The ideal gift for anyone interested in language, geography and people. We communicate through the spoken and written word and language has evolved over the centuries. Many languages have survived although only in small pockets throughout the world. This book explores a selection of those languages. Did you know that some people believe that the speakers of Burushaski, the language of a distant valley below the Himalayas, are actually the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great? And that, even though the Venetian language is not official in Venice, it is spoken in several locations in Latin America? From 'language isolates' such as Basque, spoken in Spain and France, and Ainu in Japan and Russia, to language islands including a Welsh speaking colony in Argentina-discover how geography shapes communication and societies. What can we learn from the existence of Gutnish, a dialect of the extinct Eastern Germanic Gothic, on several islands of the Baltic Sea? And how widely spoken is Cornish? These and many more intriguing linguistic questions are answered in this absorbing exploration of lesser known languages.

Explore the world with a Collins wall map Fully updated world map to include the latest political changes. The map contains politically coloured mapping which shows each country and their capital city, major roads, railways and cities and towns clearly. Also included are national flags, key statistics for every country and inset maps of the polar regions. The map is printed on high quality paper and comes rolled in a plastic tube - ideal as a poster for any classroom, bedroom or office wall. Area of coverage: All of the world, centred on the Greenwich Meridian, and including maps of the North and South Pole regions. Scale: 1:22 000 000; 1 cm to 220 km; 1 inch to 347 miles Size: 1015 x 1380 mm (40 x 54 inches) Other versions available: Laminated flat map in tube (ISBN 978-0-00-821156-1).

A new fully updated reference atlas in the exciting Collins world atlas range. Great value and contains all the world maps you need in a budget atlas, for family, study and business use. Explore our planet; * Clear maps giving balanced worldwide coverage * Key statistics and flags for every country of the world * World time zones maps * Discover more than 36,000 places Mapping updates include; * Country name changes - Czechia (formerly Czech Republic),Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia) * Extensive place name changes in New Zealand, Myanmar and Ukraine * Changes to capital cities in Burundi, Chad, Eswatini, Kazakhstan and Kiribati * Railways in France, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Motorways in UK and Ireland * New rail and road bridge across Kerch Strait * Everest height updated to 8,849m / 29,032ft

This new edition convenient pocket size map of Pretoria includes the latest up-to-date information, key tourist areas and street plans. The map includes a detailed map at 1:12 500 scale plus a map of the Hartebeespoort area with a scale of 1:100 000. The detailed street plan includes: - Main & minor roads - Retail areas - Traffic light positions - Hotels & accommodation - Tourist information - Places of interest & historic sites - Theatres & cinemas - Shopping malls - Parking - One-way streets - Sports and recreation areas - Embassy positions - Index of street names. The detailed area map covers: Akasia - Hartebeespoort - Atteridgeville - Pretoria CBD - Mamelodi - Renosterspruit - Centurion, Moreleta Park, Rietvlei & Midrand Estates - Built-up areas with suburb names - Index of street names & suburbs.

How many place names are there in the Hawaiian Islands? Even a rough estimate is impossible. Hawaiians named taro patches, rocks, trees, canoe landings, resting places in the forests, and the tiniest spots where miraculous events are believed to have taken place. And place names are far from static--names are constantly being given to new houses and buildings, streets and towns, and old names are replaced by new ones. It is essential, then, to record the names and the lore associated with them now, while Hawaiians are here to lend us their knowledge. And, whatever the fate of the Hawaiian language, the place names will endure. The first edition of Place Names of Hawaii contained only 1,125 entries. The coverage is expanded in the present edition to include about 4,000 entries, including names in English. Also, approximately 800 more names are included in this volume than appear in the second edition of the Atlas of Hawaii.

Puzzled by Welsh place names - but want to know what they mean and how to say them? Look no further. This is an exciting full colour pocket guide, "Understanding Welsh Place Names: What They Mean and How to Say Them", from outdoor specialists Northern Eye Books. This innovative yet carefully thought out guide means non-Welsh speakers can now easily translate and understand place names all over Wales - on the map, on road signs, and out in the countryside. Written by native Welsh speaker, Gwili Gog, the book contains not only a comprehensive gazetteer of place names arranged county by modern county - with an authoritative explanation of what each name means - but also a potted history of the Welsh language, a quick look at pronunciation, and a photographic exploration of place names in the landscape, as well as key words accompanied by phonetic explanations of how to pronounce them. But perhaps the most notable element of this book is its themed approach to the ideas and beliefs that lie at the heart of the Welsh language.Separate illustrated text boxes on each double page spread explore more than thirty central topics such as Hills and Mountains; Ancient Animals; Colours in the Countryside; Fords, Ferries and Bridges; Holy Wells; Inns and Taverns; and Funny Place Names. Armed with this insider knowledge, visitors will discover there's a whole unexplored new dimension to the Welsh landscape. In fact, for readers, Wales will never be quite the same again.

