PoliticalChest

Forced Labour

2005-04-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Forced labour has existed in various forms throughout history, but it was a peculiarly prominent feature

Gabon

2005-04-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

Roland Pourtier, Le Gabon, 2 vol. (1989), provides an introduction. Institut Pédagogique National (Gabon), Géographie et cartographie du Gabon (1983), is an illustrated atlas. Two studies of the Mpongwe are Henry Bucher, “The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Gabon Estuary: The Mpongwe to 1860,” in Paul E. Lovejoy (ed.), Africans in Bondage (1986), pp. 137–154, and “The Village of Glass and Western Intrusion: An Mpongwe Response to the American and French Presence in the Gabon Estuary: 1842–1845,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 6(3):363–400 (1973). James W. Fernandez, Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa (1982), examines the most important syncretic cult. Pierre-Claver Maganga-Moussavou, Economic Development—Does Aid Help? (1983; originally published in French, 1982), critiques French economic involvement in independent Gabon. Marc Aicardi de Saint-Paul, Gabon: The Development of a Nation (1989; originally published in French, 1987), discusses economic policies and conditions.

Adam's Peak

2005-03-31T22:33:00.000-08:00

Mountain in southwestern Sri Lanka (Ceylon), 7,360 feet (2,243 m) high and 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Ratnapura; it is located in the Sri Lanka hill country. Its conical summit terminates in an oblong platform about 74 by 24 feet (22 by 7 m), on which there is a large hollow resembling the print of a human foot, 5 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 6 inches. The depression is venerated alike by Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus,

Fari'ah, Tall Al-

2005-03-30T14:46:00.000-08:00

Ancient site in northern Palestine, located near the head of the Wadi al-Fari'ah northeast of Nabulus in Israeli-occupied Jordan. Excavations at the site, spon sored since 1946 by the Dominican École Biblique de St. Étienne in Jerusalem, have revealed that occupation began during the Chalcolithic Age (c. 4000–c. 3000 BC), although no actual structures have been found antedating the beginning

Dehra Dun

2005-03-28T05:55:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Uttaranchal state, northern India. It lies in the Himalayan foothills at an elevation of 2,200 feet (670 metres). Dehra Dun was founded in 1699, when the heretical Sikh Guru Ram Rai, driven out of the Punjab, built a temple there. During the 18th century the area succumbed to successive invaders, the last of whom were the Gurkhas. When the Gurkha War ended in 1816, the area was ceded to

Koch, Martin

2005-03-26T04:28:00.000-08:00

Koch came from a lower middle-class family, which his father deserted when the children were very young. The young Koch worked as a labourer's helper, studied art, and became active in the Good Templars Lodge. His first publication

Bridgman, Laura Dewey

2005-03-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

Bridgman was struck by scarlet fever at the age of two and left without sight or hearing. Her other senses were also affected, but she retained the sense of touch, which she developed sufficiently to learn to sew and knit. In 1837 her case came to the attention

Yamagata Aritomo, Koshaku

2005-03-20T01:44:00.000-08:00

Japanese soldier and statesman who exerted a strong influence in Japan's emergence as a formidable military power at the beginning of the 20th century. He was the first prime minister under the parliamentary regime, serving 1889–91 and 1898–1900.

Voting Rights Act

2005-03-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

U.S. legislation (August 6, 1965) that aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States. The act significantly widened the franchise and is considered among the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation

Karamanlis, Konstantinos

2005-03-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Constantine Caramanlis Greek statesman who was prime minister from 1955 to 1963 and again from 1974 to 1980. He then served as president from 1980 to 1985 and from 1990 to 1995. Karamanlis gave Greece competent government and political stability while his conservative economic policies stimulated economic growth. In 1974–75 he

Yámana

2005-03-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Yahgan, South American Indian people, very few in number, who were the traditional occupants of the south coast of Tierra del Fuego and the neighbouring islands south to Cape Horn. In the 19th century they numbered between 2,500 and 3,000. The Yámana language forms a distinct linguistic group made up of five mutually intelligible dialects that correspond to five regionally defined

