IllChin

Estate Agent Fitzrovia

2006-10-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services. They are a specialist in estate agent fitzrovia, amongst other London areas such as Soho and Oxford Circus.

Application Lace

2005-03-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

French Point Appliqué, lace in which motifs (flowers and the like) are worked individually and then joined to a net background (whether made by machine or by hand), in contrast to the method in which the net is worked round the solid parts of the design and the whole lace worked as a single piece without joins. In the 19th century application lace was made especially at Brussels and, in England, at

Yermak Timofeyevich

2005-03-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

In 1579 the merchant and factory-owning Stroganov family enlisted the assistance of Yermak and a band of Cossacks to defend its possessions against attacks by Siberian tribesmen. Yermak set out with an expeditionary

Holberg, Ludvig, Friherre Holberg

2005-03-29T04:57:00.000-08:00

Gerald S. Argetsinger, Ludvig Holberg's Comedies (1983); F.J. Billeskov Jansen, Ludvig Holberg (1974); and Sven Hakon Rossel (ed.), Ludvig Holberg—A European Writer: A Study in Influence and Reception (1994).

Macdiarmid, Alan G.

2005-03-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

MacDiarmid earned Ph.D.'s in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (1953) and the

Nicaea, Council Of

2005-03-28T03:19:00.000-08:00

(325), the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting in ancient Nicaea (now Iznik, Tur.). It was called by the emperor Constantine I, an unbaptized catechumen, or neophyte, who presided over the opening session and took part in the discussions. He hoped a general council of the church would solve the problem created in the Eastern church by Arianism, a heresy first

Nagaoka

2005-03-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

City, Niigata ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the middle reaches of the Shinano River. A castle town in the 1600s, it prospered with the discovery of the Higashiyama oil well in the early 20th century. Despite heavy damage suffered during World War II, the city continued to grow, its industries producing chemicals, machinery, and processed foods. Nagaoka is a hub of rail and road

Macbeth

2005-03-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

Tragedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, performed at the Globe Theatre, London, in 1605–06 and published in the First Folio of 1623, from a promptbook of a version prepared for court performance. Some portions of the original text are corrupted or missing from the published edition. The play is the shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, without diversions or subplots. It chronicles

Penedo

2005-03-26T08:45:00.000-08:00

Port city, Alagoas state, northeastern Brazil, on the north bank of the lower São Francisco River, bordering Sergipe state, 25 mi (40 km) above its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in the 16th century during the Portuguese conquest, it has developed a thriving trade in hides, rice, and cotton. There is light industrial development, including cotton spinning, weaving, vegetable-oil

Handa

2005-03-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

City, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. Handa lies on the Chita Peninsula, facing Chita Bay of the Pacific Ocean. It served as an important commercial port during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), when the local production of processed foods and cotton began. An irrigation system in the hills behind the city was opened in 1962. Vegetables, fruit, and flowers are raised in the vicinity

Hyperopia

2005-03-24T23:39:00.000-08:00

Also called Farsightedness, or Hypermetropia, visual defect in which the cornea and lens of the eye focus the image of the visual field at a point behind the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue lining the back and sides of the eye). The retina thus receives an unfocused image of near objects, though distant objects may be in focus. Hyperopia frequently occurs when an eye is shorter than normal from front to

Dire Wolf

2005-03-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

(species Canis dirus), wolf that existed during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). It is probably the most common mammalian species to be found preserved in the La Brea Tar Pits in southern California. The dire wolf differed from the modern wolf in several ways: it was larger and it had a more massive skull, a smaller brain, and relatively light limbs. It is probable that

Newington

2005-03-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

Area in the borough of Southwark, London. It lies southeast of Waterloo Station and west of Bermondsey. In the 19th century the area was developed as a residential suburb, and several roads and railways were built, converting Newington into a transportation hub for London south of the River Thames. Central to the area is the Elephant and Castle, a large traffic roundabout

Ben Wyvis

2005-03-22T22:25:00.000-08:00

Mountain in the northern Highlands, Highland council area, Scotland, whose summit stands some 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Dingwall on the Cromarty Firth, which is an inlet of the Moray Firth. The mountain has an elevation of 3,429 feet (1,045 metres). On its heights is Castle Leod (1616) and at its foot is the 18th-century resort spa of Strathpeffer.

