1609 résultats pour "were"

• Belarus - country.

  In the last complete census conducted in the Soviet Union in 1989, the population of Belarus was 10,151,806; a 2008 estimate was 9,685,768, giving the country apopulation density of 47 persons per sq km (121 per sq mi). The most notable demographic trend since the 1950s has been the steady migration of the population fromthe villages to urban centers, and the correspondent aging of the population remaining in the rural areas. In 1959 urban residents accounted for 31 percent of thepopulation; in...

• W. L. Mackenzie King. I INTRODUCTION W. L. Mackenzie King (1874-1950), tenth prime

  V SECOND TERM AS PRIME MINISTER By the election of 1925 most of the rifts in the Liberal Party were healed. Little had been achieved by King's government except for some tariff reduction and thereorganization of Canadian railroads, but no mistakes had been made. The real issue of the election was the personalities of the party leaders, King and the brilliant butarrogant Conservative, Arthur Meighen. The Conservatives swept English-speaking Canada, and they won 116 seats. The Liberals won 101, a...

• Skateboarding.

  The earliest skateboards first appeared in the 1940s and 1950s. Many of the early boards were toy scooters whose handlebars had been removed. Other homemadeskateboards were steel-wheeled roller skates nailed onto a piece of wood. The first commercially produced skateboards appeared in the early 1960s, when MakahaSkateboards established a successful business. The Makaha company later developed the tail. By the 1970s, skateboard design had advanced, and the models produced were much safer than tho...

• Minnesota - geography.

  C Climate Minnesota’s climate is classified as humid continental because normally there is a sufficient amount of precipitation to provide at least some surplus for runoff, andbecause Minnesota’s temperature conditions are largely controlled by its location in the interior of the large landmass of North America. The result is extreme seasonaltemperature variations. The average January temperature is about -18°C (about 0°F) in the northwest and about -10°C (about 14°F) in the south, but thetherm...

• Minnesota - USA History.

  C Climate Minnesota’s climate is classified as humid continental because normally there is a sufficient amount of precipitation to provide at least some surplus for runoff, andbecause Minnesota’s temperature conditions are largely controlled by its location in the interior of the large landmass of North America. The result is extreme seasonaltemperature variations. The average January temperature is about -18°C (about 0°F) in the northwest and about -10°C (about 14°F) in the south, but thetherm...

• London (England) - geography.

  In the northern part of the West End is Bloomsbury, the city’s traditional intellectual center, with its concentration of bookshops and homes of writers and academics. Inthe early 20th century a number of famous writers, critics, and artists who lived here became known as the Bloomsbury Group. Here, too, is the British Museum, one ofLondon’s chief tourist attractions. Nearby is the giant complex of the University of London, whose various colleges and departments have taken over much ofBloomsbury...

• Declaration of Independence.

  communication networks to publicize British actions and encourage demonstrations of defiance. Soon these committees and some colonial legislatures issued a call for anall-colony congress to discuss other appropriate responses to Britain’s actions. The Continental Congress first met in Philadelphia from September to the end of October1774. This body did not plan for war; instead, it debated the extent to which the colonies should carry their resistance to Great Britain. The First Continental Cong...

• Declaration of Independence - U.

  communication networks to publicize British actions and encourage demonstrations of defiance. Soon these committees and some colonial legislatures issued a call for anall-colony congress to discuss other appropriate responses to Britain’s actions. The Continental Congress first met in Philadelphia from September to the end of October1774. This body did not plan for war; instead, it debated the extent to which the colonies should carry their resistance to Great Britain. The First Continental Cong...

• Nuclear Weapons.

  Regardless of the method used to attain a supercritical assembly, the chain reaction proceeds for about a millionth of a second, liberating vast amounts of heat energy.The extremely fast release of a very large amount of energy in a relatively small volume causes the temperature to rise to tens of millions of degrees. The resultingrapid expansion and vaporization of the bomb material causes a powerful explosion. VI PRODUCTION OF FISSILE MATERIAL Much experimentation was necessary to make the p...

• Yukon Territory - Geography.

  Tourism is the second most important private sector industry in the Yukon. Visitors come to fish, hunt, enjoy the rugged scenery, and see the historic buildings andcreeks associated with the gold rush. Some marten, lynx, muskrat, wolverine, and other fur-bearing animals are still trapped, but the Yukon plays a minor role in Canadian fur production. The Yukon’s manufacturing industries consist almost exclusively of some mineral refining, printing, and sawmilling. Several hydroelectric plants gene...

• Yukon Territory - Canadian History.

