Bazaruto Archipelago

Off the eastern coast of MOZAMBIQUE in Southern Africa, the Bazaruto Archipelago is a group of several islands in the Indian Ocean. Bazaruto is a slender, vertically oriented island that is about 19 miles and 30.5 kilometers long. An image search of Bazaruto island gives you the idea that it is known for sand dunes and idyllic beach settings. Other islands include Benguerra, Magaruque, Pansy Shell, and Santa Carolina (Paradise Island). Pansy Shell island is named after the pansy shell sea urchins (sand dollars) that can be found on the island. Ihassoro and Vilankulo (Vilanculos) are the closest cities on Mozambique's mainland.

Admiralty Islands

Being the location of WWII battles, the Admiralty Islands were controlled by Japan in the 1940s until the United States took over during the Pacific island hopping campaign; they now belong to PAPUA NEW GUINEA. The islands are in the northern fringe of the Bismarck Sea, which is north of most islands in Papua New Guinea. Manus Island - the largest island of the Admiralty Islands - and Los Negros Island usually look like one conjoined island on satellite images; there is a bridge that connects both islands. Manus is approximately 58 miles from side to side (about 93 kilometers) and has multiple villages, including (from west to east) Lessau, Likum, Drehet, Labahan, Selalou, and Lorengau. Go east and you will find Los Negros island, which looks like a peninsula attached to Manus in Google Maps, satellite images, and other maps. The road view of Bing Maps, however, easily shows the distinction between both islands. Momote Airport is located on the southern part of Los Negros. Other Admiralty Islands are very close to Manus, while others are farther out. All of these islands - which include Lou, Mbatmanda, the Palawat Islands, Pityilu, Rambutyo, and Tong - are much smaller than Manus.

Current Events Around the World - March 2014

This is a quick recap of major current events throughout the world. Of course, keep up to date with news via your favorite channel, website, or newspaper.

CHINA — Fox Business reports that the world's largest cellular phone carrier, China Mobile, saw a profit reduction which has not happened since 14 years ago.

ETHIOPIA — Bloomberg reports that the East African country will soon generate hydroelectricity from the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam. Djibouti and Sudan already receive power from Ethiopia, and countries like Kenya, South Sudan, and even Yemen may receive power from the dam. However, Egypt fears that the project will reduce the Nile River's flow.

FIJI — The South Pacific Ocean country comprised of many islands beat South Africa to win the Tokyo Sevens rugby tournament. South Africa was last year's champion.

MALAYSIA — Satellite images from Australia and China showing possible airplane debris are being examined in hopes to pinpoint the location of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which had over 200 passengers on board.

RUSSIA and UKRAINE — Russia still has military forces in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, and Russia declared that it annexes Crimea.

SOUTH AFRICA — Oscar Pistorius, the inspirational Olympian in the London 2012 Olympics, is still on trial for possibly murdering his girlfriend. CNN reports that he sold his Pretoria home in order to pay for ongoing court costs.

UNITED STATES — Washington state had a landslide near the town of Darrington; unfortunately, there were deaths and injuries.

VENEZUELA — Deaths and injuries have occurred because of protests and clashes between President Nicholas Maduro's supporters and opponents. The recent calamities have happened in Mérida and San Cristobal.

WORLDWIDE — March 21 was Worldwide Down Syndrome Day, which raises awareness about Down Syndrome and celebrates the lives of those who are overcoming this ailment. Rock Your Socks, in which people wear wildly colorful socks, is a fun way to raise awareness about Down Syndrome. Events occurred around the world on March 21st (like the flash mob at the Indianapolis International Airport, for example) and are still ongoing.

Mystery of the Malaysia Airlines Plane

The geographic area of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been recently expanded, and what happened to the plane is still a true mystery. Over 200 individuals from multiple countries on the plane were bound for Beijing, China after departing from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Investigators and officials originally reasoned that the plane disappeared somewhere over the South China Sea, which is east of the Malay Peninsula. However, it is now possible that the plane deviated from its original flight path and ended up over the Straits of Malacca, which are on the peninsula's west side. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families whose loved ones were onboard.

