WideTree

Dewberry

2005-03-20T11:30:00.000-08:00

Any blackberry of the genus Rubus (family Rosaceae) so lacking woody fibre in the stems that it trails along the ground. In the eastern and southern United States, several trailing native species of Rubus, especially R. flagellaris, R. baileyanus, R. hispidus, R. enslenii, and R. trivialis, produce excellent fruits. Some varieties, especially Lucretia, are cultivated. See

Syria, Railways

2005-03-18T10:29:00.000-08:00

Syria's railways are well developed. A northern line runs northeastward from Aleppo into Turkey and then east along the border to al-Qamishli, where it crosses the northeastern extremity of Syria en route to Baghdad (Iraq). The Hejaz Railway runs from Damascus to Amman (Jordan), and a third runs from Aleppo to Tripoli (Lebanon). Aleppo and Damascus are also linked by rail. Smaller

Djibouti

2005-03-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Djibouti, French République de Djibouti, Arabic Jumhuriyah Jibuti, formerly (until 1977) French Territory of the Afars and Issas, strategically located nation on the northeast coast of the Horn of Africa. It is situated on the Strait of Mandeb, which lies to the east and separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden. Small in size (8,950 square miles [23,200 square kilometres]), Djibouti is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia to the west and southwest, and Somalia to the south. The Gulf of Tadjoura, which opens

Celtic Literature, Prose

2005-03-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

The early Irish epic was a prose narrative that usually contained non-narrative poetic passages, often in dialogue form. The resemblance between this and the type of epic found in early Sanskrit suggests that the tradition went back to Indo-European times. The oldest sagas probably were first written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, from an oral tradition. These were

Oak Harbor

2005-03-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

Town, Island county, northwestern Washington, U.S., on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. It was settled in 1849 by seafaring men, and its first industry was shipbuilding. Dutch immigrants arrived in 1890 and began developing the rich farmland; their presence on the island is celebrated in the town's annual Holland Happenings festival. The chief agricultural products are dairy foods,

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Even before Frederick III's time the House of Habsburg had won much of its standing in Germany and in central Europe through marriages to heiresses. Frederick's son Maximilian carried this matrimonial policy to heights of unequalled brilliance. First he himself in 1477 married the heiress of Burgundy, Charles the Bold's daughter Mary, with the result that the House of

Tarsal

2005-03-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Any of several short, angular bones that in humans make up the ankle and that—in animals that walk on their toes (e.g., dogs, cats) or on hoofs—are contained in the hock, lifted off the ground. The tarsals correspond to the carpal bones of the upper limb. In humans the tarsals, in combination with the metatarsal bones, form a longitudinal arch in the foot—a shape well adapted for

Agricola, Rodolphus

2005-03-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

Agricola

Holliday, Doc

2005-03-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Holliday was reared in Georgia in the genteel tradition of the Old South, graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872, and, already consumptive, moved west for drier climes. He practiced dentistry briefly in Dallas but soon discovered

China, Major cultures and sites

2005-03-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

There was not one Chinese Neolithic but a mosaic of regional cultures whose scope and significance are still being determined. Their location in the area defined today as China does not necessarily mean that all the Neolithic cultures were Chinese or even proto-Chinese. Their contributions to the Bronze Age civilization of the Shang, which may be taken as unmistakably

Dumesnil, Mademoiselle

2005-03-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

She made her Paris debut in 1737 at the Comédie-Française as Clytemnestre in Racine's Iphigénie en Aulide. A fiery actress who scorned tradition, she played Cléopâtre in Corneille's Rodogune and played Racine's Phèdre, Athalie,

Performing Arts, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

2005-03-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

One of the most original and most perfectly achieved films of the year, Aleksandr Sokurov's Russky kovcheg (Russian Ark) used digital resources to make a 96-minute film in a single shot as the camera explored the endless galleries of St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum. Pavel Lungin's Oligarkh (Tycoon) was a ferocious portrayal of corruption that instilled and linked big

