Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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bandy ... bankruptcy

bandy: a game similar to ice hockey. It is played almost exclusively in the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries, and Mongolia. A team is composed of from 8 to 11 players who wear skates and use curved sticks to hit a ...
bandy-bandy: (species Vermicella annulata), Australian snake of the cobra family Elapidae, strikingly ringed with black and white or yellow. It is about 76 cm (30 inches) long and is venomous but inoffensive. Five species are recognized.
baneberry: any of about eight species of perennial herbaceous plants constituting the genus Actaea of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae); they are all native to North Temperate Zone woodlands.
Baner, Johan: Swedish field marshal who was one of the foremost soldiers in the Thirty Years' War.
Banerjea, Sir Surendranath: one of the founders of modern India and proponent of autonomy within the British Commonwealth.
Banff: ancient royal burgh (town), Aberdeenshire council area, historic county of Banffshire, northeastern Scotland. It is a North Sea port and lies on the western bank of the River Deveron opposite its sister town, Macduff, to which it is connected by ...
Banff: town, southwestern Alberta, Canada. Banff lies along the glacial-green Bow River, near the scenic Lake Louise and the British Columbia border; it is the headquarters of Banff National Park. Named by Lord Strathcona for the Scottish royal burgh of Banff, ...
Banff National Park: national park in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Located on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Banff occupies 2,564 square miles (6,641 square km). It is adjacent to Yoho and Kootenay national parks and south of Jasper National Park. Noted for ...
Banffshire: historic county, northeastern Scotland, extending from the Grampian Mountains to the North Sea. The northeastern portion of the county, including the historic county town (seat) of Banff, is part of the council area of Aberdeenshire, while the remainder of the ...
Bang, Bernhard Lauritz Frederik: Danish veterinarian who in 1897 discovered Brucella abortus (Bang's bacillus), the causative agent of contagious abortion in cattle and of brucellosis (undulant fever) in human beings.
Bang, Herman: novelist who was a major Danish representative of literary Impressionism. His work reflected the profound pessimism of his time.
Bangalore: city and capital (since 1830) of Karnataka (formerly Mysore) state, southern India. One of India's largest cities, Bangalore lies 3,113 feet (949 metres) above sea level atop an east-west ridge in the Karnataka Plateau in the southeastern part of the ...
Banggai Islands: archipelago consisting of two major islands and approximately 100 islets in Sulawesi Tengah provinsi ("province"), Indonesia. The archipelago is situated between the Sula and Celebes islands at the entrance to Tolo Gulf. Peleng, the largest of the Banggai Islands, is ...
Banghazi: city and major seaport of northeastern Libya, on the Gulf of Sidra. It was founded by the Greeks of Cyrenaica as Hesperides (Euesperides) and received from the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III the additional name of Berenice in honour of his ...
Bangka: island of Bangka-Belitung propinsi (province), Indonesia. The island is situated off the eastern coast of Sumatra across the Bangka Strait, which is only 9 miles (14 km) wide at its narrowest point. On the east, Gaspar Strait ...
Bangkok: city, capital, and chief port of Thailand. It is the only cosmopolitan city in a country of small towns and villages and is Thailand's cultural and commercial centre.
Bangladesh: country of south-central Asia, located in the delta of the Ganges and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) rivers in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent.
Bangor: city, seat (1816) of Penobscot county, east-central Maine, U.S. It is a port of entry at the head of navigation on the Penobscot River opposite Brewer. The site, visited in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain, was settled in 1769 by ...
Bangor: cathedral city, Gwynedd county, historic county of Caernarvonshire (Sir Gaernarfon), Wales. It commands the northern entrance to the Menai Strait, the narrow strip of water separating Anglesey from the mainland. Bangor Cathedral is dedicated to the Celtic St. Deiniol, who ...
Bangor: town, North Down district (established 1973), formerly in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the southern shore of Belfast Lough (inlet of the sea). About 555, St. Comgall founded a monastery at Bangor, which became a celebrated seat of ...
Bangui: capital of the Central African Republic, on the west bank of the Ubangi River. The town is connected by an extended 1,100-mile (1,800-kilometre) river and rail transport system with Pointe-Noire, on the west-central African coast, and with Brazzaville (both in ...
Bangweulu: shallow lake with extensive swamps in northeastern Zambia. It is part of the Congo River system. Lying at an elevation of 3,740 feet (1,140 m), the waters of Bangweulu, fluctuating with the rainy season, cover a triangular area of about ...
Banha: town, capital of Al-Qalyubiyah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. The town lies on the right (east) bank of the Damietta Branch of the Nile and on the At-Tawfiqi Canal in the delta area. It is about 30 miles (48 km) northwest ...
Bani: city, southern Dominican Republic, situated in coastal lowlands 3 miles (5 km) from the Caribbean Sea. The city is a commercial and manufacturing centre for the fertile agricultural hinterland, whose main products are bananas, rice, and coffee. The city lies ...
Bani River: principal affluent of the Niger River on its right bank in Mali, West Africa, formed by the confluence of the Baoule and Bagoe headstreams 100 mi (160 km) east of Bamako. The Bani proper flows 230 mi northeast to the ...
