This thesis encompasses a study of past precipitation patterns based on six cave stalagmites from different parts of the Indian Himalaya. This is the first speleothem study in the Indian Himalaya that shows a direct relationship between past precipitation and the collapse of civilization. The stalagmites examined were KL-3 from Jammu and Kashmir; TCS and BR-1 from Himachal Pradesh; and DH-1, SA-1 and CH-1 from Uttarakhand. Based on the high-resolution palaeoclimatic reconstruction (35 U/th dates, 5 AMS dates, 1,500 samples for 18O and 13C values) obtained for the duration of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition (16.2-9.5 ka BP) and Mid-Holocene-Present (ca. 4.0 ka BP-Present), three major events were identified, namely the Older Dryas (OD), Bolling-Allerod (BA) period and Younger Dryas (YD) at ca. 14.3-13.9, 13.9-12.7 and 12.7-12.2 ka BP, respectively. The study showed a gradual reduction in the precipitation from 4 ka BP onwards for about a millennium with a peak arid period between 3.2 and 3.1 ka BP. According to the findings, the LIA (Little Ice Age) covers a time span from 1622-1820 AD, during which the climate was wetter than that in the post-LIA period (1820-1950 AD). In addition, this thesis supports the assumption that the WDs (Western Disturbances) contribute significantly to the total rainfall in the Himalaya region.

Beyond the Mountains explores the ways in which Appalachia often served as a laboratory for the exploration and practice of American conceptions of nature. The region operated alternately as frontier, wilderness, rural hinterland, region of subsistence agriculture, bastion of yeoman farmers, and place to experiment with modernization. In these various takes on the southern mountains, scattered across time and space, both mountain residents and outsiders consistently believed that the region's environment made Appalachia distinctive, for better or worse. With chapters dedicated to microhistories focused on particular commodities, Drew A. Swanson builds upon recent Appalachian studies scholarship, emphasizing the diversity of a region so long considered a homogenous backwater. While Appalachia has a recognizable and real coherence rooted in folkways, agriculture, and politics (among other things), it is also a region of varied environments, people, and histories. These discrete stories are, however, linked through the power of conceptualizing nature and work together to reveal the ways in which ideas and uses of nature often created a sense of identity in Appalachia. Delving into the environmental history of the region reveals that Appalachian environments, rather than separating the mountains from the broader world, often served to connect the region to outside places.

No matter where they are located in the world, communities living in mountain regions have shared experiences defined in large part by contradictions. These communities often face social and economic marginalization despite providing the lumber, coal, minerals, tea, and tobacco that have fueled the growth of nations for centuries. They are perceived as remote and socially inferior backwaters on one hand while simultaneously seen as culturally rich and spiritually sacred spaces on the other. These contradictions become even more fraught as environmental changes and political strains place added pressure on these mountain communities. Shifting national borders and changes to watersheds, forests, and natural resources play an increasingly important role as nations respond to the needs of a global economy. The works in this volume consider multiple nations, languages, generations, and religions in their exploration of upland communities' responses to the unique challenges and opportunities they share. From paintings to digital mapping, environmental studies to poetry, land reclamation efforts to song lyrics, the collection provides a truly interdisciplinary and global study. The editors and authors offer a cross-cultural exploration of the many strategies that mountain communities are employing to face the concerns of the future.

No matter where they are located in the world, communities living in mountain regions have shared experiences defined in large part by contradictions. These communities often face social and economic marginalization despite providing the lumber, coal, minerals, tea, and tobacco that have fueled the growth of nations for centuries. They are perceived as remote and socially inferior backwaters on one hand while simultaneously seen as culturally rich and spiritually sacred spaces on the other. These contradictions become even more fraught as environmental changes and political strains place added pressure on these mountain communities. Shifting national borders and changes to watersheds, forests, and natural resources play an increasingly important role as nations respond to the needs of a global economy. The works in this volume consider multiple nations, languages, generations, and religions in their exploration of upland communities' responses to the unique challenges and opportunities they share. From paintings to digital mapping, environmental studies to poetry, land reclamation efforts to song lyrics, the collection provides a truly interdisciplinary and global study. The editors and authors offer a cross-cultural exploration of the many strategies that mountain communities are employing to face the concerns of the future.

