PhysicalRock

France, History Of, The Age of Louis XIV

2005-04-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Albert N. Hamscher, The Parlement of Paris After the Fronde, 1653–1673 (1976), and The Conseil Privé and the Parlements in the Age of Louis XIV: A Study in French Absolutism (1987), provide good introductions to the period. Roger Mettam, Power and Faction in Louis XIV's France (1988); and Roger Mettam (ed.), Government and Society in Louis XIV's France (1977), analyze the political structure. Eugene L. Asher, The Resistance to the Maritime Classes: The Survival of Feudalism in the France of Colbert (1960, reprinted 1980); Charles Woosley Cole, Colbert and a Century of French Mercantilism, 2 vol. (1939, reissued 1964); Thomas J. Schaeper, The French Council of Commerce, 1700–1715: A Study of Mercantilism After Colbert (1983); and Herbert Lüthy, La Banque protestante en France: de la révocation de l'Edit de Nantes à la Révolution, 2 vol. (1959–61, reprinted 1970), discuss the developing economic system. See also Warren C. Scoville, The Persecution of Huguenots and French Economic Development, 1680–1720 (1960), important in assessing the effects of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Pierre Goubert, Louis XIV and Twenty Million Frenchmen (1970, originally published in French, 1966), provides a synthesis of Louis's reign; it is supplemented in such special accounts as Lionel Rothkrug, Opposition to Louis XIV: The Political and Social Origins of the French Enlightenment (1965); John C. Rule (ed.), Louis XIV and the Craft of Kingship (1969); Louis André, Louis XIV et l'Europe (1950), on foreign policy; and John B. Wolf, Louis XIV (1968).

Charles, Ray

2005-04-04T04:20:00.000-07:00

When Charles was an infant his family moved to Greenville, Florida, and he

Eye Disease

2005-04-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

This article briefly describes the more common diseases of the eye and its associated structures, and the methods used in examination and diagnosis; it also indicates the treatment and prognosis. The first part deals with conditions affecting the orbit, lids, and external eye, and the second with

Boise

2005-04-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

Boise was named by early 19th-century French-Canadian trappers for the tree-lined river (French boisé, “wooded

Robert, Shaaban

2005-04-02T18:50:00.000-08:00

Popular Swahili writer, Robert was the product of two cultures—his father was a Christian, but Shaaban returned to Islam. His work ranges from poetry to essay and didactic tale, influenced in style by the Oriental tradition. Many poems follow the form of utendi verse (used for narration and didactic themes),

Harai

2005-04-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Harae, Barai, or Barae, in Japanese religion, any of numerous Shinto purification ceremonies. Harai rites, and similar misogi exercises using water, cleanse the individual so that he may approach a deity or sacred power (kami). Salt, water, and fire are the principal purificatory agents. Many of the rites, such as bathing in cold water, are traditionally explained as the method used by Izanagi

Rhythmic Mode

2005-04-01T05:21:00.000-08:00

Rhythmic organization in triple patterns underlying all polyphonic (many-voiced) music of the late 12th and 13th centuries, beginning with the descant sections of two-part organa of the Notre-Dame school in Paris and culminating in the multilingual motets of the 13th century; the latter forms feature two or three rhythmic modes simultaneously in different parts of the

Jam Master Jay

2005-03-31T22:15:00.000-08:00

American rap musician and producer (b. Jan. 21, 1965, New York, N.Y.—d. Oct. 30, 2002, New York City), was a member of Run-D.M.C., the first rap group to attract a worldwide audience. Jam Master Jay teamed with Joe (“Run”) Simmons and Darryl (“D.M.C.”) McDaniels to form the group in the early 1980s. The trio's debut album, Run-D.M.C. (1984), featuring the hit singles “It's like That” and “Sucker MCs,” became the first rap album to attain gold

Felony And Misdemeanour

2005-03-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

U.S. jurisdictions generally distinguish between felonies and misdemeanours. A class of minor offenses that may be described as petty offenses or quasi-crimes is also recognized. These last offenses are created by local ordinance, and the requirement of trial

