184-549: Sable Island ( French : île de Sable , literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated 300 km (190 mi) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia , and about 175 km (109 mi) southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is staffed year round by three Parks Canada staff, rising during summer months when research projects and tourism increase. Notable for its role in early Canadian history and
368-411: A brackish lake named Lake Wallace existed in the centre of the south beach. At its largest, it extended for many miles; indeed, during World War II, amphibious aircraft landed on it. Over the years, the lake shrank with an infilling of sand, until in late 2011, it filled in entirely and disappeared. Since the south beach is subject to flooding during fall storms, photos often show water in the area around
552-589: A Canadian stamp and coin in 2005. In 1970 Stompin' Tom Connors published his song "Sable Island" in 1970's Stompin' Tom Meets Big Joe Mufferaw . Canadian folk singer Catherine McKinnon recorded a song arranged by Don Gillis also entitled "Sable Island" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1975. The first line of the Buck 65 song "Blood of a Young Wolf" is "Ten thousand horses, Sable Island, endless summer." The island has been
736-744: A French official to teachers in the department of Finistère , in western Brittany, included the following: "And remember, Gents: you were given your position in order to kill the Breton language". The prefect of Basses-Pyrénées in the French Basque Country wrote in 1846: "Our schools in the Basque Country are particularly meant to replace the Basque language with French..." Students were taught that their ancestral languages were inferior and they should be ashamed of them; this process
920-554: A Scandinavian rather than Portuguese origin of the local mouse population. A 2021 paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , using data from lake sediment core sampling , suggests brush-clearing was undertaken and animal husbandry introduced between 700 and 850 A.D. These findings suggest a brief period of Norse settlement, and the 2021 paper further cites climate simulations that suggest
1104-533: A backpack version of the Street View car camera around an area on the centre of the island, part of Google's Trekker program which explores off-road scenic locations. The route follows a hiking route that Parks Canada staff uses to escort adventure tourists who visit the island. Sable Island is a narrow, crescent-shaped sandbar with a surface area estimated around 34 km (13 sq mi). Despite being approximately 43.15 km (26.81 mi) long, it
1288-431: A comprehensive academic study entitled "The World's 10 most influential languages". In the article, Weber ranked French as, after English, the second-most influential language of the world, ahead of Spanish. His criteria were the numbers of native speakers, the number of secondary speakers (especially high for French among fellow world languages), the number of countries using the language and their respective populations,
1472-555: A foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050. French is the fastest growing language on the continent (in terms of either official or foreign languages). French is increasingly being spoken as a native language in Francophone Africa, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and
1656-565: A linear line from the Azores to the Azores–Gibraltar transform fault . The islands' volcanism is associated with the rifting along the Azores triple junction ; the spread of the crust along the existing faults and fractures has produced many of the active volcanic and seismic events, while supported by buoyant upwelling in the deeper mantle, some associate with an Azores hotspot . Most of
1840-422: A major service activity in the region. In the 20th century and to some extent into the 21st, they have served as a waypoint for refueling aircraft flying between Europe and North America. The government of the Azores employs a large percentage of the population directly or indirectly in the service and tertiary sectors. The largest city of the Azores is Ponta Delgada . The culture, dialect, cuisine, and traditions of
2024-460: A northwest–southeast direction. All of the islands have volcanic origins , although some, such as Santa Maria, have had no recorded activity in the time since the islands were settled several centuries ago. Mount Pico , on the island of Pico, is the highest point in Portugal, at 2,351 m (7,713 ft). If measured from their base at the bottom of the ocean to their peaks, the Azores are among
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#17327654935492208-607: A number of private expeditions (known as DXpeditions) to operate temporary radio stations on Sable Island have been mounted. The most recent DXpedition is CY0S, which took place in March 2023. There have also been DXpeditions in October 2012 (CY0), March 2011 (CY0), July 2008 (CY0X), November 2002 (CY0MM), October 1995 (CY0TP), and October 1975 (VX9A). French language French ( français [fʁɑ̃sɛ] or langue française [lɑ̃ɡ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )
2392-705: A period of prosperity and prominence among European nations. Richelieu established the Académie française to protect the French language. By the early 1800s, Parisian French had become the primary language of the aristocracy in France. Near the beginning of the 19th century, the French government began to pursue policies with the end goal of eradicating the many minorities and regional languages ( patois ) spoken in France. This began in 1794 with Henri Grégoire 's "Report on
2576-563: A permanently occupied station on Sable Island until August 20, 2019. In addition to weather studies, research on the island expanded to a range of ecological and wildlife studies due to its unique position in the Atlantic. Sable Island is specifically mentioned in the British North America Act 1867 , Part 4, Section 91 as being the special responsibility of the federal government ("the exclusive Legislative Authority of
2760-494: A relic of the old nominal case system of Latin longer than most other Romance languages (with the notable exception of Romanian which still currently maintains a case distinction), differentiating between an oblique case and a nominative case. The phonology was characterized by heavy syllabic stress, which led to the emergence of various complicated diphthongs such as -eau which would later be leveled to monophthongs. The earliest evidence of what became Old French can be seen in
2944-712: A result of emigration. Consequently, some invasive plants have filled these deserted and disturbed lands. Hydrangeas are another potential pest, but their threat is less serious. Notwithstanding the fact that hydrangeas were introduced from America or Asia, some locals consider them a symbol of the archipelago and propagate them along roadsides. Cryptomeria , the Japanese cedar, is a conifer extensively grown for its timber. The two most common of these alien species are Pittosporum undulatum and Hedychium gardnerianum . Reforestation efforts with native laurissilva vegetation have been accomplished successfully in many parts of
3128-587: A second language. French is the second most taught foreign language in the EU. All institutions of the EU use French as a working language along with English and German ; in some institutions, French is the sole working language (e.g. at the Court of Justice of the European Union ). French is also the 16th most natively spoken language in the world, the sixth most spoken language by total number of speakers , and
3312-526: A second language. However it has also become a native language in a number of urban areas, especially in regions like Ivory Coast , Cameroon , Gabon, Madagascar , and the Democratic Republic of the Congo . In some North African countries, though not having official status, it is also a first language among some upper classes of the population alongside indigenous languages, but only
3496-941: A second one among the general population. In 2015, approximately 40% of the Francophone population (including L2 and partial speakers) lived in Europe, 36% in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas, and 1% in Asia and Oceania. French is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union . Of Europeans who speak other languages natively, approximately one-fifth are able to speak French as
3680-468: A single Scots pine . Although planted in the 1960s, it is only a few feet tall. It is decorated yearly as a Christmas tree in December as part of a tradition among the station staff. The island is home to over 550 free-roaming horses according to a 2016 report, protected by law from human interference. During a 2017–2018 study, the estimated population was 500 horses, up from the roughly 300 recorded in
3864-635: A small commercial terminal handling scheduled and chartered passenger flights from the other islands in the Azores, Europe, Africa, and North America. Following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which deposed the Estado Novo dictatorship in Lisbon, Portugal and its territories across the world entered into a period of great political uncertainty. The Azorean Liberation Front attempted to take advantage of this instability immediately after
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#17327654935494048-526: A summit there days before the commencement of the Iraq War . The archipelago of the Azores is located in the middle of the northern hemisphere of the Atlantic Ocean and extends along a west-northwest to east-southeast orientation (between 36.5°–40° North latitudes and 24.5°–31.5° West longitudes ) in an area approximately 600 km (373 mi) wide. The islands of the Azores emerged from what
4232-547: A variant of Canadian French , is spoken in parts of New England . Missouri French was historically spoken in Missouri and Illinois (formerly known as Upper Louisiana ), but is nearly extinct today. French also survived in isolated pockets along the Gulf Coast of what was previously French Lower Louisiana , such as Mon Louis Island , Alabama and DeLisle, Mississippi (the latter only being discovered by linguists in
