Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Jajce ... James, Elmore

Jajce: town in Bosnia and Hercegovina, 29 miles (47 km) south of Banja Luka, on the Vrbas River. The ancient capital of the Bosnian kings, it fell to the Turks in 1461, when the last king was executed. It was taken ...
jajmani system: reciprocal social and economic arrangement between families of different castes within a village community in India, by which one family exclusively performs certain services for the other, such as ministering to the ritual, barbering, or providing agricultural labour. These relations ...
Jakarta: largest city and capital of Indonesia. Coextensive with the metropolitan district of Jakarta Raya, it lies at the mouth of the Ciliwung (Liwung River) on the northwest coast of Java.
Jakobshavn: town on the west coast of Greenland, near the mouth of Jakobshavn Fjord on Disko Bay. The town's first permanent houses were built by Danes in 1741 on the site of a Greenlandic (Eskimo) settlement. It was named in honour ...
Jakobson, Roman: Russian born American linguist and Slavic-language scholar, a principal founder of the European movement in structural linguistics known as the Prague school. Jakobson extended the theoretical and practical concerns of the school into new areas of study.
Jakpa, Sumalia Ndewura: African king who founded a dynasty in Gonja, in what is now northern Ghana, in the early 17th century.
Jakun: any member of an aboriginal people found in the interior eastern portions of the Malay Peninsula. The major Jakun subgroups include the Biduanda, Mantera, Orang Laut, Orang Kanak, and Orang Ulu. The combined population was about 20,000 in the late ...
Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi: the greatest Sufi mystic and poet in the Persian language, famous for his lyrics and for his didactic epic Masnavi-ye Ma'navi ("Spiritual Couplets"), which widely influenced Muslim mystical thought and literature. Rumi's influence on Turkish cultural life ...
Jalal-Abad: city, western Kyrgyzstan. Though made a city in 1877, it remained essentially a large village. Given city status again in 1927, it now is a regional centre for food processing and other light industries and has a theatre and a ...
Jalalabad: capital of Nangarhar velayat (province), eastern Afghanistan, on the Kabul River, at an altitude of 1,940 ft (590 m). It lies on the route from Kabul, the Afghan capital (110 mi [177 km] north-northwest), via the Khyber Pass to Peshawar, ...
Jalapa: city, capital of Veracruz state, east central Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Oriental, at 4,681 ft (1,427 m) above sea level. When Hernan Cortes marched through it in 1519, it was a thriving Indian village. The city is known for ...
Jalapa: department, southeastern Guatemala, with an area of 797 sq mi (2,063 sq km). Its area includes the continental divide, and it is drained by the affluents of the Motagua and Ostua rivers. The climate is mild in the valleys but ...
Jalapa: city, southeastern Guatemala, located in a picturesque valley of the central highlands at an elevation of 4,469 feet (1,362 metres) above sea level. Jalapa functions as a commercial, manufacturing, and administrative centre for the fertile agricultural and pastoral hinterland. Because ...
Jalaun: town and district, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. The district occupies an area of 1,756 sq mi (4,549 sq km) on the Ganges alluvial plain and is bounded on the north by the Yamuna River. The Betwa Canal system provides ...
Jalayirid: Mongol tribe that supported the Il-Khan Hulegu's rise to power and eventually provided the successors to the Il-Khan dynasty as rulers of Iraq and Azerbaijan. A Jalayirid dynasty made its capital at Baghdad (1336-1432).
Jalayirid school: school of miniature painting that flourished in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Jalayirids, a local dynasty of governors in power from 1336 to 1432. Along with their contemporaries, the Mozaffarids of southern Iran, the Jalayirid school developed a system of perspective, ...
Jaldapara Wild Life Sanctuary: wildlife preserve in West Bengal state, northeastern India. The preserve was established in 1941 mainly for the protection of the great Indian rhinoceros. It extends over an area of 84 square miles (217 square km) in the northern part of ...
Jalgaon: city, northern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies along the Bombay-Nagpur road and the Bombay-Allahabad railway. Although insignificant before the 19th century, it then attracted merchants and weavers so that it could boast of more than 400 handlooms by 1860. ...
Jalili Family: prominent Iraqi family that ruled the Ottoman pasalik (province) of Mosul (in modern Iraq) in the period 1726-1834. Although the founder of the Jalili line, 'Abd al-Jalil, was a Christian slave, his son Isma'il distinguished himself as a Muslim public ...
Jalingo: town, capital of Taraba state, eastern Nigeria. It became a state capital in 1991 after Gongola state was divided into Adamawa and Taraba states. Jalingo lies in the savanna-covered foothills of the Shebshi Mountains about 25 miles (40 km) southeast ...
Jalisco: estado ("state"), west-central Mexico. It is bounded by the states of Nayarit and Aguascalientes and Zacatecas (north), Guanajuato (east), Michoacan and Colima (south), and by the Pacific Ocean (west). Its capital is Guadalajara (q.v.). The Sierra Madre Occidental traverses the ...
Jalor: city, southwestern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It lies just south of the Sukri River, which is a tributary of the Luni River. Jalor is connected by road with Jodhpur and is the agricultural market for the surrounding area. A medieval ...
Jalpaiguri: city, northern West Bengal state, northeastern India, just west of the Tista River. The chief agricultural distributing centre of the state, the city is connected by road and rail with Darjeeling, Siliguri, and Saidpur (Bangladesh). Jute pressing, sawmilling, and match ...
