The 98km Conveyor Belt System & The International Border Dispute
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- Опубліковано 6 січ 2020
- Deep in the Sahara desert is the world's longest conveyor belt system. I went to see this king of conveyors, to find out why it was built, only to discover how its story is deeply intertwined with an international border dispute...
CREDITS
Original map of Morocco Protectorate by Cradel (adaptations are my own work) - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...
Phosphate stats from US Geological Survey - www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/pho...
Map music from the Map Men series by Jay Foreman - • MAP MEN
Hi - a few clarifications based on your comments:
* If all you want is the conveyor belt, not the story behind it, skip straight to 4:20 :)
* The "70% of the world's phosphates" figure refers to Morocco's reserves, not production. China actually produces more than Morocco does at the moment, but of course at current rates, that means China will run out a long time before Morocco does. There is also some debate about the 70% figure depending on how you define "reserves" - whether it should be total reserves, or what is called "accessible reserves". It's not currently possible to access the full extent of Morocco's reserves due to the limits of mining technology.
* Most of those phosphate reserves are in undisputed Moroccan territory. The 3 million tonnes produced by the Bou Craa mine accounts for about 10% of Morocco's yearly production.
Thats a nice system.
If you want the world's longest conveyor (singular) you need Boddington bauxite mine in Western Australia. 30km long single piece of rubber.
Yes, because the united states, india, Pakistan, afghanistan, zimbabwe, south africa, ireland,... were all NOT colonized by Britain
Jon Bjornssen weird that you are Indian and from India......plank
Jon Bjornssen the future of your demise
Disappointed that you failed to show drive for the belt. With so little about the belt, not even showing the belt working.
Just crap about fighting over sand.
A well conveyed point
Good one.
*puns aren’t funny*
@@PrimetimeNut They are not funny to you, maybe. I got a chuckle out of it. And judging by the thumbs up the comment got, so did a LOT of other people.
@Whirlybird
Well you have to remember, there are ten types of people in the World; those who understand binary... and those who don't. 🙂
@@PrimetimeNut they are punny
I was fully expecting to see my suitcase the airline lost in 1994 on that conveyor belt.
So I am Not the Only One!
0:41 ¿Map Men, Map Men, Map, Map, Map Men, Men, Men?
... men men men men men men men men men ...
holy shit totally didn't noticed that
Or in dutch, man man man man man ;)
@@julianvons1304 Man (EN) = Man (NL), Men (EN) = Mannen (NL)
Mika de Grote ik bedoelde eerder Rob Geus (I was mentioning Rob Geus)
I would have traveled to Africa...if I had known they had a conveyor belt! People like to talk about "culture", food, scenery, and silly things like that, but why didn't anyone tell me they had a conveyor belt?
EXACTLY
Now you know, book that ticket
@@brandonjames7522 Do they serve refreshments?
@@michaelball4683 The tea and coffee making facilities leave a little to be desired, I believe. ☕
not just a conveyor belt. a huge system of belts.
Every time with your videos I think "no, this is finally the one that is too niche" but they're always great! The effort you go to make them the right level of informative as well as entertaining is clear, and very much appreciated.
Haha, cheers Ben, I'm sure we'll go over the edge eventually, but thank you for sticking with me so far :D
@@TheTimTraveller Could you add closed captions for the deaf/hearing impaired. I
Must explore more from TimTraveller.
I couldn't agree more.
@@dontspikemydrink9382 tbf the automatically generated subs are quite good on this channel!
This is Rare Earth, but less depressing and funnier.
Panino Manino
Lighter tone to be precise
Rare earth mixed with Jay Foreman. Also Rare Earth is more philosophical than it is depressing.
Lol Rare Earth would've said something like "the souls of a billion Sahrawis were transported on this conveyor"
Why do Rare Earth fans have to comment in every comment section involving travel, Rare Earth is so forced and corny
Doctor Medkit “boohoo, people are talking about their interests”. Sorry kiddo, but not everyone is you and some of them even want to talk about stuff that interest them.
When you reallllly don't want to build a train in Factario
Yep xD
I know that.
and sometimes using an Train isnt feasable
@@Legendendear Isn't feasible? Name one condition that railways (In some form or another) can't overcome?
@@BaileyChap
short Distance
Space
ok I guess feasible was the wrong word.