Abdülaziz

2005-03-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

Like his brother Abdülmecid I, whom he succeeded as sultan on June 25, 1861, Abdülaziz was an ardent admirer of the material progress in western

Abu Nuwas

2005-03-04T23:09:00.000-08:00

Abu Nuwas, of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, studied in Basra and al-Kufah, first under the poet Walibah ibn al-Hubab, later under Khalaf al-Ahmar. He also studied the Qur'an (Islamic sacred scripture), Hadith (traditions relating to the life and utterances of the Prophet), and grammar and is said to have spent a year with the

Carlini, Armando

2005-03-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

Educated at

Strachey, John

2005-03-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

Early geologist who was the first to suggest the theory of stratified rock formations. He wrote Observations on the Different Strata of Earths and Minerals (1727) and stated that there was a relation between surface features and the rock structure, an idea that was not commonly accepted until a century later.

Ribeiro, Bernardim

2005-03-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

Ribeiro was

East End

2005-02-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

Traditional area of London, lying east of Shoreditch High Street, Houndsditch, Aldgate High Street, and Tower Bridge Approach. It extends eastward to the River Lea and lies mainly in the Inner London borough of Tower Hamlets, part of the historic county of Middlesex. In the Middle Ages the East End was part of the great parish of Stepney. It began to take on an identity

Balbus, Lucius Cornelius

2005-02-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

Gnaeus Pompey conferred Roman citizenship on Balbus and his family for his services against the rebel Quintus Sertorius in Spain. Becoming friendly with all political parties in Rome, Balbus had the determining

Hadley, John

2005-02-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

Hadley's first Newtonian reflector, built in 1721, had a mirror about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. The favourable response it evoked inspired

Perceval

2005-02-26T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hero of Arthurian romance, distinguished by his quality of childlike (often uncouth) innocence, which protected him from worldly temptation and set him apart from other knights in Arthur's fellowship. This quality also links his story with the primitive folktale theme of a great fool or simple hero. In Chrétien de Troyes's poem Le Conte du Graal (12th century), Perceval's

Disk Bat

2005-02-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Disk bats are distinguished by round pads at the base of the thumb and on the sole of the

Consistory

2005-02-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

(from Latin consistorium, “assembly place”), a gathering of ecclesiastical persons for the purpose of administering justice or transacting business, particularly meetings of the Sacred College of Cardinals with the pope as president. From the 11th century, when the institution of the cardinalate became more important, the Sacred College of Cardinals, assembled in

Beira

2005-02-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Former principality and historical province, north-central Portugal, extending from the banks of the Douro River in the north to the upper course of the Tagus in the southeast and from the Spanish frontier in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. The region was reconquered from the Moors in the 8th century, but Moorish attacks continued until the 15th. It was also

Ear, Human, Structure of the cochlea

2005-02-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

The cochlea contains the sensory organ of hearing. It bears a striking resemblance to the shell of a snail and in fact takes its name from the Greek word for this object. The cochlea is a spiral tube that is coiled two and one-half turns around a hollow central pillar, the modiolus. It forms a cone approximately 9 millimetres (0.35 inch) in diameter at its base and 5 millimetres

Levassor, émile

2005-02-21T04:10:00.000-08:00

Levassor took over a firm that made woodworking machinery. When René Panhard joined the firm in 1886, the renamed firm of Panhard and Levassor began to make metal-sawing machines as well. Around 1890 Levassor managed to gain control of the French licenses to the automobile engine

Cartwright, Peter

2005-02-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

His father, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, took his family to Kentucky in 1790. There Cartwright had little opportunity for schooling but was exposed to the rude surroundings of the frontier, becoming a gambler at cards and horse racing. This way of life came to

