Misplaced Pages

Farallon Islands

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an accepted version of this page

#188811

127-557: The Farallon Islands / f æ r ə l ɔː n / FA -ra-lon , or Farallones (from Spanish farallón  'pillar, sea cliff'), are a group of islands and sea stacks in the Gulf of the Farallones , off the coast of San Francisco , California , United States. The islands are also sometimes referred to by mariners as the Devil's Teeth Islands , in reference to

254-464: A 16-foot male white shark that was featured in an episode of the 2012 season of Shark Week called "Great White Highway," is believed to be the oldest living white shark so far documented returning to the Farallones, estimated at 25–30 years old. Some individual sharks have been tagged and found to roam the Pacific as far as Hawaii and Guadalupe Island off Baja California , returning regularly to

381-682: A Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish , owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. Northern fur seal Phoca ursina Linnaeus, 1758 The northern fur seal ( Callorhinus ursinus )

508-469: A consequence of these conflicts have been recorded, though the males themselves are rarely seriously injured. Young males unable to acquire and maintain a territory of a harem typically aggregate in neighboring " haulouts ", occasionally making incursions into the reproductive sections of the rookery in an attempt to displace an older male. After remaining with their pups for the first eight to ten days of their lives, females begin foraging trips lasting up to

635-603: A considerable number of words from Arabic , as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin , the form of Latin in use at that time. According to

762-522: A dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants , known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes , which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ ). See History of Spanish (Modern development of

889-482: A first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados ). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after

1016-478: A long history in the territory of the current-day United States dating back to the 16th century. In the wake of the 1848 Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty , hundreds of thousands of Spanish speakers became a minoritized community in the United States. The 20th century saw further massive growth of Spanish speakers in areas where they had been hitherto scarce. According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of

1143-508: A primarily Hassaniya Arabic -speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as its secondary official language, and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria ), where the Spanish language is still taught as

1270-427: A rich pelagic food web. Orca whales are also found around the islands. Gray whales are reliably found near the Farallones during their spring migration north and the fall and winter migration south. Some gray whales may also be found during the summer, when a few whales skip the trip north to Alaska and spend the summer months off the coast of Canada and the continental United States. In December 2005, one humpback

1397-479: A sealing station in the Farallones from 1812 to 1840, taking 1,200 to 1,500 fur seals annually, though American ships had already exploited the islands. The Albatross , captained by Nathan Winship, and the O'Cain , captained by his brother Jonathan Winship, were the first American ships sent from Boston in 1809 to establish a settlement on the Columbia River. In 1810, they met with two other American ships at

SECTION 10

#1732765975189

1524-617: A second language features characteristics involving the variability of the vowel system. While far from its heyday during the Spanish protectorate in Morocco , the Spanish language has some presence in northern Morocco , stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. According to a 2012 survey by Morocco's Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), penetration of Spanish in Morocco reaches 4.6% of

1651-531: A second language, largely by Cuban educators. The number of Spanish speakers is unknown. Spanish is also an official language of the African Union . Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization , it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as

1778-546: A site known as the Farallon Island Nuclear Waste Dump. Most of the dumping took place before 1960, and all dumping of radioactive wastes by the United States was terminated in 1970. By then, 47,500 containers (55-gallon steel drums) had been dumped in the vicinity, with a total estimated radioactive activity of 14,500  Ci (540  TBq ). The materials dumped were mostly laboratory materials containing traces of contamination. By 1980, most of

1905-560: A week. These trips last for about four months before weaning, which happens abruptly, typically in October. Most of the animals on a rookery enter the water and disperse towards the end of November, typically migrating southward. Breeding site fidelity is generally high for fur seal females, though young males might disperse to other existing rookeries, or occasionally find new haulouts. Peak mating occurs somewhat later than peak birthing from late June to late July. As with many other otariids,

2032-546: Is Mexico . Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group , in which the language is also known as Castilian ( castellano ). The group evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of

2159-416: Is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied"). Compare the examples in the following table: Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table: In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent

2286-514: Is Rittenburg Bank, with depths of less than 260' (80 meters) ( 37°53′N 123°18′W  /  37.883°N 123.300°W  / 37.883; -123.300 ). Although the Farallon Islands do not have an official weather station, satellite measurements indicate a very mild mediterranean climate due to its offshore position in the midst of the very cold California Current . The cold waters also make it rather chilly during most of

2413-414: Is a large island, two leagues from land and three leagues northwest of this are . . . seven farallones close together." It is believed that probably for the next two centuries after Drake first recorded their existence, their rather ominous appearance, lying just off the entrance to San Francisco Bay , most likely caused the earlier mariners to prefer to skirt far to the west and offshore from the entrance to

