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Absalom

2005-04-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

The picture of Absalom that is presented in 2 Samuel 13–19 suggests that he was the Alcibiades of the Old Testament, alike in his personal attractiveness, his lawless insolence, and his tragic fate. He is first mentioned as murdering his half brother Amnon, David's eldest son, in revenge for the rape of his

Sunderland, Henry Spencer, 1st Earl Of, Baron Spencer Of Wormleighton

2005-04-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

Born to great wealth, he was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford (M.A., 1636), and succeeded his father as Baron Spencer in 1636. A firm Royalist, he served as Charles I's negotiator in the early years of the conflict with Parliament—a conflict that evolved into the Civil Wars. On June 8, 1643, he

Heilungkiang, Relief

2005-04-03T01:56:00.000-08:00

The province of Heilungkiang occupies about half of the huge Manchurian Plain, surrounded on three sides by old mountain ranges of medium elevation. Its central part is the Sungari–Nen river plain, delimited by the Greater Khingan (Ta-hsing-an) Range of Inner Mongolia on the west, the Lesser Khingan (Hsiao-hsing-an) Range on the north, and the Chang-kuang-ts'ai and Lao-yeh

Ogata Kenzan

2005-04-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Kenzan received a classical Chinese and Japanese education and pursued Zen Buddhism. At the age of 27 he began studying with the potter Ninsei and in 1699 established his own kiln in Narutaki. Encountering financial

Slavery, Legal relationships between slave owners

2005-04-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

There was more uniformity across systems regarding legal relationships between slave owners. All societies had provisions for the recovery of runaways, and most imposed sanctions on owners who stole others' slaves (a capital offense in some systems) or helped them to flee. There also were relatively uniform laws about passing slaves from one generation to

Palau

2005-04-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Palau , Palauan Belu'u era Belau , Palau also spelled Pelew country in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of some 340 coral and volcanic islands perched on the Kyushu-Palau Ridge. The Palau archipelago lies in the southwest corner of Micronesia, with the Philippines 550 miles (885 km) to the west, New Guinea 400 miles (644 km) to the south, and Guam 830 miles (1,336 km) to the northeast. It reaches from latitude 2°55¢ to 8°12¢ N and from longitude 131°05¢ to 134°44¢ E. A huge barrier reef

Mahe

2005-04-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

Town in Pondicherry union territory, which is an enclave in northern Kerala state, southwestern India. Mahe lies on the left bank of the Naluthara River, northwest of Kozhikode (Calicut). The scene of much fighting between British and French troops in the 18th and 19th centuries, the town was captured by the French in 1726, incorporated several times into the British presidency

Trail Of Tears

2005-04-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

A forced migration undertaken by the Cherokee (q.v.) Indians of the eastern United States in 1838–39.

Ghee

2005-03-30T17:31:00.000-08:00

Ghee is produced as follows. Butter made from cow's milk is melted over a slow fire and then heated slowly until the separated water boils off. The vessel holding the butter is then allowed to cool; semifluid, clear butterfat, which

Hsin-tien

2005-03-29T23:40:00.000-08:00

Town, T'ai-pei hsien (county), northern Taiwan. It lies 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Taipei city, in the northernmost portion of Taiwan's western coastal plain. Situated on the right bank of the Hsin-tien River, the town is the centre of a region producing tea, rice, and citrus fruits. Woodworking, glassmaking, and the manufacture of small machinery are Hsin-tien's major industries,

Rowell, Newton Wesley

2005-03-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Rowell was called to the bar in 1891 and made king's counselor in 1902. As a member of the Ontario legislative assembly in 1911, he became leader of the Liberal opposition. He entered the Dominion House of Commons in 1917 and served in Sir Robert Laird Borden's Unionist

World War I, The Western Front, JanuaryMay 1917

2005-03-28T23:05:00.000-08:00

The western Allies had good reason to be profoundly dissatisfied with the poor results of their enterprises of 1916, and this dissatisfaction was signalized by two major changes made at the end of the year. In Great Britain, the government of H.H. Asquith, already turned into a coalition in May 1915, was replaced in December 1916 by a coalition under David Lloyd George; and that same

Abakanowicz, Magdalena

2005-03-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

A descendant of Polish nobility, Abakanowicz studied at the School of Fine Arts in Sopot, Poland (1949), and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (1955). She began working as an independent artist in 1956 and initially earned success for large, three-dimensional

