Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Canada, Anglican Church of ... candlefish

Canada, Anglican Church of: self-governing Anglican church that dates from the Church of England congregations established in Canada during the 18th century. In 1750 Canada's first Anglican church was built in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Additional congregations were formed as settlers came from England and ...
Canada, Bank of: Canadian financial institution established under the Bank of Canada Act (1934). It was founded during the Great Depression to regulate credit and currency. The Bank commenced operations on March 11, 1935. It not only acts as the fiscal agent for ...
Canadian Alliance: former Canadian populist conservative political party, largely based in the western provinces.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: public broadcasting service over AM and FM radio networks and television networks in English and French, two national cable television channels, and shortwave radio, among other media in Canada. Advertising sales and, primarily, annual appropriations from Parliament finance the CBC's ...
Canadian Football League: major Canadian professional gridiron football organization, formed in 1956 as the Canadian Football Council, created by the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Though the IRFU still referred to their sport as rugby football, ...
Canadian high: large atmospheric high-pressure centre produced by the extremely low winter temperatures over northwestern Canada. Its cold, dense air does not extend above 3 km (2 miles). The high's location east of the Canadian Rockies shelters it from the relatively warm ...
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce: major commercial banking company operating in Canada and other countries. Headquarters are in Toronto.
Canadian Labour Congress: nationwide association of labour unions in Canada, comprising both wholly Canadian "national" unions and "international" unions that are Canadian branches of unions based in the United States. The CLC was formed in 1956 through the merger of the Trades and ...
Canadian literature: the body of written works produced by Canadians. Reflecting the country's dual origin and linguistic distribution, the literature of Canada falls into two divisions: English and French. This article provides a brief historical account of each of these literatures.
Canadian National Railway Company: corporation created by the Canadian government in 1918 to operate a number of nationalized railroads (including the old Grand Trunk lines, the Intercolonial Railway, the National Transcontinental Railway, and the Canadian Northern Railway) as one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad ...
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.: privately owned company that operates one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad systems. The company was established to complete a transcontinental railroad that the government had begun under the agreement by which British Columbia entered the confederation in 1871. The main ...
Canadian River: river that rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., and flows southward across the Las Vegas Plains, cutting a gorge nearly 1,500 feet (450 m) deep in the Canadian escarpment before turning eastward. It continues through ...
Canadian Rockies: segment of the Rocky Mountains, extending southeastward for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from northern British Columbia, Canada, and forming to the south nearly half of the 900-mile (1,500-kilometre) border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. The Mackenzie ...
Canadian Shield: one of the world's largest geologic continental shields, centred on Hudson Bay and extending for 8,000,000 square km (3,000,000 square miles) over eastern, central, and northwestern Canada from the Great Lakes to the Canadian Arctic and into Greenland, with small ...
Canadian-American Challenge Cup: trophy of a series of automobile races that took place annually from 1966 to 1975 and from 1977 to 1986. It was sponsored jointly by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and the Canadian Automobile Sports Committee (CASC). Entries ...
Canak, Treaty of: (Jan. 5, 1809), pact signed between the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain at Canak (now Canakkale, Tur.) that affirmed the principle that no warships of any power should enter the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. The treaty anticipated ...
Canakkale: city, northwestern Turkey, at the mouth of Koca River (the ancient Rhodius River), on the Asian side of the Dardanelles. Originally a 15th-century Ottoman fortress called Kale-i Sultaniye, it had by the 18th century developed a reputation for its pottery, ...
Canal Zone: historic administrative entity in Panama over which the United States exercised jurisdictional rights from 1903 to 1979. It was a strip of land 10 miles (16 km) wide along the Panama Canal, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean ...
Canalejas, Jose: Spanish statesman and prime minister whose anticlerical "Padlock Law" forbade the establishment of new religious orders and introduced obligatory military service.
Canaletto: Italian topographical painter whose masterful expression of atmosphere in his detailed views (vedute) of Venice (see ) and London and English country homes influenced succeeding generations of landscape artists.
canals and inland waterways: natural or artificial waterways used for navigation, crop irrigation, water supply, or drainage.
Canaris, Wilhelm: German admiral, head of military intelligence (Abwehr) under the Nazi regime and a key participant in the resistance of military officers to Adolf Hitler.
canary: (species Serinus canaria), popular cage bird of the family Carduelidae (order Passeriformes). It owes its coloration and sustained vocal powers to 400 years of selective breeding by humans. Varieties called rollers trill almost continuously, the notes running together; choppers have ...
canary creeper: (species Tropaeolum peregrinum), annual climbing herb, of the family Tropaeolaceae, native to northwestern South America and introduced to other regions as a cultivated garden plant. It grows to a height of 1.8-3 m (6-10 feet). The leaves are round and ...
Canary Current: part of a clockwise-setting ocean-current system in the North Atlantic Ocean. It branches south from the North Atlantic Current and flows southwestward along the northwest coast of Africa as far south as Senegal before turning westward to eventually join the ...
Canary Islands: comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Spain, consisting of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, the nearest island being 67 miles (108 km) off the northwest African mainland. The Canaries comprise the Spanish provincias of ...
