Biome

A BIOME IS A classification of large areas of plant formations. The world’s vegetation communities can be described in many ways depending on scale and controlling factors. The early plant geographers, notably F. E. Clements and V. E. Shelford, working in the UNITED KINGDOM and the UNITED STATES in the early 20th century, defined and classified the major plant formations with their associated fauna as biomes. Within each biome, there is a uniform life form of vegetation, for example, FORESTS and GRASSLANDS in which trees and grasses predominate respectively. All biomes are extensive and characterize large areas of the Earth’s surface.

Further subdivisions are possible; for example forests can be divided into coniferous, temperate, and tropical, and grasslands may be temperate or tropical. These subdivisions are usually linked with the prevailing climate because the annual temperature and precipitation regimes are important determinants of vegetation life form and species composition, which, in turn, influence animal communities. Thus, in traditional terms biomes are climatic climax communities, that is, they comprise plant and animal communities that have developed an equilibrium with their environment which facilitates definition as a unit.

There are rarely sharp boundaries between biomes but rather a gradation in a transition zone, similar to an ecotone, or boundary between ECOSYSTEMS, which can also be synonymous with biomes at the global scale. The major biomes recognized on the Earth’s land surface include the following:

1) TUNDRA: High latitudes, no trees, dwarf shrubs, herbs, grasses.

2) Forests: Taiga (coniferous forest) in high latitudes, evergreen tree species predominate; temperate forest: temperate latitudes/high latitude maritime, broadleaf species; temperate RAINFOREST: same as temperate forests above, especially Southern Hemisphere island locations, evergreen and broadleaf species; tropical forest: tropical latitudes with high rainfall, varied composition with evergreen and broadleaf species.

3) Savanna: Various types depending on tree/grass distribution, tropical latitudes with seasonal rainfall, grasslands to open forests.

4) Mediterranean-type: Sometimes described as chaparral, various types in areas of hot, dry summers

and warm, wet winters, between temperate and tropical latitudes; mixed woodland, grassland, shrubs.

5) Grasslands: Various types, mid-latitude continental interior with a wide annual temperature range, grass species predominate.

6) DESERT: Highly variable, depending on precipitation volume and distribution, low latitudes with low rainfall, few trees and shrubs, ephemeral herbs and grasses, includes succulents.

Aquatic environments can also be classified into biomes, notably wetlands, freshwater environments, and marine ecosystems. The first two categories can be further subdivided depending on characteristics such as climate, acidity, alkalinity, and salinity. Marine ecosystems can be subdivided into two units: the LITTORAL or shoreline zone and the oceanic or open water zone. Examples of littoral ecosystems include mangrove swamps and salt marshes. The oceanic zone also varies roughly on a latitudinal basis reflecting water temperature and, hence, the prevailing climate.

An alternative classification can be applied to the vertical distribution of marine organisms, namely, the illuminated or photic zone near the surface, where light allows photosynthesis to take place; the nectonic zone, in which fish and aquatic mammals live; and the ocean floor, which may be rock, sand, or mud, where bottom- dwelling organisms (benthos) live.

The distribution and composition of biomes are not constant in geological time. Throughout the 5,000

million years of Earth history, changes in climate and earth movements have altered the configuration of the continents and the oceans. Evolution has given rise to new life forms. The most geologically recent alterations to the world’s biomes occurred during the last 3 million years, the last Ice Age, when a series of cold periods (glacial stages) separated by warm (interglacial stages) began.

As temperatures waxed and waned, the world’s biomes changed in extent and in composition. The biomes described above came into existence between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago during the current interglacial stage. The present biomes have also been substantially modified by human activity for which there is no precedent in earlier geological periods. The biomes contain a wealth of natural resources that have sustained humankind and allowed the species to proliferate, but at a cost. Agriculture, mining, logging, pollution, urban spread, tourism, and water extraction are all contributing to ecosystem loss and species extinction. This alteration is also impairing the capacity of the biomes to provide essential services such as the circulation of elements and compounds between the atmosphere, vegetation, and soils, as in the carbon and nitrogen cycles. This is related to the regulation of climate as vegetation, especially trees, provide a huge store of carbon. But as deforestation occurs, increasing volumes of carbon enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and so exacerbate the problem of global warming caused by fossil-fuel consumption.

Bight of Benin

A “BIGHT” REFERS TO a bend or curve, most often a crescent shape, that forms an open bay in a coastline. The Bight of Benin is a roughly 500-mi- (800-km-) long bend in the West African coast, stretching from near the mouth of the Volta River (Cape Saint Paul) in GHANA eastward across the coastlines of TOGO and BENIN to the DELTA of the Niger River in NIGERIA. The Bight of Benin received its name from the centuries-old kingdom of Benin located in southern Nigeria. The nation of BENIN (formerly Dahomey) consequently received its name from the coastline in 1975.

The Bight of Benin is a region rich in culture and history. Prior to European colonization, major African kingdoms existed in the area, including the Asante (1750 to late 1800s) in what is now Ghana, Fon (1700s) and Dahomey kingdoms (1800s) in what is now Togo and Benin, and the Yoruba (1000s to 1800s) and Benin (1200s to 1897) kingdoms in what is now Nigeria.

Portuguese explorers, reaching the area in 1485, found the city of Benin to be as well organized as cities in Europe. Between 1500 and 1800, the Benin kingdom expanded power, largely through trade with the Portuguese. The tropical climate brought hardship to Europeans from disease and trying conditions. An old rhyme stated, “Beware, beware the Bight of Benin, for few come out though many go in.”

Also known as the Slave Coast, the region was an important area of slave trading from the 1500s to the 1800s. Some pre-European slavery was practiced, largely as prisoner labor resulting from wars among kingdoms. Slavery expanded with European contact, with mostly males sent abroad and females staying within Africa. The Dahomey kingdom became a major source of transatlantic slave trade to BRAZIL, the Caribbean, and the UNITED STATES. The kingdom was the origin of an estimated 14.5 percent of U.S. slaves. The cities of Abomey and Ouidah became international cultural and trading centers.

Many slaves spoke the Gbe language and practiced the religion of Vodun (a predecessor of Haitian voodoo). As many as 10,000 to 15,000 slaves were exported per year. By the early to mid-1700s, so many local slaves were exported that prices rose and other African regions to the west and south were exploited. King Duezo of Dahomey brought independence from the Yoruba in the early 1800s. Abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1880 brought liberated slaves back from Brazil. Many were skilled tradesmen who formed an upper class in Porto Novo and Lagos, bringing some Portuguese architecture that had been popular in colonial Brazil.

Palm oil then became the major regional export until petroleum oil was discovered in the Niger River delta in the 1950s. Cotton and cocoa are also major exports. The coastal population today includes the nations of Ghana (former British colony, 20 million), Togo (former German and French colony, 5 million), Benin (former French colony, 7 million), and Nigeria (former British colony, 130 million).

The Bight of Benin has a long dry season from November to the end of March, driven by northerly Harmattan winds. It has a first rainy season from April to July, a short dry period in August, and a second rainy season in September and October. Rainfall can exceed 10 in (25 cm) in June and 50 in (127 cm) annually. Average temperatures range from lows of 75 degrees F (23 degrees C) to highs of 85 degrees F (28 degrees C) in the wet season and 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) in the dry season.

Major ports include Lomé (Togo), Cotonou (Benin), and Lagos (Nigeria). Ouidah was the only port in Benin until 1908. Ouidah today features a voodoo museum, the Sacred Forest, and Route of the Slaves, a short road with landmarks, statues, and villages along the route slaves took to the ships. North of Cotonou is Ganvié, a town of bamboo huts built on stilts for protection. Religious custom prevented Fon and Dahomey warriors from crossing into water. Much of the Bight of Benin coastline has white sand beaches, clear water, tidal flats, and coastal lagoons, accompanied by strong tides and currents.

Bhutan

BHUTAN IS A LANDLOCKED country located in the eastern part of the HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS, bordered by INDIA in the south, east, and west and by TIBET in the north. At its lowest east-west corridor, Bhutan stretches around 186 mi (300 km), and it measures approximately 105 mi (170 km) at its north-south direction.

There are three main ethnic groups in Bhutan. The Ngalungs or Ngalops (often called Drukpas) live in the northwestern part of the country. They speak Dzonkha and are called Drukpas as they follow the Drukpa Kargyupa school of Tibetan Buddhism. The second ethnic group is called Sharchops and they inhabit the eastern and central region and practice Nyingmapa, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism. The Sharchops speak Tsangla, Kheng, Kurteop, Sharchopkha, and Brokpa dialects. The third major ethnic group is called Lhotshampas and they live in the southern foothills of Bhutan and speak primarily a Nepali language.

Bhutan is ruled by a hereditary monarch who governs the country with the support of a national assembly and the council of ministers. Bhutan does not have any written constitution. In 2001, the Bhutanese king commissioned the drafting of a constitution, which is to become effective in 2005. The royal government of Bhutan is guided by the aid and advice of the government of India in regard to its external relations. India is responsible for defense and foreign relations as per Article 2 of the Indo-Bhutan treaty.

