Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Oriental Jews ... Orlov, Fyodor Grigoryevich, Graf

Oriental Jews: the approximately 1,500,000 Diaspora Jews who lived for several centuries in North Africa and the Middle East and whose ancestors did not reside in either Germany or Spain. They are thus distinguished from the two other major groups of Diaspora ...
Oriental lacquer: varnish resin derived from a tree indigenous to China, species Rhus vernicifera, commonly known as the varnish tree (q.v.). The manufacturing process was introduced into Japan and remained secret for centuries. A milklike emulsion secured from the tree is concentrated ...
Oriental sore: infectious disease that is a type of leishmaniasis (q.v.).
orientation: (from Latin oriens, orientum, "the rising sun"), in architecture, the position of a building in relation to an east-west axis. In Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as in pre-Columbian Central America, the important features of the buildings, such as entrances ...
orienteering: outdoor competitive sport that is similar to cross-country running, but with emphasis on map-reading and direction-finding skills. Through woods and over hills or rough plains, contestants plot courses between isolated control points that must usually be visited in sequence. Introduced ...
Origen: the most important theologian and biblical scholar of the early Greek church. His greatest work is the Hexapla, which is a synopsis of six versions of the Old Testament.
original sin: in Christian doctrine, the condition or state of sin into which each human being is born; also, the origin (i.e., the cause, or source) of this state. Traditionally, the origin has been ascribed to the sin of the first man, ...
Origins of the Olympic Winter Games: The first organized international competition involving winter sports was introduced just five years after the birth of the modern Olympics in 1896. This competition, the Nordic Games, included only athletes from the Scandinavian countries and was held quadrenially in Sweden, ...
Orihuela: town, Alicante provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Valencia, southeastern Spain. Orihuela lies in the fertile Vega (flat lowland) del Segura, just northeast of Murcia city. A pre-Roman settlement, it became the Roman Orcelis. Captured by the Moors ...
Orillia: city, Simcoe county, southeastern Ontario, Canada, 60 miles (100 km) north of Toronto, between Lakes Couchiching and Simcoe. The name, probably derived from the Spanish orilla ("border," "shore," or "bank"), was suggested by Sir Peregrine Maitland, lieutenant governor of Upper ...
Orinoco River: major river of South America that flows in a giant arc for some 1,700 miles (2,740 kilometres) from its source in the Guiana Highlands to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. Throughout most of its course it flows through Venezuela, ...
oriole: any of 24 species of birds of the Old World genus Oriolus, family Oriolidae, or, in the New World, any of the 30 species of Icterus, family Icteridae. Both are families of perching birds (order Passeriformes). Males of either group ...
Orioles, the: American vocal group of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The members were Sonny Til (byname of Earlington Carl Tilghman; b. Aug. 18, 1925, Baltimore, Md., U.S., -d. Dec. 9, 1981, Washington, D.C., ), Alexander Sharp (b. December 1919, ...
Orion: in Greek mythology, a giant and very handsome hunter who was identified as early as Homer with the constellation known by his name.
Orion: in astronomy, major constellation lying at about 5 hours 30 minutes right ascension (the coordinate on the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and zero declination (at the celestial equator), named for the Greek mythological hunter. Orion is ...
Orion Nebula: (catalog numbers NGC 1976 and M 42), bright diffuse nebula, faintly visible to the unaided eye in the sword of the hunter's figure in the constellation Orion. The nebula lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth and contains hundreds of very ...
Oriskany, Battle of: (August 6, 1777), in the American Revolution, battle between British troops and American defenders of the Mohawk Valley, which contributed to the failure of the British campaign in the North. British troops under Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger were marching ...
Orissa: state of India. It is located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east and by the states of West Bengal in the northeast, Bihar in the north, Madhya Pradesh ...
orissi: one of the principal classical dance styles of India; others include bharata-natya, kuchipudi, kathak, kathakali, and manipuri. It is indigenous to Orissa, eastern India, and follows the principles of the Natya-sastra (q.v.). Its close replication of poses found on classical ...
Oristano: town and archiepiscopal see, Oristano provincia, western Sardinia, Italy, near the mouth of the Tirso River, northwest of the city of Cagliari. It was founded in the 11th century BC by the people of Tharros, a Punic city, the ruins ...
Oriya language: Indo-Aryan language of the eastern group spoken mainly in the state of Orissa, India. Oriya is one of the 14 regional languages recognized by the Indian constitution. A direct descendant of the Ardhamagadhi Prakrit spoken in the ancient kingdom of ...
Orizaba: city, west-central Veracruz estado ("state"), east-central Mexico. It lies in a fertile, well-drained, and temperate valley of the Sierra Madre Oriental, over which towers Citlaltepetl (also called Pico de Orizaba), a snowcapped volcano. The town was founded by Spaniards in ...
Orjasaeter, Tore: Norwegian regional poet who worked in the tradition of the ballad and of folk and nature lyrics.
Orkan, Wladyslaw: Polish poet and writer who eloquently portrayed the people of the Tatra Mountains.
