229 résultats pour "beginning"
-
Western Music
I
INTRODUCTION
Bizet's Carmen
Georges Bizet's Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, was a milestone in the history of French opera.
church ceremonies during the period from the 5th to the 7th century. Roman chant became known as Gregorian chant after Pope Gregory I, the Great, who may havecomposed some of the melodies and who actively encouraged an orderly, ritualized use of music by the church. Because Gregory and later popes preferred Gregorianchant to the varieties that had developed elsewhere in Europe, Gregorian chant eventually superseded most of the others. Gregorian and other chant styles arepreserved in many manuscr...
-
Human Evolution.
Strepsirhines are the most primitive types of living primates. The last common ancestors of strepsirhines and other mammals—creatures similar to tree shrews andclassified as Plesiadapiformes—evolved at least 65 million years ago. The earliest primates evolved by about 55 million years ago, and fossil species similar to lemursevolved during the Eocene Epoch (about 55 million to 38 million years ago). Strepsirhines share all of the basic characteristics of primates, although their brains are notpa...
-
Human Evolution - biology.
classified as Plesiadapiformes—evolved at least 65 million years ago. The earliest primates evolved by about 55 million years ago, and fossil species similar to lemursevolved during the Eocene Epoch (about 55 million to 38 million years ago). Strepsirhines share all of the basic characteristics of primates, although their brains are notparticularly large or complex and they have a more elaborate and sensitive olfactory system (sense of smell) than do other primates. B Haplorhines B1 Tarsiers T...
-
Automobile Racing.
beginning in 1906 at Le Mans it came to refer to the principal F1 auto race in a given nation, except in the United States, where the term continues to be used lessdiscriminately. After the end of World War I in 1918, when automobile racing blossomed internationally, a series of GP races in several nations became reserved for F1competition, and an annual GP calendar was developed consisting of national races, such as the French Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix. An annual award calledthe Wor...
-
Culture.
form of knowledge, such as scientific discoveries; objects, such as works of art; and traditions, such as the observance of holidays. C1 Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Self-identity usually depends on culture to such a great extent that immersion in a very different culture—with which a person does not share common ways of life orbeliefs—can cause a feeling of confusion and disorientation. Anthropologists refer to this phenomenon as culture shock. In multicultural societies —societies s...
-
Afghanistan - country.
D Climate Most of Afghanistan has a subarctic mountain climate with dry and cold winters, except for the lowlands, which have arid and semiarid climates. In the mountains and afew of the valleys bordering Pakistan, a fringe effect of the Indian monsoon, coming usually from the southeast, brings moist maritime tropical air in summer.Afghanistan has clearly defined seasons: Summers are hot and winters can be bitterly cold. Summer temperatures as high as 49°C (120°F) have been recorded in thenorth...
-
South Africa - country.
The major soil zones are conditioned largely by climatic factors. In the semiarid north and west, soils are alkaline and poorly developed. In the southern part of WesternCape Province, rain falls mostly in the winter months, and soils there form slowly and are generally thin and immature. The moderate temperatures and summer rainfallof the High Veld and eastern coastal areas create conditions for more productive organic decomposition, leading to dark, fertile soils, or chernozems, similar to tho...
-
Israel (country) - country.
harbor in the northern part of the country, and Ashdod, an artificial deepwater port to the south, serve as the main seaports on the Mediterranean. The port of Elat onthe Gulf of Aqaba provides Israel’s only access to the Red Sea, making it extremely important to the country’s shipping interests. D Natural Resources Although much of Israel’s desert regions contain poor soils, the northern Negev, the coastal plains, and the interior valleys provide patches of productive soils. Anestimated 18 per...
-
-
Big Bang Theory - astronomy.
hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen atoms can only absorb and emit specific colors, or wavelengths, of light. The formation of atoms allowed many other wavelengths of light,wavelengths that had been interfering with the free electrons prior to the cooling of the universe, to travel much farther than before. This change set free radiation thatwe can detect today. After billions of years of cooling, this cosmic background radiation is at about 3 K (-270°C/-454°F).The cosmic background radiation was first d...
