November 1 – Revolution Day in Algeria

Posted on November 1, 2016

Notice that Algeria (on the map above)
is quite close to France (on the map
below).

Like most nations in Africa, Algeria was colonized by a European nation. Well, to be honest, it was more conquered than colonized – in 1830 France invaded Algeria, and the war of conquest was long and bloody. When Algeria was good and won, French officials encouraged French citizens to move from France to Algeria and apparently were given lands that had been confiscated from native Algerians. In this sense, Algeria was more considered another, new extension of France rather than a colony!

Also like most African nations, Algerians eventually fought to control their own country, starting with a series of attacks on this date in 1954.

During this war of independence, French control of Algeria lost respect from and support of other nations around the world.

Algeria finally became fully independent on July 5, 1962.

Algeria is about 80% desert! Luckily, desert can be BEAUTIFUL!

Where there is water, Algeria can be just as beautiful...

Note (above) the crazy-looking antics of teens 

atop the travertine wall of Hammam Meskhoutine 

Springs (below, the wall seen from below)!

Also on this date:

Puno Jubilee Week in Peru  

Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos)

Antigua and Barbuda's National Day

Give Up Your Shoulds Day

Prime Meridian Day

Continental-drift guy / geophysicist Alfred Wegener's birthday

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• November holidays
• November birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in November

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• December holidays
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December

June 17 – World Day to Combat Desertification

Posted on June 17, 2016

As you may already have guessed, “desertification” doesn't have anything to do with turning things into yummy sweet desserts. Instead, it means turning land into deserts.

Deserts, as I am sure you know, can be cold or hot, low-lying or high-altitude, but what makes them deserts is that they are generally very dry. In some deserts, the very infrequent rains that occur all come at once in violent downpours that cause flash floods. That means that most of the water falling on the land doesn't get to seep into the land and add to an underground water table—but instead rushes off to other places. Some deserts are dotted with oases, places with underground springs and therefore a riot of plant and animal life.

Most deserts are home to quite a few animals and plants that have adapted to living in dry places, but life is more sparse – more spaced out. It is harder to grow crops in deserts, although irrigation channels or underground pipes can bring needed water from far away rivers and reservoirs. It is harder to raise animals in deserts, although again ranchers can ship in food and water to supplement whatever is there in the environment.

Basically, we humans don't particularly want MORE deserts. Even though they can be unbelievably beautiful, it's hard to live in the desert.

But some things that people do cause more deserts or desertlike lands to form! How is that possible?

When people chop down forests, the fertile soil that used to be held by tree roots quickly erodes away, the cycles of life from the fallen leaves and insects and decomposers are disrupted or eliminated, and rainfall runs off faster. The productivity of the land can be so diminished that desertlike land is created even if rainfall levels don't change, but rainfall levels often do change because trees are an important part of the water cycle!

The same thing can happen when people farm poorly and eliminate all the minerals and organic materials from the soil, or when people overgraze land. When soil chemistry is changed, its ability to hold water is also changed.

Also, as you may have guessed, global climate change can create deserts where their used to be rich farmland or lively forests, because weather patterns are changed.

What happens when lands go through desertification is a whole slew of bad things. Naturally, the plants, animals, and other organisms that make up the old ecosystem are lost, but also people are no longer able to use their land either to grow and raise their own food nor to produce food to sell. When people can no longer feed their families, they migrate to urban areas or even to other nations. More than half of the world's refugees are fleeing lands degraded by desertification!

I live in the U.S. There is quite a bit of talk in my country about “illegal aliens” – people coming to the U.S. from Mexico without the usual legal paperwork. It turns out that many of the illegal immigrants are fleeing badly degraded lands. According to the Natural Heritage Institute, about 60% of Mexico can be considered degraded!

How can people prevent or reverse desertification? 

• Check out the information on How Stuff Works and GreenFacts. 

• And check out this video from Study-dot-com.  

• Finally, check out the U.N. website on World Day to Combat Desertification. 

Also on this date:

Eat Your Vegetables Day

Iceland's National Day

Artist M. C. Escher's birthday

Stewart's Root Beer Day

Anniversary of the “discovery” of muskoxen

Bunker Hill Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• June holidays

• June birthdays

• Historical anniversaries in June

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• July holidays
  
• July birthdays
  
• Historical anniversaries in July

September 30 – Independence Day in Botswana

Posted on September 30, 2014

Celebrate Botswana today. Did you know that, ever since its 1966 independence from the United Kingdom, it has had uninterrupted democratic elections?

Can I get a hooray??

Kalahari Desert

In some ways, Botswana doesn't look so very great on paper. It's landlocked, which means that it has no direct access to an ocean or sea. It's mostly desert – the Kalahari, to be exact. It's pretty flat. It's sparsely populated. One of its borders is poorly defined, even – usually a recipe for battles with neighbors. (In this case, Botswana's northern border with Zambia is only a few hundred meters - less than a mile – long!)

But in other ways, Botswana looks great on paper: 

It has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and THE highest Human Development Index rating in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Also, there are some areas in which there are diverse wildlife, including the world's largest concentration of African elephants.

Dense and sparse population

Some nations are very small, land-wise, and although their populations are also small, the population is dense. In other words, a lot of people are concentrated together in a small region. Two great examples of this are Singapore and Hong Kong.

Other countries have cities in which there is this sort of dense population – but there are also huge tracts of land with no people, often no roads, even. Those countries have what is called sparse populations – because if you could spread all the people out evenly, across the whole country, the people would be few and far between.

Some great examples of sparsely populated nations are Canada, with its frozen tundra and forested mountains, and Mongolia.

Here are some numbers you can compare. These statistics tell us how many people would be standing in each and every square mile of land, if you spread the people out evenly:

Singapore:          19,731

Hong Kong:         16,983

South Korea:         1,303

United Kingdom:      679

France:                    306

United States:            84

Canada:                       9

Mongolia:                     4

How many people, do you think, does Botswana have per square mile?

It turns out that Botswana's population density is about the same as Canada's, with about nine people per square mile.

Learn more...

• Learn more about Botswana's food here.
  
  
  
  
  
  

• 
  Obviously, not all of Botswana is desert. Check out this gorgeous gallery of photos, largely featuring the Okavango Delta.

• 
  Check out the video on the National Geographic website.

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the first tooth extraction with anesthesia

Chewing-gum mogul William Wrigley's birthday

Anniversary of the commissioning of the world's first nuclear submarine

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September
  

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• October holidays
• October birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in October

August 26, 2012 - Heroes' Day in Namibia

Like so many other places, the dry lands of Namibia had been ruled by various outsider groups and governments, including Germany and South Africa.

This patriotic holiday commemorates the Namibian War of Independence, which began on this date in 1966. Namibians didn't succeed in winning full independence from South Africa until 1990.

The nation is one of the least densely populated countries in the world. This is because of the vast Namib Desert, which lies along the Atlantic coast. (It is surprising to me to have a desert alongside the ocean!) This is oldest desert in the world. Part of the desert is covered in “sand seas,” or sand dunes; these dunes are the second largest in the world—up to 980 feet high!

The coastal part of the Namib Desert has more than 180 days of thick fog each year. The fog has led to many shipwrecks—more than 1,000 wrecks are strewn along the “Skeleton Coast”—but does provide moisture for the desert plants and creatures. There is a richer diversity of life forms in this desert than in any other desert on Earth, including even wild horses!

Enjoy...

Here is a gorgeous video of the Namib Desert, including the famous sand dunes. 

 Some people ski down the sand dunes, just as they would down snowy mountains, as you can see in this video. 

Also on this date:

Women's Equality Day here... 

...and here