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David Silverman / Getty Images
Water flowing over Iguazu Falls leaves a cloud of mist between Brazil, foreground, and Argentina. According to an ititial tally of results from a 2-year vote, Iguazu Falls is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.
The people have spoken. Millions of voters from around the world have cast their ballots for seven sites to be included in the New7Wonders of Nature list.
Seven finalists have been announced: the Amazon in South America; Halong Bay, Vietnam; Iguazu Falls, Argentina and Brazil; Jeju Island, South Korea; Komodo, Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River, the Philippines; and Table Mountain, South Africa.
The results are provisional, based on the first count of votes, and were chosen from 28 locations spanning the globe.
Slideshow: See images of the provisional New 7 Wonders of Nature
Voting ended Friday (11/11/11) at 11:11 a.m GMT (6:11 a.m. EST).
A vote count started immediately and continued for almost eight hours until the announcement was made Friday evening in Zurich, Switzerland, at the headquarters of New7Wonders (N7W), the group that oversees the campaign.
The results will now be checked, validated and independently verified. Confirmed winners will be announced early 2012. It is possible that there will be changes between the provisional winners and the final confirmed winners, New7Wonders said on its website.
Live Poll
Which of the following sites should have made the list?
Earlier today, the top 14 finalists were announced and included: Bu Tinah Island, United Arab Emirates; Dead Sea in Israel, Jordan and Palestine; Great Barrier Reef, Australia; Jeita Grotto, Lebanon; Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; Masurian Lake District, Poland; and Sundarbans in Bangladesh and India.
The idea for the campaign was the brain child of adventurer, filmmaker and N7W founder Bernard Weber, who "saw the potential of the Internet in 1999," according to Eamonn Fitzgerald, N7W's head of communications.
"There are some places in the world where people can’t vote. We like to think that we can make a contribution by getting people to participate in democracy," Fitzgerald said. Projects like the New 7 Wonders of Nature, he said, do that, and "help raise digital literacy."
The New 7 Wonders of Nature is the group’s second campaign. It began in 2007 when more than 440 locations were nominated in more than 220 countries through a global voting process. The top 77 choices were short listed, and with the help of a panel of experts, further narrowed to 28 candidates and announced on July 21, 2009, when the voting for finalists began.
"So many breathtakingly beautiful, natural places are still quite unknown to many," Weber said on the organization’s website. "From waterfalls to fjords, rainforests to mountain peaks, freshwater lakes to volcanoes, we are discovering together the incredible beauty and variety of our planet."
Today, in a statement announcing the provisional results, Weber said: "When the New 7 Wonders of Nature are confirmed they will join the man-made New 7 Wonders of the World in becoming part of global memory for humankind forever."
The movement began when Weber had an idea to revive the Seven Wonders of the World, much like Pierre de Coubertin revived another ancient Greek concept, the Olympic Games, in 1896 with the introduction of the modern Olympic Games.
The Seven Wonders of the World, selected by Philon of Byzantium in about 200 B.C., included the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Pyramids of Giza, and served as a travel guide for fellow Athenians. The key difference, noted on the N7W website, is that the New 7 Wonders of the World, announced on July 7, 2007 (7/7/7), were not chosen by one man, but by millions of people all over the world.
What’s the significance of certain numbers, like seven and 11?
"He is fascinated with numbers," Fitzgerald said of Weber. "Numbers play a very big role in his thinking." Seven, for example, is the number of things that the average person can remember.
Are lists like this a good thing?
"The world seems to be obsessed with lists — the best five, the best seven," said Sharr Prohaska, clinical associate professor, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University. Generally there is not a specific list of criteria used as a basis for decisions; as a result most lists are subjective, Prohaska said.
However, "lists sell," she said. "Some tourists will take that list and definitely decide to visit and check off the sites on the list." Efforts like those of N7W create interest and allow participants to feel like they are contributing to a topic that is very important to them, a way they can make a difference, she said.
"Part of the success of lists reflects that we are all too busy to do the research ourselves," she said. People are often relieved to have lists, "as they want to visit the 'best'."
