TAMAKI-MAKAU-RAU AKA AUCKLAND, THE CITY OF SAILS

Today, Tonyi Tamaki has explained the history of Auckland to The Winsors and The Grandma.  

Auckland is the city with the biggestnumber of inhabitants although it is not the political capital.

In Auckland South, they have rested near a lighthouse where The Winsors have practised an A2 Cambridge Test.

Download A2 Cambridge Test_01_1 (Reading & Listening)

Auckland is a city in New Zealand's North Island. Auckland is the largest urban area in the country, with an urban population of around 1,534,700. It is located in the Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, resulting in a total population of 1,657,200. 

A diverse and multicultural city, Auckland is home to the largest Polynesian population in the world.

The Māori-language name for Auckland is Tāmaki or Tāmaki-makau-rau, meaning Tāmaki with a hundred lovers, in reference to the desirability of its fertile land at the hub of waterways in all directions. It has also been called Ākarana, a transliteration of the English name.

The Auckland urban area, as defined by Statistics New Zealand, ranges to Waiwera in the north, Kumeu in the northwest, and Runciman in the south. Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The surrounding hills are covered in rainforest and the landscape is dotted with dozens of dormant volcanic cones. 

More information: Auckland Council

The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitematā Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. Auckland is one of the few cities in the world to have a harbour on each of two separate major bodies of water.

The isthmus on which Auckland resides was first settled around 1350 and was valued for its rich and fertile land.

The Māori population in the area is estimated to have peaked at 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans.

After a British colony was established in 1840, William Hobson, then Lieutenant-Governor of New Zealand, chose the area as his new capital. He named the area for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, British First Lord of the Admiralty. It was replaced as the capital in 1865 by Wellington, but immigration to the new city stayed strong, and it has remained the country's most populous urban area. Today, Auckland's central business district is the major financial centre of New Zealand.

Landmarks such as the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Harbour Bridge, the Sky Tower, and many museums, parks, restaurants, and theatres are among the city's significant tourist attractions. Auckland Airport handles around one million international passengers a month. Despite being one of the most expensive cities in the world, Auckland is ranked third on the 2016 Mercer Quality of Living Survey, making it one of the most liveable cities.

The isthmus was settled by Māori circa 1350, and was valued for its rich and fertile land. Many pā, fortified villages, were created, mainly on the volcanic peaks. The Māori population in the area is estimated to have been about 20,000 before the arrival of Europeans. The introduction of firearms at the end of the eighteenth century, which began in Northland, upset the balance of power and led to devastating intertribal warfare beginning in 1807, causing iwi who lacked the new weapons to seek refuge in areas less exposed to coastal raids. As a result, the region had relatively low numbers of Māori when European settlement of New Zealand began

On 27 January 1832, Joseph Brooks Weller, eldest of the Weller brothers of Otago and Sydney, bought land including the site of the modern city of Auckland, the North Shore, and part of Rodney District for one large cask of powder from Cohi Rangatira.

More information: Auckland-New Zealand

After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in February 1840, the new Governor of New Zealand, William Hobson, chose the area as his new capital and named it for George Eden, Earl of Auckland, then Viceroy of India. The land that Auckland was established on was given to the Governor by a local iwi, Ngāti Whātua, as a sign of goodwill and in the hope that the building of a city would attract commercial and political opportunities for iwi.

Auckland was officially declared New Zealand's capital in 1841, and the transfer of the administration from Russell, now Old Russell, in the Bay of Islands was completed in 1842. 

However, even in 1840 Port Nicholson, later renamed Wellington, was seen as a better choice for an administrative capital because of its proximity to the South Island, and Wellington became the capital in 1865. After losing its status as capital, Auckland remained the principal city of the Auckland Province until the provincial system was abolished in 1876.

In response to the ongoing rebellion by Hone Heke in the mid-1840s, the government encouraged retired but fit British soldiers and their families to migrate to Auckland to form a defence line around the port settlement as garrison soldiers. 

More information: Te Ara-The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

By the time the first Fencibles arrived in 1848, the rebels in the north had been defeated. Outlying defensive towns were then constructed to the south, stretching in a line from the port village of Onehunga in the west to Howick in the east. Each of the four settlements had about 800 settlers; the men were fully armed in case of emergency, but spent nearly all their time breaking in the land and establishing roads.

In the early 1860s, Auckland became a base against the Māori King Movement, and the 12,000 Imperial soldiers stationed there led to a strong boost to local commerce. This, and continued road building towards the south into the Waikato, enabled Pākehā, European New Zealanders, influence to spread from Auckland. 

