FertileEngine

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including Estate Agent Covent Garden and Estate Agent London. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Wynyard

2005-04-04T10:42:00.000-07:00

Town, northern Tasmania, Australia, at the mouth of the River Inglis on Bass Strait. Founded in 1841, it was made a municipality in 1856 and named Table Cape for a high promontory (380 feet [116 m]) to the south. It was gazetted a town in 1861, when its name was changed to honour Major General Edward Wynyard, commander in chief in 1850 of British forces in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Located on a rail line

Yungang Caves

2005-04-04T00:13:00.000-07:00

The caves are among the earliest remaining examples of the first major flowering of Buddhist art in China. About 20 major cave temples and many smaller

China, Religious and intellectual life

2005-04-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

The Mongols did not try to impose their own religion (a cult of Heaven, the forces of nature, and shamanistic practices) on their subjects. This gave comparative freedom to the existing religions in China. These included what the Mongol rulers considered to be the san chiao (“three teachings”): Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Both Taoism and Buddhism retained their

Disarmament

2005-04-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

In international relations, any of four distinct conceptions: (1) the penal destruction or reduction of the armament of a country defeated in war (the provision under the Versailles Treaty [1919] for the disarmament of Germany and its allies is an example of this conception of disarmament); (2) bilateral disarmament agreements applying to specific geographic areas (naval

Gracias

2005-03-30T17:58:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Honduras. It lies in the valley of the Mejocote River, at the foot of Las Minas Hill in the Celaque Mountains. Founded in 1536, it is one of the oldest cities in Honduras. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was a major mining and administrative centre, but it declined in the 18th century. Destroyed in 1915 by an earthquake, it has been rebuilt. Gracias is now the commercial

Latrobe Valley

2005-03-30T08:22:00.000-08:00

The Latrobe River rises in the Eastern Highlands near Mount Baw Baw in the Gippsland district. Flowing in a southeasterly direction, it passes the cities of Moe and Yallourn, where it turns to flow almost directly east, past Traralgon. The Latrobe is joined

New Brunswick

2005-03-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Canadian province located on the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. It is Canada's only officially bilingual province, French and English having equal status. It was one of the four original provinces making up the national confederation in 1867. Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime

Constanta

2005-03-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, bounded by Bulgaria on the south. The Black Sea lies to the east, and the northward-draining Danube River delimits the county's western border. Constanta judet, consisting mostly of lowlands, contains several lakes. Constanta (q.v.) city, Romania's principal seaport, is the county seat. Agricultural activities include livestock raising

Mitchell, Margaret

2005-03-27T04:40:00.000-08:00

Mitchell attended Washington Seminary in her native Atlanta, Georgia, before enrolling at Smith College in 1918. When her mother died the next year, she returned home. Between 1922 and 1926 she was a writer and reporter for the Atlanta Journal. After an ankle injury in

National Archaeological Museum

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

Among the

Painting, Western, The 17th century

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

English painting during the 17th century had been dominated by a series of foreign-born practitioners, mostly portraitists (e.g., Rubens and Van Dyck), even before the Civil War. Sir Peter Lely and Sir Godfrey Kneller continued this trend after the Restoration. The vast majority of the painting executed by native artists remained thoroughly provincial. Lely began his

V-1 Missile

2005-03-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

More than 8,000 V-1s were launched against London from June 13, 1944, to March 29, 1945, with about 2,400 hitting the target area. A smaller number were fired against Belgium. The rockets were launched from the Pas-de-Calais area on the northern coast of France and subsequently from other sites in German-occupied

Jackson Hole National Monument

2005-03-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

Fertile mountain valley and wildlife reserve mostly in Grand Teton National Park (q.v.), northwestern Wyoming, U.S.

