SweetTray

Prestea

2005-03-24T05:31:00.000-08:00

Town, Western Region, southwestern Ghana, West Africa, on the west bank of the Ankobra River, about 60 mi (100 km) northwest of Cape coast. It is linked by railroad with Tarkwa and with Sekondi-Takoradi, both to the southeast. Prestea is a centre of trade for the surrounding agricultural region, which produces rice, cassava, corn (maize), taro, and timber. Industries produce beverages,

Aaron

2005-03-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

Scholars have long been aware that the figure of Aaron as it is now found in the Pentateuch, or first five books of the Old Testament, is built up from several sources or layers of traditions. According to Julius Wellhausen, a German biblical scholar, and his followers, the Yahwist source was the oldest one, followed in order by the Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly

Zoisite

2005-03-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

Silicate mineral, calcium and aluminum silicate, Ca2Al3(SiO4)3OH, characteristic of regional metamorphism and of hydrothermal alteration of igneous rocks. A member of the epidote (q.v.) group of nesosilicates, zoisite occurs as white, green-brown, or gray crystals or masses in crystalline schists, often with amphibole minerals; in metamorphosed calcareous shales; very

Encaustic Painting

2005-03-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

Painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot, liquid wax. After all of the colours have been applied to the painting surface, a heating element is passed over them until the individual brush or spatula marks fuse into a uniform film. This “burning in” of the colours is an essential element of the true encaustic technique. Encaustic wax has many of the properties

Mountain, Tectonic processes that produce high elevations

2005-03-14T00:59:00.000-08:00

As noted above, individual mountains, mountain ranges, mountain belts, and plateaus exist because tectonic processes have elevated terrains faster than erosion could destroy them. High elevations are created by three major processes: volcanism, horizontal crustal shortening as manifested by folding and by faulting, and the heating and thermal expansion of

Subiaco

2005-03-11T19:45:00.000-08:00

Ancient (Latin) Sublaqueum town, Roma provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies along the Aniene River, 1,345 feet (410 m) above sea level, about 45 miles (73 km) east of Rome. Its ancient name recalls its position below three small lakes where the emperor Nero built a villa. An inundation destroyed the lakes in 1305, and only traces remain of the villa. St. Benedict retired as a hermit (c. 494) to a cave, Sacro Speco (“Holy

Metamorphic Rock, Pyroxene-hornfels facies

2005-03-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

Rocks of the pyroxene-hornfels facies are characteristically formed near larger granitic or gabbroic bodies at depths of a few kilometres or at pressures of a few hundred bars. The mineral assemblages are again largely anhydrous, but, unlike the sanidinite facies, the minerals reflect distinctly lower temperatures. One of the classic descriptions of such rocks

Thompson, Francis

2005-03-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Thompson was educated in the Roman Catholic faith at Ushaw College, a seminary in the north of England. He studied medicine at Manchester, but not conscientiously, and went to London to seek a

Orangeburg

2005-03-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

Tacloban

2005-03-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Chartered city, northeastern Leyte, Philippines, on San Pedro Bay at the southern entrance to San Juanico Strait. It is the largest city and distributing centre in the eastern Visayas (Leyte and Samar). A port since 1874, Tacloban has a long deepwater wharf, a bulk petroleum depot, and an airport. Hemp, copra, and lumber are exported, and commercial fishing is important. The city

Sevilla

2005-03-01T01:15:00.000-08:00

, also spelled Seville provincia, one of eight provincias forming the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. The provincia comprises the lower Guadalquivir River valley and has varied relief. It is bordered northwest by the Morena Mountains and south and southeast by the Sub-Baetic ranges of the Algodonales and Yeguas mountains. Between these

Marsh, George Perkins

2005-02-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

Educated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., Marsh developed a successful law practice, but his wide-ranging mind led him into the study of

Turing Test

2005-02-25T01:08:00.000-08:00

There are extreme difficulties in devising any objective criterion for distinguishing “original” thought from sufficiently sophisticated “parroting”; indeed, any evidence for original thought can be denied on the grounds that it

Zaharias, Babe Didrikson

2005-02-23T05:35:00.000-08:00

From 1930 through 1932, Didrikson was a member of the women's All-America basketball team. During the same period she also won eight events and tied in a ninth in national championship competition

Radio Telescope

2005-02-21T13:40:00.000-08:00

The first radio telescope, built

Port Essington

2005-02-20T02:58:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Arafura Sea, indenting the north shore of the Cobourg Peninsula, at the extreme north of the Northern Territory, Australia. About 11 miles (30 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide, it was surveyed in 1818 by Captain Phillip Parker King of the Royal Navy, who named it for Admiral Sir William Essington. In 1824 it was the site of Britain's third attempt to settle the north coast of Australia.

