Britannica Concise 2005

Chonju

TAEHUKSAN

ISLANDS

Mokp'o,

TADOHAE MARINE NATIONAL PARK

HALLY6 MARINE NATIONAL PARK L/y£ WOLSAN

ISLAND

r «VoiN ^'0 island

ISLANDS KOMUN ISLAND

Cheju Strait

Cheju.CHEJU ISLAND

0

MOUNT HALLA NATIONAL PARK Haifa San 6,398 ft.

JAPAN

2002 Encyclopaedia Britapnice, Inc.

republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the presi¬ dent, assisted by the prime minister. For early history, see Korea. The Republic of Korea was established in 1948 in the por¬ tion of the Korean peninsula south of latitude 38° N, which had been occupied by the U.S. after World War II. In 1950 North Korean troops invaded South Korea, precipitating the Korean War. UN forces intervened on the side of South Korea, while Chinese troops backed North Korea in the war, which ended with an armistice in 1953. The devastated country was rebuilt with U.S. aid, and South Korea prospered in the postwar era, developing a strong export-oriented economy. It experienced an economic downturn beginning in the mid-1990s that affected many countries in the area. Efforts at reconciliation between North and South Korea, including the first-ever summit between their leaders (2000) and reunions between families from both countries, were accompanied by periods of continu¬ ing tension.

Korea Strait Channel between South Korea and southwestern Japan. Connecting the East China Sea with the Sea of Japan (East Sea), it is 120 mi (195 km) wide and is divided by the Tsushima islands at its centre. Its passage to the east is known as Tsushima Strait, site of the Battle of Tsushima (1905); to the west it is called the Western Channel.

Korean language Official language of North Korea and South Korea, spoken by more than 75 million people, including substantial communi¬ ties of ethnic Koreans living elsewhere. Korean is not closely related to any other language, though a distant genetic kinship to Japanese is now thought probable by some scholars, and an even more remote relationship to the Altaic languages is possible. Korean was written with Chinese char¬ acters to stand in various ways for Korean meanings and sounds as early as the 12th century, though substantial documentation is not evident until the invention of a unique phonetic script for it in 1443. This script, now called Hangul, represents syllables by arranging simple symbols for each phoneme into a square form like that of a Chinese character. Grammati¬ cally, Korean has a basic subject-object-verb word order and places modi¬ fiers before the elements they modify.

Korean War (1950-53) Conflict arising after the post-World War II division of Korea, at latitude 38° N, into North Korea and South Korea. At the end of World War II, Soviet forces accepted the surrender of Japa¬ nese forces north of that line, as U.S. forces accepted Japanese surrender south of it. Negotiations failed to reunify the two halves, the northern half being a Soviet client state and the southern half being backed by the U.S. In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea, and U.S. Pres. Harry Truman ordered troops to assist South Korea. The UN Security Council, minus the absent Soviet delegate, passed a resolution calling for the assistance

of all UN members in halting the invasion. At first North Korean troops drove the South Korean and U.S. forces down to the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, but a brilliant amphibious landing at Inch’on, con¬ ceived by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, turned the tide in favour of the UN troops, who advanced near the border of North Korea and China. The Chinese then entered the war and drove the UN forces back south; the front line stabilized at the 38th parallel. MacArthur insisted on voicing his objections to U.S. war aims in a public manner and was relieved of his command by Truman. U.S. Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower participated in the conclusion of an armistice that accepted the front line as the de facto boundary between the two Koreas. The war resulted in the deaths of approximately 2,000,000 Koreans, 600,000 Chinese, 37,000 Americans, and 3,000 Turks, Britons, and other nationals in the UN forces.

Kornberg, Arthur (b. March 3, 1918, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. bio¬ chemist and physician. He studied at the University of Rochester. In 1959 he joined the faculty at Stanford University. While studying how living organisms manufacture nucleotides, his research led him to the problem of how nucleotides are strung together to form DNA molecules. Adding radio¬ active nucleotides to an enzyme mixture prepared from cultures of E. cou, he found evidence of a reaction catalyzed by the enzyme that adds nucle¬ otides to a preexisting DNA chain. He was the first to accomplish the cell- free synthesis of DNA. He shared a 1959 Nobel Prize with Severo Ochoa.

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang (b. May 29, 1897, Briinn, Austria- Hungary—d. Nov. 29, 1957, Hollywood, Calif., U.S.) U.S. composer of Austro-Hungarian birth. Son of a music critic, he had his childhood com¬ positions praised by Gustav Mahler and Artur Schnabel. He solidified his reputation with his operatic masterpiece, Die tote Stadt (1920). In 1934 he moved to Hollywood, and he became best known for his film scores, his broadly Romantic style proving very suitable to swashbuckling sto¬ ries such as Anthony Adverse (1936, Academy Award) and The Adven¬ tures of Robin Hood (1938, Academy Award), as well as 17 others. His violin concerto (1946) has been frequently recorded.

Kornilov \kor-'nye-l6f\, Lavr (Georgiyevich) (b. Aug. 30, 1870, Karkaralinsk, Western Siberia, Russian Empire—d. April 13, 1918, near Ekaterinodar, Russia) Imperial Russian general. A career army officer, he was a divisional commander in World War I. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was appointed army commander in chief by Aleksandr Ker¬ ensky. Conflicts developed because of their opposing views on politics and the role of the army, and, when Kornilov sent troops toward Petrograd, Kerensky interpreted the move as an attempted coup and dismissed him. After being arrested, he escaped to command an anti-Bolshevik White army and was killed in battle.

Korolyov \k3-r3l-'yof\, Sergey (Pavlovich) (b. Jan. 12, 1907, Zhi¬ tomir, Russia—d. Jan. 14, 1966, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet designer of guided missiles, rockets, and spacecraft. In 1933 he and F.A. Tsander launched the Soviet Union’s first liquid-propellant rocket. Dur¬ ing World War II Korolyov designed and tested liquid-fuel rocket boost¬ ers for military aircraft. After the war he improved the German V-2 missile and supervised test firing of captured missiles. His work led to the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). He directed systems engi¬ neering for Soviet launch vehicles and spacecraft, including design, test¬ ing, construction, and launching of manned and unmanned spacecraft, and was the guiding genius behind the Soviet spaceflight program.

Koror Vkor-.orV Island (pop., 2000: 13,303), Palau, western Pacific Ocean. Lying southwest of Babelthuap island, the island of Koror has a land area of 3 sq mi (8 sq km). The town of Koror on the island was the administrative capital of all Japanese mandated islands in the Pacific from 1921 to 1945. Devastated during World War II, it was later developed as a commercial and tourist centre and served as the provisional capital of Palau. After the bridge between Koror and Babelthuap collapsed in 1996, a new bridge was built (opened 2002) while a new capital was under con¬ struction at Melekeok on Babelthuap.

Korsakoff syndrome or Korsakoff psychosis or Korsakoff disease Neurological disorder marked by severe amnesia despite clear perception and full consciousness, resulting from chronic alcoholism, head injury, brain illness, or thiamin deficiency. Persons with the syndrome typically cannot remember events in the recent or even immediate past; some retain memories only a few seconds. Longer periods—up to 20 years—may also be forgotten. Confabulation (recounting detailed, con¬ vincing “memories” of events that never happened) sometimes coexists with the syndrome, which may be transient or chronic.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Korsakov > Kosygin I 1051

Korsakov, Nicolay Rimsky- See Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov

Koryd \'kor-yo\ Korean kingdom ruled by a dynasty of the same name from 935 to 1392. During this period Korea began to form a distinctively Korean cultural tradition. The dynasty was formed by Gen. Wang Kon of Later Koguryo, who defeated the kingdoms of Silla and of Later Paekche to create a unified Korean peninsula in 936. In the late 10th century, a centralized bureaucratic system replaced the old aristocratic tribal system. The kingdom saw a flowering of the arts, particularly ceramics (Koryo celadon), and Buddhism and Confucianism were influential. In the 13th century Koryo endured a series of Mongol invasions, and in 1392 Yl Song-gye overthrew the shaky dynasty and founded the Choson dynasty.

Kosala Vko-S3-l3\ Ancient kingdom, northern India. Roughly corre¬ sponding to the historical region of Oudh, in what is now south-central Uttar Pradesh state, it extended into present-day Nepal. In the 6th century bc it rose to become one of the dominant states in northern India. The Buddha was born there. The kingdom of Magadha conquered Kosala by c. 459 bc, and it became known as Northern Kosala to distinguish it from a larger kingdom to the south known variously as Kosala, Southern Kos¬ ala, or Great Kosala.

