Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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georgic ... German South West Africa

georgic: a poem dealing with practical aspects of agriculture and rural affairs. The model for such verse in postclassical literature was Virgil's Georgica, itself modeled on a now lost Georgika (Greek: "agricultural things") by the 2nd-century BC Greek poet Nicander of ...
Georgievsk, Treaty of: (July 24, 1783), agreement concluded by Catherine II the Great of Russia and Erekle II of Kartalinia-Kakhetia (eastern Georgia) by which Russia guaranteed Georgia's territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagratid dynasty in return for prerogatives in the ...
geostrophic motion: fluid flow in a direction parallel, rather than perpendicular, to lines of equal pressure (isobars) in a rotating system, such as the Earth. Such flow is produced by interaction of the Coriolis force (q.v.; caused by the Earth's rotation) and ...
geosyncline: linear trough of subsidence of the Earth's crust within which vast amounts of sediment accumulate. The filling of a geosyncline with thousands or tens of thousands of feet of sediment is accompanied in the late stages of deposition by folding, ...
geothermal energy: power obtained by using heat from the Earth's interior. Most geothermal resources are in regions of active volcanism. Hot springs, geysers, pools of boiling mud, and fumaroles (vents of volcanic gases and heated groundwater) are the most easily exploited sources ...
Gepidae: a Germanic tribe that lived on the southern Baltic coast in the 1st century AD, having migrated there from southern Sweden some years earlier. The Gepidae again migrated during the 2nd century and were reported in the mountains north of ...
Gera: city, Thuringia Land (state), east-central Germany. It lies along the Weisse Elster River, southwest of Leipzig. First mentioned in 995 and by 1237 referred to as a town, it became part of the principality of Meissen in ...
Geraldton: town and Indian Ocean port, southwestern Western Australia. It lies along Champion Bay, across Geelvinck Channel from the Houtman Abrolhos (islands). Surveyed in 1850, Geraldton originated as a military post for the nearby Murchinson goldfield and was declared a town ...
Geraniales: the diverse geranium order of flowering plants, belonging to the class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons; characterized by two seed leaves). It consists of 5 families and some 3,600 species. Most members of the order are herbaceous, with a superior compound ovary and ...
geranium: any of a group of about 300 species of perennial herbs or shrubs in the family Geraniaceae, native mostly to subtropical southern Africa. Geraniums are among the most popular of bedding and greenhouse plants. The closely related genus Pelargonium contains ...
Gerard Of Cremona: European medieval scholar who translated the works of many major Greek and Arabic writers into Latin.
Gerard, Francois, Baron: Neoclassical painter best known for his portraits of celebrated European personalities, particularly the leading figures of the French First Empire and Restoration periods.
Gerard, John: English herbalist, author of The Herball, or generall historie of plantes (1597).
gerbil: any of more than 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats. One Mongolian species (Meriones unguiculatus) is a gentle and hardy animal that ...
Gerbrandy, Pieter Sjoerds: Dutch statesman who as prime minister (1940-45) conducted The Netherlands' World War II government-in-exile and controlled its armed forces (1940-44).
gerenuk: (species Litocranius walleri), slender antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), with an unusually long neck and long, slim legs.
Gereshk: town, southwestern Afghanistan. It lies along the Helmand River, 75 miles (120 km) west-northwest of Kandahar, with which it is linked by road. Gereshk is the centre of a rich agricultural area; the Kajaki dam upriver diverts water to the ...
Gerevich, Aladar: Hungarian fencer, who played a leading role in the Hungarian team's 36-year dominance of the Olympic sabre competition. Gerevich won seven gold medals in fencing, and he was the only person to have won a gold medal in the same ...
Gerez Mountains: short range of mountains, less than 20 mi (32 km) long, with a maximum width of about 11 mi, reaching an elevation of nearly 5,000 ft (1,507 m). They run east-northeast from Portugal's northwestern interior into Spanish Galicia. The area ...
Gerhaert von Leyden, Nikolaus: master sculptor who was one of the most significant artists of his time in the Upper Rhine country. Gerhaert had myriad followers, and the expressive realism of his style influenced many of his contemporaries. Sandstone and limestone were his most ...
Gerhard, Johann: leading German Protestant theologian, biblical scholar, renowned polemicist, author of the standard Lutheran dogmatic treatise Loci Theologici, and spearhead of every major Lutheran theological gathering of his time.
Gerhardsen, Einar: four-time prime minister of Norway (1945, 1945-51, 1955-63, 1963-65) and leader of the Norwegian Labour Party, who led his nation's postwar economic recovery program.
Gerhardt, Charles: French chemist who, with Auguste Laurent, developed a classification of organic compounds. His idea that all organic compounds were based on four main types (i.e., hydrogen, hydrogen chloride, ammonia, and water) was opposed by his contemporaries and was later abandoned, ...
Gerhardt, Elena: mezzo-soprano, one of the most accomplished singers of German lieder of her time.
Gericault, Theodore: painter who exerted a seminal influence on the development of Romantic art in France. Gericault was a dandy and an avid horseman whose dramatic paintings reflect his flamboyant and passionate personality.
