Valencia

When Umayyad power in Moorish Spain disintegrated in the reign of Hisham II (1010), Valencia eventually came to be ruled by 'Abd al-Aziz al-Mansur (reigned

Melbourne (of Kilmore), William Lamb, 2nd Viscount, Lord Melbourne, Baron Of Kilmore, Baron Melbourne Of Melbourne

British prime minister from July 16 to Nov. 14, 1834, and from April 18, 1835, to Aug. 30, 1841. He was also Queen Victoria's close friend and chief political adviser during the early years of her reign (from June 20, 1837). Although a Whig and an advocate of political rights for Roman Catholics, he was essentially conservative. Not believing that the

Christiansted

Also called �Bassin� chief town and port of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on the northeastern coast of the island. Exports are mainly watches and rum. It was formerly capital of the Danish West Indies and was a boyhood residence (1765) of the American statesman Alexander Hamilton. Pop. (1980) 2,914.

Paul Of Samosata

Paul

Poxvirus

Any of a group of viruses constituting the family Poxviridae, responsible for a wide range of pox diseases in human beings and other animals. Poxvirus was the cause in human beings of smallpox (q.v.), which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1977. (Chicken pox of human beings is caused by a herpesvirus; see herpes zoster.) The virus particle is somewhat brick-shaped, with the

Chemical Compound, Aldehydes

There are two general ways of naming aldehydes. One method is based on the IUPAC system. (See Hydrocarbons: Aliphatic hydrocarbons: Alkanes: Nomenclature for a discussion of the origin and basics of the IUPAC system of nomenclature.) In this system, the suffix -al is used to indicate that the compound is an aldehyde, and the carbonyl carbon, which must be at one end of the

Sucket Fork

Small metal utensil used for eating sweetmeats, or sucket, with a two- or three-pronged fork at one end of the handle and a spoon bowl, usually of teaspoon size, at the other. A sucket fork is mentioned in Edward VI's inventory of 1549, but most of the few surviving English and American examples, which are usually made of silver, date from the late 17th century.

Sunderland

In the year 674 a monastery was founded in an area on the north riverbank known later as Monkwearmouth. St. Bede the Venerable (672/673 - 735), noted chronicler of Anglo-Saxon affairs, was born in the area and studied there.

Ancient Rome, Second Punic War (218 - 201 BC)

It seemed that the superiority of the Romans at sea ought to have enabled them to choose the field of battle. They decided to send one army to Spain and another to Sicily and Africa. But before their preparations were complete, Hannibal began the series of operations that dictated the course of the war for the greater part of its duration. He realized that as long as the

Chi-nan

Well watered from natural springs, the area was settled in early times. From the 8th century BC it was the site of Li-hsia, a major

Noord-brabant

English �North Brabant� provincie (province), second largest of The Netherlands, extending northward from the Belgium border, between the provinces of Zeeland (west) and Limburg (east), to the Maas (Meuse) and Merwede rivers. It is drained by the Mark (Merk) and Dommel rivers and the Zuidwillemsvaart and Wilhelmina canals. Its capital is 's Hertogenbosch. Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age remains attest

Togo, Government

The military coup d'�tat of 1967 abolished the constitution of 1963 and dissolved the National Assembly. Togo had been ruled since 1969 by the Rally of the Togolese People, the sole political party until 1991 when parties were legalized. A new constitution in 1992 established the president as head of state and an elected multiparty National Assembly. The president appoints the prime minister

Radical Republican

The Republican Party at its formation during the 1850s was a coalition of Northern altruists, industrialists, former Whigs, practical politicians, etc. While not publicly committed

Ashrawi, Hanan

The youngest daughter of a prominent physician, who was a founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), she grew up in an Anglican family. In the late 1960s Ashrawi joined the General Union of Palestinian

Ambrose, Stephen Edward

American biographer and historian (b. Jan. 10, 1936, Decatur, Ill. - d. Oct. 13, 2002, Bay St. Louis, Miss.), wrote some three dozen books on U.S. history. His later works were populist in tone, celebrating the achievements of ordinary people. In 2002 he was accused of plagiarism, but in his defense he argued that he had cited sources for his material. Ambrose earned a B.S. degree in history from the University

Ambrose, Stephen Edward

Also called �cocoa� tropical tree, whose scientific name means �food of the gods� in Latin. Originating in the lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, cacao is grown commercially in the New World tropics as well as western Africa and tropical Asia for its seeds called cocoa beans, which are processed into cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate. This

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint, Hymns and liturgical compositions

�Pange, lingua, gloriosi� (1264); �Verbum supernum prodiens� (1264; �The Word of God Proceeding Forth�); office for the Feast of Corpus Christi (c. 1264), including the sequence �Lauda Sion Salvatorem� (�Praise, O Zion, thy Salvation�).

