Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Lankaran ... Lapita culture

Lankaran: city, southeastern Azerbaijan. It lies on the shore of the Caspian Sea, in the Lankaran Lowland. First mentioned in the 17th century, it was capital of the Talysh khanate of Iran in the 18th century. It was held by Russia ...
Lankavatara-sutra: (Sanskrit: "Sutra of the Appearance of the Good Doctrine in Lanka"), distinctive and influential philosophical discourse in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition that is said to have been preached by the Buddha in the mythical city Lanka. Dating from perhaps the ...
Lankester, Sir Edwin Ray: British authority on general zoology at the turn of the 19th century, who made important contributions to comparative anatomy, embryology, parasitology, and anthropology.
Lanman, Charles Rockwell: American scholar of Sanskrit who wrote the widely used Sanskrit Reader (1884) and helped edit the "Harvard Oriental Series," which offered scholarly English translations of the ancient Hindu Vedic texts.
Lannes, Jean, duc de Montebello: French general who, despite his humble origins, rose to the rank of marshal of the First Empire; Napoleon said of him, "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant."
lanolin: purified form of wool grease or wool wax (sometimes erroneously called wool fat), used either alone or with soft paraffin or lard or other fat as a base for ointments, emollients, skin foods, salves, superfatted soaps, and fur dressing. Lanolin, ...
Lanrezac, Charles: French army commander during the first part of World War I who, though a capable tactician, proved unable to stop the German advance in northern France and was consequently replaced.
Lansbury, Angela: British-born American character actress who achieved success and acclaim for her stage, film, and television work.
Lansbury, George: leader of the British Labour Party (1931-35), a Socialist and poor-law reformer who was forced to resign the party leadership because of his extreme pacifism.
Lansdowne, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th marquess of: Irish nobleman and British diplomat who served as viceroy of Canada and of India, secretary for war, and foreign secretary.
Lansdowne, William Petty-Fitzmaurice, 1st marquess of: British statesman and prime minister (July 1782 to April 1783) during the reign of George III.
Lansel, Peider: Romansh leader of the revival of Rhaeto-Romance language and culture and one of its most accomplished lyric poets.
Lansing: capital of Michigan, U.S., in Ingham county, on the Grand River at its junction with the Red Cedar River. The site was a wilderness when the state capital was moved there from Detroit (85 mi [137 km] southeast) in 1847. ...
Lansing, Robert: international lawyer and U.S. secretary of state (1915-20), who negotiated the Lansing-Ishii Agreement (1917) attempting to harmonize U.S.-Japanese relations toward China; he eventually broke with Pres. Woodrow Wilson over differences in approach to the League of Nations.
Lansing-Ishii Agreement: (Nov. 2, 1917), attempt to reconcile conflicting U.S. and Japanese policies in China during World War I by a public exchange of notes between the U.S. secretary of state, Robert Lansing, and Viscount Ishii Kikujiro of Japan, a special envoy ...
Lansky, Meyer: one of the most powerful and richest of U.S. crime syndicate chiefs and bankers, who had major interests in gambling, especially in Florida, pre-Castro Cuba, Las Vegas, and the Bahamas.
Lantana: genus of more than 150 shrubs native to tropical America and Africa and belonging to the verbena family (Verbenaceae), order Lamiales. Common lantana (L. camara; see ), growing to 3 metres (10 feet) tall, is a weed in tropical America, ...
Lantao Island: island located about 6 miles (10 km) west of Hong Kong Island, part of the New Territories of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. About 17 miles (27 km) long and 6 miles (9.5 km) wide, it has ...
lantern: in architecture, originally an openwork timber construction placed on top of a building to admit light and allow smoke to escape. Something of this idea persists in medieval examples such as the lantern above the central octagon of Ely Cathedral ...
lantern: a case, ordinarily metal, with transparent or translucent sides, used to contain and protect a lamp.
lantern fish: any of the numerous species of small, abundant, deep-sea fish of the family Myctophidae. Lantern fish live in the depths by day, but at night they may approach the surface and can sometimes be attracted to lights. They are somewhat ...
lantern of the dead: small stone structure with windows in the upper part, in which lamps were placed to mark the position of a cemetery at night. Their use, which seems limited to western and central France, is probably owing to a traditional survival ...
lantern tree: (Crinodendron hookeranum), tree of the family Elaeocarpaceae native to western South America and cultivated in other regions for its handsome flowers. It grows to 4.5 to 7.5 m (15 to 25 feet) in height. The urn-shaped, dark red flowers are ...
lantern-eye fish: any of three species of fishes in the family Anomalopidae (order Beryciformes), characterized by the presence of luminescent organs just below the eye. They are among the few species of non-deep-sea fishes to possess such organs. Phosphorescent bacteria create the ...
lanternfly: (Lanternaria phosphorea), a large, brightly coloured South American plant hopper (order Homoptera) that lives on trees and is relatively uncommon. Its most remarkable feature is the inflated anterior prolongation of the head, which contains a pouchlike extension from the digestive ...
lanthanide contraction: in chemistry, the steady decrease in the size of the atoms and ions of the rare-earth elements with increasing atomic number from lanthanum (atomic number 57) through lutetium (atomic number 71). For each consecutive atom the nuclear charge is more ...
lanthanum: (La), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table, prototype of the lanthanide series of elements. Lanthanum is a ductile and malleable, silvery-white metal, soft enough to be cut with a knife. The element was discovered ...
