StraightGrass

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Eastern Africa, History Of, The Solomonids

2005-04-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

An amalgamated Christian state, led by Semitized Agew, had reappeared in the 12th century. This Zagwe dynasty gave way in the late 13th century to a dynasty that claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a genealogy providing the legitimacy and continuity so honoured in Ethiopia's subsequent national history. During the 14th and 15th centuries the Solomonid

Saint Basil The Blessed

2005-04-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Pokrovsky Cathedral, Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny, or Pokrovsky Sobor, church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny (St. Basil the Beatified) after Basil, the Russian holy fool

Biblical Literature, The Testament of Job

2005-03-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

Though there are scholars who think that the Testament of Job was once written in Hebrew or Aramaic, it is more probable that the existing Greek text of the book is the original or even a rewritten later version of a Greek work; a fragment of an older form is probably preserved in the Greek translation of Job (2:9). Job is identified, according to some Jewish traditions, with

Aalto, Alvar

2005-03-27T15:06:00.000-08:00

Aalto's commissions after 1950, in addition to being greater in number, were more varied and widely dispersed: a high-rise apartment building in Bremen, W.Ger. (1958), a church in Bologna, Italy (1966), an art museum

Jackson, John

2005-03-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

American blues guitarist (b. Feb. 25, 1924, Woodville, Va.—d. Jan. 20, 2002, Fairfax, Va.), was considered a master of the Piedmont blues tradition. While playing guitar for friends at a gas station in Fairfax, Va., in 1964, Jackson was discovered by University of Virginia folklorist Charles L. Perdue, who subsequently arranged for Jackson to go on tour and introduced him to record company executives.

Pacific Ocean, Economic aspects

2005-03-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

A detailed review of Pacific Ocean minerals, including those contained in seawater and those on or beneath the ocean floor, is offered in G.P. Glasby, “Marine Minerals in the Pacific,” Oceanography and Marine Biology 24:1–64 (1986). Information on economic and other resources of the ocean areas is also found in such works as Asia & Oceania, vol. 4 of the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, 7th ed., 5 vol. (1988); Fillmore C.F. Earney, Marine Mineral Resources (1990); and FAO Yearbook: Fishery Statistics. John P. Craven, The Management of Pacific Marine Resources (1982), offers well-written, scholarly coverage of resources and their management, or in some cases mismanagement; details on fisheries, shipping, scientific research, and maritime law are given in Edward Miles et al., The Management of Marine Regions: The North Pacific (1982); and Peter N. Nemetz (ed.), The Pacific Rim (1987), studies commerce, economic conditions, foreign investments, and resources in the Pacific Rim countries. Another valuable overview of economic conditions, international business enterprises, marine resources, and regionalism is Endel-Jacob Kolde, The Pacific Quest: The Concept and Scope of an Oceanic Community (1976); and Henry S. Albinski et al., The South Pacific (1989), studies the “New Pacific” and the economic, political, and social problems of island nations that have achieved independence since World War II.

Ribosome

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

Tiny particle that is present in large numbers in all living cells and which is the site of protein synthesis. Ribosomes are tiny granules that occur both as free particles within cells and as particles attached to the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. A ribosome measures about 200 angstroms in diameter and consists of about 40 percent protein and 60 percent RNA

Isinglass

2005-03-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

Sired by Isonomy and foaled by Dead Lock, he was owned by H. McCalmont and trained by J. Jewitt. After winning three races in 1893, as a two-year-old, ridden by Tom Loates, he won the Two Thousand Guineas, the Derby, and

Pereira, Nuno álvares, Blessed

2005-03-18T18:20:00.000-08:00

Pereira distinguished himself in battle at age 13, fighting against the Castilians in their invasion of 1373. On the death of Ferdinand I of Portugal

Absolute Zero

2005-03-17T23:36:00.000-08:00

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

Forel, Auguste-henri

2005-03-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

Forel studied medicine at the University of Zürich from 1866 to 1871 and then did work in neuroanatomy at the University of Vienna, where he received his medical degree in 1872. In 1879 he was appointed director of the Burghölzli Asylum

Social Protection, Asylum and Refugees.