Bhutan is primarily an agricultural country. The traditional form of agriculture is the main subsistence occupation for the majority of Bhutanese people, who involve themselves with agriculture, livestock, and related activities. The hydroelectricity power sector provides the single biggest revenue to Bhutan. India has been the prime market for Bhutan’s finished products and imports. Bhutan imports from India necessary household items such as rice, vegetables, poultry, fish, wheat, and salt. Bhutan also imports other items such as petroleum products, automobiles, steel, sugar, medicines, and textile goods.

Bhutan has been identified as one of the 10 biodiversity hot spots in the world and as one of the 221 global bird areas. Its ecosystems harbor some of the most endangered species of the Himalayas, with an estimated 770 species of birds and over 50 species of rhododendron. They are enriched by a rich a wildlife with animals such as the snow leopard, golden langur, blue sheep, water buffalo, tiger, and elephant.

Bermuda

BERMUDA IS A UNITED KINGDOM overseas territory located 700 miles southeast of NEW YORK CITY in the  North ATLANTIC OCEAN. With an area of 36.2 square mi (53.3 square km), the island colony has a population of 64,482 (2003). Bermuda is a primary tourism destination for East Coast Americans, and its capital, Hamilton, serves as a harbor for numerous cruise ships.

In 1506, a Spanish sea captain, Juan de Bermúdez, came upon uninhabited islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and named them Bermuda. Although Bermúdez did not claim the land for SPAIN, the islands did become an important landmark for seafarers crossing the ocean from Spain to the New World. In 1609, an English admiral, Sir George Somers, was sailing from England to the new British settlement, Jamestown, VIRGINIA, in the New World. He landed in Bermuda and built replacement ships. Two men were left behind and claimed the land for Britain.

The British Jamestown Company soon became interested in the islands and three years later brought over 60 settlers to organize a settlement. Tobacco, cedar, whaling, and salt were vital to the early Bermudan economy. As the years passed, cedar forests were cleared for areas of land capable of cultivating potatoes, cabbages, onions, and tobacco.

Slaves were transported to the islands in 1616, and in 1684, Bermuda became a British colony. During the American Revolution, the Bermudan citizens remained loyal to the British, and in the War of 1812, the British navy used Bermuda as a base. The Royal Naval Dockyard on the western end of the island proved vital in maintaining British superiority in the North Atlantic. In 1834, slavery was abolished and around 5,000 slaves were freed. During the Civil War, Bermuda became a center for southern blockade-runner ships, which would attempt to break the Union naval blockade.

In 1874, the government of Bermuda and the Quebec Steamship Company agreed on a contract that created steamship service between NEW YORK CITY and Bermuda. Bermuda was becoming a popular vacation destination for many people, including the famous American author Mark Twain, and the tourism industry expanded. In 1937, Darell’s Island Marine Airport was opened and air travel began to and from Bermuda. Six years earlier, a railroad was built in the territory. When World War II began, the strategic location of the islands proved vital. Part of the lend-lease agreement between Britain and the United States resulted in a portion of Bermuda being handed over to the American military. After World War II, women were allowed to vote and black voters were given greater freedom. A constitution was signed in 1968, which allowed for full self-government but left security and diplomatic affairs to the British.

The territory was affected by race riots throughout the 1970s, but in the 1980s, the construction industry prospered. Construction resulted in an incredible expansion and employment grew 34 percent. However, the economy faltered in the 1990s and many Bermudans called for full independence from Britain. In 1995, after only 58 percent of the electorate voted, a referendum failed to gain enough votes for independence. That same year, the naval bases occupied by the American military since World War II were handed back to the Bermudan government.

Benin

BENIN IS LOCATED in West Africa and is bordered to the west by TOGO, to the north by NIGER and BURKINA FASO and to the east by NIGERIA. It stretches 435 mi (700 km) from the NIGER RIVER to the Gulf of Guinea. Behind the southern coastal zone, there are a series of interconnected lagoons and lakes. Behind this coastal region is found an area of fertile clay soils that is generally flat, crossed by the wide marsh, through which flows the Ouémé River. Northwest Benin is a region of forested mountains (the Atacora, highest point 2,150 ft or 655 m), from which the Mekrou and Pendjari rivers flow northeast to the Niger River (which is part of the country’s northern border). The northeast is a highland region containing little fertile soil and covered mostly with savanna.

There are 42 ethnic groups in Benin, but its population is divided into four main ethnolinguistic groups: the Fon (in the south), the Yoruba (in the southeast near Nigeria), the Voltaic (in central and north Benin) and the Fulani (in the north). The country’s official language is French. Almost three-quarters of the population follows traditional religious beliefs. Voodoo originated in Benin almost 350 years ago but was officially recognized only in 1996. About 15 percent of the Benin population is Muslim (mostly living in the north) and an equal number is Christian.

Benin’s population is concentrated in the south and in rural areas. Most of the people engage in subsistence farming, with the main crops being cotton, corn, sorghum, cassava, beans, rice, peanuts, and palm oil. There is also an extensive freshwater fishing industry and a smaller sea fishing industry. Benin produces few manufactured goods, of which the largest are either processed agricultural goods (foods and beverages) or basic consumer items (textiles, footwear, ginned cotton).

In 2002 the contribution of the agricultural sector to gross domestic product was 38 percent, while that of the industry was 15 percent and that of the service sector 47 percent. Petroleum was discovered offshore of Porto-Novo in 1968, and in the 1990s was Benin’s largest export. The other mineral resources found in the country (such as titanium, low-quality iron ore, ilmenite, and chromite) have not yet been extensively exploited.

Apart from crude oil, the main exports are cotton, palm oil products, coffee and cocoa beans. The economy has been growing an average of 5 percent annually in the period 1991 to 2004, but rapid population growth has offset much of this increase. In 2001, 37 percent of the population was earning an income below the poverty line.

Benguela Current

THE BENGUELA CURRENT is one of the world’s four major eastern boundary currents. It flows northward off the coast of southwestern Africa along the western coasts of SOUTH AFRICA, NAMIBIA, and southern ANGOLA. The Benguela Current, along with the South Equatorial Current, and the northern part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current make up the South Atlantic subtropical gyre. The Benguela Current draws icy-cold waters from the Southern Ocean and carries them northward along the coast of Africa. Because of these cold waters, rain clouds do not develop over the southwest coast of Africa, contributing to the parched climate of the KALAHARI and Namib deserts.

The Benguela Current is one of those regions off the west coasts of the continents where there is an upwelling of cool, nutrient-rich water due to the coastal edge of the continental shelf, the prevailing winds, and the Earth’s rotation. Because of these nutrient-rich waters, there is a huge abundance of marine life of all kinds. This has resulted in a large and plentiful fishing industry off Africa’s southwest coast. In direct contrast to this, there are areas of the Benguela Current off the coast of Namibia and along the Walvis Ridge in which there are no fish to be found. This is due to a buildup of harmful algae blooms and high hydrogen sulfide gas levels in the water that are toxic to marine life. This phenomenon is known as “red tide” and is usually confined to localized inshore areas, such as off the west coast of FLORIDA. But because of changes in wind direction, it can occur offshore in the Benguela Current.

About 93 to 124 mi (150 to 200 km) off the coast of South Africa, the Benguela Current begins with an upwelling of ocean currents. It spans from this area around 35 degrees south northward to between 14 degrees and 17 degrees south, where it meets the Angolan Current. At this northern boundary, the change is more dramatic, with cold and warm water meeting to form a thermal front along the coast. The Benguela Current covers around 57,915 square mi (150,000 square km) when using the continental shelf as the offshore boundary line.

The continental shelf near the Benguela is from 40 to 80 mi (64 to 128 km) wide. From the shelf, the ocean bottom slopes steeply away into the abyssal depths of the Cape and Angola basins, each about 16,400 ft (5,000 m) deep. These BASINs are separated by the Walvis Ridge, which starts just off the coast at about 20 degrees south and stretches to the west, linking up with the central Atlantic Ridge. The Walvis Ridge rises to above 2,460 ft (750 m) in many places along its track. This area is exposed to persistent alongshore winds associated with a high-pressure weather system.

The surface temperatures of the Benguela Current are about 14 degrees F (8 degrees C) colder than average for coastlines in these latitudes. The coldest waters of the current run right along the coast of Africa, with very little seasonal variation except in the extreme south near Cape Town, South Africa, where the water is colder in the summer than it is in the winter. Surface temperatures average about 50 to 59 degrees F (10 to 15 degrees C) near the coast and reach up to 77 degrees F (25 degrees C) on the surface, out along the continental shelf.

Benelux

BENELUX IS THE name of the customs union created in 1956, named for the initial syllables of its three member states: BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS, and LUXEMBOURG. The name originally applied to the economic pact between the three countries, the Benelux Economic Union, but is now also used to refer to the three countries as a geopolitical entity. The goal of the customs union was to help rebuild the economies of the Low Countries after the devastation of World War II through the promotion of free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods between all three member states. The Benelux commission, with its headquarters based in Brussels, set about removing all barriers to free trade such as border tariffs and work permits.