Cabarrus, François, Conde De

2005-03-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

Cabarrus originally settled in Madrid as a soap manufacturer but soon became conspicuous within a circle of enlightened reformers who advised the king. His ideas were crucial in the creation of the first Spanish central bank in 1783. He also was involved

Yamamoto Isoroku

2005-03-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

Yamamoto graduated from the naval academy in 1904 and fought as an ensign in the Russo-Japanese War. He was naval attaché at the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C., during 1926–27. He became vice minister of the Japanese navy in 1936, commander

Sänger, Eugen

2005-03-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

German rocket propulsion engineer whose projected “antipodal bomber,” with a range far greater than that made possible by its fuel capacity alone, greatly interested the major Western governments and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. The development of long-range missiles and the difficulties of

Croatian Peasant Party

2005-03-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

Dominant political party in Croatia during the first half of the 20th century. Founded in 1904 by Stjepan Radic (and his brother Ante Radic), it advocated home rule for a Croatia dominated by peasants on homesteads increased by redistribution of land. The party formed the almost constant opposition to the Serbian-dominated government of Yugoslavia after the foundation

Terman, Frederick Emmons

2005-03-19T02:35:00.000-08:00

Terman, the son of the noted psychologist Lewis Madison Terman, earned his undergraduate degrees from Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute

Perche

2005-03-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

Region of northern France on the border of Normandie, mainly in the east of the Orne département, with extensions into neighbouring départements. Formerly a county, it was united to the French crown in 1525. It is largely hilly country, the Perche Hills having summits as high as 1,000 feet (300 m). Perche is a district of pastoral farming and dairying, famous for its breed of draft horses

Arena Chapel

2005-03-17T23:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Scrovegni Chapel (consecrated March 25, 1305) small chapel built in the first years of the 14th century in Padua, Italy, by Enrico Scrovegni and containing frescoes by the Florentine painter Giotto (see photograph). A “Last Judgment” covers the entire west wall. The rest of the chapel is covered with frescoes in three tiers representing scenes from the lives of Saints Joachim and Anna,

Beira

2005-03-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Port city, central Mozambique. Beira is situated on the Mozambique Channel (Indian Ocean) at the mouths of the Púngoè and Búzi rivers. It was founded in 1891 as the headquarters of the Companhia de Moçambique (“Mozambique Company”) on the site of an old Muslim settlement. The city's administration passed from the trading company to the Portuguese government in 1942 and then to independent

Aedile

2005-03-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

Latin Aedilis, plural Aediles (from Latin aedes, “temple”), magistrate of ancient Rome who originally had charge of the temple and cult of Ceres. At first the aediles were two officials of the plebeians, created at the same time as the tribunes (494 BC), whose sanctity they shared. These magistrates were elected in the assembly of the plebeians. In 366 two curule (“higher”) aediles were created. These were at first patricians;

Biblical Literature, The Testament of Job

2005-03-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

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

West Indies

2005-03-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

Region that includes all of the islands which extend through the Caribbean Sea from the tip of the Florida Peninsula to the northern coast of South America. They include 23 political entities, some of them quite small and relatively unknown to the outside world. The West Indies derives its coherence and distinctiveness from a combination of four factors, one geographic,

Saxe, (hermann-) Maurice, Comte De

2005-03-15T01:58:00.000-08:00

The illegitimate son of the elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (later also King Augustus II of Poland), young Maurice was sent by his father to serve under Prince Eugene of Savoy against the French in Flanders

åbenrå

2005-03-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aabenraa city, seat of Sønderjylland amtskommune (county commune), southeastern Jutland, Denmark, at the head of Åbenrå Fjord. First mentioned in the 12th century when attacked by the Wends, it was granted a charter (1335) and grew from a fishing village into a thriving port in the 17th and 18th centuries. Medieval landmarks include the St. Nicholas Church (a 13th-century church; restored 1949–56) and

Fabales

2005-03-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

The Fabales include trees, herbaceous or woody vines, and perennial or annual herbs. The leaves are usually compound—that is, they are divided into leaflets, and in some the leaflets are secondarily compound. The simple leaves of some are presumably reduced from the compound forms. The most striking of these modified leaf forms are the several hundred species of Australian

Caesalpiniaceae

2005-03-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

Family of trees, shrubs, and rarely herbs, of the pea order (Fabales), comprising many tropical species. The largest genus within the family, Cassia, especially abundant in the Western Hemisphere, contains 500 or more species. The compound leaves are once or twice pinnate (i.e., the leaflets themselves may be simple or compound). The fruit is usually a legume or pod.

