Maria Lucia Fernandez was born in bogota on October 14, 1968 is a Colombian journalist and news presenter.
She worked as a model in her teens to afford her studies in Social Communication at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
As news presenter, she worked in TV shows like Panorama, QAP Noticias and 7:30 Caracol.
Since 1998, she's one of the main newsreaders at Caracol Noticias. She also worked at Caracol Radio until 2004.
Fernandez, also known as Malu, likes to write and read in her free time.
martes, 20 de noviembre de 2007
My future plans
when I think about the future. I like to project myself many diferent aspect.
those aspect are my personal life and my career I will start by telling you about my personal life.
I six year I will have many wonderfull learning experiences that will make me a better person.
I will continued to have very strong bonds with my family I will still go to saturday dinner to see all my boyfriend, and friends.
i will married the manI love with my heart. I am planning to have any kids, I will have Work in the BBC channel.
those aspect are my personal life and my career I will start by telling you about my personal life.
I six year I will have many wonderfull learning experiences that will make me a better person.
I will continued to have very strong bonds with my family I will still go to saturday dinner to see all my boyfriend, and friends.
i will married the manI love with my heart. I am planning to have any kids, I will have Work in the BBC channel.
lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2007
Angela Patricia Janiot biography
Angela Patricia Janiot Martirena was born in 1965 in Bucaramanga, Colombia, she is a
Colombian journalist and news presenter.
Before becoming a journalist, Janiot was the first-runner up on Miss Colombia pageant in 1983.
She studied Social Communication at University of the Savannah in Bogota. She joined CNN in
1992, where she hosted the Noticiero CNN Internacional. Since CNN en Espanol was founded in
1997, she became one of its main news presenter.
She has received several journalism awards, as the Golden Mike Award in 1990 and the Simon
Bolivar Journalism Award in Colombia. She also was nominated to the Emmy Award.
Janiot has a foundation called Colombianitos, which helps the children who are victims of the
Colombian armed conflict. She is married to Miguel Yenos and currently lives in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Colombian journalist and news presenter.
Before becoming a journalist, Janiot was the first-runner up on Miss Colombia pageant in 1983.
She studied Social Communication at University of the Savannah in Bogota. She joined CNN in
1992, where she hosted the Noticiero CNN Internacional. Since CNN en Espanol was founded in
1997, she became one of its main news presenter.
She has received several journalism awards, as the Golden Mike Award in 1990 and the Simon
Bolivar Journalism Award in Colombia. She also was nominated to the Emmy Award.
Janiot has a foundation called Colombianitos, which helps the children who are victims of the
Colombian armed conflict. She is married to Miguel Yenos and currently lives in Atlanta,
Georgia.
BIOGRAPHY GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
was born in 1928 in the small town of Aracataca, situated in a tropical region of northern
Colombia, between the mountains and the Caribbean Sea. He grew up with his maternal
grandparent - his grandfather was a pensioned colonel from the civil war at the beginning of the
century. He went to a Jesuit college and began to read law, but his studies were soon broken off
for his work as a journalist. In 1954 he was sent to Rome* on an assignment for his newspaper,
and since then he has mostly lived abroad - in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico - in a
more or less compulsory exile. Besides his large output of fiction he has written screenplays and
has continued to work as a journalist.
Colombia, between the mountains and the Caribbean Sea. He grew up with his maternal
grandparent - his grandfather was a pensioned colonel from the civil war at the beginning of the
century. He went to a Jesuit college and began to read law, but his studies were soon broken off
for his work as a journalist. In 1954 he was sent to Rome* on an assignment for his newspaper,
and since then he has mostly lived abroad - in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Mexico - in a
more or less compulsory exile. Besides his large output of fiction he has written screenplays and
has continued to work as a journalist.
England vs. Colombia
England has a huge culture that combines elements both old and new as well as Colombia but the English Heriage is a governmental body with many historic sites, in fact I can say that all England is a place of history and art, each building, museum, library contains the finest collection of things in the world, in Colombia although we have museums are not as important, for me the most important museums are the golden museum, the house of coins and the museum of Botero.
About the people I can say that the English have played a significant role in the development of the arts, sciences and architecture, for example they have played an important role in the advance of Western architecture and they do magnificent churches and cathedrals. English architects have contributed to a number of different styles over the centuries, including Tudor architecture, English Baroque the Georgian style and Victorian movements such as Gothic Revival. For me the two best architects of England in this moment are Norman Foster and Richard Rogers but even though their very intelligent the people is very reserved, distant, cold, indifferent, they don’t have flavor in their souls and they don’t have much rhythm to dance.
In Colombia we haven’t played an important role in science or in architecture but we have very good architects like Pedro Gomez and Fernando Mazuera and we have the greatest cathedral of all that is the Cathedral of salt that is considered a jewel in modern architecture, because it was an old mine of salt and they do the cathedral inside it with 22m tall and it has a space for 8000 people.
About the people I can say that we are very open, happy, joyful, when ever some one arrive to Colombia they fell at home because of our warm.
We also love to dance, we carry the rhythm in our souls that’s why we party so much and have many carnivals and fairs.
Also I want to rescue the greatest thing we have and is the music, we have Clasic music, rock and pop like the English but we have music that gets to your heart and body, for all tastes like the Cumbia, Vallenato, Porro, Bambuco, Salsa, currulao, Chapeta, Reggueton and musica llanera.
About the people I can say that the English have played a significant role in the development of the arts, sciences and architecture, for example they have played an important role in the advance of Western architecture and they do magnificent churches and cathedrals. English architects have contributed to a number of different styles over the centuries, including Tudor architecture, English Baroque the Georgian style and Victorian movements such as Gothic Revival. For me the two best architects of England in this moment are Norman Foster and Richard Rogers but even though their very intelligent the people is very reserved, distant, cold, indifferent, they don’t have flavor in their souls and they don’t have much rhythm to dance.
In Colombia we haven’t played an important role in science or in architecture but we have very good architects like Pedro Gomez and Fernando Mazuera and we have the greatest cathedral of all that is the Cathedral of salt that is considered a jewel in modern architecture, because it was an old mine of salt and they do the cathedral inside it with 22m tall and it has a space for 8000 people.
About the people I can say that we are very open, happy, joyful, when ever some one arrive to Colombia they fell at home because of our warm.
We also love to dance, we carry the rhythm in our souls that’s why we party so much and have many carnivals and fairs.
Also I want to rescue the greatest thing we have and is the music, we have Clasic music, rock and pop like the English but we have music that gets to your heart and body, for all tastes like the Cumbia, Vallenato, Porro, Bambuco, Salsa, currulao, Chapeta, Reggueton and musica llanera.
comparing restaurants
In Monteria there are many restaurants very beautiful for example I comparing two of the most important: Piccola and Terra lontana .
Although these two restaurants are good options if you want eat well food you can get two options, Piccola or Terra lontana.
Piccola is Located in Street 29 while Terra Lontana is located in Alamedas del Sinú shopping Center.
Besides, Terra Lontana opens from 11 am to 10 pm and while piccola opens later and closes very late in the evening perhaps 12 pm.
