Misplaced Pages

#659340

39-687: Probably the best-known area officially or unofficially referred to as highlands in the Anglosphere is the Scottish Highlands in northern Scotland , the mountainous region north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault . The Highland council area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and Britain's largest local government area. Other highland or upland areas reaching 400 m or higher in

78-465: A union of English-speaking peoples, and I believe this to be a romantic illusion". In 2016, Nick Cohen wrote in an article titled "It's a Eurosceptic fantasy that the 'Anglosphere' wants Brexit" for The Spectator ' s Coffee House blog: " 'Anglosphere' is just the right's PC replacement for what we used to call in blunter times 'the white Commonwealth '." He repeated this criticism in another article for The Guardian in 2018. Similar criticism

117-526: A wide system of ranges in neighboring Burma and Laos that do not have a specific name for the whole, "Thai highlands" being the term generally restricted to the Thai area. Broadly defined, and based on their geological composition, there are two mountainous subsystems in Northern Thailand: A great part of the highland area is drained by rivers Ping , Wang , Yom and Nan , all tributaries of

156-523: Is a mountainous natural region in the north of Thailand . Its mountain ranges are part of the system of hills extending through Laos , Burma , and China and linking to the Himalayas , of which they may be considered foothills . The highlands in the north of Thailand are characterized by a pattern of generally steep hill ranges, intermontane basins and alluvial gorges. Elevations are generally moderate, little above 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) for

195-611: Is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone . The definition is usually taken to include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States in a grouping of developed countries called the core Anglosphere . The term Anglosphere can also more widely encompass Ireland , Malta and the Commonwealth Caribbean countries. The five core countries in

234-598: Is necessary for the defeat of Islamism . According to a 2003 profile in The Guardian , historian Robert Conquest favoured a British withdrawal from the European Union in favour of creating "a much looser association of English-speaking nations, known as the 'Anglosphere ' ". Favourability ratings tend to be overwhelmingly positive between countries within a subset of the core Anglosphere known as CANZUK (consisting of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and

273-829: Is not synonymous with the sphere of anglophones , though commonly included nations are those that were formerly part of the British Empire and retained the English language and English common law . The five core countries of the Anglosphere are usually taken to be Australia , Canada , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the United States . These countries enjoy close cultural and diplomatic links with one another and are aligned under military and security programmes such as Five Eyes . The Anglosphere

312-567: Is protected by law or constitution. Market freedom is high in the five core Anglosphere countries, as all five share the Anglo-Saxon economic model – a capitalist model that emerged in the 1970s based on the Chicago school of economics with origins from the 18th century United Kingdom. The shared sense of globalisation led cities such as New York , London , Los Angeles , Sydney , and Toronto to have considerable impacts on

351-613: Is the Central Highlands area, which covers most of the central-western parts of the state. Many of these areas are highly elevated alpine regions. The Ozarks cover nearly 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 sq mi), making it the most extensive highland region between the Appalachians and Rockies. This region contains some of the oldest rocks in North America. The spine of the mountains stretches across

390-712: Is the Anglo-American sphere of influence. The term was first coined by the science fiction writer Neal Stephenson in his book The Diamond Age , published in 1995. John Lloyd adopted the term in 2000 and defined it as including English-speaking countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa , and the British West Indies . James C. Bennett defines anglosphere as "the English-speaking Common Law-based nations of

429-757: The New York Review of Books , that the term neglects the evolution of fundamental legal and cultural differences between the US and the UK, and the ways in which UK and European norms drew closer together during Britain's membership in the EU through regulatory harmonisation . Of Conquest's view of the Anglosphere, Ignatieff writes: "He seems to believe that Britain should either withdraw from Europe or refuse all further measures of cooperation, which would jeopardize Europe's real achievements. He wants Britain to throw in its lot with

SECTION 10

#1732765097660

468-681: The Chao Phraya River flowing in a roughly southern direction. The ranges separating the main rivers are generally steep, high and continuous. Towards the east, as well as in the Wang and Yom drainage basins , they are lower. The Pai River in the northwest flows westwards into the Salween and the northeastern part is drained by rivers of the Mekong basin, like the Kok and Ing . Geologically in

507-585: The Moon . Anglosphere The Anglosphere , also known as the Anglo-American world , is the Anglo - American sphere of influence , with a core group of nations that today maintain close political, diplomatic and military co-operation. While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it

546-592: The United States (notably Western North Carolina ), highveld , used in South Africa and Roof of the World , used for Tibet . The central Afghan highlands are in the center of Afghanistan , mostly located between 2,000 and 3,000 m above sea level. They have a very cold winter, and a short and cool summer. These highlands have mountain pastures during summer ( sardsīr ), watered by many small streams and rivers. There are also pastures available during winter in

