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  • Baren (Chinese author and critic)
    Chinese prose writer and critic who was the first Chinese literary theorist to promote the Marxist point of view....
  • Barenboim, Daniel (Israeli musician)
    Israeli pianist and conductor....
  • Barends, Barend (South African chief)
    ...labour by illegally capturing San women and children (many of the men were killed) as well as Africans from across the eastern frontier. Griqua raiding states led by Andries Waterboer, Adam Kok, and Barend Barends captured more Africans from among people such as the Hurutshe, Rolong, and Kwena. Other people, such as those known as the Mantatees, were forced to become farmworkers, mainly in the....
  • Barents Sea (sea, Arctic Ocean)
    outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean 800 miles (1,300 km) long and 650 miles (1,050 km) wide and covering 542,000 square miles (1,405,000 square km). Its average depth is 750 feet (229 m), plunging to a maximum of 2,000 feet (600 m) in the major Bear Island Trench. It is bounded by the archipelagoes of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land (north), the Norwegian and Russian mainland (south), the Novaya Ze...
  • Barents, Willem (Dutch navigator)
    Dutch navigator who searched for a northeast passage from Europe to Asia and for whom the Barents Sea was named. Because of his extensive voyages, accurate charting, and the valuable meteorological data he collected, he is regarded as one of the most important early Arctic explorers....
  • Barentsevo More (sea, Arctic Ocean)
    outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean 800 miles (1,300 km) long and 650 miles (1,050 km) wide and covering 542,000 square miles (1,405,000 square km). Its average depth is 750 feet (229 m), plunging to a maximum of 2,000 feet (600 m) in the major Bear Island Trench. It is bounded by the archipelagoes of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land (north), the Norwegian and Russian mainland (south), the Novaya Ze...
  • Barentshavet (sea, Arctic Ocean)
    outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean 800 miles (1,300 km) long and 650 miles (1,050 km) wide and covering 542,000 square miles (1,405,000 square km). Its average depth is 750 feet (229 m), plunging to a maximum of 2,000 feet (600 m) in the major Bear Island Trench. It is bounded by the archipelagoes of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land (north), the Norwegian and Russian mainland (south), the Novaya Ze...
  • Barentsia (paleocontinent)
    ...N and 30° S of the paleoequator. The present south shore of Hudson Bay was at the centre of Laurentia, with the Wenlock paleoequator crossing near Southampton Island. The microcontinent of Barentsia, which included Norway’s island of Svalbard, was likely appended to Laurentia off eastern Greenland. Island arcs and highland areas, such as Taconica (a landmass that would become part...
  • Barère, Bertrand (French revolutionary)
    a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety that ruled Revolutionary France during the period of the Jacobin dictatorship (1793–94); his stringent policies against those suspected of royalist tendencies made him one of the most feared revolutionaries....
  • Barère de Vieuzac, Bertrand (French revolutionary)
    a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety that ruled Revolutionary France during the period of the Jacobin dictatorship (1793–94); his stringent policies against those suspected of royalist tendencies made him one of the most feared revolutionaries....
  • bareshnum (religion)
    There are three types of purification, in order of increasing importance: the padyab, or ablution; the nahn, or bath; and the bareshnum, a complicated ritual performed at special places with the participation of a dog—whose left ear is touched by the candidate and whose gaze puts the evil spirits to flight—and lasting several days....
  • baresnum (religion)
    There are three types of purification, in order of increasing importance: the padyab, or ablution; the nahn, or bath; and the bareshnum, a complicated ritual performed at special places with the participation of a dog—whose left ear is touched by the candidate and whose gaze puts the evil spirits to flight—and lasting several days....
  • Baret, John (English lexicographer)
    ...than any other book of its kind. Many other lexicographers contributed to the development of dictionaries. Certain dictionaries were more ambitious and included a number of languages, such as John Baret’s work of 1573, An Alveary, or Triple Dictionary, in English, Latin, and French. In his preface Baret acknowledged that the work was brought together by his students in the.....
