BoilingThroat

Arecales

2005-03-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

Order of flowering plants that contains only one family, the palms (Palmae). About 2,800 species are known. See palm.

Gadsden

2005-03-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1866) of Etowah county, northeastern Alabama, U.S. It is situated on the Coosa River in the Appalachian foothills, 65 miles (105 km) northeast of Birmingham. The original farming settlement was known as Double Springs, and the town was founded there in 1846 as a steamboat station. It was renamed for James Gadsden, who later negotiated the Gadsden Purchase (1853) of territory from Mexico.

Eybeschütz, Jonathan

2005-03-15T16:19:00.000-08:00

As a rabbi in a number of European towns, Eybeschütz became a celebrated master of the Talmud (the rabbinical compendium of law, lore, and commentary),

Rabbinical Assembly, The

2005-03-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

Organization of Conservative rabbis in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Israel. It was founded in 1900 as the Alumni Association of the Jewish Theological Seminary and was reorganized in 1940 as the Rabbinical Assembly of America; in 1962 it acquired its present name and international scope. The Rabbinical Assembly recommends rabbis for appointment to Conservative

Bioherm

2005-03-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Ancient organic reef of moundlike form built by a variety of marine invertebrates, including corals, echinoderms, gastropods, mollusks, and others; fossil calcareous algae are prominent in some bioherms. A structure built by similar organisms that is bedded but not moundlike is called a biostrome. Bioherms and biostromes occur in sedimentary rock strata of all

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

2005-03-09T03:45:00.000-08:00

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

Ellwangen

2005-03-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southern Germany, on the Jagst River, north of Aalen. It originated around a Benedictine abbey, founded in 764 and transformed into a college of secular canons in 1460. Chartered in 1229, the town passed to Württemberg in 1802. Its castle, seat of the prince-abbots and priors, existed in 1266 and was rebuilt in Renaissance style about 1608. The Romanesque Collegiate

Vijayawada

2005-03-04T03:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Bezwada city, east-central Andhra Pradesh state, southern India, on the Krishna River. The city is a centre for Hindu pilgrimages. It is also known for its toys, many of them miniatures. Of note is the Victoria Jubilee Museum, which has a magnificent black granite Buddha. A college of Oriental studies and a medical college are located in the city. Pop. (1991 prelim.) city, 701,351; metropolitan area,

Cromwell, Thomas, Earl Of Essex, Baron Cromwell Of Okeham

2005-03-02T05:14:00.000-08:00

Principal adviser (1532–40) to England's Henry VIII, chiefly responsible for establishing the Reformation in England, for the dissolution of the monasteries, and for strengthening the royal administration. At the instigation of his enemies he was eventually arrested for heresy and treason and executed.

Teutonic Order

2005-03-01T16:29:00.000-08:00

In 1189–90, when crusading forces were besieging Acre, some German merchants from Bremen and Lübeck formed a fraternity to nurse the sick there. After the capture of Acre (1191), this fraternity took over a hospital in the town and began to describe itself as the Hospital of St. Mary of the German House in Jerusalem. Pope Clement III approved it, and it adopted a rule like that of the original

Ascariasis

2005-02-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

Infection of humans and other mammals caused by the intestinal roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. Infection follows the ingestion of Ascaris eggs that have contaminated foods or soil. In the small intestine the larvae are liberated and migrate through the intestinal wall, reaching the lungs, where they may produce a host sensitization that results in lung inflammation

Racerunner

2005-02-24T11:42:00.000-08:00

Racerunners may be diversely marked, even within a species, being

Colebrook, Leonard

2005-02-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

Colebrook joined researcher Almroth Wright in 1907 at St. Mary's Hospital. In 1926 Colebrook became interested

Hooke, Robert

2005-02-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

In 1655 Hooke was employed by Robert Boyle to construct the Boylean air pump. Five years later, Hooke discovered his law of elasticity, which states that the stretching of a solid body (e.g., metal,

Argument

2005-02-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

In logic, reasons that support a conclusion, sometimes formulated so that the conclusion is deduced from premises. Erroneous arguments are called fallacies in logic (see fallacy). In mathematics, an argument is a variable in the domain of a function and usually appears symbolically in parentheses following the functional symbol.