-
Rhythm-and-Blues Music
I
INTRODUCTION
Tina Turner
American singer Tina Turner began performing rhythm-and-blues music in a band led by her former husband, Ike Turner,
in the 1960s.
thousands of black Americans migrated from the rural South to Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast cities. In popular music, new styles were created to meet thechanging tastes of this demographic group, leading to the development of the urbane sounds of R&B. The profound sociological changes of the World War II period were accompanied by two significant technological developments: the invention of the electric guitar in thelate 1930s and the discovery of the German-invented tape recorder by the mu...
-
Mesoamerica.
for cooking. In other regions, the earliest ceramics are more sophisticated technically and aesthetically. At around 1800 BC in the Pacific coastal region of Soconusco (in what is now southeastern Chiapas State, Mexico), the earliest pottery was very complex both in forms and decoration. It seems to have had a social function and beenused primarily for ritual feasting. III MAJOR CIVILIZATIONS Over a period of 3000 years, beginning in about 1500 BC, a number of important cultures emerged in M...
-
Cosmology - astronomy.
In 1917 American scientist Harlow Shapley measured the distance to several groups of stars known as globular clusters. He measured these distances by using amethod developed in 1912 by American astronomer Henrietta Leavitt. Leavitt’s method relates distance to variations in brightness of Cepheid variables, a class of starsthat vary periodically in brightness. Shapley’s distance measurements showed that the clusters were centered around a point far from the Sun. The arrangement of theclusters was...
-
Welfare.
industrializing societies. Governments typically financed social insurance programs with tax funds and direct levies on the wages of potential recipients. Social insurancereplaced part of incomes lost when workers became disabled, were laid off, or had reached an age that forced them out of the labor market. Later, governments of Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, and other countries developed forms of social insurance that provided population-wide, or universal,coverage. Such forms included chil...
-
San Francisco - geography.
recognized symbol of the city, opened in 1937. It connects San Francisco to Marin County to the north, one of the wealthiest suburban areas in the nation. With the construction of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges and other links from the city to its suburbs, the San Francisco Bay area has become one large metropolitanregion. San Francisco itself is only 122 sq km (47 sq mi) of land area, but the city’s Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (defined by the Census Bureau as SanFrancisco, San Mateo,...
-
Renaissance
I
INTRODUCTION
Renaissance, series of literary and cultural movements in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.
the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...
-
Renaissance .
the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...
-
-
Wisconsin (state) - geography.
-6° C (22° F) in the southeast, along the Lake Michigan shore. During winter extremely cold weather persists for several weeks at a time. C2 Precipitation Average annual precipitation ranges from 700 to 800 mm (28 to 32 in). Rainfall is generally heaviest during the spring and summer, and snowfall is generally moderatein the south, but can be quite heavy in the north. Thunderstorms, sometimes accompanied by devastating tornadoes, are common in spring and summer, particularly inthe southern part...
-
Wisconsin (state) - USA History.
-6° C (22° F) in the southeast, along the Lake Michigan shore. During winter extremely cold weather persists for several weeks at a time. C2 Precipitation Average annual precipitation ranges from 700 to 800 mm (28 to 32 in). Rainfall is generally heaviest during the spring and summer, and snowfall is generally moderatein the south, but can be quite heavy in the north. Thunderstorms, sometimes accompanied by devastating tornadoes, are common in spring and summer, particularly inthe southern part...
-
Illinois - geography.
the state before joining the Mississippi River at Grafton. The Illinois has been deepened and straightened and forms part of the Illinois Waterway. The watershed between rivers that flow into the Mississippi river system and rivers that flow into the Great Lakes is low and in many places is not easily discernible. Inwhat is now the Chicago area, explorers had little difficulty portaging, or carrying, their canoes over the low watershed between the Des Plaines River, which flows intothe Illinois,...
-
Illinois - USA History.
the state before joining the Mississippi River at Grafton. The Illinois has been deepened and straightened and forms part of the Illinois Waterway. The watershed between rivers that flow into the Mississippi river system and rivers that flow into the Great Lakes is low and in many places is not easily discernible. Inwhat is now the Chicago area, explorers had little difficulty portaging, or carrying, their canoes over the low watershed between the Des Plaines River, which flows intothe Illinois,...
