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Ahir

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

Cattle-tending caste widespread in northern and central India. Considerable historical interest attaches to this caste, because its members are thought to be identical with the Abhiras of Sanskrit literature, who are mentioned repeatedly in the great epic the Mahabharata. Some scholars contend that these cattlemen, scattered over southern Rajasthan and Sind (now

Amrouche, Jean

2005-03-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Amrouche published Cendres (1934; “Cinders

Fick, August

2005-03-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

Fick presented his reconstruction of a parent language of remote prehistoric times in the first edition

Loyal Publication Society

2005-03-28T21:41:00.000-08:00

In addition to distributing materials “of unquestionable loyalty,” the societies were active in both state and national politics, allied with the Republican

Fructose

2005-03-28T05:02:00.000-08:00

A member of a group of carbohydrates known as simple sugars, or monosaccharides. Fructose, along with glucose, occurs in fruits, honey, and syrups; it also occurs in certain vegetables. It is a component, along with glucose, of the disaccharide sucrose, or common table sugar. Phosphate derivatives of fructose (e.g., fructose-1-phosphate, fructose-1,6-diphosphate) are important

Furniture, 19th century

2005-03-27T19:22:00.000-08:00

The Empire style began in Paris about the time of the Revolution and quickly spread throughout Europe, each country adapting it to its own national taste. In England it is commonly called the Regency style. Two French architects, Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, who designed the furnishings for the staterooms of Napoleon, contributed in great measure to the

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

2005-03-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, extending south-southeastward for about 250 miles (400 km) from Poncha Pass, in south-central Colorado, U.S., to the low divide southwest of Las Vegas, N.M., in north-central New Mexico. Usually considered an extension of the Front Range (q.v.), they are divided into the Culebra and Sangre de Cristo ranges in Colorado. Many of their glaciated summits

Sorosilicate

2005-03-26T06:45:00.000-08:00

Formerly called Pyrosilicate, any member of a group of compounds with structures that have two silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) linked together. Because one oxygen atom is shared by two tetrahedrons, the chemical formula contains Si2O7, as in melilite or hemimorphite.

Education, History Of, Stages of education

2005-03-25T23:41:00.000-08:00

There were three stages of education. The basic skills of reading and writing were taught by the elementary-school master, or grammatistes, whose pupils generally ranged from six or seven to 10 years of age. The secondary-school master, or grammatikos, supervised the study and appreciation of classical literature and of literary Greek, from which the spoken Greek of

Gabon, Relief and drainage

2005-03-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

The narrow coastal plain—often no more than 20 miles (32 kilometres) wide in the south—is formed of sandstone and alluvium; northward it broadens to a width of 100 miles, with outcrops of chalk, limestone, and Cretaceous sandstone. North of the most westerly point, Cape Lopez, the contour of the coast becomes more jagged. The Atlantic's northward-flowing Benguela Current, which

Education, History Of, Stages of education

2005-03-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

British honorary institution founded by Edward VII in 1902 to reward those who provided especially eminent service in the armed forces or particularly distinguished themselves in science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. The order is limited to only 24 members, although the British monarch can appoint foreigners as “honorary members.” The order carries no

Béjart Family

2005-03-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Joseph Béjart (c. 1617–59) was a strolling player and later a member of Molière's first company (the Illustre Théâtre). Joseph accompanied Molière in his theatrical wanderings and was with him when

Fadiman, Clifton

2005-03-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

Fadiman was the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, and he early became an avid and voracious reader. After graduating from Columbia University, New York City, in 1925, he taught school and then became an editor in the publishing

Hanafiyah

2005-03-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Madhhab Hanifah , English Hanafites in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of religious law, incorporating the legal opinions of the ancient Iraqi schools of al-Kufah and Basra. Hanafi legal thought (madhhab) developed from the teachings of the theologian Imam Abu Hanifah (c. 700–767) by such disciples as Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and Muhammad ash-Shaybani (749/750–805) and became the official system of Islamic legal interpretation of the 'Abbasids, Seljuqs

