Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Pegu Mountains ... Pelloutier, Fernand

Pegu Mountains: mountain range of south-central Myanmar (Burma), extending 270 miles (435 km) north-south between the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers and ending in a ridge at Yangon (Rangoon). The range averages about 2,000 feet (600 m) in elevation, reaching its highest point ...
Peguy, Charles: French poet and philosopher who combined Christianity, socialism, and patriotism into a deeply personal faith that he carried into action.
Pehowa: city, north-central Haryana state, northwestern India. It lies along the Saraswati River. It is an important pilgrimage centre housing the Pirthudakeshwar (Pirthuveshwar) temples built by the Marathas in honour of the goddess Sarasvati. The name is derived from the Sanskrit ...
Pei River: river in central Kwangtung Province, southeastern China. It is formed by the union of two smaller rivers, the Wu and the Chen, at Shao-kuan, in northern Kwangtung Province. The Pei River flows about 220 miles (350 km) south to join ...
Pei, I.M.: Chinese-born American architect noted for his large but elegantly designed urban buildings and complexes.
Pei, Mario: Italian-born American linguist whose many works helped to provide the general public with a popular understanding of linguistics and philology.
Pei-hai: city and port in the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi, China. The city was in Kwangtung Province until 1965, when it became part of Kwangsi. It is on the shore of a small peninsula on the eastern side of Ch'in-chou ...
Pei-p'iao: mining town, western Liaoning Province, China. Located northwest of the Ta-ling Stream and east of the Ta-ch'ing Mountains, it is the site of a coal combine. The vertical shafts, which extend nearly 3,280 feet (1,000 m), are among the deepest ...
peine forte et dure: in English law, punishment that was inflicted upon those who were accused of a felony and stood silent, refusing to plead either guilty or not guilty, or upon those who challenged more than 20 prospective jurors. For example, English law ...
Peipus, Lake: lake forming part of the boundary between Estonia and Pskov oblast (province) of Russia. It is connected by the narrow Lake Tyoploye to a southern extension, Lake Pskov. Lake Peipus has an area of 1,370 square miles (3,550 square km), ...
Peirce, Benjamin: American mathematician, astronomer, and educator who computed the general perturbations of the planets Uranus and Neptune.
Peirce, Charles Sanders: American scientist, logician, and philosopher who is noted for his work on the logic of relations and on pragmatism as a method of research.
Peiresc, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de: French antiquary, Humanist, and influential patron of learning who discovered the Orion Nebula (1610) and was among the first to emphasize the study of coins for historical research.
Peisistratus: tyrant of ancient Athens whose unification of Attica and consolidation and rapid improvement of Athens' prosperity helped to make possible the city's later preeminence in Greece.
Pekalongan: kotamadya (municipality), Jawa Tengah provinsi ("province"), central Java, Indonesia. It is situated on the northern coastal plain. The city is the capital of Pekalongan regency, has a fort (1753) and a small harbour, and is the main distributing centre for ...
Pekanbaru: kotamadya (municipality) and capital of Riau provinsi ("province"), central Sumatra, Indonesia. It is a port on the Siak River and is located about 100 miles (160 km) upstream from the Strait of Malacca. Pekanbaru is a collection centre for agricultural ...
Pekin: city, seat (1849) of Tazewell county, central Illinois, U.S. It lies along the Illinois River (bridged) just south of Peoria. French explorers wintered in the area in 1680. The first settler was Jonathan Tharp in 1824. Tharp opened a smokehouse ...
Peking duck: one of the most celebrated dishes of Pekingese, or Mandarin Chinese, cuisine. In its classic form, the dish calls for a specific breed of duck, the Imperial Peking, that is force-fed and housed in a small cage so that inactivity ...
Peking man: extinct hominin of the species Homo erectus, known from fossils found at Zhoukoudian near Beijing. Peking man was identified as a member of the human lineage by Davidson Black in 1927 on the basis of a single ...
Peking University: university in Beijing, one of the oldest and most important institutions of higher learning in China. Its total enrollment is approximately 55,000.
Peking Zoological Garden: zoological garden on the western outskirts of Peking, founded in 1906 by the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi. The zoo is managed by the Peking Office of Parks and Forestry, financed with government funds, and noted for its collection of rare Asian ...
Pekingese: breed of toy dog developed in ancient China, where it was held sacred and was kept as a palace dog by members of the Imperial family. It was introduced to the West by English forces that looted the Imperial Palace ...
Peko: in Estonian religion, an agricultural deity who aided the growth of grain, especially barley. Peko was represented by a wax image that was kept buried in the grain in the granary and brought out in early spring for a ritual ...
pelage: hairy, woolly, or furry coat of a mammal, distinguished from the underlying bare skin. The pelage is significant in several respects: as insulation; as a guard against injury; and, in its coloration and pattern, as a species adornment for mutual ...
Pelagia Of Antioch, Saint: 15-year-old Christian virgin who, probably during the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Diocletian, threw herself from a housetop to save her chastity and died instantly. Her authenticity was endorsed and praised by St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom ...