Acacia

2005-03-22T04:14:00.000-08:00

Any of about 800 species of trees and shrubs comprising a genus (Acacia) in the mimosa family (Mimosaceae) and native to tropical and subtropical regions of the world, particularly Australia (there called wattles) and Africa. Acacias' distinctive leaves take the form of small, finely divided leaflets that give the leafstalk a feathery or fernlike (i.e., pinnate) appearance.

Selkirk

2005-03-21T03:31:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Manitoba, Canada. It lies just northeast of Winnipeg, on the Red River near its influx into Lake Winnipeg, at the head of deepwater navigation. It is the lake's chief port serving central and northern Manitoba and is thus a transshipping point for fish and lumber. The town is also a haven for pleasure boats. The site, settled in 1812, was named for Thomas Douglas,

Meson

2005-03-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Any member of a family of subatomic particles composed of an even number of quarks and antiquarks. Mesons are sensitive to the strong force (the force that binds the components of the nucleus) because their constituent quarks are strongly interacting. Mesons consist of an even number of quarks with half-integral spin, and so they have integral spin. They vary widely

Iron Mask, The Man In The

2005-03-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

He was first imprisoned at Pignerol (Pinerolo, in Piedmont) sometime before 1681, then at other prisons

Epistemology, St. Anselm of Canterbury

2005-03-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

The phrase St. Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109) used to describe his own project, namely, “faith seeking reason” (fides quaerens intellectum), well characterizes medieval philosophy as a whole. All the great medieval philosophers, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic alike, were also theologians. Virtually every object of interest was related to their belief in God, and virtually every

Gamboge

2005-03-19T10:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Camboge, hard, brittle gum resin that is obtained from various Southeast Asian trees of the genus Garcinia and is used as a colour vehicle and in medicine. Gamboge is orange to brown in colour and when powdered turns bright yellow. Artists use it as a pigment and as a colouring matter for varnishes. In medicine and veterinary medicine it is a drastic cathartic. On the skin it has

Oregon Trail

2005-03-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

First used by fur traders and missionaries, the trail was suddenly in the 1840s thick with the wagon trains of about 12,000 emigrants to Oregon. Including an occasional

Romanian Literature

2005-03-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

The first landmark of this period was the uprising of Tudor Vladimirescu (1821) in Walachia against the Ottoman Turks and the return of the national rulers. Romanticism carried forward the falling wave of the Latinist movement. In the second half of the 19th century a serious literary criticism, which originated in German philosophy and French culture, inaugurated modern

Nagai Kafu

2005-03-18T01:58:00.000-08:00

Edward Seidensticker, Kafu the Scribbler (1965, reprinted 1990), a biographical and critical study, also includes a number of translations of Kafu's works.

Riau

2005-03-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Provinsi (“province”), east-central Sumatra, Indonesia. It is bounded by the provinces of Jambi on the south, Sumatera Barat (West Sumatra) on the west, Sumatera Utara (North Sumatra) on the north and northwest, the Malacca Strait on the east, and the Berhala Strait on the southeast. Riau provinsi includes the Riau Islands, an archipelago lying at the southern entrance to the

Pole, Reginald

2005-03-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

His father, Sir Richard Pole, was a cousin of King Henry VII, and his mother, Margaret, countess of Salisbury, was a niece of Edward

Heston, Charlton

2005-03-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Heston decided to become an actor after impulsively auditioning for a high-school play. His stage experience in high school resulted in a scholarship to Northwestern

Ligurian Republic

2005-03-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

French République Ligurienne, Italian Repubblica Ligure, republic created by Napoleon Bonaparte on June 15, 1797, organizing the conquered city of Genoa and its environs. The government was modeled on that of the Directory in France, and the republic was tied to France by alliance. In 1803 it became also a military district, closely linked to France, and its chief of state became appointable by Napoleon. In May 1805 the Ligurian Republic was

Acrocyanosis

2005-03-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Uneven reddish-blue discoloration of the hands caused by spasms in arterioles (small arteries) of the skin. Less commonly the feet are affected. The fingers, or toes, are usually cold and sweat copiously. The condition may be the result of an endocrine disorder or of some anxiety state. It is most common in adolescents and those in the 20s and usually improves with age.

