Britannica Concise 2005

Phan Rang

a NAM BAI CAT TIEN

• NATIONAL PARK *Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) pio Cong :Trang eu

SON ISLANDS

Gulf

of

Thailand

PHU QUOC Can Thp* ISLAND m , Quan Long

V ETNAM

Vietnamese; minorities include Chinese, Hmong, Thai, Khmer, and Cham. Lan¬ guages: Vietnamese (official), French, Chi¬ nese, English, Khmer. Religions:

Buddhism, new religions, traditional beliefs, Christianity. Currency: new dong. Vietnam is about 1,025 mi (1,650 km) long, 210-340 mi (340-550 km) wide at its widest parts, and 30 mi (50 km) wide at its narrowest part. Northern Vietnam is mountain¬ ous; Fan Si Peak, the country’s highest mountain, rises to 10,312 ft (3,143 m). The Red River is the principal river. Southern Vietnam is dominated by the Mekong River delta. A long, relatively narrow coastal plain con¬ nects the two major river deltas. The densely forested Annamese Cordil¬ lera extends through west-central Vietnam. Northern Vietnam is rich in mineral resources, especially anthracite coal and phosphates. Some petro¬ leum deposits exist off the southern coast. Significant food crops include rice, sugarcane, coffee, tea, and bananas. Food processing and fishing are important industries, as are the manufacture of steel and phosphates. Viet¬ nam is a socialist republic with one legislative house; its head of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister.

A distinct Vietnamese group began to emerge c. 200 bc in the inde¬ pendent kingdom of Nam Viet, which was later annexed to China in the 1st century bc. The Vietnamese were under continuous Chinese control until the 10th century ad. The southern region was gradually overrun by Vietnamese from the north in the late 15th century. The area was divided

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Vigee-Lebrun ► Villafranca I 2005

dancer and choreographer. He studied dance with his father and toured in Spain (1788) and Vienna (1793-95, 1799-1803), where he began to cho¬ reograph works in a style synthesizing dance and mime, similar to Jean- Georges Noverre’s ballet d’action, which he called “coreodramma.” He created more than 40 works, including The Creatures of Prometheus (1801), Gli strelizzi (1809), Otello (1818), and The Titans (1819). In 1811 he became ballet master at La Scala in Milan, where he promoted the development of ballet in Italy.

Vigee-Lebrun \ve-'zha-la-'broe n \ / (Marie-Louise-) Elisabeth (b.

April 16, 1755, Paris, France—d. March 30, 1842, Paris) French painter. Taught first by her father, a pastel portraitist, she was also advised by Joseph Vernet. In 1779 she was summoned to Versailles to paint Marie- Antoinette, whom she would paint at least 25 more times. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, she left France and traveled abroad, painting portraits of such notables as Lord Byron and Germaine de Stael and play¬ ing a leading role in society. Her paintings are notable for their freshness, charm, and sensitivity, and she was one of the most technically fluent por¬ traitists of her era.

Vigny \ve-'nye\, Alfred-Victor, count de (b. March 27, 1797, Loches, France—d. Sept. 17, 1863, Paris) French poet, dramatist, and novelist. Vigny embarked on a military career but turned to writing Romantic poetry; his verse was critically and popularly acclaimed. His Cinq-Mars (1826) was the first important historical novel in French. Growing disillusioned, he wrote Stello (1832), on the advisability of sepa¬ rating the poetic life from the political. Chatterton (1835), his best play and one of the finest Romantic dramas, glorifies the anguish of the mis¬ understood artist. His pessimism was manifest also in The Military Neces¬ sity (1835), whose first and third stories are his prose masterpieces. In middle age he withdrew from Paris society. His later writings include poetry collected posthumously in Les Destinees (1864).

Vigo \ve-'go\, Jean (b. April 26, 1905, Paris, France—d. Oct. 5, 1934, Paris) French film director. The son of a militant anarchist who died in prison under suspect circumstances, he spent an unhappy childhood in boarding schools. His first film was the satiric social documentary A pro- pos de Nice (1930). He explored the subject of freedom versus authority in his celebrated Zero for Conduct (1933), which was branded “anti- French” by the censors and withdrawn from theatres. His last film, VAtalante (1934), tells the story of an unhappy marriage and is also regarded as a masterpiece. Vigo’s films blend lyricism with realism and Surrealism and distinguished him as an original talent.

Vijayanagar V.vi-jo-yo-'no-gorX Former Hindu kingdom, southern India, south of the Krishna River. Founded in 1336 by leaders of the Kanarese people, it became the greatest empire of southern India and for more than two centuries served as a barrier against Muslim raiders from the north. It was an important center of Brahman culture and Dravidian art. Its downfall began with the defeat at Talikota (1565) by a confed¬ eracy of Deccan Muslim sultans; the empire dissolved c. 1614. The king¬ dom’s capital, Vijayanagar, was destroyed in 1565. Its ruined site is located at modern Hampi, in southeastern Karnataka.

their extraordinary capacity as shipbuilders and sailors inspired their adventures. In 865 Vikings conquered East Anglia, Northumbria, and much of Mercia. Wessex under Alfred the Great made a truce in 878 that led to Danish control of much of England. Alfred defeated fresh Viking armies (892-899), and his son continued his reconquest, recovering lands in Mercia and East Anglia by 924; Viking Northumbria fell in 954. Renewed raids in 980 brought England into the empire of Canute, and it remained as such until 1042, when native rule was restored.The Vikings permanently affected English social structure, dialect, and names. In the western seas, Vikings had settled in Iceland by 900, whence they traveled to Greenland and North America. They invaded Ireland in 795, establish¬ ing kingdoms at Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford. The Battle of Clontarf (1014) ended the threat of Scandinavian rule. France suffered periodic Viking raids but no domination. In Russia Vikings briefly dominated Novgorod, Kiev, and other centres, but they were quickly absorbed by the Slav population. As traders they made commercial treaties with the Byz¬ antines (912, 945), and they served as mercenaries in Constantinople. Viking activity ended in the 11th century.

Viking ship See longship Vikramaditya See Chandra Gupta II

Vila \ve-'la\ or Port-Vila \,p6r-ve-'la\ Seaport, capital, and largest town (pop., 2003 est.: 33,987) of Vanuatu, southwestern South Pacific Ocean. Although French in appearance, the town has a multinational population including British, French, and Vietnamese. It served as a base for the U.S. in World War II and subsequently became the commercial centre of Van¬ uatu.

villa Country estate, complete with house, grounds, and subsidiary build¬ ings. The term particularly applies to the suburban summer residences of the ancient Romans and their later Italian imitators. Roman villas fre¬ quently were asymmetrical in plan and built with elaborate terracing on hillsides; they had long colonnades, towers, gardens with reflecting pools and fountains, and extensive reservoirs. In Britain the term has come to mean a small detached or semidetached suburban home. See also Hadri¬ an's Villa, Andrea Palladio.

Villa Vve-yo\, Pancho orig. Doroteo Arango (b. June 5, 1878, Hacienda de Rfo Grande, San Juan del Rfo, Mex.—d. June 20, 1923, Par- ral) Mexican guerrilla leader. He was orphaned at a young age and spent his adolescence as a fugitive, having murdered a landowner in revenge for an assault on his sister. An advocate of radical land reform, he joined Francisco Madero’s uprising against Porfirio Diaz. His Division del Norte joined forces with Venustiano Carranza to overthrow Victoriano Huerta (1854-1916), but he soon broke with the moderate Carranza and in 1914 was forced to flee with Emiliano Zapata. In 1916, to demonstrate that Car¬ ranza did not control the north, he raided a town in New Mexico. A U.S. force led by Gen. John Pershing was sent against him, but his popularity and knowledge of his home territory made him impossible to capture. He was granted a pardon after Carranza’s overthrow (1920) but was assas¬ sinated three years later. See also Mexican Revolution; Alvaro Obregon.

Villa-Lobos V.ve-b-'lo-boshV Heitor (b. March 5, 1887, Rio de Jan¬ eiro, Braz.—d. Nov. 17, 1959, Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian composer. He was exposed to folk music as a child, and his later extensive ethnomu- sicological studies (1905-12) had great influence on his own works. Self- taught as a composer, he met Darius Milhaud in 1917, and Artur Rubinstein later promoted his music and helped support him. A “week of modem art” in Sao Paulo (1922) brought his music to national attention, and he was given a grant to go to Paris (1923-30), where his music was received enthusiastically. On his return he became a leader in musical education— founding the Ministry of Education conservatory (1942) and the Brazil¬ ian Academy of Music (1945)—and Brazil’s semiofficial ambassador to the world. His many works include his 9 Bachianas brasileiras for vari¬ ous ensembles and his 14 Choros, based on a popular form of street music.

Villafranca \,ve-la-'fraq-ka\ A Peace of (1859) Preliminary peace treaty between France’s Napoleon III and Austria’s emperor Francis Joseph that ended the Franco-Piedmontese war against Austria. Napoleon III made peace after the costly Battle of Solferino without consulting the Piedmontese king, Victor Emmanuel II. By the peace terms, Lombardy was ceded to France and then to Piedmont, and the dukes of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany were restored to their thrones after being deposed by nation¬ alists. Though decried by Italian nationalists, the peace marked the begin¬ ning of Italy’s unification under Piedmontese leadership.

Vijnanavada See Yogacara

Viking Either of two unmanned U.S. spacecraft launched by NASA in 1975. After nearly yearlong jour¬ neys, Vikings 1 and 2 entered orbits around Mars and released landers that touched down on the planet and relayed measurements of properties of its atmosphere and soil, as well as colour photographs of its surface.

Experiments designed to detect evi¬ dence of living organisms provided no convincing evidence of life on the surface. The orbiters transmitted photographs of large expanses of the Martian surface.

Viking or Norseman Member of the Scandinavian seafaring war¬ riors who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the 9th to the 11th century. Overpopulation at home, ease of conquest abroad, and

Viking 2 lander (foreground) on Mars, photographed by one of the space¬ craft's own cameras, 1976.

NASA/JPL

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2006 I Villahermosa ► Vincent de Paul

Villahermosa V.be-ya-er-'mo-saV City (pop., 2000: 330,846), capital of Tabasco state, southeastern Mexico. Founded in 1596 as Villa Felipe II, it has also been known as San Juan de Villa Hermosa and as San Juan Bau¬ tista; it was given its present name in 1915. The cathedral was built in 1614. The archaeological museum is one of the best in Mexico. Villaher¬ mosa is the state’s chief distributing, processing, and agricultural city. There are Maya archaeological ruins in the area.

Villanovan \,vi-l9-'no-v9n\ culture Early Iron Age culture in Italy, named after the village where the first site was found in 1853. It appeared in the 10th or 9th century bc as a branch of the Urnfield cultures. Its dead were cremated and the ashes put in a decorated pottery two-story urn cov¬ ered with a bowl or a helmet-shaped lid, or in a so-called hut urn, a terra¬ cotta vessel. Expert metalworkers, the Villanovans controlled Tuscany’s copper and iron mines. In the later 8th century bc their art and burials were influenced by Greece. Their culture began to fade in the 7th century.

Villard de Honnecourt We-'lar-do-o-no-'ktirX (b. c. 1225, Picardy, France—d. c. 1250) French architect. He is remembered mainly for the sketchbook he compiled while traveling in search of work as a master mason. The book contains sketches and writings concerning architectural practices of the time. He includes sections on technical procedures and mechanical devices, as well as notes on the buildings and monuments he had seen, offering insights into the variety of interests and work of the 13th-century master mason and providing an explanation for the spread of Gothic architecture in Europe.

Villard \v3-'lard\, Henry orig. Ferdinand Heinrich Gustav Hil- gard (b. April 10, 1835, Speyer, Bavaria—d. Nov. 12, 1900, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., U.S.) German-born U.S. journalist and financier. In 1853 he immigrated to the U.S., where he first found work with German-language newspapers. During the Civil War he was a correspondent for two New York City newspapers. In 1881 he purchased the Nation magazine and the New York Evening Post. In the 1870s he organized several railroads in Oregon, and from 1881 to 1884 he was president of the Northern Pacific, a transcontinental railroad completed under his management despite large cost overruns; he later served as chairman of the board (1888-93). He bought two Edison companies and created the Edison General Electric Co. in 1889, serving as president until its reorganization in 1892 as the General Electric Co.

Villars \vi-'lar\, Claude-Louis-Hector, duke de (b. May 8, 1653, Moulins, France—d. June 17, 1734, Turin, Sardinia) French soldier. He distinguished himself in France’s war against the Dutch (1672-78) and in the War of the Grand Alliance. After leading French forces to early victories in the War of the Spanish Succession, he was made a marshal of France (1702) and a duke (1705). He continued successful military cam¬ paigns in Germany (1705-08), inflicted heavy losses on the duke of Mar¬ lborough’s forces at Malplaquet (1709), and defeated Eugene of Savoy at Denain (1712). He served on the regency council for the young Louis XV. At the outbreak of the War of the Polish Succession, he was given the exceptional title of marshal general of France (1733) and sent to attack Austrian lands in northern Italy.

Villella \vi-'le-lo\, Edward (b. Oct. 1, 1936, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer, choreographer, and director. He trained at the School of American Ballet and joined the New York City Ballet in 1957, becom¬ ing a principal dancer in 1960. He danced leading roles in many of George Balanchine’s ballets, notably The Prodigal Son (1960), displaying a powerful technique. After retiring from dancing in 1983, he became artistic director of Ballet Oklahoma (1983-86). In 1986 he founded the Miami City Ballet, where he contin¬ ues as artistic director.

Villemin \vel-'ma n \ / Jean Anto¬ ine (b. Jan. 28, 1827, Prey, Vosges,

France—d. Oct. 6, 1892, Paris) French physician. As an army doctor, he observed that healthy young men often developed tuberculosis (TB) liv¬ ing in the close quarters of the barracks. Aware that a similar disease in horses was transmitted by inoculation, he gave TB to rabbits by inocu¬ lating them with material from sick humans and cows, proving that it was

an infectious disease. His contagion theory, published in 1867, was ini¬ tially ignored but was later corroborated by other scientists’ experiments.

Villiers, George See 1st Duke of Buckingham

Villon \ve-'yo n , ve-Ton\, Francois orig. Francois de Montcorbier or Francois des Loges (b. 1431, Paris, France—d. after 1463) French lyric poet. Villon was a rigorously trained scholar who led a life of crimi¬ nal excess; he killed a priest in 1455, then joined a criminal organization and became involved in robbery, theft, and brawling. Incarcerated several times, in 1462 he received a death sentence that was commuted to ban¬ ishment. He was never heard from again. His works, published posthu¬ mously, include the poem Le Petit testament (1489), which takes the form of ironic bequests to friends and acquaintances; Le Testament (1489), which reviews his life with great emotional and poetic depth; and vari¬ ous ballades, chansons, and rondeaux. His themes range from drunken¬ ness and prostitution to a humble ballade-prayer to the Virgin written at his mother’s request. Villon’s verse makes a direct, unsentimental appeal to the emotions but also displays remarkable control of rhyme and dis¬ ciplined composition.

Vilnius Vvil-ne-9s\ City (pop., 2001: 542,287), capital of Lithuania. Founded in the 10th century, it became the capital of Lithuania in 1323. It was destroyed in 1377 by the Teutonic Knights but was rebuilt. Vilnius passed to Russia in 1795, and for several centuries was a noted European centre for Jewish learning. It was occupied by the Germans in World Wars I and II and suffered heavy damage. From 1920 to 1939 it was part of Poland; taken by Soviet troops in 1939, it was restored to Lithuania, which the Soviets annexed in 1940. One result of the World War II German occupation was the decimation of the city’s Jewish population, which dropped from 80,000 in 1941 to 6,000 in 1945. In 1991 it became the capital of the newly independent Lithuania. An important industrial cen¬ tre, it also has many historic buildings representing Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque styles of architecture.

Vilnius dispute Conflict between Poland and Lithuania over posses¬ sion of the city of Vilnius. After World War I, the new Lithuanian gov¬ ernment established itself at Vilnius. It was forced out by Soviet forces in 1919, and the city was then occupied by Polish forces (1919) and again by the Soviets, which ceded it to Lithuania in 1920. An armistice was arranged by the League of Nations, but Poland took Vilnius in 1920 and controlled the city and its surrounding region until they were restored to Lithuania in 1939.

Vilyuy River or Viliui \vil-'yii-e\ River River, east-central Siberia. The longest tributary of the Lena River, it is 1,647 mi (2,650 km) long. It joins the Lena about 200 mi (320 km) northwest of Yakutsk. It is navi¬ gable for about 900 mi (1,450 km). In 1954 rich diamond deposits were discovered near the river.

Vina del Mar \'ben-ya-del- , mar\ City (pop., 2002 prelim: 330,000), central Chile. It is a residential suburb of Valparaiso. Located on the Pacific Ocean, Vina del Mar is a resort city with a gaming casino, beaches, muse¬ ums, and theatres. Army and navy garrisons and petroleum depots add to the city’s economic base.

Vinaya Pitaka Vvi-no-yo-'pi-to-koX Oldest and smallest division of the Tripitaka. It lays out the 227 rules of monastic life for bhiksus, along with an account of the occasion that led the Buddha to formulate the rule. It varies less from school to school than does the Suita Pitaka or the Abhidhamma Pitaka. It includes an exposition of the rules, which are divided into classes according to the severity of the punishment for breaking them; texts that deal with such matters as admission to and expulsion from the order; and a classified digest of the rules in the other Vinaya texts.

Vincennes \va n -'sen\ ware Pottery made at Vincennes, France, from 1740 until 1756 (three years after it had become the royal manufactory), when the enterprise moved to Sevres, near Versailles. Typical Vincennes pottery included biscuit (white, unglazed soft-paste) figures and soft-paste flowers on wire stems or applied to vases. From 1756 to 1770 pottery continued to be made at Vincennes, both tin-glazed earthenware (offi¬ cially) and soft-paste porcelain (clandestinely, in defiance of a Sevres monopoly). See also Sevres porcelain.

Vincent de Paul, Saint (b. April 24, 1581, Pouy, France—d. Sept. 27, 1660, Paris; canonized 1737; feast day September 27) French reli¬ gious leader. Educated by the Franciscans at Dax, he was ordained in 1600 and graduated from the University of Toulouse in 1604. It is said that he

Villella in The Prodigal Son.

MARTHA SWOPE

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Vincent of Beauvais ► vipassana I 2007

was captured at sea by Barbary pirates but escaped. In 1625 he founded the Congregation of the Mission (also called Lazarists or Vincentians) in Paris as a preaching and teaching order. He also established the Confra¬ ternities of Charity, associations of lay women who nursed the sick. With St. Louise de Maxillae he cofounded the Daughters of Charity (Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul).

Vincent of Beauvais \bo-'va\ (b. 1190, Beauvais?, France—d. 1264, Paris) French scholar and encyclopaedist. A Dominican priest (c. 1220), he became lector and chaplain to the court of King Louis IX. By 1244 he had compiled Speculum majus (“Great Mirror”), an 80-book compendium of knowledge that included human history from the Creation to the time of Louis IX, natural history and science known to the West, and a com¬ pendium of European literature, law, politics, and economics. His work influenced scholars and poets up to the 18th century. See also encyclo¬ paedia.

Vinci, Leonardo da See Leonardo da Vinci

vine Plant whose stem requires support and that climbs by tendrils or twining or creeps along the ground, or the stem of such a plant. Examples include bittersweet, most grapes, some honeysuckles, ivy, lianas, and melons.

vinegar Sour liquid obtained by fermentation of dilute alcoholic liquids. Probably first made from wine (French vinaigre means “sour wine”), vin¬ egar may also be made from malted barley, rice, cider, or other substances. The source substance, which must contain sugar, is fermented by yeast to produce alcohol. The alcohol is then aerated, which causes it to convert, through the action of Acetobacter bacteria, to acetic acid, water, and vari¬ ous other compounds. Vinegar is used in pickling meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables and in creating marinades, dressings, and other sauces.

Vingt \'va n \, Les or Les XX French The Twenty Group of Symbol¬ ist artists, including James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, and Henry van de Velde, who exhibited in Belgium during 1891-93. Belgian Symbolist painting employed simplified forms, heavy outlines, a subjective use of colour, and a heightened spiritual content inspired by religious, exotic, and “primitive” cultures. The styles of various members of Les Vingt eventually merged into the new Art Nouveau style.

Vinland Wooded land in North America visited and named by Leif Eriks¬ son the Lucky c. ad 1000. It was probably located along the Atlantic coast of what is now eastern or northeastern Canada. The Vikings’ visits to Vin¬ land (named “wine land” for its wild grapes) are recorded in the Norse sagas. Leif Eriksson is said to have led the first expedition, and his brother Thorvald a second one c. 1003. A colonizing expedition of 130 Vikings c. 1004 was abandoned after warfare with the native Indians. The final expedition was led c. 1013 by Erik the Red’s daughter Freydis. In 1963 the remains of a Norse settlement were discovered at L'Anse aux Meadows, at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland.

Vinson, Fredferick Moore) (b. Jan. 22, 1890, Louisa, Ky., U.S.—d. Sept. 8, 1953, Washington, D.C.) U.S. jurist. He served in Congress for all but two years during the period 1923 to 1938. After serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals (1938-43), he held high executive positions, including secretary of the treasury under Pres. Harry Truman. He helped establish the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund. From 1946 to 1953 he was chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During his tenure he favoured Truman’s internal security policies and upheld the equal-protection rights of racial minorities.