Midfa'i, Jamil Al-

2005-03-30T05:40:00.000-08:00

Midfa'i attended the engineering college in Istanbul and became an artillery officer in the Turkish Army, from which he deserted in 1916 to join the Arab forces that had risen in revolt in Arabia under the direction of Sharif Husayn. Later, from a base in Syria, Midfa'i launched raids into Iraq, where there was considerable

Twelve, The

2005-03-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Also called The Twelve Prophets, or The Minor Prophets, book of the Hebrew Bible that contains the books of 12 minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. In most other versions of the Old Testament, each of these 12 is treated as a separate book (e.g., the Book of Hosea), but in the Hebrew Bible they are consolidated into one book that is the last of eight books in the second

Magnus Vi

2005-03-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

Magnus succeeded his father, Haakon IV Haakonsson, in 1263 and quickly made peace with the Scottish king Alexander

Siberut Island

2005-03-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Siberut , also spelled Siberoet largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles (110 km) long. Its terrain is generally low, rising to about 1,260 feet (384 m) in the western portion. Rainfall is heavy, and the

Biblical Literature, On Western civilization

2005-03-27T01:26:00.000-08:00

The Bible brought its view of God, the universe, and mankind into all the leading Western languages and thus into the intellectual processes of Western man. The Greek translation of the Old Testament made it accessible in the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BCE–c. 300 CE) and provided a language for the New Testament and for the Christian liturgy and theology of the first three centuries.

Hayes, Helen

2005-03-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

At the behest of her mother, a touring stage performer, Hayes attended dancing class as a youngster, and, from 1905 to 1909, she performed with the Columbia Players. At age nine, she made her Broadway debut as Little Mimi in the Victor Herbert operetta

Lea, River

2005-03-25T20:54:00.000-08:00

River rising north of Luton in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It flows for 46 miles (74 km) east and then south to enter the River Thames near Bromley-by-Bow, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. In the 17th century an important aqueduct known as the New River was constructed in the valley of the Lea. Much of the valley has seen considerable industrial development, and many

Ogilvy, David

2005-03-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ogilvy was the son of a classics scholar and broker, but financial reverses left the family in straitened circumstance when he was a boy. Nonetheless, he earned scholarships

Davenport

2005-03-23T19:24:00.000-08:00

In modern usage, a large upholstered settee, but in the 18th century a compact desk having deep drawers on the right side and dummy drawer fronts on the left side. The sloping top of the davenport concealed a fitted well, the front of which protruded beyond the drawers and was supported by a pair of columns on a base, or plinth. The back of the writing area was normally flat

Profit

2005-03-23T02:51:00.000-08:00

In business usage, the excess of total revenue over total cost during a specific period of time. In economics, profit is the excess over the returns to capital, land, and labour (interest, rent, and wages). To the economist, much of what is classified in business usage as profit consists of the implicit wages of manager-owners, the implicit rent on land owned by the firm, and

Sculpture, Western, Georgia

2005-03-22T06:22:00.000-08:00

A distinct Georgian sculptural tradition did not emerge until the advent of Christianity, which stimulated a demand for a large number of carved stone reliefs. The earliest of these were based on Early Christian models. In the 8th and 9th centuries the high-relief figures of Early Christian art gave way to figures rendered in wholly linear fashion. In the 10th and 11th centuries

Lok Sabha

2005-03-22T03:46:00.000-08:00

(Hindi: “House of the People”), the lower chamber of India's bicameral parliament. Under the constitution of 1950, it is elected for a term of five years by universal suffrage for citizens 18 and older. Members are elected directly from territorial constituencies in the states. In the early 1990s the Lok Sabha had 543 elected members; 13 of these represented the union territories. Two additional

Ibsen, Henrik (johan)

2005-03-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Ibsen was born at Skien, a small

Orléans, Louis-philippe-joseph, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-03-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

The cousin of King Louis XVI (ruled 1774–92) and the son of Louis-Philippe (later duc d'Orléans), he became duc de Chartres in 1752 and succeeded to his father's title in 1785. Orléans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie-Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court

Price, Leontyne

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

Both of Price's grandfathers had been Methodist ministers in black churches in Mississippi, and she sang in her church choir as a girl. Only when she graduated from the College of Education and Industrial Arts (now Central State College) in

Densusianu, Ovid

2005-03-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

Educated at Iasi and later in Berlin and Paris, Densusianu was appointed professor of Romance languages at the University of Bucharest. Strongly influenced by western European Symbolism, he opposed the bucolic school

