366 résultats pour "european"
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observatoire.
(European Space Agency), a été lancé en 1978. Il comporte un télescope de 45 cm de diamètre qui observe dans le domaine de l'ultraviolet des objets jusqu'à la magnitude 16. De plus, l'instrument peut être facilement commandé du sol par les astronomes à partir de deux postes de commande, situés l'un dans le Maryland aux États-Unis, l'autre près de Madrid en Espagne. L'observatoire de rayons X Uhuru, ou SAS-1, lancé en 1970, a pu cataloguer 340 sources de rayons X. L'observatoire de rayons X Ein...
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Congo (river) - Geography.
region as Portuguese territory, leaving a marble shaft on the riverbank as proof of his discovery. To Europeans the river became known as the Rio de Padrão (Pillar River). The Kongo king welcomed Cam and subsequent Portuguese explorers and established friendly trading relations with the Portuguese. More than 300 yearselapsed before serious exploration of the Congo was undertaken. Francisco José de Lacerda, a Portuguese explorer, reached the copper-rich Katanga region from the east in 1798, as...
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Austria - country.
Wildlife is generally scarce in Austria. Chamois, deer, and marmot are still present; bear, which were once abundant, are now almost completely absent. Hunting isstrictly regulated to protect the remaining species. F Environmental Issues Industrial emissions, a high volume of tourist traffic, and significant air pollution from other countries—principally the former East Germany, Slovakia, and the CzechRepublic—combine to make acid rain the major environmental problem in Austria. One-quarter of...
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Kenya - country.
threatens fish and other water life in the lake by depriving them of oxygen. Kenya is well known for its game parks—including Masai Mara Game Park and Tsavo National Park in the south, and Marsabit National Reserve in the north—whichattract large numbers of tourists and much revenue. Conservation of wildlife within reserves has thus received high priority. About 13 percent (2007) of Kenya’s totalland is protected. There are 229 (2004) threatened species in Kenya. Threatened habitats include the...
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Republic (government).
South African Republic (1852) and the Orange Free State (1854), were finally annexed by Britain after the Boer War (1899-1902). Both in the United States and otherrepublics, however, the passage of the century was generally marked by democratization of the electoral process through the enlargement of the electorate. Two waves of new-state formations occurred in the 20th century—the first one after World War I, the second after World War II. Most of the newly independent statesestablished themsel...
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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...
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Greece - country.
minerals, such as chromium, copper, uranium, and magnesium, are relatively small. Greece’s small petroleum deposits, located under the Aegean Sea near the island ofThásos, are rapidly being depleted. There are no significant reserves of natural gas. Greece’s forests, probably abundant in ancient times, have been significantly depleted. Subsequent soil erosion has made reforestation efforts difficult. Although muchof Greece’s soil is rocky and dry, the country’s mountains are interspersed with sm...
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Turkey - country.
has a general elevation of 900 to 1,500 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft) above sea level. The eastern highlands region is the most mountainous and rugged portion of Turkey; Mount Ararat (Ağrı Da ğı) is the highest peak in the country at 5,165 m (16,945ft). Many Christians and Jews believe it to be the same Mount Ararat mentioned in the Bible as the place where Noah’s ark came to rest. The eastern highlands are thesource for both the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Fir āt)—two of southwestern Asia’s principal...
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Banking.
loans, and some commercial loans in addition to checking accounts and time deposits. Credit unions, SLAs, and savings banks help encourage thriftiness by paying interest to consumers who put their money in savings deposits. Consequently, creditunions, SLAs, and savings banks are often referred to as thrift institutions. Of the various types of banks in the United States, commercial banks account for the greatest single source of the financial industry’s assets. In 2000 the 8,528commercial banks...
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Pottery
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INTRODUCTION
Pottery, clay that is chemically altered and permanently hardened by firing in a kiln.
basket, or a clay or plaster form. Liquid clay can be poured into plaster molds. A pot can be coil built: Clay is rolled between the palms of the hands and extended intolong coils, a coil is formed into a ring, and the pot is built up by superimposing rings. Also, a ball of clay can be pinched into the desired shape. The most sophisticatedpottery-making technique is wheel throwing. The potter's wheel, invented in the 4th millennium BC, is a flat disk that revolves horizontally on a pivot. Both...