Extinction

2005-03-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

In biology, the dying out or termination of a race or species. Extinction occurs when a species can no longer reproduce at replacement levels. Most extinctions are thought to have resulted from environmental changes that affected the species in either of two ways. The doomed species might not have been able to adapt to the changed environment and thus perished without

Benedetti, Mario

2005-03-11T08:21:00.000-08:00

Benedetti was born to a prosperous family of Italian immigrants. His father was a viniculturist and a chemist. At age four the boy was taken to Montevideo, where he received a superior education at a private school. He was deeply affected by his early experience of the capital

Osun

2005-03-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

State, western Nigeria. Osun state was created in 1991 from the eastern third of Oyo state. It is bounded by the states of Kwara on the northeast, Ondo on the east, Ogun on the south, and Oyo on the west and northwest. The Yoruba Hills run through the northern part of Osun state. The state has a covering of tropical rain forest, and the Oshun is the most important river. Osun state is

Osaka

2005-03-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

Fu (urban prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It is bordered by Kyoto urban prefecture (north) and by the ken (prefectures) of Hyogo (northwest), Nara (east), and Wakayama (south) and by Osaka Bay (southeast). It includes the industrial city of Osaka and numerous industrial and residential suburbs. The main industries in the urban prefecture manufacture iron and steel products, textiles, chemicals,

West End

2005-03-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

In London, loosely defined area in the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Because many of its neighbourhoods and retail districts are among the more affluent of the metropolis, the West End is considered the fashionable end of London. For centuries it has been known for its royal palaces, parklands, government offices, mansions, and exclusive shopping

Anion

2005-03-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Atom or group of atoms carrying a negative electric charge. See ion.

Lowe, Doug

2005-03-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

Lowe was a champion runner at Highgate School and also at the University of Cambridge, where he studied law. He came in fourth in the 1,500-metre race at the 1924 Olympics. After his final Olympics performance, he went to Berlin

Adelaide

2005-03-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

Capital of the state of South Australia. Situated at the base of the Mount Lofty Ranges, 9 miles (14 km) inland from the centre of the eastern shore of the Gulf St. Vincent, it has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers (February mean temperature 74° F [23° C]), mild winters (July mean 54° F [12° C]), and an average annual rainfall of 21 inches (530 mm). The site, chosen in 1836 by William Light (the colony's first surveyor

Teshio-sammyaku

2005-03-04T10:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Teshio-sanchi (Japanese: Teshio Range, or Teshio Mountain Country) range, northwestern Hokkaido, Japan, extending southward for nearly 125 mi (200 km) from Soya-misaki (Cape Soya), across the transverse gorge of the Ishikari-gawa (Ishikari River), to the Yubari-sammyaku. The mountains consist of Cretaceous formations in the east and coal-bearing Tertiary formations in the west, both of which are zonally arranged from north to south. The interior

Crab Plover

2005-03-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

(species Dromas ardeola), long-legged, black and white bird of Indian Ocean coasts, related to plovers and allied species of shorebirds. It comprises the family Dromadidae (order Charadriiformes). Crab plovers are tame, noisy birds about 40 cm (16 inches) long. They flock on beaches and reefs, where they hunt mollusks and crabs, which they then break up by pounding them with their

Densitometer

2005-03-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

Device that measures the density, or the degree of darkening, of a photographic film or plate by recording photometrically its transparency (fraction of incident light transmitted). In visual methods, two beams of equal intensity are used. One is directed through the plate, while the intensity of the other is adjusted by an optical wedge, by an iris diaphragm, or by moving

Tiele, Cornelis Petrus

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

Educated at Amsterdam High School and at the seminary of the Remonstrant Brotherhood, Tiele served as pastor at Moordrecht and Rotterdam, then as professor at the Remonstrant Seminary. In 1877 he was appointed

Earth Sciences, Water resources and seawater chemistry

2005-03-03T02:12:00.000-08:00

Quantitative studies of the distribution of water have revealed that an astonishingly small part of the Earth's water is contained in lakes and rivers. Ninety-seven percent of all the water is in the oceans; and, of the fresh water constituting the remainder, three-fourths is locked up in glacial ice and most of the rest is in the ground. Approximate figures are also

