WetBrick

Vitalism

2005-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

School of scientific thought—the germ of which dates from Aristotle—that attempts (in opposition to mechanism and organicism) to explain the nature of life as resulting from a vital force peculiar to living organisms and different from all other forces found outside living things. This force is held to control form and development and to direct the activities

Alienation Effect

2005-04-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

Examples of such techniques include explanatory captions or illustrations projected

Skarga, Piotr

2005-04-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

After a difficult childhood during which both his parents died, he studied at Jagiellonian University, then became rector of a parish school in Warsaw. After some travel, he became a parish priest in Lwów. Subsequently, he travelled

Malachy, Saint

2005-04-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Malachy was educated at Armagh, where he was ordained priest in 1119. Archbishop Ceallach (Celsus) of Armagh, during his absence to administer the bishopric of Dublin, appointed

Lithuania

2005-03-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

In the second round of voting in the presidential elections on Jan. 5, 2003, Rolandas Paksas (see Biographies), the leader of Lithuania's new populist Liberal Democratic Party, emerged the victor. The young and aggressive Paksas received 54.7% of votes, defeating the much more experienced centre-right incumbent, Pres. Valdas Adamkus, with 45.3%. Voter turnout was 52.6%. Late in the year, though,

Basaltes Ware

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

The fine-grained basaltes stoneware reflected Wedgwood's Neoclassicism:

Kyburg

2005-03-28T23:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kiburg, countship prominent in medieval Swiss history. The first line of counts of Kyburg, with their seat in the castle of Kyburg just southeast of Winterthur (in the modern canton of Zürich), were influential in German politics from the 1020s; but their male line became extinct in 1078, and their possessions passed to a branch of the Swabian counts of Dillingen. This new line of counts

Korsakoff Syndrome

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

Also called Korsakoff psychosis , or Korsakoff disease neurological disorder characterized by severe amnesia (memory loss). Many cases result from severe chronic alcoholism, while others are due to a variety of brain disorders, severe head injury, or a thiamine deficiency. Patients with Korsakoff syndrome typically are unable to remember events in the recent or even the immediate past, and some can store information

'abd Al-ghani

2005-03-27T21:16:00.000-08:00

Orphaned at an early age, 'Abd al-Ghani, joined the Islamic mystical orders of the Qadiriyah and the Naqshbandiyah. He then spent seven years in isolation in his house, studying the mystics on their expression of divine experiences. 'Abd al-Ghani traveled extensively

'ashar Min Ramadan, Madinat Al-

2005-03-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

Industries that have been established include factories that manufacture pharmaceuticals,

Byzantium

2005-03-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Later Constantinople , modern Istanbul ancient Greek city on the shore of the Bosporus; also, an alternative name for the Byzantine Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople. See also Istanbul.

Kerry

2005-03-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

Irish Ciarraí county in the province of Munster, southwestern Ireland. With an area of 1,815 square miles (4,701 square km), it is bounded by Counties Limerick and Cork to the east and by the Atlantic Ocean or its inlets to the south, west, and north. Tralee is the county seat. The principal highlands of Kerry, among which are the highest mountains in Ireland, are of sandstone. Three, and part of a fourth,

Argentina, Perón in power

2005-03-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

Perón campaigned for the presidency in the elections of 1946. He organized the Labour Party, which was resisted by all the old parties and by the major vested-interest groups. His victory, though narrow, gave him control of both houses of Congress and all the provincial governorships. Perón's political strategy and tactics were authoritarian and personalistic. He politically

Musical Sound, Aerophones

2005-03-22T01:48:00.000-08:00

Brass instruments consist of a long tube whose cross section is proportionately small. Coupled with a mouthpiece that,

Tigerware

2005-03-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tygerware, 16th- and 17th-century German stoneware having a brown, mottled glaze, and made in the Rhenish centres of Cologne and Frechen, Ger. Tigerware was imported to England and imitated there in the different medium of delft, or tin-glazed earthenware; the imitations were also called tigerware. Tin-glazed jugs in this style—called Malling jugs—are among the earliest class of English

Koraput

2005-03-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

Most of the people of the surrounding area live in tribal communities and are engaged in agriculture, with rice, sugarcane, and oilseeds the biggest crops. The region also has rich mineral deposits, including