A pioneering examination of the three-dimensionality of the earth from the perspective of history and the humanities. This book considers the variegated world of mountains and their development during the last 500 years. It takes as its starting point the United Nations environmental conference of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, where the mountains were officially recognised as a topic of the world community. Important precedents for this new agenda were built in the early modern period and in the nineteenth century, as European societies began to exceed their traditional limitations. The book begins with an investigation of this long-term process with respect to science, culture and politics, each of which has transformed our attitudes toward mountainous regions. It then takes up historical problems that have been debated in the latest research, placing them in a comparative framework. At the book's heart stands the question of whether and in what way the 'three-dimensional history' of mountain people may reveal distinctive forms of development.

Landscape, politics and history: the Italian mountains as a crucible of national and natural identity. This book is part of a wider current in environmental history, that explores the links between nature and nation. It uncovers how Italian identity and mountains have constituted one another. It argues that state regimes since unification in 1861 have made mountains into national symbols and resources, thereby affecting mountain communities and ecosystems. The nationalisation of Italian mountains has been a story of military conquest and resistance, ecological and social transformation, expropriating resources and imposing meanings. The wind of 'big' history was rolling through the Alps and the Apennines: State building and national identities, totalitarianism and democracy, economic development and environmental protection, scientific knowledge and vernacular practices are the substance of this book. The book starts with the revaluation of mountains as the repository of the last Italian wilderness and chronicles the discovery/ invention of mountains as wild, primitive, and rebellious places needing to be tamed. World War I permanently transformed mountain landscapes and people, nationalising both. When the Fascists came to power, the process of politicisation of mountains reached its acme; the regime constructed and exploited mountains both rhetorically and materially, on one hand celebrating ruralism and rural people and, on the other, giving mountain natural resources to large hydro-electric corporations. Having been the sanctuary of Resistance against the Nazi-Fascist occupation, the Italian mountains were emptied by the economic boom of the 1960s; only recently have the green of natural parks and the white of the ski resorts become the distinctive colors of the new, tourist-oriented Italian mountains.

""This then is a book of mountaineering, not presenting the Canadian Rockies in their entirety -- no single volume will ever do that -- but including many of the finest things. It is also a book of mountain travel, under conditions such as perhaps the European traveller experienced in the Alps during the Eighteenth Century. Finally, it is a book of mountain history; for here is Geography in the making, and with a tradition behind it -- a story that has never been properly gathered together, and whose details, in part at least, are gone forever."" -- from the Preface by J. Monroe Thorington Completely re-edited, re-designed and containing with an impressive collection of archival photos and maps, "The Glittering Mountains of Canada" is a must-read for anyone interested in mountain literature. The book's position in the pantheon of outdoor writing as a "classic" is only further enhanced and supported by the passionate Foreword by well-known mountain historian and environmental writer Robert William Sandford, who urges the contemporary reader to embrace Thorington's belief in the importance of landscape and the poetry of place. This is a book that deserves to be read and appreciated alongside the work of Wallace Stegner, Henry David Thoreau and Sid Marty.

In the 1700s, Jean-Jacques Rousseau celebrated the Alps as the quintessence of the triumph of nature over the ""horrors"" of civilization. Now available in English, History of the Alps, 1500-1900: Environment, Development, and Society provides a precise history of one of the greatest mountain range systems in the world. Jon Mathieu's work disproves a number of commonly held notions about the Alps, positioning them as neither an inversion of lowland society nor a world apart with respect to Europe. Mathieu's broad historical portrait addresses both the economic and sociopolitical - exploring the relationship between population levels, development, and the Alpine environment, as well as the complex links between agrarian structure, society, and the development of modern civilization. More detailed analysis examines the relationship between various agrarian structures and shifting political configurations, several aspects of family history between the late Middle Ages and the turn of the twentieth century, and exploration of the Savoy, Grisons, and Carinthia regions.

This text is a valuable source of information about the Magaliesberg, including the history of man in the area; from archaeological evidence thousands of years ago, to the battles fought between different groups in more recent times. The portrayal of humankind s history in the Magaliesberg is fascinating, but it does not dominate the book to the detriment of environmental issues.The extensive descriptions of the fauna and flora of the area inspire the reader to consider the impact that man has on his environment. An entire chapter is devoted to birds and the checklist of birds in the Magaliesberg makes this book essential for all birders. The chapters on trees, mammals, reptiles and amphibians also contain extensive checklists, indicating both the scientific as well as common names. The Magaliesberg is almost 100 times older than Everest, and the chapter on the geology of the area describes how these mountains started to take shape 2,300 million years ago. Carruthers eloquent writing style is easy to read and grabs the reader s attention from the start. The comprehensive book is based on sound research and is complemented by numerous illustrations and full-color photographs throughout. Carruthers s love for the area is obvious and he describes the Magaliesberg as a priceless national asset, which he hopes to preserve with the help of this book. The many full-color and black and white photographs, as well as detailed illustrations are found on every page throughout the book, adding value to the book, making it a publication that appeals to those readers who are academically inclined, as well as those who are amateur environmentalists or historians."

