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Alembert, Jean Le Rond d' ... Alexander Island

Alembert, Jean Le Rond d' French mathematician, philosopher, and writer, who achieved fame as a mathematician and scientist before acquiring a considerable reputation as a contributor to and editor of the famous Encyclopedie. Alencar, Jose de journalist, novelist, and playwright whose novel O Guarani (1857; "The Guarani Indian") initiated the vogue of the Brazilian Indianista novel (romantic tales of indigenous life incorporating vocabulary of Amerindian origin referring to flora, fauna, and tribal customs). O Guarani, which was subsequently utilized as the libretto for an opera in ... Alencon town, Orne departement, Basse-Normandie region, northwestern France. Alencon lies at the juncture of the Sarthe and Briante rivers, in the centre of a plain ringed by wooded hills. It is known for its tulle and lace (especially point d'Alencon), introduced from Venice in the mid-17th century. Incorporated in the duchy ... Alencon lace needle lace produced in Alencon in northwestern France. The city of Alencon was already famous for its cutwork and reticella when in 1665 Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert introduced Venetian lacemakers into the area to teach the local women the secrets of the grand but very expensive needle laces then ... Aleni, Giulio Jesuit priest who was the first Christian missionary in the province of Kiangsi, China. Alentejo region and historical province of south-central Portugal. It lies southeast of the Tagus (Tejo) River and is bounded on the east by the Spanish frontier and on the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. It is an almost featureless tableland of less than 650 feet (200 m) in elevation in the ... alenu (Hebrew: "it is our duty"), the opening word of an extremely old Jewish prayer, which has been recited at the end of the three periods of daily prayer since the European Middle Ages. The first section of the 'alenu is a prayer of thanks for having set Israel apart for ... Aleph Japanese new religious movement founded in 1987 as AUM Shinrikyo ("AUM Supreme Truth") by Matsumoto Chizuo, known to his followers as Master Asahara Shoko. The organization came to public attention when it was learned that several of its top leaders had perpetrated the Tokyo subway attack of 1995, in which ... Aleppo principal city of northern Syria. It is situated in the northwestern part of the country, about 30 miles (50 km) south of the Turkish border. Aleppo is located at the crossroads of great commercial routes and lies some 60 miles (100 km) from both the Mediterranean Sea (west) and the ... Aleppo earthquake of 1138 earthquake, among the deadliest ever recorded, that struck the Syrian city of Aleppo (Halab) on Oct. 11, 1138. The city suffered extensive damage, and it is estimated that 230,000 people were killed. alerce (species Fitzroya cupressoides), coniferous tree that is the only species of the genus Fitzroya, of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), native to southern Chile and southern Argentina. In the wild it grows to become one of the oldest and largest trees in the world. The alerce is thought to be a ... Ales town, Gard departement, Languedoc-Roussillon region, southeastern France. It lies along a bend of the Gardon d'Ales River, at the foot of the Cevennes mountains, north-northwest of Nimes. The town's name meant "industry" in the language of its 10th-century-BC Phoenician founders. Alestium was its Roman name, and until 1926 the French ... Alesia ancient town situated on Mont Auxois, above the present-day village of Alise-Sainte-Reine in the departement of Cote d'Or, France. Alesia is famous as the site of the siege and capture of Vercingetorix by Julius Caesar in 52 BC that ended Gallic resistance to Caesar. The Gallic town was succeeded on ... Alessandri Palma, Arturo Chilean president (1920-25, 1932-38) who early defended workers' groups, especially the nitrate miners of the north, but later, as a member of the Liberal Party, became more conservative. Alessandria city, Piedmont regione, northwestern Italy. The city lies at the confluence of the Bormida and Tanaro rivers, southeast of Turin (Torino). Alessandro the first duke of Florence (1532-37). Alesund municipality and port, western Norway, north of the mouth of Stor Fjord. The municipality is set on several islands-including Norvoya, Aspoya, Heissa (Hessa), and Oksnoya-which are connected by bridges. According to legend, the settlement dates from the 9th century when Rollo (Rolf) the Ganger established a chieftain seat nearby, but ... Aletsch Glacier the Alps' largest and longest glacier, lying in the Bernese Alps of south-central Switzerland. Covering an area of 66 square miles (171 square km), it is divided into the Great Aletsch (main) and the Middle and Upper Aletsch (branches). The main glacier is 15 miles (24 km) long and 1 ... Aleut a native of the Aleutian Islands and the western portion of the Alaska Peninsula of northwestern North America. The name Aleut derives from the Russian; the people refer to themselves as the Unangas and the Sugpiaq. These two groups speak mutually intelligible dialects and are closely related to the Eskimo ... Aleut language one of two branches of the Eskimo-Aleut languages (q.v.). Two mutually intelligible dialects survive, Eastern Aleut and Atkan Aleut. A third dialect, Attu, now extinct in Alaska, survives on Bering Island (one of the Komandor Islands) in a creolized form that incorporates Russian verbal inflections. Aleut is spoken from the ... Aleutian Basin submarine depression forming the floor of the southwestern section of the Bering Sea in the Pacific Ocean. On the west it rises to meet Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula; on the northeast, the continental shelf of North America off southwestern Alaska; and on the south, the Aleutian Islands. The basin ... Aleutian Current surface oceanic current, an eastward-flowing mixture of the Kuroshio (Japan Current) and the Oya Current, located between the Aleutian Islands and latitude 42 N. Approaching the North American coast, the current divides to become the Alaska and California currents. Another branch of the Aleutian Current enters the Bering Sea, forming ... Aleutian Islands chain of small islands that separate the Bering Sea (north) from the main portion of the Pacific Ocean (south) and extend in an arc southwest, then northwest, for