Baraka, Amiri

2005-03-15T02:42:00.000-08:00

Jones graduated from Howard University (B.A., 1953) and served in the U.S. Air Force. After military duty, he joined the Beat movement, attended graduate school, and published his first major collection of poetry, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide

China, Muslim rebellions

2005-03-14T06:31:00.000-08:00

Muslim rebellions in Yunnan and in Shensi and Kansu originated from clashes between the Chinese and Muslims in those provinces. Religious antipathy must be taken into account, but more important were the social and political factors. In the frontier provinces the late dynastic confusions were felt as keenly as elsewhere, which aggravated the problems between

Port Essington

2005-03-14T04:32:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Arafura Sea, indenting the north shore of the Cobourg Peninsula, at the extreme north of the Northern Territory, Australia. About 11 miles (30 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide, it was surveyed in 1818 by Captain Phillip Parker King of the Royal Navy, who named it for Admiral Sir William Essington. In 1824 it was the site of Britain's third attempt to settle the north coast of Australia.

Kirchhoff's Circuit Rules

2005-03-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

The first rule, the junction theorem, states that the sum of the currents into a specific junction in the circuit equals the sum of the currents out of the

Witz, Konrad

2005-03-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Little is known about Witz's life or training, but in 1434 he entered the painters' guild in Basel, where he worked most of his life. The Heilsspiegel altarpiece

Andong

2005-03-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

City, North Kyongsang do (province), east-central South Korea. It lies 215 miles (345 km) from the mouth of the Naktong River, at the terminus of its navigable section, near a multipurpose dam. The city has been in existence since the Three Kingdoms period (beginning c. 57 BC) under various names, and since the Koryo period (935–1392) it has been known by its present name. Until the end of the Choson (Yi) dynasty

Islam, Cosmogony and eschatology

2005-03-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

The world was created by God's word kun (“Be”) out of nothing; after the creation of the angelic beings from light, Adam was formed from clay and destined to be God's vicegerent, khalifah. All of the angels obeyed God's order to prostrate themselves before Adam, except Iblis (Satan), who refused and was cursed; due to Iblis' instigation Adam ate the forbidden fruit (or grain) and was driven

Corbel

2005-03-09T05:42:00.000-08:00

In architecture, bracket or weight-carrying member, built deeply into the wall so that the pressure on its embedded portion counteracts any tendency to overturn or fall outward. The name derives from a French word meaning crow, because of the corbel's beaklike shape. Corbels may be individual pieces of stone, separate from each other like brackets, as in the case of

Toungoo Dynasty

2005-03-08T04:29:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Taungu ruling house in Myanmar (Burma) from the 15th or 16th to the 18th century, whose reign is known as the Second Burmese Empire. King Minkyinyo (1486–1531) of Toungoo is usually considered the founder of the dynasty, but many authorities believe that the distinction of founder should be reserved for his son Tabinshwehti (1531–50), who more surely welded the empire together. Thus the dating of the dynasty

Rabbit

2005-03-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

J.C. Sandford, The Domestic Rabbit, 5th ed. (1996), describes the 50-plus breeds and all aspects of raising domestic rabbits. Harry V. Thompson and Carolyn M. King (eds.), The European Rabbit: The History and Biology of a Successful Colonizer (1994), thoroughly examines the biology of the European rabbit worldwide. Joseph A. Chapman and John E.C. Flux (compilers and eds.), Rabbits, Hares, and Pikas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (1990), is a taxonomically arranged review of the biology and status of the world's rabbits and other lagomorphs. Ronald M. Nowak, Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th ed., 2 vol. (1999), photographically illustrates an article on each rabbit genus.