4416-481: A weather station. Several generations of island staff were born and raised families of their own on the island, although a decline in shipwrecks gradually reduced the size of the lifesaving community. Only two people have been born on Sable Island since 1920. Improvements in navigation led to a dramatic drop in shipwrecks by the mid 20th century. As such, the rescue station on Sable was reduced and eventually closed in 1958. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) first automated in
4600-413: A year, which is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, though October through January are the wettest months due to frequent and intense fall and winter storms. Being located in the path of major frontal storms and tropical cyclones year-round, most of the precipitation comes from these storms. Thunderstorms are occasional, and happen on an average of 11 days per year. There are frequent heavy fogs in
4784-437: Is 95%, and in the French collectivity of Wallis and Futuna , it is 84%. In French Polynesia and to a lesser extent Wallis and Futuna, where oral and written knowledge of the French language has become almost universal (95% and 84% respectively), French increasingly tends to displace the native Polynesian languages as the language most spoken at home. In French Polynesia, the percentage of the population who reported that French
4968-779: Is a Romance language of the Indo-European family . Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . French evolved from Gallo-Romance , the Latin spoken in Gaul , and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl —languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French ( Francien ) largely supplanted. French
5152-700: Is a system of fractures that extends from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Glória Fault that represents the main frontier between the Eurasian and African plates. It is defined by a line of submarine volcanoes and island mounts that extend northwest to southeast for about 550 km (342 mi), from the area west of Graciosa until the islets of the Formigas, that includes the islands of Graciosa, Terceira and São Miguel. Its northwest limit connects to
5336-472: Is a widespread second language among the Lebanese people , and is taught in many schools along with Arabic and English. French is used on Lebanese pound banknotes, on road signs, on Lebanese license plates , and on official buildings (alongside Arabic). Today, French and English are secondary languages of Lebanon , with about 40% of the population being Francophone and 40% Anglophone. The use of English
5520-489: Is also a working language in nonprofit organisations such as the Red Cross (alongside English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian), Amnesty International (alongside 32 other languages of which English is the most used, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Italian), Médecins sans Frontières (used alongside English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic), and Médecins du Monde (used alongside English). Given
5704-430: Is among the top five most studied languages worldwide, with about 120 million learners as of 2017. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 16th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. French has a long history as an international language of literature and scientific standards and is a primary or second language of many international organisations including
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5888-462: Is an official language in 27 countries , as well as one of the most geographically widespread languages in the world, with about 50 countries and territories having it as a de jure or de facto official, administrative, or cultural language. Most of these countries are members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the community of 54 member states which share
6072-493: Is called the Azores Plateau , a 5.8 million km region that is morphologically accented by a depth of 2,000 m (6,600 ft). The nine islands that compose the archipelago occupy a surface area of 2,346 km (906 sq mi), that includes both the main islands and many islets located in their vicinities. They range in surface area from the largest, São Miguel, at 759 km (293 sq mi) to
6256-537: Is commonly said that the archipelago received its name from açor (Portuguese for goshawk , a common bird at the time of discovery) it is unlikely that the bird ever nested or hunted on the islands. There were no large animals on Santa Maria; after its discovery and before settlement began, sheep were let loose on the island to supply future settlers with food. The archipelago was largely settled from mainland Portugal, but settlement did not take place right away. Gonçalo Velho Cabral gathered resources and settlers for
6440-652: Is enacted only in New Brunswick, where about one third of the population is Francophone. French is also an official language of all of the territories ( Northwest Territories , Nunavut , and Yukon ). Out of the three, Yukon has the most French speakers, making up just under 4% of the population. Furthermore, while French is not an official language in Ontario , the French Language Services Act ensures that provincial services are available in
6624-823: Is featured at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, which includes two rescue boats from Sable and numerous name boards and figureheads from Sable Island wrecks. Another permanent exhibit about Sable Island, exploring its ecology and the on-island researchers' work, is found at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History . The horses were featured in a 1994 exhibit at the Equine Museum of Japan in Yokohama. On September 11, 2014, Don Connolly of CBC Radio's Information Morning broadcast part of
6808-503: Is growing in the business and media environment. Out of about 900,000 students, about 500,000 are enrolled in Francophone schools, public or private, in which the teaching of mathematics and scientific subjects is provided in French. Actual usage of French varies depending on the region and social status. One-third of high school students educated in French go on to pursue higher education in English-speaking institutions. English
6992-483: Is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna including a breed of the unique Sable Island horse . The park is also a breeding ground for marine life. In July 2016, a hike across Sable Island was added to Google Street View . Google worked with Parks Canada to add the interactive views of Sable and five other Canadian National Parks. The imagery was collected in September 2015 by a Parks Canada employee who carried
7176-404: Is known as Old French. The period of Old French spanned between the 8th and 14th centuries. Old French shared many characteristics with Latin. For example, Old French made use of different possible word orders just as Latin did because it had a case system that retained the difference between nominative subjects and oblique non-subjects . The period is marked by a heavy superstrate influence from
7360-687: Is no permanent runway for fixed wing aircraft, which land instead on south beach in an area designated as the Sable Island Aerodrome (CSB2). Prior permission is required to land, as the area is often unusable due to changing sand conditions. The unique landscape, history of shipwrecks, and wildlife, especially horses, have made Sable Island an iconic place in Atlantic Canada and attracted considerable international following. Shipwreck survivors published early survival narratives about their experiences at Sable Island, beginning with
7544-498: Is not suitable in a protected region where ecological integrity should be preserved according to the National Parks Act. Harbour and grey seals breed on the island's shores. Seal counts from the 1960s for the grey seal population estimated 200–300 pups born at that time on the island, but surveys from as recent as 2016 estimated the number of pups born in that season at 87,500. The seals are occasionally preyed upon by
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7728-469: Is often considered to be a useful skill by business owners in the United Kingdom; a 2014 study found that 50% of British managers considered French to be a valuable asset for their business, thus ranking French as the most sought-after foreign language there, ahead of German (49%) and Spanish (44%). MIT economist Albert Saiz calculated a 2.3% premium for those who have French as a foreign language in
7912-468: Is often referred to as the Graveyard of the Atlantic , as it sits astride the great circle route from North America's east coast to Europe. The nearest landfall is 160 kilometres (99 mi) to the northwest near Canso , Nova Scotia. Sable Island is believed to have formed from a terminal moraine deposited on the continental shelf near the end of the last Ice Age. It is slowly moving as waves erode
8096-828: Is one of the official languages of such major international and regional courts, tribunals, and dispute-settlement bodies as the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights , the Caribbean Court of Justice , the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States , the Inter-American Court of Human Rights , the International Court of Justice , the International Criminal Tribunal for
8280-552: Is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira ). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 1,400 km (870 mi) west of Lisbon , about 1,500 km (930 mi) northwest of Morocco , and about 1,930 km (1,200 mi) southeast of Newfoundland , Canada . Its main industries are agriculture , dairy farming , livestock , fishing , and tourism , which has become
8464-444: Is only 1.21 km (0.75 mi) across at its widest point. The maximum elevation is about 30 m (98 ft). The long crescent-shaped island rises gently from the shallows of the continental shelf approximately 285 km (177 mi) east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Its location, in tandem with the area's frequent fog and sudden strong storms (such as hurricanes and nor'easters ), have resulted in over 350 recorded shipwrecks. It