'abd Al-mu'min

2005-03-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

'Abd al-Mu'min came from a humble family: his father had been a potter. He seems to have been well instructed in the Muslim faith and must have had a good knowledge of Arabic, for he wished to continue his studies at one of the centres of Muslim learning in the East. A chance meeting with Ibn Tumart, a Berber religious reformer, made him abandon this idea and begin his brilliant

Turkey, Foreign affairs since 1950

2005-03-18T15:59:00.000-08:00

Until the 1960s, Turkish foreign policy was wholly based on close relations with the West, particularly the friendship of the United States. Turkey sent troops to Korea and joined NATO (1952) and the Baghdad Pact (1955). This Western-oriented policy derived from fear of the Soviet Union, dependence on U.S. military and economic aid, and Turkey's desire to be accepted as a secular, democratic,

Arts, South Asian, Gupta period: central India

2005-03-18T02:33:00.000-08:00

In addition to the major schools of Sarnath and Mathura, important sculpture of the 5th and 6th centuries is found at several sites in central India. The sculptures here are often in their original locations, surviving not as isolated images torn from their architectural context but in association with the temples of which they formed a part. At Udayagiri, near Vidisa, are

Pacific Mountain System, Plant life

2005-03-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

Climate is the major influence on vegetation type. Conifers predominate and can grow to enormous size, especially on the moister, western slopes. The Sitka spruce is dominant along the coast from southern British Columbia to northern California. The largest standing mid-latitude rain forest in the United States is on the west side of the Olympic Mountains. Inland

Postmodern Literature In Latin America

2005-03-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

Latin- American literature blossomed and received international acclaim in the 1960s and 1970s with the so-called boom in the novel, a movement signaled by the publication of major works by the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez, the Mexican Carlos Fuentes, the Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, the Argentine Julio Cortázar, and the Chilean José Donoso. (More recently, the Chilean

China, Urban areas

2005-03-16T07:46:00.000-08:00

The dramatic change in the urban landscape is the result of the rapid development of modern manufacturing industries and of communications. Many new towns and cities

Argyll And Bute

2005-03-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

Council area, western Scotland, extending from the southwestern Grampian Mountains into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and North Channel in ragged peninsulas indented and separated by deepwater lochs (sea inlets). Freshwater lochs (lakes) dot the inland areas. It includes many islands of the Inner Hebrides—notably Mull, Islay, and Jura. The council area incorporates

Pacific Ocean, Biological resources

2005-03-15T03:38:00.000-08:00

The Pacific has the most varied complement of plants (i.e., algae) and animals of the world's oceans. The circumglobal mixing of water in the southern and, to a much more limited extent, northern polar reaches of the Pacific permit the intermingling of flora and fauna from other oceanic regions, while temperate and tropical surface waters of the Pacific are more likely

Jacobsen, Josephine

2005-03-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

Soon after her birth, Jacobsen moved with her family from Canada to the United States. She began writing poetry as a child, and her first poem was published when she was 11 years old. Jacobsen was educated by tutors and at the Roland Park Country School in Baltimore,

Williams, Marion

2005-03-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

U.S. gospel singer (b. Aug. 29, 1927, Miami, Fla.--d. July 2, 1994, Philadelphia, Pa.), drew on blues, jazz, folk, and calypso music as inspirations for her innovative vocals, which included octave-spanning leaps from contralto to spine-tingling falsetto tones; her exceptional artistry was often compared to that of Mahalia Jackson. As a child Williams began singing with the congregation at her

Bloch, Jean-richard

2005-03-14T01:29:00.000-08:00

In 1910, while teaching in Poitiers, Bloch started L'Effort libre, a “review of revolutionary civilization.” His essay Naissance d'une culture (1936; “Birth of a Culture”) called for an art that would associate the democratic tradition with a proletarian culture. The stories in

Møre Og Romsdal

2005-03-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Fylke (county), western Norway. The county faces the Norwegian Sea. It includes the Stadlandet (peninsula) in the south and extends northward to Trondheim Fjord. The county seat is Molde. The bleak Dovre Mountains embrace an inland corner of its terrain that is characterized by a fjord-indented coastline, rugged peaks, deep valleys, and many offshore islands. About half

