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Kos

Kos

Image:kos_harbour.jpg
Port of Kos

Image:kos_archeological_site.jpg
Archaeological site

Image:kos_plataan_hippokrates.jpg
Tree of Hippocrates

Image:kos_roman_amphitheater.jpg
Roman amphitheater

Kos or Cos (, Greek Κώς; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a Greek island in the Dodecanese group of islands, in the Aegean Sea, which it separates from the Gulf of Cos. It measures 25 miles (40 km) by 5 miles (8 km) and is closer to mainland Turkey than it is to Greece. The island has both fertile plains and infertile highlands. Population: 30,500. The island boasts long sandy beaches with large hotels and secluded villages, leading to its main industry being tourism. Farming is the principal occupation of many of the island's inhabitants, with their main crops being grapes, almonds, figs, olives, tomatoes and lettuce, along with wheat and corn. The main port and population centre on the island, also called Kos, is also the tourist and cultural centre, with whitewashed buildings including many hotels, restaurants and a small number of nightclubs. The town has a 14th century fortress at the entrance to its harbour, erected in 1315 by The Knights of Saint John of Rhodes. The ancient physician Hippocrates is thought to have been born on Kos, and in the center of the town is the Plane Tree of Hippocrates, a Dream temple where the physician is traditionally supposed to have taught. The limbs of the now elderly tree are supported by scaffolding. The small city is also home to the International Hippocratic Institute and the Hippocratic Museum dedicated to him. The island was originally colonised by the Kares who were invaded by the Dorians in the 11th century BC, who developed into what became known as the Athenian Federation, expelling the Persians twice. In 366 BC the town of Kos was built, then soon after the island became a part of the Roman Empire, then the Byzantine Empire. The island was conquered by the Venetians, who then sold it to The Knights of Saint John of Rhodes. Two hundred years later the Knights faced the threat of a Turkish invasion, and so abandoned the island. The Turks then ruled Kos (during the Ottoman period Kos was called 'İstanköy') for 400 years until it was handed over to the Italians in 1912. In World War II, the island was taken over by Germany, until 1945, when it became a protectorate of Britain, who ceded it to Greece in 1947.

External references

- [http://www.travel-to-kos.com Travel to Kos]: Kos island travel guide
- [http://www.kosinfo.gr Kos Info]: The Official Kos Island Travel Guide.
- [http://www.holiday.gr/place5.php?place_id=36 Kos guide]: Kos by Holiday.gr
- [http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/4870b/67231/ VirtualTourist]: Kos by VirtualTourist.com Category:Islands of Greece Category:Islands of Greece Category:Subduction volcanoes Category:Volcanoes of Greece Category:Volcanoes of the Aegean Category:Dorian Hexapolis ja:コス島

Greek language

Greek (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA – "Hellenic") is an Indo-European language with a documented history of 3,500 years. Today, it is spoken by 15 million people in Greece, Cyprus, the former Yugoslavia, particularly The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey. There are also many Greek emigrant communities around the world, such as those in Melbourne, Australia which is the third-largest Greek-populated city in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki. Greek has been written in the Greek alphabet, the first true alphabet, since the 9th century B.C. and before that, in Linear B and the Cypriot syllabaries. Greek literature has a long and rich tradition.

History

This article does not cover the reconstructed history of Greek prior to the use of writing. For more information, see main article on Proto-Greek language. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan Peninsula since the 2nd millennium BC. The earliest evidence of this is found in the Linear B tablets dating from 1500 BC. The later Greek alphabet (q.v.) is unrelated to Linear B, and was derived from the Phoenician alphabet (abjad); with minor modifications, it is still used today. Greek is conventionally divided into the following periods:
- Mycenean Greek: the language of the Mycenean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 16th century BC onwards.
- Classical Greek (also known as Ancient Greek): In its various dialects was the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman empire. Classical Greek fell into disuse in western Europe in the Middle Ages, but remained known in the Byzantine world, and was reintroduced to the rest of Europe with the Fall of Constantinople and Greek migration to Italy.
- Hellenistic Greek (also known as Koine Greek): The fusion of various ancient Greek dialects with Attic (the dialect of Athens) resulted in the creation of the first common Greek dialect, which gradually turned into one of the world's first international languages. Koine Greek can be initially traced within the armies and conquered territories of Alexander the Great, but after the Hellenistic colonisation of the known world, it was spoken from Egypt to the fringes of India. After the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial diglossy of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. Through Koine Greek it is also traced the origin of Christianity, as the Apostles used it to preach in Greece and the Greek-speaking world. It is also known as the Alexandrian dialect, Post-Classical Greek or even New Testament Greek (after its most famous work of literature).
- Medieval Greek: The continuation of Hellenistic Greek during medieval Greek history as the official and vernacular (if not the literary nor the ecclesiastic) language of the Byzantine Empire, and continued to be used until, and after the fall of that Empire in the 15th century. Also known as Byzantine Greek.
- Modern Greek: Stemming independently from Koine Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the late Byzantine period (as early as 11th century). Two main forms of the language have been in use since the end of the medieval Greek period: Dhimotikí (Δημοτική), the Demotic (vernacular) language, and Katharévousa (Καθαρεύουσα), an imitation of classical Greek, which was used for literary, juridic, and scientific purposes during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Demotic Greek is now the official language of the modern Greek state, and the most widely spoken by Greeks today. It has been claimed that an "educated" speaker of the modern language can understand an ancient text, but this is surely as much a function of education as of the similarity of the languages. Still, Koinē , the version of Greek used to write the New Testament and the Septuagint, is relatively easy to understand for modern speakers. Greek words have been widely borrowed into the European languages: astronomy, democracy, philosophy, thespian, etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, isomer, biomechanics etc. and form, with Latin words, the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary. See English words of Greek origin, and List of Greek words with English derivatives.

Classification

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient languages which were probably most closely related to it, Ancient Macedonian language (which may be regarded as a dialect of Greek) and Phrygian, are not well enough documented to permit detailed comparison. Among living languages, Armenian seems to be the most closely related to it.

