SharpCoat

Barbacena

2005-04-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

City, southeastern Minas Gerais estado (“state”), Brazil. It is situated in the Serra da Mantiquera, at 3,727 feet (1,136 m) above sea level. The settlement was made the seat of a municipality in 1791 and elevated to city rank in 1840. It is now the trade and manufacturing centre for an agricultural region that raises corn (maize), feijão (beans), rice, coffee, and various fruits and vegetables. The largest

Leaf-nosed Bat

2005-04-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Any of the bats belonging to the families Phyllostomatidae and Hipposideridae (qq.v.).

Dietrich, Marlene

2005-04-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

Marie Magdalene was the daughter of Ludwig Dietrich, a Royal Prussian police officer. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother remarried a cavalry officer, Edouard von Losch.

Ford, Richard

2005-04-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ford attended Michigan State University (B.A., 1966), Washington University Law School, and the University of California, Irvine (M.A., 1970), and subsequently taught at several American colleges and universities. His first novel, A Piece of My Heart (1976), is set on an island in the southern Mississippi

West Berlin

2005-04-02T23:41:00.000-08:00

The western half of the German city of Berlin (q.v.), which until the reunification of the German state in 1990 was treated as a city and Land (state) of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), though it was not constitutionally part of that nation.

Pet

2005-04-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

While a pet is generally kept for the pleasure that it can give to its owner, often, especially with horses, dogs, and cats, as well as with some other animals, this pleasure appears to be mutual. Thus, pet keeping can be described as a symbiotic relationship, one that benefits both animals and human

Sea Robin

2005-04-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

Also called gurnard any of the slim, bottom-dwelling fish of the family Triglidae, found in warm and temperate seas of the world. Sea robins are elongated fish with armoured, bony heads and two dorsal fins. Their pectoral fins are fan-shaped, with the bottom few rays each forming separate feelers. These feelers are used by the fishes in “walking” on the bottom and in sensing mollusks, crustaceans,

Architecture, African, Nomads and pastoralists

2005-04-01T02:00:00.000-08:00

A hunting and gathering economy obliges the San of the Kalahari to move camp frequently. Some San scherms (shelters) may be little more than depressions in the ground, but groups such as the !Kung build light-framed shelters of sticks and saplings covered with grass. Other hunter-gatherers, such as the Hadza of Tanzania, live amid relative plenty; their dry savanna territory

Shirk

2005-03-30T03:54:00.000-08:00

The Qur'an (Islamic scripture) stresses in many verses that God does not share his powers with any partner (sharik). It warns those who believe their idols will intercede for them that they, together with the idols, will become fuel for hellfire on the Day of Judgment

Reuben

2005-03-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

After the Exodus out of Egypt, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land and divided the territory among the 12 tribes. The tribe of Reuben apparently settled east of

Encyclopaedia

2005-03-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

For more than 2,000 years encyclopaedias have existed as summaries of extant scholarship in forms comprehensible to their readers. The word at first meant a circle or a complete system of learning—that is, an all-around education.

Ahmad Ibn Hanbal

2005-03-28T20:04:00.000-08:00

Of pure Arab stock, Ibn Hanbal belonged to the tribe of Shayban through both parents. He was still an infant when his father died at 30. When Ibn Hanbal was 15 he began to study the Traditions (Hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad. Seeking to learn from the great masters of his day, he travelled to the cities of Kufah and Basra in Iraq; Mecca, Hejaz, and Medina in Arabia; and to the lands of Yemen and

Social Protection, "Truth Commissions."

2005-03-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

Increasing use was made of "truth commissions" as a method for identifying and documenting human rights violations and helping to bring perpetrators of abuses to justice. Although these fact-finding bodies had no authority to prosecute crimes, they were designed to obtain and publicize information about past atrocities as a first step toward acknowledging

Yunus Emre

2005-03-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

Though legend obscures the facts of his life, he is known to have been a Sufi (Islamic mystic) who sat for 40 years at the feet of his master, Tapduk Emre. Yunus Emre was well versed in mystical philosophy, especially that of the 13th-century poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi. Like Rumi, Yunus Emre