2540-413: Is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. Spanish is well represented in the humanities and social sciences . Spanish is also the third most used language on the internet by number of users after English and Chinese and the second most used language by number of websites after English. Spanish is used as an official language by many international organizations , including

2667-657: Is an eared seal found along the north Pacific Ocean , the Bering Sea , and the Sea of Okhotsk . It is the largest member of the fur seal subfamily ( Arctocephalinae ) and the only living species in the genus Callorhinus . A single fossil species, Callorhinus gilmorei , is known from the Pliocene of Japan and western North America. Northern fur seals have extreme sexual dimorphism , with males being 30–40% longer and more than 4.5 times heavier than adult females. The head

SECTION 20

#1732765975189

2794-634: Is common with carnivorous marine mammals adapted to tearing fish flesh. As with most caniforms, the upper canines are prominent. The dental formula of the adult is 3.1.4.2 2.1.4.1 Like other otariids, northern fur seals are built for efficient terrestrial locomotion. Their hind limbs are in a plantigrade stance and are able to rotate under the body for quadrupedal locomotion and support. When swimming, there are two different types of movement: locomotion and diving. These seals swim primarily with forelimb propulsion due to their physiology. They have flexible joints between vertebrae for better maneuverability in

2921-454: Is estimated that about 486 million people speak Spanish as a native language , making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers . An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language , making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. Spanish is also

3048-427: Is foreshortened in both sexes because of the very short, down-curved muzzle, and small nose, which extends slightly beyond the mouth in females and moderately in males. The pelage is thick and luxuriant, with a dense underfur in a creamy color. The underfur is obscured by the longer guard hairs, although it is partially visible when the animals are wet. Features of both fore and hind flippers are unique and diagnostic of

3175-761: Is heavily influenced by Venezuelan Spanish. In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil . In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President , making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. In September 2016 this law

3302-413: Is informally known as "the pimple." North Farallon Islands, about 5 miles (7 km) further northwest, consist of two clusters of bare precipitous islets and rocks 100' to 280' (31 to 85 meters) high, with an aggregate area of 7 acres (28,270 m) Some of those unnamed rocks, however, have Spanish names, such as Piedra Guadalupe , Peñasco Quebrado and Farallón Vizcaíno . 3 miles (5 km) WNW of

3429-515: Is named after the islands. The islands string northwestward from Southeast Farallon Island for 5 miles (8.0 km). Their total land area is 0.16 square miles (0.41 km). The islands were initially exploited for bird eggs and fur seal skins, then used as a lighthouse station and a radio station. They have been protected in the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, first established in 1909 with

3556-460: Is primarily solitary. Northern fur seals are preyed upon primarily by sharks and killer whales . Occasionally, very young animals are eaten by Steller sea lions. Occasional predation on live pups by Arctic foxes has also been observed. Due to very high densities of pups on reproductive rookeries and the early age at which mothers begin their foraging trips, mortality can be relatively high. Consequently, pup carcasses are important in enriching

3683-844: Is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands , located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off

3810-813: Is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico . The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles , Miami , San Antonio , New York , San Francisco , Dallas , Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor , as well as more recently, Chicago , Las Vegas , Boston , Denver , Houston , Indianapolis , Philadelphia , Cleveland , Salt Lake City , Atlanta , Nashville , Orlando , Tampa , Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration. Although Spanish has no official recognition in

3937-498: Is the official language of 20 countries , as well as one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Spanish is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese ; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English , Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani ( Hindi - Urdu ); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The country with the largest population of native speakers

Farallon Islands - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-578: Is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle'). In the Middle Ages , the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar . Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ( romanz castellano , romanz de Castiella ), lenguaje de Castiella , and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). Different etymologies have been suggested for

4191-609: The National Weather Service provided some weather observations from the lighthouse on its local radio station. The islands have also been mentioned in connection with the schooner Malahat as one possible site for Rum Row during Prohibition . A high-frequency direction finding (HFDF) station was established here by the Navy during World War II . These radio intercept sites along the coast could track Japanese warships and merchant marine vessels as far away as

4318-568: The Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. Spanish has historically had a significant presence on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba , Bonaire and Curaçao ( ABC Islands ) throughout the centuries and in present times. The majority of the populations of each island (especially Aruba) speaking Spanish at varying although often high degrees of fluency. The local language Papiamentu (Papiamento on Aruba)

4445-508: The Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino , a standardized version of Tagalog . Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under

4572-563: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stay. The islands are closed to the public. The Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge is one of 63 national wildlife refuges that have congressionally designated wilderness status . In 1974, the Farallon Wilderness was established ( Public Law 93-550) and includes all islands except the Southeast Island for a total of 141 acres (57 ha). Additionally, waters surrounding