Earth, Early conceptions

2005-03-02T22:35:00.000-08:00

The definition of the figure of the Earth—i.e., its size and shape—usually does not involve the description of mountains and valleys but, rather, the size and shape of the mean sea-level surface and its continuation under the land. This hypothetical surface, called a geoid, is a reference surface from which topographic heights and ocean depths are measured. Because of

Silica Gel

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

Silica gel was known as early as 1640, but it remained a curiosity until its adsorbent properties were found useful in gas masks during World War I. It is generally prepared by acidification

Saudi Arabia, The armed forces

2005-03-01T02:20:00.000-08:00

Military service is voluntary. The army accounts for about three-fifths of the total military force. It experienced rapid modernization especially after the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. Army officers are trained at King 'Abd al-'Aziz Military Academy just north of Riyadh. The air force was equipped largely by the British until the 1970s, when the kingdom began to buy aircraft from

Tyus, Wyomia

2005-02-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

Tyus attracted national attention as a high-school runner and as an athlete at Tennessee State University (B.A, 1967). She made her Olympic debut at the 1964 Games in Tokyo, capturing the gold medal in the 100-metre race and

Gattamelata

2005-02-28T16:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Equestrian monument of Erasmo da Narni bronze statue of the Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narni, (popularly known as Gattamelata, meaning “honeyed cat”) by the 15th-century Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It was completed between 1447 and 1450 but was not installed on its pedestal in the Piazza del Santo in front of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua, Italy, until 1453. The statue established a prototype

Amblyopia

2005-02-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

Dimness of vision that may be gradual or sudden in onset and may affect both eyes or one. It may be transient or permanent and can develop into blindness. The disorder may be caused by hysteria or by poisoning with ethyl or methyl (wood) alcohol, lead, arsenic, thallium, quinine, ergot, male fern, carbon disulfide, stramonium, or Cannabis sativa (Indian hemp, the plant from which

Arnsberg

2005-02-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), east-central North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. Arnsberg is bordered by Hesse Land to the east, Rhineland-Palatinate Land to the southwest, and the Regierungsbezirke of Köln and Düsseldorf to the west and Münster and Detmold to the north. The largest of five districts in North Rhine–Westphalia, it occupies

Oradour-sur-glane

2005-02-26T04:27:00.000-08:00

Oradour-sur-Glane was the site of a particularly brutal atrocity during World War II. The village and its inhabitants were destroyed by German troops on June 10, 1944, exactly two years after a similar fate had befallen the Czechoslovakian village of Lidice

Sculpture, Western, Late Gothic

2005-02-26T01:55:00.000-08:00

In the years around 1400, when International Gothic flourished, Italian and northern artists had achieved some sort of rapprochement. Under the renewed influence of antique art, Italy drew away again, and it was not until the 16th century that the north showed any real disposition to follow suit in the imitation of Classical models. While painting and architecture of the

Arreola, Juan José

2005-02-25T09:33:00.000-08:00

Mexican short-fiction writer and humorist who was a master of brief subgenres, such as the short story, the epigram, and the sketch. He published only one novel, La feria (1963; The Fair). His collection of stories Confabulario (1952) has been reprinted in several expanded editions and was translated into English as Confabulario

Spain, The Almohads

2005-02-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

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

Armenia

2005-02-24T03:45:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Quindío departamento, west-central Colombia. It lies on the western slopes of the Cordillera Central at an elevation of 4,865 feet (1,483 m), between the Espejo and Quindío rivers. The city lies along a spur of the railway from Puerto Berrío to Popayán and is the transfer point for road traffic to Bogotá via Ibagué (30 miles [50 km] southeast). Armenia (named for the ancient

Lighter

2005-02-24T03:20:00.000-08:00

Shallow-draft boat or barge, usually flat-bottomed, used in unloading (lightening) or loading ships offshore. Use of lighters requires extra handling and thus extra time and expense and is largely confined to ports without enough traffic to justify construction of piers or wharves. Lighters are also used in transporting freight for short distances, as around harbours.

Hoorne, Filips Van Montmorency, Graaf Van

2005-02-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

A gentleman-in-waiting at the court of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V,

Cell Division

2005-02-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

The process by which cells reproduce. See meiosis; mitosis.

