WideBaby

Algebra, Commerce and abacists in the European Renaissance

2005-04-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Greek and Islamic mathematics were basically “academic” enterprises, having little interaction with day-to-day matters involving building, transportation, and commerce. This situation first began to change in Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries. In particular, the rise of Italian mercantile companies and their use of modern financial instruments for trade with the

Sevastopol, Siege Of

2005-04-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

(Oct. 17, 1854–Sept. 11, 1855), the major operation of the Crimean War (1853–56), in which 50,000 British and French troops (joined by 10,000 Piedmontese troops during 1855), commanded by Lord Raglan and Gen. François Canrobert, besieged and finally captured the main naval base of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Sevastopol's defenses had been built by the military engineer Colonel Eduard Totleben, and the Russian troops

Buchner, Hans

2005-03-31T01:03:00.000-08:00

The brother of the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Eduard

Utkal Plains

2005-03-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

Coastal plains in eastern Orissa state, eastern India. Extending over approximately 16,000 sq mi (41,400 sq km) and fronting the Bay of Bengal on the east, the plains are bounded by the Tamilnad Plain on the south, the Lower Ganges Plain on the north, and the Eastern Ghats on the west. The Utkal Plains are coastal lowlands consisting chiefly of Mahanadi Delta deposits and marine sediments,

Elisha

2005-03-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

The popular traditions about Elisha (2 Kings 2–13) sketch a charismatic, quasi-ecstatic figure, very similar to Elijah.

Cabinet

2005-03-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

In furniture design, originally a small room for displaying precious objects and later a piece of furniture composed of a network of small drawers commonly enclosed by a pair of doors. Cabinets were first used in Italy during the late Renaissance. In many parts of Europe, cabinets became the most sumptuous pieces of furniture, with great displays of marquetry, carving,

Maslow, Abraham H.

2005-03-24T18:02:00.000-08:00

Maslow studied psychology at the University of Wisconsin and Gestalt psychology at the New School for Social Research

Anderson, Margaret

2005-03-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

Anderson was reared in a conventional Midwestern home and educated at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio. She renounced the "bourgeois" values

Integument, Amphibians

2005-03-22T02:05:00.000-08:00

Most modern amphibians lack horny scales or other protective devices. An exception is seen in the caecilians, a small group that has fishlike scales similar to those possessed by ancient and extinct forms. The amphibian epidermis has five to seven layers of cells formed from a basal stratum germinativum. At the skin surface, in contact with the external environment,

Swallowing

2005-03-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

The first begins in the mouth. There, food is mixed with saliva for lubrication and placed on the back of the tongue. The mouth closes, and the soft portion of the roof of the mouth (soft palate) rises so that the passageway between

Amati Family

2005-03-20T19:53:00.000-08:00

Andrea (c. 1520–c. 1578), the founder of the Cremona school of violin making, was perhaps originally influenced by the work of slightly earlier makers from Brescia. His earliest-known violins are dated about 1564. In essentials, they set the style for all the models made by later members of the family and,

Finsen, Niels Ryberg

2005-03-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

Finsen was born into a prominent Icelandic family that was involved in the administration of

Rhys, Jean

2005-03-18T05:42:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a Welsh doctor and a Creole mother, Rhys lived and was educated

Wells, Charles Jeremiah

2005-03-18T02:54:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Wells was a member of the poet John

Ibrahim

2005-03-15T17:04:00.000-08:00

Early in his reign under the guidance of the able but ambitious grand vizier Kemankes Kara Mustafa

Florida Bay

2005-03-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Triangular-shaped shallow body of water between the Gulf of Mexico and Biscayne Bay at the southern end of Florida, U.S. The bay, which covers about 850 square miles (2,200 square km), is partially sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean on the south and east by the Florida Keys. The average depth is about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres), and the area is scattered with small islands. Mangroves and sea grasses

Osh

2005-03-14T18:48:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Kyrgyzstan. The city lies at an elevation of 3,300 feet (1,000 m) on the Akbura River where it emerges from the Alay foothills. First mentioned in writings of the 9th century, it was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century and subsequently rebuilt. In the 15th century, before the sea routes were discovered, it was an important post on the trade routes to China and India.

Capture

2005-03-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

In nuclear physics, process in which an atomic nucleus absorbs a smaller particle. See beta decay; neutron capture.

