La Roche-sur-yon

Town, capital of Vend�e d�partement, Pays de la Loire r�gion, western France, south of Nantes. The Vend�e region had been pacified at the time of the French Revolution but still remained disaffected after the counterrevolutionary insurrection of 1793; Napoleon in 1804 established a military and administrative town in the centre of the d�partement. It was built on the site

Arts, Central Asian, Bactria

The most Hellenized of these states in western Turkistan and Afghanistan was Bactria. Its fine coinage, for example, was distinctly Hellenistic in style, and Bactrian silversmiths were often influenced as much by Roman as Greek Hellenistic metalwork. Alexander the Great annexed Kabul to Bactria and founded Alexandria-Kapisu, a city astride the Indian caravan

Ear, Human, Tuning-fork tests

In the Rinne test the sounding tuning fork is placed on the mastoid process, and the person

Afghan Carpet

Stout, long-wearing floor covering handwoven by the Afghan tribe of Turkmens of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Afghan carpets are generally all wool or goat hair and are made with the Senna (Sehna) knot. Usually in dull reds, these carpets show less white than the products of other Turkmens. Their gul, or basic tribal motif, is a large, parti-coloured, scalloped octagon

Giri, Varahagiri Venkata

Giri began his education at Khallikote College, Berhampore, and then went to Dublin to study law. There he became engaged in the Sinn F�in movement and was expelled from Ireland in 1916. Upon his return to India, he joined the nascent labour movement. He became general secretary and

Dacko, David

A former teacher, Dacko held ministerial posts under Barth�lemy Boganda, who was prime minister of the autonomous Central African Republic. Claiming a family relationship, he succeeded

B�arn

B�arn's name can be traced to the town of Beneharnum (Lescar). B�arn was conquered by the Vascones (the ancestors of the modern Basques) in the 6th century and in 819 became a viscounty feudally

Biblical Literature, The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men

The first addition to Daniel (in Greek and Latin translations Dan. 3:24 - 68) contains the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men. These are the prayers of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three young men who praised God after they had been placed in the midst of the fiery furnace during a persecution of Jews in Babylon, as told in the Book of Daniel. The first prayer

Gravesham

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. Its centre is the town of Gravesend, but it includes a section of the south bank of the River Thames above and below the town, and it runs inland to the crest of the chalk hills (North Downs) that traverse the county from west to east. The borough was once agricultural, with areas of orchards

Cultured Pearl

Natural but cultivated pearl produced by a mollusk after the intentional introduction of a foreign object inside the creature's shell. The discovery that such pearls could be cultivated in freshwater mussels is said to have been made in 13th-century China, and the Chinese have been adept for hundreds of years at cultivating pearls by opening the mussel's shell and

Audubon, John James

The illegitimate son of a French merchant, planter, and slave trader and a Creole woman of Saint-Domingue, Audubon and his illegitimate half-sister (who was also born

Keyes, Alan

In full �Alan Lee Keyes� American diplomat, radio commentator, and politician who was one of the most prominent African American conservatives in the late 20th and the early 21st century. He received a bachelor's degree (1972) and a doctorate (1979) in government studies from Harvard University. In 1978 he joined the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer. In 1983 he was appointed

Keyes, Alan

Specifically, any of six species of toothed whales distinguishable from dolphins by their more compact build, generally smaller size (maximum length about 2 metres, or 6.6 feet), and curved, blunt snouts with spatulate rather than conical teeth. In North America the name is sometimes applied to dolphins. The porpoise family consists of three genera:

Interior Design, Walls

Every wall is a material in itself; and ideally no material, if it is properly used, needs to be covered up. Some elegant buildings constructed since 1960 have used concrete in its natural texture - i.e., showing the formwork left by wooden forms as a conscious expression of the material. During the 19th century, fakery in design was very popular, and part of the concern with the true

Sarasvati

Hindu goddess of learning and the arts. She is first referred to in literature as the personification of the sacred river, the Sarasvati, and is also identified with Vac, the goddess of speech. In later Hinduism she is usually considered the consort of the god Brahma (the promulgator of the Veda), but she enjoys an autonomous position as the patroness of art, music, and letters.