War Communism

2005-03-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

In the history of the Soviet Union, economic policy applied by the Bolsheviks during the period of the Russian Civil War (1918–20). More exactly, the policy of War Communism lasted from June 1918 to March 1921. The policy's chief features were the expropriation of private business and the nationalization of industry throughout Soviet Russia, and the forced requisition of surplus grain

Dowry

2005-03-26T13:27:00.000-08:00

One of the basic functions of a dowry has been to serve as a form of protection for the wife against ill treatment by her husband. A dowry used in this way was actually a conditional gift to the husband that would be

Stradivari, Antonio

2005-03-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

Stradivari was still a pupil of Nicolò Amati in 1666 when he began to place his own label on violins of his making. These at first followed the smaller of Amati's models, solidly constructed, with a thick yellow varnish. In 1684 Stradivari began to

Nagano Osami

2005-03-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

In 1913, as a language officer in the United States, Nagano studied law at Harvard University. Returning to Japan, he became known as an expert on the United States. As naval attaché in Washington, D.C.,

Royal Antelope

2005-03-24T23:55:00.000-08:00

(Neotragus pygmaeus) tiny antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found alone or in pairs in dense West African forests. It is the smallest of antelopes and stands only 25 cm (10 inches) high at the shoulder. It is reddish brown with white underparts; the male is distinguished by short, spikelike horns. Despite its size, the royal antelope is reputedly able to jump about 2.8 m (9 feet) at a bound. A slightly

Saturnian Verse

2005-03-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Also called Saturnian metre the ancient Latin verse used mainly by Livius Andronicus and Gnaeus Naevius before the adoption of Greek verse forms by later Latin writers. Little is known about its origins or whether its rhythm was accentual or quantitative.

Africa, Languages

2005-03-23T06:06:00.000-08:00

The knowledge of most of the individual languages of Africa is still very incomplete, but there are known to be in excess of 1,500 distinct languages. Many attempts to classify them have been inadequate because of the great complexity of the languages and because of a confusion relating language, “race,” and economy; for example, there was once a spurious view of pastoralism

Spoon River

2005-03-22T18:15:00.000-08:00

River in west-central Illinois, U.S. It rises in southwestern Bureau county and flows south and southwest to a point near Lewistown, where it turns southeast, joining the Illinois River opposite Havana after a course of 160 miles (257 km). The Dickson Mounds, a rich archaeological area, are near the confluence of the two rivers. Spoon River was made famous by Edgar Lee Masters, the

Northern Territory, Transportation

2005-03-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

The transport system is relatively undeveloped by Western standards, reflecting the small population base and the vast distances to be traversed. The backbone of the road system is provided by the Stuart Highway, which runs south from Darwin to the South Australian border and connects most of the territory's urban centres. Upgraded by the military in World War

Baader, Franz Xaver Von

2005-03-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Abandoning a profitable career as a mining engineer in 1820, he turned his attention to a study of politics and religion. His earlier efforts to achieve ecumenical and political unity contributed to the formation in 1815 of the Holy Alliance, a

Mahaweli Ganga

2005-03-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

(Sinhalese: “Great Sandy River”), river, central and eastern Sri Lanka. At 208 mi (335 km) in length, it is Sri Lanka's longest river. It rises on the Hatton Plateau on the western side of the island's hill country, flows north through a tea- and rubber-growing region, and turns east near Kandy; it then turns north across the lowlands, receives its principal tributary, the Amban Ganga, and flows

Bloembergen, Nicolaas

2005-03-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

Dutch-born American physicist, corecipient with Arthur Leonard Schawlow of the United States and Kai Manne Börje Siegbahn of Sweden (qq.v.) of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physics for their revolutionary spectroscopic studies of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Bloembergen made a pioneering use of lasers in these

Taffeta

2005-03-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

Fine, crisp plain-woven fabric with a faint weft, or filling-way, rib due to the greater number of warp threads than filling threads. It frequently has a lustrous surface. There are two distinct types of silk taffeta: yarn-dyed and piece-dyed. Yarn-dyed taffeta has a stiff handle and a rustle known as scroop, or froufrou. It is used for evening dresses and for underskirts for

Devrient, Max

2005-03-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

Grandnephew of the great Romantic actor Ludwig Devrient and son of the noted character actor Karl August