about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to Attu Island, Alaska, U.S. The archipelago consists of 14 ... Aleutian low large atmospheric low-pressure (cyclonic) centre that frequently exists over the Aleutian Islands region in winter and that shifts northward and almost disappears in summer. Although the Aleutian low is associated with smaller eastward-moving low- and high-pressure centres, the region's average pressure is low. It is the source region of the ... Aleutian Range segment of the Pacific mountain system, western North America. The range extends southwestward for about 600 miles (1,000 km) from the west end of the Alaska Range to the head of Cook Inlet of the Gulf of Alaska, Alaska, U.S. The Aleutian Islands represent a southwestern extension of the mountain ... Aleutian Trench submarine trench located on the south side of the Aleutian Islands between the Gulf of Alaska and the Komandor Islands in the North Pacific Ocean. The Aleutian Trench reaches a maximum depth of 26,604 feet (8,109 metres) at about 51 N, 178 W. The average slopes of its northern side ... alewife (Pomolobus, or Alosa, pseudoharengus), important North American food fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. Deeper-bodied than the true herring, the alewife has a pronounced saw-edge on the underside; it grows to about 30 cm (1 foot). Except for members of a few lake populations, it spends several years along the ... Alexander sole Byzantine emperor from May 11, 912, and third son of the emperor Basil I. He founded the Macedonian dynasty and caused the renewal of warfare between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire. Alexander king of Greece from 1917 to 1920. Alexander king of Poland (1501-06) of the Jagiellonian dynasty, successor to his brother John Albert (Jan Olbracht). Alexander prince of Serbia from 1842 to 1858. Alexander king of Serbia (1889-1903), whose unpopular authoritarian reign resulted not only in his assassination but also in the end of the Obrenovic dynasty. Alexander (V) antipope from 1409 to 1410. Alexander Aetolus Greek poet and scholar of Pleuron, in Aetolia. He was appointed by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Macedonian king of Egypt, to work on the tragedies in the library at Alexandria. Nothing remains of his own tragic writing except the title of one play, Astragalistae ("The Dice Players"), which may well be ... Alexander Archipelago group of about 1,100 islands (actually the tops of a submerged section of the Coast Ranges) off the coast of southeastern Alaska, U.S. Named by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1867 to honour Alexander II, tsar of Russia, the islands are included within the Tongass National Forest and ... Alexander Balas king of Syria and Pergamum (Greek Asia Minor) and ruler of the remains of the Seleucid Empire (150-145 BC). Alexander Bay inlet of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Orange River on the extreme northwest coast of Northern Cape province, South Africa. Its mouth is less than 3 miles (5 km) wide and is nearly closed by sandbars, which are widely breached during high floods. The gap in the ... Alexander City city, Tallapoosa county, east-central Alabama, U.S., 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Birmingham. Early settlement began in 1836, and gold was discovered in the area in the early 1840s. It was known as Youngsville until 1873, when it was named for General Edward Porter Alexander, president of the Savannah and ... Alexander I the first prince of modern autonomous Bulgaria. Alexander I king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1921-29) and of Yugoslavia (1929-34), who struggled to create a united state out of his politically and ethnically divided collection of nations. Alexander I king of Scotland from 1107 to 1124. Alexander I emperor of Russia (1801-25), who alternately fought and befriended Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars but who ultimately (1813-15) helped form the coalition that defeated the emperor of the French. He took part in the Congress of Vienna (1814-15), drove for the establishment of the Holy Alliance (1815), and took ... Alexander I 10th king of ancient Macedonia, who succeeded his father, Amyntas I, about 500 BC. More than a decade earlier, Macedonia had become a vassal state of Persia; and in 480 Alexander was obliged to accompany Xerxes I in a campaign through Greece, though he secretly aided the Greek allies. With ... Alexander I, Saint fifth pope after St. Peter and successor to St. Evaristus. Little is known about Alexander's rule (c. 109-116), which is attested by Pope St. Eusebius (309/310). Some Catholic writers ascribe to him the introduction of holy water and the custom of mixing sacramental wine with water, but this is unlikely, ... Alexander II emperor of Russia (1855-81). His liberal education and distress at the outcome of the Crimean War, which had demonstrated Russia's backwardness, inspired him toward a great program of domestic reforms, the most important being the emancipation (1861) of the serfs. A period of repression after 1866 led to a resurgence ... Alexander II king of Scotland from 1214 to 1249; he maintained peace with England and greatly strengthened the Scottish monarchy. Alexander II pope from 1061 to 1073. Alexander III emperor of Russia from 1881 to 1894, opponent of representative government, and supporter of Russian nationalism. He adopted programs, based on the concepts of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and narodnost (a belief in the Russian people), that included the Russification of national minorities in the Russian Empire as well as persecution of ... Alexander III king of Scotland from 1249 to 1286, the last major ruler of the dynasty of kings descended from Malcolm III Canmore (reigned 1058-93), who consolidated royal power in Scotland. Alexander left his kingdom independent, united, and prosperous, and his reign was viewed as a golden age by Scots caught up ... Alexander III pope from 1159 to 1181, a vigorous exponent of papal authority, which he defended against challenges by the Holy Roman emperor Frederick Barbarossa and Henry II of England. Alexander Island large island in the Bellingshausen Sea, separated from the Antarctica mainland by the George VI Sound. An extremely rugged region with peaks up to 9,800 feet (2,987 m) above sea level, it is 270 miles (435 km) long and up to 125 miles (200 km) wide and has an area ...