Vinson Massif Mountain, Sentinel Range, central Ellsworth Moun¬ tains, western Antarctica. Rising 16,066 ft (4,897 m), the Vinson Massif is the highest mountain on the continent. It was discovered in 1935 by U.S. explorer Lincoln Ellsworth.

vinyl chloride or chloroethylene Colourless, flammable, toxic gas (H 2 C=CHC1), belonging to the family of organic compounds of halo¬ gens. It is produced in very large quantities and used principally to make PVC, as well as in other syntheses and in adhesives. Prolonged exposure to vinyl chloride is linked to several kinds of cancer.

viol Vvl-ol, 'vI-,ol\ or viola da gamba We-.o-lo-do-'gam-boV Bowed stringed instrument of the 16th—18th centuries. The viols are distinguished from the violin family particularly by a fretted fingerboard, sloping shoul¬ ders, flat back, six strings, and milder tone. They exist in four sizes: treble, tenor, bass, and double bass (violone). They are played vertically, the body of the instrument being held between the legs or rested on the knee. The

viol family appeared in the late 15th century and soon became widely popular and acquired a large repertory. Throughout the Baroque era, the bass viol joined the harpsichord in the basso continuo. The contempora¬ neous violin family, having a more penetrating tone, gradually displaced the viols in the 18th century.

viola \vI-'o-b, ve-'6-b\ Stringed instrument, the tenor member of the vio¬ lin family. In appearance it is almost identical to the violin but slightly larger; its strings are tuned a fifth lower. It is a member of many chamber music ensembles, and the modern orchestra uses 6 to 10 violas. Its tone is darker, warmer, and less powerful than the violin’s, and it is rarely employed as a solo instrument. The viola d’amore is an 18th-century instrument with six or seven melody strings, under which are strung sev¬ eral sympathetic strings that resonate in concord with the sounded pitches.

violet Any of the approximately 500 species of herbaceous plants or low shrubs that make up the genus Viola, which includes the small, solid- coloured violets and the larger-flowered, often multicoloured violas and pansies. Many Viola species have two types of flowers: the showy spring flower is infertile; the less conspicuous summer flower is self-fertilizing. The best-known species of Viola have heart-shaped leaves. The popular florist’s violets, consisting of several hybrids (many of them V. odorata), are usually called sweet violets. The family Violaceae, to which Viola belongs, has members worldwide; they are typically small trees and shrubs that grow as low vegetation beneath the taller trees of forests. The so-called African violet belongs to the gesneriad family. See also dogtooth violet.

violin Bowed stringed instrument. The violin is the highest-pitched mem¬ ber of a family of instruments that includes the viola, cello, and double bass. It has a fretless fingerboard, four strings, and a distinctively shaped wooden body whose “waist” permits freedom of bowing. The violin is held on the shoulder and bowed with the right hand. It has a wide range of more than four octaves. It evolved in Italy in the 16th century from the medieval fiddle and other instruments. Its average proportions were settled by the 17th century, but innovations in the 18th-19th centuries increased its tonal power. With its brilliance, agility, and singing tone, the violin has been immensely important in Western art music, and it has the largest and most distinguished repertoire of any stringed instrument. From the mid-17th century it has been the foundation of the symphony orches¬ tra, which today usually includes 20-26 violins, and it is also widely used in chamber music and as a solo instrument. It is played as a folk instru¬ ment in many countries, folk violins being often called fiddles.

Viollet-le-Duc V.ve-o-'la-b-'dtikV Eugene-Emmanuel (b. Jan. 27, 1814, Paris, France—d. Sept. 17,

1879, Lausanne, Switz.) French Gothic Revival architect, restorer, and writer. After studying architecture and training as an archaeologist, he was placed in charge of restoring the abbey church at Vezelay (1840). He assisted in restoring the Sainte- Chapelle (1840) and Notre-Dame de Paris (1845) and supervised the res¬ toration of many other medieval buildings, including Amiens Cathe¬ dral (1849) and the fortifications of Carcassonne (1852). In his later res¬ torations he often added new ele¬ ments of his own design, intrusions for which he was criticized in the 20th century. He is most distin¬ guished for his writings, which include the Dictionnaire raisonne de l’architecture frangaise du Xle au XVIe siecle (1854-68) and Entre- tiens sur l’architecture (1858-72). His theories of rational architectural design linked the revivalism of the Romantic period to 20th-century Func¬ tionalism and influenced the architects of the Chicago School.

violoncello See cello

vipassana Wi-'pa-so-noV In Theravada Buddhism, a method of insight meditation. It aims at developing understanding of the nature of reality by focusing a sharply concentrated mind on physical and mental pro¬ cesses. The meditator comes to understand, through personal experience.

Eugene-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.

ARCHIVES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES, PARIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2008 I viper ► virginal

the truths of dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and anatta (lack of an enduring self). It is a process of mental purification that leads to abandonment of the roots of unwholesome actions, eradication of igno¬ rance, and attainment of nirvana.

viper Any of about 200 species (family Viperidae) of venomous snakes in two subfamilies: Viperinae (Old World vipers of Europe, Asia, and Africa) and Crotalinae (pit vipers). Two long, hollow, venom-injecting fangs attached to the movable bones of the viper’s upper jaw can be folded back in the mouth when not in use. Vipers range in length from less than 12 in. (30 cm) to more than 10 ft (3 m). They eat small animals and hunt by striking, then trailing, their prey. Many Old World vipers are terres¬ trial; a few are arboreal or burrowers. Most bear live young.

Viracocha \,be-ra-'ko-cha\ Creator god of the pre-Inca inhabitants of Peru, later assimilated into the Inca pantheon. A god of rain, he was believed to have created the Sun on the waters and foam of Lake Titicaca. After forming the rest of the heavens and the earth, he wandered through the world teaching humankind the arts of civilization. At Manta (Ecua¬ dor) he walked westward across the Pacific Ocean, promising to return one day. His cult was extremely ancient, and he is probably the weeping god sculpted in the megalithic ruins at Tiwanaku.

viral VvI-rolX diseases Diseases caused by viRUses. Long-term immunity usually follows viral childhood diseases (see chickenpox). The common cold recurs into adulthood because many different viruses cause its symp¬ toms, and immunity against one does not protect against others. Some viruses mutate fast enough to reinfect people after recovery (see influ¬ enza) or to keep the immune system from fighting them off (see AIDS). Cer¬ tain cancers are caused by viruses. Vaccines can prevent some viral diseases. Most recently developed antiviral drugs work only against spe¬ cific viruses; antibiotics are ineffective against viral diseases. See also poliomyelitis; smallpox.

Virchow \'fir-ko\, Rudolf (Carl) (b. Oct. 13, 1821, Schivelbein, Pomerania, Prussia—d. Sept. 5, 1902, Berlin) German pathologist, anthropologist, and statesman. In 1847 he cofounded the pathology jour¬ nal now named for him (Virchows Archiv). He held the first chairs of pathological anatomy at the Universities of Wurzburg (1849-56) and Ber¬ lin (1856-1902). In 1861 he was elected to the Prussian Diet and founded the Progressive Party. He coined the terms thrombosis and embolism while disproving the theory that phlebitis causes most diseases. His work sup¬ ported emerging ideas on cell division and metabolism, pointing out that cell division accounted for the multiplication of cells to form tissues. His rejection of the theory that bacteria cause disease and of Ignaz Semmel- weis’s advocacy of antisepsis delayed the use of antiseptics. Virchow also founded two anthropological societies and accompanied Heinrich Schlie- mann to Troy (1879) and Egypt (1888).

vireo Vvir-e-,o\ Any of 42 species (family Vireonidae) of New World songbirds with a stout, slightly notched, hook-tipped bill that has fine bristles at the base. Vireos are 4-7 in. (10-18 cm) long and are plain gray or greenish, with white or yellow touches. They glean insects from foli¬ age in woodlands and thickets, repeating loud short phrases over and over. The nest is a cuplike structure suspended from a small fork in a branch. The red-eyed vireo (Vireo olivaceus), which breeds from southern Canada to Argentina, is 6 in. (15 cm) long and has a black-outlined, white eye stripe that contrasts with its gray crown.

Virgil or Vergil Wor-jil\ orig. Publius Vergilius Maro (b. Oct. 15, 70, Andes, near Mantua—d. Sept. 21, 19 bc, Brundisium) Greatest of Roman poets. The well-educated son of a prosperous provincial farmer, Virgil led a quiet life, though he eventually became a member of the circle around Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) and was patronized by Maece¬ nas. His first major work, the 10 pastoral Eclogues (42-37), may be read as a prophecy of tranquility, and one has even been read as a prophecy of Christianity. The Georgies (37-30) point toward a Golden Age in the form of practical goals: the repopulation of rural lands and the rehabili¬ tation of agriculture. His great epic, the Aeneid (begun c. 29, but unfin¬ ished at his death), is one of the masterpieces of world literature. A celebration of the founding of Rome by the legendary Aeneas at the request of Augustus, whose consolidation of power in 31-30 unified the Roman world, it also explores the themes of war and the pathos of unre¬ quited love. In later centuries his works were regarded in the Roman Empire as virtually sacred. He was taken up reverently by Christians as well, including Dante, who, in his poem The Divine Comedy, made Vir¬ gil his guide through hell and purgatory.

Virgin Birth Fundamental doctrine of orthodox Christianity that Jesus had no natural father but was conceived by Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. Based on the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the doctrine was universally accepted in the Christian church by the 2nd century. It remains a basic article of belief in Roman Catholi¬ cism, Eastern Orthodoxy, most Protestant churches, and Islam. A corol¬ lary of its dogma is the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity, accepted by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and by some Lutheran and Anglican theologians. See also Immaculate Conception.

Virgin Islands, British British overseas territory (pop., 2005 est.: 27,200), West Indies. Part of the Virgin Islands chain, it consists of the islands of Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke and 32 smaller, mostly uninhabited islands. The chief town and port is Road Town on Tortola. The majority of British Virgin Islanders are of African or African-European descent. English is the chief language. Religion: Christianity (predominantly Protestant). The islands are generally hilly, and many have lagoons with coral reefs and barrier beaches. Tourism is the mainstay of the economy. The Virgin Islands probably were originally settled by Arawak Indians but were inhabited by Caribs by the time Chris¬ topher Columbus visited in 1493. The islands were a haunt for pirates, and Tortola was held by Dutch buccaneers until it was taken by English plant¬ ers in 1666; it was annexed by the British-administered Leeward Islands in 1672. The British sugar plantations declined after slavery was abol¬ ished in the 19th century. The islands were part of the Colony of the Lee¬ ward Islands from 1872 until 1956, when the British Virgin Islands became a separate colony. Its status was changed to an overseas territory in 2002.

Virgin Islands National Park Conservation area, St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Covering 14,696 acres (5,947 hectares), it has steep moun¬ tains, white beaches, and coral reefs. Though most of the tree cover was removed for sugarcane cultivation in the 17th—18th century, the land has reverted to forest. Some 100 species of birds and the only native land mammal, the bat, can be found there. It has remains of Arawak Indian villages.

Virgin Islands of the U.S. Unincorporated U.S. island territory (pop., 2005 est.: 108,700), West Indies. Part of the Virgin Islands chain, it consists of the islands of Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas and about 50 small islets. Area: 136 sq mi (352 sq km). Capital: Charlotte Amalie. The great majority of the population is of African descent; most of the remainder are Hispanic (mainly Puerto Rican) or recent immigrants from the U.S. The people are U.S. citizens and elect a nonvoting repre¬ sentative to the U.S. House of Representatives, but they do not vote in U.S. national elections. Languages: English (official), French, Spanish. Religion: Christianity (mainly Protestant; also Roman Catholic, other Christians). The islands are hilly and surrounded by coral reefs. Tourism dominates the economy. The islands probably were originally settled by Arawak Indians but were inhabited by the Caribs by the time Christopher Columbus landed on St. Croix in 1493. St. Croix was occupied by the Dutch, English, French, and Spanish and at one time was owned by the Knights of Malta. Denmark occupied St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix and established them as a Danish colony in 1754. The U.S. purchased the Danish West Indies in 1917 for $25 million and changed the name to the Virgin Islands. They were adminis¬ tered by the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1931. In 1954 the Organic Act of the Virgin Islands created the current governmental structure, and in 1970 the first popu¬ larly elected governor took office.

The area suffered extensive damage by a major hurricane in 1995.

virginal or virginals Small rect¬ angular harpsichord with a single set of strings and a single manual. The derivation of its name is uncertain.

The virginal’s strings run parallel to the keyboard, which occupies only a portion of the longer side. Combina¬ tion virginals include a smaller por¬ table virginal that can be placed on top of the larger keyboard to create a two-manual instrument. The vir-

English virginal (with jack rail removed) made by Robert Hatley, Lon¬ don, 1664; in the Benton-Fletcher Col¬ lection, the National Trust, Hampstead, London

FROM THE BENTON-FLETCHER COLLECTION AT THE NATIONAL TRUST PROPERTY, FENTON HOUSE, HAMPSTEAD, LONDON

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Virginia ► virtue ethics I 2009

ginal was particularly popular in 16th-17th-century England, where much music was written for it by William Byrd, Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, and others.

Virginia State (pop., 2000: 7,078,515), southeastern U.S. It is bordered by Maryland to the northeast. North Carolina and Tennessee to the south, Kentucky to the west, West Virginia to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Located on the central Atlantic seaboard, it covers an area of 40,600 sq mi (105,154 sq km); its capital is Richmond. The coastal plain, also known as the Tidewater, lies in the east; the Piedmont prov¬ ince, a region of rolling hills, is in the middle of the state; and the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains lie to the west. The Potomac, Shenan¬ doah, James, and Roanoke rivers flow through the state. Virginia was inhabited by American Indians when England’s first American colony was founded there in 1607 at Jamestown. Virginia’s citizens were among the leaders of the American Revolution, and the state later contributed four of the country’s first five presidents. In 1788 it became the 10th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was an important part of Virginia’s economy; Nat Turner’s slave insurrection occurred there in 1831. In 1861, soon after the start of the American Civil War, Virginia seceded from the Union. Richmond became the capital of the Confederacy (see Confeder¬ ate States of America), and Virginia was the chief battleground through¬ out the war. The western part of the state refused to secede; it split off to become West Virginia in 1863. Virginia was readmitted to the Union in 1870. Strife over state debt took over political life for the next decades, but after World War I the state’s prosperity increased. World War II brought thousands to Virginia’s military camps and caused the Norfolk area to experience rapid growth. The federal government is the state’s largest employer, while manufacturing is the second largest. Hampton Roads is one of the nation’s leading ports. Tourism is important; Virgin¬ ia’s many historical sites include Colonial Williamsburg, George Wash¬ ington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Civil War battlefields, and Gen. Robert E. Lee’s house, located within the grounds of what is now Arlington National Cemetery. The College of William and Mary (founded 1693) is the country’s second oldest college; the Univer¬ sity of Virginia was largely the creation of Thomas Jefferson.

Virginia, University of U.S. public university founded in Char¬ lottesville by Thomas Jefferson. It was chartered in 1819 and opened in 1825. Jefferson designed its beautiful campus and buildings, planned the curriculum, and selected the faculty. By the time of the Civil War, the university was second only to Harvard in size of faculty and student body. It first admitted women in 1970. In addition to its college of arts and sci¬ ences, it has schools of architecture, education, engineering and applied sciences, and nursing, as well as a business school, a graduate school, and schools of law and medicine.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1788-89) Measures passed by the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky as a protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts. Drafted by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson (though their role went unknown for 25 years), the resolutions protested limita¬ tions on civil liberties and declared the right of states to decide on the constitutionality of federal legislation. Though their authors applied the resolutions to the specific issues of the day. Southern states later used the measures to support the theories of nullification and secession.

Virginia Beach City (pop., 2000: 425,257), southeastern Virginia. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay. Founded in 1887, it developed as a resort after a railroad was built linking it with Norfolk. After World War I it became an important base in the national coastal defense system. In 1963 it and the former Princess Anne county merged to become the City of Virginia Beach. Its economy is based on tourism and military installations. Cape Henry Memorial is in the city and the Cape Henry Lighthouse (1791) is nearby.

Virginia Company English trading company chartered by James I in 1606 to colonize the eastern coast of North America. Its shareholders were residents of London. Approximately 105 colonists in three ships reached Virginia in 1607 and founded Jamestown. The company expanded its ter¬ ritory with new charters (1609, 1612) and authorized a two-house legis¬ lature (1619), including a House of Burgesses. The colony survived many hardships, but the company was divided by internecine disputes and was dissolved in 1624, whereupon Virginia became a royal colony. See also Plymouth Company.

Virginia Declaration of Rights Measure adopted by the colony of Virginia (June 12, 1776). Drafted by George Mason, it stated that “all

men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inher¬ ent rights” and specified such civil liberties as freedom of the press and freedom of religion. It became a model for the Bill of Rights.

Virginia deer See white-tailed deer

Virgo \'v9r-go\ Latin "Virgin" or "Maiden" In astronomy, the constellation lying between Leo and Libra; in astrology, the sixth sign of the zodiac, governing approximately the period August 23-September 22. Its symbol is a maiden carrying a sheaf of wheat. She has been identified with fertility goddesses such as Ishtar or with Persephone.

Virgo cluster Closest large cluster of galaxies at a distance of about 50 million light-years in the direction of the constellation Virgo. About 200 bright galaxies and thousands of faint ones reside in the cluster. In turn, the Virgo cluster lies at the approximate centre of a larger gravitationally bound structure, called the Local Supercluster, which also includes the Local Group of galaxies, to which the Milky Way Galaxy belongs. Near the centre of the Virgo cluster is the giant elliptical galaxy M87 (or Virgo A), one of the strongest radio sources in the sky and also a powerful X-ray source. Images of M87s active galactic nucleus, obtained in 1994, revealed gas orbiting at such high speeds that astronomers believe a supermassive black hole must be present.

virion \'vl-re-,an\ Entire virus particle, consisting of an outer protein shell (called a capsid) and an inner core of nucleic acid (either RNA or DNA). The core gives the virus infectivity, and the capsid provides specificity (i.e., determines which organisms the virus can infect). In virions whose capsids are further encased by a fatty membrane, the virion can be inactivated by exposure to a solvent such as ether or chloroform. Many virions have capsids with 20 triangular faces and the nucleic acid densely coiled within; others have capsids consisting of surface spikes, with the nucleic acid loosely coiled within. Virions of most plant viruses are rod-shaped.

viroid \'vl-,r6id\ Infectious particle that is smaller than any of the known viruses. The particle consists of an extremely small circular RNA molecule that lacks the protein coat of a virus. Viroids appeal - to be transmitted mechanically from one cell to another through cellular debris. They are of much interest because of their subviral nature and their unknown mode of action. Viroids are agents of certain plant diseases; whether they occur in animal cells is uncertain.

virology \vl-'ra-l9-je\ Branch of microbiology that deals with the study of viruses. Viruses were not closely examined until 1892, when a Russian bacteriologist observed that the agent of tobacco mosaic disease could pass through a filter that did not permit the passage of bacteria. Modern virology began in the early 20th century, when the existence of bacterioph¬ ages was discovered. Direct visualization of viruses became possible after the electron microscope was introduced (c. 1940).

virtual reality Use of computer modeling and simulation to enable a person to interact with an artificial three-dimensional visual or other sen¬ sory environment. A computer-generated environment simulates reality by means of interactive devices that send and receive information and are worn as goggles, headsets, gloves, or body suits. The illusion of being in the created environment (telepresence) is accomplished by motion sen¬ sors that pick up the user’s movements and adjust his or her view accord¬ ingly, usually in real time. The basis of the technology emerged in the 1960s in simulators that taught how to fly planes, drive tanks, shoot artil¬ lery, and generally perform in combat. It came of commercial age in the 1980s and is now used in games, exhibits, and aerospace simulators. It has potential for use in many fields, including entertainment, medicine and biotechnology, engineering, design, and marketing.

virtue Practical dispositions in conformity with standards of excellence or with principles of practical reason. The seven cardinal virtues of the Christian tradition include the four “natural,” or cardinal, virtues, those inculcated in the old pagan world that spring from the common endowment of humanity, and the three “theological” virtues, those specifically pre¬ scribed in Christianity and arising as special gifts from God. The natural virtues are prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice; this enumeration, said to go back to Socrates, is found in Plato and Aristotle. To these St. Paul added the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love—virtues which, in Christian teaching, do not originate naturally in humanity but are instead imparted by God through Christ and then practiced by the believer.

virtue ethics Approach to ethics that takes the notion of virtue (often conceived as excellence) as fundamental. Virtue ethics is primarily con-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2010 I Virunga ► Visconti

cemed with traits of character that are essential to human flourishing, not with the enumeration of duties. It falls somewhat outside the traditional dichotomy between deontological ethics and consequentiausm: It agrees with consequentialism that the criterion of an action’s being morally right or wrong lies in its relation to an end that has intrinsic value, but more closely resembles deontological ethics in its view that morally right actions are constitutive of the end itself and not mere instrumental means to the end. See also eudaemonism.