The city's population grew fairly rapidly, from 1,500 in 1841 to 3,635 in 1845, then to 12,423 by 1864. The growth occurred similarly to other mercantile-dominated cities, mainly around the port and with problems of overcrowding and pollution. 

Auckland's population of ex-soldiers was far greater than that of other settlements: about 50 percent of the population was Irish, which contrasted heavily with the majority English settlers in Wellington, Christchurch or New Plymouth. Most of the Irish, though not all, were from Protestant Ulster. The majority of settlers in the early period were assisted by receiving cheap passage to New Zealand.

Trams and railway lines shaped Auckland's rapid expansion in the early first half of the 20th century. However, after the Second World War the city's transport system and urban form became increasingly dominated by the motor vehicle. Arterial roads and motorways became both defining and geographically dividing features of the urban landscape. They also allowed further massive expansion that resulted in the growth of urban areas such as the North Shore, especially after the construction of the Auckland Harbour Bridge in the late 1950s, and Manukau City in the south.

The face of urban Auckland changed when the government's immigration policy began allowing immigrants from Asia in 1986. The assertiveness of Pacific Island street culture and the increasing political influence of ethnic groups contributes to the city's multicultural vitality.

More information: Te Ara-The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

I'm a Kiwi. 

I'm from a beach suburb called Takapuna, 

which is on the north shore of Auckland 

in New Zealand. 

Lorde

NEW ZEALAND, THE MAORI AND EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS

Tonyi Tamaki has just met with The Winsors & The Grandma. The family has been victim of a big jet lag and they must adapt themselves to the new situation in New Zealand.  

Tonyi has welcome them to Auckland and they are resting a little before starting their tour explaining the first Maori settlements in New Zealand and about the British colonization during the 19th century. The family has been practising an A2 Cambridge Test.

Download A2 Cambridge Test_04 (Reading & Listening)

 

The history of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links and land. The first European explorer to sight New Zealand was Dutch navigator Abel Tasman on 13 December 1642. The Dutch were also the first non-natives to explore and chart New Zealand's coastline. Captain James Cook, who reached New Zealand in October 1769 on the first of his three voyages, was the first European explorer to circumnavigate and map New Zealand.

From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and various Māori chiefs, bringing New Zealand into the British Empire and giving Māori the same rights as British subjects. 

There was extensive British settlement throughout the rest of the century and into the early part of the next century. War and the imposition of a European economic and legal system led to most of New Zealand's land passing from Māori to Pākehā (European) ownership, and most Māori subsequently became impoverished.

New Zealand was originally settled by Polynesians from Eastern Polynesia. Genetic and archaeological evidence suggests that humans emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands; after a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.

The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE. Previous dating of some Kiore, a Polynesian rat, bones at 50–150 CE has now been shown to have been unreliable; new samples of bone, and now also of unequivocally rat-gnawed woody seed cases, match the 1280 CE date of the earliest archaeological sites and the beginning of sustained, anthropogenic deforestation.

More information: TeAra-The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

The descendants of these settlers became known as the Māori, forming a distinct culture of their own. The separate settlement of the tiny Chatham Islands in the east of New Zealand about 1500 CE produced the Moriori; linguistic evidence indicates that the Moriori were mainland Māori who ventured eastward.

The original settlers quickly exploited the abundant large game in New Zealand, such as moa, which were large flightless ratites pushed to extinction by about 1500. As moa and other large game became scarce or extinct, Māori culture underwent major change, with regional differences.
 

In areas where it was possible to grow taro and kūmara, horticulture became more important. This was not possible in the south of the South Island, but wild plants such as fernroot were often available and cabbage trees were harvested and cultivated for food. 

Warfare also increased in importance, reflecting increased competition for land and other resources. 

In this period, fortified pā became more common, although there is debate about the actual frequency of warfare. As elsewhere in the Pacific, cannibalism was part of warfare.

More information: New Zealand

The first Europeans known to reach New Zealand were the crew of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who arrived in his ships Heemskerck and Zeehaen. Tasman anchored at the northern end of the South Island in Golden Bay, he named it Murderers' Bay, in December 1642 and sailed northward to Tonga following an attack by local Māori.

Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands' west coasts. Tasman called them Staten Landt, after the States General of the Netherlands, and that name appeared on his first maps of the country.

In 1645 Dutch cartographers changed the name to Nova Zeelandia in Latin, from Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. It was subsequently anglicised as New Zealand by British naval captain James Cook of HM Bark Endeavour who visited the islands more than 100 years after Tasman during 1769–1770. Cook returned to New Zealand on both of his subsequent voyages.

