Cloaca Maxima

Ancient Roman sewer, one of the oldest monuments in the Roman Forum. Originally an open channel constructed in the 6th century BC by lining an existing stream bed with stone, it was enclosed, beginning in the 3rd century BC, with a stone barrel (semicircular) vault. Its primary function was to carry off storm water from the Forum district to the Tiber, but in Imperial times large

Gafencu, Grigore

Educated at Geneva and Paris, Gafencu entered journalism after World War I. In 1924 he became editor and publisher of Argus, a leading economic periodical, and during the 1930s founded Timpul, which soon became

Adamnan, Saint

Nothing is known of Adamnan's early life. In 679 he was elected abbot of Iona, the ninth in succession from St. Columba, the founder. While on a visit to Northumbria, he adopted the Roman rules on the tonsure and for determining the date of Easter that had been accepted

Daehlie, Bj�

Involved in many sports growing up, Daehlie was not serious about cross-country

Business Finance, Term loans

A term loan is a business credit with a maturity of more than 1 year but less than 15 years. Usually the term loan is retired by systematic repayments (amortization payments) over its life. It may be secured by a chattel mortgage on equipment, but larger, stronger companies are able to borrow on an unsecured basis. Commercial banks and life insurance companies are the principal

Tibet, Early history to the 9th century

Credible history begins late in the 6th century, when three discontented vassals of one of the princes among whom Tibet was then divided conspired to support the neighbouring lord of Yar-lung, whose title was Spu-rgyal btsan-po. Btsan-po (�mighty�) became the designation of all kings of Tibet (rgyal means �king�; and spu, the meaning of which is uncertain, may refer to a sacral

Gore, Albert A., Jr.

In the voting held on Nov. 7, 2000, Democrat Albert A. Gore, Jr., the country's vice president, lost his bid for the U.S. presidency to Republican George W. Bush (q.v.), governor of Texas. It was the closest presidential election in more than 100 years. Although Gore won the popular contest by more than 500,000 votes out of some 105,000,000 cast, he lost the electoral college 271 - 266. The final electoral vote, which hinged

Tortoise

Any of the land-dwelling turtles of the family Testudinidae; in Great Britain the name refers to any nonmarine turtle. The land-dwelling tortoises are exclusively terrestrial, vegetarian reptiles. In folklore these animals represent slowness, determination, and long life. Tortoises are found in both the Old World and the New, but the majority of the 40-odd living species

Caciquism

The word cacique is of Indian origin but was adopted by the Spanish conquistadores and used to describe heads of Indian tribes or, in the more developed Indian states, governors of districts.

Loddon River

River, central Victoria, Australia, rising in the Eastern Highlands 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Melbourne and flowing northwest and north for more than 200 miles (320 km), past Kerang, joining with the Little Murray and then with the Murray near Swan Hill. Inconstant in volume, the Loddon has been dammed for several reservoirs, including Cairn Curran and Tullaroop, to form part of

Macpherson, Sir David (lewis)

Macpherson emigrated in 1835 from Scotland to Montreal, where he amassed a large fortune in shipping. He moved to Toronto in 1853 and obtained a contract to build a railway line in Canada West (now in Ontario)

Allman Brothers Band, The

American rock band whose bluesy, jam-oriented sound helped spark the Southern rock movement of the 1970s and set the stage for several generations of roots-oriented improvisational rock bands. The members were Duane Allman (in full Howard Duane Allman; b. Nov. 20, 1946, Nashville, Tenn., U.S. - d. Oct. 29, 1971, Macon, Ga.), Gregg Allman (in full Gregory Lenoir Allman; b. Dec. 8, 1947, Nashville), Berry Oakley (in full

Arrau

This species, known in Brazil as tartaruga da Amazonia, can attain a shell

T�

The tower form of the tomb may have been based on the cylindrical and conical forms of Seljuq tents. The earliest towers, varying in height up to 200 feet (60 m), were traditionally built on a circular ground plan, but square

Stef�nsson, Dav�

Stef�nsson came of a cultured yeoman family and was brought up with a love for his homeland, its literature, and its folklore. He frequently journeyed abroad but lived most of his life in the town of Akureyri, where he was a librarian (1925 - 52). He wrote a powerful

Tutankhamen

Medical analysis of his mummy shows that Tutankhaten was probably a brother of Smenkhkare, his immediate

