Cracow, Republic Of

Also called �Free City of Cracow�, Cracow also spelled �Krak�w�, Polish �Krakowska Rzeczpospolita�, or �Wolne Miasto Krak�w� tiny state that, for the 31 years of its existence (1815 - 46), was the only remaining independent portion of Poland. Established by the Congress of Vienna at the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars (1815), the free Republic of Cracow consisted of the ancient city of Cracow and the territory surrounding it. Containing a population of 95,000, it was placed under the joint protection of Austria, Prussia,

Racine, Jean

Racine has been hailed by posterity as the foremost practitioner of tragedy in French history and the uncontested master of French classicism. He became the virtuoso of the poetic metre used in 17th-century French tragedy, the alexandrine line, and paid unwavering attention to the properly theatrical aspects of his plays, from actors' diction and gestures to space

Peking University

Chinese (Wade - Giles) �Pei-ching Ta-hs�eh�, (Pinyin) �Beijing Daxue�, byname �Pei-ta�, or �Beida� in Peking, one of the oldest and most important institutions of higher learning in China. It originated as the Capital College, which was founded in 1898 by the emperor Kuang-hs� as part of his short-lived program to modernize and reform China's institutions. This school languished after the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi's coup d'�tat of the same year. After the overthrow of the

's Hertogenbosch

Chartered in 1185 by Henry I, duke of Brabant, who had a hunting lodge nearby (hence the name, meaning �the duke's wood�), it was an important medieval wool centre and became a bishopric in 1559. The town saw many sieges

Pluvial Regime

Averaged zonally, regions of excessive precipitation, in which annual precipitation exceeds annual evaporation, exist in the tropics and at latitudes poleward of 40� in both hemispheres. In the subtropics, dominated by high atmospheric pressure, annual

Ghent, Pacification Of

(Nov. 8, 1576), declaration by which the northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries put aside their religious difference and united in revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs. The declaration was the first major expression of the Netherlands' national self-consciousness. The Pacification of Ghent called for the expulsion of Spanish troops from the Low Countries,

Alimentary Paste

A shaped and dried dough prepared from semolina, farina, wheat flour, or a mixture of these with water or milk and with or without egg or egg yolk. See pasta.

Andrews, Fannie Fern Phillips

Fannie Phillips grew up in Nova Scotia and, from about 1876, in Lynn, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Salem Normal School (now Salem State College) in 1884 and taught school in Lynn until her marriage

Haardt Mountains

Also called �Hardt Mountains, � mountain range in Rheinland-Pfalz Land (state), southwestern Germany. They comprise the eastern part of the Pf�lzer Forest Mountains and lie west of the Rhine River basin, extending from the French border to a point about 20 miles (30 km) south of Mainz. Their densely forested slopes rise to 2,208 feet (673 m) in Mount Kalmit. Geologically the Haardt Mountains are a continuation of the

Berg, Gertrude

In December 1918, while enrolled in a playwriting extension course at Columbia University, Gertrude Edelstein met and married Lewis Berg. Having begun

Sinuiju

City, northwestern North Korea. It was developed during the Japanese occupation (1910 - 45) at the Korean terminus of a railway bridge across the Yalu (Amnok) River, 7 miles (11 km) west of the old city of Uiju (Sinuiju meaning �New Uiju�). An open port, 25 miles (40 km) from the mouth of the Yalu River, it grew commercially with the lumber industry, which uses the river to transport the logs from inland forests.

Bregenzerwald

English �Bregenz Forest� forested mountain range in Bundesland (federal province) Vorarlberg, western Austria. The range, part of the Allg�uer Alps, is drained by the Bregenzer Ache (stream) and has been partly deforested. Its hilly Vorderwald (foothill area toward Bregenz) supports pasture and dairy farming, while winter-sports centres and climatic health resorts in its Hinterwald (mountainous

Iberian

Spanish �Ibero � one of a prehistoric people of southern and eastern Spain who later gave their name to the whole peninsula. The waves of migrating Celtic peoples from the 8th to 6th century BC onward settled heavily in northern and central Spain, penetrated Portugal and Galicia, but left the indigenous Bronze Age Iberian people of the south and east intact. Greek geographers give the

Pennsylvania Academy Of The Fine Arts

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest art academy and museum in the United States, founded 1805. Specializing in American painting and sculpture of the 18th to the 20th century, the Academy's Art Museum was built between 1872 and 1876 according to designs by architect Frank Furness (1839 - 1912). The building's architectural style is high Victorian. For its centennial year (1976), which coincided