Geographic distribution

Modern Greek is spoken by about 15 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus. There are also Greek-speaking populations in Georgia, Ukraine, Egypt, Turkey, Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Southern Italy. The language is spoken also in many other countries where Greeks have settled, including Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Official status

Greek is the official language of Greece where it is spoken by about 99.5% of the population. It is also, alongside Turkish, the official language of Cyprus. Due to the membership of Greece and Cyprus, Greek is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union.

Phonology

This section generally describes the post-Classic phonology of the Greek language. :All phonetic transcriptions in this section use the International Phonetic Alphabet

Vowel sounds

Greek has 5 vowel sounds, all phonemic:

List of traditional Greek place names

This is a list of traditional Greek place names. That is, a list of the names of places as they exist in the Greek language. This list includes:
- Places involved in the history of Greek culture—including Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world, the Roman Empire, the New Testament, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire and modern Greece and Cyprus, as well as important Greek-speaking minorities—and the Greek language names given to them.
- Places whose official names include a Greek form.
- Places whose names originate from the Greek language, even if they were never involved in Greek history or culture. Though this list includes toponyms from Roman times, this list does not include later wholly Latin-derived names that have no Greek linguistic involvement nor significant Greek-speaking communities. A notable exception may be places such as Australia, which has one of the largest modern Greek-speaking communities outside Greece and Cyprus. Both koine and modern forms and transliterations (including polytonic spellings) are listed if available. This list is incomplete, and some items in the list lack academic detail. As a historical linguistics article, this list is an academic lexicon for the history of Greek place names, and is not a formal dictionary nor gazetteer and should not be relied upon as such. Indeed, many toponyms in Modern Greek now have different names than were used in by Greek-speaking communities in the past. An example is Malta, which was called Μελίτη (Melítē) and was once home to a Greek-speaking community. However, this community is gone or assimilated, and the common Modern Greek name is Μάλτα (Málta, from Maltese). However, in other cases, Modern Greek has retained archaic names (sometimes with grammatical modifications). An example of this is Naples, Italy, originally a Greek colony that is now Romance-speaking. The Classical Greek name was Νεάπολις (Neápolis), different from the modern local name (Italian Napoli, Neapolitan Napule), but the Modern Greek name is Νεάπολη (Neápoli), a direct evolution of the classical name. Distinctly Greek names are also largely retained for places without significant modern Greek populations that had a larger Greek-speaking presence until relatively recent times in history, including many areas in what are now Turkey, Cyprus, Egypt, Russia, the Ukraine and the Crimea.

Contents
- Format - The list - Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

__NOTOC__

Format

The names presented are in presented in a variety of standard formats, including Classical Greek spelling, scientific transliteration of the Classical Greek, standard Modern Greek, and with its two influential standards—the United Nations transliteration standard and the United States Board on Geographic Names transcription standard. The U.N. standard is more often used in maps and diplomatic purposes, while the U.S. B.G.N. standard is used in U.S. government maps of Greece and Cyprus, and often by Greek immigrants in English-speaking countries, and is also widely used for English-speaking tourists in Greek-speaking countries.
- , , [, (),] . English.

The list

Α

- , , (), .
- , , (), . Agde.
- , , (), . Ankara.
- , , , (), . Adrianople; Edirne.
- , , , , . Athens.
- , , , (), . Aegean Sea.
- , , () . Egypt.
- , , (), . Ethiopia.
- , , , (), . Aeolis.
- , , (), . Etna.
- , , (), . Aetolia.
- , , . Acarnania.
- , , (), . Agrigentum.
- , , , .
- , , (), . Alexandria.
- , , (), . İskenderun.
- , , , . Halicarnassus; Bodrum.
- , , , , .
- , , , . Anatolia.
- , , (), .
- , , , (), . Antarctica.
- , , (), . Antioch; Antakya.
- , , (), . Antipaxos; Antipaxi.
- , , , (), . Antibes.
- , , (), . Apulia.
- , , , .
- , , , (), .
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Arcadia.
- , , .
- , , .
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Attica.
- , (), . Atlantic.
- , , , .
- , , , . Africa.
- , , (), . Achaea.

Β

- , , (), .
- , , (), .
- , , , . Bactria.
- , , , . Venice.
- , , (), . Beirut.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Wallachia.
- , , (), . Boeotia.
- , , , . Bosporus.
- , , (), . Bulgaria.
- , , , , . Britannia; Britain.
- , , , (), . Byzantium.

Γ

- , , (), . Cádiz.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Gaul; France.
- , , (), . Germany.
- , , (), .

Δ

- , , (), . Dacia; modern Romania.
- , (), . Dardanelles.
- , , (), . Delphi.
- , , , (), . Dyrrachium; Durrës.
- , , (), . Dodecanese.

Ε

- , , (), . Elea.
- , , , . Helvetia; Switzerland.
- , , , .
- , , , (), . Greece.
- , , (), . Hellespont.
- , , , (), . Empúries.
- , , (), .
- , , , . Heptanese.
- , , .
- , , (), . Red Sea.
- , , (), . Eritrea.
- , , (), . Euboea.
- , , (), . Euxine Sea.
- , , , . Euripus.
- , , , . Europe.
- , , , . Ephesus.

Ζ

- , , (), . First Greek name for Messina.
- , , (), . Zante.

Η

- , , (), . Epirus.
- , , (), . Heraclea.

Θ

- , , (), .
- , , . Thessaly.
- , , , .
- , , , , . Thebes.
- , , , .
- , , (), . Thurii.
- , , , . Thrace.

Ι

- , (), .
- , , , .
- , , (), Jericho.
- , , (), . Jerusalem.
- , , (), . Jerusalem (alternate name).
- , , , . Ithaca.
- , , . Icaria.
- , , , , . Iconium; Konya.
- , , (), .
- , , , . Gökçeada.
- , , , (), .
- , , (), .
- , , , , . Ionian Islands.
- , , (), . Judea.
- , , , . Spain.
- , , (), .
- , , . Italy.
- , , , .