Kosciusko V.ka-ze-'os-koV Mount Peak, southeastern New South Wales, Australia. Located in the Snowy Mountains of the Australian Alps, Mount Kosciusko is the highest mountain in mainland Australia, reaching 7,310 ft (2,228 m). It is located in Kosciusko National Park, which has an area of 2,498 sq mi (6,469 sq km); it is near Mounts Townsend, Twynam, North Ramshead, and Carruthers, whose melting snows feed the rivers and reservoirs that make up the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme. The mountain was named in 1 840 in honour of Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

Kosciuszko \kosh-'chush-ko,\ English \,ka-se-'3s-ko\, Tadeusz (b. Feb. 4, 1746, Mereczowszczyzna, Pol.—d. Oct. 15, 1817, Solothum, Switz.) Polish patriot who fought in the American Revolution. He studied military engineering in Paris and went to America in 1776, where he joined the colonial army. He helped build fortifications in Philadelphia, Pa., and at West Point, N.Y. As chief of engineers, he twice rescued the army of Gen. Nathanael Greene by directing river crossings. He also directed the block¬ ade of Charleston, S.C. At the war’s end he was awarded U.S. citizenship and made a brigadier general. He returned to Poland in 1784 and became a major general in the Polish army. In 1794 he led a rebellion against occu¬ pying Russian and Prussian forces, during which he defended Warsaw for two months, directing residents to build earthworks. He was jailed in Rus¬ sia from 1794 to 1796, returned to the U.S. in 1797, and then left for France, where he continued efforts to secure Polish independence.

kosher See kashruth

Kosi River \'ko-se\ River, Nepal and northern India. Rising from sev¬ eral tributaries in eastern Nepal, it runs south through the great plain of northern India. It empties into the Ganges River after a course of 450 mi (724 km).

Kosice Vko-shet-soV City (pop., 2003 est.: 235,281), eastern Slovakia. Settled in the 9th century and chartered in 1241, it served as a trading settlement during the late Middle Ages. It developed rapidly after becom¬ ing part of Czechoslovakia in 1920. Occupied in 1938 by Hungary, it was liberated in 1945 and became the first seat of the postwar Czechoslova¬ kian government. A part of independent Slovakia since 1993, it is the political, economic, and cultural centre of southeastern Slovakia.

Kosinski \k6-'sin-ske\, Jerzy (Nikodem) (b. June 14, 1933, Lodz, Pol.—d. May 3, 1991, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. writer. He claimed that his horrific experiences as a Jew in World War II Poland and Russia caused him to be mute for much of his childhood. He studied politi¬ cal science and became a professor of sociology before immigrating to the U.S. in 1957. His novel The Painted Bird (1965) is a graphic, surrealistic tale of the horrors surrounding the war. Other successful novels were Steps (1968) and the satiric fable Being There (1970; film, 1979). After his sui¬ cide, it was revealed that much of his past had been fabricated.

Kosovo Yko-so-.voX Albanian Kosova Region (pop., 2001 est.: 2,325,000) within the republic of Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro. It occu¬ pies an area of 4,203 sq mi (10,887 sq km); its administrative capital is Pristina. Before 1999, ethnic Albanians, most of whom are Muslims, made up about four-fifths of its population, with Serbs (mostly Christian) accounting for the bulk of the remainder. Kosovo was an autonomous region until 1989, when Serbia took control of Kosovo’s administration,

prompting protests from the region’s Albanian population, which in 1990 voted to secede from Yugoslavia. Serbia responded by tightening its con¬ trol of Kosovo, which led to the Kosovo conflict. From 1999 the region was administered by the UN.

Kosovo Vko-so-.voV Battle of Either of two battles fought in the Ser¬ bian province of Kosovo. The first (June 13, 1389), between the Serbs under Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Murad I, ended—despite Murad’s death—in the defeat of Serbia and the encircle¬ ment of the crumbling Byzantine Empire by Ottoman armies. The battle, which led to three centuries of Serbian vassalage, has remained a central event in Serbian history. In the second battle (Oct. 17-20, 1448), between the Ottomans led by Murad II and a Hungarian-Walachian coalition under Hunyadi Janos, halted the last major effort by Christian Crusaders to free the Balkans from Ottoman rule.

Kosovo conflict (1998-99) Ethnic war in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. In 1989 the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, abrogated the constitutional autonomy of Kosovo. He and the minority of Serbs in Kosovo had long bristled at the fact that Muslim Albanians were in demographic control of an area considered sacred to Serbs (Kosovo was the seat of the Ser¬ bian Orthodox church, the inspiration for Serbian epic poetry, and the site of the Turkish defeat of the Serbs in 1389 and Serbian victory over the Turks in 1912). In response, the Albanian Kosovars began a campaign of nonviolent resistance. Growing tensions led in 1998 to armed clashes between Serbs and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which had begun killing Serbian police and politicians. The Contact Group (U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia) demanded a cease-fire, the uncondi¬ tional withdrawal of Serbian forces, the return of refugees, and unlimited access for international monitors. Although Milosevic agreed to meet most of the demands, he failed to implement them. The KLA regrouped and rearmed during the cease-fire and renewed its offensive. The Serbs responded with a ruthless counteroffensive, inducing the UN Security Council to condemn the Serbs’ excessive use of force, including ethnic cleansing (killing and expulsion), and to impose an arms embargo, but the violence continued. After diplomatic negotiations at Rambouillet, France, broke down, Serbia renewed its assault, and NATO responded with an 11-week bombing campaign that extended to Belgrade, accidentally destroyed the Chinese embassy, and significantly damaged Serbia’s infra¬ structure. The bombing was halted after NATO and Yugoslavia signed an accord in June 1999 outlining Serbian troop withdrawal and the return of nearly 1,000,000 ethnic Albanian refugees as well as 500,000 displaced within the province; there were sporadic reprisals again Serbs who remained in Kosovo.

Kossuth Vk6-,shut,\ English Yka-.siithV Lajos (b. Sept. 19, 1802, Monok, Hung.—-d. March 20, 1894,

Turin, Italy) Hungarian patriot. A lawyer from a noble family, he was sent to the national Diet (1832), where he developed his radical political and social philosophy.

Imprisoned on political charges (1837^10), he later wrote for a reform journal and gained a devoted following. Reelected to the Diet (1847-49), he led the “national opposition,” and after the February Revolution (1848) he persuaded the delegates to vote for independence from Austria. Appointed provisional governor, he became virtual dictator of Hungary. In 1849 Russian armies intervened on behalf of Austria, forc¬ ing Kossuth to resign. He fled to Tur¬ key, where he was interned for two years. After his release he lectured in the U.S. and England, and later, from his home in Turin, he watched Hun¬ gary reconcile itself with the Austrian monarchy. After the Compromise of 1 867, he retired from political life.

Kosygin \k3-'se-g3n\, Aleksey (Nikolayevich) (b. Feb. 20, 1904, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Dec. 18, 1980, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet statesman, premier of the Soviet Union (1964-80). He joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1927, and by 1939 he was a mem¬ ber of the Central Committee. After 1957 he worked closely with Nikita

Lajos Kossuth, lithograph, 1856.

COURTESY OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM; PHOTOGRAPH, J.R. FREEMAN & CO. LTD.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1052 I koto ► kraft process

Khrushchev on economic matters, and in 1964, after Khrushchev’s forced resignation, he replaced him as chair of the Council of Ministers, becom¬ ing head of the Soviet government. A competent and pragmatic economic administrator, he introduced reforms designed to modernize the Soviet economy. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he shared power with Leonid Brezhnev and Nikolay Podgorny, but his role decreased as Brezhnev’s authority increased, and he retired in 1980.

koto Japanese musical instrument, a long zither with movable bridges and usually 13 strings. It is placed on the ground or a low table, and the strings are plucked by plectra on the fingers of the right hand while the left hand alters the pitch or ornaments the sound of individual strings by pressing or manipulating them on the other side of each bridge. The koto is played solo, in chamber ensembles—especially with the shakuhachi (a bamboo flute) and the samisen (a fretless lute)—and in gagaku music. The koto is Japan’s national instrument.

Kotzebue Vkot-so-.biA, August (Friedrich Ferdinand) von (b.

May 3, 1761, Weimar, Saxony—d. March 23, 1819, Mannheim, Baden) German playwright. He helped popularize poetic drama, which he infused with melodramatic sensationalism and sentimental philosophizing. Pro¬ lific (he wrote more than 200 plays) and facile, he is known for works such as the dramas The Stranger (1789) and The Indian Exiles (1790) and the comedies Der Wildfang (1798; “The Trapping of Game”) and Die deutschen Kleinstadter (1803; “Small-Town Germans”). He was denounced by political radicals as a spy and stabbed to death.

