MilitaryMap

John (iv)

2005-04-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

At first, John of Montfort had recognized John III's designation of Charles of Blois (nephew of King Philip VI of France) as the successor; but then John of Montfort reneged, had himself crowned at a convocation of bishops and lords at Nantes,

Salaj

2005-04-05T06:25:00.000-07:00

Judet (county), northwestern Romania. The Western Carpathian Mountains of Romania, including the Ses Mountains, rise above settlement areas in the valleys. The county is drained northwestward by the Somes River and its tributaries. Zalau (q.v.) is the county capital. Metal products, building materials, timber, and foodstuffs are produced in Zalau and Simleu Silvaniei. Lignite

Rushworth, John

2005-04-04T00:38:00.000-07:00

Rushworth studied law, perhaps at the University of Oxford (from which he received an M.A. in 1649), and in 1638 was made

Amorphous Solid

2005-04-03T13:12:00.000-07:00

It was once thought that relatively few materials could be prepared as amorphous solids, and such materials (notably, oxide glasses and organic polymers) were called glass-forming solids. It is now known that the amorphous solid state is almost a universal property of condensable matter. The Table presents a list of amorphous solids in which every class of chemical

Biblical Literature, Eastern Orthodoxy

2005-04-02T07:08:00.000-08:00

The first Christians were Jews, and they worshipped along with other Jews in the synagogue. The earliest Gentile converts also attended the synagogue. When Christians met outside the synagogue, they still used its liturgy, read its Bible, and preserved the main characteristics of synagogue worship. Every historic liturgy is divided into (1) a Christian revision of

Foreign Affairs

2005-04-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Journal of international relations, published in New York City six times a year, one of the most prestigious periodicals of its kind in the world. The organ of the Council on Foreign Relations, by which it was founded in 1922, it provides a window on the U.S. foreign-policy establishment. It has an international reputation for its careful and probing analyses of political,

Arnhem

2005-03-31T04:26:00.000-08:00

German Arnheim, gemeente (municipality) and capital (1794), Gelderland provincie (province), eastern Netherlands, on the north bank of the Lower Rhine (Neder Rijn) River. Possibly the site of the Roman settlement of Arenacum, it was first mentioned in 893. Chartered and fortified in 1233 by Otto II, count of Geldern, it joined the Hanseatic League in 1443. As the residence of the dukes of Geldern, it was often

Marriage

2005-03-31T02:25:00.000-08:00

A legally and socially sanctioned union, usually between a man and a woman, that is regulated by laws, rules, customs, beliefs, and attitudes that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners and accords status to their offspring (if any). The universality of marriage within different societies and cultures is attributed to the many basic social and personal functions

Boismortier, Joseph Bodin De

2005-03-30T06:44:00.000-08:00

His music, particularly for the voice, was extremely popular, and he became rich without

Black Friday

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

In U.S. history, Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. The crash was a consequence of an attempt by financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk to corner the gold market and drive up the price. The scheme depended on keeping government gold off the market, which the manipulators arranged through political influence. When

Interference Fringe

2005-03-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

A bright or dark band caused by beams of light that are in phase or out of phase with one another. Light waves and similar wave propagation, when superimposed, will add their crests if they meet in the same phase (the waves are both increasing or both decreasing); or the troughs will cancel the crests if they are out of phase; these phenomena are called constructive and destructive

Puerto Suárez

2005-03-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

Town, extreme eastern Bolivia. It is situated on the marshy shores of Lake Cáceres, just west of Corumbá, Brazil, and is connected to the Paraguay River by the Tamengo Canal. Puerto Suárez was once an isolated port and trading centre for rubber, coffee, and other local products, but the town has grown rapidly since the late 20th century, when a natural gas pipeline was built

Arabia, History Of, Himyarites

2005-03-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

Himyar is the Arabic form of the name of a people who appear in the inscriptions as Hmyr and in Greek sources as Homeritai. They occupied the extreme southwest of the peninsula and had their capital at Zafar, a site some nine miles southeast of present-day Yarim, on the motor road from Aden and Ta'izz to San'a'. The first appearance of Himyar in history is in Pliny's Naturalis

Port-royal

2005-03-25T22:33:00.000-08:00

In 1609 the young abbess Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld began a much-needed reform. In 1625–26, because