Allen, Phog

2005-02-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Allen succeeded James Naismith, who created the sport, as basketball coach in 1908–09 at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. Allen's Kansas teams of 1920–56 won 771 games and lost 233; his 1951–52 Kansas team won the championship of the National Collegiate Athletic

Zone Melting

2005-02-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of techniques used to purify an element or a compound or control its composition by melting a short region (i.e., zone) and causing this liquid zone to travel slowly through a relatively long ingot, or charge, of the solid. As the zone travels, it redistributes impurities along the charge. The final distribution of the impurity depends on its distribution

Earnhardt, (ralph) Dale, Sr.

2005-02-12T23:49:00.000-08:00

American race-car driver (b. April 29, 1951, Kannapolis, N.C.—d. Feb. 18, 2001, Daytona Beach, Fla.), was one of the most successful stock-car racing drivers in history. He won a total of 76 races in his career, and he captured the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing's (NASCAR's) Winston Cup season points championship seven times—a feat equaled by only one other driver, racing legend Richard

Spaniel

2005-02-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

The cocker spaniel is a small dog standing 14 to 15 inches (36 to 39 centimetres) and weighing 22 to 29 pounds (10 to 13 kilograms). Compact and sturdily built, it has a rounded head, floppy ears, and

Sucellus

2005-02-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Powerful and widely worshiped Celtic god; his iconographic symbols were usually his mallet and libation saucer, indicative of his powers of protection and provision. His Irish equivalent seems to have been the Dagda. Sucellus was possibly one of the Gaulish gods who were equated by Julius Caesar with the Roman god Dis Pater, from whom, according to Caesar, all the

January Insurrection

2005-02-06T10:17:00.000-08:00

After Alexander II became emperor of Russia and king of Poland in 1855, the strict and repressive regime that had been imposed on Poland after the November Insurrection (1830–31) was substantially relaxed. Nevertheless,

Lighter

2005-02-04T08:46:00.000-08:00

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.

Colour Centre

2005-02-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

Defect in the regular spacing of atoms within a solid that absorbs visible light of a particular colour or infrared or ultraviolet radiation. Each colour centre involves the absence of an atom from the place it would normally occupy in the solid and the relation of an electron with such an empty place, or vacancy (q.v.). Solids without colour centres may still have colour

Libya

2005-01-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

The Libyan leadership continued to seek improved international relations with the United States and European Union countries. Diplomatic relations had been restored with all except the United States by the beginning of 2002. The outcome of the Lockerbie trial in January 2001 was unconvincing internationally, unsatisfactory from the point of view of the families of

Onsager, Lars

2005-01-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

His early work in statistical mechanics attracted the attention of the Dutch chemist Peter Debye, under whose direction Onsager studied at the Federal Institute

Chelan, Lake

2005-01-26T04:48:00.000-08:00

Lake, north-central Washington, U.S., extending 55 miles (88 km) through a glacier-carved valley on the eastern edge of the Cascade Range. Lying just outside North Cascades National Park near the confluence of the Methow and Columbia rivers, Lake Chelan is—at a depth of 1,486 feet (453 metres)—the third-deepest lake in the United States. The southeastern end of the lake, where the small towns

Cozumel

2005-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Island, Caribbean Sea, approximately 10 mi (16 km) off the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, in the jurisdiction of Quintana Roo territory. With a total area of 189 sq mi (489 sq km), and measuring 29 mi (46 km) from northeast to southwest and averaging 9 mi (14 km) in width, it is the largest of the islands off the peninsula. Geologically similar to the peninsula, Cozumel is a plain broken

Craigavon

2005-01-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

District and borough, Northern Ireland, established in 1973 from portions of Counties Antrim, Down, and Armagh. It is situated south of Lough (lake) Neagh and is bordered by the districts of Dungannon to the west, Armagh to the southwest, Banbridge to the southeast, and Lisburn to the east. Its administrative seat is Craigavon new town. In the northern part of Craigavon district,