Kou Qianzhi or K'ou Ch'ien-chih Vko-'chyen-'joV (d. ad 448, Northern Wei empire, China) Chinese Daoist reformer. He probably began his career as a Daoist physician. In 415 he had a vision telling him that Daoism had been perverted by false teachings. He began to curb the orgi¬ astic practices and mercenary spirit that had become associated with Dao¬ ism and to emphasize hygienic ritual and good works. His efforts won notice from the emperor and led to the establishment of Daoism as the state religion of China’s Northern Wei dynasty. He also succeeded in having Buddhism proscribed and its adherents subjected to persecution. His reforms proved transitory, however, and Buddhism soon experienced a resurgence.

Koufax Vko-.faksV Sandy in full Sanford Koufax orig. Sanford Braun (b. Dec. 30, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. baseball pitcher. Koufax’s mother divorced when he was young, and he took the name of his stepfather. In his youth he played sports at the Jewish com¬ munity centres in his native Brook¬ lyn, and in high school he was known more as a basketball player than as a baseball player. He attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship before joining the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers in 1955 as a left- handed thrower with a blazing fast¬ ball and a sharp breaking curveball.

Once he gained control of his pitches he set several season records for strikeouts (including 382 in 1965), and his career average of one strike¬ out per inning is a rare accomplish¬ ment. In 1965 he pitched his fourth

no-hit game, until 1981 a major-league record; the fourth no-hitter was also a perfect game (no player reached first base). Despite his early retire¬ ment in 1966 because of arthritis, he is regarded as one of baseball’s greatest pitchers.

kouros \ , kii- l ros\ Archaic Greek statue representing a standing male youth. These large stone figures began to appear in Greece c. 700 bc and closely followed the Egyptian style of geometrical, rigid figures. Later forms reflect the Greeks’ increased understanding of human anatomy and are more naturalistic. Kouroi sometimes represented the god Apollo, but more commonly served as votive offerings or grave markers. See also kore.

Koussevitzky V.kii-so-'vit-skeV, Serge orig. Sergey Aleksan¬ drovich Kusevitsky (b. July 26, 1874, Vyshny Volochyok, Russia—d. June 4, 1951, Boston, Mass., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. conductor. A vir¬ tuoso double-bass player, he was self-taught as a conductor. With his

father-in-law’s financial help, he debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1908. In the following years he founded his own orchestra, which toured the Volga by riverboat. After leaving the Soviet Union in 1920, he estab¬ lished the Concerts Koussevitzky series in Paris before becoming perma¬ nent conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1924^-9). He gave about 100 premieres there, including commissioned works such as Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and many works by U.S. composers, inspiring his musicians to legendary performances by the force of his per¬ sonality. The Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass., was established during his tenure in Boston.

Kovno See Kaunas

Kowloon Vkau-'lun\ or Jiulong \'jyo-'luq\ Peninsula on the Chinese mainland, part of the Hong Kong special administrative region. It lies just north of Hong Kong Island and is surrounded on three sides by Victoria Harbour; the New Territories adjoin it to the north. An industrial, com¬ mercial and tourist centre, it includes the urban area of Kowloon and New Kowloon (pop., 2001 prelim.: 2,025,800). Much of its territory consists of reclaimed land.

Koxinga See Zheng Chenggong

Koyukuk Vkoi-o-JcokV River River, central Alaska, U.S. It rises on the southern slope of the Brooks Range and flows southwest for 500 mi (800 km) to join the Yukon River, of which it is a major tributary. It was named for the Koyukon, a local Indian people.

Kpelle \k9-'pel-3\ People occupying central Liberia and part of Guinea. Numbering about one million, the Kpelle speak a Mande language of the Niger-Congo languages. They form about one-fifth of the population of Liberia. They are primarily rice farmers; cash crops include peanuts, sug¬ arcane, and kola nuts. They are known for their elaborate secret societies (Poro for men, Sande for women), which serve a variety of social and political functions.

kraal Vkrol, 'kral\ In southern Africa, an enclosure or group of houses surrounding an enclosure for livestock, or the social unit that inhabits these structures. The term has been more broadly used to describe the associated way of life. Among some Zulus, the traditional kraal consists of a number of huts arranged in a circle around a cattle corral. Where polygyny is practiced, each wife often has her own hut. The word kraal has also been applied to the temporary encampments of the Masai of east¬ ern Africa.

Kraepelin \,krep-3-'len\, Emil (b. Feb. 15, 1856, Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Strelitz—d. Oct. 7, 1926, Munich, Ger.) German psychia¬ trist. He taught at the Universities of Heidelberg and Munich, where he developed an influential classification system for mental illness, the Psy¬ chiatric Compendium (nine eds., 1883-1926). He was the first to distin¬ guish (in 1899) between manic-depressive psychosis (bipolar disorder) and dementia praecox (schizophrenia), and the first to distinguish three clini¬ cal varieties of the latter: catatonia, hebephrenia, and paranoia.

Krafft-Ebing Vkraft-'a-bigV Richard, Freiherr (Baron) von (b.

Aug. 14, 1840, Mannheim, Baden—d. Dec. 22, 1902, near Graz, Austria) German neuropsychiatrist. Educated in Germany and Switzerland, he taught psychiatry in the Austrian cities of Strasbourg, Graz, and Vienna, and he pursued studies that ranged from epilepsy and syphilis to genetic functions in insanity and sexual deviation. He also performed experiments in hypnosis. He is best remembered today for his Psychopathia sexualis (1886), a groundbreaking examination of sexual aberrations.

Kraft Foods, Inc. U.S. manufacturer and marketer of food products. It grew out of a wholesale cheese delivery business established in Chi¬ cago in 1903 by James L. Kraft. Incorporated as J.L. Kraft Bros. & Co. in 1909, it prospered by selling processed cheese to the U.S. Army dur¬ ing World War I. Held by various owners since 1930, Kraft was acquired in 1988 by Philip Morris Cos. (renamed Altria Group, Inc., in 2003), which also purchased Nabisco Holdings in 2000. Nabisco’s business was inte¬ grated into Kraft’s operations.

kraft process Chemical method for producing wood pulp using caus¬ tic soda and sodium sulfide as the liquor in which the pulpwood is cooked to loosen the fibres. The process (from German kraft, “strong”) produces particularly strong and durable paper; another advantage is its capability of digesting pine chips; resins dissolve in the alkaline liquor and are recov¬ ered as tall oil, a valuable by-product. Recovery of sodium compounds is

Koufax, 1966

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Krakatoa ► Kriemhild I 1053

important in the economy of the process. In modern kraft mills, opera¬ tions are completely contained; waste streams are recycled and reused, eliminating water pollution.

Krakatoa \,kra-k3-'to-9\ or Krakatau \,kra-k9-'tau\ Island volcano in the centre of the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, Indonesia. Its eruption in 1883 was one of the most catastrophic in history. Its explo¬ sions were heard in Australia, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and the Philippines, and large quantities of ash fell over an area of some 300,000 sq mi (800,000 sq km). It caused a tidal wave 120 ft (36 m) high that killed 36,000 people in Java and Sumatra. It erupted again in 1927 and has remained active.

Krakow or Cracow \'kra- l kiif,\ English \ , kra-,kau\ City (pop., 2005 est.: 757,430), southern Poland. Located on both sides of the upper Vis¬ tula River, it was the capital of a principality in 1138. After surviving a Mongol invasion in 1241, it was made the capital of a reunited Poland in 1320. Its importance diminished after the capital was moved to Warsaw in 1611. During the Partitions of Poland it came under Austrian rule. Returned to Poland in 1918, it was held by Germany during World War

Rebuilt since the war, it is an industrial centre with a giant steelworks on the city’s outskirts. Krakow is also a cultural centre. Its university was founded in 1364.

Kramer, Jack orig. John Albert Kramer (b. Aug. 1, 1921, Las Vegas, Nev., U.S.) U.S. tennis player and promoter. He won the Wimble¬ don singles (1947) and men’s doubles (1946-47), the U.S. singles (1946- 47), men’s doubles (1940-41, 1943, 1947), and mixed doubles (1941) and was on the winning Davis Cup team in 1946. He played professional ten¬ nis from 1947 to 1952 and was instrumental in promoting open tennis, in which amateurs competed with professionals in major tournaments. He helped establish the Association of Tennis Professionals.