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Leave a Comment:
Table Mountain? Really? And not, say, oh Yellowstone? The Great Barrier Reef? Who were the fools voting?
I was surprised that table mountain made it ....i am like "really...its just a plain ol' mountain with a flat top"...oh bother...
They must not have been @!$%# head christians but sounds like you are ,so shut up you dont matter outside ohio pa or west va.
...can't you just feel your power slipping away...
I don't remember voting for this. Did the people without internet connections get a vote too? The UN needs to investigate this 'vote'. The results are highly suspicious. I smell a rat.
jonal11,
My thoughts exactly about Table Mountain. That is just a big ugly rock. What the hell are people thinking? Niagra Falls should be on the list as well. And, Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National park should never leave the list.
I can't believe they ignored my driveway - again.
nastybeth, you are suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
All very pretty places, but hardly the "wonder" qualifying.
There are many more deserving places. The one that popped into my mind was the Oldest, Deepest, and Cleanest lake in the world, Lake Baikal.
If the lake was drained it would take all the Great lakes to fill it.
Oldest and deepest? Absolutely. Cleanest? Tragically, not so much. They've had pollution issues for decades now because of a pulp and paper mill built on its shores:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10739378
Sad to hear about the paper mill problems.
It was often questioned whether Baikal was cleaner or Crater Lake (also deserving for the list) was cleaner.
Crater Lake has had its problems too. A helicopter crashed and a car rolled down to the lake, those seem to be recoverable issues. That paper mill is continual. As I remember reading some time ago Baikal is cleaned by the activity of many crawdads among other factors. I doubt the crawdads can do much to clean the Dioxins.
Still, Baikal is a special and unique place on this earth that deserves special attention. It is this attention that can help preserve such a place.
I am so happy that Table Mountain has made it to the top 7 Provisional Finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature!
I was born, and grew up in Cape Town, and it is always the first thing Capetonians look for when flying into Cape Town!
Congratulations, Table Mountain! Lay the Table with a beautiful tablecloth cloud tomorrow, for a feast!!
For the .00000000000000001 per cent of the population who flies into Cape Clown that's nice.
LNovak,
But why is it a 'wonder"? Because it is flat? Is there something else to it. Its just a flat ugly rock. There are hundreds of other rocks that are much more beautiful and more of a wonder. Two are in Yosemite National park, Half Dome and El Capitan. Everyone needs to add this to their "bucket list" and go see it.
The Grand Canyon should be on this 7 wonders list as well. Its incredible.
Cape Clown race track's 5 miles long Do Dah, Do Dah!
I dont see how anybody could see Monument Valley in Utah and not think it should be one of the wonders.
Such an odd list, including the "also-rans". Not sure what the criteria is- natural beauty, unique features, ecological significance, or ??
For example, while there's probably no specific short segment of outstanding beauty, the Nile River has an immense impact on nature; the rain forests in South America, likewise.
Your all wrong. The #1 should be Obama, The biggest freak or nature that without any dought will be permanitly melted into our minds and our poor children as they and thier kids and thier grand children pay for his moronic spending! Every time this so called president farts it costs the taxpayer a million bucks.
The people of what is left of the US should build a statue of him so we can throw stuff at it.
How this thing became president the world may never know, But im sure the rest of the world is laughing as we spiral into debt.
So my vote for wonders of nature goes to obama, How did this thing ever become president!
No, the world IS laughing, not because of Obama, who is generally respected throughout the world as one of the few rational intelligent presidents in recent memory.
They are laughing at the commonly held opinion that the majority of Americans are really dumb and your post proves it to millions who suspect it.
I got way off topic and Im sorry.
Yes you certainly did, but thank you for your apology.
I agree with you Gator, it is a "wonder" that he ever got elected without any qualifications for president, and the result of all the idiots that voted for him, is America is spending more than ever and will go bankrupt if Obozo is not replaced by someone (hell, anyone) in 2012.
But, we are talking about the seven wonders of nature here, not human beings.