Ben-gurion, David

2005-01-21T04:17:00.000-08:00

Zionist statesman and political leader, the first prime minister (1948–53, 1955–63) and defense minister (1948–53; 1955–63) of Israel. It was Ben-Gurion who, on May 14, 1948, at Tel Aviv, delivered Israel's declaration of independence. His charismatic personality won him the adoration of the masses, and, after his retirement

Ovule

2005-01-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Plant structure that develops into a seed when fertilized. In gymnosperms (conifers and allies) the ovules lie uncovered on the scales of the cone. In angiosperms (flowering plants), one or more ovules are enclosed by the ovary (portion of the carpel, or female reproductive organ). Each ovule is attached by its base to the stalk (funiculus) that bears it. A mature angiosperm

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2005-01-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

To quell a rising in Yemen, the 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun dispatched Ibn Ziyad, who refounded in 820 the southern city of Zabid and became overlord of Yemen, Najran, and Hadhramaut. About a century later, the Najahids—Ethiopian slaves or local Afro-Asians—supplanted the Ziyadids in Zabid; however, though independent, neither dynasty renounced vague 'Abbasid suzerainty. The Banu Ya'fur

Faber, Peter

2005-01-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

French Pierre Lefevre, or Pierre Favre, Latin Petrus Faber French Jesuit theologian and a cofounder of the Society of Jesus, who was tutor and friend of Ignatius Loyola at Paris. He was appointed professor of theology at Rome by Pope Paul III (1537), founded Jesuit colleges at Cologne and in Spain, and was a delegate to the Council of Trent.

John Climacus, Saint

2005-01-12T00:40:00.000-08:00

After entering the monastery of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai c. 600, John withdrew to live as a hermit in a nearby

Hackenschmidt, George

2005-01-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

In Vienna in 1898 Hackenschmidt won the world amateur championship in Greco-Roman wrestling. Turning to professional freestyle wrestling in

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint, Theological treatises

2005-01-09T22:50:00.000-08:00

Scriptum super IV libros Sententiarum (1254–56); De veritate (1256–59); Summa contra gentiles (c. 1258–64; On the Truth of the Catholic Faith, 1955); Summa theologiae (1265 or 1266–73; incomplete); De potentia Dei (1259–68; On the Power of God, 1932–34); De malo (undated; On Free Choice); De spiritualibus creaturis (undated; On Spiritual Creatures, 1949); De anima (undated; The Soul, 1949); De unione Verbi incarnati (undated); De virtutibus (1269–72; On the Virtues in General, 1951).

Keating, Paul

2005-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Growing up in working-class Bankstown, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, Keating left school at age 14. He became involved in trade union activity, drifted into labour politics, and was elected in 1969 to the House of Representatives at age

K.c.b.

2005-01-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

Knight commander of the Bath, member of the second highest rank of knightly class in a British order of knighthood. See Bath, The Most Honourable Order of the.

Conservatism

2005-01-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

The term conservatism, although it has had different implications in varying historical and geographical contexts, is best reserved to denote a preference for institutions and practices that have evolved historically and that are thus

Duala

2004-12-31T23:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Douala, Bantu-speaking people of the forest region of southern Cameroon living on the estuary of the Wouri River. By 1800 the Duala controlled Cameroon's trade with Europeans, and their concentrated settlement pattern developed under this influence. Their system of chieftaincy was partly founded on trading wealth. For much of the 19th century there were two political–commercial

Kamina

2004-12-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). The town is an important centre on the Lubumbashi-Ilebo rail line at the junction of branch lines northward to Kindu and to Kalemie, a port with connections to eastern Africa. The town has air services to Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, and Kananga. Kamina is also the site of a military air base. A nearby dam on the Lovoi River supplies electricity

Nephroblastoma

2004-12-27T02:13:00.000-08:00

Also called embryoma , or Wilms' tumour malignant renal (kidney) tumour of early childhood. In 75 percent of the cases, the tumour grows before the age of five; about two-thirds of the instances are apparent by two years of age. The tumour grows rapidly and can approach the weight of the rest of the body. It rarely appears in adults. In its early stages the nephroblastoma causes no symptoms. Later, symptoms may indicate

