This book provides an attractive and informative overview of Colombian landscapes and their geological evolution, including comprehensive descriptions of seventeen key selected sites in the country. It provides insight into the geomorphological diversity of Colombian landscapes characterized by climatic and topographic variation. The book covers the essence of the landscapes in the country: coastal features, mud volcanoes, desertic geoforms, snow covered peaks, active volcanoes, deeply incised canyons and subdesertic valleys. It contributes knowledge and understanding into Colombian landscapes and prospects.

This book presents Brazil as a country of continental dimensions. Its territory has a large variety of rock types, geological structures and climates. The country has a large variety of landscapes, such as the humid plains of the Amazon River, the dry plateaus of the semi-arid region or the subtropical mountains of the southern region. On the coast, some plateaus and mountains, like the Serra do Mar Mountain range, formed a significant barrier front to access the hinterland of Brazil. On the other side of these coastal plateaus and mountains, there is a large collection of other plateaus, mountains, plains and depressions little altered by human interference. Thus, Brazil has a unique variety of different landscapes and extraordinary geomorphological sites. The book invites readers to learn more about the beautiful Brazilian landscapes, their complexity and vastness.

Unlike architecture, sculpture or painting, the art of gardening produces living works that grow, blossom, change, and fade. As such, the garden could be considered the supreme work of art, and indeed it has been so in all civilizations. A garden on any scale enhances the architecture it surrounds. What would Versailles have been without its spectacular gardens and their orderly vistas, or the great country houses in England without the eighteenth-century landscape designers? Likewise it is hard to imagine rural or urban houses in Colombia without their planned patios and courtyards. The jagged geography of Colombia divides it into several contrasting regions: the Caribbean coast, Antioquia, Santander, Cundinamarca and Boyaca, the Cauca valley, and the plains of the "Llanos," to mention a few. The climates and flora of these areas are markedly different, but their inhabitants share in common love for plants and a keen interest in gardening. Long before there were professional gardeners and landscape designers, all Colombians, from the wealthy "hacendados" to the modest "campesinos," devised and planted their own gardens, according to personal taste and economic limitations. A delightful eclecticism is captured in these pages in hundreds of photographs of every type of garden from extravagant parks to minute flowered niches. Experimentation is commonplace; each journey and Sunday excursion brings home additional plants. With the added factor of unpredictable rainfalls and prolonged droughts, most Colombian gardens are aesthetic and horticultural laboratories. In the course of compiling the photographic material for this book, it proved impossible to include all gardens worthyof presentation, nor could all the gardens featured here be photographed at the peak of their splendor. Nevertheless, the attentive reader will be able to enjoy an impressive range of plants, color, composition and integration of cultivation with the natural landscape, which, in the absence of a great classical tradition, make up the particular charm of the Colombian garden.

The proposed monograph on 'Geomorphological Landscapes of India' will aim to describe and explain in simple words the geomorphological characteristics and the origin of the above-mentioned landforms and landscapes. The proposed monograph will provide the background information about the geology, climate and tectonic framework of the Indian region, as well as cover Indian climates of the present and the past. It will mainly cover the four main morphotectonic regions of India and about 15-20 distinct landforms of the Indian region as well as the major geomorphosites in India.

This is the only book to focus on the geomorphological landscapes of Canada West. It outlines the little-appreciated diversity of Canada’s landscapes, and the nature of the geomorphological landscape, which deserves wider publicity. Three of the most important geomorphological facts related to Canada are that 90% of its total area emerged from ice-sheet cover relatively recently, from a geological perspective; permafrost underlies 50% of its landmass and the country enjoys the benefits of having three oceans as its borders: the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Canada West is a land of extreme contrasts — from the rugged Cordillera to the wide open spaces of the Prairies; from the humid west-coast forests to the semi-desert in the interior of British Columbia and from the vast Mackenzie river system of the to small, steep, cascading streams on Vancouver Island. The thickest Canadian permafrost is found in the Yukon and extensive areas of the Cordillera are underlain by sporadic permafrost side-by-side with the never-glaciated plateaus of the Yukon. One of the curiosities of Canada West is the presence of volcanic landforms, extruded through the ice cover of the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs, which have also left a strong imprint on the landscape. The Mackenzie and Fraser deltas provide the contrast of large river deltas, debouching respectively into the Arctic and Pacific oceans.