Legendendear youre probably thinking “impractical”
This world has been corrupted and infiltrated by evil. The white caucasian race has benefited from the ideologies that have been fed to the masses, making the white man appear superior before the world. Their education systems run the world.
Thank you Tim for travelling to the far corners of the Earth in the name of pendantry. It brings joy to my heart that there's other people in the world that cares so much about seemingly so little.
5:35 I cannot put into words how wonderful of a touch that whistling was
Also I demand to know which other theme tunes were used
Some BBC stuff and dramas no doubt
Listening to the wind.. of chaaaaaaange! 😄
♪♫ just step outside the plant, down the sahara, listening to the wind of change.
footsteps in the sand, the belt will never end, listening to the wind, of change...
Me: What would be so great about this area that a 3 way war started over it...
Tim “...70% of the planet’s phosphate reserves.”
Me: ohhh... that’s why.
Pedantry Corner: the 70% figure is for Morocco, not just for the disputed area. The 3 million tonnes produced at Bou Craa accounts for about 10% of Morocco's yearly production, the rest comes from undisputed Moroccan territory, as far as I understand. But even at this lower figure your point still stands of course.
Joe R M
This war was over bird poop:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific
An area must not be "great" for people there to have opinions on how they want to be governed.
I lived there for 6 years when I was a child and some brothers were born in Aaiun.
I have to say that Spain abruptly abandoned the territory (as it was in Ecuatorial Guinea earlier) and the future King Juan Carlos (Gen. Franco was dying) left the power to Marocco, under pressure from the 'Green March' promoted by the dictator monarch Hassan II, as well as the concerned pressure from the USA (as usual).
The construction of the kilometer port for the discharge of phosphates was just completed with a daily rental cost of the construction platform of 1,000,000 pts (about € 6,000 at the sixties).
The main item in dispute in this land as nearly any other is the coastal area, where fishing and shellfish wealth and even potential oil resources are obviously present.
So Marocco gets more access to the Ocean, blocking possible exit to the Atlantic from Algeria and dangerously close to Spanish territorial waters (Canary Archipelago). Big deal.
theres even more political reasons behind it, specially from algeria, that finances and supports the Sawhari independence, surely not for the most idyllic reasons, if Sawhari gets its independence, then Algeria will claim access to the Atlantic ocean, be able to export the huge ore reserves they have without being controlled in Gibraltar or Suez.
This is one of the most interesting Borderdisputes in the world, but as always we are not here to see-
wait a second...
The previously pictured border disputes between Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg and the Netherlands have been settled, at least for now. What remains is just tourist attractions.
The flatness of earth
@@57thorns A border dispute remains between the Netherlands and Germany, and it's without a doubt the most peaceful and non-confrontational border dispute in the world.
I don't think it's a border dispute, it's more an ownership dispute. It's mine, I saw it first.
@@millomweb As a Moroccan, the Sahara has always belong to our territory, once you know (in history) that the kingdom was founded 788 ! From then to now, we form one nation. Even some part of east land and in deep south land was belonged to some dynastie of Morocco.
I really appreciate how you are telling the whole story around the conveyor belt - which is in fact much more interesting than the belt. And I also totally appreciate your style. Keep on doing such a good work.
I'm truly impressed by your ability to talk about such a complex and touchy matter without... how to say that... let's say failing and offending everyone.
Like also the fact that you bring this forgotten piece of information to people who weren't expecting this.
Great work. Thanks for this!
If you get a comment from the ISS saying, "hey Tim, we can see it"...you have officially made it.
(and well done for the video, research and visiting the place)
If you get a comment from ISIS saying, "hey Tim, we can see it"...you have officially made it.
Maybe one of his viewers has a few degrees of Kevin Bacon relation with someone who can talk to someone on the ISS.
@@apcolleen Quite possibly.
@@apcolleen Or someone willing to pretend he is on the ISS.
I've just asked them.
I love how as soon as you said "Okay, we're gonna need to talk about maps" and I though: "Map men, map men, map map map men men men" the Map Men tune began playing!
Great minds think alike Tim.
I had once worked at a sugar company that had the steepest and longest incline (conveyer) belt in North America. It broke down all the time.
Another fantastically fascinating video. And love the Men Behaving Badly and Panorama interludes!
5:34 Desert winds of change.
yeah, you can't sneak that one by us xD
Good to have you back tim :)
My favourite feature of your videos is the musical accompaniments. Beautifully played and always amusing. The Wind of Change whistle in this episode was great too.