Teschenite

2005-03-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

Coarse- to fine-grained, rather dark-coloured, intrusive igneous rock that occurs in sills (tabular bodies inserted while molten between other rocks), dikes (tabular bodies injected in fissures), and irregular masses and is always altered to some extent. It consists primarily of plagioclase feldspar, analcime, and titaniferous augite, with barkevikite, nepheline,

Mesolóngion

2005-03-10T22:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Missolonghi town and capital of the nomós (department) of Aetolia and Acarnania, Greece. It lies along the Patraïkós Gulf on the shore of a large, shallow lagoon, which is partly given over to fish hatcheries. Seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox church, the town is notable for two heroic actions in the War of Greek Independence (1821–29) and for its association with the English

Japanese Spaniel

2005-03-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

Also called Japanese Chin, breed of toy dog that originated in China and was introduced to Japan, where it was kept by royalty. The breed became known in the West when Commodore Matthew Perry returned from Japan in 1853 with several dogs that had been presented to him. The Japanese spaniel is a compact, dainty-looking dog with large, dark eyes, a short muzzle, and a heavily plumed tail that curls over its

Minamoto Shitago

2005-03-08T19:32:00.000-08:00

Although he was a descendant of the emperor Saga and was a member of the powerful Minamoto clan, Shitago was barred from high political position because he did not belong to the Fujiwara family, which controlled the government. Instead he devoted himself to scholarly and literary pursuits and became recognized

Lend-lease

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

System by which the United States aided its World War II allies with war materials, such as ammunition, tanks, airplanes, and trucks, and with food and other raw materials. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had committed the United States in June 1940 to materially aiding the opponents of fascism, but, under existing U.S. law, Great Britain had to pay for its growing arms purchases

Argentina

2005-03-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Officially Argentine Republic, Spanish República Argentina country occupying most of the southern portion, or southern cone, of South America. With an area of 1,073,399 square miles (2,780,092 square km)—more extensive than Mexico and the U.S. state of Texas combined—it is the eighth largest country in the world. Argentina is shaped like an inverted triangle with its base at the top; it is some 880 miles (1,420 km) across at its widest from east to west and stretches

Biencourt, Charles De, Baron De Saint-just

2005-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:00

In 1606 Biencourt sailed with his father, Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt, Baron de Saint-Just, to New France (Canada). In 1607 they abandoned their establishment and fort at Port Royal, Acadia, because of insufficient funds. Failing to obtain a Canadian fur-trade

Iridosmine

2005-03-04T00:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Osmiridium, mineral consisting of an alloy of iridium and a smaller proportion of osmium. It occurs in gold-bearing conglomerates, as at the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and in gold sands, as in California and Oregon, U.S. Because of their hardness and resistance to corrosion, both natural and synthetic iridosmine are used for tips of pen nibs, surgical needles, and sparking points

Playa

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

Enclosed basins of salt and clay accumulation may originate from numerous causes. Tectonic causes include faulting, as in the East African Rift Valley and Death Valley, and warping, as in Lake Eyre in Australia, Lake Chad in central Africa, and Shatt al-Jarid (Chott Djerid) in Tunisia. Wind deflation can produce shallow basins with downwind dunes, as in southeastern Australia.

Poza Rica

2005-03-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

Poza Rica was the scene of a major air pollution disaster in 1950, in which 22 persons

Deira

2005-03-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

A northern Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain which, by the last quarter of the 7th century AD, had been united with its neighbour Bernicia (q.v.) to form the kingdom of Northumbria. Deira stretched from the Humber to the Tees River. There is a tradition that its first recorded king, Aelle, reigned from 560 and that, on his death in 588 or 590, Deira was seized by Aethelric of Bernicia, whose son

France, History Of, The Reformation

2005-02-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

The professional class that grew up in the 16th century, however, was different in one respect from those that had gone before: it represented a predominantly secular culture—the product of Renaissance humanism. Nevertheless, in the second half of the 16th century the Reformation was to embroil France in a series of religious wars that were to pose a serious threat to

Self-fertilization

2005-02-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

Fusion of male and female gametes (sex cells) produced by the same individual. Self-fertilization occurs in bisexual organisms, including most flowering plants, numerous protozoans, and many invertebrates. Autogamy, the production of gametes by the division of a single parent cell, is frequently found in unicellular organisms such as the protozoan Paramecium

O'grady, Standish James

2005-02-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

O'Grady graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1868. Introduced to the ancient heroic and romantic literature

Ferdinand Ii

2005-02-26T05:18:00.000-08:00

The son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (and cousin of Prince Albert of Great Britain), he was married to Maria in January 1836, only 10 months after the sudden death of

Pacific Ocean

2005-02-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

Of the three oceans that extend northward from the Antarctic continent, the Pacific, occupying about a third of the surface of the terrestrial globe, is by far the largest.

