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Wednesday 18 June 2008

BeriTa... CopyrighT by : ALL siTe

SURABAYA - Pagu siswa yang akan diterima di masing-masing SMAN Surabaya 2008 diperkirakan tetap seperti tahun sebelumnya. Demikian pula range nilai (hasil unas minimal dan maksimal) siswa. Hal itu diungkapkan pejabat Dindik Kota Surabaya yang meminta Surya konfirmasi kepada Kadindik Sahudi, Minggu (1/6). “Begitu pula kuota siswa luar kota, dibatasi 5 persen,” ungkapnya.
Karena belum ada perubahan, pejabat itu menyarankan kepada para wali murid untuk sementara berpedoman kepada pagu dan range nilai 2007.

“Nilai tersebut belum pasti sama untuk tahun 2008 ini.
Tapi, paling tidak, itu bisa memberi sedikit informasi,” ungkap pajabat itu.
Pagu total siswa baru reguler untuk 22 SMAN se Surabaya pada 2007 mencapai 6.549 siswa (lihat tabel). Berdasar data itu, jumlah siswa dari luar kota yang diterima adalah 327 orang (5 persen).

Siswa luar kota bisa mendaftar di Kantor Dindik Kota Surabaya Jl Raya Jagir pada 23 Juni 2008 hingga 26 Juni 2008, dengan membawa nilai hasil unas dan surat rekomendasi dari daerah asal.
Diterima-tidaknya mereka di SMA yang dituju tergantung hasil perhitungan skor kategori siswa dan hasil unas. Kategori yang akan dinilai ini meliputi sekolah asal, domisili tempat tinggal di Surabaya, dan domisili tempat kerja di Surabaya.

Selanjutnya, mereka akan diseleksi berdasar kuota rekomendasi mutasi rayon calon peserta PSB luar kota. Hasil seleksi akan diumumkan lewat internet pada 27 Juni 2008.
Dengan rekomendasi mutasi rayon itu, mereka bisa mengambil formulir pendaftaran bersama para siswa pendaftar reguler pada 3 hingga 5 Juli 2008 di sub rayon masing-masing SMA (data lihat tabel).

Penyerahan formulir pendaftaran dijadwalkan 7 hingga 9 Juli 2008. Penerimaan akan diumumkan 11 Juli 2008 dan langsung proses daftar ulang sampai 12 Juli di sekolah yang dituju.

Pada hari itu juga, kalau ada bangku kosong di masing-masing sekolah, sekitar pukul 13.00 WIB hingga 16.00 WIB bisa diperebutkan untuk calon siswa yang terlempar dari sekolah yang diminati.
Calon siswa baru SMA dapat memilih sekolah pada 1 (satu) subrayon wilayah kawasan dan diberi peluang memilih 1 (satu) sekolah pada subrayon dalam satu wilayah kawasan atau di luar subrayon wilayah kawasan SMA.

“Dalam pendaftaran reguler ini, para calon siswa bisa memilih tiga sekolah sesuai sub rayon masing-masing, tapi bila ingin pindah sub rayon bisa menggunakan kesempatan pada tanggal 12 Juli 2008 siang,” jelas pejabat Dindik.

Diterima tidaknya siswa SMP/MTs di sekolah yang dituju bergantung nilai unas dan urutan nilai. Nilai para pendaftar akan diranking. Kalau terdapat kesamaan, maka yang lolos adalah mereka yang memiliki nilai tertinggi pada mata pelajaran dengan urutan bahasa Indonesia, matematika, bahasa Inggris, dan IPA.

SMP Sama
Untuk PSB SMP Negeri, Kota Surabaya menggunakana ketentuan yang hampir sama dengan PSB SMA. Baik calon siswa luar kota maupun dalam kota, dalam PSB reguler mereka bisa memilih tiga sekolah dengan sistem dua sekolah dalam satu rayon dan satu sekolah di luar rayon.

Tentang akan dilakukannya sistem pembatasan melalui kawasan, pejabat Dindik menyatakan belum bisa diputuskan sekarang. “Sampai saat ini masih sama dengan tahun lalu juga. Termasuk pagu di masing-masing sekolah,” ujarnya.