The idea of a unified Low Countries is not new to the 20th century. In the Middle Ages, the entire region formed a collective economic unit under the Valois Dukes of Burgundy and their successors after 1477, the Hapsburgs. The 17 provinces of the Low Countries, plus the Duchy of Luxembourg, subsequently formed an essential part of the empire of Hapsburg Spain, the processing plant for boatloads of silver arriving each year from the New World.

Major cities like Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp created industries and banking empires that rivaled northern Italy for the lead in the technological and economic revolution of the Renaissance. The breakup began with the revolt of the Dutch in the late 16th century. Their golden age in the 17th century was had mostly at the expense of their southern neighbors, who continued to be ruled by SPAIN, and then AUSTRIA until the 1790s.

The three states were united once again at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, under the single rule of the Dutch, but this union lasted only 15 years, and the Belgians revolted against Dutch rule in 1830. A truncated Luxembourg remained attached to the Netherlands, however, until 1890, when it too became completely independent. Each maintained a strict policy of neutrality toward their larger neighbors.

The devastation of the two world wars, however, convinced the three states that going it alone would never secure the prosperity of all three countries. They had few raw materials, but abundant skilled labor, and easy access to the sea and major shipping lanes: Rotterdam and Antwerp are the largest and most active ports in Europe. Relatively small populations and highly productive industries meant all three were dependent on trade and international cooperation, stability, and peace. The impetus for their cooperation was the importance of getting coal and steel from the hills of southern Belgium and Luxembourg, to the factories and ports of the Belgian and Dutch coasts as smoothly and efficiently as possible. A plan for the Benelux Economic Union was therefore formed by the governments of these countries before World War II was even over.

From their exile in LONDON, England (all three countries were under Nazi occupation), representatives of the three governments laid down the basic plan for the union in 1944, but it was not put into place until the formal signature of the Union Treaty at the Hague in 1958, by which time a larger group, inspired by the same principles, had also been created, the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community), formed in 1952 by the three Benelux nations, plus West Germany, FRANCE, and ITALY.

This led to the formation of the European Economic Community in 1957, which evolved into the EUROPEAN UNION (EU) in 1993. The Benelux Customs Union served as a model for the creation of the EU, and many of its treaties and laws are simply extensions of Benelux policies. The Benelux nations were also founding nations of the NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO) in 1949, giving up their neutrality for stronger alliances with their larger neighbors. Relations between the Benelux countries led to increased laxity in border crossings, eventually developing into the Schengen agreement of 1985, signed in the small town of Schengen, Luxembourg. This agreement removed most travel barriers for its original signatory nations, the Benelux countries, France, West Germany, Spain, and PORTUGAL, and now including additional EU members. One of the primary goals of the Benelux union was to pursue the development of Europe, and it continues to take common initiatives to stimulate integration.

Although the economic necessity for the union has mostly dissipated (coal and steel are no longer the power they were), the partnership is still useful, allowing these small states to coordinate their points of view so as to have the same weight as the larger, more populous nations of the EU.

Benares

BENARES (also Banâras, Varanasi) is an ancient city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, in northern INDIA. Its population is just over 1 million (1991). Although the name Benares appears on many maps, it is actually a corruption of the official Indian name of the city, Varanasi. In addition to many religious institutions and festivals, the city is home to Banâras Hindu University, a major center of Sanskrit studies.

Hindus also call Benares the City of Light (Kâshî), as in “enlightenment,” because of its close association with the development of Indian spiritual life, a role it continues to play. There are approximately 1,500 Hindu temples and other religious buildings within the city limits. Its very location, on the western bank of a curve in the GANGES RIVER (Gangâ), is sacred in the minds of many Indians.

The basic geography of the city, with hundreds of temples and buildings crowding the western bank of the Ganges, facing an uninhabited floodplain on the eastern bank across the river, represents transcendence of this life to the “far shore” (the next life) to many believers. About a million believers a year make pilgrimages to the city of Benares, especially during annual festivals. Most descend long stone steps (ghats) to immerse themselves in the holy waters of the Ganges.

The city is also a final destination for Hindus who hope to obtain salvation from the cycle of birth and death by dying in this sacred city. Although close association with death is usually regarded as inauspicious or even polluting in Indian society, because of the holy status of Benares, the regions of the city where bodies of the dead are cremated are especially revered.

Many Indians also bring the ashes of their dead relatives to Benares, where they are dispatched to the next world in the river’s waters. City officials have recently supplemented the traditional wood-burning funeral pyres of the cremation grounds at Manikarnikâ downriver of the city with an electric crematorium at the Harishchandra Ghât, in an effort to reduce air pollution.

Though it has never been a seat of political authority, Benares is one of the oldest Indian cities, dating back at least 2,500 years, and has long been a site of Hindu worship. Other religions are also represented in the history of the city. It was at Deer Park just outside Benares where the Buddha made his first sermon (circa 528 B.C.E.). There have been many Muslims who lived and worshiped in Benares as well, and the mosque of the 17th-century Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb is found at the highest spot of the city.

Western visitors to India have been alternately fascinated and repelled by Benares for centuries. The city seemed to many Western visitors to encapsulate the exotic and sublime appeal of the East, with its mystical mood and myriad spiritual practices. On the other hand, the masses of humanity bathing in the polluted (if spiritually purifying) waters of the Ganges, as well as the worship of all manner of icons, shocked and offended other Western visitors.

Belize

BELIZE (“BELICE” IN SPANISH), formerly the Settlement of Belize in the Bay of Honduras (prior to 1862), British Honduras (1862–1973), and Belize thereafter, became independent on September 21, 1981. Located on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America, it shares a northwestern border with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. Honduras lies 46 mi (75 km) away at the two nations’ closest point across the Gulf of Honduras and CARIBBEAN SEA to the east. The current name is derived from the Belize River (also called the Old River) and Belize City, the country’s largest city, principal port, and former capital. BARRIER REEF

The eastern border has numerous marshy lagoons flanked by the world’s second-longest barrier reef (240 mi or 386 km). The nation is shaped like a rectangle extending 174 mi (280 km) north-south and about 62 mi (100 km) east-west, with a total land boundary length of 321 mi (516 km); the border with GUATEMALA is 165 mi (266 km) and with MEXICO 155 mi (250 km).

Cay islands include about 266 square mi (690 square km), and the Hondo and the Sarstoon rivers define most of the northern and southern boundaries. The western border follows no natural features but runs north-south through lowland forest and highland plateau. The entire area of the country is slightly larger than EL SALVADOR or MASSACHUSETTS.

Geologically, Belize is divided into two primary physiographic regions, the Maya Mountains rising to 3,675 ft (1,120 m) and northern lowlands drained by 18 major rivers and streams. Most of Belize lies outside the tectonically active zone that underlies most of Central America. The climate is subtropical.

POLITICS AND POPULATION

Belize was under the political control of a series of Maya city-states prior to the arrival of English colonists in the early 1600s. A 200-year territorial conflict between Britain and SPAIN became a conflict between Belize and Guatemala, from the independence of Spanish colonies into the 1990s. Modern Belize consists of six political districts (Belize, Cayo, Corozal, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, and Toledo); the new capital, Belmopan, is centrally located in the interior.

The country has a population that is fragmented into many racial and cultural groups. The two largest groups are Creoles; English-speaking or Creole-speaking blacks and people of mixed African and European heritage, and Mestizos, Spanish-speaking people of mixed Mayan and Spanish European heritage. In addition there are Garifuna (Afro-Caribs originally from the Lesser Antilles), Maya (descendants of the original inhabitants), East Indians, Chinese, Arabs, and Europeans. English is the official language, but a local English dialect, Belizean Creole, is spoken by most groups; Spanish is widely spoken outside of Belize City. Other languages include Mayan dialects (Yucatecan, Mopán, and Kekchí), Garifuna, and Low German. Most Belizans are Roman Catholic, but there are significant Protestant minorities.

Belgium

ALTHOUGH IT OCCUPIES a central position at the economic crossroads of western Europe, and its people have been central in the development of European society for over a thousand years, Belgium as a state has existed only since the early 19th century. The Belgian people share much of their culture with their Dutch neighbors to the north but have been deeply affected by proximity to northern FRANCE and by important transportation links to GERMANY in the east. The result is a nation that is both divided between French and Germanic culture and language, and a model for interethnic cooperation that provides an ideal setting for institutions such as the NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO) and the EUROPEAN UNION (EU).