-
Halloween.
Halloween traditions in southern colonies such as Virginia and Maryland. Irish immigrants helped popularize Halloween traditions throughout the United States in themid-19th century. As belief in many of the old superstitions waned during the late 19th century, Halloween was increasingly regarded as a children’s holiday. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, young people often observed Halloween by perpetrating minor acts of vandalism, such as overturning sheds or breaking windows.Beginning in th...
-
Pan-Africanism.
(in New York City). These congresses were attended by increasing numbers of representatives from the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. Severalimportant factors affected the growing popularity of the congresses. First, many delegates were sponsored by international labor movements, which were growing insize and power in the 1920s. A second factor was the growth of the black nationalist movement of Marcus Garvey. The Garvey movement was important in the UnitedStates as a popular ex...
-
Capitalism.
Physiocracy is the term applied to a school of economic thought that suggested the existence of a natural order in economics, one that does not require direction from the state for people to be prosperous. The leader of the physiocrats, the economist François Quesnay, set forth the basic principles in his Tableau économique (1758), in which he traced the flow of money and goods through the economy. Simply put, this flow was seen to be both circular and self-sustaining. More important, however...
-
Protestantism.
F England The Anglican Church became the established church in England when Henry VIII assumed (1534) the ecclesiastical authority over the English church that had previouslybeen exercised by the pope. Henry’s motive was to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragón rather than to reform church doctrine, and he imposed severe lawsupholding the major tenets of medieval Catholicism. Under King Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth, however, the Anglican Church developed a distinctly Protestant creedthat w...
-
-
Mythology
I
INTRODUCTION
Mythology, the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of such myths.
usually define a myth as a story that has compelling drama and deals with basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Myths explain, for example, how the worldbegan; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact.Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, andprocesses beyond...
-
Roman Catholic Church.
comprehensiveness of its doctrinal tradition. Locating its beginnings in the earliest Christian communities and refusing to acknowledge any decisive break in its history,the Roman Catholic Church considers itself heir to the theological traditions of the apostolic, patristic, medieval, and modern periods. The church does not in principleexclude any theological method, and since the encyclical of Pope Pius XII Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943) it has officially sanctioned modern principles of exeg...
-
Skiing.
Safety is very important to all skiers, and all Alpine resorts have a ski patrol. The ski patrol’s responsibility is to take care of injured skiers, to mark hazardous spots ontrails, to make sure that trails are in good condition before opening them, and, at times, to act as traffic police in congested areas. Skiers are also responsible for takingtheir own safety into consideration, as well as that of others. Anyone who participates in the sport should be aware of the Skier’s Responsibility Code...
-
Azerbaijan - country.
second most important industrial center after Baku. A Ethnic Groups Azerbaijan, including the autonomous exclave of Naxçivan, is populated mostly by ethnic Azerbaijanis, who are also known as Azeris. The ethnic composition of thecountry changed due to a civil war between the government of Azerbaijan and Armenian secessionists in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Beginning in 1988, when thepeople of Nagorno-Karabakh unilaterally decided to secede from Azerbaijan, nearly the entire Azerbaijani popula...
-
Turkmenistan - country.
A Ethnic Groups With Turkmens constituting 77 percent of the population, Turkmenistan is the most ethnically homogeneous of the Central Asian republics. Uzbeks make up the largestminority group, with about 9 percent of the population. Other ethnic groups include Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars, Ukrainians, Azeris (ethnic Azerbaijanis), Armenians, andBaluch. In 1993 a bilateral treaty between Turkmenistan and Russia granted dual citizenship to Russians in the republic. At the 1995 census Russians cons...
-
Holy Roman Empire
I
INTRODUCTION
Holy Roman Empire, political entity of lands in western and central Europe, founded by Charlemagne in
AD
800 and dissolved by Emperor Francis II in 1806.
acquired the imperial title and an area running from the North Sea through Lotharingia (Lorraine) and Burgundy to northern Italy; Louis II received East Francia (theGerman duchies of Saxony, Swabia, and Bavaria). In 870 Lothair’s middle kingdom was divided by the Treaty of Mersen, which gave Lotharingia to East Francia and therest to West Francia. This division created the foundation for today’s states of Germany and France, respectively; however, in the 9th century these were highly fractured d...
