Everything about Beacon totally explained
Beacons are aids to
navigation devices. Intentionally conspicuous, beacons help guide navigators to their destinations. Beacon types include radar reflectors,
radio beacons, and sonic or visual signals. Visual beacons range from small, single-pile structures to large lighthouses or light stations and are located on land or in water. Lighted beacons are called lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons.
Classically, beacons are fires lit on hills or high places, used either as
lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops are approaching, and alerting the defense. In the latter iteration, beacons are an ancient form of
optical telegraphy, and were always parts of a
relay league.
Systems of this kind have existed for centuries over much of the world. Indeed, in
Scandinavia many
hill forts were parts of beacon networks to warn against invading pillagers.
In
Israel beacons were used to show the beginning of the month.
In
Wales, the
Brecon Beacons were named for beacons used to warn of approaching
English raiders.
In England, the most famous examples are the beacons used in
Elizabethan England to warn of the approaching
Spanish Armada. Many hills in
England are named
Beacon Hill after these beacons.
Beacons have often been abused by
pirates. A fire at a wrong position was used to direct a ship against
cliffs or
beaches, so the cargo could be looted after the ship sank or ran aground.
In
The Lord of the Rings, a series of seven beacons are used as a signaling device between
Gondor and
Rohan.
(External Link
) In the,
Gandalf has
Pippin light the beacon closest to
Minas Tirith. The series is then lit, thereby notifying Rohan's King
Théoden that Gondor calls for help in the battle against
Sauron.
Further Information
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