Terra Lontana have a bar salads which is made of fresh vegetables and fruit. In contrast Piccola dosen´t have this service.
Taking into account the place, it is clear that both restaurants are big, however, Terra Lontana its more confortable than piccola.
Although these two restaurants are good options if you want eat well food you can get two options, Piccola or Terra lontana.
Piccola is Located in Street 29 while Terra Lontana is located in Alamedas del Sinú shopping Center.
Besides, Terra Lontana opens from 11 am to 10 pm and while piccola opens later and closes very late in the evening perhaps 12 pm.
Terra Lontana have a bar salads which is made of fresh vegetables and fruit. In contrast Piccola dosen´t have this service.
Taking into account the place, it is clear that both restaurants are big, however, Terra Lontana its more confortable than piccola.
comparing two restaurants.
In bogotá there are many restaurants very luxurios for example I comparing two od the most
important: El Corral and Mc donalds.
Although these two restaurants are good options if you want eat fast food you can get two
options, EL CORRAL or MC donalds.
Mc Donalds ir Located in street 127 with Highway while el corral is located in the 93 park.
Besides Mc Donalds opens 24 hours while El CORRAL opens from 11am to 11pm.
Regards to the food that they offers, El Corral offer more varied food than Mc Donalds.
Considering the prizes it is worth saying that Mc donalds has better prizes for the people than
EL CORRAL, wich is a more lot expensive.
My Biography
My name is Carolina Quintero, I was born in Montería Córdoba Colombia in August 20 1984.
My father´s name is Jorge Quintero he studied at the los andes university in Bogotá Colombia, and he studied Mecanical ingeniery.
In the other hand my mother studied designer at univesridad de Córdoba.
When I was a child I studied in “LA SALLE” school and I graduated in prom 2002, when I got of my Hig school I decided estuding arquitecture at the javeriana university and I studied 5 semesters of this career, but I don´t Like so much this career so I changed.
Then I went to Sabana University and studied Jurnalism and in this moment I curse 5th semester and I so very Happy.
Last semester I had the oportunity of work in a website about sports news and was great experience.
In this moment I want to finish my career and I´m move to Argentina with my boyfriend and my friends.
Good luck teacher.
My father´s name is Jorge Quintero he studied at the los andes university in Bogotá Colombia, and he studied Mecanical ingeniery.
In the other hand my mother studied designer at univesridad de Córdoba.
When I was a child I studied in “LA SALLE” school and I graduated in prom 2002, when I got of my Hig school I decided estuding arquitecture at the javeriana university and I studied 5 semesters of this career, but I don´t Like so much this career so I changed.
Then I went to Sabana University and studied Jurnalism and in this moment I curse 5th semester and I so very Happy.
Last semester I had the oportunity of work in a website about sports news and was great experience.
In this moment I want to finish my career and I´m move to Argentina with my boyfriend and my friends.
Good luck teacher.
When I was a child
I AM 20 YEARS OLD AND I WAS BORN IN JUNE 26TH IN 1987. SOME YEARS BEFORE THINGS IN MY LIFE WERE VERY DIFFERENT. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I LIKED TO PLAY WITH MY FRIENDS AND PARENTS AT HOME.
I USED TO GO TO SCHOOL AND I PLAYED A LOT WITH MY COUSINS. BUT NOW IT IS DIFFERENT. NOW I SPEND MY TIME WITH FRIENDS, GOING OUT, DANCING, PLAYING CARDS, KARAOKE, ETC.
ALSO THINGS IN UNIVERSITY CHANGED FOR ME BECAUSE SCHOOL’S LIFE IS EASIER IT WAS A PERSONALIZED SCHOOL AND THEACHERS THERE, GUIDED AND SUPPORTED ME IN ALL MY PROGRESS AND PROCESS.
NOW IN THE UNIVERSITY NOBODY IS TAKING CARE OF ME, LIKE IN SCHOOL AND BECAUSE OF THAT RESPONSIBILITY IS SO MUCH BIGGER.
BUT THERE ARE ALSO THINGS THAT HAVE NO CHANGE AT ALL. I STILL SPEND AND SHARE TIME WITH MY FAMILY AND I KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MY COUSINS. WE USE TO REMEMBER THINGS WE USED TO DO.
FINALLY I THINK THAT GROWING UP IS GOOD, IF YOU NEVER LOOSE SENCILLEZ AND THE ABILITY OF GET SURPRISED BY LITTLE THINGS THE SAME WAY WHEN WE WERE KIDS.
I USED TO GO TO SCHOOL AND I PLAYED A LOT WITH MY COUSINS. BUT NOW IT IS DIFFERENT. NOW I SPEND MY TIME WITH FRIENDS, GOING OUT, DANCING, PLAYING CARDS, KARAOKE, ETC.
ALSO THINGS IN UNIVERSITY CHANGED FOR ME BECAUSE SCHOOL’S LIFE IS EASIER IT WAS A PERSONALIZED SCHOOL AND THEACHERS THERE, GUIDED AND SUPPORTED ME IN ALL MY PROGRESS AND PROCESS.
NOW IN THE UNIVERSITY NOBODY IS TAKING CARE OF ME, LIKE IN SCHOOL AND BECAUSE OF THAT RESPONSIBILITY IS SO MUCH BIGGER.
BUT THERE ARE ALSO THINGS THAT HAVE NO CHANGE AT ALL. I STILL SPEND AND SHARE TIME WITH MY FAMILY AND I KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MY COUSINS. WE USE TO REMEMBER THINGS WE USED TO DO.
FINALLY I THINK THAT GROWING UP IS GOOD, IF YOU NEVER LOOSE SENCILLEZ AND THE ABILITY OF GET SURPRISED BY LITTLE THINGS THE SAME WAY WHEN WE WERE KIDS.
BOGOTÁ AND CARTAGENA
Bogotá is an enormous and modern city. There are many shopping malls, restaurants and places to spend your time. Some years ago, the status of Bogota was very different and difficult because the streets were damaged and the pavement did not resist the weight of the cars and buses. Now a days, these are built in order to meet the needs of the city.
Bogota has changed into a highly touristic city where foreign people can do business and buy goods that they can only buy here.
A few years ago, the distances were enormous and the means of transportation weren’t not only insufficient but also expensive. %0 years ago, there was a net of trams, but things have changed dramatically and so does the transportation means. The capital now counts with an infrastructure of buses, taxis, Transmilenio and a large number of particular cars.
During these years, Bogotá has changed from a small city into an enormous and modern city
Bogota has changed into a highly touristic city where foreign people can do business and buy goods that they can only buy here.
A few years ago, the distances were enormous and the means of transportation weren’t not only insufficient but also expensive. %0 years ago, there was a net of trams, but things have changed dramatically and so does the transportation means. The capital now counts with an infrastructure of buses, taxis, Transmilenio and a large number of particular cars.
During these years, Bogotá has changed from a small city into an enormous and modern city
miércoles, 31 de octubre de 2007
....HALLOWEEN....
Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses". The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", also which is now known as All Saints' Day. Some modern Halloween traditions developed out of older pagan traditions, especially surrounding the Irish holiday Samhain, a day associated both with the harvest and otherworldly spirits. Halloween is now celebrated in several parts of the Western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom and occasionally in parts of Australia and New Zealand.
Many European cultural traditions, in particular Celtic cultures, hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent.
Scotland:
Halloween, known in Scottish Gaelic as "Oidhche Shamhna", consists chiefly of children going door to door "guising", i.e., dressed in a disguise (often as a witch or ghost) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits or money. There is no Scottish 'trick or treat' tradition; on the contrary, 'trick or treat' has its origins in the guising customs.
Australia and New Zealand:
In the southern hemisphere, spring is in full swing by October 31, and the days are rapidly growing longer and brighter. This does not mesh well with the traditional Celtic spirit of Halloween, which relies on an atmosphere of the encroaching darkness of winter. However, Halloween has recently gained a large amount of recognition in Australia and to a moderate extent New Zealand, largely due to American media influences, with many young families in Australia embracing the tradition.
On Halloween night, horror films and horror-themed TV episodes are traditionally aired, Halloween private parties are more commonly held than actual "trick-or-treating", however both are still observed.
In the southern hemisphere, spring is in full swing by October 31, and the days are rapidly growing longer and brighter. This does not mesh well with the traditional Celtic spirit of Halloween, which relies on an atmosphere of the encroaching darkness of winter. However, Halloween has recently gained a large amount of recognition in Australia and to a moderate extent New Zealand, largely due to American media influences, with many young families in Australia embracing the tradition.
On Halloween night, horror films and horror-themed TV episodes are traditionally aired, Halloween private parties are more commonly held than actual "trick-or-treating", however both are still observed.
jueves, 4 de octubre de 2007
England
Capital: Londres.
Language: English.
Area: 130.395 km2.
Religion: 79% of the British populations declare protestant, 10% catholic and, 9% other religions.
Geography: England includes most of South half of the island of Great Britain, and limits the north with Scotland and the west with Wales. According to the 2001 census the population of England was of 49.138.831 inhabitants.
Government: Constitutional Monarchy.
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II.
Language: English.
Area: 130.395 km2.
Religion: 79% of the British populations declare protestant, 10% catholic and, 9% other religions.
Geography: England includes most of South half of the island of Great Britain, and limits the north with Scotland and the west with Wales. According to the 2001 census the population of England was of 49.138.831 inhabitants.
Government: Constitutional Monarchy.
Monarch: Queen Elizabeth II.
martes, 2 de octubre de 2007
Australia
Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania and a number of other islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans N4 The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east.
The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north[citation needed] and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation as part of the colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established during the 19th century.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory. The population is 21 million, and is concentrated in the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Etymology
View of Port Jackson, the site where Sydney was established, taken from the South Head. (From A Voyage to Terra Australis.)
The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning "of the South". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) dating back to Roman times were commonplace in mediæval geography, but were based on no actual knowledge of the continent. The first use of the word "Australia" in English was in 1625 — the words "A note of Australia del Espiritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus. The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south in 1638. "Australia" was used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1692 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny under the pen name Jacques Sadeur. Alexander Dalrymple then used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), to refer to the entire South Pacific region. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland."
The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders, the first recorded person to circumnavigate Australia. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the British Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be officially adopted). In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as "Australia".
History
The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. These first Australians were possibly the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they may have arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day South-East Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; their cultural practices were and remain distinct from those of the Aborigines.
Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia on HM Bark Endeavour, claiming the land for Great Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988; photographed in Cooktown Harbour where Cook spent seven weeks.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.[citation needed]
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northe Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a "free province" — that is, it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts. The transportation of convicts to the colony of New South Wales ceased in 1848 after a campaign by the settlers.
The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration.The removal of children from their families, which some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by some definitions, may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land — native title — was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("empty land") at the time of European occupation.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Such ceremonies are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed from a part of New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I.[ Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation — its first major military action. The Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom when Australia adopted it in 1942. The shock of the United Kingdom's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other non-European parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and self-image have been radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. In 1999, Australian voters rejected by a majority of less than 5% a move to become a republic with a president appointed by Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia–Pacific region.
Politics
Parliament House in Canberra was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at Federal level and by the Governors at State level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.
There are three branches of government:
The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives; the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, whose powers are limited to assenting to laws.
The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the Executive Councillors); in practice, the councillors are the Prime Minister and Ministers of State.
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986.
The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats. In the Senate, each state is represented by 12 senators, and the territories (the ACT and the NT) by two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; Senators have overlapping six-year terms, and only half of the seats are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms government, and its leader becomes Prime Minister.
There are three major political parties: the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties — including the Greens and the Australian Democrats — have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate - the first time in more than 20 years that a party (or coalition) has done so while in government. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in each state and territory and at the federal level; such enrolment is compulsory in all jurisdictions but South Australia.
States and territories
Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government.
Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house is known as the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles.
Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Foreign relations and the military
Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Australia has energetically pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid programme under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Australia's armed forces — the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), numbering about 51,000. All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current Chief of the Defence Force is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In the 2006–07 Budget, defence spending is $22 billion.
Geography
Australia's 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,299 sq. mi) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the IndianN4 and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 34,218 kilometres (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands) and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,057 sq. mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,250 mi). Mount Augustus claimed to be the world's largest monolith,is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 metres (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 metres (9,006 ft).
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the flattest continent, has the oldest and least fertile soils, and is the driest inhabited continent. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. Most of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. The landscapes of the northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, consist of rainforest, woodland, grassland, mangrove swamps and desert. The climate is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia.
Flora and fauna
Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the national Biodiversity Action Plan to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the world on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index.
Most Australian woody plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including many eucalyptus and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, wombat; and birds such as the emu and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; others have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine.
Economy
Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France in terms of purchasing power parity. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2006 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. The absence of an export-oriented manufacturing industry has been considered a key weakness of the Australian economy. More recently, rising prices for Australia's commodity exports and increasing tourism have made this criticism less relevant. Nevertheless, Australia has the world's fourth largest current account deficit in absolute terms (in relative terms it is more than 7% of GDP). This is considered problematic by some economists, especially as it has coincided with the high terms of trade and low interest rates that make the cost of servicing the foreign debt low.
The Hawke Government started the process of economic reform by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and partially deregulating the financial system. The Howard government has continued the process of microeconomic reform, including a partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. The indirect tax system was substantially reformed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax, which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that characterises Australia's tax system.
As of January 2007, there were 10,033,480 people employed, with an unemployment rate of 4.6% Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3% and base interest rates 5–6%. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, comprises 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural resources comprise 3% and 5% of GDP but contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the US, South Korea and New Zealand.
Demograpy
Most of the estimated 21 million Australians are descended from 19th and 20th century European settlers, the majority from the British Isles. As of 2006, around 90% of Australia's population was of European descent. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I, spurred by an ambitious immigration programme. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas. Most immigrants are skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees. In 2001, the five largest groups of the 23.1% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people immigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania.Migration target for 2006–07 was 144,000.