Anthony Of Egypt, Saint

2005-03-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

A disciple of Paul of Thebes, Anthony began

Dabbling Duck

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

Also called Dipping, Surface-feeding, Pond, River, or Freshwater Duck, any of about 38 species of Anas and about 5 species in other genera, constituting the tribe Anatini, subfamily Anatinae, family Anatidae (q.v.; order Anseriformes). They feed mainly on water plants, which they obtain by tipping-up in shallows—uncommonly by diving (with opened wings); they often forage near the shore for seeds and insects. The bill is flat and broad, the

Intelligence

2005-03-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

Military intelligence is as old as warfare itself. Even in biblical times, Moses sent spies to live with the Canaanites in order to learn about their ways and about their strengths and weaknesses. In the American Revolution George

Aubignac, François Hédelin, Abbé D'

2005-03-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

Although trained as an advocate, Aubignac

Rome, Period of the Avignon papacy

2005-03-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

In spite of

Resia Pass

2005-03-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

Italian Passo Di Resia, German Reschenpass, or Reschenscheideck, pass south of the Austrian-Italian border and just east of the Swiss frontier. It is 4,934 feet (1,504 m) high and about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and separates the Unterengadin section of the Inn River valley, Austria, from the Venosta Valley or Adige River valley, Italy. The pass marks the divide between the watersheds of the Adriatic and Black seas and between the Rhaetian and Ötztal Alps. Just

World War Ii, Iwo Jima and the bombing of Tokyo

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

With U.S. forces firmly established in the Mariana Islands, the steady long-range bombing of Japan by B-29s under the command of General Curtis E. LeMay continued throughout the closing months of 1944 and into 1945. But it was still 1,500 miles from Saipan to Tokyo, a long flight even for the B-29s. Strategic planners therefore fixed their attention on the little volcanic island of Iwo

Arts, Central Asian, Sculpture and painting

2005-03-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

Combinations of Hindu and Buddhist iconography came about easily, though there is something facile about them, a smoothness found also in the form of the Nepalese images, which lack the surging dynamism of Indian form. Characteristic of the Nepalese transformation of Indian styles is a loss of depth but a gain in grace. Suavity of line, temperance of modelling, tonal

Olt

2005-03-08T23:58:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), south-central Romania. It is bounded on the south by Bulgaria. The sub-Carpathian Mountains lie in the northern portion of the county, overlooking settlement areas in intermontane valleys and lowlands. The eastward-flowing Danube River and the southeastward-flowing Olt and Vedea rivers drain the area. Slatina (q.v.) town, in existence since the 14th century,

Albuquerque, Afonso De, The Great

2005-03-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

Albuquerque was the second son of the senhor

César

2005-03-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

The son of Italian immigrants, César quit school at age 12 in order to work,

Segovia Aqueduct

2005-03-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

Byname El Puente (Spanish: “The Bridge”), water-conveyance structure built under the Roman emperor Trajan (reigned AD 98–117) and still in use; it carries water 10 miles (16 km) from the Frío River to the city of Segovia, Spain. One of the best-preserved Roman engineering works, it was built of some 24,000 dark-coloured Guadarrama granite blocks without the use of mortar. The aboveground portion is 2,388 feet (728 metres) long and consists of some

Saudi Arabia, Transportation

2005-03-06T19:21:00.000-08:00

About one-third of the country's roads are paved. The first coast-to-coast road connection, from Ad-Dammam on the gulf to Jiddah on the Red Sea, by way of Riyadh, was opened in 1967; it includes a spectacular descent of the western escarpment from At-Ta'if to Mecca. Other important connections are from Riyadh northwestward through Najd to Ha'il, from Riyadh southwestward to the

Burgage

2005-03-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

In England and Scotland, an ancient form of tenure that applied to property within the boundaries of boroughs, or burghs. In England land or tenements within a borough were held by payment of rent to the king or some other lord; the terms varied in different boroughs. Among English feudal tenures, burgage ranked as a form of socage, the holding of land in return for agricultural

Turkana

2005-03-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

A people living in the arid, sandy expanse of northwestern Kenya, from Lake Rudolf (Lake Turkana) to the Ugandan border. The Turkana speak an Eastern Nilotic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Their language closely resembles that of the Teso. They apparently moved to their present lands about 200 years ago from an area now in northeastern Uganda where the closely

