In my future history of the colonization of Mars, the first human to step on Mars was a Chinese woman in the Earth year 2036. Most of my previous Mars pictures deal with that period of serious colonization of Mars by humans, which occurred from approximately 2080 onward, although the first permanent Martian settlements began by 2065. By 2100, many of the native second or third generation Martians felt that Martian history ought to reflect Martian local years, rather than Earth years and that same year, the Martian Assembly voted to make the year of the first landing the first year of the Martian Era, or ME. By the time this colored halo of Marsopolis--a large city located in the Ares Vallis Outflow--was taken in 109 ME (or 205 Earth years later), the Martian population was approaching one billion people. Twenty-five Martian years earlier, when most of my stories take place, the population was closer to 100,000 people. This gives some idea of the number of people fleeing the wretched conditions of Earth, due to the continued global warming and rising of the oceans. Many people, whose homes disappeared beneath the sea, turned to Mars to find a new home and life. Displaced by the sea, unwanted by the rest of Earth's teeming masses and governments, Mars became their hope for a new life--and they were not disappointed. To be sure, there were American, Russian, and other European colonists on Mars, but they were a distinct minority. Russia and America had been the first to venture into space, but those countries faltered, then lost their vision for manned deep space exploration. It was left to the Chinese, Indians, and Brazilians to put humankind permanently into space and on Mars. Marsopolis has a metropolitan population of several million people. Like most Martian settlements, ninty percent or more of it is completely underground. That's one reason why you don't see a lot of vehicles crawling over the ground. Most of them are speeding along beneath the surface. With the development of antigravity vehicles, most surface vehicular traffic is airborne. That's it for now. Thanks for dropping by and taking a look. Your past comments and visits are deeply appreciated. Jeremy CREDITS: Vue Infinity Pro Studio 6.0. Terrain: from a color photo by ESA Express of Ares Vallis. IW Air Car (Renderosity). A3 Lany (DAZ, Renderosity). EcoSystem: StoneMason's Greeble City Objects (DAZ). Foreground buildings also by StoneMason. Davo's DUtility Vehicle (PowerFusion).