Skip this Advertisement

A-Z Browse

  • Abernon, Yehudi Menuhin, Lord Menuhin of Stoke d’ (American violinist and conductor)
    one of the leading violin virtuosos of the 20th century....
  • Aberpennar (Wales, United Kingdom)
    industrial town, Rhondda Cynon Taff county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), Wales. The town’s growth dates almost entirely from about 1850 with the exploitation of rich reserves of coal in the vicinity, but after about 1945 factory industries were introduced to offset the serious fall in local mining employment. By the end of the 20th ...
  • aberration (optics)
    in optical systems, such as lenses and curved mirrors, the deviation of light rays through lenses, causing images of objects to be blurred. In an ideal system, every point on the object will focus to a point of zero size on the image. Practically, however, each image point occupies a volume of finite size and unsymmetrical shape, causing some blurring of the whole image. Unlike a plane mirror, wh...
  • aberration, constant of (astronomy)
    in astronomy, the maximum amount of the apparent yearly aberrational displacement of a star or other celestial body, resulting from the Earth’s orbital motion around the Sun. The value of the constant, about 20.49″ of arc, depends on the ratio of Earth’s orbital velocity to the velocity of light. James Bradley, the British astronomer who in 1728 discovered t...
  • Abert, Lake (lake, Oregon, United States)
    ...of various tectonic phenomena has resulted in the formation of a few lake basins, but faulting, in its great variety of forms, has been responsible for the formation of many important lake basins. Abert Lake, in Oregon, lies in the depression formed by a tilted fault block against the higher block. Indeed, many lakes in the western United States are located in depressions formed through......
  • Abertawe (county, Wales, United Kingdom)
    county, southwestern Wales, comprising the city of Swansea as well as the entire peninsula of Gower in the south and west, the lower valley of the River Loughor in the northwest, and the foothills of Black Mountain in the north. Gower is a rolling plateau noted for its sandy beaches and scenic rocky cliffs. The valleys of the Rivers Loughor ...
  • Abertawe (Wales, United Kingdom)
    city, Swansea county, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southwestern Wales. It lies along the Bristol Channel at the mouth of the River Tawe. Swansea is the second largest city in Wales (after Cardiff)....
  • Aberteifi (Wales, United Kingdom)
    town, Ceredigion county (historic county of Cardiganshire), Wales. The town grew up adjacent to a 12th-century Norman castle overlooking the River Teifi. An arched bridge across the river is said to date from 1136. In 1176 the Welsh prince and justiciar Lord Rhys (Rhys ap Gruffudd) sponsored the first recorded National Eisteddfod (bardic ass...
  • Abertillery (Wales, United Kingdom)
    town, Blaenau Gwent county borough, historic county of Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy), Wales, in the valley of the River Ebbw. Coal mining was its main economic interest from about 1850 until the last mines closed in the 1980s. Nantyglo, to the north, was the site of famous ironworks. Some light manufacturing has been introduced to Abertillery since the 1930s, most...
  • Aberystwyth (Wales, United Kingdom)
    coastal town, Ceredigion county (historic county of Cardiganshire), Wales, where the River Rheidol flows into Cardigan Bay. Traces of extensive Iron Age earthworks have been found on the hill Pen Dinas, which overlooks the old port and town. The medieval walled town grew around the castle erected by the Normans (1277) on a rocky headland immediately north of the mouth of the Riv...
  • Aberystwyth Grit Formation (geological formation, United Kingdom)
    ...deepwater shales of the basin. Submarine avalanches (turbidity flows) brought the 1,200 to 1,500 metres (approximately 3,900 to 4,900 feet) of interbedded shales and fine sandstones constituting the Aberystwyth Grit Formation to a deepwater basinal setting in west-central Wales. Less commonly, Silurian shales passively accumulated in broad platform settings. The Longmaqi Formation of the Yangtz...
  • abetalipoproteinemia (pathology)
    A deficiency of microsomal transfer protein causes abetalipoproteinemia, an autosomal recessive condition characterized by the virtual absence of VLDL and LDL. Triglycerides accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract and liver, and there are low blood levels of cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. Persons with abetalipoproteinemia have severe fat malabsorption and develop neurological......