  Tourism is the second most important private sector industry in the Yukon. Visitors come to fish, hunt, enjoy the rugged scenery, and see the historic buildings andcreeks associated with the gold rush. Some marten, lynx, muskrat, wolverine, and other fur-bearing animals are still trapped, but the Yukon plays a minor role in Canadian fur production. The Yukon’s manufacturing industries consist almost exclusively of some mineral refining, printing, and sawmilling. Several hydroelectric plants gene...

• Qing Dynasty - history.

  ministries and recruited talented Chinese men who had lost confidence in Ming rule to fill some of the posts. In 1635 Abahai renamed his people “Manchu” to give them a sense of a fresh start, free from past ties to the Chinese. In 1636 he declared the beginning of a new dynasty,which he named Qing (Chinese for “pure”). While the Jurchen transformed their social and military organization north of the Great Wall, China to the south faced serious crises. In the 1620s and 1630s, bad weatherruined...

• Classification - biology.

  species based on the fewest number of shared changes that have occurred from generation to generation. IV HISTORY OF CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS Classification is one of the oldest sciences, but despite its age it is still a vigorous field full of new discoveries and methods. Much like other fields of science, greatthinkers have shaped the course of classification. One of the earliest classification schemes was established by Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived in the 300s BC. Aristotle believe...

• Fascism.

  values as coming before a radical political transformation. Others argue that a radical political transformation will then be followed by a change in values. Fascists claimthat the nation has entered a dangerous age of mediocrity, weakness, and decline. They are convinced that through their timely action they can save the nation fromitself. Fascists may assert the need to take drastic action against a nation's 'inner' enemies. Fascists promise that with their help the national crisis will end an...

• Invertebrate - biology.

  animals with a five-pointed design. They live in the sea and move with the help of tiny fluid-filled feet—another feature found nowhere else in the animal world. Zoologists recognize several different groups of worms. The phylum known as flatworms contains the simplest animals possessing heads. Nerves and sense organs areconcentrated in the head. Most flatworms are paper-thin and live in a variety of wet or damp habitats, including the digestive systems of other animals. Roundwormsrepresent anot...

• Invertebrate - biology.

  animals with a five-pointed design. They live in the sea and move with the help of tiny fluid-filled feet—another feature found nowhere else in the animal world. Zoologists recognize several different groups of worms. The phylum known as flatworms contains the simplest animals possessing heads. Nerves and sense organs areconcentrated in the head. Most flatworms are paper-thin and live in a variety of wet or damp habitats, including the digestive systems of other animals. Roundwormsrepresent anot...

• William Shakespeare I INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright and poet, recognized in much of the world as the greatest of all dramatists.

  Shakespeare’s reputation today is, however, based primarily on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin toappear in 1594, when the theaters reopened with the passing of the plague that had closed them for 21 months. In December of 1594 his play The Comedy of Errors was performed in London during the Christmas revels at Gray’s Inn, one of the London law schools. In March of the following year he received payment for two playsthat had been per...

• William Shakespeare.

  Shakespeare’s reputation today is, however, based primarily on the 38 plays that he wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin toappear in 1594, when the theaters reopened with the passing of the plague that had closed them for 21 months. In December of 1594 his play The Comedy of Errors was performed in London during the Christmas revels at Gray’s Inn, one of the London law schools. In March of the following year he received payment for two playsthat had been per...

• George Herbert Walker Bush.

  Lebanon. More troubling was the disclosure that agents operating under direct White House supervision used profits from the arms sales to buy weapons for thecontras, a group of anti-government Nicaraguan rebels, despite an explicit congressional ban on such aid. Bush later claimed that he opposed the arms-for-hostagesdeal, but offered little evidence to back his claims ( see Iran-Contra Affair). C 1988 Presidential Election While the Reagan-Bush program helped produce prosperity for the wealth...

• George Herbert Walker Bush - USA History.

  Lebanon. More troubling was the disclosure that agents operating under direct White House supervision used profits from the arms sales to buy weapons for thecontras, a group of anti-government Nicaraguan rebels, despite an explicit congressional ban on such aid. Bush later claimed that he opposed the arms-for-hostagesdeal, but offered little evidence to back his claims ( see Iran-Contra Affair). C 1988 Presidential Election While the Reagan-Bush program helped produce prosperity for the wealth...

• Yellowknife (Northwest Territories) - Geography.

  VII HISTORY Indigenous nations have lived around Yellowknife Bay for thousands of years. The historic occupants were the Athapaskan-speaking Dogrib people, hunters of caribou.The Dogrib were displaced briefly in the early 19th century by the Yellowknife band of the Chipewyan nation, who moved into the area to participate in the fur trade.The bay, and eventually the city, were named for the Yellowknife band, whose name is believed to derive from their yellow knife blades hammered out of native...

