Mercara

Also called �Madhu-keri� town, southern Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India, in the Western Ghats, at an elevation of 3,800 feet (1,160 m), on the national highway from Mysore city to Mangalore. In 1681 Mudda Raja selected the central but inaccessible site for the capital of the independent Hindu dynasty of Coorg. A fort built in 1812 by Linge Raja and the hilltop Onkeshwara Temple overlook the quiet town.

K�mil Pasa, Mehmed

Trained as a military officer in Cairo, K�mil held a succession of government posts until he became grand vizier in 1885 - 91 and again in 1895. Sultan Abd�lhamid II dismissed him because he proposed a cabinet responsible to Parliament, and he then served as governor of Smyrna

K�mil Pasa, Mehmed

Trained as a military officer in Cairo, K�mil held a succession of government posts until he became grand vizier in 1885 - 91 and again in 1895. Sultan Abd�lhamid II dismissed him because he proposed a cabinet responsible to Parliament, and he then served as governor of Smyrna

Liquidation

Discharge of a debt or the determination by agreement or litigation of the amount of a previously unliquidated claim. One important legal meaning is the distribution of the assets of an enterprise among its creditors and proprietors. At the dissolution of a solvent corporation or unincorporated association, the assets are usually liquidated (turned into money)

Atwood, Margaret (eleanor)

In her early poetry

Shaitan

In the system of evil jinn outlined by the Arab writer al-Jahiz, the shaitans are identified simply as unbelieving jinn. Folklore, however, describes them as exceptionally ugly creatures, either male or female, capable of assuming human form - though

Obey River

River in north-central Tennessee, U.S., formed by the East Fork Obey and West Fork Obey rivers in southern Pickett county. It flows north and west to join the Cumberland River at Celina after a course of about 60 miles (100 km). Dale Hollow Dam, finished in 1943, impounds Dale Hollow Lake, which has 620 miles (1,000 km) of shoreline and covers most of the Obey's length. The lake provides numerous recreation

Obey River

River in north-central Tennessee, U.S., formed by the East Fork Obey and West Fork Obey rivers in southern Pickett county. It flows north and west to join the Cumberland River at Celina after a course of about 60 miles (100 km). Dale Hollow Dam, finished in 1943, impounds Dale Hollow Lake, which has 620 miles (1,000 km) of shoreline and covers most of the Obey's length. The lake provides numerous recreation

Sanjo Sanetomi, Koshaku

In his youth he was a political leader of the court nobles gathered around the Emperor. In 1862, when the Emperor tried to reassert his

Berberidaceae

The most important and largest genus is Berberis, with about 500 species, among which are many ornamentals, including

Armenian Highland

Russian �Armyanskoye Nagorye, �also spelled �Arm'anskoje Nagor'e, � mountainous region of Transcaucasia. It lies mainly in Turkey, occupies all of Armenia, and includes southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran. The highland covers almost 154,400 square miles (400,000 square km). The average elevation of the Armenian Highland is 5,000 to 6,500 feet (1,500 to 2,000 m), but several peaks exceed 14,000 feet (4,000 m). The highland is a segment of the Mediterranean alpine volcanic

Igbo

Also called �Ibo� people living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria who speak Igbo, a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Igbo may be grouped into the following main cultural divisions: northern (Onitsha), southern (Owerri), western (Ika), eastern (Cross River), and northeastern (Abakaliki). Before European colonization, the Igbo were not united as a single

Wollastonite

White, glassy silicate mineral that commonly occurs as masses or tabular crystals with other calcium-containing silicates (e.g., diopside, tremolite, garnet, and epidote) in metamorphosed limestones. Deposits are found in Ciclova Rom�na, Rom.; Monte Somma, Italy; and Pargas, Fin. Occurrences in the United States include Utah; Isle Royale, Mich.; Riverside, Calif.; and Essex county,

China, The Shih-kuo (Ten Kingdoms)

From the time of the T'ang dynasty until the Ch'ing dynasty, which arose in the 17th century, China consisted of two parts: the north, militarily strong, and the south, economically and culturally wealthy. Between 907 and 960, 10 independent kingdoms emerged in China, mainly in the south: the Wu (902 - 937), the Nan (Southern) T'ang (937 - 975/976), the Nan P'ing (924/925 - 963), the Ch'u (927 - 951), the Ch'ien (Former) Shu (907 - 925), the Hou (Later) Shu (934 - 965), the Min (909 - 945/946), the

Furniture

Ribble, River

River in North Yorkshire and Lancashire, England, formed by the confluence of the Gayle and Cam becks (streams). The river first flows almost due south between Ingleborough Mountain (2,373 feet [723 m]) and Pen-y-Ghent (2,273 feet [693 m]) and then through open country, a long gorge, and a wide valley (devoted mostly to pastoral farming) until it is joined by its two main tributaries, the Hodder from

Rupert

A member of the Wittelsbach dynasty, he was chosen king by the German ecclesiastical electors on Aug. 22, 1400, to succeed Wenceslas, who had been deposed the day before by the German princes. After being crowned at Cologne on Jan.