Nilus Of Ancyra, Saint

2005-03-19T09:10:00.000-08:00

A protégé of the staunchly orthodox and reform patriarch of Constantinople,

Gama, (josé) Basílio Da

2005-03-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

Gama completed his novitiate with the Jesuits in 1759. In that same year the order was expelled from Brazil and all other Portuguese

Gwadar Bay

2005-03-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

Persian Khalij-e Gavater, inlet of the Arabian Sea indenting the sandy Makran coast at the Iran–Pakistan border. It is about 20 miles (32 km) long and 10 miles (16 km) wide. The Dashtiari River flows into it from the northwest, and the Dasht from the northeast. The town of Gwadar, Pak., lies on the Arabian Sea coast about 30 miles (48 km) to the east of Gwadar Bay.

Agrippa Von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius

2005-03-17T04:01:00.000-08:00

Court secretary to Charles V, physician to Louise of Savoy, exasperating theologian within the Catholic Church, military entrepreneur in Spain and Italy, acknowledged expert on occultism, and philosopher. His tempestuous career also included teaching at Dôle and Pavia universities, appointment as orator and public advocate at Metz

Ducommun, élie

2005-03-17T02:54:00.000-08:00

After working as a magazine and newspaper editor in Geneva and Bern, Ducommun spent most of his career as general secretary of the Jura-Simplon Railway. His spare time, however, was spent on peace activities. He took an active part in the movement for European

Biblical Literature, Nature and significance

2005-03-16T03:20:00.000-08:00

General articles and notes in The Oxford Annotated Bible (1962), The Jerusalem Bible (1966), and the Genesis volume of The Anchor Bible, by E.A. Speiser (1964); E. H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, 12th rev. ed. (1972); Abraham J. Heschel, Man Is Not Alone (1951), a classic statement of modern Judaism; Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: Dargestellte Wirklichkeit in der abendländischen Literatur (1946; Eng. trans., Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, 1953), a classic work; William R. Mueller, The Prophetic Voice in Modern Fiction (1959), religious themes interpreting Joyce, Camus, Kafka, Faulkner, Greene, and Silone; Nathan A. Scott, Jr. (ed.), The Tragic Vision and the Christian Faith (1957), essays by 12 writers on faith and the tragic dimension of existence; James Barr, The Scope and Authority of the Bible (1981), questions the divine inspiration of biblical texts.

Binney, Horace

2005-03-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Binney graduated from Harvard in 1797 and was admitted to the bar in 1800. He became an expert on marine-insurance and land-title law, and from 1809 to 1814 he published six volumes of authoritative court reports of cases heard in the state

Mountain Mahogany

2005-03-15T04:59:00.000-08:00

It is said that the common name was given to species

Stuttgart

2005-03-15T00:20:00.000-08:00

City, capital (1945) of Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, astride the Neckar River, in a forested vineyard-and-orchard setting in historic Swabia. It lies between the Black Forest on the west and the Swabian Jura to the south. There were prehistoric settlements and a Roman fort in the area of Bad Cannstatt (a suburb), but Stuttgart itself originated as a Stuotgarten,

Quantum Electrodynamics

2005-03-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

(QED), quantum theory of the interactions of charged particles with the electromagnetic field. It describes mathematically not only all interactions of light with matter but also those of charged particles with one another. QED is a relativistic theory in that Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity is built into each of its equations. Because the behaviour

Canaanite Languages

2005-03-12T08:48:00.000-08:00

Group of Northern Central or Northwestern Semitic languages including Hebrew, Moabite, Phoenician, and Punic. They were spoken in ancient times in Palestine, on the coast of Syria, and in scattered colonies elsewhere around the Mediterranean. An early form of Canaanite is attested in the Tell el-Amarna letters (c. 1400 BC). Moabite, which is very close to Hebrew, is known chiefly

Yahya Khan, Agha Mohammad

2005-03-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

Yahya was born to a family that was descended from the elite soldier class of Nader Shah, the Persian ruler who conquered Delhi in the 18th century. He was educated at Punjab University and later graduated first in his class

Xenophon

2005-03-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

Greek historian, author of the Anabasis. Its prose was highly regarded by literary critics in antiquity and had strong influence on Latin literature.

