Itapetininga

City, in the highlands of east-central S�o Paulo estado (�state�), Brazil. It lies at 2,200 feet (670 m) above sea level, near the Itapetininga River. Formerly called Nossa Senhora dos Prazeres de Itapetininga, it was given town status in 1770 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1771. Agriculture and industry both contribute to Itapetininga's economy. The principal crops in the region are

Hohhot

Wade-Giles romanization �Hu-ho-hao-t'e, �Pinyin �Hohhot, � city and (since 1952) provincial capital of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (tzu-chih-ch'�), China. The city is a prefecture-level municipality (shih) and the command headquarters of the Inner Mongolian Military Region. It is situated in the upper valley of the Ta-hei Ho (westward-flowing tributary of the Huang Ho [Yellow River], which it joins on the northern side of that

East African Lakes

Group of lakes in East Africa. The majority of the East African lakes lie within the East African Rift System, which forms a part of a series of gigantic fissures in the Earth's crust extending northward from the Zambezi River valley through eastern and northeastern Africa and the Red Sea to the Jordan River valley in southwestern Asia. In East Africa itself the southern,

Defense Mechanism

In psychoanalytic theory, any of a group of mental processes that enables the mind to reach compromise solutions to problems that it is unable to resolve. The process is usually unconscious, and the compromise generally involves concealing from oneself internal drives or feelings that threaten to lower self-esteem or provoke anxiety. The concept derives from

Fry, Maxwell; And Drew, Jane

One of the earliest British adherents to the modern movement, Fry was trained at the School of Architecture, University of Liverpool. In 1924 he joined

Clapperton, Hugh

The first European explorer in West Africa to return with a firsthand account of the region now known as northern Nigeria. Following service in the Royal Navy, he joined explorers Dixon Denham and Walter Oudney in a British government expedition that journeyed southward from Tripoli across the Sahara. Early

West Berlin

The western half of the German city of Berlin (q.v.), which until the reunification of the German state in 1990 was treated as a city and Land (state) of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), though it was not constitutionally part of that nation.

Alba

French �Aube, or Aubade, � in the music of the troubadours (q.v.), the 11th- and 12th-century poet-musicians of southern France, a song of lovers' parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. It sometimes takes the form of a dialogue between watchman and lover. Examples for which music also survives include �Reis glorios� by Guiraut de Bornelh and the anonymous �Gaite de la tor.� The German counterparts

Neosho

City, seat (1839) of Newton county, southwest Missouri, U.S. It lies in the Ozark Mountains, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Joplin. Founded in 1839, its name, of Osage Indian derivation, meaning �clear and abundant water,� probably refers to the nine flowing springs (the largest of which is at Big Spring State Park) within the city limits. During the American Civil War, Neosho was the scene of many

Saudi Arabia

Officially �Kingdom of Saudi Arabia�, Arabic �Al-Mamlakah Al-'Arabiyah As-Sa'udiyah� country with an area of approximately 868,000 square miles (2,248,000 square kilometres), occupying about four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait on the north; by the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman on the east; by a portion of Oman on the southeast; by Yemen on the south and southwest; and by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba

Wielopolski, Aleksander, Hrabia (count), Margrabia (margrave) Gonzaga Myszkowski

Born into an impoverished noble family, he studied law as a young man in Warsaw and philosophy in Germany. Returning to Poland, he brought

Agapetus I, Saint

Pope from 535 to 536. Of noble birth, he was an archdeacon at the time of his election (May 13, 535). At the urging of the Ostrogothic king Theodahad, he headed an unsuccessful mission to Constantinople to deter the emperor Justinian I from his plans to reconquer Italy. While there he secured the election of, and consecrated,

Industrial Bank Of Japan

Japanese �Nippon Kogyo Ginko� former Japanese commercial bank that operated a general-banking and foreign-exchange business with branches in Japan and overseas. Established in 1902, the bank had specialized in medium- and long-term financing of industrial development, and both its main office and its foreign branches were active in the foreign-exchange markets. In September 2000, Industrial Bank of

Industrial Bank Of Japan

Japanese �Nippon Kogyo Ginko� former Japanese commercial bank that operated a general-banking and foreign-exchange business with branches in Japan and overseas. Established in 1902, the bank had specialized in medium- and long-term financing of industrial development, and both its main office and its foreign branches were active in the foreign-exchange markets. In September 2000, Industrial Bank of

Peregrinatio Etheriae

English �Pilgrimage of Etheria� an anonymous and incomplete account of a western European nun's travels in the Middle East, written for her colleagues at home, near the end of the 4th century. It gives important information about religious life and the observances of the church year in the localities visited, which included the chief holy places of the Old and New Testaments in Egypt, Palestine, and

Rushdie, Salman

Rushdie was the son of a prosperous Muslim businessman in India. He was educated at Rugby School and the University of Cambridge,

Islam, Pillars Of

Arabic �Arkan al-Islam � the five duties incumbent on every Muslim: shahadah, the Muslim profession of faith; salat, or ritual prayer, performed in a prescribed manner five times each day; zakat, the alms tax levied to benefit the poor and the needy; sawm, fasting during the month of Ramadan; and hajj, the major pilgrimage to Mecca.

