One of the aspects of my job at Lippincott Jacobs the I really enjoyed was making maps to be included in various reports. Typically, they were environmental maps showing the soils, geology, or the drainage areas on an around the area of a proposed project. To develop these maps I used several various GIS software. The point is that I love maps and geography, I like to know where places are in relationship to me and the rest of the world and it really upsets me when people, like my wife, don’t know or care where countries are located.I know it doesn’t really matter to your everyday life, but I just like that it is important as a citizen of the world that you know where countries are!! With that said, as I was looking through the various anniversaries and holidays that are observed around the world today, I thought maybe that’s a way to get a little geography in this blog. So here goes..
September 20 th
1990 – South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.
South Ossetia (/əˈsɛtiə/[4] ə-set-ee-ə or /ɒˈsiːʃə/[5] o-see-shə) or Tskhinvali Region[nb 1] is a disputed region and partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian SSR of the Soviet Union.[6]
South Ossetians declared independence from Georgia in 1990, calling themselves the Republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia’s autonomy and trying to re-establish its control over the region by force.[7] The crisis escalation led to the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War.[8] Georgian fighting against those controlling South Ossetia occurred on two other occasions, in 2004 and 2008.[9] The latter conflict led to the Russia–Georgia war, during which Ossetian Read more
Russia is located along the northern border of Georgia and the 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia was discussed at length in the US presidential election.Like Ukriane to the northwest of Georgia it is an area that Russia is interested in, as is US ally Turkey.
September 2oth is celebrated as Oil Workers Day in Azerbaijan located southeast of Georgia,
A production-sharing agreement with respect to development of deep deposits of “Azeri”, “Chirag”, “Gunashli” in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea was signed in Gulustan Palace in Baku on 20 September 1994.
The agreement was called Contract of the Century for its historic, political and international significance and was reflected in 400 pages and four languages.
According to a presidential decree dated 16August 2011, 20 September is marked as Oil Workers’ Day of Azerbaijan….
….Presidents of the United States, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed an intergovernmental agreement on construction of the “main export oil pipeline” Baku – Tbilisi – Ceyhan (BTC) at the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999.
The foundation of BTC pipeline was laid on 18 September 2002 at a ceremony attended by the then presidents of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia.
The Azerbaijani and Georgian sections of the main export pipeline were connected in October 2004 Full Post
On September 20, 1979 there was a coup d’etat in the Central African Empire which overthrew Emperor Bokasa I and restored the Central African Republic.
The Central African Empire (French: Empire centrafricain) was a short-lived, self-declared ‘constitutional monarchy’, but in reality an absolutist autocratic monarchy, that replaced the Central African Republic and was, in turn, replaced by the restoration of the Republic. The empire was formed when Marshal Jean-Bédel Bokassa, President of the Republic, declared himself Emperor Bokassa I on 4 December 1976.
Bokassa spent the equivalent of over 20 million United States dollars, a quarter of the country’s government annual income, on his coronation ceremony. The monarchy was abolished and the name “Central African Republic” was restored on 21 September 1979, when Bokassa was ousted with French support. Read More
The Central African Republic lays in, well, the center of Africa, is a land-locked country and like its neighboring countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, it is still a country in turmoil…..
From the BBC…Central African Republic crisis: Minusca new peace mission
The UN is formally taking over peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic (CAR), where about 25% of the population has fled their homes.
The new force will largely comprise 6,200 troops already there.
There are also 2,000 French troops, who will not be part of the UN force, but human rights groups say a bigger force is urgently needed to end the violence.
CAR has been in turmoil since a mainly Muslim rebel group seized power in the majority Christian country last year.
Rebel leader Michel Djotodia resigned in January under intense diplomatic pressure but the killings have continued.
According to a tally by the AP news agency, more than 5,000 people have been killed this year alone.
Muslims have fled revenge attacks, with the country now largely split into a Muslim north and Christian south.
A “rehatting” ceremony, in which the peacekeepers swap their green African Union helmets for blue UN ones, was due to have started at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT).
The new mission is to be known as Minusca from its French acronym.
“Our mission can be summed up in a triptych: to protect the population, back the political process and contribute to the restoration of the authority of the state,” said Minusca chief Gen Babacar Gaye of Senegal. Read More!
So there we are so next time we hear some news from Georgia, Azerbaijan or the Central African Republic maybe we’ll remember where they are, and then again maybe not!