Riau

2005-03-21T06:01:00.000-08:00

Provinsi (“province”), east-central Sumatra, Indonesia. It is bounded by the provinces of Jambi on the south, Sumatera Barat (West Sumatra) on the west, Sumatera Utara (North Sumatra) on the north and northwest, the Malacca Strait on the east, and the Berhala Strait on the southeast. Riau provinsi includes the Riau Islands, an archipelago lying at the southern entrance to the

Vihara

2005-03-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

Early type of Buddhist monastery consisting of an open court surrounded by open cells accessible through an entrance porch. The viharas in India were originally constructed to shelter the monks during the rainy season, when it became difficult for them to lead the wanderer's life. They took on a sacred character when small stupas (housing sacred relics) and images

Welland Canal

2005-03-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Waterway in southern Ontario, Can., that provides navigation for large vessels between Lake Erie to the south and Lake Ontario to the north and forms an important link in the St. Lawrence Seaway. The canal was necessary because the Niagara River, the natural connection between Lakes Erie and Ontario, has impassable falls and rapids. The modern Welland Canal extends

Rwanda, Flag Of

2005-03-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

Under the Belgian colonial regime, the elite Tutsi minority ruled the social, political, and economic life of Rwanda. The majority Hutu eventually organized a revolt against this feudal system, which culminated in a civil war that began on November 1, 1959. On March 23, 1960, the new Provisional Special Council, which was established by the Belgians and dominated by Hutu members,

Mahallah Al-kubra, Al-

2005-03-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Mahalla El-kubra, city, in the central Nile River delta of Lower Egypt, eastern Al-Gharbiyah muhafazah (governorate). It lies just west of the Damietta Branch of the Nile. Because the names of a large number of Egyptian places were compounded with mahallah (Arabic: “encampment”), exact references to the town by early Arab writers are uncertain. Al-Mahallah al-Kubra, however, was apparently an important

Kyaukse

2005-03-18T16:14:00.000-08:00

Town, central Myanmar (Burma). Lying on the Zawgyi River, 25 miles (40 km) south of Mandalay, it is served by the Mandalay-Yangôn (Rangoon) railway. The first Myanmar (Burmese) probably settled in the area about 800, and local 12th- and 13th-century inscriptions refer to Kyaukse as “the first home.” Remains of pagodas and old cities are found throughout the area. The Shwethalyaung pagoda, built

Indiana

2005-03-17T17:34:00.000-08:00

Constituent state of the United States of America. The state sits, as its motto claims, at “the crossroads of America.” It borders Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan on the north, Ohio on the east, Kentucky on the south, and Illinois on the west, making it an integral part of the Midwest. Indiana's 36,185 square miles (93,720 square kilometres) also make it, except for Hawaii, the smallest

Cheboksary

2005-03-17T04:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ceboksary , Chuvash Shupashkar city and capital, Chuvashia republic, Russia. It lies on the right bank of the middle Volga River, between Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. Although Cheboksary is known to have existed since the mid-15th century, and a fortress was built there in 1555, the town remained unimportant until the building of a rail link to Kanash in 1939. Thereafter it grew rapidly, with modern apartment blocks

Caazapá

2005-03-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Paraguay. Founded in 1607 by Friar Bolaños, the town is situated on the edge of the westward extension of the Brazilian Highlands, including the Cordillera (mountains) de Ybytyruzú. Caazapá is a lumbering and agricultural centre, and tanneries are also located there. The town has a regional hospital, various educational institutions including an agricultural

Steffens, (joseph) Lincoln

2005-03-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

After attending the University of California, Steffens studied psychology with Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig and with Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, which confirmed his basic positivist orientation.

Shibin Al-kawm

2005-03-15T00:44:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shebin El-Kom capital of Al-Minufiyah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies 37 miles (60 km) northwest of Cairo in the southern Nile River delta. Its centre, 10 miles (16 km) east of the Rosetta Branch of the Nile, is situated on the west side of the Shibin Canal, which flows north from Al-Khayriyah Dam to irrigate a rich alluvial region growing cotton, flax, and cereals. Shibin Al-Kawm's manufactures include

Antarctica, History

2005-03-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

A thorough general account is in C. Hartley Grattan, The Southwest Pacific Since 1900 (1963). An interesting and thorough history is Walter Sullivan, Quest for a Continent (1957). Kenneth J. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, 1775–1948 (1971), recounts early U.S. explorations. Antarctica: Great Stories from the Frozen Continent (1985), offers a readable and profusely illustrated account of explorers from many nations, as well as a description of the physical environment. A complete list of expeditions, claims, treaties, discoveries, and meetings is found in R.K. Headland, Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events (1989).