  • abettor (law)
    in law, a person who becomes equally guilty in the crime of another by knowingly and voluntarily aiding the criminal during the act itself. An abettor is one kind of accomplice, the other being an accessory, who aids the criminal prior to or after the crime....
  • Abgar legend (Christian legend)
    in early Christian times, a popular myth that Jesus had an exchange of letters with King Abgar V Ukkama of Osroene, whose capital was Edessa, a Mesopotamian city on the northern fringe of the Syrian plateau. According to the legend, the king, afflicted with leprosy, had heard of Jesus’ miracles and wrote to Jesus acknowledging his divine mission, asking to be cured, and inviting him to com...
  • Abgar VII (king of Osroëne)
    ...during wars between Rome and Parthia from the 1st century bc to the 2nd century ad, and it formed alliances at different times with one or the other. Finally, the Roman emperor Trajan deposed Abgar VII, king of Osroëne, after quelling a Mesopotamian revolt of ad 116, and foreign princes occupied the throne. In ad 123, however, Ma...
  • Abgesang (music)
    ...the tripartite structure taken over from the Provençal canso: two identical sections, called individually Stollen and collectively Aufgesang, and a third section, or Abgesang (the terms derive from the later meistersingers); the formal ratio between Aufgesang and Abgesang is variable. The basic aab pattern was subject to much variation......
  • Abhā (Saudi Arabia)
    city, southwestern Saudi Arabia. It is situated on a plain at the western edge of Mount al-Hijāz and is surrounded by hills. The valley of the Wadi Abhā near the city is filled with gardens, fields, and streams. The city consists of four quarters, the largest of which contains an old fortress. Abhā was freed from Ottoman rule following World War I and brought under the control...
  • Abhainn Mhór, An (river, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
    river in Northern Ireland, rising in the uplands near the Dungannon Fermanagh district boundaries and fed by a network of small streams northeast of a drainage divide near Fivemiletown. The river flows northeast through southern Dungannon district and then turns southeast, forming part of the border with the Republic of Ireland. West of Tynan it turns northeast again and flows across the Moy-Caled...
  • Abhainn Mhór, An (river, Ireland)
    river rising in the uplands on the border of Counties Cork and Kerry, Ireland, and flowing 104 miles (167 km) to the sea at Youghal, County Cork. In its upper course the Blackwater flows between uplands and a sandstone ridge with summits above 2,200 feet (670 m). East–west lines of hills mark the entire upper course of the Blackwater, and so for most of its length the river flows west to ea...
  • Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache (work by Herder)
    Among his works of this period are Plastik (1778), which outlines his metaphysics, and Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache (1772; “Essay on the Origin of Language”), which finds the origin of language in human nature. For Herder, knowledge is possible only through the medium of language. Although the individual and the world are united in feeling, they......
  • Abhandlung über die Shakespearo-Manie (work by Grabbe)
    ...of the theatre. Among his most enduring is the mordant satire Scherz, Satire, Ironie, und tiefere Bedeutung (1827; Comedy, Satire, Irony, and Deeper Meaning). He is also known for Abhandlung über die Shakespearo-Manie (1827; “Essay on Shakespeare Mania”), in which he attacks Shakespeare and advocates an independent national drama. His other major works ...
  • Abhandlung von der Fuge (work by Marpurg)
    ...from 1766. Particularly important among his works are the Historisch-kritische Beyträge (1754–58) and his introductions to different branches of music, notably the fugue in Abhandlung von der Fuge (1753–54). These works are valuable to students of 18th-century music history, theory, and practice. Significant as well is his eventual endorsement of instrumental....
  • “Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer” (work by Scheele)
    However, Scheele is best remembered for his role in the discovery of oxygen, as described in his only book, Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer (1777; “Chemical Treatise on Air and Fire”). Scheele made his discovery independently, but simultaneously with the English clergyman and scientist Joseph Priestley. Like most chemists, they were convinced that air......
  • Abhandlungen der Fries’schen Schule (German journal)
    ...Meyer in his Kants Psychologie (1870). Later, a more important contribution in this field was made by the Göttingen philosopher of ethics and law Leonard Nelson and published in the Abhandlungen der Fries’schen Schule (1904 ff; “Acts of the Friesian School”). Even this title suggests an intimate agreement with the Kantianism of Fries’s new critiq...
