scholarly journals TRAPPED BY NATURE: PROVINCIAL GRAIN YIELDS IN SPAIN IN THE MID 18TH CENTURY

Author(s):  
Carlos Santiago-Caballero

ABSTRACTThis paper estimates original yields for five grains in thirty-three provinces of Spain in the mid-18th century. We observe a strong heterogeneity between the provinces with yields being considerably higher in the north of the country than in the south-east. Although average yields in Spain were below those in other countries of north-western Europe, the provinces in the north achieved yields not far behind the most advanced agricultural regions of the world. The heterogeneity of yields across Spain can be explained by the different climatic conditions in each province. Although all the provinces improved their yields in the long term, the differences between the provinces remained stable until the modernisation of Spanish agriculture around the mid-20th century.

1895 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-149
Author(s):  
James Geikie

For many years geologists have recognised the occurrence of at least two boulder-clays in the British Islands and the corresponding latitudes of the Continent. It is no longer doubted that these are the products of two separate and distinct glacial epochs. This has been demonstrated by the appearance of intercalated deposits of terrestrial, freshwater, or, as the case may be, marine origin. Such interglacial accumulations have been met with again and again in Britain, and they have likewise been detected at many places on the Continent, between the border of the North Sea and the heart of Russia. Their organic contents indicate in some cases cold climatic conditions; in others, they imply a climate not less temperate or even more genial than that which now obtains in the regions where they occur. Nor are such interglacial beds confined to northern and north-western Europe. In the Alpine Lands of the central and southern regions of our Continent they are equally well developed. Impressed by the growing strength of the evidence, it is no wonder that geologists, after a season of doubt, should at last agree in the conclusion that the glacial conditions of the Pleistocene period were interrupted by at least one protracted interglacial epoch. Not a few observers go further, and maintain that the evidence indicates more than this. They hold that three or even more glacial epochs supervened in Pleistocene times. This is the conclusion I reached many years ago, and I now purpose reviewing the evidence which has accumulated since then, in order to show how far it goes to support that conclusion.


2020 ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Jonathan Scott

This chapter discusses the Thirty Years' War. It shows that, when the Scots and then the English Protestants took up arms between 1638 and 1642 they followed the Dutch in committing to the defence of their Reformation by force. This was the first in a series of conflicts which did not secure Protestantism in England until 1689, or Calvinism in Scotland until 1707. These struggles on both sides of the North Sea were intertwined, beginning with a Scots rebellion supported by soldiers returning from the Netherlands and elsewhere, and ultimately hinging upon a Dutch invasion of England in 1688–9. In the long term, Reformation could only be defended in North-Western Europe by a multinational (and cross-confessional) military alliance against Louis XIV and James II.


1936 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 169-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ullyott

Sometime after the last retreat of the ice in the Quaternary ice age, the Scandinavian peninsula was separated on the south from the north German plain and Denmark. Later, England was cut off by the Channel from the continental land mass. An estimation of the times at which these two events happened is interesting to archaeologists, botanists and zoologists alike, because the communities with which they are concerned are affected by the barrier of an intervening arm of the sea.So far most of the evidence about the times of separation comes from botanical and archaeological sources, from pollen analysis and the investigation of cultural sites. In this paper the distribution and physiology of certain freshwater animals are used to provide argument that the separation of Scandinavia and of England could only have taken place at times of particular climatic conditions. The climatic definition of the times of separation makes it possible to fit them in to the absolute geochronological scale which has been established by Scandinavian workers.


1988 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. D. Loxdale ◽  
C. P Brookes

AbstractLarge colonies of holocyclic Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) were sampled in May-June in 1985 and 1986 from the principal host, Prunus padus, in various parts of Britain, mainly in the south-east. They were tested electrophoretically using nine enzymes representing 14 putative genetic loci. Only two loci (14%) were polymorphic (GOT, glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase, and SORDH, sorbitol dehydrogenase), the remainder being monomorphic. Allele and genotype frequencies at each locus were generally similar both spatially and temporally, and genotype frequencies were close to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. The low level of genetic variability may reflect population bottlenecks which have purged most of the variation and which have been imposed by the distribution of P. padus, especially in the south of Britain where the tree is generally scarce. In addition, it is probable that adverse climatic conditions directly affect winter survival of anholocyclic populations of the aphid and thus also reduce variability. In the long term, such bottlenecks would tend to preclude the maintenance of effectively neutral enzyme variants that arise within populations. The similarity of allele and genotype frequencies may reflect the highly migratory behaviour of R. padi. Thus, in southern Britain, where P. padus is generally much rarer in comparison with the north of the country, R. padi inter-population gene flow is still sufficient to alleviate the influences of genetic drift and possible directional selection on the allelic variation that remains.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Datsenko ◽  
◽  
Serhii Kolomiiets

Arid regions of the south of Ukraine (Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson regions) are facing an acute shortage of drinking and technical water, which consumption increases from year to year. A clear understanding of the shortage not only drinking water but also water for fish breeding, cultural and recreational needs is worrying the world scientific community. Understanding of hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical processes is important for groundwater protection, especially in arid regions of the world. The study area is located within the central part of the Priazovsk highland. Administratively, it belongs to Nikolsk Region (formerly Volodarsky Region) in Donetsk Region. There are four research periods in geological mapping and study of the Eastern and North-Western Priazovia region. The most important researches of the late last century include medium-size deep geological mapping of the North-Western and Eastern Priazovia, generalization of all geological materials of the previous researchers, obtaining data from stratigraphy, magmatism, tectonics and metallogeny, hydrogeology, which allowed to significantly clarify the geological structure of the region. The only possible centralized water supply source on the most part of the territory may be an aquifer of Proterozoic crystalline rocks. In the south-eastern part of the territory can be used Sarmatian sands, sandstones and limestone horizon, for the aquifer of crystalline rocks, the most water-rich is the tectonic disturbance zone with open fracturing.