Eritrea, Contesting for the coastlands

2005-03-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Off the plateau, the pastoralist peoples in the west and north knew no foreign master until the early 19th century, when the Egyptians invaded the Sudan and raided deep into the Eritrean lowlands. The Red Sea coast, owing to its strategic and commercial importance, was contested by many powers. In the 16th century the Turks occupied the Dahlak Archipelago and then Massawa,

Garrett

2005-03-14T05:17:00.000-08:00

County, extreme western Maryland, U.S., lying between West Virginia to the west and south and Pennsylvania to the north. Parklands and lakes occupy one-fifth of the county area. Waterways such as the Casselman, Savage, and Youghiogheny rivers as well as Deep Creek Lake, the state's largest freshwater lake, line the valleys of the Allegheny Mountains. Backbone

Selaginella

2005-03-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

Genus of plants that are commonly known as spike moss (q.v.).

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270

2005-03-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

Posterity's image of Napoleon III and his regime has not been uniform. Some historians have seen him as a shallow opportunist whose only asset was a glorious name. Others have described him as a visionary reformer and patron of progress, a man who successfully attempted to reconcile liberty and authority, national prestige and European cooperation. The emperor's

Danielsson, Anders

2005-03-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

Danielsson was elected to the peasant chamber of the Riksdag (Parliament) in 1809. At the height of his career he came to represent 27 districts in that body, a unique achievement in Swedish parliamentary history. The peasant program for which he fought included such points as reduced military

Geologic Sciences, Oil and natural gas

2005-03-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

Crude oil and natural gas in commercial quantities are generally found in sedimentary rocks along rifted continental margins and in intracontinental

Astilbe

2005-03-11T06:05:00.000-08:00

A. chinensis, up to 60 cm (2 feet) in height, has produced several

Bioceramics

2005-03-11T03:28:00.000-08:00

Ceramic products or components employed in medical and dental applications, mainly as implants and replacements. This article briefly describes the principal ceramic materials and surveys the uses to which they are put in medical and dental applications. For an explanation of important issues in biomedical uses of all materials (including ceramics), see the

Arguello, Alexis

2005-03-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association's featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in a 15-round decision to Ernesto

Quahog

2005-03-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

Edible species of clam (q.v.).

African Greek Orthodox Church

2005-03-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

A religious movement in East Africa that represents a prolonged search for a Christianity more African and, its adherents say, more authentic than the denominational mission forms transplanted from overseas. It began when an Anglican in Uganda, Reuben Spartas, heard of the independent, all-black African Orthodox Church in the United States and founded his own

Arabia, History Of, The gulf states

2005-03-09T00:30:00.000-08:00

In 1835 the Qawasim coastal tribes of the Persian Gulf, earlier conquered and inspired by the Wahhabis, were induced to bind themselves by a maritime truce to end hostilities with the British by sea, and the truce was made permanent in 1853. In Oman, Sultan ibn Ahmad, revolting against his uncle the imam in 1793, gained mastery of the coastal towns. The British made Omani Zanzibar, in East Africa,

January Insurrection

2005-03-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

After Alexander II became emperor of Russia and king of Poland in 1855, the strict and repressive regime that had been imposed on Poland after the November Insurrection (1830–31) was substantially relaxed. Nevertheless,

Kita-ibaraki

2005-03-08T01:03:00.000-08:00

City, northern Ibaraki Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. The western part of the city occupies hills that slope toward the rest of the city on the coast. Agriculture (rice) and fishing (sardines, mackerel) are important. Because of the closing of all but one of the coal mines in the area, the city's population was decreasing throughout the 1970s. Kita-Ibaraki

Drang Nach Osten

2005-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

The medieval Drang nach Osten was part

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

2005-03-07T04:56:00.000-08:00

Haliburton was admitted to the bar in 1820 and, as a member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly (1826–29), led