Κ

- , , (), . Caesarea.
- , , , . Calabria.
- , , , (), . Gallipoli; Gelibolu.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Campania.
- , , (), . Cappadocia.
- , , . Caria.
- , , . Carpathia.
- , , .
- , , (), . Carthage.
- , , . Caspia.
- , , , . Catania.
- , , (), . Corfu.
- , , , , .
- , , , , . Ceos.
- , , . Cilicia.
- , , (), .
- , , , , . Cnossus.
- , , , . Colophon.
- , , . Corinth.
- , , , . Crete.
- , , , . Croton.
- , , (), . Cyzicus.
- , , (), . Cythera; Cerigo.
- , , (), . Cyclades.
- , , (), . Cyme.
- , , (), . Cyprus.
- , , (), . Cyrenaica.
- , , (), . Cyrene.
- , , , (), . Constantinople; İstanbul.
- , , , .

Λ

- , , , . Laconia.
- , , .
- , , (), . Lampsacus.
- , , (), . Laodicea; Latakia.
- , , , .
- , , , (), . Leucas.
- , , , . Leucosia; Nicosia.
- , , , . Lebanon.
- , , (), . Libya.
- , , (), .
- , , , (), . Locris.
- , , (), . Locri.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Lycia.

Μ

- , , (), .
- , , . Macedonia.
- , , , . Macedon.
- , , . Marseille.
- , , , . Mauritania.
- , , , (), . Montenegro.
- , , (), .
- , , , (), .
- , , , .
- , , , . Malta, but the modern Greek name for Malta is a direct adaptation of the modern name.
- , , . Iraq.
- , , , . Messina.
- , , , .
- , , (), .
- , , , .
- , , , . Micronesia.
- , , , . Miletus.
- , , (), . Moesia.
- , , (), . Monaco.
- , , , (), . Mycenae.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Original Aeolian name for what later became Ionian Smyrna and Turkish İzmir.
- , , (), .
- , , , . Morea.

Ν

- , , , .
- , , , , .
- , , , , . Naples; Nablus.
- , , (), . Nicaea; İznik; Nice.
- , , , , . Nicopolis.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Numidia.

Ξ

Ο

Π

- , , (), .
- , , (), . Paxos.
- , , (), . Palestine.
- , , (), .
- , , . Palermo.
- , , , (), . Panticapaeum.
- , , .
- , , , , . Paris.
- , , .
- , , , , .
- , , (), .
- , , , . Peloponnese.
- , , .
- , , (), .
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Pontus.
- , , , (), .
- , , (), . Bursa.

Ρ

- , , , (), . Reggio di Calabria.
- , , (), . Rhodes.
- , , , . Byzantine Empire. (Not modern Romania.)
- , , , . Rome.

Σ

- , , (), . Samaria.
- , , .
- , , (), . Samsun.
- , , (), .
- , , , (), . Sevastopol.
- , , (), . Seleucia.
- , , , .
- , , . Sicily.
- , , , . Sinop.
- , , (), . Scythia.
- , , (), . Smyrna; İzmir.
- , , , .
- , , , . Sparta.
- , , (), .
- , , , (), . Syracuse.
- , , (), .

Τ

- , , . Taranto.
- , , . Tarsus.
- , , (), . Bozcaada.
- , , , .
- , , , .
- , , , (), .
- , , (), . Turkey.
- , , (), . Trebizond; Trabzon.
- , , , , .
- , , (), . Troy.
- , , , (), .

Υ

Φ

- , , , (), .
- , , (), . Philadelphia.
- , , , (), . Philippines.
- , , (), . Phoenicia; Canaan.
- , , (), .
- , , (), . Phocaea; Foça.
- , , , (), . Phocis.

Χ

- , , (), . Chaeronea.
- , , (), . Chalcedon; Kadıköy.
- , , , (), . Chalcis.
- , , (), . Chersonesos.
- , , (), .

Ψ

Ω

- , , , . Oceania. Category:Hellenic languages and dialects Greek traditional place names Category:Incomplete lists

Island

in New York, USA]] An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets. Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on an atoll an islet, since an atoll is a type of island. A key or cay is also another name for a relatively small island. Groups of related islands are called archipelagos. There are three main types of islands: continental islands, river islands, and volcanic islands. There are also some artificial islands. The word island derives ultimately from the Old English word igland. It was originally spelled phonetically: iland. The letter "s" was added out of the mistaken belief that it derived from isle (< Old French < Latin insula) + land, where no such etymological relationship existed.

Continental islands

Continental islands are bodies of land that are connected by the continental shelf to a continent. That is, these islands are part of an adjacent continent and are located on the continental shelf of that continent. Examples include Greenland and Sable Island off North America, Barbados and Trinidad off South America, Sicily off Europe, Sumatra and Java off Asia, New Guinea and Tasmania off Australia. A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. The best example is Madagascar off Africa. The Kerguelen Islands and some of the Seychelles are also examples. Another subtype is the barrier island: accumulations of sand on the continental shelf.

River islands

River islands occur in river deltas and in large rivers. They are caused by deposition of sediment at points in the flow where the current loses some of its carrying capacity. In essence, they are river bars, isolated in the stream. While some are ephemeral, and may disappear if the river's water volume or speed changes, others are stable and long-lived.

Volcanic islands

Volcanic islands are built by volcanoes. Mid-ocean examples are not geologically part of any continent. One type of volcanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples. Another type of volcanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples: Iceland, which is the world's largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen—both are in the Atlantic. The last type of volcanic island are those formed over volcanic hotspots. A hot spot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually eroded down and "drowned" by isostatic adjustment, becoming a seamount. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to Kure, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises above the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central, shallow lagoon. Examples include the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Bora Bora in the Pacific.