Wad Madani

2005-03-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Sudan. Wad Madani lies on the west bank of the Blue Nile, 85 miles (136 km) southeast of Khartoum, at an elevation of 1,348 feet (411 m). It owes its recent growth to the irrigated lands of the Jazirah (Gezira) irrigation scheme and is the commercial centre of the al-Jazirah cotton-growing area. Peanuts (groundnuts) and wheat are also grown in the area. The University of al-Jazirah

Davidson, Donald

2005-03-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

While attending Vanderbilt University, Nashville (B.A., 1917; M.A., 1922), Davidson became one of the Fugitives, a group of Southern writers determined to conserve their region's distinctive literature and

Antarctica, IGY and the Antarctic Treaty

2005-03-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

The importance of coordinating polar science efforts was recognized in 1879 by the International Polar Commission meeting in Hamburg, Ger., and thus the 11 participating nations organized the First International Polar Year of 1882–83. Most work was planned for the better-known Arctic, and, of the four geomagnetic and meteorologic stations scheduled for Antarctic regions, only

Uttar Pradesh

2005-03-23T23:43:00.000-08:00

The most populous state of India. Lying in north-central India, it is bordered by Nepal and the Indian state of Uttaranchal to the north, the Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan and the union territory of Delhi to the west, the state of Madhya Pradesh to the south, the state of Bihar to the east, and the states of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh to the southeast. Uttar Pradesh extends

Felsina

2005-03-23T01:47:00.000-08:00

Before Etruscan times the Bologna area was an important centre of Villanovan Iron Age cultures of the central

Skagen

2005-03-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

Also called The Skaw city and port, Nordjylland amtskommune (county commune), northern Jutland, Denmark, near the northern tip of the peninsula on the Kattegat strait. Chartered in 1413, it is one of the principal fishing centres in Denmark. It is also a summer resort and, from the 1870s, the site of an artists' and writers' colony. Notable are the Rå-bjerg Mile sand dunes to the south and the Old Church, which

East Dorset

2005-03-22T09:59:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Dorset, southern England, in the northeastern corner of the county directly north of the English Channel resorts of Bournemouth and Poole. Most of the district is part of the historic county of Dorset, but its easternmost section, including St. Leonards, is in the historic county of Hampshire. East Dorset district is a low-lying plain

Aesthetics, The value of art

2005-03-22T09:25:00.000-08:00

Theories of the value of art are of two kinds, which we may call extrinsic and intrinsic. The first regards art and the appreciation of art as means to some recognized moral good, while the second regards them as valuable not instrumentally but as objects unto themselves. It is characteristic of extrinsic theories to locate the value of art in its effects on the person

Brill, Paul

2005-03-22T01:29:00.000-08:00

Also called Paulus Bril Flemish artist who was perhaps the most popular painter of landscapes in Rome in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His early forest landscapes derive in style partly from Mannerism, but after 1600 he disciplined and simplified his compositions under the influence of the German painter Adam Elsheimer. His latest work was classical in character.

Bukit Fraser

2005-03-20T23:52:00.000-08:00

Formerly Frasers Hill, mountain resort in the Main Range, West Malaysia (Malaya). It lies 40 miles (65 km) north of Kuala Lumpur, at an elevation of 4,280 feet (1,305 m). The site was named for Louis James Fraser, a trader and mule-train operator who disappeared in the area in 1916. The hill station, built on seven hills, was surveyed in 1919 and later developed by the Federated Malay States. The resort is reached via Kuala Kubu Baharu

Bingen

2005-03-20T03:49:00.000-08:00

In full Bingen am Rhein city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. Bingen is a port at the confluence of the Rhine and Nahe rivers, near the whirlpool known as Binger Loch. It originated as the Roman fortress of Bingium and later became an imperial free city, joining the Hanseatic League in 1254. The archbishop-electors of Mainz held the town from 1281 until it fell to Hessen in 1803, after

Waddington, William Henry

2005-03-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

The son of an English manufacturer living in France

Earth, Geologic History Of

2005-03-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

Evolution of the continents, oceans, atmosphere, and biosphere. The layers of rock at the Earth's surface contain evidence of the evolutionary processes undergone by these components of the terrestrial environment during the times at which each layer was formed. By studying this rock record from the very beginning, it is thus possible to trace their development

Cahaba

2005-03-18T20:17:00.000-08:00

Historic village, Dallas county, southwest-central Alabama, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Selma. Founded in 1819 as the first capital of Alabama, Cahaba thrived until floods forced the state government to move to Tuscaloosa in 1826. The site of a Confederate prison camp during the American Civil War, Cahaba remained the seat

Bonanza Creek

2005-03-18T07:12:00.000-08:00

Stream in the western Yukon Territory, Canada, rising near Dawson and flowing 20 mi (32 km) northwest to the Klondike River. In it gold was found by George Washington Carmack on Aug. 17, 1896, setting off the gold rush of that year into the Klondike Valley. The creek, formerly called Rabbit Creek, was renamed Bonanza Creek to mark Carmack's strike. See also Klondike River.