Feld, Eliot

2005-03-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

Feld performed in the original stage and

Alcohol Consumption

2005-03-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

Alcoholic beverages include wines, beers, and spirits. Wines are fermented

Ecoterrorism

2005-03-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Ecoterrorism

Pole, Richard De La

2005-03-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Pole was the youngest son of John de la Pole, 2nd duke of Suffolk (died 1491/92), and Elizabeth, sister to the Yorkist king Edward IV (ruled 1461–70, 1471–83). Since Edward IV's brother and successor, Richard III, died childless and since Edward's own sons disappeared in the Tower of London, the de la Poles inherited the Yorkist claim

Priesthood

2005-03-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

The Vedic, Brahmanic, and Upanishadic conceptions of priesthood and the predominance of the Brahman caste in Hinduism are discussed in Arthur Berriedale Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, 2 vol. (1925, reprinted 1989); S. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu View of Life (1927, reissued 1980), and Eastern Religions and Western Thought, 2nd ed. (1940, reissued 1991); J.H. Hutton, Caste in India, 2nd ed. (1951); and R.C. Zaehner, Hinduism (1962, reissued 1977), with a full bibliography. C.J. Fuller, Servants of the Goddess: The Priests of a South Indian Temple (1984), analyzes the complex interrelationships between the priests of the Minaksi Temple in Madurai and the economic, political, and social structure of contemporary India. V. Bouillier and G. Toffin (eds.), Priesthood, Power, and Authority in the Himalayas (1989), in English and French, is a collection of ethnographic papers concerning the role of the priesthood in Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and two tribal religions, the Tharu of Dang and the cult of Kham Magar. The sublimation of priesthood in Buddhism in India, China, and Japan is treated in Paul Dahlke, Buddhism and Its Place in the Mental Life of Mankind (1927); and Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (1951, reissued 1975). D. Howard Smith, Chinese Religions (1968), introduces religious thought and sacerdotal practice in China. Religious Studies in Japan (1959), a collection of papers from the ninth International Congress for the History of Religions, is a very informative composite volume in English by a group of Japanese scholars. Texts concerning the Zen sect include Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Manual of Zen Buddhism, 2nd ed. (1950, reissued 1983); and Alan Watts, The Way of Zen (1957, reprinted 1989); while reference is made to it in R.C. Zaehner, Mysticism, Sacred and Profane (1957, reissued 1980). The priesthood in Shinto is discussed in D.C. Holtom, The National Faith of Japan (1938, reissued 1965).

Dzungarian Basin

2005-03-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

The basin is located between the Mongolian Altai Mountains, on the Sino-Mongolian border, to the north, and the P'o-lo-k'o-nu and O-ha-pu-t'e mountains to the south; the latter run east and west immediately to the north of the Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”). To the east and southeast, respectively, the basin is

Qatar

2005-03-03T00:33:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Qatar's history before the 18th century, when the region's population consisted largely of transient nomads and a few small fishing villages. Qatar's modern history begins conventionally in 1766 with the migration to the peninsula of families from Kuwait, notably the Al Khalifahs. Their settlement at the new town of Az-Zubarah grew into a small pearl-diving

Costa Rica

2005-03-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Coast Rica, Spanish República de Costa Rica, country of Central America, covering an area of 19,730 square miles (51,100 square kilometres). Extending from northwest to southeast, Costa Rica is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, along its 630-mile (1,015-kilometre) southwestern coastline by the Pacific Ocean, on the southeast by Panama, and along its 185-mile northeastern coastline by the Caribbean Sea. At the narrowest point, the distance

Orange

2005-03-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southern California, U.S. It lies along the Santa Ana River. Part of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, it was founded as Richland in 1868, laid out in 1871, and renamed in 1875 for its orange groves. Orange was initially a citrus-packing centre. It subsequently developed with the Los Angeles metropolitan area and acquired some light manufacturing. The city is the site of

Rare-earth Element, Sources and extraction

2005-03-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

Though numerous minerals rich in rare earths are found in the Earth's crust, many are extremely rare, and many more are found only in small pockets in more massive rocks. Although such minerals are of considerable research interest they are not used commercially. Monazite, a mixed phosphate of calcium, thorium, cerium, and various lanthanides, occurs in extensive deposits

Aureole

2005-03-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Brightly illuminated area surrounding an atmospheric light source, such as the Sun, when the light is propagated through a medium containing many sizes of particles or droplets that are large compared to the wavelength of the light. Because the wavelength of visible light is about 0.00005 cm (0.5 micrometre), particles of size greater than about 0.0001 cm (1 micrometre) will give rise

Mondale, Walter F.

