The Culture of Montserrat ::

The Culture of Montserrat Culture on the island of Montserrat can be most easily characterized through the examination of the many natural forces influencing the lifestyles and customs of its people. Montserrat’s physical features have played a crucial role in shaping the attire, diet, shelter, and crops of the island’s inhabitants. Volcanic rocks and native plants scattered throughout the island were the source of a number of customs that remain prevalent in contemporary Montserratian culture. Prior to colonization by the British, the island of Montserrat was occupied by a number of Amerindian groups from Venezuela who made their living through fishing and cultivation. There is evidence from a small artifact found in the soil from roughly 500 B.C.E. that the first inhabitants of Montserrat were the Ciboney, known as the ‘stone people.’ The Arawaks arrived on the island around 400 C.E. and built their villages near the coastline. These were a peaceful people who made their living fishing and gardening, and made ceramic vessels, stone tools, and conch shell adzes. While the Arawaks had a few centuries on the island, at the time of European contact the Caribs had gained dominance by driving them to the north. By 1500 the cannibalistic Caribs practiced both permanent and shifting cultivation and built their villages and gardens near the coast with a pole framework and leaf thatch. Caribs grew a mix of economic plants for cultivation, including many from South America and some from the Old World, which modified Montserrat’s vegetative cover in addition to some structures, composed of saplings, reeds, and foliage. The Carib name for Montserrat was Alliouagana, meaning â€Å"island of the prickly bush,† which most likely referred to the native species of Acacia. When Montserrat was first settled in 1632, British colonial officials believed the land and people of their island colonies to be profitable machines and this view greatly determined the way in which a culture based on agricultural production and slave labor emerged. The British had sent Irish Catholics from St. Kitts to colonize Montserrat and these people were growing tobacco and sugar by 1654. By the 1650s, English and Anglo-Irish landowners formed the wealthy ruling class, and Irish indentured servants formed the bulk of the population. The Culture of Montserrat :: The Culture of Montserrat Culture on the island of Montserrat can be most easily characterized through the examination of the many natural forces influencing the lifestyles and customs of its people. Montserrat’s physical features have played a crucial role in shaping the attire, diet, shelter, and crops of the island’s inhabitants. Volcanic rocks and native plants scattered throughout the island were the source of a number of customs that remain prevalent in contemporary Montserratian culture. Prior to colonization by the British, the island of Montserrat was occupied by a number of Amerindian groups from Venezuela who made their living through fishing and cultivation. There is evidence from a small artifact found in the soil from roughly 500 B.C.E. that the first inhabitants of Montserrat were the Ciboney, known as the ‘stone people.’ The Arawaks arrived on the island around 400 C.E. and built their villages near the coastline. These were a peaceful people who made their living fishing and gardening, and made ceramic vessels, stone tools, and conch shell adzes. While the Arawaks had a few centuries on the island, at the time of European contact the Caribs had gained dominance by driving them to the north. By 1500 the cannibalistic Caribs practiced both permanent and shifting cultivation and built their villages and gardens near the coast with a pole framework and leaf thatch. Caribs grew a mix of economic plants for cultivation, including many from South America and some from the Old World, which modified Montserrat’s vegetative cover in addition to some structures, composed of saplings, reeds, and foliage. The Carib name for Montserrat was Alliouagana, meaning â€Å"island of the prickly bush,† which most likely referred to the native species of Acacia. When Montserrat was first settled in 1632, British colonial officials believed the land and people of their island colonies to be profitable machines and this view greatly determined the way in which a culture based on agricultural production and slave labor emerged. The British had sent Irish Catholics from St. Kitts to colonize Montserrat and these people were growing tobacco and sugar by 1654. By the 1650s, English and Anglo-Irish landowners formed the wealthy ruling class, and Irish indentured servants formed the bulk of the population.