National Art Gallery

2004-12-26T03:53:00.000-08:00

In Wellington, N.Z., national collection of paintings by New Zealand and European artists and portraits of prominent New Zealand figures. The gallery grew out of the city's first public art gallery, opened in 1907 by the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. The basis for the original collection was a group of paintings purchased in England in 1906–07 and another group purchased at the

Chromium Processing

2004-12-24T23:29:00.000-08:00

Chromium (Cr) is a brilliant, hard, refractory metal that melts at 1,857° C (3,375° F) and boils at 2,672° C (4,842° F). In the pure state, it is resistant to ordinary corrosion, resulting in its application as an electroplated protective coating for other metals. It dissolves in nonoxidizing mineral acids but not in aqua regia or nitric acid, which passivate

Offenbach, Jacques

2004-12-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

He was the son of a cantor at the Cologne Synagogue, Isaac Juda Eberst, who had been born at Offenbach am Main. The father was known as “Der Offenbacher,” and the composer was known only

Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseyevich

2004-12-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

At the age of 14, less than two years after he had learned the moves of chess, Botvinnik defeated the then-current world champion, José Raúl Capablanca, in one game of an exhibition in which

Romancero

2004-12-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

It was once thought that they were the source

Jackson, Mercy Ruggles Bisbe

2004-12-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

Mercy Ruggles received what was for the time a good education. In June 1823 she married the Reverend John Bisbe, with whom she moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and later to Portland, Maine. After his death in 1829, she supported herself

Pyramid Texts

2004-12-13T04:55:00.000-08:00

Collection of Egyptian mortuary prayers, hymns, and spells intended to protect a dead king or queen and ensure life and sustenance in the hereafter. The texts, inscribed on the walls of the inner chambers of the pyramids, are found at Saqqarah in several 5th- and 6th-dynasty pyramids, of which that of Unas, last king of the 5th dynasty, is the earliest known. The texts constitute

Carthage

2004-12-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Hancock county, western Illinois, U.S., near the Mississippi River. Laid out in 1833 and named for the ancient North African city, the community was hostile to the Mormons who had settled at nearby Nauvoo. On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and his brother Hyrum, who were in the Carthage City Jail awaiting trial on charges of treason, were shot to death

Piazzi, Giuseppe

2004-12-09T22:59:00.000-08:00

Piazzi became a Theatine monk in about 1764 and a professor of theology in Rome in 1779, and in 1780 he was appointed professor of higher mathematics at the Academy of Palermo. Later, with the aid of the viceroy of Sicily,

González Márquez, Felipe

2004-12-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

Spanish lawyer and Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español; PSOE) politician who was prime minister of Spain from 1982 to 1996. During his four terms in office, he consolidated Spain's fledgling democracy, oversaw continued economic growth, and brought Spain into the European Community (EC; now commonly called the European

France, History Of

2004-12-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

From the 9th to the 11th century the peoples and lands dominated by west Frankish kings were transformed. The Carolingian protectorate of local order collapsed under the pressures of external invasions and internal usurpations of power. Growing populations and quickening economies were reorganized in principalities whose leaders struggled to carry on the

Aelfric

2004-12-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

Anglo-Saxon prose writer, considered the greatest of his time. He wrote both to instruct the monks and to spread the learning of the 10th-century monastic revival. His Catholic Homilies, written in 990–992, provided orthodox sermons, based on the Church Fathers. He also wrote a Latin grammar, hence his nickname Grammaticus, and Lives of the Saints.

Ghazan, Mahmud

2004-12-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

Ghazan's early childhood was spent largely in the company of his grandfather, the Il-Khan Abagha (1265–82), and he was brought up in the Buddhist faith that both his father and his grandfather professed. Upon his father's accession to the throne in 1284, Ghazan was appointed viceroy of the provinces of northeastern Persia, where he resided for the next 10 years and defended the frontier against

Bel Fruit

2004-11-29T19:55:00.000-08:00

Bel also spelled Bael, also called Bengal Quince (species Aegle marmelos), fruit of the bel tree of the family Rutaceae, found wild or cultivated throughout India. The trees bear strong spines; alternate, compound leaves, each with three leaflets; and panicles of sweet-scented white flowers. The tree is valued for its fruit, which is oblong to pyriform in shape and 50–250 mm (2–10 inches) in diameter. The fruit has a gray or yellow rind