  • Baretti, Giuseppe (Italian author)
    ...La Gazzetta veneta and L’Osservatore—he presented a lively chronicle of Venetian life and indicated a practical moral with much good sense. Giuseppe Baretti—an extremely controversial figure who published a critical journal called La Frusta letteraria (“The Literary Whip”), in which he....
  • Barezzi, Antonio (Italian merchant)
    A little later he composed music (now lost) for the town church and the largely amateur orchestra. One of Busseto’s leading citizens, Antonio Barezzi, a merchant and fanatical music enthusiast, became a second father to the young prodigy, taking him into his home, sending him to study in Milan, and in 1836 giving him his daughter Margherita in marriage. Refused by the Milan......
  • Bārfurush (Iran)
    city, northern Iran, on the Bābol River, about 15 miles (24 km) south of the Caspian Sea. Bābol gained importance during the reign (1797–1834) of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh, though ʿAbbās I (died 1629) had laid out a pleasure garden and summer palace there. The city has paved streets, large and crowded bazaars, well-built houses...
  • bargaining
    Hostilities may be suspended pending negotiation between the parties. Negotiation may, or may not, be preceded by the display of a white flag, which merely means that one side wishes to enter into communication with the other. The parties may then enter into an armistice, and, when all matters are agreed, a peace treaty may be concluded. Of course, it is possible to end hostilities without any......
  • bargaining, collective (economics)
    the ongoing process of negotiation between representatives of workers and employers to establish the conditions of employment. The collectively determined agreement may cover not only wages but hiring practices, layoffs, promotions, job functions, working conditions and hours, worker discipline and termination, and benefit programs....
  • bargaining theory of wages
    The bargaining theory of wages holds that wages, hours, and working conditions are determined by the relative bargaining strength of the parties to the agreement. Smith hinted at such a theory when he noted that employers had greater bargaining strength than employees. Employers were in a better position to unify their opposition to employee demands, and employers were also able to withstand......
  • barge (boat)
    Rivers and lakes have long played a major role in the transport of bulk commodities like coal in Germany, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Canada, and the United States. The costs of barge transport depend on the number of barges being towed by a single towboat; this in turn depends on the dimensions of the waterway. For example, the Cumberland, Ohio, Tennessee, and upper Mississippi rivers in......
  • Barge Canal (canal system, New York, United States)
    system of state-owned, state-operated waterways, 524 miles (843 km) in length, linking the Hudson River with Lake Erie, with extensions to Lakes Ontario and Champlain and Cayuga and Seneca lakes (in the Finger Lakes region). It incorporates the Erie Canal, from Troy ...
  • barge carrier (shipping)
    An extension of the container ship concept is the barge-carrying ship. In this concept, the container is itself a floating vessel, usually about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide, which is loaded aboard the ship in one of two ways: either it is lifted over the stern by a high-capacity shipboard gantry crane, or the ship is partially submerged so that the barges can be floated aboard via a gate......
  • barge-carrying ship (shipping)
    An extension of the container ship concept is the barge-carrying ship. In this concept, the container is itself a floating vessel, usually about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide, which is loaded aboard the ship in one of two ways: either it is lifted over the stern by a high-capacity shipboard gantry crane, or the ship is partially submerged so that the barges can be floated aboard via a gate......
  • bargeboard (architecture)
    exposed board or false rafter running underneath the slopes of a projecting gable roof. Such a board is often richly decorated with carved, cut-out, or painted designs and patterns, particularly in late medieval Europe, in Tudor England, and in 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture in England and the United States....
  • Bargello Museum (museum, Florence, Italy)
    art museum housed in the Palazzo del Bargello (or del Podestà), Florence, Italy, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. The museum was established in 1865 and is especially famous for its collection of Renaissance sculpture, including works by Donatello, Michelangelo, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Jacopo Sansovino, and Andrea del Verrocchio....
  • bargello work
    kind of embroidery exemplified in the upholstery of a set of 17th-century Italian chairs at the Bargello Museum in Florence and practiced from the 17th century until modern times. It consists of flat vertical stitches laid parallel with the canvas weave rather than crossing the intersections diagonally as in most canvas stitches. These stitches, in gradating tones of the same colour or in contrast...