4699-820: The United Nations , European Union , Organization of American States , Union of South American Nations , Community of Latin American and Caribbean States , African Union , among others. In Spain and some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile , contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician , Basque , Asturian , Catalan/Valencian , Aragonese , Occitan and other minor languages. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses

4826-486: The clipper ship that struck it on January 1, 1863, and sank within one hour. The banks northwest of Fanny Shoal are not considered part of the Farallon Islands anymore, and they are outside of U.S. territorial waters . About 15 miles (25 km) northwest of Fanny Shoal is Cordell Bank , a significant marine habitat ( 38°01′N 123°25′W  /  38.017°N 123.417°W  / 38.017; -123.417 ). About halfway between Fanny Shoal and Cordell Bank

4953-770: The maritime fur trade , it was more common for these animals to breed at local rookeries in British Columbia, California, and likely along much of the northwest coast of North America. During the winter, northern fur seals display a net movement southward, with animals from Russian rookeries regularly entering Japanese and Korean waters in the Sea of Japan and Alaskan animals moving along the central and eastern Pacific to British Columbia, Canada and as far south as Baja California. The northern fur seal's range overlaps almost exactly with that of Steller sea lions ; occasional cohabitation occurs at reproductive rookeries, notably in

5080-405: The sagittal crests, and thicker fur of the mane on the top of their heads. Canine teeth are much longer and have a greater diameter in adult males than those found on adult females, and this relationship holds to a lesser extent at all ages. Adult females, subadults, and juveniles are moderate in build. Distinguishing the sexes is difficult until about age five. The body is modest in size and

5207-440: The 17th and 18th centuries, first from Russia and later from North America, was followed by a highly extractive commercial fur trade. The commercial fur trade was accelerated in 1786, when Gavriil Pribylov discovered St. George Island , a key rookery of the seals. An estimated 2.5 million seals were killed from 1786 to 1867. This trade led to a decline in fur seal numbers. Restrictions were first placed on fur seal harvest on

Farallon Islands - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-548: The 1970s, with a continuing drop of about 6–7% per year. This has caused them to be listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List , and more specifically, the Pribilof Islands / eastern Pacific stock is listed as "depleted" under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act , though to date the species is not yet listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act ). Increasing concern about the species' status, particularly in

5461-841: The 2020 Behind the Bastards podcast episode "The War of the Eggs". Spanish language Spanish ( español ) or Castilian ( castellano ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe . Today, it is a global language with about 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain , and about 600 million when including second language speakers. Spanish

5588-404: The 2021–2022 school year alone. The local business process outsourcing industry has also helped boost the language's economic prospects. Today, while the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population, a new generation of Spanish speakers in the Philippines has likewise emerged, though speaker estimates vary widely. Aside from standard Spanish,

5715-595: The 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara , and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City . For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language . Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2023, it

5842-654: The Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. The proportion of proficient Spanish speakers in Equatorial Guinea exceeds the proportion of proficient speakers in other West and Central African nations of their respective colonial languages. Spanish

5969-600: The Farallon Islands, the Mercury and the Isabella , and at least 30,000 seal skins were taken. By 1818, the seals diminished rapidly until only about 500 could be taken annually and within the next few years, the fur seal was extirpated from the islands. Whether the northern fur seal or the Guadalupe fur seal were the islands' native fur seal is unknown, although the northern fur seal is the species that began to recolonize

6096-502: The Farallones every year in the autumn. Satellite tracking has revealed the majority of great white sharks from the Farallones (and from other parts of California, Hawaii and the west coast of Mexico) migrate to an area of ocean dubbed the White Shark Café , 1,500 miles (2,400 km) west of Ensenada, Baja California . The peak of activity at this location is from mid-April to Mid-July, but some sharks spend up to eight months of

6223-470: The Farallones have been nicknamed, often based on their scars and appearances, such as Gouge, The Hunchback, The Jester, and Stumpy. Stumpy, an 18-foot female great white, in particular was well known for her appearance in the BBC documentary "Great White Shark" narrated by David Attenborough and stock footage of her attacks on decoys is often utilized in more recent documentaries, and another example, Tom Johnson,

6350-432: The Farallones is unclear, with estimates from thirty to one hundred. The Farallones are unique in the size of the great whites that are attracted. The average length of a full-grown great white shark is 4 to 4.8 metres (13 to 16 ft), with a weight of 680 to 1,100 kg (1,500 to 2,430 lb), females generally being larger than males. Farallon great whites range between the "smaller" males at 13 ft (4.0 m) to