From the 1790s, the waters around New Zealand were visited by British, French and American whaling, sealing and trading ships. Their crews traded European goods, including guns and metal tools, for Māori food, water, wood and flax. Māori were reputed to be enthusiastic and canny traders, even though the levels of technology, institutions and property rights differed greatly from the standards in European societies.

In 1788 the Colony of New South Wales had been founded. According to the future Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip's amended Commission, dated 25 April 1787 the colony of New South Wales included all the islands adjacent in the Pacific Ocean within the latitudes of 10°37'S and 43°39'S which included most of New Zealand except for the southern half of the South Island.

More information: New Zealand History

In 1839, the New Zealand Company announced its plans to establish colonies in New Zealand. This and the increased commercial interests of merchants in Sydney and London spurred the British to take stronger action. Captain William Hobson was sent to New Zealand to persuade Māori to cede their sovereignty to the British Crown. 

In reaction to the New Zealand Company's moves, on 15 June 1839 new Letters Patent were issued to expand the territory of New South Wales to include all of New Zealand. Governor of New South Wales George Gipps was appointed Governor over New Zealand. This was the first clear expression of British intent to annex New Zealand.

On 6 February 1840, Hobson and about forty Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands. Copies of the Treaty were subsequently taken around the country to be signed by other chiefs. A significant number refused to sign or were not asked but, in total, more than five hundred Māori eventually signed.

The Treaty gave Māori sovereignty over their lands and possessions and all of the rights of British citizens. What it gave the British in return depends on the language-version of the Treaty that is referred to. 

The English version can be said to give the British Crown sovereignty over New Zealand but in the Māori version the Crown receives kawanatanga, which, arguably, is a lesser power, see interpretations of the Treaty. Dispute over the true meaning and the intent of either party remains an issue.

Māori chiefs were motivated by a desire for protection from foreign powers, the establishment of governorship over European settlers and traders in New Zealand, and to allow for wider settlement that would increase trade and prosperity for Māori.

Hobson died on 10 September 1842. Robert FitzRoy, the new governor, took some legal steps to recognise Māori custom. However, his successor, George Grey, promoted rapid cultural assimilation and reduction of the land ownership, influence and rights of the Māori. The practical effect of the Treaty was, in the beginning, only gradually felt, especially in predominantly Māori regions.

More information: New Zealand History

Māori had welcomed Pākehā for the trading opportunities and guns they brought. However it soon became clear that they had underestimated the number of settlers that would arrive in their lands. Iwi (tribes) whose land was the base of the main settlements quickly lost much of their land and autonomy through government acts. Although race relations were generally peaceful in this period, there were conflicts over who had ultimate power in particular areas, the Governor or the Māori chiefs.

As the Pākehā population grew, pressure grew on Māori to sell more land. Land is not only an economic resource, but also one basis of Māori identity and a connection with their ancestor's bones. Land was used communally, but under the mana of chiefs. 

In Māori culture there was no such idea as selling land until the arrival of Europeans. The means of acquiring land was to defeat another hapu or iwi in battle and seize their land. 

Land was usually not given up without discussion and consultation. When an iwi was divided over the question of selling this could lead to great difficulties as at Waitara. While the North Island was convulsed by the Land Wars, the South Island, with its lower Māori population, was generally peaceful.

Māori always had a high birth rate; that was neutralised by a high death rate until modern public health measures became effective in the 20th century when tuberculosis deaths and infant mortality declined sharply. Life expectancy grew from 49 years in 1926 to 60 years in 1961 and the total numbers grew rapidly. 

Māori culture had meanwhile undergone a renaissance. By the 1980s 80% of the Māori population was urban, in contrast to only 20% before the Second World War. The migration led to better pay, higher standards of living and longer schooling, but also exposed problems of racism and discrimination. By the late 1960s a protest movement had emerged to combat racism, promote Māori culture and seek fulfilment of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Urbanisation proceeded rapidly across the land. In the late 1940s, town planners noted that the country was possibly the third most urbanised country in the world, with two-thirds of the population living in cities or towns. 

More information: New Zealand Wars

 

 

 I'm quite proud of growing up in New Zealand where, 
from quite early on in primary school, 

you're learning to count in Maori, 

Maori mythology and dances and colours and history, 
and I think that gives a child a really good grounding.
 

Martin Henderson

TONYI TAMAKI, NEW ZEALANDER RESPECT FOR NATURE

Tonyi Tamaki was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. She's an expert in sea and terrestrial biodiversity and she's a great defender of the planet. She's a descendent of a Māori woman and an English man and she speaks her both native languages perfectly.