Belgium is one of the three countries known as the Low Countries, which occupy the northwestern edge of the North European Plain. As the name indicates, most of the territory of these countries—Belgium, the NETHERLANDS and LUXEMBOURG—is flat and close to sea level. Much of the area adjacent to Belgium’s 40-mi (66-km) North Sea coast is reclaimed land, protected from flooding by dikes and canals. The landscape becomes hillier in the central parts of Belgium and rises to low forested mountains in the southeast. This latter region is known as the Ardennes and is one of the largest areas of forest in western Europe. The Meuse River cuts its way through this wild part of the southeast, joined by its tributaries, the Sambre and the Ourthe, before passing into the Netherlands (as the Maas). Further west, other large rivers cross Belgium, including the country’s most important river, the Scheldet (Escaut in French), and its chief tributary, the Leie (Lys). But like the Meuse, the mouth of the Schelde is in the Netherlands, though the port city of Antwerp lies just a few kilometers inland. Antwerp is not only Belgium’s most important port, it is the fourth-largest port in the world. Belgium’s other port is Ostend, on the North Sea, connected to the Belgian interior via a series of canals. Other canals connect Antwerp to the Dutch ports of the lower Rhine, and the industrialized cities of the northwest to the mineral resources of the south and southeast.

The kingdom of Belgium is divided into 10 provinces: West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant, Hainaut, Namur, Limburg, Liège, and Luxembourg. Since 1993, it has also been divided into three regions—Flanders, the Brussels-Capital Region, and Wallonia—as well as three “communities,” one for each of the three official languages of the kingdom: Flemish, French, and German. These regions and communities roughly overlap but also have differences: The Brussels-Capital Region is an enclave within the Flemish-speaking region and is officially bilingual; the German-speaking population (less than 1 percent) live in several small towns close to the German border (the largest is Eupen). Flanders and Wallonia have roughly equal percentages of the land area, but Flanders has nearly twice as many people.

This part of the country has one of the highest population densities in the world and includes some of Europe’s most productive cities, including Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp. The French-speaking Walloon community is traditionally rural and less economically developed, resulting in some resentment that has threatened to break the country apart. The unifying role of the monarchy and of the international position of Brussels as the “capital of Europe” goes a long way to ease this tension. As headquarters of NATO, the EU, and numerous other multinational corporations and organizations, Brussels has more resident foreigners (one in three), mostly diplomats and journalists, than any other city in Europe. It is estimated that about 23,000 “Eurocrats” live in Brussels.

Immigrants from North Africa and TURKEY also make up a sizable percentage of the population. In the past, Brussels has been a center for heavy industry, linked to the coalfields of Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg, one of the areas first affected by Europe’s INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION in the early 19th century. 

Cities such as Mons, Charleroi, and Liège were built on coal but have suffered greatly since the shift away from coal as a primary fossil fuel in the late-20th century. The steel industry in this area is also being shut down, further accentuating the economic disparities between the French-speaking south and the successful economic engines of the Flemish-speaking north.

Flanders has long been a center of industry and prosperity; the soil in this area is sandy and relatively unproductive, so the local inhabitants turned to trade and manufacturing. Bruges lace and Ghent woolen cloth were famous as early as the 14th century. Today, this region is a leader in biotechnology and petrochemicals, but also continues more traditional trade in textiles and diamonds (Antwerp is the diamond trading capital of the world). Wallonia is now being developed as a center for agricultural innovations. Traditional specialties from all across Belgium include over 350 varieties of beer and rich chocolates.

Beijing

BEIJING IS LOCATED in the northern part of the North China Plain, about 100 mi (160 km) northwest of the Bohai Sea. As capital of the People’s Republic of CHINA, Beijing is the core of a special municipal district, giving the region political status equivalent to that of an entire province. For this reason, the city’s area (6,489 square mi or 16,808 square km) is much greater than one might expect.

At the core of this “municipality” is the Beijing metropolitan area, which is surrounded by mountains on the west, north, and northeast, with flat plains extending to the south and southeast. Most of the remaining area beyond the metropolitan core is mountainous, with elevations ranging from 3,280 to 4,920 ft (1,000 to 1,500 m) above sea level. The city’s highest point is 7,554 ft (2,303 meters) above sea level. Beijing has short springs; hot, humid summers; short, sunny autumns; and cold dry winters with 200 or so frost-free days annually. While the winters are long and cold, Beijing doesn’t get much snow.

Because of the city’s unique geography, with mountains to the west, north, and northeast, and onshore monsoon airflows, the weather is often punctuated by severe dust storms driven by very large high-pressure centers that form over northwestern China’s deserts. Annual rainfall has been relatively low recently (14 in or 36 cm in 2002), but the long-term average is around 16 to 18 in (41 to 46 cm) per year, making the area suitable for agriculture.

Historically, the Yongding, Chaobai, and Juma rivers have provided important water resources as they flow through mountains and southeastern plains toward the Bohai Sea. In addition to the three rivers, the city has relied heavily on waters from three major reservoirs located in the shelter of the surrounding mountains. But unlike the city’s early years under the Yuan Dynasty, Beijing’s major limitation today is water.

As the urban area expands in both size and population, increasing pressure is being put on the region’s water resources, particularly groundwater resources. And because the surrounding lands provide most of the basic fruit and vegetable needs for the local population, farmers have had to resort to increased irrigation practices to maintain production levels. At the same time, the tremendous demand for land for industrial, commercial, and residential purposes, and the resulting expansion of the city proper, is leaving less and less land available for local agriculture and increasing the city’s reliance on outside sources of food production. This increasing need for water from all sectors has led to increased use of groundwater stored in the aquifers beneath the city. But this use has a tremendous cost, particularly from a sustainability standpoint, if not managed properly.

Evidence from the archaeological record suggests that the lands now occupied by Beijing have experienced human presence for a very long time (dating back some 500,000 years to “Peking Man”). In these early years preceding the Yuan Dynasty (13th century), the area’s geography was much different than what we see today, containing a rich and diverse wetland environment with numerous rivers, streams, and swamps.

This rich wetland environment—with lush grasslands around its edges, surrounding mountains, and easy access to the high Mongolian Steppe and traditional homelands—was a factor for the Mongols in locating their capital (Dadu) at what is today Beijing. Although serving off and on as China’s capital beginning with the Liao Dynasty in 927, it is under the Mongols and their Yuan Dynasty that the city began taking on its present character. The Mongols undertook major ecological engineering projects, expanding and reconstructing the city’s inner and outer walls, creating parks and gardens, and developing drainage projects to create local canals and waterways. It is also under the Mongols that the Grand Canal was extended to the north, creating a vital food and communication link between Beijing and the heavily populated agricultural lands in the lower and middle Yangtze Basin to the south.

Beijing has served off and on as China’s capital beginning in 927 with the Liao Dynasty, extending through the Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties until the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. After the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, Beijing passed into the hands of various warlords until 1928, when it once again became the capital of China under the Nationalists (Guomindang).

Between 1937 and 1945, the Japanese occupied Beijing following their invasion of China. With the founding of People’s Republic of China in October 1949, Beijing was once again designated as the capital, continuing its stature as the political and cultural center of China. However, when the communists established their rule in 1949, the government brought in more heavy industry (steelworks, textile factories, and machine factories) in an effort to make the city an industrial center as well.

Bay of Bengal

THE BAY OF BENGAL is a triangle-shaped water body, which is an extension of the INDIAN OCEAN to the north. It is stretched over an area of 5.7 million square mi (14.7 million square km) with an average depth of approximately 8,530 ft (2,600 m). Countries that surround the bay are SRI LANKA, INDIA, BANGLADESH, MYANMAR (Burma), THAILAND, and MALAYSIA. West Bengal and Bangladesh are located at the extreme northern end of the Bay of Bengal, and gave the bay its name. The cyclones (hurricanes) originating in the Bay of Bengal, usually before or after the rainy season, devastate the southern part of Bangladesh regularly, and occasionally they affect the West Bengal state of India and Myanmar. The bay has a significant importance in the daily life of the coastal people because it is a great source of fishing: Both sail boats and trawlers operate in the bay.

The Bay of Bengal is an extensive and wide Ushaped basin that opens to the Indian Ocean. The base of the basin is a gently sloping southward plain dissected by sub-aqua valleys, trenches, and ridges. The bottom topography is prominently marked by the Java trench, Ganga trough, Ninety East Ridge, Eighty Five Ridge and Bengal Deep Sea Fan. The Bay of Bengal is dotted with numerous islands, including Andaman and Nicobar, Union Territory of India.

The annual average temperature of the surface water is approximately 88 degrees F (28 degrees C). The water temperature varies between 82 and 102 degrees F (25 and 35 degrees C) throughout the year. Several important and large rivers of India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar flow into the bay. The GANGES, Brahmaputra, and Meghna drain into the bay from the north. Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Cauvery, the Indian rivers, feed it from the west. The IRRAWADDY RIVER of Myanmar flows into it from the east. “The rivers of Bangladesh [mainly the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna system] discharge the vast amount 1,222 million cubic meters of fresh water (excluding evaporation, deep percolation losses and evapotranspiration) into the bay” explains a Bangladeshi reference. 

A constant addition of fresh water from the surrounding rivers essentially affects chemical and physical properties of the water of the Bay of Bengal. Owing to the dilution, river mouths have a very low salinity (1 to 5 percent) as compared to open water (32 to 34.5 percent). Salinity decreases away from the coast to the open water. It also varies with the season. Discharge of fresh water from the rivers adds nutrients to the bay, predominantly along the coastal belt, thus turning it into an important fishing ground. Important species are varieties of shrimp, flounder, and snapper. Overfishing is leading to depletion of the resource. The coastal reaches of the Bay of Bengal are being polluted continuously by oil traffic, effluent discharge, and chemicals used in agriculture. International cooperation is necessary to prevent such pollution.