585-541: The old-growth forest areas which have been replaced by secondary forest . For centuries the Thai highlands have been inhabited with hill tribes mostly from Chinese or Tibeto-Burman descent, such as the Akha , Yao , Lahu , Khmu , Hmong and Lisu . These human groups immigrated into this relatively empty region fleeing persecution or harsh central rule in their respective environments, as well as seeking new land for their shifting agricultural productions system. For

624-520: The Anglosphere are developed countries that maintain close cultural and diplomatic links with one another. They are aligned under such military and security programmes as: Relations have traditionally been warm between Anglosphere countries, with bilateral partnerships such as those between Australia and New Zealand , the United States and Canada and the United States and the United Kingdom (the Special Relationship ) constituting

663-398: The Anglosphere refers, show no serious inclination to join the UK in forging new political and economic alliances. They will, most likely, continue to work within existing regional and international institutions and remain indifferent to – or simply perplexed by – calls for some kind of formalised Anglosphere alliance. Thai highlands The Thai highlands or Hills of northern Thailand

702-502: The Anglosphere. The first is finding ways to cope with rapid technological advancement and the second is the geopolitical challenges created by what he assumes will be an increasing gap between anglophone prosperity and economic struggles elsewhere. British historian Andrew Roberts claims that the Anglosphere has been central in the First World War , Second World War and Cold War . He goes on to contend that anglophone unity

741-473: The Fellows of All Souls at Oxford. The American businessman James C. Bennett , a proponent of the idea that there is something special about the cultural and legal ( common law ) traditions of English-speaking nations, writes in his 2004 book The Anglosphere Challenge : The Anglosphere, as a network civilization without a corresponding political form, has necessarily imprecise boundaries. Geographically,

780-515: The UK . As a consequence, most core Anglosphere countries have politics dominated by two major parties . Below is a table comparing the five core countries of the Anglosphere (data for 2022/2023): Due to their historic links, the Anglosphere countries share many cultural traits that still persist today. Most countries in the Anglosphere follow the rule of law through common law rather than civil law , and favour democracy with legislative chambers above other political systems. Private property

819-1070: The United Kingdom include the Southern Uplands in Scotland, the Pennines , North York Moors , Dartmoor and Exmoor in England , and the Cambrian Mountains in Wales . Many countries and regions also have areas referred to as highlands . These include parts of Afghanistan , Tibet , Ethiopia , Canada , Kenya , Eritrea , Yemen , Ghana , Nigeria , Papua New Guinea , Syria , Turkey and Cantabria . Similar terms used in other countries include high country , used in New Zealand , New South Wales , Victoria , Tasmania and Southern Queensland in Australia , and parts of

SECTION 20

#1732765097660

858-782: The United Kingdom), whose members form part of the Commonwealth of Nations and retain Charles III as head of state. In the wake of the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (Brexit) as a result of a referendum held in 2016 , there has been mounting political and popular support for a loose free travel and common market area to be formed among the CANZUK countries. In 2000, Michael Ignatieff wrote in an exchange with Robert Conquest , published by

897-422: The areas that, post-fire, become " degraded forest ". The smoke produced by these fires is the main cause of the intense seasonal air pollution in the Thai highlands, also known as the "northern haze". Fires also contribute to the floods in the country by denuding forest undergrowth and the dry forest soil leads to lower water intake for the trees to extract when the rains arrive. Presently large tracts of

936-624: The densest nodes of the Anglosphere are found in the United States and the United Kingdom. English-speaking Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and English-speaking South Africa (who constitute a very small minority in that country) are also significant populations. The English-speaking Caribbean, English-speaking Oceania and the English-speaking educated populations in Africa and India constitute other important nodes. Bennett argues that there are two challenges confronting his concept of

975-499: The different national orientations that have emerged in British politics after empire—whether pro-European, Anglo-American, Anglospheric or some combination of these—is that none of them has yet been the compelling, coherent and popular answer to the country's most important question: How should Britain find its way in the wider, modern world? They stated in another article: Meanwhile, the other core English-speaking countries to which

1014-653: The endemic vertebrates are restricted to this ecoregion. The highlands of Iceland cover about 40% of the country and are mostly inhospitable to humans. They are generally considered to be any land above 500 m. The mountainous natural region of the Thai highlands is found in Northern Thailand. The Cameron Highlands is a highland area and hill station in Northern Malaysia. Shillong in India in