Euripus

2005-02-19T05:48:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Euripos, Evrípos, or Porthmós Evrípou, narrow strait in the Aegean Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea), between the Greek island of Euboea (Évvoia) and the mainland of central Greece. It is 5 miles (8 km) long and varies from 130 feet (40 m) to 1 mile (1.6 km) in width. It has strong tidal currents (often reaching velocities of 12 knots) that reverse directions seven or more times a day. According to popular tradition, the ancient Greek

Francis I

2005-02-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

Also called (until 1515) Francis Of Angoulême, French François D'angoulême king of France (1515–47), the first of five monarchs of the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois. A Renaissance patron of the arts and scholarship, a humanist, and a knightly king, he waged campaigns in Italy (1515–16) and fought a series of wars with the Holy Roman Empire (1521–44).

Jacobsen, Jens Peter

2005-02-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

The son of a Jutland merchant, Jacobsen was a student of the natural sciences. He became a follower of Charles Darwin and translated into Danish both On the Origin of Species, in 1871–73, and The Descent

Abbott, George Francis

2005-02-16T05:35:00.000-08:00

U.S. theatrical director, producer, playwright, actor, and motion-picture director (b. June 25, 1887, Forestville, N.Y.--d. Jan. 31, 1995, Miami Beach, Fla.), as the dean of Broadway showmen, brought a no-nonsense approach, a flair for establishing pacing and humour, and an exceptional ability to maintain action effectively to the staging of some of the most popular Broadway musicals and farces that

Neo-confucianism

2005-02-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

In China, a rationalistic revival of Confucian philosophy in the 11th century AD that exercised profound influence on Chinese thought for the next 800 years. See Confucianism.

Yana

2005-02-14T03:51:00.000-08:00

There were four Yana divisions—Northern, Central, and Southern Yana, as well as

Allemontite

2005-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

The mineral arsenic antimonide (AsSb). It commonly occurs in veins, as at Allemont, Isère, Fr.; Valtellina, Italy; and the Comstock Lode, Nevada. It also is present in a lithium pegmatite at Varuträsk, Swed. Polished sections of most specimens of allemontite show an intergrowth of allemontite with either pure arsenic in a vein occurrence or with nearly pure antimony in a

Furniture, Early Middle Ages

2005-02-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

With the collapse of the Roman Empire during the 4th–5th centuries, Europe sank into a period in which little furniture, except the most basic, was used: chairs, stools, benches, and primitive chests were the most common items. Several centuries were to pass before the invading Teutonic peoples evolved forms of furniture that approached the Roman standard of domestic

Austin, Stephen

2005-02-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

Raised on the Missouri frontier, Austin was educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., and served in the Missouri territorial legislature (1814–19). The economic panic of 1819 led his father, Moses Austin

Europe

2005-02-10T06:33:00.000-08:00

Second smallest of the world's continents (after Australia), composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south (west to east) by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Kuma-Manych Depression, and the

Canaanite Inscriptions

2005-02-08T03:55:00.000-08:00

A group of 11 inscriptions recovered from bowls and other utensils found in several archaeological sites in Palestine dating from approximately the 16th to 13th century BC. Because they have not as yet been satisfactorily deciphered, it is unclear whether or not the writing system used in these inscriptions is related to the North Semitic alphabet, which has been positively

Performing Arts, Great Britain and Ireland.

2005-02-08T03:41:00.000-08:00

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was plunged into turmoil again when its artistic director, Adrian Noble, resigned on April 24, 2002. Noble's announcement came the week after his West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a new musical based on the 1968 movie, opened to good reviews and a healthy advance at the box office at the London Palladium. Cynics saw Chitty's flying car

Shadrafa

2005-02-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

Ancient West Semitic benevolent deity. His name may possibly be translated as “Spirit of Healing.” He was often represented as a youthful, beardless male, standing on a lion above mountains, wearing a long, trailing garment and a pointed headdress, and holding a small lion in one hand and, perhaps, a whip in the other. In representations from Palmyra, Shadrafa is shown with