Sunflower

2005-03-13T18:14:00.000-08:00

Plant of the genus Helianthus of the family Asteraceae, native primarily to North and South America. The common sunflower is an annual herb with a rough hairy stem 1–4.5 m (3–15 feet) high, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves 7.5–30 cm (3–12 inches) long, and heads of flowers 7.5–15 cm wide in wild specimens and often 0.3 m or more in cultivated types. The disk flowers are brown, yellow,

Aeschylus

2005-03-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Aeschylus' influence on the development of tragedy was fundamental. Previous to him, Greek drama was limited to one actor and a chorus engaged in a largely static recitation. (The chorus was a group of actors who responded to and commented on the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation.) The actor could assume different roles by changing masks and costumes,

Ahir

2005-03-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Cattle-tending caste widespread in northern and central India. Considerable historical interest attaches to this caste, because its members are thought to be identical with the Abhiras of Sanskrit literature, who are mentioned repeatedly in the great epic the Mahabharata. Some scholars contend that these cattlemen, scattered over southern Rajasthan and Sind (now

Arguedas Mendieta, Antonio

2005-03-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

Bolivian political leader (b. 1929?, Bolivia—d. Feb. 22, 2000, La Paz, Bol.), rose to become Bolivia's minister of the interior during the 1964–69 military dictatorship of Gen. René Barrientos; recruited by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 1965, he aided efforts to defeat a guerrilla group in eastern Bolivia led by Che Guevara. Following the capture and execution of Guevara in 1967, Arguedas became disenchanted

Bradlaugh, Charles

2005-03-12T22:49:00.000-08:00

Son of a poor legal clerk, Bradlaugh served in the British army (1850–53), followed his father's occupation for a time, and then became

Kunlun Mountains, Geology

2005-03-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

The principal folded structures and granitic rocks of the Kunlun Mountains date to about 250 million years ago, a time during which there was much mountain building in the Eastern Hemisphere. The inner depressions of the Kunluns, however, are relatively recent structures in their entirety, being formed by deposits that are no more than 26 million years old; only the largest

Metachromatic Leukodystrophy

2005-03-11T01:19:00.000-08:00

Rare inherited metabolic disease in which the lack of a key enzyme causes loss of the protective myelin sheath from the white matter of the brain, resulting in psychological disturbances, mental deterioration, and sensory and motor defects. The absence of the enzyme cerebroside sulfatase (arylsulfatase A) allows certain specialized lipids (sphingolipids) to

Slowacki, Juliusz

2005-03-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

The son of a university professor, Slowacki was educated in Wilno (now Vilnius), Lithuania, until 1829, when he joined the Department of the Treasury in Warsaw. He was absorbed with reading and writing poetry. During the November

Coligny, Gaspard Ii De, Seigneur (lord) De Châtillon

2005-03-10T06:05:00.000-08:00

Coligny was the son of Gaspard I de Coligny, the marshal of Châtillon, and Louise de Montmorency, sister of Anne de Montmorency, constable of France. At 22 Coligny came to court and became friendly with François de Lorraine, 2nd duc de Guise. He served

David De Mayrena, Marie-charles

2005-03-09T04:57:00.000-08:00

After defrauding French authorities in Saigon, David de Mayrena fled to Kontum in the Central Highlands, where he impressed the French missionaries and persuaded the members

Nilo-saharan Languages, Word order

2005-03-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

As observed by Greenberg in his language typology work, the position of the verb relative to the subject or object is known to correspond, in statistically significant ways, with other syntactic properties. Languages placing the verb before the subject and the object, for example, tend to have prepositions and auxiliaries preceding the main verb, whereas languages

Amphora

2005-03-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

One of the principal vessel shapes in Greek pottery, a two-handled pot with a neck narrower than the body. There are two types of amphora: the neck amphora, in which the neck meets the body at a sharp angle; and the one-piece amphora, in which the neck and body form a continuous curve. The first is common from the Geometric period (c. 900 BC) to the decline of Greek pottery; the second appeared

Ligorio, Pirro

2005-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

Italian architect, painter, landscaper, and antiquarian who designed the Villa d'Este at Tivoli (1550–69), which still stands in its original state. Built for Ligorio's patron, Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, the villa has a planted landscape and a vast terraced garden with spectacular fountains leading up to the huge house. Ligorio also built the Casino