Watercress

2005-03-26T06:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Cress (Nasturtium officinale), perennial plant, of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout North America in cool, flowing streams where it grows submerged, floating on the water, or spread over mud surfaces. Watercress often is cultivated in tanks for its young shoots, which are used in salads. The plant bears four-petalled, white flowers

Nature Worship, Mountains

2005-03-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Especially prominent mountains are favourite places for cults of high places, particularly when they are isolated as island mountains, mountains with snowcaps, or uninhabited high mountain ranges. The psychological roots of the cults of high places lie in the belief that mountains are close to the sky (as heavenly ladders), that clouds surrounding the mountaintops

Kerr, Roy P(atrick)

2005-03-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

Kerr received an M.S. (1954) from New Zealand University (now dissolved) and his Ph.D. (1960) from Cambridge University. He served on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin

North Germanic Languages, Syntax

2005-03-24T16:26:00.000-08:00

The reduction of morphological complexity has been accompanied by the emergence of a more rigid order of sentence elements. Main clauses have the finite verb in second position. This can be preceded by almost any other sentence constituent; most often it is preceded by the subject. In yes-no questions the preverbal position is empty. In other questions it is occupied

Emecheta, Buchi

2005-03-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

Emecheta was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962. The problems she encountered in London during the early 1960s provided background for the books that are called her immigrant novels. Her first two books,

Kirchhoff's Circuit Rules

2005-03-22T03:31:00.000-08:00

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

Harvard-smithsonian Center For Astrophysics

2005-03-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory was established in 1890 in Washington, D.C., by Samuel Pierpont Langley, the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for the specific study of the Sun's radiation. Langley's successor as observatory director in 1906, Charles Greeley Abbot, limited the facility's attention to the study of the amount and character of, and variations

Clare, John

2005-03-20T21:54:00.000-08:00

Clare grew up in extreme poverty and began work as a herder at the age of seven. Though he had little access to books, he had a prodigious memory, and his poetic gift, which revealed itself early, was nourished by his parents' store of

Cell

2005-03-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

In electricity, unit structure used to generate an electrical current by some means other than the motion of a conductor in a magnetic field. A solar cell, for example, consists of a semiconductor junction that converts sunlight directly into electricity. A dry cell is a chemical battery in which no free liquid is present, the electrolyte being soaked up by some absorbent

Arges

2005-03-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), southern Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians) and the sub-Carpathians rise above the settlement areas that are found in intermontane valleys. The county is drained eastward by the Arges, Cotmeana, and Teleorman rivers. It was formerly included in feudal Walachia. Agricultural activities consist of vineyard and orchard cultivation

Nagpur

2005-03-18T00:48:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies along the Nag River and is situated almost at the geographic centre of India. The present city was founded in the early 18th century by Bakht Buland, a Gond raja. It became the capital of the Bhonsles of the Maratha confederacy but in 1817 came under British influence. In 1853 the city lapsed into British control and in 1861 became

Malacostracan

2005-03-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Malacostracans are the most numerous and most successful of the four major classes of Crustacea. Their members constitute more than two-thirds of all living crustacean species. They exhibit the greatest range

Tsuzure

2005-03-16T20:35:00.000-08:00

Japanese tapestry, the full name of which is tsuzure-nishiki (“polychrome tapestry”). They were usually woven of silk on cotton warp covered with silk, gold, or silver threads. Tsuzure techniques reached Japan from China in the late 15th or early 16th century during the Muromachi (Ashikaga) period (1338–1573). Production was at its height in the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), particularly early in the

Pacific Islands Forum

2005-03-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1971–2000) South Pacific Forum organization established in 1971 to provide a setting for heads of government to discuss common issues and problems facing the independent and self-governing states of the South Pacific. Headquartered in Suva, Fiji, the Forum includes Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon

Wied-neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz (prince) Zu

2005-03-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

Maximilian was the prince of the small state of Neuwied and served in the Prussian army. He undertook explorations in Brazil in

Iroko Wood

2005-03-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

Wood of the iroko tree (Chlorophora excelsa), native to the west coast of Africa. It is sometimes called African, or Nigerian, teak, but the iroko is unrelated to the teak family. The wood is tough, dense, and very durable. It is often used in cabinetmaking and paneling as a substitute for teak, which it resembles both in colour (light brown to deep golden-brown) and in grain.

