Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Apache ... Apocynaceae

Apache: farmer-raider Indians of the North American Southwest who, under such leaders as Cochise, Mangas Coloradas, Geronimo, and Victorio, figured largely in the history of the region during the latter half of the 19th century. Their domain extended over what is ...
Apadana: collection of legends about Buddhist saints, one of the latest books in the latest section (the Khuddaka Nikaya) of the Sutta Pitaka ("Basket of Discourse") of the Pali canon. This work, which is entirely in verse, presents stories about 547 ...
Apalachee: extinct tribe of North American Indians who spoke a Muskogean language and inhabited the area in northwestern Florida between the Aucilla and Apalachicola rivers above Apalachee Bay. They became known in the 16th century when the Spanish explorers Panfilo de ...
Apalachee Bay: arm of the Gulf of Mexico indenting the coast of northern Florida, U.S., 25 miles (40 km) south of Tallahassee. It receives the Ochlockonee, St. Marks, Econfina, and Aucilla rivers, and its marshy coast forms St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. ...
Apalachicola: city, seat (1832) of Franklin county, northwestern Florida, U.S. It lies on Apalachicola Bay (bridged) at the mouth of the Apalachicola River, on the Intracoastal Waterway, about 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Tallahassee.
Apamea Cibotus: city in Hellenistic Phrygia, partly covered by the modern town of Dinar, Tur. Founded by Antiochus I Soter in the 3rd century BC, it superseded the ancient Celaenae and placed it in a commanding position on the great east-west trade ...
Apanas, Lake: reservoir in northern Nicaragua. Formed by damming the Rio Tuma just north of Jinotega city, Lake Apanas has an area of 20 square miles (51 square km). It supplies the Asturias hydroelectric station, largest in the country and the focus ...
apapane: (Himatione sanguinea), Hawaiian songbird, common on larger islands, a nectar-feeding member of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family, Drepanididae (order Passeriformes). About 13 centimetres (5 inches) long, it is red, except for its dark wings and tail and its white vent. Its ...
Apapocuva: a Guarani-speaking South American Indian people living in small, scattered villages throughout the Mato Grosso, Parana, and Sao Paulo states of southeastern Brazil. In the second half of the 20th century, the Apapocuva probably numbered fewer than 500 individuals.
Aparicio, Luis: professional baseball player who was known for his outstanding fielding, speed on the base paths, and durability. Aparicio appeared in 2,581 games at shortstop, more than any other player in the history of American professional baseball.
Aparri: town, northeastern Luzon, Philippines. It lies along the Babuyan Channel of the Philippine Sea, near the mouth of the Cagayan River. Aparri is the interisland port for much of northeastern Luzon. Anti-Spanish insurgents landed there in 1898 under Colonel Daniel ...
apartheid: (Afrikaans: "apartness"), policy that governed relations between South Africa's white minority and nonwhite majority and sanctioned racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against nonwhites. The implementation of apartheid, often called "separate development" since the 1960s, was made possible through ...
apartment house: building containing more than one dwelling unit, most of which are designed for domestic use, but sometimes including shops and other nonresidential features.
apathy: in Stoic philosophy, condition of being totally free from the pathe, which roughly are the emotions and passions, notably pain, fear, desire, and pleasure. Although remote origins of the doctrine can probably be found in the Cynics (second half of ...
apatite: any member of a series of phosphate minerals, the world's major source of phosphorus, found as variously coloured, glassy crystals, masses, or nodules. If not for its softness (Mohs hardness 5, compared with the 7 to 9 of most gems), ...
Apatosaurus: giant herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, one of the largest land animals of all time, that lived between 147 million and 137 million years ago during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. Its fossil remains are found in North America and ...
Apaturia: Greek religious festival that was held annually in nearly all the Ionian towns. At Athens it took place in the month of Pyanopsion (October-November) and lasted three days, on which occasion the various phratries (clans) of Attica met to discuss ...