Biblical Literature, The medieval period

2005-02-16T22:31:00.000-08:00

In the early Middle Ages the fourfold sense of Scripture—developed from Origen's threefold

Tano River

2005-02-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

River, western Ghana, West Africa. It rises near Techiman and flows southward for 250 miles (400 km) to enter the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic Ocean), at Aby Lagoon, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Its lower course forms the Ghana–Côte d'Ivoire boundary. It is navigable from its mouth for about 60 miles (95 km) to Tanoso, where further travel is blocked by the Sutre Falls. The Tano and the parallel Ankobra

Khalil Ibn Ahmad, Al-

2005-02-13T01:38:00.000-08:00

When he moved to Basra, al-Khalil left the Ibadi sect of Islam, which was popular in his native Oman, for Sunnism (the largest branch of Islam). He lived simply and piously in Basra, where he taught. The renowned Sibawayh was

Schism

2005-02-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

In the early church, “schism” was used to describe those groups that broke with the church and established rival churches. The term originally referred to those divisions that were caused by disagreement over something other than basic doctrine. Thus, the schismatic group was not necessarily heretical. Eventually,

Hop Tree

2005-02-09T10:33:00.000-08:00

Also called Wafer Ash (species Ptelea trifoliata), tree, of the rue family (Rutaceae), native to eastern North America. It has small, greenish white flowers; strong-smelling leaves in groups of three leaflets; and buff-coloured, wafer-shaped, winged fruits. The hop tree is cultivated as an ornamental.

Hop Tree

2005-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Arabic Munazamat Ad-duwal Al-'arabiyah Al-musaddarah Lil-bitrul Arab organization formed in January 1968 to promote international economic cooperation within the petroleum industry. Chairmanship rotates annually; meetings occur twice yearly. Member countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates. (Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979, but it was readmitted in

Wilder, Billy

2005-02-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

Wilder attended Viennese schools, including the University of Vienna (which he left

Seleucus Iv Philopator

2005-02-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

Although the empire that Seleucus inherited was not so great as the one over which his father had ruled before the war with Rome (190–189), it was still large, consisting of Syria (including Cilicia and Palestine), Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and nearer Iran (Media and Persia). Because of financial difficulties,

Muhammad 'ali

2005-02-01T01:49:00.000-08:00

Viceroy and pasha of Egypt (1805–49), founder of the dynasty that ruled Egypt from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. He encouraged the emergence of the modern Egyptian state.

Theileriasis

2005-01-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of livestock diseases caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Theileria (Gonderia), transmitted by tick bites. The most serious is East Coast fever of cattle, caused by T. parva; it has 90–100 percent mortality in Africa. Tropical theileriasis, from T. annulata (T. dispar), is a milder disease of cattle along the Mediterranean and in the Middle East. Theileriases

Light Bulb

2005-01-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

Electric incandescent lamp based on a glowing metallic filament enclosed within a glass shell filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen. See incandescent lamp; lamp.

Baharampur

2005-01-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

The town has major rail and road connections and is an important agricultural trade centre. Silk weaving, rice

Allen, Walter

2005-01-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

Allen graduated from the University of Birmingham (B.A., 1932) and taught briefly at his old grammar school before accepting the first of several visiting lectureships and professorships in North America and elsewhere. In 1945 he left teaching to become

East Germanic Languages

2005-01-22T15:08:00.000-08:00

Group of long extinct Germanic languages once spoken by Germanic tribes located between the middle Oder and the Vistula.

Earth, Dipolar field

2005-01-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

The magnetic field lines shown in the diagram are not real entities although they are frequently treated as such. A magnetic field is a continuous function that exists at every point in space. A field line is simply a means for visualizing the direction of this field. It is defined as a curve in three dimensions that is everywhere tangential to the local magnetic field.

Ikorodu

2005-01-17T05:31:00.000-08:00

Town, Lagos state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies near the Lagos Lagoon, on the Bight of Benin, 14 miles (23 km) northwest of Lagos. A traditional settlement of the Awori people (a subgroup of the Yoruba), it became important in the mid-19th century as a trading post of the Remo (Ijebu-Remo) kingdom on the trade route from Lagos to Ibadan. During the Ibadan-Ijaiye wars (1860–65), the Ikorodu traders,

Herat School

2005-01-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

15th-century style of miniature painting that flourished in Herat, western Afghanistan, under the patronage of the Timurids. Shah Rokh, the son of the Islamic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), founded the school, but it was his son Baysunqur Mirza (died 1433) who developed it into an important centre of painting, bringing to his court artists from all over Persia and Afghanistan.