Light

2005-03-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

Electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 10-14 centimetre to long radio waves measured in millions of kilometres. In that spectrum the wavelengths visible to humans occupy a very narrow band, from about 7 10-5 centimetre (red light)

Kerr, Jean

2005-03-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

Jean Collins graduated from Marywood College in Scranton in 1943, and in August of that year she married Walter F. Kerr, who was then a professor of drama at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and who later became

Auersperg, Adolf (karl Daniel), Prince (fürst) Von, Duke (herzog) Von Gottschee

2005-03-13T02:44:00.000-08:00

After 14 years' active duty as an imperial cavalry officer, Auersperg was elected to the Bohemian Landtag (provincial assembly) as a member of the Constitutional Great Lords Party (1860). In 1867 he was appointed

Devrient, Emil

2005-03-13T01:24:00.000-08:00

Nephew of the great Romantic actor Ludwig Devrient, he made his debut in Brunswick in 1821. By way of Bremen, Leipzig, and Hamburg, he reached Dresden in 1831, where he remained associated with the court theatre there until his retirement in 1868. Devrient's greatest successes

Gauda

2005-03-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

The name Gauda, in Sanskrit literature, is commonly applied to a country in what is now eastern India. In this sense it occurs fairly

Aerophone

2005-03-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of musical instruments in which a vibrating mass of air produces the initial sound. The basic types include woodwind, brass, and free-reed instruments, as well as instruments that fall into none of these groups, such as the bull-roarer and the siren. Bagpipes and organs are hybrids with different kinds of pipes. The word aerophone replaces the term wind

Elizabeth Islands

2005-03-12T04:23:00.000-08:00

Chain of small islands in southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. They extend southwestward for 16 miles (26 km) from the southwestern tip of Cape Cod, between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. Administratively a part of Dukes county, the islands constitute Gosnold town (a township area settled in 1641 and incorporated in 1864). The larger islands are Nonamesset, Naushon, Pasque, Nashawena,

Half-way Covenant

2005-03-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

Religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights. Early Congregationalists had become members of the church after they could report an experience of conversion.

Benivieni, Girolamo

2005-03-10T02:20:00.000-08:00

As a member of the Florentine Medici circle, Benivieni was well acquainted with the Renaissance

Ambo

2005-03-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

The Ambo economy rests almost equally on agriculture and animal husbandry,

Aurès

2005-03-09T16:11:00.000-08:00

Latin Aurasius Mons, mountains, part of the Saharan Atlas in northeastern Algeria, northern Africa, fronted by rugged cliffs in the north and opening out in the south into the two parallel fertile valleys of the wadies Abiod and 'Abdi, facing the Sahara. The highest peaks, which are snowcapped during winter, include Mount Chélia (7,638 feet [2,328 m]), the highest point in northern Algeria, and Mount Mahmel

Medicine, Japan

2005-03-09T03:39:00.000-08:00

Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare directs public health programs at the national level, maintaining close coordination among the fields of preventive medicine, medical care, and welfare and health insurance. The departments of health of the prefectures and of the largest municipalities operate health centres. The integrated community health programs

Essay

2005-03-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

Some early treatises—such as those of Cicero on the pleasantness of old age or on the art of “divination,” Seneca on anger or clemency, and

Xenophanes

2005-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

Xenophanes was probably exiled from Greece by the Persians who conquered Colophon about 546. After living in Sicily

Hindenburg, Paul Von

2005-03-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Hindenburg was the son of a Prussian officer of old Junker (aristocratic)

Pacific Ocean, Trade and transportation

2005-03-06T16:11:00.000-08:00

Since the end of World War II there has been remarkable growth in trade between countries on the western Pacific rim—most notably Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—and North America, particularly the United States. Trade has also expanded between North America and such Southeast Asian countries as Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and, to a lesser degree, Indonesia and the

Yun, Isang

2005-03-06T02:56:00.000-08:00

Yun began composing at the age of 14 and studied music in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo. He returned to Korea, where he was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese during World War