She is waiting for the arrival of The Winsors and The Grandma who are now flying from Hogwarts to Auckland in a flight of 30 hours via Dubai to spend some weeks in New Zealand, discover the most interesting places of the island and improve their English pronunciation thanks to the local English-spoken inhabitants.

The family is very happy to meet Tonyi Tamaki and they like the idea of having a new member of their selected group which only wants to learn and improve English travelling around the world and discovering interesting and amazing stories about history and culture.

 

During the flight, the family has been practising an A2 Cambridge Test.

Download A2 Cambridge Test_03 (Reading & Listening)

New Zealand, in Māori Aotearoa, is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses, the North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island or Te Waipounamu, and around 600 smaller islands.

New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. 

Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life.

The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

Sometime between 1250 and 1300, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand.

In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire and in 1907 it became a Dominion; it gained full independence in 1947, but the British monarch remained the head of state.

More information: New Zealand

 

Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 4.7 million is of European descent; the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Māori and NZ Sign Language, with English being very dominant.

New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as quality of life, health, education, and economic freedom.

The country underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture. International tourism is a significant source of revenue.

Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and named it Staten Land in honour of the States General, the Dutch parliament.

In 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand.

More information: New Zealand History

Aotearoa, often translated as land of the long white cloud is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans, with Aotearoa originally referring to just the North Island. Māori had several traditional names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui, the fish of Māui, for the North Island and Te Waipounamu, the waters of greenstone, or Te Waka o Aoraki, the canoe of Aoraki, for the South Island. For each island, either its English or Māori name can be used, or both can be used together.

New Zealand was first settled by Eastern Polynesians between 1250 and 1300, concluding a long series of voyages through the southern Pacific islands.

The first Europeans known to have reached New Zealand were Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and his crew in 1642. Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769 when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline.

 

In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip assumed the position of Governor of the new British colony of New South Wales which according to his commission included New Zealand.

In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a Dominion within the British Empire, reflecting its self-governing status. 

In 1947 the country adopted the Statute of Westminster, confirming that the British Parliament could no longer legislate for New Zealand without the consent of New Zealand.

Early in the 20th century, New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting in the First and Second World Wars and suffering through the Great Depression. The depression led to the election of the First Labour Government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy.

More information: New Zealand Government

New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following the Second World War and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work. A Māori protest movement developed, which criticised Eurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Māori culture and of the Treaty of Waitangi.

In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985.

New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy, although its constitution is not codified. Elizabeth II is the Queen of New Zealand and thus the head of state. The powers of the Queen and the Governor-General are limited by constitutional constraints and they cannot normally be exercised without the advice of ministers.

English is the predominant language in New Zealand, spoken by 96.1% of the population. New Zealand English is similar to Australian English and many speakers from the Northern Hemisphere are unable to tell the accents apart. 

The most prominent differences between the New Zealand English dialect and other English dialects are the shifts in the short front vowels.

After the Second World War, Māori were discouraged from speaking their own language , te reo Māori, in schools and workplaces and it existed as a community language only in a few remote areas.

It has recently undergone a process of revitalisation, being declared one of New Zealand's official languages in 1987, and is spoken by 3.7% of the population. There are now Māori language immersion schools and two television channels that broadcast predominantly in Māori. Many places have both their Māori and English names officially recognised.

More information: Tourism New Zealand

I love living in New Zealand.

Taika Waititi

HOGWARTS CASTLE & THE FINAL BATTLE PREPARATION

The Winsors are spending their last days in Hogwarts and The Grandma continues offering them some Cambridge Exam Models because she thinks it is the best way to review and to learn how is this kind of exam and what Cambridge examinators expect about us. Today, she has offered them another example.

 

Download A2 Cambridge Test_02 (Reading & Listening)

 

A2 Key & Digital Tutorial

After this, they have visited all hidden places of Hogwarts Castle. They want to know as things as they could about Hogwarts before leaving there.

Hogwarts is an ancient castle with centuries of history and beautiful hidden places to visit and discover.

The Battle of Hogwarts was the final conflict of the Second Wizarding War. It took place within the castle and on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the mountainous region of Scotland.

When the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort learned that his archenemy Harry Potter had secretly ventured into the castle to locate and destroy one of his final Horcruxes, he ordered every single Death Eater and dark creature that had ever pledged loyalty to him to launch a massive attack on the school.

Dumbledore's Army then communicated the need to fight to The Order of the Phoenix and their other allies within the British Ministry Of Magic, leading to a large-scale battle.

Lord Voldemort led his forces from the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade; while Harry Potter, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall led the defenders of Hogwarts.