Ariel

2004-11-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

The first international cooperative Earth satellite, launched April 26, 1962, as a joint project of agencies of the United States and the United Kingdom. Design, construction, telemetry, and launching of the 14.5-kilogram (32-lb) satellite was handled in the United States by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The United Kingdom was responsible for designing the

Sothern, Ann

2004-11-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

American actress (b. Jan. 22, 1909, Valley City, N.D.—d. March 15, 2001, Ketchum, Idaho), achieved fame with her roles in films that included Maisie (1939) and Lady Be Good (1941) and as the star of the 1950s television series Private Secretary. Sothern began her film career after performing in Broadway musicals. Her success in the title role of Maisie led to a series of films that included Maisie Was a Lady (1941) and Undercover

Vahana

2004-11-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

Some scholars understand the concept as a way of incorporating

Sunbury

2004-11-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Victoria, Australia, on the road and rail route between Bendigo and the state capital, Melbourne, 24 miles (39 km) to the southeast. The Aboriginal name for the area was Koora Kooracup, but, when a gold rush to Bendigo began in 1851, a hotel (built on Jacksons Creek to house travelers to the goldfield) was named Sunbury, after Sunbury, Middlesex, England; the town took

Pribilof Islands

2004-11-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Fur Seal Islands, islands of Alaska, U.S., including St. Paul (35 square miles [91 square km]), St. George (27 square miles), and two islets lying in the Bering Sea, about 300 miles (500 km) west of the mainland and 180 miles north of the Aleutian Islands. The islands were first visited in 1786 by Gavril Pribylov, a Russian sea captain, who discovered their fur seal rookeries. Control of the islands was transferred from Russia

Gahn, Johan Gottlieb

2004-11-18T23:00:00.000-08:00

Swedish mineralogist and crystallographer who discovered manganese in 1774. His failure to win fame may be related to the fact that he published little. He saved the notes, papers, and letters of his friend Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who discovered chlorine, but not his own. His essays on the balance and use of the blowpipe in analysis

Jackson, A.v. Williams

2004-11-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Jackson became an instructor at Columbia University soon after receiving his Ph.D. (1886). During a leave of absence in Europe, he continued to study Sanskrit,

Brecht, Bertolt

2004-11-13T00:30:00.000-08:00

Until 1924 Brecht lived in Bavaria, where he was born, studied medicine (Munich, 1917–21), and served in an army hospital (1918). From this period date his

Beinum, Eduard (alexander) Van

2004-11-12T11:04:00.000-08:00

At 17 van Beinum entered the Amsterdam Conservatory after a year of playing in the string section of the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra. A series of minor appointments led to conductorships of the Haarlem Orchestra and Haarlem Roman Catholic

Bradley, Edward R.

2004-11-10T01:09:00.000-08:00

As a student at Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania), Bradley worked his way into broadcasting by volunteering at Philadelphia radio station WDAS-FM. After graduating with a degree in education (B.S., 1964), Bradley became an elementary schoolteacher but continued to work

Fibrocystic Disease

2004-11-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

Fibrocystic disease of the breast, also called chronic cystic mastitis, or cystic disease of the breast, most often occurs in women between the ages of 30 and 50. It is characterized by benign, noncancerous

Bujalance

2004-11-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

City, Córdoba provincia, in Andalusia comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), southern Spain, located 24 miles (39 km) east of Córdoba city. There is evidence in Bujalance of early Roman occupation. The ancient city was also the site of a seven-towered castle built in 935 by 'Abd ar-Rahman III, the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad (Arab Muslim) dynasty of Spain; the castle's

Abbess

2004-11-03T11:51:00.000-08:00

To be elected, an abbess must be at least 40 years old and a professed nun for at least 10 years. She is solemnly blessed

Canaan Dog

2004-11-01T02:53:00.000-08:00

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

López De Ayala, Pedro

2004-10-30T04:23:00.000-07:00

Ayala had a long and distinguished civil

Arabia, History Of, The Wahhabis

2004-10-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

The Ottomans, clinging to the Hejaz for religious prestige and claiming to be custodians of the Holy Cities, had little power outside their garrisons in those cities and along the pilgrim route. The bribes they gave the nomads for allowing the caravans to pass, and the need to keep food subsidies for Mecca and Medina, however, prevented their expulsion.