Virunga \ve-'rui]-ga\ Mountains Volcanic range, east-central Africa. Located north of Lake Kivu, it extends for about 50 mi (80 km) along the borders of Congo (Kinshasa), Rwanda, and Uganda. Of its eight major volcanic peaks, the highest is Karisimbi, while Nyiragongo is at the west¬ ern end of the chain; in 1861 John Hanning Speke was the first European to spot them. Parts of the range are in Virunga National Park, Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda), and Gorilla National Park (Uganda).

Virunga National Park formerly Albert National Park Game preserve and gorilla sanctuary, northeastern Congo (Kinshasa). Estab¬ lished in 1925, it has an area of about 3,050 sq mi (7,900 sq km). Its southern tip touches the northern shore of Lake Kivu, and much of its cen¬ tral region is occupied by Lake Edward. The Virunga Mountains lie between the two lakes. The park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.

virus Microscopic, simple infectious agent that can multiply only in liv¬ ing cells of animals, plants, or bacteria. Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and consist of a single- or double-stranded nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) surrounded by a protein shell called a capsid; some viruses also have an outer envelope composed of lipids and proteins. They vary in shape. The two main classes are RNA viruses (see retrovirus) and DNA viruses. Outside of a living cell, a virus is an inactive particle, but within an appropriate host cell it becomes active, capable of taking over the cell’s metabolic machinery for the production of new virus particles (virions). Some animal viruses produce latent infections, in which the virus persists in a quiet state, becoming periodically active in acute episodes, as in the case of the herpes simplex virus. An animal can respond to a viral infection in various ways, including fever, secretion of interferon, and attack by the immune system. Many human diseases, including influenza, the common cold, and AIDS, as well as many economically important plant and ani¬ mal diseases, are caused by viruses. Successful vaccines have been devel¬ oped to combat such viral diseases as measles, mumps, poliomyeutis, smallpox, and rubella. Drug therapy is generally not useful in controlling established viral infections, since drugs that inhibit viral development also inhibit the functions of the host cell. See also adenovirus; arbovirus; bacteriophage; picornavirus; plant virus; poxvirus. See illustration opposite.

virus, computer See computer virus

Visayan \vi-'sl-3n\ Islands Group of islands, central Philippines. Cov¬ ering 23,944 sq mi (62,015 sq km), they are surrounded by the Visayan, Samar, and Camotes seas. The main islands are Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Mas- bate, Negros, Panay, and Samar. These islands and their smaller neigh¬ bours make up the central group of the Ph ilippine archipelago. Agriculture and fishing are important. The major urban centres are Cebu City on Cebu and Iloilo City on Panay.

Visby City (pop., 1994 est.: 21,462), southeastern Sweden. Located on the northwestern coast of the island of Gotland, it was the site of a Stone Age settlement c. 2000 bc. By the 12th century ad it was a member of the Hanseatic League, and in the 13th century it was one of the leading commercial centres of Europe; the city coined its own money and devel¬ oped an international maritime code. It declined after the Danish conquest of Gotland in 1361. A seaside resort, it has remains of medieval walls. Because of its remarkably well-preserved medieval ramparts and build¬ ings, Visby was designated a protected monument in 1810 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995.

viscometer Wis-'ka-mo-toA Instrument for measuring the viscosity (resistance to internal flow) of a fluid. In one type, the time taken for a given volume of fluid to flow through an opening is recorded. In the capillary-tube viscometer, the pressure needed to force the fluid to flow at a specified rate through a narrow tube is measured. Other types depend on measurements of the time taken for a sphere to fall through the fluid, or of the force needed to rotate the inner cylinder of a pair (the space between the two cylinders being filled with the fluid under test), or of the rate at which oscillations of a disk vibrating in the fluid die out.

bacteriophage

" r otein spikes

head

base plate

RNA

DNA

influenza virus

envelope

The influenza virus possesses both a protein shell (capsid) and a lipid and protein envelope. The protein spikes of the envelope facilitate adherence and entry into the host cell. The capsid proteins determine the influenza virus type (A, B, C), and the highly variable proteins of the spikes and envelope determine the different strains within each type. The bacteriophage (bacterial virus) shown here has a head shaped like an icosahedron (with 20 sides). The tail fibres attach the virus to the bacterium, bringing the base plate into contact with the surface. The tail contracts, and DNA from the head is injected into the host.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

Visconti \ves-'kon-te\, Gian Galeazzo known as Count of Valor

(b. 1351, Milan—d. Sept. 3, 1402, Melegnano, near Milan) Leader of Milan who brought the Visconti dynasty to its height. The son of Gale¬ azzo II Visconti, who shared the rule of Milan with his brother, Gian Galeazzo united all the Visconti lands, added the march of Treviso (1387), and became a prince of the Holy Roman Empire through bribery. By 1402 he held Pisa, Siena, Umbria, and Bologna. He was close to becoming ruler of all of northern Italy and was planning an attack on Florence when he died of the plague.

Visconti, Luchino orig. Don Luchino Visconti, count di Modrone (b. Nov. 2, 1906, Milan—d. March 17, 1976, Rome) Italian film and theatre director. Born into the nobility, he became an assistant to Jean Renoir in 1935. He directed his first film, Ossessione (1942), in a style foreshadowing the Neorealism of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. His later films include the documentary-style drama La terra trema

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

viscosity ► vitamin C I 2011

(1948), Senso (1954), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), The Leopard (1963, Golden Palm), The Damned (1969), and Death in Venice (1971). As a stage director, he introduced to Italy works by Jean Cocteau, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams, and he staged operas starring Maria Callas that combined realism and spectacle.

viscosity \vis-'ka-s3-te\ Resistance of a fluid to a change in shape, or movement of neighbouring portions relative to one another. Viscosity denotes opposition to flow. It may also be thought of as internal friction between the molecules. Viscosity is a major factor in determining the forces that must be overcome when fluids are used in lubrication or trans¬ ported in pipelines. It also determines the liquid flow in spraying, injec¬ tion molding, and surface coating. The viscosity of liquids decreases rapidly with an increase in temperature, while that of gases increases with an increase in temperature. The SI unit for viscosity is the newton-second per square metre (N-s/m 2 ).

viscount \'vl-,kaunt\ European title of nobility, ranking immediately below a count, or earl. The wife of a viscount is a viscountess. In the Carolingian period, the vicecomes were deputies or lieutenants of the counts {comes), whose official powers they exercised by delegation. In the 11th century most of Normandy was divided into vicomtes, but the viscountcy was not introduced into the English peerage until nearly 400 years after the Norman conquest.

Viscount Melville \'vl- 1 kaunt- , mel- 1 vil\ Sound formerly Melville Sound Body of water, northern Canada. Located in the Arctic Archi¬ pelago, between Melville and Victoria islands, the sound is 250 mi (400 km) long and 100 mi (160 km) wide. Its discovery, when reached from the east (1819-20) by William E. Parry and from the west (1850-54) by Robert McClure, proved the existence of the Northwest Passage. The sound is navigable only under favourable weather conditions.

vise Device consisting of two parallel jaws for holding a workpiece. One of the jaws is fixed, and the other can be moved by a screw, lever, or cam. Vises used for holding a workpiece during hand operations (such as fil¬ ing, hammering, or sawing) are usually permanently bolted to a bench. In vises designed to hold metallic workpieces, the faces of the jaws are hardened steel plates, often removable, with teeth that grip the workpiece. Woodworking vises have smooth jaws, often of wood, and rely on fric¬ tion alone rather than on teeth.

Vishnu \'vish-nu\ Principal Hindu deity worshiped as the protector and preserver of the world and restorer of dharma. He is known chiefly through his avatars, particularly Rama and Krishna. In theory, he manifests him¬ self anytime he is needed to fight evil, and his appearances are innumer¬ able, but in practice 10 are most common. His various names, numbering about 1,000, are repeated as acts of devotion by his worshipers.

Visigoth Vvi-z3-,gath\ Western division of the Goths. Separated from the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) in the 4th century ad, the Visigoths were driven from Dacia by the Huns (376) and crossed the Danube into the Roman empire. Oppressed by Roman taxation, they revolted and plun¬ dered the Balkan provinces, defeating Valens and his army at the Battle of Adrianople (378). Theodosius I settled them in Moesia (382) to defend the frontier. Converted to Arian Christianity, they left Moesia in 395 under Alaric and invaded Greece and Italy, sacking Rome (410) and settling in southern Gaul and Spain (415). Recalled from Spain by Constantius III, they lost their first king, Theodoric I, in a battle against Attila (451). They were federates of Rome until King Euric declared independence (475). He extended their kingdom from the Loire to the Pyrenees and the lower Rhone, including most of Spain. In 507 they were defeated by the Franks under Clovis; retaining only Septimania (a strip from the Pyrenees to the Rhone), they held it and much of Spain until defeated by the Muslims in

vision See photoreception

vision, computer See computer vision

vision quest Essential rite of passage for adolescent boys of the East¬ ern Woodlands and Plains Indian peoples. The youth was sent out from the camp on a solitary vigil involving fasting and prayer in order that he might gain some sign, often through a dream, of the presence and nature of his guardian spirit. Upon receiving these visions, he returned home and communicated them to a shaman or elder, who helped interpret them.

Visistadvaita \vi-'shish-tad-'vi-t3\ Principal school of Vedanta. Its seminal figure was Ramanuja, the first Vedanta thinker to establish as the

cornerstone of his system the identification of a personal God with the Brahman of the Upanishads. For him, soul and matter depended on God for their existence. Exclusive devotion to God can elicit his grace, assist¬ ing the devotee in gaining release from the cycle of rebirth. After Ramanuja, a schism developed over the role of grace, giving rise to dif¬ ferent schools. The spread of Visistadvaita was important in the devotional renaissance of Vaishnavism. In southern India the philosophy remains a major intellectual influence.

Vistula Vvis-cho-loN River Polish Wista \'ve-swa\ River, Poland. It rises on the northern slope of the Carpathian Mountains in southwestern Poland, flows in a curve through Warsaw and Torun, then empties into the Baltic Sea at Gdansk. Most of its 651 mi (1,047 km) are navigable. Poland’s largest river, its tributaries include the Bug and Dunajec rivers.

visual-field defect Blind spot (scotoma) or area in the normal field of vision. It may be persistent or temporary and shifting, as in a migraine aura. The field may narrow, as in glaucoma. The normally small blind spot corresponding to the point where the optic nerve enters the eye can enlarge if fluid accumulates at that point (papilledema). Methanol or qui¬ nine poisoning, diseases of the nerve sheaths, deficiency diseases, and atherosclerosis can also cause blind spots. Tumours pressing on the optic nerves in different locations can cause loss of different halves or quarters of the visual field of each eye. See also macular degeneration.

visual purple See rhodopsin

visualization, scientific See scientific visualization

vitamin Organic compound required in small amounts in the diet to maintain normal metabolic functions. The term vitamine (1911) was changed to vitamin when it was realized that not all vitamins are amines (i.e., not all contain nitrogen). Many vitamins act as or are converted to coenzymes. They neither provide energy nor are incorporated into tissues. Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin B complex, vitamin C) are excreted quickly. Fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin K) require bile salts for absorption and are stored in the body. The normal functions of many vitamins are known. Deficiency of specific vitamins can lead to diseases (including beriberi, neural tube defect, pernicious anemia, rickets, and scurvy). Excess amounts, especially of fat-soluble vitamins, can also be dangerous: e.g., too much vitamin A causes liver damage, an effect not seen with beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A. Several vitamins are now known to support the immune system. Most vitamins are adequately supplied by a balanced diet, but people with higher require¬ ments may need supplements.

vitamin A also called retinol Fat-soluble alcohol, most abundant in fatty fish and especially in fish-liver oils. It is not found in plants, but many vegetables and fruits contain beta-carotene (see carotene), which is readily converted in the body to vitamin A. It functions directly in vision, especially night vision. A derivative, retinaldehyde, is a component of the visual pigments, including rhodopsin, in the retina. Humans require vitamin A in very small amounts. Unlike carotenes, it is toxic in large amounts and is readily destroyed by exposure to heat, light, or air.

vitamin B complex Water-soluble organic compounds with loosely similar properties, distribution in natural sources, and physiological func¬ tions. Most are coenzymes, and all appear essential to the metabolic pro¬ cesses of all animal life. They include thiamin (B x ), riboflavin (B 2 ), niacin, vitamin B 6 , pantothenic acid, fouc acid, biotin, and vitamin B 12 (cobal- amin); some authorities also include choline, carnitine, lipoic acid, inos¬ itol, and para-aminobenzoic acid. Vitamin B 6 is needed for metabolism of amino acids and prevention of skin and nerve disorders. Vitamin B 12 prevents pernicious anemia and is involved in nucleic-acid synthesis, fat metabolism, and conversion of carbohydrate to fat. The B complex vita¬ mins are particularly abundant in cereal grains, meats, nuts, and some fruits and vegetables.

vitamin C or ascorbic acid Water-soluble organic compound impor¬ tant in animal metabolism. Most animals produce it in their bodies, but humans, other primates, and guinea pigs need it in the diet to prevent scurvy. It is essential in collagen synthesis, wound healing, blood-vessel maintenance, and immunity. Some studies have found a moderate benefit of vitamin C in reducing the duration and severity of the common cold. It works as an antioxidant in the body and is used as a preservative. It is easily destroyed by oxygen. Excellent sources are citrus fruits and fresh vegetables.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2012 I vitamin D ► Vivekananda

vitamin D Any of a group of fat-soluble alcohols important in calcium metabolism in animals to form strong bones and teeth and prevent rickets and osteoporosis. It is formed by ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) of sterols (see steroid) present in the skin. The most important of these sterols are 7-dehydrocholesterol, formed by metabolic processes in animals, and ergosterol, present in vegetable oils. The action of sunlight on the skin con¬ verts these two compounds, respectively, to cholecalciferol (vitamin D 3 ) and ergocalciferol (vitamin D 2 ). Vitamin D is added to margarine, milk, and cereals for the benefit of those who may not get enough sunlight in winter. As little as 5 micrograms each day appeal - adequate for children. Because the body cannot excrete it, prolonged high intake can cause a toxic reaction including fatigue, nausea, and abnormal calcium accumulation.

vitamin E or tocopherol Vto-'ka-fo-.rolX Fat-soluble organic com¬ pound found principally in certain plant oils and leaves of green veg¬ etables. Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant in body tissues and may prolong life by slowing oxidative destruction of membranes. Certain rodents require it for normal reproduction. Besides uses in foods and in nutritional research and supplements, it is used to retard rancidity in fats, especially vegetable oils.

vitamin K Any of several fat-soluble compounds essential for the clot¬ ting of blood. A deficiency of vitamin K in the body leads to an increase in clotting time. In 1929 a previously unrecognized fat-soluble substance present in green leafy vegetables was found to be required for coagula¬ tion of the blood; its letter name comes from the Danish word koagula- tion. A pure form was isolated and analyzed structurally in 1939; several related compounds having vitamin-K activity have since been isolated and synthesized. The form of vitamin K that is important in mammalian tis¬ sue is of microbial origin. A synthetic vitamin K precursor called mena¬ dione is used as a vitamin supplement.

Vitellius \vi-'tel-e-3s\, Aulus (b. ad 15—d. Dec. 20, 69, Rome) Roman emperor (69), the last of Nero’s three short-lived successors. Vitellius was commander of the Lower German army when Nero died and was pro¬ claimed emperor by his troops. When he marched on Italy, Otho, a rival emperor, committed suicide. Vitellius entered Rome but there had to con¬ tend with Vespasian, whose army had also proclaimed him emperor; the troops of Vitellius lost to those of Vespasian. Vitellius’s Praetorian Guard prevented him from abdicating, but he was captured by troops, dragged through the streets, tortured, and killed.

Viti Levu \'ve-te-'la-vu\ Island (pop., including adjacent islands, 1996: 594,791), Fiji, South Pacific Ocean. The country’s largest island, it has an area of 4,011 sq mi (10,388 sq km). Suva, the Fijian capital, is situ¬ ated on the island’s southeastern coast. It was sighted by Capt. William Bligh in 1789. A central mountain range divides the island into wet and dry sections. Mount Tomanivi, the highest point in Fiji, rises 4,341 ft (1,323 m). Islanders grow sugar, pineapples, cotton, rice, and tobacco. There is a goldfield in the north-central part of the island.

vitiligo \,vit- 3 l-'I-go\ or leukoderma Skin disorder manifested by smooth, white spots on various parts of the body. Though the pigment¬ making cells of the skin, or melanocytes, are structurally intact, they have lost the ability to synthesize the pigment. The reason for the condition is unclear. Individuals with vitiligo (about 1% of the adult population) are usually in good general health, but vitiligo presents a cosmetic problem that can be serious in dark-skinned individuals. Normal skin color rarely returns, and there is no known cure.

Vitoria \ve-'tor-y3\ City (pop., 2002 est.: 299,400), eastern Brazil. Located on the western side of Vitoria island in Espfrito Santo Bay, it was founded by the Portuguese in 1535 and was made a provincial capital in 1823. It was Brazil’s leading port for exporting iron ore until the 1960s. Its economy is based now on textile factories, sugar refineries, and other small manufacturing plants as well as on the shipment of coffee.

Vitoria \ve-'tor-e-3\ -Gasteiz City (pop., 2001: 216,852), capital of Basque Country autonomous community, northeastern Spain. The official name derives from the combined Spanish (Vitoria) and Basque (Gasteiz) names for the city. Founded as Victoriacum by the Visigothic king Leovig- ild in 581, it was granted a charter in the 12th century. In 1200 Alfonso VIII captured it and incorporated it into his kingdom. In 1813 it was the scene of a battle in which allied forces under English Gen. Arthur Welle¬ sley (later duke of Wellington) defeated the French, driving them from Spain and leading to the end of the Peninsular War. Now a manufactur¬ ing centre, it retains several medieval buildings.

vitriol, oil of See sulfuric acid

Vitruvius \v3-'tru-ve-3s\ in full Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (fl. 1st century bc) Roman architect, engineer, and author of the celebrated trea¬ tise De architectural a handbook for Roman architects. Little is known of his life except what can be gathered from his writings. The treatise is divided into 10 books covering almost every aspect of architecture and city planning. His wish was to preserve the Classical Greek tradition in the design of temples and public buildings, and his prefaces contain many pessimistic remarks about the architecture of the time. His work was the chief authority on ancient Classical architecture throughout the antique revival of the Renaissance, the Classical phase of the Baroque, and the Neoclassical period.

Vitsyebsk Vvet-syipsk\ Russian Vitebsk Vve-tipsk\ City (pop., 2001 est.: 349,000), northeastern Belarus. First mentioned in 1021, it was a major fortress and trading centre and was the chief town of an independent principality for some 200 years. It passed to Lithuania in 1320, later to Poland, and then to Russia in 1772. It was destroyed by the Poles in the 16th century, by the Swedes in the Great Northern War, by Napoleon in 1812, and by the Germans in World War II. There are two museums dedicated to Marc Chagall, a native of the city. A major industrial centre, it produces machine tools, electrical instruments, and a range of consumer goods.

Vittorini V.vet-'to-'re-neV Elio (b. July 23, 1908, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy—d. Feb. 13, 1966, Milan) Italian novelist, translator, and critic. He left school at age 17 and later learned English while working as a proof¬ reader. He became, with Cesare Pavese, a pioneer in translating the works of U.S. and English writers into Italian. His novels of Neorealism mirror Italy’s experience of fascism and the social, political, and spiritual ago¬ nies of the 20th century. Conversation in Sicily (1941), which clearly expresses his antifascist feelings, is his most important novel.

Vivaldi \vi-'val-de\ A Antonio (Lucio) (b. March 4, 1678, Venice, Republic of Venice—d. July 28, 1741, Vienna, Austria) Italian composer. He was taught violin by his father. In 1703 he was ordained a priest (and later became known as the “Red Priest” for his red hair). He spent most of his career teaching violin and leading the orchestra at a Venetian girls’ orphanage. After c. 1718 he became more involved in opera as both com¬ poser and impresario. His concertos were highly influential in setting the genre’s three-movement (fast-slow-fast) form, with a returning theme (ritornello) for the larger group set off by contrasting material for the soloists, and he popularized effects such as pizzicato and muting. His L’estro armonico (1711), a collection of concerti grossi, attracted inter¬ national attention. His La stravaganza (c. 1714) was eagerly awaited, as were its successors, including The Four Seasons (1725). In all he wrote more than 500 concertos. His most popular sacred vocal work is the Glo¬ ria (1708). Though often accused of repeating himself, Vivaldi was in fact highly imaginative, and his works exercised a strong influence on Johann Sebastian Bach.

Vivarini \,ve-va-'re-ne\ family Family of 15th-century Venetian paint¬ ers. Antonio Vivarini (b. c. 1415—d. c. 1480) collaborated from 1441 with his brother-in-law, Giovanni d’Alemagna (d. 1450), on altarpieces, four of which survive in the churches of San Zaccaria (1443) and San Pantalon (1444), and on a large three-part canvas in the Accademia (1446). Their large-scale polyptychs feature stiff, archaic figures and heavily ornamented frames. In 1447-50 they lived in Padua and worked with Andrea Mantegna on a cycle of frescoes for the Church of the Eremitani (destroyed in World War II). Antonio’s younger brother and pupil Bartolomeo (b. c. 1432—d. c. 1499) collaborated with Antonio after 1450. His work, more progressive than his brother’s, was imitative of Mantegna. From 1459 he worked inde¬ pendently. His most distinguished works include the altarpieces in the churches of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (1473), Santa Maria dei Frari (1474), and San Giovanni Bragora (1478) and in the Accademia (1477). Antonio’s son Alvise (b. c. 1445—d. c. 1505) came under the influence of the Bellini family, with whom he worked on paintings (now lost) for the Doges’ Palace (1488). The overlapping careers of Antonio, Bartolomeo, and Alvise reca¬ pitulate the overall development of Venetian painting from the late Gothic period to the threshold of the High Renaissance.