2005-03-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Mondale, a “flexible liberal,” won election to the Senate in 1966 and reelection in 1972. He served on the Senate Finance and Budget committees and the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare. Elected vice president as Carter's running mate in 1976, he was a key participant in the negotiations between Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin that resulted in the Camp David Accords. The Carter-Mondale ticket was defeated for reelection in 1980 by Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Mondale captured the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and chose Geraldine A. Ferraro as his running mate, the first woman vice presidential candidate for a major party. They lost the election overwhelmingly to Reagan-Bush. Afterward Mondale practiced law until he was appointed ambassador to Japan (1993–96) by President William J. Clinton. In 2002 Paul Wellstone, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, was killed in a plane crash while campaigning to retain his seat, and the Democratic Party nominated Mondale to take Wellstone's place on the ballot. Mondale accepted the nomination but was narrowly defeated by Republican Norm Coleman.

Vestris, Auguste

2005-02-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

Vestris's greatest roles were in Télémaque and as Amour in Pierre

Yamato

2005-02-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

City, Kanagawa ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the eastern part of the Sagamihara Plateau. During the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) it was a local trade centre for the surrounding sericultural region. An air base of the Imperial Japanese Army, established in the city in 1942, was taken over by U.S. occupation forces after World War II. The city has rapidly industrialized since 1955, producing

Hengelo

2005-02-27T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hengelo is a rail junction and has a state agricultural school and cattle

21-centimetre Radiation

2005-02-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

Electromagnetic radiation of radio wavelength emitted by cold, neutral, interstellar hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atom is composed of a positively charged particle, the proton, and a negatively charged particle, the electron. These particles can be considered as spinning around their own axes of rotation. When the spins of the two particles are antiparallel, then

Cle Elum River

2005-02-26T04:55:00.000-08:00

Watercourse, central Washington, U.S., rising in the Cascade Range. The river flows generally south through Cle Elum Lake, thence southeast past Cle Elum, joining the Yakima River of the Columbia River system after a course of about 28 miles (45 km). The fast-flowing river is a favourite destination for white-water rafting and kayaking; its name derives from the Yakima Indian

O.b.e.

2005-02-25T03:37:00.000-08:00

Officer of the British Empire, member of a British order of knighthood, although this rank does not confer knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

Boyne, River

2005-02-25T00:29:00.000-08:00

Irish An Bhóinn river rising in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, Ireland, and flowing 70 miles (110 km) northeast to enter the Irish Sea just below Drogheda. Neolithic passage graves at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth are of archaeological significance, and nearby in the Boyne valley is Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland. The river was the scene of the famous Battle of the Boyne (1690).

Taffy

2005-02-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

Flavoured syrup candy of Europe and the Americas that is cooked and then rigorously worked during cooling into a hard, chewy, glossy mass. Although the great 19th-century demand for taffy gave way in the mid-20th century to the popularity of chocolates and caramels, taffy remained widely available in its original “penny candy” form of small, colourfully wrapped

Egypt, Railways

2005-02-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

Railways connect Cairo with Alexandria and with the Delta and canal towns and also run southward to Aswan and the High Dam. Branch lines connect Cairo with al-Fayyum and Alexandria with Matruh. A network of light railways connects the Fayyum area and the Delta villages with the main lines. Diesel-driven trains operate along the main lines; electric lines connect Cairo with

Rayy

2005-02-24T13:35:00.000-08:00

A settlement at the site dates from the 3rd millennium BC. Rayy is featured in the Avesta (the original document of Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion) as a sacred place, and it is

O.b.e.