Mammal, Respiratory system

2005-03-18T00:24:00.000-08:00

Closely coupled with the circulatory system is the ventilatory (breathing) apparatus, the lungs and associated structures. Ventilation in mammals is unique. The lungs themselves are less efficient than those of birds, for air movement consists of an ebb and flow, rather than a one-way circuit, so a residuum of air remains that cannot be expired. Ventilation in mammals

Salem

2005-03-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

City, Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Salem Bay Harbor (an inlet of Massachusetts Bay), 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Boston. Salem was incorporated as a town in 1626 by Roger Conant, who emigrated from Cape Ann, 14 miles (22 km) northeast. The first Congregational Church in America was organized there in 1629, and Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island colony, served as

Clove Tree

2005-03-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

Tropical tree, a species of the genus Eugenia (q.v.).

Canada West

2005-03-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Canada West was settled primarily by English-speaking immigrants. The inhabitants nevertheless sought confederation with Canada East (which was populated largely

Submarine Fracture Zone

2005-03-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

The largest fracture zones, in the eastern Pacific, are several thousand kilometres long, 100 to 200 km (60 to 125 miles) wide, and possess several kilometres of vertical relief. Each Pacific fracture zone is actually a complex of ridges and intervening

Larsen Ice Shelf

2005-03-15T07:36:00.000-08:00

Ice shelf in the northwestern Weddell Sea, adjoining the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula and named for Captain Carl A. Larsen, who sailed along the ice front in 1893. It covers an area of 33,000 square miles (86,000 square km, excluding the numerous small islands within the ice shelf). The shelf is narrow in its southern half but gradually widens toward the Antarctic Circle to the north

Pacific Ocean

2005-03-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

The Pacific island arcs are believed to have originated in the lateral thrusting of the Eurasian and Australian plates toward and over the Pacific floor, the shapes of the

Jerez De García Salinas

2005-03-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

City, south-central Zacatecas estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. Formerly known simply as Jerez, the city is on the Jerez River, 6,650 feet (2,027 m) above sea level and southwest of Zacatecas, the state capital. It is the commercial and manufacturing centre for an agricultural and pastoral hinterland in which beans, quince, and apples are the principal crops and horses, pigs, sheep,

Ben Jelloun, Tahar

2005-03-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

Ben Jelloun's first collection of poetry, Hommes sous linceul de silence (1971; “Men Under

Arts, Central Asian, Tibetan literature

2005-03-14T04:25:00.000-08:00

Tibetan was developed as a literary language from the 7th century onward as a result of earlier cultural contacts with neighbouring Buddhist countries—namely, the small states of the Takla Makan, especially Khotan (Ho-t'ien) and the kingdoms of ancient northwestern India (modern Gilgit, Kashmir, and Kullu) and Nepal. Scripts of Indian origin were in use in these countries,

Aulnoy, Marie-catherine Le Jumel De Barneville, Countess (comtesse) D'

2005-03-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Shortly after her marriage as a young girl in 1666, Marie d'Aulnoy conspired with her mother and their two lovers to accuse falsely Marie's husband, a middle-aged financier, of high treason. When the plot miscarried,

Nicholas Of Autrecourt

2005-03-12T03:48:00.000-08:00

Nicholas was an advanced student in liberal arts and philosophy at the Sorbonne faculty of the University of Paris from 1320 to 1327. He became one of the most notable

Ibrahim Pasa

2005-03-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

Ibrahim's first military expedition was to Egypt (1524), where he reestablished order and introduced administrative and fiscal measures that solidified Ottoman authority there.