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

The distinction between voluntary and forced migration was sometimes difficult to discern. With the number of people on the move far outstripping the capacity of existing legal channels for migration—despite a ready market for labour—people who were not in need of protection sometimes used the asylum system. Although the public perception that governments

Loredan, Pietro

2005-03-14T22:37:00.000-08:00

As captain of the Venetian fleet he defeated the Ottoman Turks, who had been threatening Venetian shipping, in a

Yamalo-nenets

2005-03-14T05:52:00.000-08:00

Autonomous okrug (district), Tyumen oblast (province), in western Siberia, north-central Russia. It was established in 1930 as an autonomous okrug for the Nenets, or Samoyed, people, although by 1979 they constituted only 11 percent of the population. The okrug covers the northern part of the West Siberian Plain. Apart from the narrow chain of the northern Urals in the west, it is a huge,

Kwashiorkor

2005-03-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

The condition in children

Loxonema

2005-03-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Genus of extinct gastropods (snails) found as fossils in rocks of Ordovician to Early Carboniferous age (505 to 320 million years ago). Loxonema has a distinctive high-spired, slender shell with fine axial ornamentational lines. A distinct lip is present at the base of the aperture of the main whorl.

Sari

2005-03-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

Situated

Yuscarán

2005-03-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Founded between 1730 and 1740, when gold and silver were discovered in the area, Yuscarán was a prosperous mining centre during the colonial period. Mining halted in the 19th century but was resumed in the 1940s. The town, which preserves a colonial

Sari

2005-03-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

The NLC,

Aniline

2005-03-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

Aniline is prepared commercially by the catalytic

Skeet Shooting

2005-03-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Sport in which marksmen use shotguns to shoot at clay targets thrown into the air by spring devices called traps. It differs from trapshooting (q.v.), from which it derived, in that in skeet, traps are set at two points on the field and targets may be thrown diagonally across the shooter's field of vision as well as directly away from him (see illustration). The sport was developed

Pinar Del Río

2005-03-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Provincia, western Cuba, bounded on the north by the Gulf of Mexico, on the west by the Yucatán Channel, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, on the southeast by the Gulf of Batabanó, and on the east by La Habana province. Low mountain ranges, including the Sierra de los Órganos and the Sierra del Rosario, form the backbone of the territory, which has an area of 4,218 square miles (10,925 square

Performing Arts

2005-03-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Allenby (of Megiddo And Of Felixstowe), Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount

2005-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, Allenby joined the Inniskilling Dragoons in 1882 and saw active service in the Bechuanaland expedition (1884–85), in Zululand (1888), and in the South

Hevesy, Georg Charles Von

2005-03-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Technische

Dyslexia

2005-03-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

An inability or pronounced difficulty to learn to read or spell, despite otherwise normal intellectual functions. Dyslexia is a chronic neurological disorder that inhibits a person's ability to recognize and process graphic symbols, particularly those pertaining to language. Primary symptoms include extremely poor reading skills owing to no apparent cause,

Riverina

2005-02-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

Predominantly rural region, south-central New South Wales, Australia. Occupying 26,509 square miles (68,658 square km), it is bounded on the north and northwest by the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers, on the south by the Murray River, and on the east by an imaginary line connecting the towns of Condobolin, Junee, and Albury. Most of the Riverina comprises level alluvial plains laced

Maule

2005-02-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

Región, central Chile. It faces the Pacific Ocean on the west and borders Argentina on the east. Created in 1974, it comprises Curicó, Talca, Cauquenes, and Linares provincias. Its area spans coastal mountains, the Central Valley, and the Andean cordillera. The region is drained in the north by the Mataquito River, the tributaries of which (the Teno and Lontué rivers) rise in the

Mander, Carel Van

2005-02-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

Born of a noble family at Meulebeke,

Mckinley

2005-02-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

County, northwestern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the west by Arizona. It is a scenic region with highly varied terrain, in the Navajo section of the Colorado Plateaus. In the west, a red shale valley lies between red sandstone cliffs; angular rock outcroppings rise amid the near-desert plains in the far west. Buttes and mesas appear throughout McKinley county, including

Guare, John

2005-02-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

Guare, who at age 11 produced his first play for friends and family, was educated at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. (B.A., 1960), and at Yale University (M.F.A., 1963). He then began staging short plays, primarily in New York City, where he helped to found the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theatre Playwrights'

