Alkmaar

The English missionaries Willibrord and Adalbert preached Christianity in the district in the 8th century. A fishing village in the 10th century, Alkmaar (meaning “all marsh,” or “all sea”) was chartered in 1254 and was the capital of Kennemerland,

Paulus, Friedrich

After serving in World War I and as a staff officer early in World War II, Paulus became deputy chief

Malanje

Also spelled  Malange,   town, north-central Angola. The town developed in the mid-19th century as an important feira (open-air market) on the country's principal plateau, between Luanda, now the national capital, 250 miles (400 km) to the west and the Kwango valley, inhabited by the Mbundu people, 125 miles (200 km) to the east. Situated at an elevation of 4,373 feet (1,333 m), the town has a high-altitude tropical climate. The environs

Asteridae

The Asteridae, one of the six subclasses in the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons), consists of 11 orders, 49 families, and nearly 60,000 species. About one-third of the species of Asteridae belong to the family Asteraceae (of the order Asterales), which is the largest family of dicotyledons and one of the two largest

Widener, Peter A.b.

The son of poor parents, Widener began his working career as a butcher, eventually establishing a successful chain of meat stores. At the same time, he became active in Philadelphia politics, rising to the position of city treasurer in 1873. Later, making good use of his political

Gsung-'bum

The writings of the lamas include commentaries on Indian texts together with essays on

Tea Olive

Any plant of the genus Osmanthus in the family Oleaceae, often grown for its fragrant flowers and shining, evergreen foliage. There are more than 30 species, native to eastern North America, Mexico, southeastern Asia, Hawaii, and New Caledonia. Sweet olive, or sweet osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans), a 10-metre (33-foot) tree, produces an edible fruit. Its leaves, used to perfume tea, hide

Great Eastern

Steamship considered to be the prototype of the modern ocean liner. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Scott Russell for the Eastern Navigation Company to carry cargo and passengers between England and India, it was the largest ship in the world at the time of its launching (1858), displacing 32,160 tons and measuring 692 feet (211 metres) overall. It had a projected speed of

Rousseau, Jean-baptiste

The son of a poor cobbler, Rousseau as a young man showed a talent for satiric verse. He later attempted to produce several of his plays, becoming involved in a series of disputes and exchanges of insults with detractors and critics.

Ashtabula

City, Ashtabula county, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It lies along Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, 65 miles (105 km) northeast of Cleveland. The site was settled in 1801; its name, of Algonquian Indian origin, possibly means “river of many fish” and was applied to the township (1808). In the 1850s Hubbard Homestead and other houses in the city were stations on the Underground Railroad, an escape

Low Comedy

Dramatic or literary entertainment with no underlying purpose except to provoke laughter by boasting, boisterous jokes, drunkenness, scolding, fighting, buffoonery, and other riotous activity. Used either alone or added as comic relief to more serious forms, low comedy has origins in the comic improvisations of actors in ancient Greek and Roman comedy. Low comedy

Paedogenesis

Also spelled  Pedogenesis,   reproduction by sexually mature larvae, usually without fertilization. The young may be eggs, such as are produced by Miastor, a genus of gall midge flies, or other larval forms, as in the case of some flukes. This form of reproduction is distinct from neotenic reproduction in its parthenogenetic nature (i.e., no fertilization occurs) and the eventual maturation or metamorphosis

Bates, Marston

After several years of fieldwork, Bates received his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1934. From 1937 to 1952 he served on the staff of the International Division of the Rockefeller Foundation

Extraterritoriality

Also called  Exterritoriality, or Diplomatic Immunity,   in international law, the immunities enjoyed by foreign states or international organizations and their official representatives from the jurisdiction of the country in which they are present. Extraterritoriality extends to foreign states or international organizations as entities and to their heads, legations, troops in passage, war vessels, mission premises,

Adam And Eve

In the Bible, there are two accounts of their creation. According to the Priestly (P) history of the 5th or 6th century BC (Genesis 1:1–2:4), God on the sixth day of Creation created all the living creatures and, “in his own image,” man both “male and female.” God then blessed the couple, told them