6477-467: The Farallones on January 28, 2007. Despite an unusually thorough search, neither his body nor his boat was ever found. On April 14, 2012, the sailing yacht Low Speed Chase capsized during a race at Maintop Island, killing 5 of the 8 crew aboard. Three people have successfully swum from the Farallones to the Golden Gate, with two more swimming to points north of the gate. The first, Ted Erikson, made

SECTION 50

#1732765975189

6604-547: The Farallons and extirpated the pinnipeds from the islands. In 1996 West End Island became the fourth American northern fur seal rookery when a pup was born. The recolonizers bore tags from San Miguel Island in the Channel Islands , which had been itself recolonized in 1968. By 2006, nearly 100 pups were born. The fur seals are aggressive and have displaced larger sea lions from their territory. The high count for 2011

6731-705: The Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque , Iberian , Lusitanian , Celtiberian and Gallaecian . The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era , the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages — Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance ), Navarro-Aragonese , Leonese , Catalan/Valencian , Portuguese , Galician , Occitan , and later, French and Italian . Spanish also borrowed

6858-664: The Islands of Saint James because the day after his arrival was the feast day of St James the Great . The name of St James is now applied to only one of the rocky islets of the North Farallons. The islands were apparently first given their names "Farallones" (literally, "cliffs") by Friar Antonio de la Ascencion, aboard the Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno's 1603 expedition. De la Ascension wrote in his diary, "Six leagues before reaching Punta de los Reyes ( Point Reyes )

6985-711: The Kurils, the Commander Islands , and Tyulen'i Islands. The only other fur seal found in the Northern Hemisphere is the Guadalupe fur seal which overlaps slightly with the northern fur seal's range in California. Fur seals are opportunistic feeders, primarily feeding on pelagic fish and squid depending on local availability. Identified fish prey include hake , herring , lantern fish , capelin , pollock , and mackerel . Their feeding behavior

7112-603: The North Farallones is Fanny Shoal, a bank 2 miles (3 km) in extent, with depth less than 180' (55 meters), marking the northernmost and westernmost feature of the group, albeit entirely submerged. Noonday Rock , which rises abruptly from a depth of 120' (37 meters), with a least depth of 4 meters (13 feet) over it at low tide, is the shallowest point of Fanny Shoal. There is a lighted bell buoy about 1000 yards (1 km) west of Noonday Rock. Noonday Rock, formerly known as Fanny Rock , derives its name from that of

7239-540: The Old Spanish sibilants) for details. The Gramática de la lengua castellana , written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija , was the first grammar written for a modern European language. According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I , she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. In his introduction to

7366-675: The Pribilof Islands by the Russians in 1834. Shortly after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, the U.S. Treasury was authorized to lease sealing privileges on the Pribilofs, which were granted somewhat liberally to the Alaska Commercial Company. From 1870 to 1909, pelagic sealing proceeded to take a significant toll on the fur seal population, such that the Pribilof population, historically numbering on

7493-589: The Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms— español and castellano —are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. The term castellano is related to Castile ( Castilla or archaically Castiella ), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name Castile , in turn,

7620-789: The Southeast Farallons added in 1969, and contain the largest seabird colony in the U.S. outside of Alaska and Hawaii . The islands are part of the City and County of San Francisco, in Supervisorial District 4, mainly covering the Sunset District . They were formerly part of District 1 ( The Richmond District ). Middle Farallon Island, 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of SEFI, is a 20-foot (6.1 m) high guano -covered black rock about 210' (65 meters) in diameter, with an area of ¾ acre (3,362 m). This island

7747-400: The State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities... The Royal Spanish Academy ( Real Academia Española ), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano . The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by

SECTION 60

#1732765975189

7874-502: The U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. Spanish predominates in the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico , where it is also an official language along with English. Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. While English

8001-426: The Western Pacific. The other stations in California were at Point Arguello , Point Saint George, and San Diego. Bainbridge Island, Washington also hosted a station. The United States Coast Guard maintained a staffed lighthouse until 1972, when it was automated. From 1946 to 1970, the sea around the Farallones was used as a dump site for radioactive waste under the authority of the Atomic Energy Commission at

8128-399: The administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. Additionally, the constitution, in its Article XIV, stipulates that the Government shall provide the people of the Philippines with a Spanish-language translation of

8255-448: The area. Summer highs seldom rise far above 60 °F (16 °C). The Farallon Islands are an important reserve protecting a huge seabird colony . The islands' position in the highly productive California Current and eastern Pacific upwelling region, as well as the absence of other large islands that would provide suitable nesting grounds, result in a seabird population of over 250,000. Twelve species of seabird and shorebird nest on

8382-488: The bay, thus leading to the much later discovery of the San Francisco Bay by land over two centuries after the 1542 discovery of the islands. In 1769, the bay inlet was finally discovered soon after an overland sighting of the bay was made from what is now the Pacifica area. In the years following the discovery of the islands, during the maritime fur trade era, the islands were exploited by seal hunters, first from New England and later from Russia . The Russians maintained