A nature book unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat -- a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded -- brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands.

In this revised and expanded edition of Hollows, Peepers, and Highlanders, author George Constantz, a biologist and naturalist, writes about the beauty and nature of the Appalachian landscape. While the information is scientific in nature, Constantz's accessible descriptions of the adaptation of various organisms to their environment enable the reader to enjoy learning about the Appalachian ecosystem. The book is divided into three sections: ""Stage and Theater,"" ""The Players,"" and ""Seasonal Act."" Each section sets the scene and describes the events occurring in nature. ""Stage and Theatre"" is comprised of chapters that describe the origins of the Appalachia region. ""The Players"" is an interesting and in-depth look into the ecology of animals, such as the mating rituals of different species, and the evolutionary explanation for the adaptation of Appalachian wildlife. The last section, ""Seasonal Act,"" makes note of the changes in Appalachian weather each season and its effect on the inhabitants.

Listen for the calls of nesting ravens and warblers, watch the growth of wild geranium and black cohosh, and savor the first autumn blush in the tupelo trees. Revel, as did Frank Lloyd Wright, Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt--among generations of other amateur naturalists--in the remarkable natural, historical, and geological treasures of Sugarloaf, the Maryland Piedmont's only mountain.

A favored destination of nearly one-quarter million visitors each year, some 35 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., and 50 miles west of Baltimore, Sugarloaf is a National Natural Landmark and privately owned park that is open to the public year-round. In this natural history and guidebook, Melanie Choukas-Bradley presents a fascinating blend of local, natural, and historical detail that transports the reader simultaneously onto the slopes of today's mountain and into the region's past. Discover why prominent architects and real estate barons have found the land so compelling, why preservationists and botanists strive to protect the natural habitat of so many native species, and why families return again and again to hike, study flora and fauna, and picnic at Sugarloaf.

Choukas-Bradley lists practical information on how and when you might best enjoy a visit to the trails, wildflowers, and seasonal variations of the land. Her text is beautifully complemented by Tina Thieme Brown's pen-and-ink illustrations.

In The Granite Landscape Tom Wessels synthesizes history, geology, biology, and personal narrative to enhance our understanding and appreciation of these high, wild placesthe granite summit balds of North America. He explores the unique and fragile ecosystem that is common to exposed granite expanses from Acadia to Yosemitehow it evolved slowly over millennia, and how it is threatened today by foot traffic and overuse. Wessels' wonderfully informative and accessible text combine with his dramatic photographs and Brian Cohen's beautifully detailed illustrations to bring the denizens of the granite bald to life. The mountains they celebrate include: Acadia National Park in Maine; the White Mountains of New Hampshire; the Adirondacks of New York; the Wind River Range of Wyoming; the Beartooths of Montana; the Enchantments of Washington; and Yosemite National Park in California. 18 photographs, 30 illustrations, 1 map, glossary, index.

A compelling study of the origins and trajectory of one of the legendary black uprisings against apartheid, Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid draws on insights gained from the literature on collective action and social movements. It delves into the Alexandra Rebellion of 1986 to reveal its inner workings. Belinda Bozzoli's aim is to examine how the residents of Alexandra, a poverty-stricken segregated township in Johannesburg, manipulated and overturned the meanings of space, time, and power in their sequestered world. She explains how they used political theater to convey, stage, and dramatize their struggle and how young and old residents generated differing ideologies and tactics, giving rise to a distinct form of generational politics. Theatres of Struggle and the End of Apartheid asks the reader to enter into the world of the rebels and to confront the moral complexity and social duress they experienced as they invented new social forms and violently attacked old ones. It is an important study of collective action that will be of great interest to sociologists and to scholars of Africa, particularly to those interested in the antiapartheid struggle.

Of all the mammals, rodents are undoubtedly the most significant single group. With some 1500 species, they constitute an amazing 40 per cent of the world's known mammal population. They have colonized the whole planet - with the common house mouse now found on every continent including Antarctica. This latest title in the "Of the World" series describes the rodent families and their tremendously wide range of lifestyles - from the subterranean-dwelling blind mole rat to the spectacular flying squirrel, from the dam-building beaver to the largest present-day rodent, the giant capybara of South America. There are accounts of their many interactions with man, from being despised pests and carriers of disease to being of economic importance as "farmed" animals for fur production - or even as domestic pets. Full details are given of their evolution, classification and distribution, together with detailed descriptions of form and function, breeding and feeding habits. The text is enhanced throughout with distribution maps and over 100 color photographs. Despite the friendly images of rodents in the media, man has a generally unsympathetic view of most rodent species. This attitude has tended to mask the great danger of extinction which many species now face. This book details the need for conservation and describes the captive breeding programs now underway to ensure survival of this fascinating group of mammals whose adaptability for life on this planet is rivalled only by our own.

