Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

0-9

Nasser, Lake ... National Book Awards

Nasser, Lake: reservoir on the Nile River, in Upper Egypt and northern Sudan. It was created by the impounding of the Nile's waters by the Aswan High Dam, which was built in the 1960s and dedicated in 1971. With a gross capacity ...
Nast, Thomas: American cartoonist, best known for his attack on the political machine of William M. Tweed in New York City in the 1870s.
nasta'liq script: predominant style of Persian calligraphy during the 15th and 16th centuries. The inventor was Mir 'Ali of Tabriz, the most famous calligrapher of the Timurid period (1402-1502).
Nastase, Ilie: Romanian tennis player known for his on-court histrionics and outstanding Davis Cup play. He was the first European to surpass $1 million in career prize money and was ranked number one in the world in 1973.
nasturtium: any of various annual plants of the genus Tropaeolum, in the family Tropaeolaceae, native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America and introduced into other regions as cultivated garden plants. Nasturtium is also a genus of aquatic herbs of ...
nat: in Burmese folk religion, any of a group of spirits that are the objects of an extensive, probably pre-Buddhist cult; in Thailand a similar spirit is called phi. Most important of the nats are a group collectively called the "thirty-seven," ...
Natal: former province of South Africa. It was the smallest of the four traditional provinces and occupied the southeastern part of the country.
Natal: city, capital of Rio Grande do Norte estado (state), northeastern Brazil, situated near the mouth of the Potengi River, or Rio Grande do Norte, on the Atlantic coast. Founded by the Portuguese in 1597 near the site ...
Natal grass: any of several southern African grasses of the family Poaceae, and species Rhynchelytrum repens (formerly Tricholaena rosea), which in some areas is known as Natal red top. It is a tufted, perennial with glossy, purple or pink hairs on the ...
Natalis, Alexander: controversial theologian and ecclesiastical historian who clashed with Rome for expressing Gallicanism, a French position advocating restriction of papal power, and for defending Jansenism, a religious movement of nonorthodox tendencies in France.
Nataraja: (Sanskrit: "Lord of Dance"), the Hindu god Siva (Shiva) in his form as the cosmic dancer, represented in metal or stone in most Saiva temples of South India.
Natchez: city, seat (1817) of Adams county, southwestern Mississippi, U.S., on the Mississippi River (there bridged to Vidalia, Louisiana), about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Vicksburg. Established in 1716 as Fort Rosalie by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, it survived ...
Natchez: North American Indian tribe of the Macro-Algonquian linguistic phylum that inhabited the east side of the lower Mississippi River. In the early 18th century at the time of the first French settlement, the tribe numbered about 6,000, living in nine ...
Natchez Trace Parkway: scenic and historic roadway, extending 444 miles (715 km) through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, U.S. It begins in Natchez, Mississippi, and, generally following a Native American trail in a northeasterly direction, ends near Nashville, Tennessee. It passes through the Mississippi ...
Natchitoches: city, seat (1807) of Natchitoches parish, west-central Louisiana, U.S., on Cane River Lake, 68 miles (109 km) southeast of Shreveport. The oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory, it was founded about 1714 as Fort St. Jean Baptiste by ...
Natha: religious movement of India whose members strive for immortality by transforming the human body into an imperishable divine body. It combines esoteric traditions drawn from Buddhism, Saivism (worship of the Hindu deity Siva), and Hatha Yoga, with a liking for ...
Nathan, George Jean: U.S. author, editor, and drama critic, who is credited with raising the standards of play producers and playgoers alike.
Nathan, Maud: American social welfare leader who helped to found the National Consumers League.
Nathans, Daniel: American microbiologist who was corecipient, with Hamilton Othanel Smith of the United States and Werner Arber of Switzerland, of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The three scientists were cited for their discovery and application of restriction enzymes ...
Nathdwara: town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one ...
Natick: town (township), Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Boston. The first recorded settlement there was made in 1650, when the missionary John Eliot was granted the land for use as a plantation for his "praying ...
nation: in medieval education, the basic organizational form of early European universities. A nation was formed when groups of students from a particular region or country banded together for mutual protection and welfare in a strange land. In some universities nations ...
Nation of Islam: African American movement and organization, founded in 1930 and known for its teachings combining elements of traditional Islam with black nationalist ideas. The Nation also promotes racial unity and self-help and maintains a strict code of discipline among members.
Nation, Carry: American temperance advocate famous for using a hatchet to demolish barrooms.
Nation, The: American weekly journal of opinion, the oldest such continuously published periodical still extant. It is generally considered the leading liberal magazine of its kind. It was founded in 1865 by Edwin L. Godkin at the urging of Frederick Law Olmstead.
National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League: American organization, founded in 1969 to centralize state abortion-rights efforts and continuing its mission thereafter to protect and promote reproductive freedom. The organization consists of three related entities: NARAL Inc., a nonprofit organization that focuses on defending abortion rights and ...
National Academy of Sciences: nongovernmental American organization of scientists and engineers, established March 3, 1863, by act of Congress to serve as an official adviser to the government in all matters of science and technology. It is a self-perpetuating body of limited membership; new ...