Antarctica, The Antarctic Treaty

2005-03-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

With the ending of IGY the threat arose that the moratorium too would end, letting the carefully worked out Antarctic structure collapse into its pre-IGY chaos. In the fall of 1957 the U.S. Department of State reviewed its Antarctic policy and sounded out agreements with the 11 other governments with Antarctic interests. On May 2, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued identical

Nagorno-karabakh

2005-03-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Nagorno-karabach, region of southwestern Azerbaijan. It occupies an area of 1,700 square miles (4,400 square km) on the northeastern flank of the Karabakh Range of the Lesser Caucasus and extends from the crest line of the range to the margin of the Kura River lowland at its foot. Nagorno-Karabakh's environments vary from steppe on the Kura lowland through dense forest of oak, hornbeam, and beech

Confederate States Of America

2005-03-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Convinced that their way of life, based on slavery, was irretrievably threatened by the election of President Abraham Lincoln (November 1860), the seven states of the Deep

Telesilla

2005-03-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Greek poet noted for saving the city of Argos from attack by Cleomenes and his Spartan troops after their defeat of the Argive men. She wrote lyric poetry dedicated to Apollo and Artemis, of which only brief fragments remain. Her heroic deed is mentioned in the work of Pausanias.

Polarimetry

2005-03-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

In analytic chemistry, measurement of the angle of rotation of the plane of polarized light (that is, a beam of light in which the vibrations of the electromagnetic waves are confined to one plane) that results upon its passage through certain transparent materials. Polarimetry is of interest to the chemist because the ability of a substance to affect polarized

Ibn Taymiyah

2005-03-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

Ibn Taymiyah was born in

Jhabua

2005-03-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Located on Bahadur Sagar (lake), it was founded in the 16th century by a Labhana freebooter and served as the capital of the former Jhabua princely state. It is a local agricultural and timber market connected by road with Dhar. There is a government college affiliated with Vikram

Hydra

2005-03-15T01:05:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Ídhra, island of the Saronic group in the Aegean Sea, nomós (department) of Attica, Greece, just off the eastern tip of the Argolís peninsula of the Peloponnese. Its maximum length, northeast–southwest, is 13 mi (21 km), and it has an area of only 19.2 sq mi (49.6 sq km). The highest point, Mt. Ere, is 1,936 ft (590 m). Once quite wooded and well watered, as its Turkish name, Çamliza (“place of pines”), shows, it is now denuded and

Pocahontas

2005-03-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Matoaka, whose pet name was

Family, The

2005-03-14T05:53:00.000-08:00

Formerly Children of God, Teens for Christ , and The Family of Love millenarian Christian communal group that grew out of the ministry of David Berg (1919–1994) to the hippies who had gathered in Huntington Beach, California, in the late 1960s. It teaches a message of Christian love based on scripture and the prophecies of Berg. The focus of the first anticult organization—the Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God

Ribeiro Couto, Rui

2005-03-14T04:53:00.000-08:00

Brazilian poet, short-story writer, and diplomat, one of the leading figures of Modernism in its early years. Originally a symbolist poet, Ribeiro Couto evolved toward the Modernism that exploded upon the Brazilian literary scene in the early 1920s, publishing poems and short stories concerning themes of humble everyday life. Besides his

Quadrangle

2005-03-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

Byname Quad, in architecture, rectangular open space completely or partially enclosed by buildings of an academic or civic character. The grounds of a quadrangle are often grassy or landscaped. Such a quadrangular area, intended as an environment for contemplation, study, or relaxation, was a feature of monastic establishments and thus of the colleges that evolved from them.

Anne

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

David Green, Queen Anne (1970); Edward Gregg, Queen Anne (1980).

