, only to be crushed by Soviet military invasion in August of that year. Still, that experience of freedom produced an underground dissident movement, later called Charter 77, whose leader, playwright Václav Havel, was propelled from prison to the royal castle, becoming the first president of postcommunist Czechoslovakia with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The last modification of the modern Czech nation-state was inaugurated on January 1, 1993, when the union with Slovakia was dissolved. As the Czech Republic, the new country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 and the European Union (EU) in 2004. Land of the Czech RepublicRelief The country is bordered by Poland to the north and northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest. The Bohemian Massif occupies the major portion of the Czech Republic. It consists of a large, roughly ovoid elevated basin (the Bohemian Plateau) encircled by mountains divided into six major groups. In the southwest are the Šumava Mountains, which include the Bohemian Forest (Böhmerwald). In the west are the Berounka River highlands. In the northwest, the Ore Mountains (Czech: Krušné hory; German: Erzgebirge) form the frontier with Germany. The point at which the Elbe (Labe) River breaches this range is the lowest in the country, with an elevation of 384 feet (117 metres). The so-called Sudeten system of mountains (a name never applied in the Czech language) in the northeast forms most of the border with Poland west of the city of Ostrava. The highest point in the Czech Republic, Mount Sněžka, with an elevation of 5,256 feet (1,602 metres), is found in the major segment of this system, the Giant Mountains (Czech: Krkonoše; German: Riesengebirge). Farther to the east is the Oder (Odra) River lowland, a small fringe along the Polish border. Finally, southeast of the Bohemian Plateau are the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, which include the spectacular Moravian Karst. In the east the Outer Carpathian Depressions, known to geographers as the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, include the valleys of the upper Oder and Morava rivers and the headstreams of the Dyje. Along the Czech-Slovak border rise the Little Carpathian (Bílé Karpaty) and Javorníky ranges, the westernmost of the Western Carpathian Mountains that dominate Slovakia. Drainage and soils The Czech Republic lies in the headwater area of the central European watershed. The Elbe River rises near the Czech-Polish border and sweeps southwestward across Bohemia, receiving the Jizera, Vltava, and Ohře rivers before flowing northward into Germany. The Vltava is navigable from Prague to Mělník, where it empties into the Elbe. From that point onward river traffic can travel all the way to Hamburg. The Morava River, flowing south toward the Danube (Dunaj) River, drains most of Moravia in the east. The Oder River rises in the northeastern Czech Republic and flows northward into Poland. There also are many smaller rivers of little economic importance. Larger rivers such as the Vltava are sources of hydroelectric power. The country is rich in mineral springs, and groundwater reserves are extensively used. The soil profile of the Czech Republic consists of some rich, black chernozems and good-quality brown soils in the drier and lower areas. Podzols are found in the wet districts, and stony mountain soils are typical at high elevations. Alluvial soils occur in the river basins, and heavy clay soils are found in the eastern ridges. Climate The Czech climate is mixed. Continental influences are marked by large fluctuations in both temperature and precipitation, while moderating oceanic influences diminish from west to east. In general, temperatures decrease with increasing elevation but are relatively uniform across the lower portions of the country. The mean annual temperature at Cheb in the extreme west is 45 °F (7 °C) and rises to only 48 °F (9 °C) at Brno in southern Moravia. High temperatures can exceed 90 °F (32 °C) in Prague during July, and low temperatures may drop as low as 0 °F (−17 °C) in Cheb during February. The growing season is about 200 days in the south but less than half that in the mountains. Annual precipitation ranges from 18 inches (450 mm) in the central Bohemian basins to more than 60 inches (1500 mm) on windward slopes of the Krkonoše Mountains of the north. Maximum precipitation falls during July, while the minimum occurs in February. There are no recognizable climatic zones but rather a succession of small and varied districts; climate thus follows the topography in contributing to the diversity of the natural environment. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Czech-Republic  

2024/10/28

Holidays in Austria | Your Official Travel Guide

Plan Your Trip: ✓ Cities ✓ Lakes ✓ Hiking ✓ Spa ✓ Skiing ✓ Restaurants ✓Practical Travel Information ✓ Insiders' Tips ➢ Find out more.

