Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The World Heritage

International travelers can add a few more places to their must-see list.

UNESCO named 21 new World Heritage Sites at its annual meeting in Brazil this week, raising the total of earth's most important cultural and/or natural locations to 911 - at least according to the nominating committee.

Among the new sites designated by UNESCO (United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and located in or near the U.S. are the prehistoric caves of Mitla and Yagul in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road of the Interior Land), a 400-mile old trade route running through New Mexico, Texas and Mexico that is part of the U.S. National Historic Trail system.

Hawaii's Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, known for its coral reefs and ancient shrines, made the cut as both a cultural and natural site.

Being designated a World Heritage Site is no empty honor. A UNESCO site can be a natural wonder or a man-made structure - from a building to a city - deemed to be of major significance to history and humanity. They're not only a prime destination for intrepid world travelers - locations considered to be endangered can receive preservation funding from the organization.

The four sites deemed endangered this year includes Florida's Everglades National Park, which was named because much of its water is being diverted to cities, according to AP. The Everglades was also on the endangered list from 1993 to 2007.
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A long-deserted bunker built for observing atom-bomb tests near Bikini Atoll.

According to AP, UNESCO's newest cultural sites include the 17th-century canal district in Amsterdam; the 16th-century Sao Francisco Square in Sao Cristovao, Brazil; an astronomical observatory in Jantar Mantar, India; and even 11 penal colonies in Australia that housed thousands of convicts in the 18th and 19th centuries, when Oz was just a British colony.

Some of the natural sites added this year are Piton de la Fournaise (Peak of the Furnace), a volcano in the Indian Ocean. Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific and where the U.S. conducted atom-bomb tests in the 1940s, was named a World Heritage Site because of its historical significance as the place where the nuclear age was born.

Of the 911 sites on the list, 704 are cultural, 180 are natural and 27 are considered to be both. Via

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