Sac Spider

2005-02-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Two-clawed Hunting Spider, any member of the family Clubionidae (order Araneida), a relatively common, widespread group. Sac spiders range in body length from 3 to 15 mm (about 0.12 to 0.6 inch) and build silken tubes under stones, in leaves, or in grass. Chiracanthium inclusum, found throughout the United States, is venomous to humans. Its greenish white body is about 8 mm long.

Pacific Ocean, Salinity

2005-02-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

The salinity patterns of the surface waters of the Pacific are influenced largely by wind and by rainfall and evaporation patterns. The waters within the belt of calms and variable winds near the equator have lower salinities than those in the trade-wind belts. In the equatorial belt, relatively large amounts of rain fall and little evaporation occurs both because

Lee, Sammy

2005-02-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

In 1942, while a student at Occidental College (Los Angeles), Lee won his first national championship with victories in both the 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform events. Standing only 5 feet 1 inch, Lee utilized his short stature in his dives, tucking tighter and

Italy, Flag Of

2005-02-20T13:25:00.000-08:00

A rich history of flags and coats of arms has existed in Italy since at least the 1200s, but the lack of national unification meant that there was no recognized flag representing all Italian-populated areas. The nationalism inspired by the French Revolution led to the formation of political and military groups throughout Italy dedicated to replacing the old autocratic

Spanish Moss

2005-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

The silvery-gray plant often grows in large, beardlike masses. It has threadlike stems up to 6 to 7.5 metres

Hasdrubal

2005-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

Late in 210 BC, Publius Cornelius

Goa

2005-02-16T05:09:00.000-08:00

State of India. Comprising a mainland district on the country's western coast and an offshore island, it is located 250 miles (400 kilometres) south of Bombay. It is bounded by the states of Maharashtra on the north and Karnataka on the east and south and by the Arabian Sea on the west. The total area is 1,429 square miles (3,702 square kilometres). The capital is Panaji (Panjim). Formerly a Portuguese

Polar Wandering

2005-02-15T14:41:00.000-08:00

The migration over the surface of the Earth of the magnetic poles of the Earth through geological time. It was long recognized that the directions of magnetization of many rocks do not correspond to the present direction of the geomagnetic field at their sites; but not until the 1950s was there sufficient paleomagnetic data to suggest that the poles had moved in a systematic

Lord Strange's Men

2005-02-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Also called Strange's Men, prominent Elizabethan acting company. A household troupe of Lord Strange, they toured the provinces before appearing at court in 1582. From 1588 to 1594 they were associated with the Admiral's Men. It has been suggested that Lord Strange's Men were the first to employ William Shakespeare, though his role in the company is unclear. The troupe performed at The Theatre and at the Rose

Baha'i Faith

2005-02-13T02:43:00.000-08:00

Religion founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali Nuri, who is known as Baha' Ullah (Arabic: “Glory of God”). The cornerstone of Baha'i belief is the conviction that Baha' Ullah and his forerunner, who was known as the Bab, were manifestations of God, who in his essence is unknowable. The principal Baha'i tenets are the essential unity of all religions and the unity of humanity.

Memory Abnormality

2005-02-12T00:37:00.000-08:00

Disorders of memory must have been known to the ancients and are mentioned in several early medical texts, but it was not until the closing decades of the 19th century that serious attempts were made to analyze them or to seek their explanation in terms of brain disturbances. Of the early attempts, the most influential

Cambridgeshire

2005-02-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county of eastern England. The administrative county covers a much larger area than the ancient shire, or historic county. Formed in 1974, the administrative county incorporates almost all of the historic county of Cambridgeshire and most of the historic county of Huntingdonshire (which is nearly coterminous with the district

Pedrell, Felipe

2005-02-10T13:09:00.000-08:00

When Pedrell was a choirboy, his imagination was first fired by contact with early Spanish church music. Largely self-taught, he composed several operas,