External links

- [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm Definition of island] from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Category:Islands Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tó-sū ko:섬 ms:Pulau ja:島 simple:Island th:เกาะ

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea (Greek: Αιγαίον Πέλαγος, Aigaion Pelagos; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek peninsula and Anatolia (Asia Minor, now part of Turkey). It is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. In ancient times there were various explanations for the name "Aegean." It was said to have been named after the town of Aegae; Aegea, a queen of the Amazons who died in the sea; and Aegeus, the father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died. A possible etymology is from the root Αιγ- (Aeg-) meaning wave, hence wavy sea as per αιγιαλός (aighialos). In ancient times the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations - the Minoans of Crete, and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese. Later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Hellenic Civilization. The Aegean Sea was later inhabited by Persians, Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetians, the Seljuk Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the original democracies, and it allowed for contact between several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Aegean islands can be simply divided into seven groups: the Thracian Sea group, the East Aegean group, the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades, the Saronic Islands (or Argo-Saronic Islands), the Dodecanese and Crete. The word archipelago was originally applied specifically to these islands. Many of the Aegean islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, and a third extends across the Peloponnese and Crete to Rhodes, dividing the Aegean from the Mediterranean. Many of the islands have safe harbours and bays, but navigation through the sea is generally difficult. Many of the islands are volcanic, and marble and iron are mined on other islands. The larger islands have some fertile valleys and plains. There are two islands of considerable size belonging to Turkey on the Aegean Sea: Bozcaada Greek: Τένεδος Tenedos ) and Gökçeada (Greek: Ίμβρος Imvros(). The bays in gulfs counterclockwise includes on Crete, the Mirabelli, Almyros, Souda and Chania bays or gulfs, on the mainland the Myrtoan Sea to the west, the Saronic Gulf northwestward, the Petalies Gulf which connects with the South Euboic Sea, the Pagasetic Gulf which connects with the North Euboic Sea, the Thermian Gulf northwestward, the Chalkidiki Peninusla including the Cassandra and the Singitic Gulfs, northward the Strymonian Gulf and the Gulf of Kavala and the rest are in Turkey, one in Europe and the rest in Asia Minor.

Port Towns

The Aegean Sea has plenty of ports especially on the islands, for ports, see the island chains or its gulfs and bays.

Beach

A beach or strand is a geological formation consisting of loose rock particles such as sand, shingle, cobble, or even shell along the shoreline of a body of water.

Components

Some geologists consider a beach to be just this shoreline feature of deposited material, but William Bascom (1980) has argued that a beach is the entire system of sand set in motion by waves to a depth of ten meters (30+ feet) or more off ocean coasts. Submerged, longshore bars are therefore also part of the beach. In the Bascom approach, beaches can be viewed as either
- small systems in which the rock material moves onshore, offshore, or alongshore by the forces of waves and currents; or
- geological units of considerable size. The former are described in detail below; the larger geological units are discussed elsewhere under bars. Both types can be viewed as "beaches." bars) is spreading from the incipient dune]] There are several conspicuous parts to a beach, all of which relate to the processes that form and shape it. That part mostly above water (depending upon tide), and more or less actively influenced by the waves at some point in the tide, is termed the beach berm. The berm is the deposit of material comprising the active shoreline. The berm has a crest (top) and a face — the latter being the slope leading down towards the water from the crest. At the very bottom of the face, there may be a trough, and further seaward one or more longshore bars: slightly raised, underwater embankments formed where the waves first start to break. The sand deposit may extend well inland from the berm crest, where there may be evidence of one or more older crests (the storm beach) resulting from very large storm waves and beyond the influence of the normal waves. At some point the influence of the waves (even storm waves) on the material comprising the beach stops, and if the particles are small enough (that is, are sand), winds shape the feature. Where wind is the force distributing the grains inland, the deposit behind the beach becomes a dune. The line between beach and dune is difficult to define in the field. Over any significant period of time, sand is always being exchanged between them. The drift line (the high point of material deposited by waves) is one potential demarcation. This would be the point at which significant wind movement of sand could occur, since the normal waves do not wet the sand beyond this area. However, the drift line is likely to move inland under assault by storm waves.

How beaches are formed

Beaches are deposition landforms, and are the result of wave action by which waves or currents move sand or other loose sediments of which the beach is made as these particles are held in suspension. Alternatively, sand may be moved by saltation (a bouncing movement of large particles). Beach materials come from erosion of rocks offshore, as well as from headland erosion and slumping producing deposits of scree. A coral reef offshore is a significant source of sand particles. coral reef The shape of a beach depends on whether the waves are constructive or destructive, and whether the material is sand or shingle. Constructive waves move material up the beach while destructive waves move the material down the beach. On sandy beaches, the backwash of the waves removes material forming a gently sloping beach. On shingle beaches the swash is dissipated because the large particle size allows percolation, so the backwash is not very powerful, and the beach remains steep. Cusps and horns form where incoming waves divide, depositing sand as horns and scouring out sand to form cusps. This forms the uneven edge of a sandy beach. coral reef Some beaches are artificial; they are either permanent or temporary (For examples see Monaco, Paris, Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Singapore). There are several beaches which are claimed to be the "World's longest", including Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh (120kms), Fraser Island beach, 90 Mile Beach in Australia and 90 Mile Beach in New Zealand and Long Beach, Washington (which is about 30km). Wasaga Beach, Ontario on Georgian Bay claims to have the world's longest freshwater beach. The Marina Beach at Chennai, India, is the second longest beach in the world.

Beaches and recreation

India] Beaches have long been a popular attraction for tourism and recreation. Especially popular are seaside resorts and large white sand beaches. Of course, residents and tourists alike use beaches as a place for leisure and sport. The relatively soft formation of sand is comfortable to sit or lie on, and entering and exiting the water is far easier across a sand beach than a rocky shore. The waves present at beaches add to the enjoyment and make the sport of body surfing and related activities possible. One of the many attractions of a sand beach, especially for children, is playing with the sand, building sand castles and other constructs. Towels and mats are typical beach "furniture". In the Victorian era, many popular beach resorts were equipped with bathing machines because even the all-covering beachware of the period was considered immodest. This social standard still prevails in some Muslim countries. At the other extreme are nude beaches, where no swimware of any kind is compulsory.

Artificial beaches

The soothing qualities of a beach and the pleasant environment offered to the beachgoer are replicated in artificial beaches, such as "beach style" pools with zero-depth entry and wave pools that recreate the natural waves pounding upon a beach. In a zero-depth entry pool, the bottom surface slopes gradually from above water down to depth. Another approach involves so-called urban beaches, a form of public park becoming common in large cities. Urban beaches attempt to mimic natural beaches with fountains that imitate surf and mask city noises, and in some cases can be used as a play park.

Sounds of the beach

park Beaches are noted for their sometimes serene stillness and the rhythmic sound made by waves crashing upon the sand. To experience, listen to this sound file sound recording (1.00MB) made on a South Carolina beach at night.

