A great and ancient ocean was once between Africa and Europe, the Tethys Ocean. Now sediments of the Tethys Ocean basin and its Mesozoic and early Cenozoic strata sit high above sea level. Even metamorphic basement rocks are found high on Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and other high peaks in the Pennine Alps and Hohe Tauern.
The formation of the Mediterranean Sea is a more recent development.
The Alps are popular both in summer and in winter. The Alps as a place for sightseeing and sports. Winter sports (Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, snowshoeing, ski tours) can be learned in most regions from December to April. In summer, the Alps are popular with hikers, mountain bikers, paragliders, and mountaineers. There are also alpine lakes which attract swimmers, sailors and surfers. The lower places and bigger towns of the Alps are well served by motorways and main roads, but higher passes and by-roads can be bad even in the summer. Many passes are closed in winter. Many airports around the Alps (and some within), as well as long-distance rail links from all bordering countries, afford large numbers of travelers easy access from abroad. The Alps normally has more than 100 million visitors a year.
The Alps is split into five climate zones, each with a different kind of environment. The climate, plant life and animal life vary on different sections or zones of the mountain.
The Alps is a classic example of what happens when a temperate area at lower altitude gives way to higher land. A rise from sea level into the upper regions causes the temperature to decrease. The effect of mountain chains on winds is to carry warm air belonging to the lower region into an upper zone, where it expands and loses heat, and drops snow or rain.
The typical trees—oak, beech, ash and sycamore maple have a natural height limit: the 'tree line'. Their upper limit matches the change in climate which comes with increasing height. The change from a temperate to a colder climate is also shown true by a change in the wild flowering plant life. This limit normally lies about above the sea on the north side of the Alps. On the southern slopes, it often reaches to , sometimes even to .
The Alps do not always have the typical trees. People have felled them in many places. Except for the beech forests of the Austrian Alps, forests of the typical deciduous trees are hardly found. Where such woods were, Scots pine and Norway spruce now grow. These trees are less sensitive to the attacks of goats who eat the saplings of deciduous trees.
Above the tree line, there is often a band of dwarf pine trees ("Pinus mugo"), which is taking place of dwarf shrubs. These shrubs are "Rhododendron ferrugineum" (on acid soils) or "Rhododendron hirsutum" (on non-acid soils).
Above this is the alpine meadow. Above the alpine meadow is where plant life becomes less and less common. At these great heights, the plants are likely to make separate groups. In the Alps, many species of flowering plants have been recorded above . These are like "Ranunculus glacialis", "Androsace alpina" and "Saxifraga biflora".
Species common to the Alps.
Rwanda
Rwanda is a country in Africa. It is near Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Uganda, and Tanzania. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, over one million (1,000,000) people were killed.
During the Scramble for Africa, Belgium conquered Rwanda. The Belgians then began to divide Rwandans into groups: Hutu, and Tutsi. The Belgians picked people that they thought looked more European to be Tutsi. The rest became Hutu. The Belgians told Rwandans that Tutsi were superior to Hutu. They helped Tutsi rule over Hutu using their army.
On July 1, 1962, Rwanda became independent and Hutu were given power. Thus, anti-Tutsi purges occurred frequently. Many Tutsi fled to Uganda, where they formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front, or RPF, which tried to invade Rwanda in 1990.
On the night of April 6, 1994, dictator Juvénal Habyarimana's plane was shot down, but it is still not clear who did it. Within half an hour, roadblocks manned by the Interahamwe militia were seen all over the capital, Kigali. The genocide against Tutsi had begun. It lasted for about 100 days, and it left over one million (1,000,000), Tutsi and moderate Hutu dead. The main weapon used was the machete, or "umupanga". Other countries paid little attention to the killing. On July 2, 1994, the RPF captured Kigali.
There are five provinces in Rwanda. These are Northern Province, Southern Province, Eastern Province, Western Province, and the Kigali City in the centre.
This is a list of districts in Rwanda.
At , Rwanda is the world's 149th-largest country. The entire country is at a high altitude. The lowest point is the Rusizi River at above sea level. Rwanda is in Central/Eastern Africa. It is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and Burundi to the south. It is a few degrees south of the equator and is landlocked. The capital, Kigali, is near the centre of Rwanda.
The country's longest river is the Nyabarongo. The Nyabarongo-Kagera eventually drains into Lake Victoria. Rwanda has many lakes, the largest being Lake Kivu. It is one of the twenty deepest lakes in the world. Other sizeable lakes include Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi, Rweru, and Ihema. Ihema is the largest of a string of lakes in the eastern plains of Akagera National Park.
There are many mountains in central and western Rwanda. The highest peaks are found in the Virunga volcano chain in the northwest. This includes Mount Karisimbi, Rwanda's highest point, at . The centre of the country is mostly rolling hills. The eastern border area has savanna, plains and swamps.
Rwanda has a temperate tropical highland climate. It has lower temperatures than are typical for equatorial countries. This is because of its high elevation. Kigali, in the centre of the country, has a typical daily temperature range between and . There is little change through the year. There are two rainy seasons in the year. The first runs from February to June and the second from September to December. These are separated by two dry seasons. The major one is from June to September, during which there is often no rain at all. There is a shorter and less severe one from December to February.
In prehistoric times montane forest covered one third of the land of present-day Rwanda. Naturally occurring vegetation is now mostly in the three National parks, with terraced agriculture in the rest of the country. Nyungwe, the largest remaining forest, has 200 species of tree as well as orchids and begonias. Vegetation in the Volcanoes National Park is mostly bamboo and moorland, with small areas of forest. Akagera has a savanna ecosystem. Here there are mostly acacia. There are several rare or endangered plant species in Akagera, including "Markhamia lutea" and "Eulophia guineensis".
The greatest diversity of large mammals is found in the three National Parks. Akagera has typical savanna animals such as giraffes and elephants, while Volcanoes is home to about one third of the worldwide mountain gorilla population. Nyungwe Forest has thirteen primate species including chimpanzees and "Colobus" monkeys. The Ruwenzori colobus move in groups of up to 400, the largest troop size of any primate in Africa.
There are 670 bird species in Rwanda. There is a difference between the east and the west. Nyungwe Forest, in the west, has 280 recorded species. Species include the Ruwenzori Turaco and Handsome Francolin. Eastern Rwanda, by contrast, has savanna birds such as the Black-headed Gonolek and those who live near swamps and lakes, including storks and cranes.
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes in North America, but its maximum death (802ft; 244m) is deeper than lake Erie's (210ft) and Lake Huron's (750ft).