Masamune Hakucho

2005-02-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

Early influenced by Christianity, Masamune went to Tokyo in 1896 to

The Rodent That Acts Like A Hippo

2005-02-08T03:33:00.000-08:00

Although the animals that live in rainforests on different continents can differ significantly, the environments they live in are very similar. These environments, therefore, exert similar pressures on the evolution of the animals living in each. As a result, unrelated species may be similar in many ways. This phenomenon is called convergent evolution, or convergence

Irish System

2005-02-07T08:32:00.000-08:00

Penal method originated in the early 1850s by Sir Walter Crofton; it emphasized training and performance as the instruments of reform. The Irish system consisted of three phases: a period of solitary confinement; a period of congregate work, in which the prisoner advanced to higher levels by credits earned for industry and good behaviour; and, finally, a period in “intermediate

Hyder Ali

2005-02-06T02:35:00.000-08:00

After studying the military tactics of the Frenchman Joseph-François Dupleix, Hyder induced his older brother, a brigade commander in the Mysore army, to obtain military equipment from the Bombay government

Bérégovoy, Pierre

2005-02-05T04:38:00.000-08:00

In 1941, at the age of 15, Bérégovoy left school to work as a machinist. He later worked for the national railways and joined the French Resistance. In 1950 he took a job at Gaz de France, the national gas utility. He remained with this company for 31 years, eventually rising to an executive

Intel Corporation

2005-02-04T04:39:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon

Fuchsia

2005-02-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 100 species of flowering shrubs and trees, in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae), native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Central and South America and to New Zealand and Tahiti. Several species are grown in gardens as bedding plants, small shrubs, or miniature treelike specimens; others are grown as pot plants or in hanging baskets

Computers, The Analytical Engine

2005-02-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

The Analytical

Mughal Architecture

2005-02-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Building style that flourished in northern and central India under the patronage of the Mughal emperors from the mid-16th to the late 17th century. The Mughal period marked a striking revival of Islamic architecture in northern India. Under the patronage of the Mughal emperors, Persian, Indian, and various provincial styles were fused to produce works of unusual quality

Ness, Loch

2005-01-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

Lake, lying in the Highland council area, Scotland. With a depth of 788 feet (240 metres) and a length of about 23 miles (36 km), Loch Ness has the largest volume of fresh water in Great Britain. It lies in the Glen Mor—or Great Glen, which bisects the Highlands—and forms part of the system of waterways across Scotland that civil engineer Thomas Telford linked by means of the Caledonian

Kernicterus

2005-01-30T01:53:00.000-08:00

Severe brain damage caused by an abnormal concentration of the bile pigment bilirubin in brain tissues at or shortly after birth. Kernicterus may occur because of Rh blood-group incompatibility between mother and child, as in erythroblastosis fetalis, where the mother's immune system destroys fetal blood cells, resulting in severe anemia and jaundice in the

Muharraq, Al-

2005-01-29T02:32:00.000-08:00

Taken

Arabia, History Of, The Wahhabis

2005-01-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

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.

Bydgoszcz Canal

2005-01-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

Polish Kanal Bydgoski , German Bromberger-Kanal canal in Bydgoszcz województwo (province), north-central Poland. It extends for 17 miles (27 km) between Naklo (west) and the inland port-city of Bydgoszcz (east) between the Notec and Brda rivers and links the Vistula River basin with that of the Oder. Construction of the 64-foot- (20-metre-) wide canal was completed in 1774 under Frederick II, who had annexed the region to Prussia in 1772.

Abbott, Lyman

2005-01-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

Abbott left law practice to study theology and was ordained in 1860. After serving in two pastorates he became associate editor of Harper's Magazine and in 1870 editor of the Illustrated Christian Weekly. In 1876 he joined Henry Ward Beecher's Christian

Anthony Of Egypt, Saint

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

Athanasius, The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus (1980), was written by a contemporary; this translation includes useful prefatory material.