• Intelligence.

  education. Teachers had no way of knowing which of the “slow” students had true learning problems and which simply had behavioral problems or poor prior education.In 1904 the French Ministry of Public Instruction asked Binet and others to develop a method to objectively identify children who would have difficulty with formaleducation. Objectivity was important so that conclusions about a child’s potential for learning would not be influenced by any biases of the examiner. The governmenthoped tha...

• Chess.

  There are two standard methods of recording chess moves: the algebraic system and the descriptive system. In both systems, the pieces are designated by capitalinitials: K for king, Q for queen, R for rook, B for bishop, and N for knight. The initial P for pawn is used in the descriptive system only. Castling is noted as either 0-0(“short” castling on the king’s side) or 0-0-0 (“long” castling on the queen’s side). Each square is part of both a file and a rank, and in the algebraic system, that u...

• The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin

  “The Dream of An Hour”, it is described as a dream to describe something unrealistic and unreachable. Women were not allowed to think for themselves or have an opinion of their own, they had to have the same opinions as their husbands or fathers, at the time. It took her husband dying for her to feel free, it was the only way, back then, for a woman to be free, as women were always financially dependent on men, a woman goes from being dependant on her father to being dependant on her husband, sh...

• Albert Einstein I INTRODUCTION Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born American physicist and Nobel laureate, best known as the creator of the special and general theories of relativity and for his bold hypothesis concerning the particle nature of light.

  On the basis of the general theory of relativity, Einstein accounted for the previously unexplained variations in the orbital motion of the planets and predicted thebending of starlight in the vicinity of a massive body such as the sun. The confirmation of this latter phenomenon during an eclipse of the sun in 1919 became a mediaevent, and Einstein’s fame spread worldwide. For the rest of his life Einstein devoted considerable time to generalizing his theory even more. His last effort, the unifi...

• Albert Einstein.

  On the basis of the general theory of relativity, Einstein accounted for the previously unexplained variations in the orbital motion of the planets and predicted thebending of starlight in the vicinity of a massive body such as the sun. The confirmation of this latter phenomenon during an eclipse of the sun in 1919 became a mediaevent, and Einstein’s fame spread worldwide. For the rest of his life Einstein devoted considerable time to generalizing his theory even more. His last effort, the unifi...

• Columbus (Ohio) - geography.

  A balance among manufacturing, technology, research, and financial activities has helped Columbus’s economy to continue to boom. Much of the city’s expansion resultsfrom its function as a sophisticated service center. By 1990 manufacturing occupied only 12 percent of the area’s labor force. That contrasted with services, includinggovernment, finance, and transportation and utilities, which accounted for almost 60 percent of all employment. The two largest employers in Columbus are state governme...

• Wolf - biology.

  VIII RED WOLF The red wolf is smaller than the gray wolf. An adult red wolf stands about 65 cm (about 2 ft) high at the shoulder, measures 100 to 130 cm (3 to 4 ft) in lengthexcluding the tail, and weighs 20 to 36 kg (45 to 80 lb). It has long legs and ears and its head is not as wide as that of the gray wolf. The coat of red wolves varies incolor from light tan to black with reddish head, ears, and legs. Scientists have debated whether the red wolf is a subspecies of the gray wolf, a separate...

• Religion.

  By the end of the 19th century, scholars were making religion an object of systematic inquiry. Müller’s comparative approach was adopted in many European andJapanese universities, and as a result the common features of world religions (such as gods, prayer, priesthood, and creation myths) were the subjects of sustainedscholarly investigation. In addition, field anthropologists had begun to compile firsthand accounts of the religions of peoples who previously had been dismissed assavages. The stu...

• Domestic Violence.

  socialization teaches boys and girls a belief system that devalues women—especially unmarried women—and creates a sense of female responsibility for themaintenance of the family. Women who believe that the end of a relationship or of a marriage represents a personal failure are less likely to leave abusive relationships. V TREATMENT AND PREVENTION A variety of programs and services, both for victims and offenders, exist to treat and prevent domestic violence. Since 1964, more than 1800 shelters...

• underworld (1) Greek The black abyss known as Hades and the dwelling place of the dead.

  Earth. By the middle of the third century b.c., Dis Pater and Proserpina had also become the rulers of the realm of dead spirits. Together they became an official part of the Roman religious ceremonies. Beginning in 249 b.c., Romans held games known as the Ludi Tarentini or Tarentine Games, to recognize, honor, and appease these two gods. Much of the mythology of Dis Pater and Proserpina had by this time taken on the stories of the Greek gods Hades (or Pluto) and Persephone, who ruled over a rea...