Auburn

City, seat (1805) of Cayuga county, west-central New York, U.S. It lies at the north end of Owasco Lake, in the Finger Lakes region, 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Syracuse. Founded in 1793 by John Hardenbergh, an officer in the American Revolution, on the site of a Cayuga Indian village called Wasco, it was first known as Hardenbergh's Corners. It developed around Auburn State Prison (established

Freedom Rides

In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel. A year later the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation tested the ruling by staging the Journey of Reconciliation, on which

Anthurium

Genus of tropical American herbaceous plants, comprising about 600 species in the arum family (Araceae), many of which are popular foliage plants. A few species are widely grown for the florist trade for their showy, long-lasting blossoms, which consist of colourful leathery, shiny spathes surrounding or subtending a central rodlike spadix that bears numerous tiny

Chemical Compound, Preparation

Thioketones are usually prepared through reaction of ketones with phosphorus sulfur reagents such as Lawesson's reagent, Ar2P2S4 (Figure 50). Xanthates (Greek xanthos, �yellow,� from the colour of their copper salts), thiocarbonyl derivatives of carbonates, ROC(=S)OR, are prepared from alcohols and carbon disulfide. This reaction is used to produce a soluble form of cellulose

Chaconne

Also spelled �ciaconne� fiery and suggestive dance that appeared in Spain about 1600 and eventually gave its name to a musical form. Miguel de Cervantes, Francisco G�mez de Quevedo, and other contemporary writers imply a Mexican origin but do not indicate whether it was indigenous or a Spanish dance modified there. Apparently danced with castanets by a couple or by a woman alone, it

China

Despite China's size, the wealth of its resources, and the fact that more than 20 percent of the world's population lives within its borders, its role in the world economy traditionally has been relatively small. Since the late 1970s, however, when China decided to increase its interaction with the international economy, its role in world trade has steadily grown and its importance

Oradour-sur-glane

Oradour-sur-Glane was the site of a particularly brutal atrocity during World War II. The village and its inhabitants were destroyed by German troops on June 10, 1944, exactly two years after a similar fate had befallen the Czechoslovakian village of Lidice

San Fernando

Cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision) of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Arg. It lies north of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, on the R�o de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). During this period the region was known as Costa de Monte Grande. In 1780 the parish of

Minyan

Plural �Minyanim, or Minyans, � in Judaism, the minimum number of males (10) required to constitute a representative �community of Israel� for liturgical purposes. A Jewish boy of 13 may form part of the quorum after his Bar Mitzvah (religious adulthood). When a minyan is lacking for synagogue services, those who have gathered merely recite their prayers as private individuals. There is thus no public reading

Celestite

Mineral that is a naturally occurring form of strontium sulfate (SrSO4). It resembles barite, barium sulfate, but is much less common. Barium is interchangeable with strontium in the crystal structure; there is a gradation between celestite and barite. Celestite occurs in sedimentary rocks, particularly dolomites and dolomitic limestones, throughout the world

Switzerland, Soils

Soil conditions and agriculture reflect the diversity of Switzerland's climate and geologic structure. The major soil groups consist of gray-brown podzolic soils and brown forest soils, loess, glacial drift, and alluvium in the Mittelland; brown forest soils, rendzinas, and the heavier glacial clays in the Jura valleys; and the lithosol and podzolized soils of the

Biblical Literature, Apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings

The importance of the discovery is very great; the scrolls of books of the Old Testament caused a new evaluation of the history of the text of the Hebrew Bible; fragments of the Apocrypha (Sirach and Tobit) and of already known and unknown Pseudepigrapha enlarge knowledge about Jewish literature of the intertestamental period, and the properly sectarian scrolls

Garba, Joseph Nanven

Nigerian military officer and diplomat (b. July 17, 1943, Langtang, Nigeria - d. June 1, 2002, Abuja, Nigeria), participated in the 1975 bloodless coup that deposed Gen. Yakubu Gowon as head of state, then served as external affairs commissioner (foreign minister) until 1978 and as Nigeria's ambassador to the UN (1984 - 89). Garba studied public administration at Harvard University (1982 - 83). A committed pan-Africanist,