Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Sao Cristovao ... sapwood

Sao Cristovao: city, eastern Sergipe estado (state), northeastern Brazil, near the mouth of the Vasa Barris River. A port for coastal shipping, its industries include sugar milling and distilling. The city was the capital of Sergipe until 1855. Colonial ...
Sao Domingos: town, Cacheu region, northwestern Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. It is situated on an estuary of the Rio Cacheu, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean (south). Its economy is based on agriculture; rice culture predominates in the nearby western coastal areas, palm ...
Sao Francisco River: major river of South America. With a length of 1,811 miles (2,914 kilometres), it is the fourth largest river system of the continent and the largest river wholly within Brazil. The Sao Francisco has been called the "river of national ...
Sao Goncalo: city, southwestern Rio de Janeiro estado (state), southeastern Brazil. It lies on the Imbuacu Stream and reaches the eastern shore of Guanabara Bay, just northeast of Neves. A northeastern suburb of Niteroi, the former state capital, its ...
Sao Joao Baptista de Ajuda: former Portuguese exclave (detached portion) of Sao Tome and Principe, in the city of Ouidah, Benin (formerly Dahomey). Founded in 1788, it consisted of a fort and old factory (trading station). Until 1961, when the enclave was forcibly taken by ...
Sao Joao da Boa Vista: city, east central Sao Paulo state, Brazil, lying at 2,392 ft (729 m) above sea level on the Rio Jaguari-Mirim, near Pocos de Caldas and the Minas Gerais state border. The settlement, originally called Santo Antonio do Jaguari and then ...
Sao Joao de Meriti: city and northwestern suburb of Rio de Janeiro city, Rio de Janeiro estado ("state"), eastern Brazil. Sao Joao de Meriti, founded in 1647, was given city status in 1931. It lies near the headwaters of the Sao Joao de Meriti ...
Sao Joao del Rei: city, south-central Minas Gerais estado ("state"), Brazil. It lies along the Lenheiro River on a site sandwiched between two hills, at 2,822 feet (860 m) above sea level. Originally a gold-mining town, it was given city status in 1838. The ...
Sao Jorge Island: volcanic island of the central Azores, east-central North Atlantic. Lying 35 miles (56 km) south of the island of Graciosa, the island measures 36 by 4 miles (58 by 6 km) and has an area of 92 square miles (238 ...
Sao Jose do Rio Preto: city, in the highlands of northwestern Sao Paulo estado ("state"), Brazil. It lies at 1,558 feet (475 m) above sea level near the headwaters of the Preto River. Originally called Rio Preto, it became a seat of a municipality in ...
Sao Jose dos Campos: city, southeastern Sao Paulo estado ("state"), Brazil. It lies along the Paraiba do Sul River at 2,110 feet (643 m) above sea level. Known successively as Vila Nova de Sao Jose, Vila de Sao Jose do Sul, and Vila de ...
Sao Leopoldo: city, eastern Rio Grande do Sul estado ("state"), Brazil. It lies along the Sinos River at 85 feet (26 m) above sea level, just north of Porto Alegre, the state capital. The first German colony (1824) established in southern Brazil, ...
Sao Lourenco River: northeastern tributary of the Paraguay River. The Sao Lourenco rises near Poxoreu, in southeastern Mato Grosso estado ("state"), Brazil, and flows approximately 300 miles (480 km) southwest through the Paraguay floodplain to join the Paraguay River 80 miles (130 km) ...
Sao Luis: city, capital of Maranhao estado ("state"), northeastern Brazil. It lies on the west side of Sao Luis Island on the Atlantic coast. The island is really a long, narrow peninsula between the drowned mouths of the Mearim and Itapicuru rivers ...
Sao Marcos Bay: bay of the Atlantic Ocean in Maranhao estado ("state"), northeastern Brazil. It is about 60 miles (100 km) long and up to 10 miles (16 km) wide.