China, The Chou and Ch'in dynasties

2005-02-23T00:07:00.000-08:00

This transitional period is examined in Chi Li, The Formation of the Chinese People (1928, reprinted 1967), useful for information on the ethnic history of ancient China; Herlee Glessner Creel, The Birth of China (1937, reprinted 1954), still regarded as one of the standard references, and The Origins of Statecraft in China, vol. 1 (1970), the first Western book to include extensive materials from bronze inscriptions—especially significant on the activities of non-Chou peoples; Cho-yun Hsu, Ancient China in Transition (1965), a standard work on social structure and social mobility in the Chou period; Derk Bodde, China's First Unifier (1938, reprinted 1967), and Statesman, Patriot, and General in Ancient China (1940, reprinted 1967), works covering the effort of the first emperors and their courts to accomplish unification; Arthur Cotterell, The First Emperor of China (1981), a popular history that includes a description and historical analysis of 7,000 terra-cotta life-size figures buried in 210 BC; Yu-ning Li, The First Emperor of China (1975), Yu-lan Fung, A History of Chinese Philosophy, 2nd ed., 2 vol., trans. from the Chinese (1952–53, reprinted 1983), coverage of the thought of different schools in ancient China; and Xueqin Li, Eastern Zhou and Qin Civilizations (1986), an account of archaeological findings of the period from the 8th to the 3rd century BC.

Kirikkale

2005-02-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

Town, central Turkey, on the Ankara-Kayseri railway near the Kizil River. Formerly a village, it owes its rapid rise in population mainly to the establishment of steel mills in the 1950s. These works, among the largest in the country, specialize in high-quality alloy steel and machinery. In the 1960s chemical plants were added. Electricity is provided by a generating plant that is

Fabliau

2005-02-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

About 150 fabliaux are extant. Many of them are based on elementary jokes or puns—such as one called Estula,

Ketch, Jack

2005-02-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Ketch is believed to have received his appointment as public hangman in 1663. The first recorded mention of him appears in an anti-Roman Catholic broadside published in 1678 entitled The

Andragoras

2005-02-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

Seleucid satrap (governor) of Parthia during the mid-3rd century. He apparently defied Seleucid imperial authority, which was weakly established in his area, and issued coins on which his image bore the royal diadem. After ruling only a few years, he was defeated and killed by Parni tribesmen from the Caspian steppes led by Arsaces, who later set up an independent kingdom

Frye, Northrop

2005-02-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

Frye was educated at the University of Toronto, Emmanuel College in Toronto, and Merton College, Oxford. He taught at Victoria College from 1939, became chairman of the English department there in 1952, and served as principal (1959–67) and chancellor (1978–91) of the college.

Chi-hsi

2005-02-19T22:48:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Jixi, city in southeastern Heilungkiang Province (sheng), China. Located on the upper Mu-leng Ho (river), it is in a mountainous area rich in timber and in various minerals, including coal, iron, oil shale, graphite, fluorite, and limestone. Chi-hsi is, however, predominantly a coal-mining city, with some of the largest and best equipped coal mines in China. The coal is of high quality

Skiing

2005-02-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

Unlike the Alpine competitors, the Nordic skiers did not have a world championship tournament in 1996 and thus were able to focus fully on the 17th Nordic World Cup. In that competition Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway and Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakstan continued their supremacy. Dæhlie retained the overall title, his fourth in five years, with runner-up Smirnov denied a chance to

Nordström, Ludvig Anselm

2005-02-18T20:55:00.000-08:00

Born of a Swedish father and an English mother, Nordström was much influenced by English writers, especially Charles Dickens, Thomas Carlyle, Laurence Sterne, H.G. Wells, and G.K. Chesterton. He most delighted his readers with

Atlantic Languages

2005-02-18T13:54:00.000-08:00

Formerly West Atlantic languages branch of the Niger-Congo language family spoken primarily in Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The approximately 45 Atlantic languages are spoken by about 30 million people. One language cluster, Fula (also called Fulani, Peul, Fulfulde, and Toucouleur), accounts for more than half of this number and is the most widely scattered language

Porbeagle

2005-02-17T23:31:00.000-08:00

Species of mackerel shark (q.v.).