Mesopotamia, History Of, Shalmaneser III and Shamshi-Adad V of Assyria

The son and successor of Ashurnasirpal was Shalmaneser III (858 - 824). His father's equal in both brutality and energy, he was less realistic in his undertakings. His inscriptions, in a peculiar blend of Assyrian and Babylonian, record his considerable achievements but are not always able to conceal his failures. His campaigns were directed mostly against Syria. While he was

Dowa Highlands

Also called �Chitembwe-mwera Highlands, � central Malawi, rectangular formation covering an area of about 360 square miles (930 sq km); they comprise rolling hills crowned by high ridges including the heights of Dowa (5,571 feet [1,698 m]) and Ntchisi peaks. The highlands are bounded on three sides by steep slopes, forming the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley wall to the east and overlooking the Bua and Lilongwe river valleys to the north

Pentameter

Geoffrey Chaucer employed iambic pentameter in The Canterbury Tales as early as the 14th century, although

Urubamba River

Spanish �R�o Urubamba, � river in the Amazon drainage system, rising in the Andes of southern Peru, near the border between Cuzco and Puno departamentos. It flows for about 450 miles (725 km) to its junction with the Apur�mac, where it forms the Ucayali. The upper part of the Urubamba, there called the Vilcanota, flows past the towns of Sicuani, Urcos, and Urubamba and is densely settled by Indian farmers.

Regent Diamond

Also called �Pitt diamond� a brilliant-cut stone with a slight blue tinge that once was the outstanding gem of the French crown jewels; it was discovered in India in 1701 and weighed 410 carats in rough form. It was purchased by Sir Thomas Pitt, British governor in Madras, who published a letter in the London Daily Post to counter rumours that he had stolen the gem. The stone was cut to a 141-carat cushion brilliant

Shah Alam

City, West Malaysia (Malaya). Shah Alam lies about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Kuala Lumpur, the national capital. The city has an industrial estate where food and tobacco products are processed and electrical machinery, cement, chemical, and textile products are manufactured. The city is the headquarters of the Institut Teknoloji MARA, founded 1956; of the Tun Abdul Razak Library,

Vienne River

River, western France, 217 mi (350 km) in length, a left-bank tributary of the Loire. Rising on the Plateau de Millevaches, the Vienne winds through the agricultural regions of five d�partements. It flows west-northwest into the Haute-Vienne d�partement, receiving the Maulde and Taurion tributaries, which are dammed in several places, before it flows past the city of Limoges.

West Bengal, Agriculture

Agriculture dominates both the landscape and the economy. West Bengal exceeds all other states in its proportion of agricultural land (65 percent). Rice, which requires extensive irrigation, is the leading crop in every district except Darjiling, where it is surpassed by millet. Despite the small area of the state, West Bengal plants 14 percent of the nation's rice area and

Chat-thrush

Any of the 190 species belonging to the songbird family Turdidae (order Passeriformes) that are generally smaller and have slenderer legs and more colourful plumage than true, or typical, thrushes. Chat-thrushes are sometimes treated as a distinct subfamily, Saxicolinae. They are found almost worldwide but are most common in the tropics, especially

Italian Literature, Poetry

Lyric poetry in the 16th century was dominated by the model of Petrarch mainly because of the acceptance of the Renaissance theory of imitation and the teaching of Bembo. Almost all the principal writers of the century wrote lyric poems in the manner of Petrarch. Surprising originality was to be found in Della Casa's poems, and Galeazzo di Tarsia stood out from contemporary

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang was born into a moderately prosperous merchant and farmer family in the coastal province of Chekiang. He prepared for a military career first (1906) at

Ahern, Bertie

Ahern was educated at St. Aidan's Christian Brothers secondary school, Rathmines College of Commerce, University College in Dublin, and the London School of Economics, obtaining degrees in taxation, business administration, and computer science. He was elected to the D�il (lower house of Parliament)

Central Asia, History Of, The Uzbeks

The early history of the Uzbek people (whose rulers were descendants of a younger brother of Batu, khan of the Golden Horde) is wrapped in obscurity, but by the mid-15th century they had migrated from their original homeland, east of the Ural Mountains, southeast toward the lower Syr Darya, whence, under their leader, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, they began to threaten the Timurids across

Rohan, Louis-ren�-�douard, Prince De

Cardinal from 1778 and bishop of Strasbourg from 1779 to 1801, who was the antihero of the French scandal known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace in 1785 (see Diamond Necklace, Affair of the). Duped into undertaking the purchase of a necklace for Queen Marie-Antoinette, without her authority and without funds of his own, he was tried for fraud