Burdigalian Stage

2004-10-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

In France the Burdigalian Stage is represented by rocks, especially shell beds, produced by a continuing transgression

Wansbeck

2004-10-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

District, administrative and historic county of Northumberland, northern England, along the North Sea in the southeastern part of the county. Wansbeck spans a narrow coastal plain edging the Northumberland uplands to the west. Its three principal towns (Ashington, Bedlington, and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea) suffered economic decline in the 1960s and '70s because of the loss of

Land Of Ten Thousand Sinks

2004-10-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

In west-central Kentucky, U.S., area of numerous sinkholes and caves in the Pennyrile (or Pennyroyal) region. The area includes the interconnected caves of Mammoth Cave National Park and Flint Ridge Cave System. Abundant surface and underground water together with limestones deposited during the Early Carboniferous Epoch (360 to 320 million years ago) have combined to create

Biblical Literature, The modern period

2004-10-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Following a line marked out earlier by the Spanish philosopher and poet Moses ibn Ezra (1060–1139), Benedict de Spinoza (1632–77) put forward a thoroughgoing reappraisal of the traditional account of the origin of the Pentateuch in his Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1679). In the following century the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala) brought a fresh appreciation of the Bible as literature.

Hinterland

2004-10-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

George G. Chisholm (Handbook of Commercial Geography, 1888) transcribed the German word hinterland (land in back of), as hinderland, and used it to refer to the backcountry of a port or coastal settlement. Chisholm continued to use hinderland in subsequent editions

Amazon

2004-10-17T02:07:00.000-07:00

In Greek mythology, member of a race of women warriors. The story of the Amazons probably originated as a variant of a tale recurrent in many cultures, that of a distant land organized oppositely from one's own. The ascribed habitat of the Amazons necessarily became more remote as Greek geographic knowledge developed. When the Black Sea was colonized by Greeks, it

Systems Engineering

2004-10-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

Systems engineering is not so much a branch of engineering as it is a technique for applying knowledge from other branches of engineering and disciplines of science in effective combination

Paarl

2004-10-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

Town, Western Cape province, South Africa, east of Cape Town, on the Groot-Berg River between the Paarl Mountain and the Drakenstein Range. Settled in 1688 by Huguenots, who introduced viticulture, it is still known for its vineyards and wine making; it also produces citrus fruits, tobacco, and olives. Manufactures include cigarettes, textiles, and processed foods. Paarl is

Togo, German occupation

2004-10-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

German missionaries arrived in Ewe territory in 1847, and German traders were soon established at Anécho. In 1884 Gustav Nachtigal, sent by the German government, induced a number of coastal chiefs to accept German protection. The protectorate was recognized in 1885, and its coastal frontiers with Dahomey and the Gold Coast were defined by treaties with France and Great Britain.

Abbott, Berenice

2004-10-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Abbott studied briefly at Ohio State University before moving in 1918 to New York City, where she explored sculpture and drawing on her own for four years. She continued these pursuits

Lupino Family

2004-10-06T22:09:00.000-07:00

The earliest traceable Lupino—who spelled his name Luppino—flourished probably in Italy, c. 1612, and billed himself as Signor Luppino. His descendant, George William (1632–93), a singer, reciter, and puppet master, went to England as a political refugee. His son, George Charles (1662–1725), was a performer and puppeteer at the age of eight. After

Gyllenstierna, Johan, Greve

2004-10-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

From the beginning of his career (at the Riksdag, or Parliament, of 1660), Gyllenstierna advocated a strong royal authority and opposition to the nobles of the Riksråd (Council of the Realm). During Charles XI's minority, an opposition group in the regency and in the council

Carnivore, Importance to humans

2004-10-02T03:52:00.000-07:00

The raccoon is the only procyonid of major economic significance. Raccoon hunting has been a sport of substantial importance in the United States, and in some parts of the United States many people own dogs trained to hunt raccoons. The coatimundi also is hunted with dogs and its flesh is also eaten. Meat of the raccoon is in more demand as food than that of any other

Amphitheatre

2004-09-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

Also spelled amphitheater freestanding building of round or, more often, oval shape with a central area, the arena, and seats concentrically placed around it. The word is Greek, meaning “theatre with seats on all sides,” but as an architectural form the amphitheatre is of Italic or Etrusco-Campanian origin and reflects the requirements of the specific forms of entertainment that these people

Levnî, Abdülcelil

2004-09-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

He went as a young man to Constantinople, where he studied at the academy of painting at the Topkapi Palace. He later became chief court painter to the Ottoman sultan Mustafa II, and he probably held the same post under the successor

Atherton, Gertrude

2004-09-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

Gertrude Horn grew up in a prosperous neighbourhood of her native San Francisco until her parents' divorce and thereafter mainly on the San Jose ranch of her maternal grandfather, under whose stern discipline she was introduced to serious literature.