Kramnik, Vladimir (b. June 25, 1975, Tuapse, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Rus¬ sian international chess grandmaster. He won the world championship in 2000 from his countryman Garry Kasparov. Kramnik learned to play when he was four years old from his father and began taking instruction at the local Pioneers (a Soviet youth organization) at the age of five. At age 11 he became a “candidate” master. Kramnik had success during his early years, winning the World Under 18 Championship in 1991 and a gold medal for his performance at the 1992 Men’s Chess Olympiad. The years from 1992 to 2000 saw Kramnik move into the world’s elite by winning numerous international chess tournaments.

Krasner, Lee orig. Lenore Krassner (b. Oct. 27, 1908, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 19, 1984, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. Born to Rus¬ sian immigrants, in 1937 she began to study with the painter Hans Hof¬ mann, who exposed her to the work of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Synthesizing these European influences, Krasner developed her own style of geometric abstraction, which she grounded in floral motifs and rhyth¬ mic gesture. In 1940 she began exhibiting her work with that of other American artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. After her 1945 marriage to painter Jackson Pollock, Krasner and Pollock both pro¬ duced a large body of work, each under the other’s influence. Krasner continued to paint throughout the 1970s.

Krasnoyarsk City (pop., 2002: 911,700), east-central Russia. Located on the upper Yenisey River, it was founded by Cossacks in 1628. In the late 17th century, it was often attacked by the Tatars and Kirghiz. The Trans- Siberian Railroad brought a period of rapid growth in the 1890s. A com¬ mercial and industrial centre, it is the site of one of the world’s largest hydroelectric stations, built in the 1960s.

Kraus \'kraus\, Karl (b. April 28, 1874, Gitschin, Bohemia—d. June

12, 1936, Vienna, Austria) Austrian journalist, critic, playwright, and poet. In 1899 he founded Die Fackel, a literary and political review, and by 1911 he had become its sole author; he continued to publish it until the year of his death. Believing that language was of great moral and aes¬ thetic importance, he wrote with masterly precision, and his writings exer¬ cised wide influence. His works, which are almost untranslatably idiomatic, include Morality and Criminality (an essay collection, 1908), Proverbs and Contradictions (a collection of aphorisms, 1909), and The Last Days of Humanity (a lengthy satirical drama, 1922).

Krebs, Edwin (Gerhard) (b. June 6, 1918, Lansing, Iowa, U.S.) U.S. biochemist. He received his medical degree from Washington University. With Edmond H. Fischer (b. 1920), he won a 1992 Nobel Prize for the discovery of reversible protein phosphorylation, a biochemical process

that regulates the activities of proteins in cells and governs countless pro¬ cesses necessary for life. Errors in protein phosphorylation have been implicated in such diseases as diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer disease.

Krebs, Sir Hans Adolf (b. Aug. 25, 1900, Hildesheim, Ger.—d. Nov. 22, 1981, Oxford, Eng.) German-born British biochemist. He fled Nazi Germany for England in 1933, where he taught at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford. He was the first to describe the urea cycle (1932). He and Fritz Lipmann (1899-1986) received a 1953 Nobel Prize for their discovery in living organisms of the series of chemical reactions known as the tricarboxylic acid cycle (also called the citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle), a discovery of vital importance to a basic understanding of cell metabolism and molecular biology.

Krebs cycle See tricarboxylic acid cycle

Kreisler \'krls-br\, Fritz orig. Friedrich Kreisler (b. Feb. 2, 1875, Vienna, Austria—d. Jan. 29, 1962, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Austrian vio¬ linist and composer. He entered the Vienna Conservatory at age 7 and finished his musical studies by 12. After touring internationally as a teen¬ ager, he quit performing to study medicine. Returning to the violin, he scored successes in Berlin and Vienna (1898). He toured Europe and the U.S. until the start of World War I, and he premiered Edward Elgar’s Vio¬ lin Concerto in 1910. After recovering from a war wound, he resumed touring (1919-50). His concert programs frequently included many charming short pieces that he wrote, among them “Viennese Caprice” and “Pretty Rosemary.”

kremlin Central fortress in medieval Russian cities, usually located at a strategic point along a river and separated from the surrounding parts of the city by a wall with ramparts, moat, towers, and battlements. Sev¬ eral capitals of principalities were built around old kremlins, which gen¬ erally contained cathedrals, palaces, governmental offices, and munitions stores. The Moscow Kremlin (established 1156) served as the centre of Russian government until 1712 and again after 1918. Its crenellated brick walls and 20 towers were built in the 15th century by Italian architects. The palaces, cathedrals, and government buildings within the walls encompass a variety of styles, including Byzantine, Russian Baroque, and Classical.

Krenek, Ernst (b. Aug. 23, 1900, Vienna, Austria—d. Dec. 23, 1991, Palm Springs, Calif., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. composer. He studied com¬ position from age 16 with Franz Schreker (1878-1934) and first gained attention with his atonal Second Symphony (1923). After a brief Neoclas¬ sical phase, he reestablished his radical credentials with the jazz- influenced satiric opera Johnny Strikes up the Band! (1926), which created a sensation. Intrigued by Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone method (see seri- alism), he devised his own version—which involved “rotation” of the set’s order—for the opera Karl V (1933), the first 12-tone opera. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1937 and taught at several institutions, but his large body of work remained more highly esteemed in Europe.

Kresge \'krez-ge\, S(ebastian) S(pering) (b. July 31, 1867, Bald Mount, Pa., U.S.—d. Oct. 18, 1966, East Stroudsburg, Pa.) U.S. merchant. He worked as a traveling salesman before becoming a partner in 5-and- 10-cent stores in Memphis, Tenn., and Detroit, Mich., in 1897. He opened several others in major Midwest cities, founding the S.S. Kresge Co. in 1907 (incorporated 1912). After World War II the firm expanded into large discount stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada, which eventually numbered nearly 1,000. Kresge established a major charitable foundation in 1924. His retail empire became the foundation of the Kmart Corp.

Kretschmer Vkrech-moA, Ernst (b. Oct. 8, 1888, Wiistenrot, Ger.—d. Feb. 8, 1964, Tubingen, W.Ger.) German psychiatrist. In his best-known work, Physique and Character (1921), he attempted to correlate body build and physical constitution with character and mental illness, identi¬ fying three physical types—the pyknic (rotund), the athletic (muscular), and the asthenic (tall and thin)—and claiming that different psychiatric disorders were associated with each. His system was later adapted by the American psychologist William H. Sheldon (1899-1977), who renamed the types endomorph, mesomorph, and ectomorph and focused on their associated personality traits. Both theorists’ work entered into popular culture and generated further research.

Kriemhild \'krem-,hilt\ or Gudrun In the Nibelungenued, the gentle princess courted by Siegfried. Her grief at Siegfried’s death transforms her into a “she-devil”; she exacts revenge by marrying Attila the Hun and kill¬ ing her brother (who ordered Siegfried’s death). She herself is also killed.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1054 I krill ► Kropotkin

In Norse legend, as Gudrun, she appears in tales of revenge. Kriemhild’s story may have originated in confusion over events in the life of the his¬ torical Attila.

krill Any member of the crustacean suborder Euphausiacea, comprising shrimplike animals that live in the open sea. The name also refers to the genus Euphausia within the suborder and sometimes to a single species, E. superba. The described species, numbering more than 80, range in size from about 0.25 to 2 in. (8-60 mm). Most have bioluminescent organs on the lower side, making them visible at night. They are an important source of food for various fishes, birds, and whales, particularly blue and fin whales. Krill may occur in vast swarms at the ocean surface, where they feed at night, and at depths greater than about 6,000 ft (2,000 m). Because of their vast numbers and nutritive qualities (they are an especially rich source of vitamin A), krill have been regarded as a potential source of food for humans.

Krishna One of the most widely venerated Hindu gods, worshiped as the eighth incarnation of Vishnu and as the supreme deity. Many BUishna legends are drawn from the Mahabharata and the Puranas. His earliest appearance is in the Mahabharata as the divine charioteer of Arjuna, whom Krishna convinces that the war Arjuna is about to fight is just (see Bhagavadgita). In later works Krishna was a slayer of demons, a secret lover of all devotees, and a devoted son and father. He also lifted the sacred hill of Govardhana on one finger to protect his devotees from Indra’s wrath. In art Krishna is often depicted with blue-black skin, wear¬ ing a loincloth and a crown of peacock feathers. As a divine lover, he is shown playing the flute, surrounded by adoring females.

Krishna River formerly Kistna River River, southern India. Rising in Maharashtra state, it flows southeast and east across Karnataka and crosses Andhra Pradesh state before entering the Bay of Bengal after a course of 800 mi (1,290 km).

