BentCastle

Basketball, International competition

2005-04-05T16:09:00.000-07:00

The success of international basketball was greatly advanced by Forrest C. (“Phog”) Allen, a Naismith disciple and a former coach at the University of Kansas, who led the movement for inclusion of basketball in the Olympic Games in 1936 and thereafter. Basketball has also been played in the Pan-American Games since their inauguration in 1951. The international game is governed

Muhly

2005-04-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

Most muhlys are perennials, and all species have only one floret on each branch,

Bérenger, Alphonse-marie

2005-04-02T22:28:00.000-08:00

Appointed judge in Grenoble in 1808, Bérenger had a successful career in the magistracy during Napoleon's First Empire and served as a representative for Drôme département during Napoleon's

Sentimental Comedy

2005-04-02T20:14:00.000-08:00

A dramatic genre of the 18th century, denoting plays in which middle-class protagonists triumphantly overcome a series of moral trials. Such comedy aimed at producing tears rather than laughter. Sentimental comedies reflected contemporary philosophical conceptions of humans as inherently good but capable of being led astray through bad example. By an appeal

Canaan Dog

2005-04-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Breed of herding dog developed in Israel in the 20th century from semiwild pariah dogs that were the descendants of animals present in the region since biblical times. Over time they had been utilized as guardians and hunting dogs, but most had reverted to a wild state, living in desert areas. In the 1930s a breeding program was begun to redomesticate these wild dogs to serve

Kidd, William

2005-04-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

Kidd's early career is obscure. It is believed he went to sea as a youth. After 1689 he was sailing as

Mccormick, Anne Elizabeth O'hare

2005-03-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

McCormick was taken by her parents to the United States in early childhood and attended the academy and college of St. Mary of the Springs

Argentina, Finance

2005-03-31T03:28:00.000-08:00

Economic troubles in the 1970s and '80s caused the near

Lena River, Plant and animal life

2005-03-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

The vegetation of the Lena valley corresponds to the natural zones across which the river flows. The main part of the river basin is covered with taiga (swampy northern coniferous forest); in the lower reaches are found tundra and scattered forest. Spruce, cedar, birch, and poplar predominate in the moister regions. In the central valley there are some expanses of steppe

Manchester

2005-03-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

Town (township), which includes Manchester Village, Manchester Center, and Manchester Depot in southwestern Vermont, U.S. It lies near the Batten Kill River between the Taconic Range and the Green Mountains. Manchester Village is one of the seats (the other is Bennington) of Bennington county. The site was settled about 1764 and laid out in 1784. The Vermont Council of Safety (where

Nacogdoches

2005-03-30T05:45:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1837) of Nacogdoches county, eastern Texas, U.S., near the Angelina River, 140 miles (225 km) north-northeast of Houston. In 1716 a Spanish mission (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) was first established near a Nacogdoche Indian village (a pyramidal mound from that village is still extant). Abandoned in 1718, the site was resettled in 1779 when Antonio Gil Y'barbo built the Old Stone Fort (reconstructed

Performing Arts, Great Britain and Ireland.

2005-03-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

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

Argentina, Soils

2005-03-25T16:57:00.000-08:00

Soil types in Argentina range from the light-coloured saline formations of the high puna in the Northwest to the dark, humus-rich type found in the Pampas. Golden-brown loess soils of the Gran Chaco are sometimes lighter where salinity is excessive but turn darker toward the east in the Mesopotamian border zone. These give way to soils ranging from rust to deep red

Molasses Act

2005-03-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

(1733), in American colonial history, a British law that imposed a tax on molasses, sugar, and rum imported from non-British foreign colonies into the North American colonies. The act specifically aimed at reserving a practical monopoly of the American sugar market to British West Indies sugarcane growers, who otherwise could not compete successfully with French and

Rio Grande

2005-03-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Grande del Norte, or (in Mexico) Río Bravo, or Río Bravo del Norte, fifth longest river of North America, and the 20th longest in the world, forming the border between the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico. Rising as a clear, snow-fed mountain stream more than 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) above sea level in the Rocky Mountains, the Rio Grande descends across steppes and deserts, watering rich agricultural regions as it flows on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. The