Tequendama Falls

2005-01-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

Spanish Salto De Tequendama, waterfalls on the Bogotá (Funza) River, which is a tributary of the Magdalena River, in the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Oriental, central Colombia. One of the country's major tourist attractions, the falls are located in a forested area 20 miles (32 km) west of Bogotá. The river surges through a rocky gorge that narrows to about 60 feet (18 m) at the brink of the 515-foot- (157-metre-) high falls. The

Rímac

2005-01-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

Quarter and district of the Lima–Callao metropolitan area, north of central Lima, Peru. Created a district in 1921, the site was settled in early colonial days. The Puente de Piedras (“Bridge of Stone”) was built in 1610. Notable colonial landmarks include the promenade and Monastery of the Descalzos (Barefoot Brethren); a building claimed to be the Palace of “La Perricholi” (Micaela

Mclean, Alice Throckmorton

2005-01-10T00:34:00.000-08:00

McLean traveled widely as a child, mastered several languages, and was educated privately. An early marriage

Flores

2005-01-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

Departamento, south-central Uruguay. The rolling hills of the territory culminate in the east–west-trending Grande Inferior Range (Cuchilla Grande Inferior) and are drained by the Yi River and the Arroyo (stream) Chapicuy Grande. Economic activity centres around livestock raising and agriculture. Sheep ranching is widespread, and wool is a leading product of the

Babar Island

2005-01-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Bahasa Indonesia Pulau Babar island and island group in the Banda Sea, Maluku propinsi (province), Indonesia. Located between Timor to the west and the Tanimbar Islands to the east, the group consists of Babar, the largest island, surrounded by the five islets of Wetan, Dai, Dawera, Daweloor, and Masela, and the six cover an area of about 314 sq mi (822 sq km). Babar is roughly circular, about 20 mi (32 km) in diameter and mostly

Fisher (of Kilverstone), John Arbuthnot Fisher, 1st Baron

2005-01-03T01:48:00.000-08:00

Fisher entered the navy at age 13. He was a midshipman in the Crimean War and in China (1859–60), where he took part in the capture of Canton. Promoted to captain (1874), he commanded various ships and the gunnery school and took a prominent

Asilah

2005-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Arzila, Spanish Arcila, city on the Atlantic coast of western Morocco. Built on the site of an ancient Phoenician-Carthaginian settlement (Zili), it later fell to the Romans. It passed to the Idrisids, who in the early 11th century repulsed several attacks by Normans. From AD 972 on, it was dominated by the Marinids, until in 1471 the Portuguese occupied Asilah, which they fortified as a military base (the walls

Eastern Orthodoxy, In Bulgaria

2004-12-30T10:02:00.000-08:00

The reestablishment of the Church of Bulgaria eventually was secured, but not without tragedy and even a schism; this happened mainly because the issue of reestablishing the autocephalous church arose at a time when both Greek and Bulgarian populations lived side by side in Macedonia, Thrace, and Constantinople itself, though still within the framework of the

Arts, Central Asian, Mongols

2004-12-29T05:07:00.000-08:00

Genghis Khan (died 1227), the renowned Mongol conqueror, sacked and destroyed Bukhara in 1224, sparing only the 12th-century Kalyan tower, which was used for throwing criminals to their death. The 14th-century Turkic conqueror Timur, however, endowed Samarkand with new glory by building a series of religious monuments widely renowned for their splendour and decorative use of glazed

Fracture

2004-12-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

In mineralogy, appearance of a surface broken in directions other than along cleavage planes. There are several kinds of fractures: conchoidal (curved concavities resembling shells—e.g., flint, quartz, glass); even (rough, approximately plane surfaces); uneven (rough and completely irregular surfaces, the commonest fracture type); hackly (sharp edges and jagged points

Fischart, Johann

2004-12-24T22:49:00.000-08:00

Fischart received a good education and before 1570 traveled widely, visiting the Netherlands and probably England and studying in Paris, Strasbourg, and Siena, Italy. In 1574 he received a doctor juris degree in Basel, but from 1570 to 1580 he lived

Adams, Walter (sydney)

2004-12-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

Born of missionary parents who returned to the United States when he was eight years old, Adams studied astronomy