2005-02-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

Organization of Caribbean nations and dependencies that was established in 1973 by the Treaty of Chaguaramas. It replaced the former Caribbean Free Trade Association (Carifta), which had become effective in 1968. The treaty spurred the development of associate institutions, including the Caribbean Development Bank and the Organization of East Caribbean States, both

Alipore

2005-02-22T20:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Alipur town, West Bengal state, northeastern India. A southern suburb of Calcutta included within the city municipality, it has major industries, including printing and bookbinding, cement manufacture, oilseed milling, and general engineering works. Alipore is the site of zoological-horticultural gardens and of Belvedere House, onetime residence of the former British

Gymnastics

2005-02-22T18:33:00.000-08:00

The performance of systematic exercises—often with the use of rings, bars, and other apparatus—either as a competitive sport or to improve strength, agility, coordination, and physical conditioning.

Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr.

2005-02-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Lamb joined the faculty of Columbia University, New York City, in 1938 and worked in the Radiation Laboratory there during World War II. Though the quantum

Fruit

2005-02-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

In its strict botanical sense, the fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds. Thus, apricots, bananas, and grapes, as well as bean pods, corn grains, tomatoes, cucumbers, and (in their shells) acorns and almonds, are all technically fruits. Popularly, however, the term is restricted to the ripened ovaries that are sweet and either succulent or pulpy. The

Yüeh-fu

2005-02-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

Pinyin yuefu form of Chinese poetry derived from the folk-ballad tradition. The yüeh-fu takes its name from the Yüeh Fu (“Music Bureau”), created in 120 BC by Emperor Wu-ti for the purpose of collecting songs and their musical scores for ceremonial occasions at court. The music for these songs was later lost, but the words remained, forming a collection of Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) folk poetry that served

Deira

2005-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

A northern Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain which, by the last quarter of the 7th century AD, had been united with its neighbour Bernicia (q.v.) to form the kingdom of Northumbria. Deira stretched from the Humber to the Tees River. There is a tradition that its first recorded king, Aelle, reigned from 560 and that, on his death in 588 or 590, Deira was seized by Aethelric of Bernicia, whose son

Iron Mountain

2005-02-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1891) of Dickinson county, southwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S., 52 miles (84 km) west of Escanaba. Settled in 1879 and incorporated in 1889, it was named for its proximity to a bluff heavily stratified with iron ore. In the 1930s underground mining became uneconomic, but the industry has revived with open-pit mining and the pelletizing of ore. Tourism and winter sports (based

Interior Lowlands

2005-02-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

The broad, generally flat areas of the central part of the North American continent. The name is used in regional geologic and physiographic descriptions of North America and the conterminous United States. From the tectonic view, the continental Interior Lowlands are areas largely undisturbed by mountain building in past geologic time. They extend from central

Shigaraki

2005-02-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

Town, one of the six major pottery centres of ancient Japan, located in southern Shiga ken (prefecture), east of Kyoto and southeast of Nara. The wares for which the town is known were first produced in 1278; they have a crude shape and an oatmeallike surface covered with various glazes. Water urns, seed jars, and bottles were produced for daily use by the farming community. Shigaraki

Pen Drawing

2005-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Artwork executed wholly or in part with pen and ink, usually on paper. Pen drawing is fundamentally a linear method of making images. In pure pen drawing in which the artist wishes to supplement his outlines with tonal suggestions of three-dimensional form, modeling must necessarily be effected by the close juxtaposition of a series of strokes forming areas of hatching

Vacoas-phoenix

2005-02-18T05:06:00.000-08:00

Town (township) on the island of Mauritius, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the western highlands region of the country, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Port Louis, the national capital. Vacoas and Phoenix were separate villages until 1963, when they became a single administrative unit; later (1968) the town became independently administered. Major industries include beer brewing,

Pierre

2005-02-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

Capital of South Dakota, U.S., seat (1880) of Hughes county, on the Missouri River, in the geographic centre of the state. Before 1800 the capital of the Arikara Indian nation was located on its site. Founded in June 1880 as the western terminus of the Chicago and North Western Railway, it was first known as Mahto (Sioux: “Bear”) but was renamed in December 1880 for Pierre Chouteau, a French fur trader.