2024/10/28

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Independence Day

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, island country lying within the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It consists of the island of Saint Vincent and the northern Grenadine Islands, which stretch southward toward Grenada. The island of Saint Vincent lies about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Saint Lucia and 100 miles (160 km) west of Barbados. It is 18 miles (30 km) long and has a maximum width of 11 miles (18 km). The larger islands of the Grenadines associated with Saint Vincent are Bequia, Canouan, Mayreau, Mustique, Prune (Palm) Island, Petit Saint Vincent Island, and Union Island. The Tobago Cays, just to the east of Mayreau, have been designated a wildlife reserve. The name Saint Vincent originally applied to the mainland and the group of smaller islands associated with it. After the attainment of independence in 1979 the multi-island state was renamed Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The capital and major port is Kingstown, on Saint Vincent. The country is a member of the Commonwealth. Land Relief, soils, and drainage The island of Saint Vincent has thickly wooded volcanic mountains running north-south and many short swift streams. Though numerous, the streams are small except after heavy rains. There are no navigable rivers. The island’s two highest peaks are both on the volcano Soufrière (4,048 feet [1,234 metres] and 3,864 feet [1,178 metres]), in the north, which erupted disastrously in 1812 and 1902, seriously affecting the country’s agriculture and temporarily displacing residents of communities around the foothills of the volcano. The 1902 eruption coincided with that of Mount Pelée on Martinique. Soufrière became active again in 1979, repeating the cycle of agricultural damage and massive evacuation. The volcanic ash, which spread as far as Barbados, is said to have enhanced the fertility of the soil. Other noteworthy peaks on the island include Grand Bonhomme and Mount St. Andrew. The soil of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is very fertile and permits the easy cultivation of a variety of vegetables and fruits as well as arrowroot, which is no longer a major crop but is still grown in the northeastern part of the main island. Vegetation is varied, and there are a number of plants of striking brilliance, including hibiscus and poinsettia. Cultivated land spreads out below the forest zone, and in some areas terraces protect against erosion. Birdlife on the island is especially rich. Climate Saint Vincent lies in the path of the northeast trade winds and has a tropical maritime climate. Rainfall and temperature vary with elevation. Average annual rainfall ranges from about 60 inches (1,500 mm) on the coast to 150 inches (3,800 mm) in the central mountains. More-moderate amounts fall on the coastal area, which annually receives about 60 to 80 inches (1,500 to 2,000 mm). Heavier amounts fall on the windward (eastern) side of the island. The temperature at Kingstown averages between the mid-60s and about 90 °F (between about 18 and 32 °C). Tropical cyclones (hurricanes) occasionally pass across or near the island; it suffered notably severe ones in 1780 and 1898, and less-severe but still destructive ones in 1955 and 1980. The dry season on Saint Vincent lasts from January to May; the rains start in June and continue until the end of the year. People Some seven-tenths of the inhabitants are descended from Africans who were enslaved and brought to work on the sugar plantations, and nearly one-fourth of the population is of mixed African, European, and Carib ancestry. There are small minorities of people of South Asian, European, and Carib descent. Those of mixed African and Carib descent are known as the Garifuna. English is the official language. An English patois is commonly spoken and referred to in some academic quarters as “nation language” (that is, a postcolonial version of a language that was imposed by colonizers—in this case, English—that incorporates underground language codes from formerly suppressed languages, in this case the African languages of the slaves). Some three-fourths of the population is Protestant, and less than one-tenth of the population is Roman Catholic. The Spiritual Baptist, or Shaker (as it was known in Saint Vincent), church, a syncretic Protestant-African faith, was banned from 1912 to the 1960s, but in the late 20th century the church began a significant resurgence. There are also branches of North American Evangelical churches, and there are smaller numbers of Hindus and Muslims. Life expectancy is about 70 years for males and in the mid-70s for females. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines once had one of the highest birth rates in the West Indies. That figure declined drastically in the late 20th century, however, largely as the result of government family-planning efforts, and by the early 21st century it was roughly equivalent to the West Indian average. The rate of natural increase declined likewise over the same period. The country has a high rate of emigration. Economy of Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesAgriculture, forestry, and fisheries The economy of Saint Vincent is chiefly agricultural. The country is one of the world’s few producers of arrowroot, despite a major decline in the industry. Saint Vincent was once the greatest exporter of it. Cotton and sugarcane were formerly important to the economy, but, since the second half of the 20th century, bananas have been the leading export, and cotton is no longer grown. Other important crops include sweet potatoes, plantains, yams, coconuts, and dasheens and eddoes (types of taro). Rice and flour are milled from imported white-cargo or rice and wheat. All these agricultural products are used locally and exported to neighbouring Caribbean countries. The interior of the island of Saint Vincent is still forested, though there is significant encroachment on the woodland. There is a growing fishing industry, both offshore and inland, that produces for local consumption as well as for export to other Caribbean islands and to the United States, particularly to locations on the Eastern seaboard, such as Miami and New York City. Lobster, conch, tuna, and swordfish are the main seafoods exported. Manufacturing and trade Manufacturing is of minor economic importance. There is some focus, however, on light manufacturing, on the milling of rice and flour, and on the production of beer. There are also plants for distilling rum, building yachts, and making boxes for locally produced beer and the packing of bananas. The major imports are machinery and transport equipment, food and beverages, chemicals, and fuels, coming primarily from the United States and the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) countries, especially Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. The main exports are bananas, packaged flour and rice, and root crops such as dasheens and eddoes. The country’s main export destinations are the Caricom countries, particularly Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Antigua and Barbuda. Tourism Tourism has assumed a significant role in the economy, especially with the greater accessibility of the Grenadines through the airports established throughout the islands and the use of larger and more modern boats. Noted for their coral reefs and fine beaches, the Grenadines serve as the focus of the country’s tourism sector. They are particularly favoured by those interested in yachting and sport fishing and lend themselves to Caribbean tourism’s traditional emphasis on sun, sea, and sand. One of the Grenadines, the island of Mustique, is privately owned by a consortium of landowners, many of whom rent their property to vacationers. Ecotourism is being encouraged on the main island, Saint Vincent. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Vincent-and-the-Grenadines