The Indigenous population — mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders — was 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1976 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education and life expectancies for males and females that are 17 years lower than those of other Australians.
Fewer than 15% of Australians live in rural areas. This picture shows the Barossa Valley wine producing region of South Australia.
In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country.
English is the national language,and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English. According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and all but 20 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people.
Australia has no state religion. The 2006 census identified that 64% of Australians call themselves Christian: 26% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic and 19% as Anglican. Australians who identify themselves as followers of non-Christian religions number 5%. A total of 19% were categorised as having "No Religion" (which includes non-theistic beliefs such as humanism, atheism, agnosticism and rationalism) and a further 12% declined to answer or did not give a response adequate for interpretation. As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is much lower than this; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, about 7.5% of the population.
School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia between the ages of 6–15 years (16 years in South Australia and Tasmania, and 17 years in Western Australia), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities, and although several private universities have been established, the majority receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians between the ages of 25 and 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications and the tertiary graduation rate of 49% is highest of OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.
Culture
The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne was the first building in Australia to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Since 1788, the primary basis of Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. The vigour and originality of the arts in Australia — literature, cinema, opera, music, painting, theatre, dance, and crafts — have achieved international recognition.
Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal music, dance and art have a palpable influence on contemporary Australian visual and performing arts. Australia has an active tradition of music, ballet and theatre; many of its performing arts companies receive public funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each capital city, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, first made prominent by the renowned diva Dame Joan Sutherland; Australian music includes classical, jazz, and many popular genres.
Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of colonial Australia, as embodied in early literature, resonates with modern Australia and its perceived emphasis on egalitarianism, mateship, and anti-authoritarianism. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is recognised as one of the great English-language writers of the 20th century. Australian English is a major variety of the language; its grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English, overlaid with a rich vernacular of unique lexical items and phrases, some of which have found their way into standard English.
Australian rules football was developed in Victoria in the late 1850s and is played at amateur and professional levels. It is the most popular spectator sport in Australia, in terms of annual attendances and club memberships.
Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and the multicultural SBS), three commercial television networks, several pay TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Australia's film industry has achieved critical and commercial successes. Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2006, Australia was in 35th position on a list of countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (19th) and the United Kingdom (27th) but ahead of the United States. This low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia; in particular, most Australian print media are under the control of News Corporation and John Fairfax Holdings.
Sport plays an important part in Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities; 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling, rowing and swimming. Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football, horse racing, football (soccer) and motor racing. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and has ranked among the top five medal-takers since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held regularly in Australia include the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, annual international cricket matches and the Formula One Australian Grand Pri. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and elite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest rating television programmes include the summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football (various codes) competitions.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania and a number of other islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans N4 The neighbouring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east.
The Australian mainland has been inhabited for more than 42,000 years by Indigenous Australians. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the north[citation needed] and by European explorers and merchants starting in the 17th century, the eastern half of Australia was claimed by the British in 1770 and initially settled through penal transportation as part of the colony of New South Wales on 26 January 1788. As the population grew and new areas were explored, another five largely self-governing Crown Colonies were established during the 19th century.
On 1 January 1901, the six colonies became a federation, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since federation, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and remains a Commonwealth Realm. The capital city is Canberra, located in the Australian Capital Territory. The population is 21 million, and is concentrated in the mainland state capitals of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.
Etymology
View of Port Jackson, the site where Sydney was established, taken from the South Head. (From A Voyage to Terra Australis.)
The name "Australia" is derived from the Latin Australis, meaning "of the South". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita) dating back to Roman times were commonplace in mediæval geography, but were based on no actual knowledge of the continent. The first use of the word "Australia" in English was in 1625 — the words "A note of Australia del Espiritu Santo, written by Master Hakluyt", published by Samuel Purchas in Hakluytus Posthumus. The Dutch adjectival form Australische was used by Dutch officials in Batavia to refer to the newly discovered land to the south in 1638. "Australia" was used in a 1693 translation of Les Aventures de Jacques Sadeur dans la Découverte et le Voyage de la Terre Australe, a 1692 French novel by Gabriel de Foigny under the pen name Jacques Sadeur. Alexander Dalrymple then used it in An Historical Collection of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean (1771), to refer to the entire South Pacific region. In 1793, George Shaw and Sir James Smith published Zoology and Botany of New Holland, in which they wrote of "the vast island, or rather continent, of Australia, Australasia or New Holland."
The name "Australia" was popularised by the 1814 work A Voyage to Terra Australis by the navigator Matthew Flinders, the first recorded person to circumnavigate Australia. Despite its title, which reflected the view of the British Admiralty, Flinders used the word "Australia" in the book, which was widely read and gave the term general currency. Governor Lachlan Macquarie of New South Wales subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December 1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be officially adopted). In 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as "Australia".
History
The first human habitation of Australia is estimated to have occurred between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago. These first Australians were possibly the ancestors of the current Indigenous Australians; they may have arrived via land bridges and short sea-crossings from present-day South-East Asia. Most of these people were hunter-gatherers, with a complex oral culture and spiritual values based on reverence for the land and a belief in the Dreamtime. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, inhabited the Torres Strait Islands and parts of far-north Queensland; their cultural practices were and remain distinct from those of the Aborigines.
Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia on HM Bark Endeavour, claiming the land for Great Britain in 1770. This replica was built in Fremantle in 1988; photographed in Cooktown Harbour where Cook spent seven weeks.
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland was made by the Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon, who sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in 1606. During the 17th century, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland, but made no attempt at settlement. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The expedition's discoveries provided impetus for the establishment of a penal colony there.[citation needed]
The British Crown Colony of New South Wales started with the establishment of a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 January 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day. Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, was settled in 1803 and became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Australia in 1829. Separate colonies were created from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northe Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a "free province" — that is, it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded "free", but later accepted transported convicts. The transportation of convicts to the colony of New South Wales ceased in 1848 after a campaign by the settlers.
The Indigenous Australian population, estimated at 350,000 at the time of European settlement, declined steeply for 150 years following settlement, mainly because of infectious disease combined with forced re-settlement and cultural disintegration.The removal of children from their families, which some historians and Indigenous Australians have argued could be considered to constitute genocide by some definitions, may have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. Such interpretations of Aboriginal history are disputed by some as being exaggerated or fabricated for political or ideological reasons.This debate is known within Australia as the History Wars. Following the 1967 referendum, the Federal government gained the power to implement policies and make laws with respect to Aborigines. Traditional ownership of land — native title — was not recognised until 1992, when the High Court case Mabo v Queensland overturned the notion of Australia as terra nullius ("empty land") at the time of European occupation.