Christensen, Willam

2005-03-23T07:25:00.000-08:00

Christensen studied with the great ballet master and reformer Michel Fokine. He performed in vaudeville with his brothers before joining the San Francisco Opera Ballet as

Gaborone

2005-03-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1969) Gaberones, town, capital of Botswana. The seat of government was transferred there from Mafeking (now spelled Mafikeng), South Africa, in 1965, one year before Botswana became independent of Britain. Gaborone is located on the Cape-Zimbabwe railway and is the site of government offices, parliament buildings, health facilities, a thermal power station, and an airport. It is the seat of

Paraguaná Peninsula

2005-03-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

Spanish Península De Paraguaná, Falcón estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. It lies between the Caribbean Sea on the east and the Gulf of Venezuela on the west. Of low elevation, the peninsula has infertile soil and is sparsely populated, but the development of the petroleum industry, especially in the 1950s and '60s, gave Paraguaná great economic importance. Pipelines lead from the oil fields at Lake Maracaibo

Payroll Tax

2005-03-20T00:04:00.000-08:00

Taxes on payrolls are seldom used as a source of general revenues, although in some developing countries the income tax base may actually include little beyond wages and salaries, the equivalent of the payroll

Clarence River

2005-03-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

Coastal river, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, rising in the McPherson Range near the Queensland border, flowing south and northeast for 245 mi (394 km), and emptying into the Pacific 40 mi below Grafton. Its chief tributaries are the Timbarra, Mitchell, and Orara. Woodford, Chatsworth, and Harwood are the largest of its many islands, most of which are subject to floods. The

Bahrain, Flag Of

2005-03-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

The southern coast of the Persian Gulf was characterized by extensive warfare and piracy for many centuries. In 1820 the British were finally successful in enforcing peace on the local Arab states. The General Treaty of Peace signed at that time provided that those territories on friendly terms with the United Kingdom should include a white border on the plain red

Disaccharide

2005-03-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Double Sugar, any substance that is composed of two molecules of simple sugars (monosaccharides) linked to each other. Sucrose, which is formed following photosynthesis in green plants, consists of one molecule of glucose and one of fructose; lactose (milk sugar), found in the milk of all mammals, consists of glucose and galactose; and maltose, a product of the breakdown of starches

Bloch, Marc

2005-03-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

Bloch, the son of a professor of ancient history, grandson of a school principal, and great-grandson of a combatant in the French Revolution, descended from a family of patriotic French Jews. Educated in Paris at the

Lenormant, François

2005-03-17T03:52:00.000-08:00

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

Rushbagot Agreement

2005-03-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

(1817), exchange of notes between Richard Rush, acting U.S. secretary of state, and Charles Bagot, British minister to the United States, that provided for the limitation of naval forces on the Great Lakes in the wake of the War of 1812. Each country was allowed no more than one vessel on Lake Champlain, one on Lake Ontario, and two on the upper lakes. Each vessel was restricted to a maximum

Choiseul, étienne-françois De Choiseul, Duc De (duke Of )

2005-03-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Choiseul, the son of François-Joseph de Choiseul, Marquis de Stainville, adopted the title Count de Stainville, entered the French army, and served with distinction against the British and Austrians in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). At the end of the conflict,

Nagoya

2005-03-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

The history of Nagoya dates from 1610, when a great castle was erected by the Owari branch of the powerful Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), which marked the end of shogunal government, Nagoya continued as a commercial

Latécoère, Pierre

2005-03-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

The Compagnie Latécoère began commercial air flights between Toulouse, Fr., and Barcelona on Dec. 25, 1918, and extended its route to Morocco in 1919 and to Dakar, Senegal, in 1925. In 1927 the line was renamed Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and, at the end of the decade,

Ben-hadad I

2005-03-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

Assyrian Adad-idri king of Damascus who led a coalition against the invading forces of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, repulsing them at Karkar in 853. In a battle with him King Ahab of Israel was killed (I Kings 22:29–36). Ben-hadad was murdered by the usurper Hazael.