Pelagianism: a 5th-century Christian heresy taught by Pelagius (q.v.) and his followers that stressed the essential goodness of human nature and the freedom of the human will. Pelagius was concerned about the slack moral standards among Christians, and he hoped to ...
pelagic zone: ecological realm that includes the entire ocean water column. Of all the inhabited Earth environments, the pelagic zone has the largest volume, 1,370,000,000 cubic kilometres (330,000,000 cubic miles), and the greatest vertical range, 11,000 metres (36,000 feet). Pelagic life is ...
Pelagie Islands: group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Tunisia, south of Sicily; administratively they form the commune of Lampedusa in Agrigento province, Sicily, Italy. The group consists of the islands of Lampedusa (q.v.) and Linosa and the Isolotto ...
Pelagius: monk and theologian whose heterodox theological system known as Pelagianism (q.v.) emphasized the primacy of human effort in spiritual salvation.
Pelagius I: pope from 556 to 561. His ecclesiastical roles under popes St. Agapetus I, St. Silverius, and Vigilius were highly important in the history of the church.
Pelagius II: pope from 579 to 590.
Pelasgi: the people who occupied Greece before the 12th century BC. The name was used only by ancient Greeks. The Pelasgi were mentioned as a specific people by several Greek authors, including Homer, Herodotus, and Thucydides, and were said to have ...
Pelavicino, Oberto: leader of the Ghibelline (imperial) party in northern Italy and powerful supporter of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II and his sons.
Pelayo: founder of the Christian kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain, which survived through the period of Moorish hegemony to become the spearhead of the Christian Reconquista in the later Middle Ages.
Pele: football (soccer) player, in his time probably the most famous and possibly the best-paid athlete in the world. He was part of the Brazilian national teams that won three World Cup championships (1958, 1962, and 1970).
pelecaniform: (order Pelecaniformes), any of the relatively large and diverse group of aquatic birds that share the common characteristic of webbing between all four toes. There are three main groups (suborders): Phaethontes, the tropic birds; Fregatae, the frigate birds (see ); ...
Pelee Island: island, in Lake Erie, southern Ontario, Canada. It lies near the Ohio boundary, a few miles south of Point Pelee National Park and has an area of 18 square miles (47 square km). Originally leased from the Indians by Thomas ...
Pelee, Mount: active volcanic mountain on the Caribbean island of Martinique, French West Indies. Situated 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Fort-de-France, it is 4,583 feet (1,397 m) high. The Pelee (French: "Bald") massif consists of volcanic ash and lavas. A gently ...
Peletier, Jacques: French poet and critic whose knowledge and love of Greek and Latin poetry influenced the group of French poetry reformers known as La Pleiade. In the preface to his translation of Horace's Ars Poetica (1545) and in his Art poetique ...
Peleus: in Greek mythology, king of the Myrmidons of Thessaly; he was most famous as the husband of Thetis (a sea nymph) and the father of the hero Achilles, whom he outlived. When Peleus and his brother Telamon were banished from ...
Pelham, Henry: prime minister of Great Britain from 1743 to 1754. A somewhat colourless politician, he worked for peace abroad and introduced important financial reforms.
Pelias: in Greek mythology, a king of Iolcus in Thessaly who imposed on his half-nephew Jason the task of bearing off the Golden Fleece. According to Homer, Pelias and Neleus were twin sons of Tyro (daughter of Salmoneus, founder of Salmonia ...
pelican: (genus Pelecanus), any of seven or eight species of water birds constituting the family Pelecanidae (order Pelecaniformes), distinguished by their large, elastic throat pouches. Pelicans inhabit lakes, rivers, and seacoasts in many parts of the world. With some species reaching ...
Pelion, Mount: mountain on the Magnesia peninsula of southeastern Thessaly, Greece, rising to 5,417 feet (1,651 m) at its highest point. Pelion peak (5,075 feet), just northeast of Volos, has a wooded western flank overlooking a gulf whose ancient ports were Iolcus ...
Pelissier, Aimable-Jean-Jacques, Duke De Malakoff: French general who distinguished himself in the conquest of Algeria and was the last French commander in chief in the Crimean War.
Pella: ancient capital of King Archelaus of Macedonia at the end of the 5th century BC and birthplace of Alexander the Great. The city lay in northern Greece, about 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Thessaloniki. Originally known as Bounomos, the ...
pellagra: nutritional disorder caused by a dietary deficiency of niacin (also called nicotinic acid) or a failure of the body to absorb this vitamin or the amino acid tryptophan, which is converted to niacin in the body. Pellagra is characterized by ...
Pellegrini, Carlo: caricaturist notable for his portraits of prominent Englishmen appearing in Vanity Fair.
Pelletier, Pierre-Joseph: French chemist who helped found the chemistry of alkaloids.
Pellico, Silvio: Italian patriot, dramatist, and author of Le mie prigioni (1832; My Prisons), memoirs of his sufferings as a political prisoner, which inspired widespread sympathy for the Italian nationalist movement, the Risorgimento.
Pelloutier, Fernand: a leading organizer and theoretician of the French labour movement who deeply influenced the philosophy and methods of anarcho-syndicalist labour unionism.