The Last Post is played at an ANZAC Day ceremony in Port Melbourne, Victoria, 25 April 2005. Such ceremonies are held in virtually every suburb and town in Australia.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s, and the Eureka Stockade rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning, consultation and voting, and the Commonwealth of Australia was born as a Dominion of the British Empire. The Federal Capital Territory (later renamed the Australian Capital Territory) was formed from a part of New South Wales in 1911 to provide a location for the proposed new federal capital of Canberra (Melbourne was the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927 while Canberra was being constructed). The Northern Territory was transferred from the control of the South Australian government to the Commonwealth in 1911. Australia willingly participated in World War I.[ Many Australians regard the defeat of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli as the birth of the nation — its first major military action. The Kokoda Track Campaign is regarded by many as an analogous nation-defining event during World War II.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 formally ended most of the constitutional links between Australia and the United Kingdom when Australia adopted it in 1942. The shock of the United Kingdom's defeat in Asia in 1942 and the threat of Japanese invasion caused Australia to turn to the United States as a new ally and protector. Since 1951, Australia has been a formal military ally of the US under the auspices of the ANZUS treaty. After World War II, Australia encouraged immigration from Europe; since the 1970s and the abolition of the White Australia policy, immigration from Asia and other non-European parts of the world was also encouraged. As a result, Australia's demography, culture and self-image have been radically transformed. The final constitutional ties between Australia and the UK were severed in 1986 with the passing of the Australia Act 1986, ending any British role in the government of the Australian States, and ending judicial appeals to the UK Privy Council. In 1999, Australian voters rejected by a majority of less than 5% a move to become a republic with a president appointed by Parliament. Since the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, there has been an increasing focus on the nation's future as a part of the Asia–Pacific region.
Politics
Parliament House in Canberra was opened in 1988 replacing the provisional Parliament House building opened in 1927.
The Commonwealth of Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen is represented by the Governor-General at Federal level and by the Governors at State level. Although the Constitution gives extensive executive powers to the Governor-General, these are normally exercised only on the advice of the Prime Minister. The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside the Prime Minister's direction was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.
There are three branches of government:
The legislature: the Commonwealth Parliament, comprising the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Representatives; the Queen is represented by the Governor-General, whose powers are limited to assenting to laws.
The executive: the Federal Executive Council (the Governor-General as advised by the Executive Councillors); in practice, the councillors are the Prime Minister and Ministers of State.
The judiciary: the High Court of Australia and other federal courts. The State courts became formally independent from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council when the Australia Act was passed in 1986.
The bicameral Commonwealth Parliament consists of the Queen, the Senate (the upper house) of 76 senators, and a House of Representatives (the lower house) of 150 members. Members of the lower house are elected from single-member constituencies, commonly known as 'electorates' or 'seats'. Seats in the House of Representatives are allocated to states on the basis of population, with each original state guaranteed a minimum of five seats. In the Senate, each state is represented by 12 senators, and the territories (the ACT and the NT) by two. Elections for both chambers are held every three years; Senators have overlapping six-year terms, and only half of the seats are put to each election unless the cycle is interrupted by a double dissolution. The party with majority support in the House of Representatives forms government, and its leader becomes Prime Minister.
There are three major political parties: the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party and the National Party. Independent members and several minor parties — including the Greens and the Australian Democrats — have achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses. Since the 1996 election, the Liberal/National Coalition led by the Prime Minister, John Howard, has been in power in Canberra. In the 2004 election, the Coalition won control of the Senate - the first time in more than 20 years that a party (or coalition) has done so while in government. The Labor Party is in power in every state and territory. Voting is compulsory for all enrolled citizens 18 years and over in each state and territory and at the federal level; such enrolment is compulsory in all jurisdictions but South Australia.
States and territories
Australia consists of six states, two major mainland territories, and other minor territories. The states are New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The two major mainland territories are the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. In most respects, the territories function similarly to the states, but the Commonwealth Parliament can override any legislation of their parliaments. By contrast, federal legislation overrides state legislation only with respect to certain areas as set out in Section 51 of the Constitution; all residual legislative powers are retained by the state parliaments, including powers over hospitals, education, police, the judiciary, roads, public transport and local government.
Each state and territory has its own legislature (unicameral in the case of the Northern Territory, the ACT and Queensland, and bicameral in the remaining states). The lower house is known as the Legislative Assembly (House of Assembly in South Australia and Tasmania) and the upper house is known as the Legislative Council. The heads of the governments in each state and territory are called premiers and chief ministers, respectively. The Queen is represented in each state by a governor; an administrator in the Northern Territory, and the Governor-General in the ACT, have analogous roles.
Australia also has several minor territories; the federal government administers a separate area within New South Wales, the Jervis Bay Territory, as a naval base and sea port for the national capital. In addition Australia has the following, inhabited, external territories: Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and several largely uninhabited external territories: Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Foreign relations and the military
Over recent decades, Australia's foreign relations have been driven by a close association with the United States through the ANZUS pact, and by a desire to develop relationships with Asia and the Pacific, particularly through ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum. In 2005 Australia secured an inaugural seat at the East Asia Summit following its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. Australia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in which the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings provide the main forum for co-operation. Australia has energetically pursued the cause of international trade liberalisation. Australia led the formation of the Cairns Group and APEC, and is a member of the OECD and the WTO. Australia has pursued several major bilateral free trade agreements, most recently the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations, and maintains an international aid programme under which some 60 countries receive assistance. The 2005–06 budget provides A$2.5 bn for development assistance; as a percentage of GDP, this contribution is less than that of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Australia's armed forces — the Australian Defence Force (ADF) — comprise the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), numbering about 51,000. All branches of the ADF have been involved in UN and regional peacekeeping (most recently in East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Sudan), disaster relief, and armed conflict, including the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. The government appoints the Chief of the Defence Force from one of the armed services; the current Chief of the Defence Force is Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston. In the 2006–07 Budget, defence spending is $22 billion.
Geography
Australia's 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,299 sq. mi) landmass is on the Indo-Australian Plate. Surrounded by the IndianN4 and Pacific oceans, Australia is separated from Asia by the Arafura and Timor seas. Australia has a total 34,218 kilometres (21,262 mi) of coastline (excluding all offshore islands) and claims an extensive Exclusive Economic Zone of 8,148,250 square kilometres (3,146,057 sq. mi). This exclusive economic zone does not include the Australian Antarctic Territory.
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast and extends for over 2,000 kilometres (1,250 mi). Mount Augustus claimed to be the world's largest monolith,is located in Western Australia. At 2,228 metres (7,310 ft), Mount Kosciuszko on the Great Dividing Range is the highest mountain on the Australian mainland, although Mawson Peak on the remote Australian territory of Heard Island is taller at 2,745 metres (9,006 ft).
By far the largest part of Australia is desert or semi-arid. Australia is the flattest continent, has the oldest and least fertile soils, and is the driest inhabited continent. Only the south-east and south-west corners of the continent have a temperate climate. Most of the population lives along the temperate south-eastern coastline. The landscapes of the northern part of the country, with a tropical climate, consist of rainforest, woodland, grassland, mangrove swamps and desert. The climate is significantly influenced by ocean currents, including the El Niño southern oscillation, which is correlated with periodic drought, and the seasonal tropical low pressure system that produces cyclones in northern Australia.
