Peninsular

Spanish  peninsular , plural  peninsulares , also called  gachupín , or  chapetón  any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th century who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called gachupines (“those with spurs”) and in South America, chapetones (“tenderfeet”). They enjoyed the special favour of the Spanish crown and

Margaret Of Provence

Although Blanche of Castile, Louis IX's mother, had arranged the marriage, she was jealous of her daughter-in-law, whom she supervised strictly; Jean, Sire de Joinville, chronicler of Louis's reign, tells several

Anthony Of Novgorod

Anthony's importance derives mainly from his Pilgrim's

Scimitar-babbler

Any of about 12 species of songbirds of the babbler family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes), which have long, curved bills used for uncovering insects in ground litter. Scimitar-babblers are 18 to 28 cm (7 to 11 inches) in length, with fairly long tails. Their plumage is mostly brown. They range through southern Asia to Australia and the Philippines. An example is the slaty-headed

Amatitlán, Lake

Spanish  Lago De Amatitlán,   lake, south-central Guatemala, in the central highlands at 4,085 feet (1,248 m) above sea level. The volcanic lake, 130 feet (40 m) deep, is 7 miles (11 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide and has an area of about 6 square miles (15 square km). It is fed by the Villalobos River and drained by the Michatoya River. A popular tourist area, the lake and the town of Amatitlán, at the head of the Michatoya, are situated by highway

Abrahams, Peter

Abrahams left South Africa at the age of 20, settling first in Britain and then in Jamaica; nevertheless, most of his novels and short stories are based on his early life

John

A Roman archdeacon well liked by the populace, John was elected by them on January 25 against the nobility's candidate, Sergius II. John withdrew to the Lateran Palace, his stronghold for a brief period. Concurrently, Sergius was consecrated pope at St. Peter's without imperial sanction. John was saved from being murdered by the

Fisk University

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. One of the most notable historically black colleges, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It offers undergraduate degree programs in business administration; humanities and fine arts, including religion and philosophy; natural science and mathematics, including

Antarctica, Discovery of the Antarctic poles

National and personal prestige in attaining the Earth's poles, as well as territorial acquisition and scientific inquiry, provided strong motivation for polar exploration in the early 1900s. The south magnetic pole, the point of vertical orientation of a magnetic dip needle, which was predicted by the German physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss to lie at 66° S, 146° E, inspired the

Foyer

Intermediate area between the exterior and interior of a building, especially a theatre. Originally the term was applied only to that area in French theatres, comparable to the greenroom in English theatres, where actors relaxed when they were offstage. Because actors were accustomed to visits by friends during and after performances, such areas came to be large

White Plains

City, seat (1778) of Westchester county, New York, U.S. It lies along the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers. Known to the Wappinger Indians as Quarropas (“White Marshes”), probably for the area's heavy fogs, the site was sold twice (in 1660 and in 1683) by them to different groups, causing long litigation over the title and delays in the settlement of the area. An established community by 1735 within the town

Incremental Repetition

A device used in poetry of the oral tradition, especially English and Scottish ballads, in which a line is repeated in a changed context or with minor changes in the repeated part. The device is illustrated in the following stanzas from the ballad “Lord Randal”: “O where ha' you been, Lord Randal, my son? And where ha' you been, my handsome young man?”“I ha' been at the greenwood; mother,