Tjokroaminoto, Omar Said

2005-03-11T08:06:00.000-08:00

The Sarekat Dagang Islam (Association of Islamic Traders), established in 1911 to promote the interests of Indonesian traders faced with growing

Baker, Sir Benjamin

2005-03-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

In 1861 Baker became an assistant to the consulting engineer John Fowler and by 1875 was his partner. Baker became Fowler's chief assistant in 1869 and as such was responsible for the construction of the subterranean District

Babcock, Horace Welcome

2005-03-09T03:56:00.000-08:00

American astronomer (b. Sept. 13, 1912, Pasadena, Calif.—d. Aug. 29, 2003, Santa Barbara, Calif.), led the effort to create, in 1969, Chile's Las Campanas Observatory, the first observatory to be built far from sources of light pollution. In the 1950s Babcock devised the system of adaptive optics that enabled telescopes to compensate for the distorting effect of Earth's atmosphere on light from distant

Oz, Amos

2005-03-09T02:15:00.000-08:00

Oz's symbolic, poetic novels reflect the splits and strains in Israeli life. Locked in conflict are the traditions

Birnin Kebbi

2005-03-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Kebbi state, northwestern Nigeria. It lies along the Sokoto (Kebbi) River at the intersection of roads from Argungu, Jega, and Bunza. An early settlement of the Kebbawa, a subgroup of the Hausa, it was captured about 1516 by Muhammadu Kanta, founder of the Kebbi kingdom; subsequently, it was incorporated into Kebbi, one of the banza bakwai (the seven illegitimate

Tocharian Languages

2005-03-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

Tocharian also spelled Tokharian, small group of extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Tarim River Basin (in the centre of the modern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China) during the latter half of the 1st millennium AD. Documents from AD 500–700 attest to two: Tocharian A, from the area of Turfan in the east; and Tocharian B, chiefly from the region of Kucha in the west but also from the Turfan

China, General works

2005-03-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank (eds.), The Cambridge History of China (1978– ), will be the standard multivolume reference work for all aspects of Chinese history when it is completed. The following are comprehensive works: John K. Fairbank, China: A New History (1992), covering the span from paleolithic cultures to the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989, with an excellent bibliography; Wolfram Eberhard, A History of China, 4th ed. (1977, reissued 1987; originally published in German, 1948); John K. Fairbank and Edwin O. Reischauer, China: Tradition and Transformation, rev. ed. (1989); Otto Franke, Geschichte des chinesischen Reiches, 2nd ed., 5 vol. (1948–65); Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization (1982; originally published in French, 1972), a detailed survey of China's intellectual, social, and economic history from the neolithic cultures up to the Cultural Revolution of 1966; Charles O. Hucker, China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture (1975), to 1850; and John Meskill (ed.), An Introduction to Chinese Civilization (1973), which includes a survey of Chinese history and ten essays on such aspects of Chinese civilization as anthropology, economy, geography, and religion, among others.

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Renaissance

2005-03-07T05:57:00.000-08:00

Romance and romantic forms provide the main vehicle for the entrance of allegory into the literature of the Renaissance period. The old Arthurian legends carry a new sophistication and polish in the epics of the Italians Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso and in the work of Edmund Spenser. By interlacing several simultaneous stories in one larger narrative, the literary

Degrelle, Léon

2005-03-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

After failing three times to pass his final law exams at the University of Louvain, Degrelle, who was a dynamic orator, entered politics. Using banking scandals and the corruption of national parties as issues, he organized

Swastika

2005-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Equilateral cross with arms bent at right angles, all in the same rotary direction, usually clockwise. The swastika as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune is widely distributed throughout the ancient and modern world. The word is derived from the Sanskrit svastika, meaning “conducive to well-being.” It was a favourite symbol on ancient Mesopotamian coinage. In

Meletius Of Lycopolis

2005-03-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

For presuming to ordain clergy and bishops for Christian

Andalusite

2005-03-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

(Al2SiO5), aluminum silicate mineral that occurs in relatively small amounts in various metamorphic rocks, particularly in altered sediments. It is found in commercial quantities in the Inyo Mountains, Mono county, Calif., in the United States; in Kazakstan; and in South Africa. Such deposits are mined as a raw material for refractories and porcelain used in spark plugs

Interior Design, Ceilings

2005-03-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Although ceilings are in most interiors the largest unbroken surface, they are often ignored by amateur designers and even by professional designers. The result, especially in public and office interiors, is frequently a mass of unrelated lighting devices, air conditioning outlets, and the like. Ceilings were emphasized in the Baroque and 18th-century traditions:

China, Tung (Eastern) Han

2005-03-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

The Han house was restored by Liu Hsiu, better known as Kuang-wu ti, who reigned from AD 25 to 57/58. His claim had been contested by another member of the Liu house, Liu Hsüan—better known as Liu Keng-shih—who had been actually enthroned for two years, until his death in the course of turbulent civil fighting. Ch'ang-an had been virtually destroyed by warfare, and Kuang-wu ti established

Agostino Di Giovanni

2005-03-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

Agostino is first heard of in Siena in 1310 and again lived there in 1340–43. After 1320 he was active with Agnolo at Volterra, where they executed a number of scenes from the lives of SS. Regulus and Octavian. The work of the two sculptors cannot be clearly differentiated. Between

Athena

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

Also spelled Athene in Greek religion, the city protectress, goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason, identified by the Romans with Minerva (q.v.). She was essentially urban and civilized, the antithesis in many respects of Artemis, goddess of the outdoors. Athena was probably a pre-Hellenic goddess and was later taken over by the Greeks. Yet the Greek economy, unlike that

Venosa

2005-03-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

Latin Venusia, town and episcopal see, Potenza provincia, Basilicata regione, southern Italy. It is situated on the lower slope of Mount Vulcano, north of Potenza. Originally a settlement of the Lucanians (an ancient Italic tribe), it was taken by the Romans after the Samnite Wars (291 BC); from its position on the Appian Way it became an important Roman garrison town. The poet Horace was born

Ocaña

2005-03-01T22:16:00.000-08:00

City, Norte de Santander departamento, northern Colombia, in the Hacarí valley. Founded (c. 1570) as Nueva Madrid by Francisco Fernández, the city was renamed for Ocaña in New Castile, Spain. An independence convention that was held there in 1828 is commemorated by a triumphal arch. Barium mining and onion growing are basic economic activities. Ocaña is the superior court of a judicial

Salamis

2005-03-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Salamís, island and town, nomós (department) of Attikí, Greece. The island lies in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, west of the city of Piraeus. The town (the present combined municipality of Salamís-Naústathmos) is a port on the west coast of the island. On the east, between the island and the mainland, are the straits in which the Greeks won a decisive naval victory over the Persians

Papantla

2005-03-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

In full Papantla De Olarte, city, north-central Veracruz estado (“state”), east-central Mexico. Formerly known as Papantla de Hidalgo, the city lies in the hills dividing the Cazones and Tecolutla river basins. Corn (maize), beans, tobacco, and fruits flourish in the hot, humid climate. The city is the centre of Mexico's most important vanilla-producing region; almost all the vanilla is exported. Cattle

Epiphany

2005-02-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

(from Greek epiphaneia, “manifestation”), festival celebrated on January 6; it is one of the three principal and oldest festival days of the Christian Church (including Easter and Christmas). It commemorates the first manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi, and the manifestation of his divinity, as it occurred at his Baptism in the Jordan

Bothe, Walther

2005-02-28T07:09:00.000-08:00

Bothe taught at the universities of Berlin (1920–31), Giessen (1931–34), and Heidelberg (1934–57). In 1925 he and Hans Geiger used two Geiger counters to gather data on the Compton

Feldspathoid

2005-02-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of alkali aluminosilicate minerals similar to the feldspars in chemical composition but either having a lower silica-alkali ratio or containing chloride, sulfide, sulfate, or carbonate. They are considered to be the specific minerals of igneous rocks usually termed alkalic, which is the designation applied to igneous rocks whose alkali content

Deneuve, Catherine

2005-02-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

Deneuve was the third of four daughters born to the French actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve. She landed a small role in the 1957 film Les Collégiennes (The Twilight Girls) and began her film career

Bijapur

2005-02-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

City, northern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. An important site of medieval Indian Islamic architecture, it was formerly called Vijayapura (meaning “city of victory”) and was an important community under the Yadava dynasty for more than a century until 1294, when it became a provincial capital of the Bahmani. In 1489 with the advent of Yusuf 'Adil Shah, the first 'Adil

Silcrete

2005-02-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

Silica-rich duricrust, an indurated, or hardened, layer in or on a soil. It generally occurs in a hot, arid climate where infrequent waterlogging causes silica to dissolve and be redeposited to cement soil grains together. Silcrete is extremely hard and resistant to weathering and erosion but eventually weathers spheroidally to produce boulders and angular fragments.