2024/10/27

St. Vincent & The Grenadines Promo Tourism Vide

Promo Video for St. Vincent & The Grenadines. We do not own this video. This video belongs to the St Vincent & The Grenadines Tourism Board.

2024/10/26

Republic of Austria National Day

Austria, largely mountainous landlocked country of south-central Europe. Together with Switzerland, it forms what has been characterized as the neutral core of Europe, notwithstanding Austria’s full membership since 1995 in the supranational European Union (EU). A great part of Austria’s prominence can be attributed to its geographic position. It is at the centre of European traffic between east and west along the great Danubian trade route and between north and south through the magnificent Alpine passes, thus embedding the country within a variety of political and economic systems. In the decades following the collapse in 1918 of Austria-Hungary, the multinational empire of which it had been the heart, this small country experienced more than a quarter century of social and economic turbulence and a Nazi dictatorship. Yet the establishment of permanent neutrality in 1955, associated with the withdrawal of the Allied troops that had occupied the country since the end of World War II, enabled Austria to develop into a stable and socially progressive nation with a flourishing cultural life reminiscent of its earlier days of international musical glory. Its social and economic institutions too have been characterized by new forms and a spirit of cooperation, and, although political and social problems remain, they have not erupted with the intensity evidenced in other countries of the Continent. The capital of Austria is historic Vienna (Wien), the former seat of the Holy Roman Empire and a city renowned for its architecture. Land Austria is bordered to the north by the Czech Republic, to the northeast by Slovakia, to the east by Hungary, to the south by Slovenia, to the southwest by Italy, to the west by Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and to the northwest by Germany. It extends roughly 360 miles (580 km) from east to west. Relief Mountains and forests give the Austrian landscape its character, although in the northeastern part of the country the Danube River winds between the eastern edge of the Alps and the hills of Bohemia and Moravia in its journey toward the Alföld, or Hungarian Plain. Vienna lies in the area where the Danube emerges from between the mountains into the drier plains. The Austrian Alps form the physical backbone of the country. They may be subdivided into a northern and a southern limestone range, each of which is composed of rugged mountains. These two ranges are separated by a central range that is softer in form and outline and composed of crystalline rocks. The Alpine landscape offers a complex geologic and topographical pattern, with the highest elevation—the Grossglockner (12,460 feet [3,798 metres])—rising toward the west. The western Austrian Länder (states) of Vorarlberg, Tirol, and Salzburg are characterized by the majestic mountains and magnificent scenery of the high Alps. This high Alpine character also extends to the western part of the state of Kärnten (Carinthia), to the Salzkammergut region of central Austria, and to the Alpine blocks of the state of Steiermark (Styria). North of the massive Alpine spur lies a hilly subalpine region, stretching between the northern Alps and the Danube and encompassing the northern portion of the state of Oberösterreich (Upper Austria). To the north of the river is a richly wooded foothill area that includes a portion of the Bohemian Massif, which extends across the Czech border into the state of Niederösterreich (Lower Austria). This part of Austria is furrowed by many valleys that for centuries served as passageways leading to the east and southeast of Europe and even—in the case of medieval pilgrims and Crusaders—to the Holy Land. The lowland area east of Vienna, together with the northern part of the state of Burgenland, may be regarded as a western extension of the Little Alföld (Little Hungarian Plain). Drainage Austria is a land of lakes, many of them a legacy of the Pleistocene Epoch (i.e., about 2,600,000 to about 11,700 years ago), during which glacial erosion scooped out mountain lakes in the central Alpine district, notably around the Salzkammergut. The largest lakes—lying partly in the territory of neighbouring countries—are Lake Constance (Bodensee) in the west and the marshy Neusiedler Lake (Neusiedlersee) in the east. Nearly all Austrian territory drains into the Danube River system. The main watershed between the Black Sea and the North Sea runs across northern Austria, in some places lying only about 22 miles (35 km) from the Danube, while to the west the watershed between the Danube and the river systems emptying into the Atlantic and the Mediterranean coincides with the western political boundary of Austria. In the south the Julian and Carnic (Karnische) Alps and, farther to the west, the main Alpine range mark