8509-566: The classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin , as happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). Like the other Romance languages , the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin , which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War , beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages )—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages , and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in

8636-400: The color of adult females and subadults. Males can be as large as 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) and 270 kg (600 lb). Females can be up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weigh 50 kg (110 lb) or more. Newborns weigh 5.4–6 kg (12–13 lb), and are 60–65 cm (24–26 in) long. The teeth are haplodont , i.e. sharp, conical and mostly single-rooted, as

8763-446: The consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v . Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary , and found in a small area of Calabria ), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it

8890-431: The core of the Sierra Nevada . The block was rifted off far to the south of its present position and moved north with the Pacific Plate on which the islands rest. Other nearby examples of the Salinian Block include the Point Reyes Peninsula and Bodega Head . The San Andreas Fault , marking a boundary zone between the Pacific and North American Plates, passes a few miles east of the islands. The ancient Farallon Plate

9017-404: The country's constitution. In recent years changing attitudes among non-Spanish speaking Filipinos have helped spur a revival of the language, and starting in 2009 Spanish was reintroduced as part of the basic education curriculum in a number of public high schools, becoming the largest foreign language program offered by the public school system, with over 7,000 students studying the language in

9144-594: The diet of many scavengers, in particular gulls and Arctic foxes. In 2017, 14 samples of spiny lice were collected off of the nasal passage of fur seal pups. In 2021, these spiny lice were identified as having unique bristle arrangements, and were given the scientific name Antarctophthirus nevelskoyi . They were named after the famous Russian explorer, Admiral Gennady Ivanovich Nevelsky. Seals enter breeding rookeries in May. Generally, older males (10 years and older) return first and compete for prime breeding spots on

9271-513: The eastern part of its range, has led to an intensified research program into their behavioral and foraging ecology. Possible causes for recent declines and lack of recovery are increased predation by killer whales, competition with fisheries , and climate change effects, but to date, no scientific consensus has been reached. Northern fur seals have been a staple food of native northeast Asian and Alaska Native peoples for thousands of years. The arrival of Europeans to Kamchatka and Alaska in

9398-546: The females, which generally range between 17 and 19 ft (5.2 and 5.8 m). (For comparison, the largest accurately measured great white shark was a female caught in August 1988 at Prince Edward Island off the North Atlantic coast and measured 20.3 ft (6.2 m).) A killer whale was recorded killing a great white near the Farallones in 1997. Over the decades of study, many of the individual white sharks visiting

9525-463: The fertilized egg undergoes delayed implantation: after the blastocyst stage occurs, development halts and implantation occurs four months after fertilization. In total, gestation lasts around a year, such that the pups born in a given summer are the product of the previous year's breeding cycle. Recently, concern about the status of fur seal populations has increased, particularly in the Pribilof Islands, where pup production has decreased about 50% since

9652-683: The following table: Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates ) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año , and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo ). The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified " to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with

9779-466: The former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras ) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2022 census, 54% of the total population are able to speak the language. Due to its proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidadian and Tobagonian government launched

9906-604: The grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America . Miguel de Cervantes , author of Don Quixote , is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). In

10033-612: The highly radioactive hull of USS Independence , which was used in Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons testing and then loaded with barrels of radioactive waste, was scuttled in the area. Its wreck was rediscovered in 2015. The exact current location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment are unknown. According to the EPA, attempts to remove the barrels would likely produce greater risk than leaving them undisturbed. The islands are

10160-477: The inner islands, from where they catch the sea otter without hindrance." After Alta California was ceded by Mexico to the United States in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , the islands' environment became linked to the growth of the city of San Francisco. Beginning in 1853, a lighthouse was constructed on SEFI. As the city grew, the seabird colonies came under severe threat as eggs were collected in

10287-480: The island). Five species of pinniped come to shore on the islands, and in some cases breed. These are the northern elephant seal , harbor seal , Steller's sea lion , California sea lion , and the northern fur seal (the last of which, like the rhinoceros auklet, began to return to the island again after protection). Sealers took 150,000 northern fur seals ( Callorhinus ursinus ) from the Farallons between 1810 and 1813, followed by Russian fur hunters who lived on

10414-734: The islands are protected as part of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary . The peaks of the Farallon Islands are visible from coastal areas of San Francisco and Marin County, so the Native Americans who lived in the San Francisco area were aware of them, and believed them to be an abode of the spirits of the dead. They are not believed to have traveled to the islands. The first Europeans to see these islands were most probably