  • abhāva (Indian philosophy)
    To these six was later added abhāva, nonexistence or absence. Though negative in content, the impression it makes is positive; one has a perception of an absence where one misses something. Four such absences are recognized: previous absence, as of a new product; later absence, as of a destroyed object; total absence, as of colour in the wind; and reciprocal absence, as of a jar......
  • Abhayā (Hindu goddess)
    demon-destroying form of the Hindu goddess Śakti, particularly popular in eastern India. She is known by various names, such as Mahāmāyā, or Abhayā (Sanskrit: “She Who is Without Fear”), and appears to be a composite of folk beliefs with the higher traditions. Her representation is similar to that of Durgā, another form of Śakti. She i...
  • Abhayagiri (monastery, Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka)
    important ancient Theravāda Buddhist monastic centre (vihāra) built by King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi Abhaya (29–17 bc) on the northern side of Anurādhapura, the capital of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) at that time. Its importance lay, in part, in the fact that religious and political power were closely related, so that monastic centres had much...
  • Abhayagiriviharavasi (Buddhism)
    ...Asoka (3rd century bce), the Theravada school was established in Sri Lanka, where it subsequently divided into three subgroups, known after their respective monastic centres. The cosmopolitan Abhayagiriviharavasi maintained open relations with Mahayana and later Vajrayana monks and welcomed new ideas from India. The Mahaviharavasi—with whom the third group, the Jetavanaviha...
  • Abhdisho bar Berikha (Syrian theologian)
    Syrian Christian theologian and poet who was the last important representative of the Nestorian tradition, a theological school emphasizing a rational, critical interpretation of early Christian doctrine. The sect, centred in ancient Antioch, countered the speculative mysticism then prevalent in Alexandria and Jerusalem....
  • abhibhāyātana (Buddhist philosophy)
    in Buddhist philosophy, one of the preparatory stages of meditation, in which the senses are completely restrained. In Buddhist canons, abhibhvāyatana is divided into eight substages during which man comes to realize that physical forms in the external world are different from himself, thus freeing himself from attachment to the sense objects. These stages become bases for man...
  • abhibhvāyatana (Buddhist philosophy)
    in Buddhist philosophy, one of the preparatory stages of meditation, in which the senses are completely restrained. In Buddhist canons, abhibhvāyatana is divided into eight substages during which man comes to realize that physical forms in the external world are different from himself, thus freeing himself from attachment to the sense objects. These stages become bases for man...
  • Abhidhamma (Buddhism)
    ...Vinaya), to the discourses of the Buddha (Pali: Sutta), and subsequently to the interest in scholasticism (Pali: Abhidhamma)....
  • Abhidhamma Pitaka (Buddhist canon)
    the third—and historically the latest—of the three “baskets,” or collections of texts, that together compose the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, the form predominant in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The other two collections are Sutta (“Discourse”; Sanskrit Sutra) and Vinaya (...
  • Abhidhammattha-sangaha (work by Anuruddha)
    a highly popular primer, or digest, of the Abhidhamma corpus (the scholastic section of the canon) of the Theravada tradition. The Abhidhammattha-sangaha was composed in India or in Myanmar (Burma), the chief centre for Abhidhamma studies. Written in Pali by the monk Anuruddha, it dates from no earlier than the 8th century and probably from the 11th or 12th....
  • Abhidhammavatara (work by Buddhadatta)
    the earliest effort at systematizing, in the form of a manual, the doctrines dealt with in the Abhidhamma (scholastic) section of the Theravada Buddhist canon. The Abhidhammavatara was written in Pali, apparently in the 5th century, by the poet and scholar Buddhadatta in the region of the Kaveri River, in southern India....
  • Abhidharma (Buddhism)
    ...Vinaya), to the discourses of the Buddha (Pali: Sutta), and subsequently to the interest in scholasticism (Pali: Abhidhamma)....
  • “Abhidharma Pitaka” (Buddhist canon)
    the third—and historically the latest—of the three “baskets,” or collections of texts, that together compose the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, the form predominant in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The other two collections are Sutta (“Discourse”; Sanskrit Sutra) and Vinaya (...
  • Abhidharmakosha (work by Vasubandhu)
    encyclopaedic compendium of Abhidharma (scholasticism)....
  • “Abhidharmakosha-shastra” (work by Vasubandhu)
    encyclopaedic compendium of Abhidharma (scholasticism)....
