838 résultats pour "early"
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Ancient Egypt - USA History.
around 4500 BC. The style and decoration of the pottery found at these sites differ from those of pottery found in Upper Egypt. The northern type eventually fell out of use. Other differences between the peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt include the nature of their architecture and the arrangements for burial of the dead, thelatter perhaps signifying differing religious beliefs. B Unification and Early Dynastic Period By 3500 BC, the settlement of Hierakonpolis, located on the west bank...
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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...
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Gambling.
C Lotteries Lotteries are another form of gambling. In a lottery, tickets are sold for a set amount and a share of the proceeds is returned to the winners, usually through a randomdraw. Most games allow players to pick their own numbers or let a computer randomly pick for them. Lotteries offer a wide variety of games, including weekly drawings,instant “scratch” tickets, daily games, and superlottos with prizes increasing until there is a winner. Large lottery prizes sometimes exceed $100 millio...
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Native Americans of North America.
addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...
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Native Americans of North America - Canadian History.
addition to smallpox and measles, explorers and colonists brought a host of other diseases: bubonic plague, cholera, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, pleurisy, mumps,diphtheria, pneumonia, whooping cough, malaria, yellow fever, and various sexually transmitted infections. Despite the undisputed devastation wreaked on Indian populations after European contact, native populations showed enormous regional variability in their response todisease exposure. Some peoples survived and, in some cases, even...
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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...
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Québec - Geography.
facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...
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Québec - Canadian History.
facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...
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Immigration.
1655, only to lose all of their North American colonies to the British in 1664. These early colonies were often quite cosmopolitan, drawing settlers from many nations.When the English seized New Amsterdam, the city was home to perhaps 1500 residents, including Walloons, Huguenots, Swedes, Dutchmen, and African Americans. C The French and Spanish The French and Spanish also established colonies in North America. The Spanish established the oldest permanent European settlement in Saint Augustine,...
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Immigration - U.
1655, only to lose all of their North American colonies to the British in 1664. These early colonies were often quite cosmopolitan, drawing settlers from many nations.When the English seized New Amsterdam, the city was home to perhaps 1500 residents, including Walloons, Huguenots, Swedes, Dutchmen, and African Americans. C The French and Spanish The French and Spanish also established colonies in North America. The Spanish established the oldest permanent European settlement in Saint Augustine,...
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Roman Mythology.
Her temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome was a center for organizations of skilled craftspeople. According to tradition, in 509 BC the dynasty of Etruscan kings ended and the Roman Republic was founded. The republic was ruled by two chief magistrates, called consuls, who were elected by the people to one-year terms. During the time of the republic, the Capitoline temple became the most important public shrine of theRoman people and the focus of public worship. Each January, the new consuls offer...
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Croatia - country.
III PEOPLE OF CROATIA The total population of Croatia at the time of the 1991 census was 4,784,265; a 2008 estimate was 4,491,543. During and after the war ethnic Serbs fled Croatia whileethnic Croats moved in. Croatia’s population growth rate in 2008 was -0.04 percent, despite population gains due to immigration. Croatia’s natural population growthrate, which measures births and deaths, has been negative since 1998. Life expectancy at birth was 75 years in 2008. The population density in 2008...
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Ancient Egypt.
around 4500 BC. The style and decoration of the pottery found at these sites differ from those of pottery found in Upper Egypt. The northern type eventually fell out of use. Other differences between the peoples in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt include the nature of their architecture and the arrangements for burial of the dead, thelatter perhaps signifying differing religious beliefs. B Unification and Early Dynastic Period By 3500 BC, the settlement of Hierakonpolis, located on the west bank...
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Shang Dynasty - History.
The dynastic ancestors belonged to an elaborate religious pantheon that also included various nature powers and the Shang high god, Di. The higher powers were lessconcerned with the well-being of Shang society than the ancestors were. Di, whose wishes were often hard to determine, could even cause the Shang harm. The naturepowers could occasionally influence the wind, rain, and harvests, but only Di could actually order the weather. For an agricultural society such as the Shang, this wasperhaps...
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Poliomyelitis.
Physical therapy helps patients with paralytic polio stretch and move affected muscles. This movement minimizes the atrophy, or shrinkage, of affected muscles andlimbs and builds strength. Exercises can also retrain working muscles to compensate for other muscles that have permanently lost the ability to move. Rehabilitativetherapy trains patients to use braces, crutches, and other devices that provide support and aid mobility. V PREVENTION OF POLIO Immunization with polio vaccine is the best w...
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President of the United States.