1053-562: The highest peaks. The region of the Thai Highlands encompasses the nine administrative provinces of northern Thailand , based on the six-region system , as well as parts of Tak and Sukhothai Provinces. Some areas of the highlands are sparsely populated. Except for the Daen Lao Range (ทิวเขาแดนลาว) at the far northern edge, all ranges in the north of Thailand are roughly aligned from north to south. They are linked to

1092-586: The highest summits. There is a wide range of elevations though, with floors ranging between 200 and 500 metres (660 and 1,640 ft) above sea level. Towards the Lao border, the divide to the Mekong basin becomes higher with peaks occasionally rising above 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and streams flowing in narrow steep valleys. The climate is typical of tropical mountains with clearly delineated wet and dry seasons. Winter temperatures can be cool with frosts occurring most years at higher elevations, but no snow even on

1131-638: The international markets and the global economy . Global popular culture has been highly influenced by the United States and the United Kingdom . Proponents of the Anglosphere concept typically come from the political right (such as Andrew Roberts of the UK Conservative Party ), and critics from the centre-left (for example Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party of Canada ). As early as 1897, Albert Venn Dicey proposed an Anglo-Saxon "intercitizenship" during an address to

1170-605: The island of New Guinea, forming the densely populated highlands of Papua New Guinea , and the Highland Papua , Indonesia . The Central Highlands of Sri Lanka are rain forests, where the elevation reaches 2,500 m (8,200 ft) above sea level. The Sri Lanka montane rain forests represent the montane and submontane moist forests above 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the central highlands and in the Knuckles mountain range . Half of Sri Lanka's endemic flowering plants and 51 percent of

1209-430: The main crops was opium until the 1990s, when the combined effects of development became evident—from the construction of roads into the remote area, increasingly efficient policing, and opium replacement programs. Yearly wildfires are started by local farmers during the dry season in different areas of northern Thailand. Often speculators also hire people to set forests on fire in order to claim land title deeds for

Highland - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-532: The most successful partnerships in the world. In terms of political systems, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have Charles III as head of state , form part of the Commonwealth of Nations and use the Westminster parliamentary system of government. Most of the core countries have first-past-the-post electoral systems, though Australia and New Zealand have reformed their systems and there are other systems used in some elections in

1287-420: The mountains are covered with a mixed vegetation resulting from the capacity of the efficient shifting agricultural system being exceeded. As a result, large areas end up becoming dominated by Imperata cylindrica grass, which is used throughout Thailand as roofing material. Cattle can graze on the grass to an extent, as agricultural science research in the 1970s showed. The longer term environmental care of

1326-575: The neighboring warm lowlands ( garmsīr ), which makes the region ideal for seasonal transhumance . The highlands in Australia are often above the elevation of 500 m. These areas often receive snowfall in winter. Most of the highlands lead up to large alpine or sub-alpine mountainous regions such as the Australian Alps , Snowy Mountains , Great Dividing Range , Northern Tablelands and Blue Mountains . The most mountainous region of Tasmania

1365-522: The past decades these groups have been undergoing a process of integration into the Thai mainstream . Owing to the unrest in Burma , some refugee camps have been established for cross-border refugees in the Thai highlands. Certain Kayah and Karen communities, like the "long-necked Karen", are regularly visited by organized tourist groups. At higher elevations, above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), one of

1404-602: The southern subranges of the Shan Hills layers of alluvium are superimposed on hard rock. The ranges closer to Laos consist of Permo-Carboniferous limestone , which makes for a more jagged and steep relief, despite the more moderate height. Most of the Thai highlands are part of the Shan-Thai Terrane , a tectonic plate . The natural environment of the hills used to be dense montane rain forest . Swidden agricultural practices and logging have much reduced

1443-533: The state of Meghalaya is a hill station that is surrounded by highlands. Officers of the British Raj referred to Shillong as "The Scotland of the East". Highland continents —or terrae —are areas of topographically unstable terrain , with high peaks and valleys. They resemble highlands on Earth , but the term is applied to much larger areas on other planets. They can be found on Mercury , Venus , Mars , and

1482-436: The world", arguing that former British colonies that retained English common law and the English language have done significantly better than counterparts colonised by other European powers. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the Anglosphere as "the countries of the world in which the English language and cultural values predominate". However the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English

1521-548: Was presented by other critics such as Canadian academic Srđan Vučetić. In 2018, amidst the aftermath of the Brexit referendum , two British professors of public policy Michael Kenny and Nick Pearce published a critical scholarly monograph titled Shadows of Empire: The Anglosphere in British Politics ( ISBN   978-1509516612 ). In one of a series of accompanying opinion pieces, they questioned: The tragedy of

#659340