Thursday 23 June 2016

GIBRALTAR




Gibraltar is at the most important military location in the world. It is only a rocky outcrop off the south coast of Spain and serves as guard to the Mediterranean's only outlet to the Atlantic Ocean.


Gibraltar is only a very small British crown colony and is covered by a limestone mountain full of natural and man-made caves. The only land link is a small land (isthmus) which is 3km long to Spain.The airport was build on it.


The rock covers the island and is steep on all sides. There is a cable car to ride to the summit. The highest point of the rock is 426m.

Gibraltar has very mild winter and very hot, dry summers.  To avoid a water shortage the water is collected in winter and stored in underground reservoirs built into the mountain.


There are over 500 species of small flowering plans and very few large trees. The famous Gibraltar
candytuft is unique to the island and grows nowhere else in the world.


GIBRALTAR CANDYTUFF

Migrating birds use Gibraltar as a very convenient stop-over on their way to Africa.
Barbary monkeys for which the rock is also famous for has the only wild monkeys in Europe. They live on the upper slopes.





Gibraltar has no farms and all the food has to be imported. The local people work in shops, offices and hotels. The British currency is used and the stamps have the monarch on it. Tourism is a very important part of the economy.



SPANISH AND GILBRALTAR BEACHES

The population is a wide mix but very few are of Spanish origin. Their ancestry is mostly British, Italy, Malta, Morocco and Portugal.


HISTORY
Britain captured Gibraltar in 1704 after a battle with Spain and it is British ever since. Spain does not agree with it and there had been many confrontations either by demands from Spain or blockades.


British main interest in Gibraltar is that it provides a very important naval base guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea especially at war time.

The building of the Suez Canal in 1869 at the eastern end of the Mediterranean made it even more important to keep the British Navy base.


The Spanish town of La Linea is situated at the border of Gibraltar which rises almost sheer beyond the adjoining isthmus.

Wednesday 22 June 2016

SPAIN




Most of its history Spain was cut off from the rest of Europe by the Pyrenees mountain range. Ever since it joined the European Union it became one of the most important countries of Europe.


Spain covers most of the Iberian peninsula. It will come as a surprise that Spain is one of the most
mountainous countries in Europe. The capital Madrid is Europe's highest capital city at 645m. It is at a centre of the plateau meseta, The two rivers Tagus and Duoro  have cut deep valleys right down to Portugal.

MADRID

The plateau is surrounded by high mountains and keeps out winds and rains therefore it is called dry Spain.

Northern Spain facing the Atlantic Ocean is wet and has green, lush country-side. It has also most important industry. The north-east is the Basque country who are a different race and have their own language. The Pyrenees mountain
separates Spain from France


PYRENEES

The South and east coast is along the Mediterranean Sea and the Balearic Islands are 90 and 180km off he coast. The north African provinces
Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic and 1000km to the south-west also belong to Spain. They are volcanic and have magnificent mountain scenery and beaches


SPAIN  BEACHES

The Spanish north coast has many deciduous forest, with oak, ash and beech. The
meseta has evergreens of juniper and pine. The valuable cork oaks and sweet chestnuts grow in the west near the border of Portugal and Barcelona. The dry south has only small bushes and coarse grass.



BARCELONA


AFRICAN MIGRANTS
The animals in the northern mountains are deer, ibex, eagles, eagles, some wolves and lynxes. Further in the south are animals which are found in Africa such as
genets, Egyptian mongooses and imperial eagles. Tortoises are everywhere.

Spain is a stopping-off for migrants birds such as
flamingos, snipe and storks.

Agriculture is still wide spread and the
crops are barley and  wheat. Rice is grown near the coast  of Valencia and Murcia. Olives grow almost everywhere as well as potatoes, onions and sugar beet. Merino sheep are an important wool industry with its fine fleece. Oranges and tomatoes is Spain major export.

Home produced wine is mostly consumed by families. The famous sherry comes from
Jerez de la Frontera near Cadiz.

Coal and iron ore are mined in large quantities. The world's richest mercury mine is at
Almaden in Ciudad Real. Spanish industry has a long history. Toledo produced fine daggers for centuries and Bilbao. steel-making factories once produced thousand of swords but is still an important steel-making centre.

Ship-building is at La
Coruna, Valencia, Cadiz and Bilbao. The heavy industry is in Barcelona and Madrid with big car manufacturing and aircraft factory. Textiles are in Barcelona and leather goods. The gun holsters produced in the Basque region are well known.

Tourism is an important industry to Spain. Over 30 million visitors a year coming to Span mostly to the Mediterranean beaches.