  • abhijna (Buddhist philosophy)
    in Buddhist philosophy, miraculous power obtained especially through meditation and wisdom. Usually five kinds of abhijna are enumerated: the ability (1) to travel any distance or take on any form at will, (2) to see everything, (3) to hear everything, (4) to know another’s thoughts, and (5) to recollect former existences....
  • Abhijñānaśakuntala (play by Kālidāsa)
    In drama, his Abhijñānaśakuntala is the most famous and is usually judged the best Indian literary effort of any period. Taken from an epic legend, the work tells of the seduction of the nymph Śakuntalā by King Duṣyanta, his rejection of the girl and his child, and their subsequent reunion in heaven. The epic myth is important because of the......
  • abhimukhī (Buddhism)
    ...(4) arciṣmatī (“brilliant,” the rays of his virtue consuming evil passions and ignorance), (5) sudurjayā (“hard to conquer”), (6) abhimukhī (“turning toward” both transmigration and nirvana), (7) dūraṅgamā (“far-going”), (8) acalā (“immovable...
  • Abhinavagupta (Indian philosopher)
    philosopher, ascetic and aesthetician, and outstanding representative of the “recognition” (pratyabhijñā) school of Kashmiri Śaivite monism. This school conceived of the god Śiva (the manifestation of ultimate reality), the individual soul, and the universe as essentially one; pratyabhijñā r...
  • abhinna (Buddhist philosophy)
    in Buddhist philosophy, miraculous power obtained especially through meditation and wisdom. Usually five kinds of abhijna are enumerated: the ability (1) to travel any distance or take on any form at will, (2) to see everything, (3) to hear everything, (4) to know another’s thoughts, and (5) to recollect former existences....
  • Ābhīra (people)
    ...between the Yamuna and the Beas rivers. The Trigartas have been associated with the Chamba region of the upper Ravi River, but they also may have inhabited the area of Jalandhara in the plains. The Abhiras lived in scattered settlements in various parts of western and central India as far as the Deccan. Most of these tribes claimed descent from the ancient lineages of the Puranas, and some of.....
  • Abhisamayalambkaraloka (Buddhist text)
    important contribution to exegetical literature on the Prajnaparamita- (“Perfection of Wisdom”) sutras of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and one of the texts most often studied in Tibetan monasteries....
  • abhiseka (religion)
    (“sprinkling”), in esoteric Buddhism, a purificatory or initiatory rite in which a candidate is sprinkled with water or other liquid, signifying a change in status....
  • abhiṣeka (religion)
    (“sprinkling”), in esoteric Buddhism, a purificatory or initiatory rite in which a candidate is sprinkled with water or other liquid, signifying a change in status....
  • Abia (biblical figures)
    (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel 8:2; I Chronicles 6:28), who, with his brother Joel, served as a ju...
  • Abia (state, Nigeria)
    state, east-central Nigeria. Abia was administratively created in 1991 from the eastern half of former Imo state. It is bordered by the states of Enugu to the north, Cross River and Akwa Ibom to the east, Rivers to the south, and Imo and Anambra to the west. Abia includes areas of oil-palm bush and tropical rain forest in its southern part and woodland savanna in its hilly north. Most of the popu...
  • Abiathar (biblical figure)
    in the Old Testament, son of Ahimelech, priest of Nob. He was the sole survivor of a massacre carried out by Doeg. Fleeing to David, he remained with him throughout his wanderings and his reign. He was loyal through the rebellion of Absalom, but he supported Adonijah against Solomon. Abiathar probably represents an early rival house to that of Zadok, the official priestly family of Jerusalem down...
  • ʿAbīd al-Bukhārī (Moroccan military organization)
    army of Saharan blacks organized in Morocco by the ʿAlawī ruler Ismāʿīl (reigned 1672–1727). Earlier rulers had recruited black slaves (Arabic: ʿabīd) into their armies, and these men or their descendants eventually formed the core of Ismāʿīl’s guard....
  • “Abidatsuma-kusha-ron” (work by Vasubandhu)
    encyclopaedic compendium of Abhidharma (scholasticism)....
  • Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)
    chief port, de facto capital, and largest city of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It lies along the Ébrié Lagoon, which is separated from the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic by the Vridi Plage sandbar. A village in 1898, it became a town in 1903. Abidjan was a rail terminus from 1904 but had to depend on the meagre facilities of Port-Bouët on the ...
  • Abies (Abies)
    properly, any of about 40 species of trees constituting the genus Abies of the family Pinaceae, although many other coniferous evergreen trees are commonly called firs—e.g., the Douglas fir, the hemlock fir (see hemlock), and the joint fir (see Ephedra). True firs are native to North and Central America, Europe, ...
  • Abies alba (tree)
    (Abies alba), tree growing to a height of 150 feet; abundant in the mountainous regions of central and southern Europe....
  • Abies balsamea (tree)
    All North American tree species are distributed across the continent except jack pine (Pinus banksiana), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea). Jack pine is a relatively small, short-lived, early successional tree occurring in the eastern and central parts of boreal forests east of the Rocky Mountains. Lodgepole pine is a longer-lived, early......
  • Abies grandis (tree)
    ...of the previous year to some degree (preformers). In these species the number of height growth units for the year is determined to a great extent during the previous year. For example, those of the grand fir (Abies grandis) in the area of Vancouver are preformed in October, so that at spring bud break those height growth units elongate and develop; a new bud is then initiated in....
  • abietic acid (chemical compound)
    the most abundant of several closely related organic acids that constitute most of rosin, the solid portion of the oleoresin of coniferous trees. Commercial abietic acid is usually a glassy or partly crystalline, yellowish solid that melts at temperatures as low as 85° C (185° F). It belongs to the diterpene group of organic compounds (compounds derived from four ...
  • Abigail (biblical figure)
    in the Old Testament, the wife of Nabal of southern Judah, on whose death she became one of the first wives of David (1 Samuel 25) and the mother of his son Chileab. The name Abigail was also borne by David’s sister (1 Chronicles 2:16), who was the mother of Amasa, commander of the army of Absalom. From the former (self-styled “handmaid”; 1 Samuel 25:25) is derived the colloq...
  • Abijah (biblical figures)
    (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel 8:2; I Chronicles 6:28), who, with his brother Joel, served as a ju...
  • Abijah, Luce (American poet and activist)
    poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America....
  • Abijah, Lucy (American poet and activist)
    poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America....
  • Abijah’s Luce (American poet and activist)
    poet, storyteller, and activist of colonial and postcolonial America....
  • Abildgaard, Nicolai Abraham (Danish painter)
    the most renowned Danish painter of the late 18th century and one of the early Neoclassicists....
  • Abilene (Kansas, United States)
    city, seat (1861) of Dickinson county, east-central Kansas, U.S. The city lies along the Smoky Hill River....
  • Abilene (Texas, United States)
    city, seat (1883) of Taylor county (and partly in Jones county), west-central Texas, U.S. It lies on low, rolling plains 153 miles (246 km) west of Fort Worth. Founded in 1881 as the new railhead (built by the Texas and Pacific Railway) for the overland Texas cattle drives, it took not only the business of the previous railhead, Abi...
  • Abilgaard, Nicolaj-Abraham (Danish painter)
    the most renowned Danish painter of the late 18th century and one of the early Neoclassicists....
  • Abilities of Man, The (book by Spearman)
    ...various performances into the general factor, g, and varying specific factors, s1, s2, and so on. The fullest account of his work is to be found in The Abilities of Man (1927). His historical survey, Psychology Down the Ages, 2 vol. (1937), was followed by Human Ability (1950, with L.W. Jones)....
  • ability (psychology)
    ...viewed intellectual abilities as hierarchical, with g, or general ability, located at the top of the hierarchy. But below g are levels of gradually narrowing abilities, ending with the specific abilities identified by Spearman. Cattell, for example, suggested in Abilities: Their Structure, Growth, and Action (1971) that general ability can be......
  • ability grouping (education)
    Human resources management in German firms is rooted in the country’s highly structured education and apprentice-training system. Tracking begins at age 10, when a small percentage of the most academically talented students (most of whom do not come from working-class families) enter a college preparatory program and go on to obtain university degrees and jobs in their chosen professions. A...
  • ability test (psychology)
    examination that attempts to determine and measure a person’s ability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of skills (intellectual, motor, and so on). The tests assume that people differ in their special abilities and that these differences can be useful in predicting future achievements....