Jaluit Atoll: coral formation in the Ralik (western) chain of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, situated in the west-central Pacific Ocean. The atoll has a total land area of 4.4 square miles (11.4 square km) and a lagoon that is easily ...
Jam, the: British rock group that emerged at the height of the punk rock movement but whose sound and image were greatly influenced by the British mod bands of the early 1960s. The principal members were Paul Weller (b. May 25, 1958, ...
Jama'are: town and traditional emirate, Bauchi state, northern Nigeria. The town is situated along the Jamaari River, which is a tributary of the Katagum, and at the intersection of roads leading from Wudil, Azare, and Faggo. Traditionally founded in 1811 by ...
Jamaame: town, southern Somalia, eastern Africa. Jamaame is situated on the eastern bank of the lower Jubba River, in the southeastern coastal lowlands near the Indian Ocean. The town is an important agricultural, commercial, and industrial centre. Bananas, the major crop, ...
Jamaica: island nation of the West Indies. It is the third largest island in the Caribbean Sea, after Cuba and Hispaniola, with an area of 4,244 square miles (10,991 square km)-about half the size of Wales. Jamaica is about 146 miles ...
Jamaica Bay: shallow inlet of the Atlantic Ocean covering about 20 square miles (50 square km) on the southwestern shore of Long Island, southeastern New York, U.S. Part of the Port of New York, the bay is sheltered on the south by ...
Jamaican fruit bat: a common and widespread bat of Central and South America with a fleshy nose leaf resembling a third ear positioned on the muzzle. The Jamaican fruit bat has gray-brown fur and indistinct, whitish facial stripes. It has no tail, and ...
Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani: Muslim politician, political agitator, and journalist whose belief in the potency of a revived Islamic civilization in the face of European domination significantly influenced the development of Muslim thought in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Jamalpur: city, north-central Bangladesh, on the west bank of the Old Brahmaputra River. An important trade centre for rice, jute, oilseeds, sugarcane, and tobacco, it is connected by rail with Mymensingh, Jagannathganj Ghat, and Bahadurabad Ghat and by road with Mymensingh ...
Jamalpur: town, central Bihar state, northeastern India. It is situated at the foot of the Monghyr Ghat (hills) near the Ganges River. The town was established in 1862 as a railway settlement and contains large locomotive engineering workshops, as well as ...
Jamalzadeh, Mohammad Ali: Iranian prose writer who became one of the most important figures in 20th-century Persian literature.
Jambi: kotamadya (city) and propinsi (province), southeastern Sumatra, Indonesia. The province is bounded by Bengkulu and Sumatera Selatan ("South Sumatra") provinces on the south, by Sumatera Barat ("West Sumatra") province on the west and northwest, by Riau province on the north, ...
jamdani: type of figured muslin that is one of the greatest accomplishments of the Indian weaver. The origins of figured muslin are not clear; it is mentioned in Sanskrit literature of the Gupta period (4th-6th century AD). It is known, however, ...
James Bay: shallow southern extension of Hudson Bay, located between northern Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Generally less than 200 feet (60 m) deep, the bay is 275 miles (443 km) long and 135 miles (217 km) wide and contains numerous islands, all ...
James Edward, The Old Pretender: son of the deposed Roman Catholic monarch James II of England and claimant to the English and Scottish thrones. Styled James III of England and James VIII of Scotland by his supporters, he made several halfhearted efforts to gain his ...
James I: king of Scotland (as James VI) from 1567 to 1625 and first Stuart king of England from 1603 to 1625, who styled himself "king of Great Britain." James was a strong advocate of royal absolutism, and his conflicts with an ...
James I: king of Scots from 1406 to 1437. During the 13 years (1424-37) in which he had control of the government, he established the first strong monarchy the Scots had known in nearly a century.
James I: the most renowned of the medieval kings of Aragon (1213-76), who added the Balearic Islands and Valencia to his realm and thus initiated the Catalan-Aragonese expansion in the Mediterranean that was to reach its zenith in the last decades of ...
James II: king of Scots from 1437 to 1460. He survived the civil strife of the first half of his reign and eventually emerged as a masterful ruler who consolidated his power throughout the kingdom.
James II: king of Great Britain from 1685 to 1688, and the last Stuart monarch in the direct male line. He was deposed in the Glorious Revolution (1688-89) and replaced by William III and Mary II. That revolution, engendered by James's Roman ...
James II: king of Aragon from 1295 to 1327 and king of Sicily (as James I) from 1285 to 1295.
James III: king of Scots from 1460 to 1488. A weak monarch, he was confronted with two major rebellions because he failed to win the respect of the nobility.
James IV: king of Scotland from 1488 to 1513. An energetic and popular ruler, he unified Scotland under royal control, strengthened royal finances, and improved Scotland's position in European politics.
James River: river in central Virginia, U.S., formed by the junction of the Jackson and Cowpasture rivers and cutting across the Great Appalachian Valley in northern Botetourt county. It flows in an easterly direction, crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains through a series ...
James River: river rising in Wells county, central North Dakota, U.S., and flowing in a generally south-southeasterly direction across South Dakota, to join the Missouri River about 5 miles (8 km) below Yankton after a course of 710 miles (1,140 km). Major ...
James V: king of Scotland from 1513 to 1542.
James, C.L.R.: West Indian-born cultural historian, cricket writer, and political activist who was a leading figure in the Pan-African movement.
James, Elmore: American blues singer-guitarist noted for the urgent intensity of his singing and guitar playing. He was a significant influence on the development of rock music.