National Action Bloc: first Moroccan political party, founded in 1934 to counteract mounting French domination of Morocco and to secure recognition of the equality of Moroccans and Frenchmen under the French protectorate.
National Action Party: conservative Mexican political party with close ties to the Roman Catholic church. It generally supports minimal government intervention in the economy.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: independent U.S. governmental agency established in 1958 for the research and development of vehicles and activities for the exploration of space within and outside of Earth's atmosphere.
National Alliance: nationalist anticommunist political party of Italy. Historically, some of its members held neofascist views.
National American Woman Suffrage Association: American organization created in 1890 by the merger of the two major rival women's rights organizations-the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association-after 21 years of independent operation. NAWSA was initially headed by past executives of the ...
national anthem: hymn or song expressing patriotic sentiment and either governmentally authorized as an official national hymn or holding that position in popular feeling. The oldest national anthem is Great Britain's "God Save the Queen," which was described as a national anthem ...
National Aquarium: oldest public aquarium in the United States. Originally built at Woods Hole, Mass., in 1873, the aquarium was relocated to a site in Washington, D.C., in 1888. Since 1932 it has been located in the basement of the U.S. Department ...
National Aquarium in Baltimore: one of the largest public aquariums in the United States. The aquarium, which opened in 1981 in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Md., was financed largely by the city but was designated a "national" aquarium by the U.S. Congress. ...
National Archaeological Museum: in Athens, museum of ancient Greek art, containing probably the finest collection of Greek antiquities in the world. The museum was erected in 1866-89 and extended in 1925-39, when an additional wing was built. The holdings include sculpture, bronzes, pottery, ...
National Army Museum: museum of the British army. Established in 1960 at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, it has occupied purpose-built premises since 1971 on Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London.
National Art Gallery: in Wellington, N.Z., national collection of paintings by New Zealand and European artists and portraits of prominent New Zealand figures. The gallery grew out of the city's first public art gallery, opened in 1907 by the New Zealand Academy of ...
National Assembly: any of various historical French parliaments or houses of parliament. From June 17 to July 9, 1789, it was the name of the revolutionary assembly formed by representatives of the Third Estate; thereafter (until replaced by the Legislative Assembly on ...
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: interracial American organization created to work for the abolition of segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation; to oppose racism; and to ensure African Americans their constitutional rights. The NAACP was created in 1909 by an interracial ...
National Association of Colored Women: American organization formed at a convention in Washington, D.C., as the product of the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National League of Colored Women-organizations that had arisen out of the African American women's ...
National Association of Congregational Christian Churches: association of churches organized in Detroit, Mich., in 1955 by ministers and laymen of Congregational Christian Churches who did not wish to take part in the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church that formed ...
National Association of Evangelicals: fellowship of Evangelical Protestant groups in the United States, founded in 1942 by 147 Evangelical leaders. It embraces some 50 denominations, many independent religious organizations, local churches, groups of churches, and individual Christians. All members must subscribe to a Statement ...
National Association of Free Will Baptists: association of Baptist churches organized in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., in 1935. It traces its history back to Free Will, or Arminian, Baptists in the 18th century. These Baptists believed in free will, free grace, and free salvation, in contrast to ...
National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage: organization formed in New York City in 1911 during a convention of state antisuffrage groups. Led by Josephine Dodge, the founder and first president, the NAOWS believed that woman suffrage would decrease women's work in communities and their ability to ...
National Awakening Party: moderate Islamic political party in Indonesia.
national bank: in the United States, any commercial bank chartered and supervised by the federal government and operated by private individuals.
National Baptist Convention of the United States of America, Inc.: the larger of two associations of black Baptist churches that formed after a schism in 1915 in the National Baptist Convention. It is the largest black church in the United States and claimed a membership of about 8,500,000 in 30,000 ...
National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.: association of black Baptist churches formed in 1895 in Atlanta, Ga., from the merger of the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention (established 1880), the American National Baptist Convention (1886), and the Baptist National Education Convention (1893). A schism in 1915 resulted ...
National Basketball Association: professional basketball league formed in the United States in 1949 by the merger of two rival organizations, the National Basketball League (founded 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (founded 1946). In 1976 the NBA absorbed four teams from the ...
National Book Awards: annual awards given to books of the highest quality written by Americans and published by American publishers. The awards were founded in 1950 by the American Book Publishers Council, American Booksellers Association, and Book Manufacturers Institute. From 1976 to 1979 ...