Browsing: Travel

A Brief History On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria and the absorption of Austria into Germany became a fact.  Other countries have either merged or absorbed independent lands, either voluntarily or involuntarily, and today we look at some of those mergers. Digging Deeper A long lasting, but tenuous merger is the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This union was a work in progress from 1535 to 1801, until most of Ireland became independent in 1922. The USSR, which resulted from Russia transforming into a giant communist state in 1922, incorporated 21 “republics” and…

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A Brief History On March 10, 1535, Tomás de Berlanga, a Spanish Bishop based in Panama, accidentally discovered the Galapagos Islands while sailing to Peru. These beautiful islands were not occupied by humans at the time and seem to never have had human inhabitants.  The 18 main islands are famous for their unique species of animals and plants and as the inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution. Digging Deeper Accidental discoveries have led to great things, including: In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas, finding the Americas while on his way to East Asia, opening a vast and rich…

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A Brief History On February 15, 1949, even Indiana Jones would have been envious of the work of Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux who began digging at the Qumran Caves where they later found the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish documents that date back as far as the 3rd Century BC. Digging Deeper Some other contenders for the title of “Greatest Archaeological Find” include: The Rosetta Stone, found in 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, finally allowed researchers to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics. King Tut’s Tomb, found in 1922, totaled over 5,000 objects from Ancient Egypt, the…

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A Brief History On February 14, 1779, Captain James Cook, navigator, map maker, and explorer, was killed by native Hawaiians at the island of Hawaii near what is now Kealakekua. Cook is one of several notable explorers to die while exploring, including: Digging Deeper Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sea captain often cited as the “first person to circumnavigate the Earth,” actually never completed his famous voyage as he was killed in a fight with natives in the Philippines in 1521. Robert Falcon Scott died trying to become the first person to reach the South Pole in 1912. Scott and four…

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A Brief History On February 3, 1998, a bizarre aircraft accident occurred on the ski slopes of Italy when a USMC EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare jet flew below allowable altitude and cut the cable to a cable car carrying skiers. Digging Deeper The cable car was carrying an operator and 19 passengers, all of whom were killed as the car fell 300 feet from the severed cable.  The pilot and navigator of the jet were uninjured, and the damaged jet made a safe landing. The accident happened in the Dolomite mountains at Cavalese, and of course, the Italian public and…

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