Websterashburton Treaty

2005-03-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

(1842), treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain establishing the northeastern boundary of the U.S. and providing for Anglo–U.S. cooperation in the suppression of the slave trade. The treaty established the present boundary between Maine and New Brunswick, granted the U.S. navigation rights on the St. John River, provided for extradition in enumerated nonpolitical criminal

Black Bass

2005-03-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

Any of about six species of elongated freshwater fishes that constitute the genus Micropterus of the sunfish family, Centrarchidae (order Perciformes). Black basses are found in eastern North America. Two of them, the largemouth (see photograph) and smallmouth black basses (M. salmoides and M. dolomieui), have been introduced in other countries

Piura

2005-03-11T18:48:00.000-08:00

Department (formed 1861) of northern Peru, consisting of coastal desert, particularly in the west and south, and low, forested Andean mountains in the east. It is drained by the Chira River in the north and the Piura River in the south. The irrigated valleys of these two rivers are used chiefly for the production of cotton. Upstream on the Piura River, sugarcane, rice, tobacco,

Chuikov, Vasily Ivanovich

2005-03-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

The son of peasants, Chuikov worked as a mechanic apprentice from the age of 12. At the age of 18, after

Armorica

2005-03-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aremorica (from Celtic ar, “on,” and mor, “sea”), Latin name for the northwestern extremity of Gaul, now Brittany. In Celtic, Roman, and Frankish times Armorica also included the western part of what later became Normandy. In Julius Caesar's time it was the home of five principal tribes, the most important being the Veneti. Under the Roman Empire it formed part of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis,

Faience Patriotique

2005-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

French 18th-century earthenware, chiefly plates and jugs, decorated with themes drawn from the French Revolution and its ideology or from national political events. The first example of a faience patriotique was a Moustiers dish occasioned by the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745, but it was the Revolution that inspired the greatest production of faience patriotique. A number

Ligase

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

Also called Synthetase any one of a class of about 50 enzymes that catalyze reactions involving the conservation of chemical energy and provide a couple between energy-demanding synthetic processes and energy-yielding breakdown reactions. They catalyze the joining of two molecules, deriving the needed energy from the cleavage of an energy-rich phosphate bond (in many cases, by the simultaneous

Aesthetics, The significance of Baumgarten's work

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

Such a statement would have been vigorously repudiated by Hutcheson's contemporary Alexander Baumgarten, who, in his aforementioned Reflections on Poetry, introduced the term aesthetic in its distinctively modern sense. Baumgarten was a pupil of Christian Wolff, the Rationalist philosopher who had created the orthodox philosophy of the German Enlightenment

Brunelleschi, Filippo

2005-03-07T00:56:00.000-08:00

Architect and engineer who was one of the pioneers of early Renaissance architecture in Italy. His major work is the dome of the Florence Cathedral (1420–36), constructed with the aid of machines that Brunelleschi invented expressly for the project. Most of what is known about Brunelleschi's life and career is based on a biography written in

Earth Sciences, The chemical analysis of rocks and minerals

2005-03-06T20:45:00.000-08:00

The successive stages in the plate-tectonic cycle (see below) produce igneous rocks that have geochemical patterns distinctive for each stage. Consequently, the igneous petrologist is able to use both the major and trace element abundances of rocks to define the possible tectonic environment in which they formed. The metamorphic petrologist can use the bulk

Zapolska, Gabriela

2005-03-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Having tried unsuccessfully to pursue an acting career in Paris, Zapolska started writing cheap, sensationalist novels full of bitterness toward middle-class values, morality, and hypocrisy. Of her several novels written

Prince, Harold

2005-03-06T00:27:00.000-08:00

The son of a New York stockbroker, Prince majored in English at the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1948) and began his theatrical career as an apprentice and stage manager for the noted producer