Encaustic Painting

2005-01-24T15:43:00.000-08:00

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

Keaton, Buster

2005-01-23T07:42:00.000-08:00

The son of vaudevillians, Keaton is said to have earned his famous nickname when, at age 18 months, he fell down a staircase; magician

Alabama State University

2005-01-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. It is a historically black school, and its enrollment is predominantly African American. Alabama State offers bachelor's and master's degree programs in the schools of Music and Graduate Studies and colleges of Business Administration, Education, and Arts and Sciences. An educational

Hwarangdo

2005-01-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

The hwarang warriors played an instrumental

Race, Japan's minority peoples

2005-01-21T00:40:00.000-08:00

A few ethnographic studies have suggested to some that a form of racial ideology may also have developed independently of the West in some traditional societies such as that of Japan, where various minority peoples, notably the burakumin (pejoratively called Eta) and the Ainu, have been victimized and exploited by the dominant society. Discrimination against

Latin-american Literature, Recent trends

2005-01-19T04:17:00.000-08:00

The literature of the last half of the 20th century has been characterized by an increased preoccupation with man as the victim of alienating forces—solitude, identity crises, anguish, and evil—and by a marked determination to create new forms and techniques. Above all, it has put forth a new language more responsive to the demands imposed by increasingly complex spiritual,

Degenerate Gas

2005-01-18T04:46:00.000-08:00

In physics, a particular configuration, usually reached at high densities, of a gas composed of subatomic particles with half-integral intrinsic angular momentum (spin). Such particles are called fermions, because their microscopic behaviour is regulated by a set of quantum mechanical rules—Fermi-Dirac statistics (q.v.). These rules state, in particular, that there

Naro-fominsk

2005-01-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

City and centre of a rayon (sector), Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, on the Nara River southwest of the capital. It was formed in 1926 from three villages and textile centres. The town Fominsk was totally destroyed in World War II but later reemerged with its cotton-based industries of the past replaced by a huge silk-weaving combine. Pop. (1994 est.) 60,000.

Beach Boys, The

2005-01-17T11:32:00.000-08:00

American rock group whose dulcet melodies and distinctive vocal mesh defined the 1960s youthful idyll of sun-drenched southern California. The original members were Brian Wilson (b. June 20, 1942, Inglewood, Calif., U.S.), Dennis Wilson (b. Dec. 4, 1944, Inglewood—d. Dec. 28, 1983, Marina del Rey, Calif.), Carl Wilson (b. Dec. 21, 1946, Los Angeles, Calif.—d. Feb. 6, 1998, Los Angeles), Michael Love (b. March 15, 1941, Los Angeles), and Alan Jardine (b. Sept.

Metalanguage

2005-01-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

In semantics and philosophy, language used for the analysis of object language (language that is used to talk about objects in the world). Thus, a metalanguage may be thought of as a language about another language. Such philosophers as the German-born Logical Positivist Rudolf Carnap and Alfred Tarski, Polish-born mathematician, argued that philosophical problems

Middlesex

2005-01-14T02:44:00.000-08:00

County, east-central New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Millstone River to the southwest, the Raritan River to the northwest, the Rahway River to the northeast, and Raritan Bay to the east. It consists largely of a coastal lowland. Other bodies of water include Carnegie and Farrington lakes and the South River. Forested areas contain oak and hickory. Among the recreational

X-ray Style

2005-01-12T11:13:00.000-08:00

Manner of depicting animals by drawing or painting the skeletal frame and internal organs, one of the characteristic styles of the art of prehistoric hunting cultures. The origin of the style can be traced to the Mesolithic art of northern Europe, where the earliest examples were found on fragments of bone in southern France dating from the late Magdalenian Period.

Thailand, Gulf Of

2005-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Formerly Gulf Of Siam, inlet of the South China Sea bordering Thailand (southwest through north), Cambodia, and southern Vietnam (northeast). The Gulf of Thailand is 300 to 350 miles (500 to 560 km) wide and 450 miles (725 km) long. The Chao Phraya and Nakhon Chai Si rivers enter the gulf near its head. The main harbours in Thailand are located along the Gulf of Thailand at Bangkok, Pattani, Songkhla (Singgora), Pak Phanang

Tulancingo

2005-01-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Hidalgo estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. Tulancingo lies along the Río Grande de Tulancingo, at 7,290 feet (2,222 m) above sea level. It was taken from the Toltec Indians by the Spaniards in the 1520s. The city, which contains several colonial churches, became the seat of a bishopric in 1862. It is an agricultural (barley and alfalfa) and industrial centre and has several

Ghibli

2005-01-11T04:02:00.000-08:00

Hot and dusty wind descending from the interior highlands of Libya toward the Mediterranean Sea. See foehn.

