Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Yola ... Yoshida Kenko

Yola: town, capital of Adamawa state, and seat of the traditional Adamawa emirate, eastern Nigeria. The town is served by the port of Jimeta (5.5 miles [9 km] north-northwest) on the Benue River, about 500 miles (800 km) above its confluence ...
yolk: the nutritive material of an egg, used as food by a developing, embryonic animal. Eggs with relatively little, uniformly distributed yolk are termed isolecithal. This condition occurs in invertebrates and in all but the lowest mammals. Eggs with abundant yolk ...
Yom Kippur: most solemn of Jewish religious holidays, observed on the 10th day of the lunar month of Tishri (in the course of September and October), when Jews seek to expiate their sins and achieve a reconciliation with God. Yom Kippur concludes ...
yomihon: a subgenre of gesaku, a type of popular Japanese literature of the Tokugawa, or Edo, period (1603-1867). Yomihon were distinguished from books, enjoyed mainly for their illustrations, and were noted for their extended plots culled from Chinese and Japanese historical ...
Yomiuri shimbun: Japanese national daily newspaper, the largest in circulation and the most sensational in editorial style of Japan's "big three" dailies.
Yomou: town, southeastern Guinea. It is the chief trading centre (rice, cassava, coffee, and palm oil and kernels) for a densely forested region of the Guinea Highlands mainly inhabited by the Guerze (Kpelle) and Mano (Manon) peoples. The surrounding area borders ...
Yomut carpet: floor covering handwoven by the Yomut Turkmen of Turkmenistan, usually of good to excellent quality. In contrast to Tekke carpets, there is considerable variety of design among the larger Yomut carpets. Many have diagonal rows in which a single diamond- ...
Yonago: city, western Tottori ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is located on the delta of the Hino River, which forms the Yonago Plain. The city occupies the base of a sandspit called Yumiga Beach, which extends from ...
Yonezawa: city, southern Yamagata ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. From the Muromachi period (1338-1573) to the Meiji Restoration (1868) it was a castle town of the Uesugi daimyo family. The ruling family initiated agrarian reforms by constructing irrigation ...
Yonge, Charlotte M.: English novelist who dedicated her talents as a writer to the service of the church. Her books helped to spread the influence of the Oxford Movement, which sought to bring about a return of the Church of England to the ...
Yongsan River: river, southwestern South Korea. Rising in extreme northern Cholla-namdo (North Cholla Province), the Yongsan River flows southwest into the Yellow Sea near Mokp'o. The drainage basin is South Korea's most important rice growing area and was the scene in the ...
yoni: (Sanskrit: "holder"), in Hinduism, representation of the female sexual organ and thereby the symbol of the goddess Sakti, consort of Siva. The yoni is often associated with the linga (q.v.), the representation of the phallus and symbol of the god ...
Yonkers: city, Westchester county, southeastern New York, U.S., on the east shore of the Hudson River, in a hilly region north of the Bronx, New York City. The site, once a major village, Nappeckamack, of the Manhattan Indians, was acquired by ...
Yonne River: river, north central France, a left-bank tributary of the Seine River. From its source in the Nievre departement at the foot of Mont Preneley, located in the Morvan heights west of Autun, to its confluence with the Seine at Montereau, ...
Yopal: town and capital of Casanare departamento, eastern Colombia. The original settlement (caserio) of Yopal was founded in 1935 by Pedro Pablo Gonzalez, and it has been the seat of Casanare intendency (now departamento) since the creation of Casanare in 1974. ...
Yorba Linda: city, Orange county, southern California, U.S. The area was explored by a Spanish expedition in 1769, and in 1801 Juan Pablo Grijalva received a Spanish land grant known as Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana; Grijalva's sons-in-law, the Peraltas and the ...
Yorck von Wartenburg, Johann, Graf: Prussian field marshal, reformer, and successful commander during the Wars of Liberation (1813-15) against France. His initiative in signing a separate neutrality agreement with Russia during the Napoleonic invasion of that country (Convention of Tauroggen, 1812) opened the way for ...
Yorimitsu: one of the most popular of the legendary Japanese warrior heroes and a member of the martial Minamoto clan. In his exploits he is always accompanied by four trusty lieutenants. One adventure concerns his vanquishing the boy-faced giant Shuten-doji ("Drunkard ...
York: county, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., bordered to the northeast and east by the Susquehanna River, to the south by Maryland, and to the northwest by Yellow Breeches Creek. It consists of a hilly piedmont region that rises to the Blue Ridge ...
York: city and unitary authority, geographic county of North Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss, about midway between London and Edinburgh. It is the cathedral city of the archbishop of ...
York: county, extreme southwestern Maine, U.S. It is located in a coastal region bordered by New Hampshire to the west and southwest (that border largely defined by the Salmon Falls and Piscataqua rivers), the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the ...
York: city, seat (1749) of York county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., on Codorus Creek, 28 miles (45 km) southeast of Harrisburg. It is the focus of a metropolitan district that includes the boroughs of North York and West York and a number ...
York: county, northern South Carolina, U.S. North Carolina forms the northern border, the Catawba River part of the eastern border, and the Broad River part of the western border. On the northern border is Lake Wylie, created by one of the ...
York: town, York county, southwestern Maine, U.S., situated at the mouth of the York River on the Atlantic Ocean, 43 miles (69 km) southwest of Portland. York includes the communities of York Village, Cape Neddick, York Beach, and York Harbor. Settled ...