the watershed of the region draining into the Po River of northern Italy. Climate of Austria The wooded slopes of the Alps and the small portion of the plains of southeastern Europe are characterized by differing climatic zones. The prevailing wind is from the west, and, therefore, humidity is highest in the west, diminishing toward the east. The wetter western regions of Austria have an Atlantic climate with a yearly rainfall of about 40 inches (1,000 mm); the drier eastern regions, under the influence of the more continental type of climate, have less precipitation. In the lowlands and the hilly eastern regions, the median temperature ranges from about 30 °F (−1 °C) in January to about 68 °F (20 °C) in July. In those regions above 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), by contrast, the temperature range is between about 12 °F (−11 °C) in January, with a snow cover of approximately 10 feet (3 metres), and about 36 °F (2 °C) in July, with roughly 5 feet (1.5 metres) of snow cover. Plant and animal life Two-thirds of the total area of Austria is covered by woods and meadows. Forests occupy some two-fifths of the country, which is one of the most densely forested in central Europe. Spruce dominates the forests, with larch, beech, and oak also making a significant contribution. In the Alpine and foothill regions coniferous trees predominate, while broad-leaved deciduous trees are more frequent in the warmer zones. Wild animals, many protected by conservation laws, include the brown bear, eagles, buzzards, falcons, owls, cranes, swans, and storks. Game hunting is restricted to certain periods of the year, with deer and rabbits the most frequent quarry. Austrian rivers nurture river and rainbow trout, grayling, pike, perch, and carp. People - Ethnic groups Ethnic Austrians constitute the vast majority of the population. Small but significant groups of German-speaking Swiss and ethnic Germans also reside in the country. Serbs, Bosniaks (Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina; living mainly in the larger cities), Turks (living primarily in Vienna), Hungarians and Croats (living mainly in Burgenland), and Slovenes (living mainly in Kärnten) constitute the major ethnic minorities. Languages of Austria Although Croatian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Turkish, and other languages are spoken by the various minority groups, nearly all people in Austria speak German. The dialect of German spoken in Austria, except in the west, is Bavarian, sometimes called Austro-Bavarian. About seven million people speak Bavarian in Austria. A Middle Bavarian subdialect is spoken chiefly in Ober- and Niederösterreich as well as in Vienna. A Southern Bavarian subdialect is spoken in Tirol (including southern Tirol), in Kärnten, and in parts of Steiermark. The speech of most of the remainder of the country’s inhabitants tends to shade into one or the other of those subdialects. In the west, however, an Alemannic (Swiss) dialect prevails: the inhabitants of Vorarlberg and parts of western Tirol are Alemannic in origin, having cultural and dialectal affinities with the German Swiss to the west and Swabians in Germany to the north. Religion About three-fourths of Austrians are Christian. The overwhelming majority of Christians are adherents to Roman Catholicism; Protestants (mainly Lutherans) and Orthodox Christians form smaller groups. Islam has a small but important following, mainly among the Bosniak and Turk populations. Vienna’s Jewish population, which was all but destroyed between 1938 and 1945 (see Holocaust), has increased steadily since that time but remains tiny. More than one-tenth of the population is nonreligious. Settlement patterns The pattern of rural settlement in Austria was shaped centuries ago by the exigencies of the Alpine environment, and new rural building is still influenced by these ancient traditions, especially in the west and in the centre of the country. By contrast, rural housing in the eastern parts of the country, especially in the lowlands, is dominated more by agricultural needs than by harsh weather conditions. While Austria is mountainous, it is also a highly urbanized country. More than half of the population lives in cities and towns of more than 10,000 residents, and about one-fourth of the total population lives in the Vienna urban agglomeration. Graz, Austria’s second largest city, is the gateway to the Balkans. Linz is an important industrial centre. Innsbruck, situated just north of Brenner Pass, is the rail centre through which all the mainline rail traffic of western Austria passes, north-south and east-west. Salzburg is a centre of music and Baroque architecture. Klagenfurt lies astride routes that provide access to both Italy and the Balkans. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Austria    

2024/10/26

Zambia Tourism

In nature, there are more symbiotic relationships than we could ever imagine. From the garden in our backyard to the great African wilderness, photographer and ...