Pagu siswa baru SMP di Surabaya, bila menggunakan data PSB tahun 2007, total untuk 42 SMP Negeri, sebanyak 12.174 siswa. Jatah 5 persen bagi siswa luar kota mencapai 608 kursi.
Ketentuan dan jadwal yang berlaku pun sama dengan SMA dan tidak dibatasi oleh kawasan.
Seleksi masuk untuk siswa dalam kota, menggunakan peringkat hasil nilai UASBN SD/MI. Sedangkan dari luar kota juga menggunakan pendaftaran rekomendasi di kantor Diknas Kota Surabaya dengan penilaian bobot yang sama dengan SMA. rie

Di Sidoarjo, Tes Masuk Gratis

Para calon siswa SMPN/SMAN Sidoarjo bisa mendaftarkan diri sebagai peserta tes pada 24 - 26 Juni 2008.
“Tanggal pelaksanaan tes akan ditetapkan menyusul. Siswa silakan daftar dulu, gratis,” ujar Kadindik Sidoarjo MG Hadi Sutjipto, Minggu (1/6), usai mengikuti seminar TI dan pendidikan.
Para calon siswa baru tak perlu bersusah payah mendaftar maupun tes di sekolah yang dituju. Mereka cukup datang ke SMPN/SMAN terdekat.

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Info Kesehatan

[Geologi UGM] Info Kesehatan - STROKE
· From: RUDIYONO To: geologiugm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
· Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 15:45:36 +0800
Buat rekan-rekan yang ingin tahu lebih jauh tentang STROKE,
Thanks,
Mr. Rudiyono

Stroke
Apakah stroke itu ?
Penyakit stroke adalah gangguan fungsi otak akibat aliran darah ke otak
mengalami gangguan (berkurang). Akibatnya, nutrisi dan oksigen yang
dbutuhkan otak tidak terpenuhi dengan baik. Penyebab stroke ada 2 macam,
yaitu adanya sumbatan di pembuluh darah (trombus), dan adanya pembuluh darah
yang pecah.
Umumnya stroke diderita oleh orang tua, karena proses penuaan menyebabkan
pembuluh darah mengeras dan menyempit (arteriosclerosis) dan adanya lemak yang
menyumbat pembuluh darah (atherosclerosis). Tapi beberapa kasus terakhir
menunjukkan peningkatan kasus stroke yang
terjadi pada usia remaja dan usia produktif (15 - 40 tahun). Pada golongan
ini, penyebab utama stroke adalah stress, penyalahgunaan narkoba, alkohol,
faktor keturunan, dan gaya hidup yang tidak sehat.
Penyebab stroke
Pada kasus stroke usia remaja, faktor genetika (keturunan) merupakan
penyebab utama terjadinya stroke. Sering ditemui kasus stroke yang
disebabkan oleh pembuluh darah yang rapuh dan mudah pecah, atau kelainan
sistem darah seperti penyakit hemofilia dan thalassemia yang diturunkan oleh
orang tua penderita. Sedangkan jika ada anggota
keluarga yang menderita diabetes (penyakit kencing manis), hipertensi
(tekanan darah tinggi), dan penyakit jantung, kemungkinan terkena stroke
menjadi lebih besar pada anggota keluarga lainnya.
Penyebab serangan stroke lainnya adalah makanan dengan kadar kolesterol
jahat (Low Density Lipoprotein) yang sangat tinggi. Koleserol jahat ini banyak
terdapat pada junk food, atau makanan cepat saji. Selain itu, penyebab
terjadinya serangan stroke
lainnya adalah kebiasaan malas berolah raga dan bergerak, banyak minum
alkohol, merokok, penggunaan narkotika dan zat adiktif, waktu istirahat
yang sangat kurang, serta stress yang berkepanjangan. Pecahnya pembuluh
darah juga sering diakibatkan karena penyakit tekanan darah tinggi
(hipertensi).
Gejala terjadinya serangan stroke
Gejala awal stroke umumnya pusing, kepala serasa berputar (seperti
penyakit vertigo), kemudian disusul dengan gangguan berbicara dan
menggerakkan otot mulut. Gejala lainnya adalah tergangguanya sensor perasa
(tidak bisa merasakan apapun , seperti dicubit atau ditusuk jarum) dan
tubuh terasa lumpuh sebelah, serta tidak adanya gerakan refleks. Sering
juga terjadi buta mendadak atau kaburnya pandangan (karena suplai darah
dan oksigen ke mata berkurang drastis), terganggunya sistem rasa di mulut
dan otot-otot mulut (sehingga sering dijumpai wajah penderita menjadi
mencong), lumpuhnya otot-otot tubuh yang lain, dan terganggunya sistem
memory dan emosi. Sering dijumpai penderita tidak dapat menghentikan
tangisnya karena lumpuhnya kontrol otak pada sistem emosinya. Hal itu
membuat penderita stroke berlaku seperti penderita penyakit kejiwaan,
padahal bukan. Hal-hal seperti ini yang perlu dimengerti oleh keluarga
penderita.
Proses penyembuhan
Ada 2 proses penyembuhan utama yang harus dijalani penderita. Pertama
adalah penyembuhan dengan obat-obatan di rumah sakit. Kontrol yang ketat
harus dilakukan untuk menjaga agar kadar kolesterol jahat dapat diturunkan
dan tidak bertambah naik. Selain itu, penderita juga dilarang makan
makanan yang dapat memicu terjadinya serangan stroke seperti junk food dan
garam (dapat memicu hipertensi).
Proses penyembuhan kedua adalah fisiotherapy, yaitu latihan otot-otot untuk
mengembalikan fungsi otot dan fungsi
komunikasi agar mendekati kondisi semula. Fisiotherapi dilakukan bersama
instruktur fisiotherapi, dan pasien harus taat pada latihan yang
dilakukan. Jika fisiotherapi ini tidak dijalani dengan sungguh-sungguh,
maka dapat terjadi kelumpuhan permanen pada anggota tubuh yang pernah
mengalami kelumpuhan.
Kesembuhan pada penderita stroke sangat bervariasi. Ada yang bisa sembuh
sempurna (100 %), ada pula yang cuma 50 % saja. Kesembuhan ini tergantung
dari parah atau tidaknya serangan stroke, kondisi tubuh penderita,
ketaatan penderita dalam menjalani proses penyembuhan, ketekunan dan
semangat penderita untuk sembuh, serta dukungan dan pengertian dari
seluruh anggota keluarga penderita. Seringkali ditemui bahwa penderita
stroke dapat pulih kembali, tetapi menderita depresi hebat karena keluarga
mereka tidak mau mengerti dan merasa sangat terganggu dengan penyakit yang
dideritanya (seperti sikap tidak menerima keadaan penderita, perlakuan
kasar karena harus membersihkan kotoran penderita, menyerahkan penderita
kepada suster yang juga memperlakukan penderita dengan kasar, dan
sebagainya). Hal ini yang harus dihindarkan jika ada anggota keluarga yang
menderita serangan stroke.