Y Country - Yemen

The A to Z categories are based on the English language and inadvertently might not include all native country names.

YEMEN, a Middle Eastern country with plenty of deserts, is the only country that has a name beginning with the letter Y. You may have noticed that the previous post was about V countries; that is because there are no W or X countries. There are various entities and territories that start with the letter W - Wake Island, Wallis & Futuna, West Bank, and Western Sahara - but they are not countries.

Discover more about Yemen by visiting my Yemen post that focuses exclusively on this country!

V Countries

The A to Z categories are based on the English language and inadvertently might not include all native country names.

There are four countries that have names starting with the letter V. One country, VENEZUELA, is in the Western Hemisphere at the northern edge of South America, located south of the Caribbean Sea. The other three countries are in the Eastern Hemisphere. They are VANUATU in the South Pacific Ocean, the VATICAN CITY which is completely surrounded by Italy in Southern Europe, and VIETNAM in Southeast Asia.

GeoFact of the Day Blog Post Links
Vanuatu — Vatican City — Venezuela — Vietnam

Malawi's Interesting Exclave Islands

There are several islands in Lake Malawi (also called Lake Nyasa) of East Africa that belong to MALAWI, even though they are much closer to MOZAMBIQUE, the country that is visible to the east of the islands in the embedded Google Map below. As the map shows, the two small regions are part of Malawi, while Mozambique possesses the surrounding water. Likoma is the largest island of Malawi's exclaves; the largest town on the island is Mbamba, which is also known as Chipyela. The island to the left of Likoma is Chizumulu, and the smaller island to the left of Chizumulu is Machili. Other small islands to the east of Likoma that are not shown on the Google map include Ilala, Mbamba, and the Mbuzi Islands.

Great Blue Heron in Indiana

Data used to make this map came from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

Globally, Great Blue Heron populations are widespread and abundant. However, the bird species is endangered in almost all Indiana counties. One reason that the bird is endangered in Indiana is that their preferred wetland habitat has been widely reduced, especially since the early 1900s when large areas of wetlands were converted for development and agriculture. There are efforts by state governments, the national government, nonprofit and non-governmental organizations, and environment groups to protect Great Blue Heron populations in the United States and Indiana. For example, the National Park Service manages the Great Blue Heron Rookery in Porter County (Northwest Indiana) in order to protect nesting grounds.

There are only 23 Indiana counties where the Great Blue Heron is not on the endangered list. There may be enough birds that the counties do not need to be on the list, or the birds do not live in those counties. These counties are Benton, Blackford, Clark, Clay, Daviess, Dearborn, Dubois, Fayette, Floyd, Hamilton, Harrison, Knox, Morgan, Ohio, Orange, Perry, Scott, Shelby, Switzerland, Tipton, Union, Vanderburgh, and Vermillion.

Shortland Islands

An archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean and Solomon Sea, the Shortland Islands are found in the western part of SOLOMON ISLANDS (a country in Oceania). John Shortland, a Royal Navy officer that served for Great Britain centuries ago, discovered the island group and named it in the late 1700s. Shortland Island is the largest island, and other islands include Asie, Ballalae, Benana, Fauro, Illina, Magusaiai, Masamasa, Nielai, Nusakova, Ovau, Piru, and Rohae. Another country, Papua New Guinea, is very close to the Shortland Islands. Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island, which is much larger than the Shortland Islands, is less than 5 miles northwest of the closest island (Ovau). The Treasury Islands, another archipelago in the western Solomon Islands, are located south of the Shortland Islands.

Countries with Libraries Using the Dewey Decimal System

Invented by Melvin Dewey in 1876, the Dewey Decimal Classification system is the world's most popular way of organizing library books, being used by libraries in over 100 countries in six continents: Africa, Asia, Australia & Oceania, Europe, North America, and South America. Many of the countries that use the DDC are developed, but some of the world's most impoverished countries use it as well. DDC users include Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Fiji, Greece, Guyana, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Namibia, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, Tonga, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.