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Gandersheim (Germany)
city, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. It lies in the Leine River valley. Bad Gandersheim is remarkable for an 11th-century convent church containing the tombs of famous abbesses and for the former abbey, which was moved there in 852 by the duke of Saxony, whose daughters were the first two abbesses. Loui...
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Gandhāra (historical region, Pakistan)
historical region in what is now northwestern Pakistan, corresponding to the Vale of Peshāwar and having extensions into the lower valleys of the Kābul and Swāt rivers....
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Gandhāra art (Buddhist art)
style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1st century bc and the 7th century ad. The style, of Greco-Roman origin, seems to have flourished largely during the Kushān dynasty and was contemporaneous with an important but dissimilar school of Kushān art at Mathura (Uttar Pradesh, Ind...
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Gandhi (film by Attenborough [1982])
Other Nominees...
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Gandhi: A Memoir (work by Shirer)
...An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940 (1969). The book is considered by some to be the best one-volume study of France during the period between the world wars. In 1979 Shirer published Gandhi: A Memoir, in which he recalled a series of interviews that he conducted with Mohandas Gandhi while stationed as a foreign correspondent in India during the early 1930s. Shirer’s...
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Gandhi and Anarchy (work by Sankaran)
In his book Gandhi and Anarchy (1922), Sir Chettur attacked Gandhi’s nationalist Non-cooperation Movement and British actions under martial law. A British court held that this work libelled Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer, lieutenant governor of India during the Punjab rebellion of 1919....
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Gandhi, Indira (prime minister of India)
politician who served as prime minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84). She was assassinated by Sikh extremists....
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Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini (prime minister of India)
politician who served as prime minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84). She was assassinated by Sikh extremists....
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Gandhi, Mahatma (Indian leader)
leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, considered to be the father of his country. He is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest to achieve political and social progress....
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Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand (Indian leader)
leader of the Indian nationalist movement against British rule, considered to be the father of his country. He is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest to achieve political and social progress....
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Gandhi, Rajiv (prime minister of India)
the leading general secretary of India’s Congress (I) Party (from 1981) and prime minister of India (1984–89) after the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. He was himself assassinated in 1991....
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Gandhi, Rajiv Ratna (prime minister of India)
the leading general secretary of India’s Congress (I) Party (from 1981) and prime minister of India (1984–89) after the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. He was himself assassinated in 1991....
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Gandhi, Sanjay (Indian politician)
...Gandhi, was with him. Long separated from her husband—Feroze Gandhi, by then deceased—Indira had moved into Teen Murti Bhavan, the prime minister’s mansion, with her two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. She had accompanied her father the world over and had been the leader of his Congress Party’s “ginger group” youth movement, as well as Congress president, but, ...
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Gandhi, Sonia (Indian politician)
Italian-born Indian politician who was president of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party; 1998– ) and chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (2004– ), the ruling coalition....
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Gandhi-Irwin Pact (Indian history)
...became closer to the Mahatma. Although Gandhi did not officially designate him his political heir until 1942, the country as early as the mid-1930s saw in Nehru the natural successor to Gandhi. The Gandhi–Irwin pact of March 1931, signed between the Mahatma and the British viceroy, Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax), signalized a truce between the two principal protagonists in India. It......
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Gandhinagar (India)
city, capital of Gujarāt state, west-central India. It lies on the banks of the Sābarmati River, north of the former capital of Ahmadābād. Built to supplant the former capital, the city was begun in 1966. The first state government offices were transferred there in 1970. An expressway connects Gāndhīnagar with Ahmadābād. Pop. (1991 prelim.) ...
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Gandhi’s Truth on the Origins of Militant Nonviolence (work by Erikson)
...combined his interest in history and psychoanalytic theory to examine how Martin Luther was able to break with the existing religious establishment to create a new way of looking at the world. Gandhi’s Truth on the Origins of Militant Nonviolence (1969) also was a psychohistory. In the 1970s Erikson examined modern ethical and political problems, presenting his views in a collecti...
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Gandía (Spain)
city, Valencia provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Valencia, eastern Spain. It lies south of Valencia city at the mouth of the Serpis River. Once a Greek settlement, Gandía was occupied by the Moors in the 8th c...
