Geographical articles from September 2004

Geographical archives from September 2004

Real life in the conflict zone.(From The Editor)
September 1, 2004... A few years ago, I was in a crowded shopping centre in south London when a bomb went off. It wasn't (if there is such a thing) an ordinary bomb: it was a nail bomb, and despite the fact that it was detonated during a thunderstorm, the second it...

Rock art farther north?(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... On re-reading the Match Geographical, I came across the article 'Rock art up north' (Worldwatch) about Ice Age rock art, anal was interested to see that the new find at Cresswell Crags is considered the world's most northerly example. I...

Antarctic appeal.(Letter Of The Month)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... Bob Headland's article (Antarctica's heritage under threat, August 2004) does well to draw attention to the threats to the huts erected by the early explorers of Antarctica. His message is spot-on: the huts represent an incredible legacy, and...

Hills are tops.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... I was interested in your answer to the question "What is the difference between a hill and a mountain?" (Quizzical, May 2004). Surely the answer is even more complicated. Cameron McNeish, who wrote both The Munro Almanac and The Corbett...

A man of many parts.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)(Correction Notice)
September 1, 2004... The July Geographical incorrectly identifies Sir Dadabhai Naoroji as a woman (Dossier). In addition to being an MP, Naoroji was one of the foremost social thinkers of his time. The first Indian professor of Elphinstone College, Bombay, and...

Bhutan no fairytale.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2004... In response to your article on emerging holiday destinations (Tomorrow's world, July 2004), I would like to raise the point that the "policy of isolation" favoured by the rulers of the mountain kingdom of Bhutan to preserve the Bhote way of...

Lost in the post.
September 1, 2004... Established on 1990, this small national park--it covers a mere 0.02 per cent of the 350,000-square-kilometre land area of the stamp's country of origin--is made up primarily of spruce forest. Set up to protect the upper end of a picturesque...

Indiscriminate building of dams is threatening the world's largest and most important rivers, according to WWF.(Global; World Wildlife Foundation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Indiscriminate building of dams is threatening the world's largest and most important rivers, according to WWF. Its Rivers at Risk report states that the Yangtze in China, the La Plata in South America, and the Tigris and Euphrates in the...

Despite having the world's largest coal reserves, China has pledged to generate at least ten per cent of its electricity.(China)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Despite having the world's largest coat reserves, China has pledged to generate at least ten per cent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010.

The Rural Energy Trust has been named the UK winner of the 2004 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.(UK)(The Rural Energy Trust)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Rural Energy Trust has been named the UK winner of the 2004 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, which reward outstanding and innovative renewable-energy projects. The trust won the 30,000 [pounds sterling] award for its development or...

Deep-sea science gets corporate cooperation.(Global)(Southampton Oceanography Centre)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Oil companies are giving scientists studying the deep-sea environment a helping hand as part of a new UK based multinational project Founded by the Southampton Oceanography Centre, Project Serpent has already used cutting-edge commercial...

Dark days ahead for planet Earth.(Global)(global dimming)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... As if the threat of climate change wasn't bad enough, two Australian researchers have recently confirmed another worrying trend: the world is getting darker. Scientists have been aware of global dimming, as it's known, since the mid-1980s,...

Survey swells panda numbers.(Worldwatch)(State Forestry Administration of China)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Results from the most comprehensive survey of China's giant panda population ever undertaken have revealed that there are nearly 1,600 pandas in the wild--an increase of more than 40 per cent on previous estimates. The four-year study was...

Native American art to remain in the UK.(UK)(Stonyhurst College)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The British Museum has announced the acquisition of a collection of Native American art that includes a deerskin map from around 1774-75 showing land sales by Algonquin-speaking peoples of Indiana, one of the earliest examples of its kind. ...

Cold-water coral common but under threat.(Global)(University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Cold-water coral reefs are far more widespread and numerous than previously thought--but they're under serious threat, according to the most comprehensive report on the subject yet. The report was compiled by an international network of...

Britain's sea birds are experiencing their worst breeding season on record, says BBC's Countryfile.(UK)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Britain's sea birds are experiencing their worst breeding season on record, says BBC's Countryfile. The depletion of plankton stocks due to rising sea temperature has caused populations of the small fish on which the birds feed to crash.

Iceland has announced it is to reduce its 'scientific' whaling quota from 250 to just 25 a year--a sign that it may end the practice altogether.(Iceland)(whale meat)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Iceland has announced it is to reduce its 'scientific' whaling quota from 250 to just 25 a year--a sign that it may end the practice altogether. Demand for whale meat in Iceland has fallen due to changes in eating habits and concerns over toxin...