8648-576: Is taught in universities around the world, and is one of the world's most influential languages because of its wide use in the worlds of journalism, jurisprudence , education, and diplomacy. In diplomacy, French is one of the six official languages of the United Nations (and one of the UN Secretariat 's only two working languages ), one of twenty official and three procedural languages of the European Union , an official language of NATO ,
8832-553: Is the language of business and communication, with French being an element of social distinction, chosen for its emotional value. French is an official language of the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu , where 31% of the population was estimated to speak it in 2023. In the French special collectivity of New Caledonia , 97% of the population can speak, read and write French while in French Polynesia this figure
9016-483: Is the native language of about 23% of the Swiss population, and is spoken by 50% of the population. Along with Luxembourgish and German, French is one of the three official languages of Luxembourg , where it is generally the preferred language of business as well as of the different public administrations. It is also the official language of Monaco . At a regional level, French is acknowledged as an official language in
9200-502: Is the only permanently staffed facility on the island. Climatological record-keeping on Sable Island began in 1871 with the establishment of the Meteorological Service of Canada , and ran continuously from 1891 until August 20, 2019. Sable Island has been the subject of extensive scientific research over the years. The Meteorological Service of Canada operated a wide range of manual and automated instruments, including
9384-492: Is the second-most spoken language (after English) in the states of Maine and New Hampshire . In Louisiana , it is tied with Spanish for second-most spoken if Louisiana French and all creoles such as Haitian are included. French is the third most spoken language (after English and Spanish) in the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire . Louisiana is home to many distinct French dialects, collectively known as Louisiana French . New England French , essentially
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#17327654935499568-424: Is the sole official language in the province of Quebec , where some 80% of the population speak it as a native language and 95% are capable of conducting a conversation in it. Quebec is also home to the city of Montreal , which is the world's fourth-largest French-speaking city, by number of first language speakers. New Brunswick and Manitoba are the only officially bilingual provinces, though full bilingualism
9752-455: The 1991 Perfect Storm , the commercial fishing vessel Andrea Gail ' s emergency position-indicating radio beacon ( EPIRB ) was discovered on the shore of Sable Island on November 6, 1991, nine days after the last transmission from the crew. Other items found were fuel drums, a fuel tank, an empty life raft, and some other flotsam . No crew members have been found and are presumed to have perished. No further wrecks occurred until 1999, when
9936-764: The Aosta Valley region of Italy where it is the first language of approximately 50% of the population, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands . It is also spoken in Andorra and is the main language after Catalan in El Pas de la Casa . The language is taught as the primary second language in the German state of Saarland , with French being taught from pre-school and over 43% of citizens being able to speak French. The majority of
10120-462: The Aosta Valley region of Italy; and various communities elsewhere. French is estimated to have about 310 million speakers, of which about 80 million are native speakers. According to the OIF, approximately 321 million people worldwide are "able to speak the language" as of 2022, without specifying the criteria for this estimation or whom it encompasses. In Francophone Africa, it is spoken mainly as
10304-538: The Automated Weather Observing System , an aerology program measuring conditions in the upper atmosphere using a radiosonde carried aloft by a hydrogen-filled weather balloon to altitudes beyond 40 km (25 mi), and a program collecting data on background levels of carbon dioxide , which began there in 1974. Research was done to monitor the long-range transport of pollution aerosols. Fog chemistry has also been studied, examining
10488-490: The Azores and had been reported missing 18 June 2024. A series of life-saving stations were established on Sable Island by the governor of Nova Scotia, John Wentworth , in 1801. The rescue station began the continuous human presence on the island which continues today. Wentworth appointed James Morris, a Nova Scotian veteran of the British Royal Navy as the first superintendent of the island. Morris settled on
10672-612: The Battle of Salga ). In 1583, Philip II of Spain , as King of Portugal , sent his fleet to clear the Azores of a combined multinational force of adventurers, mercenaries, volunteers, and soldiers who were attempting to establish the Azores as a staging post for a rival pretender to the Portuguese throne. Following the success of his fleet at the Battle of Ponta Delgada , captured enemies were hanged from yardarms, as they were considered pirates by Philip II. Opponents receiving
10856-539: The Democratic Republic of Congo . There is not a single African French , but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages . Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth. It is also where the language has evolved the most in recent years. Some vernacular forms of French in Africa can be difficult to understand for French speakers from other countries, but written forms of
11040-633: The Dollabarat on the fringe of the Formigas), banks (specifically the Princess Alice Bank and D. João de Castro Bank ), as well as many hydrothermal vents and sea-mounts are monitored by the regional authorities, owing to the complex geotectonic and socioeconomic significance within the economic exclusion zone of the archipelago. From a geostructural perspective, the Azores are located above an active triple junction between three of
11224-485: The European Union , French was the dominant language within all institutions until the 1990s. After several enlargements of the EU (1995, 2004), French significantly lost ground in favour of English, which is more widely spoken and taught in most EU countries. French currently remains one of the three working languages, or "procedural languages", of the EU, along with English and German. It is the second-most widely used language within EU institutions after English, but remains
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#173276549354911408-441: The Francien dialect is one that not only continued but also thrived during the Middle French period (14th–17th centuries). Modern French grew out of this Francien dialect. Grammatically, during the period of Middle French, noun declensions were lost and there began to be standardized rules. Robert Estienne published the first Latin-French dictionary, which included information about phonetics, etymology, and grammar. Politically,
11592-439: The International Olympic Committee , the Council of Europe , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , Organization of American States (alongside Spanish, Portuguese and English), the Eurovision Song Contest , one of eighteen official languages of the European Space Agency , World Trade Organization and the least used of the three official languages in the North American Free Trade Agreement countries. It
11776-420: The Oaths of Strasbourg and the Sequence of Saint Eulalia , while Old French literature began to be produced in the eleventh century, with major early works often focusing on the lives of saints (such as the Vie de Saint Alexis ), or wars and royal courts, notably including the Chanson de Roland , epic cycles focused on King Arthur and his court , as well as a cycle focused on William of Orange . It
11960-474: The Palearctic realm and has a unique biotic community that includes the Macaronesian subtropical laurissilva , with many endemic species of plants and animals. There are at least 6,112 terrestrial species, of which about 411 are endemic . The majority (75%) of these endemics are animals, mostly arthropods and mollusks . New species are found regularly in the Azores (e.g., 30 different new species of land snails were discovered circa 2013 ). Even though
12144-410: The Portuguese mainland . The division was arbitrary and did not follow the natural island groups, rather reflecting the location of each district capital on the three main cities (none of which were on the western group). In 1931, the Azores (together with Madeira and Portuguese Guinea ) revolted against the Ditadura Nacional and were held briefly by rebel military. In 1943, during World War II ,
12328-418: The Sable Island horse , the island is protected and managed by Parks Canada , which must grant permission prior to any visit. Sable Island is part of District 7 of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia. The island is also a protected National Park Reserve and an Important Bird Area . The expedition of Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes explored this region in 1520–1521 and his expedition
12512-467: The São Miguel scops owl , has recently been described, which probably became extinct after human settlement because of habitat destruction and the introduction of alien species. Five species of flightless rail ( Rallus spp.) once existed on the islands, as did a flightless quail ( Coturnix sp.) and another species of bullfinch, the greater Azores bullfinch , but these also went extinct after human colonization. Eleven subspecies of bird are endemic to
12696-520: The United Nations , the European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , the World Trade Organization , the International Olympic Committee , the General Conference on Weights and Measures , and the International Committee of the Red Cross . French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin ) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France. The language's early forms include Old French and Middle French . Due to Roman rule, Latin