Orkney Islands: group of more than 70 islands and islets-only about 20 of which are inhabited-in Scotland, lying about 20 miles (32 km) north of the Scottish mainland, across the strait known as the Pentland Firth. The Orkney Islands constitute a council ...
Orlando: city, seat (1856) of Orange county, central Florida, U.S. It is situated in a region dotted by lakes, about 60 miles (95 km) northwest of Melbourne and 85 miles (135 km) northeast of Tampa. The city is the focus for ...
Orlando, Vittorio Emanuele: Italian statesman and prime minister during the concluding years of World War I and head of his country's delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference.
Orleanais: one of the generalites ("generalities") into which France was divided before the Revolution of 1789. It comprised not only the territory of the original countship and the later duchy of Orleans but also a number of adjacent ...
Orleanist: any of the constitutional monarchists in 18th- and 19th-century France who favoured the Orleans branch of the house of Bourbon (the descendants of Philippe, duke d'Orleans, younger brother of Louis XIV). Its zenith of power occurred during the July Monarchy ...
Orleans: capital of Loiret departement and of the Centre region, north-central France, south-southwest of Paris. The city stands on the banks of the Loire River in a fertile valley on the edge of the Beauce plain. Orleans, which derives its name ...
Orleans: county, northern Vermont, U.S., bordered to the north by Quebec, Can., and to the west by the Green Mountains. It consists mostly of a piedmont region that rises in the west to such summits as Jay and North Jay peaks ...
Orleans: county, northwestern New York state, U.S., comprising a lowland region that is bordered by Lake Ontario to the north. It is intersected by the New York State Canal System (and its constituent Erie Canal) and by Oak Orchard Creek. The ...
Orleans, Charles, duc d': last, and one of the greatest, of the courtly poets of France, who during exile in England also earned a reputation for his poems in English. He was the son of Louis, duc d'Orleans (brother of Charles VI of France).
Orleans, Charles, duc d': King Francis I's favourite son and a noted campaigner, who twice took Luxembourg from the Holy Roman emperor Charles V's forces (1542 and 1543). There were plans for marrying him to a Habsburg princess who would bring him either Milan ...
Orleans, Ferdinand-Louis-Philippe-Charles-Henri, duc d': son of Louis-Philippe of France, who succeeded to the title of duc d'Orleans when his father became king (1830).
Orleans, Gaston, duc d', duc d'Anjou: prince who readily lent his prestige to several unsuccessful conspiracies and revolts against the ministerial governments during the reign of his brother, King Louis XIII (ruled 1610-43), and the minority of his nephew, Louis XIV (ruled 1643-1715).
Orleans, Louis I, duc d': younger brother of King Charles VI and first in the second dynasty of dukes of Orleans. He initiated the power struggle with the dukes of Burgundy that became the dominating factor in 15th-century France. Known for his ambition and his ...
Orleans, Louis, duc d': son of Philippe II, duc d'Orleans; he became governor of Dauphine (1719), commander of infantry (1721), and chief of the Conseil d'Etat. The death of his wife, Auguste-Marie-Jeanne, princess of Bade (1726), threw him into prolonged grief, and he retired ...
Orleans, Louis-Philippe, duc d': son of Duke Louis; he was appointed lieutenant general (1744) and governor of Dauphine (1747).
Orleans, Louis-Philippe-Joseph, duc d': Bourbon prince who became a supporter of popular democracy during the Revolution of 1789.
Orleans, Louis-Philippe-Robert, duc d': pretender to the French throne during the Third Republic.
Orleans, Philippe I de France, duc d': first of the last Bourbon dynasty of dukes of Orleans; he was the younger brother of King Louis XIV (reigned 1643-1715), who prevented him from exercising political influence but tolerated him as an overtly respected and covertly despised figure at ...
Orleans, Philippe I, duc d': the only member of the first dynasty of dukes of Orleans.
Orleans, Philippe II, duc d': regent of France for the young King Louis XV from 1715 to 1723.
Orleans, Siege of: (Oct. 12, 1428-May 8, 1429), siege of the French city of Orleans by English forces, the military turning point of the Hundred Years' War between France and England.
Orley, Bernard van: Flemish painter of religious subjects and portraits and designer of tapestries.
Orlice Mountains: mountain range, a subgroup of the Sudeten mountains in northeastern Bohemia, Czech Republic, forming part of the frontier with Poland for a distance of 25 miles (40 km). The mountains are, for the most part, made up of crystalline rocks, ...
Orlov diamond: rose-cut gem from India, one of the Romanov crown jewels; it is shaped like half an egg, with facets covering its domed surface, and the underside is nearly flat. It weighs nearly 200 carats. According to legend, it was once ...
Orlov, Aleksey Fyodorovich, Prince: military officer and statesman who was an influential adviser to the Russian emperors Nicholas I (reigned 1825-55) and Alexander II (reigned 1855-81) in both domestic and foreign affairs.
Orlov, Aleksey Grigoryevich, Count: military officer who played a prominent role in the coup d'etat that placed Catherine II the Great on the Russian throne.
Orlov, Fyodor Grigoryevich, Graf: Russian army officer and statesman, the younger brother of Grigory and Aleksey Orlov.