by Bill McLain
The water level of the Dead Sea drops almost 6 feet a year due to evaporation, which often creates a thick mist over the water.
DID YOU KNOW?
When talking about the Dead Sea, it’s not unusual to think of the mysterious Dead Sea Scrolls, considered to be one of the greatest manuscript discoveries of all time.
In 1947 two young Arabs tending their goats in the Judean desert discovered ancient manuscripts in nearby caves. The manuscripts were fashioned from leather, papyrus, and copper. Because the scrolls were found in a cave on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea they were immediately named the “Dead Sea Scrolls.” Over the next 20 years other documents were discovered in adjacent areas and were also called “Dead Sea Scrolls.”
Most of the documents found were composed during the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., making them almost 2,000 years old. At one site archeologists found legal documents hidden in a cave by Samaritans who were later massacred by the soldiers of Alexander the Great. These documents date from 375 B.C. and are the oldest found in the area.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been studied by a number of scholars and theologians. They are of both theological and historical importance. They confirm the antiquity of the Hebrew Bible and clarify the relationship between Jewish and Christian communities during the time of Christ. They also reveal many facts about the little-known period of history before the birth of Christ.
Perhaps the lowest point on earth has led to the high point of historical discovery in this century.
How did each of the seven continents get its name? (Did you know that all the continents except Europe begin with the letter “A”?)
Although no one knows for sure how Africa, Asia, and Europe got their names, most historians agree with the following explanations.
Africa Some say the name comes from the Latin word aprica, meaning “sunny,” or the Greek word aphrike, meaning “without cold.” Others believe that it came from the Romans who ruled the North African coast at one time and referred to everything south of them as “Afriga” or “Land of the Afrigs.” The Afrigs were a Berber colony south of Carthage.
Americas The Americas consist of two continents, North America and South America. Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer and friend of Christopher Columbus. He wrote about his travels in letters to his friends and in 1504 (long after Columbus’s discovery of the New World in 1492) one of his letters was read by Martin Waldseemuller, a German mapmaker. Waldseemuller wrote a book in which he said that another part of the world had been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci and should be called America in his honor.
Antarctica This name comes from the Greek word antarktikos, which means “opposite from the bear.” Arktos, or the bear, refers to the Great Bear constellation above the North Pole. We usually call this constellation either Ursa Major (Latin for “big bear”) or the Big Dipper. Antarktikos, or “opposite the bear,” refers to an area opposite the north pole, or the south pole. A Polynesian legend tells the story of a traveler from Raratonga who “sailed south to a place of bitter cold where rocklike forms grew out of a frozen sea.” If the legend is true, that Polynesian was the first human to see Antarctica.
Asia Because this is an ancient name, there is no historical source of its origin. Some authorities believe that Greeks used the name to describe lands to the east. Others believe it came from asu, an Assyrian word meaning “east.”
Australia The ancient Greeks believed that because the earth was a sphere, there had to be a large southern mass of land to balance the northern part of the known world. They called this the “unknown land to the south.” Later mapmakers used the Latin name Terra Australis Incognita and the continent eventually became known simply as Australia.
Europe Once again the ancient Greeks had a hand in naming a continent, in this case Europa. While it was once generally thought that Europa meant “sunset,” it is now believed that the term meant “mainland” and referred to the unknown lands north of Greece.
FACTOIDS
Africa Africa has the shortest coastline of all the continents even though it is almost an island with the only connection to other land being the small Sinai Peninsula. The various cultures, including both the shortest (Pygmy) and tallest (Watusi) people in the world, speak over 1,000 different languages.
Antarctica This is the driest, coldest, windiest, and highest continent on earth. Antarctica’s rainfall is similar to that of the world’s hottest deserts. The lowest temperature ever recorded (of minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit) was in Antarctica. Wind speeds of up to 198 mph have also been recorded. The average elevation is one and a half miles above sea level, and the highest mountain is three miles high.
Asia The site of the Indus Valley civilization that thrived in 5000 B.C. is located in northwest India and Pakistan. This ancient civilization boasted complex cities, civil engineering, advanced social structures, and sophisticated agricultural techniques. The writing of this ancient culture has not yet been deciphered.
Australia The smallest continent, Australia is completely isolated from other land masses, which accounts for its unique vegetation and animal life. Native animals such as the kangaroo, duck-billed platypus, and koala bear are found nowhere else on earth.
Is it true that at one time the entire world consisted of a single continent? (If that were true today, you could drive all the way around the world in your car.)
Scientists believe that millions of years ago the earth’s entire land mass was concentrated in one supercontinent called Pangea, a Greek word that means “all earth.”
About 200 million years ago Pangea broke into two continents, Gondwanaland and Laurasia. These two continents eventually broke up into smaller pieces that drifted to different parts of the world around 50 million years ago to form the continents we see today.