12880-428: The federal electoral district of Halifax , and the provincial electoral district of Halifax Citadel , although the urban area of Halifax proper is some 300 km (190 mi) away on the Nova Scotian mainland. Sable Island has an oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) using the −3 °C isotherm, with its climate being strongly influenced by the sea. As such, winter temperatures average near freezing while during
13064-491: The 1960s and eventually decommissioned the West light station in 2004 leaving only the East lighthouse active. However, during this period, the island's role in science grew, first in weather research. The Canadian government expanded the collection of weather data originally started by the rescue station into a full meteorological station operated by Environment Canada and Department of Fisheries and Oceans . The station conducted routine atmospheric and meteorological studies from
13248-469: The 1970s. Because of the harsh spring of 2017, the mortality rate was about 10% but the normal rate is about 1% annually, primarily due to starvation and hypothermia. This feral horse population is likely descended from horses confiscated from Acadians during the Great Expulsion and left on the island by Thomas Hancock , Boston merchant and uncle of John Hancock . In the early 1800s, many of
13432-506: The 1990s) but these varieties are severely endangered or presumed extinct. French is one of two official languages in Haiti alongside Haitian Creole . It is the principal language of education, administration, business, and public signage and is spoken by all educated Haitians. It is also used for ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations, and church masses. The vast majority of the population speaks Haitian Creole as their first language;
13616-836: The 20th century, when it was replaced by English as the United States became the dominant global power following the Second World War . Stanley Meisler of the Los Angeles Times said that the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was written in English as well as French was the "first diplomatic blow" against the language. During the Grand Siècle (17th century), France, under the rule of powerful leaders such as Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV , enjoyed
13800-618: The American and Portuguese Armed Forces . During the Cold War , U.S. Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine warfare squadrons patrolled the North Atlantic Ocean for Soviet Navy submarines and surface warships. Since its opening, Lajes Field has been used for refuelling American cargo planes bound for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The U.S. Navy keeps a small squadron of its ships at the harbor of Praia da Vitória , three km (1.9 mi) southeast of Lajes Field. The airfield also has
13984-568: The Azorean islands vary considerably, because these remote islands were settled sporadically over a span of two centuries. There are nine major Azorean islands and an islet cluster, in three main groups. These are Flores and Corvo , to the west; Graciosa , Terceira , São Jorge , Pico , and Faial in the centre; and São Miguel , Santa Maria , and the Formigas islets to the east. They extend for more than 600 km (370 mi) and lie in
14168-604: The Azores look very green and sometimes wild, the vegetation has been extremely altered. A great part of it has been wiped out in the past 600 years for its valuable wood (for tools, buildings, boats, fire wood, and so on) and to clear land for agriculture. As a result, it is estimated that more than half of insects on the Graciosa island have disappeared or will become extinct. Many cultivated places (which are traditionally dedicated to pasture or to growing taro , potatoes, maize and other crops) have now been abandoned, especially as
14352-540: The Azores to store grain and the suggestion by Ribeiro that they might be burial sites is unconfirmed. Detailed examination and dating to authenticate the validity of these speculations is lacking; thus it is unclear whether these structures are natural or human-made and whether they predate the 15th century Portuguese colonization of the Azores. According to a 2015 paper published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology , research based on mouse mitochondrial DNA points to
14536-612: The Azores, with an established port of call at Sao Miguel. In 1904, the service was taken over by the White Star Line, future owners of the ill-fated Titanic . Four ships formerly owned by Dominion were renamed and put into service under White Star, named Canopic , Romanic , Cretic and Republic , the last of which is best known for its 1909 sinking off the New England coast. Canopic and Romanic provided regular services to Boston, while Cretic and Republic operated on
14720-443: The Azores. The Azores has at least two endemic living bird species. The Azores bullfinch , or Priolo , is restricted to remnant laurisilva forest in the mountains at the eastern end of São Miguel and is classified by BirdLife International as endangered . Monteiro's storm petrel , described to science as recently as 2008, is known to breed in just two locations in the islands but may occur more widely. An extinct species of owl,
14904-553: The Canadian Government, under the Canada Shipping Act , gave the horse population full protection from human interference. This was partly motivated by a plan in the 1950s, eventually aborted due to public pressure, to remove the horses from the island, after some biologists reported that they were damaging the ecology of the land. Nonetheless, some continued to view the horses as an invasive species which
15088-703: The Canadian capital, is also effectively bilingual, as it has a large population of federal government workers, who are required to offer services in both French and English, and is just across the river from the Quebecois city of Gatineau . According to the United States Census Bureau (2011), French is the fourth most spoken language in the United States after English, Spanish, and Chinese, when all forms of French are considered together and all dialects of Chinese are similarly combined. French
15272-917: The Caribbean that are collectively referred to as the French West Indies , namely Guadeloupe , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , and Martinique . French is the official language of both French Guiana on the South American continent, and of Saint Pierre and Miquelon , an archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland in North America. French was the official language of the colony of French Indochina , comprising modern-day Vietnam , Laos , and Cambodia . It continues to be an administrative language in Laos and Cambodia, although its influence has waned in recent decades. In colonial Vietnam,
15456-626: The Earth's magnetic field and increase the accuracy of the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model. Data from the geomagnetic observatory is used by the offshore energy industry for precise positioning activities such as directional drilling . Supplies are delivered to the Sable Island Station approximately twice a month by Sable Aviation using a Britten-Norman Islander . Although the island has a heliport (CST5), there
15640-538: The Empire, this local elite had been slowly abandoning Gaulish entirely, but the rural and lower class populations remained Gaulish speakers who could sometimes also speak Latin or Greek. The final language shift from Gaulish to Vulgar Latin among rural and lower class populations occurred later, when both they and the incoming Frankish ruler/military class adopted the Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin speech of
15824-751: The Eurasian and African plates. The principal tectonic structures that exist in the region of the Azores are the Mid-Atlantic Ridge , the Terceira Rift , the Azores Fracture Zone and the Glória Fault. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the main frontier between the North American plate and the African-Eurasian plates that crosses the Azores Plateau between the islands of Flores and Faial from north to south then to
16008-484: The Germanic Frankish language , which non-exhaustively included the use in upper-class speech and higher registers of V2 word order , a large percentage of the vocabulary (now at around 15% of modern French vocabulary ) including the impersonal singular pronoun on (a calque of Germanic man ), and the name of the language itself. Up until its later stages, Old French , alongside Old Occitan , maintained
16192-579: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, while the southeast section intersects the Gloria Fault southeast of the island of Santa Maria. The Azores Fracture Zone extends from the Glória Fault and encompasses a relatively inactive area to the south of the islands of the Central and Eastern groups north to the Terceira Rift, along a 45° angle. The Glória Fault, for its part, extends 800 km (497 mi) along
16376-495: The New World with convicts in 1598. When the convicts mutinied, they were left on the treeless and stoneless Sable Island. Most of the settlers died, but a few managed to survive in mud dwellings for five years before being returned to France in 1603. Sable Island is famous for its large number of shipwrecks. An estimated 350 vessels are believed to have fallen victim to the island's sand bars. Thick fogs, treacherous currents, and
16560-574: The Pacific Coast, and can have the warmest temperatures in the country on some occasions due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. Summers are among the coolest in southern Canada though. It is also the most hurricane-prone part of Canada, also due to the Gulf Stream, and is the only place where Category 3 hurricane-force winds are likely in all of Canada. The highest temperature recorded was 27.8 °C (82.0 °F) on August 27, 1951, while
16744-500: The Parliament of Canada extends to ... 9. Beacons, Buoys, Lighthouses, and Sable Island"). For this reason it is considered a separate amateur radio "entity" (equivalent to a country for award credit), and with visiting operations using the special callsign prefix CY0. Because it is a separate radio entity, Sable Island is a popular Dxpedition destination. Out of concern for preserving the island's frail ecology, all visitors to
