Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Padjelanta National Park ... pagoda tree

Padjelanta National Park: park in Norrbotten lan (county), northwestern Sweden, adjoining Norway (west) and Sarek National Park (east). It is the largest of the Swedish national parks and one of the largest parks in Europe, with an area of 776 square miles (2,010 ...
Padma River: main channel of the Ganges River below its bifurcation into the Bhagirathi and Padma rivers in extreme western Bangladesh. Flowing southeastward, the Padma receives the mighty Jamuna (Brahmaputra) River near Rajbari and then continues southeastward through central Bangladesh to join ...
Padmasambhava: legendary Indian Buddhist mystic who introduced Tantric Buddhism to Tibet and who is credited with establishing the first Buddhist monastery there.
Padre Island: barrier island, 113 miles (182 km) long and up to 3 miles (5 km) wide, lying in the Gulf of Mexico along the southeastern coast of Texas, U.S. It extends south from Corpus Christi to Port Isabel, just north of ...
Padri War: (1821-37), armed conflict in Minangkabau (Sumatra) between reformist Muslims, known as Padris, and local chieftains assisted by the Dutch. In the early 19th century the puritan Wahhabiyah sect of Islam spread to Sumatra, brought by pilgrims who entered the island ...
Padua: city, capital of Padova province, Veneto region, northern Italy, on the River Bacchiglione, west of Venice. The Roman Patavium, founded, according to legend, by the Trojan hero Antenor, it was first mentioned in 302 BC, according to the Roman historian ...
Padua, University of: autonomous coeducational state institution of higher learning in Padua, Italy. The university was founded in 1222 by a secession of about a thousand students from the University of Bologna, reinforced by additional migrations from Bologna in 1306 and 1322. Like ...
Paducah: city, seat of McCracken county, southwestern Kentucky, U.S., at the confluence of the Ohio (there bridged to Brookport, Illinois) and Tennessee rivers. The site, known as Pekin, was part of a grant to soldier and frontiersman George Rogers Clark. At ...
paean: solemn choral lyric of invocation, joy, or triumph, originating in ancient Greece where it was addressed to Apollo in his guise as Paean, physician to the gods. Paeans were sung at banquets following the boisterous dithyrambs, at the festivals of ...
paedogenesis: reproduction by sexually mature larvae, usually without fertilization. The young may be eggs, such as are produced by Miastor, a genus of gall midge flies, or other larval forms, as in the case of some flukes. This form of reproduction ...
paedomorphosis: retention by an organism of juvenile or even larval traits into later life. There are two aspects of paedomorphosis: acceleration of sexual maturation relative to the rest of development (progenesis) and retardation of bodily development with respect to the onset ...
Paekche: one of three kingdoms into which ancient Korea was divided before 660. Occupying the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, Paekche is traditionally said to have been founded in 18 BC in the Kwangju area by a legendary leader named ...
Paeligni: ancient people of central Italy, whose territory lay inland on the eastward slopes of the Apennines. Though akin to the Samnites, they formed a separate league with their neighbours the Marsi, Marrucini, and Vestini. This league appears to have broken ...
paella: in Spanish cuisine, a dish of saffron-flavoured rice cooked with meats, seafood, and vegetables. Originating in the rice-growing areas on Spain's Mediterranean coast, the dish is especially associated with the region of Valencia. Paella takes its name from the paellera, ...
Paeonia: the land of the Paeonians, originally including the whole Axius (Vardar) River valley and the surrounding areas, in what is now northern Greece, Macedonia, and western Bulgaria. The Paeonians, who were probably of mixed Thraco-Illyrian origin, were weakened by the ...
Paeoniaceae: the peony family of the order Dilleniales, consisting of the genus Paeonia with about 33 species distributed in Europe, Asia, and western North America. They are perennial herbs or sometimes shrubby plants up to about 2 m (6 feet) tall ...
Paeonius: Greek sculptor, native of Mende in Thrace, a contemporary of the sculptors Phidias and Polyclitus.
Paer, Ferdinando: Italian composer who, with Domenico Cimarosa and Nicola Antonio Zingarelli, was one of the principal composers of opera buffa of his period.
Paeroa: borough, northern North Island, New Zealand, situated along the Ohinemuri River near its junction with the Waihou. Paeroa (from a Maori word meaning "long ridge") was founded in the early 1880s as a port for the Ohinemuri goldfield, 5 mi ...
Paestum: ancient city in southern Italy near the west coast, 22 miles (35 km) southeast of modern Salerno and 5 miles (8 km) south of the Sele (ancient Silarus) River. Paestum is noted for its splendidly preserved Greek temples.
Paez: Indians of the southern highlands of Colombia. The Paez speak a Chibchan language very closely related to that of the now-extinct Pijao and Coconuco (see Chibchan languages).
Paez, Jose Antonio: Venezuelan soldier and politician, a leader in the country's independence movement and its first president. In the crucial early years of Venezuelan independence, he led the country as a dictator.
Paez, Pedro: learned Jesuit priest who, in the tradition of Frumentius-founder of the Ethiopian church-went as a missionary to Ethiopia, where he became known as the second apostle of Ethiopia.