Some continents seem “pointed,” such as Africa and South America, while others do not. A good analogy is what happens when you drop a plate on the floor and break it. Some broken pieces are definitely pointed while others are more square.
Over the years countless people, including many scientists, have noticed that if you take a paper map and cut out all the continents, they almost fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Although the French scientist Antonio Snider-Pelligrini studied the idea in depth in 1858, it wasn’t until the 1960s that scientists developed the theory of “plate tectonics.” Simply put, this theory states that the outer shell of the earth consists of a number of rigid plates that are always moving. A plate can underlie both continents and oceans.
The theory of the supercontinent of Pangea and plate tectonics is accepted by most of today’s geologists because there is scientific evidence to back it up. However, some scientists theorize that continents break apart and recombine in a never-ending cycle, similar to clumps of soap bubbles in the dishwater. Although this theory is lacking in evidence and not widely held, you may also hear the names scientists have given these billion-year-old supercontinents that existed before Pangea. For example, the continents of Ur and Rodinia.
FACTOIDS
The ancient supercontinent of Gondwanaland included the areas we now know as Africa, Arabia, India, Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Antarctica.
Most continents are more or less triangular in shape and are located in the Northern Hemisphere.
Although the theory of drifting continents was proposed in the early 1900s, lack of geological evidence prevented it from becoming accepted at that time.
Is there really a north pole? (Yes, Virginia, there are two of them.)
Scientists call the northernmost point on earth the north pole. However, for those of us who still believe in fantasy, the north pole is where Santa Claus lives.
There is an actual town called North Pole. It’s in Alaska, was incorporated in 1953, and has fewer than 2,000 residents. The town is about 17 miles east of Fairbanks, Alaska. North Pole sits between two mountain ranges and has a semiarid climate. The summers are hot, the temperature oft
en reaching into the nineties, but winters are cold. Sometimes the temperature drops to minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. However, there is no wind because North Pole is protected by the surrounding mountains.
North Pole claims to be the real home of Santa Claus. You can write to him at:
Santa Claus
North Pole, AK 99705
With all the work he has to do every year, Santa Claus uses as many modern conveniences as possible. Because most of the people and the children in North Pole are on the Internet, Santa Claus decided to get a computer. If you don’t want to write him, you can e-mail him at:
[email protected]
Although situated in the magnificent Alaskan wilderness, North Pole has all the amenities of most cities, including police and fire departments, restaurants, schools, and stores. It can be a very lovely place to live, especially around Christmastime.
FACTOIDS
North Pole radio and television station KJNP not only broadcasts world and local news, it also forwards messages to people in the outlying “bush” areas and, on occasion, relays birthday greetings, emergency messages, or a personal message.
Although North Pole has a large grocery store, some restaurants, and a few gas stations, there is only one traffic signal in the entire town.
Private airplanes are a common method of traveling in Alaska. It’s not unusual to see a small aircraft in the driveway next to the family car. Dog sleds are also quite common.
North Pole is only 3,675 miles away from our nation’s capital of Washington, D.C.
A summer day in North Pole can have up to 22 hours of daylight, but a winter day may have only 4 hours of daylight.
If you live in North Pole, on a clear day you can see Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain peak in North America. It is 20,320 feet high. The Native Americans call the mountain Denali, which means “The Great One.”
DID YOU KNOW?
For many years, explorers from around the world wanted to be the first to find the “other” north pole, and for years there was a debate about who finally discovered it.
Frederick Albert Cook was an American physician and explorer who claimed he had discovered the north pole in 1908. Another American explorer, Robert E. Peary, claimed to have found the north pole a year later and denounced Cook’s claim as fraudulent.
Native American Alaskans, called Inuits, who were part of Cook’s expedition later alleged that Cook had stopped hundreds of miles south of the pole. The controversy between Cook and Peary lasted until 1917. By then, most people believed that Peary had discovered the north pole and that Cook was no more than a con man.
The public opinion of Cook was proved to be true in 1923 when Cook was convicted of using the U.S. mail for fraud and was sent to prison. He was paroled in 1929. President Franklin D. Roosevelt granted him a pardon in 1940.
Six men first reached the north pole: Robert Peary, four Inuits, and Peary’s black companion, Matthew Alexander Henson. Henson was an orphan who went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of 12. When Henson was 22, Peary hired him for an expedition to Nicaragua. Peary was so impressed with Henson’s ability that he hired him on seven expeditions to the Arctic. Although Henson received a congressional medal, which was given to all members of Peary’s expedition, not many people knew that Peary did not discover the north pole by himself. It was discovered by him, Henson, and the four Inuits.
More questions? Try these websites.