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France - country.
In both the Paris and Aquitaine basins, fertile soils derived from limestone and wind-deposited dust, called loess, have supported prosperous agriculture since ancienttimes. Other lowlands in France are scattered and relatively small. They include the Alsace Plain in the east, bordering Germany, the valley of the Rhône River in thesoutheast, and the Languedoc Plain along the Mediterranean coast. A2 Uplands France contains several regions of uplands, the worn down remains of ancient mountain sys...
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Ottawa (city, Ontario) - Geography.
strike in November 1996. Finally, the outcome of the debate over Québec’s future within Canada will have a decisive impact on Ottawa because the National CapitalRegion includes parts of both Québec and Ontario. VII HISTORY Before European explorers arrived in Canada, the area around Ottawa was inhabited by hunters and gatherers of the Algonquian and Iroquoian ( see: Iroquoian Family) peoples. In 1613 the area was visited by Samuel de Champlain, founder of the French empire in North America. In...
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Art Deco
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INTRODUCTION
Art Deco Historic District
The Art Deco Historic District is located at the southern end of Miami Beach, Florida.
At the 1925 exposition several French masters unveiled work that created an international stir. Elegant inlaid wood furniture by Jacques Émile Ruhlmann, functionallacquerwork by Jean Dunand, silver jewelry by Jean Puiforcat, and glass vases by Lalique were hailed for their modernity and original lines. Ruhlmann designed a seriesof rooms for the exposition that had a far-reaching effect on American and European taste. Lalique later created a similarly streamlined decorative scheme for theluxuriou...
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exoplanète - astronomie.
s’expliquer par un phénomène de migration : les planètes ne restent pas là où elles se sont formées. Dans leur jeunesse, elles subissent des interactions gravitationnellesavec le disque et avec d’éventuelles autres planètes. En fonction des différentes interactions, elles peuvent soit s’éloigner, soit se rapprocher de leur étoile centrale. Des mesures effectuées en 2003 sur un Jupiter chaud particulier qui éclipse son étoile (HD 209458b) indiquent que ce type de planète est entouré d’un nuage d’...
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Brazil - country.
occasional droughts. Brazil contains a wealth of mineral and plant resources that have not yet been fully explored. It possesses some of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore and containsrich deposits of many other minerals, including gold and copper. Brazil’s fossil fuel resources are modest, but this limitation is offset by the considerable hydroelectricpotential of the nation’s many rivers. Although Brazil is an important producer of tropical crops, areas of highly fertile land are limited...
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Australia - country.
itself forms most of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Considerable lengths of the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers are navigable during thewet seasons. The central plains region, also known as the Channel Country, is interlaced by a network of rivers. During the rainy season these rivers flood the low-lying countryside,but in dry months they become merely a series of water holes. The Victoria, Daly, and Roper rivers drain a section of the Northern Territory. In Queensland...
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Australia - Geography.
itself forms most of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. Considerable lengths of the Murray, Darling, and Murrumbidgee rivers are navigable during thewet seasons. The central plains region, also known as the Channel Country, is interlaced by a network of rivers. During the rainy season these rivers flood the low-lying countryside,but in dry months they become merely a series of water holes. The Victoria, Daly, and Roper rivers drain a section of the Northern Territory. In Queensland...
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Sweden - country.
mi) and is Sweden’s second largest lake, after Vänern. The two lakes, together with several smaller lakes, rivers, and canals, form an internal water route called theGöta Canal. Built in the early 19th century, the Göta Canal extends for about 386 km (about 240 mi) and provides a scenic transportation link between the Baltic Sea,at Stockholm, and the Kattegat. Sweden’s other large lakes in the district include Mälaren, Hjälmaren, and the famously picturesque Siljan. D Climate Although one-seven...
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Ottoman Empire - history.
Süleyman ISüleyman I, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire during its zenith, became known in the western world as Süleyman the Magnificent. Hewas known among his own people as the Lawgiver because he revised the legal system of the empire. Süleyman had several sons,two of whom he executed after quarreling with them.Culver Pictures Bayazid died in captivity, a suicide according to some accounts, and a struggle for succession to the sultanate broke out among his sons. Muhammad I (reigned 1413-1421)ev...
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Museum.
