Osage River

River rising as the Marais des Cygnes (French: “Swan Marshes”) in the Flint Hills near Eskridge, Kan., U.S. It becomes the Osage (named for the Osage Indians) after its junction with the Little Osage near Rich Hill, Mo., and then flows east through the Ozark highlands to enter the Missouri River near Jefferson City. The river is 500 miles (800 km) long and drains 15,300 square miles (39,600 square km). Along

Eyre, Lake

Great salt lake in central South Australia, with a total area of 3,700 square miles (9,300 square km). It lies in the southwestern corner of the Great Artesian Basin, a closed inland basin about 440,150 square miles (1,140,000 square km) in area that is drained only by intermittent streams. Normally dry but susceptible to occasional flooding, the lake occupies the lowest part of the Australian continent.

Baarle-hertog

French  Baerle-duc,   municipality, Antwerp province, Belgium, enclave (2.7 sq mi [7 sq km]) in Noord-Brabant province, southern Netherlands, 4 mi (6 km) north of the Belgian border. It has been a separate commune since 1479, when the town of Baarle was divided into Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau for purposes of noble inheritance. The status of the enclave was confirmed after Belgian independence by the Belgium-Netherlands

Chang Kuo-lao

Chang claimed to have been born in prehistoric times. Legends about him, however, seem to have accrued to a historical

Yggdrasill

Old Norse  Mimameidr  in Norse mythology, the world tree, a giant ash supporting the universe. One of its roots extended into Niflheim, the underworld; another into Jötunheim, land of the giants; and the third into Asgard, home of the gods. At its base were three wells: Urdarbrunnr (Well of Fate), from which the tree was watered by the Norns (the Fates); Hvergelmir (Roaring Kettle), in which dwelt Nidhogg

Gaultheria

Genus of about 100 species of upright or prostrate evergreen shrubs, of the heath family (Ericaceae), occurring in North and South America, Asia, and Australia. The plants are distinguished by alternate, ovate leaves, white or pink flowers, and round fruit that contains numerous minute seeds. G. shallon, the salal or lemonleaf of florists, is a slender, diffuse

Steelyard, Merchants Of The

In the later Middle Ages, members of the Hanseatic League, an association of north German towns, who resided at its London establishment, known as the Steelyard (probably from Low German stâlgard, a courtyard). German merchants from Cologne had enjoyed privileges in London from Anglo-Saxon times, and by the late 13th century had been joined there by others from east German

Chelmsford

Remains of the Roman settlement of Caesaromagus have been discovered in the locality. In 1227 Chelmsford town became the regular seat of the county judicial gatherings known as assizes and quarter

Biblical Literature, Background and beginnings

The geographical theatre of the Old Testament is the ancient Near East, particularly the Fertile Crescent region, running from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers up to Syria and down through Palestine to the Nile Delta. In this area great civilizations and empires developed and seminomadic ethnic groups, such as the Hebrews, were involved in the mixture of peoples

Altare Glass

Type of Italian glassware produced in the town of Altare, near Genoa. The Altare glass industry was established in the 11th century by glassmakers from Normandy and developed independently of the much better known glassworks of Venice. During the 15th century the great demand for Venetian glass and, consequently, its profitability led the Venetians to confine glassmakers

Argentina, The Pampas

Pampa is a Quechua Indian term meaning “flat surface.” As such it is widely used in southeastern South America from Uruguay, where grass-covered plains commence south of the Brazilian Highlands, to Argentina. In Argentina the Pampas broaden out west of the Río de la Plata to meet the Andean forelands, blending imperceptibly to the north with the Chaco Austral and southern

Lauterbrunnen

Town, Bern canton, south-central Switzerland, in the Bernese Oberland, on the Lütschine River, south of Interlaken. The river valley is bounded by impressive cliffs of 1,000–1,500 feet (300–450 m) and is noted for its Alpine streams and waterfalls, from which the name Lauterbrunnen (“Clear Fountains”) is derived. The most notable falls are the Staubbach and the Trümmelbach. The town is a year-round

Tigre

The partido is bordered to the north by an important branch of the Paraná River, the

Good Shepherd Sister

Member of  The Religious of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (R.G.S.) , also called  Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd  a Roman Catholic order of religious devoted particularly to the care, rehabilitation, and education of girls and young women who have demonstrated delinquent behaviour. The congregation traces its history to an order founded by St. John Eudes in 1641 at Caen, Fr. This order, known as the Religious of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, was virtually destroyed during the French