Before the advent of steamships, the bay was used by fishermen, traders, and occasional conquerors using sail boats and monsoon winds that reversed directions during the summer and winter seasons. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Portuguese pirates operated in the bay, but later it was widely used by British and French colonizers. Using the bay, the British colonized all the countries adjacent to it except Thailand, thus turning it into a British lake. Three major ports used by the British were Calcutta, Madras, and Rangoon.

Belarus

BELARUS, FORMALLY BELORUSSIA, also called White Russia, is bounded on the west by POLAND, on the northwest by LATVIA and LITHUANIA, on the north and east by RUSSIA, and on the south by UKRAINE. Ethnic Belarusians, who speak an East Slavic language closely related to Russian and Ukrainian, make up more than three-quarters of the population. Ethnic Russians are the largest minority group, followed distantly by Ukrainians and Poles.

Much of Belarus consists of flat lowlands separated by low hills and uplands. The highest point, Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, is only just over a thousand feet in elevation. Belarusian uplands were created during the last ice age. The limit of the last advance of the ice sheet lay across the country and is marked by a line of terminal moraines, known as the Belarusian ridge (Belaruskaya Grada).

This ridge runs west-southwest to east-northeast from the Polish frontier north of Brest toward Smalensk and consists of low, rolling hills. River valleys cut the ridge into a series of uplands, the sequence being: Hrodna upland, Vaukavysk upland, Schara valley, Navahradak upland, Nioman valley, Minsk upland, Biarezina valley, Dzvina and Vitsebsk-Nieviel upland, Dnieper upland and a final group of uplands along the eastern boundary. The highest group is the Minsk upland.

North and south of the ridge lie extensive lowlands. To the south lies the biggest Belarusian lowland called Paliessie, which is drained by the Prypiac River and its tributaries. The Prypiac River flows eastward to join the Dnieper River, which crosses the eastern part of Paliessie from north to south. In northern Belarus lie two more large lowlands: the Nioman lowland, drained by the river of that name, in the northwest, and the Polacak lowland, drained by the Western Dzvina, in the north. These two lowlands are separated by two morainic ridges, the Ashmiany and Svientsiany ridges, with the Viliya valley between them. The two northern basins contain many lakes of glacial origin, the largest of which is Lake Narach. Thus, Belarus falls into three main drainage basins, the Dnieper-Prypiac basin draining into the BLACK SEA, and the Nioman and Western Dzvina basins, draining into the Baltic Sea.

Forests cover about one-third of the country’s area. The Belovezhskaya Forest, which straddles the Belarusian-Polish border, is home of the rare European bison, or wisent. The Pripet Marshes occupy much of southern Belarus. Belarus’s continental climate is moderated by maritime influences from the ATLANTIC OCEAN and is characterized by cold winters, mild summers, and moderate rainfall. Much of the Belarus land is suited to crop production, especially fodder crops. Belarus is generally poor in mineral resources, but it does have sizable deposits of potassium salts at Soligorsk, south of Minsk, which provide potash fertilizer for export.

Basin

BASINS ARE LARGE-SCALE depressions in the land surface or seafloor. Their sides may dip gently or steeply, but their bottoms are always wider than they are deep. Streams flowing into basins often fill their floors with sediments. Lakes typically occupy lower parts of the basins on land, thus they may fully emerge as lakes dry up. The largest water-filled basins are ocean basins—the PACIFIC, ATLANTIC, and INDIAN ocean basins. Basins exist because of land erosion or structural geology.

Three agents of erosion are prolific creators of basins on land—rivers, glaciers, and groundwater. Rivers form large drainage basins by eroding mountainous areas through tentacle-like systems of incising tributaries. The MISSISSIPPI-Missouri River and the Ohio River basins are examples of this basin type. Glaciers create basins by plucking (quarrying) huge chunks of rock as they move over underlying bedrock. They reveal the basins after they melt back during warm periods. The size of glacier basins varies considerably. The now extinct Laurentide ice sheet created the Hudson Bay Basin in northern CANADA.

In the continent’s midsection, the same glacier quarried the Great Lakes basins and the smaller but impressive Finger Lakes basins in upstate NEW YORK. Former alpine glaciers scoured even smaller basins— cirque and rock basins that are scattered throughout the ROCKY MOUNTAINS, HIMALAYAS, ALPS, and other high Alpine regions. Groundwater (or water underground) also creates basins. The cool water is acidic and dissolves limestone to create a Swiss-cheese network of underground solution channels and subsurface caves.

Over time, a cave roof collapse creates increasingly larger basins, which geomorphologists call dolines and uvalas. These solution basins are typical of KARST regions (areas whose landforms develop by solution in limestone). Oceanic, intermontane, fault block and synclinal basins are results of rocks that subside, warp, fold, or break. The shape, size, and topography of oceanic basins are results of all these movements. Ocean basins have many structural sub-basins that collect thick, undisturbed layers of fine-grained deposits. On land, the largest basin is the intermontane basin, a broad area enclosed by higher landforms. The Great Basin region, which sits between the Pacific Mountain System and the Rockies in the western UNITED STATES, is a good example.

A third basin type—the synclinal basin—is composed of downfolded layers of sedimentary rocks. The LONDON or PARIS basins are examples. Synclinal basins can be important, as they fill with sediment and thereby help preserve any layers of coal beneath, such as in the Saar Basin in FRANCE, the Donets Basin in UKRAINE, or the Wyoming Valley in PENNSYLVANIA. The smallest basin is the fault block basin (graben), which is typical of basin-and-range terrain. Vertical displacement along the faults (normal faulting) creates the basin. The Great Basin region has numerous fault block basins and intervening ranges.

Bases of Trade

GEOGRAPHIC BASES of trade are places established for the trade or exchange of commodities and/or the transshipment or warehousing of goods. While a base of trade may develop into a multifunctional administrative and/or ceremonial center, its original function as a nodal point at the intersection of at least two discreet networks remains the center’s primary reason for existence, until that intersection ceases to be of importance for the trading partners.

Scholars of premodern trade (to the early 1800s in industrialized countries) have identified several categories of trading bases, most prominently ENTREPOTS or emporia, fairs, solar central places, ports of trade, and gateway communities. While these categories often denote similar sites, they were created by different disciplines to describe the role of the trading base in different disciplinary contexts.

Entrepots/emporia and fairs are terms used in historical sources and, therefore, by historians. Entrepots/emporia were permanent trading bases, located either in a town’s harbor, but physically separated from the town, or as a free-standing colonial trading settlement situated at the border between two distinct ethnocultural zones. Both types were permanent bases administered by port officials to collect tariffs and maintain a peaceful and fair trading zone through special laws for foreign merchants. Although entrepots could operate on a seasonal basis, their primary purpose was trade.

Fairs, in contrast, were generally of short duration, were held at multifunctional centers, and could move cyclically among several such centers over the course of a year. There were three types of fairs, serving local, regional, and interregional trade. Local fairs lasted one to two days, had a small catchment area (30-mi or 48-km radius), transacted a low volume of goods (cattle and salt), and saw small-scale traders selling directly to the locals. Regional fairs could last up to two weeks, had a larger catchment area (up to a 200-mi or 321-km radius), had a higher turnover of goods, and saw merchants buying or selling to specialized producers. Interregional fairs had durations of three to eight weeks, a large catchment area (up to a 600-mi or 965-km radius), and specialized in the sale of luxury items that were carried directly to the fair over long distances.

The Champagne fairs of FRANCE are the best-known example of a circulating fair, which began as local fairs, grew into regional fairs for Flemish cloth agents, and eventually became Europe’s largest fair circuit for the exchange of cloth and other goods for spices and luxuries brought by Italian merchants from the East. Economic geographers and anthropologists use other categories to explain premodern exchange systems.

The solar central place is used by geographers to describe a site that serves as the center of an interlocking system of lower hierarchical centers. Administered by elites, the central place maximized the exchange of goods by shortening the distance between more distantly dispersed centers in the region. While central place theory stresses spatial relationships, the anthropological model of the port of trade, developed by Karl Polanyi, places focus on institutional factors. Ports of trade bordered two distinct economic, environmental or ethnocultural zones and operated as “neutrality devices” to facilitate trade between foreign merchants and the host population. Like the entrepot/emporium, a port of trade was founded by a tacit or explicit agreement between foreign traders and the local elites. In order to sustain peaceful trade, however, the long-distance trade occurring at the segregated port of trade could not interfere with the local trade of the hinterland, a criterion that is often impossible to demonstrate with archaeological evidence.