Pagadian: city, western Mindanao, Philippines. Located on Pagadian Bay (a northern extension of Illana Bay), it is a major port shipping rice and corn (maize); coconuts are the region's main commercial crop. Fishing is the primary occupation of the city's inhabitants; ...
Pagan: village, central Myanmar (Burma), situated on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River and approximately 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Mandalay. The site of an old capital city of Myanmar, Pagan is a pilgrimage centre and contains ancient Buddhist ...
Pagan: king of Myanmar (1846-53), who suffered defeat in the Second Anglo-Burmese War, after which Yangon (Rangoon), the province of Pegu, and other areas in southern Myanmar were annexed by the British and became what was called Lower Burma.
Paganini, Niccolo: Italian composer and principal violin virtuoso of the 19th century. A popular idol, he inspired the Romantic mystique of the virtuoso and revolutionized violin technique.
Pagasai, Gulf of: gulf of the Aegean Sea, nomos (department) of Magnisia, Thessaly, Greece. The gulf is almost landlocked by a fishhook prong of the Magnesia peninsula, which forms the Trikkeri Strait. At the head of the gulf is Volos, the primary port ...
page: in medieval Europe, a youth of noble birth who left his home at an early age to serve an apprenticeship in the duties of chivalry in the family of some prince or man of rank. Beginning as assistants to squires ...
Page, Alan: American gridiron football player who in 1971 became the first defensive player to win the Most Valuable Player award of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
Page, Clarence: American newspaper columnist and television commentator. Page studied journalism at Ohio University (B.S., 1969), then joined the Chicago Tribune as a reporter. From 1980 to 1984 he worked at WBBM-TV in Chicago, first as a director of ...
Page, Geraldine: versatile American actress noted primarily for her interpretations of the heroines of Tennessee Williams's plays.
Page, Robert Morris: American physicist known as the "father" of U.S. radar.
Page, Ruth: American dancer and choreographer, who reigned as the grand dame of dance in Chicago from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Page, Sir Earle: Australian statesman, coleader of the federal government (1923-29) in coalition with Stanley M. Bruce. As head of the Country Party (1920-39), he was a spokesman for the party's goal of rural economic development and was briefly prime minister of Australia ...
Page, Sir Frederick Handley: British aircraft designer who built the Handley Page 0/400, the world's first twin-engine bomber and one of the largest planes used in World War I.
Page, Thomas Nelson: American author whose work fostered romantic legends of Southern plantation life.
Page, Walter: black American swing-era musician, one of the first to play "walking" lines on the string bass. A pioneer of the Southwestern jazz style, he was a star of the Count Basie band during its greatest period.
Page, Walter Hines: journalist, book publisher, author, and diplomat who, as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain during World War I, worked strenuously to maintain close relations between the two countries while the United States remained neutral and who, from an early stage of ...
Page, William: American painter known for his sedate portraits of prominent mid-19th-century Americans and Britons.
pageant: a large-scale, spectacular theatrical production or procession. In its earlier meanings the term denoted specifically a car or float designed for the presentation of religious plays or cycles. By extension, the term came to mean not only the apparatus for ...
pageant wagon: wheeled vehicle used in the processional staging of medieval vernacular cycle plays. Processional staging is most closely associated with the English cycle plays performed from about 1375 until the mid-16th century in such cities as York and Chester as part ...
Paget's disease of bone: moderately common chronic disease of middle age, characterized by local disorganized bone-destructive processes alternating with bone-constructive activity. The disease leads to deformity, fracture, and imbalance in calcium metabolism and carries with it an increased risk of cancer, particularly osteosarcoma. The ...
Paget, Sir James, 1st Baronet: British surgeon and physiologist who is considered (with Rudolf Virchow) to be a founder of the science of pathology.
Pagliero, Marcello: Italian motion picture director, screenwriter, and actor who worked primarily outside Italy, often in France.
Pagnani, Andreina: Italian dramatic actress who worked primarily in the theatre.
Pagninus, Santes: Dominican scholar whose Latin version of the Hebrew Bible-the first since St. Jerome's-greatly aided other 16th-century scriptural translators.
Pagnol, Marcel Paul: French writer and motion-picture producer-director who won both fame as the master of stage comedy and critical acclaim for his filmmaking. He was elected to the French Academy in 1946, the first filmmaker to be so honoured.
Pago Pago: port and administrative capital (since 1899) of American Samoa, on the south shore of Tutuila island, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is situated at the head of a densely wooded and steep-sided inlet forming a deeply indented, landlocked harbour. The site ...
pagoda: in East and Southeast Asia, a towerlike, multistoried structure of stone, brick, or wood, usually associated with a Buddhist temple complex. The pagoda derives from the stupa of ancient India, which was a dome-shaped commemorative monument, usually erected over the ...
pagoda tree: any of several trees of erect, conical form suggesting a pagoda, particularly Sophora japonica, commonly called the Japanese pagoda tree, or the Chinese scholar tree. A member of the pea family (Fabaceae), it is native to East Asia and is ...