It may be off topic but it was funny as hell! Im sure we dislike obama for completely different reasons though. You likely see him as a socialist or communist or something of that nature and I see him as a republican in democrat clothes. I keep waiting for joe bidens face to fall off and to see dick cheneys underneath or maybe ronold regans disembodied head floating in a jar of mysterious fluid.
I remember when this voting began in '07; I'd participated in that intial process, but after work had changed... I might have done some in '09.
While all have their own opinions, if done honestly, this is the most objective way to determine the new 7. I'm just not sure about the 'panel of experts' narrowing from 77 to 28... that may have been a mistake, as why go to all this work and allow voting to be the determinate only to take that away once so narrowed? It's like saying, 'we let you get this far, but your not qualified to do the really important work here... we'll take over, and then let the inexperienced once again vote on what's given you'. Just not right....
Gator-728694, stay on topic. This is not political.
Sorry I was having a bad moment.
The validity of this voting is suspect at best. Heck...why didn't they just ask wikipedia if they were going to resort to internet voting?
I saw no criteria at all.
The original 7 wonders of the world was subjective (not sure how it couldn't be?) but this one seems even more so. These new ones were voted in by "millions". How many groups of people voted like any other internet vote..multilple times by multiple people and using bots to cast votes?
The Grand Canyon not making it as a natural wonder of the world makes this list completely foolish. I dont care what country it were to be in. It is simply an amazing one of a kind think on earth
The GC is one of the top 7 in natural wonders of the world; the new7 is wonders of nature. Yes, it does seem to be one in the same by name, but the new7 is not replacing the natural wonders. Not sure how it's possible, but when checking, it's amazing how many '7's' are out there pertaining to wonders of here, there, and everywhere. Check wikipedia; it's almost as if there are more 'wonders' when added to the point of almost making the wonders less meaningfull, so which are the ones that Really count????
BTW, no matter what.... Pluto IS a planet in my book! Some things never change....
So we are just making a new list that means basically the exact same thing as the existing list? What is this the Judean People's Frank vs The People's Frank of Judea????
What a pointless list! If something is natural then it IS of nature!
What's even more annoying is that people actually got paid to organize this redundant vote!
Moderation: High 5 for Pluto! (I must have the same old book here)
Moderation: High 5 for Pluto! (I must have the same old book here)
I wish the Grand Canyon would have made it.
I think we have a bunch of bozos stuffing the ballot box here. I disqualified this list after seeing Table Mountain on it.
what a joke--especially Jeju Island, So. Korea. Obviously, the nationalistic S. Koreans stuffed the box because they think anything Korean is fantastic. I lived there in SK for 4 years, Jeju is ok, not anything special (unless you really want to see the Sex Museum that is rather stupid and immature).
Lose the popular vote-I want to know from an unbiased party instead of this rubbish).
There are so many beautiful and mystical parts of the world...Americans, I am a first generation, are arrogant to think that only sites in United States are the most beautiful. Just as most Americans think that earth is the only planet that is capable of life sustaining. Earth is just a dot in the universe, the US is a part of the earth...of which there are so many places of beauty and awe, Americans will never learn that we may not be the best and most beautiful spots on the planet. Americans, take note: Our country and holdings are not the most beautiful and magnificent in the whole, entire world. We need to get over ourselves.
Where did you get the idea Americans were having Nationalistic problems with the list?
The Grand Canyon is mentioned, but is a worthy candidate, as is Yellowstone.
Also mentioned is the Great Barrier Reef and Lake Baikal (contains 20% of the worlds fresh water) neither are American.
If these are about Natural Wonders I have to wonder how Table Mountain, and Jeju Island win out over these amazing places.
I think it is the unfamiliarity that gave them the vote. There is a reason everyone knows about some places and not so much about others. The truly spectacular draw crowds.
Nita...and where do you get the notion that Americans have the market cornered on what planet can sustain life? You need to take a step back yourself. Like it was just mentioned: The Grand Canyon should be on that list...bar none.
You might not WANT to admit it, but some of those new "wonders" aren't that great. It was just a nod to adding different localities to make it more politically correct from what I can see. Some of them are absolutely STUNNING (speaking of the new ones on the list) but others...meh. Not so much.
