Gullah
Creole language based on English, spoken by former black slaves and their descendants (also called Gullahs and Geechees, West African tribal names) on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia and on the mainland nearby. Gullah consists of an English pidgin base characteristic of 17th- and 18th-century British colonists' speech, with additional vocabulary and some
Armstrong, Lance
Armstrong entered sports at a young age, excelling in both swimming and cycling, and, by the time he was a teenager, he was competing in triathlons and swimming competitions. Before his high-school graduation, the Junior National Cycling Team, part of the U.S. Cycling
Dahl, Roald
Following his graduation from Repton, a renowned British public school, in 1932, Dahl avoided a university education and joined an expedition to Newfoundland. He worked from 1937 to 1939 in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika (now in Tanzania), but he enlisted
Afghan Interlude
In 1722 Mahmud, an Afghan notable and former vassal of the Safavids, attacked and captured Esfahan, the Safavid capital in Iran. The capture of Esfahan marked the eclipse of the Safavid dynasty. Mahmud proclaimed himself ruler of Iran in 1722, and in 1723 he put to
Ritchie, Michael
American film director (b. Nov. 28, 1938, Waukesha, Wis. - d. April 16, 2001, New York, N.Y.), directed a number of notable films, including The Candidate (1972), Prime Cut (1972), and Smile (1975). Ritchie achieved prominence with his first feature film, Downhill Racer (1969), which starred Robert Redford. Redford later played the title role in The Candidate. Among Ritchie's other films were The Bad News Bears (1976), Fletch (1985), and The
Passeriform, Incubation and parental care
Passerines lay clutches of one to 14 eggs, clutch size being unrelated to the size of the bird. The largest species, the two lyrebirds (Menura), lay a single egg; some of the smaller titmice (Parus) have been recorded with the biggest clutches. In most passerines the female incubates the eggs alone, but in some groups - such as the antbirds (Formicariidae), certain grosbeaks (Pheucticus
East Ayrshire
Council area, southwestern Scotland. It covers an undulating lowland in the north and west that rises to forested and moor-covered uplands in the east and south, where Blackcraig Hill reaches an elevation of 2,298 feet (700 metres). East Ayrshire forms part of the historic county of Ayrshire. Dairy farming is important in the lowlands, while cattle and sheep raising predominate
Cam Ranh
City, south-central Vietnam. It is situated on a peninsula enclosing Cam Ranh Bay, an inlet of the South China Sea. Cam Lam (Ba Ngoi), on the western shore of the bay, was the area's major port and naval base during French colonial days. The United States military intervention in South Vietnam in 1965 created new installations and airfields, many of them at Cam Ranh. Pop. (1989) 114,041.
France, History Of, The liberal years
The empire thus appeared to have compiled a record of unbroken successes and to be beyond challenge by its domestic critics. Perhaps it was this stability and self-confidence that led Napoleon, beginning in 1859, to turn in the direction of liberalizing the empire. The immediate impulse for this dramatic reversal was the attempted assassination of the emperor in January
Alesia
Ancient town situated on Mont Auxois, above the present-day village of Alise-Sainte-Reine in the d�partement of C�te d'Or, France, famous as the site of the siege of Vercingetorix by Julius Caesar in 52 BC that was decisive in his conquest of Gaul. The Gallic town was succeeded on the same site by a Roman town.
Switzerland, Literature
In the field of literature, Switzerland has produced Jean-Jacques Rousseau; the historian and critic Jacob Burckhardt; Germaine de Sta�l, whose home at Coppet became a centre of European literary life during the 18th century; Gottfried Keller; Conrad Ferdinand Meyer; Jeremias Gotthelf; Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz; and the Nobel Prize winners Hermann Hesse and Carl Spitteler.
