Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The Black Sea is fed by some of Eastern Europe's major rivers, including the Dniester, the Dnieper,
and the Danube. The large influx of fresh water creates two levels within the lake. Below a certain depth,
little life exists.
The composer Johann Strauss, who wrote the famous “Blue Danube Waltz,” would be hard-pressed
to recognize his inspiration today. The fabled Danube River originates in southern Germany, then drifts
lazily, touching eight countries along the way, before it empties into the Black Sea. But as it moves through
Central Europe's industrial heartland, the Danube is continually fed by befouled tributaries, and in turn is
a major polluter of the Black Sea.
Geographic Voices
Mark Twain's account of meeting Tsar Alexander II at Yalta on the shores of the
Black Sea, from
The Innocents Abroad
(1869)
A strange new sensation is a rare thing in this humdrum life, and I had it here. It seemed
strange—stranger than I can tell—to think that the central figure in the cluster of men and women,
chatting here under the trees like the most ordinary individual in the land, was a man who could
open his lips and ships would fly through the waves, couriers would hurry from village to village,
a hundred telegraphs would flash the word to the four corners of the Empire that stretches over a
seventh part of the habitable globe, and a countless multitude of men would spring to do his bid-
ding. I had a sort of vague desire to examine his hands and see if they were of flesh and blood, like
other men's. Here was a man who could do this wonderful thing, and yet if I chose I could knock
him down. If I could have stolen his coat, I would have done it. When I meet a man like that, I want
something to remember him by.
As a general thing, we have been shown through palaces by some plush-legged filagreed flunkey
or other, who charged a franc for it; but after talking with the company half-an-hour, the Emperor of
Russia and his family conducted us through all their mansion themselves. They made no charge. . . .
We spent half-an-hour idling through the palace, admiring the cosy apartments and the rich but
eminently home-like appointments of the place, and then the Imperial family bade our party a kind
good-bye, and proceeded to count the spoons.
Who Killed the Dead Sea?
First of all, it isn't a sea at all but a lake. The Dead Sea, forming part of the border between Israel
and Jordan, is a landlocked salt lake with no outlet. With the Jordan River as its source, the Dead Sea is
located 1,289 feet below the level of the nearby Mediterranean Sea, making it the lowest exposed point
on the Earth's surface. In biblical times it was known as the Salt Sea because its salt content makes it the
saltiest “sea” on Earth. The high salt content is a result of rapid evaporation of the water due to the area's
extremely high temperatures.
This extremely high saline level makes it difficult to sustain any life forms, which is why it came to be
called the Dead Sea. In the Middle Ages, visitors believed that the air above the Dead Sea was poisonous,
because no birds flew over its waters. But there are no birds there because there is nothing for them to eat;
there are no plants, and any fish carried in from the Jordan River are killed immediately by the water's
high salt content.
The Dead Sea has long attracted tourists for its religious significance and the healthful qualities of its
buoyant waters. Today its greatest fame comes from the scrolls associated with the area. First discovered
in a cave near Jericho by a Bedouin shepherd boy in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls are parchment versions of
