France, History Of, The Carolingians
Representatives of the Merovingian dynasty continued to hold the royal title during most of the first half of the 8th century. They were captive monarchs, according to a contemporary biographer of Charlemagne. In actual fact, effective power was in the hands of the Pepinids, who, thanks to their valuable landholdings and loyal retainers, maintained a monopoly on
Carlow
Irish �Ceatharlach� urban district and county seat, County Carlow, Ireland, on the left bank of the River Barrow. An Anglo-Norman stronghold, the town received charters of incorporation in the 13th and 17th centuries. The keep (innermost citadel) of a 13th-century stronghold remains at the confluence of the Barrow and Burren rivers. Local industries include sugar-beet and flour processing and
Airplane, Aerodynamics
An aircraft in straight-and-level unaccelerated flight has four forces acting on it. (In turning, diving, or climbing flight, additional forces come into play.) These forces are lift, an upward-acting force; drag, a retarding force of the resistance to lift and to the friction of the aircraft moving through the air; weight, the downward effect that gravity has on the aircraft;
Felsina
Before Etruscan times the Bologna area was an important centre of Villanovan Iron Age cultures of the central
C�rdoba
C�rdoba was probably Carthaginian in origin and was occupied by the Romans in 152 BC. The city flourished under
Nero
Nero's father, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, died in about AD 40, and Nero was brought up by his mother, Agrippina the Younger, a great-granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. After poisoning her second husband, Agrippina incestuously became the wife of her uncle, the emperor Claudius, and persuaded him to favour Nero for the succession, over the rightful claim of his own son,
Proclus
Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus,
Drop Cut
Method of faceting gemstones into a pear shape suitable for pendants, earrings, and other jewelry. A pendeloque is a pear-shaped modification of the round brilliant cut used for diamonds. A briolette is an elongated, pear-shaped stone covered with bands of triangular or rectangular facets, usually with a pointed end and without a girdle.
San Crist�bal
Also called �Makira�, formerly �Cristoval� island in the Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean, 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Guadalcanal. The island is about 80 miles (130 km) long, has a maximum width of 25 miles (40 km), and has an area of 1,231 square miles (3,188 square km). It is fairly rugged, with a central mountain rising to 4,100 feet (1,250 metres). Islets off the northern coast are Uki Ni Masi Island and the Olu Malau Islands (Three Sisters Islands);
Anatom
Also spelled �Aneityum, � southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it has a circumference of 35 miles (56 km) and an area of 25 square miles (65 square km) and rises from a fertile coastal plain and valleys to a height of 2,795 feet (852 m). Anatom was a centre of sandalwooders, whalers, and missionaries in the New Hebrides in the 19th century; its valuable stands of kauri pine were
Race, History
The history of race in science is discussed in Thomas F. Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in America (1965); Elazar Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism (1992); Nancy Stepan, The Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain 1800 - 1960 (1992).
Mobutu Sese Seko
Mobutu was educated in missionary schools and began his career in 1949 in the Belgian Congolese army, the Force Publique, rising from a clerk
Oscar Ii
An outstanding orator and a lover of music and literature, Oscar published several books of verse and wrote on historical subjects. In home politics he proved a conservative; in foreign policy he favoured Scandinavian cooperation and after 1866 supported Germany in the hope of strengthening Sweden
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich
Tsiolkovsky was from a family of modest
Celebes Sea
Indonesian �Laut Sulawesi� sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered on the north by the Sulu Archipelago and Sea and Mindanao Island, on the east by the Sangi Islands chain, on the south by Celebes (Sulawesi), and on the west by Borneo. It extends 420 miles (675 km) north-south by 520 miles (837 km) east-west and occupies a total surface area of 110,000 square miles (280,000 square km). The sea, opening southwest through the Makassar Strait
Christianity, The schism of 1054
The greatest schism in church history occurred between the church of Constantinople and the church of Rome. While 1054 is the symbolic date of the separation, the agonizing division was six centuries in the making. The friction was ignited by several issues. The Eastern Church sharply disagreed when the Western Church introduced into the Nicene Creed the doctrine
Sculpture