Democrats and Republicans—select delegates to attend their party conventions. Primary voters and caucus participants choose delegates who will support their favoredcandidate at the convention. The party conventions, held in the summer before the November general election, formally nominate the winner of the primaries andcaucuses. Would-be candidates crisscross the states that hold the earliest primaries, especially New Hampshire, which holds the country’s first primary, usually in mid-February....
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Guyana - country.
European patterns of living. People of mixed African and European ancestry form a distinct group in Guyana, maintaining closer social ties to the European communitythan to the African Guyanese community. Asians from the Indian subcontinent began to arrive in the 19th century, following the abolition of slavery in Guyana, to work as indentured and contract laborers. Theycontinued to arrive until 1917, when Britain outlawed indentured servitude. Thousands of Indians chose to remain in Guyana after...
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Wars of Yugoslav Succession.
of Yugoslav succession was over. In January 1992 members of the European Community (EC; after 1993 the European Union, EU) recognized Slovenia’s independencealong with that of Croatia. The United States and other countries did so shortly thereafter. IV THE WAR IN CROATIA As the Yugoslav army withdrew from Slovenia in July 1991, a second and far more serious conflict erupted in Croatia. But the road to war in Croatia began more than ayear earlier. In April and May 1990 the Croatian Democratic U...
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Wars of Yugoslav Succession .
of Yugoslav succession was over. In January 1992 members of the European Community (EC; after 1993 the European Union, EU) recognized Slovenia’s independencealong with that of Croatia. The United States and other countries did so shortly thereafter. IV THE WAR IN CROATIA As the Yugoslav army withdrew from Slovenia in July 1991, a second and far more serious conflict erupted in Croatia. But the road to war in Croatia began more than ayear earlier. In April and May 1990 the Croatian Democratic U...
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Puzzle.
Visual puzzles involve searching a picture to find hidden or disguised figures or answering a question about some part of a visual illusion. For instance, the popular 19th- century prints of American lithographic company Currier & Ives featured hidden people, animals, and other objects. A 16th-century painting from Bukhara, Uzbekistan,of a camel includes hidden figures of 17 people, 10 rabbits, a monkey, and a dragon (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City). B Mathematical Puzzles and Logic...
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Geography - Geography.
Geographers have developed a standard pattern of map symbols for identifying such cultural features as homes, factories, and churches; dams, bridges, and tunnels;railways, highways, and travel routes; and mines, farms, and grazing lands. C Analyzing Geographic Information Techniques that use mathematics or statistics to analyze data are known as quantitative methods. The use of quantitative methods enables geographers to treat a largeamount of data and a large number of variables in an objectiv...
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Industrial Revolution
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INTRODUCTION
Industrial Revolution, widespread replacement of manual labor by machines that began in Britain in the 18th century and is still continuing in some parts of the world.
The most important advance in iron production occurred in 1784 when Englishman Henry Cort invented new techniques for rolling raw iron, a finishing process thatshapes iron into the desired size and form. These advances in metalworking were an important part of industrialization. They enabled iron, which was relativelyinexpensive and abundant, to be used in many new ways, such as building heavy machinery. Iron was well suited for heavy machinery because of its strength anddurability. Because of t...
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Industrial Revolution .
The most important advance in iron production occurred in 1784 when Englishman Henry Cort invented new techniques for rolling raw iron, a finishing process thatshapes iron into the desired size and form. These advances in metalworking were an important part of industrialization. They enabled iron, which was relativelyinexpensive and abundant, to be used in many new ways, such as building heavy machinery. Iron was well suited for heavy machinery because of its strength anddurability. Because of t...
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Qing Dynasty - History.
The Manchus also dealt with the problem of Russian expansion into northeastern Asia. In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed by an envoy from the Manchu courtand a Russian representing Peter the Great. The treaty, the first between China and a Western country, established territorial boundaries and defined rules ofcommerce for the two powers. Through the mid-18th century, the Manchus continued to consolidate their power. In 1720 the Qing ruler sent forces to fight the Mongols in Tibet and the...
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Vikings .
Wessex (England) and Charles II the Bald and Louis III in France could command their resources to move to fortify their towns, station fleets and naval patrols alongthe coasts, and organize localized and mobile military forces. Some Christian leaders paid ransom to the larger Viking armies of the 10th and early 11th centuries.Taxing their people to pay the “danegeld,” the tribute to the Vikings, became a regular defensive strategy. But in return for the cash, the Vikings often negotiatedpeaceful...
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Easter.