Lord Voldemort also announced that he wanted Harry Potter to surrender himself by midnight.

More information: Wizarding World I & II

Hogwarts Castle is a large, seven-story high building supported by magic, with a hundred and forty two staircases throughout its many towers and turrets and very deep dungeons. The castle was built in the late Early Middle Ages (c. 993) by a wizard architect and the four most celebrated wizards of the age: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin.

The castle is the main building of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, regarded as the finest wizarding school in the world.

Hogwarts is built in a valley area -surrounding mountains are part of the landscape- with the fairly large Great Lake to the south of the main building. The huge main oak front doors leading into the Entrance Hall face the west, and open up to sloping lawns. The deep Forbidden Forest extends around to the west of the castle. There are also exterior greenhouses and vegetable patches on the school grounds.

Hogwarts is located in the Scottish Highlands, near the all-wizard village of Hogsmeade and not far from Dufftown, in Banffshire, and Achintee, in Lochaber.

It was the setting of the final battle of the Second Wizarding War, the Battle of Hogwarts, which resulted in the deaths of several witches and wizards who fought in defence of the castle, including Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Fred Weasley, Colin Creevey, Lavender Brown, and Severus Snape.

The castle was badly damaged in the battle, but ultimately The Order of the Phoenix won when Harry Potter defeated his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, in the Great Hall.

Due to its extremely advanced age and the sheer amount of magic present in or around it, the castle is implied to have developed some form of sentience or awareness, such as when it sealed the Headmaster's Tower against Dolores Umbridge, and the various trick steps and false doors.

More information: Screen Rant I & II

The castle is supported by magic unable to be maintained or constructed by any other means, a good example being the moving staircases, a feature contributed by one of the four Hogwarts founders, Rowena Ravenclaw.

Hogwarts is also protected by numerous ancient spells, such as the Anti-Disapparition Jinx; this can, however, be overridden by the Headmaster and Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes when necessary. It is also unplottable and has been bewitched so that, if Muggles approach the castle, all they will see is a mouldering ruin with a sign warning them to keep out and that it is unsafe. The protective magic over Hogwarts is not only strong enough to apparently resist the dispelling effects of the Taboo but also to repel even talented dark wizards.

Rubeus Hagrid claimed that Hogwarts is the safest place in there is, even more so than Gringotts Wizarding Bank, a reason why the Philosopher's Stone was sent to the castle for protection.

After the Ministry finally admitted that Lord Voldemort had returned, the castle's defences were further increased, much of them were cast by Albus Dumbledore himself, such as gates being locked with spells that can only be undone by teachers, and spells to prevent entrance via broomsticks.

All of the secret passageways that were previously allegedly unknown were given more protection. Additionally, with members of The Order of the Phoenix and Aurors placed as guards, and Caretaker Argus Filch checking all incoming and outgoing students for dangerous materials, intrusion seemed completely impossible.

However, Draco Malfoy utilised a pair of Vanishing Cabinets as a passageway, which none of the castle's defences could negate, to allow Death Eaters into the castle. This devastatingly horrified the wizarding community, as they realise that Hogwarts, the most powerful and reputably safest magical stronghold in the entire wizarding world, has been breached, much less by a student from the inside, meaning there is no longer anywhere safe from Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

As a result of all the magic that occurs on premises, both from learning students, magical artefacts therein and the enchantments cast over the building itself, a magical atmosphere pervades the entire structure, causing any technology that is not adapted to run off of it to fail. This is presumably why candles and lanterns are still in use.

Mechanical things like watches seem to do all right, as Colin Creevey's -traditional, Muggle- camera seems to have worked until it was destroyed by the Basilisk's eyes. Colin mentions that another student told him that he could develop the pictures in a potion so that they moved. One of his pictures shows Harry Potter trying to escape a picture of him and Gilderoy Lockhart.

More information: Wizarding World

The Chamber of Secrets was allegedly created deep under the dungeons of Hogwarts Castle during the Medieval times by Salazar Slytherin, who disagreed with the other Hogwarts Founders on the merits of blood purity. 

The Chamber of Secrets was home to an ancient Basilisk, which was intended to be used to purge the school of Muggle -born students. The entrance can be found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor.

In order to gain entrance one must say open in Parseltongue and a sink will open into a slide. While falling down the large, dark pipe, one can see hundreds of other pipes leading off. At the end of the pipe, one is launched into a damp, stone chamber. This room is stated to be miles beneath the school and under the Lake. This is where Tom Marvolo Riddle used his ability to speak parseltongue and attack Harry Potter.