France, History Of, Demographic changes

2005-03-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

Rates of demographic growth varied greatly from place to place: in Brittany, where typhoid fever was endemic, population figures peaked in 1700. In Quercy they grew by 70 percent between 1700 and 1786. But, regardless of local variations, France as a whole counted two million more peasants in 1790 than during the reign of Louis XIV. Better preventive medicine, a decline in infant mortality,

Ovett, Steve

2005-03-04T02:33:00.000-08:00

Ovett first attracted international notice when he won the 800-metre race at the 1973 European junior championships in Duisburg, West

Cuckoopint

2005-03-03T13:18:00.000-08:00

The cuckoopint grows from a whitish rootstock, which

Elijah

2005-03-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

One of the most important moments in the history of monotheism is the climax of Elijah's struggle with Baalism. His momentous words, “If Yahweh is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him”—especially when taken with the prayer “Hear me, Yahweh, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God”—show that more is at stake than simply allotting to divinities their particular

Price Index

2005-03-03T02:33:00.000-08:00

Measure of relative price changes, consisting of a series of numbers arranged so that a comparison between the values for any two periods or places will show the average change in prices between periods or the average difference in prices between places. Price indexes were first developed to measure changes in the cost of living in order to determine the wage increases

Baalbek

2005-03-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Baalbek earlier than the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake.

Bean, Alan L(avern)

2005-03-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

Bean entered the U.S. Navy upon graduation

Graf Spee

2005-03-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

After sinking several merchant ships in the Atlantic, the Graf Spee was sighted on Dec. 13, 1939, off the Río de la Plata estuary by a British search group consisting of the cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles, commanded by

Jones, Deacon

2005-03-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

Jones, an accomplished high school athlete in Orlando, Fla., played football at Mississippi Vocational College and South Carolina State College. He was relatively unknown in 1961 when the Los Angeles Rams selected him in the 14th round of the National

White, Minor

2005-02-28T05:24:00.000-08:00

White took up photography while very young but set it aside for a number of years to study botany and, later, poetry. He began to photograph seriously

Hindi Literature

2005-02-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

The writings of the western Braj Bhasa and Khari Boli and of the eastern Awadhi and Bundeli dialects of the Indian subcontinent and also the writings of parts of Rajasthan in the west and of Bihar in the east that, strictly speaking, are not Hindi at all. Hindi literature also conventionally includes those works of Muslim writers (such as Jayasi) in the Persian script

Music

2005-02-27T02:52:00.000-08:00

Iris

2005-02-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

In anatomy, pigmented muscular curtain at the front of the eye, between the cornea and the lens and perforated by an opening called the pupil. The iris consists of two sheets of smooth muscle with contrary actions, expansion and contraction. These muscles control the size of the pupil and thus determine how much light reaches the sensory tissue of the retina. The sphincter

Sporotrichosis

2005-02-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

Subacute or chronic infection by the fungus Sporotrichum, or Sporothrix, schenckii, usually characterized by a chancre at the site of inoculation and, extending from the site, a chain of hard, red, pus-generating lumps along the lymphatics of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. The fungus, which is most commonly found in the soil or on vegetation or decaying wood, most

Maseru

2005-02-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Capital and largest urban centre of Lesotho. It is on the left bank of the Caledon River near the border with Free State province, South Africa. In 1869 the chief of the Sotho (Basotho) nation, Moshoeshoe, founded the town near his mountain stronghold of Thaba Bosiu; few of the 19th-century buildings remain. Lesotho is linked with the South African railway system by a short line

Confession Of Faith

2005-02-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

The medieval Christian Church did not attempt an official codification of

Affleck, Thomas

2005-02-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

Probably trained in England, Affleck settled in Philadelphia in 1763, producing tables, chairs, sofas, and case furniture for Governor John Penn and other leading Philadelphia

Astrogeology

2005-02-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

Scientific discipline concerned with the geological aspects of all solid bodies in the solar system, including the major planets and their satellites, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Astrogeological research extends to those terrestrial features produced by the latter—namely, meteorite craters and tektites (small glassy objects resulting from meteorite