  • Barger, George (British scientist)
    The English scientists George Barger and Henry H. Dale first isolated histamine from the plant fungus ergot in 1910, and in 1911 they isolated the substance from animal tissues. Plants that produce histamine include stinging nettles; the histamine in the hairlike structures on nettle leaves is partly responsible for the swelling and itching produced by contact with them. Histamine is also the......
  • Bargest (British folklore)
    in folklore of northern England (especially Yorkshire), a monstrous, goblin dog, with huge teeth and claws, that appears only at night. It was believed that those who saw one clearly would die soon after, while those who caught only a glimpse of the beast would live on, but only for some months. The Demon of Tidworth, the Black Dog of Winchester, the Padfoot of Wakefield, and the Barghest of Burnl...
  • Barghash (sultan of Zanzibar)
    sultan of Zanzibar (1870–88), a shrewd and ambitious ruler, who, for most of his reign, looked to Britain for protection and assistance but eventually saw his domains divided between Germany and his former protector....
  • Barghash ibn Saʿīd (sultan of Zanzibar)
    sultan of Zanzibar (1870–88), a shrewd and ambitious ruler, who, for most of his reign, looked to Britain for protection and assistance but eventually saw his domains divided between Germany and his former protector....
  • Barghawāṭah (Berber confederation, Morocco)
    Amazigh (Berber) tribal confederation that created a religio-political state in Morocco (8th–12th century). The Barghawāṭah, members of the Maṣmūdah family inhabiting the plain between the Middle Atlas (Moyen Atlas) mountain range and the Atlantic, had joined the Miknāsah and Ghumārah Amazigh ...
  • Barghest (British folklore)
    in folklore of northern England (especially Yorkshire), a monstrous, goblin dog, with huge teeth and claws, that appears only at night. It was believed that those who saw one clearly would die soon after, while those who caught only a glimpse of the beast would live on, but only for some months. The Demon of Tidworth, the Black Dog of Winchester, the Padfoot of Wakefield, and the Barghest of Burnl...
  • bargueño (furniture)
    wooden cabinet of mixed Spanish and Oriental origin that first appeared in Europe in the late Middle Ages and became a common article of furniture in the Spanish colonial empire from the late 16th century onward. Its major component is a chest with a drop front. The interior is divided into an intricate arrangement of drawers and recesses for holding jewels, documents, and other valuables. The dra...
  • Barguest (British folklore)
    in folklore of northern England (especially Yorkshire), a monstrous, goblin dog, with huge teeth and claws, that appears only at night. It was believed that those who saw one clearly would die soon after, while those who caught only a glimpse of the beast would live on, but only for some months. The Demon of Tidworth, the Black Dog of Winchester, the Padfoot of Wakefield, and the Barghest of Burnl...
  • Bargut (people)
    In 1912, however, the local Mongol population, particularly the Bargut, began a series of rebellions, with Russian encouragement, that forced the Chinese to restore some measure of autonomy. After many Chinese had settled along the railway to the east of Hailar, the Chinese government again canceled (1919) the Bargut’s autonomy and incorporated the whole area into adjacent Heilongjiang......
  • Barguzin Nature Reserve (region, Russia)
    natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, extending from the northeastern shore of Lake Baikal to the western slopes of the Barguzinsky Mountains, southeastern Russia. The reserve was established (1916) to protect the habitat of the Barguzin sable and has an area of 650,380 acres (263,200 hectares). It covers 37 miles (60 km) of the Lake Baikal shoreline and ...
  • Barguzinsky Mountains (mountains, Russia)
    natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, extending from the northeastern shore of Lake Baikal to the western slopes of the Barguzinsky Mountains, southeastern Russia. The reserve was established (1916) to protect the habitat of the Barguzin sable and has an area of 650,380 acres (263,200 hectares). It covers 37 miles (60 km) of the Lake Baikal shoreline and adjacent lake......