Pencil Drawing

2005-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Drawing executed with an instrument composed of graphite enclosed in a wood casing and intended either as a sketch for a more elaborate work in another medium, an exercise in visual expression, or a finished work. The cylindrical graphite pencil, because of its usefulness in easily producing linear gray-black strokes, became the successor of the older, metallic

Africa

2005-02-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

Initially, the province comprised the territory that had been subject to Carthage in 149 BC; this was an area of about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km), divided from the kingdom of

Hay Fever

2005-02-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Also called rose fever or allergic rhinitis seasonally recurrent bouts of sneezing, nasal congestion, and tearing and itching of the eyes caused by allergy to the pollen of certain plants, chiefly those depending upon the wind for cross-fertilization, such as ragweed in North America and timothy grass in Great Britain. In allergic persons contact with pollen releases histamine from the tissues, which irritates

Lurçat, Jean

2005-02-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

Although his first tapestries were executed and exhibited in 1917, it was not until 1936 that Lurçat turned from being primarily a painter to designing tapestries. In 1939 he and the painters

Section D'or

2005-01-29T06:21:00.000-08:00

(French: “Golden Section”), group of Cubist painters concerned with the proportion and rhythm of geometric forms. The group's name was suggested by Jacques Villon, and the principal members included Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Roger de La Fresnaye, Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Louis Marcoussis, Jean Metzinger, Francis

Dublin

2005-01-27T01:56:00.000-08:00

Irish Dubh Linn, or Norse Dyfflin (“Black Pool”) , also called Baile Átha Cliath (“Town of the Ford of the Hurdle”), city, formally a county borough, and capital of County Dublin and of Ireland. Located in the east-central part of the country at the head of Dublin Bay on the Irish Sea, the city is the country's chief port, centre of financial and commercial power, and seat of culture. It is also a city of contrasts, maintaining an uneasy relationship between reminders of its colonial past

Midgard

2005-01-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Midgardr (Old Norse: Middle Abode) , also called Manna-Heim (“Home of Man”) in Norse mythology, the Middle Earth, the abode of mankind, made from the body of the first created being, the giant Aurgelmir (Ymir). According to legend, the gods killed Aurgelmir, rolled his body into the central void of the universe, and began fashioning the Midgard. Aurgelmir's flesh became the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his

Arms, Roll Of

2005-01-23T01:08:00.000-08:00

Illuminated manuscript describing (blazoning) and often illustrating (emblazoning) the arms of persons present at a particular battle or tournament. In addition to their historical interest, these rolls are excellent examples of heraldic art. There has been no break in the compilation of rolls of arms for official purposes since their origin in the mid-13th century.

China, The Taiping Rebellion

2005-01-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

In the first half of the 19th century the province of Kwangtung, the homeland of the Taiping people, was beset with accelerating social unrest. After the first Opium War, government prestige declined, and officials lost their capacity to reconcile communal feudings. The greatest among such conflicts was that between the native settlers and the so-called guest

Sundanese

2005-01-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

Historically they were first recorded under the Indo-Javanese Brahmanical states

Vail, Alfred Lewis

2005-01-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

Shortly after Vail graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1836, he met Morse and became interested in Morse's telegraph experiments. In return for a share in the

France, History Of, Education

2005-01-16T03:11:00.000-08:00

In the 6th century, especially in southern Gaul, the aristocracy and, consequently, the bishops drawn from it preserved an interest in traditional classical culture. Beginning in the 7th century, the Columbanian monasteries insisted on the study of the Bible and the celebration of the liturgy. In the Carolingian era these innovations shared the focus of education

Amazonas

2005-01-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Largest estado (“state”) of Brazil, situated in the northwestern part of the country. It is bounded to the northwest by Colombia, to the north by Venezuela and the Brazilian state of Roraima, to the east and southeast by the Brazilian states of Pará and Mato Grosso, to the south by the Brazilian state of Rondônia, to the southwest by the Brazilian state of Acre, and to the west