York: former city (1983-98), southeastern Ontario, Canada. In 1998 it amalgamated with the cities of Toronto, Etobicoke, Scarborough, and North York and the borough of East York to form the City of Toronto. York was established as a borough in 1967, ...
York Factory: historic settlement, northeastern Manitoba, Canada. It lies at the mouth of the Hayes River, on Hudson Bay. It was the site of a Hudson's Bay Company post (Fort Nelson) built in 1682 and destroyed in 1684 by the French; a ...
York plays: a cycle of 48 plays, dating from the 14th century, of unknown authorship, which were performed during the Middle Ages by craft guilds in the city of York, in the north of England, on the summer feast day of Corpus ...
York, Alvin Cullum: celebrated American hero of World War I, immortalized by the film version of his life story, Sergeant York (1941).
York, Cape: northernmost point of the Australian continent, comprising the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula, in the state of Queensland. The cape juts north-northeast from the peninsula into Torres Strait, which separates it from the island of New Guinea. The cape ...
York, Edmund of Langley, 1st duke of: fourth surviving legitimate son of King Edward III of England and founder of the House of York as a branch of the Plantagenet dynasty.
York, Edward of Norwich, 2nd duke of: Yorkist who led a checkered career in the reigns of Richard II of England and the usurper Henry IV.
York, Henry Stuart, cardinal duke of: last legitimate descendant of the deposed (1688) Stuart monarch James II of Great Britain. To the Jacobites-supporters of Stuart claims to the British throne-he was known as King Henry IX of Great Britain for the last 19 years of his ...
York, House of: younger branch of the house of Plantagenet (q.v.) of England. In the 15th century, having usurped the throne from the house of Lancaster (q.v.), it provided three kings of England-Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III-and, in turn defeated, passed ...
York, Richard, 3rd duke of: claimant to the English throne whose attempts to gain power helped precipitate the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) between the houses of Lancaster and York; he controlled the government for brief periods during the first five years of this struggle. ...
Yorke Peninsula: promontory of the south coast of South Australia, between Spencer Gulf to the west and Gulf St. Vincent and Investigator Strait to the east and south. Extending southward for 160 miles (260 km) from Port Pirie to Cape Spencer, it ...
Yorkshire: breed of swine produced in the 18th century by crossing the large indigenous white pig of North England with the smaller, fatter, white Chinese pig. The well-fleshed Yorkshire is solid white with erect ears. Although originally a bacon breed, the ...
Yorkshire: historic county of England, in the north-central part of the country between the Pennines and the North Sea. Yorkshire is England's largest historical county. It comprises four broad belts each stretching from north to south: the high Pennine moorlands in ...
Yorkshire Post: daily newspaper that is the chief Conservative paper published in England outside London. It is one of the most prestigious provincial papers in Britain.
Yorkshire terrier: breed of toy dog developed about the mid-1800s in the English counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The lineage of the breed is unknown but appears to include several terriers, such as the Skye and Dandie Dinmont; it may also include ...
Yorkton: city, southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies 117 miles (189 km) northeast of Regina. The original townsite, on nearby Yorkton Creek, was settled in 1882 by the York (Ontario) Farmers' Colonization Company. With the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in ...
Yorktown: historic town, seat (1634) of York county, southeastern Virginia, U.S. It is situated on the south bank of the York River across from Gloucester Point, just east-southeast of Williamsburg. The area around Yorktown was settled in 1630, but the town ...
Yorktown, Siege of: (September 28-October 19, 1781), joint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender. The siege virtually ended military operations in the American Revolution.
Yoro: city, northwestern Honduras. Situated in the highlands at an elevation of 1,837 feet (559 m), it is located near the headwaters of the Aguan River. Although its founding date is uncertain, it was first mentioned in 1684. It is now ...
Yoruba: one of the three largest ethnic groups of Nigeria, concentrated in the southwestern part of that country. Much smaller, scattered groups live in Benin and northern Togo. The Yoruba numbered more than 20 million at the turn of the 21st ...
Yoruba language: one of a small group of languages that comprise the Yoruboid cluster of the Defoid subbranch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The other Yoruboid languages include Igala and Itsekiri. Yoruba is spoken by more than 20 ...
Yoruba states: confederation formerly dominant in what is now western Nigeria. The Yoruba probably migrated to the forests and savannas west of the lower reaches of the Niger River, founding the towns of Ekiti, Ife, and Ijebu in the tropical forest zone; ...
Yosano Akiko: Japanese poet whose new style caused a sensation in Japanese literary circles.
Yosemite Falls: magnificent series of snow-fed waterfalls in Yosemite National Park, east-central California, U.S., near Yosemite Village. They were formed by creeks tumbling into the Yosemite Valley over the edges of hanging tributary valleys (which eroded more slowly than the glacial- and ...
Yosemite National Park: scenic mountain region in east-central California, U.S. It is situated about 140 miles (225 km) east of the city of San Francisco; Devils Postpile National Monument lies about 15 miles (25 km) to the east and Kings Canyon National Park ...
Yoshida Isoya: Japanese architect who was a pioneer in the modern sukiya style of building, in which an affinity for natural materials and traditional construction techniques finds expression in contemporary structures.
Yoshida Kenko: Japanese poet and essayist, the outstanding literary figure of his time. His collection of essays, Tsurezuregusa (c. 1330; Essays in Idleness, 1967), became, especially after the 17th century, a basic part of Japanese education, and his views have had a ...