Caledonian Orogenic Belt

Range of mountains situated in northwestern Europe, developed as a result of the opening, closure, and destruction of the Iapetus Ocean in the period from the start of the Cambrian (540 million years ago) to the end of the Silurian (about 408 million years ago). The final collision was between a northwestern European and a North American - Greenland continent, and it gave rise

Alcock, Sir John William

Alcock received his pilot's certificate in 1912 and joined the Royal Naval Air Service as an instructor at the opening of World War I. In 1916 he was posted to a wing group of the Eastern Mediterranean theatre, based at Munros. During

Lattre De Tassigny, Jean De

After service in World War I and Morocco (1921 - 26), de Lattre held a staff commission early

Nova, Jo�o Da

Commanding a fleet of four ships, Nova left Portugal on a voyage to India in 1501. His crews included Amerigo Vespucci, after whom America was later named. En route he discovered Ascension Island.

Hunan, Industry

The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed

Hoopoe

(Upupa epops), strikingly crested bird found from southern Europe and Africa to southeastern Asia, the sole member of the family Upupidae of the roller order, Coraciiformes. About 28 centimetres (11 inches) long, it is pinkish brown on the head and shoulders, with a long, black-tipped, erectile crest and black-and-white barred wings and tail. The hoopoe takes insects

Lens

In anatomy, a colourless, nearly transparent biconvex structure suspended behind the iris of the eye, the sole function of which is to focus light rays onto the retina. The lens is made up of unusual elongated cells that have no blood supply but obtain nutrients from the surrounding fluids, the aqueous humour in front and the vitreous behind. The shape of the lens - essentially

China, Administration, social conditions, and cultural life

The following periodicals give current information on social, political, cultural, and economic affairs: The China Quarterly; Far Eastern Economic Review (weekly); The China Business Review (bimonthly); China Today (monthly); China Pictorial (monthly); and China News Analysis (biweekly).

China, Administration, social conditions, and cultural life

The following periodicals give current information on social, political, cultural, and economic affairs: The China Quarterly; Far Eastern Economic Review (weekly); The China Business Review (bimonthly); China Today (monthly); China Pictorial (monthly); and China News Analysis (biweekly).

Arts, Central Asian, Visual arts

Aleksandr Belenitsky, Central Asia (Eng. trans. 1969), a short general survey of the area and its art; M.P. Griaznov and A.P. Bulgakov, L'Art ancien de l'Altai (1958), a helpful introduction to the subject (in Russian and French); Basil Gray, Buddhist Cave Paintings at Tun-huang (1959), a scholarly study; Ren� Grousset, L'Empire des steppes: Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan, 4th ed. (1960; Eng. trans., The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, 1970), and De la Gr�ce � la Chine (1948), especially useful historical surveys; Ormonde M. Dalton, The Treasure of the Oxus, 3rd ed. (1964), a specialized and authoritative survey of this collection of objects; Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (1962), a helpful widely embracing survey of the Persian culture; Bruno Dagens, Marc Le Berre, and Daniel Schlumberger, Monuments pr�islamiques d'Afghanistan (1964), an aid to understanding Kushan art; Karl Jettmar, Die fr�hen Steppenv�lker (1964; Eng. trans., Art of the Steppes, 1967), a useful survey of nomadic animal art; Albert Von Le Coq, Auf Hellas Spuren in Oltturkistan (1926; Eng. trans., Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan, 1928), of great importance for the work in this area; Sergei Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen (1970; orig. pub. in Russian, 1953), indispensable to the student of Altaic nomads; Tamara Talbot Rice, The Ancient Arts of Central Asia (1965), a useful introduction to the subject; W.W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India (1938),still an indispensable work; David L. Snellgrove and Hugh E. Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet (1968), a general work that helps to place the various expressions of Tibetan art in an historical context - the index may be consulted for carving, metalwork, painting, and carpets; Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, 3 vol. (1949), the classic work on Tibetan religious painting; and Indo-Tibetica, 4 vol. (1932 - 41), a basic work (in Italian) for anyone seriously interested in Tibetan art, consisting largely of photographic plates, unobtainable elsewhere, and records of Tucci's early researches into Tibetan art history. George Roerich, Tibetan Paintings (1925), a useful introductory work containing 17 plates and detailed description; Walter Eugene Clark (ed.), Two Lamaistic Pantheons, 2 vol. (1937, reprinted in 1 vol., 1965), a detailed study of two sets of metal cast images useful for iconographic identifications; Alice Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism, 2nd ed. (1928, reprinted 1962), an old but useful work that relates the main Tibetan Buddhas and divinities to their corresponding forms in Indian, Chinese, and Japanese tradition; B.B. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, 2nd ed. rev. (1958), an indispensable introduction; Stella Kramrisch, The Art of Nepal (1964), the first stylistic history; Pratapaditya Pal, Vaisnava Iconology in Nepal (1970), an important contribution to the structure of meaning in the images of Vishnu; David L. Snellgrove, �Shrines and Temples of Nepal,� Arts Asiatiques, 8:3 - 10, 93 - 120 (1961); an introductory survey; D. Barrett, �The Buddhist Art of Tibet and Nepal,� Oriental Art (1957), a chronological study.