  • ability-to-pay principle
    The ability-to-pay principle requires that the total tax burden will be distributed among individuals according to their capacity to bear it, taking into account all of the relevant personal characteristics. The most suitable taxes from this standpoint are personal levies (income, net worth, consumption, and inheritance taxes). Historically there was common agreement that income is the best......
  • Abimelech (king of Shechem)
    After Gideon died, the people returned to worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, especially Baal-berith. Abimelech, one of the 70 sons of the wives and concubines of Gideon, went to Shechem to solicit support for his attempt to establish a monarchy. After receiving financial support from those who controlled the treasury of the shrine of Baal-berith, he hired a band of assassins—who......
  • Abingdon (Virginia, United States)
    town, seat (1778) of Washington county, southwestern Virginia, U.S. It lies in the Blue Ridge highlands of the Appalachian Mountains, near the border with Tennessee, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Bristol. Originally called “Wolf Hills” by frontiersman Daniel Boone as he passed through the a...
  • Abingdon (England, United Kingdom)
    town (“parish”), Vale of White Horse district, administrative county of Oxfordshire, historic county of Berkshire, England. It lies south of Oxford at the confluence of the Rivers Thames and Ock....
  • Abingdon Island (island, Pacific Ocean)
    one of the northernmost of the Galapagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean 600 miles (965 km) west of mainland Ecuador. It is an uninhabited island with an area of 20 square miles (52 square km)....
  • Abington (Massachusetts, United States)
    town (township), Plymouth county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies 19 miles (31 km) southeast of Boston and 4 miles (6 km) east of Brockton. Ames Nowell State Park is nearby (to the west). Known as Manamooskeagin (“Land of Many Beavers”) to the Algonquian Indians, it was settled in 1668, incorporated in 1712, and named for A...
  • Abington (Pennsylvania, United States)
    urban township, Montgomery county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Abington is a northern suburb of Philadelphia, encompassing the communities of Ardsley, Glenside, McKinley, Noble, North Glenside, and Roslyn....
  • Abington, Fanny (British actress)
    English actress admired both for her craft and for her leadership in fashion....
  • AbioCor artificial heart (medical device)
    ...patients fared little better or even worse, so that use of the Jarvik-7 was stopped. In 2001 a team of American surgeons implanted the first completely self-contained artificial heart, called the AbioCor artificial heart. The patient survived 151 days....
  • Abiodun (African chief)
    ...political options; some wished to concentrate on amassing wealth, while others advocated the use of wealth for territorial expansion. This difference was not resolved until the alafin Abiodun (reigned c. 1770–89) conquered his opponents in a bitter civil war and pursued a policy of economic development based primarily on the coastal trade with European merchants....
  • abiogenesis (biology)
    the hypothetical process by which living organisms develop from nonliving matter; also, the archaic theory that utilizes this process to explain the origin of life. Pieces of cheese and bread wrapped in rags and left in a dark corner, for example, were thus thought to produce mice, according to this theory, because after several weeks, there were mice in the rags. Many believed in spontaneous gene...
  • Abiola, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (Nigerian entrepreneur and politician)
    Nigerian executive, financier, and politician (b. Aug. 24, 1937, Abeokuta, Nigeria--d. July 7, 1998, Abuja, Nigeria), was one of the richest magnates in Africa and popularly regarded as the leader of the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria. He had been imprisoned since 1994 after winning the 1993 presidential election. Abiola, who was born in poverty, attended the University of Glasgow, Scot., on sc...
  • Abipón (people)
    South American Indian people who formerly lived on the lower Bermejo River in the Argentine Gran Chaco. They spoke a language (also called Callaga) belonging to the Guaycuruan group of the Guaycurú-Charruan languages. The Abipón were divided into three dialect groups: the Nakaigetergehè (“Forest People”), ...
  • abiraterone (biochemistry)
    Other drugs, called antiandrogens, block the activity of androgens and are often used in combination with other forms of hormone therapy. An antiandrogen called abiraterone inhibits the activity of an enzyme involved in testosterone synthesis in the testes and adrenal glands. In clinical trials, abiraterone has shown promise in treating patients with aggressive end-stage prostate cancer, which......