Gulf Coast

2005-01-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

Geographic area in the extreme southern United States along the Gulf of Mexico. Stretching for more than 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the coast of Florida, it extends about 100 miles (160 km) inland and runs west along southern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Land elevations are nowhere more than 500 feet (150 m) in the region. Precipitation is more than 60 inches (1,500 mm) in the southeastern and

Crawford, William H(arris)

2005-01-09T13:53:00.000-08:00

After living in Virginia and South Carolina, the Crawford family moved to Georgia, where William attended Moses Waddel's Carmel Academy. He then taught school in Augusta,

Blanqui, Adolphe

2005-01-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

In 1833 Blanqui succeeded Jean-Baptiste Say, under whom he had studied, to the chair of political economy at the Conservatory of Arts and Trades. Blanqui's work blended theoretical and empirical approaches in an

Amberg

2005-01-05T05:29:00.000-08:00

City, Bayern Land (Bavaria state), southeastern Germany, on the Vils River, in the foothills of the Franconian Jura and Bayernwald (Bavarian Forest), southeast of Nürnberg. First mentioned in 1034, it was a court town with considerable trade (in iron and tinplate) and industry in the 14th–16th century. The ducal residence (until 1621) and the capital (until 1810) of the Upper Palatinate, it had many

Tibet, Agriculture and forestry

2005-01-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

The staple crops are barley, wheat, and pulses; other important crops include millet, buckwheat, rgya-bra (a grain similar to buckwheat), beans, hemp, and mustard. Butter from the yak (large, long-haired ox) or the mdzo-mo (a crossbreed of the yak and the cow) is the main dairy product. The diet is supplemented by a variety of garden vegetables. Some rice is raised in the southeast.

Plainview

2004-12-30T15:57:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1888) of Hale county, northwestern Texas, U.S. It lies on the Llano Estacado, a portion of the High Plains between Amarillo and Lubbock (40 miles [65 km] south). The site was surveyed in 1887 by Z.T. Maxwell and E.L. Lowe, who named it Plainview because of the unbroken view to the horizon. The settlement remained a trading post for cattlemen until the railroad arrived in 1907, when it was incorporated

Great Abaco

2004-12-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

Island, The Bahamas, located about 55 miles (86 km) north of the capital city, Nassau, on New Providence island. It is separated from Little Abaco to the northwest by a narrow, shallow channel. Great Abaco occupies an area of 372 square miles (963 square km). It is shaped like a right angle, with one side of the angle pointing northwest and the other southwest. Its major city, Marsh Harbour,

Computers, Colossus

2004-12-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

The exigencies of war gave impetus and funding to computer research. For example, in Britain, the impetus was code-breaking. The Ultra project was funded with much secrecy to develop the technology necessary to crack ciphers and codes produced by the German electromechanical devices known as the Enigma and the Geheimscheiber (“Secret Writer”). The first code-breaking

Are

2004-12-25T01:21:00.000-08:00

Basic unit of area in the metric system, equal to 100 square metres and the equivalent of 0.0247 acre. Its multiple, the hectare (equal to 100 ares), is the principal unit of land measurement for most of the world.

Andrew Of Caesarea

2004-12-21T19:10:00.000-08:00

Andrew's exposition of the book of Revelation is marked by a specific Christian interpretation of history which

Holography

2004-12-19T23:36:00.000-08:00

An ordinary

English Literature, The later Romantics: Shelley, Keats, and Byron

2004-12-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

The poets of the next generation shared their predecessors' passion for liberty (now set in a new perspective by the Napoleonic wars) and were in a position to learn from their experiments. Percy Bysshe Shelley in particular was deeply interested in politics, coming early under the spell of the anarchistic views of William Godwin, whose Enquiry Concerning Political

