Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Canning Basin ... Canterbury and York, Convocations of

Canning Basin: arid sedimentary basin in northwestern Western Australia. Occupying a largely unexplored area of about 150,000 square miles (400,000 square km), it extends south from the Fitzroy River to the De Grey River and from the coast southeast almost to 128° ...
Canning, Charles John Canning, Earl: statesman and governor-general of India during the Indian Mutiny of 1857. He became the first viceroy of India in 1858 and played an important part in the work of reconstruction in that colony.
Canning, George: British statesman known for his liberal policies as foreign secretary (1807-09, 1822-27) and as prime minister for four months during 1827.
Cannizzaro, Stanislao: Italian chemist, teacher, and legislator who recognized the distinction between atomic and molecular weights and also discovered the Cannizzaro reaction.
Cannock Chase: district, administrative and historic county of Staffordshire, England. The southern portion of the Staffordshire coalfield, including the Lea Hall Colliery, is in the district. Coal mining and metalworking traditionally dominated the economy, but coal mining ceased by the end of ...
cannon: big gun, howitzer, or mortar, as distinguished from a musket, rifle, or other small arm. Modern cannon are complex mechanisms cast from high-grade steel and machined to exacting tolerances. They characteristically have rifled bores, though some contemporary tank-mounted and field ...
Cannon, Annie Jump: American astronomer who specialized in the classification of stellar spectra.
Cannon, Harriet Starr: 19th-century American religious leader, a cofounder of the Community of St. Mary, an Episcopal sisterhood that focuses on child health and welfare.
Cannon, James: American clergyman, a zealous prohibitionist, and a foe of Democratic presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith.
Cannon, Joseph Gurney: American politician who was a longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cannon, Walter Bradford: American neurologist and physiologist who was the first to use X rays in physiological studies. These led to his publication of The Mechanical Factors of Digestion (1911). His investigations on hemorrhagic and traumatic shock during World War I were summarized ...
cannonball tree: (Couroupita guianensis), tall, soft-wooded tree, of the family Lecythidaceae, native to northeastern South America and notable for its large, spherical woody fruit, which resembles a rusty cannonball. The tree is also cultivated in the southern regions of North America.
Cano, Alonso: painter, sculptor, and architect, often called the Spanish Michelangelo for his diversity of talents. Although he led a remarkably tempestuous life, he produced religious works of elegance and ease.
Cano, Melchor: Dominican theologian and bishop who upheld the rights of the Spanish crown against the claims of the papacy.
Canoas: city, eastern Rio Grande do Sul estado (state), southern Brazil. Situated 9 miles (14 km) north of Porto Alegre, the state capital, in the grassy lowlands south of the Serra Geral, Canoas enjoys a subtropical climate (60 ...
canoe: lightweight boat pointed at both ends and propelled by one or more paddles (not oars). Paddlers face the bow.
canoe cedar: common name usually applied to giant arborvitae (q.v.) but also used for a species of false cypress (q.v.).
canoeing: the use for sport, recreation, or competition of a canoe, kayak, or foldboat, all small, narrow, lightweight boats propelled by paddles and pointed at both ends. There are many canoe clubs in Europe and North America, and most canoes are ...
canon: musical form and compositional technique, based on the principle of strict imitation, in which an initial melody is imitated at a specified time interval by one or more parts, either at the unison (i.e., the same pitch) or at some ...
Canon City: city, seat (1861) of Fremont county, south-central Colorado, U.S. It is located at the eastern end of the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River between the Front Range and Wet Mountains, just north of a segment of San Isabel National ...
canon law: body of laws made within certain Christian churches (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, independent churches of Eastern Christianity, and the Anglican Communion) by lawful ecclesiastical authority for the government of both the whole church and parts thereof and of the behaviour ...
Canon Law, Code of: official compilation of ecclesiastical law promulgated in 1917 and again, in revised form, in 1983, for Roman Catholics of the Latin rite. The code obliges Roman Catholics of Eastern rites only when it specifically refers to them or clearly applies ...
canonical ensemble: in physics, a functional relationship for a system of particles that is useful for calculating the overall statistical and thermodynamic behaviour of the system without explicit reference to the detailed behaviour of particles. The canonical ensemble was introduced by J. ...
canonical hours: in music, settings of the public prayer service (divine office) of the Roman Catholic Church, divided into Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. The early monastic communities composed a complete series of hours for morning, noon, and ...
canonization: official act of a Christian church declaring one of its deceased members worthy of public cult and entering his or her name in the canon, or authorized list, of recognized saints. In the early church there was no formal canonization, ...
Canopic jar: in ancient Egyptian funerary ritual, covered vessel of wood, stone, pottery, or faience in which was buried the embalmed viscera removed from a body during the process of mummification. The earliest Canopic jars, which came into use during the Old ...
Canopus: second brightest star (after Sirius) in the night sky, with a visual magnitude of -0.73. Lying in the southern constellation Carina, about 100 light-years from the Earth, Canopus is sometimes used as a guide in the attitude control of spacecraft ...
