Narodnost

Doctrine or national principle, the meaning of which has changed over the course of Russian literary criticism. Originally denoting simply literary fidelity to Russia's distinct cultural heritage, narodnost, in the hands of radical critics such as Nikolay Dobrolyubov, came to be the measure of an author's social responsibility, both in portraying the aspirations

Abelard, Peter

French  Pierre Abélard, or Abailard,  Latin  Petrus Abaelardus, or Abeilardus  French theologian and philosopher best known for his solution of the problem of universals and for his original use of dialectics. He is also known for his poetry and for his celebrated love affair with Héloïse.

Kublai Khan

Kublai also spelled  Khubilai , or  Kubla  Mongolian general and statesman, grandson of Genghis Khan. He conquered China and became the first emperor of its Yüan, or Mongol, dynasty. He was thus at one and the same time the overlord of all the Mongol dominions—which included areas as diverse as that of the Golden Horde in southern Russia, the Il-Khanate of Persia, and the steppe heartlands where Mongol princes

Lever Art Gallery

In full  Lady Lever Art Gallery,   in Port Sunlight, a model village founded for workers in Bebington, Cheshire (now in Merseyside), Eng. The museum was a gift to the public of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, as a memorial to his wife, who died in 1913. The building was begun in 1914 and opened in December 1922. The collection of works exhibited at the gallery was formed by Lord Leverhulme and records his personal taste, which

Biblical Literature, Moral interpretation

Moral interpretation is necessitated by the belief that the Bible is the rule not only of faith but also of conduct. The Jewish teachers of the late pre-Christian and early Christian Era, who found “in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (Rom. 2:20), were faced with the necessity of adapting the requirements of the Pentateuchal codes to the changed social conditions

Qutb-ud-din Aybak

In childhood Qutb was sold as a slave and raised at Nishapur. He came into the possession of Muhammad of Ghur, who put him in charge of the royal stables. Eventually he was appointed to military command, and in 1193, after conquering Delhi, Muhammad returned to Khorasan and left the consolidation of the

Amarna, Tell El-

Also spelled  Tall al-Amarna , or  Tel el-Amarna  site of the ruins and tombs of the city of Akhetaton (“Horizon of Aton”) in Upper Egypt, 44 miles (71 km) north of modern Asyut in al-Minya muhafazah (governorate). On a virgin site on the east bank of the Nile, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) built the city in about 1348 BC as the new capital of his kingdom when he abandoned the worship of Amon and devoted himself to that of Aton. About four years after Akhenaton's

Boeotia

Modern Greek  Voiotía  district of ancient Greece with a distinctive military, artistic, and political history. It corresponds somewhat to the modern nomós (department) of Boeotia, the administrative centre of which is Levádhia. The nomós extends farther to the northwest, however, to include part of ancient Phocis (Fokís). It is bounded by Attica (Attikí; southeast), the Gulf of Corinth (south),

Kirk, Sir John

The son of a clergyman, Kirk studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, served on the civil medical staff in the Crimean War, and was appointed in February 1858 physician and naturalist for Livingstone's

Devils Island

Part of a penal settlement, the island housed the convicts' leper colony until the Îles du Salut were made a maximum-security area.

Gauge

A measure of the bore of a shotgun. See bore.

India, Other important sites

A growing number of other sites have been excavated, each important in its own way. On the coast near Las Bela in Baluchistan, materials suggesting a substantial shell-working industry have been found at Balakot. Not far from Mehrgarh, at the head of the Kacchi desert, the small settlement of Naushahro Firoz provides valuable evidence of the actual transformation of

Dollarization: Is It Worth It?

To many analysts the trend toward dollarization was unexpected, since adopting a new currency can be quite costly. One major expense is the loss of seigniorage, the profit that a country earns when it issues a currency. For example, the cost to the U.S. of printing its currency is estimated at less than 0.1% of the currency's face value, yet the notes are sold at face value to banks.

Abolitionism

Also called  abolition movement  (c. 1783–1888), in western Europe and the Americas, the movement chiefly responsible for creating the emotional climate necessary for ending the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery. With the decline of Roman slavery in the 5th century, the institution waned in western Europe and by the 11th century had virtually disappeared. Portuguese exploration of the west coast

Sakha

Also called  Yakutia  or  Yakut-Sakha   republic in far northeastern Russia, in northeastern Siberia. The republic occupies the basins of the great rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean—the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma—and includes the New Siberian Islands between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Sakha was created an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union in 1922; it is now the second largest republic in