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Geography fun facts and oddities: Difference between revisions

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=== Central America ===
=== Central America ===


=== Atlantic islands===  
=== Atlantic & Caribbean ===  
* '''Antilles'''
* '''Antilles'''
* "Madeira"
* '''Caribbean'''
** named for the Carib people that occupied southern portion of the Caribbean Sea
** the Taino people were the original inhabitants of the region, including the Bahamas
* '''Madeira'''
** Atlantic island 350 miles west of Morocco
* "madeira" means wood, as the islands had old-growth trees that the Portuguese used for ship building
click EXPAND for more on Madeira
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** the ancient Greeks may have known of Madeira
** the Vikings probably visited it between 9330 and 1030 AD
* uninhabited when discovered in 1419 by a Portuguese vessel that was blown off course
** by 1500 Madeira was one of the largest sugar producers in the world and 10% of its population were African slaves
* Madeira is a Portuguese autonomous region (part of Portugal but self-governed)
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=== Europe ===  
=== Europe ===