The ultimate street atlas to navigate your way around London. A comprehensive paperback street atlas of London encompassing an area of 1,450 square miles with coloured street mapping, and including more than 90,000 streets and other addresses. The coverage extends beyond the Greater London and M25 area to: Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans, Potters Bar, Waltham Cross, Epping, Brentwood, Thurrock, Stanford-le-Hope, Gravesend, Wrotham, Sevenoaks, Westerham, Oxted, Redhill, Reigate, Leatherhead, Great Bookham, Woking, Egham, Windsor, Slough, Chalfont St. Peter, Chorleywood, Bovingdon There are eighteen pages of large scale (9" to 1 mile) street mapping of central London which gives additional clarity and detail, this mapping extends to: Regent's Park, St. Pancras International Station, Old Street, Tower Bridge, Bricklayer's Arms Junction, Vauxhall Bridge, South Kensington, Paddington Station and Lord's Cricket Ground. Postcode districts and one-way streets are included on the street mapping. Other features include: * The Congestion Charging Zone (CCZ) boundary which is shown on both scales of mapping and an overview map of the zone is also included. * The Greater London Low Emission Zone boundary is shown on the street mapping and an overview map of the zone is also included. * The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) boundary * There are eight pages of road mapping at 3 miles to 1 inch that cover much of the Home Counties area. * London Underground map. * London Rail Connections map. * West End Cinema and Theatre maps. The index section of the atlas includes streets, places & areas, hospitals, industrial estates, selected flats & walkways, service areas, stations and selected places of interest. Please note hospitals and rail stations are now listed in the main index and highlighted in different colour. They are not included as a separate list as in previous editions.

Prisoners of Geography meets Bill Bryson: a funny, fascinating, beautifully illustrated - and timely - history of countries that, for myriad and often ludicrous reasons, no longer exist. 'Countries are just daft stories we tell each other. They're all equally implausible once you get up close' Countries die. Sometimes it's murder, sometimes it's by accident, and sometimes it's because they were so ludicrous they didn't deserve to exist in the first place. Occasionally they explode violently. A few slip away almost unnoticed. Often the cause of death is either 'got too greedy' or 'Napoleon turned up'. Now and then they just hold a referendum and vote themselves out of existence. This is an atlas of nations that fell off the map. The polite way of writing an obituary is: dwell on the good bits, gloss over the embarrassing stuff. This book fails to do that. And that is mainly because most of these dead nations (and a lot of the ones that are still alive) are so weird or borderline nonsensical that it's impossible to skip the embarrassing stuff. The life stories of the sadly deceased involve a catalogue of chancers, racists, racist chancers, conmen, madmen, people trying to get out of paying tax, mistakes, lies, stupid schemes and General Idiocy. Because of this - and because treating nation states with too much respect is the entire problem with pretty much everything - these accounts are not fussed about adding to all the earnest flag saluting in the world, however nice some of the flags are.

Bag the perfect A-Level Atlas this Back to School. A new, fully updated edition of this bestselling atlas of the world. Great value and contains all the world maps you need in a budget atlas, for family, study and business use. Explore our planet; * Clear maps giving balanced worldwide coverage * Key statistics and flags for every country of the world * World time zones maps * Discover more than 10,000 places Mapping updates include; * Country name changes - Czechia (formerly Czech Republic),Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia) * Extensive place name changes in New Zealand, Myanmar and Ukraine * Changes to capital cities in Burundi, Chad, Eswatini, Kazakhstan and Kiribati * Railways in France, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Motorways in UK and Ireland * New rail and road bridge across Kerch Strait * Everest height updated to 8,849m / 29,032ft

Essential Information About Your World

This edition has been completely revised and updated by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Featuring full-color maps, flags and flag histories, plus the most current political, economic and social data, this volume provides a wealth of information. This book's compact format makes it ideal for students.

Maps of the 195 countries of the world, plus US States, territories and the District of Columbia

Listing of dependencies and areas of special sovereignty

Maps appear in alphabetical order by country

Locator maps pinpoint each country on the globe

Data includes GNP per capita, major exports, population, area, monetary unit and much more

Fully updated, the maps combine clear design and an easy-to-read scale with more road detail to ensure that you never lose your way. Designed especially for the British motorist, all motorways are clearly show in blue and toll motorways are highlighted. Distance markers and service stations are included, with towns of interest identified to help you plan the best route. The mapping shown on the country titles includes touring information and visitor attractions including national parks, ski resorts, beaches, top museums and churches. Roads unsuitable for caravans are also indicated, together with steep gradients. A place name index and large scale city plans, featuring street names and places of interest, complete the sheet map.

The sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps, whether swimming vigorously, gambolling amid the waves, attacking ships, or simply displaying themselves for our appreciation, are one of the most visually engaging elements on these maps, and yet they have never been carefully studied. The subject is important not only in the history of cartography, art, and zoological illustration, but also in the history of the geography of the 'marvellous' and of western conceptions of the ocean. Moreover, the sea monsters depicted on maps can supply important insights into the sources, influences, and methods of the cartographers who drew or painted them. In this highly-illustrated book the author analyzes the most important examples of sea monsters on medieval and Renaissance maps produced in Europe, beginning with the earliest mappaemundi on which they appear in the tenth century and continuing to the end of the sixteenth century.

'Beautiful ... endless, brilliant unforgettable stories' Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 6 'Combining myth and science, this breathtaking book [is] packed with stunning images' Daily Mail After the enormous international success of The Phantom Atlas and The Golden Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching's brilliant book unveils some of the most beautiful maps and charts ever created during mankind's quest to map the skies above us. This richly illustrated treasury showcases the finest examples of celestial cartography - a glorious genre of map-making often overlooked by modern map books - as well as medieval manuscripts, masterpiece paintings, ancient star catalogues, antique instruments and other appealing curiosities. This is the sky as it has never been presented before: the realm of stars and planets, but also of gods, devils, weather wizards, flying sailors, medieval aliens, mythological animals and rampaging spirits. The reader is taken on a tour of star-obsessed cultures around the world, learning about Tibetan sky burials, star-covered Inuit dancing coats, Mongolian astral prophets and Sir William Herschel's 1781 discovery of Uranus, the first planet to be found since antiquity. Even stranger are the forgotten stories from European history, like the English belief of the Middle Ages in ships that sailed a sea above the clouds, 16th-century German UFO sightings and the Edwardian aristocrat who mistakenly mapped alien-made canals on the surface of Mars. As the intricacies of our universe are today being revealed with unprecedented clarity, there has never been a better time for a highly readable book as beautiful as the night sky to contextualise the scale of these achievements for the general reader.

At the turn of the 20th century the rail network extended to over 23,000 miles, very nearly the circumference of the world - the greatest length it was ever to achieve. Some urban routes had closed and later, hundreds of rural lines and stations succumbed to the Beeching axe. This title shows the network in its heyday before the decline commenced.

A beautiful gift for the adventurers in your family. This atlas of the world presents a complete view of the world, bringing it to life through innovative maps, stunning images and detailed content. It offers an exciting perspective on how the planet is made up, how it looks and how it works. This world atlas includes: * Highly detailed, updated regional and world-wide mapping * Wide range of topical issues covered including natural disasters, population, climate and the environment * Key country statistics allow comparisons of their state of development and an understanding of today's world * Thousands of facts and statistics including world and continental ranking tables Mapping updates include; * Country name changes - Czechia (formerly Czech Rep.), Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and North Macedonia (formerly Macedonia) * Place name changes in New Zealand and Australia * Administrative structures in India, France, Ghana, Kazakhstan and Norway * Changes to capital cities in Burundi and Kazakhstan * Railways in France, motorways in UK, Russia and Ireland, new rail and road bridge across Kerch Strait

Coming from the market leader in European mapping, this compact spiral edition gives more to leisure travellers with its unique factfinder of key statistics, currency, driving regs and speed limits for each country. Packed with details of facilities at major ski resorts and top visitor attractions, country by country, with clear route-planning maps, which enable journeys of over 800 miles to be planned without turning a page. Along with detailed road maps, there are car ferries, toll-free and pre-pay motorways, all clearly marked. The continental road network is shown at four different scales from 1:250 000 to 1:4 500 000, with ultra-clear detailed mapping. Scenic routes are highlighted, and the maps show numerous places to visit including beaches, theme parks, national parks and World Heritage Sites

Spanning the Islamic world, from ninth-century Baghdad to nineteenth-century Iran, this book tells the story of the key Muslim map-makers and the art of Islamic cartography. Muslims were uniquely placed to explore the edges of the inhabited world and their maps stretched from Isfahan to Palermo, from Istanbul to Cairo and Aden. Over a similar period, Muslim artists developed distinctive styles, often based on geometrical patterns and calligraphy. Map-makers, including al-Khwarazmi and al-Idrisi, combined novel cartographical techniques with art, science and geographical knowledge. The results could be aesthetically stunning and mathematically sophisticated, politically charged as well as a celebration of human diversity. 'Islamic Maps' examines Islamic visual interpretations of the world in their historical context, through the lives of the map-makers themselves. What was the purpose of their maps, what choices did they make and what was the argument they were trying to convey? Lavishly illustrated with stunning manuscripts, beautiful instruments and Qibla charts, this book shows how maps constructed by Muslim map-makers capture the many dimensions of Islamic civilisation, providing a window into the worldviews of Islamic societies.