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Gandil, Charles (American baseball player)
...bribed to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accused players were pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude (“Lefty”) Williams, first baseman Charles (“Chick”) Gandil, shortstop Charles (“Swede”) Risberg, third baseman George (“Buck”) Weaver, outfielders Joe (“Shoeless Joe”) Jackson and Oscar (“Happy...
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Gando (Nigeria)
town and traditional emirate, Kebbi state, northwestern Nigeria. It lies near a branch of the Zamfara River, a tributary of the Sokoto....
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Gando (emirate, Nigeria)
...He made his brother Abdullahi dan Fodio emir of Gwandu and overlord of the western and southern emirates (1809) and placed Bello in charge of the eastern emirates. From 1815 Abdullahi maintained Gwandu as one of the two capitals of the Fulani empire....
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Gandolfini, James (American actor)
American actor, best known for his portrayal of Mafia boss and family man Tony Soprano in the HBO drama series The Sopranos (1999–2007)....
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Gandomak, Treaty of (United Kingdom-Afghanistan [1879])
The Treaty of Gandamak (Gandomak; May 26, 1879) recognized Yaʿqūb Khan as emir, and he subsequently agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kabul. In addition, he agreed to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance “with the wishes and advice” of the British government. This British triumph, however, was short-lived. On September 3, 1879, th...
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Gandon, James (Irish architect)
Both Ireland and Scotland produced significant Neoclassical buildings. In Dublin, James Gandon’s Four Courts (1786–96), with its shallow saucer dome raised on a high columnar drum with echoes of Wren’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, and his Custom House (1781–91) owe joint allegiance to the Palladianism of Sir William Chambers and contemporary French Neoclassicism. Edinbu...
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Gandzaketsi, Kirakos (Little Armenian writer)
king of Little Armenia, now in Turkey, from 1224 to 1269; the account of his travels in western and central Asia, written by Kirakos Gandzaketsi, a member of his suite, gives one of the earliest and most comprehensive accounts of Mongolian geography and ethnology....
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Gandzha (Azerbaijan)
city, western Azerbaijan. It lies along the Gäncä River. The town was founded sometime in the 5th or 6th century, about 4 miles (6.5 km) east of the modern city. That town was destroyed by earthquake in 1139 and rebuilt on the present site. Gäncä became an important centre of trade, but in 1231 it was again leveled, this time by the Mongols. Captured in 1606 by the Pers...
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Ganef (missile)
The SA-4 Ganef was a long-range mobile system first deployed in the mid-1960s; the missiles, carried in pairs on a tracked launcher, used drop-off solid-fuel boosters and a ramjet sustainer motor. Employing a combination of radar command guidance and active radar homing, and supported by an array of mobile radars for target acquisition, tracking, and guidance, they could engage targets over the......
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GANEFO (amateur athletics)
The 1964 Olympics introduced improved timing and scoring technologies, including the first use of computers to keep statistics. After Taiwan and Israel were excluded from the Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO), a competition that had been held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 1963, the IOC declared that any athlete participating in that sports festival would be ineligible for the Olympics.......
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Ganesan, Gemini (Indian actor)
Indian film actor (b. Nov. 17, 1920, Madras [Chennai], Tamil Nadu, India—d. March 22, 2005, Chennai), was the “kadhal mannan” (“king of romance”) in southern India’s Tamil-language cinema. Ganesan appeared in more than 200 films, beginning with a small role in Miss Malini (1947). His last significant screen appearance was in Avv...
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Ganesan, Sivaji (Indian actor)
versatile star of Indian cinema....
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Ganesan, Villupuram Chiniah Pillai (Indian actor)
versatile star of Indian cinema....
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Ganesh (Hindu deity)
elephant-headed Hindu god of beginnings, who is traditionally worshipped before any major enterprise and is the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. He is also known as “Lord of the People” (gana means the common people) and as “Lord of the Ganas” (Ganesha is the chief of the ...
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Ganesh, Ramaswamy (Indian actor)
Indian film actor (b. Nov. 17, 1920, Madras [Chennai], Tamil Nadu, India—d. March 22, 2005, Chennai), was the “kadhal mannan” (“king of romance”) in southern India’s Tamil-language cinema. Ganesan appeared in more than 200 films, beginning with a small role in Miss Malini (1947). His last significant screen appearance was in Avv...