10541-555: The islands in 1996. On July 17, 1827, French sea captain Auguste Duhaut-Cilly sailed by the southernmost Farallon Island and counted the "crude dwellings of about a hundred Kodiaks stationed there by the Russians of Bodega ...the Kodiaks, in their light boats, slip into San Francisco Bay by night, moving along the coast opposite the fort, and once inside this great basin, they station themselves temporarily on some of

10668-437: The islands, although the lighthouse keepers continued egging.. From 1902 to 1913, the former U.S. Weather Bureau maintained a weather station on the southeast island, which was connected with the mainland by cable. The results of the meteorological study were later published in a book on California's climate. Temperatures during those years never exceeded 90 °F (32 °C) or dropped to 32 °F (0 °C). Years later,

10795-459: The islands. In 1970, Farallon biologists witnessed their first shark attack, on a Steller's sea lion. During the next fifteen years, more than one hundred attacks on seals and sea lions were observed at close range. By the year 2000, biologists were logging almost eighty attacks in a single season. While the males return annually, the females return only every other year, often with fresh, deep bites around their heads. The seasonal shark population at

10922-408: The islands. This sanctuary protected open ocean, nearshore tidal flats, rocky intertidal areas, estuarine wetlands, subtidal reefs, and coastal beaches within its boundaries. In 2015, the sanctuary was enlarged north and west of the original boundary, partially surrounding Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary , to encompass 3,295 square miles (8,534 square kilometers; 2,488 square nautical miles), and

11049-549: The islands; western gull , Brandt's cormorant , pelagic cormorant , double-crested cormorant , pigeon guillemot , common murre , Cassin's auklet , tufted puffin , black oystercatcher , rhinoceros auklet , ashy storm-petrel , and Leach's storm-petrel . Since the islands were protected, common murres, which once numbered nearly 500,000 pairs but suffered from the egg collecting, oil spills and other disturbances that had greatly reduced their numbers, recovered and climbed from 6,000 birds to 160,000. Additionally, since protection,

11176-556: The language happened in Toledo , a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile , in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin. Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is Latin in origin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. Alongside English and French , it

11303-549: The language's hegemony in an intensely centralising Spanish state were established from the 18th century onward. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra . Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Germany . Spanish is an official language of the European Union . Today,

11430-417: The locally extinct rhinoceros auklet has begun to breed on the islands again. The island has the world's largest colonies of western gulls and ashy storm petrels , the latter species being considered endangered and a conservation priority. The island also is the wintering ground of several species of migrants , and regularly attracts vagrant birds (about 430 species of bird have been recorded on or around

11557-537: The location of the schooner Ghost . Mr Johnson gives this position of the ship to Humphrey Van Weyden. Abby Geni's 2016 novel The Lightkeepers is set on the Farallon Islands. The Farallon Islands and their role in the Egg War of the Gold Rush era are documented in the 2017 The Kitchen Sisters Present podcast episode "Egg Wars", in the 2019 episode "The Egg Wars" on the comedy podcast The Dollop , and in

11684-408: The lower neck to the shoulders. and covers the nape, neck, chest, and upper back. While the skulls of adult males are large and robust for their overall size, their heads appear short because of the combination of a short muzzle, and the backs of the head behind the ear pinnae being obscured by the enlarged necks. Adult males have abrupt foreheads formed by the elevation of the crown from development of

11811-694: The majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America . Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure —of Argentina , Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile , Colombia , Costa Rica , Cuba , Dominican Republic , Ecuador , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua , Panama , Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní ), Peru (co-official with Quechua , Aymara , and "the other indigenous languages"), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), Uruguay , and Venezuela . Spanish language has

11938-538: The many treacherous underwater shoals in their vicinity. The islands lie 30 miles (48 km) outside the Golden Gate and 20 miles (32 km) south of Point Reyes , and are visible from the mainland on clear days. The islands are part of the City and County of San Francisco . The only inhabited portion of the islands is on Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI), where researchers from Point Blue Conservation Science and

12065-626: The members of the Juan Cabrillo expedition of 1542, which sailed as far north as Point Reyes , but no source record of the Cabrillo expedition's actual sighting of these islands has survived. The first European to create a record of the islands that has survived was the English privateer and explorer Sir Francis Drake , on July 24, 1579. On that day, Drake landed on the islands to collect seal meat and bird eggs for his ship. He named them

12192-401: The millions for San Francisco markets. The trade, which in its heyday could yield 500,000 eggs a month, was the source of conflict between the egg-collecting companies and the lighthouse keepers. This conflict turned violent in a confrontation between rival companies in 1863. The clash between two rival companies, known as the Egg War , left two men dead and marked the end of private companies on

