Mexico, History Of, Classic Period

The characteristic Middle American aesthetic and religious patterns that began in the Late Formative crystallized in the Classic Period. In the Maya Lowlands polychrome ceramics, the use of the corbeled vault in temple construction, the foreshadowings of typical Maya art, and the probable beginnings of Initial Series calendrics all belong to the end of the

Dawson Creek

City, northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The city lies along Dawson Creek near the Alberta border. It has the Mile �Zero� post marking the beginning of the Alaska Highway and is a terminus of the British Columbia Railway from Vancouver (741 miles [1,193 km] south-southwest) and the Northern Alberta Railway from Edmonton (360 miles [580 km] southeast). The economy depends largely on agriculture

Danaus

In Greek legend, son of Belus, king of Egypt, and twin brother of Aegyptus. Driven out of Egypt by his brother, he fled with his 50 daughters (the Dana�ds) to Argos, where he became king. Soon thereafter the 50 sons of Aegyptus arrived in Argos, and Danaus was forced to consent to their marriage with his daughters. Danaus, however, commanded each daughter to slay her husband on the

Heine, Heinrich

In full �Christian Johann Heinrich Heine�, original name (until 1825) �Harry Heine� German poet whose international literary reputation and influence were established by the Buch der Lieder (1827; The Book of Songs), frequently set to music, though the more sombre poems of his last years are also highly regarded.

Abu Al-faraj Al-isbahani

Abu al-Faraj was a descendant of Marwan II, the last Umayyad caliph of Syria. Despite the enmity of this family and the 'Alids, he was a Shi'ite Muslim, upholding the rights of the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law

Gheorghiu-dej, Gheorghe

Having become a revolutionary after World War I, Gheorghiu-Dej joined the then-outlawed Romanian Communist Party in 1930 and was sentenced to 12 years' hard labour for his role in the Grivita railwaymen's strike of 1933. Escaping prison in August

Fracture - dislocation

A severe injury in which both fracture and dislocation take place simultaneously. Frequently, a loose piece of bone remains jammed between the ends of the dislocated bones and may have to be removed surgically before the dislocation can be reduced. Immobilization must be longer than in a simple dislocation to permit healing of the fracture; chances for permanent

Parima Mountains

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

Sankin Kotai

System inaugurated in 1635 in Japan by the Tokugawa shogun (hereditary military dictator) Iemitsu by which the great feudal lords (daimyo) had to reside several months each year in the Tokugawa capital at Edo (modern Tokyo). When the lords returned to their fiefs, they were required to leave their wives and families in Edo. The system, which was imitated by the various daimyo

Obasanjo, Olusegun

On March 1, 1999, retired general Olusegun Obasanjo was declared the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria after 16 years of military dictatorships. Less than a year earlier, Obasanjo had been serving a 15-year jail term, having been imprisoned in 1995 for his outspoken views of Gen. Sani Abacha's repressive regime. Following Abacha's unexpected death in June 1998, Obasanjo was

Hyposulfite Of Soda

Most important salt of thiosulfuric acid, an unstable compound of sulfur (q.v.).

S�tif

Also called �Stif, � town, northeastern Algeria, near the Wadi Bou Sellam. As ancient Sitifis, it became important when the Roman emperor Nerva established a veterans' colony there in AD 97. Sitifis became the chief town of the province of Mauretania Sitifensis (created AD 297) and remained so under Byzantine rule. The town declined until garrisoned by the French in 1838. In 1945 the S�tif town area was the site

Athenagoras I

Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served as archdeacon to the archbishop Meletios, who later

Downs

Because

Ocala

City, seat (1846) of Marion county, north-central Florida, U.S., about 35 miles (55 km) southeast of Gainesville. It developed around Fort King (established in 1827), an important post during the Seminole Wars. The city's name was derived from Ocali, the Timucua Indian name for the province through which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto passed in 1539; its literal meaning is unknown. After the Seminole