Iceland Crisis and Causes Led to the Crisis

Iceland and the rest of the world reeling. In retrospect Iceland was essentially operatinglike a firm with a highly unviable growth model. However, the political relationship between Iceland and Britain also greatly added to the economic downturn and financialcrisis. Britain’s use of anti-terrorism laws, in an attempt to protect their economicinvestments in Iceland, essentially labeled Iceland as a terrorist state which onlycontinued to stagnate the inflow of foreign capital.Although without a doubt the primarycause of the Icelandic financial crisis was economic, political factors such as therelationship and interdependence between Iceland and Britain exacerbated the alreadydire situation. Iceland began as an isolated, fairly impoverished country whose survival was based largely on its fishing trade. 1 However, in recent years Iceland had been successfulat establishing itself as a premier offshore banking hub. At one point Icelanders wereecstatic and celebrated the fact that t heir tiny country of about 300,000 people had 3 banks in the worlds largest 300 banks. 2The Icelandic government was able to enticeforeign investors by setting interest rates very high, which encouraged foreigners toinvest largely in financial assets. The large inflow of foreign capital associated with suchmass foreign investment caused the krona to greatly appreciate. Since the krona wasgreatly overvalued it made all imports in both goods and services very inexpensive for Icelanders; the overvalued krona also made it a lot easier for Icelanders to borrow moneyfrom abroad. 3 The high interest rates, gargantuan capital inflow, and an appreciatedcurrency all aided in creating the economic boom that Iceland enjoyed for many years ?This economic boom encouraged Icelanders to borrow from abroad and many failed toforesee that such economic prosperity was limited and that a bust is inevitably going tofollow a boom. The lack of government oversight on the banking system also was an economic factor that led to the financial crisis. One large problem with the Icelandic banking sector is that the banks became so large that the Icelandic government was unable to operate asa lender-of-last-resort simply because Iceland with its mere 300,000 people has a verysmall tax base. 4 At the end of 2006 the total assets of its banks grew to be nine times aslarge as the countries GDP. It would have been less of a problem for the banks to be solarge if they had not remained domiciled in Iceland. It was perhaps too large and ideal of a goal for such a small country like Iceland to become an international financial center. Iceland was essentially acting like a firm when indeed they should have been lookingafter the economic stability of their whole country. The Icelandic government simplylacked the ability to financially sustain their banks in times of economic crisis. If some of the banks in Iceland had foreign lenders-of-last-resort they might have been able toweather out the economic storm.Iceland’s economic growth model was mainly built upon foreigninvestors being able and willing to keep on giving. However, due to the global economiccrisis foreign capital ceased coming in and when it did the myriad of public and privatedebt became quite evident. ? 6 Some analysts argue that problems with the krona have prevented Iceland from being able to control the financial crisis. Since Iceland does not have an effectual currency to manipulate they are largely unable to support the banks andhave no practical ways to bring down the inflation and interest rates, which have beenstaying in the double digits. This is just one of the many economic situations currentlyaffecting Iceland. Without a doubt the prime cause for Iceland’s financial crisis is largely theeconomic circumstances previously discussed. However, political factors such asIceland’s relationship with Britain also played a role in exacerbating the crisis and preventing Iceland from any chance it might have had of financial viability. Iceland andBritain once had a very mutually beneficial friendship, which could be seen in that theywere NATO allies and frequent trading partners.However, as the global economic crisis began to take hold this friendship became tenuous at best. The problems between Icelandand Britain began in late 2008 when Britain, in an attempt to protect its financial assets inIceland, invoke its 2008 anti-terrorism laws to freeze the British assets of a failingIcelandic bank. 8 Specifically Britain froze the assets of Landsbanki and seized the assetsof Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander. 