Intellectual-property Law

2005-02-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

The legal regulations governing an individual's or an organization's right to control the use or dissemination of ideas or information. Various systems of legal rules exist that empower persons and organizations to exercise such control. Copyright law confers upon the creators of “original forms of expression” (e.g., books, movies, musical compositions, and works

Dahlmann, Friedrich (christoph)

2005-02-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

Dahlmann was appointed professor

Xerxes I

2005-02-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

The basic work is still A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948, reissued 1985), a complex work, but one that contains the essentials. Charles Hignett, Xerxes' Invasion of Greece (1963), deals only with the relationships between Xerxes and Greece. Peter Green, Xerxes at Salamis (1970), discusses the Greco-Persian wars.

Wyatt, James

2005-02-17T13:57:00.000-08:00

In 1762 Wyatt went to Italy, where he remained six years. On his return to England, he designed the London Pantheon (opened 1772; later demolished), a Neoclassical building

Khanty And Mansi

2005-02-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

Their present-day territory

Silesian Wars

2005-02-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Resurrecting an old Brandenburg testamentary

Yanam

2005-02-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Formerly part of the Cola empire, the area came under Muslim occupation in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was the scene of constant warfare between Muslim, British, and French troops. When much of the coastal plain

Vis

2005-02-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

Italian Lissa, Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, the outermost major island of the Dalmatian archipelago. Its area is 35 square miles (90 square km), and its highest point is Mount Hum, at 1,926 feet (587 m). Its climate and vegetation are Mediterranean and subtropical, with palms, Mediterranean pines, citrus, eucalyptus, cacti, and early vegetables. Fishing and canning are economically important.

Baseball, Infielders

2005-02-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

The infielders form the inner ring of defense. They sometimes catch line drives on the fly, but mainly they pick up ground balls that roll toward the outfield or shoot swiftly across the grass on one or more bounces. When a batted ball strikes the ground, the play becomes a race between the batter running to first and an infielder trying to gain control of the ball and

Blood Typing

2005-02-12T03:45:00.000-08:00

Classification of an individual's blood in terms of specific, distinctive antigenic characteristics that are inherited and are associated with the red blood cells. The ABO and the Rh blood groups (qq.v.) are among those most commonly considered. Identification of these determinants has become indispensable in connection with blood transfusion, because recipient

Earle, John

2005-02-11T11:10:00.000-08:00

An outstanding book of “characters,” it avoids didacticism and displays genuine personalities, such as a “child,” a “Good old Man,” a “young raw Preacher,” and a “Grave Divine.” It is alive with its humour, perception, and epigrammatic

Mitchell, Arthur

2005-02-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

Mitchell attended the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City and began performing in Broadway musicals and with the companies of Donald McKayle and John Butler. In 1956 Mitchell became the only black dancer in the New York City Ballet. He soon became a principal

Piazzi, Giuseppe

2005-02-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

Piazzi became a Theatine monk in about 1764 and a professor of theology in Rome in 1779, and in 1780 he was appointed professor of higher mathematics at the Academy of Palermo. Later, with the aid of the viceroy of Sicily,

Tucholsky, Kurt

2005-02-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

After studying law and serving in World War I, Tucholsky left Germany in 1924 and lived first in Paris and after 1929 in Sweden. He contributed to Rote Signale (1931; “Red Signals”), a collection of

Calculator

2005-02-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

Machine for automatically performing arithmetical operations and certain mathematical functions. Modern calculators are descendants of a digital arithmetic machine devised by Blaise Pascal in 1642. Later in the 17th century, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz created a more advanced machine, and, especially in the late 19th century, inventors produced calculating machines

Marzuq

2005-02-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Murzuk, oasis, southwestern Libya. It lies on the northern edge of the Sahra' Marzuq (“Sea of Sand”). An ancient assembly place for caravans to Lake Chad and the Niger River, it was the traditional capital of the Fezzan province (16th–19th century) and a centre of the Arab slave and arms trade. Once called the “Paris of the Desert,” it was a base for Saharan explorers, including Frederick Hornemann