  • Barguzinsky Nature Reserve (region, Russia)
    natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, extending from the northeastern shore of Lake Baikal to the western slopes of the Barguzinsky Mountains, southeastern Russia. The reserve was established (1916) to protect the habitat of the Barguzin sable and has an area of 650,380 acres (263,200 hectares). It covers 37 miles (60 km) of the Lake Baikal shoreline and ...
  • barheaded goose (bird)
    ...100 km (62 miles) per hour. On migration most flocks fly at altitudes of between 300 and 600 metres (1,000 and 2,000 feet). Uncommonly they may be seen around 3,000 metres (10,000 feet), and the barheaded goose (Anser indicus), breeding in Tibet and wintering in India, must fly at 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) to get through the Himalayan passes....
  • barhis (Iranian religion)
    ...gods invited to yazna. Originally this consisted of special grasses strewn on the ground in front of the altar. In Vedic terminology this seat was called the barhiṣ (Avestan barzish, “cushion”), while in Zoroastrianism a cognate word, Avestan barəsman (Iranian barzman), is used for a bundle of sticks—later thin metal......
  • Bari (Italy)
    city, capital of Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It is a port on the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Brindisi. The site may have been inhabited since 1500 bc. Greek influence was strong, and under the Romans, who called it Barium, it became an important port, the harbour being mentioned as early as 180 bc. Fishing was also significant i...
  • Bari (people)
    people living near Juba in the southern Sudan. They speak an Eastern Sudanic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. They live in small villages scattered across the hot, dry, flat countryside in the Nile valley. Their staple crop is millet, and they also keep cattle. Their culture and language are shared by many other small populations in the region, mo...
  • Bari, Council of (Italian history)
    Anselm attended the Council of Bari (Italy) in 1098 and presented his grievances against the King to Urban II. He took an active part in the sessions, defending the doctrine of the Filioque (“and from the Son”) clause in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed against the Greek Church, which had been in schism with the Western Church since 1054. The Filioque clause,....
  • Bāri Doab (region, Pakistan)
    ...and modernized; thus the greatest canal irrigation system in the world was created. At partition in 1947, the international boundary between India and West Pakistan cut the irrigation system of the Bāri Doab and the Sutlej Valley Project, originally designed as one scheme, into two parts. The headwork fell to India while the canals ran through Pakistan. This led to a disruption in the......
  • Bari, Joe (American singer)
    major American popular singer known for his smooth voice and interpretive abilities with songs in a variety of genres....
  • Bari language
    ...from widespread lexical roots whose form and meaning relationships are similar, there are grammatical properties that clearly point toward a common historical origin for the Nilo-Saharan languages. Bari, a Nilotic language of The Sudan, demonstrates one widespread morphological property whereby either the singular or the plural form of a noun is expressed by the basic, morphologically simplex,....
  • Bari, Siege of (Italian history)
    (1068–71), three-year blockade by Norman forces under Robert Guiscard that resulted (April 1071) in the surrender of the last important Byzantine stronghold in southern Italy. It brought an end to Byzantine domination on the Italian peninsula....
  • Baria (Spain)
    ...and manufacturers who had their base in Tyre or Byblos and placed their representatives abroad. This accounts for the rich tombs of Phoenician pattern found at Almuñécar, Trayamar, and Villaricos, equipped with metropolitan goods such as alabaster wine jars, imported Greek pottery, and delicate gold jewelry. Maritime bases from the Balearic Islands to Cadiz on the Atlantic were se...
  • Bariba (people)
    The Bariba, the fourth-largest ethnic group, comprise several subgroups and make up about one-twelfth of Benin’s population. They inhabit the northeast, especially towns such as Nikki and Kandi that were once Bariba kingdoms. The Somba (Ditamari) are found in Natitingou and in villages in the northwest. Other northern groups include the Dendi, the Djougou, the Pila (Pilapila), and the nomad...
  • Baribault, Jean (French trapper)
    ...Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago), Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo Indians were early inhabitants of the area. Baraboo originated in the early 19th century as a trading post established by the French trapper Jean Baribault, who lived along the river that was named (the spelling changed over time) for him. The community developed as a lumbering centre through use of the abundant waterpower there; it later......