Storm Petrel

2005-03-05T01:07:00.000-08:00

Any member of about 20 species of seabirds constituting the family Hydrobatidae, or sometimes considered as Oceanitidae (order Procellariiformes). Ranging in length from about 13 to 25 centimetres (5 1/2 to 10 inches), all are dark gray or brown, sometimes lighter below, and often with a white rump. The wings are shorter than those of most other procellariiforms and are rounded at

Vlach

2005-03-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

The

Biblical Literature, The oracles of Trito-Isaiah

2005-03-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Chapters 56–66 are a collection of oracles from the restoration period (after 538 BCE). Emphasis is placed upon cultic acts, attacks against idolatry, and a right motivation in the worship of Yahweh. Repentance and social justice are themes that have been retained from the earlier Isaiah traditions, and the ever-present element of hope in the creative goodness of Yahweh that pervaded

Bezborodko, Aleksandr Andreyevich, Knyaz

2005-03-03T02:39:00.000-08:00

Recommended to Catherine by Count P.A. Rumyantsev, with whom he had

Avicenna

2005-03-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

Arabic Ibn Sina, in full Abu 'Ali al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Sina Iranian physician, the most famous and influential of the philosopher-scientists of Islam. He was particularly noted for his contributions in the fields of Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. He composed the Kitab ash-shifa' (“Book of Healing”), a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and the Canon of Medicine, which is among the most

Aranjuez

2005-03-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

Ancient (Latin) Ara Jovis town, Madrid provincia and comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), central Spain, on the southern bank of the Tagus River near its confluence with the Jarama. The town, which has existed since Roman times, was the headquarters of the Knights of Santiago (1387–1409) and became the seat of a royal summer residence and hunting lodge in the 17th century. It was rebuilt in about 1750 by Ferdinand

Chatham

2005-02-28T02:26:00.000-08:00

Port, Medway unitary authority, geographic and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. The port lies along the River Medway just above its confluence with the River Thames, on the southeastern periphery of Greater London. Chatham is continuous with the communities of Rochester (west) and Gillingham and New Brompton (east), known as the Medway towns, for which

Kennedy, Robert F.

2005-02-27T19:40:00.000-08:00

Robert interrupted his studies at Harvard University to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II but returned to the university and was

Reza Shah Pahlavi

2005-02-27T09:30:00.000-08:00

After centuries of misrule by its former rulers and the ravages of the war waged by foreign belligerents on its soil from 1914 to 1919, Iran in 1921 was prostrate, ruined, and on the verge of disintegration. The last of the shahs of the Qajar dynasty, Ahmad Shah, was young and incompetent, and the Cabinet was weak and corrupt. Patriotic and nationalist elements had long been outraged at the

Aeneas

2005-02-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Mythical hero of Troy and Rome, son of the goddess Aphrodite and Anchises. Aeneas was a member of the royal line at Troy and cousin of Hector. He played a prominent part in the war to defend his city against the Greeks, being second only to Hector in ability. Homer implies that Aeneas did not like his subordinate position, and from that suggestion arose a later tradition

Monarda

2005-02-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

M. fistulosa, growing to 1.5 m (5 feet) tall, has a minty aroma. The more sharply scented Oswego tea (M. didyma), shorter and

Nemean Games

2005-02-25T05:44:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, athletic and musical competitions held in honour of Zeus, in July, at the great Temple of Zeus at Nemea, in Argolis. They occurred biennially, in the same years as the Isthmian Games, i.e., in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad. Their origin was attributed to such legendary figures as Heracles and Adrastus of Argos. The presidency of the games was

China, Cultural change

2005-02-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

These great political and socioeconomic changes were accompanied by intellectual ferment, as the people tried to adjust themselves to a rapidly changing world. Ideas about the proper relationships between members of society were naturally questioned when the old feudal order was shaken; and, in this period, the great teacher Confucius elaborated the social

Brugnon, Jacques

2005-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Brugnon won the French singles championship in 1921, but he was most famous for his supremacy in doubles. He won four Wimbledon doubles championships (1926, 1928, 1932, 1933), twice with

Atharvaveda

2005-02-22T10:40:00.000-08:00

Collection of hymns and incantations that forms part of the ancient sacred literature of India known as the Vedas. See Veda.