Osborne, Dorothy, Lady Temple

2005-02-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

English gentlewoman best known for the letters she wrote to her future husband, William Temple, before their marriage. The letters are simply written in an easy, conversational style and present an interesting picture of the life of a young English gentlewoman in the Commonwealth period

Orwell, George

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

Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell never entirely abandoned his original name, but his first book (Down and Out in Paris and London) appeared as the work

Zoisite

2005-02-01T02:48:00.000-08:00

Silicate mineral, calcium and aluminum silicate, Ca2Al3(SiO4)3OH, characteristic of regional metamorphism and of hydrothermal alteration of igneous rocks. A member of the epidote (q.v.) group of nesosilicates, zoisite occurs as white, green-brown, or gray crystals or masses in crystalline schists, often with amphibole minerals; in metamorphosed calcareous shales; very

Endor, Witch Of

2005-01-31T18:10:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament (1 Samuel 28:3–25), a female sorcerer who was visited by Saul, the first king of Israel. Although Saul had banished all sorcerers and conjurers from his kingdom, his concern about the final outcome of Israel's battle against the Philistines caused him to seek the services of someone with “a familiar spirit.” When his servants told him of such a woman at Endor, he

Endor, Witch Of

2005-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

Nationwide association of labour unions in Canada, comprising both wholly Canadian “national” unions and “international” unions that are Canadian branches of unions based in the United States. The CLC was formed in 1956 through the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour. At the onset of the 21st century, a majority of the four

Arran, James Stewart, Earl Of

2005-01-29T21:50:00.000-08:00

Both Stewart and his rival, Esmé, duke of Lennox, were deprived of office when the Protestant lords seized power by the raid of Ruthven (1582); but a year later they in turn were overthrown and driven into exile by Stewart. His tyranny and insolence, however,

Aegina

2005-01-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Aíyina island, one of the largest in the Saronic group of Greece, about 16 miles (26 km) south-southwest of Piraeus. With an area of about 32 square miles (83 square km), it is an eparkhía (“eparchy”) of the nomós (department) of Piraeus. The northern plains and hills are cultivated with vines and olive, fig, almond, and pistachio trees, while along the east coast stretches a ridge of light volcanic

Davidovic, Ljubomir

2005-01-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Entering the Serbian Parliament in 1901, Davidovic helped found the Independent Radical Party in the same year. He was elected leader of his party in 1912 and served as minister of education (1914–17) in Nikola Pašic's coalition Cabinet and in the

Cola Dynasty

2005-01-26T07:15:00.000-08:00

The legendary king Karikalan was the common ancestor through whom small Deccan and Andhra families called Cola or Coda claimed a connection with the Uraiyur

Nagasaki

2005-01-24T02:52:00.000-08:00

Capital and largest city, Nagasaki ken (prefecture), western Kyushu, Japan, at the mouth of the Urakami-gawa (Urakami River) where it empties into Nagasaki-ko (Nagasaki Harbour). The harbour is composed of a narrow, deep-cut bay, formed at the meeting point of Nomo-saki (Cape Nomo; south) and Nishisonoki-hanto (Nishisonoki Peninsula; northwest). The city is shaped like an amphitheatre,

Osaka-kobe Metropolitan Area

2005-01-23T19:42:00.000-08:00

Second largest urban and industrial agglomeration in Japan, located on Osaka Bay in west-central Honshu at the eastern end of the Inland Sea. The cities of Osaka and Kobe are at the centre of what is called by geographers the Hanshin Industrial Zone; as a result of the expansion of the urban area along the Inland Sea and northeast toward the city of Kyoto, the region is now

Philbrick, Herbert Arthur

2005-01-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Philbrick studied engineering at Lincoln Technical Institute of Northeastern University in Boston, and in 1938 he became an advertising salesman. Through a sales call, he became interested

Alcibiades

2005-01-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

Well-born and wealthy, Alcibiades was only a small boy when his father—who was in command of the Athenian army—was killed

Burgess, Anthony

2005-01-20T09:41:00.000-08:00

Trained in English literature and phonetics, Burgess taught in the extramural department of Birmingham University (1946–50), worked for the Ministry of Education (1948–50), and was English master at Banbury