Gerin-Lajoie, Antoine: writer, librarian, and leader in the early literary movement of French Canada.
Gerizim, Mount: mountain in Samaria, central Palestine, just south of Nabulus and the site of biblical Shechem. In modern times, it was in mandated Palestine 1923-48, and subsequently in Jordan 1950-67. Since 1967, it has been part of the West Bank (Judaea ...
Gerlach, Helmut von: German pacifist journalist and politician, a consistent opponent of German nationalism, whose writings exercised a significant influence on public opinion during the latter part of the reign of William II and during the Weimar Republic.
Gerlach, Leopold von: the eldest of three brothers prominent in German conservatism during the first half of the 19th century. A Prussian general and adjutant and political adviser to King Frederick William IV, he consistently pursued a conservative policy defending the old order, ...
Gerlach, Ludwig von: Prussian judge, politician, and editor who helped found the conservative newspaper Kreuzzeitung (1848), which became the voice of the Conservative Party, and which opposed Bismarck's unification plans for Germany during the 1860s and '70s.
Gerlach, Otto von: Prussian Lutheran theologian and educator, younger brother of Leopold and Ludwig von Gerlach.
Gerlach, Walther: German physicist noted especially for his work with Otto Stern on the deflections of atoms in a nonhomogeneous magnetic field.
Gerlache de Gomery, Adrien-Victor-Joseph, baron de: Belgian naval officer who led the first Antarctic expedition concentrating on scientific observation (1897-99). Sailing with him as mate on the Belgica was Roald Amundsen, who on a subsequent expedition of his own was the first to reach the South ...
Gerlache, Etienne-Constantin, baron de: Belgian Catholic statesman and historian and a parliamentary leader in the first years of the Belgian kingdom established in 1830. He helped Leopold of Saxe-Coburg become the first king of the Belgians as Leopold I in 1831.
germ theory: in medicine, the theory that certain diseases are caused by the invasion of the body by microorganisms, organisms too small to be seen except through a microscope. The French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, the English surgeon Joseph Lister, and ...
germ-plasm theory: concept of the physical basis of heredity expressed by the 19th-century biologist August Weismann (q.v.). According to his theory, germ plasm, which is independent from all other cells of the body (somatoplasm), is the essential element of germ cells (eggs ...
Germain, Francois-Thomas: last of the distinguished Germain family of Parisian silversmiths. He took over the family workshop on the death of his father, Thomas Germain (q.v.), in 1748. At the same time he was granted apartments in the Louvre and was made ...
Germain, Pierre: first notable member of a distinguished family of Parisian silversmiths.
Germain, Sophie: French mathematician who contributed notably to the study of acoustics, elasticity, and the theory of numbers.
Germain, Thomas: French silversmith, perhaps the best-known member of a distinguished family of silversmiths.
German 88: versatile 88-millimetre (3.46-inch) multirole artillery piece, developed from 1917 by Germany. It was tested in the Spanish Civil War and was used extensively by the Germans in World War II as a field-artillery piece and as an antiaircraft and antitank ...
German Christian: any of the Protestants who attempted to subordinate church policy to the political initiatives of the German Nazi Party. The German Christians' Faith Movement, organized in 1932, was nationalistic and so anti-Semitic that extremists wished to repudiate the Old Testament ...
German Civil Code: the body of codified private law that went into effect in the German empire in 1900. Though it has been modified, it remains in effect. The code grew out of a desire for a truly national law that would override ...
German Democratic Republic: former country (1949-90) that constitutes the northeastern section of present-day Germany (q.v.).
German East Africa: former dependency of imperial Germany, corresponding to present-day Rwanda and Burundi, the continental portion of Tanzania, and a small section of Mozambique. Penetration of the area was begun in 1884 by German commercial agents, and German claims were recognized by ...
German language: official language of both Germany and Austria and one of the three official languages of Switzerland. German belongs to the West Germanic group of the Indo-European language family, along with English, Frisian, and Netherlandic (Dutch, Flemish).
German literature: German literature comprises the written works of the German-speaking peoples of central Europe. It has shared the fate of German politics and history: fragmentation and discontinuity. Germany did not become a modern nation-state until 1871, and the prior history of ...
German National People's Party: right-wing political party active in the Reichstag (assembly) of the Weimar Republic of Germany from 1919 to 1933. Representing chauvinistic opinion hostile to the republic and to the Allies' reparation demands following World War I, it supported the restoration of ...
German Salaried Employees' Union: white-collar labour organization in Germany. The DAG was organized in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, and became established throughout West Germany; after 1990, workers joined from the former East Germany. The original belief was that white-collar ...
German shepherd: breed of working dog developed in Germany from traditional herding and farm dogs. Until the 1970s the breed was known as the Alsatian in the United Kingdom. A strongly built, relatively long-bodied dog, the German shepherd stands 22 to 26 ...
German South West Africa: a former German colony (1884-1919) that is now the nation of Namibia, in southwestern Africa. In 1883 Franz Adolf Luderitz, a merchant from Bremen, Germany, established a trading post in southwest Africa at Angra Pequena, which he renamed Luderitzbucht. He ...