2024/10/26

Welcome to Austria

„Welcome to Austria“ is a short film by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs which provides immigrants with an overview of the key topics of the country’s integration policy: e.g. life in Austria, the values of the society as well as the importance of education, employment and learning the national language.

2024/10/25

Independence day of the Republic of Zambia

Zambia, landlocked country in south-central Africa. It is situated on a high plateau and takes its name from the Zambezi River, which drains all but a small northern part of the country. Large parts of Zambia are thinly populated. Much of population is concentrated in the country’s most developed area—known as the Line of Rail—which is served by the railway linking the Copperbelt with Lusaka, the capital, and with the border town of Livingstone. Land Zambia has a long land border on the west with Angola but is divided from its neighbours to the south by the Zambezi River. To the southwest is the thin projection of Namibian territory known as the Caprivi Strip, at the eastern end of which Zambia and three of its neighbours (Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe) appear to meet at a point—a “quadripoint”—although the precise nature of the meeting is contested. Man-made Lake Kariba now forms part of the river border with Zimbabwe. Zambia’s other neighbours include Mozambique to the southeast, Malawi to the east, and Tanzania to the northeast. The long border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo starts at Lake Tanganyika, crosses to Lake Mweru, and follows the Luapula River to the Pedicle, a wedge of Congolese territory that cuts deep into Zambia to give the country its distinctive butterfly shape. Westward from the Pedicle the frontier follows the Zambezi-Congo watershed to the Angolan border. Relief Most of Zambia forms part of the high plateau of this part of Africa (3,000 to 5,000 feet [900 to 1,500 metres] above sea level). Major relief features occur where river valleys and rifted troughs, some lake-filled, dissect its surface. Lake Tanganyika lies some 2,000 feet (600 metres) below the plateau, and the largest rift, that containing the Luangwa River, is a serious barrier to communications. The highest elevations occur in the east, where the Nyika Plateau on the Malawian border is generally over 6,000 feet (1,800 metres), rising to more than 7,000 feet (2,100 metres) in the Mafinga Hills. The general slope of the plateau is toward the southwest, although the drainage of the Zambezi turns eastward to the Indian Ocean. Over most of the country, ancient crystalline rocks are exposed, the product of prolonged erosion processes. In western Zambia they are overlain by younger sandy deposits, relicts of a once more-extensive Kalahari desert. In central and eastern parts of the country, downwarping of the plateau surface forms swamp- or lake-filled depressions (including Lake Bangweulu and the Lukanga Swamp); in more elevated regions, ridges and isolated hills made up of more-resistant rocks punctuate otherwise smooth skylines. The oldest rocks in the country are volcanics and granites of the Bangweulu block in the northeast. These are 2.5 billion years and older and have been unaffected by orogenic processes since Precambrian times (about 4 billion to 540 million years ago). This old structure is partly covered by ancient sedimentary rocks, and together they constitute the basement complex. Sedimentaries of the Katangan Complex (about 620 million years old) are extensive in the central areas, and mineralization of these rocks is the basis of Zambia’s mining industry. Later sedimentary rocks of the Karoo (Karroo) System filled rifted troughs in the plateau surface, some of which, as in the Luangwa and middle Zambezi valleys, have been partially re-excavated. Coal seams occur in Karoo rocks to the north of Lake Kariba. These structural troughs are ancient features. Younger rifts in the north, part of the East African Rift System, are occupied by Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika. Karoo and older sedimentaries are also found in the west, buried under the predominantly sandy deposits of the Kalahari System. Drainage The continental divide—between the Congo River drainage, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean, and that of the Zambezi, which drains into the Indian Ocean—runs along the border shared by Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo west of the Pedicle and then northeastward to the border with Tanzania. Both the Luapula (which drains the Bangweulu basin into Lake Mweru) and Lake Tanganyika are tributary to the Congo. The rest of the country lies within the Zambezi basin, the river itself rising in northwestern Zambia and circling through Angola before traversing the sandy plains of western Zambia. At Victoria Falls it drops some 300 feet (90 metres) into a milewide chasm at the head of the gorge leading down to Lake Kariba and the troughlike middle part of its valley. It has two main tributaries in Zambia. Rising on the Copperbelt, the Kafue River drains the Lukanga Swamp and Kafue Flats