Yi Sang-cha

2005-02-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

Yi was originally a slave in a scholar's household, but his great artistic talents soon came to the attention of the king, and he was admitted to the Korean Royal Academy and made a member of the middle class. He is known for his landscapes as well as for his portraits of the royal

Aufklärung

2005-02-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

(German: “Enlightenment”), in Germany, the 17th- and 18th-century philosophical movement that emphasized rationalism. See Enlightenment.

Akindynos, Gregorios

2005-02-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

A student of the monk-theologian Gregory Palamas, Akindynos absorbed from him the Hesychast theory of ascetical contemplation, a method of Eastern mysticism that used repetitive formulas

Euclidean Geometry, Axioms of betweenness

2005-02-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

The symbol [ABC] shall mean that the points A, B, C are in the relation of betweenness. Two axioms can be assumed for this relation (see Box 2, items 22, 23). If geometry has already been constructed, the reader may interpret [ABC] to mean, say, AB, BC are perpendicular, or B is the midpoint of AC, or A, C are on a circle the centre of which is B, and consider which of these statements is true. An intuitive interpretation

Yi Sang-cha

2005-02-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

Any of a series of unmanned U.S. scientific satellites developed to observe cosmic objects from above the Earth's atmosphere. OAO-2, launched Dec. 7, 1968, carried two large telescopes and a complement of spectrometers and other auxiliary devices. It weighed more than 4,200 pounds (1,900 kilograms), the heaviest satellite orbited up to that time. OAO-2 was able to photograph young stars that

Durmitor

2005-02-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

Mountain massif in Montenegro, Yugoslavia, part of the Dinaric ranges and a national park region that includes 15 peaks of more than 6,600 ft (2,000 m) in height, the highest, Bobotov Kuk, reaching 8,274 ft (2,522 m). Between the peaks are deep valleys and glacial lakes; dense pine and fir forests surround the lakes. The highest settlement in Yugoslavia, Zabljak, is a tourist centre; winter sports are

Beira

2005-02-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

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

Nuclear Family

2005-02-17T02:51:00.000-08:00

Also called elementary family in sociology and anthropology, a group of persons united by ties of marriage and parenthood or adoption and consisting of a man, a woman, and their socially recognized children. This unit was once widely held to be the most basic and universal form of social organization. Anthropological research, however, has illuminated so much variability of this form that it is

Paul

2005-02-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

Son of Peter III (reigned 1762) and Catherine II the Great (reigned 1762–96), Paul was reared by his father's aunt, the empress Elizabeth (reigned 1741–61). After 1760 he was tutored by Catherine's close adviser, the learned diplomat Nikita Ivanovich Panin, but the boy never developed good relations with his

Insurance, RDC clause

2005-02-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

The RDC, or “running down” clause, provides coverage for legal liability of either the shipper or the common carrier for claims arising out of collisions. (Collision loss to the vessel itself is part of the hull coverage.) The RDC clause covers negligence of the carrier or shipper that results in damage to the property of others. A companion clause, the protection and indemnity

Peru-chile Trench

2005-02-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

The Peru-Chile Trench marks the subduction of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate

Terence

2005-02-15T04:08:00.000-08:00

Terence was taken to Rome as a slave by Terentius Lucanus, an otherwise unknown Roman senator who was impressed by

Muhammad Ibn Falah

2005-02-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Muhammad ibn Falah was reputed to be descended from the seventh Shi'ite imam, Musa al-Kazim. He received a traditional Islamic religious education in al-Hillah, a famous centre for Shi'ite studies. As a student he was noted for his extremist religious views, which bordered on heresy, and he

Lop Nor

2005-02-14T03:22:00.000-08:00

The former lake, occupying roughly 770 square miles (2,000 square km) in the 1950s, ceased to exist by about 1970 upon completion of irrigation works

Andersen, Hans Christian

2005-02-13T05:26:00.000-08:00

Elias Bredsdorff, Hans Christian Andersen: The Story of His Life and Work, 1805–75 (1975, reissued 1994); Bo Grønbech, Hans Christian Andersen (1980); Sven Hakon Rossel (ed.), Hans Christian Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World (1996); and Jackie Wullschläger, Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller (2000).