Poznan

2005-01-09T21:00:00.000-08:00

Beginning as a small stronghold in the 9th century, Poznan became the capital of Poland (with Gniezno) and the residence of Poland's first two sovereigns. The first Polish cathedral was erected there

Paracas

2005-01-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

Culture centred on the peninsula of the same name, located in present-day southern Peru in the vicinity of Ica, during the Early Horizon and the Early Intermediate periods (c. 900 BC–AD 400). The Paracas culture's earlier phase, called Paracas Cavernas, is related to the Chavín culture (c. 1000–400 BC). The pottery of the period is not well-fired and was sometimes painted after firing. The Paracas cultures

Aurelian

2005-01-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

Aurelian, born near the Danube River, had established himself as an army officer when, about 260, from outside pressure and

Estate Tax

2005-01-06T03:29:00.000-08:00

Levy on the value of property changing hands at the death of the owner, fixed mainly by reference to its total value. Estate tax is generally applied only to estates evaluated above a statutory amount and is applied at graduated rates. Estate tax is usually easier to administer than inheritance tax (q.v.) levied on beneficiaries because only the value of the entire estate

Santa Cruz Island

2005-01-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Indefatigable Island, one of the Galápagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 600 miles (965 km) west of Ecuador. Circular in shape, it has an area of 389 square miles (1,007 square km), and a central volcanic crater rises to 2,300 feet (701 m). Puerto Ayora, on the southern coast, originally a colony of Scandinavians and Germans, has a harbour that can accommodate boats. Subsistence farming, fruit and sugarcane cultivation,

Magdalena Del Mar

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

Also called Magdalena Nueva, city and distrito (“district”) of the Lima-Callao metropolitan area of Peru, southwest of central Lima. It is bounded on the south by cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the early 20th century the area developed as a popular resort, but it is now largely residential. The district contains the large Víctor Larco Herrera hospital complex, the Lima Cricket Club, and polo

Mahabaleshwar

2005-01-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

Resort town, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Bombay and northwest of the town of Satara at an elevation of 4,718 feet (1,438 m), in the Sahyadri Hills of the Western Ghats. The town commands an excellent view over the coastal Konkan Plain from the steep scarp slope of the hills. Recognized in ancient times as the site of the source of the Krishna

Neoptolemus

2005-01-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, the son of Achilles, the hero of the Greek army at Troy, and of Deïdamia, daughter of King Lycomedes of Scyros; he was sometimes called Pyrrhus, meaning Fair. In the last year of the Trojan War the Greek hero Odysseus brought him to Troy after the Trojan seer Helenus had declared that the city could not be captured without the aid of a descendant of Aeacus,

Wolfdietrich

2005-01-01T23:25:00.000-08:00

Germanic hero who appears in the Middle High German poems of Ortnit and Wolfdietrich in Das Heldenbuch (see Heldenbuch, Das) as the son of Hugdietrich, emperor of Constantinople. Repudiated by his father, who mistakenly believes him illegitimate, he is brought up by the emperor's faithful retainer Berchtung von Meran. Berchtung and his 16 sons support Wolfdietrich,

France, History Of, Gaul

2004-12-30T02:56:00.000-08:00

Stimulating overviews of Gaul in the context of French prehistory and early history are found in appropriate chapters of J.M. Wallace-Hadrill and John McManners (eds.), France: Government and Society, 2nd ed. (1970); and Stuart Piggott, Glyn Daniel, and Charles McBurney (eds.), France Before the Romans (1974). More detailed surveys are presented in Olwen Brogan, Roman Gaul (1953); J.J. Hatt, Histoire de la Gaule romaine, 120 avant J.-C.–451 après J.-C., 3rd ed. (1970); Paul MacKendrick, Roman France (1971); and J.F. Drinkwater, Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 BC–AD 260 (1983). Outstanding modern investigations of particular sites and areas of relevance to the study of Gaul as a whole are Paul-Marie Duval, Paris antique: des origines au troisième siècle (1961); Robert Étienne, Bordeaux antique (1962); Edith Mary Wightman, Roman Trier and the Treveri (1970), and Gallia Belgica (1985); Patrick Galliou, L'Armorique romaine (1983); Heinz Heinen, Trier und das Treverland in römischer Zeit (1985); and A.L.F. Rivet, Gallia Narbonensis: With a Chapter on Alpes Maritimae: Southern France in Roman Times (1988). Provoking syntheses of the contacts of Greeks, Celts, and Romans, based on the archaeological evidence, are offered in John Collis, The European Iron Age (1984); and Barry Cunliffe, Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians: Spheres of Interaction (1988). Life in later Roman Gaul is studied in C.E. Stevens, Sidonius Apollinaris and His Age (1933, reprinted 1979); John Matthews, Western Aristocracies and Imperial Court, A.D. 364–425 (1975); and Raymond Van Dam, Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul (1985). Herwig Wolfram, History of the Goths (1988; originally published in German, 1979); and Edward James, The Franks (1988), discuss the barbarian invasions. Camille Jullian, Histoire de la Gaule, 8 vol. (1920–26, reprinted 1964); Albert Grenier, Manuel d'archéologie gallo-romaine, 4 vol. in 7 (1931–60); and Paul-Marie Duval, La Gaule jusqu'au milieu de Ve siècle, 2 vol. (1971), are still important fundamental works on Gallic history and archaeology.

