Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Tarbert ... Tarsus

Tarbert: village at the head of East Loch Tarbert, an inlet on the west side of of Loch Fyne, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, Scotland. Its name means isthmus, and it occupies a narrow neck of land ...
Tarbes: town, capital of Hautes-Pyrenees departement, Midi-Pyrenees region, southwestern France. It lies on the left bank of the Adour River, which descends from the Pyrenees into a fertile plain.
tarboosh: close-fitting, flat-topped, brimless hat shaped like a truncated cone. It is made of felt or cloth with a silk tassel and is worn especially by Muslim men throughout the eastern Mediterranean region either as a separate headgear or as the ...
Tarde, Gabriel: French sociologist and criminologist who was one of the most versatile social scientists of his time. His theory of social interaction ("intermental activity") emphasized the individual in an aggregate of persons and brought Tarde into conflict with Emile Durkheim, who ...
Tardieu, Andre: statesman who was three times premier of France and who attempted to carry on the policies of Georges Clemenceau in the aftermath of World War I.
tardigrade: any of about 350 species of free-living, cosmopolitan invertebrates belonging to the phylum Tardigrada. In evolutionary development they are considered to lie between annelid worms and arthropods (e.g., insects, crustaceans). Tardigrades are mostly about 1 mm or less in size. ...
tare: noxious weed of the ryegrass (q.v.) genus Lolium.
Taree: city, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, 10 miles (16 km) above the coastal mouth of the Manning River. Established in 1854 as a private town, it was proclaimed a municipality in 1885 and a city in 1981; it derives its ...
target theory: in biology, the concept that the biological effects of radiations such as X rays result from ionization (i.e., the formation of electrically charged particles) by individual quanta, or photons, of radiation that are absorbed at sensitive points (targets) in a ...
Targoviste: city, capital of Dambovita judet (county), south-central Romania. It lies along the Ialomita River, in the southeastern Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Bucharest. Targoviste was the capital of feudal Walachia from the 14th to the ...
Targu Jiu: city, capital of Gorj judet (county), southwestern Romania, on the Jiu River. Formerly a Roman settlement, Targu Jiu was the property of boyars until the 19th century. After World War II, the city developed rapidly from an agricultural market town ...
Targu Mures: city, capital of Mures judet (county), north-central Romania. It lies in the valley of the Mures River, in the southeastern part of the Transylvanian Basin. First mentioned in the 14th century, it was a cattle and crop market town called ...
Targu-Neamt: town, Neamt judet (county), northeastern Romania, on the Neamt River. It has long been a local market centre and a major focus of culture in Moldavia. West of the town is Neamt Monastery, founded by Stephen (Stefan) the Great in ...
Targum: (Aramaic: "Translation," or "Interpretation"), any of several translations of the Hebrew Bible or portions of it into the Aramaic language. The word originally indicated a translation of the Old Testament in any language but later came to refer specifically to ...
Tarhun: ancient Anatolian weather god. His name appears in Hittite and Assyrian records (c. 1400-612 BC) and later as an element in Hellenistic personal names, primarily from Cilicia. Tarhunt was the Luwian form and Tarhun (Tarhunna) probably the Hittite, from the ...
tariff: tax levied upon goods as they cross national boundaries, usually by the government of the importing country. The words tariff, duty, and customs can be used interchangeably.
Tarija: city, southern Bolivia, situated at 6,122 feet (1,866 m) above sea level in the Rio Grande de Tarija (Guadalquivir) Valley. Founded in 1574 by the conquistador Luis de Fuentes as San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarija, it is one ...
Tarim River: chief river of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, extreme northwestern China. It lies immediately north of the Plateau of Tibet. The river gives its name to the great basin between the Tien Shan and Kunlun mountain systems of Central ...
Tariq ibn Ziyad: general who led the Muslim conquest of Spain.
tariqa: ("road," "path," or "way"), the Muslim spiritual path toward direct knowledge (ma'rifah) of God or Reality (haqq). In the 9th and 10th centuries tariqa meant the spiritual path of individual Sufis (mystics). After the 12th century, as communities of followers ...
Tarkington, Booth: American novelist and dramatist, best-known for his satirical and sometimes romanticized pictures of American Midwesterners.
Tarkovsky, Andrey Arsenyevich: Soviet motion-picture director whose films won acclaim in the West though they were censored by Soviet authorities at home.
Tarkwa: city, southwestern Ghana, western Africa. It is situated about 120 miles (190 km) west of Accra. Located in a predominantly agricultural and mining region, it is a marketing centre for rice, cassava, bananas, rubber, sugar, corn (maize), cocoa, copra, palm ...
Tarlton, Richard: English actor, ballad writer, favourite jester of Queen Elizabeth I, and the most popular comedian of his age.
tarn: a small mountain lake, especially one set in a glaciated steep-walled amphitheatre known as a cirque (q.v.).
Tarn River: river, in southwestern France. It has its source south of Mont Lozere at an elevation of 5,167 ft (1,575 m) in the Massif Central. After a course of 233 mi (375 km) it joins the Garonne River below Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne ...