Port

2005-02-16T19:00:00.000-08:00

Also called Porto, specifically, a sweet, fortified, usually red wine of considerable renown from the Douro region of northern Portugal, named for the town of Oporto where it is aged and bottled; also, any of several similar fortified wines produced elsewhere. The region of true port production is strictly delimited by Portuguese law. The soil and grapes, and the skill of Oporto vintners

Monazite

2005-02-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

Phosphate mineral, cerium and lanthanum phosphate [(Ce, La)PO4], that is the major commercial source of cerium. Occurring as small, brown, resinous, rather heavy crystals in granitic and gneissic rocks and their detritus (called monazite sands), monazite frequently contains 10–12 percent thorium dioxide (ThO2) and thus represents a major commercial source of thorium as well.

Constantia

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

City of ancient Cyprus better known as Salamis (q.v.).

Oberösterreich

2005-02-15T21:36:00.000-08:00

Part of the Austrian granite plateau,

Papal States

2005-02-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

As early as the 4th century, the popes had acquired considerable property around Rome (called

Fragonard, Jean-honoré

2005-02-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

Fragonard was the son of a haberdasher's assistant. The family moved to Paris about 1738, and in 1747 the boy was apprenticed to a lawyer, who, noticing his appetite for drawing, suggested that he be taught painting. François Boucher was prevailed

France, History Of, Charles VI

2005-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Charles VI (ruled 1380–1422) was a minor when he succeeded his father. His uncles, each possessed of the ambition and resources to pursue independent policies, assumed control of the government. Duke Louis of Anjou soon removed himself from influence by seeking the throne of Naples; Jean, Duke de Berry, received the lieutenancy of Languedoc, by then virtually an appanage; and it

Henderson, Arthur

2005-02-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

An iron molder at Robert Stephenson's locomotive works and foundry in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Henderson became secretary of the Newcastle local of the

Biblical Literature, The role of certain lesser judges

2005-02-13T06:12:00.000-08:00

The third section relates the exploits of the various judges. Othniel, a member of the tribe of Caleb, delivered the erring Israelites from eight years of oppression by Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia. The king, however, was most likely an area ruler, rather than a king of the Mesopotamian Empire. Another judge, Ehud, a left-handed Benjamite, delivered Israel from

Aurangzeb

2005-02-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

Aurangzeb's reign falls into two almost equal parts. In the first, which lasted until about 1680, he was a capable Muslim monarch of a mixed Hindu-Muslim empire and as such was generally disliked for his ruthlessness but feared and respected for his vigour and skill. During this period he was much occupied with safeguarding the northwest from Persians and Central Asian

Janub Sina'

2005-02-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

The topography of the

Waterbury

2005-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

City, coextensive with the town (township) of Waterbury, New Haven county, west-central Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River. Mattatuck Plantation, settled in 1674 as part of Farmington, was incorporated (1686) as the town of Waterbury, so named because of the abundant drainage of the locality. The city, incorporated in 1853, was consolidated with the town in 1902. In the 19th century industrialization

Selim, Mosque Of

2005-02-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

Turkish Selimiye Cami, in Edirne, Tur., mosque, considered to be the masterwork of the great Ottoman architect Sinan, completed in 1575. The sanctuary is a large square space, covered by a dome supported by columns placed close to the walls, an innovation at the time. Four tall, slender minarets contrast with the mass of domes and half-domes.

Philepittidae

2005-02-11T03:16:00.000-08:00

Members range in size from 9 to 16.5 centimetres (3.5 to 6.5 inches) long. The two species of asities (Philepitta) are plump, stout-legged pitta-like birds that browse foliage for berries and other fruit. The false sunbirds (Neodrepanis

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasilyevich

2005-02-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Russian poet, scientist, and grammarian who is often considered the first great Russian linguistic reformer. He also made substantial contributions to the natural sciences, reorganized the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences, established in Moscow the university that today bears

Western Australia, Relief and drainage

2005-02-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

The Kimberley region in the far north is a dissected plateau. The coastline is rugged and dangerous, with a tidal range of up to 39 feet and associated strong currents. Most of the region is sparsely wooded, and the moisture-storing boab (which has close affinities to the Indian and African baobabs) is particularly distinctive. Spinifex is ubiquitous, as it is throughout