(for the record, most everyone I know highly doubts we are the only planet that could sustain life in the universe. They also all happen to be americans. Go figure.)
While they are all wonderful...but not the Great Barrier Reef, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the Badlands, etc,. etc.?
Maybe its because the new ones do not have any natural resources to pilfer and therefore destroy their wonders. The corporate greed barons still want to mine the Grand Canyon and they are destroying the Great Reef as I write.
And why should we "wonder" about only 7? There is enough wonder in the sky to last at least a lifetime.
It would be nice if "wondering." about them would help save them from human greed.
The list missed mariana trench. One of the most amazing beautiful places on the planet. Too bad it's deep in the ocean and people don't much about it.
My girlfriend, after a fresh Brazilian wax. Nothing on this list compares, NOTHING!
send photos......
This new 7 wonder of the world is absolute crock of @!$%#.
This new7wonders is a scam artist. What it does is that it makes one pay for the each vote they vote over the phone. I know for a fact that these scam artist managed to sucker some idiots( I mean the really stupid idiots that is running the government!) in Korea to spend Millions of dollars of not just the government money but gullible school children who were given special credits if they just used their house phone or their cell phone and vote! It is a complete sham and this "Honor" of Jeju Island being bought with the Korean money leaves a bile taste that some scam artist would resort using this low life tactics to make few bucks. What is even more is tragic is the fact that a whole nation was scammed into paying millions and they are "Celebrating" right now on the media.
I am officially challenging this so called Mr. Bernard Weber to refute my assertion that they have bilked an immature country, millions of dollars for this meaningless vain title of new 7 wonders that can just be bought with the money collected from the phone call votes.
Looking at the other six contenders I wonder if any of those countries were stupid enough like Korea to mobilize the mass public to vote. What a sham
not impressed
I would be interested in how exactly the voting was done.
Was the voting based on criteria or a picture that was found. What was the selection process of the sites chosen? Things like Banff National Park in Canada are just as beautiful picture-wise, event more beautiful.
And I wonder why Komodo made it but a site like the Galapagos Islands did not? No sites in North America either...like the Grand Canyon as others pointed out. Before this article, I had never heard of this vote or the website to vote at...I wonder if it just did not get advertised in North America much. Is the vote biased to certain countries voting more?
I also wonder if the pictures or sites for people to vote on were always presented in the same order or if they were randomized. If you had a long list or had to click through tons of frames of pictures, the ones at the top would be selected more often and create a bias in voting.
Lastly, what does this matter? What's so magic about 7 wonders of Nature? Why not 10? And why limit wonders of nature to things on this planet if we are indeed talking about nature? Why not the moon which is mysterious (and a wonder) in its origins or some beautiful nebula or cluster of galaxies? At the opposite scale, why not an atom? An atom is truly marvelous, just ask any quantum physicist.
What is a wonder of nature anyways? I thought it was something in nature that science has not yet explained how it fully came to be?
Reading this first thing in the morning just filled me with questions...
JRS
Gotta agree about Banff, Lake Louise is awsome.
Clearly this has been an exercise in nationalism, getting out the vote for your region. A place in the top 7 represents hundreds of millions of tourist dollars.
Seriously, Table mountain over the Grand Canyon? Komodo over the Galapagos islands? Jeju island over Kilimanjaro? While the underground river is a nice cave, I have been in more spectacular caves. The awesome movement of billions of tons of water in and out of the Bay of Fundy, walking across the sea floor is an almost biblical experience, when 6 hours later the water is 52 feet higher. And don't get me started on the Great Barrier Reef.
They were all very beautiful, but were they really wonders? Many on the vote list have very unusual qualities as well as being beautiful.
WTF. Are you kidding me????? That's it? Those are WONDERS???? Who the hell made up that list? It SUCKS.
Great list - I heard that some wanted the dead sea in it! that's a load of crap! that place is a dump not a wonder - in any case, I like this list - I have been to some of them - it is perhaps those of us posting today that haven't traveled farther than Alabama that are criticizing. :)