Jack Of Diamonds

2005-03-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Knave Of Diamonds, Russian Bubnovy Valet, group of artists founded in Moscow in 1909, whose members were for the next few years the leading exponents of avant-garde art in Russia. The group's first exhibition, held in December 1910, included works by the French Cubists Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, and André Lhote; other paintings were exhibited by Wassily Kandinsky and Alexey von Jawlensky, both Russian artists

Pedrell, Felipe

2005-03-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

When Pedrell was a choirboy, his imagination was first fired by contact with early Spanish church music. Largely self-taught, he composed several operas,

Tortoise

2005-03-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

Any of the land-dwelling turtles of the family Testudinidae; in Great Britain the name refers to any nonmarine turtle. The land-dwelling tortoises are exclusively terrestrial, vegetarian reptiles. In folklore these animals represent slowness, determination, and long life. Tortoises are found in both the Old World and the New, but the majority of the 40-odd living species

Epistle

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

In literature there are two basic traditions of verse epistles, one derived from Horace's Epistles and the other from Ovid's Epistulae heroidum (better known as Heroides). The tradition based on Horace addresses moral and philosophical themes and has been the most popular

Gherkin

2005-03-02T00:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Bur Gherkin, or West Indian Gherkin (Cucumis anguria), trailing vine, of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), grown for its edible fruit. The gherkins sold in pickle mixtures are not C. anguria but rather are small pickled immature cucumbers (Cucumis sativus). A true gherkin has palmately lobed leaves with toothed edges, small flowers, and furrowed, prickly fruits about five centimetres (two

Ribbonfish

2005-02-28T02:19:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of deep-sea, marine fishes constituting the family Trachipteridae (order Lampridiformes). The family contains three genera: Trachipteras, Desmodema, and Zu. These slender-bodied fishes occur in all the major oceans. The name ribbonfish comes from the long, stringlike dorsal fin that originates behind the head and waves like a ribbon as the fish

Pendant

2005-02-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore pendants that were sometimes of huge dimensions,

Amitayur-dhyana-sutra

2005-02-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Discourse Concerning Meditation on Amitayus”), one of three texts basic to Pure Land Buddhism. Together with the larger and smaller Sukhavati-vyuha-sutras (Sanskrit: “Description of the Western Paradise Sutras”), this text envisions rebirth in the celestial Pure Land of Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life (virtually identical with Amitabha, “Infinite Light,” called

Husted, Marjorie Child

2005-02-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

Husted attended public schools and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913. She remained at the university to take a degree in education the next year. After a

Saratoga

2005-02-25T05:37:00.000-08:00

County, eastern New York state, U.S., bounded by the Hudson River to the northeast and east and the Mohawk River to the southeast. Other waterways include Snook Kill and Great Sacandaga, Saratoga, and Galway lakes. The terrain rises from Hudson valley lowlands in the south and east to the Adirondack Mountains in the northwest. Adirondack Park occupies the northwestern

Arts, South Asian, Indian sculpture from the 1st to 4th centuries AD: Andhradesa

2005-02-23T17:47:00.000-08:00

Besides the schools of Mathura and Gandhara, a most accomplished school of sculpture flourished in Andhradesa during the three centuries after Christ, the most important centres being Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda. The remains consist mainly of carved railings and rectangular slabs that decorated the great Buddhist stupas, which have largely disappeared. The finds are

Residual Landform

2005-02-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Relict Landform, landform that was produced as the remains of an ancient landscape, escaping burial or destruction to remain as part of the present landscape. Residual landforms are often the result of changed climatic conditions, but they may be due to volcanism or to crustal uplift and downwarping. Examples of residual landforms are extinct volcanic cones, inactive stone rivers

Lodge, Henry Cabot

2005-02-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

He was the grandson of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924) and a member of a politically dedicated family that included six U.S. senators and a governor of Massachusetts. Lodge began his career in politics, after several years as a journalist, with

Kireyevsky, Ivan Vasilyevich

2005-02-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Born into an aristocratic family, Kireyevsky studied metaphysics in Germany in 1830. Upon his return to Russia he founded in 1832 a literary journal called Yevropeyets (“European”), which was banned

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2005-02-19T15:22:00.000-08:00