Taffeta

2004-12-20T06:12:00.000-08:00

Fine, crisp plain-woven fabric with a faint weft, or filling-way, rib due to the greater number of warp threads than filling threads. It frequently has a lustrous surface. There are two distinct types of silk taffeta: yarn-dyed and piece-dyed. Yarn-dyed taffeta has a stiff handle and a rustle known as scroop, or froufrou. It is used for evening dresses and for underskirts for

Bara, Theda

2004-12-19T17:01:00.000-08:00

Theodosia Goodman attended the University of Cincinnati in 1903–05. In New York City she tried briefly

Frederick Iii (or Ii)

2004-12-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Appointed regent of Sicily by his brother, James II of Aragon, in 1291, Frederick was elected king by the Sicilian parliament (Dec. 11, 1295), to prevent the island's return to the rule of the Angevin Charles II of Naples; he was crowned on March 25, 1296. To revive the Ghibelline

La Marche, Olivier De

2004-12-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

After serving as a page to Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, La Marche entered the service of the Duke's son, the count of Charolais (later called Charles the Bold). He became Charles's secretary and remained in

Ovid

2004-12-10T05:56:00.000-08:00

Latin in full Publius Ovidius Naso Roman poet noted especially for his Ars amatoria and Metamorphoses. His verse had immense influence both by its imaginative interpretations of classical myth and as an example of supreme technical accomplishment.

Argentina, Transportation

2004-12-09T16:56:00.000-08:00

During the Spanish colonial period there were three principal overland transportation routes. The most important led from Buenos Aires to the wealthy mining centre in Upper Peru (now Bolivia) via the northwestern route through Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, San Miguel de Tucumán, and San Salvador de Jujuy. A second route linked Buenos Aires with Chile westward through

Bach, Johann Sebastian

2004-12-06T23:44:00.000-08:00

Composer of the Baroque era, the most celebrated member of a large family of northern German musicians. Although he was admired by his contemporaries primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building, Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers

Gatineau River

2004-12-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

French Rivière Gatineau, river in Outaouais region, southwestern Quebec province, Canada. The river rises in a chain of lakes north of Baskatong Reservoir and flows generally southward for 240 miles (390 km) to join the Ottawa River at Hull. It was named for Nicolas Gatineau, a fur trader who is reputed to have drowned there about 1683. Having served for centuries as a major artery for the lumber trade, the

Alexander Of Aphrodisias

2004-12-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of the 2nd century, Alexander became head of the Lyceum at Athens, an academy then dominated by the syncretistic philosophy of Ammonius Saccas, who blended the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. Alexander's commentaries were intended

Culverin

2004-12-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

The culverin was adapted to field use by the French in the mid-15th century and to naval use by the English in the late 16th century. During the 17th century, cannons were classified according to the weight of projectiles fired, and

Csokonai Vitéz, Mihály

2004-11-29T08:45:00.000-08:00

Csokonai's early sympathies with the revolutionary trends of his age made life difficult for him in the wave of reaction that accompanied Napoleon's invasion of Europe. Dismissed after a brief career as an assistant master at the Calvinist college in Debrecen, he became a wandering

Makar

2004-11-27T23:48:00.000-08:00

Because Geoffrey Chaucer was their acknowledged master and they often employed his verse forms and themes, the

France, History Of, Culture and art

2004-11-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Cultural circles remained strongly oriented to aristocratic values and the past. With the accession of the Valois came a high nobility, distinguished by lavish and exclusive conceits. When John II formed the Order of the Star (1351), an institution imitated by the great lords for their clientages, chivalry stood incorporated as the most distinguished of religious confraternities.

Eckert, J. Presper, Jr.

2004-11-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Eckert was educated at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (B.S., 1941; M.S., 1943), where he and his professor, John W.

Mercator, Gerardus

2004-11-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Original name Gerard De Cremer, or Kremer? Flemish cartographer whose most important innovation was a map, embodying what was later known as the Mercator projection, on which parallels and meridians are rendered as straight lines spaced so as to produce at any point an accurate ratio of latitude to longitude. He also introduced

Heuneburg

2004-11-18T09:46:00.000-08:00

Celtic fortified site overlooking the Danube River in Baden-Württemberg Land (state), Germany. Recent excavations have shown that the Heuneburg fort community carried on a prosperous trade with the Greeks at Massilia (Marseille) during the 6th century BC. Imported Greek black-figure pottery and Massiliote wine amphorae have been uncovered. Mediterranean influence