GEOGRAPHY GUIDE
http://geography.miningco.com
This is a wonderful geography site and is a gold mine of information. I’ve corresponded with its creator, Matt Rosenberg, who is eminently qualified in geography, and I have nothing but praise for this site. However, it is so full of information, you need to spend some time exploring it. I suggest starting out by looking at what’s available under Net Links in the right-hand column. If you want to know more about Matt or want to e-mail him, click on Guide Bio in the left-hand column.
HOW FAR IS IT?
http://www.indo.com/distance/
If you’d like to know how far it is from one place to another, this site is for you. Just enter the two locations to find the distance between them. For instance, if you enter Palo Alto, California, and Bangalore, India, you’ll see that the distance between the two cities is 8,690 miles.
LIST OF MAPS
http://www.cgrer.uiowa.edu/servers/servers_references.html
If you love maps as I do, you’ll love this site. It has hundreds of maps, all on-line. There are two ways to use this site. You can scroll down the entire page, which will take some time. An easier way is to select a category at the top of the page, such as United States—City. You’ll then see a list of available maps. Just click on a city, such as Map of San Antonio, Texas, to display the map.
MAP WEBSITES
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/map_sites/map_sites.html#general
If you like historical maps, weather maps, or just about any other type of map, this site is for you. Start by selecting a category at the top of the page, such as Weather Map Sites. Then just click on the name of the map you want to see.
CIA FACT BOOK
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/country-frame.html
Who better knows what’s going on in our world than the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency? Simply look at the list of countries on the left-hand side of the page and then select the country you’re interested in. Once the page opens, be sure to scroll down the entire page to find out a great deal of information about that country, including geography, population statistics, government, economy, communications, transportation, and military.
History
How did the ship that landed at Plymouth harbor get the name Mayflower? (Pilgrims, Plymouth, and poets.)
Mayflower was a very common ship name and many other ships with the same name made trips to New England. The most famous, however, was the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America.
The exact dimensions of the Mayflower are not known but specifications can be determined based on designs of other merchant ships of that time. It was probably a three-masted sailing vessel weighing around 180 tons. Scholars disagree on the exact dimensions, but it was probably between 90 and 100 feet long and about 26 feet wide.
The ship was dirty, cramped, and old. During the voyage, her main beam cracked, dislodging the main mast. Three years after returning from the New World, the ship was in ruins. It was later sold and, because wood was scarce in England at that time, reputedly dismantled to make a barn.
During the voyage, the Mayflower carried 102 passengers and a crew of 30. There were 18 women, and the rest were men. Many of the women were forced to leave some of their children behind and hoped to send for them at a later date.
FACTOIDS
Two people died on the voyage and two children were born on the ship.
Historians disagree on why the Mayflower did not land at its intended spot. Some say it was because of rough seas and storms, while others say it was because the captain threatened to put the passengers ashore wherever the ship happened to be at the time.
The Mayflower remained at Plymouth during the terrible winter of 1620. Half of the colonists died. Only 4 of the 18 women survived.
In 1992 a replica of the Mayflower led a procession of tall ships through Cape Cod Canal. It set sail again in 1995 to commemorate the 375th anniversary of the original Mayflower’s arrival in the New World.
Miles Standish was a professional soldier hired by the Pilgrims as military adviser. He and John Alden, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, were made famous in Longfellow’s poem “The Courtship of Miles Standish.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Separatist Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in England, had settled in Holland. However, 44 of these separatists thought the Dutch way of life was too frivolous and decided to move to the New World. They made a deal with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. In return, the company was to receive free
labor from the settlers for seven years. The other passengers on the Mayflower were non-Separatists hired to protect the interests of the company.
The Dutch Separatists called themselves “Saints” and referred to the other passengers as “Strangers.” During the trip, the Saints and Strangers had many disagreements. After a 66-day voyage, land was sighted and the two groups held a meeting to try to reach an accord. The resulting agreement, the famous “Mayflower Compact,” guaranteed equality for all. The two groups then united and called themselves “Pilgrims.”
Although Governor William Bradford referred to the Saints who had left Holland to come to the New World as “pilgrimes,” the term was rarely used until two hundred years later.
These first settlers were originally called the “Old Comers.” Much later, they were referred to as “the Forefathers.” During a bicentennial celebration in 1820, the famous orator Daniel Webster referred to these first settlers as the “Pilgrim Fathers” and the term has been used ever since.
Did Napoleon lose the battle of Waterloo because of hemorrhoids? (That’s not where the English caused him pain.)
Although Napoleon was very sick when the battle of Waterloo began and there were signs his military ability had deteriorated, there is no record of his having had hemorrhoids. He did, however, suffer from poor health for many years, including frequent bladder stone attacks.
A 1970 movie may have led to this myth. In the film, Napoleon is watching the battle when he becomes ill and has to retreat to his tent. His commanders then launch an attack on the British but send in foot soldiers without cavalry protection. The foot soldiers are routed and the French forces never recover. But there is no actual record of this happening.