The Dominican city of San Felipe de Puerto Plata, usually called just Puerto Plata is the head municipality of the Puerto Plata province, on the north (Atlantic) coast of the country.
The name Puerto Plata ("Silver Port") came from the name given by Columbus to the mountain just to the south of the city: "Monte de Plata" ("Silver Mountain") because the mountain always had clouds on its top and not because there was the metal silver; that mountain now is called Isabel de Torres mountain (in Spanish, the complete name is "Loma Isabel de Torres"). Isabel de Torres was a lady who lived in Puerto Plata in 1605 and had a lot of land in the mountain.
The city was called first "Puerto de Plata" but later it was changed to just "Puerto Plata", the name that is still used
Columbus visited the Puerto Plata Bay on 11 January 1493. The city was founded and built by Nicolás de Ovando in 1502. Soon it became the most important port in the northern coast of the Hispaniola island and, in 1508, the king of Spain gave a coat of arms to the city.
Because there were many pirates and other British and French ships along the northern coast of the island, a fort was built here by orders of Carlos I, king of Spain; its construction took several years and it was finished in 1577. Because at that moment the Spanish's king was Felipe II, the fort was named Fuerte San Felipe (in English, "Saint Phillip Fort").
In 1606, those that were living in the towns of Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi were ordered by the Spanish king to move to the southeast of the island and to found a new town: Monte Plata. Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi were, then, destroyed. They were founded again in the 18th century with families that came from the Canary Islands.
The municipality had, in , a total population of 128,240: 63,564 men and 64,676 women. The urban population was of the total population.
San Felipe de Puerto Plata has a total area of (without including its municipal districts), about of the total area of the province of Puerto Plata. The city is at an elevation of , and at to the north of Santo Domingo.
The "Cordillera Septentrional" ("Northern mountain range") runs along the southern half of the municipality. There are only two roads that go through this mountain range. It rains a lot in these mountains.
The mountain "Loma Isabel de Torres" (the "Monte de Plata" of Columbus) is at about to the southeast of the city of Puerto Plata. It stands alone even if it is part of the Cordillera Septentrional. On top of the mountain, there is rainforest because it gets a lot of rain there; it rains almost every day. That forest is now a national park. It is high and there are two ways for getting to the top: by road or by a cable car (a type of car that runs on cables above the car).
There are many rivers in the municipality but, because the Cordillera Septentrional is close to the coast, they are all very short. The two most important rivers are Camú del Norte and Yásica. Two small rivers that are close to the city are San Marcos and Muñoz.
There are some bays along the coast. Two of them are the "Puerto Plata Bay" and "Maimón Bay".
Puerto Plata has a tropical wet climate (Köppen-Geiger classification: Af) with no dry or cold season as it is constantly moist (rainfalls during the whole year).
The average amount of rainfall for the year in the city is . The month with the most precipitation on average is December with of rainfall, followed by November with .
The driest season is summer. The month with the least rainfall on average is July with an average of and the second is June with .
Puerto Plata is in a warm region; the average temperature for the year is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is February, with an average temperature of .
The municipality of San Felipe de Puerto Plata has two municipal districts:
North Cascades
The North Cascades are a name used for the mountains at the north end of the Cascade Range, south of Canada. The North Cascades are entirely in the United States, in the state of Washington. At the Canadian border, the North Cascades are called the Canadian Cascades. The highest point in the North Cascades is Mount Baker (10,781 ft/3,286m). North Cascades National Park is located at the northernmost end of the North Cascades.
Some of the primary rivers in the North Cascades are the Skagit, Nooksack, Stillaguamish, and Stehekin. Lake Chelan is the largest lake in the North Cascades. Although now termed a reservoir, it was originally a natural lake, but enlarged by a dam. The urban areas of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett are all west of the North Cascades. The Columbia River, Washington's largest river, forms the east and south boundary.
The Point!
The Point! is a 1971 animated cartoon movie, written by singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson and Carole Beers, and directed by Fred Wolf. It first appeared on ABC television, in the United States. It starred the voices of Mike Lookinland ("Bobby" of "The Brady Bunch" fame), and actor Dustin Hoffman. (Later editions replaced Hoffman's voice with that of Alan Thicke, then musician Ringo Starr.)
"The Point!" tells a story about a boy named Oblio, who is the only round-headed person in a land full of people and animals with pointed heads. Banished to the Pointless Forest for not to what is "normal", Oblio and his dog Arrow (whose head was pointed, but he was still loyal to Oblio) meet many different people, and come to learn that everything and everyone indeed has a "point"; a purpose for being what they are. Oblio and Arrow return home, bringing back what they have learned to share with everyone.
Nilsson said later the inspiration for "The Point!" was an LSD experience. Resting on the ground, he noticed everything (trees, buildings) that reached into the sky from the ground came to a "point", leading Nilsson to believe that "everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to that". Nilsson developed this idea into a story about tolerance, and acceptance of in others.
Nilsson devoted a whole album to music from "The Point!", alternating songs from the show with his own of the story. "Me And My Arrow" became the breakout hit from the album, with a single reaching the Top 20 in the American music charts. (The song was later used in a commercial, for the Plymouth Arrow automobile.)
Nilsson later adapted "The Point!" into a musical stage play, that featured more of his own songs. A London production of the play reunited former Monkees Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, who were also friends of Nilsson's.
Darwinius
Darwinius is a genus of primates known from only one fossil. It was discovered in 1983 by an amateur at the Messel Pit. This is a disused shale quarry noted for its astonishing fossil preservation, near the village of Messel, about 35 km (22 miles) southeast of Frankfurt am Main in Germany.
The fosssil dates from the Eocene epoch, 47 million years ago. The genus "Darwinius" was named to celebrate Charles Darwin on his bicentenary and the species name "masillae" honors Messel, where the specimen was found. The creature appeared superficially similar to a modern lemur. It is the only known specimen of its species.
The fossil, nicknamed 'Ida', was divided into a slab and partial counterslab after the excavation. The two parts were sold separately, was not reassembled until 2007.
The specimen was privately collected and sold in two parts. Only the lesser part was known earlier. The second part shows that the skeleton is the complete primate fossil known. It includes the skeleton, soft body outline and contents of the digestive tract.
Skull radiography shows teeth developing within the juvenile face. The individual was a weaned and independent-feeding female that died in her first year of life. She was "an agile, nail-bearing, generalized arboreal quadruped living above the floor of the Messel rain forest".
Redmond Barry