I really like your humility - Again a wonderful video!
Your video quality has taken a massive leap forward. Content quality fantastic as always. Thanks Tim!
You know, when you said trouble, I was totally expecting you to go into the problems the belt had lol. Thanks for the video Tim! I always love how you actually go to the places you talk about!
yup, just like Tom Scott, they literally spend money just to make a few minutes of video lol (not complaining, I love short video), much respect
I love how you make subjects that seem kinda silly at first glance so fascinating. Also your French is impeccable!
I thought you handled this mess of a situation VERY well.
BTW - loved the video and the conveyor belt.
yo
My favourite of your videos so far, wonderful script and humour. Thanks!
Your commentary is always as enjoyable as learning new things from you!
Just subscribed earlier after I saw the netherlands highway on sea video, and now you were in my hometown 👌👌👌
Tops to you man for not arguing politics in the video. Hope you had a good/great time in my city and you are more than welcome anytime.
I appreciate how well you convey your humor.
And because of you I learned something new today. Thanks.
This channel is so underrated ! I love your videos!
Your best video by far mate!!! Keep them coming!!!
0:38 "we are gonna need to talk about maps"
**Map Men theme plays in me head**
EDIT: ok... I just realized it wasn't just in my head.
Do they know each other?
Probably... but more likely Tim just enjoy Map Men as we do, and border deputes like that were on MM before.
@@unlink1649 yes
Holy crap, real life factorio!
Thank you for conveying this so well.
Finished my binge viewing at last. Looking forward to the next instalment.
As a point of information, it *IS* possible to visit the Sahrawi side. But you have to go in the other way, through Algeria--fly to the city of Tindouf, where the Sahrawi government offices are located, then drive in.
love the simple yet effective animations
Brilliant as always!
Happy New Year!
Thank you for publishing this story.
Your french is brilliant. 👍
From the volume I thought there was a translator sitting in the back...
Tim has a degree in French and it shows 👌
I was very impressed. He doesn't even sound like an Englishman speaking french.
It was very simple French, such that even an Englishman could speak it. Seriously.
@@sunnyjim1355 I'm french, I can say he's fluent.
Be interesting to discuss the origin of the phospate, usually the droppings from seabirds, why it is so far inland, and the international problems of the phosphate shortage.
If you never had it discussed and its now 3 years later, Here in Florida we have large deposits of phosphate and most are from ancient sea bed deposits. "In the Mines" the do and have in past found many fossils usually a lot of sharks teeth like at Four corners Mine.
Hey Tim, Thanks for your work! I love your Videos. Always very interesting.
Another brilliant video
Phosphate factory owner *plays factorio*
*Let's build a HUGE conveyor belt!*
"Describe the history of Africa in 4 words."
"knock knock it's Europe"
That goes for most of the planet from the 16th century until the 1940's after which America and the USSR took over the job of bossing everybody around for profit.
Technically that are 5 words.
Because Africa barely did anything without European help. They used to sell each other into slavery, now they sell their resources.
Now Europe is hearing "Knock knock it's Africa!"
*whispers* they never got Ethiopia.....
one of your best !
I am simply in love with your content
I've always been interested in this (internationally) almost forgotten dispute but the conveyor belt is new to me. Awesome vid!
Are you planning to do more videos from there? Something about the giant moroccan border wall would be amazing (if you can even get close to it).
It is technically still Spain actually, well not de facto but de jure
Love the Panorama theme music at 3:20.
Your videos are so fresh. Thank you for your efforts.
Excellent work sir!
you are a great conveyer of obscure information about interesting places
yeah - he's a belter
Bigup to your ability to share subjects linked to human complexity; with tact humour and the right distance making no one feeling offended . It’s well known that human being are more confortable when facing complexity than when dealing with love peace and forgiveness ;) peace and happiness to you all. May everyone focus on what can make people closer than some minor things which can bring to oppositions and so on . 🤙🧘♀️♥️
Love your style, brilliant humour!
This is interesting. Thanks for bringing it to my attention
That conveyer belt makes me think of Factorio.
Now I'm reminded of the song Spanish Sahara
Life is strange
@Wolfgang Kleinschmit I thought that was Tunisia? [Does a quick check] Got it, Algeria. My bad...
Are you sure you're not thinking of Spanish Harlem?