Beaches as habitat

A beach is an unstable environment which exposes plants and animals to harsh conditions. Some small animals burrow into the sand and feed on material deposited by the waves. Crabs, insects and shorebirds feed on these beach dwellers. The endangered Piping Plover and some tern species rely on beaches for nesting. Sea turtles also lay their eggs on ocean beaches. Seagrasses and other beach plants grow on undisturbed areas of the beach and dunes.

Reference

- Bascom, W. 1980. Waves and Beaches. Anchor Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York. 366 p.

External sites

- [http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/source/ero9.htm UNESCO Beach erosion & formation]
- [http://www.nearctica.com/ecology/habitats/beaches.htm Beach habitats]
- Category:Landforms Category:Recreation ja:砂浜 simple:Beach

Farming

working the land in the traditional way, with horse and plough]] Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). The practice of agriculture is also known as "farming", while scientists, inventors and others devoted to improving farming methods and implements are also said to be engaged in agriculture. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economic activity than in any other, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's GDP.

Overview

GDP, Indonesia]] Agriculture can refer to subsistence agriculture, the production of enough food to meet just the needs of the farmer/agriculturalist and his/her family. It may also refer to industrial agriculture, (often referred to as factory farming) long prevalent in "developed" nations and increasingly so elsewhere, which consists of obtaining financial income from the cultivation of land to yield produce, the commercial raising of animals (animal husbandry), or both. Agriculture is also short for the study of the practice of agriculture—more formally known as agricultural science. Agricultural students are known (sometimes derisively) as "Aggies". Increasingly, in addition to food for humans and animal feeds, agriculture produces goods such as cut flowers, ornamental and nursery plants, timber or lumber, fertilizers, animal hides, leather, industrial chemicals (starch, sugar, ethanol, alcohols and plastics), fibers (cotton, wool, hemp, and flax), fuels (methane from biomass, biodiesel) and both legal and illegal drugs (biopharmaceuticals, tobacco, marijuana, opium, cocaine). Genetically engineered plants and animals produce specialty drugs. In the Western world, the use of gene manipulation, better management of soil nutrients, and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At the same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labour requirements. The developing world generally produces lower yields, having less of the latest science, capital, and technology base. Modern agriculture depends heavily on engineering and technology and on the biological and physical sciences. Irrigation, drainage, conservation and sanitary engineering, each of which is important in successful farming, are some of the fields requiring the specialized knowledge of agricultural engineers. Agricultural chemistry deals with other vital farming concerns, such as the application of fertilizer, insecticides (see Pest control), and fungicides, soil makeup, analysis of agricultural products, and nutritional needs of farm animals.Plant breeding and genetics contribute additionally to farm productivity. Advanced seed engineering has allowed strains of seed to become perfect in every farming situation. Seeds can now germinate faster and adapt to shorter growing seasons in different climates. Present-day seed can resist the spraying of pesticides that kill all green-leaf plants. Hydroponics, a method of soilless gardening in which plants are grown in chemical nutrient solutions, may help meet the need for greater food production as the world's population increases. The packing, processing, and marketing of agricultural products are closely related activities also influenced by science. Methods of quick-freezing and dehydration have increased the markets for farm products (see Food preservation; Meat packing industry). Mechanization, the outstanding characteristic of late 19th and 20th century agricultural evolution, has eased much of the backbreaking toil of the farmer. More significantly, mechanization has enormously increased farm efficiency and productivity (see Agricultural machinery). Animals, including horses, mules, oxen, camels, llamas, alpacas, and dogs; however, are still used to cultivate fields, harvest crops and transport farm products to markets in many parts of the world. Airplanes, helicopters, trucks and tractors are used in agriculture for seeding, spraying operations for insect and disease control, Aerial topdressing, transporting perishable products, and fighting forest fires. Radio and television disseminate vital weather reports and other information such as market reports that concern farmers. Computers have become an essential tool for farm management. Aerial topdressing] According to the National Academy of Engineering in the US, agricultural mechanization is one of the 20 greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century. Early in the century, it took one American farmer to produce food for 2.5 people, where today, due to engineering technology (also, plant breeding and agrichemicals), a single farmer can feed over 130 people [http://www.greatachievements.org/greatachievements/ga_7_2.html]. This comes at a cost, however, of large amounts of energy input, from unsustainable, mostly fossil fuel, sources. Animal husbandry means breeding and raising animals for meat or to harvest animal products (like milk, eggs, or wool) on a continual basis. In recent years some aspects of industrial intensive agriculture have been the subject of increasing discussion. The widening sphere of influence held by large seed and chemical companies, meat packers and food processors has been a source of concern both within the farming community and for the general public. There has been increased activity of some people against some farming practices, raising chickens for food being one example. Another issue is the type of feedgiven to some animals that can cause Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in cattle. There has also been concern because of the disastrous effect that intensive agriculture has on the environment. In the US, for example, fertilizer has been running off into the Mississippi for years and has caused a dead spot in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi empties. Intensive agriculture also depletes the fertility of the land over time and the end effect is that which happened in the Middle East, were some of the most fertile farmland in the world was turned into a desert by intensive agriculture. The patent protection given to companies that develop new types of seed using genetic engineering has allowed seed to be licensed to farmers in much the same way that computer software is licensed to users. This has changed the balance of power in favor of the seed companies, allowing them to dictate terms and conditions previously unheard of. Some argue these companies are guilty of biopiracy. Soil conservation and nutrient management have been important concerns since the 1950s, with the best farmers taking a stewardship role with the land they operate. However, increasing contamination of waterways and wetlands by nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are of concern in many countries. Increasing consumer awareness of agricultural issues has led to the rise of community-supported agriculture, local food movement, slow food, and commercial organic farming, though these yet remain fledgling industries.

