Alphonso or Hapus Mangoes - History and Facts

Alphonso Mangoes : History and Facts

It is a fact that Alphonso Mangoes are considered superior to All Other Varieties of Mangoes. Indeed, the delightful fruit is unmatched in terms of natural sweetness and flavor. Dipping a bit into its history, we bring to you some interesting facts about Alphonso that would increase your excitement in savoring one.

This exquisite variety of mangoes was named after Afonso De Albuquerque, who used to carry it on his journeys to Goa. A naval general officer from Portugal, Afonso played a major role in establishing Colonial Empire in this part of the World. 

The locals started calling the fruit Aapus. Later, the term was modified to Hapus in Maharashtra. Today, Hapus is one of the contributing factors in making Maharashtra famous.

Though different varieties of Mangoes are grown all over India but nothing is as delicious and famous as Hapus or Alphonso. And the finest of Alphonso or Hapus Mangoes are grown within a periphery of 20 km from the scenic seashore of Devgad and Ratnagiri.

Here are more facts about your favorite Alphonso:

• Alphonso Mangoes are smaller in size compared to other Mangoes, but they pack a punch when it comes to taste with their peach-like quality. They are incredibly sweet and juicy.
• They have a rather short growing season, from late February to early June.
• Each fruit weighs roughly between 150 grams to 300 grams.
• The pulp from the fruit is rich and radiant.
• Apart from being sweet and juicy, the Majestic Mango contains a Rich Nutritional Punch.

It is always a gratifying feeling to have something healthy as well as tasty. Mango meets this criterion. You can eat the fruit at breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as a delicate dessert, whenever you feel like.

 

Disney Land of Dubai

 

5 Deepest Cave of the World

Mammoth Cave (52,835 acres)

 

 World’s Largest Cave is located in Kentucky, USA. It is assumed that 52,835 acres long cave was discovered by Frank Houchin who used to live nearby the cave. The cave is also famous for The Kentucky Cave Wars; it was a period of competition between local cave owners for tourist money. Private Citizens formed the Mammoth Cave National Park Association in 1926 which was later dedicated to National Park in 1941.

 

Jewel Cave (1,273.51 acres)

 

An estimated 109,000 people visit World’s Second Jargest Cave each year. Approximately 1,273.51 acres long cave is located in Custer County, South Dakota, USA. It was discovered in 1900; become national monument on 7th Feb, 1908. The Cave administration offers three different types of tour packages.

 

Optymistychna Cave (214 kilometers)

World’s third largest cave is located in village of Korolivka, Borschiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. World longest gypsum cave was discovered in 1966 by a speleological club called Cyclope. The Ozernaya cave (eleventh longest cave in the world) is also located near to optymistychna.

 

Wind Cave (28,295 acres)

 

Likewise Jewel Cave, Wind Cave is also located in Custer County, South Dakota, USA. World’s forth largest cave was discovered by two brothers in 1881. Several roads run through the park and there are 30 miles (48 km) of hiking trails, so almost the entire park is accessible. The park had 591,049 visitors in 2006

 

Lechuguilla Cave (203 kilometers)

 

World’s fifth largest cave is 203 km long. It is located in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico. The cave contains a large amount of gypsum, lemon-yellow sulfur, speleothems, soda straws, hydromagnesite balloons, cave pearls, subaqueous helictites, rusticles, U-loops and J-loops.

Beautiful Alsek River Lake Canada

 Beautiful Alsek River Lake, Canada

8 Mysterious Underground Cities

 From ancient hideouts to Cold War-era bunkers, explore eight astonishing settlements beneath the Earth’s surface.

1. Derinkuyu

The volcanic rock landscape of Turkey’s Cappadocia region is pockmarked with several different underground cities, but perhaps none is as vast or as impressive as Derinkuyu. This labyrinthine complex dates to around the 8th century B.C. and was most likely built to serve as a refuge during periods of war and invasion. With this in mind, its 18-story interior was a self-contained metropolis that included ventilation shafts, wells, kitchens, schoolrooms, oil presses, a bathhouse, a winery and living space for some 20,000 people.

2. Naours 

Located in northern France, the underground city of Naours includes two miles of tunnels and more than 300 man-made rooms—all of them hidden some 100 feet beneath a forested plateau. The site began its life around the third century A.D. as part of a Roman quarry, but it was later expanded into a subterranean village after locals began using it as a hiding place during the wars and invasions of the Middle Ages.