The Hufflepuff Basement is the common room for Hufflepuff students at Hogwarts. The entrance to the Hufflepuff Basement is hidden behind a stack of barrels. It can be entered by tapping a certain rhythm on the barrels. It is located near the kitchens. The cellar is decorated with yellow hangings and filled with fat armchairs.

Underground tunnels lead off to the students' dormitories and all the doors are perfectly circular, like barrel tops. This is the only common room Harry Potter does not enter at some point during his years at Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts Entrance Hall is located on the ground floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with a wide marble staircase opposite the oak doors. Double doors to the right lead into the Great Hall. The basement, the kitchens, the dungeons, and the Grand Staircase can also be accessed via the Entrance Hall. There is also an annexe off the hall where Professor McGonagall speaks to the first years before the Sorting ceremony at the beginning of each school year.

The Great Hall in Hogwarts is the main gathering area in the school. Students eat their meals, receive daily owl posts, and have certain special events. The Great Hall is a large hall that can easily hold all of the school's students, staff and guests. It has tall walls that reach up to the ceiling, which is enchanted to look like the sky above.

More information: Screen Rant I & II

It was the scene of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort's final showdown, which was the Dark Lord's ultimate defeat. This was because the Elder Wand refuse to kill its true master, so Harry Potter was not killed. Since Lord Voldemort was now a mortal man, the curse rebounded on him, killing Tom Marvolo Riddle once and for all.

The Grand Staircase is a massive structure in Hogwarts Castle, mainly used to access each floor of the castle, including the dungeons. There are hundreds of Portraits covering the walls in this tower, some of which conceal secret passages to other areas within the school. The multiple staircases in the Grand Staircase lead from platform to platform and go as high as the seventh floor where they come to an end.

The Hospital wing was run by Poppy Pomfrey. Students who suffer mishaps during the school year are sent or brought to the hospital wing for treatment. The hospital wing is well equipped to deal with all manner of magical and mundane injuries, from broken limbs to regrowing lost bones.

Only in the most severe cases are students sent to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for further treatment, such as when Katie Bell touched a cursed Opal necklace.

The Astronomy Tower is the tallest tower at Hogwarts Castle surrounded by a parapet and turret. It is where students study the stars and planets through their telescopes in Astronomy lessons with Professor Aurora Sinistra.

This is usually done at midnight where the stars are best seen. The tower is usually out-of-bounds except for classes. All the way down from the boathouse you can see the huge window of the Astronomy Tower.

More information: CBR

Located within this tower is the Astronomy Corridor, Astronomy reading room, Astronomy classroom, Astronomy stairwell, Astronomy department and the Astronomy Room. Hogwarts' headmaster, Albus Dumbledore was killed here on this tower by his eventual successor, Severus Snape.

However, it was planned between Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape to spare Draco Malfoy being a murderer and spare the headmaster from a slow painful death. This was because Albus Dumbledore's hand was poisoned by a dangerous curse created by Tom Marvolo Riddle, to protect his Horcrux, Marvolo Gaunt's ring.

The Clock Tower does not begin at the Ground Floor level. Because it is placed on top of a hill, the Tower begins at the Third Floor level. When you enter the Tower, there is a huge space, like an Entrance Hall with flights of wooden stairs at the right and left side. The first landing is at the Fourth Floor level. It is at this landing that are the clock's gears and face.

This same corridor connects the Tower to the remaining castle. If you go up another flight of wooden stairs, you will get to another landing, this time at the Fifth Floor level. It is in this landing that are the clock's bells; some massive gold and copper bells. There is another corridor at this landing; like the other, it links the Tower to the main castle.

More information: Ranker

He was standing at the end of a long, dimly lit chamber.

Towering stone pillars entwined with more serpents,

rose to a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long,

black shadows through the odd,

greenish gloom that filled the place.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. ROWLING & ROBERT GALBRAITH, WRITE TO SUCCESS

Today, The Grandma is reading about J. K. Rowling, the creator of Hogwarts world.

 

Joanne Rowling (born 31 July 1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for writing the Harry Potter fantasy series, which has won multiple awards and sold more than 500 million copies, becoming the best-selling book series in history.

The books are the basis of a popular film series, over which J. K. Rowling had overall approval on the scripts and was a producer on the final films. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

Born in Yate, Gloucestershire, J. K. Rowling was working as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International when she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990.

The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. There were six sequels, of which the last, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in 2007.

Since then, J. K. Rowling has written five books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and -under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith- the crime fiction Cormoran Strike series, which consists of The Cuckoo's Calling (2013), The Silkworm (2014), Career of Evil (2015), and Lethal White (2018).