Oastler, Richard

2005-03-08T00:44:00.000-08:00

In 1830 Oastler, who was managing a large Yorkshire agricultural estate, learned of the evils of child labour in factories and immediately

Theobald, Lewis

2005-03-07T11:12:00.000-08:00

When in 1726 Theobald brought out his Shakespeare Restored; or, A Specimen of the Many Errors As Well Committed As Unamended by Mr. Pope, in His Late Edition of This Poet, Alexander Pope, whose edition

Genet

2005-03-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

Any of about five species of lithe, catlike carnivores of the genus Genetta, family Viverridae. Genets are elongate, short-legged animals with long, tapering tails; pointed noses; large, rounded ears; and retractile claws. Coloration varies among species but usually is pale yellowish or grayish, marked with dark spots and stripes; the tail is banded black and

X Ray

2005-03-06T01:23:00.000-08:00

There are two methods in general use for detecting X rays. The first method relies on the X rays producing a photochemical change in a photographic emulsion. The blackening of the film is related to the

Hippocrates Of Chios

2005-03-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, Hippocrates was a merchant whose goods had been captured by pirates. He went to Athens to prosecute them but met with little success in recovering

Fiske, Bradley Allen

2005-03-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

Fiske graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1874. As the navigator of the gunboat Petrel, he used one of his inventions, a stadimeter range finder, to communicate the ranges of enemy ships to American gunners

Zoetermeer

2005-03-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Zoetermeer is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of Rotterdam and is situated on a polder created during the 17th century. Industries in the town produce machinery, tobacco products, and foodstuffs, the latter using cereals and livestock raised in the vicinity. Oil and gas fields are exploited nearby. Zoetermeer

Canaan Dog

2005-03-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Breed of herding dog developed in Israel in the 20th century from semiwild pariah dogs that were the descendants of animals present in the region since biblical times. Over time they had been utilized as guardians and hunting dogs, but most had reverted to a wild state, living in desert areas. In the 1930s a breeding program was begun to redomesticate these wild dogs to serve

Ammonia

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

Ammonia is highly

Argentina, Mesopotamia

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

East of the Gran Chaco, in a narrow depression 60 to 180 miles (100 to 300 km) wide, lies Mesopotamia, which is bordered to the north by the highlands of southern Brazil. The narrow lowland stretches for 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southward, finally merging with the Pampas south of the Río de la Plata. Its designation as Mesopotamia (Greek: “Between the Rivers”) reflects the fact that its western and eastern

France, History Of, Tax reform

2005-03-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

In 1749–51 Jean-Baptiste de Machault d'Arnouville, then comptroller general of finances, proposed a partial reform of the tax system, his particular concern being to restrict the financial power of the church. In 1764 and 1765 another comptroller general, François de L'Averdy, attempted a reform of municipal representation and administration. All royal officials understood the

Davenant, Sir William

2005-03-01T05:04:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare was apparently Davenant's godfather, and gossip held that the famous playwright

Rockefeller, John D., Jr.

2005-03-01T01:56:00.000-08:00

After graduation from Brown University in 1897, he joined his father in business but never assumed

Nova, João Da

2005-02-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

Commanding a fleet of four ships, Nova left Portugal on a voyage to India in 1501. His crews included Amerigo Vespucci, after whom America was later named. En route he discovered Ascension Island.

Mexico, Gulf Of, Physiography and geology

2005-02-28T18:10:00.000-08:00

The Gulf of Mexico consists of several ecological and geologic provinces, chief of which are the coastal zone, the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the abyssal plain. The coastal zone consists of tidal marshes, sandy beaches, mangrove-covered areas, and many bays, estuaries, and lagoons. The continental shelf forms an almost continuous terrace around

Clammyweed

2005-02-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

(Polanisia trachysperma), North American herb of the caper family (Capparaceae). The plant is 60 cm (2 feet) tall and has leaves that give off a foul odour when bruised. The stems and three-parted leaves are hairy and sticky. Bladelike bracts (leaflike appendages) are crowded along the flowering stalks. The flowers have four sepals, four white petals, and eight-to-many protruding