Sao Miguel Island: island, largest of the Azores, in the North Atlantic Ocean, 740 miles (1,190 km) west of Cape Roca, Portugal. Up to 40 miles (65 km) long and 9 miles (15 km) wide, it has an area of 288 square miles ...
Sao Nicolau Island: island of Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean, between the islands of Santa Luzia and Boa Vista, about 400 miles (640 km) off the West African coast. Of volcanic origin and mountainous, it has an area of 150 square miles ...
Sao Paulo: city, capital of Sao Paulo estado (state), southeastern Brazil. It is the foremost industrial centre in Latin America. With one of the world's fastest growing metropolitan populations, it is also the largest city of the Southern Hemisphere ...
Sao Paulo: estado ("state") of southeastern Brazil, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast and bounded by the states of Minas Gerais (northeast), Rio de Janeiro (east), Parana (southwest), and Mato Grosso do Sul (west). Sao Paulo constitutes the heart of ...
Sao Roque, Cape: headland on the northeastern Atlantic coast of Brazil, Rio Grande do Norte state, 20 miles (32 km) north of Natal, the state capital. It is frequently called the easternmost point of the South American continent (at 5°29' S 35°13' W), ...
Sao Tiago Island: largest and most populous island of Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles (640 km) off the West African coast. The land rises to its highest elevation at Antonia Peak, 4,566 feet (1,392 metres) above sea level.
Sao Tome and Principe: country of central Africa, located on the Equator in the Gulf of Guinea. It consists of two main islands (Sao Tome and Principe) and a number of islets. The total area is 386 square miles (1,001 square kilometres), making it ...
Sao Tome and Principe, history of: history of the islands from their discovery by the Portuguese in the 15th century to the present.
Sao Tome, Cape: headland on the Atlantic coast of eastern Brazil, Rio de Janeiro state, 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Campos. It was formed by sediments deposited by the Paraiba do Sul River, which discharges into the ocean at a point 25 ...
Sao Vicente: city, southeastern Sao Paulo estado ("state"), Brazil. It lies on Sao Vicente Island and adjoins Santos city in Santos Bay. Although the exact date of its settlement is unknown, Sao Vicente was one of the earliest successful Portuguese captaincies in ...
Sao Vicente Island: island of Cape Verde, in the Atlantic Ocean, between the islands of Santo Antao and Santa Luzia, about 400 miles (640 km) off the western African coast. It has an area of 88 square miles (227 square km) and rises ...
Saone River: river that rises near Viomenil, southwest of Epinal, in eastern France, and flows generally southward to join the Rhone River at Lyon. From its source it flows southwestward into Haute-Saone departement near Corre, where it meets the Canal de l'Est. ...
Saoshyans: in Zoroastrian eschatology, final saviour of the world and quencher of its evil; he is the foremost of three saviours (the first two are Oshetar and Oshetarmah) who are all posthumous sons of Zoroaster. One will appear at the end ...
sap: watery fluid of plants. Cell sap is a fluid found in the vacuoles (small cavities) of the living cell; it contains variable amounts of food and waste materials, inorganic salts, and nitrogenous compounds. Xylem sap carries soil nutrients (e.g., dissolved ...
sap beetle: any member of some 2,000 species of the insect family Nitidulidae (order Coleoptera), usually found around souring or fermenting plant fluids (e.g., decaying fruit, moldy logs, fungi). Sap beetles are about 12 mm (0.5 inch) or less in length and ...
Sapele: town and port, Delta state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the Benin River just below the confluence of the Ethiope and Jamieson rivers, 98 miles (158 km) from the Escravos Bar and entrance to the Bight of Benin. The town ...
Sapieha Family: princely family, important in Polish history, that was descended from Ukrainian boyars subject to Lithuania.
Sapindales: order of dicotyledonous flowering plants, a division of the subclass Rosidae. It includes the citrus and other species important for their fruits. Most of its members are trees (some of which are prized as sources of timber), shrubs, and woody ...