Apatzingan: city, west-central Michoacan estado ("state"), west-central Mexico. It lies along the Apatzingan (Acahuato) River, 176 miles (283 km) southwest of Morelia, the state capital. Its name commemorates the signing there, in 1814, of the Constitution of Apatzingan by the congress ...
ape: any tailless primate of the families Hylobatidae (gibbons) and Hominidae (chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and human beings). Apes are found in the tropical forests of western and central Africa and Southeast Asia. Apes are distinguished from monkeys by the complete ...
Apeldoorn: gemeente (commune), Gelderland provincie, east-central Netherlands. It lies east of the sandy and wooded Veluwe Hills, on the edge of the Soeren (Suren) Forest. Noted for its many gardens, Apeldoorn is a residential and ...
apella: ancient Spartan assembly, corresponding to the ekklesia of other Greek states. Its monthly meetings, probably restricted to full citizens over 30, were presided over at first by the kings, later by ephors (magistrates). Not empowered to initiate proposals, the body ...
Apelles: early Hellenistic Greek painter whose work was held in such high esteem by ancient writers on art that he continues to be regarded, even though none of his work survives, as the greatest painter of antiquity.
Apellicon Of Teos: a wealthy Greek book collector, who became an Athenian citizen. He had bought from the descendants of Neleus of Scepsis in the Troad the libraries of Aristotle and Theophrastus, which were in a damaged condition but might have contained the ...
Apennine Range: series of mountain ranges bordered by narrow coastlands that form the physical backbone of peninsular Italy and have had considerable influence on the human geography of that nation. From Cadibona Pass in the northwest, close to the Maritime Alps, they ...
aperture: in optics, the maximum diameter of a light beam that can pass through an optical system. The size of an aperture is limited by the size of the mount holding the optical component, or the size of the diaphragm placed ...
Apgar Score System: medical rating procedure developed in 1952 by American anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar (q.v.) to evaluate the condition of newborn infants and to identify those that require life-sustaining medical assistance, such as resuscitation. The Apgar score is a qualitative measurement of a ...
Apgar, Virginia: American physician, anesthesiologist, and medical researcher who developed the Apgar Score System, a method of evaluating an infant shortly after birth to assess its well-being and to determine if any immediate medical intervention is required.
Aphanomyces: genus of parasitic fungi (division Mycota) of the order Saprolegniales (class Oomycetes) that forms two successive asexual, motile spores (zoospores). The first one is produced in a spore sac (sporangium) but soon forms a cyst from which the second zoospore ...
aphasia: defect in the expression and comprehension of language caused by damage to the temporal and the frontal lobes of the brain. Aphasia can be caused by a head injury, a tumour, a stroke, or an infection. Symptoms vary with the ...
Aphek: Canaanite royal city near the present-day Israeli city of Petah Tiqwa (q.v.). Conquered by Joshua (Joshua 12:18), it became a Philistine stronghold in the period of the Judges. Its importance is attested by its mention among the cities conquered by ...
aphid: any of several species of sap-sucking, soft-bodied insects (order Homoptera) about the size of a pinhead, with tubelike projections (cornicles) on the abdomen. It is a serious plant pest. Aphids not only stunt plant growth, produce plant galls, and transmit ...
aphorism: a concise expression of doctrine or principle or any generally accepted truth conveyed in a pithy, memorable statement. Aphorisms have been especially used in dealing with subjects that were late in developing their own principles or methodology-for example, art, agriculture, ...
Aphraates: Syrian ascetic and the earliest-known Christian writer of the Syriac church in Persia.
aphrodisiac: any of various forms of stimulation thought to arouse sexual excitement. Aphrodisiacs may be classified in two principal groups: (1) psychophysiological (visual, tactile, olfactory, aural) and (2) internal (stemming from food, alcoholic drinks, drugs, love potions, medical preparations).
Aphrodisias: ancient city of the Caria region of southwestern Asia Minor (Anatolia, or modern Turkey), situated on a plateau south of the Maeander River (modern Buyuk Menderes). Remains of an Ionic temple of Aphrodite and of a stadium and portions of ...