In 1839 the British took Aden, ruling it and the island of Socotra (at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden) from India; the port of Aden became valuable as a coaling station. In 1849 the Ottoman Turks occupied the Yemeni Tihamah but could not hold San'a' in the interior until 1872. They were never able to break the resistance of the Zaydi tribes completely and were forced to an accommodation with

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon

2005-02-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

In his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden (1875), Lorentz refined the electromagnetic theory of James

Cremona

2005-02-18T03:25:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Cremona provincia, Lombardia (Lombardy) regione, northern Italy, on the north bank of the Po River southeast of Milan. It was founded by the Romans in 218 BC on the site of an earlier Gallic village of the Cenomani. Virgil, the Roman poet, went to school there. With the decline of the Roman Empire, Cremona was repeatedly sacked by the Goths and the Huns before being

Jacobs, Helen Hull

2005-02-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

Jacobs was the national junior tennis champion in 1924–25 and attended the University of California, Berkeley, from 1926 to 1929. She was defeated by Helen Wills in the 1928 finals at Forest Hills, New York, and in the Wimbledon

Philadelphus

2005-02-14T03:25:00.000-08:00

Genus of deciduous shrubs of the family Hydrangeaceae, including the popular garden forms commonly known as mock orange (from its characteristic orange-blossom fragrance) and sweet syringa. Philadelphus, comprising about 65 species, is native to northern Asia and Japan, the western United States, the southern Atlantic coast of the United States, and Mexico. These

Alaska Blackfish

2005-02-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

(species Dallia pectoralis), Arctic freshwater fish, assigned by some authorities to the family Umbridae but by others to the separate family Dalliidae. The fish is about 20 cm (8 inches) long, with a dark, streamlined body, protruding lower jaw, and two large opposed fins near the tail. Locally important as a food fish, it lives in shallow streams and ponds of North America and

Torrio, Johnny

2005-02-13T04:32:00.000-08:00

Born in a village near Naples, Torrio was brought to New York City by his widowed mother when he was two. He became a brothel-saloonkeeper and leader of the James Street Boys, allying them with the Five Points

Torrio, Johnny

2005-02-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

Administrative agency established by a treaty ratified in 1952, designed to integrate the coal and steel industries in western Europe. The original members of the ECSC were France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The organization subsequently expanded to include all members of the European Economic Community (later renamed the European

Amorphous Solid

2005-02-11T00:37:00.000-08:00

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

Theobald I

2005-02-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Theobald earned his nickname “the Cheat” fighting with his neighbours, among them the kings of France, the dukes of Normandy, and the church of Reims. He seized the area around Blois about 940 and later augmented his holdings with the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. In 945 Hugh the Great made Theobald responsible for holding the French

Malaysia, Sabah

2005-02-08T00:40:00.000-08:00

Sabah (North Borneo) was the last region to be brought under British control. In the early 1700s Brunei transferred its claims over much of Sabah to the sultan of Sulu, but, except in the northeast, actual Sulu power remained limited. Occasional resistance to Brunei or Sulu influence, as well as extensive coastal raiding and confusion of suzerainty, invited Western interest

Eisenach

2005-02-07T07:53:00.000-08:00

City, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany. It lies on the northwestern slopes of the Thüringer Wald, at the confluence of the Hörsel and Nesse rivers, west of the city of Erfurt. Founded by the landgraves of Thuringia c. 1150, Eisenach fell to the Saxon house of Wettin in 1264 and was chartered in 1283. It was intermittently the seat of a separate Saxon duchy between 1596 and 1741, when it fell to

Lord Strange's Men

2005-02-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Strange's Men, prominent Elizabethan acting company. A household troupe of Lord Strange, they toured the provinces before appearing at court in 1582. From 1588 to 1594 they were associated with the Admiral's Men. It has been suggested that Lord Strange's Men were the first to employ William Shakespeare, though his role in the company is unclear. The troupe performed at The Theatre and at the Rose

