Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Barcelona, Archaeological Museum of ... bark

Barcelona, Archaeological Museum of: institution in Barcelona, Spain, notable for its collection of prehistoric objects and for its collection of ancient Greek and Roman art and examples illustrating Iberian archaeology. Exhibits include a scale model of a part of the excavation at Ampurias (Emporiae) ...
barchan: crescent-shaped sand dune produced by the action of wind predominately from one direction. One of the commonest types of dunes, it occurs in sandy deserts all over the world.
Barclay de Tolly, Mikhail Bogdanovich, Knyaz: Russian field marshal who was prominent in the Napoleonic Wars.
Barclay, Alexander: poet who won contemporary fame chiefly for his adaptation of a popular German satire, Das Narrenschiff, by Sebastian Brant, which he called The Shyp of Folys of the Worlde (first printed 1509).
Barclay, John: Scottish satirist and Latin poet whose Argenis (1621), a long poem of romantic adventure, had great influence on the development of the romance in the 17th century.
Barclay, Robert: Quaker leader whose Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1678) became a standard statement of Quaker doctrines. His friendship with James II, then duke of York, helped obtain the patent to settle the province of East Jersey, in the New ...
Barclays PLC: British banking and trust firm registered July 20, 1896, under the name Barclay & Co. Ltd. and assuming the name Barclays Bank Ltd. in 1917. It was converted into a public limited company in 1981. The largest commercial banking concern ...
bard: a poet, especially one who writes impassioned, lyrical, or epic verse. Bards were originally Celtic composers of eulogy and satire; the word came to mean more generally a tribal poet-singer gifted in composing and reciting verses on heroes and their ...
Bard College: private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, U.S. It is affiliated with the Episcopal church. A liberal arts college, it includes divisions of social studies, languages and literature, arts, and natural sciences and mathematics, as well as ...
Bardeen, John: American physicist who was cowinner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in both 1956 and 1972. He shared the 1956 prize with William B. Shockley and Walter H. Brattain for their joint invention of the transistor. With Leon N. Cooper ...
Bardesanes: a leading representative of Syrian Gnosticism. Bardesanes was a pioneer of the Christian faith in Syria who embarked on missionary work after his conversion in 179.
Bardi Family: an aristocratic Florentine family that successfully developed its financial and banking company to become one of the most influential European business powers between 1250 and 1345.
Bardi, Giovanni, Conte Di Vernio: musician, writer, and scientist, influential in the evolution of opera. In about 1580 he founded the Florentine Camerata, a group that sought to revive ancient Greek music and drama and whose participants composed the earliest operas. Among the members were ...
Bardiya: (6th century BC), king of Persia in 522-521 BC.
Bardo, Treaty of: (1881), agreement that established France's protectorate over Tunisia. A French expeditionary force of 36,000 men was sent to Tunisia in 1881 at the urging of the French foreign minister, Jules Ferry, ostensibly to subdue attacks of the Tunisian Kroumer tribe ...
Bardot, Brigitte: French motion-picture actress who became an international sex symbol in the 1950s and '60s.
Bardsey Island: small island, with an area of 0.7 square mile (1.8 square km), off the tip of the Lleyn Peninsula, Gwynedd county, historic county of Caernavonshire (Sir Gaernarfon), Wales. It is separated from the mainland by a channel 2 miles (3 ...
Bardstown: city, seat (1784) of Nelson county, in the outer Bluegrass region of central Kentucky, U.S., 39 miles (63 km) southeast of Louisville. Founded as Salem in 1778, it was later renamed to honour William Bard, one of the original landowners. ...
bareback bronc-riding: rodeo event in which a cowboy attempts to ride a bucking horse (bronco) for a specified time (usually eight seconds). The horse is equipped only with a surcingle-a rope belt about its midsection-which the rider may grip with one hand ...
Barebones Parliament: (July 4-Dec. 12, 1653), a hand-picked legislative group of "godly" men convened by Oliver Cromwell following the Puritan victory in the English Civil Wars. Its name was derived from one of its obscure members, Praise-God Barbon.
Bareilly: city, central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, on the Ramganga River. Founded in 1537, the city was built largely by the Mughal governor Makrand Ray. It later became the capital of the Rohillas, a migrant clan that gained control of ...
Baren: Chinese prose writer and critic who was the first Chinese literary theorist to promote the Marxist point of view.
Barenboim, Daniel: Israeli pianist and conductor.
Barents Sea: outlying portion of the Arctic Ocean 800 miles (1,300 km) long and 650 miles (1,050 km) wide and covering 542,000 square miles (1,405,000 square km). Its average depth is 750 feet (229 m), plunging to a maximum of 2,000 feet ...
Barents, Willem: Dutch navigator who searched for a northeast passage from Europe to Asia and for whom the Barents Sea was named. Because of his extensive voyages, accurate charting, and the valuable meteorological data he collected, he is regarded as one of ...
Barere, Bertrand: a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety that ruled Revolutionary France during the period of the Jacobin dictatorship (1793-94); his stringent policies against those suspected of royalist tendencies made him one of the most feared revolutionaries.
bargeboard: exposed board or false rafter running underneath the slopes of a projecting gable roof. Such a board is often richly decorated with carved, cut-out, or painted designs and patterns, particularly in late medieval Europe, in Tudor England, and in 19th-century ...