Vivekananda Vve-va-ko-'non-doV orig. Narendranath Datta (b.

Jan. 12, 1863, Calcutta—d. July 4, 1902, Calcutta) Hindu spiritual leader and reformer. He received a Western education. He later joined the Brahmo Samaj and became the most notable disciple of Ramakrishna. By stressing the universal and humanistic aspects of the Veda and emphasizing service over dogma, he attempted to infuse vigour into Hinduism. He was a moti-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

vivisection ► voice I 2013

vating force behind the Vedanta movement in the U.S. and England, lec¬ turing and proselytizing in both countries. In 1897 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission, which carries out extensive educational and phil¬ anthropic work in India and expounds Vedanta in Western countries.

vivisection Operation on a living animal for experimental rather than healing purposes; more broadly, all experimentation on live animals. It is opposed by many as cruelty and supported by others on the ground that it advances medicine; a middle position is to oppose unnecessarily cruel practices, use alternatives when possible, and restrict experiments to nec¬ essary medical research (as opposed, for example, to cosmetics testing). Surgery on animals without anesthesia was once common; many people, most significantly Rene Descartes, claimed that animals did not really feel pain. Testing chemicals on animals to find the lethal dose still occurs despite alternative methods (computer simulations, tissue culture tests). An anti vivisection movement in the late 19th century broadened its scope to include prevention of all cruelty to animals and later gave rise to the ani¬ mal rights movement.

vizier Wo-'zir \ Arabic wazTr Chief minister of the ‘Abbasid caliphs and later a high government official in various Muslim countries. The office was originally held and defined by the Barmakids in the 8th century; they acted as the caliph’s representative to the public, later serving a similar function for various sultans. In the Ottoman Empire the title could be held by several people at once; under Mehmed II the position of grand vizier, the absolute representative of the sultan, was created.

Vladimir Vvla-do-mar.vla-'de-mirX I, Saint Russian Vladimir Svyatoslavich (b. 956, Kiev, Kievan Rus—d. July 15, 1015, Bere¬ stova, near Kiev; feast day July 15) Grand prince of Kiev (980-1015). He became prince of Novgorod in 970, and after his father’s death in 972 he seized Kiev from his brother. He consolidated the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea by 980 and fortified its frontiers against Baltic and Eastern nomads. Originally a pagan, Vladimir made a pact (c. 987) with Basil II, providing him with military aid in exchange for marriage to Basil’s sister and promising to convert to Christianity. He adopted the Byzantine rite for his realm, forcibly converting Kiev and Novgorod and ordering pagan idols cast into the Dnieper River.

Vladimir-Suzdal school Vvla-do-msr-'suz-dolV School of Russian medieval mural and icon painting, with origins in Kievan Byzantine art, that flourished in the 12th-13th cen¬ tury around the cities of Vladimir and Suzdal, in northeastern Russia.

Its works, while maintaining Byzan¬ tine illusionistic modeling and solid proportions that lack the elongation that characterizes all later Russian art, move toward a more Russian expression: the emotion is intensely ascetic, the anatomy of the figures is uncertain and the hands are typically small, and the facial expressions por¬ tray a range of emotions. This bril¬ liant artistic development ended with the mid-13th-century Mongol inva¬ sions.

Vladivostok \,vla-d9-v3-'stak,

.vla-do-'vas-.takV Seaport city (pop.,

2001 est.: 598,600), southeastern Russia, in Asia. Founded in 1860 as a Russian military outpost, it became the main Russian naval base on the Pacific Ocean in 1872. It became a free commercial port in 1904 and grew rapidly as a military base after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Dur¬ ing the Soviet era it was the home of the Pacific fleet; its military impor¬ tance was such that it was closed to foreign shipping from the late 1950s. After the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, it reemerged as a commercial port, with industries such as ship repair and fish and meat processing. A cultural centre, it is the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

"The Archangel Michael," icon by an anonymous artist of the Vladimir- Suzdal school, egg tempera on panel, c. 1300; in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

NOVOSTI PRESS AGENCY, MOSCOW

Vlaminck Wb-'maqkV Maurice de (b. April 4, 1876, Paris, France—d. Oct. 11, 1958, Rueil-la-Gadeliere) French painter. Noted for his brash temperament as well as his flair for landscapes, he began in 1900 to share a studio with Andre Derain, a friend from childhood. In 1905 he first exhibited at the Salon des Independants. His experiments with pure, intense colour applied in thick daubs earned him an association with Fau- VlSM, but by 1908 he had turned to painting landscapes of thickly applied whites, grays, and deep blues, and his style moved closer to that of Paul Cezanne. He began c. 1915 to develop a personal, strongly stated style that placed him solidly in the realm of French Expressionism.

Vlissingen \'vli-sh]-3\ Seaport city (pop., 2001 est.: 44,776), south¬ western Netherlands. As a medieval trading town, its importance lay in its position controlling the approach to Antwerp. In 1572 it was the first Netherlands town to rebel against Spanish rule. It was turned into a naval base by Napoleon during the French occupation (1795-1814). The city was heavily damaged during World War II, when the area was flooded in 1944 by the Allies to clear the way to Antwerp. Since rebuilt, it is now a commercial port, fishing harbour, seaside resort, and naval base.

Vltava Vvol-to-voV River German Moldau River, Czech Republic. The Czech Republic’s longest river, it flows 270 mi (435 km). The river rises in southwestern Bohemia from two headstreams in the Bohemian Forest. It flows first southeast, then north across Bohemia and empties into the Elbe River.

Vo Nguyen Giap Vvo-'qui-an-'zyap ,\ English Vvo-en-gi-'en-je-'apN (b. 1912, An Xa, Viet.) Vietnamese military leader. He began to work for Vietnamese autonomy as a youth and attended the same high school as Ho Chi Minh. As a professor of history in Hanoi, he converted many col¬ leagues and students to his political views. He fled to China in 1939 when the French banned the Indochinese Communist Party, but returned in 1941. In 1945 he led the Viet Minh forces that defeated the Japanese, who occupied Vietnam during World War II. He brought French colonial rule to an end by winning the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954) in the First Indochina War, and he led the North Vietnamese forces that defeated the U.S. and South Vietnam in the Vietnam War (1955-75). He served in vari¬ ous roles in the postwar government of Vietnam until the early 1990s.

vocal cord Either of two folds of mucous membrane that extend across the interior cavity of the larynx and are primarily responsible for voice production. Sound is produced by the vibration of the folds in response to the passage between them of air exhaled from the lungs. The pitch of sound varies with the degree of vocal-cord tension. Sounds are then modi¬ fied by the tongue, palate, and lips to produce speech. When at rest, the vocal cords lie apart, forming a V-shaped opening (glottis) through which air is breathed. The folds located just above the vocal cords are termed the vestibular or false vocal cords because they are not involved in voice production. Inflammation (as from excessive use) limits the normal con¬ traction of the vocal cords, resulting in hoarseness.

vodka Colourless distilled liquor of neutral spirits usually made from a grain mash (generally rye or wheat). Potato vodka originated in Russia in the 14th century. Today most vodka is distilled from cereal grains. It is highly neutral, most flavouring substances having been eliminated during distillation and filtration, the latter process employing charcoal purifiers. Distilled water is usually added before bottling in order to lower alcohol content to 40-43% by volume (80-86 proof). Vodka is not aged. It is tra¬ ditionally consumed unmixed and chilled, in small glasses; in the U.S. and elsewhere, it is often used in mixed drinks.

Vodou \vo-'dlin\ or voodoo National folk religion of Haiti. It com¬ bines theological and magical elements of African religions and ritual ele¬ ments of Roman Catholicism. Practitioners profess belief in a supreme God but give more attention to a large number of spirits called the loa, which can be identified as local or African gods, deified ancestors, or Catholic saints. The loa demand ritual service and attach themselves to individu¬ als or families. In turn, they act as helpers, protectors, and guides. In ritual services, a priest or priestess leads devotees in ceremonies involving song, drumming, dance, prayer, food preparation, and animal sacrifice. The loa possess worshipers during services, dispensing advice, performing cures, or displaying special physical feats. A well-known aspect of Vodou is the zombie. See also Macumba; Santeria.

voice In grammar, the form of a verb indicating the relation between the participants (subject, object) in a narrated event and the event itself. English grammar distinguishes between the active voice (“The hunter

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2014 I voice box ► Volcker

killed the bear”) and the passive voice (“The bear was killed by the hunter”). In the active voice, the emphasis is on the subject of the active verb (the agent performing the action named), whereas the passive voice indicates that the subject receives the action.

voice box See larynx

voice mail Electronic system for recording oral messages sent by tele¬ phone. Typically, the caller hears a prerecorded message and then has an opportunity to leave a message in return. The person called can then retrieve the message at a later time by entering specific codes on his or her telephone. Voice mail is distinguished from an answering machine by its ability to provide service to multiple phone lines and by the more sophisticated functions that it offers in addition to recording messages.

Voice of America Radio broadcasting network of the U.S. govern¬ ment. Its function is to promote understanding of the U.S. and spread democratic values. Its daily broadcasts include news reports, editorials, and discussions of U.S. political and cultural events. Its first broadcast, in German, took place in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda. By the end of World War II, it was broadcasting 3,200 programs in 40 languages every week. During the Cold War it focused its message at the commu¬ nist countries of eastern and central Europe. It became part of the U.S. Information Agency when that agency was formed in 1953.

voice recognition See speech recognition

voir dire \'vwar-'dir\ Anglo-French "to speak the truth" In law, the act or process of questioning prospective jurors to determine whether they are qualified and suitable for service on a jury. The questioning attor¬ neys may dismiss a juror for cause, such as when bias or preconceived notions of guilt or innocence are in evidence; they also have a limited number of peremptory challenges that they can use to dismiss a juror for any or no reason.

Vojvodina Vv6i-v6-,de-na\ Province (pop., 1999 est.: 1,954,432), within the republic of Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. It covers 8,304 sq mi (21,506 sq km), and its chief city is Novi Sad. Slavs settled there in the 6th and 7th centuries, followed by Hungarian nomads in the 9th and 10th centuries. Ottoman Turks controlled the region from the early 16th to the late 18th century, when it became part of the Austrian Habsburg empire. By then it was a centre of Serbian Orthodox culture. In 1849 por¬ tions of the historic regions of Backa and Banat were united as the Vojvo¬ dina under Croatia-Slavonia. In 1867 it reverted to Hungary, and in 1918 it was made part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). In 1945 it became an autonomous province of the Serbian republic, but in 1989 Slobodan Milosevic rescinded this status. In 1999, after receiving tens of thousands of Serbian refugees from Kosovo, it demanded restoration of its autonomy. Although denied full autonomy, it was granted some powers in 2002 by the Serbian parliament.

volcanic glass Any glassy rock formed from lava or magma that has a chemical composition close to that of granite. Such molten material may reach very low temperatures without crystallizing, but its viscosity may become very high. Because high viscosity inhibits crystallization, the combination of sudden cooling and loss of volatiles, as when lava extrudes from a volcanic vent, tends to chill the material to a glass rather than crystallize it.

volcanism Vval-ko-.ni-zomX or vulcanism Any of various processes and phenomena associated with the surface discharge of molten rock or hot water and steam, including volcanoes, geysers, and fumaroles. Most active volcanoes occur where two plates converge and one overrides the other (see plate tectonics). Volcanism can also occur along the axis of an oceanic ridge, where the plates move apart and magma wells up from the mantle. A few volcanoes occur within plates, far from margins. Some of these are thought to occur as a plate moves over a “hot spot” from which magma can penetrate to the surface; others appear to result from an extremely slow form of plate spreading.

volcano Vent in the crust of the Earth from which molten rock, hot rock fragments, ash, gas, and steam issue. Most volcanoes are found on the boundaries of the enormous plates that make up the Earth’s surface. Some of the most violent eruptions take place along convergent boundaries where one plate margin is forced beneath another. The most famous such bound¬ ary is the circum-Pacific belt bordering the Pacific Ocean; the island arcs and mountain ranges of this “Ring of Fire” have seen gigantic explosions, among them the eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991,

Mount Saint Helens in the U.S. state of Washington in 1980, and Krakatoa (Krakatau) in Indonesia in 1883. Volcanic activity is also common at diver¬ gent boundaries, where two plates slowly pull apart and allow molten rock to escape to the surface; the most prominent example is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, site of volcanic islands such as Iceland, the Azores, Ascension, Saint Helena, and Tristan da Cunha. Yet another type of volcanic activity is found on the island of Hawaii, located on a “hot spot” near the middle of the Pacific Plate where plumes of partially melted rock rise from below the Earth’s crust; there the volcanoes Kilauea and Mauna Loa frequently eject streams and fountains of lava. Some of the best-known volcanism takes place around the Mediterranean Sea, where the eruptions of Mount Etna, Vesuvius, the islands of Stromboli and Vulcano, and other volcanoes have been observed for millennia. Some volcanoes have cultural or religious sig¬ nificance for the peoples around them; these include Misti Volcano in Peru, Mount Fuji in Japan, and Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania.

A volcano forms when magma beneath the Earth's crust forces its way to the sur¬ face. Alternating layers of solidified lava and pyroclastic materials (ash and cin¬ ders) build up the typical cone shape of a stratovolcano as they are ejected through the central vent during eruptions.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

Volcano Islands Japanese Kazan-retto or lo-rettd Group of three small volcanic islands, western Pacific Ocean. Administratively part of Japan, they lie south of the Bonin Islands. After they were visited by Japanese fishermen and sulfur miners in 1887, the three islands of Kita 16, 16 (Iwo Jima; the largest), and Minami 16 were claimed by Japan in 1891. 16 was the scene of heavy fighting during World War II. After the war Japan retained residual sovereignty over the islands, but the U.S. administered them from 1951 until they were returned to Japan in 1968.

volcanology or vulcanology Scientific discipline concerned with all aspects of volcanic phenomena. Volcanology deals with the formation, distribution, and classification of volcanoes, as well as their structure and the kinds of materials ejected during an eruption (e.g., lava, dust, ash, and gas). It also involves research on the relationships between volcanic erup¬ tions and other large-scale geologic processes, such as mountain building and earthquakes. One of its chief aims is to determine the nature and causes of volcanic eruptions in order to predict them. Another practical concern is obtaining data that may aid in locating commercially valuable deposits of ores, particularly those of certain metallic sulfides.

Volcker, Paul A(dolph) (b. Sept. 5, 1927, Cape May, N.J., U.S.) U.S. economist. He worked as an economist for the Chase Manhattan Bank (1957-61; 1965-68). As an undersecretary at the U.S. Treasury Depart¬ ment (1969-74), Volcker was the chief architect of the U.S.’s abandon-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

vole ► Voltaire I 2015

ment of the gold-exchange standard and the devaluations of the U.S. dollar (1971, 1973). After serving as president of the Federal Reserve Bank (1975-79), he was appointed head of the Federal Reserve System in 1979 by Pres. Jimmy Carter and served until 1987. To end a period of very high inflation, he slowed the growth of the money supply and allowed interest rates to rise, causing a recession (1982-83) but dramatically reducing inflation.

vole Any burrowing rodent (family Cricetidae) with a blunt snout, small ears, and short limbs. Most species are herbivorous and are found throughout North America and Eur¬ asia. The approximately 45 species of the genus Microtus, also called meadow mice, are 4-10 in. (10-26 cm) long, including the tail. Their long, shaggy fur is grayish brown.

About 10 species of pine voles inhabit swamps, fields, and hard¬ wood forests. Red-backed voles inhabit forests in cold regions. Water voles are found only in Eurasia and usually live near a stream, ditch, or lake.

Volga River River, western Russia. Europe’s longest river and the prin¬ cipal waterway of western Russia, it rises in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows 2,193 mi (3,530 km) southeastward to empty into the Caspian Sea. It is used for power production, irrigation, flood control, and transportation. The river has played an important part in the life of the Russian people, and in Russian folklore it is characteristically named “Mother Volga.”

Volga-Baltic Waterway Series of rivers and canals, western Russia. The navigable system links the Volga River with the Baltic Sea and includes the Neva River, a canal along the southern shore of Lake Ladoga, and the Sheksna River past Cherepovets through the Rybinsk Reservoir. Its total length is some 685 mi (1,100 km). The system was completed in 1964, replacing the antiquated Mariinsk Canal system using the same route that had been constructed originally in the 18th century and later several times enlarged and improved. The system includes seven automatic locks.

Volga Tatar language See Tatar language

Volgograd formerly (until 1925) Tsaritsyn (1925-61) Stalingrad

City (pop., 2001 est.: 982,900), southwestern Russia. Located on the Volga River, it was founded as the fortress of Tsaritsyn in 1589. During the Russian Civil War (1918-20), Joseph Stalin organized the city’s defense against the White Russian armies, and it was later renamed in his honour. During World War II it was reduced to rubble in the Battle of Stalingrad; it was rebuilt in the postwar era. Its manufactures include steel and alu¬ minum, engineering products, timber goods, building materials, and food¬ stuffs. A major railroad junction and river port, it is the eastern terminus of the Volga-Don Ship Canal.

Volhynia \val-'hi-ne-o\ Historical region, northwestern Ukraine. Located around the headstreams of the Pripyat and Bug rivers, it originally was a Russian principality (10th-14th century), west of Kiev. In the 14th century it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania but was ruled largely by its own aristocracy. It passed to Poland in 1569. In 1793 it was transferred to Russia under the second partition of Poland. The Treaty of Riga (1921) divided it between Poland and the U.S.S.R. The U.S.S.R. took the Polish section in 1939 and made it part of the Ukrainian S.S.R. after World War II.

Volkswagen AG (VW) Major German automobile manufacturer. It was founded in 1937 to mass-produce a low-priced “people’s car” ( Volks¬ wagen ). After World War II the company was rebuilt with Allied help, and within a decade it was producing half of West Germany’s motor vehicles. U.S. sales of the small, rounded car were initially low, but a humorous advertising campaign promoting the car as “the Beetle” lifted sales in the 1960s, making it the leading auto import in the U.S. Com¬ petition from other foreign compact cars brought VW near bankruptcy by 1974, but the firm rebounded by introducing sportier models such as the Rabbit. In 1998 it launched a fully redesigned version of the Beetle. With its affiliates, VW operates plants worldwide; it also owns other auto brands, including Audi and Bentley.

volleyball Game played by two teams of six players each, in which an inflated ball is volleyed over a high net. Each team tries to make the ball touch the court within the opposing side’s playing areas before it can be returned. A team is allowed to touch the ball three times before returning it. The team that first scores 15 points wins the game. Volleyball was invented in 1895 by William G. Morgan in Holyoke, Mass. It soon proved to have wide appeal for both sexes in schools, playgrounds, the armed forces, and other settings. International competition began in 1913, and volleyball became an Olympic sport in 1964. Beach volleyball, a varia¬ tion with two players on a side, has grown increasingly popular and became an Olympic sport in 1996.

Volsci Vvol-ske, 'val-,sl\ Ancient Italic people prominent in the history of Roman expansion in the 5th century bc. They belonged to the Osco- Sabellian group of tribes and lived (c. 600 bc) in the valley of the upper Liris River (then in southern Latium). They fought the Romans and the Latins intermittently for about 200 years. The Romans established several colonies to stem the Volsci advance. In 340 they joined the Latin revolt against Rome but were defeated. After submitting to Rome by 304, they quickly became fully Romanized.

Volstead Act See Prohibition

Vplsunga saga Vvoel-surj-o, 'vol-suq-oV (“Saga of the Volsungs”) Best of the Icelandic sagas known as fornaldar sQgur (“sagas of antiquity”). Dating from roughly 1270, it is the first of the fornaldar SQgur to have been written down. It contains the Northern version of the story told in the Nibelungenued. The saga was based on the heroic poems in the Poetic Edda and is especially valuable because it preserves in prose form some of the poems from the Edda that were lost. It became one of the sources of Richard Wagner’s operatic Ring tetralogy.

Volta Vvol-toV Alessandro (Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio) (b.

Feb. 18, 1745, Como, Lombardy—d. March 5, 1827, Como) Italian sci¬ entist. In 1775 he invented the electrophorus, a device used to generate static electricity. He taught physics at the University of Pavia (1779- 1804). After Luigi Galvani in 1780 produced an electric current by con¬ necting two different metals with the muscle of a frog, Volta began experimenting in 1794 with metals alone and found that animal tissue was not needed to produce current. He demonstrated the first electric battery in 1800. In 1801 he demonstrated the battery’s generation of current before Napoleon, who made him a count and senator of the kingdom of Lombardy. In 1815 he was appointed director of the philosophical faculty at the University of Padua. The volt was named in his honour in 1881.

