Category Social Sciences

WHAT ISLAND CHANGES HANDS BETWEEN FRANCE AND SPAIN EVERY SIX MONTHS?

Pheasant Island changes countries every six months! An uninhabited river island in the Bidasoa River between France and Spain, Pheasant Island’s administration alternates between both countries every six months. The island is also the smallest and oldest-surviving condominium. A condominium is a territory over which multiple nations exercise equal dominion and sovereignty, without dividing it into different national zones.

Pheasant Island is around 660 feet long and 130 feet wide. Despite its name, it doesn’t house any pheasants or human civilization for that matter. The only permanent resident of Pheasant Island is a historic monument to commemorate the Treaty of the Pyrenees. France and Spain signed a peace treaty on this island called the Treaty of the Pyrenees. A series of 24 conferences were held between Cardinal Mazarin, Chief Minister of France and Luis de Haro, a Grandee of Spain, in 1659 after the end of the Thirty Years’ War. The climax of the conferences led to the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees in Pheasant Island. Under the terms of the treaty, Pheasant Island is a possession of Spain from February 1 to July 31 each year. From August 1 till January 31, it becomes part of the nation of France. Thus, Pheasant Island has a unique bi-national dependency.

Spain and France have joint sovereignty of Pheasant Island. This arrangement is called a condominium. Faisans Island or Pheasant Island is one of the oldest condominiums in existence. A condominium is a territory over which multiple countries exercise equal sovereignty and dominion over without dividing it into different national zones. This is the world’s only destination where sovereignty is not shared simultaneously, but alternately. For six months in a year, Pheasant Island is Spanish and for the next six, it’s French. It took the Spanish and French three long months of negotiation on the neutral territory of Pheasant Island, to come to this arrangement.  The peace agreement, the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed. And the borders were clearly demarcated and the territory was exchanged. To seal the deal, a royal wedding took place on the island, between the French King Louis XIV and the daughter of the Spanish King Philip IV.

Picture Credit : Google 

WHAT WERE CARBONIFEROUS SWAMPS?

About 300 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period, there were huge tropical swamps filled with giant tree-like ferns. As the remains of the plants were buried and compacted in these huge, warm Swamps, they formed peat. As they sank deeper, heat and pressure changed the peat into brown coal. Further pressure changed it to black bituminous coal.

Coal swamps are the classical terrestrial (land-based) ecosystems of the Carboniferous and Permian periods. They are forests that grew during the Palaeozoic Era (encompassing the Carboniferous and Permian) in which the volume of plant biomass dying and being deposited in the ground was greater than the volume of clastic (grains of pre-existing rock) material, resulting in a build-up of peat. This was subsequently buried, and eventually turned into coal over geological time. These swamps gave rise to most of the major, industrial-grade coal reserves that are mined today. The palaeontology of these coal-forming ecosystems is well known from the Carboniferous rocks of Euramerica (modern day Europe and North America), owing to the history of coal exploitation in these regions. However, extensive swamp areas that produced thick coal reserves have also formed at other times in the Earth’s history, most notably in the Permian. During the Early Permian, the coal swamps of Euramerica continued to flourish in Cathaysia (the tectonic blocks that formed modern day China), and throughout the Permian, coal swamps dominated by seed plants called glossopterids were found on the Southern Hemisphere supercontinent Gondwana (formed from modern day India, Australia, Antarctica, Africa, Madagascar and South America). The coal swamps of the Carboniferous and Early Permian formed primarily in tropical regions, whereas the Gondwanan coal swamps of the later Permian formed in higher-latitude temperate regions. Coal forests developed primarily in lowland areas such as river deltas, but there is a bias in the plant fossil record because fossilization is most likely to occur in these waterlogged habitats, meaning that fossils of drier, upland plant communities are much less common, so little is known of the plants that grew there.

Credit: palaeontologyonline.com

Picture credit: Google

What is the oldest continuously running restaurant in the world?

Sobrino de Botín in Madrid, Spain, is the oldest running restaurant in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records. Open since 1725, the restaurant has kept the flame burning in the oven continuously for 293 years, never to be extinguished. World’s oldest restaurant still in operation. At the time that the restaurant opened (in the ground floor of an inn), it was actually up to the guests to bring their own meat and ingredients, which were then cooked in the eatery’s facilities. After the original owners died childless, the restaurant passed to their nephew, which is when it got its current name, which translates to “Nephew of Botin,” of course.

Over the next 200-plus years, the trends of the city changed, but Sobrino de Botin never stopped cooking (after it was able to start cooking for for people that is). Today the restaurant covers four floors of seating, each with its own Spanish theme, from the brick cellar to the fancier Felipe IV room. Even as the tourists began to flock to the restaurant, as will happen once Guinness gets its paws on you, the cuisine has stayed remarkably true to its Spanish roots, with the whole suckling pig, which is prepared in a brick oven, being the standout dish.

The Sobrino de Botin likely saw its finest moment when it was mentioned by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises, and it is rumored that the famous artist Francisco de Goya worked there as a young man. However, its legacy is clearly thanks to its astounding age rather than to its ties to art and literature.