16928-505: The Portuguese mainland, but by local people attacking a fortified Castilian garrison. In the late 16th century, the Azores and Madeira began to face problems of overpopulation. Responding to the consequent economic problems, some people of the Azores began to emigrate to the United States, Canada and Brazil. In 1902, the Dominion Line began operating a Mediterranean passenger service between Boston and Italy via Gibraltar and
17112-677: The Portuguese ruler António de Oliveira Salazar leased air and naval bases in the Azores to Great Britain. The occupation of these facilities in October 1943 was codenamed Operation Alacrity by the British. This was a key turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic , enabling the Royal Air Force , the U.S. Army Air Forces , and the U.S. Navy to provide aerial coverage in the Mid-Atlantic gap . This helped them to protect convoys and to hunt hostile German U-boats . In 1944,
17296-440: The U.S. constructed a small and short-lived air base on the island of Santa Maria. In 1945, a new base was constructed on the island of Terceira, named Lajes Field . This air base is in an area called Lajes, a broad, flat sea terrace that had been a large farm. Lajes Field is a plateau rising out of the sea on the northeast corner of the island. This air base is a joint American and Portuguese venture. Lajes Field continues to support
17480-515: The area due to the contrasting effects of the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream : on average there are 127 days out of the year that have at least 1 hour of fog. This makes Sable Island the foggiest place in the Maritimes . The foggiest season is during the summer months where July averages 22 fog days. During the winter, Sable Island has the warmest temperatures in Canada apart from
17664-495: The author identified a Fleming , Joshua Vander Berg of Bruges , who made landfall in the archipelago during a storm on his way to Lisbon. According to Ashe, the Portuguese explored the area and claimed it for Portugal. Other writers note the discovery of the first islands (São Miguel, Santa Maria and Terceira) by sailors in the service of Henry the Navigator, although there are few documents to support such claims. Although it
17848-417: The capital was moved to Ponta Delgada . The town of Vila Franca do Campo was rebuilt on the original site, and today is a thriving fishing and yachting port. Ponta Delgada received its city status in 1546. From the first settlement, the pioneers applied themselves to agriculture, and by the 15th century Graciosa was exporting wheat, barley, wine and brandy. The goods were sent to Terceira largely because of
18032-568: The country near French-speaking Quebec, however, it is the foreign language more commonly taught. Vowel phonemes in French Azores The Azores ( / ə ˈ z ɔːr z / ə- ZORZ , US also / ˈ eɪ z ɔːr z / , AY -zorz ; Portuguese : Açores , Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈsoɾɯ̞ʃ] ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores ( Região Autónoma dos Açores ),
18216-401: The daily current affairs program from Sable Island. It was the first ever live public radio broadcast from the island. In amateur radio , Sable Island is considered a separate country with the unique call sign prefix CY0. Since enthusiasts collect contacts from different countries and there are few inhabitants on Sable Island, a contact from there would be considered a "rare DX". As a result,
18400-519: The demographic prospects of the French-speaking nations of Africa, researcher Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote in 2014 that French "could be the language of the future". However, some African countries such as Algeria intermittently attempted to eradicate the use of French, and as of 2024 it was removed as an official language in Mali and Burkina Faso . Significant as a judicial language, French
18584-399: The dominant winds in the North Atlantic Ocean in that period blew from the northeast, which would have taken Viking ships heading southwest from Scandinavia more or less directly to the Azores. In 1427, a captain sailing for Prince Henry the Navigator , possibly Gonçalo Velho , may have discovered the Azores, but this is not certain. In Thomas Ashe 's 1813 work A History of the Azores ,
18768-498: The eastern tip and Sable Island West End Light (pyramidal skeletal tower built 1979 replacing earlier towers from 1873, 1903 and 1935) on the western end. Until the advent of modern ship navigation, Sable Island was home to the families of the life-saving crews and the lighthouse keepers. In the early 20th century, the Marconi Company established a wireless station on the island and the Canadian government similarly established
18952-448: The economic power of the countries using the language, the number of major areas in which the language is used, and the linguistic prestige associated with the mastery of the language (Weber highlighted that French in particular enjoys considerable linguistic prestige). In a 2008 reassessment of his article, Weber concluded that his findings were still correct since "the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." Knowledge of French
19136-594: The elites primarily spoke French, while many servants who worked in French households spoke a French pidgin known as " Tây Bồi " (now extinct). After French rule ended, South Vietnam continued to use French in administration, education, and trade. However, since the Fall of Saigon and the opening of a unified Vietnam's economy, French has gradually been effectively displaced as the first foreign language of choice by English in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it continues to be taught as
19320-586: The end of the 15th century. By 1490, there were 2,000 Flemings living on the islands of Terceira, Pico, Faial, São Jorge and Flores. Because there was such a large Flemish settlement, the Azores became known as the Flemish Islands or the Isles of Flanders. Prince Henry the Navigator was responsible for this Flemish settlement. His sister, Isabel , was married to Philip the Good , Duke of Burgundy, Flanders, at
19504-455: The establishment of a rescue station on the island. Canadian writer James MacDonald Oxley wrote a youth novel The Wreckers of Sable Island in 1897. Frank Parker Day 's 1928 novel Rockbound features a vivid depiction of the sinking of the schooner Sylvia Mosher during the 1926 August Gales at Sable Island. One of the island's most notable temporary residents was Nova Scotian author Thomas H. Raddall , whose early experiences working at
19688-516: The first government authority to adopt Modern French as official was the Aosta Valley in 1536, while the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts (1539) named French the language of law in the Kingdom of France . During the 17th century, French replaced Latin as the most important language of diplomacy and international relations ( lingua franca ). It retained this role until approximately the middle of
19872-915: The former Yugoslavia , International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea the International Criminal Court and the World Trade Organization Appellate Body . It is the sole internal working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union , and makes with English the European Court of Human Rights 's two working languages. In 1997, George Weber published, in Language Today ,
20056-499: The former location of Lake Wallace; however, this flooded area is relatively shallow (only a few feet at most) and is not a remnant of the lake. The original lake was of a significant enough depth that even during times when the area was flooded, the lake could be seen in aerial photographs as a darker (deeper) patch in the middle of the flooded area. The island is a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality,
20240-829: The gender of the corresponding word in Gaulish. The estimated number of French words that can be attributed to Gaulish is placed at 154 by the Petit Robert , which is often viewed as representing standardized French, while if non-standard dialects are included, the number increases to 240. Known Gaulish loans are skewed toward certain semantic fields, such as plant life ( chêne , bille , etc.), animals ( mouton , cheval , etc.), nature ( boue , etc.), domestic activities (ex. berceau ), farming and rural units of measure ( arpent , lieue , borne , boisseau ), weapons, and products traded regionally rather than further afield. This semantic distribution has been attributed to peasants being
20424-550: The geography and history of the island. Joshua Slocum describes Sable Island in Sailing Alone Around the World during his 1895 solo circumnavigation. The island has also inspired works of fiction beginning in 1802 when Nova Scotia author Thomas Chandler Haliburton published "The Sable Island Ghost", a story about a ghostly woman inspired by the loss of the brig Francis in 1798. His story helped raise support for
20608-455: The horses were used by men patrolling the island, searching for ships in distress, and the animals also moved lifeboats and equipment to sites of shipwrecks. In 1879, 500 horses and cattle were estimated to live on the island, and the island vegetation was described as covered with grass and wild peas. In the past, excess horses were rounded up, shipped off the island, and sold, many used in coal mines on Cape Breton Island , Nova Scotia. In 1960,
20792-549: The inactive cones in central São Miguel Island, the aforementioned Capelinhos on Faial, the volcanic complexes of Terceira or Plinian caldeira of Corvo Island. The islands of the archipelago were formed through volcanic and seismic activity during the Neogene Period; the first embryonic surfaces started to appear in the waters of Santa Maria during the Miocene epoch (from circa 8 million years ago). The sequence of
20976-484: The island and studies the wild Sable Island horse . In the 1937 film Captains Courageous , the fishing boat passes Sable Island on the way to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland . Spencer Tracy 's character Manuel later says his father died off Cape Sable. Sable Island is briefly featured in the 2000 feature film The Perfect Storm , which depicts the sinking of the fishing vessel Andrea Gail near Sable, although