Many Easter traditions originated long before the beginning of the Christian era. Like Christmas, which is related to pre-Christian winter festivals, Easter is connected inmany ways with early pagan rituals that accompanied the arrival of spring. Easter is also associated with the Jewish festival of Passover. A Easter Eggs The Easter egg is associated with beliefs of particularly ancient origin. The egg was an important symbol in the mythologies of many early civilizations, including those ofIn...
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Bowling.
In each of the first nine frames the bowler rolls one or two balls. If the bowler knocks down all ten pins with the first ball, he or she has rolled a strike, the best roll possible. An X is recorded on the scoresheet or screen, and the bowler receives ten points (the number of pins knocked down) plus a bonus of the number of pins thebowler knocks down in his or her next two bowls. The maximum possible score in a strike frame, therefore, is 30: the strike followed by two more strikes on subseq...
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Dentistry.
Together with dentists, dental hygienists and dental assistants make up the team that provides dental care to patients. Hygienists record patient medical histories, suchas blood pressure and pulse. They clean teeth, apply sealants and fluoride treatments, teach patients sound oral hygiene practices, and often assist with X rays. Manyhygienists receive a two-year associate degree, while others may choose to enroll in a four-year program at a university or in a master’s degree program. There are25...
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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...
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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...
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Rhythm-and-Blues Music
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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...
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Portraiture
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INTRODUCTION
Portraiture, visual representation of individual people, distinguished by references to the subject's character, social position, wealth, or profession.
CaracallaCaracalla is a Roman portrait bust in marble of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, probably done circa ad 215. Theson of Septimius Severus, Caracalla (as he was known) was a brutal man whose qualities come through in this piece withits dramatic realism. The bust, which is now in the Louvre, Paris, evidently served as the inspiration for Michelangelo’sbust of Brutus more than one thousand years later.Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York The first representations of identifiable ind...
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Gothic Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, was begun in 1163 and completed for the most part in 1250.
and by external arches, called flying buttresses. Consequently, the thick walls of Romanesque architecture could be largely replaced by thinner walls with glass windows,and the interiors could reach unprecedented heights. A revolution in building techniques thus occurred. With the Gothic vault, a ground plan could take on a variety of shapes. The general plan of the cathedrals, however, consisting of a long three-aisled nave interceptedby a transept and followed by a shorter choir and sanctuary,...
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Korean War.
During the summer of 1949, South Korea had expanded its army to about 90,000 troops, a strength the North matched in early 1950. The North had about 150 SovietT-34 tanks and a small but effective air force of 70 fighters and 62 light bombers—weapons either left behind when Soviet troops evacuated Korea or bought from theUSSR and China in 1949 and 1950. By June 1950 American data showed the two armies at about equal strength, with roughly equal numbers amassed along the 38thparallel. However, thi...
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Korean War - History.
During the summer of 1949, South Korea had expanded its army to about 90,000 troops, a strength the North matched in early 1950. The North had about 150 SovietT-34 tanks and a small but effective air force of 70 fighters and 62 light bombers—weapons either left behind when Soviet troops evacuated Korea or bought from theUSSR and China in 1949 and 1950. By June 1950 American data showed the two armies at about equal strength, with roughly equal numbers amassed along the 38thparallel. However, thi...
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Korean War - U.
During the summer of 1949, South Korea had expanded its army to about 90,000 troops, a strength the North matched in early 1950. The North had about 150 SovietT-34 tanks and a small but effective air force of 70 fighters and 62 light bombers—weapons either left behind when Soviet troops evacuated Korea or bought from theUSSR and China in 1949 and 1950. By June 1950 American data showed the two armies at about equal strength, with roughly equal numbers amassed along the 38thparallel. However, thi...
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Alphabet
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INTRODUCTION
Bengali Script
India developed a number of different writing systems over the course of its history.
A Pictographic and Ideographic Systems Early systems of writing used pictures to represent things and then to represent the sounds of those things. Pictographic writing, in which a simplified picture of the sunstood for the word sun, was probably the first step toward a written language. Chinese began as a pictographic language. To represent abstract ideas, the Chinese writing system combined pictographs. For example, the pictographs for sun and tree were combined to represent the concept of...
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Sexually Transmitted Infections.
D Genital Herpes Genital herpes is caused by infection with the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Most cases of genital herpes are due to HSV type 2. Some cases, however, result from genitalinfections with HSV type 1, a common cause of cold sores. Genital herpes causes recurrent outbreaks of painful sores on the genitals, although the disease oftenremains dormant with no symptoms for long periods. In the United States, one in five individuals over the age of 12 is infected with HSV type 2, and the va...
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Indian Literature
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INTRODUCTION
Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things
Indian author Arundhati Roy poses with a copy of her acclaimed first novel, The God of Small Things (1997).