Canopus: ancient Egyptian city on the western coast of the Nile River delta, in al-Iskandariyah muhafazah (governorate). Known to the Greeks as Kanopos, its Egyptian name was PeGewat. The Canopic branch of the Nile is entirely silted up, but on the ...
Canopus, Decree of: ancient bilingual, trigraphic Egyptian decree that provided a key for deciphering hieroglyphic and the simpler demotic scripts. The decree, written in Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphs, was promulgated March 7, 238 BC, by an assemblage of priests in honour of Ptolemy ...
canopy: in architecture, a projecting hood or cover suspended over an altar, statue, or niche. It originally symbolized a divine and royal presence and was probably derived from the cosmic audience tent of the Achaemenian kings of Persia. In the Middle ...
Canosa di Puglia: town, Bari province, Puglia (Apulia) region, southeastern Italy, on the right bank of the Ofanto (ancient Aufidus) River, overlooking the Tavoliere (tableland) di Puglia, just southwest of Barletta. Ancient Canusium was originally a Greek town, said to have been founded ...
Canossa: ruined 10th-century castle southwest of Reggio nell'Emilia in Italy, famous as the meeting place (1077) of Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV. The stronghold was built c. 940 by Atto Adalbert, the founder of the House of Attoni and ...
Canova, Antonio, Marchese d'Ischia: Italian sculptor, one of the greatest exponents of Neoclassicism. Among his works are the tombs of popes Clement XIV (1783-87; SS. Apostoli, Rome) and Clement XIII (1787-92; St. Peter's, Rome) and statues of Napoleon (Brera, Milan, and Wellington Museum, London) ...
Canovas del Castillo, Antonio: Spanish historian, statesman, and prime minister, whose political activity brought about the restoration of Spain's Bourbon dynasty. He was the author of Spain's 1876 constitution.
Canrobert, Certain: soldier and political figure who as a marshal of France (from 1856) was a supporter of Napoleon III.
Canso, Strait of: a channel separating Cape Breton Island from the Nova Scotia, Canada, mainland, leading from Chedabucto Bay (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean) to St. Georges Bay and the Northumberland Strait. It is about 17 miles (27 km) long and averages ...
Cantabri: ancient Iberian tribe with a strong Celtic element; its people were subdued by the Romans after protracted campaigns beginning before 200 BC. Their homelands lay among the Cantabrian Mountains along the northern coast of Spain. Regarded as the fiercest people ...
Cantabria: comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") and historic region of Spain, coextensive with the northern Spanish provincia of Cantabria, formerly called Santander. The community was established by the statute of autonomy of Dec. 30, 1981. The Cantabri, an Iberian tribe with a ...
Cantabria: provincia, in Cantabria comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), northern Spain, bordering the Bay of Biscay. It is popularly known as La Montana ("The Mountain"), for its highlands that increase in height toward the south. Principal towns in Cantabria include Santander, the ...
Cantabrian Mountains: mountain chain generally extending along the northern coast of Spain for approximately 180 miles (300 km). Scenic and well-forested (with beeches and maritime pines), the mountains are geologically of similar origin to the Pyrenees, though classified as a separate formation. ...
cantala: (Agave cantala), plant of the family agave (Agavaceae) and its fibre, belonging to the leaf-fibre group, obtained from plant leaves. The plant has been cultivated in the Philippines since 1783 and was growing in Indonesia and India by the early ...
cantar: in Spanish literature, originally, the lyrics of a song. The word was later used for a number of different poetic forms. In modern times it has been used specifically for an octosyllabic quatrain in which assonance occurs in the even-numbered ...
Cantar de Mio Cid: Spanish epic poem of the mid-12th century, the earliest surviving monument of Spanish literature and generally considered one of the great medieval epics and one of the masterpieces of Spanish literature.
cantata: (from Italian cantare, "to sing"), originally, a musical composition intended to be sung, as opposed to a sonata, a composition played instrumentally; now, loosely, any work for voices and instruments.
cante jondo: (Andalusian Spanish: "deep song," or "grand song"), the most serious and deeply moving variety of flamenco, or Spanish Gypsy song. The cante jondo developed a distinctive melodic style, the foremost characteristics of which are a narrow range, a predilection for ...
Canteloube, Joseph: French composer, pianist, and folk-song collector best known for his compositions that evoke the landscape of his native region.
Cantelupe, Saint Thomas de: reformist, educator, English church prelate, bishop, and defender of episcopal jurisdiction who played an important role in the Barons' War.
canter: a three-beat collected gait of a horse during which one or the other of the forelegs and both hind legs lead practically together, followed by the other foreleg and then a complete suspension when all four legs are off the ...
Canterbury: local government region, east-central South Island, New Zealand, centred on the Canterbury Plains. The region borders the Pacific Ocean to the east and extends southward from the vicinity of Kaikoura to the Waitaki River and includes the city of Christchurch ...
Canterbury: historic town and surrounding city in the administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. Its cathedral has been the primary ecclesiastical centre of England since the early 7th century CE. The city, a district within the administrative county of ...
Canterbury and York, Convocations of: in the Church of England, ecclesiastical assemblies of the provinces of Canterbury and of York that meet two or three times a year and, since the mid-19th century, have been concerned particularly with the reform of the canons of ecclesiastical ...