Volta, Lake Lake, Ghana. One of the world’s largest artificial lakes, it was formed in 1965 when the Akosombo Dam dammed the Volta River and created a reservoir that extends about 250 mi (400 km) upstream to beyond the former confluence of the Black Volta and White Volta rivers. It covers 3,283 sq mi (8,502 sq km), or 3.6% of Ghana’s area. It is a major fishing ground and provides irrigation water for farmland in the Accra plains. The dam generates enough hydroelectric power to supply most of Ghana’s electricity needs.

Volta Vval-ts, 'vol-t3\ River River, Ghana, western Africa. The nation’s chief river, it flows from Lake Volta and receives the Black Volta and the White Volta rivers. It flows southward through Ghana to the Bight of Benin in the Gulf of Guinea. The river system is 1,000 mi (1,600 km) long.

Voltaic languages See Gur languages

Voltaire \vol-'ter\ orig. Francois-Marie Arouet (b. Nov. 21, 1694, Paris, France—d. May 30, 1778, Paris) French writer. Voltaire studied law but abandoned it to become a writer. He became acclaimed for his trag¬ edies and continued to write for the theatre all his life. He was twice imprisoned in the Bastille for his remarks and in 1726 was exiled to England, where his philosophical interests deepened; he returned to France in 1728 or 1729. His epic poem La Henriade (1728) was well received, but his lampoons of the Regency and his liberal religious opin¬ ions caused offense. Lettres philosophiques (1734), in which he spoke out against established religious and political systems, created an uproar. He fled Paris and settled at Cirey in Champagne with Mme du Chatelet, who became his patroness and mistress, and there he turned to scientific research and the systematic study of religions and culture. After her death he spent periods in Berlin and Geneva; in 1754 he settled in Switzerland. In addition to his many works on philosophical and moral problems, he wrote contes (“tales”) including Zadig (1747), Micromegas (1752), and his best-known work, Candide (1759), a satire on philosophical optimism.

Meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvani- cus).

JUDITH MYERS

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2016 I Volturno River ► Voting Rights Act

He kept up an immense correspondence and took an interest in any cases of injustice, especially those resulting from religious prejudice. Voltaire is remembered as a crusader against tyranny and bigotry and is noted for his wit, satire, and critical capacity.

Volturno River \val-'tur-no\ River, southern central Italy. It flows southeast from the Abruzzese Apennines, then turns west to empty into the Gulf of Gaeta. It is 109 mi (175 km) long and has a dam for flood con¬ trol and irrigation. During the wars for Italian unity, the Italian national¬ ist leader Giuseppe de Garibaldi defeated a Neapolitan army there in 1860. During World War II, German forces in southern Italy used it as their line of defense after the fall of Naples; after severe fighting, the Allies crossed the river in October 1943.

volume See length, area, and volume

voluntarism Vva-lon-to-.ri-zonA Metaphysical or psychological system that assigns a more predominant role to the will (Latin, voluntas ) than to the intellect. Christian philosophers who have been described as volun¬ tarist include St. Augustine, John Duns Scotus, and Blaise Pascal. A meta¬ physical voluntarism was propounded in the 19th century by Arthur Schopenhauer, who took will to be the single, unconscious force behind all of reality and all ideas of reality. An existentialist voluntarism was present in Friedrich Nietzsche’s doctrine of the overriding “will to power” whereby man would eventually recreate himself as “superman.” And a pragmatic voluntarism is evident in William James’s conception of knowl¬ edge and truth in terms of purpose and practical ends.

vomiting Forcible ejection of the stomach contents from the mouth, usually following nausea. Causes include illness, motion sickness, certain drugs, inner ear disorders, and head injury. Vomiting may occur without nausea (e.g., after extreme exertion). Two centres in the brain’s medulla oblongata are believed to control it; the vomiting centre initiates and con¬ trols a series of muscle contractions beginning at the small intestine and moving through the stomach and esophagus. This reaction may be set off by the chemoreceptor trigger zone, stimulated by many toxins and drugs, to rid the body of them, or by stimuli from various parts of the body that may be stressed or diseased. Severe vomiting may cause dehydration, malnutrition, or esophageal wall rupture. Vomiting of blood may be a sign of bleeding ulcer or other upper digestive tract disorders. See also bulimia.

von Neumann \van-'noi-man\, John orig. Janos Neumann (b.

Dec. 28, 1903, Budapest, Hung.—d. Feb. 8, 1957, Washington, D.C., U.S.) Hungarian-born U.S. mathematician. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Budapest, he emigrated to the U.S. to teach at Prince¬ ton University (1930) and was among the original faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study (from 1933). He solved one of David Hilbert’s 23 theoretical problems and collaborated on developing an algebraic ring with profound applications in quantum physics. During World War II he participated in the development of the atomic bomb. After the war he made major contributions to the development of high-speed computers; one of his computers was essential to the creation of the hydrogen bomb. As coau¬ thor of Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944), he was one of the founders of game theory.

Vondel Vvon-dolV Joost van den (b. Nov. 17, 1587, Cologne—d. Feb. 5, 1679, Amsterdam) Dutch poet and dramatist. Of Mennonite par¬ ents, Vondel early showed a preference for using Christian mythology as the subject matter of his plays. He also wrote lampoons and satirical poems against the Dutch church and government. His dramatic tragedies, with their lyrical language and grandeur of conception, are his most important achievement. The Passover (1612) is his most notable early work. He first modeled his plays on ancient Latin drama but later turned to the Greek model; plays of the latter type include his masterpiece, the trilogy comprising Lucifer (1654), Adam in Exile (1664), and Noah (1667), which influenced John Milton’s Paradise Lost.

Vonnegut Wa-ns-.gatV, Kurt, Jr. (b. Nov. 11, 1922, Indianapolis, Ind., U.S.) U.S. novelist. He attended Cornell University and the University of Chicago. Captured by the Germans during World War II, he also survived the Allied firebombing of Dresden, an experience he made part of his novel Slaughterhouse-Five (1969; film, 1972). His pessimistic and satiri¬ cal novels use fantasy and science fiction to highlight the horrors and iro¬ nies of 20th-century civilization. They include Player Piano (1952), Cat’s Cradle (1963), Breakfast of Champions (1973), Galapagos (1985), and Timequake (1997). He also wrote plays and collections of short stories.

voodoo See vodou

Voronezh Wo-'ro-nishX City (pop., 2001 est.; 901,800), western Russia. It lies along the Voronezh River above its confluence with the Don. It was founded in 1586 as a fortress. Peter I (the Great) built a naval flotilla in Voronezh for use in his campaigns against the Turks. With the agricul¬ tural development of the region, it became a centre for the grain trade. Occupied by the Germans and largely destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt in the postwar era. It has a range of engineering, chemical, and food-processing industries. Its university was established in 1918.

Vorontsov Wo-ront-'sofX, Mikhail (Illarionovich) (b. July 23, 1714—d. Feb. 26, 1767, St. Petersburg, Russia) Russian statesman. A member of a family that became prominent in Russian court circles in the 18th century, he was appointed a page in the court of Yelizaveta Petrov¬ na (later Elizabeth) at the age of 14. In 1742 he helped her overthrow Tsar Ivan VI and become empress. As Elizabeth’s vice chancellor (1744-58) and chancellor (1758-62), he played a major role during her reign, espe¬ cially in his pro-French foreign policy. When Peter III succeeded Elizabeth and abandoned her alliances with France and Austria, Vorontsov made no effort to dissuade the new emperor and even continued to support him when he was deposed by his wife, Catherine II (1762). Vorontsov was con¬ sequently placed under house arrest; only after Peter died did he swear allegiance to Catherine and resume his office as chancellor, which he held until he retired in 1763.

Voroshilov X.vor-o-'she-.loA, Kliment (Yefremovich) (b. Feb. 4, 1881, Verkhneye, Russia—-d. Dec. 2, 1969, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet military and political leader. A notable military commander in World War I and later in the Russian Civil War, he led the defense of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd). A close associate of Joseph Stalin, he was appointed peo¬ ple’s commissar for defense (1925) and a member of the Politburo (1926). Named a marshal of the Soviet Union (1935), he reorganized the Soviet general staff, mechanized the army, and developed the air force. After the initial Soviet defeats in World War II, he was removed as defense commis¬ sar but appointed to the committee for state defense (1941-44). He later chaired the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1953-57).

Vorster Vfor-storV John orig. Balthazar Johannes Vorster (b.

Dec. 13, 1915, Jamestown, Cape Province, S.Af.—d. Sept. 10, 1983, Cape Town) South African prime minister (1966-78). Vorster was arrested in 1942 for supporting Germany in World War II. In the 1948 elections he was rejected by the National Party as too extreme, but his support grew in the 1950s. As minister of justice (1961-66) under Hendrik Verwoerd, he rigidly enforced apartheid. When Verwoerd was assassinated, Vorster was chosen to replace him. In the 1970s he sent troops into Angola against its Soviet- and Cuban-supported government. He resigned in 1978 and took the ceremonial post of president, but a scandal forced his resignation.

Vorticism Vvor-ti-.si-zomV Literary and artistic movement that flour¬ ished in England 1912-15. Founded by Wyndham Lewis, it attempted to relate art to industrialization. It opposed 19th-century sentimentality and extolled the energy of the machine and machine-made products, and it promoted something of a cult of sheer violence. In the visual arts, Vor- ticist compositions were abstract and sharp-planed, showing the influence of Cubism and Futurism. Artists involved in the movement included the poet Ezra Pound and the sculptor Jacob Epstein.

Vortsjarv Vvorts-.yarvV or Vorts Jarv Lake, south-central Estonia. With an area of 110 sq mi (280 sq km), it is the largest lake in Estonia. It forms part of the 124-mi (200-km) course of the Ema River, which enters the lake from the south and drains it north and east into Lake Peipsi.

Vostok \vu-'stok,\ English Vvas-,tak\ Any of a series of six manned Soviet spacecraft launched from 1961 to 1963. Vostok 1 (1961) carried the first human (Yury A. Gagarin) into space. Vostok 3 set a new time record in space of 94 hours. Vostoks 5 and 6 were launched two days apart and traveled very close together, at times only 3 mi (5 km) apart, setting the stage for future dockings between orbiting vehicles. The first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, flew aboard Vostok 6.

Voting Rights Act Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1965 to ensure the voting rights of African Americans. Though the Constitution’s 15th Amendment (passed 1870) had guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” African Americans in the South faced efforts to disenfranchise them, including poll TAXes and literacy tests, as late as the 1960s, when the civil rights movement focused national attention on infringements of their voting rights; Congress responded with the Voting Rights Act, which prohibited Southern states

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Voto ► Vygotsky I 2017

from using literacy tests to determine eligibility to vote. Later laws pro¬ hibited literacy tests in all states and made poll taxes illegal in state and local elections.

Voto, Bernard De See Bernard De Voto

Vouet \'vwe,\ English \vii-'a\, Simon (b. Jan. 9, 1590, Paris, France—d. June 30, 1649, Paris) French painter. He formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1614 to 1627. His early work was influenced by Caravaggio, but works done after 1620 display more idealized figures and use more evenly diffused white light. He returned to Paris in 1627 to become first painter to Louis XIII. Thereafter he won almost all the impor¬ tant commissions and dominated the city artistically for the next 15 years. He introduced the Italian Baroque style in France with such paintings as St. Charles Borromeo (c. 1640). His late works display the soft, idealized modeling, sensuous forms, and bright colours for which he is best known.

vowel Speech sound in which air from the lungs passes through the mouth with minimal obstruction and without audible friction, like the i in fit. The word also refers to a letter representing such a sound ( a , e, i, o, u, and sometimes y). In articulatory phonetics (see articulation), vowels are classified by tongue and lip position; for example, high vowels like the i in machine and the u in flute are both pronounced with the tongue arched high in the mouth, but in u the lips are also rounded. Single vowel sounds are monophthongs; two vowel sounds pronounced as one syllable, like the ou in round, are diphthongs.

Voyager Either of two unmanned U.S. interplanetary probes launched in 1977 to gather information about the Sun’s outer planets. Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979 and reached Saturn in 1980. Voyager 2 traveled more slowly, flying by Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus to reach Neptune in 1989. Data and photographs from both probes revealed new details about these giant planets, their moons, and their rings. In 1998 Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in space (overtaking Pioneer 10). Both Voyagers were expected to remain operable through the first or second decade of the 21st century, periodically transmitting data on the HELIOPAUSE.

Voyageurs \,vwa-ya-'zh3r\ National Park National park, northern Minnesota, U.S. Located along the Canadian border, the park was estab¬

lished in 1975 and was named for the mostly French-Canadian fur-trading frontiersmen (voyageurs) of the 18th—19th centuries. It occupies an area of 217,892 ac (88,178 ha) and consists of a network of streams and lakes, the largest of which is Rainy Lake.

Voznesensky \v9z-n y i-'s y en-ske\, Andrey (Anareyevich) (b. May

12, 1933, Moscow, Russian S.F.S.R., U.S.S.R.) Russian poet. His child¬ hood experience of World War II was later vividly reflected in poems such as “Goya” (1960), one of his best- known works. He became a protege of Boris Pasternak and a star attrac¬ tion at poetry readings until a 1963 Soviet crackdown on “excessively experimental” artists and writers. He later returned to partial favour. His most characteristic poems are apo¬ litical celebrations of art, freedom, and the unrestrained human spirit. His works were collected in the bilingual An Arrow in the Wall (1987) and in On the Edge (1991).

Vuillard \vwe-'yar\, (Jean-) Edouard (b. Nov. 11, 1868, Cui- seaux, France—d. June 21, 1940, La Baule) French painter, printmaker, and decorator. With Pierre Bonnard he developed the Intimist style, char¬ acterized by small paintings of daily home life, such as Woman Sweeping

"Under the Trees," tempera on canvas panel from "Jardin de Paris," by Edouard Vuillard, c. 1894; in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

COURTESY OF THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART, OHIO, GIFT OF HANNA FUND

(c. 1892). He was an original member of the Nabis; his Public Gardens (1894), a series of decorative panels that use pale light and neutral colours to create a mood of restful calm, are typical of his mature work as a Nabi. He received numerous commissions to decorate public buildings, includ¬ ing murals in the Palais de Chaillot (1937) and in the League of Nations building in Geneva (1939), and also designed for the Ballets Russes.

Vulcan Ancient Roman god of fire. He was the counterpart of the Greek Hephaestus. Vulcan was especially associated with the destructive aspects of fire, such as volcanoes or conflagrations, and for this reason his temples were usually located outside the city. His chief festival, the Volcanalia, was marked by a rite in which the heads of Roman families threw fish into the fire. Often invoked to avert fire, he was addressed with epithets such as Mulciber (“Fire Allayer”).

Vulcan Hypothetical planet within the orbit of Mercury. It was predicted in 1859 by Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier (1811-77) to account for an unexplained component of the precession of Mercury’s orbit. Sightings were reported between 1859 and 1878, but these were not confirmed sub¬ sequently by observations made either during solar eclipses or when the planet was predicted to cross the Sun. The anomalies of Mercury’s orbit were later explained by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

vulcanism See volcanism

vulcanization Chemical process, discovered by Charles Goodyear (1839), by which the physical properties of natural or synthetic rubber are improved. It consists principally of heating rubber with sulfur; other sub¬ stances (accelerators, carbon black, antioxidants, etc.) are also added. The sulfur does not simply dissolve or disperse in the rubber, but rather com¬ bines chemically, mostly in the form of cross-links (bridges) between the long-chain molecules; however, the reactions are not fully understood. Vulcanized rubber has higher tensile strength and resistance to swelling and abrasion, and is elastic over a greater range of temperatures.

Vulcano \viil-'ka-no\ Island of the Eolie Islands, off northeastern Sicily, Italy. There are three volcanoes on the island, whose area is 8 sq mi (21 sq km). Although the last major eruptions were in 1888-90, one volcano is still active.

vulcanology See volcanology

Vulci Vvol-.sA Ancient Etruscan city, northwest of Rome. It grew out of a number of Villanovan villages and flourished chiefly in the 6th-4th cen¬ turies bc, largely as a result of trade and the manufacture of bronze objects, including jugs and tripods. The important centre of a large city-state, after the 6th century bc it gradually came under Roman rule. The site, exca¬ vated in the 1950s, is noted for its bronze and pottery, much of which has been found in a huge necropolis. There also are Roman ruins.

vulture A bare-headed, keen-sighted bird of prey in any of 22 species found mainly in warm regions. New World vultures (family Cathartidae, related to storks) are 24-31 in. (60-80 cm) long. Old World vultures (family Accipitridae, related to eagles) include the smallest (20 in. [50 cm] long) and the largest vulture species. The cinereous, or black, vul¬ ture ( Aegypius monachus), one of the largest flying birds, grows to about 40 in. (100 cm) long, weighs almost 30 lb (13 kg), and has a 9-ft (2.7-m) wingspan. Most species eat carrion, garbage, and excrement, but some will occasionally eat a live animal. See also condor; marabou; turkey vul¬ ture.

vulvitis \v3l-'vi-t3s\ Inflammation of the vulva (female external genita¬ lia), with red, swollen, itchy skin that may turn white, crack, or blister. The vulva provides a moist, warm breeding ground for microorganisms, particularly for yeast (see Candida) but also for other fungi, bacteria, or viruses, especially if underwear is tight, nonporous, and nonabsorbent and if hygiene is poor. Pantyhose, synthetic underwear, detergents, vaginal sprays, and deodorants may cause allergy or irritation. Drying and thin¬ ning of tissues after menopause makes them more susceptible to irritation and infection. Treatment ranges from wearing loose, absorbent cotton underwear to creams that kill the infective microorganisms.

Vychegda Vvi-chog-dsV River River, northwestern Russia. It rises on the slopes of the Timan Ridge and joins the Northern Dvina River near Kotlas. Its 702-mi (1,130-km) course is frequently marked by marshes, lakes, and sandbanks, but it is navigable for 596 mi (960 km).

Vygotsky \vi-'g6t-ske\, L(ev) S(emyonovich) (b. Nov. 5, 1896, Orsha, Russia—d. June 11, 1934, Moscow) Soviet psychologist. He stud-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2018 I Vyshinsky ► Vytautas

ied linguistics and philosophy at the University of Moscow before becom¬ ing involved in psychological research. While working at Moscow’s Institute of Psychology (1924-34), he became a major figure in post¬ revolutionary Soviet psychology. He studied the role of social and cul¬ tural factors in the making of human consciousness; his theory of signs and their relationship to the development of speech influenced psycholo¬ gists such as A.R. Luria and Jean Piaget. His best-known work. Thought and Language (1934), was briefly suppressed as a threat to Stalinism.

Vyshinsky Wo-'shin-skeX, Andrey (Yanuaryevich) (b. Dec. 10, 1883, Odessa, Russia—d. Nov. 22, 1954, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Soviet politician and diplomat. A public prosecutor, he taught at Moscow State University. Appointed chief prosecutor of the Soviet Union (1935), he gained worldwide notoriety for his zeal in prosecuting the purge trials. As deputy commissar of foreign affairs, he supervised the annexation of Latvia (1940) and established a communist regime in Romania (1945).

He later served as Soviet foreign minister (1949-53) and representative to the UN (1949-54), where he frequently launched bitter attacks on the U.S.

Vytautas \ve-'tau-tas\ the Great Lithuanian Vytautus Didysis (b.

1350, Lithuania—d. Oct. 27, 1430, Trakai, Lith.) Lithuanian national leader. Continuing a family struggle for control of Lithuania, he fought his cousin Wladyslaw II Jagiello but made peace in 1384. His popularity grew until Wladyslaw was obliged to make him vice regent (1392), an office that allowed him to become effective ruler of Lithuania. He sub¬ dued rebellious nobles but was defeated by Mongols in the east (1399). He and Wladyslaw united Lithuania and Poland (1401) and waged war on the Teutonic Order, defeating them at the Battle of Tannenberg (1410). Vytautas was named king of Lithuania in 1429 but died before he could be crowned.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

W particle ► Wagner I 2019

W particle Electrically charged subatomic particle that transmits the weak force, which governs radioactive decay (see radioactivity) in some atomic nuclei. The discovery of the W particle in 1983 by teams led by Carlo Rubbia and Simon van der Meer confirmed the electroweak theory, which explains that the electromagnetic force and the weak force are manifesta¬ tions of the same interaction. The weak force is exchanged via three types of particles, two charged and one neutral. The charged particles are des¬ ignated W + and W - according to the sign of their charge, and the neutral particle is the Z particle. The W particle has a mass about 80 times that of the proton, which gives the weak force a very short range.

Waals, Johannes Diederik van der See Johannes D. van der

Waals

Wabash \'w6-,bash\ River River, flow¬ ing westward across Indiana, U.S. After crossing Indiana, the Wabash forms the 200-mi (320-km) southern section of the Indiana- Illinois boundary below Terre Haute, Ind. It empties into the Ohio River in southwestern Indi¬ ana after a course of 475 mi (764 km). During the 18th century the French used it as a transportation link between Louisiana and Quebec. After the War of 1812, its basin was rapidly developed by settlers.

After the coming of the railroads in the 1850s, navi¬ gation almost disappeared except for barge traffic on its lower course.