Tarnobrzeg: city, Podkarpackie wojewodztwo (province), southeastern Poland. Located on the eastern bank of the Vistula River on trade routes linking Warsaw to the cities of southeastern Poland, Tarnobrzeg has long been a leading centre of manufacturing and commerce.
Tarnow: city, Malopolskie wojewodztwo (province), southeastern Poland, near the confluence of the Biala and Dunajec (a tributary of the Vistula) rivers. It is an industrial city, producing mainly chemicals, building materials, processed foods, and electrical machinery, and a ...
Tarnowski, Jan: army commander and political activist notable in Polish affairs.
taro: herbaceous plant of the family Araceae. Probably native to southeastern Asia, whence it has spread to the Pacific islands, it has become a staple crop cultivated for its large, starchy, spherical underground tubers, which are consumed as cooked vegetables, made ...
tarogato: single-reed wind instrument, widely played in the folk music of Romania and, especially, Hungary. It resembles a wooden soprano saxophone, but its conical bore is narrower.
Taronga Zoological Park: zoo located in Taronga Park, Sydney, Australia, one of the outstanding zoos in Australia. It first opened in 1881 in Sydney as the Moore Park Zoo and was run by the Zoological Society of New South Wales. In 1916 the ...
tarot: any of a set of cards used in fortune-telling and in certain card games. Claims have been made for tarot cards' having originated in China, India, or Egypt, but their true origin remains obscure. Tarot cards approximating their present form ...
tarpan: European wild horse that survived in small herds in remote parts of central Europe during the Middle Ages but became extinct early in the 20th century. It is likely that late survivors crossed with domesticated horses. The Munich Zoo produced ...
Tarpeia: in Roman mythology, daughter of the commander of the Capitol in Rome during the Sabine War. Traditionally, she offered to betray the citadel if the Sabines would give her what they wore on their left arms, i.e., their bracelets; instead, ...
tarpon: any of certain marine fish of the family Megalopidae (order Elopiformes), related to the bonefish and the ladyfish and identified by the elongated last dorsal fin ray and the bony throat plate between the sides of the protruding lower jaw. ...
Tarpon Springs: city, Pinellas county, west-central Florida, U.S., on the Anclote River bayous between Lake Tarpon and the Gulf of Mexico, about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Tampa. The area was settled in 1876, and the city was founded in 1882 ...
Tarquin: traditionally the fifth king of Rome, accepted by some scholars as a historical figure and usually said to have reigned from 616 to 578.
Tarquin: traditionally the seventh and last king of Rome, accepted by some scholars as a historical figure. His reign is dated from 534 to 509.
Tarquinia: town and episcopal see of Viterbo provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies 4 miles (7 km) inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea, just north of Civitavecchia. The town developed out of the ancient Tarchuna (2 miles [3 km] northeast), ...
Tarradellas i Joan, Josep: Catalan political leader who led the struggle for an autonomous Catalonia as head of the Catalan government-in-exile (1939-77) and as interim president (1977-80).
tarragon: (species Artemisia dracunculus), bushy aromatic herb of the family Asteraceae (Compositae), the dried leaves and flowering tops of which are used to add tang and piquancy to many culinary dishes, particularly fish, chicken, stews, sauces, omelets, cheeses, vegetables, tomatoes, and ...
Tarragona: capital of Tarragona provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It lies at the mouth of the Francoli River, on a hill (500 feet [150 m]) rising abruptly from the Mediterranean Sea.
Tarragona: provincia, in the comunidad autonoma of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It borders the Mediterranean Sea. With Barcelona, Gerona, and Lerida provinces, Tarragona became one of the four component provinces of the newly created autonomous region of Catalonia in 1979. It comprises ...
Tarrasa: town, Barcelona provincia, in the comunidad autonoma ("autonomous community") of Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. Tarrasa lies along the coastal plain, just northwest of Barcelona city. The successor of Egara, a Roman town, it became in AD 450 an important episcopal ...
Tarrasch, Siegbert: German chess master and physician who was noted for his books on chess theories.
Tarrytown: village, in Greenburgh town (township), Westchester county, southeastern New York, U.S. A northern suburb of New York City, it is just northwest of White Plains, where the Hudson River widens to form the Tappan Zee (there bridged by the Governor ...
tarsal: any of several short, angular bones that in humans make up the ankle and that-in animals that walk on their toes (e.g., dogs, cats) or on hoofs-are contained in the hock, lifted off the ground. The tarsals correspond to the ...
tarsier: any of six or more species of small leaping primates found only on various islands of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. Tarsiers are intermediate in form between lemurs and monkeys, measuring only about 9-16 cm (3.5-6 inches) long, excluding a ...
Tarski, Alfred: Polish-born American mathematician and logician who made important studies of general algebra, measure theory, mathematical logic, set theory, and metamathematics.
Tarsus: city, south-central Turkey, on the Tarsus River, about 12 miles (20 km) from the Mediterranean coast. It is an ancient city, on the alluvial plain of ancient Cilicia, the birthplace of St. Paul (Acts of the Apostles 22:3). Excavations by ...