21160-429: The island formation has been generally characterized as: Santa Maria (8.12 Ma), São Miguel (4.1 Ma), Terceira (3.52 Ma), Graciosa (2.5 Ma), Flores (2.16 Ma), Faial (0.7 Ma), São Jorge (0.55 Ma), Corvo (0.7 Ma) and the youngest, Pico (0.27 Ma). All islands have experienced volcanism during their geological history, with Late Holocene volcanism being recorded from Flores and Faial. Within recorded "human settlement" history
21344-436: The island in October 1801 with his family. By the time Morris died on the island in 1809, he had built up the humanitarian settlement to include a central station, two rescue boat stations, several lookout posts and survivor shelters. The station's rescue equipment was upgraded in 1854 with the latest generation of self-bailing lifeboats and life cars through the fundraising efforts of social reformer Dorothea Dix who had visited
21528-471: The island in the previous year. The island became property of the federal government during Canadian Confederation in 1867, with the Island being specifically referenced in an appendix to the British North America Act . The federal government later added two lighthouses in 1872: Sable Island East End Light (cylindrical skeletal tower built 1980s, replacing earlier iterations from 1873, 1888, 1917 and 1951) on
21712-495: The island is erroneously portrayed with trees and a giant stone lighthouse. Sable Island is the setting for the 2002 film Touching Wild Horses starring Jane Seymour ; however, little attempt was made to mimic the natural landscape of Sable, with trees and rocks abounding in the background of most every scene. Instead, Sandbanks Provincial Park in Ontario stood in for the island in the film. A permanent exhibit about Sable Island
21896-532: The island of São Jorge, which exceeded 7 on the Richter magnitude scale. In comparison, the 1522 earthquake that was mentioned by historian Gaspar Frutuoso measured 6.8, but its effects were judged to be X ( Extreme ) on the Mercalli intensity scale , and was responsible for the destruction of Vila Franca do Campo and landslides that may have killed more than 5,000 of the inhabitants. The archipelago lies in
22080-514: The island on his way to America. Decades later, there were two major shipwrecks: In November 1760, Major Robert Elliot (1715 – after 1765) of the 43rd regiment was shipwrecked on Sable Island; he was rescued in January 1761. En route to Prince Edward Island under the command of Major Timothy Hierlihy , Lieutenant Anthony Kennedy and 25 men wrecked on the island in November 1778. The crew
22264-507: The island's location in the middle of a major transatlantic shipping route and rich fishing grounds account for the large number of wrecks. The first recorded wreck was the English ship Delight (1583) in 1583, part of Humphrey Gilbert 's Newfoundland expedition. There were at least three incidents of ship-wrecks in the 1700s. In 1736, a well-known Presbyterian preacher, the Irish-born Rev. Robert Dunlap (1715–1776), wrecked on
22448-509: The island, including recreational boaters, require specific permission from Parks Canada. Sable Island's heliport contains emergency aviation fuel for search and rescue helicopters, which use the island to stage further offshore into the Atlantic. When the Sable Offshore Energy Project was active, the island was designated as an emergency evacuation point for crews aboard nearby drilling rigs. In 2017, Exxon Mobil began
22632-587: The island, including the 2007 film Île de sable made by Jean-François Ducrocq and Malek Sahraoui for France 3 , French public television. In 2007, Matt Trecartin of Halifax directed Chasing Wild Horses , a documentary about photographer Roberto Dutesco and his photography of the Sable Island horses. The most recent effort is a Canadian documentary film by Jacquelyn Mills , titled Geographies of Solitude , released in 2022. The 103-minute film features Zoe Lucas, an environmentalist and naturalist who lives on
22816-627: The island, its horses and shipwrecks in 1898 for National Geographic during a visit with Alexander Graham Bell . A further National Geographic visit in the summer of 1964 yielded an article entitled Sable Island; Graveyard of the Atlantic . In more recent times, Roberto Dutesco , a fashion photographer, began taking photos of Sable horses in 1994 and features this work in a permanent photo exhibition entitled "Wild Horses of Sable Island" at his gallery in New York. Nova Scotian photographer Paul Illsley's photographs of Sable Island horses inspired both
23000-411: The island. These factors point toward Sable Island disappearing by the end of the century. Sable Island derived its name from the French word for "sand". It lacks natural trees, being covered instead with marram grass and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Subsequent plantings resulted in the survival of
23184-505: The islands of Santa Maria, Graciosa, Flores, and Corvo have not experienced any volcanic eruptions; in addition to active fumaroles and hot-springs, the remaining islands have had sporadic eruptions since the 14th century. Apart from the Capelinhos volcano in 1957–1958, the last recorded instance of "island formation" occurred off the coast of São Miguel, when the island of Sabrina was briefly formed. Owing to its geodynamic environment,
23368-519: The islands. The Azores has an endemic bat, the Azores noctule , which has an unusually high frequency of diurnal flight. The islets of the Formigas (the Portuguese word for "ants"), including the area known as the Dollabarat Reef, have a rich environment of maritime species, such as black coral and manta rays , different species of sharks, whales, and sea turtles. Seventeen new marine reserves (with special conservation status) were added to
23552-401: The language are very closely related to those of the rest of the French-speaking world. French is the second most commonly spoken language in Canada and one of two federal official languages alongside English. As of the 2021 Canadian census , it was the native language of 7.7 million people (21% of the population) and the second language of 2.9 million (8% of the population). French
23736-479: The language, although it has now given way to Tamil and English. A former French mandate , Lebanon designates Arabic as the sole official language, while a special law regulates cases when French can be publicly used. Article 11 of Lebanon's Constitution states that "Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language is to be used". The French language in Lebanon
23920-612: The language. The Act applies to areas of the province where there are significant Francophone communities, namely Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario . Elsewhere, sizable French-speaking minorities are found in southern Manitoba, Nova Scotia , Prince Edward Island and the Port au Port Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the unique Newfoundland French dialect was historically spoken. Smaller pockets of French speakers exist in all other provinces. The Ontarian city of Ottawa ,
24104-732: The last part of the Portuguese Empire to resist Philip's reign over Portugal ( Macau resisted any official recognition), until the defeat of forces loyal to the Prior of Crato with the Conquest of the Azores in 1583. Portuguese control resumed with the end of the Iberian Union in 1640 and the beginning of the Portuguese Restoration War , not by the professional military, who were occupied with warfare on
24288-479: The last to hold onto Gaulish. The beginning of French in Gaul was greatly influenced by Germanic invasions into the country. These invasions had the greatest impact on the northern part of the country and on the language there. A language divide began to grow across the country. The population in the north spoke langue d'oïl while the population in the south spoke langue d'oc . Langue d'oïl grew into what
24472-721: The level of protection the island receives by transferring control from the Canadian Coast Guard to Parks Canada , which manages the island under the Canada National Parks Act . The establishment of the park reserve means that the island, and the surrounding area within 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi), cannot be drilled for oil or natural gas. Sable Island became a National Park Reserve on June 20, 2013, with approval of Mi'kmaq stakeholders. Full national park status has yet to be achieved, pending settlement of Indigenous land claims. The park
24656-425: The lowest temperature recorded was −19.4 °C (−2.9 °F) on January 31, 1920. According to PlantMaps, Sable Island lies in Hardiness Zone 8a (10–15 °F or −12 – −9 °C) for plant hardiness. Being a large low-lying sandbar , Sable Island is vulnerable to sea level rise . This is further exacerbated by an ongoing increase in storm frequency and intensity caused by climate change , further eroding
24840-431: The major population centres. It is also generally wet and cloudy. A small number of alleged hypogea (underground structures carved into rocks) have been identified on the islands of Corvo, Santa Maria, and Terceira by Portuguese archaeologist Nuno Ribeiro, who speculated that they might date back 2,000 years, implying a human presence on the island before the Portuguese. These structures have been used by settlers in
25024-423: The navigator in Cape Breton Island , further north. It is also possible that Fagundes sighted the island while heading southwest, reaching the Bay of Fundy , as the 1558 map of Diogo Homem and later Samuel de Champlain suggested, but this is unclear. The island was inhabited sporadically by sealers, shipwreck survivors, and salvagers known as " wreckers ". Troilus de La Roche de Mesgouez attempted to colonize
25208-420: The necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalize the use of the French language". When public education was made compulsory , only French was taught and the use of any other ( patois ) language was punished. The goals of the public school system were made especially clear to the French-speaking teachers sent to teach students in regions such as Occitania and Brittany . Instructions given by
25392-452: The new Portuguese regime and also where the Council of Regency ( Conselho de Regência ) of Maria II of Portugal was established. Beginning in 1868, Portugal issued its stamps overprinted with " AÇORES " for use in the islands. Between 1892 and 1906, it also issued separate stamps for the three administrative districts of the time. From 1836 to 1976, the archipelago was divided into three districts, equivalent (except in area) to those in