Basaltic Flows

THE WORD basalt is said to have an Ethiopian origin, meaning “black stone.” Basalt is a dark gray to black, dense to finely grained igneous rock that is the result of lava eruptions. Basalts are not only the most abundant lavas, but they are also the most voluminous. Basalt, when exposed to the air, becomes covered with a brown crust, consisting largely of oxides of iron. The continental masses are mainly built up of granite material, but at some places they are injected with or penetrated by material of greater density from the layers below. These lower layers may be the source of the great basaltic extrusions on the Earth’s surface. Basalt flows are noneruptive, voluminous, and characterized by relatively low viscosity. They generally advance less than one mile or kilometer per hour on gentle slopes and may reach more than 30 mi (50 km) from their source or erupting vent.

A lava flow is defined as the product of a single eruption that may be divisible into one or more flow units, which represents a single pulse or surge of lava that flowed away from the eruptive vent and then cooled separately. The length of the lava flow is determined largely by the magma effusion rate. Basalt lava flows that originate from fissures spread for distances that are roughly proportional to the third power of their thickness.

These lava flows are called flood basalts because a large volume of lava erupted in a short period of time. Each flood of lava has its own unique chemical composition. The dark area that forms part of the moon’s face is a flood basalt eruption. Flood basalt regions exist on every continent. In plains basalt provinces such as Snake River and ICELAND flows are much less than 1 cubic mi or km. Basaltic lava flows in HAWAII extend for more than 21 mi (35 km) with an average thickness of 16 ft (5 m). Andesite flows have higher viscosity and few extend more than 9 mi (15 km). One andesite flow of Pleistocene age in the Cascade range is 50 mi (80 km) long. One Icelandic basaltic flow reached 93 mi (150 km).

Barcelona

BARCELONA IS THE second-largest city in SPAIN after MADRID and is the capital of the autonomous region of Catalunya/Cataluña (Catalonia), which is situated in the northeast of Spain. The region is bordered to the north by the PYRENEES mountain range, which acts as a natural border between Spain, ANDORRA, and FRANCE; to the east the region is bordered by the MEDITERRANEAN SEA; to the west by the region of Aragon; and to the south by the Valencia region.

The metropolitan area of Barcelona has a population of approximately 3 million citizens, although only about 1.6 million of this total reside within the bounds of the city proper. The city comprises a number of distinct districts, each with its own character and urban form, which includes Cuitat Vella, the old city area, the 19th-century Eixample/Ensanche (extension), Montjuic, Sarrià, Gràcia, and new districts (Nou Barris) such as Trinitat Nova at the city periphery. As a consequence of these different districts, it is possible to walk by Roman remains, medieval buildings, and modern developments within a short space of time, particularly if walking westward from the low-lying seafront areas such as Barcelonetta or Barri Gòtic (Gothic district) to the hills surrounding the city.

Like many other settlements in Spain and Europe, Barcelona has a long history, and the Romans were significant to its early development. Today, the outline of the Roman Forum can still be seen in the center of the city, and parts of the city walls built by the Romans also remain. During its history the city has been controlled and fought over by a number of different peoples, including the Visigoths in the 5th century, the Frankish Kings of the 9th century, and the Muslim statesman Al-Mansur in 985. The golden age of Barcelona as an economic and cultural power, however, dates from the late 19th century, although its development was late when compared with other European cities in England and France.

Nonetheless, upon the tearing down of the medieval city walls in the mid-19th century, the city for the first time was able to develop at a rate never seen before in its history. But this removal of the city walls was in part necessary because of the cramped, diseaseridden conditions of the old city and the fact that the lack of space also hindered its growing industrial base.

Therefore, with the removal of the city walls, Barcelona was able to spatially, economically, and culturally expand itself, and this legacy comprises vast sways of the city’s urban form today. For example, the huge district known as Eixample, laid down to a plan by Ildefons Cerdà (1815–76), not only transformed the old settlement but remains a major element of the modern city today. Characterized by its geometrically formed grid crossed by wide avenues, the Eixample was a pioneering urban project within which considerations were made for traffic circulation, sunlight, and ventilation in the houses built within square-shaped blocks (the corners of which are rounded).

Within this large district are found many of the city’s most beautiful buildings as well, including numerous edifices by renowned architect Antonio Gaudí who designed largely in Gothic inspired and an art nouveau style. Among the most prominent of Gaudí’s works in the Eixample are the Casa Batlló, Casa Milà (La Pedrera, the “quarry”), and La Sagrada Família (The Holy Family, from 1884), probably the city’s most famous symbol after its football team, Barcelona Football Club. Gaudí’s legacy in the city today forms an integral part of the city’s tourist industry, and tourists from all over the world come to the city to marvel at his work and also the city’s rich culture, which includes museums of the modern artist Joan Miró and the father of cubism, Pablo Picasso.

In recent times, Barcelona has become synonymous with international sporting and cultural events, such as the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 2004 International Forum of Cultures, and many people see these events as integral elements in the development of the city and its economy. In reality, Barcelona has a tradition of hosting famous events that dates from 1888, when it held the Universal Exposition; this tradition was continued into the 1920s with the World’s Fair, an event in which Ludwig Mies van der Rohe helped develop modernist architecture through the design of his Pavilion building. Nonetheless, these events have helped architecturally, economically, and culturally shape the city and its urban form, the result of which is a vibrant, cosmopolitan center today that inspires both eye and mind.

Barbados

BARBADOS IS ONE of the clearest success stories of the CARIBBEAN SEA, with one of the most prosperous economies and stable governments in the region. Having one of the highest population densities in the world (1,548 per square mi), Barbadians were also one of the first nations (in 1955, second only to INDIA) to implement a family planning program, which has resulted in one of the lowest birthrates in the Western Hemisphere.

Much of the current population growth is due to the return of Barbadians who emigrated to the UNITED KINGDOM (UK) in the 1950s and are now retiring back home. For most people in 18th-century Britain, Barbados was the Caribbean—British settlers had been on the island since 1627; its main town, Bridgetown, was a large, bustling trade city, and the colony had become the largest and wealthiest of all the English colonies, surpassing VIRGINIA and MASSACHUSETTS.

The colony had over 40,000 English residents, and one of the oldest legislatures in the New World. Lying about 100 mi (161 km) east of the main arc of the Antilles, the island was usually the first port of call for Europeans crossing the ATLANTIC OCEAN. The Portuguese had first named the island “bearded ones,” after the bearded fig trees they found there. There were no original inhabitants at first encounter, so there was no resistance to overcome for the great number of planters who came to set up small farms for tobacco, cotton, and indigo.

The land is relatively flat, with a gentle rise to a central highland. As part of the eastern arc of the Antilles (including Antigua, St. Martin, and ANGUILLA), any volcanic activity is much more distantly removed, and the older, more weathered soil, is very rich and commercially viable on a large scale, especially in the central highlands. The “sugar revolution” of the 1640s to 1680s thus began here and ultimately changed the overall economy of most of the region. As small farms were replaced with large plantations, most English landowners were squeezed out by the sugar barons and resettled in the Guianas and SOUTH CAROLINA, replaced by large numbers of slave laborers imported from Africa. Barbados was the center of the sugar-producing world until the abolition of slavery in 1834, but the industry continued to dominate, run both by freed Africans (the majority of the population), and some descendants of white laborers (called “Red Legs”).

Barbados was one of the first British colonies to achieve independence, in 1966, with one of the easiest transitions to self-rule. It remains an active member of the Commonwealth, with the British monarch continuing to serve as chief executive. Production and export of sugar have declined in the past 30 years, but locally produced rum remains a specialty. Agriculture has become more diverse, producing more vegetables and fruits for domestic consumption, but much of its food is still imported. More than 80 percent of the population is employed in service industries, mostly tourism.

Tourists generally come from the UK, not from the UNITED STATES, so Barbados retains its British style in many ways more than its Caribbean neighbors (the closest being St. Vincent and the Grenadines). There is a growing U.S. presence in the data processing industry, taking advantage of the very literate Barbadian population (99 percent).

Bangladesh

BANGLADESH HAS been an independent country since 1971, when it seceded from PAKISTAN in South Asia. Prior to Muslim occupation (1203), its people were believers of Hinduism and Buddhism. With British colonization since 1757, Western influence included a British educational system and the introduction of English, which even today remains the language of the elites. The BAY OF BENGAL lies to the south, INDIA is to the east, west, and north. It has a limited boundary with MYANMAR (Burma). Ninety-eight percent of Bangladeshis speak Bengali (Bangla), the national language; 83 percent are Muslims and 16 percent Hindus.

Three major rivers of the country are the GANGES, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. They discharge an enormous amount of water to the Bay of Bengal, only surpassed by the AMAZON and CONGO rivers. The southern part of the country consists of a DELTA formed by the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. North-central and southeastern parts are mountainous. Most of the country is low-lying and riverine and susceptible to flooding during the rainy season, which starts in June and lasts until the beginning of October. Its tropical monsoon climate is erratic; some years cause heavy rainfall; some are normal or have occasional draughts. Its annual rainfall averages 60–80 in (152–203 cm). Floods and occasional droughts ravage the country, bringing about misery. Cyclones (hurricanes) originating from the Bay of Bengal just before and after the rainy season, cause heavy damage in the southern part.