Lipscomb, Gene

2005-02-05T10:46:00.000-08:00

Byname of Eugene Allen Lipscomb American gridiron football player and larger-than-life “character” whose exploits helped make professional football the most popular sport in the United States during the late 1950s. A 6-foot 6-inch (2-metre), 284-pound (129-kg) defensive tackle, Lipscomb joked that he gathered up all the opponent's players and “peeled them off” until

Procedural Law

2005-02-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

Also called adjective law the law governing the machinery of the courts and the methods by which both the state and the individual (the latter including societies, whether incorporated or not) enforce their rights in the several courts. It prescribes the means of enforcing rights or providing redress of wrongs and comprises rules relative to jurisdiction, pleading and practice, evidence,

La Révellière-lépeaux, Louis-marie De

2005-02-03T23:16:00.000-08:00

In 1789 La Révellière-Lépeaux was elected as a representative of the Third Estate (the unprivileged order) to the States General, which converted itself into the revolutionary National Assembly. In 1792 he became a member of the Convention, the new national assembly that governed

Aerospace Industry, Secondary and tertiary aerospace systems

2005-02-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

The secondary product line of the aerospace industry comprises the numerous onboard subsystems required by the designs of the various flight vehicles. Propulsion and avionics are the two most important secondary systems. The industry's tertiary product line includes those ground-based items necessary for the support of flight vehicles.

Osceola

2005-02-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

City, southern seat (1832) of Mississippi county (the northern seat is Blytheville), northeastern Arkansas, U.S., on the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded in 1830 by William B. Edrington, who bartered the site (probably Plum Point) from the Indians and developed it as a refueling station for riverboats. It was named for Osceola, the famed Seminole

Literature, United States.

2005-01-31T17:43:00.000-08:00

For all of the moaning and groaning about the state of the literary arts in the United States--and from writers to editors to critics to booksellers to readers, all had done some of it--it had to be admitted that when people argued about books, and the quarrels made newspaper headlines, something valuable was taking place. In 1994 critic Harold Bloom stirred up the biggest

Lagrange

2005-01-30T04:32:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1828) of Troup county, western Georgia, U.S. It lies just east of West Point Lake (impounded on the Chattahoochee River), about 50 miles (80 km) north of Columbus. The site was settled in 1826, and the town soon developed as an important trading centre in a cotton-growing area; it was named for the French estate of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had visited the area in 1825. The city was largely

Cam Ranh Bay

2005-01-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Binh Ba Bay, or outer bay, with Binh Ba Island lying off the tip of Point Cam Linh, offers some protection to ships at anchor, but the 1-mile- (1.6-kilometre-) wide

Nordhorn

2005-01-29T02:43:00.000-08:00

Town, Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany, on the Vechte River at the junction of the Almelo-Nordhorn, Ems-Vechte, and Süd-Nord canals, 4 miles (6 km) from the Dutch border. First mentioned about 1000 and chartered in 1379, the city suffered heavily from plague, fire, and war in the 15th and 16th centuries. Part of the Augustinian Frenswegen Abbey (founded 1394) and the 15th-century Protestant

Biblical Literature, The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

2005-01-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

This letter, as is I Corinthians, is composed of a collection of fragments of Paul's correspondence with the Corinthians about a year later (i.e., c. 55) from Macedonia. The diversity of I Corinthians was caused by the variety of problems discussed, but the diversity of II Corinthians was the result of a reflection of the underlying, rather turbulent history of Paul and his

Ilerda, Campaign Of

2005-01-27T02:07:00.000-08:00

(49 BC), the campaign leading to the victory of Julius Caesar over Pompey's forces in Spain. In the spring of 49 BC, Caesar sent six legions from Gaul into Spain under Gaius Fabius and joined them at Ilerda (Lérida) on the Sicoris (Segre) River. Five Pompeian legions, together with many Spanish auxiliaries, commanded by Lucius Afranius and Marcus Petreius, were concentrated against