Abraha

2005-02-09T05:35:00.000-08:00

Abraha was viceroy of the principality of Saba' in Yemen for the (Christian) emperors of Ethiopia. A zealous Christian himself, he is said to have built a great church at San'a' and to have repaired the principal irrigation dam at the Sabaean capital of Ma'rib. Abraha is chiefly famous, however, for the military

Oral Cancer

2005-02-08T18:18:00.000-08:00

Disease characterized by the growth of cancerous cells in the mouth, including the lips. Oral cancer is often associated with cancers of the cavity located behind the tonsils and the back of the throat (oropharyngeal cancer). Most cases originate from the flattened cells that make up the lining of the oral cavity (squamous cell carcinomas). Oral cancers can spread

Kerkrade

2005-02-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

The former abbey of Rolduc (1104) has a notable Romanesque church; its courtyard buildings now serve as a boys' school. A natural

Euphronius

2005-02-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Among the vases signed by Euphronius

Lord's Prayer

2005-02-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

Latin Oratio Dominica, also called Pater Noster (Latin: “Our Father”), prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples, and the principal prayer used by all Christians in common worship. It appears in two forms in the New Testament, the shorter version in Luke 11:2–4 and the longer version, part of the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:9–13. In both contexts it is offered as a model of how to pray. Many scholars believe the version in Luke to be closer

Ray, Satyajit

2005-02-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

Bengali motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with Pather Panchali (1955; The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, known as the Apu Trilogy. As a director Ray was noted for his humanism, his versatility, and his detailed control over his films and their music. He was one of the greatest

Eylau, Battle Of

2005-02-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 7–8, 1807), one of the engagements in the Napoleonic War of the Third Coalition. The first major deadlock suffered by Napoleon, the battle was fought around the East Prussian town of Eylau (modern Bagrationovsk, Russia), 23 miles (37 km) south of Königsberg (Kaliningrad). The 76,000 Russians and Prussians under Leonty Leontyevich Bennigsen confronted 74,000 men under Napoleon shortly after

Frederick I

2005-02-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

He was the second son of Frederick V, burgrave of Nürnberg. After his father's death, in 1398, he obtained Ansbach and, in 1420, on the death of his elder brother John, the principality of Bayreuth. In 1410 Sigismund, younger son of

Shensi

2005-02-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shen-hsi, (Pinyin) Shaanxi, sheng (province) of China. It is bordered by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the north, by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and Shansi Province in the east, by Szechwan Province in the south, by Hupeh and Honan provinces in the southeast, and by the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningsia and Kansu Province on the west. Its total area is 79,400 square miles (205,600 square kilometres). The capital

Performing Arts

2005-02-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

Mckay, Claude

2005-02-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

After attending Tuskegee Institute (1912) and Kansas State Teachers College (1912–14), McKay went to New

Euric

2005-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

Euric ascended the throne after assassinating his brother, King Theodoric II,

Ali, Muhammad

2005-02-01T02:12:00.000-08:00

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., grew up in the American South in a time of segregated public facilities. His father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., supported a

Turner, Frederick Jackson

2005-02-01T00:40:00.000-08:00

American historian best known for the “frontier thesis.” The single most influential interpretation of the American past, it proposed that the distinctiveness of the United States was attributable to its long history of “westering.” Despite the fame of this monocausal interpretation, as the teacher and mentor of dozens of

Fadden, Sir Arthur William

2005-01-31T18:53:00.000-08:00

Fadden was active in local and state government as a young man, and he was a member of Parliament (1936–58) and leader of the Country Party (1941–58). As a member of the cabinet he held the position of minister for air and civil aviation (1940) and of treasurer (1940–41, 1949–58); he also served

Luxembourg, François-henri De Montmorency-bouteville, Duc De

2005-01-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

The posthumous son of François de Montmorency-Bouteville, he was reared by a distant relative, Charlotte de Montmorency, princesse de Condé. Although Bouteville was hunchbacked and physically weak, the princesse's son Louis II de Bourbon,