History museums are dedicated to promoting a greater appreciation and knowledge of history and its importance to understanding the present and anticipating thefuture. They range from historic sites and small historic house museums to large, encyclopedic institutions such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of AmericanHistory in Washington, D.C. Many cities and states have historical societies that operate museums or historic sites. History museums usually collect a wide range ofobjects, includi...
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United Kingdom - country.
B Natural Regions and Topography The island of Great Britain can be divided into two major natural regions—the highland zone and the lowland zone. The highland zone is an area of high hills andmountains in the north and west. The lowland zone in the south and east consists mostly of rolling plains. The zones are divided by an imaginary line running throughEngland from the River Exe on the southwest coast to the mouth of the River Tees on the northeast coast. The lowland zone has a milder climat...
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Metalwork
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INTRODUCTION
Metalwork, in the fine arts, objects of artistic, decorative, and utilitarian value made of one or more kinds of metal--from precious to base--fashioned by either casting,
hammering, or joining or a combination of these techniques.
Early Bronze DiskThis disk with the head of Acheloos, an Etruscan river god, was made of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, sometime inthe early 5th century bc. It comes from the necropolis of Monte Quaglieri in Tarquinia. Alloys are made by smelting twodifferent metals together.Scala/Art Resource, NY Knowledge of smelting ultimately led to knowledge of mixing different ores together in the smelting process to produce simple alloys. This followed an intermediateperiod, about 3000 BC, when comp...
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Maine - geography.
temperatures range from 17° to 21°C (62° to 70°F) with the southern interior being the warmest and the east coast and north the coolest. However, daytime summertemperatures may reach the lower 30°s C (lower 90°s F), and temperatures in winter have fallen as low as -44°C (-48°F) in the interior. D2 Precipitation Precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) in Maine is evenly distributed throughout the year. Most areas receive from 860 to 1,020 mm (34 to 40 in) yearly, although parts ofthe coast are som...
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Maine - USA History.
temperatures range from 17° to 21°C (62° to 70°F) with the southern interior being the warmest and the east coast and north the coolest. However, daytime summertemperatures may reach the lower 30°s C (lower 90°s F), and temperatures in winter have fallen as low as -44°C (-48°F) in the interior. D2 Precipitation Precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) in Maine is evenly distributed throughout the year. Most areas receive from 860 to 1,020 mm (34 to 40 in) yearly, although parts ofthe coast are som...
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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...
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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...
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London (England) - geography.
D The East End and Docklands The East End, beyond the City of London and the Tower, has long been the home of London’s docks and immigrants. It has frequently been characterized by slums, poverty,and crime. This is the area where the notorious criminal Jack the Ripper prowled. Some portions, such as Bethnal Green, were slums during the Victorian period. Manypoorer immigrants and working-class Londoners still reside in the East End, but its weekend street markets are very popular, especially Pet...
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Mexico City - geography.
The park houses some of Mexico's most important public buildings, including Chapultepec Castle. Construction of the castle began in 1783. Positioned on the park’shighest elevation, the castle functioned as a fortress during colonial times. It once served as the presidential residence and now houses the National Museum of History,which includes murals by 20th-century Mexican painter Juan O'Gorman. Los Pinos, the official residence and working offices of the president, is also on the grounds, buti...
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Charlemagne
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INTRODUCTION
Charlemagne (742?
border province). These officials were key to administering the empire. They were kings in miniature, with all of the administrative, judicial, and military authority of theemperor within their respective districts. Each political district had its parallel in a church district, or diocese, headed by a bishop, with similar authority in all mattersrelated to the church. Both counts and bishops were vassals of the emperor, and were overseen by representatives of Charlemagne known as missi dominici...
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Charlemagne.
border province). These officials were key to administering the empire. They were kings in miniature, with all of the administrative, judicial, and military authority of theemperor within their respective districts. Each political district had its parallel in a church district, or diocese, headed by a bishop, with similar authority in all mattersrelated to the church. Both counts and bishops were vassals of the emperor, and were overseen by representatives of Charlemagne known as missi dominici...
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Charlemagne .
border province). These officials were key to administering the empire. They were kings in miniature, with all of the administrative, judicial, and military authority of theemperor within their respective districts. Each political district had its parallel in a church district, or diocese, headed by a bishop, with similar authority in all mattersrelated to the church. Both counts and bishops were vassals of the emperor, and were overseen by representatives of Charlemagne known as missi dominici...