Abbott, Edith

2005-01-26T01:48:00.000-08:00

Edith Abbott was the older sister of Grace Abbott, who would serve as chief of the United States Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934. Both sisters were influenced by

Arpad

2005-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Coming under Assyrian influence in the 9th century BC, Arpad regained its independence in 754, and it successfully sided with Sardur II of Urartu until the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III defeated both Urartu and Arpad. Tiglath-pileser made Arpad the capital

Antarctica, Structural framework

2005-01-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

Most of the Antarctic geologic record lies hidden beneath the vast regions of snow and ice that make up more than 95 percent of the continent's surface terrain. No one knows what important segments of the record lie concealed in buried ranges such as the Gamburtsev Mountains, the topography of which has been mapped only by seismic reflections through the great East

Turbulent Flow

2005-01-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Type of fluid (gas or liquid) flow in which the fluid undergoes irregular fluctuations, or mixing, in contrast to laminar flow, in which the fluid moves in smooth paths or layers. In turbulent flow the speed of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction. The flow of wind and rivers is generally turbulent in this sense, even if

Handball

2005-01-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

Any of a family of games played in walled courts or against a single wall, with a small rubber ball that is struck with hand or fist against the wall. The object is to cause the ball to rebound with variations of power or speed and at such an angle that the opposition cannot return it. There are three versions of handball: four-wall, three-wall, and one-wall. Each may be played

Zambezi River, Navigation

2005-01-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

Given its numerous natural barriers—sandbars at the mouth, shallowness, and rapids and cataracts—the Zambezi is of little economic significance as a trade route. About 1,620 miles of the river, however, are navigable by shallow-draft steamers. The longest stretch of unbroken water runs from the river delta about 400 miles upstream to the Cahora Bassa Dam. Above the dam Lake

Uzaemon Xvii, Ichimura

2005-01-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

Japanese actor (b. 1916, Tokyo, Japan—d. July 8, 2001, Tokyo), was one of the greatest tachiyaku (male-role) actors in Japan's traditional kabuki theatre. Ichimura was the nephew of Kikugoro Onoe VI, one of the foremost interpreters of kabuki plays. After debuting at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo at the age of five, Ichimura went on to star in numerous dramas, one of the most memorable of which

Shamanism, Forms of ecstasy

2005-01-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

The shaman may fulfill his obligations either by communicating with the spirits at will or through ecstasy. The latter has two forms: possession ecstasy, in which the body of the shaman is possessed by the spirit, and wandering ecstasy, in which his soul departs into the realm of spirits. In passive ecstasy the possessed gets into an intense mental state and shows superhuman

Absalon

2005-01-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

Scion of a powerful Zealand family, Absalon helped his childhood friend gain the Danish throne as Valdemar I (1156–57) and was named bishop of Roskilde in 1158. As the king's closest adviser, he initially supported Valdemar's alliance with Frederick I Barbarossa, Holy

Biblical Literature, The process of canonization

2005-01-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

The process of canonization was relatively long and remarkably flexible and detached; various books in use were recognized as inspired, but the Church Fathers noted, without embarrassment or criticism, how some held certain books to be canonical and others did not. Emerging Christianity assumed that through the Spirit the selection of canonical books was “certain

Paer, Ferdinando

2005-01-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

Paer produced his first opera, Orphée et Euridice, in Parma in 1791. From 1797 to 1802 he was in Vienna, where his most successful opera, Camilla, was produced in 1799. He was in Dresden from 1802 to 1806 and then went

Arts, Central Asian, Painting: frescoes and temple banners

2005-01-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

Temple interiors are usually covered with frescoes and often hung with painted banners, or tanka (thang-ka). For the preparation of the latter, a taut cotton cloth is impregnated with a mixture of chalk and glue, rubbed smooth by some suitable object; for example, a flat polished stone. A religious painter trained in the tradition draws in the outline, often using printed

Sackville (of Drayton), George Sackville-germain, 1st Viscount, Baron Bolebrooke Of Sussex