Platform Tennis

Also called �Platform Paddle Tennis, or Paddle Tennis,� sport that is a combination of tennis and squash, devised in 1928 by American sports enthusiasts Fessenden Blanchard and James Cogswell at Scarsdale, N.Y. It is played on specially constructed platforms, 60 by 30 feet (18 by 9 m), surrounded by back and side walls of tightly strung wire netting 12 feet (3.7 m) high. The actual court measures 44 by 20 feet (13.4 by 6 m), and the net is 2 feet 10 inches (86 cm) high at its centre.

Egypt, The interwar period

Fu'ad was never popular and felt insecure, and was therefore prepared to intrigue with the nationalists or with the British to secure his position and powers. The Wafd, with its mass following, elaborate organization, and (until his death in 1927) charismatic leader in Zaghlul, was the only truly national party in Egypt. Ideologically, it stood for national independence against

Ben Bella, Ahmed

Ben Bella was the son of a farmer and small businessman in Maghnia in the d�partement of Oran. There, he successfully completed his early studies

Abe Kobo

He grew up in Mukden (now Shen-yang), in Manchuria, where his father, a physician, taught at the medical college. The youngster was interested in insect collecting, mathematics, and the writings of Fyodor

Abbeville

City, seat (1854) of Vermilion parish, southern Louisiana, U.S., on the Vermilion River, 20 miles (32 km) south-southwest of Lafayette. It was founded in 1843 by a Capuchin missionary, P�re Antoine Desire M�gret, who patterned it on a French Proven�al village. First called La Chapelle and settled by Acadians from Nova Scotia and Mediterranean immigrants, it was later named Abbeville (�Priest's

Quilmes

Cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision), of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, southeast of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, near the R�o de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). In 1666 Jose Martinez de Salazar (governor of R�o de la Plata) established the

Quilmes

Cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision), of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, southeast of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, near the R�o de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). In 1666 Jose Martinez de Salazar (governor of R�o de la Plata) established the

France, History Of, World War I

Before a change in policy could be imposed, however, a new crisis in the Balkans threatened a general war. The assassination of the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, inaugurated five weeks of feverish negotiations, in which France's role has been much debated. Some historians have accused Poincar� and his supporters of a willingness to go to

Rio De Janeiro

The name was given to the city's original site by Portuguese navigators who arrived at the port on Jan. 1, 1502, and mistook the entrance of the bay for the mouth of a river (rio is the Portuguese word for �river� and janeiro

Arias Navarro, Carlos

After receiving a doctorate in law, Arias Navarro began his service with the Ministry of Justice in 1929. During the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 39), he was imprisoned by the Republicans, a group loyal to the republic, but he was freed by Franco's forces,

Smith, Margaret Chase

Margaret Chase attended high school in her native Skowhegan, Maine, graduating in 1916. She then taught school briefly, held a series of other jobs, and served as president of the Maine Federation of Business and Professional

Tepee

Also spelled �Tipi, � tall tent dwelling of the Indians of the American Great Plains. Although it is often thought to be the dwelling used by all North American Indians, only the Plains tribes, representing about one-fifth of them, ever used the tepee, and they only for the last two or three hundred years. The introduction of horses, guns, and metal knives by the Spanish in the early 18th century

Byoir, Carl

In high school Byoir was a reporter for the Iowa State Register, and by the age of 17 he was city editor of the Waterloo Tribune. He worked his way through the University of Iowa, went to work for the Hearst magazines, and by 1916 had become circulation

Gagern, Hans Christoph, Freiherr Von

Conservative German administrator, patriotic politician, and writer who unsuccessfully called for arming the entire German nation during the French Revolutionary Wars. He represented The Netherlands at the Congress of Vienna (1814 - 15) and favoured restoring the Holy Roman Empire to protect Germany's

China, War between Nationalists and Communists

In the meantime, the Communists had created 15 rural bases in central China, and they established a soviet government, the Kiangsi Soviet, on Nov. 7, 1931. Within the soviet regions the Communist leadership expropriated and redistributed land and in other ways enlisted the support of the poorer classes. The Japanese occupation of Manchuria and an ancillary localized war

Fw 190

Abbreviation of �Focke-wulf 190� fighter aircraft of Nazi Germany, second in importance only to the Bf 109 (or Me 109) in that nation's air force during World War II. The Fw 190 was a single-seat fighter that first flew in 1938. After some early technical problems, it went into service in 1941 and was superior to all its opponents until 1942 - 43; it remained a successful fighter and fighter-bomber until the end of World War II. About 20,000 Fw 190s

Malacostracan

Malacostracans are the most numerous and most successful of the four major classes of Crustacea. Their members constitute more than two-thirds of all living crustacean species. They exhibit the greatest range