Mountain, Mid-ocean ridges and rises
Where two lithospheric plates diverge, new material is intruded into the gap between the plates and accreted to each of them as they diverge. The vast majority of volcanic rocks ejected onto the surface of the Earth is erupted at the mid-ocean ridges and rises where this process occurs. Thus, such submarine landforms comprise very long, narrow volcanic centres. Although
Samaritan
Member of a community of Jews, now nearly extinct, that claims to be related by blood to those Jews of ancient Samaria who were not deported by the Assyrian conquerors of the kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. The Samaritans call themselves Bene-Yisrael (�Children of Israel�), or Shamerim (�Observant Ones�), for their sole norm of religious observance is the Pentateuch (first five books
Azilian Industry
Tool tradition of Late Paleolithic and Early Mesolithic Europe, especially in France and Spain. The Azilian industry was preceded by the richer and more complex Magdalenian industry and was more or less contemporary with such industries as the Tardenoisian, Maglemosian, Erteb�lle, and Asturian. Stone tools of the Azilian were mostly extremely small, called microliths,
Peresvetov, Ivan Semenovich
In 1549 he presented his Two Books (Dve Knigi) to Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible. These works were ostensibly an account of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople
Wieser, Friedrich Von
Wieser attended the University of Vienna from 1868 to 1872 and then entered government service. Like his colleague, B�hm-Bawerk, Wieser was permitted to study under the three founders of the German school
New Harmony
Town, Posey county, southwestern Indiana, U.S., on the Wabash River, at the Illinois border, 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Evansville. The site was first occupied by prehistoric Mound Builders and later was a camping ground for Piankashaw and other Indians. The settlement of Harmonie was founded in 1814 - 15 by George Rapp, a German Pietist preacher who had first come to Pennsylvania in
Davies (of Hereford), John
Davies settled in Oxford and became known as the best penman of his day. As well as other religious verse treatises, he wrote Wittes Pilgrimage . . . (c. 1610), a collection of love sonnets; and Humours Heav'n on Earth; with the Civile Warres
Talikota, Battle Of
(January 1565), confrontation between the forces of the Hindu raja of Vijayanagar and the four Muslim sultans of Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmadnagar, and Golconda in the Indian Deccan. The armies numbered several hundred thousand with large contingents of elephants. The battle seems to have been decided by the Muslim artillery and the capture and execution of the ruling Hindu minister
Dell, Floyd
A precocious poet, Dell grew up in an impoverished family and left high school at age 16 to work in a factory. Moving to Chicago in 1908, he worked as a newspaperman and soon was a leader of the
Iberia
In full �Compa��a Mercantil An�nima Iberia (Spanish: �Iberia Commercial Limited-Liability Company�)� Spanish airline created by law on June 7, 1940, and given rights to the air transport of persons and cargo within Spain. It took control of a privately owned company established in 1937, which in turn had revived the name of a company called Iberia, Compa��a A�rea de Transportes, founded June 28, 1927; the current name was adopted in 1941. Iberia was nationalized in 1944, but in the late 1990s the Spanish
Peru, The War of the Pacific (1879 - 83)
At the Battle of Iquique (then in Peru, now in Chile), on May 21, 1879, the Peruvians suffered
Memphis
Also spelled �Manf, �Minf, �or �Manfish, �
Prodigy
An extraordinary person, particularly a child, who shows spontaneous early signs of genius or exceptional ability along certain lines. Among these are the arithmetical prodigies, the chess prodigies, and the lightning calculators who have a remarkable memory for figures. Best known are the musical prodigies - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, and Felix
Aragonite
Widespread mineral, the stable form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) at high pressures. It may be distinguished from calcite, the commoner form of calcium carbonate, by its greater hardness and specific gravity. Aragonite is always found in deposits formed at low temperatures near the surface of the Earth, as in caves as stalactites, in the oxidized zone of ore minerals
Aragonite
Widespread mineral, the stable form of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) at high pressures. It may be distinguished from calcite, the commoner form of calcium carbonate, by its greater hardness and specific gravity. Aragonite is always found in deposits formed at low temperatures near the surface of the Earth, as in caves as stalactites, in the oxidized zone of ore minerals
Burgess, Ernest Watson
Burgess received his B.A. (1908) from Kingfisher College (Oklahoma) and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1913). He taught at the Universities of Toledo (Ohio) and Kansas and at Ohio State University before beginning a long career at the University
Tura, Cosimo
Tura was court artist at the celebrated Renaissance court of the Este dukes at Ferrara and served successively dukes Borso and Ercole I. He was probably trained in Francesco Squarcione's workshop in Padua and was influenced
Isma'il, Ahmad
Isma'il graduated from the Cairo Military Academy in 1938, saw service with the Allies in the Western Desert during World War
Dubois, Pierre
French lawyer and political pamphleteer during the reign of Philip IV the Fair; his most important treatise, De recuperatione Terrae Sanctae (1306, �On the Recovery of the Holy Land�), dealt with a wide range of political issues and gave a good picture of contemporary intellectual trends while ostensibly outlining the conditions
Abbas, Mahmoud
After months of intense international pressure, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, was installed as Palestinian prime minister on April 30, 2003. As a condition for pursuing their road map to peace, the quartet (U.S., European Union, Russia, and UN) had insisted on the appointment of a prime minister with wide powers in a move to circumvent Palestinian Pres. Yasir Arafat, who