Are you sure you're not thinking of Spanish Harlem?
always love these videos
the wind of change whistle is just a top notch touch i didn't notice on the first viewing
Congratulations, Tim, excelente documentário sobre as características sócio-econômicas de uma região pouco conhecida pela maioria de nós Sul Americanos.
¡Es una región poco conocida por la mayoría de la gente!
Soooooo, do we get Any actual details about the conveyor belt itself?
What is there to know? It's a 98km system of conveyor belts used to transport mined phosphate...
I agree details would be nice , how fast does it run , how much material does it hold , how much material does it move in a day , I guess it's still being used but not the time you were there .
Yes. We learnt that it's quite long.
The conveyor belt can move 2,000 tons of phosphate per hour, but I don't know if that's before or after the part that's blown off.
For just belt maintenance purposes, it'd probably be steel cable belt. Most overland belt systems usually are. I assume it's also high abrasion resistant rubber on the outside for both the phosphate itself and the sand being kicked up around it. It'd be brutalizing the cover rubber if not. The metal over top isn't there solely for containment of the phosphate, it also protects the belt from sun damage which can dry rot the rubber exterior. The rollers look similar to the ones used in coal mines, but the bearings are covered to keep the sand out.
Thanks for the video!! :)
Discovering your channel has been the highlight of my day
Reading your comment has been the highlight of mine! Cheers Matt, and welcome to this particular little corner of the internet
@@TheTimTraveller email sent to the space station. :)
I hate the phrase "one of the few man made objects viewable from space"
You can see a lot of man made stuff from space. For example, our cities blasting light into space at night.
Also, the most cliché object attached with this statement, the great Wall of China, is not visible from space. Sure, it's long, but only a few meters across. You can try your best, you can't identify the wall from space. It also doesn't help that there are rivers nearby that look very similar to the wall from way up there.
at this point anything can be seen through satellite which is technically in space
And it also doesn’t help that the map of China is shown offset on Google maps due to Chinese restrictions....
Yeah, there has to be a pretty danged clear set of parameters, starting with
-Daytime Only
-Such-n-such meters of height
Take this conveyor, for example... you can NOT see it from 70km up. You can, however, very clearly see it from 8km up. It all depends. I definitely don't mind having that conversation, but I *ONLY* have it with parameters, cuz it's stupid otherwise.
What parameters can YOU think of? :)
@@yondie491 my parameters:
- I don't count satellite images, like Google maps. A high res camera with insane optical zoom on a satellite kinda defeats the point of "visible from space". I'm talking about, for example, looking out the window of the ISS.
- going with that, I don't think you should rule out night time completely. Artificial light is man made, and a quite important invention. I can see why others would not want to count it, though.
- space is arbitrarily defined as 100km above the earth, but I'm going with that.
That's all I have off the top of my head, and it's midnight here, so I won't bother to think of more lol
@@namenamename390
1)Well most of us can't make it to space, so Google Maps is a tolerable stand-in. Just keep your height set at the appropriate level and, presuming you're viewing it on a 1080p screen, the viewable resolution should be an acceptable stand-in. I have had the amazing opportunity to ask a actual astronaut about it, and she said that if she had 20/20 vision (hers is better) she thinks Google Earth is a tolerable stand-in.
Note: I'd take a low shuttle orbit in addition to ISS, so anything between 200-245 miles / 320km-410km as acceptable.
2)I only rule out artificial light cuz it's way too obvious. It counts, sure, but, in theory, we're talking about size. Cities-at-night are more about contiguous size, not singular size... if that makes sense. But pragmatic point being "yes, everyone knows city lights and major roads can be seen at night, if you don't know that you're either a child, in which case you rock for asking this and this attitude should be nurtured and cherished, as should childrens' tendency wanting to learn should always be treated* , or an adult who should go study more, and studying more is always a good thing"
3)I'd accept 100km as a technically acceptable parameter, but 100km is a whole different ballgame than 350-400km.
Either way, I *DO* find it an interesting conversation... with the right people of course.
*Sorry if that sentence was hard-to-read, I thought "I should go back and expand upon that, cuz kids are AWESOME, and whenever kids want to learn that's even MORE awesomererer... so I should emphasize that... and I went back and added that and I am too lazy to proofread the sentence, I figure you got my point.
Factorio players: "First time?"
In awe of both the video and the choice of soundtrack...
Well done Tim!