12319-433: The muzzle, chin, and as a "brush stroke" running backwards under the eye. In contrast, adult males are medium gray to black, or reddish to dark brown all over. Their manes can have variable amounts of silver-gray or yellowish tinting on the guard hairs. Pups are blackish at birth, with variable oval areas of buff on the sides, in the axillary area, and on the chin and sides of the muzzle. After three to four months, pups molt to

12446-607: The name was changed to Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary . The sanctuary is contiguous with both the Cordell Bank sanctuary and another sanctuary to the south, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary . The islands are managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service , in conjunction with the Marin -based Point Blue Conservation Science (formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory). The islands are currently

12573-402: The neck, chest, and shoulders are sized in proportion with the torso. Adult females and subadults have more complex and variable coloration than adult males. They are dark silver-gray to charcoal above. The flanks, chest, sides, and underside of the neck, often forming a chevron pattern in this area, are cream to tan with rusty tones. Variable cream to rust-colored areas are on the sides and top of

12700-734: The northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century , and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. The Spanish spoken in North Africa by native bilingual speakers of Arabic or Berber who also speak Spanish as

12827-499: The order of millions of individuals, reached a low of 216,000 animals in 1912. Significant harvest was more or less arrested with the signing of the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 by Great Britain (on behalf of Canada), Japan, Russia, and the United States. The Convention of 1911 remained in force until the onset of hostilities among the signatories during World War II, and is also notable as

12954-533: The population. Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, with Spanish being particularly significant in areas adjacent to Ceuta and Melilla. Spanish also has a presence in the education system of the country (through either selected education centers implementing Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, or the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). In Western Sahara , formerly Spanish Sahara ,

13081-548: The radiation had decayed. Waste containers were shipped to Hunters Point Shipyard , then loaded onto barges for transportation to the Farallones. Containers were weighted with concrete. Those that floated were sometimes shot with rifles to sink them. Forty-four thousand containers were dumped at 37°37′N 123°17′W  /  37.617°N 123.283°W  / 37.617; -123.283 , and another 3,500 at 37°38′N 123°08′W  /  37.633°N 123.133°W  / 37.633; -123.133 . In January 1951,

13208-408: The refuge in 1959 with a confirmed pup in 1972. The elephant seal rookery on Southeast Farallon has probably reached carrying capacity. Several species of cetaceans are found near the Farallon Islands, most frequently gray whales , blue whales , and humpback whales . Blue whales and humpback whales are most frequently found near the islands in the summer and fall, when strong upwelling may support

13335-545: The rookeries. They remain on the rookery, fasting throughout the duration of the breeding season. The females come somewhat later, and give birth shortly thereafter. Like all other otariids, northern fur seals are polygynous, with some males breeding with up to 50 females in a single breeding season. Unlike Steller sea lions, with which they share habitat and some breeding sites, northern fur seals are possessive of individual females in their harem , often aggressively competing with neighboring males for females. Deaths of females as

13462-400: The site of many shipwrecks . The liberty ship SS Henry Bergh , a converted troop carrier, hit West End in 1944 (all hands were saved). The USS Conestoga , a US Navy tugboat that disappeared with its 56 crew members in 1921, was found in 2009 and positively identified in 2016. (The Conestoga had sailed from nearby San Francisco, but the waters of the Farallones were never searched because

13589-545: The southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula , the Sea of Okhotsk , and the Bering Sea . An estimated 1.1 million northern fur seals occur across the range, of which roughly half breed on the Pribilof Islands in the east Bering Sea. Another 200–250 thousand breed on the Commander Islands in the west Bering Sea, some 100,000 breed on Tyuleniy Island off the coast of Sakhalin in

13716-601: The southwest Sea of Okhotsk, and another 60–70 thousand in the central Kuril Islands in Russia. Smaller rookeries (around 5,000 animals) are found on Bogoslof Island in the Aleutian Chain , San Miguel Island in the Channel Island group and South Farallon Island off the coast of California . Recent evidence from stable isotope analysis of Holocene fur seal bone collagen (δ C and δ N) indicates that before

13843-418: The species. Fur is absent on the top of the fore flippers and an abrupt "clean line" is seen across the wrist where the fur ends. The hind flippers are proportionately the longest in any otariid because of extremely long, cartilaginous extensions on all of the toes. Small claws are on digits 2–4, well back from the flap-like end of each digit. The ear pinnae are long and conspicuous, and naked of dark fur at

13970-512: The subject of long term ecological research. The Farallones are closed to the public, although birders and wildlife enthusiasts can approach them on whale watching boats, shark and marine policy education with the non profit Shark Stewards and the sail-training vessel Seaward out of Sausalito. The Farallon Islands are outcroppings of the Salinian Block , a vast geologic province of granitic continental crust sharing its origins with

