Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Ishbosheth ... Isma'il I ibn Ahmad

Ishbosheth: in the Old Testament (II Samuel 2:8-4:12), fourth son of King Saul and the last representative of his family to be king over Israel (the northern kingdom, as opposed to the southern kingdom of Judah). His name was originally Ishbaal ...
Isherwood, B F: U.S. naval engineer who, during the American Civil War, greatly augmented the U.S. Navy's steam-powered fleet.
Isherwood, Christopher: Anglo-American novelist and playwright best known for his novels about Berlin in the early 1930s.
Ishibashi Tanzan: politician, economist, and journalist who was prime minister of Japan from December 1956 to February 1957.
Ishida Baigan: Japanese scholar who originated the moral-education movement called Shingaku ("Heart Learning"), which sought to popularize ethics among the common people.
Ishida Mitsunari: Japanese warrior whose defeat in the famous Battle of Sekigahara (1600) allowed the Tokugawa family to become undisputed rulers of Japan.
Ishiguro, Kazuo: Japanese-born novelist known for his lyrical tales of regret fused with subtle optimism.
Ishii Kikujiro, Shishaku: (Viscount) Japanese statesman and diplomat who effectively championed a cautious expansion of Japan and cooperation with the West in the decades immediately before and after World War I.
Ishikari-gawa: (Japanese: Ishikari River), river, in Hokkaido, Japan, rising near the centre of the Kitami-sammyaku (Kitami Mountains). It flows for 120 mi (200 km) southwest in a broad arc, draining the Kamikawa-bonchi (Kamikawa Basin), the Sorachi-gawa (Sorachi River) lowland, and the ...
Ishikawa: prefecture (ken), western Honshu, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan. Its area of 1,620 sq mi (4,196 sq km) includes the western stretch of the Japanese Alps (southeast). Although snowfall is abundant, temperatures are not low. There is a predominance ...
Ishikawa Takuboku: Japanese poet, a master of tanka, a traditional Japanese verse form, whose works enjoyed immediate popularity for their freshness and startling imagery.
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Company, Ltd.: major Japanese manufacturer of heavy machinery and oceangoing ships. Headquarters are in Tokyo.
Ishim River: river in Kazakstan and Tyumen and Omsk oblasti (provinces) of south-central Russia. A left-bank tributary of the Irtysh (Ertis), it rises in the Niyaz Hills in the north of the Saryarqa (Kazak Uplands), flows west through Astana, and then north ...
Ishimbay: city, Bashkiriya republic, western Russia. Ishimbay lies along the Belaya (White) River. It was the earliest centre of the oil industry in the Volga-Urals oil field, which was first exploited in 1932, and of the first oil refinery started in ...
Ishinomaki: city, Miyagi Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the estuary of the Kitakami-gawa (Kitakami River). The city was founded in the 4th century and was a prosperous rice-shipping port during the Tokugawa era (1603-1867). The opening of the Tohoku Line (railway) ...
Ishkur: in Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian god of the rain and thunderstorms of spring. He was the city god of Bit Khakhuru (perhaps to be identified with modern Al-Jidr) in the central steppe region.
Ishmael ben Elisha: Jewish tanna (Talmudic teacher) and sage who left an enduring imprint on Talmudic literature and on Judaism. He is generally referred to simply as Rabbi Ishmael.
Ishpeming: city, Marquette county, northwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan, U.S., in the Marquette Iron Range, 12 mi (19 km) southwest of Marquette. Founded in 1844 as a centre for iron-mining activities, its name is Indian for "high grounds." Since the 1880s ...
Ishtar: in Mesopotamian religion, goddess of war and sexual love. Ishtar is the Akkadian counterpart of the West Semitic goddess Astarte. Inanna, an important goddess in the Sumerian pantheon, came to be identified with Ishtar, but it is uncertain whether Inanna ...
Ishtar Gate: enormous burnt-brick entryway located over the main thoroughfare in the ancient city of Babylon (now in Iraq). Built about 575 BC, it became the eighth fortified gate in the city. The Ishtar Gate was more than 38 feet (12 metres) ...
Ishtar Terra: the smaller of two continent-sized highland areas (terrae) on the planet Venus. Ishtar lies in Venus's northern hemisphere, extending from about latitude 45° N to 75° N and from about longitude 300° E to 75° E. It is about half ...
Isidore Of Kiev: Greek Orthodox patriarch of Russia, Roman cardinal, Humanist, and theologian who strove for reunion of Greek and Latin Christendom but was forced into exile because of concerted opposition, particularly from the Byzantine and Russian Orthodox churches, and by the fall ...
Isidore of Sevilla, Saint: theologian, last of the Western Latin Fathers, archbishop, and encyclopaedist, whose Etymologies, an encyclopaedia of human and divine subjects, was one of the chief landmarks in glossography (the compilation of glossaries) and was for many centuries one ...
Isin: ancient Mesopotamian city, probably the origin of a large mound near Ad-Diwaniyah, in southern Iraq.
isinglass: thin sheets of mica, particularly of muscovite (q.v.).