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Ganesha (Hindu deity)
elephant-headed Hindu god of beginnings, who is traditionally worshipped before any major enterprise and is the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. He is also known as “Lord of the People” (gana means the common people) and as “Lord of the Ganas” (Ganesha is the chief of the ...
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Ganesha-caturthi (Hindu festival)
...started on their military campaigns. Dīwālī, coming next, is a celebration of lights and fireworks. During Polā, bullocks are given a holiday and decorated for races. The Ganesh festival during the rainy season is by far the most popular in Mahārāshtra. Its public celebration was first sponsored by the nationalist political leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak in...
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Gang (people)
ethnolinguistic group of northern Uganda and southernmost Sudan. Numbering more than one million at the turn of the 21st century, they speak a Western Nilotic language of the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan family and are culturally and historically related to their traditional enemies, the neighbouring ...
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gang (crime)
a group of persons, usually youths, who share a common identity and who generally engage in criminal behaviour. In contrast to the criminal behaviour of other youths, the activities of gangs are characterized by some level of organization and continuity over time. There is no consensus on the exact definition of a gang, however, and scholars have debated whether the definition should expressly inc...
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Gang Canal (canal, India-Pakistan)
...is available, crops such as wheat and cotton are grown. The Sukkur (Lloyd) Barrage on the Indus River, completed in 1932, irrigates the southern Thar region in Pakistan by means of canals, while the Gang Canal brings water from the Sutlej River to part of the northern region. The Rājasthān Canal irrigates a vast amount of land in that part of the Thar region in India. The canal......
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gang drill
A gang-drilling machine consists of several individual columns, drilling heads, and spindles mounted on a single base and utilizing a common table. Various numbers of spindles may be used, but four or six are common. These machines are designed for machining parts requiring several hole-machining operations, such as drilling, countersinking, counterboring, or tapping. The workpiece is moved......
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gang labour system
The great discovery in Brazil in the second half of the 16th century was the gang labour system, which was so cost-effective that it made Brazilian sugar cheaper in Europe than the sugar produced in the islands off Africa. A plantation using gang labour could produce, on average, 39 percent more output from comparable inputs than could free farms or farms employing non-gang slave labour. The......
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Gang of Four (Chinese politicians)
the most powerful members of a radical political elite convicted for implementing the harsh policies directed by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). The group included Mao’s third wife, Jiang Qing, and Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyu...
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Gang of Four, The (British rock group)
British rock group known for its Marxist politics and danceable fusion of rock and funk. The principal members were Jon King (b. June 8, 1955London, Eng.), Andy Gill (b. Jan. 1, 1956Manchester...
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gang saw (tool)
...in large operations it is mechanically debarked, and in some it is crosscut to length. Supported on a carriage, it is brought to a headsaw (the first saw), which is one of three types: band saw, frame (gang) saw, or circular saw. A band saw consists of an endless band of steel, equipped with teeth usually on one edge only, that moves around two wheels—one powered and the other......
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gang show (entertainment)
...and, as this approach represented an extension of old music-hall traditions, success was achieved by many programs in this vein. From the music-hall–variety-type program emerged the “gang show,” in which a cast of performers remaining the same from week to week would make use of a series of humorous situations or catchphrases, gradually building up a familiar background......
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Gang Tise (mountain, China)
...River). In the middle of this depression lies Lake Mapam, reputed to be the highest freshwater lake in the world, 14,950 feet (4,557 metres) above sea level. To the north of this lake lies Mount Kailas, which reaches an elevation of 22,028 feet (6,714 metres); it is known as Gang Tise to the Tibetans and is the highest peak in the range....
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Gang Tise (mountain range, China)
one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Himalayas, located in the southwestern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. The range has a roughly northwest-southeast axis and lies to the north of a trough drained in the west by the Langqên (Xiangquan) River—which is known as the Sutlej River...
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Gaṇgā (Hindu deity)
...god and man. In later Hinduism, Varuṇa plays a lesser role. He is guardian of the west and is particularly associated with oceans and waters. Thus he is often attended by the river goddesses Gaṅgā and Yamunā. He corresponds closely to the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazdā. ...
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Gaṇgā (river, Asia)
great river of the plains of northern India. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga, both in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its Anglicized name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of the Hindus. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated tract...
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Gaṅga dynasty (Indian dynasties)
either of two distinct but remotely related Indian dynasties. The Western Gaṅgas ruled in Mysore state (Gaṅgavāḍi) from about ad 250 to about 1004. The Eastern Gaṅgas ruled Kaliṅga from 1028 to 1434–35....