Sprain

2005-01-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

Overstretching or tearing of fibres in one or more of the ligaments that support a joint, caused by forced movement beyond their range. Symptoms include sudden severe pain, then swelling around the joint, tenderness, stiffness, and often black-and-blue marks as a result of bleeding into the joint. The common sites for sprains are the ankle, wrist, knee, finger or toe joints,

Arenas, Reinaldo

2005-01-18T07:56:00.000-08:00

As a teenager Arenas joined the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959. He moved to Havana in 1961 and became a researcher in the José Martí National Library (1963–68), an editor for the Cuban Book Institute

Black Nationalism

2005-01-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

Political and social movement prominent in the 1960s and early '70s in the United States among some African Americans. The movement, which can be traced back to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1920s, sought to acquire economic power and to infuse among blacks a sense of community and group feeling. Many adherents to black nationalism assumed

Wu School

2005-01-17T00:02:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Wu group of Chinese painters of the Ming dynasty active in the second half of the 15th and first half of the 16th centuries. They were scholar-artists who, in their “literati painting” (wenrenhua), perpetuated the personally expressive styles and attitudes of former artists such as the Four Masters of the Yuan dynasty, in contrast to their contemporaries of the Zhe school, who

Chiang Mai

2005-01-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chiengmai, largest city in northern Thailand and the third largest city in the nation after metropolitan Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima. It is located on the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River, near the centre of a fertile intermontane basin at an elevation of 1,100 feet (335 m). It serves as the religious, economic, cultural, educational, and transportation centre for

Baalat

2005-01-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ba'alat or Ba'alath (from West Semitic ba'alat, “lady”), often used as a synonym for the special goddess of a region; also, the chief deity of Byblos. Very little is known of Baalat, “the Lady [of Byblos],” but, because of the close ties between Byblos and Egypt, she was often represented with a typically Egyptian hairstyle, headdress, and costume, and by the 12th dynasty (1991–1786 BC) she was equated with the Egyptian

Kyaikkami

2005-01-13T22:03:00.000-08:00

Formerly Amherst, resort town, southeastern Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on a peninsula about 30 miles (48 km) south of the town of Moulmein. Originally a settlement of the Mon peoples, modern Kyaikkami was founded by the British during the annexation of Tenasserim and Arakan states after the First Burmese War (1824–26) and was named for William Pitt Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst, then governor-general

Philadelphia Orchestra

2005-01-13T07:39:00.000-08:00

From Stokowski's tenure, the orchestra was renowned for its interpretation of the symphonic

Tabari, At-

2005-01-11T21:12:00.000-08:00

Obviously, at-Tabari could not sustain his preference for reports originating with the Prophet and the pious scholars of the early community known as as-salaf. His judgment of a report's reliability was now based upon the largely theoretical criterion that it should originate with either an eyewitness or a contemporary informant. This posed a problem for which at-Tabar

Rotimi, Ola

2005-01-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

Nigerian playwright and director (b. April 13, 1938, Sapele, Nigeria—d. Aug. 18, 2000, Ife-Ife, Nigeria), was trained in the Western theatre tradition but incorporated into his predominately English-language plays traditional Nigerian cultural forms, including ethnic dances and indigenous languages. His works often presented figures or incidents of historical importance in Nigeria

Tercet

2005-01-09T10:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled tiercet a unit or group of three lines of verse, usually containing rhyme, as in William Shakespeare's “The Phoenix and the Turtle”: Death is now the phoenix' nest; And the turtle's loyal breastTo eternity doth rest,

Argentina, Climate

2005-01-09T00:13:00.000-08:00

Argentina lies almost entirely within the temperate zone of the Southern Hemisphere, unlike the rest of the continent to the north, which lies within the tropics. Tropical air masses only occasionally invade the provinces of Formosa and Misiones in the extreme north. The southern extremes of Argentina, which extend to 55° S, also have predominantly temperate conditions,

Iceland, The status of women

2005-01-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Outwardly the feminist movement may seem uniquely strong in Iceland. A woman, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, served as president of the republic for four terms (1980–96), enjoying great popularity. A Women's Alliance has been represented in the parliament since 1983. However, the Icelandic president typically is not influential in politics, and the Women's Alliance has yet to participate