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Asia - Geography.
Borneo, the world’s third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea. To the southeast is the Timor Sea separating the Asian island of Timor from the Australiancontinent. The Indian subcontinent is flanked by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The island of Sri Lanka and the much smaller Maldives andNicobar Islands trail away to the south. The Arabian Sea’s Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea form an arc along the western rim of Asia...
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Asia - History.
Borneo, the world’s third largest island after Greenland and New Guinea. To the southeast is the Timor Sea separating the Asian island of Timor from the Australiancontinent. The Indian subcontinent is flanked by the Bay of Bengal on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The island of Sri Lanka and the much smaller Maldives andNicobar Islands trail away to the south. The Arabian Sea’s Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea form an arc along the western rim of Asia...
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Drawing
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INTRODUCTION
Drawing, delineation of form upon a surface, usually a plane, by means of lines and tints or shading.
In the monasteries of medieval Europe, religious texts were inscribed on parchment, then embellished with initial letters, decorative borders, and miniature scenes. InRomanesque Europe, drawings served as models to be copied for such manuscript illumination and also as cartoons ( see Cartoon), or studies, for frescoes, sculpture, and other arts. Subjects were usually treated as stylized symbols of religious truths. This viewpoint was countered in the Gothic period; the change was reflected in th...
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Inuit.
VII HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION, AND CLOTHING Inuit homes are of two kinds: walrus or sealskin tents for summer and huts or houses for winter. Winter houses are usually made of stone, with a driftwood orwhalebone frame, chinked and covered with moss or sod. The entrance is a long, narrow passage just high enough to admit a person crawling on hands and knees.During long journeys some Canadian Inuit build igloos, winter houses of snow blocks piled in a dome shape (the term igloo comes from the I...
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Middle Ages .
Saints were very important in Late Antiquity. They were considered both models of virtue and powerful miracle workers. One of the most well-known saints of the periodwas Saint Anthony. Anthony gave away all his possessions and left his hometown in Egypt to live alone in the desert and pray. Anthony was one of the first Christianmonks. The word monk comes from a term meaning 'alone.' Gradually Anthony attracted followers, and he eventually became the center of a whole community of monks who wis...
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Central African Republic - country.
Manufacturing activity in the Central African Republic is very limited. Products include cottonseed, peanut, and sesame oils; textiles; leather goods; tobacco products;soap; flour; bricks; and paint. The output of electricity in 2003 was 106 million kilowatt-hours, 80.19 percent of which was generated in hydroelectric installations. Gemdiamonds account for nearly all the country’s mineral output and two-thirds of its export revenue. Production was 250,000 carats in 2004. Uranium was discovered i...
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Canada.
Six general landform regions are distinguishable in Canada: the Appalachian Region, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Canadian Shield, the Great Plains,the Canadian Cordillera, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. B1 Appalachian Region and Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands Eastern Canada consists of the Appalachian Region and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands. The Appalachian Region embraces Newfoundland Island, NovaScotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the G...
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Canada - country.
Six general landform regions are distinguishable in Canada: the Appalachian Region, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Canadian Shield, the Great Plains,the Canadian Cordillera, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. B1 Appalachian Region and Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands Eastern Canada consists of the Appalachian Region and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands. The Appalachian Region embraces Newfoundland Island, NovaScotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the G...
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Canada - Canadian History.
Six general landform regions are distinguishable in Canada: the Appalachian Region, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands, the Canadian Shield, the Great Plains,the Canadian Cordillera, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. B1 Appalachian Region and Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands Eastern Canada consists of the Appalachian Region and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands. The Appalachian Region embraces Newfoundland Island, NovaScotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and the G...
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Mark Twain.
father, who keeps him prisoner in an isolated cabin. The boy escapes and, together with a runaway slave, Jim, sails down the Mississippi on a raft. During their trip,Huck and Jim encounter many unusual characters, including two families involved in a senseless feud and a pair of scoundrels who swindle innocent townspeople. Theirexperiences bring about a strong friendship between the boy and the slave, but their adventures end when Jim is captured and held at the farm of Tom Sawyer’s AuntSally. W...