Sebagai salah satu penyebab kematian terbanyak, penyakit stroke hanya
diidentikkan dengan kelumpuhan anggota gerak yang menyerang secara
tiba-tiba serta terjadinya penurunan kesadaran.
Justru gejala tersamar dari stroke kurang diwaspadai, seperti gangguan
bahasa, gangguan memori, gangguan emosi, gangguan perilaku, dan demensia
(pikun). Padahal, deteksi dini terhadap gejala stroke merupakan hal yang
utama, sebab sampai saat ini belum semua pelayanan kesehatan memiliki alat
mutakhir yang mampu mendeteksi stroke.
Demikian penjelasan Dodik Tugasworo SpS, staf bagian Neurologi Rumah Sakit
Umum (RSU) Dr Kariadi, Semarang, dalam seminar Stroke dan Rehabilitasi
yang digelar di Wisma Katarina RS Elizabeth, Semarang, Sabtu (22/2).
Pembicara lain adalah ahli Patologis Klinis dari RSU Dr Kariadi AP Pradana
SpPK, staf bagian Neurologi RSU Dr Kariadi, Martinus Julianto SpS, dan
ahli rehabilitasi medik RS Elizabeth E Endang Sri Mariani SpRM.
Di Amerika Serikat (AS), negara yang maju teknologinya, penyakit stroke
merupakan penyebab kematian kedua terbesar setelah penyakit jantung.
Setiap tahunnya diperkirakan 750.000 orang menderita stroke dengan angka
kematian melebihi 150.000 orang per tahun dan biaya riset 46 juta dollar
AS per tahun.
Sepertiga penderita meninggal saat serangan awal (fase akut), sepertiga
lagi mengalami stroke berulang, dan dari 50 persen yang selamat akan
mengalami kecacatan. Dari satu juta populasi, dilaporkan sekitar 2.400
orang menderita stroke dan sekitar 1.800 orang akan kambuh kembali.
Di Indonesia, data yang valid tentang prevalensi penderita stroke memang
belum ada. Namun sebagai contoh saja, di bangsal saraf RSU Dr Kariadi,
setiap bulannya menerima pasien stroke antara 40-60 orang. Sedangkan di RS
Elizabeth, tahun 2001 terdapat 152 penderita stroke, dan pada tahun 2002
menjadi 339 penderita stroke.
Pola modern
Peningkatan angka penderita stroke ini disebabkan pola hidup modern yang
tidak seimbang. Kurang berolahraga, namun pola makan tidak sehat dan sarat
dengan makanan junk food. Bahkan, stroke tak lagi cuma menyerang mereka
yang berumur 40 tahun ke atas, tetapi remaja dan anak-anak pun tak luput
dari serangan penyakit ini.
"Jika salah satu dari keluarga kita terkena stroke, bawalah segera ke
dokter. Penanganan yang cepat tidak boleh lebih dari 6 hingga 12 jam.
Bahkan, di luar negeri penanganan tidak boleh lebih dari tiga jam. Jika
serangan stroke tidak segera diatasi, akan terjadi dampak bagi kesembuhan
sang penderita," jelas Dodik
Martinus menjelaskan, stroke dapat dibagi dua bagian, yaitu stroke
perdarahan dan stroke sumbatan. Sekitar 80 persen penderita mengalami
stroke sumbatan dan hanya sedikit penderita yang mengalami stroke
perdarahan. Keduanya memiliki kelemahan, yaitu stroke perdarahan pada
tahap akut dapat mengakibatkan angka kematian (mortalitas) yang tinggi.
Sedangkan stroke sumbatan, yang sulit ditangani adalah gejala sisanya.
Stroke sumbatan mengakibatkan banyak sel otak yang mati. (VIN)