before an abrupt descent to the Zambezi. The Luangwa River, mostly confined within its rift trough, is quite different. The Bangweulu Swamps and the Kafue Flats are wetlands of international ecological importance. Soils Zambia is divided into three main agroecological regions based primarily upon annual precipitation; there is further variation within regions based on factors such as soil type, temperature, precipitation, and elevation. The first region includes portions of the southwestern corner of the country, as well as the country’s major valleys, such as the Gwembe, Zambezi, and Luangwa valleys. This region is the driest and most prone to drought, and its soils contain low levels of organic matter, low nutrient reserves, and high acidity levels. The second region spans the central part of the country and is divided into two subregions: the degraded plateau of the southeast, south-centre, and southwest and the Kalahari Sands and the Zambezi floodplain in the west. Soils of the Kalahari Sands have little agricultural potential and are mainly under woodland. The third region is situated in the northern part of the country; its soils tend to be highly weathered and leached, with a low pH. Climate of Zambia Although Zambia lies within the tropics, its climate is modified by the altitude of the country and is generally favourable to human settlement and comfort. The marked seasonal pattern of precipitation is caused by the north and south movement of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), which shifts with the Sun. In January the ITCZ is in its southernmost position, and the rainy season is at its peak; by June it has moved north, and the weather is dry. Summer rains reduce the high temperatures that might be expected at this time. Precipitation (concentrated in just five months) varies according to agroecological region but generally comes in storms with heavy raindrops that lead to a hard soil surface and surface erosion. The driest region receives annual precipitation of less than 30 inches (800 mm), while precipitation in the wettest region normally exceeds 40 inches (1,000 mm); precipitation occasionally exceeds 55 inches (1,400 mm) in the northeast. Temperature is modified by elevation, with the highest mean daily maximum temperatures occurring in the Luangwa valley and the southwest. The coolest area overall is the high Nyika plateau, in the northeast on the border with Malawi. During the cold months (June and July), the area west of the Line of Rail is coolest, with mean minimum temperatures mostly below the mid-40s F (about 7 °C). Sesheke, in the southwest, has frost on an average of 10 days per year. Average annual hours of sunshine range from more than 3,000 in the southwest to less than 2,600 on the eastern border. Winds are predominantly easterly-southeasterly, although in the rainy season winds blow from the northwest and north. Wind speeds are rarely strong enough to cause damage. Although the major contrast is between the rainy season and the drier months, three seasons may be identified. The warm wet season lasts from November until April, when temperatures range between the high 60s and low 80s F (low to mid-20s C) and during which time the country receives the vast majority of its annual precipitation. The movement into Zambia of the moist Congo air mass from the northwest heralds the start of the rains, in the north usually in early November and toward the end of the month around Lusaka. The change from dry to wet conditions is transitional rather than abrupt. December and January are the wettest months. Cloud cover lowers maximum temperatures but also limits radiative heat loss at night, so that minimum temperatures are kept relatively high. Relative humidity values are high, typically 95 percent in early morning but declining to 60–70 percent by midafternoon. Sunshine is surprisingly frequent; Lusaka averages six hours of sunshine per day in January. Precipitation declines rapidly in April with the northward movement of the ITCZ. The cool dry season lasts from May until August, with maximum temperatures ranging from the high 50s F (mid-10s C) to the low 80s F (mid-20s C); morning and evening temperatures may be significantly lower. The Sun is overhead in the Northern Hemisphere, so temperatures are low; July is usually the coldest month. Clear skies allow maximum heat radiation and result in especially low temperatures on calm nights, with occasional ground frost occurring in sheltered valleys. The hot dry season lasts from September until October, when maximum temperatures range from the low 80s F (mid-20s C) to the mid-90s F (mid-30s C). This is a period of rapidly rising temperatures; just two months separate July, the coldest month, and October, usually the hottest (although if the rains are delayed November can be hotter). Usually by mid-October cooler oceanic air moves in, leading to increasing humidity and cloud formation. High temperatures and increasing humidity make this one of the least comfortable times of the year, although the first rains wash away dry-season dust. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Zambia

2024/10/24