Macadam

2004-11-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

Form of pavement invented by John McAdam of Scotland in the 18th century. McAdam's road cross section was composed of a compacted subgrade of crushed granite or greenstone designed to support the load, covered by a surface of light stone to absorb wear and tear and shed water to the drainage ditches. In modern macadam construction crushed stone or gravel is placed on

Scandinavian Literature, Developments in Danish literature

2004-11-14T07:01:00.000-08:00

In 1536 the Lutheran Reformation was carried through in Denmark, and the beginning of the 16th century was characterized by many pamphlets for or against the Roman Catholic Church. European humanism and the Renaissance made their influence felt also in Denmark, where Christiern Pedersen was the most prominent humanist who supported the Reformation. He edited Gesta

Milles, Carl

2004-11-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

In 1902, during student years in Paris, Milles won recognition through the competition for

Powell River

2004-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

District municipality, southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the east side of the Strait of Georgia, 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Vancouver. Named for Israel Wood Powell, who was Indian superintendent for British Columbia in the 1870s, the settlement developed at the mouth of the Powell River as a pulp-and-paper-milling centre after 1910. In 1955 the town of Powell River

Houghton

2004-11-08T01:51:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Houghton county, northwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S. It lies along Portage Lake and the Keweenaw Waterway, opposite Hancock. It was settled in 1851 and named for Douglass Houghton, a state geologist. The discovery of nearby rich copper lodes between 1855 and 1870 resulted in an economic boom that lasted until after World War I. Houghton is now a distribution

Malabarese Catholic Church

2004-11-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

A Chaldean rite church of southern India (Kerala) that united with Rome after the Portuguese colonization of Goa at the end of the 15th century. The Portuguese viewed these Christians of St. Thomas, as they called themselves, as Nestorian heretics, despite their traditional alignment with Rome since about the 6th century. Although the Malabarese formally acknowledged

Thomas, Helen

2004-10-31T23:52:00.000-08:00

Born to Lebanese immigrants, Thomas was the seventh of nine children. When she was four years old, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. While attending high school, Thomas decided

Nabbes, Thomas

2004-10-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Nabbes attended Exeter College, Oxford, in 1621, but he left the university without taking a degree. He began his writing career in London in about 1630. His first comedy, Covent Garden, was dedicated to Sir John

Skunk Cabbage

2004-10-25T05:59:00.000-07:00

Any of three species of plants that grow in bogs and meadows of temperate regions. In eastern North America the skunk cabbage is Symplocarpus foetidus, which belongs to the arum family (Araceae, order Arales; q.v.). In French-speaking parts of Canada it is called tabac du diable (“devil's tobacco”) or chou puant (“stinking cabbage”). It is a fleshy, herbaceous plant with large leaves,

Rubbia, Carlo

2004-10-22T06:34:00.000-07:00

Italian physicist who in 1984 shared with Simon van der Meer the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the massive, short-lived subatomic W particle and Z particle. These particles are the carriers of the so-called weak force involved in the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. Their existence strongly confirms the validity of the electroweak

San Diego

2004-10-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

Port, city, and important U.S. military and naval base, seat (1850) of San Diego county, southern California, U.S. It lies along the Pacific Ocean at San Diego Bay (there bridged to Coronado). Sighted in 1542 and named San Miguel by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the area was renamed San Diego de Alcalá de Henares in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno. Gaspar de Portolá founded a presidio (military post) there

Mercedarian

2004-10-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

St. Raymond of Penafort, Nolasco's confessor and the author of the order's rule, based the rule on that of St. Augustine. In addition to the usual three religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the Mercedarians

Loranthaceae

2004-10-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

One of the mistletoe families of the sandalwood order (Santalales), having approximately 65 genera and about 850 species of parasitic flowering trees or shrubs. Some authorities also consider the 11 genera and about 450 species of the family Viscaceae, including the commonly known mistletoes of the genera Arceuthobium and Phoradendron in North America and of the genera

Pakistan, Health and welfare

2004-10-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

Although Pakistan has made progress in improving health conditions, a large part of the population does not receive modern medical care. There are insufficient numbers of doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas. Sanitation facilities are also inadequate; only a small percentage of the population has access to safe drinking water and sanitary sewage disposal

Ben Nevis

2004-10-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

Highest mountain of the British Isles, in the Highland council area, Scotland. Its summit, reaching an elevation of 4,406 feet (1,343 metres), is a plateau of about 100 acres (40 hectares), with a slight slope to the south and a sheer face to the northeast. Snow lies in some parts all year, and permafrost conditions are almost reached. The mountain consists of a superstructure of volcanic rocks

