Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Milestones in Geography VI
1950 to the Present
1950
The world population is approximately 2.3 billion people.
1951
The Korean War begins as the Army of Communist North Korea invades South Korea. Fight-
ing continues until 1953; a treaty leaves the Korean Peninsula divided between North Korea and
South Korea.
1953
Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norkey of Nepal reach the summit of Mount
Everest.
1953
Egypt becomes an independent republic under military rule.
1955
The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) becomes a sovereign state.
1955
The Warsaw Pact is established, linking the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe in
a military alliance against the West.
1956
The Sudan gains its independence.
1959
British anthropologist Louis Leakey (1903-72) finds fossil remains of an early hominid from
about 1.75 million years ago while working in Olduvai Gorge, Kenya. He names it
Zinjanthropus
,
but later it is called
Australopithecus robustus
or
A. boisei.
1959
Following a revolution, Cuba becomes a Marxist state under the leadership of Fidel Castro.
1960
The Belgian Congo gains its independence. (Later renamed Zaire.)
1960
Cyprus becomes an independent republic.
1961
Louis Leakey and his wife, Mary Leakey, find the first fossil remains of
Homo habilis
or
“handy man.”
1961
The Berlin Wall is constructed, dividing Communist East Berlin from the rest of Berlin, a city
that is inside Communist East Germany.
1962
Uganda and Tanganyika gain independence.
1962
France grants independence to Algeria.
1964
The Aswan Dam on the Nile is completed. It creates the vast Lake Nasser, and is used for ir-
rigation and production of hydroelectric power, meeting half of Egypt's electricity needs. However,
it brings profound ecological changes as well. Floodwaters no longer fertilize the land, which in-
creases the demand for chemical fertilizers.
