Hispaniola is a Caribbean island made up of two independent countries: the Dominican Republic in the east and Haiti in the west. The 640 mile (about a thousand km) long island is the second-largest in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus arrived on the island on Christmas Day 1492, on his firstjourney across the Atlantic. He named it Hispania, in honour of the country he […]
Africa is often referred to as the cradle of mankind. Scientists agree that the first humans probably appeared in Africa 4 million years ago and from therespread to other continents. About 1 billion people live in Africa today. By 2050 the population of the continent is expected to double. Africa is the continent with the highest birth-rates and strongest population growth. This is because medical aidis getting better, there are more hospitals and doctors who take care […]
Most parts of Africa are warm or hot, but rainfall varies from region to region. Itdecreases the farther you move away from the equator. Most of Africa lies in the tropical or subtropical region. The highest temperatures of the continent aremeasured in the desert regions of the Sahara, where daytime temperatures reachup to 50°C. Nights can be cool and frosty, even during the […]
The African continent is made up of plateaus, mountains, ridges and basins with great rivers and depressions in-between. Coastal areas are narrow lowlands. Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains in the north-western part of Africa emerged at the same time as the Alps rose in Europe. The mountain rangeextends from Morocco to Tunisia, with its highest peaks reaching an altitude of slightly over 4000 metres (13,500 feet) Sahara Desert The Sahara desert covers a third of the African […]
Africa is the second largest continent, covering about a fifth of the world’slandmass. It stretches equally to the north and south of the equator and is made up of many different kinds of landscapes and ecosystems. Africa consists of over 50 states, many of which became independent in the 20thcentury. The whole continent was ruled by European powers until the world wars. Today, many nations […]
A landslide is a geological event, in which the top layer of earth on the side of a hill or mountain becomes loose and moves downwards. Although gravity is themain force behind a landslide the side of a hill or mountain can become unstabledue to many factors: sinking groundwater loss of vegetation movement of glaciers heavy rain earthquakes volcanic eruptions erosion by rivers and waves All of these events can cause parts of […]
The Chernobyl disaster, in which a nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, still harmsanimals in the Ukraine. A British study has showed that the number of birds, insectsand other animals has gone down over the past two decades. It appears that animals are dying because they are still exposed to a small amount of radiation, which the research team found at the Chernobyl site. Especially the bird population is diminishing because the number of grasshoppers and other insects, […]
Global warming is starting to have a big impact on some of the world’s animals.Scientists have found out that polar bears are becoming smaller because they do not get enough to eat. A polar bear weighs only two thirds of what it used to weigh 30 years ago. It is harder for them to hunt their main source of food – seals. In open water polar […]
More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Traffic and pollutionare becoming a big problem in big cities all over the world. In megacities like Mexico City, Shanghai or Cairo the quality of the air is getting worse every day. In the United States commuters spend more time sitting in traffic jams. Some of the world’s cities have already reacted to the crisis. In Bogota, the […]
With over a third of its land below sea level, the Netherlands have been fighting against the sea for hundreds of years. Over the centuries they have built dykes, dams and windmills to stop sea water from getting into the country. The last big disaster occurred in 1953. A storm that swept across the North Sea killed over 2000 people and flooded thousands of square kilometers of land. […]