*****

Vasco Núñez de Balboa

Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475?-1519), Spanish explorer in America. He was born in Jerez de los Caballeros, Spain. Considered the first of the conquistadors (leaders of the Spanish conquest in the western hemisphere), Balboa is best known as the first European to see the Pacific Ocean. Balboa sailed to Venezuela in 1501 with an expedition led by Rodrigo de Bastidas. After exploring the southwestern Caribbean area with Bastidas, he became a planter on the island of Hispaniola. By 1510 the plantation had failed. Deep in debt and anxious to escape his creditors, Balboa fled to the settlement of San Sebastián on the coast of Colombia. When he found that San Sebastián had been attacked by Native Americans and was in ruins, Balboa persuaded its settlers to move to the Isthmus of Panama, which he had explored with Bastidas. There they founded a new settlement at Darién, and Balboa was elected governor. He arrested the expedition leader, whom Spain had chosen as governor, and sent him back to Spain. Balboa explored the inland areas and brought the Native Americans under Spanish rule. Unlike later conquistadors, he utilized diplomacy instead of force in dealing with the Native Americans. In 1513 Balboa was accused of treason by his enemies in Spain, who turned the king against him. In hope of winning the king’s favor with some new discovery, Balboa decided to find the rumored great sea on the other side of the isthmus. In September 1513, with 190 Spanish soldiers and 1000 Native Americans, he made the arduous westward journey from the Atlantic side of the isthmus through some of the thickest jungles on the continent. On September 29 he reached his destination, named it Mar del Sur (South Sea), and claimed it for Spain. It was later named the Pacific Ocean by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. Balboa notified Spain of his discovery and sent gifts of gold and pearls he had found. The king, however, sent a new governor, Pedrarias Dávila, to be Balboa’s superior. The two became bitter rivals. Balboa’s successes caused Pedrarias to envy and hate him. Pedrarias had him arrested, convicted of treason, and beheaded in January 1519. Panama honors Balboa by naming its monetary unit, the balboa, after him.

Samuel de Champlain

Samuel de Champlain

I INTRODUCTION
Samuel de Champlain (1567?-1635), French explorer, known as the father of New France, the French colonial empire in North America. He established a trading post, which eventually became the city of Québec, in 1608 at the first narrows of the St. Lawrence River and governed it until his death.

II EARLY LIFE
Champlain was born in Brouage, France, but little is known of his early years. His parents may have been members of the lower nobility. Like his father before him, he served as a naval captain. He thus acquired the training that made him a very competent navigator and geographer, and an excellent cartographer.

III FIRST VISIT TO NORTH AMERICA
In 1603 Champlain made his first visit to North America as a royal geographer on a fur trading expedition. The expedition sailed to Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River, which had long been a trading center for the indigenous peoples living along the St. Lawrence. Here the French were accustomed to meeting the Montagnais people bringing furs to trade for French cloth and metal wares.
Champlain made good use of his time there. He ventured far up the Saguenay, up the St. Lawrence River to Montréal Island, and up the river that would be named the Richelieu. He gathered information from the Montagnais on the geography of the northeastern section of the continent. He used this information to draw a remarkably accurate map showing a large bay to the north (Hudson Bay) and water to the west, which he later discovered was the Great Lakes. This western body of water was so large that he believed it must connect with the Pacific Ocean, thus forming the fabled Northwest Passage through the continent. Many 17th-century explorers were searching for that passage, believing it would provide an easy water route to the wealth of China.