Halakhah

2005-03-11T11:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Halakha, Halakah, or Halachah (Hebrew: “the Way”), plural Halakhahs, Halakhot, Halakhoth, or Halachot, in Judaism, the totality of laws and ordinances that have evolved since biblical times to regulate religious observances and the daily life and conduct of the Jewish people. Quite distinct from the Law of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), Halakhah purports to preserve and represent oral traditions stemming from the revelation on Mount Sinai or

Koga

2005-03-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

City, Ibaraki ken (prefecture), eastern Honshu, Japan. It lies at the confluence of the Omoi and Watarase rivers. An important river port, Koga was a castle town and post town on the Nikko-kaido (Nikko Highway) in the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). It became a major trade centre for the surrounding agricultural region after the Tohoku Main Line railway opened in 1891. Silk manufacture, introduced

Niederbayern

2005-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

English Lower Bavaria Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), east-central Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. Niederbayern is bordered by the Czech Republic to the northeast, Austria to the southeast, and the Regierungsbezirke of Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) to the southwest and west and Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) to the north. Together with Oberbayern and Oberpfalz, the

Puerto Rico, Flag Of

2005-03-10T11:44:00.000-08:00

In the late 19th century, as pro-independence sentiment grew in the Caribbean islands under Spanish dominion, many activists in Cuba and Puerto Rico were exiled to the United States or elsewhere. In New York City a flag was chosen in exile by the Puerto Rican section of the Cuban Revolutionary Party on December 22, 1895. The design was simply the Cuban flag with a reversal of the

Beals, Jessie Tarbox

2005-03-09T21:53:00.000-08:00

Jessie Tarbox moved to Williamsburg, Massachusetts, at age 18 to make her living as a schoolteacher. After nearly 10 years of teaching, she quit and devoted herself to photography, which she had been exploring in

Theobald I

2005-03-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

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

Fellini, Federico

2005-03-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Italian film director who was one of the most celebrated and distinctive filmmakers of the period after World War II. Early in his career he helped inaugurate the Neorealist cinema movement, but he soon developed his own distinctive style of typically autobiographical films that imposed dreamlike or hallucinatory

Chen Shizeng

2005-03-08T07:09:00.000-08:00

Chen came from a family of prominent officials and scholars. He was well educated and something of a child prodigy who, by age 10, was painting, writing poetry, and excelling at calligraphy. In 1902 Chen went to Japan for further study.

Biblical Literature, The American Standard Version

2005-03-07T22:28:00.000-08:00

According to the original agreement, the preferred readings and renderings of the American revisers, which their British counterparts had declined to accept, were published in an appendix to the Revised Version. In 1900 the American edition of the New Testament, which incorporated the American scholars' preferences into the body of the text, was produced. A year later

Duck Mountain

2005-03-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

Plateau in southwestern Manitoba, Canada, forming the highest part of the Manitoba Escarpment. It extends southeastward from the Saskatchewan border for 50 miles (80 km), culminating in Baldy Mountain (2,730 feet [832 m]), 36 miles northwest of Dauphin. A large part of the plateau is embraced by Duck Mountain Provincial Park, established in 1962 to preserve the region's dense forests, numerous

Puertollano

2005-03-06T17:04:00.000-08:00

City, Ciudad Real provincia, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, south central Spain, just south-southwest of Ciudad Real city. Located on the Madrid–Ciudad Real–Mérida railway with rich coal, iron, lead, manganese, and copper pyrite mines in the vicinity, Puertollano's population has tripled in the 20th century. The mines form the basis of important

Felix Iii (or Ii), Saint

2005-03-06T00:02:00.000-08:00

Pope from 483 to 492. He succeeded St. Simplicius on March 13. Felix excommunicated Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, in 484 for publishing with the emperor Zeno a document called the Henotikon, which appeared to favour Monophysitism, a doctrine that had been denounced at the Council of Chalcedon (451). The excommunication created the 35-year Acacian

Lens Dislocation

2005-03-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Abnormal position of the crystalline lens of the eye. The dislocation, which may be congenital or acquired, has as its immediate cause weakness or loss of a portion of the ligaments that anchor the lens to the ciliary muscle.

Ibn Ishaq

2005-03-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

Ibn Ishaq was the grandson of an Arab prisoner captured by Muslim troops in Iraq and brought to Medina, where he was freed after accepting Islam. Ibn Ishaq's father and two uncles

Zagreb

2005-03-04T18:35:00.000-08:00

Zagreb's old town consists of two medieval settlements on the hill: Gric, the civil settlement, which was renamed Gradec (“Fortress”) when it was encircled by walls that were built to defend against the Mongols in

Athenagoras I

2005-03-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served as archdeacon to the archbishop Meletios, who later

Hill And Range

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

When Austrian immigrant brothers Jean and Julian Aberbach formed their Hill and Range publishing company in 1945, the name they chose made it clear which songwriters they were after—the country-and-western writers who had been long overlooked by the established publishers affiliated with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Offering

Port Blair

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

City and capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory, India, in the Bay of Bengal. The city lies on the hilly southeastern coast of South Andaman Island. It is a market town with a sawmill, several local museums, and an airport. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 74,810.

