Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Wales - coast

Watched Coast last night (season 1, South Wales & North Wales). There were a number of interesting things in it:

Cardiff - In the late 18th & 19th century, Cardiff was a major port, exporting Welsh coal to all corners of the British Empire. On the empty cargo ships, people from all parts of the world came to Cardiff for a new life. They settled in a place nicknamed 'Tiger Bay', probably the world's first truly multi-cultural place.

Red Lady of Paviland - Fairly complete skeleton of a man (thought at first to be a woman) found in a cave in South Wales (Paviland), 30,000 years old, thousands of years before the last Ice Age. Found with various bone and ivory jewellery and decorative items. Cave is now by the coast, but at the time the person died, there would have been hundreds of miles of plains all around and Europe would have been linked to Britain.

Llandudno - On the Great Orme, there is evidence of stone age settlements. Also, copper mines and early smelting works - very little evidence of human settlement though. The Great Orme used to be an island.

Knolij?

Why Knolij? Well actually I wanted Nolij, as it is phonetic for knowledge. I've set it up because I'm ever thirsty for knowledge, whether it is history, geography, science, people etc. I read non-fiction books quite a lot, watch informative tv documentaries, read magazines, journals etc. The problem is, I usually forget most of what I've learned before long. So now, whenever I learn anything useful or interesting, I'll try and jot it down in this blog so I can go back to it later. If you've stumbled upon this blog by accident, I hope you find something interesting to read. It's mainly written for me, but I'd be delighted if other people find it of some use or enjoyment.