Hawthorne Research

2005-02-27T01:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Hawthorne effect socioeconomic experiments conducted by Elton Mayo in 1927 among employees of the Hawthorne Works factory of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. For almost a year, a group of female workers were subjected to measured changes in their hours, wages, rest periods, lighting conditions, organization, and degree of supervision and consultation in order to determine

Molde

2005-02-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

Town and seat of Møre og Romsdal fylke (county), western Norway. It lies along Molde Fjord, an inlet of the Norwegian Sea. A port since the 15th century, Molde was partially destroyed by fire in 1916, damaged during World War II, then rebuilt completely. During April 1940 it was the temporary home of the Norwegian government. Local industry includes fish export, textile mills, and furniture

Girardot

2005-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

River port, Cundinamarca department, central Colombia, at the confluence of the upper Magdalena (there bridged) and Bogotá rivers, opposite Flandes. The site, once a canoe outpost named Pastor Montero, was donated for the creation of San Miguel parish in 1844. Under a provincial ordinance (1852) this became a district that was named after Atanasio Girardot, hero of the Battle of

Sun Bittern

2005-02-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

(species Eurypyga helias), slender bird of tropical America, the sole member of the family Eurypygidae (order Gruiformes). It has strikingly patterned wings, which the male spreads in courtship and threat displays. The sun bittern is about 43 cm (17 inches) long, with full wings and a long tail beautifully marked in browns, yellows, black, and white. It lives on

Giusti, Giuseppe

2005-02-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

Giusti was sporadically a law student in Pisa (1826–29 and 1832–34) and led an inconspicuous life until the Revolution

Dennis, Nigel

2005-02-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

Dennis spent his early childhood in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was educated, in part, at the Odenwald School in Germany. He moved to Britain

Subud

2005-02-24T18:34:00.000-08:00

Religious movement, based on spontaneous and ecstatic exercises, founded by an Indonesian, Muhammad Subuh, called Bapak. A student of Sufism (Islamic mysticism) as a youth, Bapak had a powerful mystical experience in 1925, and in 1933 he claimed that the mission to found the Subud movement was revealed to him. The movement was restricted to Indonesia until the 1950s, when it spread to Europe

Tabriz Carpet

2005-02-22T15:57:00.000-08:00

Floor covering handmade in or around Tabriz, the principal city of northwestern Iran and one of its best-known carpet-producing centres. The identification of the court carpets of the early 16th-century Safavid shahs who made Tabriz their capital is no longer as simple as it once seemed. Still, the magnificent Ardabil Carpet at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and

Janowitz, Morris

2005-02-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

After earning his B.A. at New York University (1941) and his Ph.D.

Jacobi, Carl

2005-02-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

Jacobi was first tutored by an uncle, and, by the end of his first year at the Gymnasium (1816–17), he was ready to enter the University of Berlin. Because the university would not accept students younger than 16, he had to bide his

Priesthood, Christianity

2005-02-21T10:36:00.000-08:00

At this critical juncture in Judaism, Christianity, with its own particular conception of priesthood and sacrificial redemption, began in Palestine and rapidly spread throughout the surrounding regions in the Greco-Roman world. In the New Testament the imminent destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and its worship is predicted, and the culmination of its high

Lignum Vitae

2005-02-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

Guaiacum officinale occurs from the southern United States to northern South America. It grows about 9 m (30 feet) tall and reaches a diameter of about 25 cm (10 inches). The evergreen leaves are opposite, divided into leaflets

Graveyard School

2005-02-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

Genre of 18th-century British poetry that focused on death and bereavement. The graveyard school consisted largely of imitations of Robert Blair's popular long poem of morbid appeal, The Grave (1743), and of Edward Young's celebrated blank-verse dramatic rhapsody Night Thoughts (1742–45). These poems express the sorrow and pain of bereavement, evoke the horror of death's physical

Gairdner, Lake

2005-02-20T04:06:00.000-08:00

Largest of a group of shallow depressions west of Lake Torrens in central South Australia, 240 mi northwest of Adelaide. It measures 100 mi (160 km) long by 30 mi wide. Lying at the base of the Eyre Peninsula, the lake is a dry salt pan (playa) intermittently filled with water. Visited in 1857 almost simultaneously by Stephen Hack and Peter E. Warburton, it is named after Gordon Gairdner, former