Burbank, Luther

2005-01-07T03:34:00.000-08:00

Reared on a farm, Burbank received little more than a high

Cacomistle

2005-01-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Cacomixl (Bassariscus), either of two species of large-eyed, long-tailed carnivores related to the raccoon (family Procyonidae). Cacomistles are grayish brown with lighter underparts and white patches over their eyes. The total length is about 60–100 cm (24–40 inches), about half of which is the bushy, black-and-white-ringed tail. The animals weigh about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) and have small faces with long

Armenia, Flag Of

2005-01-05T15:15:00.000-08:00

Long without an independent state of their own, 19th-century Armenians also lacked a national flag around which they could rally to support their language and culture. Armenians in exile in France looked to a scholar at the Armenian Institute in Venice, Ghevont Alshin, for a flag in 1885. He recommended the “rainbow flag given to the Armenians when Noah's Ark came to rest on

Varthema, Lodovico De

2005-01-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

De Varthema also spelled Di Barthema, Latin Vartomanus, or Vertomannus, intrepid Italian traveler and adventurer whose account of his Middle Eastern and Asiatic wanderings was widely circulated throughout Europe and earned him high fame in his own lifetime. He made significant discoveries (especially in Arabia) and made many valuable observations of the peoples he visited; his ready wit enabled

Cheju Island

2005-01-02T05:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Quelpart Island , Korean Cheju-do island and (since 1946) do (province) of South Korea. It is in the East China Sea, 60 miles (100 km) southwest of Cholla-nam province, of which it formerly was a part. With an area of 705 square miles (1,825 square km), including 26 small associated islands, it is the smallest province of the republic. Oval in shape, Cheju Island measures 40 miles (64 km) from east to west and 16 miles (26 km) from north to south. The island

Mar-pa

2005-01-02T03:54:00.000-08:00

The chief source of information on the life of Mar-pa is a 14th-century biography written by the “Mad Yogin of Tsang.” According to it, Mar-pa was born of wealthy parents. He had a violent nature and was

Vihari

2005-01-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Vehari, town, south-central Punjab province, Pakistan. The town lies on a flat alluvial plain bordered by the Sutlej River on the southeast. It is a market and processing centre for cotton and oilseeds. Wheat, rice, sugarcane, and vegetables are also grown nearby, and there are rice and flour mills in the area. Vihari lies on the main road between Multan and Lahore. Pop. (1981) town, 53,799.

Utsunomiya

2004-12-31T06:19:00.000-08:00

Capital, Tochigi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The city is situated on the alluvial plain between the Ta River and the Kinu River. A castle town in the 11th century, it later served as a post town on the Nikko Highway during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The city became the prefectural administrative centre in 1884. During World War II industries were relocated to Utsunomiya from Tokyo, producing

Tondou Massif

2004-12-29T23:36:00.000-08:00

French Massif du Tondou, plateau region in the eastern Central African Republic, near the border with The Sudan. Most of the plateau ranges between 2,600 and 3,300 feet (800 and 1,000 m) in elevation; it reaches 3,461 feet (1,055 m) at Mount Ngouo in the northeast. The Kotto River, a tributary of the Ubangi River, separates Tondou Massif from the higher Mongos (Bongo) chain to the north. To the south is the lowland plain of the upper Ubangi.

Indian Philosophy, Origin of the concept of Brahman and atman

2004-12-29T16:55:00.000-08:00

The Upanisads answer the question “Who is that one Being?” by establishing the equation Brahman = atman. Brahman—meaning now that which is the greatest, than which there is nothing greater, and also that which bursts forth into the manifested world, the one Being of which the hymn of creation spoke—is viewed as nothing but atman, identifiable as the innermost self in man but

Plumbojarosite

2004-12-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

A widespread iron and lead sulfate mineral, PbFe6(So4)4(OH)12, that has been found in the oxidized zone of lead deposits, particularly in arid regions. It is an important ore mineral of lead in Bolkar Dagi, Tur., and in Clark County, Nev. It also occurs in many places in the western United States. For detailed physical properties, see sulfate mineral (table).