History

organic farming Archaeobotanists have traced the selection and cultivation of specific food plant characteristics, such as a semi-tough rachis and larger seeds, to just after the Younger Dryas (about 9,500 BC) in the early Holocene in the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent. Limited anthropological and archaeological evidence both indicate a grain-grinding culture farming along the Nile in the 10th millennium BC using the world's earliest known type of sickle blades. There is even earlier evidence for conscious cultivation and seasonal harvest: grains of rye with domestic traits have been recovered from Epi-Palaeolithic (10,000+ BC) contexts at Abu Hureyra in Syria, but this appears to be a localised phenomenon resulting from cultivation of stands of wild rye, rather than a definitive step towards domestication. It is not until ca. 8,500 BC, in middle-Eastern cultures referred to as Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), where there is the first definite evidence for the emergence of a widespread subsistence economy that was dependent on domesticated plants and animals. In these contexts lie the origins of the eight so-called founder crops of agriculture: firstly emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, pea, lentil, bitter vetch, chick pea and flax. These eight crops occur more or less simultaneously on PPNB sites in this region, although the consensus is that wheat was the first to be sown and harvested on a significant scale. There are many sites that date to between ca. 8,500 BC and 7,500 BC where the systematic farming of these crops contributed the major part of the inhabitants' diet. From the Fertile Crescent agriculture spread eastwards to Central Asia and westwards into Cyprus, Anatolia and, by 7,000 BC, Greece. Farming, principally of emmer and einkorn, reached northwestern Europe via southeastern and central Europe by ca. 4,800 BC (see, among others, Price, D. [ed.] 2000. Europe's First Farmers. Cambridge University Press; Harris, D. [ed.] 1996 The Origins and Spread of Agriculture in Eurasia. UCL Press). Europeing an alfalfa field]] The reasons for the earliest introduction of farming may have included climate change, but possibly there were also social reasons (e.g. accumulation of food surplus for competitive gift-giving). Most certainly there was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy period when some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were gathered from the wild. Although localised climate change is the favoured explanation for the origins of agriculture in the Levant, the fact that farming was 'invented' at least three times, possibly more, suggests that social reasons may have been instrumental. In addition to emergence of farming in the Fertile Crescent, agriculture appeared by at least 6,800 BC in East Asia (rice) and, later, in Central and South America (maize, squash). Small scale agriculture also likely arose independently in early Neolithic contexts in India (rice) and Southeast Asia (taro). Southeast Asia. Baked clay. Field Museum]] Full dependency on domestic crops and animals (i.e. when wild resources contributed a nutritionally insignificant component to the diet) was not until the Bronze Age. If the operative definition of agriculture includes large scale intensive cultivation of land, mono-cropping, organised irrigation, and use of a specialized labour force, the title "inventors of agriculture" would fall to the Sumerians, starting ca. 5,500 BC. Intensive farming allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting and gathering and allows for the accumulation of excess product to keep for winter use or to sell for profit. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities have nothing to do with material production was the crucial factor in the rise of standing armies. The agriculturalism of the Sumerians allowed them to embark on an unprecedented territorial expansion, making them the first empire builders. Not long after, the Egyptians, powered by effective farming of the Nile valley, achieved a population density from which enough warriors could be drawn for a territorial expansion more than tripling the Sumerian empire in area. The invention of a three field system of crop rotation during the Middle Ages vastly improved agricultural efficiency. After 1492 the world's agricultural patterns were shuffled in the widespread exchange of plants and animals known as the Columbian Exchange. Crops and animals that were previously only known in the Old World were now transplanted to the New and vice versa. Perhaps most notably, the tomato became a favorite in European cuisine, while certain wheat strains quickly took to western hemisphere soils and became a dietary staple even for native North, Central and South Americans. By the early 1800s agricultural practices, particularly careful selection of hardy strains and cultivars, had so improved that yield per land unit was many times that seen in the Middle Ages and before, especially in the largely virgin lands of North and South America. With the rapid rise of mechanization in the 20th century, especially in the form of the tractor, the demanding tasks of sowing, harvesting and threshing could be performed with a speed and on a scale barely imaginable before. These advances have led to efficiencies enabling certain modern farms in the United States, Argentina, Israel, Germany and a few other nations to output volumes of high quality produce per land unit at what may be the practical limit.

Crops

Seed Testing

Seeds are tested for various qualities to ensure a high quality harvest, and to limit or prevent the spread of undesirable and invasive species. Seed test types Descriptions of various tests done on seed Seed related databases ISTA, the International Seed Testing Association, maintains a list of links to Seed Organizations worldwide:
- http://www.seedtest.org/en/content---1--1014--329.html

World production of major crops in 2004

In millions of metric tons, based on FAO estimates[http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Crops.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=EN]: By crop types :Cereals 2,264 :Vegetables and melons 866 :Roots and Tubers 715 :Milk 619 :Fruit 503 :Meat 259 :Oilcrops 133 :Fish 130 (2001 estimate) :Eggs 63 :Pulses 60 :Vegetable Fiber 30 By individual crops :Sugar Cane 1,324 :Maize 721 :Wheat 627 :Rice 605 :Potatoes 328 :Sugar Beet 249 :Soybean 204 :Oil Palm Fruit 162 :Barley 154 :Tomato 120

Crop improvement

Tomato Tomato
- See main article on Plant breeding Domestication of plants is done in order to increase yield, improve disease resistance and drought tolerance, ease harvest and to improve the taste and nutritional value and many other characteristics. Centuries of careful selection and breeding have had enormous effects on the characteristics of crop plants. Plant breeders use greenhouses and other techniques to get as many as three generations of plants per year so that they can make improvements all the more quickly. Plant selection and breeding in the 1920s and '30s improved pasture (grasses and clover) in New Zealand. Extensive radiation mutagenesis efforts (i.e. primitive genetic engineering) during the 1950s produced the modern commercial varieties of grains such as wheat, corn and barley. For example, average yields of corn (maize) in the USA have increased from around 2.5 tons per hectare (40 bushels per acre) in 1900 to about 9.4 t/ha (150 bushels per acre) in 2001, primarily due to improvements in genetics. Similarly, worldwide average wheat yields have increased from less than 1 t/ha in 1900 to more than 2.5 t/ha in 1990. South American average wheat yields are around 2 t/ha, African under 1 t/ha, Egypt and Arabia up to 3.5 to 4 t/ha with irrigation. In contrast, the average wheat yield in countries such as France is over 8 t/ha. Higher yields are due to improvements in genetics, as well as use of intensive farming techniques (use of fertilizers, chemical pest control, growth control to avoid lodging). [Conversion note: 1 bushel of wheat = 60 pounds (lb) ≈ 27.215 kg. 1 bushel of corn = 56 pounds ≈ 25.401 kg] In industrialized agriculture, crop "improvement" has often reduced nutritional and other qualities of food plants to serve the interests of producers. After mechanical tomato-harvesters were developed in the early 1960s, agricultural scientists bred tomatoes that were harder and less nutritious (Friedland and Barton 1975). In fact, a major longitudinal study of nutrient levels in numerous vegetables showed significant declines in the last 50 years; garden vegetables in the U.S. today contain on average 38 percent less vitamin B2 and 15 percent less vitamin C (Davis and Riordan 2004). Very recently, genetic engineering has begun to be employed in some parts of the world to speed up the selection and breeding process. The most widely used modification is a herbicide resistance gene that allows plants to tolerate exposure to glyphosate, which is used to control weeds in the crop. A less frequently used but more controversial modification causes the plant to produce a toxin to reduce damage from insects (c.f. Starlink). There are specialty producers who raise less common types of livestock or plants. Aquaculture, the farming of fish, shrimp, and algae, is closely associated with agriculture. Apiculture, the culture of bees, traditionally for honey—increasingly for crop pollination. See also : botany, List of domesticated plants, List of vegetables, List of herbs, List of fruit