Switzerland, The impact of the French Revolution

2005-03-11T02:04:00.000-08:00

In spite of economic expansion, Switzerland's political institutions were poorly prepared to meet the violent forces set loose by the French Revolution. The 13 cantons of the Helvetic Association had no central government; each had its own army; religious antagonisms still existed; the rural cantons were suspicious of the towns; and the small cantons were jealous

Spain, The Almohads

2005-03-10T07:43:00.000-08:00

In Africa the Almohad dynasty finally triumphed, and 'Abd al-Mu'min (1130–63), successor to Ibn Tumart, was able to turn his attention to Spain and to undertake the integration of all the Muslim states—the second ta'ifas—formed under the shield of the latest internecine wars caused by the Almoravid decline. Of these states, there stood out especially that under Ibn Mardanish (1147–72), who, with

Jñanadeva

2005-03-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Jñanadeva was a founder of the devotional school of mysticism known as Varakari (“Pilgrim”), so called because of the emphasis it places on pilgrimages to the shrine of Vitthala (or Vithoba, a local

Yukaghir

2005-03-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Yukagir or Jukagir , self-name Odul remnant of an ancient human population of the tundra and taiga zones of Arctic Siberia east of the Lena River in Russia, an area with one of the most severe climates in the inhabited world. Brought close to extinction by privation, encroachment, and diseases introduced by other groups, they numbered some 1,100 in the late 20th century. Although they still generally inhabit

Indigo Snake

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

(Drymarchon corais), docile, nonvenomous member of the family Colubridae found from the southeastern United States to Brazil. It is the largest snake in the United States—record length is 2.8 metres (9.2 feet)—and one of the largest of all colubrids. In the United States its colour is blue-black; southward it may have brown foreparts, and in the tropics members

Tyson, Cicely

2005-03-07T20:34:00.000-08:00

Tyson, the daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean island of Nevis, grew up in a devoutly religious household in Harlem. Discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony magazine, she quickly rose to the top of the modeling world. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway

Chase, Philander

2005-03-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

Ordained a priest in 1799, Chase served several parishes in New York State, New Orleans, and Hartford, Conn., prior to his consecration as bishop for the new Ohio diocese in 1819. Because he felt the needs of the frontier West could

Elizabethan Literature

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

Body of works written during the reign of Elizabeth I of England (1558–1603), probably the most splendid age in the history of English literature, during which such writers as Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Roger Ascham, Richard Hooker, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare flourished. The epithet Elizabethan is merely a chronological reference and does not describe

Buontalenti, Bernardo

2005-03-04T17:25:00.000-08:00

Buontalenti entered the service of the Medici as a youth and remained with them the rest of his life. In the Uffizi Palace, Florence, he built a great court stage, where, during the winter of 1585–86, splendid fetes were produced under his direction. For the Medici extravaganzas, he designed costumes

Trichina

2005-03-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

Mating takes place in the host's small intestine, after which the fertilized female trichinae

B-1

2005-03-04T01:29:00.000-08:00

U.S. variable-wing strategic bomber that entered service in 1986 as a successor to the B-52 Stratofortress. The B-1 was designed to penetrate radar-guided air defenses by flying at low levels. It was built in two versions by Rockwell International. The B-1A, first flown in 1974, was designed to reach twice the speed of sound at high altitudes and to carry nuclear bombs and short-range attack

Combinatorics, Multinomial coefficients

2005-03-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

If S is a set of n objects, and n1, n2, × × × , nk are non-negative integers satisfying n1 + n2 + × × × + nk = n, then the number of ways in which the objects can be distributed into k boxes, X1, X2, × × × , Xk, such that the box Xi contains exactly ni objects is given in terms of a ratio constructed of factorials (see 4). This number, called a multinomial coefficient, is the coefficient in the multinomial expansion of the nth power of the sum of the

Kabwe

2005-03-02T18:43:00.000-08:00

Formerly Broken Hill, town, central Zambia. It is an important transportation and mining centre north of Lusaka on the Great North Road, at an elevation of 3,879 feet (1,182 m). The Rhodesian Broken Hill Development Company (formed 1903) was instrumental in opening the region to foreign mining interests. After the mine was sunk for extraction of the high-grade zinc, vanadium, and lead ores, the first railway

Time Warner Inc.

2005-03-02T02:29:00.000-08:00

The largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world. Time Warner's products encompass magazines, hardcover books, comic books, recorded music, motion pictures, online services, and broadcast and cable television programming and distribution. Its headquarters are in New York City.