Countries with the most internet users.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 1, 2004... TOP COUNTRIES WITH THE 10 MOST INTERNET USERS 1 USA 207,444,619 2 China 79,500,000 3 Japan 64,537,437 4 Germany 45,357,649 5 UK 35,831,432 6 South Korea...

According to government figures, the number of people over the age of 100 in Japan has doubled in the past five years.(Japan)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... According to government figures, the number of people over the age of 100 in Japan has doubled in the past five years to more than 20,000 and one in five Japanese is over 65.

A third of Britain's almost 5,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest are being damaged by diffuse- or multi-source--water pollution (DWP), says environment minister Elliot Morely.(UK)
September 1, 2004... A third of Britain's almost 5,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest are being damaged by diffuse--or multi-source--water pollution (DWP), says environment minister Elliot Morely. The problem is largely caused by agriculture Morely, who is...

Sir Halford Mackinder (1861-1947): an author, politician and explorer, Halford Mackinder helped to put geography on the national stage in Britain.(Late Great Geographers #47)(Biography)
September 1, 2004... What was his background? Halford John Mackinder was born in the market town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 15 February 1861. The eldest of six children, he was educated at Epsom College and later Christ Church College, Oxford....

20 years ago today ... Geographical Magazine, September 1984.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The September 1984 cover story, part of Geographical's Dynamic Earth series, examined the ways in which desert margins shift and change--over both geological and historical time. Long-term changes tend to be the result of movements of the...

A recently identified 30 million-year-old fossil originally unearthed by a private collector in Germany suggests that hummingbirds may have evolved in Europe, and not South America, as was previously thought.(Germany)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A recently identified 30 million-year-old fossil originally unearthed by a private collector in Germany suggests that hummingbirds may have evolved in Europe, and not South America, as was previously thought. Due to their fragile bone...

Transport of freight by sea could be responsible for twice as much air pollution as was previously estimated, according to a University of Oslo study.(Global)
September 1, 2004... Transport of freight by sea could be responsible for twice as much air pollution as was previously estimated, according to a University of Oslo study. "Emissions from ships are one of the fastest-growing emission sectors," said the university's...

Weatherwatch with Helen Willetts: September autumn begins this month, but when exactly? And what sort of weather can we expect as it runs its course?(BBC Weather Centre)
September 1, 2004... At the BBC Weather Centre, it isn't unusual to witness a debate regarding the official start of a season. The seasons denote the changes in temperature and weather that result from the tilt of the Earth's axis. They vary with latitude, and...

Prawn farms threatening wetlands.(Environmental Justice Foundation)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Growing demand in the West for prawns is causing an environmental crisis in some of the world's poorest countries, according to an Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) report. The London-based organisation's investigations reveal that the...

Quizzical: how did Mexico get its name? When does a species go from threathened to doomed? And with all those lovely tropical islands to choose from, what made the Bounty mutineers pick Pitcairn?
September 1, 2004... global population watch The world population at the time of going to press was according to: the United Nations 6,455,590,201 the CIA 6,396,306,118 the US Bureau of the Census 6,389,543,021 At what point is extinction inevitable for an...

Listen up.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The documentary produced by the winner of the 2004 Journey of a Lifetime Award is to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 10 September at 11.02am. Luke Freeland will describe the 650-kilometre journey on foot he made through Madagascar, when he...

Special issues.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... To mark the International Geographical Congress 2004, each of the Society's three journals, which are published by Blackwell, recently brought out special issues focusing on major geographical issues. The special issue of Area covered Census...

Geography colleges--leading us into the future.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Increased independence for schools and more choice for parents were among the major aims set out in the government's five-year plan for education, which was announced in July. The plan, which has received a mixed response, aims to expand...

Census uncensored.(In Society: a round-up of news, views and recent and forthcoming events at theRGS-IBG)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The public was well and truly at the heart of Census 2001, so it's no wonder that there has been great interest in the interpretation of the census data, much of which is being carried out by geographers. The Society recently held an...

A selection of September's society events.(In Society: a round-up of news, views and recent and forthcoming events at theRGS-IBG; Royal Geographical Society)(Calendar)
September 1, 2004... For details, please contact the Events Office on 020 7591 3100 or see www.rgs.org/events 9-10 September Economic geography in the wider world (CONFERENCE, SHEFFIELD) This Economic Geography Research Group postgraduate...