Mathura BuddhaMany of the earliest texts of Indian literature were religious writings of Buddhism. This Buddha figure carved out ofsandstone is from Mathura, a city in northern India that was at the center of Buddhist sculptural activity from the 2ndcentury bc to the 6th century ad.Angelo Hornak/Corbis The sacred Vedas were composed in Old Sanskrit by Aryan poet-seers between about 1500 BC and about 1000 BC. The Vedas are compilations of two major literary forms: hymns of praise to nature deit...
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Renaissance Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
Renaissance Composition
During the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries) artists discovered new ways to help them create more realistic and
compelling images.
with reliefs, had been familiar for centuries. A Early Renaissance Sculpture Ghiberti’s Gates of ParadiseThe Gates of Paradise are bronze doors created by Italian Renaissance sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1452for the east entrance to the baptistery of the Florence Cathedral in Italy. This detail, showing Isaac and Esau, is from oneof the doors' ten panels, each of which illustrates a story from the Bible. Ghiberti endowed the scenes with volume, depth,and movement, and helped initi...
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Delaware - geography.
D Climate Delaware has generally hot and humid summers and mild winters. D1 Temperature In July, average daytime temperatures are usually in the upper 20°s to lower 30°sC (80°sF) or even higher. But because summer nights tend to be cooler than thedays, July averages are about 24°C (about 75°F). In addition, onshore sea breezes can reduce daytime temperatures along the coast by 3 to 6 Celsius degrees (5 to 10Fahrenheit degrees). January averages range from -1°C (31°F) at Newark, in the north, t...
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Delaware - USA History.
D Climate Delaware has generally hot and humid summers and mild winters. D1 Temperature In July, average daytime temperatures are usually in the upper 20°s to lower 30°sC (80°sF) or even higher. But because summer nights tend to be cooler than thedays, July averages are about 24°C (about 75°F). In addition, onshore sea breezes can reduce daytime temperatures along the coast by 3 to 6 Celsius degrees (5 to 10Fahrenheit degrees). January averages range from -1°C (31°F) at Newark, in the north, t...
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Musical
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INTRODUCTION
George Gershwin
American pianist, songwriter, and composer George Gershwin was one of the most important figures in popular song in
the 1920s and 1930s.
C Extravaganzas Another predecessor of musical comedy, the extravaganza, evolved soon after the American Civil War (1861-1865) from traditional English pantomime. Extravaganzaswere typically based on fairy tales and Mother Goose. They introduced some of the elements—songs, dances, and comedy combined with spectacular stage sets andeffects—that American musical comedy later became known for. The first and most famous extravaganza show was The Black Crook (1866), often described as America’s fi...
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Cheetah - biology.
animals such as zebras. Unlike most cats, cheetahs hunt during the day, when lions and hyenas that compete with them for prey are less likely to be active. Still,scientists in Tanzania have observed that cheetahs lose 10 to 13 percent of their kills to lions and hyenas. Alerted by the panic of a gazelle herd or by the circling ofvultures, lions and hyenas close in and easily drive the more timid cheetah away from a fresh kill. A cheetah usually stalks prey to within about 10 m (about 33 ft) and...
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Baroque Art and Architecture
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INTRODUCTION
German Baroque Architecture
The baroque style of architecture flourished in Germany in the 18th century.
C Early baroque styles Conversion of Saint PaulItalian baroque painter Caravaggio painted scenes of realism and drama, often selecting lofty, religious themes anddepicting them with lower-class characters and settings with dramatic spotlighting. With its unidealized characters andfocus on the horse’s body, his Conversion of Saint Paul seems to record a stable accident, not a miraculous conversion byGod. This work was painted in 1601 and is in the Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, Ita...
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Native American Literature.
Many Native American writers of the 19th century wrote histories of their tribes. One tribal historian was David Cusick (Tuscarora), whose Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations (1827) was the first published tribal history. Tribal histories explained the deep ties that tribes had to their ancestral homelands. Beginning in the 18th century, these ties took on special meaning because the United States government began removing Native Americans from their traditional lands. These removal...
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Roman Mythology
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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...
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Hong Kong - geography.
higher than China’s average standard of living. In 2006 Hong Kong’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was $27,679.20, although much of the wealth isconcentrated into relatively few hands. IV ECONOMY Hong Kong’s position as one of the world’s most important economic centers is based on several factors. It is located midway between Japan and Singapore, and it liesastride the main shipping and air routes of the western Pacific. It also has long served as a major port of entry and trade for...
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Renaissance
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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...
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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...