  • Ābish Khātūn (Salghurid ruler)
    ...of the Khwārezm-Shāh dynasty. With the eclipse of the Khwārezm-Shāhs, the Salghurids transferred their allegiance to the Il-Khanid rulers of Iran. The last Salghurid ruler, Ābish Khātūn (reigned 1265–70), was a woman who married the son of the Il-Khanid ruler of Iran. With Ābish Khātūn’s death in 1270, the Il-Kh...
  • Abish, Walter (American author)
    American writer of experimental novels and short stories whose fiction takes as its subject language itself....
  • Abitibi Belt (geological region, Canada)
    Important occurrences are the Barberton belt in South Africa; the Sebakwian, Belingwean, and Bulawayan-Shamvaian belts of Zimbabwe; the Yellowknife belts in the Slave province of Canada; the Abitibi, Wawa, Wabigoon, and Quetico belts of the Superior province of Canada; the Dharwar belts in India; and the Warrawoona and Yilgarn belts in Australia....
  • Abitibi River (river, Ontario, Canada)
    river, northeastern Ontario, Canada. From its source in the shallow 359-square-mile (931-square-km) Abitibi Lake, lying across the Ontario-Quebec border, the river descends 868 feet (265 m) as it flows generally northward for 340 miles (547 km) to join the Moose River and empty into the southern end of James Bay. The heavily forested Abitibi River valley supports an extensive pulp and paper indust...
  • Abitur (German education)
    ...or national board of education (1787); and one of his colleagues, Friedrich Gedike, was instrumental in introducing the school-leaving examination for university entrance, the Abitur, which still exists....
  • Abivard (Iran)
    The earliest Parthian capital was probably at Dara (modern Abivard); one of the later capitals was Hecatompylos, probably near modern Dāmghān. The empire was governed by a small Parthian aristocracy, which successfully made use of the social organizations established by the Seleucids and which tolerated the development of vassal kingdoms. Although not an inventive people, the......
  • Abiyyah (biblical figures)
    (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel 8:2; I Chronicles 6:28), who, with his brother Joel, served as a ju...
  • Abiyyahu (biblical figures)
    (“Yahweh Is My Father”), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years (c. 915–913 bc). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel 8:2; I Chronicles 6:28), who, with his brother Joel, served as a ju...
  • Abjuration, Act of (The Netherlands [1581])
    ...head and heart of the rebellion was recognized by Philip II in 1580, when he put him under the ban of outlawry. William’s Apology in defense of his conduct was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration (Akte van Afzwering), by which the States General declared that Philip had forfeited his sovereignty over the provinces by his persistent tyranny. This was a declaration of......
  • Abkhaz (people)
    any member of a Caucasian people living chiefly in the Abkhazia republic in northwesternmost Georgia. The Bzyb Abkhaz, who have a distinct dialect, are found around the Bzyb River; the Abzhui Abkhaz, on whose dialect the literary language is based, live near the Kodori River; and the Zamurzakan Abkhaz are found in the southeast. The Abaza people, who speak a similar language, dwell north of the ma...
  • Abkhaz language
    ...or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and the limited number of distinctive vowels in their sound systems. Abaza, like Abkhaz, has no grammatical cases. Abaza is written as well as spoken....
  • Abkhazia (autonomous republic, Georgia)
    autonomous republic located in northwestern Georgia. Bordering the eastern shores of the Black Sea, Abkhazia consists of a narrow coastal lowland broken by mountain spurs, followed by a hilly foreland zone of eroded marine and river terraces that merge into the steep slopes of the Caucasus Mountains located to the north. Area 3,343 square miles (8,660 square km). Pop. (2002) 215...
  • Abkhazian (people)
    any member of a Caucasian people living chiefly in the Abkhazia republic in northwesternmost Georgia. The Bzyb Abkhaz, who have a distinct dialect, are found around the Bzyb River; the Abzhui Abkhaz, on whose dialect the literary language is based, live near the Kodori River; and the Zamurzakan Abkhaz are found in the southeast. The Abaza people, who speak a similar language, dwell north of the ma...
  • Abkhazian language
    ...or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and the limited number of distinctive vowels in their sound systems. Abaza, like Abkhaz, has no grammatical cases. Abaza is written as well as spoken....
Skip this Advertisement

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

The Britannica Store
A-Z Browse

Image preview