Fuji, Mount

Japanese  Fuji-san , also called  Fujiyama , or  Fuji No Yama  highest mountain in Japan, rising to 12,388 feet (3,776 metres) near the Pacific coast in Yamanashi and Shizuoka ken (prefectures), central Honshu, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Tokyo. It is a volcano that has been dormant since its last eruption in 1707 but is still generally classified as active by geologists. The mountain's name, of Ainu origin, means “everlasting life.” Mount Fuji, with its graceful

Aptronym

A name that fits some aspect of a character, as in Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress or Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals. The term aptronym was allegedly coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, by an anagrammatic reordering of the first letters of patronym (to suggest apt) to denote

Animals, The

Five-piece rock group from northeastern England whose driving sound influenced Bob Dylan's decision, in 1965, to begin working with musicians playing electric instruments. The principal members were Eric Burdon (b. May 11, 1941, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, Eng.), Alan Price (b. April 19, 1942, Fatfield, Durham), Hilton Valentine (b. May 21, 1943, North Shields, Tyne and Wear), Chas Chandler (byname of Bryan

Tafsir

The science of explanation of the Qur'an, the sacred scripture of Islam, or of Qur'anic commentary. So long as Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was alive, no other authority for interpretations of the Qur'anic revelations was recognized by Muslims. Upon his death, however, commentaries were needed because the text, when it achieved written form, lacked historical sequence in the

Wu-hsing

The city was established as a county, Wu-ch'eng, in

Cleveland

City, seat (1836) of Bradley county, southeastern Tennessee, U.S., about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Chattanooga. Established in 1836 following the agreement for the evacuation of the area by the Cherokee, the community was named for Colonel Benjamin Cleveland, a hero of the American Revolution. During the American Civil War, Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman

Acarigua

City, northern Portuguesa estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. Formerly the state capital, Acarigua is a principal commercial centre of the northern portion of the Llanos (plains), in which cattle, sugarcane, cotton, corn (maize), and rice are the principal products. Industries in the city include sawmilling and dairying. Acarigua is accessible by air and by highway

China, Social, political, and cultural changes

The years from the 8th century BC to 221 BC witnessed the painful birth of a unified China. It was a period of bloody wars and also of far-reaching changes in politics, society, and intellectual outlook.

Morea, Despotate Of

Autonomous Byzantine principality located on the Greek Peloponnese (Morea). It was established in the mid-14th century by the Byzantine emperor John VI Cantacuzenus (reigned 1347–54) as an appanage for his son Manuel. Manuel Cantacuzenus consolidated his territory against the claims of Latins (western Europeans) and the inroads of Turks, but after his death (1380) the Palaeologians

Gabardine

Any of several varieties of worsted, cotton, silk, and mixed tightly woven fabrics, embodying certain features in common and chiefly made into suits and overcoats. It is a relatively strong and firm cloth, made with a twill weave, and somewhat resembling whipcord but of lighter texture. The weft, or filling, lies entirely at the back and is therefore not visible from the

Futurology

In the social sciences, the study of current trends in order to forecast future developments. While the speculative and descriptive aspects of futurology are traceable to the traditions of utopian literature and science fiction, the methodology of the field originated in the “technological forecasting” developed near the end of World War II, of which Toward New

Indian Philosophy, The logical period

The logical period of Indian thought began with the Kusanas (1st–2nd centuries). Gautama (author of the Nyaya-sutras; probably flourished at the beginning of the Christian Era) and his 5th-century commentator Vatsyayana established the foundations of the Nyaya as a school almost exclusively preoccupied with logical and epistemological issues. The Madhyamika (“Middle

Hyssop

(Hyssopus officinalis), garden herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae, or Labiatae) whose flowers and evergreen leaves have long been used as a flavouring for foods and beverages and as a folk medicine. The plant has a sweet scent and a warm, bitter taste. A strong tea made of the leaves and sweetened with honey is a traditional remedy for nose, throat, and

France, History Of, The Dreyfus affair

The 1890s also saw the Third Republic's greatest political and moral crisis—the Dreyfus affair. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a career army officer of Jewish origin, was charged with selling military secrets to the Germans. He was tried and convicted by a court-martial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island off the South American coast. Efforts by the Dreyfus