De La Mare, Walter

2005-03-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

De la Mare was educated at St. Paul's Cathedral Choir School in London, and from 1890 to 1908 he worked in the London office of the Anglo-American Oil Company. From 1902, however, when his poetry collection Songs of Childhood appeared

Jovellanos, Gaspar Melchor De

2005-03-05T01:32:00.000-08:00

After studying law, Jovellanos was appointed to judicial posts at Sevilla (1767) and Madrid (1778). He gained fame for his literary and scholarly activities and for his personal integrity, but from 1790 to 1797, after unsuccessfully intervening

Claes, Ernest

2005-03-04T11:18:00.000-08:00

Claes treated several subjects. Animals and children were the subject of such works as Floere het fluwijn (1950; “Floere the Polecat”)

Race

2005-03-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

Anthropometric measurements did not provide any data to prove group superiority or inferiority. As various fields of study emerged in the late 19th century, some scholars began to focus on mental traits as a means to examine and describe human differences. Psychology as a growing field began developing its own programmatic interests in discovering race

Hindenburg Line

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

Defensive barrier improvised by the German Army on the Western Front in World War I. Faced with substantial numerical inferiority and a dwindling firepower advantage, the new German commanders, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and Gen. Erich Ludendorff, shortened their lines of defense and installed concrete pillboxes armed with machine guns to strengthen

Acatalasia

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

Rare hereditary metabolic disorder caused by lack of the organic catalyst or enzyme called catalase. Although a deficiency of catalase activity is noted in many tissues of the body, including the red blood cells, bone marrow, liver, and skin, only about half of the affected persons have symptoms, which consist of recurrent infections of the gums and associated oral

Randstad

2005-03-03T04:19:00.000-08:00

Industrial and metropolitan conurbation occupying an area of peat and clay lowlands, west-central Netherlands. The Randstad (“Ring City”) consists of major Dutch industrial cities extending in a crescent (open to the southeast) from Utrecht in the east to Dordrecht in the south and including Hilversum, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague, and Rotterdam. It encompasses

World War Ii, The Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the North Sea, 194245

2005-03-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

The year 1942 was, on the whole, a favourable one for the German U-boats. First, the U.S. entry into the war entitled them to infest the U.S. coast of the North Atlantic; and it was not until the middle of the year that the Allies' introduction of the convoy system from the Caribbean northward constrained the raiders to go so far afield as the waters between Brazil and West Africa. Second,

Elijah

2005-03-01T21:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Elias, or Elia, Hebrew Eliyyahu Hebrew prophet who ranks with Moses in saving the religion of Yahweh from being corrupted by the nature worship of Baal. Elijah's name means “Yahweh is my God” and is spelled Elias in some versions of the Bible. The story of his prophetic career in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Ahaziah is told in 1 Kings 17–19 and 2 Kings 1–2 in the Old Testament.

Bone

2005-03-01T02:46:00.000-08:00

The functions of bone include (1) structural support for the mechanical action of soft tissues, such as contraction of

Heemstede

2005-02-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. It lies along the Ring Canal, which borders the reclaimed Haarlem Lake polder, drained between 1840 and 1852. Heemstede is chiefly a residential suburb for Amsterdam and Haarlem. Many dunes in the vicinity have been leveled, and the land is used for bulb cultivation. Among the town's 17th- and 18th-century country houses

Green Mountain Boys

2005-02-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Patriot militia in the American Revolution. The Green Mountain Boys began in 1770 at present-day Bennington, Vermont, as an unauthorized militia organized to defend the property rights of local residents who had received land grants from New Hampshire. New York, which then claimed present-day Vermont, disputed New Hampshire's right to grant land west of the Green Mountains.

Half-life

2005-02-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

The radioactive isotope

Ards

2005-02-27T14:10:00.000-08:00

Irish An Aird district, Northern Ireland. Formerly within County Down, in 1973 Ards was established as a district with an area of 139 sq mi (361 sq km). It extends northward from just south of the village of Killinchy along the western shoreline of Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea) to the town of Newtownards and encompasses the peninsula of land east of Strangford Lough. Bordered by North Down

Mau Escarpment

2005-02-27T04:13:00.000-08:00

Steep natural rampart along the western rim of the Great Rift Valley in western Kenya, west and south of the town of Nakuru; it rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) on the Equator. Its crest is covered with a vast forest. To the south the woods are more open, and the plateau falls to an open country drained toward the Dogilani plains.