Low Countries

2005-02-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Benelux Countries coastal region of northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg (qq.v.). These are together known as the Benelux countries, from the initial letters of their names. The Low Countries are bordered by Germany to the east and France to the south. In 1947 the three nations formed the Benelux Customs Union, which broadened over the years into what a

Great Dionysia

2005-02-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

The

Kachemak Culture

2005-02-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Kachemak people lived in coastal settlements

Wakayama

2005-02-10T19:28:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It occupies the Kii Peninsula, which faces the Kii Strait (west) and the Pacific Ocean (south). Most of its area of 1,824 square miles (4,725 square km) is mountainous and broken by deep river valleys, such as the Toro Gorge on the Kumano River. Despite frequent typhoons in summer, the climate is mild, and the coastal plain and some large valleys

John

2005-02-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

He was born the son of the future Holy Roman emperor Henry VII of the house of Luxembourg and was made count of Luxembourg in 1310. At about the same time, he also was named king of Bohemia, and on Feb.

Adalbert

2005-02-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

Adalbert joined his father in 946–947 in fighting the co-kings of Italy, Hugh of Provence and his son Lothair. After Lothair's death in 950, Adalbert was crowned with Berengar at Pavia.

Východní Slovensko

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

Czech Východoslovenský kraj (region), eastern Slovakia. It is bordered by Strední Slovensko kraj to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, and Hungary to the south. The Vysoké Tatry (High Tatras) and Nízke Beskydy Mountains extend across the northern part of Východní Slovensko kraj, and the Nízke Tatry (Low Tatras) give way to the Slovenské Rudo (“Slovak Ore”) Mountains in the west. A major

Vaasa

2005-02-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Swedish Vasa, town, capital of Vaasa lääni (province), western Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia. Founded in 1606 by the Swedish king Charles IX, it was chartered in 1611 and named for the reigning house of Vasa. Finland's second Court of Appeal was instituted there in 1776. Devastated by fire in 1852, the town was soon rebuilt in a more strategic location some 5 miles (8 km) closer to the sea, and its name was officially

Elis

2005-02-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

The region was bounded on the north by Achaea, on the east by Arcadia, and on the south by Messenia. Elis consisted of three districts from north to south: Hollow Elis, which occupied the basin

Bruce (of Melbourne), Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Viscount

2005-02-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Bruce studied at the University of Cambridge and then practiced law in England. After serving in the British army during World War I, he entered the Australian Parliament in

Chad, Flag Of

2005-02-05T06:07:00.000-08:00

When French West Africa was under colonial rule, little was done to develop a sense of nationality; emphasis was on the culture and political and economic systems of France. The independence movement in Africa in the mid-20th century therefore found Chad, like most other territories, with few precedents for establishing its own symbols. When the Republic of Chad was

Tocantins

2005-02-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

Inland estado (“state”) of north-central Brazil. A part of the sparsely settled Central-West region, Tocantins is bounded by the states of Maranhão and Piauí to the northeast, Bahia to the east, Goiás to the south, Mato Grosso to the west, and Pará to the northwest. Tocantins was created from the northern half of Goiás (q.v.) state in 1989. Its area is 107,075 square miles (277,322 square km). The capital

Ghatam

2005-02-04T02:02:00.000-08:00

Large, narrow-mouthed earthenware water pot used as a percussion instrument in India. Unlike other Indian percussion instruments, such as the tabla and mridanga, the ghatam does not have a membrane over its mouth. Ghatam produce a distinctive metallic sound and are made in several sizes, each size having a different pitch. As used in Carnatic music, the ghatam is positioned