Starting on 26 May 2020, her political fairytale for children, The Ickabog, is being released in instalments in an online version.

J. K. Rowling has lived a rags to riches life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being named the world's first billionaire author by Forbes.

However, J. K. Rowling disputed the assertion, saying she was not a billionaire. Forbes reported that she lost her billionaire status after giving away much of her earnings to charity but remains one of the wealthiest people in the world. She is the UK's best-selling living author, with sales in excess of £238 million.

The 2019 Sunday Times Rich List estimated J. K. Rowling's fortune at £750 million, ranking her as the joint 191st richest person in the UK. Time named her a runner-up for its 2007 Person of the Year, noting the social, moral, and political inspiration she has given her fans.

J. K. Rowling was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) at the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to literature and philanthropy.

More information: J.K. Rowling

In October 2010, she was named the Most Influential Woman in Britain by leading magazine editors. J. K. Rowling has supported multiple charities, including Comic Relief, One Parent Families, and Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain, as well as launching her own charity, Lumos.

Although she writes under the pen name J. K. Rowling, before her remarriage, her name was Joanne Rowling.

Joanne Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, the daughter of science technician Anne and Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer Peter James Rowling. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964.

J. K. Rowling has said that her teenage years were unhappy. Her home life was complicated by her mother's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis and a strained relationship with her father, with whom she is not on speaking terms.

J. K. Rowling later said that she based the character of Hermione Granger on herself when she was eleven.

In 1982, J. K. Rowling took the entrance exams for Oxford University but was not accepted and earned a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter.

In 1995, J. K. Rowling finished her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which was typed on an old manual typewriter.

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 1,000 copies, 500 of which were distributed to libraries. Today, such copies are valued between £16,000 and £25,000. Its sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and again J. K. Rowling won the Smarties Prize.

In December 1999, the third novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, won the Smarties Prize, making J. K. Rowling the first person to win the award three times running.

The fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was released simultaneously in the UK and the US on 8 July 2000 and broke sales records in both countries. 372,775 copies of the book were sold in its first day in the UK, almost equalling the number Prisoner of Azkaban sold during its first year.

A wait of three years occurred between the release of Goblet of Fire and the fifth Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on 16 July 2005. It too broke all sales records, selling nine million copies in its first 24 hours of release.

In 2006, Half-Blood Prince received the Book of the Year prize at the British Book Awards.

The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was announced on 21 December 2006 as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

More information: Wizarding World

In February 2007, it was reported that J. K. Rowling wrote on a bust in her hotel room at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh that she had finished the seventh book in that room on 11 January 2007.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released on 21 July 2007 and broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. The book's last chapter was one of the earliest things she wrote in the entire series.

Harry Potter is now a global brand worth an estimated US$15 billion, and the last four Harry Potter books have consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history.

The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.

The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when children were thought to be abandoning books for computers and television, although it is reported that despite the huge uptake of the books, adolescent reading has continued to decline.

In October 1998, Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to the first two novels for a seven-figure sum.

A film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 16 November 2001, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets on 15 November 2002.

The film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released on 4 June 2004, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

The fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was directed by Mike Newell, and released on 18 November 2005.

The film of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released on 11 July 2007. David Yates directed, and Michael Goldenberg wrote the screenplay, having taken over the position from Steve Kloves.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released on 15 July 2009. David Yates directed again, and Kloves returned to write the script.

Warner Bros. filmed the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in two segments, with part one being released on 19 November 2010 and part two being released on 15 July 2011. Yates directed both films.

More information: Twitter

In 2000, J.K. Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, which uses its annual budget of £5.1 million to combat poverty and social inequality. The fund also gives to organisations that aid children, one-parent families, and multiple sclerosis research.

J.K. Rowling has received honorary degrees from St Andrews University, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Exeter, the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University, where she spoke at the 2008 commencement ceremony.

In 2009, J.K. Rowling was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2002, J.K. Rowling became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) as well a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

She was furthermore recognized as Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) in 2011 for services to Literature and Philanthropy.

More information: The Guardian

I would like to be remembered as someone

who did the best she could with the talent she had.

J. K. Rowling

THE WINSORS SEARCH FANTASTIC BEASTS AT HOGWARTS

The Winsors and The Grandma are in Hogwarts and they have wanted to talk with Charlie Weasley, a great expert in dragons, the mythical animal in Saint George's Legend.

If the Rose is a Middle Age symbol of hospitality (nowadays love), the figure of the Dragon is a metaphor of the evil, but in Hogwarts, Dragons are brave fantastic loyal powerful beasts.