Environmental problems

Agriculture may often cause environmental problems because it changes natural environments and produces harmful by-products. Some of the negative effects are:
- Nitrogen and phosphorus surplus in rivers and lakes.
- Detrimental effects of herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and other biocides.
- Conversion of natural ecosystems of all types into arable land.
- Consolidation of diverse biomass into a few species.
- Erosion
- Depletion of minerals in the soil
- Particulate matter, including ammonia and ammonium off-gasing from animal waste contributing to air pollution
- Weeds - feral plants and animals
- Odor from agricultural waste
- Soil salination in dry areas.

Policy

Agricultural policy focuses on the goals and methods of agricultural production. At the policy level, common goals of agriculture include:
- Food safety: Ensuring that the food supply is free of contamination.
- Food security: Ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs.
- Food quality: Ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality.
- Conservation
- Environmental impact
- Economic stability

Methods

There are various methods of agricultural production:
- aeroponics
- aerial topdressing
- agricultural machinery
- animal husbandry
- aquaculture
- beekeeping
- crop rotation
- Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO, factory farming)
- composting
- dairy farming
- detasseling
- domestication
- fencing
- fertilizers
- greenhouse
- harvest
- heliciculture
- hybrid seed
- hydroponics
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- irrigation
- livestock
- market gardening
- monoculture
- no-till farming
- organic farming
- plant breeding
- pollination management
- precision farming
- ranching
- season extension
- seed saving
- shepherding
- subsistence farming
- succession planting
- sustainable agriculture
- terracing
- vegetable farming
- tillage
- weed control

References

- Wells, Spencer: The Journey of Man : A Genetic Odyssey. Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN: 069111532X
- Crosby, Alfred W.: The Columbian Exchange : Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Praeger Publishers, 2003 (30th Anniversary Edition). ISBN: 0275980731
- Collinson, M. (editor): A History of Farming Systems Research. CABI Publishing, 2000. ISBN: 0851994059
- Davis, Donald R., and Hugh D. Riordan (2004) Changes in USDA Food Composition Data for 43 Garden Crops, 1950 to 1999. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 23, No. 6, 669-682.
- Friedland, William H. and Amy Barton (1975) Destalking the Wily Tomato: A Case Study of Social Consequences in California Agricultural Research. Univ. California at Sta. Cruz, Research Monograph 15.·

External links

- [http://www.fao.org www.fao.org] — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations World Agricultural Information Centre
- [http://www.fao.org/waicent/portal/statistics_en.asp www.fao.org] — The UN Statistical Databases
- [http://www.fao.org/ag/ FAO Agriculture Department] and its [http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y5160e/y5160e00.HTM State of Food and Agriculture 2003-2004] with a focus on the impact of biotechnology
- [http://www.greenfacts.org/gmo/index.htm GM Crops in Agriculture] – A summary for non-specialists of the above FAO report by GreenFacts.
-
- [http://imperium.lenin.ru/~kaledin/tmp/agricltr.txt Agriculture: Demon Engine of Civilization] by John Zerzan
- [http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/index.html History of farming in Nebraska, USA]

Specific countries

- [http://www.agr.gc.ca/ www.agr.gc.ca] — Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
- [http://www.nationalpak.com www.nationalpak.com] — Agriculture of Pakistan
- [http://www.nationalacademies.org/agriculture/ www.nationalacademies.org] — Agriculture at the United States National Academies
- [http://www.usda.gov/ www.usda.gov] — United States Department of Agriculture
- [http://www.fas.usda.gov/currwmt.html Current World Production, Market and Trade Reports] from the Foreign Agricultural Service
- [http://www.ers.usda.gov/ USDA's main source of economic information and research] from the Economic Research Service
- [http://www.ars.usda.gov/ In-house Research Arm] from the Agricultural Research Service
- [http://www.nal.usda.gov/ National Agricultural Library]
- [http://www.trader-china.com/Agriculture/index.html Agriculture Directory] ko:농업 ja:農業 nb:Landbruk simple:Agriculture

Grape

Vitis acerifolia
Vitis aestivalis
Vitis amurensis
Vitis arizonica
Vitis x bourquina
Vitis californica
Vitis x champinii
Vitis cinerea
Vitis x doaniana
Vitis girdiana
Vitis labrusca
Vitis x labruscana
Vitis monticola
Vitis mustangensis
Vitis x novae-angliae
Vitis palmata
Vitis riparia
Vitis rotundifolia
Vitis rupestris
Vitis shuttleworthii
Vitis tiliifolia
Vitis vinifera
Vitis vulpina Grapes are the sweet juicy smooth fruit or berries that grow on a woody grapevine. The grapevine belongs to the family Vitaceae. Grapes grow in clusters of 6 to 300, and can be black, blue, golden, green, purple-red and white. They can be eaten raw or used for making grape juice, jelly, wine, and grape seed oil. Raisins are the dried fruit of the grapevine, and the name actually comes from the French word for "grape". Wild grapevines are often considered a nuisance weed, as they cover other plants with their usually rather agressive growth. Grapevines are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on grapevines. Many species of grapevines exist and these include:
- Vitis vinifera, the European winemaking grapevine. Native to virtually all of mainland Europe.
- Vitis labrusca, the North American table and grape juice grapevines, sometimes used for wine. Native to Canada and the Eastern U.S.
- Vitis riparia, a wild vine of North America, sometimes used for winemaking and for jam. Native to the entire Eastern U.S. north to Quebec.
- Vitis rotundifolia, the muscadines, used for jams and wine. Native to the [[Southeastern U.S.{