2005-01-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

The third son of the 1st Duke of Dorset,

Mckinney

2005-01-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1848) of Collin county, northeastern Texas, U.S., near the East Fork of Trinity River. Named for one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, it was platted in 1848. McKinney's home, formerly 17 miles (27 km) north, was moved in 1936 to Finch Park, where it was restored as a memorial. Many of the city's residents commute to work in Dallas or Plano, both located south of McKinney;

Cohen, Stanley

2005-01-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Cohen was educated at Brooklyn College (B.A., 1943), Oberlin College (M.A., 1945), and at the University of Michigan, where he received a Ph.D. in

Empoli

2005-01-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

Town, Firenze (Florence) provincia, Toscana (Tuscany) regione, north-central Italy, on the lower Arno River. During the medieval Florentine wars, Empoli was the scene of the Ghibelline congress of 1260, where Farinata degli Uberti successfully opposed the destruction of defeated Florence, an episode referred to in Dante's Inferno. The painter Iacopo Chimenti da Empoli and

Anathema

2005-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

(from Greek anatithenai: “to set up,” or “to dedicate”), in the Old Testament, a creature or object set apart for sacrificial offering. Its return to profane use was strictly banned, and such objects, destined for destruction, thus became effectively accursed as well as consecrated. Old Testament descriptions of religious wars call both the enemy and their besieged city

Earthflow

2005-01-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sheet or stream of soil and rock material saturated with water and flowing downslope under the pull of gravity; it represents the intermediate stage between creep and mudflow. Earthflows usually begin in a large basin on the upper part of a slope where debris and weathered material accumulate; the movement, usually set off by heavy rainfall, may be relatively slow

Jacobi, Carl

2004-12-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

Jacobi was first tutored by an uncle, and, by the end of his first year at the Gymnasium (1816–17), he was ready to enter the University of Berlin. Because the university would not accept students younger than 16, he had to bide his

Antarctic Circle

2004-12-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

Parallel, or line of latitude around the Earth, at 66°30¢ S. Because the Earth's axis is inclined about 23.5° from the vertical, this parallel marks the northern limit of the area within which, for one day or more each year, at the summer and winter solstices, the Sun does not set (December 21 or 22) or rise (June 21 or 22). The length of continuous day or night increases southward from one day at the Antarctic

Chrétien De Troyes

2004-12-26T14:24:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Chrétien's life. He apparently frequented the court

Azerbaijan, Industry

2004-12-25T01:11:00.000-08:00

Azerbaijan has a diversified industrial base, with the leading branches of heavy industry—power, manufacturing, and chemical production—predominating. Branches of the processing industry, producing mineral fertilizers, gasoline, kerosene, herbicides, industrial oils, synthetic rubber, and plastics, have developed, and Sumqayit has emerged as the major centre

Frederick William I

2004-12-23T14:04:00.000-08:00

The son of the elector Frederick III, later Frederick I, king of Prussia, Frederick William grew up at a glamorous court,

Buyantu

2004-12-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

Also known as Ayurparibhadra , Chinese temple name (yüan) Jen Tsung , Pinyin romanization Yuan Renzong (reigned 1311–20), Mongol emperor of the Yüan dynasty of China, who was a patron of literature. He distributed offices more equitably between Chinese and Mongols than had his predecessors, and during his reign commercial ties with Europe increased.

Filarete

2004-12-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

Filarete is thought to have been trained under Lorenzo Ghiberti in Florence. From 1433 to 1445 he was employed by Pope Eugenius IV to execute the bronze central doors of Old St. Peter's in Rome

Pathum Thani

2004-12-14T03:10:00.000-08:00

Town and changwat (province) in the Central region of Thailand. The provincial capital, Pathum Thani town, is a rice-collecting and milling centre north of Bangkok on the west bank of the Mae Nam (river) Chao Phraya. The province, with an area of 589 sq mi (1,526 sq km), occupies the low, well-irrigated plains of the Chao Phraya and is intensively farmed in rice. Fishing is a secondary economic