Belgium

2005-02-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

The Belgian Parliament approved a further decentralization of power to the country's three regions during 2001. After six months of intense negotiations between the major political parties, it was agreed in July that responsibility for agricultural policy, foreign trade, development cooperation, and control over communal and provincial councils would pass from

Sufetula

2005-02-25T22:57:00.000-08:00

At Sufetula, as elsewhere in the interior of Tunisia, Roman skill in the conservation

Theism

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

Theism's view of God can be clarified by contrasting it with that of deism, of pantheism, and of mysticism. Deism closely resembles theism; but for the deist, God is not involved in the world in the same personal way. He has made

X-trisomy

2005-02-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

Sex chromosome disorder of human females, in which three X chromosomes are present, rather than the normal pair. More common than Turner's syndrome, where only one X chromosome is present, X-trisomy usually remains undetected because affected individuals appear normal, experience puberty, and are usually fertile. Statistical studies suggest a slightly increased

Argolís

2005-02-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Nomós (department), northeastern Peloponnese, southern Greece. It is a narrow, mountainous peninsula projecting eastward into the Aegean Sea between the Saronic Gulf, (to the northeast) and the Gulf of Argolis (to the southwest). Bordered on the north by Kórinthos (Corinth) and on the west by the mountains of Arcadia, it has been inhabited since Neolithic times. A limestone

Stage Design

2005-02-24T09:04:00.000-08:00

The aesthetic composition of a dramatic production as created by such aspects of stagecraft as lighting, set, costume, sound, and stage architecture and machinery.

Iqbal, Sir Muhammad

2005-02-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

Indian poet and philosopher, known for his influential efforts to direct his fellow Muslims toward the establishment of a separate Muslim state, an aspiration that was eventually realized in the country of Pakistan. He was knighted in 1922.

Mirambo

2005-02-22T18:24:00.000-08:00

Nyamwezi warlord of central Africa whose ability to unite the many hitherto separate Nyamwezi clans into a powerful kingdom by the 1870s gave him strategic control of Arab trade routes and threatened the preeminence of the Arabs' colony in Unyanyembe (near present Tabora, Tanzania). His capital, Urambo (now in Tanzania), became a major rival trading

Indiana, Flag Of

2005-02-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

In 1916, the centennial of Indiana statehood, the Daughters of the American Revolution held a flag design competition. The winning design, by Paul Hadley, was approved as the “state banner” on May 31, 1917. The flag is defined by law as having design elements in either gold or buff, although in practice gold (actually golden yellow) is almost always used. The torch, symbolic of enlightenment

Malatesta Family

2005-02-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Italian family that ruled Rimini, south of Ravenna, in the European Middle Ages and led the region's Guelf (papal) party. Originating as feudal lords of the Apennine hinterland, the family became powerful in Rimini in the 13th century, when Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312) expelled Ghibelline (imperial party) leaders in 1295 and became lord of the city. Possibly the best-known episode

Kazoku

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

In Japan, the unified, crown-appointed aristocracy of the period 1869–1947, which replaced the feudal lords. The kazoku (“flower family”) class was created in 1869 as part of the Westernizing reforms of the Meiji Restoration. In this class the old feudal lords (daimyo) and court nobles (kuge) were merged into one group and deprived of territorial privileges. In 1884 the kazoku was reorganized

Mithan

2005-02-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Cattle species also known as gayal (q.v.).