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Ganga: Sacred River of India (work by Singh)
...baffling social complexity. Over the course of his career, he published 12 books of photographs of colour images, each concerned with a different region. The earliest of his books, Ganga: Sacred River of India (1974), revealed the photographer’s enchantment with the myths and ceremonies associated with that river. Later he photographed the people of Rajasthan, Ka...
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Gaṅgaikoṇḍacōḻapuram (India)
...style is most fully realized in the splendid Bṛhadīśvara temple at Thanjāvūr, built about 1003–10 by Rājarāja the Great, and the great temple at Gaṅgaikoṇḍacōḻapuram, built about 1025 by his son Rājendra Cōla. Subsequently, the style became increasingly elaborate—the complex of temple...
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Gangala-Na-Bodio (elephant station, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
...largely of granite. Wildlife includes the rare white rhinoceros (which is sometimes the target of illegal poaching), buffalo, hippopotamus, and giraffe. In the south there is an elephant station, Gangala-Na-Bodio, one of the few of its kind in the world, where the animals are domesticated for use in forestry....
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Ganganagar (India)
town, extreme northern Rājasthān state, northwestern India. During the 1970s it grew rapidly as an agricultural distribution centre. The town has textile, sugar, and rice mills. A meteorological station and several colleges affiliated with the University of Rājasthān are located there. Pop. (1981) town, 123,692....
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Ganganelli, Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio (pope)
pope from 1769 to 1774....
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Gangchhendzonga (mountain, Asia)
world’s third highest mountain (28,169 feet [8,586 m]), in the Himalayas on the Nepalese border with Sikkim, India, 46 miles (74 km) north-northwest of Darjeeling. The Kānchenjunga massif is in the form of a gigantic cross, the arms of which lie north, south, east, and west. The individual summits connect to neighbouring peaks by four main ridges, from which four glaciers flow...
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Gangdisê Range (mountain range, China)
one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Himalayas, located in the southwestern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. The range has a roughly northwest-southeast axis and lies to the north of a trough drained in the west by the Langqên (Xiangquan) River—which is known as the Sutlej River...
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Gangdisi Shan (mountain range, China)
one of the highest and most rugged parts of the Himalayas, located in the southwestern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, southwestern China. The range has a roughly northwest-southeast axis and lies to the north of a trough drained in the west by the Langqên (Xiangquan) River—which is known as the Sutlej River...
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Ganges (river, Asia)
great river of the plains of northern India. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga, both in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its Anglicized name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of the Hindus. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated tract...
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Ganges Cone (abyssal cone, Bay of Bengal)
...fans adjacent to the base of the continental slope. Turbidites also are found below the major river deltas of the world where they build features called abyssal cones. The largest of these is the Ganges Fan (also called the Ganges Cone or Bengal Cone) in the Bay of Bengal east of the Indian subcontinent. It measures 3,000 kilometres long (north-south) by 1,000 kilometres wide (east-west) and......
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Ganges Fan (abyssal cone, Bay of Bengal)
...fans adjacent to the base of the continental slope. Turbidites also are found below the major river deltas of the world where they build features called abyssal cones. The largest of these is the Ganges Fan (also called the Ganges Cone or Bengal Cone) in the Bay of Bengal east of the Indian subcontinent. It measures 3,000 kilometres long (north-south) by 1,000 kilometres wide (east-west) and......
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Ganges River (river, Asia)
great river of the plains of northern India. Although officially as well as popularly called the Ganga, both in Hindi and in other Indian languages, internationally it is known by its Anglicized name, the Ganges. From time immemorial it has been the holy river of the Hindus. For most of its course it is a wide and sluggish stream, flowing through one of the most fertile and densely populated tract...
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Ganges river dolphin (mammal)
...Argentina. Gray above and pale below, this little dolphin grows only 1.2–1.7 metres (4–5.6 feet) long and weighs 20–60 kg (45–135 pounds). Females are larger than males. The Ganges river dolphin, or susu (Platanista gangetica), inhabits the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Karnaphuli, and Meghna rivers and their tributaries in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and...