Hancock, John

2005-03-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Harvard (1754), Hancock entered a mercantile house in Boston owned by his uncle Thomas Hancock, who later left him a large fortune. In 1765 he became a selectman of Boston and from 1769 to 1774 was a member of the Massachusetts

Zalau

2005-02-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Salaj judet (county), northwestern Romania. It is located in an isolated part of the country on the northwestern slopes of the Mezes Mountains. It is the terminal of a branch line railway and a local market centre for the district's agricultural produce. A furniture factory in Zalau uses timber from the surrounding hills. The town has an archaeological museum

Bahadur Shah Ii

2005-02-27T02:10:00.000-08:00

He was the second son of Akbar Shah II and Lal Bai. For most of his reign he was a client of the British and was without real authority. He figured briefly, and unwillingly, in the Indian Mutiny of 1857–58; during the

Chandela

2005-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Candella, Rajput clan of Gond origin that for some centuries ruled Bundelkhand in north-central India and fought against the early Muslim invaders. The first Chandela is thought to have ruled early in the 9th century AD. Chandela dominion extended from the River Jumna in the north to the region of Saugor (Sagar) and from the Dhasan River to the west to the Vindhya Hills. Their strongholds

Reza Shah Pahlavi

2005-02-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

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

Lever, Charles James

2005-02-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

In 1831, after study at Trinity College, Cambridge, he qualified for the practice of medicine. His gambling and extravagance, however, left him short of money despite his income and his inheritance,

Heiberg, Johan Ludvig

2005-02-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

Playwright, poet, literary historian, and critic whose romantic idealism in a sense epitomized the Danish Romantic school, which he helped bring to an end when he established a new era of topical, sophisticated, and satirical literature. Heiberg also introduced both Hegelian philosophy and vaudeville, or ballad opera,

Agricultural Technology

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

Application of techniques to control the growth and harvesting of animal and vegetable products.

Mela, Pomponius

2005-02-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

Author of the only ancient treatise on geography in classical Latin, De situ orbis (“A Description of the World”), also known as De chorographia (“Concerning Chorography”). Written about AD 43 or 44, it remained influential until the beginning of the age of exploration, 13 centuries later. Though probably intended for the general reader, Mela's geography was cited by Pliny the Elder

Quasthoff, Thomas

2005-02-23T04:20:00.000-08:00

Bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff made his opera debut in April 2003, singing the role of Don Fernando in a production of Beethoven's Fidelio with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Austria. For any other singer, the event would have been a momentous musical watershed, but in Quasthoff's case it was also a triumph of the human

Race

2005-02-22T03:37:00.000-08:00

Although they are easily and often confused, race and racism must be distinguished from ethnicity and ethnocentrism. While extreme ethnocentrism may take the same offensive form and may have the same dire consequences as extreme racism, there are significant differences between the two concepts. Ethnicity, which relates to culturally contingent features,

Dafydd Ap Gwilym

2005-02-21T15:20:00.000-08:00

Little is known of his life, except that he was a member of an aristocratic family from South Wales,

Malagasy Languages

2005-02-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

A cluster of languages spoken on Madagascar and adjacent islands and belonging to the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family of languages. The various Malagasy dialects are all closely related, having diversified only in the last 2,000 years when Madagascar was settled by an Indonesian people. The languages contain some words of Bantu, Swahili, Arab, English, and French

Ziyadid Dynasty

2005-02-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

The 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun transferred the rule of Yemen to the Ziyad family to offset the intrigues of the 'Alids—the Shi'ite opponents of the 'Abbasids—who had made southern Arabia their headquarters. The first Ziyadid, Muhammad ibn Ziyad, firmly established himself along the Yemeni coast (Tihamah) with

Phoenix

2005-02-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

In ancient Egypt and in classical antiquity, a fabulous bird associated with the worship of the sun. The Egyptian phoenix was said to be as large as an eagle, with brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry. Only one phoenix existed at any time, and it was very long-lived—no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix

Moscow Zoo

2005-02-18T22:20:00.000-08:00

Russian Moskovsky Zoo-park, largest zoo in Russia, exhibiting an outstanding collection of northern animals and many exotic species. Founded by a public society in 1864, the zoo later was privately owned. In 1919 it was declared the property of Soviet Russia and in 1923 was put under the Moscow City Soviet (council). It incorporates 20 hectares (49 acres) and includes small, unbarred enclosures as well as large paddocks