Fu-an

2004-12-13T04:48:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fu'an, city in northeastern Fukien sheng (province), China. It is situated on the east bank of the Chiao River, with highway communications running north into Chekiang and south along the coast to Fu-chou, some 90 miles (150 km) away. It is in an area of Fukien that was developed comparatively late, since it is somewhat less productive than the south of the province. Fu-an is above all a market

Belinsky, Vissarion Grigoryevich

2004-12-11T04:06:00.000-08:00

The son of a provincial doctor, Belinsky was expelled from the University of Moscow (1832) and earned his living thereafter as a journalist. His first substantial critical articles were part

Bilandic, Michael Anthony

2004-12-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

American politician and judge (b. Feb. 13, 1923, Chicago, Ill.—d. Jan. 15, 2002, Chicago), succeeded Richard J. Daley as mayor of Chicago and later served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Bilandic had been a corporate lawyer for 28 years and was serving as chairman of Chicago's City Council finance committee by the time Mayor Daley died in his sixth term in office in December 1976. The City

Hessonite

2004-12-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Essonite, or Cinnamon Stone, translucent, semiprecious, reddish-brown variety of grossular (q.v.), a garnet mineral.

Yesenin, Sergey Aleksandrovich

2004-12-05T13:01:00.000-08:00

The son of a peasant family of Old Believers, he left his

Zeus

2004-12-02T00:28:00.000-08:00

According to a Cretan myth that was later adopted by

Chac

2004-11-30T01:19:00.000-08:00

Like other major Mayan gods, Chac also appeared as four gods, the Chacs. The four gods were associated with the points of the compass and their colours: white, north; red, east; black, west; and yellow,

Gracchus, Gaius Sempronius

2004-11-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

Gaius Sempronius was the son of a Roman aristocrat whose family had regularly held the highest offices of state for the past century and was connected to the most

Szeryng, Henryk

2004-11-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

Szeryng studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He made his debut in 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 he was a composition student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During World War II he was on the staff of the Polish government-in-exile.

Weser-ems

2004-11-25T14:11:00.000-08:00

Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), western Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany. Weser-Ems is bordered by The Netherlands to the west, the North Sea to the north, Bremen Land and the Regierungsbezirke of Lüneburg and Hannover (Hanover) to the east, and North Rhine-Westphalia Land to the south. The district occupies an area of 5,773 square miles (14,952 square km)

Cytoplasmic Streaming

2004-11-22T00:03:00.000-08:00

Also called protoplasmic streaming the movement of the living substance (cytoplasm) within a plant or animal cell. The motion transports nutrients, enzymes, and, in plants, large virus particles within cells. In unicellular organisms such as amoeba, it provides the mechanism for cell locomotion. First discovered in the 1830s, the presence of cytoplasmic streaming helped convince biologists that cells

Robert

2004-11-21T01:33:00.000-08:00

Robert's early years were clouded by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–88), in which his father, Charles II of Anjou, was taken prisoner by the Aragonese. By the terms of the treaty Charles was freed, and Robert took his place as hostage at the Aragonese court. Taking the title of duke of Calabria

Gabon

2004-11-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

Gabon's economy has more links with European and American markets than with those in neighbouring states (with the exception of Cameroon) or elsewhere in Africa. The economy shares some of the characteristics of those of other tropical African states: strong links with the former colonial ruler, a large degree of foreign investment and control, dependence on foreign

Canadian Rockies

2004-11-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

Segment of the Rocky Mountains, extending southeastward for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from northern British Columbia, Canada, and forming to the south nearly half of the 900-mile (1,500-kilometre) border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The Mackenzie and Selwyn mountains farther north along the border between the Northwest and Yukon territories are often included

Clodius Pulcher, Publius

2004-11-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

Born into two distinguished families, Clodius served under his brother-in-law L. Lucullus in the war against Mithradates and instigated a mutiny among the troops in the winter of 68–67. In December 62, when the winter ceremony of the