25576-417: The news variously portrayed Philip II as a despot or " Black Legend ", the sort of insult widely made against contemporary monarchs engaged in aggressive empire building and the European wars of religion . Figueiredo and Violante do Canto helped organize a resistance on Terceira that influenced some of the response of the other islands, even as internal politics and support for Philip's faction increased on
25760-401: The next three years (1433–1436) and sailed to establish colonies, first on Santa Maria and then on São Miguel . Settlers built houses, established villages and cleared bush and rocks to plant crops, grain, grapevines, sugar cane and other plants suitable for local use and for export. They brought domesticated animals, such as chickens, rabbits, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. The settlement of
25944-460: The official use or teaching of French. It is spoken as a first language (in descending order of the number of speakers) in France; Canada (especially in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick); Belgium ( Wallonia and the Brussels-Capital Region ); western Switzerland (specifically the cantons forming the Romandy region); parts of Luxembourg; parts of the United States (the states of Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont); Monaco;
26128-426: The other islands (including specifically on São Miguel, where the Gonçalvez da Câmara family supported the Spanish claimant). An English raid of the Azores in 1589 successfully plundered some islands and harbouring ships; eight years later, a second raid failed – the Islands Voyage . Spain held the Azores under the Iberian Union from 1580 to 1642 (called the "Babylonian captivity" in the Azores). The Azores were
26312-475: The other main foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system and is regarded as a cultural language. All three countries are full members of La Francophonie (OIF). French was the official language of French India , consisting of the geographically separate enclaves referred to as Puducherry . It continued to be an official language of the territory even after its cession to India in 1956 until 1965. A small number of older locals still retain knowledge of
26496-434: The plugging and abandonment of the production wells in the Thebaud field (the Sable Offshore Energy Project wells closest to Sable Island); all facilities were removed by November 2020. On October 17, 2011, the Nova Scotia government entered into an agreement with the federal government to eventually protect the island as a national park . The news followed an announcement made by the federal government in May 2010, increasing
26680-440: The possibility that Greenland sharks were to blame for the corkscrew lacerations on dead seals found washed up on the island. A recent work about Sable Island is the 2015 Canadian-produced film, "S(t)able Island: The Beauty of the Free", created by Rae-Anne LaPlante. The film explores in-depth the wild horse population that has called Sable Island its home for over 250 years. A number of international documentaries have also explored
26864-401: The preferred language of certain institutions or administrations such as the Court of Justice of the European Union , where it is the sole internal working language, or the Directorate-General for Agriculture . Since 2016, Brexit has rekindled discussions on whether or not French should again hold greater role within the institutions of the European Union. A leading world language , French
27048-478: The proximity of that island. Portugal fell into a dynastic crisis following the death of Cardinal-King Henry of Portugal in 1580. Of the various claimants to the crown, the most powerful was king Phillip II of Spain , who justified his rights to the Portuguese throne by the fact that his mother was a Portuguese royal princess, his maternal grandfather having been King Manuel I of Portugal. Following his proclamation in Santarém, António, Prior of Crato
27232-429: The region has been a center of intense seismic activity, particularly along its tectonic boundaries on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Terceira Rift. Seismic events although frequent, are usually tectonic or vulco-tectonic in nature, but in general are of low to medium intensities, occasionally punctuated by events of level 5 or greater on the Richter scale . The most severe earthquake was registered in 1757, near Calheta on
27416-407: The rest largely speak French as a first language. As a French Creole language , Haitian Creole draws the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. It is closely related to Louisiana Creole and the creole from the Lesser Antilles . French is the sole official language of all the overseas territories of France in
27600-526: The revolution, hoping to establish an independent Azores, until operations ceased in 1975. In 1976, the Azores became the Autonomous Region of the Azores ( Região Autónoma dos Açores ), one of the autonomous regions of Portugal , and the subdistricts of the Azores were eliminated. In 2003, the Azores saw international attention when United States President George W. Bush , British Prime Minister Tony Blair , Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar , and Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso held
27784-423: The seamounts and submarine volcanoes off the coast of Serreta and in the Pico-São Jorge Channel. The islands have many examples of volcano-built geomorphology including caves and lava tubes (such as the Gruta das Torres , Algar do Carvão , Gruta do Natal , Gruta das Cinco Ribeiras), the coastal lava fields (like the coast of Feteiras , Faial, the Mistério of Prainha or São João on Pico Island) in addition to
27968-410: The service to both New York and Boston throughout their careers. By the time the service ended in 1921, these four ships had transported an estimated total of 58,000 Azorean Portuguese to the United States. The Portuguese Civil War (1828–1834) had strong repercussions in the Azores. In 1829, in Praia da Vitória , the liberals won over the absolutists , making Terceira Island the main headquarters of
28152-635: The sinking of the Delight in 1583. The first formal history of the island, Sable Island: its History and Phenomena , was written in 1894 by George Patterson. Many other histories of the island and its shipwrecks have been published since, such as Lyall Campbell's two books – Sable Island, Fatal and Fertile Crescent in 1974 and Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard in 1994 – and more recently, A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island , written in 2004 by Marq de Villiers . In his 1997 book, The Perfect Storm , Sebastian Junger briefly describes
28336-414: The smallest, Corvo, at approximately 17 km (7 sq mi). Each of the islands has its own distinct geomorphological characteristics that make them unique: These islands can be divided into three recognizable groups located on the Azores Plateau: São Jorge, Pico and Faial are also collectively called Ilhas do Triângulo ('Islands of the Triangle'). Several sub-surface reefs (particularly
28520-572: The southwest; it is an extensive form crossed by many transform faults running perpendicular to its north–south orientation, that is seismically active and susceptible to volcanism. The Azores features a series of prominent peaks, with Montanha do Pico (also known as "Mount Pico") standing as the highest at 2,351 meters on Pico Island . Other notable elevations include Pico da Vara on São Miguel Island , Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island , Cabeço Gordo on Faial Island , and Calderia de Santa Barbara on Terceira Island . The Terceira Rift
28704-414: The subject of many Canadian documentaries by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada , beginning with the 1956 NFB film Sable Island by Allan Wargon, the 2003 NFB documentary Moving Sands by Phillipe Baylaucq, and more recently, an episode of Land and Sea . In 2002 a documentary was released called Catching a Killer: The Mystery of Sable Island which investigated
28888-465: The summer months, daily maximum temperatures average around 20 °C (68.0 °F). The average annual variation in temperature on Sable Island is only 18.6 °C (33.5 °F) owing to the influence from the sea compared to 24.3 °C (43.7 °F) at Halifax and 38.9 °C (70.0 °F) in Winnipeg. Generally, February is the coldest month while August is the warmest month. Sable Island averages 1,372 millimetres (54.0 in) of precipitation
29072-634: The tallest mountains on the planet. The Azores are located at the seismically active Azores triple junction plate boundary where the North American plate , Eurasian plate and Nubian plate meet. The climate of the Azores is very mild for such a northerly location, being influenced by its distance from the continents and by the passing Gulf Stream . Because of the marine influence, temperatures remain mild year-round. Daytime temperatures normally fluctuate between 16 and 25 °C (61 and 77 °F) depending on season. Temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) or below 3 °C (37 °F) are unknown in
29256-449: The three crew members of the yacht Merrimac survived after their sloop ran aground due to a navigational error. Few of the wrecks surrounding the island are visible, as they are usually crushed and buried by the sand. On 12 July 2024 the bodies of Sarah Packwood and her Canadian husband Brett Clibbery were found in a lifeboat that washed up on Sable Island; they had left Nova Scotia 11 June 2024 on their sail yacht Theros trying to sail to
29440-426: The time belonging to Burgundy. There was a revolt against Philip's rule, and disease and hunger became rampant. Isabel appealed to Henry to allow some of the unruly Flemings to settle in the Azores. He granted this and supplied them with means of transport and goods. In 1522, Vila Franca do Campo , then the capital of São Miguel , was devastated by an earthquake and landslide that killed about 5,000 people, and