Because of high rural population density, land is intensively cultivated. As one of the most densely populated countries of the world, Bangladesh suffers from severe overpopulation: 80 percent of country’s labor force is employed in agriculture. Rice is the principal food crop; rural Bangladeshis often eat three meals of rice every day. A third of Bangladeshis live below the poverty line. Dhaka, with an estimated population of about 12 million, is the capital and pacesetter of the country. Since its independence and the assassination of the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (father of the nation), in 1975, the country has alternated democracy with military dictatorships.

Baluchistan

BALUCHISTAN, A SOUTHWESTERN province of PAKISTAN, extends from the Gomal River in the northeast to the ARABIAN SEA in the south and from the borders of IRAN and AFGHANISTAN in the west and northwest to the Sulaiman Mountains and Kirthar hills in the east. In its continuity to the west lies Iranian Baluchistan. The land of Baluchistan is exceedingly inhospitable; geologists have even compared the landscape with Mars.

Baluchistan can be divided into two distinct regions. To the northeast, hedged in between Afghanistan and the Indus plains, stretch long ridges of rough highlands. The average breadth of this highland lobe is 150 mi (241 km), but in the north it narrows to less than 100 mi (161 km) along the Gomal River. This area is bounded by the Sulaiman range on the east and the Toba-Kakar range in the northwest. The main central range of Sulaiman, decreasing in height from north to south, forms the dominant geographical feature of the northeast Baluchistan. This region is mainly inhabited by an ethnic group, the Pathans.

The highlands of Sarawan and Jhalawan in Kalat is a block of territory measuring about 300 mi (483 km) by 300 mi (483 km), which is primarily the home of the Brahui and the Balochi, but with a great variety of physical conditions and inhabitants. The Hab River between the Pab and the Kirthar ranges, the Purali or Porali, draining the low-lying flats of Las Bela, the Hingol, and the Dusht in Makaran are all considerable streams, draining into the Arabian Sea and forming important arteries in the network of internal communications.

Between southwestern Baluchistan and the northeastern lobe is the wedge-shaped Kachhi plain, which is a land of dust storms and violent winds. Here temperature does not fall below 100 degrees F (38 degree C) in summer and drops below the freezing point in winter. The mountain ranges of Baluchistan are formed of Cretaceous and Tertiary beds, forming part of an extensive system of Tertiary (Alpine-Himalayan) times. 

Balkhash Lake

LOCATED IN eastern KAZAKHSTAN, Lake Balkhash is the world’s sixteenth-largest lake, covering a surface area of about 7,000 square mi (18,000 square km); however, its size is being reduced by overutilization of streams that flow into the lake. Closed, with no outflow, Lake Balkhash, like the ARAL SEA at the opposite end of Kazakhstan, has suffered from misuse of water resources. Both have been slowly shrinking for years in area, depth, and volume. Now, in independent Kazakhstan, the lake has fared little better than it did in Soviet times.

Within a complex mountainous drainage basin, Lake Balkhash is fed mainly by the Ili River, as well as by the Karatal and Aqsu rivers. While these streams have long been used for a variety of needs in this arid and seasonally cold watershed, in recent decades developments have caused reductions of stream flow into Lake Balkhash. One major withdrawal has been the filling of the Kapchagay (Qapshaghay) Reservoir on the Ili River. More broadly, the growing population in western CHINA has placed additional demands on the headwaters of the Ili River. The mountainous location of the source of the Ili River in western China instead of in eastern Kazakhstan has significantly complicated any potential resolution of environmental woes of Lake Balkhash. This negative externality requiring international negotiations over water flows includes about 15 percent of the watershed for Lake Balkhash. With these and other concerns about water supply, officials at the United Nations Development Program have issued warnings that the lake could dry up to an extent similar to that of the Aral Sea. Kazakh statistics indicate that a surface area reduction occurred by 2003.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

On the Kazakh side of the border, water from the lake and its tributaries long has been withdrawn for municipal, agricultural, and industrial uses. Irrigation in Kazakhstan continues to be prominent in this rural region. Ironically, agricultural production has fallen significantly since the 1990s, but water usage remains at the same levels because of artificially set nominal prices for water.

A major example of industrial use has been the copper mining, smelting, and refining industries in and near the city of Balkhash, along the northern shores of the lake. The third-largest copper producer of the Soviet Union, the city, through its smelting plants, annually emits some 80,000 tons of particulate matter. This effluent, in addition to the natural sediments carried in the river inflows, has caused considerable sedimentation of the lake, which now is separated into eastern and western parts, divided by a sandbar. The western portion of the lake is slightly larger by surface area (58 percent), but shallower (only 46 percent of volume).

While Lake Balkhash generally is considered a saline lake, though mildly so, the eastern portion of the lake has increased in salinity more than the western side. With greater freshwater inputs to the west and with limited exchange of water between sides, the eastern waters have progressively differed more and more from the western portion. Environmental damage to the lake’s waters also has reduced fish catch, so that amelioration of the problem was sought by introduction of exotic fish species from other parts of the former Soviet Union. This tactic has had mixed results, with some exotic species dominating native species.

Baikonur

BAIKONUR IS THE former Soviet Union’s primary space launch facility. In the early days of the Soviet space program, rockets were launched from Kasputin Yar, a small field in the lower VOLGA RIVER basin not far from Stalingrad (modern Volgograd). However, this launch facility had numerous problems. Mists rising from the Volga River frequently delayed or altogether prevented scheduled launches. The flight path went over several settled areas, raising significant safety concerns

if a rocket were to fail catastrophically in atmosphere. Worse, launches could be monitored by an American base in nearby TURKEY, an unacceptable situation to a government for whom security was considered essential.

As a result, the Soviet government decided to create a new, larger base in a remote, secure area that would still be accessible by rail and water links to the industrial centers of the western Soviet Union. Construction began in June 1955 near the village of Tyuratam in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (one of the 15 constituent republics of the Soviet Union), not far from the ARAL SEA. The Soviet government acknowledged the launch facility’s existence in 1961, but in the secrecy of the time, called it the Baikonur Cosmodrome, after the railroad town of Baikonur nearly 239 mi (385 km) away. Western journalists were not permitted to visit the 600-square-mi (1,554-square-km) facility until 1989, under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of glasnost or openness.

COSMONAUT’S WALK

The base complex started as a cluster of low, white buildings and concrete blockhouses on the sandy desert, an environment more reminiscent of the American White Sands test range of NEW MEXICO or the rocket test stands of Edwards Air Force Base in CALIFORNIA than the oceanfront vistas of Kennedy Space center at Cape Canaveral, FLORIDA. The equipment in the underground control center was reminiscent of those used on Mercury launches; bare-bones oscillographs, radar scopes, and the like with little in the way of advanced computer technology. The original Baikonur launchpad included an enormous four-part service structure that surrounded the rocket. Interestingly enough, the elevator stopped somewhat short of the top, so that technicians and cosmonauts going to the capsule had to climb a set of steps known as the “cosmonaut’s walk.”

The technicians and scientists working at Baikonur lived in nearby Zvyezdograd (Star City). This mediumsized town was a purpose-built settlement of the sort the Soviets often created near a major project to house its workers. Zvyezdograd is often lumped together with the cosmodrome proper as Baikonur. The original Sputnik satellite was launched from Baikonur, as were many other important satellites and all the Soviet Union’s manned launches. The Buran space shuttle was also launched from here in its single remote-controlled flight and was brought to land on the cosmodrome’s landing strip. (It has subsequently been taken to Moscow and turned into an amusementpark ride.)

In a long-standing launch tradition, all Soviet and post-Soviet Russian rockets are always rolled out of their assembly building at 7 A.M. local time, commemorating the hour the Vostok rocket was rolled out for Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight on April 12, 1961, in which he became the first human being to fly in space. Unlike U.S. rockets at Kennedy, Russian rockets are transported horizontally on a special rail car and are cranked upright at the pad.

Following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, Baikonur belonged to the newly independent republic of KAZAKHSTAN. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the new president of Kazakhstan, founded the Kazakh Institute of Space Research to coordinate with Russia in operating the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Russian economic problems have led to serious deterioration of the facilities, and most of the personnel are aging, as no younger scientists and technicians have been hired.

However, following the February 1, 2003, crash of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia and the grounding of the remainder of the shuttle fleet, the Russians bore the full burden of launches to keep the International Space Station manned and operating, in spite of severe economic difficulties.

Baikal Lake

THE BAIKAL, the world’s deepest lake, stretches 391 mi (636 km) long and nearly 50 mi (80 km) wide. On the northeastern borders of central Asia, it lies at an altitude of 1,494 ft (455.6 m) above the PACIFIC OCEAN sea level. With an area of 12,162 square mi (31,500 square km), the Baikal ranks seventh in the world after the CASPIAN and ARAL seas, the North American HURON, MICHIGAN, and SUPERIOR lakes and VICTORIA in Africa.