Flora and fauna
Although most of Australia is semi-arid or desert, it covers a diverse range of habitats, from alpine heaths to tropical rainforests, and is recognised as a megadiverse country. Because of the great age and consequent low levels of fertility of the continent, its extremely variable weather patterns, and its long-term geographic isolation, much of Australia's biota is unique and diverse. About 85% of flowering plants, 84% of mammals, more than 45% of birds, and 89% of in-shore, temperate-zone fish are endemic. Many of Australia's ecoregions, and the species within those regions, are threatened by human activities and introduced plant and animal species. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 is a legal framework for the protection of threatened species. Numerous protected areas have been created under the national Biodiversity Action Plan to protect and preserve unique ecosystems; 64 wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention, and 16 World Heritage Sites have been established. Australia was ranked 13th in the world on the 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index.
Most Australian woody plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including many eucalyptus and acacias. Australia has a rich variety of endemic legume species that thrive in nutrient-poor soils because of their symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Well-known Australian fauna include monotremes (the platypus and echidna); a host of marsupials, including the kangaroo, koala, wombat; and birds such as the emu and kookaburra. The dingo was introduced by Austronesian people who traded with Indigenous Australians around 3000 BCE. Many plant and animal species became extinct soon after first human settlement, including the Australian megafauna; others have become extinct since European settlement, among them the Thylacine.
Economy
Australia has a prosperous, Western-style mixed economy, with a per capita GDP slightly higher than those of the UK, Germany and France in terms of purchasing power parity. The country was ranked third in the United Nations' 2006 Human Development Index and sixth in The Economist worldwide quality-of-life index 2005. The absence of an export-oriented manufacturing industry has been considered a key weakness of the Australian economy. More recently, rising prices for Australia's commodity exports and increasing tourism have made this criticism less relevant. Nevertheless, Australia has the world's fourth largest current account deficit in absolute terms (in relative terms it is more than 7% of GDP). This is considered problematic by some economists, especially as it has coincided with the high terms of trade and low interest rates that make the cost of servicing the foreign debt low.
The Hawke Government started the process of economic reform by floating the Australian dollar in 1983, and partially deregulating the financial system. The Howard government has continued the process of microeconomic reform, including a partial deregulation of the labour market and the privatisation of state-owned businesses, most notably in the telecommunications industry. The indirect tax system was substantially reformed in July 2000 with the introduction of a 10% Goods and Services Tax, which has slightly reduced the heavy reliance on personal and company income tax that characterises Australia's tax system.
As of January 2007, there were 10,033,480 people employed, with an unemployment rate of 4.6% Over the past decade, inflation has typically been 2–3% and base interest rates 5–6%. The service sector of the economy, including tourism, education, and financial services, comprises 69% of GDP. Agriculture and natural resources comprise 3% and 5% of GDP but contribute substantially to export performance. Australia's largest export markets include Japan, China, the US, South Korea and New Zealand.
Demograpy
Most of the estimated 21 million Australians are descended from 19th and 20th century European settlers, the majority from the British Isles. As of 2006, around 90% of Australia's population was of European descent. Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I, spurred by an ambitious immigration programme. Following World War II and through to 2000, almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants, meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas. Most immigrants are skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees. In 2001, the five largest groups of the 23.1% of Australians who were born overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam and China. Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. In 2005–06, more than 131,000 people immigrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania.Migration target for 2006–07 was 144,000.
The Indigenous population — mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders — was 410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the 1976 census, which showed an indigenous population of 115,953. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education and life expectancies for males and females that are 17 years lower than those of other Australians.
Fewer than 15% of Australians live in rural areas. This picture shows the Barossa Valley wine producing region of South Australia.
In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. A large number of Australians (759,849 for the period 2002–03) live outside their home country.
English is the national language,and is spoken and written in a distinct variety known as Australian English. According to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%) and Greek (1.4%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual. It is believed that there were between 200 and 300 Australian Aboriginal languages at the time of first European contact. Only about 70 of these languages have survived, and all but 20 of these are now endangered. An indigenous language remains the main language for about 50,000 (0.25%) people. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 6,500 deaf people.
Australia has no state religion. The 2006 census identified that 64% of Australians call themselves Christian: 26% identifying themselves as Roman Catholic and 19% as Anglican. Australians who identify themselves as followers of non-Christian religions number 5%. A total of 19% were categorised as having "No Religion" (which includes non-theistic beliefs such as humanism, atheism, agnosticism and rationalism) and a further 12% declined to answer or did not give a response adequate for interpretation. As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is much lower than this; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, about 7.5% of the population.
School attendance is compulsory throughout Australia between the ages of 6–15 years (16 years in South Australia and Tasmania, and 17 years in Western Australia), contributing to an adult literacy rate that is assumed to be 99%. Government grants have supported the establishment of Australia's 38 universities, and although several private universities have been established, the majority receive government funding. There is a state-based system of vocational training colleges, known as TAFE Institutes, and many trades conduct apprenticeships for training new tradespeople. Approximately 58% of Australians between the ages of 25 and 64 have vocational or tertiary qualifications and the tertiary graduation rate of 49% is highest of OECD countries. The ratio of international to local students in tertiary education in Australia is the highest in the OECD countries.
Culture
The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne was the first building in Australia to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.
Since 1788, the primary basis of Australian culture has been Anglo-Celtic, although distinctive Australian features had been evolving from the environment and indigenous culture. Over the past 50 years, Australian culture has been strongly influenced by American popular culture (particularly television and cinema), large-scale immigration from non-English-speaking countries, and Australia's Asian neighbours. The vigour and originality of the arts in Australia — literature, cinema, opera, music, painting, theatre, dance, and crafts — have achieved international recognition.
Australia has a long history of visual arts, starting with the cave and bark paintings of its indigenous peoples. From the time of European settlement, a common theme in Australian art has been the Australian landscape, seen in the works of Arthur Streeton, Arthur Boyd and Albert Namatjira, among others. The traditions of indigenous Australians are largely transmitted orally and are closely tied to ceremony and the telling of the stories of the Dreamtime. Australian Aboriginal music, dance and art have a palpable influence on contemporary Australian visual and performing arts. Australia has an active tradition of music, ballet and theatre; many of its performing arts companies receive public funding through the federal government's Australia Council. There is a symphony orchestra in each capital city, and a national opera company, Opera Australia, first made prominent by the renowned diva Dame Joan Sutherland; Australian music includes classical, jazz, and many popular genres.
Australian literature has also been influenced by the landscape; the works of writers such as Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson captured the experience of the Australian bush. The character of colonial Australia, as embodied in early literature, resonates with modern Australia and its perceived emphasis on egalitarianism, mateship, and anti-authoritarianism. In 1973, Patrick White was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the only Australian to have achieved this; he is recognised as one of the great English-language writers of the 20th century. Australian English is a major variety of the language; its grammar and spelling are largely based on those of British English, overlaid with a rich vernacular of unique lexical items and phrases, some of which have found their way into standard English.
Australian rules football was developed in Victoria in the late 1850s and is played at amateur and professional levels. It is the most popular spectator sport in Australia, in terms of annual attendances and club memberships.