Monticelli, Adolphe

2004-10-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

In full Adolphe-Joseph-Thomas Monticelli French painter whose finest works, derived from scenes by Antoine Watteau, are dreamlike images of courtly revels. Using thick daubs of paint, applied to achieve a swirling effect, he created a poetic, visionary expression with radiant lights and deep shadows. His work was much admired by Vincent van Gogh and had a greater

Manas Wild Life Sanctuary

2004-10-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

Also called Kamrup Sanctuary, wildlife sanctuary in western Assam state, eastern India. It is situated at the foot of the Himalayas on the eastern bank of the Manas River, 92 miles (153 km) west of Gauhati town. Established in 1928, it has an area of 151 square miles (391 square km) and lies in a dense, mixed semievergreen, evergreen, and wet-deciduous forest region. The southern part of the preserve is grassland. Wildlife includes

Obia

2004-10-03T00:55:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Obeah, in west African folklore, a gigantic animal that steals into villages and kidnaps girls on the behalf of witches. In certain cultures of the Caribbean, the term denotes forms of sorcery and witchcraft, usually overpowering and extremely evil. Potent or bewitched objects buried for the purpose of bringing misfortune upon a particular party are sometimes known

Brian

2004-10-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

In 976 Brian became king of a small state, later called Dál Cais, and also king of Munster, whose Eóghanachta rulers had been defeated (964) by Brian's half brother. Brian destroyed first the Eóghanachta septs and then the Northmen, constructing a fleet to drive them from the Shannon. Under his rule Munster

Aung San

2004-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

Born

Lenormant, François

2004-09-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

French Assyriologist and numismatist who recognized, from cuneiform inscriptions, a language now known as Akkadian that proved valuable to the understanding of Mesopotamian civilization 3,000 years before the Christian era. He published his first archaeological paper at 14 and went on to become a scholar of wide achievement. He published La Monnaie

Antarctica, Plant and animal life

2004-09-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Eric Hosking and Bryan Sage, Antarctic Wildlife (1982), is an authoritative discussion of the fauna of Antarctica. Biology of the Antarctic Seas (irregular), contains technical accounts of Antarctic sea life; a more popular summary is Robert C. Murphy, “The Oceanic Life of the Antarctic,” Scientific American, 207(3):186–194 (September 1962). Technical accounts of terrestrial life are in J. Linsley Gressitt (ed.), Entomology of Antarctica (1967); and S.W. Greene et al., Terrestrial Life of Antarctica (1967); a nontechnical review is provided by George A. Llano, “The Terrestrial Life of the Antarctic,” Scientific American, 207(3):212–218 (September 1962). Oliver L. Austin, Jr. (ed.), Antarctic Bird Studies (1968), is a technical publication; whereas John Sparks and Tony Soper, Penguins, 2nd ed. (1987), comprehensively but nontechnically describes the characteristic flightless birds of subantarctic and Antarctic coasts. George Gaylord Simpson, Penguins: Past and Present, Here and There (1976), is an authoritative, popularly written account of penguins and their fossil record. David G. Campbell, The Crystal Desert (1992), evocatively portrays the natural history of the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands.

Ancient Greek Civilization

2004-09-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

The period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended in about 1200 BC, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled influence on Western civilization.

Habbaniyah, Hawr Al-

2004-09-22T02:16:00.000-07:00

English Lake Habbaniyah lake in al-Anbar muhafazah (governorate), western Iraq. It is a shallow body of slightly saline water, 54 sq mi (140 sq km) in area, separated from the Euphrates River to the north by the Asibi and Zaban ridges. The lake has been used since antiquity for storing floodwater from the Euphrates; it now provides water for irrigation as well. A barrage at ar-Ramadi, at the lake's northwestern tip,

Sachs, Hans

2004-09-20T05:41:00.000-07:00

Wagner's opera is partly a tribute to the common people—and Sachs was one of them. The son of a tailor, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker in

'id Al-adha

2004-09-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Eid al-Adha , also called 'Id al-Qurban or al-'Id al-Kabir (Major Festival) , Turkish Kurban Bayram the second of two great Muslim festivals, the other being 'Id al-Fitr. 'Id al-Adha marks the culmination of the hajj (pilgrimage) rites at Mina, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca, but is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world. As with 'Id al-Fitr, it is distinguished by the performance of communal prayer (salat) at daybreak on its first day. It begins on the 10th of Dhu'l-Hijja, the last month of the Islamic