Fig

About 800, including:
Ficus altissima
Ficus americana
Ficus aurea
Ficus benghalensis - Indian Banyan
Ficus benjamina - Weeping Fig
Ficus broadwayi
Ficus carica - Common Fig
Ficus citrifolia
Ficus drupacea
Ficus elastica
Ficus godeffroyi
Ficus grenadensis
Ficus hartii
Ficus lyrata
Ficus macbrideii
Ficus macrophylla - Moreton Bay Fig
Ficus microcarpa - Chinese Banyan
Ficus nota
Ficus obtusifolia
Ficus palmata
Ficus prolixa
Ficus pumila
Ficus racemosa
Ficus religiosa - Sacred Fig
Ficus rubiginosa - Port Jackson Fig
Ficus stahlii
Ficus sycomorus
Ficus thonningii
Ficus tinctoria
Ficus tobagensis
Ficus triangularis
Ficus trigonata
Ficus ulmifolia
Ficus vogelii Figs (Ficus) are a genus of about 800 species of woody trees, shrubs and vines in the family Moraceae, native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the warm temperate zone. temperate The genus includes one species, the Common Fig F. carica, that produces a commercial fruit called a fig; the fruit of many other species are edible though not widely consumed. Other examples of figs include the banyans and the Sacred Fig (Peepul or Bo) tree. Most species are evergreen, while those from temperate areas, and areas with a long dry season, are deciduous. A fig fruit is derived from a specially adapted flower. The fruit (an accessory fruit called a syconium) has a bulbous shape with a small opening (the ostiole) in the end and a hollow area inside lined with small red edible seeds. The fruit/flower is pollinated by small wasps that crawl through the opening to fertilise the fruit. Figs come in two sexes: hermaphrodite (called caprifigs because only goats eat them) and female. Fig wasps grow in caprifigs; when they mature, they mate, and the females leave in search of immature figs to lay their eggs in. When the wasp finds one, she pollinates the female flowers but will not lay eggs in the edible fig, only in the caprifig. Thus the edible fig ripens without any wasp frass in it. When a caprifig ripens, another caprifig must be ready to be pollinated. Tropical figs bear continuously, enabling fruit-eating animals to survive the time between masts. In temperate climes, wasps hibernate in figs, and there are distinct crops. Caprifigs have three crops per year; edible figs have two. The first of the two is small and is called breba; the breba figs are olynths. There is typically only one species of wasp capable of fertilizing the flowers of each species of fig, and therefore plantings of fig species outside of their native range results in effectively sterile individuals. For example, in Hawaii, some 60 species of figs have been introduced, but only four of the wasps that fertilize them have been introduced, so only four species of figs produce viable seeds there. Figs are also easily propagated from cuttings. An extraordinarily large self-rooted Wild Willowleaf Fig in South Africa is protected by the Wonderboom Nature Reserve. Michael Moore ran a ficus tree against Republican Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen from New Jersey in the year 2000.

Symbolism

New Jersey In the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament rotten figs are used as a symbol for destruction, and in the New Testament Jesus rebukes an unfruitful fig tree. The Fig is one of the two sacred trees in Islam. Many Muslims consider Fig trees sacred. Because of the peculiar form of the flower of figs, ancient Indians regarded the fig as a flowerless tree. Buddhist and Hindu texts sometimes refer to 'seeking flowers in a fig tree' to indicate something that is pointless or impossible, or to indicate the total absence of some quality (compare the Australian English language expression 'why search for the bunyip?'). References to the flowers of a fig may also be used to indicate great rarity- roughly comparable to the English expression 'rare as hen's teeth'. Pāli scholar K.R. Norman collected references to fig flowers in the Pāli canon in his translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, as well as writing an article entitled Rare as Fig Flowers that was published with his collected papers by the Pāli Text Society.

External links

- [http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/index.htm Figweb] Major reference site for the genus Ficus
- [http://www.figweb.org/Interaction/Video/index.htm Video: Interaction of figs and fig wasps] Multi-award-winning documentary
- [http://www.thefruitpages.com/figs.shtml Fig Fruit Information]
- [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/fig.html Fruits of Warm Climates: Fig]
- [http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/fig.html California Rare Fruit Growers: Fig Fruit Facts]
- [http://www.nafex.org/figs.htm North American Fruit Explorers: Fig] Category:Accessory fruit Category:Moraceae Category: plant morphology ja:イチジク ko:무화과나무 simple:Fig

Tomato

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, native to Central and South America, from Mexico to Peru. It is a short-lived perennial plant, grown as an annual plant, typically growing to 1-3 m tall, with a weakly woody stem that usually scrambles over other plants. The leaves are 10-25 cm long, pinnate, with 5-9 leaflets, each leaflet up to 8 cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1-2 cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3-12 together. The fruit is an edible, brightly colored (usually red, from the pigment lycopene) berry, 1-2 cm diameter in wild plants, commonly much larger in cultivated forms. The word tomato derives from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl (IPA ). IPA

History and distribution

Early history

IPA According to Andrew F. Smith's The Tomato in America, the tomato probably originated in the highlands on the west coast of South America. Smith notes that there is no evidence that the tomato was cultivated or even eaten before the Spanish arrived. Other researchers, however, have pointed out that this is not conclusive, as many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the very limited historical record. Much horticultural knowledge was lost after the arrival of Europeans, as the Roman Catholic Church had a policy of burning pre-Columbian information as pagan. In any case, by some means the tomato migrated to Central America. Mayan and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking, and it was being cultivated in southern Mexico, and probably in other areas, by the sixteenth century. The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated and was encouraged in Central America. Smith states that this variant is the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.

Spanish distribution

After the Spanish conquest of South America, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean. They also brought it to the Philippines, from whic