Fabritius, Carel

2005-03-03T03:29:00.000-08:00

He was the son of a schoolmaster, who is said to have been a part-time painter, and both Carel and his brother Barent became painters; both

Interior Design, Classic movement after the Revolution, 17851835

2005-03-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

Even after the American Revolution, English decorative influence predominated in the United States, in spite of greatly increased contacts with French thought and ideas. Although many leaders like Thomas Jefferson wished to see a complete break with English traditions, the Georgian forms of colonial days persisted in common usage till 1800 or after. By 1785, however, the

Adat

2005-03-02T03:06:00.000-08:00

Customary law of the indigenous peoples of Malaysia and Indonesia. It was the unwritten, traditional code governing all aspects of personal conduct from birth to death. Two kinds of Malay adat law developed prior to the 15th century: Adat Perpateh developed in a matrilineal kinship structure in areas occupied by the Minangkabau people in Sumatra and Negeri Sembilan;

Burgred

2005-03-01T11:11:00.000-08:00

In 852 or 853 he called upon Aethelwulf of Wessex to aid him in subduing the North Welsh. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of Burgred to Aethelswith, daughter of Aethelwulf. In 868 the Mercian king appealed to Aethelred and Alfred for assistance

Buchner, Hans

2005-02-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

The brother of the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Eduard

Vecchio, Palazzo

2005-02-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

The Tuscan Gothic design of the Palazzo Vecchio has been

Ma Yuan

2005-02-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Osvald Siren, Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, 7 vol. (1956–58, reissued 1974), is the standard history of Chinese painting. Ma Yuan's work is discussed in S. Shimada and Y. Yonezawa, Painting of Sung and Yuan Dynasties (1952); Kojiro Tomita, Portfolio of Chinese Paintings in the Museum: Han to Sung Periods, 2nd ed. (1938), from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Sherman E. Lee, Chinese Landscape Painting, 2nd rev. ed. (1962); Laurence Sickman (ed.), Chinese Calligraphy and Painting in the Collection of John M. Crawford, Jr. (1962); James Francis Cahill, Chinese Painting, XI–XIV Centuries (1960); and Michael Sullivan, A Short History of Chinese Art, rev. ed. (1967, reissued 1970). The little available evidence on his position at the Southern Sung court is discussed in Chiang Chao-shen, “The Identity of Yang Mei-tzu and the Paintings of Ma Yuan,” National Palace Museum Bulletin, 2(2):1–15 and 2(3):8–14 (1967).

Gondi Family

2005-02-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

French family of Florentine origin, whose diplomats and bankers were prominent in France from the 16th century. The family established itself in France after gaining the confidence and patronage of Catherine de Médicis. Antoine II (1486–1560) was the first Gondi to settle in France and started the most illustrious branch of the family. At first a banker in Lyon, he was brought

Suceava

2005-02-26T21:54:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Suceava judet (county), northeastern Romania. Founded on a terrace above the right bank of the Suceava River before the 14th century, it was the capital of Moldavia from 1375 until 1565, when the capital was moved to Iasi. During the reign of Stephen (Stefan) the Great in the 15th century, Suceava developed as a trading centre and customs point, with many warehouses and a strong

Wainscot Chair

2005-02-26T20:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Panel Chair, a joined wooden chair, usually made of oak, hence the name wainscot, which was used to describe a fine grade of oak usually used for paneling. Like many terms used in reference to furniture, it has a general and a particular meaning. The general sense is any heavy wooden chair of fairly simple construction. The more specific reference is to a wooden chair with turned (shaped

Allen, Sir James

2005-02-25T00:21:00.000-08:00

Allen was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1887, serving as a leader of the opposition from 1892 to 1912. When the Reform Party took

Fielding, William Stevens

2005-02-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

In 1864 Fielding joined the staff of the Halifax Morning Chronicle, the leading Liberal newspaper in Nova Scotia, where for 20 years he worked in various departments. From 1884 to 1896 Fielding was premier of Nova Scotia. An opponent