Gattamelata

2005-02-25T01:03:00.000-08:00

Also called Equestrian monument of Erasmo da Narni bronze statue of the Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narni, (popularly known as Gattamelata, meaning “honeyed cat”) by the 15th-century Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It was completed between 1447 and 1450 but was not installed on its pedestal in the Piazza del Santo in front of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua, Italy, until 1453. The statue established a prototype

Cyrus I

2005-02-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

Achaemenian king, the son of Teispes and grandfather of Cyrus II the Great; he had control over Anshan (northeast of Susa in Elam) and possibly also over Parsumash to the east during the second half of the 7th century. Although he sent aid to Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon (651), who was in revolt against Assyria, Cyrus was forced to accept Assyrian overlordship about

Minbar

2005-02-23T17:35:00.000-08:00

Muhammad originally delivered his khutbahs while leaning against a palm-trunk pillar in the mosque at Medina. Hadith (accounts of

Marsa Matruh

2005-02-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Matruh muhafazah (governorate), on the Mediterranean coast, Western Desert, in northwestern Egypt. The town serves as a market and distribution centre for the surrounding agricultural region. Olives, barley, and fruits are grown, and there are vineyards as well. Sheep and goats are raised. Winter rains (5–8 inches [125–200 mm]) provide most of the water needed in the coastal

Procrustes

2005-02-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Polypemon, Damastes, or Procoptas, in Greek legend, a robber dwelling somewhere in Attica—in some versions, in the neighbourhood of Eleusis. His father was said to be Poseidon. Procrustes had an iron bed (or, according to some accounts, two beds) on which he compelled his victims to lie. Here, if a victim was shorter than the bed, he stretched him by hammering or racking the body to fit. Alternatively, if the victim

Kerry Blue Terrier

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

Versatile breed of working terrier that is used as a hunter, land and water retriever, and sheep and cattle herder. The Kerry blue originated in County Kerry, Ireland, where it has been bred since the 1820s. It is 17.5 to 19.5 inches (44.5 to 49.5 cm) tall, weighs 29 to 40 pounds (13 to 18 kg), and has a distinctively coloured, soft, wavy coat, black at birth and becoming slate blue to blue gray with maturity. Boxy in

France, History Of, Frankish fiscal law

2005-02-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

The Frankish fiscal system reflected the evolution of the economy. Frankish kings were unable to continue the Roman system of direct taxation of land as the basis for their income. Their principal sources of income were the exploitation of the domains of the fisc (royal treasury), war (booty, tribute), the exercise of power (monetary and judicial rights), and the imposition

Calendar Of 2000

2005-02-21T13:36:00.000-08:00

TV Breizh, the first television channel to

Uriburu, José Félix

2005-02-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

Argentine soldier and statesman who led the military coup that in September 1930 overthrew the liberal regime of President Hipólito Irigoyen and restored the old landed oligarchy to the political power it had lost after the revolution of 1916. German militarist ideas and Benito Mussolini's corporate state idea were said to be

Araki Sadao

2005-02-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

Japanese general, statesman, and a leader of the Kodo-ha (Imperial Way) faction, an ultranationalistic group of the 1930s. He strongly advocated the importance of character building through rigid mental and physical discipline, whereas the dominant Toseiha (Control) faction emphasized the importance of modernization along with

Daimler, Gottlieb (wilhelm)

2005-02-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Daimler studied engineering at the Stuttgart polytechnic institute and then worked in various German engineering firms, gaining experience with engines. In 1872 he became technical director

Juan De Austria

2005-02-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

Removed from his mother, a burgher's daughter, at an early age, he was

Petralona Skull

2005-02-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

The skull has a large brow and a slanting forehead, and, from the structure of the face, the jaw is estimated to have been larger

Coleus

2005-02-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Bush coleus (C.

Djibouti, Language

2005-02-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

The republic recognizes two official languages: French and Arabic. However, Somali is the most widely spoken language, although it is rarely written and is not taught in the schools. The use of Afar is mostly restricted to Afar areas. Many Djiboutians are multilingual.