9 The British seizure of Kaupthing Singer &Friedlander was followed shortly by the collapse of its parent bank, Kaupthing, which theIcelandic government had desperately been trying to keep viable.In many Icelanderseyes and certainly in the eyes of the Icelandic government Kaupthing was the last of theMohicans and its demise signaled the end of the Icelandic banking system ? T he political decision to invoke anti-terrorism legislation against Iceland essentially branded it as a terrorist state, which in the eyes of every Icelander was athorough abuse of a small neighbor. Due to this one political action Iceland was listed onthe British Treasury Department’s page with terrorist groups and states such as Al Qaeda,Sudan, and North Korea. 11At this point in the crisis the foreign capital inflows intoIceland were already dismal but this British action triggered an immediate freeze on anyremaining banking transactions between Iceland and abroad. Essentially no one wants todo business with a terrorist state. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson stated that, â€Å"It(Britain) was absolutely being a bully against a small country because I am absolutelycertain that if it was the case of France and Germany, the British government would nothave acted in the same way- absolutely not†. The Icelandic Prime Minister at the time,Geir H.Haarde, believed that Gord on Brown had â€Å"sacrificed Iceland for his own short-term political gain thereby turning a grave situation into a national disaster†. 12 From the perspective of the Icelandic government their once cordial, neighborly relationship withBritain had been thoroughly abused to the point that a British foreign policy decision played an integral factor in the meltdown of the Icelandic financial sector Undoubtedly Britain’s political decisions affected the financial crisis in Iceland,yet, the Crisis in Iceland also greatly impacted Britain’s economic conditions.Like therest of the world, thanks to the downturn of the global economy Britain has beensuffering its own financial woes. When foreign capital inflows ceased in Iceland thiscaused the krona’s value to fall, which led Icelandic banks to be unable to finance their debts most of which are in foreign currency. This realization by all of the foreigninvestors who were once so eager to invest created a mad rush to get their money out of the failing Icelandic banks.Unfortunately, Icelandic banks did not have proper reservesto cover the massive withdrawals leading all three of Iceland’s banks to be nationalized. 13 Regrettably many British universities, municipal governments, charities and hospitals had been lured in by the high interest rates to invest in Icelandic accounts. CambridgeUniversity had $20 million invested in Icelandic accounts while 15 British police forceshave approximately $170 million frozen in Iceland. 14Many groups that had invested inthe Icelandic banking sector had done so in the convenience of their own home statesthrough the use of online investing sites such as Icesave. co. uk. On their website Icesavenow displays the message that â€Å"We are not currently processing any deposits or withdrawal requests through out Icesave Internet accounts. We apologize for anyinconvenience this may cause our customers†. 15 Certainly for large investors such asCambrid ge University this is much more than a small inconvenienceAt the center of Iceland’s financial troubles is that their banking sector was highlydependent upon a continued inflow of foreign capital. In turn, Iceland’s foreign investorswere also very dependent upon Iceland’s banks to maintain their viability. However,when the inflow of capital stopped the interdependence of Iceland and its investors became very clear. This is exemplified by the Icelandic-British relationship. Britishcitizens and companies alike had been ensorcelled by the call the of high interest rates inIceland.The viability of the banks was based largely on the ability to keep foreign capitalcoming into the country, which allowed the krona to appreciate. When the foreign creditmarket froze and investment decreased drastically the financial interdependence of Iceland and Britain manifested itself Iceland’s main pitfall and cause of its financial crisis is that they essentiallytreated their country as a firm and allowed the banking sector to get far too hugeconsidering, as we have seen, that it had no financial stronghold to back it up.Althoughthe blown-up banking sector and other economic factors created the financial crisis it wascertainly exacerbated by the failed diplomatic relationship between Iceland and Britain. Britain’s use of its antiterrorism legislation only made the economic woes of Icelandworse by essentially making it a pariah that should be avoided by the rest of theinternational community. In the end, Iceland’s financial practices had sown the seeds of their own destruction but the political actions of Britain ensured that it would be a longtime before Iceland’s financial sector will germinate once more.