Yeysk

2005-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jejsk , or Eisk city, Krasnodar kray (region), southwestern Russia. It was founded as a port in 1848 on the southern side of Taganrog Gulf of the Sea of Azov. Fishing and associated industries (fish canning) are important; other industries include agricultural processing. The city is a noted health resort, famed for its medicinal sulfur and mud baths. A college of agricultural technology

B-29

2005-02-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Superfortress was designed to meet Army Air Corps specifications written in January 1940 and was then modified to provide heavier armament and bomb load. First

Ubiquinone

2005-02-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Coenzyme Q, any of several members of a series of organic compounds belonging to a class called quinones. Widely distributed in plants, animals, and microorganisms, ubiquinones function in conjunction with enzymes in cellular respiration (i.e., oxidation-reduction processes). The naturally occurring ubiquinones differ from each other only slightly in chemical structure,

Saalfelden

2005-02-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Saalfelden Am Steinernen Meer, town, Bundesland (federal province) Salzburg, west central Austria, at the southwest foot of the Steinernes Meer (Sea of Stones) Mountains, near the Saalach River southwest of Salzburg. An old market town, it is also a winter and summer resort and makes leather goods and beer. There are several castles nearby, including the 14th-century Schloss Lichtenberg. The late Gothic

Talladega Mountain

2005-02-17T04:53:00.000-08:00

Low-lying segment of the Appalachian Mountains, extending northeastward along the border of Clay and Talladega counties and into Cleburne county in east-central Alabama, U.S. Rising to Cheaha Mountain (2,407 feet [734 metres]), the highest point in Alabama, the pine- and hardwood-covered mountain mass is mainly within the eastern division of the Talladega National Forest. In

Grafton, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke Of

2005-02-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

Grandson of the 2nd duke, Charles Fitzroy (1683–1757), and great-grandson of the 1st, he was educated at Westminster School and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was secretary of state in 1765 under the Marquess of Rockingham but retired the following year. William

Serbia And Montenegro, The early Slav states

2005-02-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

The unstable situation of the Balkan Slavs, located as they were on the frontier between the Byzantine Empire and the seminomadic peoples of Asia, enabled them to assert some measure of independence. The basis of the Serbs' social organization was the zadruga, or extended family. Several zadruge were grouped locally under a zupan, or chieftain. With kinship and locality

Ezekiel, The Book Of

2005-02-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

The literary history of the book is much debated, but its final form exhibits a threefold theme: threats against Judah

Clemens, Jacobus

2005-02-15T18:21:00.000-08:00

In 1544 he was probationary choirmaster of Saint-Donatien in Brugge (Bruges) and in 1550 was singer

Motion-picture Technology, Wide-screen and stereoscopic pictures

2005-02-15T15:56:00.000-08:00

Until the early 1950s, the screen shape, or aspect ratio (expressed as the ratio of frame width to frame height), was generally 1.33 to 1, or 4 to 3. In the mid-1950s the ratio became standardized at 1.85 to 1 in the United States and 1.66 or 1.75 to 1 in Europe. These slightly wider images were accomplished by using the same film but smaller aperture plates in the projector and by using shorter-focal-length

Rialto Bridge

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

Crossing over the narrowest point of the Grand Canal in the heart of Venice, built in the closing years of the 16th century, renowned as an architectural and engineering achievement of the Renaissance. It was designed and built following a design competition by Antonio da Ponte and his nephew, Antonio Contino. A single stone-arch span supports a broad, rectangular deck

Ghaybah

2005-02-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

Ghaybah is applied loosely to anyone whom God has withdrawn from the world and kept invisible to the eyes of ordinary men. The life of such a blessed

Domain

2005-02-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

In Anglo-American law, the absolute and complete ownership of land, or the land itself which is so owned. Domain is the fullest and most superior right of property in land. Domain as a legal concept is derived from the dominium of the Roman law, which included the right of property as well as the right of possession or use of the property. The English common-law adoption

Mindanao River

2005-02-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Río Grande De Mindanao, or Cotabato River, main river of the Cotabato lowland, central Mindanao, Philippines. It rises in the central highlands of northeastern Mindanao (island) as the Pulangi and then flows south to where it joins the Kabacan to form the Mindanao. It meanders northwest through the Libungan Marsh and Liguasan Swamp, which is the habitat of crocodiles. At Datu Piang the river turns to enter Illana

Florida

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

The geographic location of Florida has been the key factor in a long and colourful development, and it helps explain the striking contemporary character of the state. The