Tietäjä

2004-09-15T02:23:00.000-07:00

The principal religious specialist of the Baltic Finns, functioning in the tradition of the Finno-Ugric shaman. Operating in a more complex, agricultural society than his more primitive counterparts, such as the Sami noiade, who worked in a hunting and fishing society, the tietäjä-type specialist differed from his predecessor chiefly in the number of roles he mastered,

Hardinge (of Lahore And Kings Newton), Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount

2004-09-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hardinge entered the army in 1799 and, during the Napoleonic Wars, served with distinction as a staff officer in the Peninsular War (1808–14). In the Hundred Days (1815), he was a brigadier general with the Prussian army at the Battle of Ligny and

Hudson's Bay Company

2004-09-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Corporation that occupies a prominent place in both the economic and the political history of Canada. It was incorporated in England on May 2, 1670, to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific, to occupy the lands adjacent to Hudson Bay, and to carry on any commerce with those lands that might prove profitable. It still exists as a commercial company active in real estate, merchandising,

Palmer Archipelago

2004-09-09T03:51:00.000-07:00

Also called Antarctic Archipelago, island group off the northwestern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Gerlache and Bismarck straits. The archipelago, which includes the islands of Anvers (46 miles [74 km] long by 35 miles [56 km] wide), Liège, Brabant, and Wiencke, was discovered in 1898 by the Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache. Argentina and the United Kingdom have operated research stations

Visitador

2004-09-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

The institution of the

Hassan Ibn Thabit

2004-09-05T05:09:00.000-07:00

Hassan had won acclaim at the courts of the Christian Arab Ghassanid kings in Syria and the Lakhmid kings of al-Hirah in Iraq, where he met the poets an-Nabighah and 'Alqamah. He settled in Medina, where, after the advent of Muhammad, he accepted Islam at about the age of 60. Hassan, who is said to have

Ucayali River

2004-09-03T05:04:00.000-07:00

Spanish Río Ucayali, headwater of the Amazon, formed by the junction of the Apurímac and Urubamba rivers in east-central Peru. The Ucayali meanders northward from this junction for about 910 miles (1,465 km) through a densely forested floodplain east of the Andes to its junction with the Marañón River, 55 miles (90 km) south-southwest of Iquitos. This confluence is considered to mark the head of the Amazon.

Ucayali River

2004-09-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

The common fig (Ficus carica) is cultivated for its pear-shaped, edible fruits, which

Water Witch Incident

2004-08-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

In 1853 the “Water Witch” set out on a scientific study, organized by the U.S. government, of the Río de La Plata waterways. In 1854, after Page became involved in a

Tor

2004-08-28T21:55:00.000-07:00

Exposed rock mass of jointed and broken blocks. Tors are seldom more than 15 metres (50 feet) high and often occur as residues at the summits of inselbergs and at the highest points of pediments. Tors usually overlie unaltered bedrock and are thought to be formed either by freeze–thaw weathering or by groundwater weathering before exposure. There is often evidence of spheroidal

Mughal Carpet

2004-08-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Mogul, any of the handwoven floor coverings made in India in the 16th and 17th centuries for the Mughal emperors and their courts. Aside from patterns in the Persian manner, a series of distinctively Indian designs were developed, including scenic and landscape carpets; animal carpets with spirited chases backward and forward across the field; elaborate architectural latticeworks

Baer, Karl Ernst, Ritter Von (knight Of), Edler (lord) Von Huthorn

2004-08-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Baer, one of 10 children, spent his childhood with an uncle and

Kazaure

2004-08-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

Town and traditional emirate in Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. The town has been the emirate's headquarters since 1819. It was founded by Dan Tunku, a Fulani warrior who was one of the 14 flag bearers for the Fulani jihad (holy war) leader Usman dan Fodio. Dan Tunku arrived from the nearby town of Dambatta (Dambarta) at a stockaded village that he named Kazaure and established

Symbolist Movement

2004-08-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

Dramatists also took their lead from the French Symbolist poets, especially from Mallarmé. As drama critic for La Dernière Mode during the 1870s, Mallarmé opposed the dominant Realist theatre and called for a poetic theatre that would evoke the hidden mystery of man and the universe. Drama, for Mallarmé, should be a sacred rite in which the poet-dramatist revealed the