Olympic Games, Flag Of The

2005-02-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

In 1914, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held its 20th anniversary meeting in Paris, the Olympic flag was displayed for the first time. The design had been conceived by the French educator Pierre, baron de Coubertin, who developed the modern Olympic movement. It has been claimed that Coubertin found the design of five interlocked rings on an ancient altar in

Szymanowski, Karol

2005-02-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

Szymanowski began to compose and play the piano at an early age. In 1901 he went to Warsaw and studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition privately until 1904. Finding the musical life in Warsaw limiting, he went to Berlin, where he organized the Young Polish

Theligonales

2005-02-18T02:48:00.000-08:00

Problematic order of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing one family (Theligonaceae, sometimes called Cynocrambaceae) and one genus (Theligonum) with three species distributed in the Canary Islands, Mediterranean region, southwestern China, and Japan. The plants are somewhat succulent (fleshy) herbs with separate male and female flowers on the same plant.

Frederick I

2005-02-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Christian I, king of Denmark and Norway, Frederick divided the duchies of Schleswig (now in Germany and Denmark) and Holstein

Uddevalla

2005-02-17T04:36:00.000-08:00

Town, Västra Götaland län (county), southwestern Sweden. It lies along the Bäve River, at the head of By Fjord (an inlet of the Skagerrak), north of Göteborg. The site has been identified with Odensvold, a pagan place of sacrifice. The town was incorporated in 1498. On several occasions during the Danish-Swedish wars, large parts of it were destroyed and ravaged by fire. Uddevalla

Egypt, Education

2005-02-17T01:32:00.000-08:00

At the end of the 19th century there were only three secondary and nine “higher” schools in Egypt; the educational structure continued to be based on the kuttabs, or Qur'an schools. In 1916 the latter were turned into elementary schools, and in 1923 a law was passed providing free compulsory education between the ages of seven and 12. A sharp increase in the annual budgetary allocation

Marsh Mallow

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

(Althaea officinalis), perennial herbaceous plant of the mallow family (Malvaceae), native to eastern Europe and northern Africa. It has also become established in North America. The plant is usually found in marshy areas, chiefly near the sea. It has strongly veined heart-shaped or oval leaves. The pinkish flowers, borne on stalks about 1.8 m (6 feet) tall, are about 5 cm (2 inches)

Yukon-charley Rivers National Preserve

2005-02-15T17:29:00.000-08:00

National preserve in east-central Alaska, U.S., on the Canadian border. Proclaimed a national monument in 1978, the area underwent boundary and name changes in 1980, becoming a national preserve in the latter year. Preserving the entire 88-mile (142-kilometre) Charley River basin and 115 miles (185 km) of the 1,980-mile (3,190-kilometre) Yukon River, the area contains numerous cabins and other relics of the

Dorris, Michael Anthony

2005-02-15T13:13:00.000-08:00

American writer whose best-known book, the 1989 National Book Award-winning The Broken Cord, chronicled the struggle his adopted son faced as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome; suffering from chronic depression, separated from his wife, writer Louise Erdrich, and facing legal difficulties, Dorris took his own life (b. Jan 30, 1945--found dead April 11, 1997).

Ben Lomond

2005-02-14T22:48:00.000-08:00

Mountain mass in northeastern Tasmania, Australia, comprising a plateau of 30 square miles (78 square km) made up of igneous rock. It mostly lies above 4,500 feet (1,400 m), making it the highest land in the state. The loftiest portion stretches 7 miles (11 km) from Legge Peak (Legges Tor; 5,161 feet [1,573 m]) southeast to Stacks Bluff (5,010 feet [1,527 m]). The surface is also covered with many small hills and lakes. Ben Lomond

Uccello, Paolo

2005-02-14T01:08:00.000-08:00

In 1436 in the Florence cathedral, Uccello completed a monochrome fresco of an equestrian monument to Sir John Hawkwood, an English mercenary who had commanded Florentine troops at the end of the 14th century. In the Hawkwood fresco, a single-point perspective scheme, a fully sculptural treatment of the horse and rider, and a sense of controlled potential energy within

Kaiserslautern

2005-02-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

City, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies between the Haardt Mountains (Pfälzer Wald) and the Saar-Nahe-Bergland (Nordpfälzer Bergland) and is surrounded by the Pfälzer Wald nature preserve. A royal residence existed there in the Carolingian period (after 751). The place-name is derived from Lauter (a local stream) and from the emperor (kaiser) Frederick