WAC See Women's Army Corps

Wace Vwas, 'was\ (b. c. 1100, Jersey, Channel Islands—d. after 1174) Anglo-Norman poet. He is known for his two verse chronicles, the Roman de Brut (1155) and the Roman de Rou (1160-74), named respectively after the reputed founders of the Britons and Normans. The Brut is a romanticized account of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia re gum Britanniae, tracing the history of Britain from its founding by the legendary Brutus the Trojan. Its many fanciful additions (including the story of Arthur’s Round Table) were important in the development of the Arthurian legend, and its literary style influ¬ enced later verse romances. The Rou, commissioned by Henry II of England, is a history of the Norman dukes (c. 911-1106).

Waco \'wa-ko\ City (pop., 2000: 113,726), north-central Texas, U.S. Located on the Brazos River, it was founded in 1849 on the site of an Indian village. After 1865 it became a river-bridge crossing on cattle trails; later its economy was based on cotton. Its diversified economy now includes manufacturing and tourism. A tornado devastated Waco in 1953, killing 114 persons. On April 19, 1993, after a 51-day standoff with U.S. federal agents, some 80 members of the Branch Davidians religious sect perished in a fire at their compound nearby.

Wadai \wa-'dl\ Historical African kingdom, central Africa. Located east of Lake Chad and west of Darfur, it was founded in the 16th century. A Muslim dynasty was established there c. 1630, and, though long subor¬ dinate to Darfur, it became independent by the 1790s and began a period of rapid expansion. It came under French influence in 1899 and French control (1912-14). The area is now largely in eastern Chad.

Wade, Benjamin F(ranklin) (b. Oct. 27, 1800, Springfield, Mass., U.S.—d. March 2, 1878, Jefferson, Ohio) U.S. politician. He practiced law in Ohio before serving in the U.S. Senate (1851-69), where he opposed the extension of slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In the American Civil War he joined the Radical Republicans in demanding vig¬ orous prosecution of the war and headed a joint congressional committee to investigate the Union military effort. He cosponsored the Wade-Davis Bill, which brought him into conflict with Abraham Lincoln. Opposed to Pres. Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction policies, he voted for his removal from office at his Senate trial and, as Senate president pro tern, prepared to succeed Johnson. Disappointed by the trial’s outcome, he was later defeated for reelection.

Wade-Davis Bill (1864) Measure passed by the U.S. Congress to set Reconstruction policy. It was cosponsored by Sen. Benjamin Wade and Rep. Henry W. Davis (1817-65) to counter Pres. Abraham Lincoln’s lenient plans for readmitting Southern states after the American Civil War. Sup¬ ported by the Radical Republicans, the bill called for provisional military government of the seceded states, an oath of allegiance from a majority of the state’s whites, and new state constitutions that would abolish sla¬

very and disqualify Confederate officials from holding office. Lincoln considered the bill too harsh and allowed it to expire by using a pocket veto.

wage-price control Setting of government guidelines to limit increases in wages and prices. It is one of the most extreme approaches to incomes policy. By controlling wages and prices, governments hope to control inflation and prevent extremes in the business cycle. Countries with highly centralized methods of setting wages tend to have the greatest degree of public or collective regulation of wage and price levels. For example, wage settlements in The Netherlands must be approved by the government, and price increases are investigated by the Ministry of Eco¬ nomic Affairs. Other countries, including the U.S., have also made efforts at restraining wage and price increases, usu¬ ally seeking the voluntary cooperation of management and labour. In the U.S., wage- price controls were instituted by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II and by Pres. Richard M. Nixon in the early 1970s, when high inflation combined with rising unemployment to create instability.

Wagner \'wag-nor\, Honus orig. John Peter Wagner (b. Feb. 24, 1874, Mansfield, Pa., U.S.—d. Dec. 6, 1955, Carnegie) U.S. baseball player. Wagner played principally for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1900-17) and coached the team from 1933 to 1951. The right-handed hitter led the National League in bat¬ ting average in eight seasons (1900, 1903-04, 1906-09, 1911) and in stolen bases five seasons. His total of 252 three-base hits remains a National League record. Nick¬ named the “Flying Dutchman” for his speed, Wagner is considered one of the greatest shortstops and all-around players in baseball history.

Wagner Vvag-norV, Otto (b. July 13, 1841, Penzing, near Vienna, Austrian Empire—d. April 11, 1918, Vienna) Austrian architect and teacher. In 1893 his general plan (not executed) for Vienna won a major competition, and in 1894 he was appointed professor at the Akademie der Bildenden Kiinste. As a teacher, Wagner soon broke with tradition by insisting on function, material, and structure as the bases of architectural design. Among his notable buildings, all in the Art Nouveau style, are a number of stations for the City Railway of Vienna (1894—97) and the Postal Savings Bank (1904-06). The latter, which had little decoration, is recognized as a milestone in the history of modern architecture, par¬ ticularly for the curving glass roof of its central hall. Wagner’s lectures were published in 1895 as Moderne Architektur.

Wagner Vvag-narV, (Wilhelm) Richard (b. May 22, 1813, Leipzig, Ger.—d. Feb. 13, 1883, Venice, Italy) German composer. His childhood was divided between Dresden and Leipzig, where he had his first com¬ position lessons; his teacher refused payment because of his talent. His first opera, The Fairies (1834), was followed by The Ban on Love (1836); the premiere performance was so unprepared that the event was a fiasco, and he henceforth determined not to settle for modest productions. The success of Rienzi (1840) led him to be more adventurous in The Flying Dutchman (1843) and even more so in Tannhauser (1845). Caught up in the political turmoil of 1848, he was forced to flee Dresden for Zurich. During this enforced vacation, he wrote influential essays, asserting (fol¬ lowing G.W.F. Hegel) that music had reached a limit after Ludwig van Beethoven and that the “artwork of the future” would unite music and the¬ atre in a Gesamtkunstwerk (“total artwork”). In 1850 he saw Lohengrin produced. He had begun his most ambitious work. The Ring of the Nibe- lung, a four-opera cycle. The need for large-scale unity brought him to the concept of the leitmotiv. He ceased work on the Ring’s third opera, Siegfried, in the throes of an adulterous love with Mathilde Wesendonk and wrote an opera of forbidden love, Tristan und Isolde (1859), which also seemed to break the bonds of tonality. He published the Ring libret¬ tos in 1863, with a plea for financial support, and Louis II of Bavaria responded, inviting Wagner to complete the work in Munich. From the late 1860s to the early 1880s, Wagner completed work on Die Meisters- inger, Siegfried, Gotterddmmerung, and the long-deferred Parsifal, as he also oversaw the building of the great festival theatre at Bayreuth (1872— 76) that would be dedicated to his operas. His astonishing works made Wagner one of the most influential and consequential figures in the his¬ tory of Western music and, indeed, of Western culture. In the late 20th

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2020 I Wagner ► Waite

century his undoubted musical stature was challenged somewhat by the strongly racist and anti-Semitic views expressed in his writings, and evi¬ dence of anti-Semitism in his operas was increasingly documented.

Wagner Vwag-norV Robert F(erdinand) (b. June 8, 1877, Nastat- ten, Hesse-Nassau, Ger.—d. May 4, 1953, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. politician. He immigrated with his family to New York City in 1885. He became active in Democratic Party politics, serving in the state legisla¬ ture (1904-19) and as a justice of the state court of appeals (1919-26). In the U.S. Senate (1927—49), he became an ally of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt and introduced New Deal labour and social-reform legislation, including the National Industrial Recovery Act (1933), the National Labor Relations Act (known as the Wagner Act), and the Social Security Act. He cosponsored the Wagner-Steagall Act (1937), which created the U.S. Housing Authority. His son, Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (1910-91), served as mayor of New York (1954-65).

Wagner Act or National Labor Relations Act (1935) Labour legislation passed by the U.S. Congress. Sponsored by Sen. Robert F. Wagner, the act protected workers’ rights to form unions and to bargain collectively. A three-member National Labor Relations Board was estab¬ lished to protect against unfair labour practices; it could order elections to allow workers to choose which union they wanted to represent them. The act also prohibited employers from engaging in unfair labour prac¬ tices such as setting up a company union and firing or otherwise discrimi¬ nating against workers who organized or joined unions. The act, considered the most important piece of labour legislation in the 20th cen¬ tury, helped ensure union support for Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 election.

Wagner-Jauregg Vvag-nor-'yau-rekV Julius orig. Julius Wag¬ ner, knight von Jauregg (b. March 7, 1857, Weis, Austria—d. Sept. 27, 1940, Vienna) Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist. Knowing that malaria could be controlled with quinine and having observed that patients with some nervous disorders improved after infections with fever, he induced malaria to treat syphilis patients who had central nervous system disorders. For thus controlling an incurable fatal disease, he was awarded a 1927 Nobel Prize. Though antibiotics replaced this treatment for syphi¬ lis, it led to the development of fever therapy.

wagon Four-wheeled vehicle designed to be drawn by draft animals. Wagons have been used from the 1st century bc; early examples used spoked wheels with metal rims, pivoted front axles, and linchpins to secure the wheels. Ninth-century improvements in suspension made the wagon preferable to the two-wheeled cart, especially for carrying freight and agricultural produce.

Wagram \'va-,gram. Battle of (July 5-6, 1809) Victory by French forces under Napoleon against Austria. In an attempt to break French control of Germany, Austria’s 158,000 troops under Archduke Charles (1771-1847) were deployed along a 14-mi (23-km) front on either side of the village of Wagram, near Vienna. The attack by Napoleon and his 154,000 French troops split the centre of the Austrian line. By the time reinforcements arrived, Charles’s army was in retreat, and four days later he asked for an armistice. Heavy use of artillery (the heaviest in any war to that time) caused more than 40,000 Austrian casualties and about 34,000 French.

wagtail Any of 7-10 passerine species in the genus Motacilla and the forest wagtail ( Dendronanthus indi- cus) of Asia. Wagtails continually pump their long tail up and down; the forest wagtail wags its entire body from side to side. They inhabit beaches, meadows, and streamsides, nesting on the ground and roosting in trees. Males of the white, or pied, wagtail (M. alba), common across Eurasia, are white and gray or white and black. The only New World spe¬ cies, the yellow wagtail (M. flava ), breeds in Alaska and migrates to Asia.

Wahhab \wa-'hab\, Muham¬ mad ibn ( Abd al- (b. 1703, ‘Uyaynah, Arabia—d. 1792,

Gray wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).

H. REINHARD-BRUCE COLEMAN INC.

Al-DirTyah) Islamic theologian and founder of the Wahhabi movement. Educated in Medina, he spent several years teaching in Iraq and Iran. He reacted against what he perceived as the extremism of various sects of Sufism, setting out his ideas in the Book of Unity (1736). He stressed a conservative observation of Islam, rejecting polytheism and condemning reverence of saints and the decoration of mosques. His views were con¬ troversial; eventually he settled in Nejd, where, in alliance with Ibn Sa'ud, his teachings found favour and grew dominant.

Wahhabi \wa-‘hab-e\ Member of a Muslim puritan movement founded in the 18th century by Muhammad ibn c Abd al-Wahhab. Members call them¬ selves al-Muwahhidun, a name derived from their emphasis on the abso¬ lute oneness of God. They reject all acts implying polytheism, including the veneration of saints, and advocate a return to the original teachings of Islam as found in the Qu’ran and the HadIth. They supported the estab¬ lishment of a Muslim state based on Islamic canon law. Adopted by the ruling Saudi family in 1744, the movement controlled all of Nejd by the end of the 18th century. It was assured of dominance on the Arabian Pen¬ insula with the creation of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, and in the 20th century—supported by Saudi wealth—it engaged in widespread missionary work throughout the Islamic world.

wahoo Vwa-.hiA Species ( Acanthocybium solanderi) of swift-moving, powerful, predaceous food and game fish found worldwide, especially in the tropics. A slim, streamlined fish, it has sharp-toothed, beaklike jaws and a tapered body ending in a crescent-shaped tail. Gray-blue above and paler below, it is marked with a series of vertical bars and, like the related tunas, has a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. It may grow to 6 ft (1.8 m) long and weigh more than 120 lb (55 kg).

Waigeo \w!-'ga-o\ Island, northeastern Moluccas, Indonesia. Located off northwestern New Guinea, it is part of Papua (Irian Jaya) province. Waigeo is 80 mi (130 km) long and 30 mi (48 km) wide. Its rocky and generally steep coastline is almost bisected by a narrow inlet of the Damp- ier Strait; its central areas are mountainous, rising to 3,300 ft (1,000 m), and are heavily forested. Islanders raise cattle and export tortoiseshell and fish.

Waikato River \w!-'ka-to\ River, North Island, New Zealand. Rising on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu as the Tongariro River, it flows north through Lake Taupo, then northwest to enter the Tasman Sea. The nation’s longest river, it is 264 mi (425 km) long and is a major source of hydro¬ electric power. It was the scene of several skirmishes between the British and the Waikato tribes in 1863-65.

Waikiki \ ,wl-k9-'ke\ Resort area, southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, U.S. Located in the southeastern section of Honolulu, near Diamond Head, its famous beach is lined with luxury hotels; it has water-sports facilities as well as an aquarium, a zoo, gardens, and the International Market Place. Waikiki is also the site of Fort DeRussy, a military recre¬ ation area.

Wailing Wall See Western Wall

Wailuku Valley See Iao Valley

Waimakariri Wl-.ma-ko-'rir-ey River River, east-central South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Southern Alps and flows 100 mi (160 km) southeast to Pegasus Bay of the Pacific Ocean. The river’s delta consti¬ tutes a major portion of the Banks Peninsula and part of the Canterbury Plains.

Wairau River \'wl-,rau\ River, northern South Island, New Zealand. It rises in the Spenser Mountains and flows for 105 mi (169 km) to enter Cloudy Bay of Cook Strait. In 1843 it was the site of the Wairau Affray, a battle between the New Zealand Co. and local Maori chiefs.

Waite, Morrison (Remick) (b. Nov. 29, 1816, Lyme, Conn., U.S.—d. March 23, 1888, Washington, D.C.) U.S. jurist. The son of a justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, he practiced law in Toledo, Ohio; in his most notable case, he prosecuted the Alabama claims. In 1874 he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant; he served on the court until his death. In U.S. v. Cruikshank , Waite stated that, despite its apparently plain language, the Fifteenth Amendment had not conferred a federal right of suffrage on African Americans, because “the right to vote comes from the states.” In his most famous opinion, Munn v. Illinois (1877), he upheld legislation fixing maximum rates chargeable by grain elevators and railroads, declar-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Waitemata Harbour ► Waldheim I 2021

ing that a business or private property “affected with a public interest” was subject to governmental regulation.

Waitemata V.wi-to-'ma-toX Harbour Harbour, northern North Island, New Zealand. The harbour for Auckland, the Waitemata opens into Hau- raki Gulf through Stanley Bay. Its shore has many lesser embayments; several tidal rivers empty into the western part.

waiting-line theory See queuing theory

Waitz, Grete orig. Grete Andersen (b. Oct. 1, 1953, Oslo, Nor.) Norwegian marathon runner. She set world records in the 3,000-m event (1975, 1976) and became the world women’s marathon champion in 1983. She won the women’s silver medal in the marathon at the 1984 Olympic Games. She won the New York marathon nine times in the years 1978-88 and was the first woman to finish that race in under 2.5 hours.

wakan \wa-'kan\ Among some American Indian tribes, a spiritual power of supernatural origin belonging to some natural objects, people, horses, and celestial and terrestrial phenomena. Wakan can be conceived of as weak or strong powers; the weak can be ignored but the strong must be placated. Wakan beings are the immortal supernatural powers who bestow wakan; they too may be weak or strong, but are all believed to enjoy music and smoke from pipes. Poisonous plants and reptiles can contain wakan, as can intoxicating drinks. The concept of wakan is simi¬ lar to that of MANA.

Wakatipu \,wa-k3-'te-pu\ Lake Lake, south-central South Island, New Zealand. The S-shaped lake measures 48 mi (77 km) by 3 mi (5 km) and has an area of 113 sq mi (293 sq km) and a maximum depth of 1,240 ft (378 m). It receives the Dart, Rees, Greenstone, and Von rivers and emp¬ ties by the Kawarau River, a tributary of the Clutha River.

Wake Island Atoll, central Pacific Ocean. An unincorporated territory of the U.S., Wake Island comprises three low-lying coral islets (Wilkes, Peale, and Wake) that surround a lagoon and occupy a total land area of 2.5 sq mi (6.5 sq km). The atoll was claimed by the U.S. in 1899. In 1935 it became a stopover for transpacific commercial flights. The U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base in 1939, which was half- completed when Wake was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces in December 1941. After the Japanese surrendered (1945), Wake was admin¬ istered by the U.S. Air Force. Commercial flights resumed, but by 1974 Wake was being used as an emergency stopover. It is also the site of weather research stations. There is no indigenous population on the island, but there is a small contingent of civilian workers.

Wakefield City and metropolitan borough (pop., 2001: 315,173), southeastern portion of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. Originally part of a royal manor, it became a baronial holding after 1086. It was the scene of the Wars of the Roses at which Richard, duke of York, was captured and beheaded by Lancas¬ trians. In the 15th century the Wakefield Plays, one of the collections of English miracle plays, were presented there. The town was attacked and taken by the Parliamentarian general Baron Fairfax in 1643 during the English Civil Wars. Known as a textile centre since the 16th century, Wake¬ field specializes in wool and synthetic knitting yams.

Wakefield, Edward Gibbon (b. March 20, 1796, London, Eng.—d. May 16, 1862, Wellington, N.Z.) British colonizer of South Australia and New Zealand. After viewing the problems of the penal system, including the forcible removal of convicts to British colonies, he wrote A Letter from Sydney (1829) and proposed colonization by the sale of small land- holdings to ordinary citizens. He influenced the founding of South Aus¬ tralia as a nonconvict settlement. As organizer and manager of the New Zealand Company (1838-58), he sent colonists to settle New Zealand and forced the British government to recognize the colony. As an adviser to the earl of Durham, he influenced the report that led to the union of Upper and Lower Canada. He founded a Church of England settlement at Can¬ terbury, N.Z. (1847).

Waksman, Selman (Abraham) (b. July 22, 1888, Priluka, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. Aug. 16, 1973, Hyannis, Mass., U.S.) Ukrainian-born U.S. biochemist. He became a U.S. citizen in 1916 and spent most of his career at Rutgers University. After the discovery of penicillin, he played a major role in initiating a calculated, systematic search for antibiotics (a term he coined in 1941) among microorganisms. His 1943 discovery of streptomycin, the first specific agent effective in the treatment of tuberculosis, brought him a 1952 Nobel Prize. Waksman

also isolated and developed several other antibiotics, including neomycin, that have been used in treating many infectious diseases of humans, domestic animals, and plants.

Walachia \wa-'la-ke-9\ Former principality, south-central Europe. It lay between the Danube River and the Transylvanian Alps in what is now Romania. It was founded in 1290 by Radu Negru, a vassal of Hungary, and achieved independence from Hungary in 1330. The capital from the 14th to the 17th century was Targoviste. Walachia was ruled by the Turks in the 15th century, though some princes resisted, notably Vlad II Dracul (1436-47) and Vlad III Tepe§, who are often cited as the historical bases for the Dracula vampire tales. Walachia briefly annexed Moldavia and Transylvania in the late 16th century. Russian influence grew in the 18th century, and in 1774 Walachia came under Russia’s protection, though it continued to recognize Turkish suzerainty. Russia’s protectorate ended after the Crimean War, and in 1859 Walachia united with Moldavia to form Romania.

Walcott Vwol-.katV, Derek (Alton) (b. Jan. 23, 1930, Castries, Saint Lucia) West Indian poet and playwright. Of mixed black, Dutch, and English descent, Walcott was educated in Saint Lucia and Jamaica. After 1958 he lived in Trinidad and the U.S. Most of his works explore the Caribbean cultural experience. He is best known for his poetry; in vol¬ umes such as In a Green Night (1962), The Gulf ( 1969), Another Life (1973), The Star-Apple Kingdom (1979), The Fortunate Traveller (1981), and The Bounty (1997), Walcott’s erudition is submerged in sweeping rhythmic and sensuous sonorities. His epic poem Omeros (1990) is a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey in a 20th-century Caribbean setting. Of his approximately 30 plays, the best known are Dream on Monkey Mountain (produced 1967), Ti-Jean and His Brothers (1958), and Pantomime (1978). In 1992 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Wald, George (b. Nov. 18, 1906, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. April 12, 1997, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. biochemist. He taught at Harvard Univer¬ sity from 1934-77. His outstanding contributions were on the importance of vitamin A, the mechanisms of the photochemical reactions in the rod cells that enable night vision, and the identification of the colour-sensitive pig¬ ments in the cone cells (see photoreception; retina). He shared the Nobel Prize in 1967 with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Arthur Granit. He was a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War.

Waldeck \'val-,dek\ Former state, Germany. It is now a part of Hesse. The capital was Arolsen. A county in the Middle Ages, Waldeck became a principality in 1712 and part of Prussia in 1867. A republic and con¬ stituent state of the Weimar Republic (1918-29), it later formed part of the Prussian Hesse-Nassau province (until 1945).

Waldeck-Rousseau \val-dek-rii-'s6\, (Pierre-Marie-) Rene (b.

