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Today's featured article
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Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England. The park straddles two counties, with 71% in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers 267 square miles (692 km²) of hilly open moorland, and includes 34 miles (55 km) of coast. It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population living mainly in small villages and hamlets. The three largest settlements are Porlock and Dulverton, and the combined villages of Lynton and Lynmouth, connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, which together contain almost 40% of the National Park population. Prior to being a park, Exmoor was a Royal Forest and hunting ground, which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was one of the first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, and is named after its main river, the River Exe. Several areas of the moor have been declared a Site of Special Scientific interest due to the flora and fauna, which have some legal protection from development, damage, and neglect. In 1993 Exmoor was designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area. (more...)
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July 24: Pioneer Day in Utah; Simón Bolívar Day in Ecuador and Venezuela
- 1148 – Second Crusade: The Crusaders began the Siege of Damascus, but were decisively defeated by the Saracens a few days later.
- 1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young led the first group of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, at the time a part of Mexico.
- 1911 – In the Peruvian Andes, American explorer Hiram Bingham re-discovered Machu Picchu (pictured), then thought to be the "Lost City of the Incas".
- 1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne was signed to settle the Anatolian part of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, establishing the boundaries of modern Turkey.
- 1943 – World War II: RAF Bomber Command began Operation Gomorrah, the strategic bombing of Hamburg, Germany, eventually killing at least 50,000 and leaving over a million others homeless.
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