IV SECOND VISIT
During Champlain’s first visit to North America, he had learned about a pleasant land to the south, with a mild winter climate. He had also been shown a metal, which he thought might be silver. This southern area became Champlain’s destination on his second trip, in 1604, which was undertaken to establish a settlement in this region. The French named the area Acadie (in English, Acadia). A permanent settlement was required in exchange for a commission to govern Acadia that French explorer Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts had obtained.
Champlain explored the Atlantic Coast on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, sighting a river flowing from the north that he named the Saint-Jean (now the Saint John River). He learned from the area’s inhabitants, the Maliseet, that the river was their route to the St. Lawrence. Traveling west along the coast, Champlain chose a site on the Saint Croix River for the permanent settlement, but 35 of the 79 men who stayed there during the winter of 1604 to 1605 died of scurvy. The base was then moved, in the spring of 1605, to the south side of the Bay of Fundy and named Port Royal. Champlain remained there for three years, during which he charted the coast as far south as Cape Cod.

V THIRD VISIT
In 1607 De Monts lost his commission to govern Acadia. The following year he decided to establish a trading post far up the St. Lawrence, at a point where it narrows to less than a mile wide. There his traders could greet indigenous people bringing furs from the west and take away business that would otherwise go to Tadoussac. This trading post, established by Champlain on July 3, 1608, became Québec. Scurvy again took its toll, claiming 16 of the 25 men; but they were replaced, and Québec survived. This was the first permanent white settlement in the region called Canada, and today it is the oldest city in the western hemisphere north of Saint Augustine, Florida. (Port Royal remained a small town.)
Champlain was given the title of lieutenant of the viceroy of New France in 1612. From this point on, Champlain’s aims in life were to explore and map the continent, to find a water route to the Pacific, and to convert the indigenous peoples to Christianity. Such aims were costly, and the money could come only from the fur trade. He therefore made a commercial alliance with the northern and western nations, the Montagnais, Algonquin, and Huron.
The alliance included military aid. In June 1609 Champlain and two of his men joined these nations when they invaded the hunting grounds of a longtime enemy, the Iroquois confederacy. They met 200 Iroquois by the lake now known as Lake Champlain. This marked the beginning of warfare between the French and the Iroquois that lasted off and on for 90 years and almost destroyed the colony.

VI FURTHER TRAVELS AND EXPLORATIONS
For most of the remainder of Champlain’s life, he would spend a few months of the year at Québec, then go to France to secure support. He spent far more time in France, and crossing the ocean, than he did in Québec. When he returned to Québec, he spent most of his time prodding lazy workers to do building and repairing they had neglected. He also renewed alliances with his indigenous allies, resolving their complaints.
In 1613 Champlain explored the Ottawa, the river that would become the main highway to the west, as far as Allumette Island. He then returned to France and persuaded the Récollet order of Roman Catholic priests to send four missionaries to Canada. Two years went by before he returned with the Récollets. He then set out on a major voyage of discovery to the country of the Huron, the territory between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario.
On this journey Champlain and his party explored Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario. He spent the winter of 1615 in the Huron country, where he learned much about the land and its inhabitants. He was particularly interested in knowledge of the area farther west, beyond Lake Huron. He learned that this area contained other vast lakes, but the Huron would not allow him to go there. They were at war with the nations to the west and were afraid that the French might establish relations with their enemies. Thus Champlain had to rely on scanty information for the map that he eventually produced of the region. As a result, the map was flawed, but his account of his stay with the Huron is a mine of information about these people, their customs and religion, and the geography of the country.

VII THE STRUGGLE FOR FINANCING
In 1610, while in France, Champlain was married to Hélène Boullé. It appears to have been a marriage of convenience: he was then in his forties, and she was 12 years old. She brought a handsome dowry of 6000 livres, money that he urgently needed to keep the Québec post in operation. Hélène accompanied Champlain to Québec in 1620 and stayed there with him for four years. She then went back to France with him and never returned.
From 1616 to 1620 Champlain spent most of each year in France, with brief summer visits to Québec. In France he had to struggle to keep the Canadian enterprise alive, raise capital, and enlist workers. He also had to fight to keep his command over Québec. In 1618 he presented reports on the future of the French colonies in America to the king and to the French Chamber of Commerce.
In these reports he proposed that 300 settler families and 15 Récollets be established at Québec, with 300 soldiers to protect them. He claimed that this would give France the ability to control the interior of the continent and to convert the pagans to Christianity. Wealth would pour into France from the land’s resources of fish, timber, copper, iron, silver, and precious stones. However, he believed that the major benefit would be the revenue from the short water route to the western ocean and China, once this route was discovered. Then all the maritime nations of Europe would have to use it and pay whatever tolls France chose to levy.
Champlain’s struggles to maintain the infant colony took a turn for the better in 1627 when the king’s first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, took charge of the overseas colonies. He founded the Company of One Hundred Associates and required each associate to invest a large sum of money. Champlain became one of the associates and remained in charge of New France.
But two years later disaster struck. Anglo-Scots privateers, the Kirke brothers, drew up their ships at Québec in 1629 and demanded its surrender. Champlain had to comply because he did not have the manpower to resist: in all of New France—Canada and Acadia together—there were only 107 settlers at that time. The Kirkes also seized the company’s convoy of ships bringing reinforcements and supplies up the St. Lawrence. That loss exhausted the company’s capital, and it never recovered. Champlain was taken prisoner and held in England until 1632. In 1633 he returned to New France and tried to repair the damage done by the Kirkes and reestablish good relations with his old allies. However, his health began to fail, and he died at Québec on December 25, 1635. Toward the end, his mind bewildered, he dictated a new will leaving all his possessions to the Virgin Mary. Two years later his wife succeeded in having the will annulled.