Author(s):  
Semerhei-Chumachenko A. B. ◽  
Agayar E. V. ◽  
Zhuk D. O.

Tornadoes and strong squalls are dangerous for almost all spheres of human life and the economy of the region. The degree of negative impact depends on their type, quantity, intensity, area of formation and geographical features of the territory. The article defines the dynamics of the number of tornadoes and strong squalls in the North-Western Black Sea region (Odessa, Nikolayev and Kherson regions of Ukraine) from 2006 to 2020.Geographical position of the south-west of Ukraine, synoptic processes and a variety of climatic conditions contribute to the frequent occurrence of severe convective phenomena and creating the extraordinary complexity of their space-time distribution. The study revealed current trends in the formation of dangerous convective phenomena in the south-west of Ukraine. One of the most squall-prone regions of Ukraine is the territory of the North-Western Black Sea region. During 2006-2020 there was an increase in the number of squalls and tornadoes in the North-Western Black Sea region in comparison with previous years.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 201-204
Author(s):  
Vojtech Rušin ◽  
Milan Minarovjech ◽  
Milan Rybanský

AbstractLong-term cyclic variations in the distribution of prominences and intensities of green (530.3 nm) and red (637.4 nm) coronal emission lines over solar cycles 18–23 are presented. Polar prominence branches will reach the poles at different epochs in cycle 23: the north branch at the beginning in 2002 and the south branch a year later (2003), respectively. The local maxima of intensities in the green line show both poleward- and equatorward-migrating branches. The poleward branches will reach the poles around cycle maxima like prominences, while the equatorward branches show a duration of 18 years and will end in cycle minima (2007). The red corona shows mostly equatorward branches. The possibility that these branches begin to develop at high latitudes in the preceding cycles cannot be excluded.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lambert ◽  
A. Penaud ◽  
M. Vidal ◽  
C. Gandini ◽  
L. Labeyrie ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Holocene period (last 11,700 years BP) has been marked by significant climate variability over decadal to millennial timescales. The underlying mechanisms are still being debated, despite ocean–atmosphere–land connections put forward in many paleo-studies. Among the main drivers, involving a cluster of spectral signatures and shaping the climate of north-western Europe, are solar activity, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) varying atmospheric regimes and North Atlantic oceanic gyre dynamics. Over the last 2500 years BP, paleo-environmental signals have been strongly affected by anthropogenic activities through deforestation and land use for crops, grazing, habitations, or access to resources. Palynological proxies (especially pollen grains and marine or freshwater microalgae) help to highlight such anthropogenic imprints over natural variability. Palynological analyses conducted in a macro-estuarine sedimentary environment of north-western France over the last 2500 years BP reveal a huge and atypical 300 year-long arboreal increase between 1700 and 1400 years BP (around 250 and 550 years AD) that we refer to as the ‘1.7–1.4 ka Arboreal Pollen rise event’ or ‘1.7–1.4 ka AP event’. Interestingly, the climatic 1700–1200 years BP interval coincides with evidence for the withdrawal of coastal societies in Brittany (NW France), in an unfavourable socio-economic context. We suggest that subpolar North Atlantic gyre strengthening and related increasing recurrence of storminess extremes may have affected long-term coastal anthropogenic trajectories resulting in a local collapse of coastal agrarian societies, partly forced by climatic degradation at the end of the Roman Period.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Mirrington

Transformations of Identity and Society in Anglo-Saxon Essex: A Case Study of an Early Medieval North Atlantic Community presents the results of a comprehensive archaeological study of early medieval Essex (c.AD 400-1066). This region provides an important case study for examining coastal societies of north-western Europe. Drawing on a wealth of new data, the author demonstrates the profound influence of maritime contacts on changing expressions of cultural affiliation. It is argued that this Continental orientation reflects Essex’s longterm engagement with the emergent, dynamic North Sea network. The wide chronological focus and inclusive dataset enables long-term socio-economic continuity and transformation to be revealed. These include major new insights into the construction of group identity in Essex between the 5th and 11th centuries and the identification of several previously unknown sites of exchange. The presentation also includes the first full archaeological study of Essex under ‘Viking’ rule.


1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Forbes Manz

Temür has been many things to many people. He was nomad and city-builder, Turk and promoter of Persian culture, restorer of the Mongol order and warrior for the spread of Islam. One thing he was to all: a conqueror of unequalled scope, able to subdue both the vast areas of nomad power to the north and the centres of agrarian Islamic culture to the south. The history of his successors was one of increasing political fragmentation and economic stress. Yet they too won fame, as patrons over a period of brilliant cultural achievement in Persian and Turkic. Temür's career raises a number of questions. Why did he find it necessary to pile conquest upon conquest, each more ambitious than the last? Having conceived dreams of dominion, where did he get the power and money to fulfill them? When he died, what legacy did Temür leave to his successors and to the world which they tried to control? Finally, what was this world of Turk and Persian, and where did Temür and the Timurids belong within it?


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