Mount Ararat after these had vanished from the popular mind, that the Armenian theologians ventured to locate on its eternal snows the resting-place of Noah's ark." The 13th century Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck is usually considered the earliest reference for the tradition of Mount Ararat as the landing place of the ark in European literature. The 14th century English traveler John Mandeville is another early author who mentioned Mount Ararat, "where Noah's ship rested, and it is still there." Most Christians identify Mount Ararat with the biblical "mountains of Ararat," despite the fact that six other landing places have been proposed,
Eastern Arc Mountains to a great deal of endemism, and a very diverse flora and fauna, The Eastern Arc becoming known as one of the world's top twenty biodiversity hotspots. Seventy-five species of vertebrate are endemic to the Eastern Arc, as well as thousands of species of invertebrates. Sixteen plant genera are endemic to these mountains, one of them being "Saintpaulia", the African violet, now used as a houseplant around the world. Many of these endemics have evolved recently, but some are remnants of populations that were at one time more widespread. The Uluguru Mountains and the eastern Usambara Mountains have the greatest