Australia has two public broadcasters (the ABC and the multicultural SBS), three commercial television networks, several pay TV services, and numerous public, non-profit television and radio stations. Australia's film industry has achieved critical and commercial successes. Each major city has daily newspapers, and there are two national daily newspapers, The Australian and The Australian Financial Review. According to Reporters Without Borders in 2006, Australia was in 35th position on a list of countries ranked by press freedom, behind New Zealand (19th) and the United Kingdom (27th) but ahead of the United States. This low ranking is primarily because of the limited diversity of commercial media ownership in Australia; in particular, most Australian print media are under the control of News Corporation and John Fairfax Holdings.
Sport plays an important part in Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities; 23.5% Australians over the age of 15 regularly participate in organised sporting activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling, rowing and swimming. Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football, horse racing, football (soccer) and motor racing. Australia has participated in every summer Olympic Games of the modern era, and every Commonwealth Games. Australia hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and has ranked among the top five medal-takers since 2000. Australia has also hosted the 1938, 1962, 1982 and 2006 Commonwealth Games. Other major international events held regularly in Australia include the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, annual international cricket matches and the Formula One Australian Grand Pri. Corporate and government sponsorship of many sports and elite athletes is common in Australia. Televised sport is popular; some of the highest rating television programmes include the summer Olympic Games and the grand finals of local and international football (various codes) competitions.
lunes, 1 de octubre de 2007
UNITED STATES
HISTORY
The United States of America is located in the middle of the North American continent, with Canada to the north and the United Mexican States to the south. The United States ranges from the Atlantic Ocean on the nation's east coast to the Pacific Ocean bordering the west, and also includes the state of Hawaii, a series of islands located in the Pacific Ocean, the state of Alaska located in the northwestern part of the continent above the Yukon, and numerous other holdings and territories.
The first known inhabitants of the area now known as the United States are believed to have arrived over a period of several thousand years beginning approximately 20,000 years ago by crossing the Bering land bridge into Alaska. The first solid evidence of these cultures settling in what would become the US begins as early as 15,000 years ago with the Sandia and Clovis tribes.
Relatively little is known of these early settlers compared to the Europeans who colonized the area after the first voyage of navigator Christopher Columbus in 1492 for Spain. Columbus' men were also the first documented Old Worlders to land in the territory of the United States when they arrived in Puerto Rico during their second voyage in 1493. The first European known to set foot in the continental U.S. was Juan Ponce de León, who arrived in Florida in 1513, though there is some evidence suggesting that he may have been preceded by John Cabot in 1497.
Government and politics
Main articles: Federal government of the United States, U.S. state, Politics of the United States, and Political ideologies in the United States
The west front of the United States Capitol, which houses the United States Congress
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law." It is fundamentally structured as a representative democracy, though U.S. citizens residing in the territories are excluded from voting for federal officials. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the United States Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document and as a social contract for the people of the United States. In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels. Federal and state judicial and cabinet officials are typically nominated by the executive branch and approved by the legislature, although some state judges are elected by popular vote. The voting age is eighteen and voter registration is the individual's responsibility; there are no mandatory voting laws.
The north side of the White House, home and work place of the U.S. president
The federal government is composed of three branches:
Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the rarely used power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the Cabinet and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
Judiciary: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and can overturn laws they deem unconstitutional.
The House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the fifty states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. Each state has two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every second year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.
Politics in the United States have operated under a two-party system for virtually all of the country's history. Since the general election of 1856, the two dominant parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824 (though its roots trace back to 1792), and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. The Senate has two independent members—one is a former Democratic incumbent, the other is a self-described socialist; every member of the House is a Democrat or Republican. An overwhelming majority of state and local officials are also either Democrats or Republicans. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20 percent of the popular vote. For elective offices at all levels, state-administered primary elections are held to choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections.
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered "center-right" or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered "center-left" or liberal, but members of both parties have a wide range of views. In the presidential election of 2000, the Democratic candidate, incumbent vice president Al Gore, received a larger share of the popular vote than the Republican candidate, Texas governor George W. Bush. The president is not elected by direct vote, however, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned by state. The disputed vote count in Florida left the election unresolved for over a month until a Supreme Court decision effectively awarded the presidency to Bush. In 2004, Bush won reelection over Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry. Following the 2006 midterm elections, the Democratic Party holds a majority of seats in both the House and Senate for the first time since the election of 1994. In an August 2007 poll, 36 percent of Americans described themselves as "conservative," 34 percent as "moderate," and 25 percent as "liberal." On the other hand, a plurality of adults, 35.9 percent, identify as Democrats, 32.9 percent as independents, and 31.3 percent as Republicans. The states of the Northeast, Great Lakes, and the West Coast are relatively liberal-leaning—they are known in political parlance as "blue states." The "red states" of the South and the Rocky Mountains lean conservative. The academic realm diverges widely from the general political balance: 72 percent of college faculty members identify as liberal and only 15 percent as conservative. The military is considerably more conservative than the general public, with 46 percent of active personnel identifying as Republican in December 2006, down from 60 percent in 2004.
Economy of the United States
The United States economy has the world's largest gross domestic product (GDP), $13.21 trillion in 2006. It is a mixed economy where corporations and other private firms make the majority of microeconomic decisions while being regulated by the government.
The US economy maintains a high per capita GDP, which although not the world's highest, compares favorably to that of all other major economies. The economy also has a reasonably high GDP growth rate, a low unemployment rate, and high levels of research and development investment. Economic concerns include national debt, external debt, entitlement liabilities, consumer debt, a low savings rate, and a large current account deficit. Some observers are also concerned by rising economic disparities as well as the high cost and uneven availability of health care services.
As of 2006, the gross external debt was nearly USD $10 trillion or 79% of GDP,(see List of countries by external debt). The gross public debt is 65% of GDP (also known as national debt and refers to what is owned by the combined public sector to both domestic and foreign creditors; see List of countries by public debt and global debt). The national debt includes the amount of the cumulative government deficits and interest.
Geography
The United States is a nation in the Western Hemisphere. It consists of forty-eight contiguous states on the North American continent; Alaska, an enormous peninsula which forms the northwestern most part of North America, and Hawaii, an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It also holds several United States territories in the Pacific & Caribbean. The country shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and a water border with Russia.
Language and religion
Although the United States has no official language at the federal level, English is the de facto national language.
In 2003, about 215 million, or 82 percent of the population aged five years and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by over 10 percent of the population at home, is the second most common language and the most widely taught foreign language. Immigrants seeking naturalization must know English. Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in at least twenty-eight states. Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii by state law. Several insular territories also grant official recognition to their native languages, along with English: Samoan and Chamorro are recognized by Samoa and Guam, respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands; Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico. While neither has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.
The United States government does not audit Americans' religious beliefs. In a private survey conducted in 2001, 76.7 percent of American adults identified themselves as Christian, down from 86.4 percent in 1990. Protestant denominations accounted for 52 percent, while Roman Catholics, at 24.5 percent, were the largest individual denomination. A different study describes white evangelicals, 26.3 percent of the population, as the country's largest religious cohort; evangelicals of all races are estimated at 30–35 percent. The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2001 was 3.7 percent, up from 3.3 percent in 1990. The leading non-Christian faiths were Judaism (1.4 percent), Islam (0.5 percent), Buddhism (0.5 percent), Hinduism (0.4 percent), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3 percent). Between 1990 and 2001, the number of Muslims and Buddhists more than doubled. From 8.2 percent in 1990, 14.2 percent in 2001 described themselves as agnostic, atheist, or simply having no religion, still significantly less than in other postindustrial countries such as Britain (44 percent) and Sweden (69 percent).