Deere & Company

2004-12-14T11:36:00.000-08:00

The company's origin dates to 1836, when John Deere (q.v.) invented the first steel plow that could till American Midwest prairie soil without clogging. The following year, Deere established a business to manufacture and market the plow, and his own company was incorporated

Andorra

2004-12-12T11:06:00.000-08:00

Andorra's independence is traditionally ascribed to Charlemagne, who recovered the

World War I, Eastern Europe and the Russian periphery, MarchNovember 1918

2004-12-10T06:23:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 3, 1918) gave Germany a free hand to do what it liked with Russia's former possessions in eastern Europe. While they pursued their plan of 1916 for a kingdom of Poland, the Germans took new measures for the other countries. Lithuania, recognized as independent, was to be a kingdom under some German prince. Latvia and Estonia were to be merged into a

Musical Notation

2004-12-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

Written notations are to be found in the musical cultures of the Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West. Early examples survive from Ancient Egypt and Greece. Notation may be classified into two broad categories: phonetic symbols—words, syllables, abbreviations of these, letters, and numbers; and graphic signs—accentual signs for the rise

Adams, John, Special topics

2004-12-06T01:45:00.000-08:00

Finally, seminal essays on Adams's personality and ideology can be found in several books that focus on larger themes during the Revolutionary era. These include Bernard Bailyn, Faces of Revolution: Personalities and Themes in the Struggle for American Independence (1990, reissued 1992); Edmund S. Morgan, The Meaning of Independence: John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson (1976, reissued 1978); and Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969, reissued 1998).

Awka

2004-12-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Anambra state, southern Nigeria. The town lies along roads leading from Owerri, Umuahia, Onitsha, and Enugu. Formerly covered with tropical forest, the area around Awka now mostly consists of wooded grassland. South of the town on the slopes of the Awka-Orlu Uplands are some examples of soil erosion and gullying. Awka is the traditional home of the

Ryan, Thomas Fortune

2004-12-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

Born in poverty and orphaned at the age of 14, Ryan came to New York at 21, joining

Jacob's Ladder

2004-11-30T18:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Greek Valerian, any of about 25 species of the genus Polemonium of the family Polemoniaceae, native to temperate areas in North and South America and Eurasia. Many are valued as garden flowers and wildflowers. They have loose, spikelike clusters of drooping blue, violet, or white, funnel-shaped, five-petaled flowers and alternate, pinnately (featherlike) compound

Hale Telescope

2004-11-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

In full George Ellery Hale Telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful reflecting telescopes, located at the Palomar Observatory, Mount Palomar, Calif. Having a diameter of 5 m (200 inches), it is second only to the 6-metre (236-inch) reflector of the Special Astrophysical Observatory, Zelenchukskaya, Russia. Financed by the Rockefeller Foundation, the telescope at Palomar was completed in 1948 and named in honour

Amazon River, Physiography of the river course

2004-11-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

The Amazon River has its main outlet north of Marajó Island, a lowland somewhat larger in size than Denmark, through a cluster of half-submerged islets and shallow sandbanks. Here the mouth of the river is 40 miles (64 kilometres) wide. The port city of Belém is on the deep water of the Pará River, an estuary marking the south side of Marajó, which is fed chiefly by the Tocantins

Atholl, John Stewart, 4th Earl Of

2004-11-24T02:37:00.000-08:00

The son of John Stewart, the 3rd Earl of Atholl in the Stewart line (whom he succeeded in 1542), Atholl was particularly trusted by Mary Stuart; but, after the murder of Mary's husband Lord Darnley in 1567, he joined the Protestant lords against her

Santa-clara

2004-11-23T04:55:00.000-08:00

Cape situated on the Atlantic coast of northwestern Gabon, Africa. Extending south from the larger peninsula that separates the Gabon estuary from Corisco Bay, the cape juts into the mouth of the estuary. Santa-Clara is located 12 miles (20 km) north of Libreville and just north of Owendo, one of Gabon's major ports. Like Cape Esterias, still farther north, Santa-Clara has fine