Luque

2005-02-03T06:30:00.000-08:00

City, southern Paraguay. Founded in 1635, Luque rose to prominence as the temporary national capital during the bloody Paraguayan War (1864–70) with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Oranges, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and livestock produced in the area supply the markets of nearby Asunción, to which it is accessible by railroad and highway. Factories in Luque manufacture guitars

Anziku, Kingdom Of

2005-02-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Kingdom of Teke, or Kingdom of Tyo, historic African state on and north of the Congo River in the vicinity of Malebo Pool. The Teke people lived on the plateaus of the region from early times. It is not known when they organized as a kingdom, but by 1600 their state was a rival of the Kongo kingdom south of the river. Controlling the lower Congo River and extending northwest to the upper Kouilou-Niari basin, Anziku

Kamen-na-obi

2005-02-02T13:39:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Kamensky rayon (sector), Altay kray (region), south-central Russia. A port on the Ob River, it was founded in 1670 and designated an urban settlement in 1915 and became a city in 1925. Its economic base is the food-processing industry; other factories produce bricks and furniture. Teacher-training and veterinary colleges are located in the city. Pop. (1993 est.)

Toots And The Maytals

2005-02-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Formed in 1962 as a ska group fronted by the charismatic Hibbert, the Maytals (originally known as the Vikings, then as

Luria, Isaac Ben Solomon

2005-02-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

Luria's youth was spent in Egypt, where he became versed in rabbinic studies, engaged in commerce, and eventually concentrated on study of the Zohar, the central work of Kabbala. In 1570 he went to Safed in Galilee, where

Absolute Zero

2005-01-31T17:41:00.000-08:00

The notion that there is an ultimately lowest temperature was suggested by the behaviour of gases at low pressures: it was noted that gases seem to contract indefinitely as the temperature is decreased. It appeared that an ideal

Adynaton

2005-01-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

A kind of hyperbole in which the exaggeration is so great that it refers to an impossibility, as in the following lines from Andrew Marvell's “To His Coy Mistress”:Had we but world enough, and timeThis coyness, lady, were no crime.We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day.Thou by the Indian Ganges' sideShouldst rubies find; I by the tideOf Humber

De Toth, André

2005-01-30T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hungarian-born film and television director (b. May 15, 1913?, Mako, Austria-Hungary—d. Oct. 27, 2002, Burbank, Calif.), made a number of raw, violent, and psychologically disturbing B movies, including Ramrod (1947), Pitfall (1948), and Crime Wave (1954), that gained him a cult following, but he became best known to the general public for House of Wax (1953), considered the best of the 3-D films.

Nomos

2005-01-29T19:39:00.000-08:00

Nomoi were also performed on the kithara

Oskaloosa

2005-01-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1844) of Mahaska county, southeastern Iowa, U.S. It lies between the Des Moines and South Skunk rivers, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Des Moines. The region was inhabited by Sauk and Fox peoples when a fort was founded there by Captain Nathan Boone, nephew of Daniel Boone, who explored the area in 1835. Settled by Quakers in 1843, it takes its name (meaning “the last of the

Cold Harbor, Battles Of

2005-01-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

The first battle (June 27, 1862), sometimes called the Battle of Gaines's Mill, was part of the Seven Days' Battles (June 25–July 1), which ended the Peninsular Campaign (April 4–July 1), the large-scale Union effort to take Richmond. After fighting at Mechanicsville

Pa-an

2005-01-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

Burmese Hpa-an town, southern Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the left bank of the Salween River, 27 miles (43 km) north of Moulmein (Mawlamyine), it has an airfield and is linked by road west to Thaton and across the Dwana Range to Thailand. Pop. (1983) 41,501.