Education
In the American educational system children are required to attend school from the age of five or six. Students typically graduate from high school at age eighteen although many states allow students to drop out at age sixteen. The public education systems vary from one state to another but generally are organized as follows:
Age 5: Kindergarten
Ages 6-11: Elementary school. Children start in grade 1 and advance to grade 5 or 6.
Ages 11-14 or 12-14: Junior high school or middle school (usually grades 6 or 7 through grade 8 or 9).
Ages 14-18: High school (usually grades 9-12 or 10-12).
A system also becoming more popular is 4-year schooling segments. Such as:
Ages 6-9 (Grades 1-4) Elementary.
Ages 10-13 (Grades 5-8) Middle.
Ages 14-18 (Grades 9-12) High/secondary.
The entire span of primary and secondary education, from Kindergarten to grade 12, is often abbreviated in the US as K-12 or K12, which spoken in American English is rendered as "K through 12" or "K 12." Additionally, many children attend schools before they reach the age of five. These preschools are often private and not part of the public educational system although some public school systems include preschools.
Climate
The climate is temperate in most areas, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin. Its comparatively generous climate contributed (in part) to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.
Food
The types of food served at home vary greatly and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin, and Americanized versions of these cultural foods, such as American Chinese cuisine or Italian-American cuisine often eventually appear. German cuisine also had a profound impact on American cuisine, especially the mid-western cuisine, with potatoes and meat being the most iconic ingredients in both cuisines.Dishes such as the hamburger, pot roast, baked ham and hot dogs are examples of American dishes derived from German cuisine.
Canadais a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area, and shares land borders with the United States to the south and northwest.
The lands have been inhabited for millennia by aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored and later settled the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada became a federal dominion. A gradual process of independence from the United Kingdom moved Canada towards statehood and culminated in the Canada Act 1982, severing the last vestiges of dependence on the British parliament.
A federation now comprising ten provinces and three territories, Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. It is a bilingual and multicultural country, with both English and French as official languages at the federal level. Technologically advanced and industrialized, Canada maintains a diversified economy that is heavily reliant upon its abundant natural resources and upon trade particularly with the United States, with which Canada has had a long and complex relationship.
Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in turn, these may be grouped into numerous regions, which predicate some aspects of Canadian governance, e.g., representation in the Senate. Western Canada consists of British Columbia and three Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba). Eastern Canada consists of Central Canada (Quebec and Ontario) and Atlantic Canada (comprised of the three Maritime provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia; and Newfoundland and Labrador). Three territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) comprise Northern Canada. Provinces have a large degree of autonomy from the federal government, territories somewhat less. Each has its own provincial or territorial symbols.
The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these, but rarely do so in practice. Equalization payments are made by the federal government to ensure that reasonably uniform standards of services and taxation are kept between the richer and poorer provinces.
All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor General of Canada, appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years.
Canada occupies a major northern portion of North America, sharing land borders with the contiguous United States to the south and with the US state of Alaska to the northwest, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west; to the north lies the Arctic Ocean. By total area (including its waters), Canada is the second largest country in the world, after Russia, and largest on the continent. By land area it ranks fourth, after Russia, China, and the United States. Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W longitude,but this claim is not universally recognized. The northernmost settlement in Canada and in the world is Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert on the northern tip of Ellesmere Island—latitude 82.5°N—just 817 kilometres (450 nautical miles) from the North Pole.Canada has the longest coastline in the world: 243,000 kilometres.
The population density, 3.5 inhabitants per square kilometre (9.1/sq mi), is among the lowest in the world.The most densely populated part of the country is the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor along the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River in the southeast.To the north of this region is the broad Canadian Shield, an area of rock scoured clean by the last ice age, thinly soiled, rich in minerals, and dotted with lakes and rivers. Canada by far has more lakes than any other country and has a large amount of the world's freshwater.
The Horseshoe Falls in Ontario is the largest component of Niagara Falls, one of the world's most voluminous waterfalls,a major source of hydroelectric power, and a tourist destination.
In eastern Canada, the Saint Lawrence River widens into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary, that contains the island of Newfoundland. South of the Gulf, the Canadian Maritimes protrude eastward along the Appalachian Mountain range from northern New England and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are divided by the Bay of Fundy, which experiences the world's largest tidal variations. Ontario and Hudson Bay dominate central Canada. West of Ontario, the broad, flat Canadian Prairies spread toward the Rocky Mountains, which separate them from British Columbia.
In western Canada, the Mackenzie River flows from the Arctic Ocean to the Great Slave Lake. A tributary of a tributary of the Mackenzie is the South Nahanni River, which is home to Virginia Falls, a waterfall about twice as high as Niagara Falls.
martes, 18 de septiembre de 2007
BIOGRAPHY
Mi name is Ángela Ríos D. I was born in Bogota Colombia on January 3rd,1986.
When I was a child I estidied primary and middle in Sagrado Corazón De Jesús B. school and high school in Gimnasio los Pinos; actually, I study Social Communication in the University Sabana.
I have two sisters and one brother. My family is very happy because it is very united.
I like dancing, speacking on the telephone, going shopping, with my friends, going to the gym, seeing movies, going to the party animal whit my boyfriend and friends.
I love animals speciall my dog, because is beatifull and very funny.
In the future I will working important channel televition.
My biography
My name is Pilar Duarte, I was born in Bogotá Colombia in june 26 1987.
My father´s name is Alfonso Duarte, he studied at the university of sabana in Bogotá, and he studied Bissenes administration with my mother because bouth estudied the same.
When I was a child I studied in "EL PORTILLO" school and I graduated in Prom 2004, when I got of my Hig school I decided estuding in the college Politécnico Grancolombiano and I studied one semester of merchandaising but y don´t like so much this carrera so i changed.
Then I wen´t to Sabana University and I studied Jurnalism and in this moment I curse 5th semester and I very happy, last year I had the oportunity of work in televition and was a beautiful experiense-
at this moment i want to finish my carrear and i´m going to move to Canada with my family.
There i´m going to study something more about my carrear.
My father´s name is Alfonso Duarte, he studied at the university of sabana in Bogotá, and he studied Bissenes administration with my mother because bouth estudied the same.
When I was a child I studied in "EL PORTILLO" school and I graduated in Prom 2004, when I got of my Hig school I decided estuding in the college Politécnico Grancolombiano and I studied one semester of merchandaising but y don´t like so much this carrera so i changed.
Then I wen´t to Sabana University and I studied Jurnalism and in this moment I curse 5th semester and I very happy, last year I had the oportunity of work in televition and was a beautiful experiense-
at this moment i want to finish my carrear and i´m going to move to Canada with my family.
There i´m going to study something more about my carrear.
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