Mountains rise like islands from deserts and grasslands along the U.S.-Mexican border. The stunningly varied borderlands offer a laboratory for studying historical trends and ecological cycles, as well as a refuge in which to experience natural history firsthand. In this engaging personal narrative, biologist Fred Gehlbach describes the stability and changes of the past century in the Borderlands' climate, landforms, and natural communities and in its distinctive plants and vertebrates. Historical sketches, maps, and striking photographs richly amplify the text, and a preface updates developments in the region since the book's original publication in 1981.

Not Good Enough for Canada investigates the development of Canadian immigration policy with respect to persons with a disease or disability throughout the twentieth century. With an emphasis on social history, this book examines the way the state operates through legislation to achieve its goals of self-preservation even when such legislation contradicts state commitments to equality rights. Looking at the ways federal politicians, mainstream media, and the judicial system have perceived persons with disabilities, specifically immigrant applicants with disabilities, this book reveals how Canadian immigration policy has systematically omitted any reference to this group, rendering them socially invisible.

'Magnificent ... this book is unlikely to be surpassed' Telegraph This is the first major history of the Himalaya: an epic story of peoples, cultures and adventures among the world's highest mountains. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 DUFF COOPER PRIZE An epic story of peoples, cultures and adventures among the world's highest mountains: here Jesuit missionaries exchanged technologies with Tibetan Lamas, Mongol Khans employed Nepali craftsmen, Armenian merchants exchanged musk and gold with Mughals. Featuring scholars and tyrants, bandits and CIA agents, go-betweens and revolutionaries, Himalaya is a panoramic, character-driven history on the grandest but also the most human scale, by far the most comprehensive yet written, encompassing geology and genetics, botany and art, and bursting with stories of courage and resourcefulness. 'Magisterial' The Times 'His observations are sharp...his writing glows' New York Review of Books SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2021 BOARDMAN TASKER AWARD FOR MOUNTAIN LITERATURE

'Outstanding Academic Title' Choice, magazine of the Association of College & Research Libraries, American Library Association.Most mountains on Earth occur within relatively well-defined, narrow belts separated by wide expanses of much lower-lying ground. Their distribution is not random but is caused by the now well-understood geological processes of plate tectonics. Some mountains mark the site of a former plate collision - where one continental plate has ridden up over another, resulting in a zone of highly deformed and elevated rocks. Others are essentially volcanic in origin.The most obvious mountain belts today - the Himalayas, the Alps and the Andes, for example - are situated at currently active plate boundaries. Others, such as the Caledonian mountains of the British Isles and Scandinavia, are the product of a plate collision that happened far in the geological past and have no present relationship to a plate boundary. These are much lower, with a generally gentler relief, worn down through millennia of erosion.The presently active mountain belts are arranged in three separate systems: the Alpine-Himalayan ranges, the circum-Pacific belt and the mid-ocean ridges. Much of the Alpine-Himalayan belt is relatively well known, but large parts of the circum-Pacific and ocean-ridge systems are not nearly as familiar, but contain equally impressive mountain ranges despite large parts being partly or wholly submerged.This book takes the reader along the active mountain systems explaining how plate tectonic processes have shaped them, then looks more briefly at some of the older mountain systems whose tectonic origins are more obscure. It is aimed at those with an interest in mountains and in developing an understanding of the geological processes that create them.

Facing droughts, floods, and water security challenges, society is increasingly forced to develop new policies and practices to cope with the impacts of climate change. From taken-for-granted values and perceptions to embodied, existential modes of engaging our world, human perspectives impact decision-making and behaviour. The Wonder of Water explores how human experience - including our cultural paradigms, value systems, and personal biases - impacts decisions around water. In many ways, the volume expands on the growing field of water ethics to include questions around environmental aesthetics, psychology, and ontology. And yet this book is not simply for philosophers. On the contrary, a specific aim is to explore how more informed philosophical dialogue will lead to more insightful public policies and practices. Case studies describe specific architectural and planning decisions, fisheries policies, urban ecological restorations, and more. The overarching phenomenological perspective, however, means that these discussions emerge within a sensibility that recognizes the foundational significance of human embodiment, culture, language, worldviews, and, ultimately, moral attunement to place.