Zhou Yang

2004-09-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Zhou joined the Chinese Communist Party soon after the failure of the revolution in 1927. A graduate of Ta-hsia University in Shanghai in 1928, he went to Japan for advanced study in 1929. Upon returning to China in 1931 he became one of the leaders

Qodashim

2004-09-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

(Hebrew: “Holy Things”), the fifth of the six major divisions, or orders (sedarim), of the Mishna (codification of Jewish oral laws), which was given its final form early in the 3rd century AD by Judah ha-Nasi. Qodashim deals primarily with rites and sacrifices that took place in the Temple of Jerusalem, which was destroyed in AD 70 by Roman legions and never rebuilt. The 11 tractates (treatises)

Overbeck, Johann Friedrich

2004-09-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

In 1806 Overbeck entered the Academy of Vienna, where, disappointed in the academic approach to teaching, he and Franz Pforr in 1809 founded the Lucas Brotherhood. They sought to revive

Aquarium

2004-09-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

The design of a large aquarium must take into account the requirements of the specimens, especially since exhibits at modern aquariums include all types of aquatic organisms: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates as well as fishes. Among the many factors that must be considered are traffic flow patterns of visitors, reflections off glass, acoustics,

Yampa River

2004-09-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

River, in the western United States, rising in the White River National Forest of northwestern Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains. Draining an area of approximately 9,500 square miles (24,600 square km) in south-central Wyoming and northwestern Colorado, the river flows north past Steamboat Springs, then turns west to flow through Yampa Canyon (about 1,600 feet [490 metres] deep) in Dinosaur

Asturias

2004-09-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

Asturias was an independent Christian kingdom between 718 and 910 and was formed by Visigothic nobles and officials

Performing Arts, Canada.

2004-09-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

Unusually, one of the most highly profiled North American films of the year was a documentary, Michael Moore's devastating study of American gun culture, Bowling for Columbine. With Ararat, Atom Egoyan investigated the Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915 through the eyes of a filmmaker (played by Charles Aznavour) researching a film. In Spider, David Cronenberg abandoned

Nagaland

2004-09-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

Verrier Elwin, Nagaland (1961); Prakash Singh, Nagaland, 3rd ed., rev. (1981); and Murkot Ramunny, The World of Nagas (1988), are overviews. Majid Husain, Nagaland: Habitat, Society, and Shifting Cultivation (1988), discusses the human geography of the area. On the people, see Julian Jacobs, The Nagas: Hill Peoples of Northeast India (1990). Swabera Islam Saleh, Nagaland's Economy in Transition Since 1964 (1989), examines economic developments. Hokishe Sema, Emergence of Nagaland (1986), is authored by a former chief minister of the state. B.B. Ghosh, History of Nagaland (1982), provides a brief historical survey of the region. M. Horam, Naga Insurgency: The Last Thirty Years (1988), is a personal account of the Naga Underground Movement.

Anderlecht

2004-09-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

A natural clearing in the primitive forest where foundations of a Roman villa and Frankish cemeteries have been found, Anderlecht is believed to be the original site of what is now

Athanasius I

2004-09-04T03:29:00.000-07:00

A monk who emigrated to a monastery in the hallowed region of Mt. Athos,

France, History Of, A republic in crisis

2004-09-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

By the spring of 1793, however, the republic was beleaguered. In the second round of the war, the coalition—now reinforced by Spain, Piedmont, and Britain—routed French forces in the Austrian Netherlands and the Rhineland and breached the Pyrenees. Fighting on five different fronts and bereft of effective leadership, French armies seemed to be losing everywhere. Even General

Gabon

2004-08-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Officially Gabonese Republic, French Gabon, or République Gabonaise, country lying on the west coast of Africa, astride the Equator, with a total area estimated at 103,347 square miles (267,667 square kilometres). It is bordered by Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west; the island state of São Tomé and Príncipe is situated off the coast. Gabon's capital is Libreville.