Christchurch Mansion

2005-02-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

In Ipswich, Suffolk, Eng., Tudor mansion built between 1548 and 1550 by Edmund Withipoll and now maintained as an art gallery and museum that is part of the Ipswich Museum of Art. The mansion houses a collection of local antiquities, including paintings and memorials of Edward Fitzgerald and Thomas Wollner. It has fine 16th-century paneling and part of a marble font from

Lippmann, Walter

2005-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

While studying at Harvard (B.A., 1909), Lippmann was influenced by the philosophers William James and George Santayana. He helped to found (1914) The New Republic and served as its assistant editor under

Coraciiform

2005-02-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

Also called rollerlike bird any member of the order Coraciiformes, including the kingfishers, todies, motmots, bee-eaters, rollers, hoopoes (see photograph), and hornbills (see photograph). Among the members of the order that have attracted special attention are certain kingfishers that plunge headfirst into water for fish and are associated with classical

Wu-chou

2005-02-23T04:28:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1913–46) Ts'ang-wu, Pinyin Wuzhou, or Cangwu, city on the eastern border of the Kwangsi Chuang autonomous ch'ü (district), southern China. Wu-chou is situated at the confluence of the Hsi River with its northern tributary, the Kuei River. The city occupies a location of strategic and economic importance because it dominates the principal route between Kwangsi and southwest China as well as the Canton area along

Tso Tsung-t'ang

2005-02-22T05:13:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zuo Zongtang Chinese administrator and military leader, one of the scholar-officials who worked to suppress the great rebellions that threatened the imperial government during the second half of the 19th century. Tso's efforts helped revive the declining Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12) and reestablished the Chinese position in

Eisleben

2005-02-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

City, Saxony-Anhalt Land (state), central Germany, in the eastern foothills of the Harz Mountains. First mentioned in 994 as a market, called Islebia, and in 1180 as a town, it belonged to the counts of Mansfeld until it passed to Saxony in 1780 and was assigned to Prussia in 1815. It is divided into the old and new towns (Altstadt and Neustadt), the latter having originated as a residential district

Alalakh

2005-02-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

Excavations also revealed a towered

Land Mine

2005-02-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Stationary explosive charge used against military troops or vehicles. See mine.

Sabatier, (louis-) Auguste

2005-02-20T23:23:00.000-08:00

French Protestant theologian and educator who helped revolutionize biblical interpretation by applying methods of historical criticism and promoted the development of liberal theology and the Roman Catholic Modernist movement by his interpretation of Christian doctrine as the symbolism of religious feelings. Among his principal

Dana, Richard Henry

2005-02-20T06:54:00.000-08:00

Dana withdrew from Harvard College when measles weakened his eyesight, and he shipped to California as a sailor in August 1834 to regain his health. After voyaging among California's ports and gathering hides ashore, he rounded Cape Horn, returned

Schaerbeek

2005-02-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

Flemish Schaarbeek municipality, Brabant province, central Belgium. A village until 1795, it is now an industrial suburb northeast of Brussels and one of the 19 communes that make up Greater Brussels. A rail junction with switch and freight yards, it has an electric power station and manufactures clothing, chemicals, and machinery. The conspicuous domed Church of Sainte-Marie (1845–53) is built in the

Monasticism, Sikhism

2005-02-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Sikhism, founded by the Punjabi reformer Nanak, was and is a martial version of Hinduism. Of all the indigenous Indian religions, it was the least sympathetic to monastic inspirations. The aforementioned Sikh monastic Nirmal-akhada and the quasi-monastic Nihang Sahibs are patently compromises with the overall Indian trend to establish monastic traditions to express

Harcourt, Henri De Lorraine, Count (comte) De

2005-02-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

Nicknamed “Cadet la Perle” because he was the youngest of his family and because he wore a pearl in his ear, Harcourt fought in the wars against Spain in Catalonia, Flanders,

Mindanao

2005-02-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

World War I, Mesopotamia, summer 1916winter 1917

2005-02-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

The British forces in Mesopotamia, neglected hitherto and discouraged by the disaster at al-Kut (see above Mesopotamia, 1914–April 1916), received better attention from London in the second half of 1916; and Sir Frederick Stanley Maude, who became commander in chief in August, did so much to restore their morale that by December he was ready to undertake the recapture of al-Kut as a first