Kachina

2005-02-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

In Pueblo Indian religious practice, any of more than 500 divine ancestral spirits who act as intermediaries between man and god. Each tribe has its distinct forms and variations. Kachinas are believed to reside with the tribe for half of each year. They will allow themselves to be seen by the community if the men properly perform a traditional ritual while wearing kachina

Kadár, Ján

2005-02-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

Kadár attended Charles University, Prague, and the Film School at Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (1938). During World War II he was interned in a Nazi labour camp, after which he worked as a scriptwriter and assistant director, first at

France, History Of, The historical debate

2005-02-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

In broad terms, 18th-century French politics could be defined as the response of the monarchic state to the emergence of the new cultural and economic configurations that had transformed the lives and especially the imaginations of French men and women. The question was whether the Bourbon monarch could rationalize its administration and find a way to adapt itself

Schäuffelein, Hans Leonhard

2005-02-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

In 1509 Schäuffelein worked in the Tirol and later in Bavaria. There he painted the altarpiece for the Benedictine abbey

Mountain, Intracontinental mountain belts

2005-02-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

In some regions, mountain belts have been formed by crustal shortening within a continental mass, rather than where two continents have collided. Some 40,000,000 to 80,000,000 years ago, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming formed in this way, and today both the Tien Shan and the Atlas Mountains of northwestern Africa are actively forming within a continent. In general, intracontinental

Frunze, Mikhail Vasilyevich

2005-02-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

Frunze took part in the Moscow insurrection in 1905 and, after frequent arrests for revolutionary activity, escaped in 1915 to conduct agitation in the Russian army, first on the western front

Mole Crab

2005-02-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

Also called sand bug (Emerita, or Hippa, talpoida) crab of the Atlantic beaches from New England to Mexico. It is so named from its digging mole-fashion in sand. The shell is about 3.75 centimetres (1.5 inches) long, somewhat egg shaped and yellowish white with purplish markings. It lives on beaches in the intertidal zone. E. analoga, a broader and flatter species, occurs on the California coast.

Azerbaijani

2005-02-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Any member of a Turkic people living chiefly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the region of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. At the turn of the 21st century there were some 7,500,000 Azerbaijani in the republic and neighbouring areas and more than 15,000,000 in Iran. They are mainly sedentary farmers and herders, although some of those in the republic have found employment in various

Aquila

2005-02-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Akilas scholar who in about AD 140 completed a literal translation into Greek of the Old Testament; it replaced the Septuagint (q.v.) among Jews and was used by the Church Fathers Origen in the 3rd century and St. Jerome in the 4th and 5th centuries. St. Epiphanius (c. 315—403) preserved in his writings the popular Christian tradition that Aquila was a relative of the Roman emperor Hadrian,

Funj Dynasty

2005-02-14T11:57:00.000-08:00

The Funj capital, the city of Sennar, on the left bank of the Blue Nile above its confluence with the White Nile, was founded

China, War between Nationalists and Communists

2005-02-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

In the meantime, the Communists had created 15 rural bases in central China, and they established a soviet government, the Kiangsi Soviet, on Nov. 7, 1931. Within the soviet regions the Communist leadership expropriated and redistributed land and in other ways enlisted the support of the poorer classes. The Japanese occupation of Manchuria and an ancillary localized war

Gujarat, Education

2005-02-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Primary schools for all children between the ages of 7 and 11 have been opened in nearly all villages with 500 or more inhabitants. Special schools are run for tribal children and for the teaching of arts and crafts. There are many secondary schools, as well as nine universities and a large number of institutions for higher education. Technical education is provided by engineering

China, Trends in the arts

2005-02-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

In literature the greatest glory of the T'ang period was its poetry. By the 8th century poets had broken away from the artificial diction and matter of the court poetry of the southern dynasties and achieved a new directness and naturalism. The reign of Hsüan-tsung (712–756)—known as Ming-huang, the Brilliant Emperor—was the time of the great figures of Li Po, Wang Wei, and Tu Fu. The

Peruzzi, Baldassarre (tommaso)

2005-02-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

A contemporary of Raphael and Donato Bramante, Peruzzi began his career as a painter of frescoes in the Cappella San Giovanni in Siena Cathedral.