Howard, Jean

2005-02-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

American actress and celebrity photographer (b. Oct. 13, 1910, Longview, Texas—d. March 20, 2000, Beverly Hills, Calif.), was an actress in films of the 1930s and '40s and later became a prominent socialite and a noted photographer of Hollywood's glamour set. She started in show business as a chorus girl, appearing in Florenz Ziegfeld's Broadway musical Whoopee in 1930 and Ziegfeld's last Follies (1931). A screen

Durant

2005-02-16T02:26:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Bryan county, southern Oklahoma, U.S., in the Red River valley, a few miles north of the Texas border. Settled about 1870 and named for a well-known Choctaw family, the city grew steadily after the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1872. Durant developed as a service centre for a diversified farming area, and in 1909 Southeastern State Normal (teacher-training)

Cusp

2005-02-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

In architecture, the intersections of lobed or scalloped forms, particularly in arches (cusped arches) and in tracery. Thus the three lobes of a trefoil (cloverleaf form) are separated by three cusps. Cusped forms appear commonly in early Islamic work, as in the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun at Cairo (c. 879), and were especially common in the Moorish architecture of North Africa and

Accoramboni, Vittoria

2005-02-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

She was the 10th child in a well-to-do but not illustrious family that hoped to better its position by marrying Vittoria,

Ear Disease, Leprosy

2005-02-15T00:22:00.000-08:00

Leprosy, seen rarely outside the tropics today, was another scourge of ancient times that sometimes affected the outer ear. It is caused by the leprosy bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae, which causes a painless, slowly progressing thickening and distortion of the affected tissues. The diagnosis is made by examining a bit of the infected tissue under a microscope and

Bacillite

2005-02-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

In geology, a type of crystallite (q.v.).

Ashmolean Museum Of Art And Archaeology

2005-02-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

One of the four museums of the University of Oxford and the oldest public museum of art, archaeology, and natural history in Great Britain. It was established to house collections donated to the university in 1677 by Elias Ashmole (1617–92), an antiquarian who had inherited the bulk of the collections from a friend, John Tradescant (1608–62). The museum was opened to the public in 1683 in a building

Orléans, Ferdinand-louis-philippe-charles-henri, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-02-13T02:25:00.000-08:00

He was a noted soldier and served in Algeria from 1834 to 1836. In 1837 he married Princess Helena of Mecklenburg. In 1839 he again went to Algeria, but the fatigues of the campaign were too much for him. He died at Neuilly at the age of 31. His sons refused

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-02-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

La Fontaine was born in the Champagne region into a bourgeois family. There, in 1647, he married an heiress, Marie Héricart, but they separated in 1658. From 1652 to 1671 he held office as an inspector of forests and waterways, an office inherited from his father. It was in Paris, however, that he made his most important contacts and spent his most productive years as a writer. An outstanding

Gondola

2005-02-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

Tapered, 32-foot- (10-metre-) long flat-bottomed boat historically associated with the canals and lagoon of Venice, carrying from two to six passengers. It is propelled from the starboard quarter by a single sweep (oar) manipulated by a gondolier standing on the stern cover, and it has an asymmetrical shape, being 9 inches (23 cm) wider on the port side. A prominent steel beak (ferro) rises

Auburn

2005-02-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1805) of Cayuga county, west-central New York, U.S. It lies at the north end of Owasco Lake, in the Finger Lakes region, 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Syracuse. Founded in 1793 by John Hardenbergh, an officer in the American Revolution, on the site of a Cayuga Indian village called Wasco, it was first known as Hardenbergh's Corners. It developed around Auburn State Prison (established

Porsche, Ferdinand

2005-02-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

Porsche became general director of the Austro-Daimler Company in 1916 and in 1923 moved to the Daimler Company in Stuttgart. He left in 1931 and formed his own firm to design sports and racing cars. Porsche became deeply involved in Hitler's project for a “people's

Hoover, J. Edgar

2005-02-11T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hoover studied law at night at George Washington University, where he received degrees as bachelor of laws in 1916 and as

Saxifrage

2005-02-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

Also called rockfoil (genus Saxifraga) any of a genus of flowering plants, of the family Saxifragaceae, native in temperate, subarctic, and alpine areas. About 300 species have been identified. Many of them are valued as rock-garden subjects, and some are grown in garden borders. As a group they are notable for their small bright flowers and fine-textured foliage. Alpine species are the earliest to flower in