Asilah

Also called �Arzila, �Spanish �Arcila, � city on the Atlantic coast of western Morocco. Built on the site of an ancient Phoenician-Carthaginian settlement (Zili), it later fell to the Romans. It passed to the Idrisids, who in the early 11th century repulsed several attacks by Normans. From AD 972 on, it was dominated by the Marinids, until in 1471 the Portuguese occupied Asilah, which they fortified as a military base (the walls

Russell, William Russell, Lord

English Whig politician executed for allegedly plotting to murder King Charles II and his Roman Catholic brother James, Duke of York. Because the charges against Russell were never conclusively proved, he was lauded as a martyr by the Whigs, who claimed that he was put to death in retaliation for his efforts to exclude James from succession to

Atlantic Monthly, The

Monthly journal of literature and opinion, published in Boston, one of the oldest and most respected of American reviews. The Atlantic Monthly was founded in 1857 by Moses Dresser Phillips and Francis H. Underwood. It has long been noted for the quality of its fiction and general articles, contributed by a long line of distinguished editors and authors that includes James

Allegheny

County, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., consisting of a hilly region on the Allegheny Plateau bounded to the southeast by the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and to the northeast by the Allegheny River. The Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers converge in the centre of the county to form an area known as the Golden Triangle; this was a strategic point of contention

Melbourne

City, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. It lies on the Intracoastal Waterway along the Indian River (a lagoon separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands), about 60 miles (95 km) southeast of Orlando. The site, originally known as Crane Creek, was settled in 1878, and the community was soon renamed for Melbourne, Australia, the one-time home of the community's first postmaster,

Madhyamika

(Sanskrit: �Intermediate�), important school in the Mahayana (�Great Vehicle�) Buddhist tradition. Its name derives from its having sought a middle position between the realism of the Sarvastivada (�Doctrine That All Is Real�) school and the idealism of the Yogacara (�Mind Only�) school. The most renowned Madhyamika thinker was Nagarjuna (2nd century AD), who developed the doctrine that all

Lancaster, Sir James

In 1588 Lancaster served under Sir Francis Drake as commander of the Edward Bonaventure against the Spanish Armada. On April 10, 1591, commanding the same ship, he sailed from Plymouth for the

Leaf Miner

Most leaf-miner burrows or tunnels are either thin, winding, whitish trails or broad, whitish or brownish blotches.

Merchant Adventurers

Company of English merchants who engaged in trade with the Netherlands (and later with northwest Germany) from the early 15th century to 1806. The company, chartered in 1407, principally engaged in the export of finished cloth from the burgeoning English woolen industry. Its heyday extended from the late 15th century to 1564, during which period it sent its fleets to its market at Antwerp

Biblical Literature, The two- and four-source hypotheses

The two-source hypothesis is predicated upon the following observations: Matthew and Luke used Mark, both for its narrative material as well as for the basic structural outline of chronology of Jesus' life. Matthew and Luke use a second source, which is called Q (from German Quelle, �source�), not extant, for the sayings (logia) found in common in both of them. Thus, Mark and Q

Insurance, Credit insurance

The use of credit in modern societies is so various and widespread that many types of insurance have grown up to cover some of the risks involved. Examples of these risks are the risk of bad debts from insolvency, death, and disability; the risk of loss of savings from bank failure; the risk attaching to home-loan debts when installments are not paid for various reasons,

Alegr�a, Claribel

Poet, essayist, and journalist who was a major voice in the literature of contemporary Central America. Noted for her testimonio (testament) concerning the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, she was best known in the United States for the bilingual edition of her volume of poetry, Flores del volc�n/Flowers from the Volcano (1982), translated by the

Encina, Juan Del

After youthful training as a chorister at Salamanca cathedral (c. 1484) and at the University of Salamanca (before 1490), Encina entered the service of the Duke of Alba as

Switzerland

Swiss economic development has been affected by specific physical and cultural geographic factors. In the first instance, there was a paucity of raw materials; precipitation and soil quality to a large extent determined the type and size of cultivation; urban and industrial expansion encroached on the limited amount of cultivable land; a central location, situated

Aerospace Medicine

The ultimate aim of this specialty is to promote the safety and effectiveness of humans while they are exposed to the stresses of aerospace flight, such as extreme temperatures,

China

On Oct. 1, 1999, Pres. Jiang Zemin and leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated the 50th anniversary of communist rule in China with a massive military parade through downtown Beijing. When Mao Zedong had proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China (PRC) half a century earlier, China was just emerging from a long and bloody civil war. Few observers

Mckeesport

City, Allegheny county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It is situated at the junction of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. First settled about 1769 by David McKee, a ferry operator, the town was laid out in 1795 by his son John. In 1794 it was a centre of dissident activity during the Whiskey Rebellion (an insurrection against an excise tax on