The religion is mostly
Roman Catholic and there are many colourful possessions.

HISTORY


Spain has been invaded by Phoenicians, Greeks and Celts.


 But the Romans united the country as an imperial province. Then followed the Visigoths and then the Muslim Moors from North Africa. For
nearly 500 years Spain was Islamic.

In 1492 the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the last Moors. When they captured colonies abroad, Spain became an Empire. The "Golden Era" followed disastrous wars and equally feeble kings which weakened the country.


In the 19th century Spain declined rapidly and its American colonies became independent.


In 1931 Spain became a Republic and five years later
fascists in the army opposed the elected left-wing government and a civil war broke out. The fascist General Franco won and he ruled till 1975. After his death the monarchy was restored and democracy returned.

Spain joined the European Community in 1986.

Tuesday 21 June 2016

FRANCE.



France is nearly twice the size of Britain but its population is less.

The length of the country is 950km from Dunkirk in the very north to the border of Spain. In the east, France borders on  Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany,

Switzerland and Italy. The Mediterranean coastline is between Italy and  Spain.

CLIMATE AND LANDFORMS
The climate varies greatly since France covers an area from northern to southern Europe. The North is cool and towards the Mediterranean in the south it is hot and dry. In the west along the Atlantic Gulf Stream the area of Brittany has mild and damp weather.

MEDITERRANEAN -  NICE
The landscape also varies widely. There are the high mountains of the Alps in the south-east between Italy, Switzerland and Spain. The most famous mountain is the Mont Blanc and also the world's most dangerous because of its sudden weather changes.  The mountain ranges are visited by skiers and in the summer by walkers, climbers and in the Pyrenees by skiers on glacie


PYRENEES

The country's longest river is the Loire flowing through central France. It rises on the Massif Central, extinct volcanoes, and deep gorges similar to the Grand Canyon in the United States. Along the Loire in central France are many famous chateaux (castles) and vineyards. One of the most  beautiful parts are the National Parks in the Pyrenees where bears still roam wild.

FARMING AND FOOD
The large size of France with different climates makes it the European Union top agricultural producer. Almost two-third of the land is farmed and the country is almost self-sufficient in farm products


DORDOGNE VALLEY

In the north there is mostly wheat grown for the well known French baguettes. Bread is baked right through the day.

A wide variety of fruit and vegetables are grown in the south by irrigation during the dry hot summers.

France has an inheritance law when a farmer dies every child is entitled to an equal part of the land. Therefore you will find many small farms. The large farms are in the wine-growing regions of the south. They either co-operatives or extended families working together. Many small growers in Bordeaux and Burgundy made their name for delicious wine. The most famous is champagne which is grown in the north-east region near Reims.

France became also famous for its cheeses like Brie, Camembert and Roquefort  made from ewes' milk.

INDUSTRIES
French government always puts money into industry to give it more chance to compete. French cars manufacturers made their name for having new ideas which are copied by other countries' manufacturers.

France is a leader in fashion and perfumes.  Fashion shows are held since 1900 in Paris.
France has a shortage of coal and other fuels. It produces its electricity from Nuclear - and Hydro Power Station.

Like its neighbours French economy has declined and unemployment risen. In the industrial north-east steel and textiles workers lost their jobs.

But science-based industries growing in the South. Concorde, Airbus, the Ariane space rockets and high speed trains TGV were produced by France.

THE CAPITAL CITY
Two-third of the population are living in Paris. Parisians mostly work in offices, shops and tourism.
Sights must be seen is Eifel Tower 300m, on an island of the river Seine is Notre Dam and it was on this island that Paris was original founded.



More interesting buildings to  visited are Arc de Triumph, church Sacre-Coeur and the art centre in Montmartre.


MONTMARTRE

PEOPLE AND HISTORY
Celtic people occupied the area of France first and it was called Gaul. Romans conquered it in 50 BC. When the Roman empire declined in the 5th century the area was overrun by Germanic tribes from the east. The strongest were the Franks and it gave the country its name.

After that France's history were mainly of religious and political turmoil. One of the worst was the storming of the Bastille, a huge prison fortress in Paris. It was the start of the French Revolution.

King Ludwig XVI and his queen lost the throne and their lives and France turned into a Republic.
Throughout the 19th century it was a fight between enemies and supporters of the Revolution. Monarchs kept coming and going and Napoleon III (1852-70) disastrous war with Germany got him exiled.

France and Germany fought in both World Wars on opposite sites but after 1945 they made great efforts to bury the past and are now Allies within the European Union.