The lake is surrounded by the vast mountains of the Eastern Sayan massif with an absolute altitude of 11,453 ft (3,491 m). Many of the Sayan mountain rivers flow into the Baikal, like the Irkut and other tributaries of the Angara. The Baikal region is characterized by a continental climate. In winter, the mean temperature falls to 1 to -13 degrees F (-17 to -25 degrees C), the absolute minimum is -35 to -40 degrees F (-37 to -40 degrees C). The mean summer temperature of July, normally the warmest month in the Baikal region, is 66 to 68 degrees F (19 to 20 degrees C), with a maximum of 100 degrees F (38 degrees C).

The underwater slopes of the Baikal depression show a distinct ancient relief of the coastline. Down to depths of 1,640 to 1,968 ft (500 to 600 m ), it uncovers submerged mouths of rivers and ancient valleys. About 3.5 million years ago, the Baikal was born by a rift when the Eurasian and Indian plates collided. Tectonically, the lake consists of three deep basins, each separated by underwater uplifts. Winds and changes in the atmospheric pressure have an influence on the water level. The mean perennial level stands normally at 1,494 ft (455 m). The highest level, measured on October 2, 1869, was 1,499 ft (457 m); the lowest, 1,492 ft (455 m), was observed in April 1904.

The first research on the Baikal was done in the 18th century by the German explorers I.E. Gmelin, P.S. Pallas, and I.G. Georgi. Systematical studies on the Baikal were encouraged in the 19th century by the Russian Geographical Society. W. Dybowsky distinguished in 1912 two complexes of the Baikalian fauna: the general Siberian fauna and the endemic fauna. In response to the ecological conditions, these two species are developing completely differently. Ordinary Siberian fauna do only colonize the areas of mild temperatures, that is, near the shores. In contrast, indigenous Baikalian fauna can be found in the depth of the lake.

Therefore, the temperature of the water presents an ecological barrier. The greatest enigma for scientists is the presence of seals in Baikal. Alexander VON HUMBOLDT suggested in 1843 that the presence of seals in the Caspian Sea and the Baikal was evidence of a past connection between these two lakes. The German explorer O. Peschel believed in 1878 that Baikal was directly connected with the Arctic Ocean and that seals migrated from the north. Others, like V.P. Garyayev (1901) and German paleontologist M. Neimeier (1886), thought that the fauna of Baikal was a relict of an old marine fauna. The Baikal environment is very sensitive to ecological changes. When in 1957 the Soviet government planned to build a cellulose plant at Baikal’sk, local scientists, citizens, and writers like Valentin Rasputin launched a protest campaign that succeed after thirty years. In April 1987, the Soviet government issued a decree protecting Lake Baikal. Nevertheless, the cellulose plant is still producing industrial waste and dumping it into the lake.

Bahrain

BAHRAIN IS LOCATED in the MIDDLE EAST; it is an archipelago in the PERSIAN GULF, east of SAUDI ARABIA. Bahrain has been the site of human habitation and commerce for millennia. Evidence of active trade between the great hearths of human civilization in Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley are to be found on the islands of Bahrain from as early as 5,000 years ago. Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Persian kings laid claim to this trading center over the ages.

First mentioned in Greek historical sources associated with Alexander the Great, Bahrain continued under its Greek name Tylos until the spread of Islam reached its inhabitants in the 7th century. Regional and foreign powers ranging from the Ummayad caliphs of SYRIA to the Christian monarchs of PORTUGAL continued to claim and dominate this pearling and trade center until the 18th century. In 1783, the Al Khalifa family seized Bahrain from a Persian garrison controlling the islands and established a ruling dynasty that continues to today.

In the 1830s, the ruling Al Khalifa family entered into treaties with Britain as a protectorate and maintained that status until full independence was declared on August 15, 1971. Bahrain benefited as the first Gulf state to discover and exploit its oil potential beginning in the 1930s, but it never experienced vast oil wealth. Limitations on actual oil reserves within its national borders encouraged Bahrain to develop a more diversified economy that focused on petroleum refining rather than extraction.

Following independence from Britain, the Al Khalifa monarchy experimented with election of a parliament but soon dissolved the National Assembly because of antagonism toward the monarchy and Western allies. The ruling family, the majority of government officials, and corporate leaders are Sunni Muslims. Bahrain’s Shia majority (70 percent) was politically disaffected and incidents of political violence were seen in the 1990s, resulting in killings and imprisonment.

With the latest succession within the ruling family, a return to national elections has commenced, along with a general political amnesty. This first national election in over three decades saw a turnout of over 53 percent of eligible voters in the first round and 43 percent in the second round. The latest ruling Al Khalifa has changed his title from emir to king and continues to appoint the upper chamber of parliament as a balance to the lower generally elected chamber.

Bahrain has been the home of U.S. naval operations in the Persian Gulf since 1947 and has provided basing and overflight rights in support of military actions against Iraq since 1990. Bahrain supported the decade of sanctions conducted by coalition forces in support of United Nations mandates against Iraq. Bahrain’s economic diversification provided the Gulf region with an early window to Western financial, telecommunications, and industrial expertise. The region’s first oil refinery was built here in 1935 and heralded continual growth of joint ventures that expanded to ship building, metal manufacture, transportation infrastructure, and financial services. Bahrain boasts the presence of many international finance institutions and has created no impediments to their onshore or offshore operations. Bahrain further seeks to become the largest center of Islamic banking in the world. Working toward this goal, it has become a leader in the standardization of regulation for the Islamic banking industry.

Bahrain was quick to invest oil revenues into national infrastructure, health services, and education. Bahrain enjoys the highest adult literacy rate in the region (89.1 percent). The modern communications and transportation network combined with Bahrain’s reputation as a relatively liberal and modern Persian Gulf state has added to its desirability as a tourist destination. With its special emphasis on education, Bahrain sees itself as a future provider of higher education in the region. Much financial support and investment has come from gulf neighbors. Saudi Arabia continues to subsidize much of required government revenue by granting oil as aid.

Bahamas

THE ISLAND OF San Salvador is cited as the first landing spot in the New World by the explorer Christopher Columbus on October 12, 1492. The small, low-lying chain of islands and cays were then passed over by the Spanish in favor of larger islands and silver and gold on the mainland. Today, however, the independent nation of the Bahamas boasts one of the most prosperous economies and most stable governments in the region, thanks to tourism and its close location to the continental UNITED STATES.

Lying just 90 mi (140 km) off the coast of FLORIDA, the chain includes over 700 islands—only 30 of which are inhabited—plus 2,000 cays. Stretching from northwest to southeast across 600 mi (968 km), the islands have a total of 2,196 mi (3,542 km) of coastline and form a total land area roughly equivalent to JAMAICA. The islands are mostly long, flat coral formations with some low rounded hills.

The main island, New Providence, with the capital city of Nassau, is at the northern end of the chain, between the largest islands in the group, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, and Great Abaco. Other main islands include Cat Island, Great Exuma, and Long Island in the center of the chain, and Great Inagua at the southern end. Great Inagua is roughly 62 mi (100 km) from CUBA and 50 mi (81 km) from HAITI. The TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS geologically form a southern extension of the Bahamian archipelago but have mostly been administered separately and remain dependencies of the UNITED KINGDOM. The islands of New Providence and Grand Bahama have roughly four-fifths of the population. Most Bahamians live in towns (84 percent, one of the region’s highest), either in Nassau or in the other major towns, Freeport (on Grand Bahama) and Matthew Town (on Inagua). The islands’ original inhabitants, the Lucayans (Arawaks), were completely removed to work plantations on Hispaniola and Cuba. Poor soil and few freshwater resources meant that the Bahamas were not developed as tobacco or sugar plantations like other Caribbean islands, so the islands remained sparsely populated. Settled by British pirates and traders from 1647 onward, the islands became a haven for the most notorious criminals of the Caribbean, notably Blackbeard.

The English government tacitly supported raids against Spanish galleons heavily laden with gold bullion. After the abolition of slavery in British colonies in the 1830s, the Bahamas remained a point of slave smuggling and was also home to blockade runners during the U.S. Civil War. This sort of activity became prominent again in a different form in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Bahamas became a chief smuggling center for alcohol into the United States during Prohibition.

The economy was again stimulated by the arrival of gambling after the casinos were closed in Havana during the Cuban Revolution (1959). The Bahamas led the British West Indies in their move to independence, becoming independent in 1973, yet retaining full ties to the Commonwealth and the British crown. Since independence, the government has focused on expanding its industries, primarily in the spheres of tourism and related services, taking full advantage of the country’s pleasant, sunny climate, and proximity to the United States. An estimated 3 million tourists visit the islands each year, representing roughly 13 percent of all tourist spending in the Caribbean.

Small local manufacturing industries, including cement, salt, rum, and pharmaceuticals, along with oil refining and transshipment, provide many jobs, but the largest growth area is in development as an offshore financial center, drawing in over 150 major banks from North America and Europe through its specially structured tax and trust laws. Banking and e-commerce are now among the top revenue generators for the government, along with ship registrations (the fifth largest in the world). But the islands continue to maintain their reputation as a haven for illegal activity, becoming once again a center for smuggling into the United States, this time marijuana and cocaine from South America.