Petr�leos De Venezuela, Sa

By 1971 Venezuela had begun to take steps to curb the influence of the foreign concessionaires who, since their arrival after World War I, had been exploiting the nation's oil

China, Establishment of the People's Republic

The Communist victory in 1949 brought to power a peasant party that had learned its techniques in the countryside but had adopted Marxist ideology and believed in class struggle and rapid industrial development. Extensive experience in running base areas and waging war before 1949 had given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deeply ingrained operational habits and proclivities.

World War I, The war at sea, 1914 - 15

In August 1914 Great Britain, with 29 capital ships ready and 13 under construction, and Germany, with 18 and nine, were the two great rival sea powers. Neither of them at first wanted a direct confrontation: the British were chiefly concerned with the protection of their trade routes; the Germans hoped that mines and submarine attacks would gradually destroy Great Britain's numerical

Gwinnett, Button

Gwinnett emigrated from England to Georgia

Sax, Antoine-joseph

Sax was the son of Charles Joseph Sax (1791 - 1865), a maker of wind and brass instruments, as well as of pianos, harps, and guitars. Adolphe studied the flute and clarinet at the Brussels Conservatory and in 1842 went to Paris. There he exhibited the saxophone

Aqaba, Gulf Of

Arabic �Khalij Al-'aqabah, � northeastern arm of the Red Sea, penetrating between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula. It varies in width from 12 to 17 miles (19 to 27 km) and is 100 miles (160 km) long. The gulf lies in a pronounced cleft between hills rising abruptly to about 2,000 feet (600 m). Navigation is difficult because of the gulf's narrow entrance at the Straits of Tiran and its islands, coral reefs, and sudden squalls. The

Melfi

Town and episcopal see, Potenza provincia, Basilicata regione, southern Italy, at the foot of the volcanic mass of Monte Vulture, at an elevation of 1,742 feet (531 m), north of Potenza. Of Roman origin, the town was taken from the Byzantines by the Normans, who, for a period, made it their capital. It was a favourite residence of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II, who there assembled

Burton, Virginia Lee

Burton grew up from the age of seven in Sonora, California. After graduating from high school she studied both dancing and drawing, and later she continued taking art lessons at the Boston Museum School. In 1929 she became

Piazzi, Giuseppe

Piazzi became a Theatine monk in about 1764 and a professor of theology in Rome in 1779, and in 1780 he was appointed professor of higher mathematics at the Academy of Palermo. Later, with the aid of the viceroy of Sicily,

Axon

Also called �Nerve Fibre, � portion of a nerve cell (neuron, q.v.) that carries nerve impulses away from the cell body. A neuron typically has one axon, which is rarely branched. Axons connect neurons with other neurons or with muscle or gland cells. The axon of a motor neuron may be quite long, reaching, for example, from the spinal cord down to a toe. Most axons of vertebrate animals are enclosed in a myelin

Hunan, Industry

The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed

Merced

City, Merced county, central California, U.S., on Bear Creek in the San Joaquin valley, 55 miles (89 km) northwest of Fresno. It was founded in 1872 by the Central Pacific Railroad, and it became county seat in the same year. It was named for the Nuestra Se�ora de la Merced River. It developed as a processing and shipping point for agricultural produce of the valley, irrigated by the Tri-Dam

Mcmein, Neysa

McMein attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1913 went to New York City. She studied at the Art Students League for a few months and in 1914 sold her first drawing to the Boston Star. The next year she sold a drawing

Pitcher, Molly

Molly Pitcher first enters the historical record in 1778. Her original surname is unknown, though she is thought to have been Irish. Military records indicate that her first husband, William Hays, enlisted as a gunner in a Pennsylvania artillery regiment in 1777. The nickname

Metalwork, Modern

The structure of trade, following the drastic social changes that have taken place since 1914, is similar in all industrial countries. A few artist-craftsmen maintain independent studio workshops, producing commercially unprofitable but artistically significant work. Many of them also teach in art schools or work part-time in factories as industrial designers.

Davila, Arrigo Caterino

About 1583 Davila became a page in the service of Catherine de M�dicis, wife of King Henry II of France. He subsequently became a soldier and fought in the French civil wars until the peace in 1598. He then returned to Padua, where he

Andean Peoples

Since 1532, under European rule, extractive activities, such as silver, tin, and copper mining, for foreign markets have been favoured to the point to which Andean agriculture and the ecologic wisdom in handling productively the extremely high altitudes have been gradually devalued and mostly forgotten. The population of the Central Andes is both less dense and less

Tibet, Health and welfare

Under the health program of the Tibetan government, medical advice and medicine were provided free to expectant mothers. In addition to free vaccinations, sacred pendants known as rims-srungs were distributed annually to prevent epidemics. The construction and maintenance of proper drainage systems, wells, and canals - and security facilities to guard against

F-104

Also called �Starfighter, � jet day fighter aircraft built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation for the U.S. Air Force but adopted by a total of 15 NATO and other countries. It was widely adapted for use as a fighter-bomber. The F-104 had a wingspan of 21 feet 11 inches (6.68 m) and a length of 54 feet 9 inches (16.7 m). It was a single-seat, single-engine midwing monoplane, powered with a General Electric J79 series turbojet engine with

Baalbek

Nothing is known of Baalbek earlier than the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake.

Arnulf Of Metz, Saint

A Frankish noble, Arnulf gave distinguished service at the Austrasian court under Theudebert II (595 - 612). In 613, however, with Pippin, he led the aristocratic opposition to Brunhild that led to her downfall and to the reunification of Frankish

Boieldieu, Fran�ois-adrien

In Rouen he studied under the organist Charles Broche and composed two operas and numerous piano sonatas, remarkable for their form, which constitute the first important body of piano works by a French composer. In 1796 he settled in Paris,

Keratin

Of the amino acids in keratin, cystine may account for as much as 24 percent. The numerous disulfide bonds formed by cystine are responsible

Brechin

Small royal burgh (town), council area and historic county of Angus, Scotland, situated on the River South Esk in the fertile vale of Strathmore. One of Scotland's three round towers (10th-century) adjoins the 12th-century cathedral. In 1296 Scotland was ceded temporarily to the English at Brechin. Brechin Castle subsequently made a gallant stand against the English forces of

Nilus Of Rossano, Saint

Also called �Nilus The Younger� abbot and promoter of Greek monasticism in Italy, who founded several communities of monks in the region of Calabria following the Greek rule of St. Basil of Caesarea. A supporter of the regular successors to the papal crown in their controversies with antipopes,

Sales Tax

Levy imposed upon the sale of goods and services. A sales tax levied on the manufacture, purchase, sale, or consumption of a specific type of commodity is known as an excise tax. American terminology in this matter tends to differ from that used in the United Kingdom and former British colonies, however. In the United States, excises apply to imports as well as to domestic

Alfonso Vi

Byname �Alfonso the Brave�, Spanish �Alfonso el Bravo� king of Leon (1065 - 70) and king of reunited Castile and Leon (1072 - 1109), who by 1077 had proclaimed himself �emperor of all Spain� (imperator totius Hispaniae). His oppression of his Muslim vassals led to the invasion of Spain by an Almoravid army from North Africa (1086). His name is also associated with the national hero of Spain, Rodrigo D�az de Vivar (El Cid), who was alternatively

Black Friday

In U.S. history, Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. The crash was a consequence of an attempt by financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk to corner the gold market and drive up the price. The scheme depended on keeping government gold off the market, which the manipulators arranged through political influence. When