Kofoid, Charles Atwood

2005-02-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Kofoid graduated from Harvard University (1894) and in 1900 began a long affiliation with the University of California at Berkeley. He became a full professor there in 1910, and for most

Aerosmith

2005-02-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

American heavy metal band. One of the biggest arena-rock attractions of the late 1970s, Aerosmith became even more popular with its career revival in the mid-1980s. Principal members were Steven Tyler (byname of Steven Tallarico; b. March 26, 1948, New York, New York, U.S.), Joe Perry (b. September 10, 1950, Boston, Massachusetts), Brad Whitford (b. February 23, 1952, Winchester, Massachusetts), Tom Hamilton (b. December

Yung-lo Ta-tien

2005-02-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yongluo Dadien (Chinese: “The Great Canon [or Vast Documents] of the Yung-lo Era”), Chinese compilation that was the world's largest known encyclopaedia. Compiled by thousands of Chinese scholars under the direction of the Yung-lo emperor (reigned 1402–24), it was completed in 1407. The work contained 22,877 manuscript rolls, or chapters, in 11,095 volumes and was designed to include all that had ever been written

Tsukuba Science City

2005-02-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

Tsukuba Science City was developed in the 1970s and 1980s to stimulate scientific discovery.

Biblical Literature, The patriarchal narratives

2005-02-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

The universal primal history of man in the first 11 chapters of Genesis is followed by an account of the fathers of the Hebrew people; i.e., of the origins of a particular group. From a literary point of view, this portion may be divided into the sagas of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the story of Joseph. Although these narratives are not historical in the ordinary sense, they

Malakbel

2005-02-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

West Semitic sun god and messenger god, worshiped primarily in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra; he was variously identified by the Greeks with Zeus and with Hermes and by the Romans with Sol. His name may have been of Babylonian origin, and he was considered the equivalent of the Babylonian sun god Shamash. Engravings on the four sides of a marble altar from Palmyra

Mujur Rug

2005-02-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

The characteristic design in older examples, from the 19th century, is a prayer niche with a stepped arch crowned by a

Karamay

2005-02-13T05:26:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Karamai, Wade–Giles romanization K'o-la-ma-i, city in northern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. Located in the Dzungarian Basin, it is about 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Wu-lu-mu-ch'i (Urumchi), the provincial capital. Rich oil reserves were discovered in this area in 1955, and the first oil field was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Production was greatly increased after the construction of a railway to Wu-lu-mu-ch'i.

Chauliac, Guy De

2005-02-13T00:57:00.000-08:00

Italian Guido De Cauliaco the most eminent surgeon of the European Middle Ages, whose Chirurgia magna (1363) was a standard work on surgery until at least the 17th century. In this work he describes a narcotic inhalation used as a soporific for surgical patients, as well as numerous surgical procedures, including those for hernia and cataract, which had previously

Seabury, Samuel

2005-02-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

Seabury was educated in medicine at Yale University and the University of Edinburgh. After he became a priest in 1753, he served parishes in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in Jamaica, New York, and in Westchester, New York; he also practiced

Robards, Jason

2005-02-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Because of the bitterness and disillusionment expressed by his father, onetime stage and film leading man Jason Robards, Sr. (1892–1963), the younger Robards avoided acting

Jansen, Cornelius Otto

2005-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

Flemish leader of the Roman Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism. He wrote biblical commentaries and pamphlets against the Protestants. His major work was Augustinus, published by his friends in 1640. Although condemned by Pope Urban VIII in 1642, it was of critical importance

Biblical Literature, The Hebrew canon

2005-02-10T16:21:00.000-08:00

The Torah contains five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Nevi'im comprise eight books subdivided into the Former Prophets, containing

Smith, John

2005-02-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

English explorer and principal founder of the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Va. Smith played an equally important role as a cartographer and a prolific writer who vividly depicted the natural abundance of the New World, whetting the colonizing appetite of prospective English

Pacific Ocean, Principal ridges and basins

2005-02-10T04:13:00.000-08:00

To the east of 150° W the relief of the ocean floor is considerably less pronounced than it is to the west. In the eastern Pacific the Cocos Ridge extends southwestward from the Central American isthmus to the Galápagos Islands. To the south of the Galápagos lies the Peru Basin, which is separated by the extensive Sala y Gomez Ridge from the Southeast Pacific Basin, which,