Sri Indraditya

Bang Klang Hao headed a petty Tai principality near Sukhothai when, about 1245, he joined with another Tai leader, Pha Muang, to rebel against the governor of Sukhothai, who was a deputy of the Khmer kings of Angkor. The two seized nearby Sawankhalok, and Bang Klang Hao defeated the Khmer governor

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, India

Fables appeared early in India, but it is impossible to determine whether they are older or later than the Greek. Undoubtedly there was mutual influence from very early times, for indirect contacts between Greece and India (by trade routes) had existed long before the time of Alexander the Great. In the form in which they are now known, the Greek fables are the older, but

Amundsen Gulf

The

Indole

Indole, first isolated in 1866, has the molecular formula C8H7N, and

Margarita Island

Spanish �Isla De Margarita, � island in the Caribbean Sea, 12 mi (19 km) north of the Pen�nsula de Araya in northeastern Venezuela. Also known as the Isle of Pearls, Margarita is the largest of 70 islands comprising Nueva Esparta state. In reality two islands joined by a low, narrow isthmus, Margarita is about 40 mi (65 km) long, covers an area of 414 sq mi (1,072 sq km), and has a coastline of 198 mi, with many natural harbours. The island

Medicine, Levels of health care

In the curative domain there are various forms of medical practice. They may be thought of generally as forming a pyramidal structure, with three tiers representing increasing degrees of specialization and technical sophistication but catering to diminishing numbers of patients as they are filtered out of the system at a lower level. Only those patients who

Carnivore, Importance to humans

The cat, like the dog, was originally taken into the home of man as a pet. Unlike the dog, the cat has not been trained to hunt or to serve as a guardian. Cats may perform the function of �mouse catcher� in those areas where mice become a problem, but most urban house cats do not have the opportunity to perform this unless garbage and trash are allowed to accumulate. On farms, where

Gonzales, Pancho

Born into a Mexican-American family, Gonzales as a youth had no access to tennis clubs and was largely a self-taught player. In 1943 he achieved top ranking in boys' tennis in southern California. Before turning professional

Commercial Fishing, Shellfish

The crustaceans include lobsters, crabs, crayfish, and both shrimp and the closely related but larger prawns. The shells consist mainly of a hard, inedible substance called chitin. Crustaceans molt frequently

Sartre, Jean-paul

Sartre lost his father at an early age and grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Carl Schweitzer, uncle of the medical missionary Albert Schweitzer and himself professor of German at the Sorbonne. The boy, who wandered in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris in search of playmates, was small in stature and cross-eyed. His brilliant autobiography, Les Mots (1963; Words,

Hindu Calendar

Dating system used in India from about 1000 BC and still used to establish dates of the Hindu religious year. It is based on a year of 12 lunar months; i.e., 12 full cycles of phases of the Moon. The discrepancy between this year of about 354 days and the solar year of about 365 days is partially resolved by intercalation of an extra month every 30 months.

C�diz

City, capital and principal seaport of C�diz provincia, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain, on a long narrow peninsula extending into the Gulf of C�diz (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean). With a 6- to 7-mile (9.5- to 11-kilometre) circumference, hemmed in by the sea from which it is protected by walls, the city has only one land exit. Traditionally

Frederick Charles, Prince Of Prussia

The eldest son of Prince Charles of Prussia and nephew of the future German emperor William I, Frederick Charles was educated from childhood for a military career. He became a colonel in 1852 and a major general in 1854, in which year he married Princess

Abu Dhabi

Arabic �Abu Zaby� constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Though its international boundaries are disputed, it is unquestionably the largest of the country's seven constituent emirates with more than three-fourths of the area of the entire federation. Its rich oil fields, both onshore and in the Persian Gulf, make it, with neighbouring

Braak, Menno Ter

In 1932 ter Braak founded, with Edgar du Perron, the magazine Forum, which called for a rejection of contemporary aestheticism (with its emphasis on elegance and form) and a return to sincerity and substance