Aphrodite: ancient Greek goddess of sexual love and beauty, identified by the Romans with Venus (q.v.). Because the Greek word aphros means "foam," the legend arose that Aphrodite was born from the white foam produced by the severed genitals of Uranus ...
Aphrodite Terra: the larger of two continent-sized highland areas (terrae) on the planet Venus. Aphrodite lies along Venus's equator and extends from about longitude 60° E to 150° E. It is about twice the size of Ishtar Terra and comparable in surface ...
Aphthartodocetism: (Greek aphthartos, "incorruptible"), a Christian heresy of the 6th century that carried Monophysitism ("Christ had but one nature and that divine") to a new extreme; it was proclaimed by Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus, who asserted that the body of Christ ...
Apia: town, port, and capital (since 1959) of Samoa. It is located on the northern coast of Upolu Island, in the South Pacific Ocean. The Apia Observatory, the legislative council chambers, and a broadcasting station are on the Mulinuu Peninsula, a ...
Apiaceae: the parsley family, in the order Apiales, comprising between 300 and 400 genera of plants distributed throughout a wide variety of habitats, principally in the north temperate regions of the world. Most members are aromatic herbs with alternate, feather-divided leaves ...
apicomplexan: any protozoan of the (typically) spore-producing phylum Apicomplexa, which is called by some authorities Sporozoa. All apicomplexans are parasitic and lack contractile vacuoles and locomotor processes. Apicomplexans live within the body cavities or the cells of almost every kind of ...
Apis: in ancient Egyptian religion, sacred bull deity worshiped at Memphis. The cult of Apis originated at least as early as the 1st dynasty (c. 2925-c. 2775 BC). Like other bull deities, Apis was probably at first a fertility god concerned ...
Apizaco: city, central Tlaxcala state, east-central Mexico. It lies at 7,900 ft (2,400 m) above sea level in the cool Apizaco valley of the Sierra Madre Oriental. Formerly known as Barron Escandon, the city is a commercial, manufacturing, and transportation centre. ...
aplastic anemia: disease in which bone marrow fails to produce an adequate number of blood cells. There may be a lack of all cell types (white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets; this form is called pancytopenia) or of one or ...
aplite: any intrusive igneous rock of simple composition, such as granite composed only of alkali feldspar, muscovite mica, and quartz; in a more restricted sense, uniformly fine-grained (less than 2 millimetres [0.08 inch]), light-coloured, intrusive igneous rocks that have a characteristic ...
Apo, Mount: active volcano, south central Mindanao, 20 mi (32 km) west of Davao City; it is the highest point in the Philippines, rising to 9,690 ft (2,954 m). Part of the Cordillera Central, it is covered by a forest of tall, ...
apocalyptic literature: literary genre that flourished from about 200 BC to about AD 200, especially in Judaism and Christianity. Written primarily to give hope to religious groups undergoing persecution or the stress of cultural upheavals, apocalypses (from the Greek apokalypsis: "revelation") describe ...
apocalypticism: eschatological (end-time) views and movements that focus on cryptic revelations about a sudden, dramatic, and cataclysmic intervention of God in history; the judgment of all men; the salvation of the faithful elect; and the eventual rule of the elect with ...
Apocrita: one of two suborders of the insect order Hymenoptera, the other being Symphyta. Included in the group are the ants, bees, wasps, braconids, ichneumons, chalcids, nearly all parasitic hymenopterans, and a few other forms. The suborder includes the most highly ...
apocrypha: in biblical literature, works outside an accepted canon of scripture. The history of the term's usage indicates that it referred to a body of esoteric writings that were at first prized, later tolerated, and finally excluded. In its broadest sense ...
Apocynaceae: the dogbane family of flowering plants of the gentian order (Gentianales), including more than 150 genera and about 1,000 species of trees, shrubs, woody vines, and herbs, distributed primarily in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Members of the ...