Banner System

Chinese  (Wade–Giles romanization) Ch'i-ping,  Pinyin  Qibing,   the military organization used by the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) to conquer and control China in the 17th century. The Banner system was developed by the Manchu leader Nurhachi (1559–1626), who in 1601 organized his warriors into four companies of 300 men each. The companies were distinguished by banners of different colours—yellow, red, white, and blue. In 1615 four more

Spain, Phoenicians

Venerable historical traditions recount the Phoenician voyages to found new cities. Utica, on the Tunisian coast of North Africa, was reputedly founded in 1178 BC, and by 1100 BC the Phoenician city of Tyre supposedly had a Spanish colony at Gadir (Cadiz). Although intriguing, these historical traditions are unsupported by evidence. Excavations confirm that the Phoenicians settled

West Virginia, Colonial period and Virginia's dominion

The second charter of Virginia in 1609 provided for settlement of that colony's western frontiers. Exploration and trade were further encouraged by Governor William Berkeley after 1660. The Blue Ridge was reached in 1670, and in 1671 another expedition encountered the first westward-flowing stream, the New River, in southwestern Virginia. The expedition descended the river to Peter's

Paleogeography

Also spelled  Palaeogeography,   the geography of selected portions of the Earth's surface at specific times in the geologic past. This geography consists of interpreted reconstructions, produced in map form, which represent visual summaries of a wide variety of complex geologic information. The maps provide a series of relatively instantaneous views of the Earth through geologic time. Paleogeographic

Pyramids, Battle Of The

(July 21, 1798), military engagement in which Napoleon Bonaparte invented his one significant contribution to tactics, the massive divisional square; it was fought during his Egyptian campaign near Embabeh (Imbabah), on the west bank of the Nile River. Napoleon's 25,000-man Army of Egypt faced perhaps 40,000 Egyptians led by Murad Bey. The Egyptians were concentrated near Embabeh, with the

Wied-neuwied, Maximilian, Prinz (prince) Zu

Maximilian was the prince of the small state of Neuwied and served in the Prussian army. He undertook explorations in Brazil in

Alleghenian Orogeny

A mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline in late Paleozoic (Permian) time, from about 300 million to 250 million years ago. The term Appalachian Revolution formerly was applied to this event. The Alleghenian orogeny is most pronounced in the central and southern Appalachians and produced the compressional folding and faulting of the Ridge

Corbel

In architecture, bracket or weight-carrying member, built deeply into the wall so that the pressure on its embedded portion counteracts any tendency to overturn or fall outward. The name derives from a French word meaning crow, because of the corbel's beaklike shape. Corbels may be individual pieces of stone, separate from each other like brackets, as in the case of

Rawls, Betsy

Rawls began playing golf at 17, capping her amateur career by placing second in the 1950 U.S. Women's Open behind the all-time great Babe Zaharias. Turning professional in 1951, Rawls won that year's Open, repeating her victory in 1953, 1957, and 1960. Other major professional achievements

Freedom Rides

In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel. A year later the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation tested the ruling by staging the Journey of Reconciliation, on which

World War I, Serbia and the Salonika expedition, 1915–17

Austria's three attempted invasions of Serbia in 1914 had been brusquely repulsed by Serbian counterattacks. By the summer of 1915 the Central Powers were doubly concerned to close the account with Serbia, both for reasons of prestige and for the sake of establishing secure rail communications with Turkey across the Balkans. In August, Germany sent reinforcements to Austria's

Zaehner, R.c.

The son of Swiss parents who had immigrated to England, Zaehner studied Oriental languages at the University of Oxford, specializing in Persian, Armenian, and Avestan. He became a Roman Catholic in 1946. During

Binet, Alfred

Fascinated by the work of the French neurologist Jean Charcot on hypnosis at the Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, Binet abandoned a law career in 1878 to devote himself

Pen

Tool for writing or drawing with a coloured fluid, such as ink. The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush used for writing by the Chinese by the 1st millennium BC. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike implements about 300 BC. A specific allusion to the quill pen occurs in the 7th-century writings of St. Isidore of Sevilla, but such pens made of bird feathers