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Mark Twain
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INTRODUCTION
Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), American writer and humorist, whose best work is characterized by broad, often irreverent humor
or biting social satire.
father, who keeps him prisoner in an isolated cabin. The boy escapes and, together with a runaway slave, Jim, sails down the Mississippi on a raft. During their trip,Huck and Jim encounter many unusual characters, including two families involved in a senseless feud and a pair of scoundrels who swindle innocent townspeople. Theirexperiences bring about a strong friendship between the boy and the slave, but their adventures end when Jim is captured and held at the farm of Tom Sawyer’s AuntSally. W...
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Mark Twain - USA History.
father, who keeps him prisoner in an isolated cabin. The boy escapes and, together with a runaway slave, Jim, sails down the Mississippi on a raft. During their trip,Huck and Jim encounter many unusual characters, including two families involved in a senseless feud and a pair of scoundrels who swindle innocent townspeople. Theirexperiences bring about a strong friendship between the boy and the slave, but their adventures end when Jim is captured and held at the farm of Tom Sawyer’s AuntSally. W...
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Egypt - country.
Egypt has a wide variety of mineral deposits, some of which, such as gold and red granite, have been exploited since ancient times. The chief mineral resource ofcontemporary value is petroleum, found mainly in the Red Sea coastal region, at Al ‘Alamayn (El ‘Alamein) on the Mediterranean, and on the Sinai Peninsula. Otherminerals include phosphates, manganese, iron ore, and uranium. Natural gas is also extracted. D Plants and Animals The vegetation of Egypt is confined largely to the Nile Delta,...
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Benin - country.
French is the official language of Benin, but most people speak an African language. Each of the country’s ethnic groups has its own language. Fon is the most widelyspoken language. About 52 percent of the population professes traditional religious beliefs, chiefly Vodun, a belief in spirits. Arab merchants introduced Islam to the region, and today it isthe religion of some 20 percent of the people, most of whom live in the north. Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism, is the religion of ab...
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Ukraine - country.
a major hazard, especially to Ukraine’s water supply. The Chernobyl’ complex was finally shut down completely in December 2000, with the financial assistance ofWestern nations. The funds were to pay for the completion of two other nuclear power plants that would produce enough power to make up for the loss of the powersupply from the Chernobyl’ plant. III PEOPLE OF UKRAINE The population of Ukraine was estimated in 2008 at 45,994,287, giving the country a population density of 76 persons per s...
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India - country.
delta in the north, are intensely farmed. B Rivers and Lakes The rivers of India can be divided into three groups: the great Himalayan rivers of the north, the westward-flowing rivers of central India, and the eastward-flowingrivers of the Deccan Plateau and the rest of peninsular India. Only small portions of India’s rivers are navigable because of silting and the wide seasonal variation inwater flow (due to the monsoon climate). Water transport is thus of little importance in India. Barrages,...
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Warfare.
organizations as the League of Nations in 1920 and the United Nations in 1945, and détente (suggested for scaling down the cold war). See Arms Control. Modern antiwar sentiment and organized peace movements are derived in large part from the beliefs of religious sects such as the Society of Friends and the MennoniteChurch. The first peace societies in history were established in the U.S. in 1815, and since then pacifists have actively opposed wars and conscription, and promoted thecause of con...
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Telescope - astronomy.
Observatory). In some telescopes designed in the 1990s, the mirror’s weight has been dramatically reduced by sandwiching a honeycomb pattern of glass ribs between a thin, butrigid, concave mirror and a flat back plate. Engineers have even developed meniscus mirrors—mirrors that are too thin to support their own weight. An adjustableframework supports the meniscus mirror, and servomechanical actuators, controlled by computer, continually adjust the shape of the mirror as it tracks celestial tar...
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Amphibian (animal) - biology.
strong enough to kill potential predators. C Hearing, Vision, and Vocalizations Amphibians rely on their senses to find food and evade predators. Amphibians lack external ears but have well-developed internal ears. Hearing is most acute in frogs,which typically have a middle ear cavity for transferring sound vibrations from the eardrum, or tympanum, to the inner ear. Frogs and toads also use their keen hearingin communicating with one another. Using a true voice box, or larynx, and a large, exp...