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Ganges-Brahmaputra delta cyclone (tropical cyclone)
catastrophic tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) on Nov. 12, 1970, killing hundreds of thousands of people in the densely populated Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. Even though it was not ranked in the top category of cyclone intensity scales, it was perhaps the deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded histo...
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Ganges-Brahmaputra lowlands (plains, India)
plains in southwestern Tripura state, northeastern India, extending over approximately 1,600 square miles (4,150 square km). The Tripura Plains are located on a section of the greater Ganges-Brahmaputra lowlands (also called the Eastern Plains), west of the Tripura Hills. They are dotted with lakes and marshes and there is much forest cover. The soil is thin except in the river valleys, but......
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Ganges-Yamuna Doab (region, India)
segment of the Indo-Gangetic Plain in western and southwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northeastern India, with an area of about 23,360 square miles (60,500 square km). It lies between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, west of the Upper Ganges Plain. The doab is about 500 miles (800 km) in length and 60 miles (100 km) in width and consists of a wide trough between the Great Himalayas to the north and the...
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Gaṅgeśa (Indian philosopher)
...the end of the 12th century, creative work of the highest order began to take place in the fields of logic and epistemology in Mithilā and Bengal. The 12th–13th-century philosopher Gaṅgesa’s Tattvacintāmaṇi (“The Jewel of Thought on the Nature of Things”) laid the foundations of the school of Navya-Nyāya......
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Gaṅgeśa Upādhyāya (Indian philosopher)
...the end of the 12th century, creative work of the highest order began to take place in the fields of logic and epistemology in Mithilā and Bengal. The 12th–13th-century philosopher Gaṅgesa’s Tattvacintāmaṇi (“The Jewel of Thought on the Nature of Things”) laid the foundations of the school of Navya-Nyāya......
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Gangetic Plain (plain, Asia)
extensive north-central section of the Indian subcontinent, stretching westward from (and including) the Brahmaputra River valley and the Ganges Delta to the Indus River valley. The region contains the subcontinent’s richest and most densely populated areas. The greater part of the plain is made up of alluvial soil, deposited by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in the east and the Indus R...
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Gāṅgeyadeva (Kalacuri ruler)
The Kalacuris of Tripuri (near Jabalpur) also began as feudatories of the Rashtrakutas, becoming a power in central India in the 11th century during the reigns of Gangeyadeva and his son Lakshmikarna, when attempts were made to conquer territories as far afield as Utkala (Orissa), Bihar, and the Ganges–Yamuna Doab. There they came into conflict with the Turkish governor of the Punjab, who.....
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ganglia (physiology)
dense group of nerve-cell bodies present in most animals above the level of cnidarians. In flatworms (e.g., planaria) two lateral neuronal cords carry impulses to and from a pair of ganglia at the head of the animal. In more advanced organisms, such as earthworms and arthropods, pairs of ganglia at inter...
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ganglion (physiology)
dense group of nerve-cell bodies present in most animals above the level of cnidarians. In flatworms (e.g., planaria) two lateral neuronal cords carry impulses to and from a pair of ganglia at the head of the animal. In more advanced organisms, such as earthworms and arthropods, pairs of ganglia at inter...
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ganglion cell (neuron cell)
...induced in the rods and cones by light are transmitted to (3) a layer of neurons (nerve cells) called the bipolar cells. These bipolar cells connect with (4) the innermost layer of neurons, the ganglion cells; and the transmitted messages are carried out of the eye along their projections, or axons, which constitute the optic nerve fibres. Thus, the optic nerve is really a central tract,......
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ganglion cyst (osteology)
saclike structure containing thick gelatinous fluid that appears on the top or underside of the wrist or, less commonly, on the top of the foot. The cause is unknown, but trauma (wound or injury) to the tendon sheaths or the lining material of the joint may be implicated; it is most common in persons who use their hands an...
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ganglion of Scarpa (anatomy)
...information on linear acceleration and the influence of gravitational pull. This information is relayed by the vestibular fibres, whose bipolar cell bodies are located in the vestibular (Scarpa) ganglion. The central processes of these neurons exit the temporal bone via the internal acoustic meatus and enter the brainstem alongside the facial nerve....
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ganglioside (biochemistry)
In Tay-Sachs disease, or amaurotic (blind) idiocy, gangliosides are deposited in body tissues, chiefly those of the central nervous system, which deteriorates, resulting in severe mental deficiency. Characteristic early symptoms of Tay-Sachs disease include extreme sensitivity to noise, muscle weakness, and the appearance of a cherry-red spot on the small, highly sensitive area near the centre......