  • Baric languages
    The Baric, or Bodo-Garo, division consists of a number of languages spoken in Assam and falls into a Bodo branch (not to be confused with Bodic-Tibetic, and Bodish, a subdivision of Tibetic) and a Garo branch....
  • Barīd Shāhī dynasty (Muslim dynasty)
    the rulers of the small state of Bīdar (now in Karnātaka in southwestern India) from about 1487 until 1619. The Barīd family were ministers of the Muslim Bahmanī sultans of the Deccan, who in 1430 made their capital at Bīdar....
  • Bariloche (Argentina)
    resort town, Río Negro provincia (province), southwestern Argentina. It lies on the southeastern shore of Lake Nahuel Huapí, in the Andean lake district. Chalet-type building construction, introduced in 1905 by Swiss immigrants, provides an appropriate setting for skiing in the winter months on the slopes o...
  • Bariloche, Declaration of (Argentine history)
    ...is the main economic activity. Bariloche was the scene of a meeting in 1960 between Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States and Pres. Arturo Frondizi of Argentina that resulted in the Declaration of Bariloche, a pledge of friendship between the two countries. Pop. (2001) 89,092....
  • Barīm Island (island, Yemen)
    island in the Strait of Mandeb off the southwestern coast of Yemen, to which it belongs. A rocky volcanic island, lying just off the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Perim is 5 square miles (13 square km) in area and rises as high as 214 feet (65 m). It has a harbour on the southwestern shore, and an airfield is in the north. Perim was visited by the Portuguese in 1513 and occupied by th...
  • Barin, Roland-Michel (commandant-general of New France)
    mariner and commandant general of New France....
  • Barinas (state, Venezuela)
    estado (state), western Venezuela. It is bounded on the north by Trujillo, Portuguesa, and Cojedes states, east by Guarico, south by Apure, and west by Táchira and Mérida. It lies mainly in the Llanos (plains), although there are highlands in the northwest. In the early 17th century the area became known for the excellent quality of tobacco grown there, and ...
  • Barinas (Venezuela)
    city, capital of Barinas estado (state), western Venezuela. The city lies along the Santo Domingo River and is situated on the Llanos (plains) at the foot of the Cordillera de Mérida in the northwestern part of the state. The city’s cathedral, museums, and other cultural and educational institutions are set among the colonial-era buildings of the centre. Bar...
  • Barind (region, Asia)
    geographic region in parts of northwestern Bangladesh and north-central West Bengal state, India. It lies northwest of the confluence of the upper Padma (Ganges [Ganga]) and Jamuna (the name of the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh) rivers and is bordered by the floodplains of the Mah...
  • Barind Tract (region, Asia)
    geographic region in parts of northwestern Bangladesh and north-central West Bengal state, India. It lies northwest of the confluence of the upper Padma (Ganges [Ganga]) and Jamuna (the name of the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh) rivers and is bordered by the floodplains of the Mah...
  • Baring, Alexander (British diplomat)
    ...to more constitutional methods of agitation. Abroad, a firm but conciliatory policy led to better relations with France. The boundary disputes with the United States were settled by the mission of Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton, in 1842 and the Oregon treaty of 1846. The same combination of firmness and conciliation was followed in Ireland. Once the threatening campaign for repeal of......
  • Baring Brothers and Company (British company)
    ...from Bremen to England and started a small wool business near Exeter in 1717. His son, the future Sir Francis Baring, lst Baronet (1740–1810), founded the family banking firm, originally named John & Francis Baring & Company, in London in 1763. He built it into a large and successful business, and from 1792 the house of Baring was instrumental in helping to finance the Brit...
  • Baring, Edward Charles (British merchant)
    With the death of Thomas Baring in 1873, Edward Charles Baring (1828–97), son of Henry Baring and grandson of Sir Francis Baring, became head of Baring Brothers, and in 1885 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Revelstoke. The house of Baring then stood at the height of its prosperity. During the following years the Baring bank oversaw the loan of large amounts of English capital to the......