Literature

The predominant theme of 2001 was literature that chronicled the ordeals of political prisoners in a number of Arab countries. Works defined as �prison literature� were authored by freed political prisoners motivated to speak out by the relative freedom in the past two years in their countries. Writing in French,

Seligman, C.g.

Although educated as a physician, in 1898 Seligman joined the Cambridge University expedition to the Torres Strait (between New Guinea and Australia). After returning to England, he resumed

Loyalty Islands

French ��les Loyaut�, � limestone coral group in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Comprising the islands of Ouv�a, Lifou, and Mar� (qq.v.), the group has a total area of 761 square miles (1,970 square km) and nowhere rises higher than 300 feet (90 m). The islands were sighted by Europeans early in the 19th century and were long a focus of Anglo-French conflict. Annexed by France

Ma'mun, Al-

At the beginning of 833 al-Ma'mun decided to require adherence to Mu'tazilah from all his subjects. As the caliph was then on an expedition against the Byzantines in the region of Tarsus, he entrusted this task to his representative in Baghdad, the prefect of police Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. The latter first called together the qadis (judges) to urge them to recognize the Mu'tazili doctrine;

Margate

Town, Thanet district, administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It lies east of the Thames River estuary. A Roman villa existed just outside the town, which has a Norman church. During the 18th century the town, which is endowed with sandy beaches, became a bathing resort. The large influx of summer visitors is presently Margate's mainstay. An industrial estate

Akimov, Nikolay Pavlovich

Scenic designer and producer, known for the diversity of his bold experiments in stage design and dramatic interpretation - most especially for his cynical reinterpretation of Hamlet (1932), in which the king's ghost was represented as a fiction cunningly devised by Hamlet,

Liger

Offspring of a lion and a tigress. The liger is a zoo-bred hybrid, as is the tigon, the result of mating a tiger with a lioness. It is probable that neither the liger nor the tigon occurs in the wild, as differences in the behaviour and habitat of the lion and tiger make interbreeding unlikely. The liger and the tigon possess features of both parents, in variable proportions,

Procellariiform, Distribution

The majority of procellariiforms breed in the Southern Hemisphere, but several species migrate thousands of miles north across the Equator to winter in the northern summer seas, where they molt, feed, and rest in preparation for the return home in the southern spring. Similarly, species that breed in the Northern Hemisphere also live in perpetual summer by migrating

Wage Theory

The subsistence theory of wages, advanced by David Ricardo and other classical economists, was based on the population theory of Thomas Malthus. It held that the market price of labour would always tend toward the minimum required for subsistence. If the supply of labour

Skarzysko-kamienna

Town, Kielce wojew�dztwo (province), southeastern Poland, on the Kamienna River. An important metallurgical centre since the end of World War II (1945) and rail junction on the Warsaw - Krak�w line, it is part of the Staropolskie Zaglebie Przemyslowe, or the Old Poland Industrial Basin, which encompasses the area surrounding Skarzysko-Kamienna and the G�ry Swietokrzyskie (Holy

Eyck, Jan Van

Flemish painter who perfected the newly developed technique of oil painting. His naturalistic panel paintings, mostly portraits and religious subjects, made extensive use of disguised religious symbols. His masterpiece

Hilarion Of Kiev

A priest, Hilarion became the second archbishop of Kiev, the chief city in Rus at that time. Although Kievan bishops had all previously been appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople, Hilarion was chosen by Prince Yaroslav I the Wise and an assembly

Qiryat Shemona

Town, at the northwest of the 'Emeq Hula (Hula Valley), extreme northern Israel. The name Qiryat Shemona (�Town of the Eight�) commemorates the eight martyrs of nearby Tel Hay (q.v.). The town, the only urban settlement of the valley, was founded in 1950 as an immigrants' transit camp (ma'abara) on the site of the former Arab village of Khalasah. Metulla, the northernmost settlement of Israel