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Gangor (religious festival)
Hardly a month passes in Rājasthān without a religious festival. The most remarkable and typical is the festival called Gangor, when clay images of Mahādevī and Pārvatī (representing the benevolent aspects of the Hindu mother goddess) are worshiped by women of all castes for 15 days and are then taken out to be immersed in water. Their procession is joined...
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Gangotri (glacier, Asia)
...which drain into the Indus. Glaciers also play an important role in draining the higher altitudes and in feeding the Himalayan rivers. Several glaciers occur in Uttarakhand, of which the largest, Gangotri, is 20 miles long and is one of the sources of the Ganges. The Khumbu Glacier drains the Everest region in Nepal and is one of the most popular routes for the ascent of the mountain. The......
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Gangra (Turkey)
city, north-central Turkey. It lies at the confluence of the Tatlı and the Acı rivers. Gangra, capital of the ancient Paphlagonian kings, was incorporated into the Roman province of Galatia (c. 6 bc) and renamed Germanicopolis. It was captured by the Seljuq Turks after their victory over Byzantine forces at Malazgirt (ad 1071) and...
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gangrene (pathology)
localized death of animal soft tissue, caused by prolonged interruption of the blood supply that may result from injury or infection. Diseases in which gangrene is prone to occur include arteriosclerosis, diabetes, Raynaud’s disease, thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger’s disease), and typhus. It also may occur after severe burns, freezing, or prolonged bed rest (bed sores)....
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Gangs of New York (film by Scorsese)
...Bringing Out the Dead (1999) to Kundun (1997), a lavish period piece that chronicles the life of the 14th Dalai Lama. Beginning with Gangs of New York (2002), a historical epic of the New York underworld in the mid-19th century, Scorsese made a number of films with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Among their subsequent......
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Gangs-ljongs (autonomous region, China)
historic region and autonomous region of China that is often called “the roof of the world.” It occupies about 471,700 square miles (1,221,600 square kilometres) of the plateaus and mountains of Central Asia, including Mount Everest (Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng). It is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai to the northeast, Szechwan to the east, and Yunnan to the southeast; Myanmar (...
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gangsta rap (hip-hop music)
form of hip-hop music that became the genre’s dominant style in the 1990s, a reflection and product of the often violent lifestyle of American inner cities afflicted with poverty and the dangers of drug use and drug dealing. The romanticization of the outlaw at the centre of much of gangsta rap appealed to rebellious suburbanites as well as to those who...
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gangster film (motion picture genre)
...new filmmaking techniques and talents, it also created new genres and renovated old ones. The realism it permitted inspired the emergence of tough, socially pertinent films with urban settings. Crime epics, or gangster films, such as Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1930), William Wellman’s Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks...
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Gangtok (India)
town, capital of Sikkim state, northeastern India. It lies at an elevation of 5,600 feet (1,700 m). The town (the name of which means “top of the hill”) rises over slopes extensively terraced in corn (maize). It was the governmental seat of the kingdom of Sikkim until the monarchy was abolished (1975) and Sikkim was annexed by India (1976)....
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gangue (geology)
In the ore-dressing plant, the material received from the mine is crushed in several stages and finely ground to a size which ensures that copper minerals are liberated from the waste materials, or gangue. In cases where the next step is leaching (most frequently in the case of oxide ores), complete liberation of the copper minerals is not always necessary; the ore needs to be crushed and......
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Ganguillet, Emile-Oscar (Swiss engineer)
...Their formula contained no term for roughness of channel and on this and other grounds was later found to be inapplicable to the rapidly flowing streams of mountainous regions. In 1869 Emile-Oscar Ganguillet and Rudolph Kutter developed a more generally applicable discharge equation following their studies of flow in Swiss mountain streams. Toward the end of the century, systematic......
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Ganguly, Kumadlal Kunjilal (Indian actor)
Indian actor (b. Oct. 13, 1911, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India—d. Dec. 10, 2001, Mumbai [Bombay], India), became one of the most popular, best-loved, and longest-lasting stars of India’s “Bollywood” motion picture industry in a career that spanned more than 60 years and some 300 films. He had a natural style of acting that allowed him to be effective and believable in a variet...