Earth, Composition of the crust

2005-01-26T00:55:00.000-08:00

Most of the Earth's surface is covered by oceanic crust. The composition of this crust is documented on the basis of rocks sampled by deep-sea dredging and by studies of ophiolites, which are slivers of oceanic crust and uppermost mantle that have been tectonically emplaced on land. The oceanic crust is found to be relatively uniform in composition (Table 3). It consists

Uccello, Paolo

2005-01-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

“The Creation of the Animals”; “The Creation of Adam”; “The Creation of Eve”; “The Fall” (frescoes, early 1430s; Sta. Maria Novella, Florence); “Sir John Hawkwood” (fresco, 1436; cathedral, Florence); “Scenes from Monastic Legends” (frescoes, c. 1440; S. Miniato al Monte, Florence); “The Flood,” “The Recession of the Flood,” “The Sacrifice of Noah,” and “The Drunkenness of Noah” (1447–48; Sta. Maria Novella); “The Battle of San Romano” (c. 1456; panels in the National Gallery, London; Uffizi, Florence; and the Louvre, Paris); “St. George and the Dragon” (1455–?60; Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris); “St. George and the Dragon” (c. 1460; National Gallery); “The Profanation of the Host” (c. 1466–69; Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, Italy); “A Hunt in a Forest” (after 1460; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); “The Founders of Florentine Art” (after 1460?; Louvre).

Gum

2005-01-25T02:18:00.000-08:00

In botany, adhesive substance of vegetable origin, mostly obtained as exudate from the bark of trees or shrubs belonging to the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) of the pea order Fabales. Some plant gums are used in the form of water solutions in the manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and foods. When the water evaporates, a film having a considerable adhesive character

Williams, Marion

2005-01-24T03:48:00.000-08:00

U.S. gospel singer (b. Aug. 29, 1927, Miami, Fla.--d. July 2, 1994, Philadelphia, Pa.), drew on blues, jazz, folk, and calypso music as inspirations for her innovative vocals, which included octave-spanning leaps from contralto to spine-tingling falsetto tones; her exceptional artistry was often compared to that of Mahalia Jackson. As a child Williams began singing with the congregation at her

BentCastle

Basketball, International competition

Muhly

Bérenger, Alphonse-marie

Sentimental Comedy

Canaan Dog

Kidd, William

Mccormick, Anne Elizabeth O'hare

Argentina, Finance

Lena River, Plant and animal life

Manchester

Nacogdoches

Performing Arts, Great Britain and Ireland.

Argentina, Soils

Molasses Act

Rio Grande

Christensen, Willam

Gaborone

Paraguaná Peninsula

Payroll Tax

Clarence River

Bahrain, Flag Of

Disaccharide

Bloch, Marc

Lenormant, François

Rushbagot Agreement

Choiseul, étienne-françois De Choiseul, Duc De (duke Of )

Nagoya

Latécoère, Pierre

Ben-hadad I

Websterashburton Treaty

Black Bass

Piura

Chuikov, Vasily Ivanovich

Armorica

Faience Patriotique

Ligase

Aesthetics, The significance of Baumgarten's work

Brunelleschi, Filippo

Earth Sciences, The chemical analysis of rocks and minerals

Zapolska, Gabriela

Prince, Harold

Storm Petrel

Vlach

Biblical Literature, The oracles of Trito-Isaiah

Bezborodko, Aleksandr Andreyevich, Knyaz

Avicenna

Aranjuez

Chatham

Kennedy, Robert F.

Reza Shah Pahlavi

Aeneas

Monarda

Nemean Games

China, Cultural change

Brugnon, Jacques

Atharvaveda

Yi Sang-cha

Aufklärung

Akindynos, Gregorios

Euclidean Geometry, Axioms of betweenness

Yi Sang-cha

Durmitor

Beira

Nuclear Family

Paul

Insurance, RDC clause

Peru-chile Trench

Terence

Muhammad Ibn Falah

Lop Nor

Andersen, Hans Christian

Low Countries

Great Dionysia

Kachemak Culture

Wakayama

John

Adalbert

Východní Slovensko

Vaasa

Rushbagot Agreement

Websterashburton Treaty