Winner, 2020 Al Lowman Memorial Prize for Best Book on Texas County or Local History There is a deep and abiding connection between humans and the land in Pinto Canyon—a remote and rugged place near the border with Mexico in the Texas Big Bend. Here the land assumes a certain primacy, defined not by the ephemera of plants and animals but by the very bedrock that rises far above the silvery flow of Pinto Creek— looming masses that break the horizon into a hundred different vistas. Yet, over time, people managed to survive and sometimes even thrive in this harsh environment. In the Shadow of the Chinatis combines the rich narratives of history, natural history, and archeology to tell the story of the landscape as well as the people who once inhabited it. Settling the land was difficult, staying on it even more so, but one family proved especially resilient. Rising above their meager origins, the Prietos eventually amassed a 12,000-acre ranch in the shadow of the Chinati Mountains to become the most successful of Pinto Canyon’s early settlers. But starting with the tense years of the Great Depression, the family faced a series of tragedies: one son was killed by a Texas Ranger, and another by the deranged son of Chico Cano, the Big Bend’s most notorious bandit. Ultimately, growing rifts in the family forced the sale of the ranch, marking the end of an era. Bearing the hallmarks of an epic tragedy, the departure of the Prieto family signaled a transition away from ranching towards a new style of landownership based on a completely different model. Today, Pinto Canyon’s scenic and scientific value increasingly overshadows the marginal economics of its past. In the Shadow of the Chinatis reveals a rich tapestry of interaction between humans and their environment, providing a unique examination of the Big Bend region and the people who call it home.

Many historians and political scientists argue that ties between Canada and Latin America have been weak and intermittent because of lack of mutual interest and common objectives. Has this record of diverging paths changed as Canada has attempted to expand its economic and diplomatic ties with the region? Has Canada become an imperialist power? Canada's Past and Future in Latin America investigates the historical origins of and more recent developments in Canadian foreign policy in the region. It offers a detailed evaluation of the Harper and Trudeau governments' approaches to Latin America, touching on political diplomacy, bilateral development cooperation, and civil society initiatives. Leading scholars of Canada-Latin America relations offer insights from unique perspectives on a range of issues, such as the impact of Canadian mining investment, security relations, democracy promotion, and the changing nature of Latin American migration to Canada. Drawing on archival research, field interviews, and primary sources, Canada's Past and Future in Latin America advances our understanding of Canadian engagement with the region and evaluates options for building stronger ties in the future.

On 25 January 2018, Elisabeth Revol and her climbing partner Tomasz Mackiewicz summited Nanga Parbat, the killer mountain. Situated in the Karakoram, the world's ninth-highest peak is an immense ice-armoured pyramid of rock rising to an altitude of 8,125 metres. Elisabeth and Tomek had completed only the second winter ascent of the mountain, and Elisabeth had become the first woman to summit Nanga Parbat in winter. But their euphoria was short-lived. As soon as they reached the top, their adventure turned into a nightmare as Tomek was struck by blindness. In her own words, Elisabeth tells the story of this tragedy and the extraordinary rescue operation that resounded across the globe as fellow climbers flew in from K2 to help the stricken pair. She confronts her memories, her terror, her immense pain and the heartbreak of having survived, alone. To Live is Elisabeth Revol's poignant tribute to her friend and climbing partner.

Bristol takes readers on a journey through the history of Glacier National Park, beginning over a billion years ago from the formation of the Belt Sea, to the present day climate-changing extinction of the very glaciers that sculpted most of the wonders of its landscapes. He delves into the ways in which this area of Montana seemed to have been preparing itself for the coming of humankind through a series of landmass adjustments like the Lewis Overthrust and the ice ages that came and went. First there were tribes of Native Americans whose deep regard for nature left the landscape intact. They were followed by Euro-American explorers and settlers who may have been awed by the new lands, but began to move wildlife to near extinction. Fortunately for the area that would become Glacier, some began to recognize that laying siege to nature and its bounties would lead to wastelands. Bristol recounts how a renewed conservation ethic fostered by such leaders as Emerson, Thoreau, Olmstead, Muir, and Teddy Roosevelt took hold. Their disciples were Grinnell, Hill, Mather, Albright, and Franklin Roosevelt, and they would not only take up the call but rally for the cause. These giants would create and preserve a park landscape to accommodate visitors and wilderness alike.