Best Childrens Stories From Asia

Analyzing The Issues Of World Overpopulation - 1413 Words

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Many people today wonder how humans will be able to sustain and support a working life and the cost of living if the worldâ €™s population continues to grow. Studies show that the cause of overpopulation will lead the world into a battle for natural resources, possible involvement in war, and a high increase in poverty due to the rise of unemployment. There are many factors that affect world overpopulation and because of this scientists and geologists try to answer the one question the world fears. How will we survive? Studies show that because of the constant research in medicine andShow MoreRelatedRevision Of The Critique Of Hardin’S â€Å"Lifeboat Ethics†:1134 Words   |  5 Pagesecologist who believed that overpopulation was going to bring a downfall to a world of limited resources. Each nation was compared to a lifeboat with the rich being inside the boat and the poor in the water, drowning (Hardin, 561). 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The Theory Of Human Development - 2240 Words

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Touching the Void Free Essays

From Touching he Void Backgraund Joe Simpson’s book â€Å"Touching the Void† was publised in 1998; translated into 23 languages and achieved sales of 500,000 across all editions. When Joe Simpson and his friend Simon Yates decided to go climbing in Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, he wouldn’t imagine he would caught up in the most spectacular survival story. Fallen into a crevasse after Yates cuts the rope during an accident he was left for dead, but his will to survive was stronger than the odds. We will write a custom essay sample on Touching the Void or any similar topic only for you Order Now Main Characters Joe Simpson – mountaineer/first climber-optimistic, Joe falls, breaking his leg and heel when he impacts the bottom then Simon cut the rope which Joe was hanging asuming that Joe will die. Simon Yates – mountaineer /climber – 21-ear-old, was faced with the first of two terrible decisions: should he abandon his friend – whom they both knew was as good as dead – or try to get him down the mountain? Yates chose the second option. Plot In the mid-80’s two young climbers attempted to reach the summit of Siula Grande in Peru; a feat that had previously been attempted but never achieved. With an extra man looking after base camp, Simon and Joe set off to scale the mount in one long push over several days. The peak is reached, however on the descent Joe falls and breaks his leg. Despite what it means, the two continue with Simon letting Joe out on a rope for 300 meters, then descending to join him and so on. However when Joe goes out over an overhang with no way of climbing back up, Simon makes the decision to cut the rope. Joe falls into a crevice and Simon, assuming him dead, continues back down. Joe however survives the fall and was lucky to hit a ledge in the crevice. This is the story of how he got back down. A man was on a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes Mountains where a fall broke his leg severely. Joe Simpson and his friend, Simon Yates were experienced mountain climbers but were not prepared for this grueling disaster in the hours that followed Joe’s fall. Surviving in sub zero temperatures, treacherous icy cliffs and a severe injury left Joe helpless while his climbing partner, Simon had to make difficult decisions for both of their survivals. Simon decided to painfully lower injured Joe slowly with ropes in the blinding snow and used tugs on the ropes as their communications. A few hours went by as the climbing team tried in vein to avoid deep crevices and avalanches while the roaring wind and no visibility made the situation much worse. Simon felt no life on the other side of the rope for quite some time before he decided to cut his end, assuming his friend Joe had died from the descending attempts. The story progresses into unbelievable human emotion as Simon expresses the guilt he felt of not being able to save his friend and cutting the rope for his own survival as he makes the daring descend down to base camp to tell the sad news to others. Meanwhile, Joe was not dead at all but seriously injured and crawled and slid down the mountain with no water or food for two days in blizzard conditions. Simon was packing up Joe’s belongings and getting ready to leave camp to tell Joe’s family the horrible news when all of a sudden he heard a howling wolf. The howling was coming from Joe unbeknownst to Simon until he decided to go investigate and was flabbergasted to see his injured friend a few miles from base camp. Pharagraph by pharagraph How to cite Touching the Void, Papers

Henry Iv, Part I Discussion Essay Example For Students

Henry Iv, Part I Discussion Essay A monologue from the play by William ShakespeareHOTSPUR: My liege, I did deny no prisoners.But I remember, when the fight was done,When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,Came there a certain lord, neat and trimly dressed,Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin new reapedShowed like a stubble land at harvest home.He was perfumed like a milliner,And twixt his finger and his thumb he heldA pouncet box, which ever and anonHe gave his nose, and tookt away again;Who therewith angry, when it next came there,Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talked;And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,He called them untaught knaves, unmannerly,To bring a slovenly unhandsome corseBetwixt the wind and his nobility.With many holiday and lady termsHe questioned me, amongst the rest demandedMy prisoners in your majestys behalf.I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,To be so pestered with a popingay,Out of my grief and my impatienceAnswered neglectingly , I know not whatHe should, or he should not; for he made me madTo see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet,And talk so like a waiting gentlewomanOf guns and drums and wounds God save the mark! And telling me the sovereignest thing on earthWas parmacity for an inward bruise,And that it was great pity, so it was,This villainous saltpetre should be diggedOut of the bowels of the harmless earth,Which many a good fellow had destroyedSo cowardly, and but for these vile guns,He would himself have been a soldier.This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,I answered indirectly, as I said,And I beseech you, let not his reportCome current for an accusationBetwixt my love and your high majesty.