You do a great job of dealing with complicated issues in a balanced and respectful way Tim - your next stop for your travel diary should be the Middle East 👍 (I heard Iraq is great this time of year :)
Tim and Tom Scott travel the world, only to make a 5 minute video about their destinations.
Statistically, at some point in the future they are going to bump into one another, film a video about the same thing, and release it at the same time, without even making effort to "collab". It'll just be wonderful.
Are they related?
Do you mean he is Tim Scott, the hidden/evil/whatever brother of Tom ?
I find your video explanations of the world surprising, succinct, and singularly inspiring. Thank you.
I learned a lot today watching this video, mainly about borders and border conflicts, and a little bit about conveyor belts. Still a great video!
I’d hoped to have a funny comment, but I can only say that this was a belter of a video.
It was not that Spain just handed Western Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania when they asked for it. Spain was going to hold a referendum of independence in W.Sahara, in accordance with UN resolutions, when Morocco just invaded the territory, using civilians (the so-called Green March). Spain had two choices: to start a war with Morocco or just leave. It chose the last option.
Yeah video seemed a bit haphazard with the euro insults and bizarre York accent covering an upper class.
I'm sure there is a history video on that topic, go there.
@@pw70 next time I will solicit your personal advice before daring to write any comment on UA-cam, Your Highness.
Kingdom of Morocco just took back its territory, end of story. Just look at a map before spanish colonization, this territory was NEVER independant in the whole story of the Humanity. Since the 9th century, it was under moroccan control until the end of the 19th century, when Spain attacked a Morocco in bad shape economically. Sahrawis always gave allegiance to the Moroccan crown.
By the way UN never talked about a referundum in 1975... but only self-determination after the International Court of Justice decision which recognized very old et continuons link between this region and Morocco. For all post-colonial conflicts, the referundum was used only 3 times with mixed results. Morocco was always OK with the self determination by negotiations but not with referundum because it was just impossible to organize : who can vote when families are splitted in both sides, the same tribe live.
By the way the other side is under a terrorist organization, a mafia.
@@freewal I look at a 1885 map and see something that totally contradicts what you're saying.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/African_map_1885.jpg
Thanks for video keep going 🤠 greeting from Morocco
that is quite interesting! Thank you!
Nice video, however (according to my opinion) it missed some basic info about the conveyor belt such as: Who runs the belt now? Is it still operational (it looked kinda rusty)? How fast does it move the phosphate? etc... I know I can google it myself, but it kinda defeats the purpose of this video for me. Some more footage of the belt would also be nice :)
I would love to hear you describe a lot of historical events.
Nice job Tim!!
I think that this is the most delicious geographical geek video ever.. thankyou... even jay foreman will be impressed by this 👍🌝
Way to start the other WW3 Tim! :D
surprised he even made it back,not hanging in a town square......
In the words of Yakko Warner: "The Spanish Sahara is GONE!"
The sahara is Moroccan 🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦
That Map Men music gag though… perfect!
Love your work
2:03 2:03 2:03 2:03 2:03
now that tim is going to dangerous places, he needs his own alinchik.
Or babushka :P
He needs his own alien chick? Hey, it worked for Captain Kirk!
He also needs to use „soviet“ more often
@@bcubed72 Uh-uh, "Alinchic". Search Bald & Bankrupt on YT and cancel the rest of your day :P
It is amazing what I learn from my couch, following an eager knowledge seaking and conveying Britt. I really love this!
Great video
2:08 Don't worry, Tim, you don't have an accent which suggests you arrived there in the 1800s!
3:20 "Panorama" theme music
that desert is mine!
And it is also A mine 🙂
it's also mined, in places
Thanks for information and video. I really enjoyed watching it. A A from UK.
You convey(er)ed the history quite nicely.
That's a thicc belt system for Gaston's phosphate
Please add closed captions
No need. Tim's English can be understood perfectly well.
@@rosiefay7283 yes, there is a need. Please shut up
@@rosiefay7283 unless you're deaf...
@@rae-el-gee or, like me, english is a second language
You're like my second hand tom Scott. Subscribed to you, hope you get to 100k soon!
Man your sense of humour is just GOLD ! Greetings from Rabat , Morocco
The satire comment killed me. Interesting video, thanks :)
I remember having to redraw some parts of the Mauritania border on maps in the late 1970s, but never knew what was going on to cause the shift.
2:04 love the men behaving badly reference
You videos are always a great source of entertainment and knowledge so tyvm for another great video The Tim Traveler