VIII EVALUATION
Champlain accomplished much during his relatively long life. He produced the first accurate chart of the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Cape Cod and maps of the St. Lawrence Valley and Great Lakes Basin. Many of his observations were published in the large body of writing he left behind, which eventually was printed in six volumes. Champlain’s accounts of the habits and characteristics of indigenous peoples, although flawed by his lack of understanding of their cultures, have been of great value to historians.
Champlain established the commercial and military alliances that endured to the end of the French regime in Canada. He created and maintained a base for the future French empire in North America in the face of great difficulties.

Roald Amundsen

Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen (1872-1928), Norwegian polar explorer, born in Borge, and educated at the University of Christiania (now the University of Oslo). He entered the Norwegian navy in 1894 and spent the following nine years studying science. From 1903 to 1906 he led his first important expedition in the small sloop Gjöa. During this voyage he sailed successfully through the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and determined the position of the north magnetic pole. His next expedition (1910-1912) sailed in a larger ship, the Fram, and gained fame as one of the most successful undertakings in the history of Antarctic exploration. With his companions, he lived in Antarctica for more than a year, conducting explorations and scientific investigations. On December 14, 1911, he reached the South Pole, becoming the first person known to have accomplished this feat. He had favorable weather conditions during the voyages, but his success was due primarily to his knowledge of polar conditions, his attention to minute details, and his ability to endure great physical stress.
Amundsen's plans for an expedition into the north polar regions were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I; in 1918, however, he sailed from Norway in an attempt to drift eastward across the North Pole with the ice currents of the Arctic Ocean. The currents proved too variable to permit a crossing of the pole, and he was forced to follow a more southerly route through the Northeast Passage along the northern coast of Europe and Asia. The voyage ended in 1920, when he arrived in Nome, Alaska. In 1922 another attempt to reach the pole by both ship and airplane failed, and in 1924 Amundsen came to the United States to raise funds for further expeditions. In May 1926 he succeeded in crossing the North Pole during a flight of more than 70 hours from Spitsbergen, Norway, to Teller, Alaska; he was accompanied by the American explorer Lincoln Ellsworth and the Italian explorer and engineer Umberto Nobile. This flight was made in the dirigible Norge, designed and built by Nobile with the support of the Italian government. Nobile and Amundsen subsequently quarreled, each claiming that the credit for the flight belonged to his respective country. In 1928, however, when Nobile's airship Italia was wrecked during a polar flight, Amundsen, who had retired, volunteered to search for him. Nobile was eventually rescued, but Amundsen was last heard from June 28, 1928, a few hours after he and five others had left Tromsø, Norway, by airplane. The remains of his airplane were found near Tromsø on August 31.
For most of his life Amundsen was a well-known lecturer and magazine writer. His books include North West Passage (1908), The South Pole (1912), The North East Passage (1918-1920), Our Polar Flight (with Lincoln Ellsworth, 1925), First Crossing of the Polar Sea (with Lincoln Ellsworth, 1927), and My Life as an Explorer (1927).