Shuang-ya-shan

2005-02-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Shuangyashan, city, Heilungkiang sheng (province), China. Shuang-ya-shan, also known as Chien-shan, is a new city that has grown up since 1949; its importance is based entirely on coal production. The Shuang-ya-shan coalfield, on the northern slopes of the Wan-ta Mountains, covers an area of 115 square miles (300 square km) and has estimated reserves of 160,000,000 tons of high-quality coal. Almost the entire population

Dance, Western, The Soviet ballet

2005-02-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

Although Diaghilev's achievements were ignored there, the Soviet Union in the 1920s abounded with the daring choreographic experiments of Fyodor Lopukhov (1886–1973) and others. Despite the official imposition of “socialist realism” as the criterion of artistic acceptability in 1932, ballet gained enormous popularity with the Soviet people. They loved their dancers, who were superbly

Palestine, History Of

2005-02-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

In the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Israel dispatched the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan and also overran large tracts of territory, including East Jerusalem, the West Bank (known to Israelis as Judaea and Samaria), and Gaza. Israel's victory gave rise to another exodus of Palestinians, with more than 250,000 people fleeing to the East Bank of Jordan. However, roughly 600,000 Palestinians

Dahomey

2005-02-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

Kingdom in western Africa that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries in the region that is now southern Benin. According to tradition, at the beginning of the 17th century three brothers vied for the kingdom of Allada, which, like neighbouring Whydah (now Ouidah), had grown rich on the slave trade. When one of the brothers won control of Allada, the other two fled. One went southeast

Elijah's Cup

2005-02-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

In Judaism, the fifth ceremonial cup of wine poured during the family Seder dinner on Passover (Pesah). It is left untouched in honour of Elijah, who, according to tradition, will arrive one day as an unknown guest to herald the advent of the Messiah. During the Seder dinner, biblical verses are read while the door is briefly opened to welcome Elijah, who, it is further said,

Finnish Literature

2005-02-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Although a number of talented poets wrote in Finnish in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was only with Aleksis Kivi that a genuine

Marga

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

(Sanskrit: “path”), in Hinduism, the path, or way, of reaching salvation. In Hindu tradition three means are enumerated: jñana-marga, the way of knowledge, involving the study of philosophic texts and contemplation; karma-marga, the way of action, the proper performance of one's religious and ethical duties; and bhakti-marga, the way of devotion and self-surrender to God. (The three

Breadfruit

2005-02-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

Fruit of either of two closely related trees belonging to the family Moraceae. One of these, Artocarpus communis, also called A. incisa or A. altilis, provides a staple food of the South Pacific. The tree grows 12 to 18 metres (40 to 60 feet) high and has large, oval, glossy green leaves, three- to nine-lobed toward the apex. Male and female flowers are borne in separate

Zoroastrianism

2005-02-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

Zoroastrianism is not the purely ethical religion it may at first seem. In practice, despite the doctrine of free choice, a Zoroastrian is so constantly involved in a meticulous struggle against the contamination of death and the thousand causes of defilement, and against the threat, even in his sleep, of ever-present demons, that he does not often believe that he is

Schaeffer, Pierre

2005-02-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

French composer, acoustician, and electronics engineer who in 1948, with his staff at Radio-diffusion et Télévision Française, introduced musique concrète (q.v.), in which sounds of natural origin, animate and inanimate, are recorded and manipulated so that the original sounds are distorted and combined in a musical fashion. The means

Balboa, Vasco Núñez De

2005-02-05T00:57:00.000-08:00

Spanish conquistador and explorer, who was head of the first stable settlement on the South American continent (1511) and who was the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean (on Sept. 25 [or 27], 1513, from “a peak in Darién”).

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-02-04T22:44:00.000-08:00

La Fontaine's many miscellaneous writings include much occasional verse in a great variety of poetic forms and dramatic or pseudodramatic pieces such as his first published work, L'Eunuque (1654), and Climène (1671), as well as poems on subjects as different as Adonis (1658, revised 1669), La Captivité de saint Malc (1673), and Le Quinquina (1682). All these are, at best, works of uneven quality. In relation

Hawera

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

Town, Taranaki local government region, western North Island, New Zealand. The original settlement, situated on the east Waimate Plain, 2 miles (3 km) from the coast of South Taranaki Bight, on the Tasman Sea, grew around a blockhouse built in 1870 for protection from hostile Maoris. The settlement became a borough in 1882, and in the late 1970s the borough was amalgamated with the surrounding