Affricate

Also called �semiplosive� a consonant sound that begins as a stop (sound with complete obstruction of the breath stream) and concludes with a fricative (sound with incomplete closure and a sound of friction). Examples of affricates are the ch sound in English chair, which may be represented phonetically as a t sound followed by sh; the j in English jaw (a d followed by the zh sound heard in French

Anne And Joachim, Saints

The parents of the Virgin Mary, according to tradition derived from certain apocryphal writings. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century-AD Protevangelium of James (�First Gospel of James�) and the 3rd-century-AD Evangelium de nativitate Mariae (�Gospel of the Nativity of

Anne And Joachim, Saints

The parents of the Virgin Mary, according to tradition derived from certain apocryphal writings. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century-AD Protevangelium of James (�First Gospel of James�) and the 3rd-century-AD Evangelium de nativitate Mariae (�Gospel of the Nativity of

U2

At a 1993 U2 concert all eyes focused on a darkened stage lit only by the flashing headlights of several suspended Trabant automobiles. Giant video monitors projected Nazi propaganda footage punctuated by staccato bursts of slogans--"The Media Is the Anti-Christ," "Everything You Know Is Wrong," "Everyone's a Racist Except You"--reminiscent of some kind of bizarre brainwashing

Rom

Plural �Roma�, also called �Gypsy�, also spelled �Gipsy� any member of the traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India but live in modern times worldwide, principally in Europe. Most Roma speak some form of Romany, a language closely related to the modern Indo-European languages of northern India, as well as the major language of the country in which they live. It is generally agreed that Roma groups

Vigo

Port town and naval station, Pontevedra provincia, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. Vigo lies along the southeastern shore of the Vigo Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Pontevedra city. It was attacked by the English admiral Sir Francis Drake in 1585 and 1589. In 1702 a British-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke and James Butler,

Switzerland, Neutrality and internal challenges

During the 1850s the young republic clashed with Prussia over sovereignty in Neuch�tel, but the Prussian king finally renounced his hereditary rights to the former principality. Otherwise, Switzerland's foreign relations were relatively untroubled in the 19th century. The country adopted a policy of armed but cautious neutrality as the best strategy for a nation

'awali

Municipality in the state and emirate of Bahrain, on central Bahrain island, in the Persian Gulf. Founded in the 1930s by the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), it is situated just north of Bahrain's oil fields and southwest of the country's oil refinery, one of the largest in the world. The municipality was built to house the main offices, headquarters staff, and foreign executives

Biblical Literature, Other types

There is an unconscious tendency to conform hermeneutical principles to the climate of opinion in and around the community concerned, and to change the hermeneutic pattern as the climate of opinion changes. It is not surprising that in the circles where Pseudo-Dionysius (early-6th-century writings attributed to Dionysius, a convert of St. Paul) was revered as a teacher,

Romance Languages

Group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin within historical times and forming a subgroup of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. The major languages of the family include French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, all national languages. Catalan also has taken on a political and cultural significance; among the Romance

Earth, Folding

Compression of the Earth's surface results in the formation of mountain ranges in which rocks are extensively folded. Erosion of a sequence of sedimentary rocks containing beds, some of which are easily eroded and others of which are resistant to erosion, produces numerous parallel ridges and valleys that are oriented parallel to the mountain belt in which they

Khalil Ibn Ahmad, Al-

When he moved to Basra, al-Khalil left the Ibadi sect of Islam, which was popular in his native Oman, for Sunnism (the largest branch of Islam). He lived simply and piously in Basra, where he taught. The renowned Sibawayh was

Khalil Ibn Ahmad, Al-

When he moved to Basra, al-Khalil left the Ibadi sect of Islam, which was popular in his native Oman, for Sunnism (the largest branch of Islam). He lived simply and piously in Basra, where he taught. The renowned Sibawayh was

Auscultation

The technique