John Cabot

John Cabot
John Cabot (1450?-1499), Italian navigator and explorer, who attempted to find a direct route to Asia. Although Cabot was probably born in Genoa, as a youth he moved to Venice, where his seafaring career probably began. He became a naturalized Venetian in 1476, but about eight years later settled in Bristol, England. Cabot had developed a theory that Asia might be reached by sailing westward. This theory appealed to several wealthy merchants of Bristol, who agreed to give him financial support. In 1493, when reports reached England that Christopher Columbus had made the westward passage to Asia, Cabot and his supporters began to make plans for a more direct crossing to the Orient. The proposed expedition was authorized on March 5, 1496, by King Henry VII of England.
With a crew of 18 men, Cabot sailed from Bristol on May 2, 1497, on the Matthew. He steered a generally northwestward course, and on June 24, after a rough voyage, he landed, perhaps on present-day Cape Breton Island; he subsequently sailed along the Labrador, Newfoundland, and New England coasts. Believing that he had reached northeastern Asia, he formally claimed the region for Henry VII. Cabot returned to England in August and was granted a pension. Assured of royal support, he immediately planned a second exploratory voyage that he hoped would bring him to Cipangu (Japan). The expedition, consisting of four or five ships and 300 men, left Bristol in May 1498. The fate of this expedition is uncertain. It is believed that in June, Cabot reached the eastern coast of Greenland and sailed northward along the coast until his crews mutinied because of the severe cold and forced him to turn southward. He may have cruised along the coast of North America to Chesapeake Bay at latitude 38° North. He was forced to return to England because of a lack of supplies, and he died soon afterward.

Captain James Cook

Captain James Cook

I INTRODUCTION
Captain James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer and navigator, famous for his three voyages of exploration in the South Pacific Ocean and the coastal waters of North America. Although Cook is best known as the discoverer of the Hawaiian Islands (see Hawaii), his greatest achievements were the broad scope of his exploration and his detailed, careful documentation of his discoveries.

II EARLY LIFE AND SEAFARING EXPERIENCE
The son of a farm worker, Cook was born in the rural village of Marton, in what was then the county of Yorkshire, England. At age 17 he moved to the coast, settling in the port town of Whitby, where he apprenticed himself to a merchant and shipowner. In 1755, with England on the verge of war with France (see Seven Years’ War), Cook enlisted in the British Royal Navy. Within two years he was master of a warship en route to Canada. There he began assisting an army surveyor assigned to map newly acquired territory. Cook’s aptitude for this work was evident to his superiors, and as a result he spent the rest of the war mapping Québec and the St. Lawrence River. After the war ended in 1763, the British government assigned Cook to map the coast of Newfoundland.

III FIRST PACIFIC VOYAGE
Cook’s talent for mapmaking made him a logical choice when the British government decided to launch a voyage to the Pacific. Officially, the expedition was designed to observe the transit of Venus, a rare astronomical phenomenon that would be visible only in the southern hemisphere. A second motive, however, was to search for Terra Australis, a large continent widely believed to exist in the far southern latitudes. The scientific importance attached to the voyage was evident in its crew, which included an astronomer, two artists, and three naturalists (among them Joseph Banks, later president of the Royal Society).
The expedition set sail from Plymouth, England, in 1768 aboard a single ship, the Endeavour. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and rounding Cape Horn at the tip of South America, the crew headed for Tahiti, which British explorer Samuel Wallis had encountered in 1767. Tahiti was ideally situated for observing the transit of Venus. Centrally located in the South Pacific, with good harbors, friendly inhabitants, a balmy climate, and abundant food and water, Tahiti would prove an important site for rest and reprovisioning on Cook’s voyages.
Once the transit observations were concluded, Cook launched his search for the fabled southern continent. In the 17th century, explorers had sighted bits of what are known today as Australia and New Zealand, but their maps were sketchy, encouraging speculation that these lands might constitute the northern fringe of a huge continent. Cook headed southwest in search of these previously reported lands and had striking success. He circumnavigated the North and South islands of New Zealand. He also sailed the entire length of Australia’s eastern coast (never before seen by a European), which he claimed for Britain and named New South Wales. He then navigated the treacherous waters between Australia and New Guinea. Stops at Java and the Cape of Good Hope concluded the voyage, and Cook and his crew returned in July 1771.
Cook’s first voyage added immensely to the world’s knowledge of the southern hemisphere. The vast number of specimens collected and the detailed observations recorded by Cook, Banks, and other members of the crew set a new standard for scientific exploration. Cook also set a new standard in another area: keeping his men healthy. He realized that lack of fresh food likely caused high mortality on long voyages. Therefore, he stocked his ship with sauerkraut (to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency) and insisted that his men eat fresh provisions during stops at port. As a result, Cook lost only seven men until the ship reached Java, where many succumbed to malaria and dysentery. On Cook’s subsequent voyages, mortality was close to zero.