World War I, Technology of war in 1914

2005-02-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

The planning and conduct of war in 1914 were crucially influenced by the invention of new weapons and the improvement of existing types since the Franco-German War of 1870–71. The chief developments of the intervening period had been the machine gun and the rapid-fire field artillery gun. The modern machine gun, which had been developed in the 1880s and '90s, was a reliable belt-fed gun

Radetzky, Joseph, Count (graf)

2005-02-23T16:50:00.000-08:00

Radetzky joined the Austrian army in 1784 and served in the Turkish War of 1787–92 and in the Low Countries in the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. His courage and enterprise were conspicuous

China, The Hundred Days of Reform, 1898

2005-02-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

The advocates of the Self-Strengthening Movement had regarded any institutional or ideological change as needless. But after 1885 some lower officials and comprador intellectuals began to emphasize institutional reforms and the opening of a parliament and to stress economic rather than military affairs for self-strengthening purposes. For the Peking court

Breed Association

2005-02-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Organization that promotes the respective breeds of horses and registers horses that meet certain qualifications. A new association may admit horses that meet certain qualifications but whose parents are not registered; this is called an open association. The qualifications may be type, colour, or speed. Standardbred horses, for example, are admitted to the registry

Vladimir

2005-02-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Vladimir oblast (province), western Russia, situated on the Klyazma River. Vladimir was founded in 1108 by Vladimir II Monomakh, grand prince of Kiev. The community became the centre of a princedom, deriving importance from trade along the Klyazma. In 1157 Prince Andrew Bogolyubsky moved his capital there from Kiev. The city was twice sacked

Rome, Castel Sant'Angelo and the bridges

2005-02-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

Four of the 11 bridges along this part of the Tiber are of special interest. The Ponte Sant'Angelo, to which Bernini was asked to add angels, is in the main the Pons Aelius built in AD 134. A year later Hadrian began his tomb, just off the end of the bridge. A towering cylinder 20 metres high on a square base, it was in size and form a typical imperial mausoleum. In 271 it was built into the Aurelian

Sinai, Mount

2005-02-20T17:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Mountain Of Moses, or Mount Hareh, Hebrew Har Sinai, Arabic Jabal Musa, granitic peak of the south-central Sinai Peninsula, Janub Sina' (South Sinai) muhafazah (governorate), Egypt. Mount Sinai is renowned as the principal site of divine revelation in Jewish history, where God is purported to have appeared to Moses and given him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). According to Jewish tradition, not only the decalogue but also the entire corpus

Alfonso Vi

2005-02-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

Byname Alfonso the Brave , Spanish Alfonso el Bravo king of Leon (1065–70) and king of reunited Castile and Leon (1072–1109), who by 1077 had proclaimed himself “emperor of all Spain” (imperator totius Hispaniae). His oppression of his Muslim vassals led to the invasion of Spain by an Almoravid army from North Africa (1086). His name is also associated with the national hero of Spain, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid), who was alternatively

Bonard, Louis-adolphe

2005-02-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

Entering service in the French Navy in 1825, Bonard was promoted to lieutenant in 1835, captain in 1842, and was commissioned vice admiral in 1862. He was captured by Algerians after a shipwreck in 1830 and later helped quell

Yürük Rug

2005-02-18T16:16:00.000-08:00

Rugs from eastern Anatolia, many

Sanniquellie

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

Also called Sangbui, Sanokole, or Sanokwele, town, north-central Liberia, located at the intersection of roads from Monrovia and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). A rural administrative centre among the Mano and Malinke (Mandingo), Sanniquellie has secondary schools and the George W. Harley Memorial Hospital. There is local trade in agricultural products (rice, cassava, palm oil and kernels) and ivory carvings. Diamond

Pacific Ocean, The trade winds

2005-02-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

The trade winds of the Pacific represent the eastern and equatorial parts of the air circulation system; they originate in the subtropical high-pressure zones that are most pronounced, respectively, over the northeast and southeast Pacific between the 30th and 40th parallels N and S. The obliquity of the ecliptic (an angle of approximately 23 1/2° that is the difference between

Sakakah

2005-02-17T09:59:00.000-08:00

Oasis, northwestern Saudi Arabia. It lies on an old caravan route from the Mediterranean Sea coast to the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Sakakah lies north of the desert an-Nafud and northeast of al-Jawf oasis. The government tried to improve agricultural conditions in the area. The main products of the oasis are dates and dairy products.