A form of aesthetic expression in which hard or plastic materials are worked (as by carving, molding, or welding) into three-dimensional art objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments ranging from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. An enormous variety of media may be used, including clay, wax,
Pyromania
Impulse-control disorder characterized by the recurrent compulsion to set fires. The term refers only to the setting of fires for sexual or other gratification provided by the fire itself, not to arson for profit or revenge. Pyromania is usually a symptom of underlying psychopathology, often associated with aggressive behaviours. Sigmund Freud, the founder of
Alcal� Zamora, Niceto
Elected to the Cortes (parliament) in 1905, Alcal� Zamora became minister of works in 1917 and minister of war in 1922. The Spanish defeat at Anual in Morocco led to an
Beja
City, capital, and concelho (township), Beja distrito (�district�), southern Portugal, southeast of Lisbon. According to legend, Beja was founded by Ulysses, and it was named Pax Julia by Julius Caesar in 48 BC to commemorate the peace treaty signed in Beja by the Romans and Lusitanians. The city is partly enclosed by walls of Roman origin with two Roman gateways. Afonso I captured
Chancellor
In western Europe, the title of holders of numerous offices of varying importance, mainly secretarial, legal, administrative, and ultimately political in nature. The Roman cancellarii, minor legal officials who stood by the cancellus, or bar, separating the tribune from the public, were later employed in the imperial scrinia (writing departments). After the fall of
Doyle, Richard
A student of his father, Doyle regularly contributed (from 1843) decorations, theatre sketches, and political caricatures to Punch. The cover
Great Awakening
Religious revival in the British American colonies mainly between about 1720 and the '40s. It was a part of the religious ferment that swept western Europe in the latter part of the 17th century and early 18th century, referred to as Pietism and Quietism in continental Europe among Protestants and Roman Catholics and as Evangelicalism in England under the leadership of John
Chahar
Also spelled �Chakhar, � eastern tribe of Mongols, prominent in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Chahar were part of the empire of Dayan Khan (1470 - 1543), the last great khan of a united Mongolia. After his death the khanate remained formally among the Chahar, although it was substantially weakened. The last noteworthy Chahar khan, Ligdan (1604 - 34), attempted strenuously to reassert his authority, but he was defeated
Utica
Modern �Utique� traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa. It is located near the mouth of the Majardah (French Medjerda, ancient Bagradas) River in modern Tunisia. After its founding in the 8th or 7th century BC, Utica grew rapidly and was second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149 - 146 BC), Utica sided with Rome against
Wafd
In full� Al-wafd Al-misri� (Arabic: �Egyptian Delegation�), nationalist political party that was instrumental in gaining Egyptian independence from Britain. Organized by Sa'd Zaghlul on Nov. 13, 1918, as a permanent delegation of the Egyptian people, it demanded a voice in London and at the peace conferences following World War I. In March 1919 the British temporarily exiled its leaders Sa'd Zaghlul, Isma'il Sidq
Toprakkale
Also spelled �Topra Kaleh, � ancient Urartian fortress located near modern Van in southeastern Turkey. The walls of Toprakkale, erected in the 8th century BC, were of cyclopean masonry and sloped slightly inward, perhaps as a defense against earthquakes. Excavations at the site, carried out primarily by British and German teams, have revealed the high level of artistic achievement of ancient
Toprakkale
Also spelled �Topra Kaleh, � ancient Urartian fortress located near modern Van in southeastern Turkey. The walls of Toprakkale, erected in the 8th century BC, were of cyclopean masonry and sloped slightly inward, perhaps as a defense against earthquakes. Excavations at the site, carried out primarily by British and German teams, have revealed the high level of artistic achievement of ancient
Kiriath-sepher
Also called �Debir�, or �Lo-debar�, modern �Tall Bayt Mirsham� ancient town of Palestine, located near Hebron (in the Israeli-occupied West Bank). According to the Bible, the town was taken from the Canaanites either by Caleb's son-in-law Othniel or by Joshua himself. Tall Bayt Mirsham (Tell Beit Mirsim) was excavated (1926 - 32) by W.F. Albright, who uncovered exceptionally clear stratification from which he was able to give the first comprehensive
Koriyama
City, Fukushima Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, located at the junction of the Tohoku Line and the Ban-etsu Line (railways), north-northeast of Tokyo. It developed as an industrial and communications centre, producing textiles, chemicals, and machinery. Power is generated with coal from the nearby Joban coalfield and by hydroelectric plants on the Nippashi-gawa (Nippashi