Krishnamurti \,krish-n3- , mur-te\ / Jiddu (b. 1895—d. 1986) Indian spiritual leader. He was educated in theosophy by Annie Besant, who pro¬ claimed him the coming “World Teacher,” a messiah-like figure who would bring about world enlightenment. He became a teacher and writer, and from the 1920s he spent much time in the U.S. and Europe. He broke with formal theosophy in 1929 and renounced any claims to being a World Teacher, but he continued to be a popular lecturer. His desire, he said, was to set people free, a goal that could only be achieved through unflinching self-awareness. He established a number of Krishnamurti foundations in the U.S., Britain, and India to further his aims. His books include The Songs of Life (1931) and Commentaries on Living (1956-60).

Kristallnacht \kres-'tal-,nakt\ or Crystal Night or Night of Bro¬ ken Glass Night of violence against Jews, carried out by members of the German Nazi Party on Nov. 9-10, 1938, so called because of the bro¬ ken glass left in its aftermath. The violence, instigated by Joseph Goeb- bels, left 91 Jews dead and hundreds seriously injured. About 7,500 Jewish businesses were gutted and some 1,000 synagogues burned or damaged. The Gestapo arrested 30,000 Jewish males, offering to release them only if they emigrated and surrendered their wealth. The incident marked a major escalation in the Nazi program of Jewish persecution, foreshadow¬ ing the Holocaust.

Kristeva \kre-sta-'va,\ English \kri-'sta-V3\, Julia (b. June 24, 1941, Sliven, Bulg.) Bulgarian-born French psychoanalyst, critic, and educator. Professor of linguistics at the University of Paris VII, she is known for her writings in structuralist linguistics (see structuralism), psychoanalysis, semiotics, and feminism. She was a protege of Roland Barthes, and she synthesized elements from such thinkers as Jacques Lacan, Michel Fou¬ cault, and Mikhail Bakhtin in creating her own theories. Her novels include The Samurai (1990) and The Old Man and the Wolves (1991).

Kritios See Critius and Nesiotes Krivoy Rog See Kryvyy Rih

Kroc, Ray(mond Albert) (b. Oct. 5, 1902, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. Jan. 14, 1984, San Diego, Calif.) U.S. restaurateur, a pioneer of the fast- food industry. He was working as a blender salesman when he discovered a restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif., owned by Maurice and Richard McDonald, who used an assembly-line format to prepare and sell a large volume of hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. Beginning in 1955 Kroc opened his first McDonald’s drive-in restaurant in Des Plaines, Ill., paying the brothers a percentage of the receipts. He soon began selling

franchises for new restaurants, and he instituted a training program for owner-managers that emphasized automation and standardization. At the time of his death there were some 7,500 McDonald’s restaurants worldwide; with more than 25,000 restaurants in the early 21st century,

McDonald’s was the world’s largest food-service retailer.

Kroeber Vkro-borN, A(lfred)

L(ouis) (b. June 11, 1876, Hoboken,

N.J., U.S.—d. Oct. 5, 1960, Paris,

Fr.) U.S. anthropologist. Trained under Franz Boas (Ph.D., 1901), he later taught at the University of Cali¬ fornia at Berkeley. Kroeber’s career nearly coincided with the emergence of academic, professionalized anthro¬ pology in the U.S. and contributed significantly to its development. He made valuable contributions to American Indian ethnology, New World archaeology, and the study of linguistics, folklore, kinship, and culture. His most influential books are considered to be Anthropology (1923) and The Nature of Culture (1952). His daughter, Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929), was a noted science fiction and fantasy writer.

Kroemer, Herbert (b. Aug. 25, 1928, Weimar, Ger.) German physi¬ cist. He received a Ph.D. (1952) from Georg August University in Got¬ tingen and later moved to the U.S., where he taught at several institutions. In 1957 he carried out theoretical calculations showing that a heterostruc¬ ture transistor, which is made from several materials, would be superior to a conventional transistor, which is made from only one kind of mate¬ rial. His theory was later confirmed and led to the development of numer¬ ous electronic components that had a significant influence on communications technology and computers. He shared the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physics with Zhores Alferov and Jack S. Kilby.

Kronos See Cronus

Kronshtadt \'kron-,shtat\ Rebellion (1921) Internal uprising against Soviet rule in Russia after the Russian Civil War, conducted by sailors from the Kronshtadt naval base. The sailors had supported the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution of 1917, but disillusionment with the government and inadequate food supplies after the civil war led them to demand economic and labour reform and political freedoms. The rebels were crushed by a force led by Leon Trotsky and Mikhayl Tukhachevsky, and the survivors were shot or imprisoned. By dramatically demonstrating popular dissatisfac¬ tion with communist policies, the rebellion, along with several other major internal uprisings, led to the adoption of the New Economic Policy.

Kronstadt See Brasov

Kropotkin Vkro-'pot-ksnV Peter (Alekseyevich) (b. Dec. 21,

1842, Moscow, Russia—d. Feb. 8,

1921, Dmitrov, near Moscow) Rus¬ sian revolutionary and geographer, foremost theorist of anarchism. The son of a prince, he renounced his aristocratic heritage in 1871.

Although he achieved renown in such fields as geography, zoology, sociology, and history, he shunned material success for the life of a revolutionist. He was imprisoned on political charges (1874-76) but escaped and fled to western Europe.

He was imprisoned in France on trumped-up charges of sedition (1883—86), and in 1886 he settled in England, where he remained until the Russian Revolution of 1917 allowed him to return home. While

Ray Kroc

SYGMA

Peter Alekseyevich Kropotkin.

BROWN BROTHERS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Kru ► Kuala Lumpur I 1055

in exile, he wrote several influential books, including Memoirs of a Revo¬ lutionist (1899) and Mutual Aid (1902), in which he attempted to put anarchism on a scientific basis and argued that cooperation rather than conflict is the chief factor in the evolution of species. On his return to Russia, he was bitterly disappointed that the Bolsheviks had made their revolution by authoritarian rather than libertarian methods, and he retired from politics.

Kru Group of peoples of Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire, including the Bassa, Krahn, Grebo, Klao (Kru), Bakwe, and Bete. They speak Kru languages of the Niger-Congo family and number some 2.5 million. Members of Kru ethnic groups, especially Klao, Grebo, and Bassa, are known as ste¬ vedores and fishermen all along the west coast of Africa and have estab¬ lished colonies in most ports from Dakar, Seneg., to Douala, Camer., the largest being in Monrovia, Liberia.

Kru languages Branch of the Niger-Congo language family. It con¬ sists of some 24 languages (or language clusters) spoken by some three million Kru people living in the forest regions of southwestern Cote d’Ivoire and southern Liberia.

Kruger, Paul orig. Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (b.

Oct. 10, 1825, Cradock district. Cape Colony—d. July 14, 1904, Clarens, Switz.) South African soldier and statesman, noted as the builder of the Afrikaner nation. As a boy of 10, Kruger took part in the Great Trek and was impressed by the ability of the Boers to defend themselves against hostile African peoples and to establish an orderly government. When the British annexed the Transvaal in 1877, Kuger became the recognized champion of his people in the struggle to regain independence. After leading a series of armed attacks, he succeeded in obtaining limited inde¬ pendence and was elected president of the restored republic (1883-1902). In 1895 he fended off an attempt by Cecil Rhodes and Leander Starr Jame¬ son to end Boer control of the republic. His age prevented his participa¬ tion in the South African War and he retreated to the Netherlands; he died in Switzerland and was buried (December 1904) in Pretoria, S.Af.

Kruger National Park National park, South Africa. Located in the northeastern part of the country on the Mozambique border, it was cre¬ ated as a game sanctuary in 1898 and in 1926 became a national park named for Paul Kuger. It covers an area of 7,523 sq mi (19,485 sq km) and contains six rivers. It has a wide variety of wildlife, including elephants, lions, and cheetahs. In December 2002 it became part of Afri¬ ca’s largest game park when Kuger National Park was joined with Lim¬ popo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

Krupa, Gene (b. Jan. 15, 1909, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—d. Oct. 16, 1973, Yonkers, N.Y.) U.S. bandleader and the first great drum soloist in jazz. Krupa had worked with Eddie Condon (1905-73) in Chicago before mov¬ ing to New York City in 1929 and joining Benny Goodman’s big band in 1935. He quickly became the best-known drummer of his day, famous for the showmanship and technique displayed in extended drum solos such as that in “Sing, Sing, Sing.” He formed his own successful band in 1938, featuring trumpeter Roy Eldridge and singer Anita O’Day (b. 1919). Ku- pa’s energetic playing became the model for many drummers of the swing era.