The book deals with the most striking landscapes and landforms of Italy. Attention is given to landform diversity and landscape evolution through time which has been controlled by very diverse geological conditions and dramatic climate changes that have characterized the Italian peninsula and islands since the end of the last glaciation. In addition, various examples of human impact on the landscape are presented. Landscapes and Landforms of Italy contains more than thirty case studies of a multitude of Italian geographical landmarks. The topics and sites described in this book range from the Alpine glaciers to the Etna and Vesuvius volcanoes, taking into account the most representative fluvial, coastal, gravity-induced, karst and structural landscapes of the country. Chapters on the geomorphological landmarks of the cities of Rome and Venice are also included. The book provides the readers with the opportunity to explore the variety of Italian landscapes and landforms through informative texts illustrated with several color maps and photos. This book will be relevant to scientists, scholars and any readers interested in geology, physical geography, geomorphology, landscape tourism, geoheritage and environmental protection.

This book presents a beautifully illustrated overview of the most prominent landscapes of South Africa and the distinctive landforms associated with them. It describes the processes, origins and the environmental significance of those landscapes, including their relationships to human activity of the past and present. The sites described in this book include, amongst others, the Blyde River Canyon, Augrabies Falls, Kruger National Park, Kalahari desert landscapes, the Great Escarpment, Sterkfontein caves and karst system, Table Mountain, Cape winelands, coastal dunes, rocky coasts, Boer War battlefield sites, and Vredefort impact structure. Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa provides a new perspective on South Africa’s scenic landscapes by considering their diversity, long and short term histories, and importance for geoconservation and geotourism. This book will be relevant to those interested in the geology, physical geography and history of South Africa, climate change and landscape tourism.

2019 Winner, Colombia Section, Michael Jiménez Prize, Latin American Studies Association After emancipation in 1851, the African descendants living in the extra-humid rainforests of the Pacific coast of Colombia attained levels of autonomy hardly equaled anywhere else in the Americas. This autonomy rested on their access to a diverse environment—including small strips of fertile soils, mines, forests, rivers, and wetlands—that contributed to their subsistence and allowed them to procure gold, platinum, rubber, and vegetable ivory for export. Afro-Colombian slave labor had produced the largest share of gold in the colony of New Granada. After the abolishment of slavery, some free people left the mining areas and settled elsewhere along the coast, making this the largest area of Latin America in which black people predominate into the present day. However, this economy and society, which lived off the extraction of natural resources, was presided over by a very small white commercial elite living in the region’s ports, where they sought to create an urban environment that would shelter them from the jungle. Landscapes of Freedom reconstructs a nonplantation postemancipation trajectory that sheds light on how environmental conditions and management influenced the experience of freedom. It also points at the problematic associations between autonomy and marginality that have shaped the history of Afro-America. By focusing on racialized landscapes, Leal offers a nuanced and important approach to understanding the history of Latin America.

This volume is the first comprehensive description of the most spectacular landforms of Hungary. It is a richly illustrated book which presents a collection of significant sites, capturing the geodiversity of Hungarian landscapes. The Landscapes and Landforms of Hungary discusses the effects of geomorphological features to the landscape, such as volcanism, weathering, fluvial or aeolian erosion, karst formation, gravitational movements, and others. The importance of the conservation of geomorphological heritage is underlined, as well as the importance of geomorphological heritage and conservation. This book can be used for undergraduate and graduate courses in geomorphology, physical geography, hydrogeography, and nature conservation. It will be of benefit to environmental scientists, geomorphologists, conservationists, among others.

This book provides a succinct but comprehensive presentation of key geomorphological locations and topics including information about geomorphological heritage and maps to visit the most important sites. Apart from often being remarkably scenic, landscapes reveal stories that often can be traced back in time tens of million years and include unique events. This is particularly true for Ethiopia where spectacular examples of different landforms are present. Its geomorphology varies from highlands, marked by high volcanoes and incised by deep river gorges, to the rift valley lakes endorheic systems and the below sea level lowlands with characteristic landscapes which are unique in the world. Landscapes and Landforms of Ethiopia highlights all these topics including essential information about geology and tectonic framework, past and present climate, hydrology, geographical regions and long-term geomorphological history. It is a highly informative book, providing insight for readers with an interest in geography and geomorphology.