Canasta: card game of the Rummy family and itself the progenitor of a large group of games including Samba, Bolivia, and others. The name canasta, from the Spanish word for "basket," probably derives from the tray placed in the centre of ...
Canastra Mountains: mountain range on the Planalto Central (Brazilian Highlands) in western Minas Gerais estado ("state"), southeastern Brazil. Extending 150 miles (240 km) from the Goias state border in the north to the upper Grande River in the south, the Canastra Mountains ...
Canaveral, Cape: seaward extension of Canaveral Island (a barrier island running southeastward along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean) and city in Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. The cape itself is separated from Merritt Island to the west by the Banana River, ...
Canberra: federal capital of the Commonwealth of Australia. It occupies part of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in southeastern Australia and is about 150 miles (240 km) southwest of Sydney. Canberra lies astride the Molonglo River, which is a tributary of ...
cancan: lively and risque dance of French or Algerian origin, usually performed onstage by four women. Known for its high kicks in unison that exposed both the petticoat and the leg, the cancan was popular in Parisian dance halls in the ...
cancellaresca corsiva: in calligraphy, script that in the 16th century became the vehicle of the New Learning throughout Christendom. It developed during the preceding century out of the antica corsiva, which had been perfected by the scribes of the papal chancery. As ...
Cancer: (Latin: Crab), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Leo and Gemini at about 8 hours 25 minutes right ascension (the coordinate of the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 20° north declination (angular distance north of the ...
cancer: group of more than 100 distinct diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer affects one in every three persons born in developed countries and is a major cause of sickness and death throughout the ...
Cancer and Capricorn, Tropics of: latitudes approximately 23°27' N and 23°27' S of the terrestrial Equator, respectively. These latitudes correspond to the northernmost and southernmost declinations of the Sun's ecliptic (q.v.) to the celestial equator. At the summer solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere), around June ...
Canchungo: town, Cacheu region, northwestern Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. The town lies between the Rio Cacheu and the Rio Mansoa in an area of coastal lowlands and is a major producer of oil-palm vegetable oil for export. It is also a market ...
cancioneiro: (Portuguese: "songbook"), collection of Portuguese lyrics (cantigas) dating from the 12th century. The earliest examples of Portuguese-Galician poetry, composed from the 12th to the 14th century, were collected during the 14th and 15th centuries into three manuscript songbooks: the Cancioneiro ...
cancrinite: rare feldspathoid mineral, an aluminosilicate that contains sodium and calcium carbonate and occurs as an alteration product of nepheline and feldspar in nepheline-syenite and related rocks. It also is found in metamorphic rocks and in contact zones between limestone and ...
Cancun: city and adjacent island resort area, Quintana Roo estado ("state"), southeastern Mexico. Cancun city is located on the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and is essentially a service town for the resort area of Cancun situated on L-shaped Cancun ...
candala: class of people in India generally considered to be outcastes and untouchables. According to the ancient law code the Manu-smrti, the class originated from the union of a Brahmin (the highest class within the varna, or four-class system) woman and ...
Candar Dynasty: Turkmen dynasty (c. 1290-1461) that ruled in the Kastamonu-Sinop region of northern Anatolia (now in Turkey).
candela: unit of luminous intensity in the International System of Units (SI), defined as the luminous intensity in a given direction of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 × 10¹² hertz and has a radiant intensity in that ...
Candela, Felix: Spanish-born architect, designer of reinforced-concrete (ferroconcrete) structures distinguished by thin, curved shells that are extremely strong and unusually economical.
candelabrum: in architecture, a decorative motif derived from the pedestal or shaft used to support a lamp or candle. The Romans, developing Hellenistic precedents, made candelabra of great decorative richness. Two Roman types are found. The simpler consists of a slender ...
candelilla wax: hard, yellowish tan to brown wax found as a coating on candelilla shrubs, Euphorbia antisyphilitica or Euphorbia cerifera, which grow wild in northern Mexico and Texas. Candelilla wax resembles carnauba wax but is less hard. Because it blends with other ...
Candi: demon-destroying form of the Hindu goddess Sakti, particularly popular in eastern India. She is known by various names, such as Mahamaya, or Abhaya (Sanskrit: "She Who is Without Fear"), and appears to be a composite of folk beliefs with the ...
Candidas: poet whose love songs addressed to the washerwoman Rami were popular in the medieval period and were a source of inspiration to Vaisnava and Sahajiya religious movements that explored parallels between human and divine love.
candidiasis: infectious disease produced by the yeastlike fungus Candida albicans and closely related species. A common inhabitant of the mouth, vagina, and intestinal tract, Candida ordinarily causes no ill effects, except among infants and in persons debilitated by illness such as ...
candiru: (Vandellia cirrhosa), scaleless, parasitic catfish of the family Trichomycteridae found in the Amazon River region. A translucent, eellike fish about 2.5 cm (1 inch) long, the candiru feeds on blood and is commonly found in the gill cavities of other ...
candle: light source now mostly used for decorative and ceremonial purposes, consisting of wax, tallow, or similar slow-burning material, commonly in cylindrical form but made in many fanciful designs, enclosing and saturating a fibrous wick.
candlefish: species of smelt (q.v.).