14097-522: The swim in September 1967, with the second, Joseph Locke, swimming to the Golden Gate on July 12, 2014, in 14 hours. The third person, and the first woman to complete the distance, Kimberley Chambers , made it in just over 17 hours on August 7, 2015. On May 11, 2024, Amy Appelhans Gubser became the first and only person to have swum in the outbound direction, from the Golden Gate to SE Farralone, in just over 17 hours. The collecting of eggs, along with

14224-415: The term castellano to define the official language of the whole of Spain, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages "). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas... Castilian is the official Spanish language of

14351-537: The term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignol and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin * hispaniolus ('of Hispania'). Hispania was the Roman name for the entire Iberian Peninsula . There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that

14478-444: The theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal , local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos , and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo , where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese , and, according to some authors,

14605-640: The third most used language on the Internet , after English and Chinese. Spanish is the official language of Spain . Upon the emergence of the Castilian Crown as the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula by the end of the Middle Ages, the Romance vernacular associated with this polity became increasingly used in instances of prestige and influence, and the distinction between "Castilian" and "Spanish" started to become blurred. Hard policies imposing

14732-720: The threat of oil spills from San Francisco's shipping lanes, prompted President Theodore Roosevelt to sign Executive Order No. 1043 in 1909, creating the Farallon Reservation to protect the chain's northern islands. This was expanded to the other islands in 1969 when it became a national wildlife refuge . In 1981, Congress designated the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, which spanned 1,279 square miles (3,313 square kilometers; 966 square nautical miles) of water surrounding

14859-540: The tips in older animals. The mystacial vibrissae can be very long, and regularly extend beyond the ears. Adults have all white vibrissae, juveniles and subadults have a mixture of white and black vibrissae, including some that have dark bases and white ends, and pups and yearlings have all black vibrissae. The eyes are proportionately large and conspicuous, especially on females, subadults, and juveniles. Adult males are stocky in build, and have enlarged (thick and wide) necks. A mane of coarse, longer guard hairs extends from

14986-465: The vessel was assumed to have traveled far out into the Pacific.) On the morning of August 5, 1941, a United States Coast Guard Douglas Dolphin , V-126, likely struck a rock pinnacle on the southeast Farallon island, causing the aircraft to burst into flames. All 3 crewmen aboard were killed. Computer scientist Jim Gray was lost at sea after setting out on a solo sailing trip from San Francisco to

15113-402: The water as well as "greater muscular leverage" for pectoral strokes. Stroke patterns are different for different dive types and locomotion, and stroke rates vary for individuals since there's a relationship between maximum stroke rate and body size. The northern fur seal is found in the north Pacific – its southernmost reach is a line that runs roughly from the southern tip of Japan to

15240-539: The year for a piece of land on the 37°N latitude. During San Francisco's and Oakland's above 100 °F (38 °C) record heat wave of 1 September 2017, the aggregate weather around the Farallon Islands remained below 68 °F (20 °C). The islands are also subject to occasional, heavy, offshore winds in winter. Due to the absence of a warming nearby landmass and the cold water, winters remain mild but often cooler than San Francisco also during that time of year. Winter lows below 50 °F (10 °C) are very rare in

15367-482: The year there. This island has many migratory sharks return to its waters every year. The islands have tens of thousands of invasive house mice that are wreaking havoc on the native ecosystem. An average of 500 Eurasian house mice occupy each of its 120 acres (49 ha), with an approximate total population of 60,000. The Farallones are briefly mentioned in Chapter 2 of Jack London's 1904 novel The Sea-Wolf as

15494-553: Was 476 individuals, a 69 percent increase from the year before. By 2016, the pup count alone was 1,126, reflecting a 21% average (but highly variable) annual increase in new pups over the 21 years since recolonization. If the South Farallon Islands population reaches its estimated historical size of 100,000 individuals, it could account for approximately one-fifth of the world's northern fur seal population. Northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris ) recolonized

15621-634: Was developed in the cities of Toledo , in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid , from the 1570s. The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages , including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida ). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o —which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in

15748-622: Was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages ). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista , and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus , much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic -derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). The written standard for this new language

15875-713: Was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h- , still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects, it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and neighboring Romance languages, there are many f -/ h - doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both words pertaining to depth in Spanish, though fondo means "bottom", while hondo means "deep"); additionally, hacer ("to make")

16002-405: Was rescued from netting entanglement east of the Farallones by staff of The Marine Mammal Center . The last sighting of another humpback, Humphrey , was near the Farallones in 1991. The islands are in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary , which protects the feeding grounds of the wildlife of the refuge. The elephant seal population attracts a population of great white sharks to

16129-462: Was revoked by Michel Temer after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff . In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period . Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in

#188811