Christian Iv

King of Denmark and Norway (1588 - 1648), who led two unsuccessful wars against Sweden and brought disaster upon his country by leading it into the Thirty Years' War. He energetically promoted trade and shipping, left a national heritage of fine buildings, and won repute as a plucky, hard-drinking man of grim wit and great

Literary Criticism, Criticism and knowledge

The debate over poetic truth may illustrate how modern discussion is beholden to extraliterary knowledge. Critics have never ceased disputing whether literature depicts the world correctly, incorrectly, or not at all, and the dispute has often had more to do with the support or condemnation of specific authors than with ascertainable facts about mimesis. Today

Wright, Judith

After completing her education at the University of Sydney, Wright worked in an advertising agency and as a secretary at the University of Queensland, where she helped publish Meanjin, a literary

Scandinavian Literature, The Icelanders', or family, sagas

These sagas were about heroes who had supposedly lived in the 10th and 11th centuries. Their origins are unclear, and it is debatable whether they were faithful records of history. One theory is that they were composed in the 11th century and transmitted orally until written down in the 13th century; though researchers now reject this view, it is true that the sagas owed much

Actinide Element, Nuclear

All of the actinide elements are unstable toward radioactive decay; the reason that actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium are found in nature at all is because some of their isotopes are unusually stable and others are being formed constantly by decay of the long-lived isotopes. It is convenient to divide the naturally occurring isotopes into families based

Nervous System, Human, Reciprocal innervation

Any cold, hot, or noxious stimulus striking the skin of the foot contracts the flexor muscle of that limb, relaxes the extensor muscles of the same limb, and extends the opposite limb. The purpose of these movements is to remove one limb from harm while shifting weight to the opposite limb. That is the first and immediate response, but a slower and longer-lasting reflex

Arnold, Matthew

It was Arnold's expressed desire that his biography should not be written; there are, however, a number of monographs and biographico-critical works, among them Lionel Trilling, Matthew Arnold (1939), the best full-length study; J. Dover Wilson, Leslie Stephen and Matthew Arnold As Critics of Wordsworth (1939); Sir E.K. Chambers, Matthew Arnold: A Study (1947); J.D. Jump, Matthew Arnold, �Men and Books Series� (1955); G. Robert Stange, Matthew Arnold: The Poet As Humanist (1967).

United Kingdom, The beginning of the Wars of the Roses

The so-called Wars of the Roses was the struggle between the Yorkist and Lancastrian descendants of Edward III for control of the throne and of local government. The origins of the conflict have been the subject of much debate. It can be seen as brought about as a result of Henry VI's inadequacy and the opposition of his dynastic rival Richard, Duke of York, but local feuds

Eisenhower, Mamie

Although she did not change the job of first lady, Mamie Eisenhower was a favourite of many American women, who imitated her youthful style (known as the �Mamie style�) and what her husband called her �unaffected manner.�

Aldebaran

Also called �Alpha Tauri, � reddish giant star in the constellation Taurus. Aldebaran is one of the 15 brightest stars, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.86. Its diameter is approximately 50 times that of the Sun. It is accompanied by a very faint (13th magnitude) red companion star. Aldebaran lies about 50 light-years from the Earth. The star was once thought to be a member of the Hyades cluster, but in fact

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Athabaska, District Of

Part of the original Northwest Territories in Canada. The district was created in 1882 and enlarged by an eastward extension in 1895. It was abolished in 1905. Its area comprised the northern parts of present Alberta and Saskatchewan and a small portion of northwestern Manitoba.

Baram River

River in northwestern Borneo. Rising in the Iran Mountains, it flows 250 miles (400 km) west and northwest, mostly through primary rain forest to the South China Sea at Baram Point. Above the lowest 100 miles, gorges and rapids make upstream navigation difficult. The Baram is Sarawak's second longest river; its tributaries include the Bakong, Apoh, Palutan, and Patah.

Hara Takashi

Hara was the son of a high-ranking samurai family of northern Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University he became a journalist. In 1882 he entered the foreign service, upon which he rose rapidly

Xerxes I

The basic work is still A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948, reissued 1985), a complex work, but one that contains the essentials. Charles Hignett, Xerxes' Invasion of Greece (1963), deals only with the relationships between Xerxes and Greece. Peter Green, Xerxes at Salamis (1970), discusses the Greco-Persian wars.

Macedonia

Ethnic tensions were on the rise in Macedonia in 1997. Early in the year ethnic Albanian and ethnic Macedonian students demonstrated over the pros and cons of Albanian-language teaching at Skopje University's pedagogical faculty;

Karadzic, Vuk Stefanovic

Karadzic learned to read and write in the old monastery Tronosha (near his native village). Mostly in the

Visscher, Anna (roemersdochter)

Anna Visscher's poetry is rather stiff and impersonal; she wrote for the most part sonnets and lofliederen, cleverly devised odes to important personages.

Spokane

City, seat (1879) of Spokane county, eastern Washington, U.S., at the falls of the Spokane River. Frequented by trappers when the North West Company built a trading post there in 1810, the site was settled in 1872 and laid out in 1878. Known as Spokane Falls (for the Spokane Indians, whose name means �sun people�), it developed after the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway. Abundant waterpower

R�o De Oro

Southern region of Western Sahara. It has an area of 71,000 square miles (184,000 square km) and lies between Cape Blanco and latitude 26� N, near Cape Bojador. The climate is very arid, with virtually no rainfall, and there are extreme variations of temperature in the interior, ranging from nearly 32� F (0� C) at night to about 122� F (50� C) in the afternoon. Its principal town, Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros),

Ragunan Zoological Gardens

Also called �Jakarta Zoological Gardens�, Indonesian �Kebun Binatang Ragunan�, or �Kebun Binatang Jakarta� zoo in Jakarta, Indon., that is one of the world's notable collections of Southeast Asian flora and fauna. More than 3,500 specimens of approximately 450 animal species are exhibited on the 200-hectare (494-acre) park grounds. Among these are the orangutan, Sumatran serow, and various other rare animals of Indonesia. The zoo was founded in 1864 on a 4-hectare (11-acre) site and was moved to a new and much

Argentina, Political parties

The political party system in Argentina has been volatile, particularly in the 20th century, with numerous parties forming, taking part in elections, and disbanding as new factions evolve. Among the major parties are the Radical Civic Union (Uni�n C�vica Radical; UCR), a centrist party with moderate leftist leanings; the Justicialist Party (Partido Justicialista; PJ),

Stabile

The increasing monumentality of Calder's stabiles contributed significantly

�lvarez, Juan

A landowner of mestizo ancestry, �lvarez in 1811 joined Jos� Mar�a Morelos in an unsuccessful campaign for independence from Spain. He was prominent in Antonio L�pez de Santa Anna's revolt of 1822 - 23, which overthrew

Argentina, Cultural life

The role of the church is discussed in John J. Kennedy, Catholicism, Nationalism, and Democracy in Argentina (1958); and Daniel H. Levine (ed.), Churches and Politics in Latin America (1980).

Carib

American Indian people who inhabited the Lesser Antilles and parts of the neighbouring South American coast at the time of the Spanish conquest. Their name was given to the Caribbean Sea, and its Arawakan equivalent is the origin of the English word cannibal. Today the term Cariban is used to designate a linguistic group that includes not only the language of the