Dec. 2, 1846, Nantes, France—d. Aug. 10, 1904, Corbeil) French politi¬ cian. A conservative lawyer, he served in the Chamber of Deputies (1879— 89) and as minister of the interior (1881-82, 1883-85). In 1884 he sponsored the law that legalized French trade unions. After returning to his prosperous law practice, he became a senator in 1894. In the upheaval over the Alfred Dreyfus affair, he was appointed premier (1899-1902) and formed a coalition cabinet that persuaded the president to pardon Drey¬ fus.

Waldenses \w6l-'den-,sez\ French Vaudois \vo-'dwa\ Italian Valdesi \val-'da-ze\ Members of a Christian movement that originated in 12th-century France. Devotees sought to follow the example of Jesus and the Apostles by adopting lives of preaching and poverty. The move¬ ment’s founder, Valdes, was condemned by the archbishop of Lyon for continuing to preach without church permission. Although placed under a ban in 1184 by Pope Lucius III (1181-85), Valdes remained orthodox and hoped for eventual acceptance by the church. His followers, however, gradually departed from Roman Catholicism by rejecting the clergy’s right to administer the sacraments, the notion of purgatory, and the veneration of saints. Rome responded by actively persecuting the Waldenses, and their numbers diminished by the end of the 15th century. In the 16th cen¬ tury they adopted some aspects of Protestant doctrine and the church organization of Genevan Protestantism. Intermittently persecuted in later centuries, they have remained a small movement within Christianity. They survive today in Argentina, Uruguay, and the U.S.

Waldheim \'valt- l hlm\, Kurt (b. Dec. 21, 1918, Sankt Andra-Wordern, Austria) Fourth secretary-general of the United Nations (1972-81). After military service in the German army before and during World War II, he

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2022 I Wales ► Walker Cup

entered the Austrian foreign service and served successively as ambassa¬ dor to Canada (1958-60) and the UN (1964-68, 1970-71) and as foreign minister (1968-70). Elected to suc¬ ceed U Thant as UN secretary- general, he served two terms, during which he oversaw disaster relief in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, and Guate¬ mala and peacekeeping missions in Cyprus, the Middle East, Angola, and Guinea. Denied a third term, he returned to Austria and ran for presi¬ dent in 1986. His candidacy became controversial when it was learned that he had been a member of the Nazi Party and had served in a Ger¬ man army unit that had deported most of the Jewish population of the Greek town of Salonika to Nazi death camps in 1943. Elected nonetheless, he was diplomatically isolated throughout his term (1986-92).

Wales Welsh Cymru Vkom-reV Principality, constituting an integral part of the United Kingdom. It occupies a peninsula on the western side of the island of Great Britain. Area: 8,015 sq mi (20,758 sq km). Population (2001): 2,903,085. Capital: Cardiff. The population is of Celtic, Anglo- Saxon, and Anglo-Norman ancestry. Languages: English, Welsh. Reli¬ gion: Methodism. Wales is almost entirely an upland area the core of which is the Cambrian Mountains. The highest peak in England and Wales, Mount Snowdon, is found in Snowdonia National Park. The Sev¬ ern, Wye, and Dee are the longest rivers. Economic activities include mining coal (though coal mining suffered a sharp decline in the late 20th century), slate, and lead; importing and refining petroleum; and manu¬ facturing consumer electronics. Tourism is an important industry. In pre¬ historic times, tribal divisions of the British Celtic speakers who dominated all of Britain south of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde inhabited the region. The Romans ruled from the 1 st century ad until the 4th-5th century. Welsh Celts fought off incursions from the Anglo- Saxons. A number of kingdoms arose there, but none was successful in uniting the area. The Norman conquerors of England brought all of south¬ ern Wales under their rule in 1093. English King Edward I conquered northern Wales and made it a principality in 1284. Since 1301 the heir to the English throne has carried the title Prince of Wales. Wales was incor¬ porated with England in the reign of Henry VIII. It became a leading inter¬ national coal-mining centre during the 19th century. The Plaid Cymru, or Welsh Nationalist Party, was founded in 1925, but its influence did not gather force until the 1960s, when Welsh nationalist aspirations rose. In 1997 a referendum approved the devolution of power to an elected assem¬ bly, which first convened in 1999.

Wales, Prince of Title of the heir apparent to the British throne. In 1301 Edward I of England granted it to his son Edward after conquering Wales and executing the last native Welsh prince (1283). Since that time most of the eldest sons of English sovereigns have been given the title. The title ceases to exist when a Prince of Wales becomes king, until a monarch bestows it on a son.

Wat^sa \va-'len-s9,\ Polish \va-'we n -s9\, Lech (b. Sept. 29, 1943, Popowo, near Wloclawek, Pol.) Polish labour leader and president of Poland (1990-95). An electrician, he worked in the Lenin Shipyard at Gdansk, Pol. (1967-76), but he was fired for his antigovernment activi¬ ties. In 1980 he joined workers in a strike and soon became leader of the Solidarity trade union. The union was banned in 1981, and he was detained into 1982. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace; fearing involuntary exile, he remained in Poland while his wife, Danuta, traveled to Norway to accept the prize on his behalf. He continued to direct the outlawed union until it received legal recognition in 1988. Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in free elections in June 1989, and after Walesa refused to form a coalition government with the communists, the Parlia¬ ment was forced to accept a Solidarity-led government, though Walesa himself refused to serve as premier. In 1990 he won Poland’s first direct presidential election by a landslide, and he helped guide Poland into a free-market economy. His confrontational style eroded his popularity, and he was narrowly defeated in his bid for reelection in 1995.

Wall Allah \wa-Te-a-Ta\, Shah (b. 1702/03, Delhi—d. 1762, Delhi) Indian Islamic theologian. He received a traditional Islamic education, and after a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1732 he remained in the Hejaz to study theology. Living in a time of disillusionment following the death of Aurangzeb, he believed that Muslim polity could be restored only through religious reform that would harmonize Islam with India’s changing social and economic conditions. He was steadfastly monotheistic but otherwise much more liberal than most Islamic theologians that had preceded him. His best-known work is The Secrets of Belief. His synthesis of theology, philosophy, and mysticism so reinvigorated Islam that it became preva¬ lent among Islamic scholars in India until the 20th century.

Walker, Alice (Malsenior) (b. Feb. 9, 1944, Eatonton, Ga., U.S.) U.S. writer. After attending Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence Col¬ lege, Walker moved to Mississippi and became involved with the civil rights movement. She also began teaching and publishing short stories and essays. Her works are noted for their insightful treatment of African American culture. Her third and most popular novel. The Color Purple (1982, Pulitzer Prize; film, 1985), depicts a black woman’s struggle for racial and sexual equality. Her later novels include The Temple of My Familiar (1989) and Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992). She also wrote essays, some collected in In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens (1983); several books of poetry; short stories; and children’s books.

Walker, David (b. Sept. 28, 1785, Wilmington, N.C., U.S.—d. June 28, 1830, Boston, Mass.) U.S. abolitionist. The son of a slave father and a free mother, he was educated and traveled widely before settling in Boston, where he became an abolitionist lecturer and wrote for the anti¬ slavery Freedom’s Journal. In his pamphlet Appeal to the Colored Citi¬ zens of the World (1829), he called for armed revolt. He smuggled the pamphlet into the South by hiding copies in clothing that he sold to sail¬ ors from his used-clothes store in Boston. Warned to flee for his life to Canada, he refused, and his body was found soon after; many believed he was poisoned. His son, Edwin G. Walker, was elected to the Massa¬ chusetts legislature in 1866.

Walker, James J(ohn) known as Jimmy Walker (b. June 19, 1881, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 18, 1946, New York City) U.S. politician. He entered politics after graduating from New York Law School, becoming a member of the Assembly (1909) and then of the State Senate (1914). Backed by Gov. Alfred E. Smith and Tammany Hall, he was elected mayor (1925-32). A popular figure known for his charm and wit but particularly for his enthusiastic participation in the high life typical of the era, he made improvements in sanitation, hospitals, and subways. In 1931 the state legislature, investigating the city’s affairs, charged Walker with corruption; he resigned in 1932.

Walker, Sarah Breedlove orig. Sarah Breedlove (b. Dec. 23, 1867, near Delta, La., U.S.—d. May 25, 1919, Irvington, N.Y.) U.S. busi¬ nesswoman and philanthropist, the first African American female million¬ aire. She was a widowed washerwoman with a daughter to support in 1905 when she developed a method for straightening curly hair. She founded the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Co. to sell her treatment, and her door- to-door saleswomen became familiar figures in the black communities of the U.S. and the Caribbean. In 1910 she moved her company to Indianapo¬ lis, Ind. She augmented her earnings with shrewd real-estate investments, and she donated two-thirds of her fortune to charitable and educational institutions. Her daughter, A’Lelia Walker Kennedy, hosted salons where artists and cultural figures mingled during the Harlem Renaissance.

Walker, William (b. May 8, 1824, Nashville, Tenn., U.S.—d. Sept. 12, 1860, Trujillo, Hond.) U.S. military adventurer. He moved to Cali¬ fornia (1850), where his interest in colonizing Baja California developed into a filibustering (insurrection) scheme. He landed at La Paz (1853) and proclaimed Lower California and Sonora an independent republic, but Mexican resistance forced him back to the U.S. In 1855 he sailed to Nica¬ ragua, where he effectively established himself as leader. There officers of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Accessory Transit Co. promised him financial assistance in a plot to take the company away from Vanderbilt. Walker seized the company and turned it over to them, then made himself presi¬ dent of Nicaragua (1856). In 1857 Vanderbilt induced five Central Ameri¬ can republics to drive Walker out. In 1860 Walker attempted a filibuster in Honduras, where he was captured and executed.

Walker Cup Trophy awarded to the winner of a golf competition between amateur men’s teams from the U.S. and Britain. It has been held biennially since 1922 on sites alternating between the two countries. The

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

walking ► Wallace I 2023

cup is named for the event’s organizer, George H. Walker, a president of the U.S. Golf Association. Contests consist of four 18-hole foursome matches and eight 18-hole singles matches on each of two days, with one point awarded to the winning side in each match.

walking In track and field, a form of racing in which the competitor’s advancing foot must touch the ground before the rear foot leaves it. Walk¬ ing as a sport dates from the later 19th century. Walking races of 10 mi and 3,500 m were added to the men’s Olympic program in 1908, but since 1956 the Olympic distances have been 20 km and 50 km. A women’s 10-km walk was introduced in 1992.

walking catfish Species ( Clarias batrachus) of Asian and African catfish that can progress remarkable distances over dry land. It uses its pectoral-fin spines as anchors to prevent jackknifing as its body muscu¬ lature produces snakelike movements. Treelike respiratory structures extending above the gill chambers enable it to breathe. It has been intro¬ duced into southern Florida, where it now poses a serious threat to native fauna.

walking leaf See leaf insect

wall Any of various upright constructions used to divide or enclose a room or building. In traditional masonry construction, bearing walls sup¬ ported the weight of floors and roofs, but modern steel and reinforced- concrete frames, as well as heavy timber and other skeletal structures, require exterior walls only for shelter. Some urban buildings dispense with walls on the ground floor, extending outdoor plazas under the building and permitting easier access to elevators, escalators, and stairs. In masonry construction, all types of floors and roofs except domes are most easily supported on straight, parallel walls. Nonbearing walls, used when loads are carried by girders, beams, or other members, can be either curtain walls or infill of brick, block, or other material. See also cavity wall, RETAINING WALL, SHEAR WALL.

Wall Street Street in New York City where many major U.S. financial institutions are located. The street, in southern Manhattan, is narrow and short and extends only about seven blocks from Broadway to the East River. It was named for an earthen wall built by Dutch settlers in 1653 to repel an expected English invasion. Even before the Civil War it was rec¬ ognized as the nation’s financial capital, and it remains a worldwide sym¬ bol of high finance. The Wall Street, or financial, district contains the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The district is also the headquarters for many investment banks, securities dealers, utilities and insurance companies, and brokerage firms.

Wall Street Journal, The U.S. daily national newspaper, the most influential American business-oriented paper and one of the most respected dailies in the world. Founded in 1889 by Charles H. Dow, founder of Dow Jones & Co., it quickly won success. Beginning in the Great Depression, The Wall Street Journal began to feature more articles, reviews, and opinion on other subjects. Published in New York City and with regional editions printed across the country, it has one of the high¬ est daily circulations of any U.S. newspaper. It is also published in Asian, European, and other special editions.

wallaby Vwa-lo-beX Any of about 25 species of medium-sized kanga¬ roos, found chiefly in Australia. Brush wallabies (11 species) are built like the big kangaroos but differ in dentition. Rock wallabies live among rocks, usually near water. Nail-tailed wallabies, named for a homy growth on the tail tip, rotate their forelimbs while hopping. The small hare wall¬ abies resemble hares in movement and some habits. The small, stocky scrub wallabies, hunted for meat and fur, have short hind limbs and pointy noses. The similar short-tailed scrub wallaby occurs only on two offshore islands of western Australia. Several wallaby species have been extermi¬ nated, and several others are endangered. See photograph opposite.

Wallace, Alfred Russel (b. Jan. 8, 1823, Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales—d. Nov. 7, 1913, Broadstone, Dorset, Eng.) British naturalist. Though trained as a surveyor and architect, he became interested in botany and traveled to the Amazon in 1848 to collect specimens. In 1854-62 he toured the Malay Archipelago, augmenting his collection. His observa¬ tions of the islands led to his developing a theory of the origin of species through natural selection independently of, and simultaneously with, Charles Darwin, though Darwin developed his own theory in much greater detail, provided far more evidence for it, and was mainly responsible for its acceptance. Unlike Darwin, Wallace insisted that the higher mental

capacities of humans could not have arisen by natural selection but that some nonbiological agency must have been responsible. He hypothesized a boundary (Wallace’s line) running between the islands of the Malay Archipelago, between the Oriental and Australasian faunal regions, many animals abundant on one side being absent on the other. In the realm of public policy he supported socialism, pacifism, land nationalization, and women’s suffrage. His works include Contributions to the Theory of Natu¬ ral Selection (1870), Geographical Distribution of Animals (2 vol., 1876), and Darwinism (1889).

Wallace, (William Roy) DeWitt and Lila Acheson Lila Acheson Wallace orig. Lila Bell Acheson (respectively b. Nov. 12, 1889, St. Paul, Minn., U.S.—d. March 30, 1981, Mount Kisco, N.Y.; b. Dec. 25, 1889, Virden, Man., Can.—d. May 8, 1984, Mount Kisco) U.S. publishers and founders of Reader’s Digest magazine. DeWitt Wallace began an index of favourite magazine articles while he was a college stu¬ dent, and he developed the idea of a pocket-sized digest of popular articles while recuperating from wounds suffered in World War I. Lila Acheson, a minister’s daughter, worked in social services during the war. The two were married in 1921. After various publishers rejected the digest idea, they began publishing Reader's Digest themselves on a low budget and had rapid success. DeWitt Wallace served as editor until 1965. They had no heirs but supported numerous philanthropic causes; the Lila Wallace- Reader’s Digest Fund has been a major benefactor of the arts and culture.

Wallace, (Richard Horatio) Edgar (b. April 1, 1875, Greenwich, London, Eng.—d. Feb. 10, 1932, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) British nov¬ elist, playwright, and journalist. He held odd jobs, served in the army, and was a reporter before producing his first success. The Four Just Men (1905). With works such as Sanders of the River (1911), The Crimson Circle (1922), The Flying Squad (1928), and The Terror (1930), he vir¬ tually invented the modern “thriller”; the plots of his detective and sus¬ pense stories are complex but clearly developed, and they are known for their exciting climaxes. His output (including 175 books) was prodigious and his rate of production so great as to be the subject of humour. His literary reputation has suffered since his death.

Wallace, George C(orley) (b. Aug. 25, 1919, Clio, Ala., U.S.—d. Sept. 13, 1998, Montgomery, Ala.) U.S. politician. He served in the Ala¬ bama state legislature (1947-53). As a circuit court judge (1953-59), he was known for his resistance to federal investigations of racial discrimi¬ nation. Campaigning as a segregationist, he was elected governor in 1963 and kept his pledge “to stand in the schoolhouse door” to prevent enroll¬ ment of African American students at the University of Alabama. He yielded only in the face of the federalized National Guard. Further con¬ frontations made him a nationwide symbol of Southern opposition to racial integration. He formed the American Independent Party and was its presidential candidate in 1968, winning 13% of the popular vote. He again served as governor (1971-79). While campaigning for the 1972 Demo¬ cratic presidential nomination, he was shot in an assassination attempt and left partly paralyzed. In the 1980s he renounced his segregationist views, and he won his last term as governor (1983-87) with support from Afri¬ can American voters.

Bridled nail-tailed wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata).

© MITCH REARDON-NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COLLECTION/PHOTO RESEARCHERS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2024 I Wallace ► walleye

Wallace, Henry A(gard) (b. Oct. 7, 1888, Adair county, Iowa, U.S.—d. Nov. 18, 1965, Danbury, Conn.) U.S. politician. An agricultural expert, he succeeded his father as editor of Wallace’s Farmer (1924-33). In 1932 he helped Franklin D. Roosevelt win Iowa. As U.S. secretary of agriculture (1933-40), he shaped the administration’s farm policy, includ¬ ing the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. He served as vice presi¬ dent during Roosevelt’s third term but was replaced in 1944 by Harry S. Truman. He was later secretary of commerce (1945^46). Very liberal in his views, he helped form the Progressive Party in 1948 and was its can¬ didate against Truman in the presidential election, receiving more than one million votes. He wrote several books, including Sixty Million Jobs

(1945).

Wallace, Lew(is) (b. April 10, 1827, Brookville, Ind., U.S.—d. Feb. 15, 1905, Crawfordsville, Ind.) U.S. writer. The son of Indiana’s gover¬ nor, he served in the Mexican War and in the American Civil War, in which he rose to the rank of major general. Later he returned to law practice, interrupted by two diplo¬ matic postings. His literary reputa¬ tion rests on three historical novels:

The Fair God (1873), on the Spanish conquest of Mexico; The Prince of India (1893), on the Byzantine Empire; and, above all, the enor¬ mously popular Ben-Hur (1880; films, 1925, 1959), a romantic tale set in the Roman Empire during the time of Christ.

Wallace, Mike orig. Myron Leon Wallace (b. May 9, 1918,

Brookline, Mass., U.S.) U.S. television interviewer and reporter. After graduating from the University of Michigan (1939), he worked as an announcer and newscaster on radio, delving into various programs, including talk shows, quiz shows, serials, and the news. He served as a naval communications officer during World War II and was subsequently hired as a radio reporter in Chicago. He began to work on television in the 1950s, hosting several television quiz shows. He joined CBS as a reporter in 1963 and was coeditor of the long-running 60 Minutes from its first program in 1968. Noted for his aggressive, bruising style (which led some of his guests to experience “Mike fright”), he traveled the world interviewing some of the most famous and powerful figures, and he won numerous Emmy Awards.

Wallace, Sir William (b. 1279, probably near Paisley, Renfrew, Scot.—d. Aug. 23, 1305, London, Eng.) Scottish national hero. Son of a small landowner, he began his attacks on English settlements and garri¬ sons in 1297, after Edward I declared himself ruler of Scotland. His army defeated a much larger English force at Stirling Bridge, captured Stirling Castle, and then ravaged northern England, for which Wallace was knighted and proclaimed guardian of the Scottish kingdom. In 1298 Edward I invaded Scotland and defeated Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk. Disgraced, Wallace resigned his guardianship and was replaced by the future Robert I but apparently continued to fight a guerrilla war. In 1305 he was arrested by the English and hanged, then disemboweled, beheaded, and quartered. The next year Robert raised the rebellion that eventually won independence for Scotland.

Wallack, James William (b. Aug. 24, 1795, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 25, 1864, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British-U.S. actor-manager. Born into a London stage family, he acted in Shakespearean roles from age 12 and made his U.S. debut as Macbeth in 1818. He performed in London and New York City until 1852, crossing the Atlantic 35 times. In 1837-39 he comanaged New York’s National Theatre with his brother Henry John Wallack (1790-1870), the company’s leading player. In 1852-62 he comanaged the Lyceum Theatre (renamed Wallack’s Lyceum) with his son Lester (1820-88) as stage manager. Succeeding his father as general manager, Lester staged polished productions of English plays and trained most of the major 19th-century U.S. stage performers.

wallaroo V.wa-lo-'riA or euro Vyur-,o\ One of the four largest species of kangaroo. The wallaroo {Macropus robustus) is smaller and stockier

than the other three species (also in the genus Macropus)\ its colour var¬ ies from dark gray to pinkish brown. It lives in rocky country throughout Australia except in Victoria.

Wallenberg Vwa-lon-.borgA Swedish Vwa-lsn-.ber-eX, Raoul (b. Aug. 4, 1912, Stockholm, Swed.—d. July 17, 1947?, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Swedish businessman and humanitarian. The scion of a family of bankers, industrialists, and diplomats, in 1936 he became the foreign representative of a Hungarian trading company whose president was Jew¬ ish. When the Nazis sent troops to round up Jews in Hungary (1944), Wallenberg asked to be sent to Budapest as a diplomat. There he rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews by sheltering them in “protected houses” under the Swedish flag or securing their passage out of Hungary through bribes or counterfeit documents. Soon after Soviet troops occupied Budapest (1945), he was arrested on suspicion of espionage. He was sent to Moscow, where he allegedly died of a heart attack in prison in 1947. Unconfirmed reports from freed Soviet prisoners reported him alive in 1951, 1959, and 1975.