  • Baring family (British merchants)
    British family whose banking and commercial house played a principal role in British overseas lending for two centuries....
  • Baring, Maurice (British author)
    man of letters, scion of a family long prominent in the financial ventures of the British Empire, who was representative of the social culture that flourished in England before World War I....
  • Baring, Sir Evelyn (British diplomat)
    British administrator and diplomat whose 24-year rule in Egypt as British agent and consul general (1883–1907) profoundly influenced Egypt’s development as a modern state....
  • Baring, Sir Francis, 1st Baronet (British financier and merchant)
    British financier who established one of the most influential business firms in the history of the United Kingdom. The third son of a German immigrant, he went to London, where he gained experience in two mercantile firms and, in 1763, set up the partnership of John & Francis Baring & Company. At first he acted merely as an import and export commission agent for other merchants, but ...
  • Baring, Sir Francis Thornhill (British statesman)
    ...Baring (1799–1873), a grandson of Sir Francis. Thomas Baring was a managing partner of the firm from 1828 and was also a member of Parliament from 1844 until his death. His elder brother, Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (1796–1866), was a member of Parliament from 1826 to 1865 and also served as chancellor of the Exchequer (1839–41) and first lord of the Admiralty......
  • Baring, Thomas (British merchant)
    After Lord Ashburton’s death in 1848 the affairs of the house were managed by Thomas Baring (1799–1873), a grandson of Sir Francis. Thomas Baring was a managing partner of the firm from 1828 and was also a member of Parliament from 1844 until his death. His elder brother, Sir Francis Thornhill Baring (1796–1866), was a member of Parliament from 1826 to 1865 and also served as....
  • Baring, Thomas George, 1st earl of Northbrook (British statesman)
    British statesman who served as viceroy of India....
  • Baringo, Lake (lake, Kenya)
    lake in west-central Kenya. It is situated 3,200 feet (975 m) above sea level in the Great Rift Valley, east of the Kamasia (Ilkamasya) Hills. The lake has an area of 50 square miles (129 square km), is 11 miles (18 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide, and has an average depth of 17 feet (5 m). A freshwater lake with no visible outlet, its waters seep into lavas at its northern end, where a rocky sho...
  • Barings PLC (British company)
    ...banking houses. In 1985 ownership of the bank was transferred to a charitable organization called the Baring Foundation, though control of the bank remained in the hands of Baring family members. Barings PLC, as the bank was called, declared bankruptcy in 1995 after an employee lost almost $1,500,000,000 on unauthorized futures and options transactions. Barings was purchased by a Dutch......
  • Baripada (India)
    city, northeastern Orissa state, eastern India, lying along the Burhābalang River. Founded about 1800, the city is a trade centre for rice, sugarcane, and timber and has some industry, including pottery making, distilling, and weaving. The former ruler’s palace now houses Mayūrbhanj Purna Chandra College, and there is an archaeological museum. A narrow-gauge rail line links t...
  • Barisal (Bangladesh)
    city, south-central Bangladesh. It lies in the Meghna-Padma River delta on the Kirtonkhola, an offshoot of the Arial Khan River. Incorporated as a municipality in 1876, it is a trade centre, most notably for rice, jute, and fish. It is linked by ship with Dhaka, about 73 miles (117 km) to the north, Chittagong...
  • Barisal guns (natural phenomenon)
    ...government colleges, including the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, as well as dozens of private higher-education institutions. Barisal gives its name to a curious natural phenomenon known as the Barisal guns, thundering noises heard in the delta and apparently coming from the sea. The sounds have not been satisfactorily explained but may have a seismic origin. Pop. (2001) 192,810....
  • Barisan Mountains (mountains, Indonesia)
    ...including Simeulue, Nias, and the Mentawai group, none of which is densely populated. The Sumatran mainland divides into four main physical regions: the narrow coastal plain along the west; the Barisan Mountains, which extend the length of the island close to its western edge and include a number of active volcanoes; an inner nonvolcanic zone of low hills grading down toward the stable......