Jackson

2005-02-03T21:28:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1821) of Madison county, western Tennessee, U.S. It lies about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Memphis. The area was settled about 1819 as a port on the Forked Deer River and developed as a cotton depot and railroad junction. First called Alexandria, the community was renamed in 1822 to honour General (later President) Andrew Jackson. It was used as a supply point by both Confederate and

United Kingdom, The break with Rome

2005-02-03T19:30:00.000-08:00

With Wolsey and his papal authority gone, Henry turned to the authority of the state to obtain his annulment, and the so-called Reformation Parliament that first met in November 1529 was unprecedented—it lasted seven years, enacted 137 statutes (32 of which were of vital importance), and legislated in areas that no feudal Parliament had ever dreamed of entering. “King in

Oberhausen

2005-02-03T02:57:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It is situated on the Rhine-Herne-Kanal, within the densely developed Ruhr industrial belt, and it adjoins Essen (east), Mülheim (south), and Duisberg (southwest). Oberhausen is an important rail junction, and the city also has good autobahn connections with The Netherlands. It is the centre of a network of lines radiating

Political System, Leagues

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

One of the commonest forms of supranational organization in history is that of leagues, generally composed of states seeking to resist some common military or economic threat by combining their forces. This was the case with the early city leagues, such as the Achaean and Aetolian leagues in ancient Greece and the Hanseatic and the Swabian leagues in Europe; and

Wellington

2005-02-01T02:41:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Taunton Deane district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, just west-southwest of Taunton. The first duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley, who took his title from the town), victor of the Battle of Waterloo (1815), is commemorated by a monument (National Trust property) on the highest point of the nearby Blackdown Hill. Wellington School, at

Aquaculture: Fulfilling Its Promise

2005-01-31T23:13:00.000-08:00

For 25 centuries fish farming (aquaculture) has been a mainstay of Asian agriculture. Throughout China, India, and Thailand, it prospered on traditional small-scale farms. In recent years, however, fish farming has begun to suffer from problems associated with rapid growth and careless stewardship. As the 20th century draws to a close, aquaculture must redefine itself

Monticelli, Adolphe

2005-01-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

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

Baracaldo

2005-01-30T02:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Barakaldo, industrial municipality, northern Biscay (Vizcaya) provincia, in the autonomous Basque Country, northeastern Spain. It lies on the south bank of the Nervión River. Baracaldo consists of the Bilbao suburbs of El Regato, San Vicente de Baracaldo, Iráuregui, and Alonsótegui. It is the terminus of a mining railway; the locality's primary economic activities include iron

Economic Development

2005-01-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

The process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into modern industrial economies. Although the term is sometimes used as a synonym for economic growth, generally it is employed to describe a change in a country's economy involving qualitative as well as quantitative improvements. The theory of economic development—how primitive and

Tsinghai

2005-01-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Ch'ing-hai, (Pinyin) Qinghai, sheng (province) of northwestern China. Located in the Tibetan Highlands, it has an average elevation of 13,000 feet (4,000 metres). It is bounded on the north and east by Kansu, on the southeast by Szechwan, on the south and west by the Tibet Autonomous Region, and on the west and north by the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang. Tsinghai has an area of about 284,600 square miles (737,000 square kilometres).

Narcolepsy

2005-01-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

The syndrome usually occurs in youth or early adult life and is presumably due to dysfunction of the diencephalic reticular system. The narcoleptic can fall asleep anywhere, anytime—while in conversation, at work, while eating,

Agriculture

2005-01-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

The science or art of cultivating the soil, growing and harvesting crops, and raising livestock. The art of making land more productive is practiced throughout the world—in some areas by methods not far removed from the conditions of several thousands of years ago and in other areas, with the aid of science and mechanization, as a highly commercial type of endeavour.

Qian Zhongshu

2005-01-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

Qian attended missionary schools in Su-chou and Wu-hsi while receiving English and classical Chinese training under the tutelage of his father, Qian Jibo. A student of the Department of

Gershwin, Ira

2005-01-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

Original name Israel Gershvin American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, George Gershwin, on more than 20 Broadway musicals and motion pictures until George's death (1937) and who later collaborated on films and plays with others—Moss Hart, Kurt Weill, Jerome Kern, Harry Warren, and Harold Arlen—and contributed to Gershwin