Bani Suwayf: city, capital of Bani Suwayf muhafazah (governorate), northern Upper Egypt. It is an important agricultural trade centre on the west bank of the Nile River, 70 miles (110 km) south of Cairo.
Bani Suwayf: muhafazah (governorate), lying along the Nile River in northern Upper Egypt, with an extension into the Western Desert at its southern end. Al-Fayyum governorate lies to the west and north and Al-Minya to the south. Its cultivated, ...
Bani-Sadr, Abolhasan: Iranian economist and politician who in 1980 was elected the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He was dismissed from office in 1981 after being impeached for incompetence.
Bania: (from Sanskrit vanijya, "trade"), Indian caste consisting generally of moneylenders or merchants, found chiefly in northern and western India; strictly speaking, however, many mercantile communities are not Banias, and, conversely, some Banias are not merchants. In the fourfold division of ...
Banihal Pass: pass in the Pir Panjal Range in the Indian-held sector of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Banihal-a name that in Kashmiri means "blizzard"-lies at an altitude of 9,290 ft (2,832 m) ...
Banim, John and Michael: brothers who collaborated in novels and stories of Irish peasant life.
Banister, John: violinist and composer, a prominent musician of his day and organizer of the first public concerts in England.
Banja Luka: city, northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies along the Vrbas River at its confluence with the Vrbanja. Under the Ottoman Turks, Banja Luka ("Baths of St. Luke") was an important military centre and the original location (1583-1639) of the seat ...
Banjarmasin: kotamadya (city), capital of Kalimantan Selatan provinsi (South Borneo province), Indonesia, on Tapas island between the Barito and Martapura rivers on the southern coast of Borneo. The rivers drain the largest plain on Kalimantan. ...
banjo: stringed musical instrument of African origin, popularized in the U.S. by slaves in the 19th century, then exported to Europe. Several African stringed instruments have similar names-e.g., bania, banju. The banjo has a tambourine-like body with a hoop and a ...
banjo clock: clock so named because its upper portion is shaped like an inverted banjo, patented by Simon Willard of Connecticut in 1802. The clock has a circular face with a narrow metal frame and bezel for the glass, which is usually ...
Banjul: city, capital, and Atlantic port of The Gambia, on St. Mary's Island, near the mouth of the Gambia River. It is the country's largest city. It was founded in 1816, when the British Colonial Office ordered Captain Alexander Grant to ...
bank: rocky or sandy submerged elevation of the seafloor with a summit less than 200 m (650 feet) below the surface but not so high as to endanger navigation. Many banks are local prominences on continental or island shelves. Similar elevations ...
bank: an institution that deals in money and its substitutes and provides other financial services. Banks accept deposits and make loans and derive a profit from the difference in the interest rates paid and charged, respectively. Some banks also have the ...
Bank Craps: dice game, the variant of Craps most played in Nevada gambling houses. A special table and layout are used, and all bets are made against the house. A player signifies his bet by placing chips or cash on the appropriate ...
bank holiday: in the United Kingdom, any of several days designated as holidays by the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 and a supplementary act of 1875 for all the banks in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Although these days are not ...
Bank of America Corporation: banking and financial services corporation formed through the merger of NationsBank and BankAmerica in 1998. One of the largest banking organizations in the United States, Bank of America is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Bank of Boston Corporation: American bank holding company whose principal subsidiary is the First National Bank of Boston. Through this subsidiary and others located throughout the United States and abroad, the Bank of Boston Corporation offers its individual and commercial customers a complete range ...
Bank of China Tower: triangular glass skyscraper in Hong Kong, completed in 1989. It houses the Hong Kong headquarters of the Beijing-based central Bank of China, together with other tenants.
Bank of New York Company, Inc., The: major American bank holding company, headquartered in New York City.
Bank of the United States: central bank chartered in 1791 by the U.S. Congress at the urging of Alexander Hamilton and over the objections of Thomas Jefferson. The extended debate over its constitutionality contributed significantly to the evolution of pro- and antibank factions into the ...
Bank One: Former U.S. bank holding company that merged with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2004. Bank One had been created through the 1998 merger of First Chicago NBD Corp. and Banc One. Although the 1998 merger created one of the ...
Bank Street College of Education: privately supported coeducational teachers college in New York, New York, U.S. It offers graduate courses only, operating a laboratory (elementary) school and conducting basic research in education. Established in 1916 by Lucy Sprague Mitchell, first dean of women at the ...
Bank War: in U.S. history, the struggle between President Andrew Jackson and Nicholas Biddle, president of the Bank of the United States, over the continued existence of the only national banking institution in the nation during the second quarter of the 19th ...
Bankhead, Tallulah: American actress who was as famous for her offstage shenanigans as for her theatrical achievements.
bankruptcy: the status of a debtor who has been declared by judicial process to be unable to pay his debts. Although sometimes used indiscriminately to mean insolvency, the terms have distinct legal significance. Insolvency, as used in most legal systems, indicates ...