-
Holy Roman Empire .
acquired the imperial title and an area running from the North Sea through Lotharingia (Lorraine) and Burgundy to northern Italy; Louis II received East Francia (theGerman duchies of Saxony, Swabia, and Bavaria). In 870 Lothair’s middle kingdom was divided by the Treaty of Mersen, which gave Lotharingia to East Francia and therest to West Francia. This division created the foundation for today’s states of Germany and France, respectively; however, in the 9th century these were highly fractured d...
-
Ottoman Empire .
fleets at Suez, Egypt; though the Portuguese were not expelled, Selim did manage to prevent the establishment of a total Portuguese monopoly over the spice trade. Selim I died in 1520 after having spent most of his short reign on matters pertaining to the east. His son and successor Süleyman I (reigned 1520-1566) again turnedthe attention of the Ottomans to the west. In August 1521 Süleyman, later known as Süleyman the Magnificent, opened the road to Hungary by capturing Belgrade, aHungarian str...
-
-
Ottoman Empire - History.
fleets at Suez, Egypt; though the Portuguese were not expelled, Selim did manage to prevent the establishment of a total Portuguese monopoly over the spice trade. Selim I died in 1520 after having spent most of his short reign on matters pertaining to the east. His son and successor Süleyman I (reigned 1520-1566) again turnedthe attention of the Ottomans to the west. In August 1521 Süleyman, later known as Süleyman the Magnificent, opened the road to Hungary by capturing Belgrade, aHungarian str...
-
Colonialism and Colonies.
by plundering the riches of existing civilizations in the Americas and by seizing the area’s mineral wealth through mining. These practices were promoted by the policy of mercantilism that many European colonial powers adopted. Those who advocated mercantilism believed that exports toforeign countries were preferable both to trade within a country and to imports because exports brought more money into the country. They also believed that thewealth of a nation depended primarily on the possession...
-
Colonialism and Colonies .
by plundering the riches of existing civilizations in the Americas and by seizing the area’s mineral wealth through mining. These practices were promoted by the policy of mercantilism that many European colonial powers adopted. Those who advocated mercantilism believed that exports toforeign countries were preferable both to trade within a country and to imports because exports brought more money into the country. They also believed that thewealth of a nation depended primarily on the possession...
-
Nunavut - Canadian History.
The Arctic Lands is a complex geological area that is centered on the Arctic Ocean. It includes coastal plains, plateaus, and mountains. Coastal plains and plateaus arefound in the western Northwest Territories section of the Arctic Lands, such as on Victoria Island, which is mostly a large, flat plateau. In striking contrast to theserelatively gentle landscapes, the eastern Nunavut section of the Arctic Lands is dominated by a jagged chain of ice-covered mountains. The mountains on EllesmereIsl...
-
French Revolution.
B2 Assembly of Notables and Estates-General To pressure the parlements into accepting the plan, Calonne decided to gain prior approval of it from an Assembly of Notables—a group of hand-picked dignitaries hethought would sympathize with his views. But Calonne had badly miscalculated. Meeting in January 1787, the assembly refused to believe that a financial crisis reallyexisted. They had been influenced by Necker’s argument that state finances were sound and suspected that the monarchy was only...
-
French Revolution .
B2 Assembly of Notables and Estates-General To pressure the parlements into accepting the plan, Calonne decided to gain prior approval of it from an Assembly of Notables—a group of hand-picked dignitaries hethought would sympathize with his views. But Calonne had badly miscalculated. Meeting in January 1787, the assembly refused to believe that a financial crisis reallyexisted. They had been influenced by Necker’s argument that state finances were sound and suspected that the monarchy was only...
-
Antarctica - Geography.
The maximum area of sea ice surrounding Antarctica each winter varies from year to year. A marked decline during the 1970s appears to have reversed in more recentdecades, except in the Antarctic Peninsula area. This area has lost almost 40 percent of its sea ice since the start of the 1980s. Sea ice is important to marine life. Krillfeed on algae that live under the sea ice and are released when the ice melts in spring and summer. In turn, many marine animals feed on krill. Emperor penguinsbreed...