Sapir, Edward: one of the foremost American linguists and anthropologists of his time, most widely known for his contributions to the study of North American Indian languages. A founder of ethnolinguistics, which considers the relationship of culture to language, he was also ...
Sapir, Pinhas: influential Israeli politician who was noted for securing funds and military aid for Israel.
sapodilla: (species Manilkara, or Achras, zapota), tropical evergreen tree of the family Sapotaceae and its distinctive fruit. Though of no great commercial importance in any part of the world, the sapodilla is much appreciated in many tropical and subtropical areas, where ...
sapogenin: any of a class of organic compounds occurring in many species of plants as derivatives of the steroid and the triterpenoid groups in the form of their glycosides, the saponins (q.v.). A similar group of steroid compounds, the genins, is ...
saponin: any of numerous substances, occurring in plants, that form stable foams with water, including the constituents of digitalis and squill that affect the heart and another group that does not affect the heart.
saponite: clay mineral of the montmorillonite group. See montmorillonite.
sapote: (species Calocarpum mammosum), plant of the sapodilla family (Sapotaceae), native to Central America but cultivated as far north as the southeastern United States. It grows to about 23 m (75 feet) tall, bears small, pinkish white flowers, and has hard, ...
sapper: military engineer. The name is derived from the French word sappe ("spadework," or "trench") and became connected with military engineering during the 17th century, when attackers dug covered trenches to approach the walls of a besieged fort. They also tunneled ...
Sapper: British soldier and novelist who won immediate fame with his thriller Bull-Dog Drummond (1920), subtitled "The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull." Sapper published numerous popular sequels, but none had the impact and merit of the original.
sapphire: transparent to translucent, natural or synthetic variety of corundum (q.v.; aluminum oxide, Al₂O₃) that has been highly prized as a gemstone since about 800 BC. Its colour is due mainly to the presence of small amounts of iron and titanium ...
Sappho: Greek lyric poet greatly admired in all ages for the beauty of her writing style. She ranks with Archilochus and Alcaeus, among Greek poets, for her ability to impress readers with a lively sense of her personality. Her language contains ...
Sapporo: capital, Hokkaido Territory (do), Japan, on the Ishikari-gawa (Ishikari River). Laid out in 1871, with wide, tree-lined boulevards intersecting each other at right angles, the city was made the prefectural capital in 1886. It owed its early development to the ...
sapropel: unconsolidated sedimentary deposit rich in bituminous substances. It is distinguished from peat in being rich in fatty and waxy substances and poor in cellulosic material. When consolidated into rock, sapropel becomes oil shale, bituminous shale, or boghead coal. The principal ...
Sapru, Sir Tej Bahadur: jurist and statesman important in the progress of British India toward self-government. For his integrity and wisdom he was trusted both by the British government and by Indian intellectual and political leaders. He was knighted in 1922.
sapsucker: either of two species of North American woodpeckers of the family Picidae (order Piciformes), noted for drilling holes in neat close rows through the bark of trees to obtain sap and insects. They also catch insects in midair.
Saptamatrka: (Sanskrit: "Seven Divine Mothers"), in Hinduism, a group of seven mother-goddesses, each of whom is the sakti, or female counterpart, of a god. They are Brahmani, Mahesvari, Kaumari, Vaisnavi, Varahi, Indrani, and Camunda, or Yami. (One text, the Varaha-Purana, states ...
Sapulpa: city, seat (1907) of Creek county, northeastern Oklahoma, U.S. In 1886 the Frisco Railroad reached the site that the railroad men called Sapulpa, the name of a Creek Indian family that settled in the area about 1850. A railroad terminus, ...
sapwood: outer, living layers of the secondary wood of trees, which engage in transport of water and minerals to the crown of the tree. The cells therefore contain more water and lack the deposits of darkly staining chemical substances commonly found ...