A distorted view of the British Isles: Ptolemy's British Isles map (1482/1486).(Map Of The Month)
September 1, 2004... The second-century Alexandrian scientist, geographer and writer Claudius Ptolemy wasn't always original in what he wrote. Copying, or digesting and regurgitating, the knowledge of others was a common trait during his, and later, times. ...

300 years of Brits on the rock: as Gibraltar celebrates 300 years of British sovereignty, Sacha Kent examines the history of the rock and reveals how this one-time cultural mongrel developed its own identity.
September 1, 2004... When William Makepeace Thackeray visited Gibraltar in the 1840s, be was struck by the disparity and complexity of the people. Having strolled down Main Street, the principal artery of Gibraltar town, be commented, "It is a curious sight at...

Tamerlane: return of the sword of Islam: one of history's great leaders, Tamerlane waged a series of bloody wars in the 14th and 15th centuries to build a mighty empire in Central Asia around his glorious capital, Samarkand. Now the government of Uzbekistan is manipulating his reputation to serve its political agenda.
September 1, 2004... Right in the heart of Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, a fabulous statue of a man on horseback dominates a cool, tree-lined square. The rider's pose is regal and military. The sculptor has captured the moment of a great leader in action....

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo.(Hit the Road)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... A spectacular 4,000 miles journey along the route of ancient caravans. Step back in time and discover the hidden treasures of the oasis towns Dunhuang and Turpan, the lost civilisation of Kuche, and the minority tribes of the Taklamakan Desert....

Peten travels.(Hit the Road)(Silk Road)(The Seljuks)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... We offer you a unique opportunity to discover the Silk Road with the Seljuks. Our 'The Seljuks' trip will take you into the heart of Anatolia's Silk Road. We visit the masterpieces of the architecture such as the caravanserais, hans, hospitals,...

Steppes east along the Silk Road.(Hit the Road)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... For a thousand years, the Silk Route, the greatest land based trading highway the world has seen, wound its way from China, through Central Asia to Europe. Discover Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar, Turpan, Dunhuang & Xian and follow in the...

Silk Moad tours.(Hit the Road)(Silk Road Tours)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Following the fabled Silk Road rates as one of the world's great travel experiences and the 2004 Silk Road Tours brochure includes several itineraries that offer a taste of the legendary route Discover diverse cultures and extreme landscapes on...

Global money: the rise of the international machine.(Geographical dossier)
September 1, 2004... Globalisation is the defining theme of our times. At its heart is not only free trade but, arguably as importantly, the free movement of money. It is the flow of vast sums of money around the international financial system as much as it is the...

Money on the move: every day, hundreds of billions of pounds move around the borderless world of the global financial system. What is the effect of this vast flow of money?(Geographical dossier)
September 1, 2004... The daily turnover in the world's currency markets is US$1.2trillion (670billion [pounds sterling]). Leaving aside weekends and public holidays when the markets are closed, that's roughly US$302trillion annually. These are big numbers: to put...

Strength in numbers: the world economy is currently dominated by the G7 countries. But the world is changing, and we're witnessing the rise of some economic giants of the past.(Geographical dossier)
September 1, 2004... Two hundred years ago, when Europe was in the full throes of the industrial Revolution, China and India accounted for 45 per cent of global GDR With their large populations, they wielded a substantial amount of economic weight. However, the...

Rich man, poor man: inequality is the economic curse of our time. Never has the world been richer, but never has that wealth been more unevenly distributed.(Geographical dossier)
September 1, 2004... Estimates by Branko Milanovic of the World Bank, published recently in the Economic Journal, showed that the richest one per cent of the world's population, about 60 million people, have as much income as the poorest $7 per cent, some 3.4...

After the event ... life on the streets of Baghdad's slums: can life ever return to normal for the citizens of Iraq? Geographical sent photojournalist Damian Bird to 'the most dangerous place in Iraq', Sadr City, to report on the uneasy relationship between the US forces and the inhabitants of Baghdad's benighted slums.(Life In Iraq)
September 1, 2004... Dawn breaks over Sadr City. The US night patrols are at an end and the Abrams tanks, known to the Iraqis as 'Whispering Death', rattle slowly back to Camp Ironhorse, on the neighbourhood's outskirts. The US platoon commander turns to me and...