Roman

2004-12-24T02:03:00.000-08:00

When the art of printing from movable metal type was perfected midway through the 15th century, letter cutters attempted to make their letter forms

France, History Of, Parisian revolt

2004-12-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

In fact, the king had by no means reconciled himself to this revolutionary act. His concession was a strategic retreat until he could muster the military power to subdue the patriots. Between June 27 and July 1 he ordered 20,000 royal troops into the Paris region, ostensibly to protect the assembly and to prevent disorder in the restive capital. The assembly's pleas to the king

Mesopotamia, History Of, The classical and medieval views of Mesopotamia; its rediscovery in modern times

2004-12-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

Before the first excavations in Mesopotamia, about 1840, nearly 2,000 years had passed during which knowledge of the ancient Middle East was derived from three sources only: the Bible, Greek and Roman authors, and the excerpts from the writings of Berosus, a Babylonian who wrote in Greek. In 1800 very little more was known than in AD 800, although these sources had served to stir the imagination

Gujarat, The land

2004-12-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

Gujarat is a land of great contrasts; it stretches from the wet, fertile, rice-growing plains of the west coast, north of Bombay city, to the almost rainless salt deserts of Kachchh in the northwest. Kachchh, comprising a single district, is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Kachchh and on the north and east is separated from Pakistan and the mainland of India by the Rann

Maso Di Banco

2004-12-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

Florentine painter who was the most talented of Giotto's pupils. Maso's work displays a style that effectively and intelligently incorporated the teachings of the master. It was the work of Maso that Ghiberti singled out in the 15th century for praise. Maso is mentioned in connection with the Bardi family in a document of 1341. It was a member of this family that provided

Baldinucci, Filippo

2004-12-14T02:42:00.000-08:00

Working for Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, Baldinucci advised on the acquisition of the great collection of drawings now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. His Notizie dei professori del disegno da Cimabue

Minas Basin

2004-12-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

Eastern inlet of the Bay of Fundy, protruding into central Nova Scotia, Canada. Up to 25 mi (40 km) in width and more than 50 mi in length (including its eastern extension, Cobequid Bay), the basin has some of the highest tides in the world; fluctuations exceeding 50 ft (15 m) have been recorded. It is connected to the Bay of Fundy by Minas Channel and receives the drainage of the Avon, Cornwallis,

Domitian

2004-12-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

Titus Flavius Domitianus was the second son of the future emperor Vespasian and Flavia Domitilla. During the civil war of AD 69 over the imperial crown, Domitian remained unharmed in Rome, but on December 18 he took refuge in the

Fux, Johann Joseph

2004-12-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

Fux was a prolific composer of vocal and instrumental

Pantheism, Buddhist doctrines

2004-12-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

Some 600 years after Buddha, a new and more speculative school of Buddhism arose to challenge the 18 or 20 schools of Buddhism then in existence. One of the early representatives of this new school, which came to be known as Mahayana (Sanskrit “Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, was Asvaghosa. Like Sankara (whom he antedated by 700 years), Asvaghosa not only distinguished between the pure Absolute

Sea Urchin

2004-12-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Any of about 700 living species of echinoid marine invertebrates (phylum Echinodermata) with a globular body and a radial arrangement of organs, shown by five bands of pores running from mouth to anus over the test (internal skeleton). The pores accommodate tube feet, which are slender, extensible, and often sucker-tipped. From nodules on

Strabane

2004-12-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Irish An Srath Bán town, seat, and district (established 1973), formerly in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The town is located on the River Mourne at its confluence with the Finn to form the River Foyle near the Irish Republic border. It is a market and employment centre for both Strabane district and County Donegal, Irish Republic, to the west. Long a flax-spinning centre, the town of Sion Mills,

Kokkola

2004-11-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1620, Kokkola became the major seaport and trade centre of Ostrobothnia during the 18th century. In 1854 the British tried unsuccessfully to capture the city. Notable buildings include a 15th-century stone church of Kaarlela, the town hall (1845), and the Renlund

China, The development of the Republic (191220)

2004-11-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

The first half of the 20th century saw the gradual disintegration of the old order in China and the turbulent preparation for a new society. Foreign political philosophies undermined the traditional governmental system, nationalism became the strongest activating force, and civil wars and Japanese invasion tore the vast country and retarded its modernization.