Krupp Vkrup\ family German steel-manufacturing dynasty. Friedrich Kupp (1787-1826) founded a steel factory in Essen in 1811. On his death his son Alfred (1812-1887) took full charge of the faltering concern at age 14. He made a fortune supplying steel to the railways and manufac¬ turing cannons; the performance of Kupp guns in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 led to the firm’s being called “the Arsenal of the Reich.” At Alfred’s death he had armed 46 nations. The rise of the German navy and the need for armour plates further enriched the company under his son Friedrich Alfred (1854-1902). By the time Friedrich Alfred’s elder daughter, Bertha (1886-1957), inherited control of the firm, it employed more than 40,000 people. Her husband, Gustav von Bohlen (1870-1950), affixed Kupp to the beginning of his name; an ardent Nazi, he ran the Kupp empire until 1943, when he was succeeded by their son Alfried Kupp (1907-1967). The Kupp works used slave labour during World War II and were a major part of the Nazi war machine; Alfried was later convicted of war crimes at Niimberg. An Allied order to break up the company in 1953 languished for lack of a buyer, and Alfried eventually restored the Kupp fortune. See also Thyssen Krupp Stahl.

Krupp GmbH See ThyssenKrupp AG

Krupskaya Vkrup-sks-yoV Nadezhda (Konstantinovna) (b.

Feb. 26, 1869, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Feb. 27, 1939, Moscow, Rus¬ sia, U.S.S.R.) Russian revolutionary, wife of Vladimir Ilich Lenin. A Marx¬ ist activist from the 1890s, she met Lenin c. 1894. Sentenced to three years in exile in 1898, she obtained permission to spend her term with Lenin in Siberia, where they were married. After 1901 she lived with Lenin in several European cities and helped found the Bolshevik party fac¬ tion. She returned to Russia in 1917 to spread Bolshevik propaganda after the revolution began, and later she served in several posts in the educa¬ tional bureaucracy. After Lenin’s death (1924), she remained aloof from intraparty struggles.

krypton \'krip-,tan\ Chemical element, chemical symbol K, atomic number 36. One of the noble GASes, it is colourless, odourless, tasteless, and almost totally inert, combining only with fluorine under very rigour- ous conditions. Krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and in rocks and is obtained by fractional distillation of liquefied air. It is used in luminescent tubes, flash lamps, incandescent light bulbs, lasers, and tracer studies.

Kryvyy Rih Mcri-'vi-'rikN Russian Krivoy Rog \kri-'v6i-'r6k\ City (pop., 2001: 669,000), southeast-central Ukraine. Founded as a village by Cossacks in the 17th century, it grew slowly until a railway was con¬ structed to the Donets Basin in 1884; it soon became a significant iron¬ mining city. It was seized by Germany in 1941 and retaken by the Soviet Union in 1944. Temy, which was annexed to the city in 1969, has a major uranium mine. The city is now a centre of industry as well as mining, with metallurgical plants, foundries, mills, and chemical works.

Kshatriya or Ksatriya Vksho-tre-oV In Hindu India, the second- highest of the four varnas, or social classes, traditionally the military or ruling class. In ancient times before the caste system was completely defined, they were considered first in rank, placed higher than the Brah¬ mans, or priestly class. The legend that they were degraded by an incar¬ nation of Vishnu as a punishment for their tyranny may reflect a historical struggle for supremacy between priests and rulers. In modem times the Kshatriya varna includes members from a variety of castes, united by their status in government or the military or their land ownership.

Ksitigarbha Vkshi-ti-'gor-boV Buddhist bodhisattva widely revered in China and Japan. Known in India from the 4th century bc, he became popular in China as Dicang and in Japan as Jizo. He is the patron of the oppressed or dying, and he seeks to save the souls of the dead condemned to hell. In China he is the overlord of hell, and in Japan he is known for his kindness to the departed, particularly to dead children. Usually depicted as a monk with a nimbus around his shaved head, he carries a staff to force open the gates of hell and a flaming pearl to light up the darkness.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK) Either of two racist terrorist organizations in the U.S. The first was organized by veterans of the Confederate army, first as a social club and then as a secret means of resisting Reconstruction and restoring white domination over newly enfranchised blacks. Dressed in white robes and sheets, Klansmen whipped and killed freedmen and their white supporters in nighttime raids (see lynching). It had largely accom¬ plished its goals by the 1870s before gradually fading away. The second KKK arose in 1915, partly out of nostalgia for the Old South and partly out of fear of the rise of communism in Russia and the changing ethnic character of U.S. society. It counted Catholics, Jews, foreigners, and labour unions among its enemies. Its membership peaked in the 1920s at more than four million, but during the Great Depression the organization gradually declined. It became active again during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, attacking blacks and white civil rights workers with bomb¬ ings, whippings, and shootings. By the end of the 20th century, growing racial tolerance had reduced its numbers to a few thousand.

Kuala Lumpur \'kwa-lo-Tum- l pur\ City (pop., 2000 prelim.: 1,297,526), capital of Malaysia. Founded as a tin-mining camp in 1857, it was made capital of the Federated Malay States in 1895, of the inde¬ pendent Federation of Malaya in 1957, and of Malaysia in 1963. It was designated a municipality in 1972. The most important Malay city on the Malay Peninsula, it is a commercial centre and the site of the Petronas Twin Towers, the world’s tallest buildings when they were completed in 1998. Its educational institutions include the University of Malaya and a branch of the National University of Malaysia. In 1999 government offices began moving to the new administrative centre at Putrajaya just south of Kuala Lumpur.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1056 I Kuan Han-ch'ing ► kulak

Kuan Han-ch'ing See Guan Hanqing Kuan-yin See Avalokitesvara Kuan Yii See Guan Yu Kuang-chou See Guangzhou Kuang-wu ti See Guangwudi

Kuban River \ku-'ban y \ River, southwestern Russia. Rising on Mount Elbrus, in the Republic of Georgia, it flows north then west to enter the Sea of Azov. It is 563 mi (906 km) long. Much of its water is diverted for irrigation.

Kubitschek Vkii-bo-.chekN (de Oliveira), Juscelino (b. Sept. 12, 1902, Diamantina, Braz.—d. Aug. 22, 1976, near Resende) President of Brazil (1956-61). He studied medicine but entered politics, becoming mayor of Belo Horizonte and later winning election to Congress. As presi¬ dent he promoted rapid development of the hydroelectric, steel, and other heavy industries and built 11,000 mi (18,000 km) of roads. He moved the government from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia, 600 mi (1,000 km) inland, to accelerate the settlement of Brazil’s vast interior. One price of his ambi¬ tious development was rapid and persistent inflation, exacerbated by the need to spend large sums to aid the drought-stricken northeastern region. The military government that took power in 1964 forced him into exile (1965-67). On returning to Brazil, he became a banker.

Kublai Khan Vkii-bb-'kanV (b. 1215—d. 1294) Grandson of Genghis Khan who conquered China and established the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty. When Kublai was in his 30s, his brother, the emperor Mongke, gave him the task of con¬ quering and administering Song- dynasty China. Recognizing the superiority of Chinese thought, he gathered around himself Confucian advisers who convinced him of the importance of clemency toward the conquered. In subduing China and establishing himself there, he alien¬ ated other Mongol princes; his claim to the title of khan was also disputed.

Though he could no longer control the steppe aristocracy effectively, he succeeded in reunifying China, sub¬ duing first the north and then the south by 1279. To restore China’s prestige, Kublai engaged in wars on its periphery with Myanmar, Java, Japan, and the nations of eastern Southeast Asia, suffering some disas¬ trous defeats. At home, he set up a four-tiered society, with the Mongols and other Central Asian peoples forming the top two tiers, the inhabitants of northern China ranking next, and those of southern China on the bot¬ tom. Posts of importance were allotted to foreigners, including Marco Polo. Kublai repaired the Grand Canal and public granaries and made Buddhism the state religion. Although his reign was one of great prosper¬ ity, his politics were pursued less successfully by his followers.

Kubrick \'kyu-brik\, Stanley (b. July 26, 1928, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. March 7, 1999, Childwickbury Manor, near St. Albans, Hert¬ fordshire, Eng.) U.S. film director. He began his career as a photographer for Look magazine (1945-50). He directed two documentary films before directing his first feature film, Fear and Desire (1953). He won fame with Paths of Glory (1957), Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), and the internationally acclaimed 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), which earned an Academy Award for special visual effects. His later mov¬ ies include A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975), The Shin¬ ing (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987), and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). His films are characterized by a cool visual style, meticulous attention to detail, and a detached, often ironic pessimism.

