Guess what? New York City is located in New York! Oh wait… you already knew that. Well did you also know that New York is the most popular city in the U.S.? New York works a powerful influence over global trade, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. That’s pretty cool. I didn’t know that (well I knew the fashion part and entertainment part). Did you know that? Enough about just New York, let’s talk about New York City!!!

Background Info.

New York City is made up of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. In 209, the estimated population was up to 8.4 million people. Those people are scattered over  land area of just 305 square miles. New York City is the most linguistically diverse (language diverse) city in the world. How did it get to be there? Being it’s size, New York City as many as 800 languages are spoken.

Landmarks

What would you go to see if you went there? Don’t think you wouldn’t see anything, you might as well see too much. many landmarks and districts are placed in New York City. What ones? Theres:

• The Statue  Of Liberty
• Times Square – ” The Crossroads of the World”
• In times Square you have Broadway

New York also contains some of the most top rated colleges. Such as:

• Columbia University
• New York University
• Rockefeller University

Broadway

Fast facts on Broadway:

• Broadway is a popular tourist attraction
• Broadway shows sold approximately $1.037 billion worth of tickets in 2010
• And $1.004 billion in 2009
• Shows that play in any of the Broadway houses are eligible for Tony Awards
  
• The majority of Broadway theatres are owned or managed by three organizations: the Shubert Organization, the Nederlander Organization, and Jujamcyn.
• The Tony is Broadway’s most prestigious award, even compared to the Academy Awards for Hollywood productions.

Columbia University

• Their motto is ” In Thy light shall we see light”
• It is one of the country’s nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution
• It was founded in 1754 as King’s College
• Today the University operates four global centers overseas in Amman, Jordan; Beijing, China;Paris, France; and Mumbai, India.
• Columbia annually administers the American literary award, the Pulitzer Prize, and is one of the founding members of the Association of American Universities
• Columbia is ranked first (tied with MIT and Stanford University) in the first tier of the nation’s top research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance, which takes into account total research, federal research, National Academy members etc

Did you know that about 79.5% of the South African population is of black African ancestry, divided among a combo of national  groups speaking different Bantu languages? Also that  South Africa contains the largest European, Indian, and genetically mixed communities in Africa, about a quarter of the population is unemployed  and lives on less than (US money) $1.25 a day? In Vermont that would probably buy a very small tot size ice cream!

Many of us watched the FIFA World Cup this year (2010). This year the FIFA World Cup is being held in South Africa. On the T.V. you hear this strange on-going noise, right? Well that noise is horns. That horn is called the vuvuzela, this horn may have been inspired by South Africans, but it’s made in China. These are sounded by hundreds of thousands of soccer fans. It’s the Chinese who make millions of them for about 30 cents a piece.

FUN FACTS!!!

• South Africa has some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world
• In 1487, the Portugese explorer Bartoloeum Dias became the first European to reach the southernmost point of Africa
• Eleven official languages are recognized in the constitution
• South Africa is known for a range in cultures and languages
• The 2009 estimation for South Africa’s population is 49,320,000 people

South African Animals

African Elephant- The African Elephant is the largest living land mammal, one of the most impressive animals on earth. The Elephant’s muscular trunk serves as a nose, hand, extra foot, signaling device and a tool for gathering food, carrying  water, dusting, digging and much more, it’s trunk can reach up to 23 feet. It can get up to 11 feet it’s weight: 3½ – 6½ tons, the African

Elephant is a vegetarian, and they can live up to 60 to 70 years.  Elephants seem to be fascinated with the tusks and bones of dead elephants, pawing and examining them, the myth is that they carry them to secret “elephant burial grounds,” however, has no sure base.

Leopard- The coloring of the leopard varies from white to bright golden brown, spotted with black spots and rosettes, the rosettes consist of groups of 5 to 6 spots arranged in a tight ring. The tail is longer than half the body length measured from head to tail.

It’s real name is Panthera Pardus, it’s size ranges  from 1 to almost 2 metres long, and weighs between 30 – 70 kg (females are typically around two-thirds the size of males). It’s diet consists small animals and medium size antelope. They can live up to 20 years and it’s predators are humans! :O

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Ontario stretches over one million square kilometers! The range of scenery will make your adventures one-of-a-kind. Ontario is bordered by Manitoba and Québec. To the north lies a largely untouched view of forests and lakes, while the most wearily populated areas around Toronto and Ottawa are located in the southern region of the county.

Some popular places, or tourist attractions, in Ontario are places like  Algonquin Provincial Park, Pukaskwa National Park, and Niagara Falls.

Niagra Falls-  Niagra Falls is 17 miles  north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles south-southeast of Toronto, Ontario. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 6 million cubic feet of water falls over the top line every minute in high flow, and almost 4 million cubic feet on average. It is the most powerful waterfall in NorthAmerica!!!

Every year, Rome will get millions and millions of tourists, plus the millions that call Rome, home. With archaeological evidence of humans living in Rome from 14000 years back.

Rome is the capital of Italy, if you didn’t know. Rome is divided into 19 business areas, called a district. They were created in 1972 for business reasons to increase decision making  in the city.

The city of Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber river within the Lazio region of Italy.

The Uffizi Gallery is one of the world’s greatest art museums that shows works by Botticelli, Giotto, Leonardo, Michelangelo which is also where Michelangelo’s sculpture of David is kept.