29624-414: The total number of French speakers will reach approximately 500 million in 2025 and 650 million by 2050, largely due to rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa . OIF estimates 700 million French speakers by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa. In a study published in March 2014 by Forbes , the investment bank Natixis said that French could become the world's most spoken language by 2050. In
29808-518: The transport and composition of atmospheric toxins it carries. Tropospheric ozone was measured and analyzed by researchers in Canada and the United States along with 20 other North American sites. The upper-air aerology program ended on August 20, 2019. The installation of the BGS Magnetic Observatory on Sable Island was funded as a joint venture between the British Geological Survey, Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, and Sable Offshore Energy. The data it collects aid scientific research into rates of change of
29992-619: The two official languages—along with Dutch —of the Brussels-Capital Region , where it is spoken by the majority of the population (approx. 80%), often as their primary language. French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland, along with German, Italian, and Romansh , and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland, called Romandy , of which Geneva is the largest city. The language divisions in Switzerland do not coincide with political subdivisions, and some cantons have bilingual status: for example, cities such as Biel/Bienne and cantons such as Valais , Fribourg and Bern . French
30176-422: The unoccupied islands started in 1439 with people mainly from the continental provinces of Algarve and Alentejo , in mainland Portugal. São Miguel was first settled in 1449, the settlers – mainly from the Estremadura , Alto Alentejo and Algarve areas of mainland Portugal – under the command of Gonçalo Velho Cabral, who landed at the site of modern-day Povoação . The first reference to the island of São Jorge
30360-508: The urban intellectual elite. The Gaulish language likely survived into the sixth century in France despite considerable Romanization . Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French contributing loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes shaped by Gaulish influence, and influences in conjugation and word order. Recent computational studies suggest that early gender shifts may have been motivated by
30544-425: The use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, and legal contracts; advertisements must bear a translation of foreign words. In Belgium, French is an official language at the federal level along with Dutch and German. At the regional level, French is the sole official language of Wallonia (excluding a part of the East Cantons , which are German-speaking ) and one of
30728-487: The various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby. Unusual corkscrew bite wounds on dead seals suggest that the Greenland shark is probably responsible for most attacks here. Several large bird colonies are resident, including the Arctic tern and Ipswich sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah sparrow which breeds only on the island. Many other species are resident, migratory, or transient, blown out to sea in storms and returned to land out of their natural range. It
30912-426: The volcanic activity has centered, primarily, along the Terceira Rift. From the beginning of the islands' settlement, around the 15th century, there have been 28 registered volcanic eruptions (15 terrestrial and 13 submarine). The last significant volcanic eruption, the Capelinhos volcano ( Vulcão dos Capelinhos ), occurred off the coast of the island of Faial in 1957; the most recent volcanic activity occurred in
31096-402: The western shore and new sand is added on the eastern shore, and continually changing shape through the effects of strong winds and violent ocean storms. The island has several freshwater ponds on the south side between the station and west light; however, in recent years their protecting dune-line has been eroded to such an extent that they are changing from one year to the next. In prior years,
31280-427: The wireless post there served as the inspiration for his 1950 novel The Nymph and the Lamp . In his novel The Templar Throne, published in June 2010, author Paul Christopher mentions the island as the final location of the Ark of the Covenant , the True Ark of the Christian Old Testament. The dunes and horses of Sable Island have drawn many photographers. Among the first was Arthur Williams McCurdy who photographed
31464-481: The workplace. In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese . In English-speaking Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, French is the first foreign language taught and in number of pupils is far ahead of other languages. In the United States, French is the second-most commonly taught foreign language in schools and universities, although well behind Spanish. In some areas of
31648-402: The world's French-speaking population lives in Africa. According to a 2023 estimate from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , an estimated 167 million African people spread across 35 countries and territories can speak French as either a first or a second language . This number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as
31832-399: The world's major tectonic plates (the North American plate , the Eurasian plate and the African plate ), a condition that has translated into the existence of many faults and fractures in this region of the Atlantic. The westernmost islands of the archipelago (Corvo and Flores) are located on the North American plate, while the remaining islands are located within the boundary that divides
32016-430: Was acclaimed in the Azores in 1580 (through his envoy António da Costa) but was expelled from the continent by the Spaniards following the Battle of Alcântara . Yet, through the administration of Cipriano de Figueiredo, governor of Terceira (who continued to govern Terceira in the name of ill-fated, former King Sebastian of Portugal ), the Azoreans resisted Spanish attempts to conquer the islands (including specifically at
32200-417: Was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the ( Germanic ) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to the French colonial empire , there are numerous French-based creole languages , most notably Haitian Creole . A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French
32384-412: Was among the first Europeans to encounter the island. It is likely that he named the island "Fagunda" after himself. An island called Fagunda appears on later Portuguese maps placed to the southeast of Cape Breton, fairly near its present location; however, the identification of Sable Island with Fagunda is not certain. On the other hand, 16th-century Portuguese sources describe a fishing colony founded by
32568-531: Was during the period of the Crusades in which French became so dominant in the Mediterranean Sea that became a lingua franca ("Frankish language"), and because of increased contact with the Arabs during the Crusades who referred to them as Franj , numerous Arabic loanwords entered French, such as amiral (admiral), alcool (alcohol), coton (cotton) and sirop (syrop), as well as scientific terms such as algébre (algebra), alchimie (alchemy) and zéro (zero). Within Old French many dialects emerged but
32752-477: Was formerly believed the freshwater sponge Heteromeyenia macouni was found only in ponds on the island. However, it is now considered to be the same species as Racekiela ryderi , found elsewhere. Rabbits , cattle , and goats were also released on the island, with little success, at one point. At one point, there was a walrus population on the island, until hunters drove it to extinction . The Sable Island Station, managed and staffed by Parks Canada ,
32936-400: Was gradually adopted by the inhabitants of Gaul. As the language was learned by the common people, it developed a distinct local character, with grammatical differences from Latin as spoken elsewhere, some of which is attested in graffiti. This local variety evolved into the Gallo-Romance tongues, which include French and its closest relatives, such as Arpitan . The evolution of Latin in Gaul
33120-469: Was known in the Occitan-speaking region as Vergonha . Spoken by 19.71% of the European Union's population, French is the third most widely spoken language in the EU, after English and German and the second-most-widely taught language after English. Under the Constitution of France , French has been the official language of the Republic since 1992, although the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts made it mandatory for legal documents in 1539. France mandates
33304-407: Was made in 1439, but the date of discovery is unknown. In 1443, the island was already inhabited, but settlement began only after the arrival of the noble Flemish native Willem van der Haegen . Arriving at Topo , São Jorge, where he lived and died, he became known as Guilherme da Silveira to the islanders. João Vaz Corte-Real received the captaincy of the island in 1483. Velas became a town before
33488-411: Was shaped by its coexistence for over half a millennium beside the native Celtic Gaulish language , which did not go extinct until the late sixth century, long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire . The population remained 90% indigenous in origin; the Romanizing class were the local native elite (not Roman settlers), whose children learned Latin in Roman schools. At the time of the collapse of
33672-418: Was stranded on the island for the winter. Two died, and the remainder were rescued and transported to Halifax the following April. It is likely that the construction of lighthouses on each end of the island in 1873 contributed to the decrease in shipwrecks. The last major shipwreck was the steamship Manhasset in 1947. Her crew were all saved, the last significant rescue of the Sable lifesaving station. After
33856-437: Was the language they use the most at home rose from 67% at the 2007 census to 74% at the 2017 census. In Wallis and Futuna, the percentage of the population who reported that French was the language they use the most at home rose from 10% at the 2008 census to 13% at the 2018 census. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie ,
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