Baghdad, Districts

The city extends along both banks of the Tigris. The east-bank settlement is known as Rusafah, the west-bank as Al-Karkh. A series of bridges, including one railroad trestle, link the two banks. From a built-up area of about 4 square miles (10 square km) at the beginning of the 20th century, Baghdad has expanded into a bustling metropolis with suburbs spreading north and south along

Baghdad, Districts

Judicial organ established in 1959 that is charged with supervising the enforcement of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950; commonly known as the European Convention on Human Rights), which was drawn up by the Council of Europe. The convention obligates signatories to guarantee various civil and political freedoms, including

Nitti, Frank

Starting as a barber, Nitti became a fence for stolen goods and about 1920 joined Capone's gang. He was sent to prison for 18 months after pleading guilty in 1930 to income-tax evasion, but thereafter he nominally

Nam Viet

The kingdom was formed in 207 BC, during the breakup of the Ch'in dynasty (221–206 BC), when the Ch'in governor of Yüeh (now Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces) declared his territory independent. His son Chao T'o (Trieu Da) expanded the new kingdom southward, incorporating

Adrar

Traditional region of central Mauritania in western Africa. It consists of a low central massif with noticeable cliffs that rise to about 800 feet (240 m). The terrain is arid and almost totally unsuitable for cropping. There is, however, sufficient water at the base of the uplands to support date-palm groves, and during the wetter part of the year there is cultivation of millet,

Jewish Religious Year, Importance

The central significance of the Sabbath for Judaism is reflected in the traditional commentative and interpretative literature called Talmud and Midrash (e.g., “if you wish to destroy the Jewish people, abolish their Sabbath first”) and in numerous legends and adages from more recent literature (e.g., “more than Israel kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept Israel”). Some of

Gobat, Charles-albert

Gobat first practiced law in Bern and then in Delé

Wakayama

Ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It occupies the Kii Peninsula, which faces the Kii Strait (west) and the Pacific Ocean (south). Most of its area of 1,824 square miles (4,725 square km) is mountainous and broken by deep river valleys, such as the Toro Gorge on the Kumano River. Despite frequent typhoons in summer, the climate is mild, and the coastal plain and some large valleys

Haldane, Richard Burdon, 1st Viscount Haldane Of Cloan

Educated at the universities of Göttingen and Edinburgh, Haldane was called to the English bar in 1879 and became a queen's counsel in 1890. He sat in the House of Commons from 1885 until his elevation

China, The foreign presence

As a result of several wars and many treaties with China since 1842, foreign powers had acquired a variety of unusual privileges for their nationals. These were specified in the “unequal treaties,” which patriotic Chinese bitterly opposed. Hong Kong, Taiwan, and vast areas in Siberia and Central Asia had been detached from China. Dependencies such as Korea, Outer Mongolia,

Puerto Suárez

Town, extreme eastern Bolivia. It is situated on the marshy shores of Lake Cáceres, just west of Corumbá, Brazil, and is connected to the Paraguay River by the Tamengo Canal. Puerto Suárez was once an isolated port and trading centre for rubber, coffee, and other local products, but the town has grown rapidly since the late 20th century, when a natural gas pipeline was built

Zen

Chinese  Ch'an  (from Sanskrit dhyana, “meditation”), important school of Buddhism in Japan that claims to transmit the spirit or essence of Buddhism, which consists in experiencing the enlightenment (bodhi) achieved by Gautama the Buddha. The school arose in the 6th century in China as Ch'an, a form of Mahayana Buddhism; though introduced centuries earlier, Zen did not fully develop in Japan

Zaehner, R.c.

The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated to England, Zaehner studied Oriental languages at the University of Oxford, specializing in Persian, Armenian, and Avestan. He became a Roman Catholic in 1946. During

Lae

Port city, northeastern Papua New Guinea. It is located near the mouth of the Markham River on Huon Gulf. Commercial activities centre on the export of timber, plywood, and coffee (transported by road from Bulolo and Wau) and the produce from the Central Range, which is airfreighted. Lae is also the marketing centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding

Lancet, The

British medical journal established in 1823. The journal's founder and first editor was Thomas Wakley, considered at the time to be a radical reformer. Wakley stated the intent of the new journal was to report on the metropolitan hospital lectures and to describe the important cases of the day. The Lancet has since played an important role in medical and hospital reform

Andrews, Frank M(axwell)

Graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1906, Andrews was commissioned in the cavalry, serving in the Philippines