The Winsors are very interested in knowing all the dragons of Hogwarts. The Grandma is very interested in one, the Catalonian Fireball.

Dragons are giant winged, fire-breathing reptilian beasts. Widely regarded as terrifying yet awe-inspiring, they can be found all over the world and are frequently referred to in Asian and medieval European folklore.

Able to fly and breathe fire through their nostrils and mouths, they are one of the most dangerous and hardest to conceal creatures in the wizarding world. The British Ministry of Magic classifies them as XXXXX, known wizard killers that are impossible to train or domesticate. Despite how dangerous they are, there are people who are trained to work with them, called dragon keepers, or dragonologists. A wizard or witch who trades and sells dragon eggs, which is an illegal activity,  is referred to as a dragon dealer.

Dragon mothers breathe fire on their eggs to keep them warm. They do not keep their eggs in nests. Newly born dragons are referred to as chicks. The dragon's first fire breaths, usually accompanied by thick grey smoke, appear when the dragon is around six months old. However, the ability to fly is normally developed later, at around twelve months, and the dragon will not be fully mature until it is two years old and ready to live on its own.

Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit states that you are to feed a baby dragon a bucket of brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. This apparently serves a replacement for dragon milk.

Not much is known about dragon behaviour, however it seems that, at least with the Chinese Fireball, females are generally larger and dominant over males.

More information: Wizarding World I & II

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them states that sometimes females oust males from their territories, at least with the Antipodean Opaleye.

Fantastic Beasts also states that Fireballs are unusual in that they are willing to share territory with one another, although no more than three dragons will share the same territory. This indicates that dragons are highly territorial.

Dragons are generally highly aggressive towards anything, even wizards, and will sometimes attack humans without provocation, such as in the case of the Ilfracombe Incident.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 was probably started by a young Welsh Green Dragon kept in the basement of the house in Puddling Lane.

Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709.

A rogue Welsh Green dragon descends on a beach full of Muggle holidaymakers in 1932. Tilly Toke and her family happen to be there, and her family casts the largest Mass Memory Charm of this century on all the Muggles of Ilfracombe. She is later awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for her quick action to avoid breaking the International Statute of Secrecy.

The Muggles later remember nothing of the incident, with the exception of an old fellow known as Dodgy Dirk, who still claims that a dirty great flying lizard attacked him on the beach. People think he’s crazy, of course.

In 1799 a Ukranian Ironbelly dragon carried off a Muggle sailing ship, fortunately there was no one aboard the ship at the time.

In 1802 according to an unsubstantiated report off the coast of Norway A Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, supposedly, carries off a whale calf.

Newt Scamander, for a time, worked in the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau at the Ministry of Magic. He also spent World War I working with Ukrainian Ironbelly dragons on the Eastern Front.

More information: Wizarding World I & II

In the 1970s a rogue Antipodean Opaleye dragon killed several kangaroos in Australia. It was a male, believed to have come to Australia in search of a place to live after being ousted from its territory in New Zealand by a female.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger arrived just in time to see a baby Norwegian Ridgeback emerge from its egg. The baby dragon sneezed some sparks and almost bites Rubeus Hagrid, who is delighted.

The first signs of hatching must have begun by breakfast time, since it was then that Harry, Ron, and Hermione received a note from Hagrid informing them of it. They go to his hut right after their morning Herbology class.

Dragons were used in the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, in which the champions had to retrieve a golden egg from a nesting mother. The varieties used were: the Hungarian Horntail, the Chinese Fireball, the Swedish Short-Snout, and a Welsh Green. Ron's brother Charlie Weasley worked with dragons in Romania at the time, and helped transport the dragons used in the Tournament. Dragons are also used to guard certain vaults at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and one was used by Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger to escape the bank following their break-in.

Though they cannot be domesticated, there is one known instance of a dragon being used as a mount. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger rode on the back of a dragon, though they had trouble maintaining a grip on their steed, and could not control its flight.

Before playing in the Quidditch final against Slytherin, Harry dreamed that the Slytherin team were flying on dragons instead of broomsticks. When he awoke he realised that they would not be allowed to ride dragons.

The dragon model, like the model in the First Task of Triwizard Tournament, was used in a roast chestnuts sale, near Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, in Diagon Alley to hold the chestnut in place.

Dragon milk can be used to create dragon milk cheese, as noted in the revised edition of Charm Your Own Cheese.

More information: Hobby Lark

 

 And... I'm scared for you.
You got by the dragons mostly on nerve.
I'm not sure it's going to be enough this time.

Hermione Granger