Dozy, Reinhart Pieter (anne)

Dutch Arabist, best remembered for his monumental Histoire des musulmans d'Espagne, jusqu'à la conquête de l'Andalousie par les Almoravides, 711–1110 (1861; Spanish Islam, 1913). Dozy, of French Huguenot ancestry, spent 33 years (from 1850) as professor of history at the University of Leiden. His history, a graphically written account of Moorish dominion in Spain that

Melanesian Culture

The beliefs and practices of those indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands grouped as Melanesia. The islands include (generally from west to east) the island of New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, and the Bismarck and Louisiade archipelagoes; the Solomon Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands; New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands; Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides); Fiji;

Anthropology And Archaeology, Western Hemisphere.

Recent archaeological discoveries continued in 1999 to shed light on the first Americans and pre-Columbian civilizations and also on more recent American history. In regard to the latter, English colonist Mistress Ann Forest, wife of Thomas Forest, arrived at Jamestown, Va., in 1608 with her husband but died within a year. She and her maid were the only two women at Jamestown

Cabrera, Lydia

The daughter of Cuban historian Raimundo Cabrera, Lydia Cabrera was told African folk legends by her nanny and the household servants during her childhood.

Agoracritus

Greek sculptor said to have been the favourite pupil of Phidias. His most renowned work is the statue of Nemesis at Rhamnous, Greece, part of the head of which is in the British Museum, while fragments of the pedestal reliefs are in Athens.

Earth, The magnetopause current

Farther still from the Earth, at about 10 Re along the Earth–Sun line, is yet another current system that affects the surface field and profoundly changes the nature of the Earth's field in space. This system is called the magnetopause current, or Chapman-Ferraro current system after the English physicist Sydney Chapman and his student V.C.A. Ferraro who first suggested

Agricultural Technology

Application of techniques to control the growth and harvesting of animal and vegetable products.

Leo

(Latin: Lion), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Cancer and Virgo, at about 10 hours 30 minutes right ascension (the coordinate of the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 15° north declination (angular distance north of the celestial equator). Regulus (Alpha Leonis), the brightest star, is of the first magnitude. The November meteor shower

Sacramento

City, capital of California, U.S., seat (1850) of Sacramento county, in the Central Valley, where the Sacramento and American rivers meet. John Augustus Sutter established the colony of New Helvetia in 1839 on the site, a Mexican land grant, and between 1840 and 1842 built a palisaded trading post known as Sutter's Fort. His community, initially populated by fellow Swiss immigrants, prospered

Talbot, William Henry Fox

English chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and pioneer photographer. He is best known for his development of the calotype (q.v.), an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of the French inventor L.-J.-M. Daguerre. Talbot's calotypes involved the use of a photographic

Murger, Henri

The son of a concierge and a tailor, Murger left school at 13. Later he became secretary to Count Aleksey Tolstoy and was able to improve his education. He began writing poems and became part of the bohemian life in Paris, but he was often destitute and his health deteriorated. Both

Balao

Oil port, northwestern Ecuador, on the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Esmeraldas city. Its development is entirely due to its choice as the terminus for the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline, built 1970–72 to exploit the rich petroleum deposits of Ecuador's Napo province, in El Oriente region, the tropical rainforest of the headwaters of the Amazon east of the Andes. Balao's terminal, opened

Steamer Duck

(genus Tachyeres), any of four species of heavily built, big-billed sea ducks of southernmost South America and the Falkland Islands. The bird is named for its habit of running across the water with wings thrashing like a paddle-wheel steamboat. Of the four species, T. pteneres, T. brachypterus, and T. leucocephalus are flightless and a bit larger than the mallard-size flying

Insurance, Group life insurance

Under group life insurance an employer signs a master contract with the insurance company outlining the provisions of the plan. Each employee receives a certificate that gives evidence of participation in the plan. The amount of insurance depends on the employee's salary or job classification; usually the employer pays a portion of the premium and the employee