Agustín, José

2004-12-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

Agustín was educated at National Autonomous University of Mexico and at Centro Mexicano de Escritores. He was a leader of Onda, a youth movement sympathetic to rock music and drug culture, and

Solar Calendar

2004-12-28T02:52:00.000-08:00

Any dating system based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun. The Egyptians appear to have been the first to develop a solar calendar, using as a fixed point the annual sunrise reappearance of the Dog Star—Sirius, or Sothis—in the eastern sky, which coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile River. They

Rathbone, Basil

2004-12-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

Upon graduating from Repton school in England in 1910, Rathbone made his stage debut in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in 1911. A number of other Shakespearean roles followed, as well as a part in a London production

Sudan, The, Education

2004-12-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

A modern educational system was established in The Sudan in the 1970s when the government reorganized a haphazard system of schools inherited from the British colonial government. In the Muslim areas of the north, boys were long instructed in religious subjects according to traditional methods. Primary education was begun by the British in the northern Sudan after

Nagua

2004-12-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

Formerly Julia Molina, city, northern Dominican Republic, located just north of the mouth of the Nagua River, facing Escocesa Bay, on the Atlantic Ocean. Nagua is located on the main coastal road connecting the main cities of the region; the major functions of the town are administrative and agricultural, processing the goods of the surrounding agricultural plain—bananas, pineapples, peanuts

Parima Mountains

2004-12-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Headstreams of the Orinoco River rise on the western flanks, and headstreams of the Branco

Adelantado

2004-12-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

(Spanish: “one who goes before”), representative of the kings of Castile (Spain) who in the early European Middle Ages headed military expeditions and, from the reign of Ferdinand III (1217–52) until the 16th century, held judicial and administrative powers over specific districts. Greater adelantados (adelantados mayores) served as appeal judges and in times of war were responsible

Biblical Literature, Textual ambiguities

2004-12-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

The writing called the Letter to the Hebrews, which was known and accepted in the Eastern church by the 2nd century, was included also by the Western church as the 14th Pauline epistle when the canon of East and West was assimilated and fixed in 367. Hebrews has no salutation giving the name of either the writer or the addressees, although it does have a doxology and greeting

Biblical Literature, Jonah

2004-12-21T17:37:00.000-08:00

The Book of Jonah, containing the well-known story of Jonah in the stomach of a fish for three days, is actually a narrative about a reluctant prophet. This fifth book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets contains no oracles and is thus unique among prophetic books. In II Kings, chapter 14, verses 25–27, there is a reference to a prophet Jonah who lived during the early part of the reign of

Mecca, Plant and animal life

2004-12-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Plant and animal life are scarce and consist of species that can withstand the high degree of aridity and heat. Natural vegetation is sparse, and includes tamarisks and various types of acacia. Wild animals include wild cats, wolves, hyenas, foxes, mongooses, and kangaroo rats (jerboas).

Mahabalipuram

2004-12-18T03:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Mamallapuram , or Seven Pagodas historic town, northeast Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. The town lies along the Bay of Bengal 37 miles (60 km) south of Madras. The town's religious centre was founded by a 7th-century-AD Hindu Pallava king, Narasimhavarman, also known as Mamalla, for whom the town was named. Ancient Chinese, Persian, and Roman coins found at Mahabalipuram point to its earlier existence as a seaport.

Ghaziabad

2004-12-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

Formerly Ghaziuddinnagar, town, administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Founded in 1740, it is located on the Grand Trunk Road 12 mi (19 km) east of New Delhi. Modern Ghaziabad is a rapidly developing industrial town. Many workers commute daily to New Delhi, where goods produced in Ghaziabad are also marketed. Manufacturing and processing industries include vegetable