3. Wieliczka Salt Mine

Also known as the “Underground Salt Cathedral,” Poland’s Wieliczka Salt Mine is a massive subterranean complex of rooms, passageways and statues located on the outskirts of Krakow. The site dates to the 1200s, when miners first descended beneath the earth’s surface to find rock salt. In the centuries that followed, they slowly carved the mine into a warren of galleries and tunnels that extended more than 1,000 feet underground. When they weren’t digging for “white gold,” the workers also used the mine’s salt crystal deposits to build a stunning collection of chapels, chandeliers, statues and bas reliefs, including a detailed replica of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

4. Lalibela

In the 12th century A.D., a devout king ordered the construction of 11 eye-catching Christian churches in the Ethiopian village of Lalibela. This “New Jerusalem” is notable for having been fashioned from the top down: all of its churches were hewn from volcanic rock below the earth’s surface then hollowed out, giving them the appearance of having grown directly out of the ground. The most iconic building is the cross-shaped Church of Saint George, which was cut from a monolithic slice of stone inside a trench 100 feet deep. It was then connected to the rest of the complex via a network of underground passageways, hidden caves and catacombs. Legend has it that the construction of Lalibela took just 24 years, but many historians believe it was actually completed in phases over several centuries.

5. Beijing Underground City

In the 1960s and 70s, as the threat of nuclear war loomed, the Chinese government ordered the construction of a mammoth fallout shelter beneath their capital of Beijing. Also known as Dixia Cheng, the hand-dug site was supposedly capable of safeguarding around one million people for up to four months. It consisted of fallout-proofed rooms and tunnels that snaked their way underground over an area of several dozen square miles. Certain passageways were reportedly large enough for tanks to pass through, while other housed purpose-built schools, hospitals, granaries and restaurants. There was even a skating rink and a 1,000-seat movie theater. 

6. Petra

Famed for its cameo in the film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Petra is an ancient caravan city tucked away in the mountains of southern Jordan. The site has been inhabited since prehistory, but it reached its peak some 2,000 years ago, when the ancient Nabataeans hand-chiseled the surrounding sandstone hillsides into a dazzling collection of tombs, banquet halls and temples. One of the most exquisite edifices is Al Khazneh, or “the Treasury,” which includes an ornamental façade that extends 130 feet up a rock face. Petra may have been home to 20,000 people at its height, but it was later abandoned sometime around the seventh century A.D. and wasn’t known to Europeans until the 1800s. Excavations at the site are still ongoing today, and it’s believed that the vast majority of its ruins may still lurk underground.

7. Orvieto

The Italian hilltop town of Orvieto is known for its white wines and picturesque architecture, but its most mysterious wonders lie underground. Beginning with the ancient Etruscans, generations of locals burrowed their way deep into the volcanic rock bluff on which the city was originally built. The subterranean maze was first carved to build wells and cisterns, but over the centuries it grew to include more than 1,200 interlocking tunnels, grottoes, and galleries. Some chambers include the remnants of Etruscan-era sanctuaries and medieval olive presses, while others show signs of having been used as storage places for wine or roosts for pigeons—a common local delicacy. Orvieto’s underground city was also frequently employed as a hiding place during times of strife. As recently as World War II, people were still using certain sections as bomb shelters.

8. Burlington

In the event of a Cold War-era nuclear strike, the most important members of the British government would have retreated to a 35-acre underground complex located 100 feet beneath the village of Corsham. This “Burlington Bunker,” as it was codenamed, was first built in the 1950s from a series of existing tunnels and stone quarries. It contained office spaces, cafeterias, a telephone exchange, medical facilities and sleeping quarters—all of it designed to keep the British Prime Minister and some 4,000 other key government personnel alive during an emergency. There was even an in-house BBC studio that the PM could use to address the public. While never put into active use, the Burlington facility remained partially operational until 2004, when it was finally decommissioned and declassified.

STONEHENGE Places - Megalithic Sites

 Archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2008 indicates that Stonehenge could possibly have served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. The dating of cremated remains found on the site indicate that deposits contain human bone material from as early as 3000 BC, when the initial ditch and bank…