Bargello Museum: art museum housed in the Palazzo del Bargello (or del Podesta), Florence, Italy, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries. The museum was established in 1865 and is especially famous for its collection of Renaissance sculpture, including works by ...
bargello work: kind of embroidery exemplified in the upholstery of a set of 17th-century Italian chairs at the Bargello Museum in Florence and practiced from the 17th century until modern times. It consists of flat vertical stitches laid parallel with the canvas ...
Barghash: sultan of Zanzibar (1870-88), a shrewd and ambitious ruler, who, for most of his reign, looked to Britain for protection and assistance but eventually saw his domains divided between Germany and his former protector.
Barghawatah: Berber tribal confederation that created a religio-political state in Morocco (8th-12th century). The Barghawatah, members of the Masmudah family inhabiting the plain between the Moyen Atlas and the Atlantic, had joined the Miknasah and Ghumarah Berbers in the Kharijite revolt ...
Barghest: in folklore of northern England (especially Yorkshire), a monstrous, goblin dog, with huge teeth and claws, that appears only at night. It was believed that those who saw one clearly would die soon after, while those who caught only a ...
Barguzinsky Nature Reserve: natural area set aside for research in the natural sciences, extending from the northeastern shore of Lake Baikal to the western slopes of the Barguzinsky Mountains, southeastern Russia. The reserve was established (1916) to protect the habitat of the Barguzin ...
Bari: city, capital of Bari provincia and of Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It is a port on the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Brindisi. The site may have been inhabited since 1500 BC. Greek influence was strong, and under the Romans, ...
Bari: people living near Juba in the southern Sudan. They speak an Eastern Sudanic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. They live in small villages scattered across the hot, dry, flat countryside in the Nile valley. Their staple crop is millet, ...
Bari, Siege of: (1068-71), three-year blockade by Norman forces under Robert Guiscard that resulted (April 1071) in the surrender of the last important Byzantine stronghold in southern Italy. It brought an end to Byzantine domination on the Italian peninsula.
Barid Shahi Dynasty: the rulers of the small state of Bidar (now in Karnataka in southwestern India) from about 1487 until 1619. The Barid family were ministers of the Muslim Bahmani sultans of the Deccan, who in 1430 made their capital at Bidar.
Barinas: estado ("state"), western Venezuela. It is bounded on the north by Trujillo, Portuguesa, and Cojedes states, east by Guarico, south by Apure, and west by Tachira and Merida. It lies mainly in the Llanos (plains), although there are highlands in ...
Barinas: city, capital of Barinas estado ("state"), western Venezuela. The city lies along the Santo Domingo River and is situated on the Llanos (plains) at the foot of the Cordillera de Merida in the northwestern part of the state. The city's ...
Barind: geographic region in parts of northwestern Bangladesh and north-central West Bengal state, India. It lies northwest of the confluence of the Ganges (Padma) and Brahmaputra (Jamuna) rivers and is bordered by the floodplains of the Mahananda River (west) and the ...
Baring Family: British family whose banking and commercial house played a principal role in British overseas lending for two centuries.
Baring, Maurice: man of letters, scion of a family long prominent in the financial ventures of the British Empire, who was representative of the social culture that flourished in England before World War I.
Baringo, Lake: lake in west-central Kenya. It is situated 3,200 feet (975 m) above sea level in the Great Rift Valley, east of the Kamasia (Ilkamasya) Hills. The lake has an area of 50 square miles (129 square km), is 11 miles ...
Baripada: city, northeastern Orissa state, eastern India, lying along the Burhabalang River. Founded about 1800, the city is a trade centre for rice, sugarcane, and timber and has some industry, including pottery making, distilling, and weaving. The former ruler's palace now ...
Barisal: town, south-central Bangladesh. It lies in the Ganges (Padma) River delta on an offshoot of the Arial Khan River. Incorporated as a municipality in 1876, it is a transshipment centre for rice, hides, and pulses. It is linked by steamer ...
barite: the most common barium mineral, barium sulfate (BaSO₄). Barite occurs in hydrothermal ore veins (particularly those containing lead and silver), in sedimentary rocks such as limestone, in clay deposits formed by the weathering of limestone, in marine deposits, and in ...
baritone: valved brass instrument pitched in B♭ or C; it is a popular band instrument dating from the 19th century and was derived from the cornet and flugelhorn (valved bugle). It resembles the euphonium but has a narrower bore and three, ...
baritone: (from Greek barytonos, "deep-sounding"), in vocal music, the most common category of male voice, between the bass and the tenor and with some characteristics of both. Normally, the baritone parts are written for a range of A to f ', ...
barium: (Ba), chemical element, one of the alkaline-earth metals of main Group IIa of the periodic table. The element is used in metallurgy, and its compounds in pyrotechnics, petroleum mining, and radiology.
bark: in woody plants, tissues external to the vascular cambium (the growth layer of the vascular cylinder); the term bark is also employed more popularly to refer to all tissues outside the wood. The inner soft bark, or bast, is produced ...
bark: sailing ship of three or more masts, the rear (mizzenmast) being rigged for a fore-and-aft rather than a square sail. Until fore-and-aft rigs were applied to large ships to reduce crew sizes, the term was often used for any small ...