Kiicuk Kaynarca, Treaty of (1774) Pact signed after the Russo- Turkish War of 1768-74, in Kii^iik Kaynarca (now Kaynardzha), Bulg., ending undisputed Ottoman control of the Black Sea. The treaty extended the Russian frontier to the southern Bug River and allowed Russia to navigate freely in Ottoman waters through the Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles. Most far-reaching was a religious stipulation allowing Rus¬

sia to represent Eastern Orthodox Christians in several regions, which Russia later interpreted as the right to intervene to protect Eastern Ortho¬ dox Christians anywhere in the Ottoman Empire.

kudu Slender African antelopes of the genus Tragelaphus. The greater kudu lives in small groups in hilly bush country or open woods. It stands about 51 in. (1.3 m) high at the shoulder and has a fringe on the throat and a crest of hair on the neck and back. It is reddish brown to blue-gray, with a white mark between the eyes and narrow vertical white stripes on the body. The male has long, corkscrewlike horns. The lesser kudu lives in pairs or small groups in open bush country; it stands about 40 in. (1 m) high, has more tightly spiraled horns, and has two white patches on the throat and no throat fringe. Both species browse on shrubs and leaves.

kudzu vine \'kud- l zii\ Fast-growing, twining, perennial, woody vine (Pueraria lobata, or P. thunbergiana) belonging to the pea family (see legume). Transplanted from its native China and Japan to North America in the 1870s as an attractive ornamental that could be planted on steep soil banks to prevent erosion, kudzu has become a rampant weed in much of the southeastern U.S, where it readily spreads to form great canopies over trees, shrubs, and exposed soil. Roots survive even northern winters, and the hairy vine grows to a length of 60 ft (18 m) in one season. It has large leaves, late-blooming reddish-purple flowers, and flat, hairy seed- pods. In its native range kudzu is grown for its edible, starchy roots and for a fiber made from its stems. It is also useful as a fodder or cover crop.

Kuei-chou See Guizhou Kuei-yang See Guiyang

Kuhn \'kun\, Thomas (Samuel) (b. July 18, 1922, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—d. June 17, 1996, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. historian and philoso¬ pher of science. He taught at Berkeley (1956-64), Princeton (1964-79), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979-91). In his highly influential work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), he ques¬ tioned the previously accepted view of scientific progress as a gradual accumulation of knowledge based on universally valid experimental methods and results, claiming that progress was often achieved by far- reaching “paradigm shifts.” His other works include The Copernican Revolution (1957), The Essential Tension (1977), and Black-Body Theory and the Quantum Discontinuity (1978).

Kuiper Vkl-p9r\ belt or Edgeworth-Kuiper belt Disk-shaped belt of billions of small, icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond the orbit of Nep¬ tune, mostly at distances 30-50 times Earth’s distance from the Sun. Ger¬ ard Peter Kuiper (1905-73) proposed the existence of this large flattened distribution of objects in 1951 in connection with his theory of the origin of the solar system (see solar nebula). Kenneth Edgeworth (1880-1972) independently had made similar proposals in 1943 and 1949. Whether the belt extends thinly as far as the Oort cloud is not known. Gravitational disturbances by Neptune of objects in the belt are thought to be the ori¬ gin of most short-period comets. The first Kuiper belt object was discov¬ ered in 1992, although the orbit, icy composition, and diminutive size of Pluto appear to qualify this body, traditionally considered a planet, as a giant Kuiper belt object.

Kukai Yku-.kA or Kobo Daishi (b. July 27, 774, Byobugaura, Japan—d. April 22, 835, Mount Koya) Japanese Buddhist saint and founder of the Shingon school. Born into an aristocratic family, Kukai was given a Confucian education but soon converted to Buddhism. After studying in China (804-806) with Huiguo (746-805), he returned home to spread his doctrines, which emphasized magic formulas, ceremonials, and services for the dead. In 816 he built a temple on Mount Koya, and he helped to establish the Shingon sect as one of the most popular forms of Japanese Buddhism. His major work, Ten Stages of Consciousness, traces the development of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, repre¬ senting Shingon as the highest stage. He was also a gifted poet, artist, and calligrapher.

kulak (Russian: “fist”) Wealthy or prosperous landed peasant in Russia. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, kulaks were major figures in peas¬ ant villages, often lending money and playing central roles in social and administrative affairs. In the War Communism period (1918-21), the Soviet government undermined the kulaks’ position by organizing poor peasants to administer the villages and requisition grain from richer peasants. The kulaks regained their position under the New Economic Policy, but in 1929 the government began a drive for rapid collectivization of agriculture and

Kublai Khan; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei

COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM, TAIPEI, TAIWAN, REPUBLIC OF CHINA

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Kulturkampf ► Kunstler I 1057

“liquidation of the kulaks as a class” (dekulakization). By 1934 most kulaks had been deported to remote regions or arrested and their land and property confiscated.

Kulturkampf \kul-'tur- 1 kampf\ German "culture struggle" Bitter struggle by Otto von Bismarck to subject the Roman Catholic church to state controls. Bismarck, a staunch Protestant, doubted the loyalty of Catholics in his new German Empire and became concerned by the Vat¬ ican Council’s 1870 proclamation on papal infallibility. In 1872 the state dissolved the Jesuit order in Germany. The May, or Falk, Laws of 1873 (applying only to Prussia) limited church powers, and in 1875 the state mandated civil marriage services. Bismarck retreated in the face of strong Catholic resistance, especially by the Center Party. By 1887, with many anti-Catholic laws repealed, Pope Leo XIII declared the conflict over.

Kumasi \ku-'ma-se\ formerly Coomassie \ku-'ma-se\ City (pop., 1998 est.: 578,000), south-central Ghana. A 17th-century Asante king chose the site for his capital and conducted land negotiations under a kum tree, which gave the town its name. Located on north-south trade routes, it became a major commercial centre. The British gained control of the city in 1874. Called the “Garden City of West Africa,” it remains the seat of Asante kings. Its central market is one of the largest in western Africa. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (1951) is located there.

Kumazawa Banzan Vku-ma-.za-wa-'ban-.zanX (b. 1619, Kyoto, Japan—d. Sept. 9, 1691, Shimofusa) Japanese political philosopher. Born a ronin, he was taken into service by the feudal lord of Okayama at age 15. Largely self-taught, he became a disciple of the Chinese Neo- Confucianist Wang Yangming. As chief minister of Okayama from 1647, he tried to put into practice the Confucian teachings on governance. Forced to resign in 1656, he spent the rest of his life studying and writ¬ ing. He called for advancement in the government bureaucracy based on merit, not heredity, and advocated more government responsibility in eco¬ nomic life and less control by feudal lords. His ideas so infuriated the government that he was kept in custody or under surveillance the rest of his life.

Kumin Vkyu-minX, Maxine orig. Maxine Winokur (b. June 6, 1925, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. poet. She studied at Radcliffe College. Her poetry, written primarily in traditional forms, deals with loss, fragil¬ ity, family, and the cycles of life and nature. Her New Hampshire farm inspired Up Country (1972, Pulitzer Prize); later collections include the acclaimed The Retrieval System (1978), Our Ground Time Here Will Be Brief { 1982), Nurture (1989), and Connecting the Dots (1996). She wrote numerous children’s books, some with Anne Sexton, as well as novels and short stories.

kumquat *k3m- 1 kwat\ Any of several evergreen shrubs or small trees of the genus Fortunella (rue, or citrus, family), or their fruit. Native to eastern Asia, kumquats are cultivated throughout the subtropics. The mainly thornless branches bear dark green, glossy leaves and white, orangelike flowers. The small, bright orange-yellow, round or oval fruit has mildly acid, juicy pulp and a sweet, edible, pulpy skin. Kumquats may be eaten fresh, preserved, or candied, or made into jams and jel¬ lies. In the U.S., hybrids have been produced with other CITRUS fruits.

Kun Ykun\, Bela (b. Feb. 20, 1886,

Szilagycseh, Transylvania, Austria- Hungary—d. Nov. 30, 1939?,

U.S.S.R.) Hungarian communist leader. He fought in the Austrian army in World War I, was captured by the Russians, and became a Bol- i shevik. After returning to Hungary in 1918, he founded the Hungarian Communist Party. When Count Karolyi resigned in March 1919, Kun headed the new Hungarian Soviet Republic. He created a Red Army Bela Kun, drawing by Bela Uitz, 1930; that reconquered much of the terri- j n the Legujabbkori Torteneti Muzeum, tory lost to Czechoslovaks and Budapest

Romanians and eliminated moderate courtesy of the legujabbkori torteneti muzeum, elements in the government. In BUDAPEST _

August the regime collapsed, and Kun fled to Vienna and then Russia. As a leader of the Comintern, he tried to foment revolution in Germany and Austria in the 1920s. Eventually accused of “Trotskyism,” he fell victim to Joseph Stalin’s purge trials.

kundalini \,kun-d3-'le-ne\ In some tantric forms of Yoga, the cosmic energy believed to be within everyone. It is pictured as a coiled serpent lying at the base of the spine. Through a series of exercises involving posture, meditation, and breathing, a practitioner can force this energy up through the body to the top of the head. This brings about a sensation of bliss, as the ordinary self is dissolved into its eternal essence, atman.