Port Augusta

2005-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

City and former port, southeastern South Australia, at the head of Spencer Gulf. Founded in 1852 and named for the wife of Sir Henry Fox Young, an early colonial governor of South Australia, Port Augusta was incorporated as a town in 1875 and in 1878 was linked by rail to Adelaide, 191 miles (307 km) southeast; it became a city in 1963. Port Augusta is a terminus of both the Central and Trans-Australian

La Sale, Antoine De

2005-02-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

From 1400 to 1448 La Sale served the dukes of Anjou, Louis II, Louis III, and René, as squire, soldier, administrator and, ultimately, governor of René's son and heir, Jean

Jacobabad

2005-02-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

City, Sindh province, Pakistan. The city lies at a junction of the Pakistan Western Railway and main roads through Sindh. It was founded in 1847 on the site of the village of Khanghar by General John Jacob, the district's first deputy commissioner. Jacob, who laid out the modern city, is commemorated by monuments, and even his horse has been memorialized by a mud pyramid. The city

Sai Ong Hue

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

Sai Ong Hue was a grandson of the great ruler Suliyavongsa. He spent most of his early years as a prince of the royal house in exile at Hue (now in Vietnam) while a usurper sat on the throne of Lan Xang. In 1698 he attacked Vientiane, the capital of Lan Xang,

Aleijadinho

2005-02-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

Aleijadinho was born deformed (his sobriquet means “Little Cripple”). He eventually lost the use of his hands and finally became blind,

La Libertad

2005-02-07T15:54:00.000-08:00

Once the home of the Mochica and Chimú cultures—renowned for their ceramics, irrigation works, and vast urban

Powerlifting

2005-02-06T23:08:00.000-08:00

Powerlifting was developed primarily in the United States and Canada by weight lifters whose concentration on power alone, they felt, was excluded from formal competition. In 1967 the Amateur Athletic Union began national supervision of the

Rio De Janeiro

2005-02-06T15:57:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”) of southeastern Brazil, bounded by the states of Espírito Santo (north), Minas Gerais (west), and São Paulo (southwest), while to the east lies the Atlantic Ocean. It is named for the city of Rio de Janeiro, the state capital, which was the capital of Brazil from 1763 to 1960 and remains the nation's main centre for cultural events, leisure, and tourism. It is Brazil's second largest

Pietro Della Vigna

2005-02-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

Born in the mainland part of the kingdom of Sicily to a poor family (his parents were said to have been

QuickJewel

Ahir

Amrouche, Jean

Fick, August

Loyal Publication Society

Fructose

Furniture, 19th century

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

Sorosilicate

Education, History Of, Stages of education

Gabon, Relief and drainage

Education, History Of, Stages of education

Béjart Family

Fadiman, Clifton

Hanafiyah

Riau

Vihara

Welland Canal

Rwanda, Flag Of

Mahallah Al-kubra, Al-

Kyaukse

Indiana

Cheboksary

Caazapá

Steffens, (joseph) Lincoln

Shibin Al-kawm

Antarctica, History

Eritrea, Contesting for the coastlands

Garrett

Selaginella

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270

Danielsson, Anders

Geologic Sciences, Oil and natural gas

Astilbe

Bioceramics

Arguello, Alexis

Quahog

African Greek Orthodox Church

Arabia, History Of, The gulf states

January Insurrection

Kita-ibaraki

Drang Nach Osten

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

Feld, Eliot

Alcohol Consumption

Ecoterrorism

Pole, Richard De La

Priesthood

Dzungarian Basin

Qatar

Costa Rica

Orange

Rare-earth Element, Sources and extraction

Aureole

Mondale, Walter F.

Vestris, Auguste

Yamato

Hengelo

21-centimetre Radiation

Cle Elum River

O.b.e.

Boyne, River

Taffy

Egypt, Railways

Rayy

O.b.e.

Alipore

Gymnastics

Lamb, Willis Eugene, Jr.

Fruit

Yüeh-fu

Deira

Iron Mountain

Interior Lowlands

Shigaraki

Pen Drawing

Vacoas-phoenix

Pierre

Howard, Jean

Durant

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270