• Mfecane - history.

  they were broken up around 1822 by the Mpondo, under Faku. In 1819 the Zulu defeated the Ndwandwe and took over their former territory. The Ndwandwe were forced north across the Phongolo River. A group of Ndwandwe refugees,led by Soshangane, fled into what is now southern Mozambique, where they overran the local Tsonga people and became known as the Gaza. Soshangane went on to createthe Gaza Empire, which stretched along the coast from Delagoa Bay to the lower Zambezi. In 1826 other Ndwandwe gro...

• DBQ slavery

  When they arrived in America, African slaves were washed, and their skin was cover by animal fat or oil to look healthier. Moreover, sometimes they were branded to be recognizing as a slave. Then, they were sold in slave’s auction or market. When a slave’s auction would happen in the town, posters were published in order to advertising slave owners. It existed two different slave auctions: the first, called the “May the highest bidder wins” was to give the higher amount of money for...

• From Bulfinch's Mythology: Adventures of Aeneas - anthology.

  out of his way. Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them, so that the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopses came forth from their caves andwoods and lined the shore, like a row of lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight. Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. There Ulysses, the reader will remember, had lost six of hismen, seized by Scylla while the navigators were wh...

• Mumbai - geography.

  number of people employed by them increased from 7,000 in the 1860s to 73,000 in 1900. Mumbai also prospered as an international port with the 1869 opening ofthe Suez Canal, which shortened the shipping route to Europe. Today most of India’s cotton continues to be grown in the Mumbai hinterland on a fertile, lava-based soilknown as black cotton soil. Textiles remain the dominant industry, employing more than half the workforce. Other important products of Mumbai include refined oil,petrochemical...

• Guinea - country.

  Mining operations in 2004 yielded 16 million metric tons of bauxite, 468,400 carats of high-quality diamonds, and 16,000 kg (35,300 lb) of gold. Environmental concernsand political instability in neighboring Liberia have delayed exploitation of high-grade iron ore from Mount Nimba. In 1999 the national budget included $466 million in revenues and $414 million in expenditures. The unit of currency is the Guinean franc, which is divided into 100 centimes (3,644 francs equal U.S.$1; 2005 average...

• Republic of the Congo - country.

  rate of 50 CFA francs equal to 1 French franc was in force from 1948 to 1994, when the CFA franc was devalued by 50 percent. The leading commercial banks are theBanque Internationale du Congo and the Union Congolaise de Banques. E Foreign Trade In 2000 imports cost $930 million and exports earned $2.09 billion. The Congo engages in considerable trade with the nearby countries of Cameroon, the CentralAfrican Republic, and Gabon, with which it is joined in the Customs and Economic Union of Centra...

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

  IV PRIME MINISTER After the resignation of Lester Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party, Trudeau was chosen as his successor, and on April 20, 1968, he became prime minister. He calleda general election and showed himself to be a brilliant campaigner, projecting an image of youthful charm and vitality. He argued for a united Canada with equal rightsfor French- and English-speaking citizens and opposed special status for any province. The voters gave him a substantial majority over Robert Stan...

• Pierre Elliott Trudeau - Canadian History.

  IV PRIME MINISTER After the resignation of Lester Pearson as leader of the Liberal Party, Trudeau was chosen as his successor, and on April 20, 1968, he became prime minister. He calleda general election and showed himself to be a brilliant campaigner, projecting an image of youthful charm and vitality. He argued for a united Canada with equal rightsfor French- and English-speaking citizens and opposed special status for any province. The voters gave him a substantial majority over Robert Stan...

• Gabon - country.

  government is engaged in preservation and reforestation programs. The fish catch in 2005 was 43,941 metric tons. C Mining Mining has developed rapidly since Gabon’s independence in 1960. Annual production of extremely high-grade manganese ore, from Moanda in the southeast, was1,090,000 metric tons in 2004. The rich deposits of iron ore located at Mekambo and Bélinga in the northeast have reserves estimated at more than 500 million metrictons. Exploitation of the iron ore has been hampered by th...

• Hazardous Wastes.

  A Source Reduction The best way to eliminate hazardous wastes is not to generate them in the first place. For example, improvements have been made in the production of integratedcircuits: The toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons commonly used in the 1970s were replaced in the 1980s by less toxic glycol ethers and in the 1990s by low-toxicity estersand alcohols. B Recycling Recycling is the recovery or reuse of usable materials from waste. About 5 percent of hazardous waste in the United States is re...