Amalthaea

2004-11-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

In Greek (originally Cretan) mythology, the foster mother of Zeus, king of the gods. She is sometimes represented as the goat that suckled the infant god in a cave in Crete, sometimes as a nymph who fed him the milk of a goat. This goat having broken off one of its horns, Amalthaea filled the horn with flowers and fruits and presented it to Zeus, who, according to one version, placed

Medicine, Naval and air force medicine

2004-11-19T02:10:00.000-08:00

Naval medical services are run on lines similar to those of the army. Junior medical officers are attached to ships or to shore stations and deal with most cases of sickness in their units. When at sea, medical officers have an exceptional degree of responsibility in that they work alone, unless they are on a very large ship. In peacetime, only the larger ships carry a

Peter I

2004-11-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

The son of Afonso IV and his consort Beatriz of Castile, Peter was married in 1336 to Constanza of Castile; but she died in 1345, and Peter is chiefly remembered for his tragic amour with Inês de Castro (q.v.), whose death he savagely avenged after his accession to the throne. Even so, some of his acts, designed to curb abuses and to enhance

Wach, Joachim

2004-11-14T04:36:00.000-08:00

As a professor of the history of religion at the University of Leipzig (1929–35) and the University of Chicago (1945–55), Wach contributed significantly to the field of study that became known as the sociology of religion. He is credited with introducing into

Lakabi Ware

2004-11-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

Lakabi also spelled Laqabi, also called Kashan Ware, in Islamic ceramics, a style of pottery associated with Kashan, Persia (Iran), from about the middle of the 11th century until the end of the 14th century. The name (lakabi, “painted”) is a misnomer, actually referring to an incised design decorated with different coloured glazes separated by clay threads. Colours used were blue, yellow, purple, and green. Some lakabi wares were also

Zambezi River

2004-11-11T03:58:00.000-08:00

The Lozi (Barotse), who dominate much of the upper Zambezi, have taken advantage of the seasonal flooding of the Barotse Plain for centuries and have an agricultural economy that is supplemented by animal husbandry, fishing, and trade. The main groups of the middle Zambezi include the Tonga, Shona, Chewa, and Nsenga peoples, all of whom largely practice subsistence agriculture.

Christian-jaque

2004-11-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

Christian-Jaque was educated at the School of Fine Arts and the School of Decorative Arts, both in Paris. He started his career as a journalist and film critic and in 1926 entered the film industry

Earth Satellite

2004-11-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

The idea of an artificial satellite in orbital flight was first suggested by Sir Isaac Newton in his book Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687). He pointed out that a cannonball shot at

Saarbrücken

2004-11-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

City, capital (1959) of Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the Saar River at the mouth of the Sulz River, a frontier station opposite Forbach, Fr. There were Celtic and Roman settlements in the vicinity, but the name is derived from the Frankish royal castle of Sarrabrucca, referring to a bridge across the river dating from Roman times. Its early rulers were the bishops

Earth Mother

2004-11-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

In ancient and modern nonliterate religions, an eternally fruitful source of everything. Unlike the variety of female fertility deities called mother goddesses (q.v.), the Earth Mother is not a specific source of vitality who must periodically undergo sexual intercourse. She is simply the mother; there is nothing separate from her. All things come from her, return

Rupee

2004-10-30T23:08:00.000-07:00

In the late 16th century the Mughal rulers of central and northern India established the silver rupee, which was divided

Biblical Literature, The role of Samson

2004-10-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

The exploits of the great Israelite strongman judge, Samson (a member of the tribe of Dan), are related in chapters 13–16. Dedicated from birth by his mother to Yahweh, Samson became a member of the Nazirites, an anti-Canaanite reform movement. As a Nazirite, he was required never to cut his hair, drink wine, or eat ritually unclean food. He married a Philistine woman whom he then