  • Barisan Nasional (political coalition, Malaysia)
    ...generally is based on ethnicity, although this tendency has diminished somewhat since the mid-20th century. Malaysian political life and government has been dominated since the early 1970s by the National Front (Barisan Nasional), a broad coalition of ethnically oriented parties. Among the oldest and strongest of these parties are the United Malays National Organization (UMNO; long the......
  • Barisan, Pegunungan (mountains, Indonesia)
    ...including Simeulue, Nias, and the Mentawai group, none of which is densely populated. The Sumatran mainland divides into four main physical regions: the narrow coastal plain along the west; the Barisan Mountains, which extend the length of the island close to its western edge and include a number of active volcanoes; an inner nonvolcanic zone of low hills grading down toward the stable......
  • Barisan Sosialis (political party, Singapore)
    ...the building of new public housing, the emancipation of women, the expansion of educational services, and industrialization. In 1961 the PAP’s left-wing members broke away from the party to form the Barisan Sosialis (“Socialist Front”), and Lee subsequently broke his remaining ties with the communists. Henceforth Lee and his fellow moderates within the PAP would dominate Si...
  • barite (mineral)
    the most common barium mineral, barium sulfate (BaSO4). Barite occurs in hydrothermal ore veins (particularly those containing lead and silver), in sedimentary rocks such as limestone, in clay deposits formed by the weathering of limestone, in marine deposits, and in cavities in igneous rock. It commonly forms as large tubular crystals, as rosettelike aggregates of those crystals, or as...
  • barite group (mineralogy)
    Members of the barite group constitute the most important and common anhydrous sulfates. They have orthorhombic symmetry with large divalent cations bonded to the sulfate ion (see Table 8). In barite (BaSO4), each barium ion is surrounded by 12 closest oxygen ions belonging to seven distinct SO4 groups....
  • baritone (vocal range)
    (from Greek barytonos, “deep-sounding”), in vocal music, the most common category of male voice, between the bass and the tenor and with some characteristics of both. Normally, the baritone parts are written for a range of A to f ′, but this may be extended in either direction, particularly in solo compositions or as a reflection of an accepted cultural tradition (e...
  • baritone (saxhorn)
    valved brass instrument pitched in B♭ or C; it is a popular band instrument dating from the 19th century and was derived from the cornet and flügelhorn (valved bugle). It resembles the euphonium but has a narrower bore and three, rather than four or five, valves. Its range extends three octaves upward from the E below the bass staff; the notes in the treble clef are written a ninth ...
  • baritone clef (music)
    The once common baritone clef set F at the middle line:...
  • baritone oboe (musical instrument)
    ...with a globular bell like that of the cor anglais. It was much employed by Bach and is also used in several 20th-century works. Instruments pitched an octave below the oboe are rarer. The hautbois baryton, or baritone oboe, resembles a larger, lower voiced cor anglais in both tone and proportions. The heckelphone, with a larger reed and bore than the hautbois......
  • barium (chemical element)
    (Ba), chemical element, one of the alkaline-earth metals of main Group 2 (IIa) of the periodic table. The element is used in metallurgy, and its compounds in pyrotechnics, petroleum mining, and radiology....
  • Barium (Italy)
    city, capital of Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It is a port on the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Brindisi. The site may have been inhabited since 1500 bc. Greek influence was strong, and under the Romans, who called it Barium, it became an important port, the harbour being mentioned as early as 180 bc. Fishing was also significant i...
  • barium carbonate (chemical compound)
    A number of uses of barium compounds depend on the ready formation of the highly insoluble sulfate. Thus, witherite, the compound barium carbonate (BaCO3), perhaps the most important barium compound, is employed in removing sulfate from salt brines before they are fed into electrolytic cells (for the production of chlorine and alkali). The carbonate also is used to make other barium......
  • barium chloride (chemical compound)
    Another barium compound, barium chloride (BaCl2·2H2O), consisting of colourless crystals that are soluble in water, is utilized in heat-treating baths, in laboratories as a chemical reagent to precipitate soluble sulfates, and on a commercial scale with sodium sulfate to form a white filler and pigment (blanc fixe) for leather, rubber, cloth, and photographic paper.......