• Electric Lighting.

  successful arc lamp in 1878. Tungsten filaments were substituted for carbon filaments in incandescent lamps in 1907, and gas-filled incandescent lamps were developedin 1913. The fluorescent lamp was introduced in 1938. See also Lamp. For most of the 20th century the incandescent light bulb was widely used for lighting in homes. More energy-efficient and longer-lasting fluorescent lamps were adoptedfor industrial and office use. In 1979 a compact fluorescent bulb that screwed into ordinary lig...

• Pyramids (Egypt) - history.

  out, to the king’s burial chamber, which ideally was located directly underneath the pyramid’s center point. Sometimes, in addition to the burial chamber, there werestorage chambers within the pyramid. These chambers held objects used in burial rituals as well as items for the deceased to use in the afterlife. Some of these items werevaluable, and in later years people robbed many of the pyramids and stole the objects. Pyramid of Khafre at GizaThe pyramids at Giza in Egypt are among the best-kno...

• Edmonton - Geography.

  both of which built fur trading posts near present-day Edmonton in 1795. The posts were rebuilt several times, always along the North Saskatchewan River, whichprovided the traders’ main transportation route. The last move came in 1830, when Fort Edmonton was erected on the high bluff where the Alberta Legislature nowstands. For the next 50 years, the fort was the major trading center on the western plains. The modern city began to take shape after 1900, when central Alberta was opened to Europea...

• Excerpt from Sense and Sensibility - anthology.

  was just arrived, and quitted not his hold till he had seated her in a chair in the parlour. Elinor and her mother rose up in amazement at their entrance, and while the eyes of both were fixed on him with an evident wonder and a secret admiration whichequally sprung from his appearance, he apologised for his intrusion by relating its cause, in a manner so frank and so graceful, that his person, which wasuncommonly handsome, received additional charms from his voice and expression. Had he bee...

• Latin American Music I INTRODUCTION Tito Puente Playing the Drums Since the 1950s American drummer Tito Puente has popularized Latin American music, especially the mambo, in the United States.

  Panpipe Music of BoliviaWell before the Spanish conquest, native peoples such as the Quechua and Aymara living in the Andes Mountains inBolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, developed a rich musical tradition. Panpipes (set of tuned pipes), made of ceramic, sugarcane,or bone were paired with shell trumpets, cane flutes, and drums, which accompanied dancers during religious and secularceremonies. Large ensembles of 4 to 20 panpipe players are still the norm, and Spanish influences have since beenintegrated...

• Temple (building) I INTRODUCTION Wat Phra Kaeo Thailand has nearly 18,000 Buddhist temples, called wats, throughout the country.

  colonnaded terraces connected by ramps. The surrounding area was planted with trees and flowers during Hatshepsut’sreign and for many years after.Gian Berto Vanni/Art Resource, NY In ancient Egypt, temples were grandiose, built of huge blocks and columns of stone. Often they were enlarged by successive rulers to form strung-out series of templeparts, as in the gigantic Temple of Amon (circa 1550-1070 BC) at Al Karnak. The Nile cliffs were used as settings for temples, such as the massive mortuar...

• Confucian philosophy, Japanese

  1 Confucian philosophy in early Japan The earliest extant Japanese histories record that in AD 285 - the actual date was probably a century or so later - Wani, of the Korean kingdom of Paekche, brought copies of the Analects (Lunyu ; in Japanese, Rongo ) of Confucius and the Qianziwen (Thousand Character Classic; Senjimon in Japanese) from Korea to Japan ( Confucian philosophy, Korean ). Even though most scholarship on Japan tends to identify this introduction of Confucian texts with...

• Roman Mythology I INTRODUCTION Roman Mythology, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome.

  Aeneas and AnchisesAccording to mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan prince. After Troy fell to the Greeks during the Trojan War, Aeneas traveledto Italy and met and married a woman in the kingdom that occupied the region that would one day become Rome.Through this marriage, Aeneas was the direct ancestor of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. In thispainting he is carrying his father, Anchises, on his back while fleeing from Troy. This painting by Lionello Spada is in theLouvre Museum...

• Napoleon I I INTRODUCTION Napoleon I (1769-1821), emperor of the French, whose imperial dictatorship ended the French Revolution (1789-1799) while consolidating the reforms it had brought about.

  until after Napoleon’s fall did the common people of Europe, alienated from his governments by war taxes and military conscription, fully appreciate the benefits he hadgiven them. VI NAPOLEON’S DOWNFALL In 1812 Napoleon, whose alliance with Alexander I had disintegrated, launched an invasion of Russia that ended in a disastrous retreat from Moscow. Thereafter allEurope united against him, and although he fought on, and brilliantly, the odds were impossible. In April 1814, his marshals refused...