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Philippines
Coast Guard Removes Barrier
The Philippine coast guard has removed a floating barrier put in place by the Chinese coast guard in the Scarborough Shoal. Chinese vessels had put the barrier in place to keep Filipino fishermen out of the prime fishing location about 124 miles (200 km) off the Philippines in the South China Sea. This is only the latest incident in a years-long conflict between the People’s Republic of China and its neighbors surrounding the South China Sea, which encompasses not only rich fishing territory, but globally important shipping channels and potentially huge reserves of fossil fuels. China has made an expansive claim on the area with its “Nine-Dash Line,” that has been rejected in international arbitration. Despite this, China engages in a variety of assertive actions to bolster its claims, including building artificial islands and reefs and targeting ships from other countries with water cannons.
This map depicts the South China Sea, including a line demarcating China’s maritime territorial claim and the location of the Scarborough Shoal, where the Philippine coast guard recently removed a floating barrier put in place by China. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Graphic News
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Cook Islands-Niue
US Recognizes Cook Islands, Niue
The United States government has recognized the Cook Islands and Niue as independent states and is establishing diplomatic relations with them. President Joe Biden said that he was “proud” to officially recognize the statehood of the Cook Islands and Niue and announced multiple programs to provide funding in the region, including infrastructure funding and $10 million for the improvement of maritime domain awareness in the Pacific. The United States has also invested $40 billion for infrastructure and connectivity and an additional $600 million agreement for sustainable development of fisheries. The United States and the People’s Republic of China are both dedicating greater diplomatic attention to the South Pacific region as they look to secure influence in the area.
This map depicts the small island states of the South Pacific, including the Cook Islands and Niue, whose sovereignty were recently recognized by the United States. Each nation’s recognition of either the government of the People’s Republic of China or Taiwan (the Republic of China), is seen as an indicator of its international political leanings. Click on the map to learn more.
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Spain
First Atlas of Global Fairy Circles
Researchers from the University of Alicante in Spain have produced a new atlas of the natural phenomenon known as “fairy circles.” Mostly found in the barren parts of Namibia and Australia, fairy circles are vegetation organized in the shape of a ring. The research team, as detailed in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), was able to discover hundreds of locations of fairy circles across several countries using high-definition satellite imagery to analyze about 574,799 plots of land worldwide. Specifically, the team discovered locations in the Sahel, Western Sahara, the Horn of Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, and Central Australia. The scientists noted the common factors of low-nutrient, sandy soils, arid climates with high precipitation seasonality, and the presence of termite nests as factors behind the formation of fairy circles. It has been suggested the circles help increase water resources, and areas with fairy rings experience more stable vegetation productivity than those without.
This map depicts the widespread distribution of fairy circles, denoted by yellow dots with regions without them colored in purple. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What popular social dance with African roots originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay?
A: Tango
As activity in the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo began to increase, so did the development of the cities. As construction expanded, the gap between classes did as well. The poorest classes, manual laborers including Afro-Argentines and European immigrants, would gather in the far reaches of the slums. The Tango derives from the Cuban habanera, the Argentine milonga and Uruguayan candombe. It contains elements of African rhythms from the candombe, characterized by energetic, “jerky” movements. The milonga was a fusion of the Cuban habanera and imported European polka. Under the Argentinian government’s efforts to “Europeanize” and modernize the country, those who did not fit the “pure” image of Argentinian identity were excluded from urban centers and pushed to the arrabales, the suburbs, where different marginalized groups converged. “Tangos” were where European immigrants and former slaves played music and danced together, and the emergence of Tango as a dance combined all the cultural influences and resistances of these working-class populations.
Source
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Q: What country has the tallest uninterrupted waterfall in the world?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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