Argentina, Independence

In Argentina the independence movement began in 1806 - 07, when British attacks on Buenos Aires were repelled in the two battles known as the Reconquista and the Defensa. Also important there, as elsewhere in Spanish America, were the ramifications of Napoleon I's intervention in Spain, beginning in 1808, which plunged that country into a civil war between two rival

Itaya Hazan

After studying sculpture at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, Itaya graduated in 1894 and then studied ceramics, building a kiln in Tokyo in 1904. In 1953 he received the Bunka Kunsho (�Order of Culture�). Itaya's most famous works include a pot decorated with flowers in bright glaze

Alaska, Fishing, forestry, and furs

Alaska's most constant source of revenue is derived from fishing. Fish are found mostly in waters off the southern coasts, salmon being of especial importance. The centre of the world's salmon-packing industry is at Ketchikan, on Kodiak Island, and at Bristol Bay ports in the southern Bering Sea. Fleets also bring in quantities of herring, cod, pollack, and halibut, as well

France, History Of, The influence of Rousseau

Regarding the cultural transformations of 18th-century France, it would be difficult to overestimate the crystallizing and revolutionary impact of Rousseau's vision of the world. His thought changed conceptions both of man's private and public spheres. According to Rousseau the self becomes empowered in private union with the beloved other, as portrayed in his

Arneth, Alfred, Ritter Von (knight Of)

In 1841 Arneth was appointed by the Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich to a post at the state archives, of which he became keeper in 1868. In 1879 he became president of the Imperial Academy of the Sciences, and in

Attic Dialect

Ancient Greek dialect that was the language of ancient Athens. Its closest relative was the Ionic dialect of Euboea. With the ascendance of the Athenian empire in the course of the 5th century BC, Attic became the most prestigious of the Greek dialects and as a result was adopted later as the standard language by the Macedonian kings. Moreover, it became in Hellenistic

Adams, Walter (sydney)

Born of missionary parents who returned to the United States when he was eight years old, Adams studied astronomy

Gaddis, William

After incomplete studies at Harvard University (1941 - 45), Gaddis worked as a fact checker for The New Yorker magazine for two years and then traveled widely in Central America and Europe, holding a variety of jobs. He

Permafrost, General issues

Development of the north demands an understanding of and the ability to cope with problems of the environment dictated by permafrost. Although the frozen ground hinders agricultural and mining activities, the most dramatic, widespread, and economically important examples of the influence of permafrost on life in the north involve construction and maintenance

Biblical Literature, Collations of the Masoretic materials

The earliest extant attempt at collating the differences between the Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali Masoretic traditions was made by Mishael ben Uzziel in his KitaG Gi-Hulaf (before 1050). A vast amount of Masoretic information, drawn chiefly from Spanish manuscripts, is to be found in the text-critical commentary known as Minhath Shai, by Solomon Jedidiah Norzi, completed in 1626 and

Mujahadah

(Arabic: �striving�), in Sufism, struggle with the carnal self; the word is related to jihad (struggle), which is often understood as �holy war.� The Sufis refer to mujahadah as al-jihad al-akbar (the greater war) in contrast to al-jihad al-asghar (the minor war), which is waged against unbelievers. It is one of the major duties that a Sufi must perform throughout his mystical journey toward union

Yoshiyuki, Junnosuke

Japanese novelist and short-story writer (b. April 1, 1923, Okayama, Japan--d. July 26, 1994, Tokyo, Japan), explored human sexuality and prostitution as a means of understanding human relationships. His prize-winning works include the short story "Shuu" (1954; "Sudden Shower," 1972), and the novels Anshitsu (1969: The Dark Room, 1975) and Yugure made (1978: "Until Evening"), the latter of which won the Noma Literary Prize. Yoshiyuki,

Middle East And North Africa: Middle Eastern And North African Affairs

The bilateral agreement between Israel and the Palestinians for self-government in parts of the Israeli-occupied territories was signed by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative Mahmoud Abbas in a historic ceremony on the U.S. White House lawn on Sept. 13, 1993. The accord was the most significant breakthrough

Hoopoe

(Upupa epops), strikingly crested bird found from southern Europe and Africa to southeastern Asia, the sole member of the family Upupidae of the roller order, Coraciiformes. About 28 centimetres (11 inches) long, it is pinkish brown on the head and shoulders, with a long, black-tipped, erectile crest and black-and-white barred wings and tail. The hoopoe takes insects

Pigweed

Any of several coarse annual plants of cosmopolitan distribution that are often troublesome weeds. Several of them belong to the genus Amaranthus, of the family Amaranthaceae. Prostrate pigweed, or mat amaranth (A. graecizans), grows along the ground surface with stems rising at the tips; spiny pigweed, or spiny amaranth (A. spinosus), has spines at the base of the leafstalks;