Standing up for tomorrow's tribes: with Germaine Greer proposing that Australians reassess their perceptions of Aboriginal rights and identity in her controversial new book Whitefella Jump Up, the director of Survival International Stephen Corry outlines the situation faced by indigenous peoples around the world.
September 1, 2004... Earlier this year, 17 Ayoreo Indians emerged from the dry scrub forests of western Paraguay to make their first contact with non-Indians. It seems astonishing that first contacts such as this are still taking place 500 years after Columbus, but...

The art of exploration.
September 1, 2004... The landscape paintings of William Hodges represent an intriguing visual document of the pre-photography world of James Cook, one of the greatest explorers of all time. Christian Amodeo introduces the work of a neglected artist whose reputation...

Next stop, the top of the world: Life hasn't been easy for Sir Ranulph Fiennes in recent years. A double heart bypass and the death of his wife have led some to suggest it's time he hung up his ice-axe. But, as Chloe Scott-Moncrieff discovers, he's not taking any notice. Far from it....(Interview)
September 1, 2004... There's something about the riled tone that Sir Ranulph Fiennes adopts in his biography of Captain Scott--a controversial book that suggests that sensationalist writers have discredited the explorer--that gives the impression he's talking from...

Eritrea gets back on track: when Eritrea gained independence, its devoted railway veterans came out of retirement to restore the country's famous Italian-built line. Kate Eshelby takes a trip by steam train and discovers a mainline into the country's colonial past and a symbol of hope for its future.
September 1, 2004... With a puff of steam and a toot of its whistle, the Mallet 442.54 locomotive slowly draws out of the elegant colonial station and wheezes away from the shady palm-lined boulevards of Asmara, the highland capital of Eritrea. On this, the first...

Tracks of time: even today, steam trains exert a powerful hold on the popular imagination. Octavia Lamb looks back at the golden age of railway travel through a series of images from the RGS-IBG archives.(Geographical Archive)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Of the many technological advances that took place during the 19th century, none was to have quite such an enormous impact as the invention of the steam train. Although the power of steam had been recognised for a long time, the realisation...

The Silk Road: Art and History.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Silk Road: Art and History by Jonathan Tucker, IB Tauris, hb, pp391, 45 [pounds sterling] Given the amount of information contained within this large, colourful reference book, and the enormous breadth of the subject, it isn't...

Vanilla.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Vanilla by Tim Ecott, Penguin, hb, pp278, 16.99 [pounds sterling] The tale of vanilla is one of secrecy, jealousy and exotic drama. It begins in the fetid jungles of Pre-Columbian Mexico, where once the Totonac Indians gathered the pods of...

The Temple of Jerusalem.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Temple of Jerusalem by Simon Goldhill Profile Books, hb, pp192, 15.99 [pounds sterling] "There is no Temple to see, of course,"trumpets Simon Goldhill on page 175, and therein lies the problem with--as well as the tantalising...

The Amber Room.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... The Amber Room by Catherine Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy Atlantic Books, hb, pp386, 16.99 [pounds sterling] The legends of amber go back to Ovid. In Metamorphoses, the tears of Meleager's birdsisters, weeping for their dead brother, coalesce...

State Building.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... State Building by Francis Fukuyama Profile Books, hb, pp256, 16.99 [pounds sterling] From its title, you might expect Francis Fukuyama's State Building to be a version of Machiavelli's The Prince for 21st century interventionist...

Colors of the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Colors of the World by Jean-Philippe and Dominique Lenclos, WW Norton, pb, pp288, 40 [pounds sterling] The third and most ambitious book in Jean Philippe and Dominique Lenclos's Colors of... series (previous releases have covered France...

Oil, Sand and Politics: Memoirs of a Middle East Doctor, Mercenary and Mountaineer.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Oil, Sand and Politics: Memoirs of a Middle East Doctor, Mercenary and Mountaineer by Philip Horniblow Hayloft, hb, pp299, 25 pounds sterling] Thanks to an observant, medically trained eye and a retentive ear, Philip Horniblow has caught...

A Sentimental Journey.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne First published in 1768. Most recent edition published by Oxford World Classics, pb, pp270, 4.99 [pounds sterling] The 18th century disgorged some of the most fascinating and enduring of early...

Encounters: the Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800.(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Encounters: The Meeting of Asia and Europe 1500-1800 edited by Anna Jackson and Amin Jaffer, V&A Publications, hb, pp400, 40 [pounds sterling] The meeting of East and West during the time of the great maritime East India Companies...

Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World by Justin Marozzi HarperCollins, hb, pp480, 25 [pounds sterling] Before you get two chapters into Justin Marozzi's superb follow-up to South from Barbary, the gore is being laid on with a...