-
Genetics - biology.
construct identical buildings. Just as each contractor would require a full copy of the blueprint to construct a complete building, each new cell needs a complete copy ofan organism’s genetic information to function properly. Organisms use two types of cell division to ensure that DNA is passed down from cell to cell during reproduction. Simple one-celled organisms and other organisms thatreproduce asexually—that is, without the joining of cells from two different organisms—reproduce by a proces...
-
-
Georgia (state) - geography.
B Rivers and Lakes Most of the rivers of Georgia drain eastward to the Atlantic Ocean proper or southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Only a few flow northward to the Tennessee River, which isa major tributary of the Mississippi River. Most of the rivers flowing to the coasts are navigable by barges and small craft as far upstream as the Fall Line. The major river flowing to the Atlantic is the Savannah River, which, with the Tugaloo River, one of its headwaters, forms most of the state’s eastern bo...
-
Georgia (state) - USA History.
B Rivers and Lakes Most of the rivers of Georgia drain eastward to the Atlantic Ocean proper or southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Only a few flow northward to the Tennessee River, which isa major tributary of the Mississippi River. Most of the rivers flowing to the coasts are navigable by barges and small craft as far upstream as the Fall Line. The major river flowing to the Atlantic is the Savannah River, which, with the Tugaloo River, one of its headwaters, forms most of the state’s eastern bo...
-
Ancient Rome .
attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...
-
Ancient Rome - USA History.
attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...
-
Theme 2 History: The multiplication of actors in a bipolar world (from 1945 to the beginning of the 1970s)
Theme 2 History: The multiplication of actors in a bipolar world (from 1945 to the beginning of the 1970s) History Chapter 1: The End of World War Two and the Beginning of the Cold War 1945-49 Chapter 1 Key issue Assess the role played by the USSR in the origins of the Cold War Marshall Plan Blame for the origins os the Cold War lies mainly with the USA. How far do you agree? Truman Doctrine The pursuit of national selfinterest by both the USA and the USSR was a Key...
-
Han Dynasty - history.
of merit rather than birth. Written examinations were adopted as a means of determining the best qualified people, although use of the examinations in actually makingappointments was limited. A school was established at the capital for training government officials. The administrative bureaucracy was systematized, and a career civilservice was created and extended through much of the empire. Although personally interested in the magical side of Daoism, Wudi made a descendent of Confucius the sup...
-
Han Dynasty - history.
of merit rather than birth. Written examinations were adopted as a means of determining the best qualified people, although use of the examinations in actually makingappointments was limited. A school was established at the capital for training government officials. The administrative bureaucracy was systematized, and a career civilservice was created and extended through much of the empire. Although personally interested in the magical side of Daoism, Wudi made a descendent of Confucius the sup...
-
Festivals and Feasts.
The festivals of many ethnic and national groups are credited with the preservation of unique customs, folktales, costumes, and culinary skills. An interesting recentdevelopment is the merging of the arts, lore, and customs of various regions in Africa in the cultural festival known as Kwanzaa (Swahili kwanza, ”beginnings”). Introduced from Africa into the United States in 1977, this festival is celebrated with feasts and songs in the home for seven days and nights from December 26 toJanuary 1....
-
-
Babe Ruth.
earned. But Ruth’s boyish exuberance, compassion for hospitalized children, and personal warmth and generosity endeared him to most people. During the 1926 World Seriesagainst the St. Louis Cardinals, Ruth received word that one of his fans, a boy named Johnny Sylvester, was hospitalized and extremely ill. Ruth wrote the boy atelegram and promised to hit a home run for him in that day’s game. Ruth made good on his promise with not only one, but three homers. And even at the height offame and for...
-
Billiards.
One of the most important snooker players in history was Joe Davis of England, who retired in 1946 after dominating the game for 20 years. He made runs of 100points or more 687 times. This record was later broken by Australia's Horace Lindrum, whose uncle Walter Lindrum was also a world-class billiards player. The mostsuccessful players in recent years include Ireland’s Ken Doherty, Scotland’s Stephen Hendry, and England’s Steve Davis, Jimmy White, and Mark Williams. IV HISTORY Billiards can b...