Judaism, Sa'adia ben Joseph

2005-02-17T02:42:00.000-08:00

This belief in reason, as well as some of the tenets of Mu'tazilite theology, were taken over by Sa'adia ben Joseph, who was also influenced, either directly or through the intermediary of an Arabic philosopher, by the arguments of a Christian 6th-century philosopher, John Philoponus, against certain Aristotelian and Neoplatonic positions. Sa'adia's main theological

Wu Hsing

2005-02-16T21:48:00.000-08:00

The Wu hsing cycle served as a broad explanatory

Lancaster, House Of

2005-02-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

The family name first appeared in 1267, when the title earl of Lancaster was granted to Edmund “Crouchback” (1245–96), the youngest son of Henry III. Two of Edmund's sons by his second

Osco-umbrian Languages

2005-02-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

Language group proposed by some scholars to be included in the Italic branch of Indo-European languages. The group includes Oscan, Umbrian, and the minor dialects of central Italy—Marsian, Marrucinian, Paelignian, Sabine, Vestinian, and Volscian. Oscan, the language imposed by the Samnites on the Osci of Campania, is known from over 200 inscriptions dated between 400 and 89 BC. Umbrian

Madanin

2005-02-15T03:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Médenine, town, southern Tunisia. The town lies in the semiarid plain of al-Jifarah (Jeffara). It was the capital of the Ouerghemma League of three Berber groups and was the chief town of the Southern Military Territories during the French Protectorate (1881–1955). The honeycomb-like, aboveground granaries (ghorfas) that belonged to the Ouerghemma are features of the locality. The town is

Philippines, The early republic

2005-02-14T13:43:00.000-08:00

Roxas, as expected, extended amnesty to all major collaborators with Japan. In the campaign for the election of 1949 there was an attempt to raise the collaboration issue against José Laurel, the Nacionalista presidential candidate, but it was not effective. In the fluidity of Philippine politics, “guerrillas” and “collaborators” were by that time to be found on both sides

Kodaikanal

2005-02-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Town, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, at an elevation of 7,300 ft (2,225 m) in the Palni Hills. Created in 1845 by U.S. missionaries and British civil servants as a hill station to which administrative offices were moved during the summer, it is a popular resort, known for its scenery, 75-ac (30-ha) artificial lake, and recreational facilities. It also contains a meteorological

Siberian Chronicles

2005-02-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

The origin, reliability, and interrelationships of the

Alder, Kurt

2005-02-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

Alder studied chemistry at the universities of Berlin and Kiel, where he received his doctorate

Koraïs, Adamántios

2005-02-12T06:11:00.000-08:00

Kora

Bukhara

2005-02-11T21:00:00.000-08:00

Uzbek Bukhoro, also spelled Buchara or Bokhara city and administrative centre, Bukhoro oblast (province), Uzbekistan, on the Shakhrud Canal in the delta of the Zeravshan River, at the centre of Bukhara oasis. Founded not later than the 1st century AD, it was already a major trade and crafts centre when the Arabs captured it in 709. The capital of the Samanid dynasty in the 9th–10th centuries, it later was seized by the Qarakhanids

Intaglio

2005-02-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

In sculpture, work in which the design is incised into the block, all lines appearing below the surface; it is thus the opposite of relief sculpture and is sometimes called “hollow relief.” When the technique is used in casting, the design is cut in reverse into a plaster shell, which is then filled with the casting substance; the hollow impressions of the mold appear in

Cyzicus

2005-02-11T04:04:00.000-08:00

With the collapse of Lydia (c. 544), Cyzicus came under Persian rule, but it joined the Delian League after the defeat of Xerxes and remained loyal to Athens

Parafusulina

2005-02-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

Genus of extinct fusulinid foraminiferans (single-celled animals with a hard, complexly constructed shell) found as fossils in Permian marine rocks (the Permian Period began 286 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). Parafusulina is more specifically restricted to the Leonardian and Guadalupian stages, smaller divisions of Permian rocks and time, and is

Ussher, James

2005-02-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

Ordained priest in 1601, Ussher became professor (1607–21) and twice vice-chancellor (1614, 1617) at the university where he had received his B.A., Trinity College, Dublin.

Spaniel

2005-02-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

The cocker spaniel is a small dog standing 14 to 15 inches (36 to 39 centimetres) and weighing 22 to 29 pounds (10 to 13 kilograms). Compact and sturdily built, it has a rounded head, floppy ears, and

Xie Jun

2005-02-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Cathy Forbes, Meet the Masters (1994), contains a collection of interviews with many notable chess players.