Delta: the Perils, Profits and Politics of Water in South and Southeast Asia.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
September 1, 2004... Delta: The Perils, Profits and Politics of Water in South and Southeast Asia by Daniel Schwartz Thames & Hudson, pb, pp191, 17.95 [pounds sterling] What a feast. Delta is a large-format album of photographs taken by Swiss photojournalist...

Introducing Vakoka.(music group)(Sound Recording Review)
September 1, 2004... Introducing Vakoka Playing lime: 50:40 (World Music Network, 8.99 [pounds sterling]) When big-name artists come together to make music, expectations are high, but the resulting sounds are very often a letdown. Not so here. Vakoka is a...

Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo.(Sound Recording Review)
September 1, 2004... Introducing Shiyani Ngcobo Playing time: 60:07 (World Music Network, 8.99 [pounds sterling]) A warm, dance-style music rooted in the Zulu experience, maskanda's signature sound is acoustic-guitar picking. Lyrically, it often deals with the...

Introducing Sukke.(Sound Recording Review)
September 1, 2004... Introducing Sukke Playing time: 55:22 (World Music Network, 8.99 [pounds sterling]) Klezmer--Yiddish term created by combining two words, kley (instrument) and zemer (song)--describes a typically Eastern European and Jewish music that...

Geographical travel: this month we bring you the latest travel news, speak to Rose Baring of Sickle Moon Books, which specialises in reissuing the gems of travel literature, and introduce the new Responsible Tourism Awards.
September 1, 2004... TERRACED RICE PADDIES NEAR UBUD, BALI, INDONESIA As palms sway gently in the breeze, farmers from the village of Ubud tend to their neatly terraced rice paddies. Following the bomb blasts of 2002, Bali is slowly reestablishing itself as one...

Tourist threat to nesting turtles.(travel news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Uncontrolled tourism is endangering the future of the Mediterranean's largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles. More than 1,000 turtles nest in Greece's Zakynthos National Marine Park each year, bur strike action by park workers,...

Where there's smoke.(travel news)(Malaysia called on Indonesia to stop its farmers setting land-clearing fires)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Malaysia has called on Indonesia to stop its farmers setting land-clearing fires, amid concern that smoke drifting across the border is affecting the region's tourism industry Popular attractions around Kuala Lumpur, such as the Petronas twin...

UK beaches are cleaning up their act.(travel news)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... It seems there's no need to head abroad for white sands and clear oceans, with a record number of UK beaches being awarded the Encam Blue Flag of cleanliness. This year, 105 beaches attained the award, an increase of 22 on 2003's figure. In...

The rise of the super-resort.(Tourism Concern)(Sundarbans in West Bengal)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... In many areas of the world, the super-resort is taking over. Not content with changing deserts into golf courses, estimated to use one million cubic metres of water annually, or transporting hundreds of thousands of visitors up mountains by...

The Barmouth Festival of Walking opens on 18 September.(UK)
September 1, 2004... The Barmouth Festival of Walking opens on 18 September. The eight-day festival offers more than 25 walks across mid-Wales, ranging from two hour excursions to full-day hikes. * Info: www.barmouthwalkingfestival.co.uk

The growing demand for Russian visas has caused prices to rise.(Russia)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The growing demand for Russian visas has caused prices to rise. Travellers requiring a visa within one calendar month of applying can expect to pay up to 100 [pounds sterling], and anyone hoping to secure one faster will have to spend around...

The responsible tourism awards: tell us about the world's best responsible tourism organisations, from environmentally sound desert treks to urban lodges run by local people.
September 1, 2004... We all love to visit stunning holiday destinations. But many of them have fragile environments, a rich cultural heritage and local communities that are coming under increasing pressure from the growth of tourism, The type of holiday that we...

Travel for a living: Rose Baring is a founding partner of Sickle Moon Books, which specialises in dusting off the hidden gems of travel publishing and giving them a new lease of life. Jo Sargent talks to her about globetrotting and her passion for travel literature.(Interview)
September 1, 2004... When did you discover your passion for travel writing and how did you get started? I became intrigued by foreign places when I starred to learn French as a child. I was taken to France by my parents and loved the sound of the language and...

In conversation.(with Eric Brossier, French geophysicist and yachtsman)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... Eric Brossier, French geophysicist and yachtsman made Polar history last year when he completed the first uninterrupted circumnavigation of the North Pole by yacht. Thomas Bourne spoke to him about his pioneering voyage, which took him through...