Pacific Ocean, Early exploration and settlement

The Pacific Islands are thought to have been peopled by influxes from both mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia. The earliest migrations were to what is now generally referred to as Melanesia. From there generations of voyagers ranged northward into eastern Micronesia and eastward into Polynesia. The peopling of Polynesia, by means of long-range seagoing

X Club

Dining clubs were common in gentlemanly society of the time. The X Club met monthly in the London �season� (October to June), from November 1864 until March 1892. Its members were Joseph Dalton Hooker, eminent

Clodia

Profligate Roman beauty and sister of the demagogue Publius Clodius. She was married in 63 BC to Quintus Metellus Celer and was suspected of responsibility for his death in 59 BC. She was mistress to the poet Catullus, who wrote of her as Lesbia, and was the most important influence in his life. Another of her lovers was Marcus Caelius Rufus, whom Cicero defended against

Rhynchocephalia

Reptilian order that arose in the Triassic and Jurassic periods (225,000,000 to 136,000,000 years ago) and survives today as the tuatara (q.v.) of New Zealand.

Reproductive System, Animal, Annelids and mollusks

Annelids have a well-developed body cavity (coelom), a part of the lining of which gives rise to gonads. In some annelids, gonads occur in several successive body segments. This is true, for example, in polychaetes, most of which are dioecious. Testes and ovaries usually develop, though not invariably, in many body segments; and the sperm and eggs, often in enormous numbers,

Ramanujan, Srinivasa

When he was 15 years old, he obtained a copy of George Shoobridge Carr's Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics, 2 vol. (1880 - 86). This collection of some 6,000 theorems (none of the material

Gaines, Ernest J.

When Gaines was 15, his family moved to California. He graduated from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) in 1957 and attended

Earth, Mantle convection

Convection of mantle material, at velocities of centimetres per year, has been suggested as the driving force for plate motions, and it is natural to look for some expression of a system of mantle convection currents in the gravitational field. In a thermally driven convecting system, heated mantle material of lower density rises, moves horizontally dragging the

Saye And Sele, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount, 8th Lord Saye And Sele

The only son of Richard Fiennes, 7th Lord Saye and Sele, he was educated at New College, Oxford, and succeeded to his father's lordship (barony) in 1613. He opposed

Athens

Biblical Literature, Anagogical interpretation

Anagogical (mystical or spiritual) interpretation seeks to explain biblical events or matters of this world so that they relate to the life to come. Jordan is thus interpreted as the river of death; by crossing it one enters into the heavenly Canaan, the better land, the �rest that remains for the people of God.� �The Jerusalem that now is� points to the new Jerusalem that

Malibran, Maria

Mar�a and her mezzo-soprano sister Pauline Viardot were first instructed by their father, the tenor Manuel Garc�a, and at five years of age Mar�a sang a child's part in Ferdinando Paer's Agnese in Naples. She made her London debut at the King's Theatre in 1825 as Rosina

China

Two major cultures can be identified in the northwest: Lao-kuan-t'ai, in eastern and southern Shensi and northwestern Honan, and Ta-ti-wan I - a development of Lao-kuan-t'ai culture - in eastern Kansu and western Shensi. In these cultures pots were low-fired, sand-tempered, and mainly red in colour, and bowls with three stubby feet or ring feet were common. The painted bands of

Anouilh, Jean(-marie-lucien-pierre)

Playwright who became one of the strongest personalities of the French theatre and achieved an international reputation. His plays are intensely personal messages; often they express his love of the theatre as well as his grudges against actors, wives, mistresses, critics, academicians, bureaucrats, and others. Anouilh's characteristic

Germanic Peoples

No trace of autocracy can be found among the Germans whom Caesar describes. The leading men of the pagi (kindred groups) would try to patch up disputes as they arose, but they acted only in those disputes that broke out between members of their own pagus. There appears to have been no mediatory body at this date. In fact, in peacetime there appears to have been no central