Holocaust Remembrance Days

Although Jews were the first group to seek a fitting commemoration

Faber, Frederick William

Faber was elected fellow of University College, Oxford, in 1837. Originally a Calvinist, he became a disciple of John Henry Newman (later cardinal) and, in 1843, was appointed rector of Elton, Huntingdonshire. He converted

Location Theory

In economics and geography, theory concerned with the geographic location of economic activity; it has become an integral part of economic geography, regional science, and spatial economics. Location theory addresses the questions of what economic activities are located where and why. The location of economic activities can be determined on a broad level such

Land Crab

Any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region. All species feed on both animal and plant tissue. Cardisoma guanhumi, a land crab of Bermuda, the West Indies, and the southern

F-14

The F-14 is equipped with variable-geometry

Xylophone

(from Greek xylon and phone: “wood” and “sound”), percussion instrument consisting of a set of graduated, tuned wooden bars supported at nodal (nonvibrating) points and struck with padded mallets. The xylophone possibly originated in Southeast Asia or Oceania and today exists in forms as simple as two

Indian Evidence Act

Act passed by the British Parliament in 1872 that set forth the rules of evidence admissible in Indian courts and that had far-reaching consequences for the traditional systems of caste government in India. Since ancient times, the way of resolving intracaste disputes had been by discussing the grievances in open meetings of the caste council. All information that

Courante

Also spelled  Courant  (from Latin currere, “to run”), court dance for couples, prominent in the late 16th century and fashionable in aristocratic European ballrooms, especially in France and England, for the next 200 years. It reputedly originated as an Italian folk dance with running steps. As a court dance it was performed with small, back-and-forth, springing steps, later subdued to stately glides.

Saba

Island of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Sint Eustatius, with which it forms the northwestern termination of the inner volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles. Saba has an area of 5 square miles (13 square km) and is actually the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Scenery (2,910 feet [887 m]), surrounded by sea cliffs. It is windward with respect to

Chrestien, Florent

The son of Guillaume Chrestien, an eminent physician and writer on physiology, he became a pupil of Henri Estienne, the Hellenist, at an early age. Later, he was appointed tutor to Henry of Navarre, afterward Henry IV of France, who made him his librarian.

Allston, Washington

Painter and author, commonly held to be the first important American Romantic painter. Allston is known for his experiments with dramatic subject matter and his use of light and atmospheric colour. Although his production was small, it shaped future American landscape

Jupiter, Other satellites

The only other Jovian satellite that was close enough to the trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to allow surface features to be seen was Amalthea. So small that its gravitational field is not strong enough to deform it into a sphere, it has an irregular, oblong shape (see Table). Like Io, its surface exhibits a reddish colour that may result from a coating of sulfur

Giotto Di Bondone

The most important Italian painter of the 14th century, whose works point to the innovations of the Renaissance style that developed a century later. For almost seven centuries Giotto has been revered as the father of European painting and the first of the great Italian masters. He is believed to have been a pupil of the

General

Title and rank of a senior army officer, usually one who commands units larger than a regiment or its equivalent or units consisting of more than one arm of the service. Frequently, however, a general is a staff officer who does not command troops but who plans their operations in the field. General, lieutenant general, and major general are the first, second, and third

Jordan, Relief and drainage

The desert is mostly within the Syrian (or North Arabian) Desert and occupies the eastern and southern parts of the country, comprising more than four-fifths of its territory.

Moll Cutpurse

London-born, she began her career as a pickpocket, or cutpurse, but after being caught four times, she assumed male attire and turned to highway robbery, until she was apprehended and jailed briefly at Newgate. She then achieved a

Lignum Vitae

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

Carlsbad

City, seat (1889) of Eddy county, southeastern New Mexico, U.S. It lies on the right bank of the Pecos River. Founded in 1887 and first known as Eddy (for its founder Charles B. Eddy), it was renamed in 1899 for the European spa of Carlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic), because of nearby mineral springs that reputedly had the same mineral content as that of their namesake. The centre (since

Seti I

In the early years of his reign, Seti led his army northward to restore Egyptian prestige, which had been partly lost during the troubled years of the late 18th dynasty. He battled in northern Palestine