Cabbage

2005-02-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Vegetable and fodder plant the various forms of which are said to have been developed by long cultivation from the wild, or sea, cabbage (Brassica oleracea) found near the seacoast in various parts of England and continental Europe. The common horticultural forms of Brassica oleracea may be classified according to the plant parts used for food and the structure

Ascoli Piceno

2005-02-13T10:46:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Ascoli Piceno provincia, Marche regione, central Italy. Ascoli Piceno lies at the confluence of the Tronto and Castellano rivers. The ancient centre of the Picenes (early inhabitants of the Adriatic coast), it was conquered in the 3rd century BC by the Romans, who knew it as Asculum Picenum. After 1006 the city was ruled by its bishops and successive feudatories

T'ien Ming

2005-02-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

The continuation of the mandate was believed to be conditioned by the personal behaviour of the ruler, who was expected to possess i (“righteousness”) and jen (“benevolence

Marrakech

2005-02-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Marrakech gave its name to the kingdom of which it was long the capital. It was founded in the mid-11th century by

Feminism

2005-02-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Throughout most of Western history, women were confined to the domestic sphere, while public life was reserved

Macau

2005-02-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Macao , Chinese (Pinyin romanization) Aomen or (Wade-Giles romanization) Ao-men special administrative region (Pinyin tebie xingzhengqu; Wade-Giles t'e-pieh hsing-cheng-ch'ü) of China, on the country's southern coast. Macau is located on the western side of the Pearl River (Chu Chiang) estuary (at the head of which is the port of Canton) and stands about 40 miles (64 km) opposite the special administrative region of Hong Kong, which is on the eastern side of the

Fichtel Hills

2005-02-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

German Fichtelgebirge , Czech Smrciny mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Krušné Hory) in the northeast, and the Upper Palatinate Forest (a section of the Bohemian Forest) in the south. The rectangular plateau of the Fichtel Hills forms a watershed

Blondel, André-eugène

2005-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

Blondel became a professor of electrotechnology at the School of Bridges and Highways and the School of Mines in Paris. In 1893 he invented the electromagnetic oscillograph, a device that allowed electrical

Ma'mun, Al-

2005-02-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of 833 al-Ma'mun decided to require adherence to Mu'tazilah from all his subjects. As the caliph was then on an expedition against the Byzantines in the region of Tarsus, he entrusted this task to his representative in Baghdad, the prefect of police Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. The latter first called together the qadis (judges) to urge them to recognize the Mu'tazili doctrine;

X Ray

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

One of the earliest applications

Essay

2005-02-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

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

Amphibious Warfare

2005-02-07T00:29:00.000-08:00

Judicial organ established in 1959 that is charged with supervising the enforcement of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950; commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights), which was drawn up by the Council of Europe. The convention obligates signatories to guarantee various civil and political freedoms, including

Coraciiform, Similarities to birds of other orders

2005-02-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

The size of the birds of this order and their propensity to take rather large prey bring them into competition with many other species of other groups. It is perhaps instructive to compare certain Old World groups with representatives of different orders in the New World tropics (see above Natural history). The most striking parallel is seen between the toucans

Arts, Islamic, The Umayyad and 'Abbasid dynasties: classical Islamic music

2005-02-06T04:40:00.000-08:00

Under the Umayyad caliphate (661–750) the classical style of Islamic music developed further. The capital was moved to Damascus (in modern Syria) and the courts were thronged with male and female musicians, who formed a class apart. Many prominent musicians were Arab by birth or acculturation, but the alien element continued to play a predominant role in Islamic music. The first

Western Australia

2005-02-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

Chang And Eng

2005-02-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

Chang and Eng, joined at the waist by a tubular band of tissue about 3.25 inches (8 cm) long

Arts, Central Asian, Bactria

2005-02-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

The most Hellenized of these states in western Turkistan and Afghanistan was Bactria. Its fine coinage, for example, was distinctly Hellenistic in style, and Bactrian silversmiths were often influenced as much by Roman as Greek Hellenistic metalwork. Alexander the Great annexed Kabul to Bactria and founded Alexandria-Kapisu, a city astride the Indian caravan