The Qal’at al-Bahrain (in Arabic: قلعة البحرين, also known as the Bahrain Fort or Fort of Bahrain and previously as the Portugal Fort (Qal’at al Portugal) is an archaeological site located in Bahrain. Archaeological excavations …
Read the full story »Rapa Nui National Park and its stone sculptures are testimony to an isolated cultural evolution.
Rapa Nui is the indigenous name of Easter Island. It’s a volcanic island, with still two large craters: Rano Kau and Rano Raraku.
The most characteristic cultural feature of Rapa Nui are the huge moai, found all over the island. These figures were created to represent the important ancestors of each clan. As time went by, their forms became more stylized and they increased in size.
Rapa Nui is considered one of the most isolated inhabited places in the world. Almost 2000 km distant is Pitcairn, the closest inhabited island. Its 4100 km to Tahiti and 3700 km to the Chilean coast. Nevertheless, Rapa Nui belongs to Polynesia, a geographic area defined by an imaginery triangle whose verticles are New Zealand, Hawaii and Rapa Nui itself. All the islands have a common cultural tradition, whose roots extend back to the second millenium BC.
Rano Kau crater taken from the approach to Orongo
Around 400 AD, Rapa Nui was colonized by Polynesians. They arrived in big canoes, and took with them many cultural elements that had developed on the other Polynesian islands. Continue reading “Rapa Nui National Park” »
The Valdes Peninsula (Spanish: Península Valdés) is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast in the Viedma Department in the north east of Chubut Province, Argentina. About 3,625 km2 (896,000 acres; 1,400 sq mi) in size, it is an …
The Willandra Lakes Region is an extensive area that contains a system of ancient lakes formed over the last two million years, most of which are fringed by a crescent shaped dune or lunette. Aborigines …
The Quebrada de Humahuaca is a narrow mountain valley located in the province of Jujuyin northwest Argentina, 1,500 km (932 mi) north of Buenos Aires (23°11′59″S 65°20′56″W). It is about 155 km (96 mi) long, oriented north-south, bordered by the Altiplano in the west and north, by the Sub-Andean hills in the east, …
Introduction
Lake Turkana National Parks is a group of three national parks located in Kenya. It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and expanded in 2001. Reasons for the park’s importance include …
The Wadden Sea (Dutch: Waddenzee, German: Wattenmeer, Low German: Wattensee or Waddenzee, Danish: Vadehavet, West Frisian: Waadsee) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of …
La Amistad is the largest most remote National Park in Costa Rica. It is nearly surrounded by other parks and reserves for the indigenous Chirripó, Tayni, Telire, Talamanca, Ujarras, Salitre and Abagra peoples. It protects …
Miguasha National Park (French: Parc national de Miguasha) is a protected area near Carleton-sur-Mer on the Gaspé Peninsulaof Quebec in Canada. Created in 1985 by the Government of Quebec, Miguasha was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999 in recognition of …
The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 meters (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometers (25 mi) in the south within the country …
Talampaya National Park is a national park located in the east/centre of La Rioja Province, Argentina. It was designated a provincial reserve in 1975, a national park in 1997, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.
Talampaya National Park
The …
The Wachau (German pronunciation: [vaˈxaʊ]) is an Austrian valley with a landscape of high visibility formed by the Danube river. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of Lower Austria, located midway between …
The Cathedral of the Dormition, or the Kutaisi Cathedral, more commonly known as Bagrati Cathedral (Georgian: ბაგრატი; ბაგრატის ტაძარი, or Bagratis tadzari), is the 11th-century cathedral church in the city of Kutaisi, the region …
Suomenlinna is unique in that although it is a bastion fortress, it is irregular in shape as a result of being built on a cluster of rocky islands with highly variable terrain, requiring …
The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley (Catalan: Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror) is a glacial valley in the southeast of Andorra. It covers an area of 42.47 km², approximately 9% of the total area of Andorra, and is part of the …
The Old Town of Vilnius (Lithuanian: Vilniaus senamiestis), one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe, has an area of 3.59 square kilometres (887 acres). It encompasses 74 quarters, with 70 streets and lanes numbering 1487 …
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Spanish: The Glaciers) is a national park in theSanta Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia. It comprises an area of 4459 km². In 1981 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
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Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, approximately 500 km (311 mi) west of Yellowknife, protects a portion of the Mackenzie Mountains Natural Region.
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