Jazz

2005-02-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

In spite of the wide dissemination and geographic distribution of these diverse musical traditions, New Orleans was where a distinctive, coherent jazz style evolved. Between 1910 and 1915 a systematization of instrumental functions within an essentially collective ensemble took shape, as did a regularization of the repertory. Despite the fact that a limited set of instruments

Gezer

2005-02-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

The excavations at Gezer sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund during 1902–05 and 1907–09 disclosed strata covering most periods

Argentina, Trade

2005-02-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

In the 19th century Argentine beef and grain helped feed Britain's rapidly rising urban population, and

Lancaster

2005-02-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

Lancaster grew on the site of a Roman station, and traces of the Roman fortification walls remain. In the 11th century a feudal landowner, Roger of Poitou, founded or enlarged a castle on an eminence there and also

Belize, Daily life

2005-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

The social class of the people—whether they are poor or middle class—affects whether they will have such amenities as a car or television and influences as well whether their children will complete secondary school. Belizeans who have television watch mostly foreign programs, such as Mexican soap operas and North American sports; and the music they listen to largely

Mahanadi River

2005-02-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

River in central India, rising in the hills of southeastern Madhya Pradesh state. Its upper course runs north as an insignificant stream, draining the eastern Chhattisgarh Plain. After receiving the Seonath River, below Baloda Bazar, it turns east and enters Orissa state, its flow augmented by the drainage of hills to the north and south. At Sambalpur the Hirakud Dam on the

Disa

2005-02-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Most species bear flowers ranging in colour from white to purple and in diameter from about 0.5 to 10 centimetres (about 0.2 to 4 inches). The upper sepal of each flower usually has a spur and stands upright,

Aepyornis

2005-02-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Also called elephant bird, extinct genus of giant flightless birds found as fossils in Pleistocene and post-Pleistocene deposits on the island of Madagascar. The remains of Aepyornis are abundant. The several known species were massively constructed, with conical beaks, short, thick legs, three-toed feet, and relatively small wings that were useless for flight. The birds were probably slow-moving

Fiscal Policy

2005-02-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

The usual goals of both fiscal and monetary policy are to achieve or maintain full employment, to achieve or

Gross-rosen

2005-02-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Small Nazi concentration camp established in August 1940 near the German town of Striegau in Lower Silesia (now Strzegom, Poland) that sent many prisoners to a killing centre for the T4 Program. Under the orders of Heinrich Himmler, it received prisoners seized under the Night and Fog Decree. Gas chambers (eventually employing the virulent Zyklon-B) were established nearby

Alcoholic Beverage

2005-02-12T19:21:00.000-08:00

Alcoholic beverages are fermented from the sugars in fruits, berries, grains, and such other ingredients as plant saps, tubers, honey, and milk and may be distilled to reduce the original watery liquid to a liquid of much greater alcoholic

Palas

2005-02-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

Plural Palasy, flat-surfaced handwoven floor covering from the Caucasus, Turkistan, or parts of Iran. In the rest of Iran, the Balkans, and Anatolia, the name for similar pieces is kilim. The Caucasian palas is a slit tapestry in technique. The Shirvan variety is designed without a border as a series of transverse bands carrying bold polygonal ornaments in vivid colouring. A Karabagh

Atheriniform

2005-02-11T04:32:00.000-08:00

Any member of the order Atheriniformes, containing 15 families of marine and freshwater spiny-finned fishes, including the flying fishes (see photograph), needlefishes, silversides, and cyprinodonts. The last group, the Cyprinodontidae, is an abundant tropical and subtropical family that includes the guppies, mollies, swordtails, and many

Gull

2005-02-10T07:13:00.000-08:00

Adult gulls are mainly gray or white, with variable head markings. In breeding season the

Cabarrus, François, Conde De

2005-02-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

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

Spongilla

2005-02-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

Sponge genus that includes the freshwater sponge (q.v.) species.

Yajña

2005-02-08T09:32:00.000-08:00

A yajña is always purposeful, even though the aim may be as general as sustaining the natural order of the universe. Correct performance