IV SECOND PACIFIC VOYAGE
Cook’s second and most ambitious voyage began in 1772 and lasted until 1775. Its aim was to settle once and for all the question of the existence of a southern continent by sailing around the globe at the farthest south latitudes possible. To avoid harsh weather conditions in the extreme southern latitudes, Cook charted a zigzag course, sailing far south in the summers and retreating north to more temperate waters during the winters. He made good use of the experience he had gained on his first voyage, using Tahiti and New Zealand as winter ports.
Cook set out with two ships, the Resolution (commanded by Cook) and the Adventure, and another strong scientific team, including father and son naturalists Johann and George Forster. The expedition sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and then southward toward the Antarctic Ocean, making the first recorded crossing of the Antarctic Circle in January 1773. The two ships then sailed across the southern Indian Ocean to New Zealand and on to Tahiti. Not content to just relax in port, Cook spent the remaining winter months searching for islands that other explorers had encountered more than a century earlier but then “lost” due to primitive navigation techniques. Heading west from Tahiti, he became the first European to sight the island group that was subsequently known as the Cook Islands. He also reached the islands of present-day Tonga, which he called the Friendly Islands because of the welcome he received. The expedition returned to New Zealand to stock up on fresh food before embarking on the long, cold voyage across the southern latitudes. Cook’s determination kept the crew pushing farther south at every opportunity, eventually reaching the southernmost point attained at that time.
In early 1774 Cook and his crew returned to the tropics, where they searched for other islands that earlier explorers had vaguely described. First, they located Easter Island, where Cook was shocked to find people speaking a language similar to that of the Tahitians, Tongans, and New Zealanders. Discovering linguistic similarities among inhabitants of widely scattered islands led Cook to speculate about the history of these Pacific peoples, who are known today as Polynesians (see Polynesia). Speculation continued as the crew sailed west to find a group of islands far west of Tahiti and Tonga. Cook named the islands the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), after an island group off the coast of Scotland. The inhabitants of the New Hebrides differed physically from the Polynesians and spoke very different languages. These islands are part of what is known today as Melanesia. Among the other islands that Cook relocated and charted were the Marquesas and New Caledonia.
Cook spent the next summer crossing both the Pacific and the South Atlantic to Cape Town. This crossing completed Cook’s circumnavigation of the globe at extreme southern latitudes, proving conclusively that no large, habitable continent existed in this area. After returning to England in 1775, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society. Just months after his return, Cook proposed a third voyage, to tackle another great, unresolved geographical mystery: the supposed Northwest Passage across North America.

V THIRD PACIFIC JOURNEY
Cook’s third voyage (1776-1779) was fraught with problems almost from the outset. In New Zealand, Cook’s expedition suffered the first serious incident of violence on any of his voyages when local people killed and ate a small group of his men. Cook found the consequences of European encounters becoming evident in both Tonga and Tahiti. European visitors to the islands depleted food supplies, creating resentment among native inhabitants and intensifying rivalries between local rulers. Increasing petty theft by native residents annoyed Cook and his crew, and Cook resorted to uncharacteristically harsh methods to control it.
After leaving Tahiti, the expedition headed north into uncharted territory. After becoming the first Europeans to sight the Hawaiian Islands (which Cook named the Sandwich Islands) in 1778, they sailed along the west coast of Canada and Alaska. Twice Cook explored inlets that offered some promise of a Northwest Passage, but to no avail. After sailing through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Sea and briefly scouting the Asian side of the strait, Cook decided to winter in the Hawaiian Islands. He intended to return to the Arctic the following summer.
The crew spent several pleasant weeks at Kealakekua Bay in Hawaii. Soon after they left, they ran into a storm that seriously damaged one of their ships, the Resolution. Upon returning to Hawaii for repairs, Cook’s crew encountered a much less friendly reception, probably because they had depleted local food supplies. When locals stole one of the ship’s boats, Cook responded by taking their chief hostage. The incident ended in violence when one of the islanders struck Cook and killed him. Cook’s companions managed to get back to their ships, and the violence did not escalate. The crew returned to the Arctic and then home. Although the expedition had failed to discover a Northwest Passage, it added detailed charts of the North Pacific to the achievements of Cook’s first two voyages.

VI EVALUATION
Cook’s greatest accomplishments stemmed from his careful, thorough approach to exploration. Although he made few original discoveries, he consolidated the work of several earlier explorers, mapping much of the Pacific from the Arctic to the far south and laying to rest the myth of a habitable continent surrounding the South Pole. In the process, he and his crews collected specimens of plant and animal life and made serious efforts to understand the cultures of native peoples. They tested new methods of navigating at sea and demonstrated that proper diet could reduce the high mortality rates of sailors on long voyages. In the spirit of scientific exploration, Cook and his men documented their work, producing accurate maps and detailed descriptions of their discoveries.
Cook’s journals have been published as The Journals of Captain James Cook on His Voyages of Discovery, edited by J. C. Beaglehole (1955-1967). Other publications resulting from his voyages include The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks, 1768-1771, edited by J. C. Beaglehole (1962), and The Resolution Journal of Johann Reinhold Forster, 1772-1775, edited by Michael Hoare (1982).