Wallenda \va-'len-da,\ English \w6-'len-d3\, Karl (b. 1905, Magde¬ burg, Ger.—d. March 22, 1978, San Juan, RR.) German-born U.S. circus acrobat. He founded the Great Wallendas acrobatic troupe, which achieved fame in Europe for its four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire without a safety net. His wife, Helen Kreis (1910-96), joined the troupe in 1926 and later was balanced at the peak of the seven-person pyramid, the most famous of the Wallendas’ acts. The troupe traveled with the U.S. Ringling Brothers and Bamum & Bailey Circus (1928—46), then performed as freelancers. Karl’s nephew Gunther (1927-96) trained on the wire from age five; when a pyramid collapsed in 1962, Gunther was the only member left standing and rescued three who were clinging to the wire; two others were killed and one was paralyzed. Two troupe mem¬ bers died in accidents in 1963 and 1972. Karl died in a fall from a wind- whipped wire 123 ft (37 m) above a street in San Juan.

Wallenstein Vva-bn-.shtlnA English \ , wa-bn-,stln\, Albrecht Wen¬ zel Eusebius von, duke von Friedland later Duke von Meck¬ lenburg (b. Sept. 24, 1583, Hefmanice, Bohemia—d. Feb. 25, 1634, Eger) Austrian general. A noble of Bohemia, he served with the future Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II in the campaign against Venice in 1617. He remained loyal to Ferdinand when other Bohemian nobles revolted (1618-23) and was made governor of Bohemia and allowed to acquire vast holdings in confiscated estates. Created duke of Friedland (1625), he commanded the imperial armies in the Thirty Years’ War. After successes in the war against Denmark (1625-29), he was awarded the principality of Sagan (1627) and the duchy of Mecklenburg (1629). Under pressure from the German princes, Ferdinand was forced to dismiss Wallenstein. Recalled to imperial command in 1631, he drove the Swedish army from Bavaria and Franconia but was defeated at the Battle of Liitzen (1632). Believing he had the support of his generals, he mounted a revolt against the emperor (1634) and was assassinated.

Waller, Edmund (b. March 3, 1606, Coleshill, Hertfordshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 21, 1687, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) English poet. As a mem¬ ber of Parliament during the political turmoil of the 1640s, he was arrested for his part in a plot to establish London as a stronghold of the king; by betraying his colleagues and by lavish bribes, he avoided death. He later wrote poetic tributes to both Oliver Cromwell (1655) and Charles II (1660). Rejecting the dense intellectual verse of Metaphysical poetry, he adopted generalizing statement, easy associative development, and urbane social comment. With his emphasis on definitive phrasing through inversion and balance, he prepared the way for the emergence of the heroic couplet. By the end of the 17th century the heroic couplet was the dominant form of English poetry. Waller’s lyrics include the well-known “Go, lovely Rose!”

Waller, Fats orig. Thomas Wright Waller (b. May 21, 1904, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 15, 1943, Kansas City, Mo.) U.S. jazz pianist, singer, and composer. Waller was influenced early by stride pianist James P. Johnson. He became an important exponent of stride piano by the late 1920s, recording solo piano pieces such as “Handful of Keys.” From 1934 he recorded with a small ensemble, Fats Waller and His Rhythm, inte¬ grating his vocals and unique comic timing with instrumental finesse. His rhythmically contagious performances of his own songs, such as “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Honeysuckle Rose,” are timeless classics of jazz.

walleye or walleyed pike Species {Stizostedion vitreum ) of pike- perch (family Percidae), carnivorous food and game fishes found in clear, cool lakes and rivers of eastern North America. Walleyes are slender and

Lew Wallace

COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, WASHINGTON, D.C.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Wallis > Walpole I 2025

darkly mottled. They have two dorsal fins and generally weigh less than 10 lbs (4.5 kg), though some may weigh up to 24 lbs (11 kg). They are at most 35 in. (90 cm) long. Walleyes are not true pikes.

Wallis, Sir Barnes (Neville) (b. Sept. 26, 1887, Ripley, Derbyshire, Eng.—d. Oct. 30, 1979, Leatherhead, Surrey) British aeronautical designer and military engineer. He invented the innovative “dambuster” bombs used in World War II by the Royal Air Force to destroy the Mohne and Eder dams in Germany’s industrial Ruhr area, producing heavy floods that slowed industrial production. He also invented the 12,000-lb (5,400 kg) “Tallboy” and the 22,000-lb (10,000 kg) “Grand Slam” bombs and was responsible for the bombs that destroyed the German warship Tirpitz, V-rocket sites, and much of Germany’s railway system. In 1971 he designed an aircraft that could fly five times the speed of sound.

Wallis and Futuna Island group, west-central South Pacific Ocean. It is a self-governing overseas territory (pop., 2003 prelim.: 14,944) of France, which includes Uvea (Wallis Island), the Horne (Futuna) Islands (Futuna and Alofi), and a number of islets. The administrative seat is the village of Mata’utu on Uvea. Until 1961 Wallis and Futuna was a pro¬ tectorate under French authority attached to New Caledonia.

Wallis Islands Island group (pop., 2003 prelim.: 10,071), forming the northeastern part of the French overseas territory of Wallis and Futuna, west-central South Pacific Ocean. It comprises the main island of Uvea

(Wallis) and a number of islets, all enclosed in one coral reef, with a total land area of 23 sq mi (60 sq km). Visited in 1767 by the British navigator Capt. Samuel Wallis, the islands were occupied by the French in 1842. They became a French pro¬ tectorate in 1887 and part of the overseas territory in 1961.

wallpaper Ornamental and utili¬ tarian covering for walls made from long sheets of paper that have been stenciled, painted, or printed with abstract or narrative designs. Wall¬ paper developed soon after the intro¬ duction of papermaking to Europe in the late 15th century, originally as a substitute for tapestry, painted cloth, and wood paneling, and the first wallpapers were esteemed for the cleverness with which they mim¬ icked the more costly wall coverings. In the 18th century, designs such as chintz patterns and stripes began to express the medium’s decorative possibilities. In the mid-19th cen¬ tury, the wallpapers of William Mor¬ ris, featuring stylized, naturalistic patterns, created a revolution in wall¬ paper design. Plastic coating now improves wallpaper’s durability and maintenance.

walnut Any of about 20 species of deciduous trees in the genus Juglans, family Juglandaceae. Black walnut (J. nigra ) of eastern North America and English, or Persian, walnut (/. regia), native to Iran, are valuable timber trees that produce edible nuts. The butternut ( J . cinerea) of eastern North America also produces an edible nut. The walnut family con¬ tains an additional seven genera of flowering plants, found mainly in the northern temperate zone in a variety of habitats. Pecan and hickory are among the many family members that are prized for both their edible nuts and their strong, attractive

Hand-printed wallpaper by Jean- Baptiste Reveillon, c. 1780-90; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPH, THE COOPER-BRIDGEMAN LIBRARY, LONDON

woods, especially noted for their grain patterns and lustre. Leaves of the walnut family are feather-like; tiny, resinous scales that look like yellow dots on the undersurface of the leaflets give Juglans species a pungent aroma.

Walnut Canyon National Monument National monument, north-central Arizona, U.S. Established in 1915 and covering an area of 3 sq mi (8 sq km), it preserves more than 300 pre-Columbian dwellings built by the Pueblo Indians in shallow caves on the canyon walls. Main occupancy was from ad 1000 to 1200.

Walpole, Horace, 4th earl of Orford orig. Horatio Walpole

(b. Sept. 24, 1717, London, Eng.—d.

March 2, 1797, London) English writer, connoisseur, and collector.

The son of prime minister Robert Walpole, he had an undistinguished career in Parliament. In 1747 he acquired a small villa at Twickenham that he transformed into a pseudo- Gothic showplace called Strawberry Hill; it was the stimulus for the Gothic Revival in English domestic architecture. His literary output was extremely varied. He became famous for his medieval horror tale The Castle of Otranto (1765), the first Gothic novel in English. He is espe¬ cially remembered for his private correspondence of more than 3,000 letters, most addressed to Horace Mann, a British diplomat. Intended for posthumous publication, they constitute a survey of the history, manners, and taste of his age.

Walpole, Sir Hugh (Sey¬ mour) (b. March 13, 1884, Auckland, N.Z.—d. June 1, 1941, near Keswick, Cumberland, Eng.) British novelist, critic, and dramatist. A natu¬ ral storyteller, Walpole turned to writing and reviewing books after unsuc¬ cessful attempts at teaching and lay reading in the Anglican church. Among his important novels is the semiautobiographical series that includes Jeremy (1919), Jeremy and Hamlet (1923), and Jeremy at Crale (1927). The Herries Chronicle, about an English country family, com¬ prises Rogue Herries (1930), Judith Paris (1931), The Fortress (1932), and Vanessa (1933). He also wrote critical works on Anthony Trollope, Walter Scon, and Joseph Conrad.

Walpole, Robert, 1 st earl of Orford (b. Aug. 26, 1676, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, Eng.—d. March 18,

1745, London) English statesman generally regarded as the first British prime minister. Elected to the House of Commons in 1701, he became an active Whig parliamentarian. He served as secretary at war (1708-10) and as treasurer of the navy (1710—

11). He was also a member of the Kit- Cat Club. The Tory government sought to remove his influence by impeaching him for corruption, and he was expelled from the Commons in 1712. With the accession of George I (1714), he regained his posi¬ tion and rose rapidly to become first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the Exchequer (1715-17, 1721—42).

Although associated with the South Sea Bubble scandal, he restored confi¬ dence in the government and main¬ tained the Whigs in office. He cultivated the support of George II from 1727 and used royal patronage for political ends, skillfully managing the House of Commons to win sup¬ port for his trade and fiscal programs, including the sinking fund. With his consolidation of power, he effectively became the first British prime min-

Robert Walpole, detail of an oil paint¬ ing by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1710- 15; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON

Horace Walpole, detail of an oil paint¬ ing by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1757; in the City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England.

COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERY

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

2026 I Walpurgis Night ► Walton

ister. He avoided foreign entanglements and kept England neutral until 1739 but was forced into the War of Jenkins' Ear. He resigned under pres¬ sure in 1742 and was created an earl. His acclaimed art collection, sold to Russia in 1779, became part of the Hermitage Museum collection.

Walpurgis Night Night before May 1. The name comes from the 8th- century St. Walburga (or Walpurgis), an English missionary who ran an important early convent in Germany, May 1 being one of her feast days. In Sweden it is celebrated with bonfires as the beginning of spring. In Germany, as Walpurgisnacht, it was the night witches were supposed to meet in the Harz Mountains (see Brocken), though the association of witches with St. Walburga is only coincidental. See also Beltane.

Walras \val-'ra\, (Marie-Esprit-) Leon (b. Dec. 16, 1834, Evreux, France—d. Jan. 5, 1910, Clarens, near Montreux, Switz.) French-Swiss economist. An advocate of cooperatives as an alternative to revolution, he ran a bank for producers’ cooperatives with Leon Say (grandson of Jean- Baptiste Say) from 1865 to 1868. At the Academy of Lausanne, Switz. (1870-92), he began the school of economics later known (under Vilfredo Pareto) as the Lausanne school. Walras’s Elements of Pure Economics (1874-77) was one of the first comprehensive mathematical analyses of general economic equilibrium. Assuming an environment of free compe¬ tition, he constructed a mathematical model in which productive factors, products, and prices automatically adjust in equilibrium. He thus tied together the theories of production, exchange, money, and capital.

walrus Only living species ( Odobenus rosmarus) of the pinniped family Odobenidae. Larger than the related seals, walrus males grow up to 12 ft (3.7 m) long and weigh up to 2,800 lbs (1,270 kg). Both sexes have long, downward-pointing tusks that may grow to 3 ft (1 m) long and weigh 12 lbs (5.4 kg) each. They have no exter¬ nal ears. The grayish skin is deeply folded over the shoulders. They live on ice floes, in groups of up to 100, on relatively shallow water in arctic seas of Eurasia and North America. They may dive to great depths in search of food, mostly shellfish. On land and ice, they move on all four limbs. They generally follow the ice line south in winter and north in summer. Tradi¬ tionally important to native humans as sources of food and clothing, they have also been hunted commercially for centuries, which has resulted in serious depletion of their numbers. Commercial hunting is now generally banned.

Walsh, Raoul (b. March 11, 1887, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Dec. 31, 1980, Simi Valley, near Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. film director. Walsh began acting for the stage in 1910 and on film in 1912, the same year that he began directing. He was an assistant to D.W. Griffith and appeared in The Birth of a Nation (1915). In his 50-year career, he directed over 200 films, usually characterized by their simplicity and quick action. His White Heat (1949) is a classic study of a pathological criminal, and The Naked and the Dead (1958) is an effective translation of Norman Mailer’s novel into film. His other films include What Price Glory? (1926), The Roar¬ ing Twenties (1939), They Drive by Night (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), High Sierra (1941), and A Distant Trumpet (1964).

Walsingham, Sir Francis (b. c. 1532, probably Footscray, Kent, Eng.—d. April 6, 1590, London) English statesman and adviser to Queen Elizabeth I (1573-90). A member of Parliament from 1563, he became ambassador to the French court (1570-73) and established friendly rela¬ tions between France and England. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1573 and became secretary of state to Elizabeth I. Although not allowed to pursue an independent policy, he faithfully executed Elizabeth’s foreign policy. He proved invaluable in uncovering conspiracies by Catholics against Elizabeth’s life, including the plots by Francis Throckmorton (1583) and Anthony Babington (1586) to free Mary, Queen of Scots.

Walter, Bruno orig. Bruno Walter Schlesinger (b. Sept. 15, 1876, Berlin, Ger.—d. Feb. 17, 1962, Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S.) German- bom U.S. conductor. An associate of Gustav Mahler, he was long a faith¬ ful proponent and interpreter of Mahler’s music, giving the world

premieres of Das Lied von der Erde (1911) and the Symphony No. 9 (1912). He held positions in Munich (1913-22) and at Co vent Garden (1924-31), but thereafter he served more often as a guest conductor than a music director. After moving to the U.S. in 1939, he often conducted the New York Philharmonic (recording as the Columbia or CBS Sym¬ phony), the Metropolitan Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he was admired for the warmth of his inter¬ pretations, primarily of the Viennese school.

Walter, John (b. 1739, probably in London, Eng.—d. Nov. 16, 1812, Teddington, Middlesex) English newspaper publisher. Initially a coal dealer and marine-insurance underwriter, Walter acquired the patent for a printing system in 1783 and in 1785 in London began to publish the Daily Universal Register. He renamed it The Times in 1788. Though nei¬ ther outstanding nor honest as a journalist, he turned from scandal to more serious topics and organized (while in prison for libeling members of the royal family) a news service from the European continent, thereby launch¬ ing The Times toward its later preeminence in foreign news reporting. Walter’s family owned The Times for almost 125 years.

Walters, Barbara (b. Sept. 25, 1931, Boston, Mass., U.S.) U.S. tele¬ vision journalist. After brief employment in an advertising agency, she became assistant to the publicity director for New York City’s NBC- affiliated television station. She worked in television as a writer-producer (1952-58), interviewer (1964-74), and cohost (1974-76) of NBC’s Today show, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1975. In 1976-78, for an unprecedented $ 1 million a year, she was coanchor of the ABC Evening News, the first woman to anchor a network newscast in the U.S. From 1976 she hosted the series of Barbara Walters Specials, interviewing celebrities and world leaders Her disarmingly direct questioning drew many subjects into frequently interesting and occasionally provocative moments of self-revelation. In 1982 and 1983 she received Emmy Awards for best interviewer. From 1984 she also cohosted ABC’s 20/20 news magazine program.

Walther von der Vogelweide Vval-tor-fon-der-'fo-gol-.vI-doX (b. c. 1170—d. c. 1230, Wurzburg?) Greatest German lyric poet of the Middle Ages. Of knightly birth, Walther was educated at a monastery school and served masters in several courts. His poetry goes far beyond the artificial conventions followed by other minnesingers by introducing an element of realism. He emphasizes the virtues of the balanced life, in both the social and the personal spheres. More than half of his approximately 200 extant poems are political, moral, or religious; the rest are love poems, among them the popular “Unter der Linden.”

Walton, Izaak (b. Aug. 9, 1593, Stafford, Staffordshire, Eng.—d. Dec. 15, 1683, Winchester, Hampshire) English biographer and author. A pros¬ perous ironmonger with only a few years of schooling, he read widely, developed scholarly tastes, and associated with men of learning. A friend and fishing companion of John Donne, he contributed “An Elegie” to the posthumous publication of Donne’s poetry (1633) and wrote biographies of Donne (1640), George Herbert (1670), and others. His classic The Com- pleat Angler (1653), a pastoral discourse on the joys and stratagems of fishing, is one of the most frequently reprinted works in English litera¬ ture, most often in a revision (1676) with additions by Charles Cotton

(1630-87).

Walton, Sam(uel Moore) (b. March 29, 1918, Kingfisher, Okla., U.S.—d. April 5, 1992, Little Rock, Ark.) U.S. retail magnate, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. He attended the University of Missouri and then trained with the J.C. Penney Co. In 1945 he started a chain of variety stores in Arkansas, and in 1962 he opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Ark., offering a wide selection of discount merchandise. Whereas other discount-store chains were usually situated in or near large cities, Walton based his stores in small towns where there was little competition from established chains. Using this strategy his company expanded to 800 stores by 1985. In 1983 he opened the first Sam’s Wholesale Club. Wal¬ ton stepped down as chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores in 1988 but remained chairman until his death, by which time there were over 1,700 stores and Walton’s family was the wealthiest in the U.S. In the 1990s Wal-Mart became controversial for depleting downtown districts of their commercial life by siting stores nearby. By the end of the 20th century it had become the world’s largest retailer.

Walton, Sir William (Turner) (b. March 29, 1902, Oldham, Lan¬ cashire, Eng.—d. March 8, 1983, Ischia, Italy) British composer. His par¬ ents were musicians, and he learned to sing and play piano and violin

Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus).

© CORBIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

waltz ► Wannsee Conference I 2027

early. He established his reputation at age 19 by setting to jazzy music the whimsical poetry of Edith Sitwell (see Sitwell family); Fagade (1923) premiered with the poet reading her poetry through a megaphone. Wal¬ ton’s later works include Belshazzar’s Feast (1931), two symphonies (1935, 1960), and concertos for viola, violin, and cello (1929, 1939, 1956). His scores for Laurence Olivier’s films of Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1947), and Richard III (1955) became well known; he also wrote coro¬ nation marches for George VI and Elizabeth II.

waltz Ballroom turning dance evolved from the landler in the 18th cen¬ tury. It is characterized by a step, slide, and step in 3/4 time. It was highly popular in the 19th and early 20th century. Variations include the rapid, whirling Viennese waltz and the slower, dipping Boston waltz, modified by Vernon and Irene Castle as the hesitation waltz. Many 19th-century composers wrote waltz music, most notably Franz Peter Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Johannes Brahms, and Johann Strauss.

Walvis Bay Town (pop., 2001 prelim.: 40,849), west-central Namibia, on the Atlantic Ocean. A mid-19th-century rush to exploit guano depos¬ its on nearby islands was followed by British annexation of the bay and the adjacent land in 1878. It was incorporated into Britain’s Cape Colony in 1884. In 1910 it was included in the newly united South Africa. Admin¬ istered as part of South West Africa (1922-77), it was then governed directly by South Africa, which retained the enclave after Namibia reached independence in 1990. The two countries administered the enclave jointly from 1992 to 1994; then South Africa transferred it to Namibia. Its harbour serves as Namibia’s chief port.

wampum Tubular shell beads assembled into strings or woven into belts or embroidered ornaments. The Algonquian word (short for wam- pumpeag ) translates as “string of white (shell beads).” Before contact with white settlers, Indians used wampum primarily ceremonially or in gif exchanges. In the early 17th century it came to be used as money in trade with whites, because of a shortage of European currency.

Wanaka Vwa-no-koV Lake Lake, west-central South Island, New Zealand. It covers an area of 75 sq mi (193 sq km) and is some 1,000 ft (300 m) deep. Fed by the Makarora and Matukituki rivers, the lake is the source of the Clutha River. Its outlet is harnessed for hydroelectric power.

Wang Anshi or Wang An-shih Vwaq-'an-'shnA (b. 1021, Linchuan, Jiangsu province, China—d. 1086, Jiangning, Jiangsu) Chinese poet and government reformer of the Song dynasty. His “New Policies” of 1069-76 sparked academic controversy that continued for centuries. He created a fund for agricultural loans to farmers to spare them the exorbitant demands of moneylenders; he also replaced corvee labour with a hired- service system financed by a graduated tax levied on all families. He enabled officials to purchase supplies at the cheapest price in the most convenient market. He established a village militia system (see baojia), reorganized the Hanlin Academy, and restructured the civil service exami¬ nations. Wang’s reforms were unpopular, and he was forced to resign in 1074. He returned to government in 1075, but with less political power. After the emperor’s death an antireform clique came to power and dis¬ mantled Wang’s reforms by the time of his death shortly afterward. See also Fan Zhongyen.