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Sudan
US Embassy Evacuated
US Special Forces carried out an evacuation of the US Embassy in Sudan on Sunday. The precarious mission had helicopters sweeping in and out of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, with less than an hour of ground time. Around 100 US troops and three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation, with support from Djibouti and Saudi Arabia, to airlift the approximately 70 American embassy employees to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia. An estimated 16,000 private American citizens remain in Sudan, however US officials report it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation mission. The battles between the forces of two rival Sudanese commanders have killed more than 400 people since April 15th.
This map depicts the path US Special Forces took to evacuate United States Embassy employees from Khartoum, Sudan on Sunday. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: WUSA9
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Kenya
Starvation Cult Mass Graves
Kenyan police have recovered 58 bodies from shallow mass graves in the Shakahola forest near the coastal town of Malindi. The bodies are thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed starving themselves would allow them into heaven. The past two days have seen a steady increase in the death toll, and the Kenyan Red Cross reported 112 people are missing. Followers of the self-proclaimed Good News International Church, lead by Paul Mackenzie, were living in multiple secluded settlements in an 800-acre area in the Shakahola forest. Mackenzie was arrested on April 14th following a tip-off about shallow graves containing the bodies of at least 31 of his followers. He has refused food and water in detention, and while some members of the church have been rescued, they are also refusing to eat.
This map depicts the location of mass graves where multiple bodies of suspected starvation cult members were found. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Guardian
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Tanzania
DNA Reveals Swahili Origins
A new analysis of DNA from individuals from the Swahili civilization has confirmed it was populated by a group with intermingled African and Asian heritage. Recently published in the journal Nature, researchers from the study excavated cemeteries from the Swahili civilization, from the years 1250 to 1800 CE. Analysis of the DNA from 80 people interred in those cemeteries showed roughly 50-50 African-Asian heritage, with the Asian DNA coming mostly from men of Persian ancestry. Oral tradition holds the Swahilis to be a multiracial group who lived along a large stretch of the Swahili coast of East Africa, running from modern-day Somalia to Mozambique and the northern part of Madagascar. However their multiracial origins had come to be dismissed by many historians.
This map depicts the locations along the Swahili coast where researchers drew genetic samples from members of the medieval East African Swahili culture. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Q: Located a short distance south of the equator, what is Africa’s second highest peak?
A: Mount Kenya
Located about 120 miles (193 km) northeast of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, lies Mount Kenya, an ancient extinct volcano with 12 remaining glaciers on the mountain – which are rapidly retreating. Its highest peak is Batian at 16,355 ft (4,985 m), making it the second highest mountain on the African continent. The extinct volcano was created some 3 million years ago after the East African Rift began to open. For thousands of years prior to glaciation, its peak was even higher, reaching about 23,000 ft (7,000 m) due to its ice cap. Mount Kenya has belts or zones of differing ecological processes and climates at changing altitudes, with a fertile farming belt at its base, as well as an African alpine bamboo zone, a timberline forest zone, heathland and chaparral zones, and an Afro-alpine zone. In 1997, Mount Kenya was designated as a national park and received UNESCO World Heritage status.
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Q: What German town lies within the depression of an impact crater?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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