Credit : Slate.com

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What kind of country is Kiribati?

Kiribati, an island chain in the Pacific Ocean, is the only country in the world that is situated within all four hemispheres of the globe.

Despite having a population of 120,000 and a land mass of 811 squared kilometres, there is almost 4000 kilometres between the easternmost and westernmost parts of Kiribati – which is almost as wide as Australia.

At its highest point, Kiribati stands at a mere height of just eight metres above sea level. Once combined, the 33 stunning, paradisiac islands and atolls make Kiribati the only country in the world to cross all four hemispheres.

With such remoteness comes great challenges. However, since becoming a member association in 2010, the federation have made encouraging progress in their effort to bring badminton to a small nation.

Leading the charge for badminton is Kiribati’s Shuttle Time Co-ordinator Tongoboo Beero, who first came across Shuttle Time in 2012 as a participant. Since then, Tongoboo has powered through the ranks.

In 2019, he was one of 10 trained Shuttle Time teachers who inspired over 600 participants into getting fit and active within their communities with badminton. Earlier this year, he was part of a leadership team who delivered teacher training to expand Kiribati’s Shuttle Time teacher pool. His combined efforts earned his a space in the BWF’s Humans of Shuttle Time campaign.

Moreover, other teachers from Kiribati have noticed a significant rise in popularity. Taonibeia Mwakuti has delivered to more than 50 kids in her local community, which has made a big difference to their lives where there are only a limited number of other activities to keep them engaged.

“We both enjoy the game and can say that we have improved a lot especially with our grips and serving technique” say Mwakuti’s students, Biritia Peter and Eimwa Obwaia.

The complex logistics involved in sending and receiving badminton equipment is one issue for the remote nation. However, finding a suitable badminton court to play on is another.

To combat the lacking badminton facilities, many of the Pacific Islands play outdoors. However, Shuttle Time teachers and students came together recently to paint the lines of a badminton court under a shelter to give a better understanding of the game.

Credit : Badminton Oceania

Picture Credit : Google

WHAT IS THE PRIME MERIDIAN?

This is an imaginary line of 0° longitude that is perpendicular to the equator, and parallel to the axis. It passes through Greenwich in the UK, and divides Earth into eastern and western hemispheres. As it crosses the poles to the opposite side of the globe, the line becomes 180° longitude and is also known as the International Date Line.

The prime meridian is arbitrary, meaning it could be chosen to be anywhere. Any line of longitude (a meridian) can serve as the 0 longitude line. However, there is an international agreement that the meridian that runs through Greenwich, England, is considered the official prime meridian.

Governments did not always agree that the Greenwich meridian was the prime meridian, making navigation over long distances very difficult. Different countries published maps and charts with longitude based on the meridian passing through their capital city. France would publish maps with 0 longitude running through Paris. Cartographers in China would publish maps with 0 longitude running through Beijing. Even different parts of the same country published materials based on local meridians.

Finally, at an international convention called by U.S. President Chester Arthur in 1884, representatives from 25 countries agreed to pick a single, standard meridian. They chose the meridian passing through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The Greenwich Meridian became the international standard for the prime meridian.

Credit: National geographic

Picture credit: Google

WHAT ARE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE?

Every place on Earth’s surface can be pinpointed by two figures: its latitude and its longitude. Lines of latitude (called ‘parallels’) form rings around Earth, parallel to the equator. A place’s latitude is given in degrees (°) north or south of the equator, which is considered latitude 0°. On the other hand, lines of longitude (called ‘meridians’) run round Earth from north to south, dividing the world up like the segments of an orange.

A place’s longitude is given as degrees west or east of the prime meridian, which is longitude 0°.

Latitude and longitude are angles that uniquely define points on a sphere. Together, the angles comprise a coordinate scheme that can locate or identify geographic positions on the surfaces of planets such as the earth.

Latitude is defined with respect to an equatorial reference plane. This plane passes through the center C of the sphere, and also contains the great circle representing the equator. The latitude of a point P on the surface is defined as the angle that a straight line, passing through both P and C, subtends with respect to the equatorial plane. If P is above the reference plane, the latitude is positive (or northerly); if P is below the reference plane, the latitude is negative (or southerly). Latitude angles can range up to +90 degrees (or 90 degrees north), and down to -90 degrees (or 90 degrees south). Latitudes of +90 and -90 degrees correspond to the north and south geographic poles on the earth, respectively.
Longitude is defined in terms of meridians, which are half-circles running from pole to pole. A reference meridian, called the prime meridian , is selected, and this forms the reference by which longitudes are defined. On the earth, the prime meridian passes through Greenwich, England; for this reason it is also called the Greenwich meridian. The longitude of a point P on the surface is defined as the angle that the plane containing the meridian passing through P subtends with respect to the plane containing the prime meridian. If P is to the east of the prime meridian, the longitude is positive; if P is to the west of the prime meridian, the longitude is negative. Longitude angles can range up to +180 degrees (180 degrees east), and down to -180 degrees (180 degrees west). The +180 and -180 degree longitude meridians coincide directly opposite the prime meridian.

Credit: WhatIs.com

Picture credit: Google