Guacanayabo, Gulf Of

Spanish �Golfo De Guacanayabo, � inlet of the Caribbean Sea, southeastern Cuba. The gulf stretches in a broad horseshoe shape from the southern coast of Camag�ey province approximately 70 mi (110 km) to the southwestern shore of Granma province, north of Cabo (cape) Cruz. It is shallow and dotted with coral reefs, and the Gran Banco de Buena Esperanza surfaces in the central portion of the gulf, at the head of

Kaffraria

(from Arabic kafir, �infidel�), the territories along the southeast coast of Africa that were colonized by the Portuguese and British. The term referred more specifically in the 19th century to those lands inhabited by the Xhosa-speaking peoples of the Transkei and Ciskei. Now considered pejorative, the term Kaffir was used in the 19th century as a synonym for Xhosa. In 1847, during

Spanish Literature, Early drama

The origins of drama in Spain are to be sought, as elsewhere, in the church. The Auto de los reyes magos (�Play of the Three Wise Kings�), an incomplete play of an Epiphany cycle, is the only surviving text of medieval Spanish drama. The characterization of the Magi and of Herod and his advisers was realistic, and the medley of metres foreshadowed one aspect of later development

'abbas I

L.L. Bellan, Chah 'Abbas I: sa vie, son histoire (1932), the only biography of Shah 'Abbas I in any European language - generally accurate; R.M. Savory, � 'Abbas I� in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., vol. 1, pp. 7 - 8 (1960); for general background to the period of Shah 'Abbas, the reader is referred to: J. Chardin, Voyages du Chevalier Chardin, 4th ed., 4 vol. (1811); Sir John Malcom, The History of Persia from the Early Period to the Present Time, 2 vol. (1815); and V. Minorsky, Tadhkirat al-Muluk (1943), especially the introduction, commentary, and appendixes.

Mcgwire, Mark

As a senior in high school, McGwire attracted more attention with his

Abengourou

Town, eastern C�te d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), on the road from Abidjan (the national capital) to Ghana. The major trading centre for a productive forest region, it is also the residence of the Anyi (Agni) paramount chief, who is the present king of Ind�ni� (an Anyi kingdom founded in the mid-18th century). The king's official residence (built 1882) is decorated with Ind�ni� relics and tapestries.

Deflation

In geology, erosion of loose material from flat areas of dry, uncemented sediments such as those occurring in deserts, dry lake beds, floodplains, and glacial outwash plains. Clay and silt-sized particles are picked up by turbulent eddies in wind and may be carried for hundreds of kilometres; they later settle to form loess deposits. Local areas subjected to deflation

Tobruk

Also spelled �Tubruq� port, northeastern Libya. It was the site of Antipyrgos, an ancient Greek agricultural colony, and thereafter of a Roman fortress guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. The town later became a way station on the coastal caravan route. Because it is Libya's only natural harbour, Tobruk was occupied by the Italians as early as 1911 and was subsequently used as a naval and air base

Habit

In psychology, any regularly repeated behaviour that requires little or no thought and is learned rather than innate. A habit - which can be part of any activity, ranging from eating and sleeping to thinking and reacting - is developed through reinforcement and repetition. Reinforcement encourages the repetition of a behaviour, or response, each time the stimulus

Amsterdam

City, Montgomery county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies along the Mohawk River, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Schenectady. Settled by Albert Veeder in 1783, it was known as Veedersburg until it was renamed for Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1804. Its location on the Mohawk Trail, the completion of the Erie Canal (1825; now part of the New York State Canal System), and the arrival of the railroad (1836) stimulated

Papillon

Breed of toy dog known from the 16th century, when it was called a dwarf spaniel. A fashionable dog, it was favoured by Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette, and it appeared in paintings by some of the Old Masters. The name papillon (French: �butterfly�) was given to the breed in the late 19th century, when a variety with large, flaring ears resembling the wings of a butterfly

Earth Sciences

The origins of the Earth sciences lie in the myths and legends of the distant past. The creation story, which can be traced to a Babylonian epic of the 22nd century BC and which is told in the first chapter of Genesis, has proved most influential. The story is cast in the form of Earth history and thus was readily accepted as an embodiment of scientific as well as of theological

Elisha Ben Abuyah

Byname �Aher� Jewish scholar who renounced his faith and who came to be regarded in later ages as a prototype of the heretic whose intellectual pride leads him to infidelity to Jewish laws and morals. In the Talmud, Elisha is not mentioned by name but is usually referred to as Aher (�the Other,� or �Another�). His renunciation of Judaism was considered doubly heinous because he was a tanna

Essex

English

Mountain, Mountain belts associated with volcanism

Volcanoes typically form in any of three tectonic settings. At the axes of the mid-ocean ridge system where lithospheric plates diverge, volcanism is common; yet, high-standing volcanoes (above sea level) rarely develop. At subduction zones where one plate of oceanic lithosphere plunges beneath another plate, long linear or arcuate chains of volcanoes and mountain