Yukaghir Language

2004-10-25T01:43:00.000-07:00

Language spoken by not more than a few hundred persons in the Kolyma River region of Sakha (Yakutiya) republic of Russia. Yukaghir was traditionally grouped in the catchall category of Paleo-Siberian languages with a number of languages that are not genetically related or structurally similar. More recently, however, Yukaghir has been considered a distant relative

Qui Nhon

2004-10-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

City and provincial seat of Nghia Binh tinh (province), central Vietnam. It is on the coast of the South China Sea at the entrance to the shallow 17-mi- (27-km-) long Qui Nhon Bay, which trends north–south. The port was opened to French trade in 1874, the harbour serving as an open roadstead for larger ships until after World War II. In 1965 the port was upgraded with U.S. assistance to support military

Caribou

2004-10-22T18:59:00.000-07:00

City, Aroostook county, northeastern Maine, U.S. It lies along the Aroostook River, near the New Brunswick border, 13 miles (21 km) north of Presque Isle. Settled in 1824, it developed as a lumbering centre and was incorporated in 1859 as Lyndon. It was renamed Caribou in 1877 for the woodland caribou once plentiful in the region. The city is the shipping point for a large potato-growing region.

Kertész, Imre

2004-10-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

At age 14, Kertész was deported with other Hungarian Jews during World War II to the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. He was later sent to the Buchenwald camp in Germany, from which he was

China, The Shang dynasty

2004-10-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

The first dynasty to leave historical records is thought to have ruled from the mid-16th to mid-11th century BC. (Some scholars date the Shang dynasty from the mid-18th to the late 12th century BC.) One must, however, distinguish Shang as an archaeological term from Shang as a dynastic one. Erh-li-t'ou in north central Honan, for example, was initially classified archaeologically as Early

Tie-dyeing

2004-10-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Method of dyeing by hand in which coloured patterns are produced in the fabric by gathering together many small portions of material and tying them tightly with string before immersing the cloth in the dyebath. The dye fails to penetrate the tied sections. After drying, the fabric is untied to reveal irregular circles, dots, and stripes. Varicoloured patterns may

Amos, Valerie Ann, Baroness Amos Of Brondesbury

2004-10-14T04:32:00.000-07:00

British politician, the first woman of African descent to serve in a British cabinet and as leader of the House of Lords. She was educated at Townley Grammar School for Girls and received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Warwick (1976) and a master's degree in cultural studies from the University of Birmingham (1977). She worked

Earth, Convective electrojets

2004-10-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

The auroral electrojets are two broad sheets of electric current that flow from noon toward midnight in the northern and southern auroral ovals. The dawn side current flows westward, creating a decrease in the magnetic field on the surface. The dusk side current flows eastward and produces an increase in the magnetic field. Both currents flow at an altitude of approximately

Epistolary Novel

2004-10-09T08:20:00.000-07:00

A novel told through the medium of letters written by one or more of the characters. Originating with Samuel Richardson's Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), the story of a servant girl's victorious struggle against her master's attempts to seduce her, it was one of the earliest forms of novel to be developed and remained one of the most popular up to the 19th century. The epistolary

Aegis

2004-10-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Egis, plural Aegises, or Egises, in ancient Greece, leather cloak or breastplate generally associated with Zeus, the king of the gods, and thus thought to possess supernatural power. Zeus's daughter Athena adopted the aegis for ordinary dress. Occasionally, another god used it—e.g., Apollo in the Iliad, where it provoked terror. As early as Homer the aegis was more than an ordinary goatskin cloak, for it

Sarcee

2004-10-06T03:49:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Sarsi, North American Plains Indian people of Athabascan linguistic stock who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries near the upper Saskatchewan and Athabaska rivers. They probably moved southward to this region near the end of the 17th century when they became the northern neighbours of the Blackfoot Indians, from whom they received some protection from enemies. Their name