Ursuline

2005-02-11T07:53:00.000-08:00

Member of Order of Saint Ursula (O.S.U.) a Roman Catholic religious order of women founded at Brescia, Italy, in 1535, by St. Angela Merici, as the first institute for women dedicated exclusively to the education of girls. Angela and her 28 companions placed themselves under the protection of St. Ursula, a legendary 4th-century martyr whose cult was popular in medieval Europe. The original Ursulines remained in their

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

2005-02-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Black Methodist church in the United States, organized in 1821; it adopted its present name in 1848. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who in 1796 left the John Street Methodist Church in New York City because of discrimination. They built their first church (Zion) in 1800 and were served for many years by white ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1821 a

Rio De Janeiro Botanical Garden

2005-02-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro one of the great tropical botanical gardens and arboretums of the world. It was founded in 1808 by John, prince regent of the United Kingdom of Brazil and Portugal (later King John VI), for introducing and acclimatizing economically beneficial plants brought from other tropical regions of the world. The garden, located on a 350-acre (141-hectare) site below high peaks, has a collection

Mesopotamia, History Of, Shalmaneser III and Shamshi-Adad V of Assyria

2005-02-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

The son and successor of Ashurnasirpal was Shalmaneser III (858–824). His father's equal in both brutality and energy, he was less realistic in his undertakings. His inscriptions, in a peculiar blend of Assyrian and Babylonian, record his considerable achievements but are not always able to conceal his failures. His campaigns were directed mostly against Syria. While he was

Tabari, At-

2005-02-09T03:00:00.000-08:00

Franz Rosenthal, A History of Muslim Historiography, 2nd ed. (1968); O. Loth, “Tabari's Korankommentar,” Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, 35:588–628 (1881). A French translation of the abridged Persian version was made by H. Zotenberg, entitled Chronique de Tabari (reprinted 1958). E. Marin translated a portion of the History into English, entitled The Reign of al-Mu'tasim (1951). The Commentary has been edited by M.M. and A.M. Shakir (1954– ) under the title Tafsir al-Tabari. M.J. de Goeje, et al. edited the History, known as the Annals, 15 volumes with index and glossary (1879–1901, reprinted 1964). A new translation of the History is in progress. The first three volumes are The 'Abbasid Revolution, trans. and ed. by John Alden Williams (1985); The Return of the Caliphate to Baghdad, trans. and ed. by Franz Rosenthal (1985); and The Crisis of the 'Abbasid Caliphate, trans. and ed. by George Saliba (1985).

Saxony

2005-02-08T03:42:00.000-08:00

German Sachsen , French Saxe any of several major territories in German history. It has been applied: (1) before AD 1180, to an extensive far-north German region including Holstein but lying mainly west and southwest of the estuary and lower course of the Elbe River; (2) between 1180 and 1423, to two much smaller and widely separated areas, one on the right (east) bank of the lower Elbe southeast of Holstein, the other on the

Probabilism

2005-02-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

In casuistry, a principle of action grounded on the premise that, when one does not know whether an action would be sinful or permissible, he may rely on a “probable opinion” for its permissibility even though a more probable opinion calls it sinful. An opinion is considered probable either if sound, logical arguments can be cited in its favour (intrinsic probability)

Christian Vii

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

The son of Frederick V, Christian VII came to the throne in 1766. His mental instability has been attributed to a brutal childhood governor and to morally corrupt court pages. After his 1766 marriage

Japan, Flag Of

2005-02-07T03:36:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, the sun goddess Amaterasu founded Japan in the 7th century BC and was an ancestor of the first of its emperors, Jimmu. Even today the emperor is known as the “Son of the Sun,” and a popular name for the country is “Land of the Rising Sun.” The first concrete evidence that testifies to use of a sun flag for Japan dates from 1184, but there are oral traditions going

Genealogy

2005-02-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

The study of family origins and history. Genealogists compile lists of ancestors, which they arrange in pedigree charts or other written forms. The word genealogy comes from two Greek words—one meaning “race” or “family” and the other “theory” or “science.” Thus is derived “to trace ancestry,” the science of studying family history. The term pedigree comes from the Latin pes

Andrade, Mário De

2005-02-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

Educated at the conservatory in São Paulo, Andrade helped organize what proved to be a key event in the