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Gangut, battle of (Russian history)
...engineers—the redoubts erected in the path of the Swedish troops to break their combat order, to split them into little groups, and to halt their onslaught. Peter also took part in the naval battle of Gangut (Hanko, or Hangö) in 1714, the first major Russian victory at sea....
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Ganioda’yo (Seneca chief)
Seneca Indian chief who developed a new religion for the Iroquois (see Handsome Lake cult). The cult was so successful that in the 20th century several thousand Indians still adhered to it....
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ganita (mathematics)
...a demonstration was perhaps not so much a solid foundation for the student’s understanding as a crutch for the weak student’s lack of understanding. The Indian concept of ganita (Sanskrit: “computation”) was a form of knowledge whose mastery implied varied talents: a good memory, swift and accurate mental arithmetic, enough logic...
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“Ganita-sara-sangraha” (work by Mahavira)
All that is known about Mahavira’s life is that he was a Jain (he perhaps took his name to honour the great Jainism reformer Mahavira [c. 599–527 bce]) and that he wrote Ganitasarasangraha (“Compendium of the Essence of Mathematics”) during the reign of Amoghavarsha (c. 814–878) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The work comprises...
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Ganitasarasangraha (work by Mahavira)
All that is known about Mahavira’s life is that he was a Jain (he perhaps took his name to honour the great Jainism reformer Mahavira [c. 599–527 bce]) and that he wrote Ganitasarasangraha (“Compendium of the Essence of Mathematics”) during the reign of Amoghavarsha (c. 814–878) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. The work comprises...
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Ganivet y García, Ángel (Spanish writer)
Spanish essayist and novelist, considered a precursor of the Generation of ’98 because of his concern for the spiritual regeneration of his country. Fluent in five languages, he served with the Spanish consular service in Antwerp, Helsinki, and Riga. An anguished and skeptical man facing an uncertain prognosis of a progressive disease, and disillusioned in love, he drowned himself in the Dv...
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Ganj Dareh (archaeological site, Iran)
...Sheep and goats eventually replaced gazelles as the primary animal food of Southwest Asia. The earliest evidence for managed sheep and goat herds, a decrease in the size of animals, is found at the Ganj Dareh (Ganj Darreh) site in Iran between about 10,500 and 10,000 bp. This size change may simply reflect an increase in the ratio of female to male animals, as these species are se...
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Ganj Darreh (archaeological site, Iran)
...Sheep and goats eventually replaced gazelles as the primary animal food of Southwest Asia. The earliest evidence for managed sheep and goat herds, a decrease in the size of animals, is found at the Ganj Dareh (Ganj Darreh) site in Iran between about 10,500 and 10,000 bp. This size change may simply reflect an increase in the ratio of female to male animals, as these species are se...
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Gänjä (Azerbaijan)
city, western Azerbaijan. It lies along the Gäncä River. The town was founded sometime in the 5th or 6th century, about 4 miles (6.5 km) east of the modern city. That town was destroyed by earthquake in 1139 and rebuilt on the present site. Gäncä became an important centre of trade, but in 1231 it was again leveled, this time by the Mongols. Captured in 1606 by the Pers...
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ganja (drug)
Ghanja is a less active form of cannabis. Whereas hashish and charas are made from the pure resin, ghanja is prepared from the flowering tops, stems, leaves, and twigs, which have less resin and thus less potency. Ghanja is nevertheless one of the more potent forms of cannabis. It is prepared from specially cultivated plants in India, and the flowering tops have a relatively generous resinous......
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Gänjä carpet
floor covering handwoven in Azerbaijan in or near the city of Gäncä (also spelled Gendje or Gänjä; in the Soviet era it was named Kirovabad, and under Imperial Russia, Yelizavetpol). The carpets are characterized by simple, angular designs and saturated (intense) colours. Genje carpets most often have designs composed of octagons, stars, or three geom...
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Ganjavī, Elyās Yūsof Neẓāmī (Persian-language poet)
greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic....
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Ganjin (Chinese priest)
...in later ages, still stands in the Tōdai Temple and is famous the world over as the Great Buddha of Nara. The court also tried to attract Chinese monks to Nara. The most important of these was Ganjin (Chinese: Chien-chen), who finally reached Nara in 753 on his sixth attempt and founded the Ritsu sect at Tōshōdai Temple....
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