  • barium nitrate (chemical compound)
    ...oxygen production and as a source of hydrogen peroxide. Volatile barium compounds impart a yellowish green colour to a flame owing to the emission of light of mostly two characteristic wavelengths. Barium nitrate, formed with the nitrogen-oxygen group NO3-, and chlorate, formed with the chlorine-oxygen group ClO3-, are used for this effect in green......
  • barium oxide (chemical compound)
    ...in the molten state to vary the properties of the glass: addition of lead oxide, for example, was found to raise both the refractive index and the dispersive power. In 1884 it was discovered that barium oxide had the effect of raising the refractive index without increasing the dispersion, a property that proved to be of the greatest value in the design of photographic lenses known as......
  • barium peroxide (chemical compound)
    ...to precipitate soluble sulfates, and on a commercial scale with sodium sulfate to form a white filler and pigment (blanc fixe) for leather, rubber, cloth, and photographic paper. The oxygen compound barium peroxide (BaO2) is used for both oxygen production and as a source of hydrogen peroxide. Volatile barium compounds impart a yellowish green colour to a flame owing to the emission....
  • barium selenide (chemical compound)
    ...are transferred from the cations to the anions, leaving each with a closed shell. The alkaline earth chalcogenides form ionic binary crystals such as barium oxide (BaO), calcium sulfide (CaS), barium selenide (BaSe), or strontium oxide (SrO). They have the same structure as sodium chloride, with each atom having six neighbours. Oxygen can be combined with various cations to form a large......
  • barium sulfate (chemical compound)
    ...other elements. The Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele discovered (1774) a new base (baryta, or barium oxide) as a minor constituent in pyrolusite, and from this base he prepared some crystals of barium sulfate, which he sent to Johan Gottlieb Gahn, the discoverer of manganese. A month later Gahn found that the mineral barite is also composed of barium sulfate. Only after the electric battery...
  • barium sulfide (chemical compound)
    ...toxicity, poor weathering, and darkening in atmospheres that contain sulfur compounds. Lithopone is an insoluble mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide that precipitates upon mixing solutions of barium sulfide and zinc sulfate. The precipitate is recovered by filtration, then calcined (roasted) at temperatures above 600° C (1,112° F). Although lithopone has been replaced in ma...
  • barium titanate (chemical compound)
    The third structure (Figure 2C) is called perovskite. In most cases the perovskite structure is cubic—that is, all sides of the unit cell are the same. However, in barium titanate (BaTiO3), shown in the figure, the central Ti4+ cation can be induced to move off-centre, leading to a noncubic symmetry and to an electrostatic dipole, or alignment of positive and......
  • Barjelūnah (Spain)
    city, seaport, and capital of Barcelona provincia (province) and of Catalonia comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), northeastern Spain, located 90 miles (150 km) south of the French border. It is Spain’s major Mediterranean port and commercial ...
  • bark (sailing craft)
    sailing ship of three or more masts, the rear (mizzenmast) being rigged for a fore-and-aft rather than a square sail. Until fore-and-aft rigs were applied to large ships to reduce crew sizes, the term was often used for any small sailing vessel. In poetic use, a bark can be any sailing ship or boat....
  • bark (plant tissue)
    in woody plants, tissues external to the vascular cambium (the growth layer of the vascular cylinder); the term bark is also employed more popularly to refer to all tissues outside the wood. The inner soft bark, or bast, is produced by the vascular cambium; it consists of secondary phloem tissue whose innermost layer conveys food from the leaves to the rest of the plant. The ou...
  • bark beetle (insect)
    any of more than 2,000 species of bark beetle (order Coleoptera) that exist worldwide and are cylindrical, usually under 6 mm (0.25 inch) long, brown or black in colour, and often very destructive. The male and female bore into a tree and form an egg chamber. At times, as many as 60 females are found with each male. The female deposits her eggs in niches along the sides of the chamber. After the e...
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