Lantian man: fossils of hominins (members of the human lineage) found in 1963 and 1964 by Chinese archaeologists at two sites in Lantian district, Shaanxi province, China. One specimen was found at each site: a cranium (skullcap) at Gongwangling (Kung-wang-ling) and a ...
Lantz, Walter: American motion-picture animator, cartoon producer, and creator of the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker.
Lanza, Giovanni: Italian statesman and political activist of the Risorgimento who was premier in 1870 when Rome became the capital of a united Italy and who helped organize the political forces of the centre-left.
Lanzarote: island, Las Palmas provincia, in Canarias comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community"), Spain. It is the easternmost of the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic. It has an area of 307 square miles (795 square km), and, although it rises to only ...
Lao Cai: town, northwestern Vietnam, on the China-Vietnam border. It lies at the junction of the Red River (Song Hong) and the Nam Ti River about 160 miles (260 km) northwest of Hanoi. It is a market town for timber from the ...
Lao Issara: Laotian political movement against French colonial control, founded in 1945. The departure of the Japanese from Laos in 1945 left the Laotian ruling elite divided over the issue of the restoration of French control. The king welcomed the French return, ...
Lao language: one of the Tai languages of Southeast Asia, and the official language of Laos. Lao occurs in various dialects, which differ among themselves at least as much as Lao as a group differs from the Tai dialects of northeastern Thailand. ...
Lao She: Chinese author of humorous, satiric novels and short stories and, after the onset of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), of patriotic and propagandistic plays and novels.
Lao-ho-k'ou: town in northern Hupeh sheng (province), China. It is situated on the Han River at its confluence with the Lao River, some 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Hsiang-fan.
Lao-tzu: the first philosopher of Chinese Taoism and alleged author of the Tao-te Ching (q.v.), a primary Taoist writing. Modern scholars discount the possibility that the Tao-te Ching was written by only one person but readily acknowledge the influence of Taoism ...
Laoag: city, northwestern Luzon, Philippines. It lies on the north bank of the nonnavigable Laoag River, a few miles above the latter's mouth. Laoag was first occupied by the Spaniards in 1572 and is now the largest city in northern Luzon.
Laocoon: in Greek legend, a seer and a priest of the god Apollo; he was the son of Agenor of Troy or, according to some, the brother of Anchises (the father of the hero Aeneas). Laocoon offended Apollo by breaking his ...
Laodicea: the ancient name of several cities of western Asia, mostly founded or rebuilt in the 3rd century BC by rulers of the Seleucid dynasty, and named after Laodice, the mother of Seleucus I Nicator, or after Laodice, daughter (or possibly ...
Laoighis: county in the province of Leinster, east-central Ireland, formerly called Queen's county. It is bounded by Counties Offaly (north and west), Kildare (east), Carlow and Kilkenny (south), and Tipperary (southwest). The county consists mainly of the valleys of the upper ...
Laomedon: legendary king of Troy and father of Podarces (later famous as King Priam of Troy). Laomedon refused to give the gods Apollo and Poseidon their wages after they had built the walls of Troy for him. The gods therefore sent ...
Laon: town, capital of Aisne departement, Picardie region, northern France. It lies northwest of Reims and northeast of Paris. The picturesque old town, situated on the summit of a scarped hill, stands high above the new town, which spreads out over ...
Laos: landlocked country located on the Indochinese Peninsula. It is bounded on the north by China, on the northeast and east by Vietnam, on the south by Cambodia, on the west by Thailand, and on the northwest by Myanmar (Burma). Laos ...
Lapai: town and traditional emirate, southeastern Niger state, west-central Nigeria. It lies near the Gurara River, which is a tributary to the Niger River. It was originally inhabited by the Gbari (Gwari) people, who were subject to the Hausa kingdom of ...
laparoscopy: procedure that permits visual examination of the abdominal cavity with an optical instrument called a laparoscope, which is inserted through a small incision made in the abdominal wall. The term comes from the Greek word laparo, meaning "flank," and skopein, ...
lapidary style: in calligraphy, style of lettering characteristically used for inscription in marble or other stone by chisel strokes, as, for example, on Trajan's Column in the Forum at Rome. The words of the inscription may be painted upon the stone slab ...
lapies: weathered limestone surface found in karst regions and consisting of etched, fluted, and pitted rock pinnacles separated by deep grooves. This rugged surface is formed by the solution of rock along joints and areas of greater solubility by water containing ...
lapillus: unconsolidated volcanic fragment with a diameter between 4 and 32 mm (0.16 and 1.26 inches) that was ejected during a volcanic explosion. Lapilli may consist of fresh magma, solid magma from a prior eruption, or basement rocks through which the ...
lapis lazuli: semiprecious stone valued for its deep blue colour. The source of the pigment ultramarine (q.v.), it is not a mineral but a rock coloured by lazurite (see sodalite). In addition to the sodalite minerals in lapis lazuli, small amounts of ...
Lapita culture: cultural complex of what were presumably the original human settlers of Melanesia, much of Polynesia, and parts of Micronesia, and dating from between 1600 and 500 BC. It is named for a type of fired pottery that was first extensively ...