In 1989, the military junta officially changed the English version of its name from "Burma" to "Myanmar". It also made a new name in English for places in the country, such as its former capital city, from "Rangoon" to Yangon. The official name of the country in the Burmese language, "Myanmar" did not change, however. The renaming was controversial, seen by some as linguistically bad. Accepting the name change in the English-speaking world has been slow, with many people still using the name "Burma" to refer to the country. Major news organizations like the BBC still call it Burma. Some question the military junta's authority to "officially" change the name in English in the first place. Aung San Suu Kyi, however, calls the country Myanmar now.
Myanmar had a strong kingdom in ancient times, but the nation was taken over by the British in the 1800s. It was occupied by the Empire of Japan in the 1940s. Myanmar became independent in 1948 as the Union of Burma, and had a democratic government at first. However, in 1962, a coup d'état brought the military into power, where it has been ever since. The founder of modern Myanmar, Aung San was assassinated months before independence. His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest many times for leading the democracy movement.
In 1991, the military junta agreed to democratic elections, which were won by the National League for Democracy, and should have made Aung San Suu Kyi the Prime Minister. However, the dictatorship ignored the results of the elections and continued ruling. In November 2005, the military government stated that the national capital would be moved from Yangon to a location near Pyinmana, which was renamed Naypyidaw in March 2006.
Since independence in 1948 and the assassination of Aung San, Burma has had civil wars between its governments and minority ethnic groups like the Kachin, Karen, Shan and others. These conflicts are known as the Internal conflict in Burma.
Today, there are 14 sections. 7 are called states and the other 7 are called divisions.
The divisions are split into townships. The townships are divided into villages and wards.
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Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles at high. It is in Scotland, near Fort William. The mountain forms part of the Three Peaks Challenge and attracts an estimated 100,000 climbers per year,
The name comes from the Scottish Gaelic, Beinn Nibheis, which may mean poisonous or terrible.
The summit of Ben Nevis is a large stony plateau of about . The highest point is marked with a large stone mound which sits an Ordnance Survey trig point.
The ruined walls of an observatory are also on the summit. An emergency shelter has been built on top of the observatory tower for people caught out by bad weather. The roof of the shelter is higher than the trig point by several feet, making it the highest man-made structure in the UK. A war memorial to the dead of World War II is next to the observatory.
On 17 May 2006, a piano that had been buried under one of the cairns on the peak was uncovered by the John Muir Trust, which owns much of the mountain. The piano is believed to have been carried up for charity by removal men from Dundee over 20 years earlier.
The view from the UK's highest point can reach to over , and mountains such as the Torridon Hills, Morven in Caithness, Lochnagar, Ben Lomond, Barra Head and Knocklayd in County Antrim, Northern Ireland can be seen.
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales. Its top is known as "Yr Wyddfa" (Old Welsh meaning "the grave"). The English name Snowdon comes from Saxon "Snow Dun", meaning "snow hill".
It is in Snowdonia National Park. As the highest mountain in Wales, Snowdon is one of three mountains climbed as part of the Three Peaks Challenge.
Manaus
Manaus is the principal city of the North Region of Brazil. It is the capital of Amazonas. Manaus had a great age when latex was discovered in the Amazon region. Manaus developed economically and culturally. After that great age, latex started to be produced in other countries, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, where due the similar climate the plants start to grow even faster than in Brasil.
Manaus is considerated as the entrance door to the biggest ecological reservation in the planet: The Amazon rainforest. Its name come from a tribe called Manaós that lived in this area and means "Mother of God". The colonization started on 1669, with a small fort, and around it grew a settlement. In 1833 it became a village, with the name of Manaus. On October 24th of 1848 it receive the name of city and became the Capital of the state.
Manaus is the site of the "encontro of the waters" where two big rivers Rio Negro (black river) and Solimoes River come together and for more than 10 km "walk together but not mixed" because of their differing density, and then become the Amazon.
The American Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanization, developed a procedure to process the juice of the rubber tree into rubber. The city became rich, and India rubber barons paid for a big biggest luxury from Europe, a copy the Grand Paris Opéra - the TEATRO AMAZONAS. Other monuments from this time include the MERCADO MUNICIPAL, a copy of the famous market halls Les Halles in Paris, the arts centre RIO PALACIO NEGRO between fascinating Portuguese facades.
Today Manaus is a foreign trade zone. Foreign enterprises pay here no import duties what guarantees a certain income for the city and the region. Electronics, wood industry and oil refineries have settled in the outskirts in industrial areas. The harbour is the most important trading centre for the care of the city with regional, national and international products.
About 1.5 million people live in Manaus.
It was nominated as one of the places for the Soccer World Cup 2014. the city is growing rapidly and start to prepare for the event that will bring a lot of people.
The Opera house is the major cultural heritage of the Amazonas. It was inaugurated in 1896 during the rubber boom. In spite of the predominance of neoclassic elements, other styles were used, so the architecture is eclectic, with materials brought from Europe as well as artists like Domenico de Angelis, Giovanni Capranesi and Crispim do Amaral. Preserved as a national heritage since 1965, today, with more than 100 years, it has room for 681 people including balconies and three floors of boxes. After the restauration made by the state government in 1990, the theater rescued its splendor, with performances of famous operas, national and international musicians.
Amazonas
Amazonas is the name of four places in South American nations:
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Tocantins (state)
Tocantins is a state in central Brazil. The state was made in 1988 out of the northern part of Goiás, and construction began on the capital, Palmas, in 1989. Palmas is much newer than most cities in the area.
The state is the border between the Amazon Rainforest and Brazil's grassy flatlands. The state is very important for raising and selling cows and other farm animals.
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest is the largest forest. It grows in the tropical basin of the Amazon River.
The forest lies in a basin drained largely by the Amazon River, with 1100 tributaries. It is a moist broadleaf forest which covers seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion acres). Of this, five and a half million square kilometers (1.4 billion acres) are covered by the rainforest.'
This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. Most of the forest is in Brazil, with 60% of the rainforest, followed by Peru with 13%, and Colombia with 10%. Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana have just a small amount of rainforest.