Isinglass: (foaled 1890), racehorse (Thoroughbred) who won the British Triple Crown in 1893 and earned a then record for a British horse of more than $235,000 (record broken in 1952) during his racing career.
Isis: one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt. Her name is the Greek form of an ancient Egyptian word that is perhaps associated with a word for "throne."
Iskandar Muda: sultan of Acheh (Atjeh) in northern Sumatra, under whom the region achieved its greatest territorial expansion and an international reputation as a centre of trade and of Islamic learning.
Iskandariyah, Al-: muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. The muhafazah is densely settled in the north in and around its capital, Alexandria (Al-Iskandariyah); it includes a desert hinterland extending south more than 50 miles (80 km) into the ...
Iskander, Fazil: Abkhazian author who wrote in Russian and used gentle humour to expose and satirize a variety of social ills.
Iskenderun: seaport and chief city of Iskenderun ilce (district), Hatay il (province), southern Turkey, located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Iskenderun. It lies on or near the site of Alexandria ad Issum, ...
Iskur River: longest river in Bulgaria, formed south of Samokov in the Rila Mountains by its headstreams, the Beli (White) Iskur and Cherni (Black) Iskur. It cuts a 40-mi (65-km) gorge through the Balkan Mountains to bring the high basin of Sofia ...
Isla, Jose Francisco de: Spanish satirist and preacher noted for his novel known as Fray Gerundio.
Islam: major world religion belonging to the Semitic family; it was promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century AD. The Arabic term islam, literally "surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam-that the believer ...
Islam, Pillars of: the five duties incumbent on every Muslim: shahadah, the Muslim profession of faith; salat, or ritual prayer, performed in a prescribed manner five times each day; zakat, the alms tax levied ...
Islamabad: city, capital of Pakistan, on the Potwar Plateau, 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Rawalpindi, the former interim capital.
Islamic bath: public bathing establishment developed in countries under Islamic rule that reflects the fusion of a primitive Eastern bath tradition and the elaborate Roman bathing process. A typical bath house consists of a series of rooms, each varying in temperature according ...
Islamic caste: any of the units of social stratification that developed among Muslims in India and Pakistan as a result of the proximity of Hindu culture. Most of the South Asian Muslims were recruited from the Hindu population; despite the egalitarian tenets ...
Islamic Conference, Organization of the: an Islamic organization established in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in May 1971, following summits by Muslim heads of state and government in 1969 and by Muslim foreign ministers in 1970. The membership includes Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Brunei, Burkina Faso, ...
Islamic Development Bank: Muslim bank directed toward financing the economic and social development of members in accordance with the principles of the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law). Conceived by the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 1973, the bank was headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi ...
Islamic world: prehistory and history of the Islamic community.
island: any area of land smaller than a continent and entirely surrounded by water. Islands may occur in oceans, seas, lakes, or rivers. A group of islands is called an archipelago.
island arc: long, curved chain of oceanic islands associated with intense volcanic and seismic activity and orogenic (mountain-building) processes. Prime examples of this form of geologic feature include the Aleutian-Alaska Arc and the Kuril-Kamchatka Arc.
Islands, Bay of: bay of the South Pacific Ocean and geographic region, northern North Island, New Zealand, formed when the sea flooded an old river valley system. The bay has a shoreline of 500 miles (800 km) and about 150 islands. It opens ...
Islay: most southerly island of the offshore Atlantic group known as the Inner Hebrides, in Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, Scotland. It is separated from the island of Jura by the Sound of Islay, which is 0.9 ...
Isle Royale: centre of a wilderness archipelago and the largest island in Lake Superior, northwestern Michigan, U.S. Administered as part of Keweenaw county, it lies 56 miles (90 km) from the Upper Peninsula shore and 15 miles (24 km) from the Canadian ...
Isley Brothers, the: American rhythm-and-blues and rock band that began recording in the late 1950s and continued to have hit records in the '60s and '70s. The original members were Kelly Isley (byname of O'Kelly Isley, Jr.; b. Dec. 25, 1937, Cincinnati, Ohio, ...
Islington: inner borough of London, part of the historic county of Middlesex, located directly north of the City of London. It was established in 1965 by amalgamation of the former metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury. The borough includes the areas ...
Isma'il: in full Isma'il Ibn Sharif second ruler of the 'Alawi dynasty of Morocco; his long reign (1672-1727) saw the consolidation of 'Alawi power, the development of an effective army trained in European military techniques, and the introduction of French influence ...
Isma'il I: shah of Iran (1501-24) and religious leader who founded the Safavid dynasty (first native dynasty to rule the kingdom in 800 years) and converted Iran from the Sunni to the Shi'i sect of Islam.
Isma'il I ibn Ahmad: (reigned 892-907), one of the Persian Samanid dynasty's most famous sovereigns, who was generous, brave, just, and cultivated. Originally governor of Transoxiana at the age of 21, he extended his domains throughout Tabaristan and Khorasan and, though nominally under the ...