Kundera Vkiin-de-raV Milan (b. April 1, 1929, Brno, Czech.) Czech- born French writer. He worked as a jazz musician and taught at Prague’s film academy, but he gradually turned to writing. Though a member of the Communist Party for years, his works were banned after he partici¬ pated in Czechoslovakia’s short-lived liberalization movement (1967— 68), and he was fired from his teaching positions. He immigrated to France in 1975 and was stripped of his Czech citizenship in 1979; he became a French citizen in 1981. His works combine erotic comedy with political criticism. The Joke (1967), his first novel, describes life under Stalin. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979), a series of wittily ironic medi¬ tations on the modern state, and the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984; film, 1988) were banned in his homeland until 1989. His later books include Immortality (1990) and Slowness (1994).

Kunene River See Cunene River

kung fu Piny in gongfu Chinese martial art that is simultaneously a spiritual and a physical discipline. It has been practiced at least since the Zhou dynasty (1111-255 bc). Its prescribed stances and actions are based on keen observations of human skeletal and muscular anatomy and physi¬ ology, and many of its movements are imitations of the fighting styles of animals. Its combative techniques resemble those used in karate and tae kwon do. Self-discipline is emphasized. Kung fu performed as exercise resembles t'ai chi ch'uan.

Kunitz \'kyu-nits\, Stanley (Jasspon) (b. July 29, 1905, Worcester, Mass., U.S.) U.S. poet. He worked as an editor while contributing verse to magazines; much of it was collected in volumes such as Selected Poems 1928-1958 (1958, Pulitzer Prize). With The Testing-Tree (1971), he began to write shorter, looser, more emotional poetry. Among his later collec¬ tions, noted for their subtle craftsmanship and treatment of complex themes, are The Coat Without a Seam (1974), The Lincoln Relics (1978), Next-to-Last Things (1985), and Passing Through (1995). He was also U.S. poet laureate twice (1974-76, 2000-01).

Kunlun \'kun- , lUn\ Mountains or K'un-lun Mountains Mountain system, east-central Asia. It extends for 1,250 mi (2,000 km) through the western regions of China. From the Pamirs of Tajikistan, it runs east along the border between Xinjiang and Tibet autonomous regions to the Sino- Tibetan ranges in Qinghai province. It divides the northern limit of the Plateau of Tibet from the interior plains of Central Asia. Its highest peak, Mount Muztag, measures 25,338 ft (7,723 m).

Kunming Vkun-'miq\ or K'un-ming City (pop., 2003 est.: 1,597,768), capital of Yunnan province, southern China. Situated on the northern shore of Lake Dian, it has long been a commercial centre at the junction of major trade routes. Originally known as Tuodong in the 8th-9th centuries ad and a part of the independent state of Nanzhao, it came under Chinese control with the Mongol invasion of 1253. The city became the provin¬ cial capital of Yunnan in 1276 and was visited by Marco Polo. It became a municipality in 1928 and was transformed into a modem city in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese War (1937—45), when Chinese evacuees from the north brought industrial plants and universities to Kunming.

Kunstler, William (Moses) (b. July 7, 1919, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 4, 1995, New York City) U.S. lawyer who defended a number of controversial clients in high-profile cases. After graduating from Yale University (1941) he served in the army in the Pacific during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1948. In the 1950s and ’60s he became involved with the American Civil Liberties Union and clients such as the antisegregationist Freedom Riders and Martin Luther King, Jr., not only defending them in court but becoming active in their causes. He gained national renown for his defense of the “Chicago Seven” on charges of conspiring to incite riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic national convention. In other cases that reflected his political leanings, he represented black power

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1058 I Kuo Hsiang ► Kutuzov

activists Stokely Carmichael and Bobby Seale, antiwar activist Daniel Berrigan, and prisoners accused in the aftermath of the deadly 1971 riot at the state prison in Attica, N.Y. Perhaps his most notorious clients were Mafia boss John Gotti and Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who was con¬ victed in 1995 of conspiring to blow up the World Trade Center.

Kuo Hsiang See Guo Xiang Kuo Mo-jo See Guo Moruo Kuomintang See Nationalist Party

Kura \k3-'ra, 'kur-9\ River Azerbaijani Kur Georgian Mtkvari River in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The largest river in Transcaucasia, it rises in eastern Turkey and flows north. After entering Georgia, it turns east and flows southeast to enter the Caspian Sea. It is 848 mi (1,364 km) long and used in places for irrigation.

Kurath Xku-'rathX, Hans (b. Dec. 13, 1891, Villach, Austria—d. Jan. 2, 1992, Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. linguist. He immi¬ grated to the U.S. in 1907. He is best known as the chief editor of the Linguistic Atlas of New England, 3 vol. (1939-43), the first linguistic atlas of a region of the U.S. His other works include A Word Geography of the Eastern United States (1949) and The Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States (1961). Kurath was later editor in chief (1946-62) of the Middle English Dictionary.

Kurd Member of an ethnic and linguistic group native to parts of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey (see Kurdistan). Kurds speak one of two dialects of Kur¬ dish, a West Iranian language related to Modern Persian. Traditionally nomadic, most were forced into farming by the redrawing of state bor¬ ders after World War I (1914-18). Most Kurds are Sunnite Muslims; Sufism is widely practiced. Plans for a Kurdish state, promised by the Treaty of Sevres (1920), which dissolved the Ottoman Empire, were never realized. Kurds in Turkey, Iran, and Iraq have been variously persecuted and pressured to assimilate; Iraqi attacks were particularly severe during the I ran-Iraq War (1980-90) and following the Persian Gulf War (1990- 91). See also Kurdistan Workers' Party.

Kurdistan Mountainous region of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, inhab¬ ited predominantly by Kurds. It covers about 74,000 sq mi (191,660 sq km), and its chief towns are Diyarbakir, Bitlis, and Van in Turkey, Mosul and KarkOk in Iraq, and Kermanshah in Iran. Since early times the region has been the home of the Kurds, a people whose ethnic origins are uncer¬ tain. The Treaty of Sevres, signed in 1920, provided for the recognition of a Kurdish state, but the agreement was never ratified.

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Kurdish nationalist party. It was founded in Turkish Kurdistan in 1978 and sought to establish an inde¬ pendent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. It attacked Turkish interests and fellow Kurds suspected of collaboration with the Turkish government, often from bases in Iraq and Syria. The group’s leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was arrested by Turkey in 1999 and was thereafter tried and convicted of treason. At its peak, it claimed 5,000-10,000 members. See also Kurd.

Kurdufan See Kordofan

Kuria Muria Islands See Khuriyya Muriyya Islands

Kuril Vkyur-,el\ Islands Archipelago, eastern Russia. It extends for 750 mi (1,200 km) from the southern tip of Russia’s Kamcfiatka Peninsula to the northeastern coast of Japan’s Hokkaido island. The 56 islands cover 6,000 sq mi (15,600 sq km) and together with Sakhalin Island form an administrative region (pop., 2001 est.: 591,000) of Russia. The Kurils were originally settled by the Russians in the 17th—18th centuries. Japan seized the southern islands and in 1875 obtained the entire chain. After World War II they were ceded to the Soviet Union, and the Japanese population was repatriated and replaced by Soviets. Japan still claims his¬ torical rights to the southern islands and has tried repeatedly to regain them.

Kurisches Haff See Courland Lagoon

Kuropatkin Mai-re-'pat-kinV Aleksey (Nikolayevich) (b. March 29, 1848, Shemchurino, Pskov province, Russia—d. March 23, 1925) Russian general. He was chief of staff during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78), commander in chief in Caucasia in 1897, and minister of war (1898-1904). In the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) he commanded the Russian troops in Manchuria; he resigned after the Russian defeat at the Battle of Mukden (1905).

Kurosawa \ l kur-9- , sau-o\ Akira (b. March 23, 1910, Tokyo, Japan—d. Sept. 6, 1998, Tokyo) Japanese film director. He studied paint¬ ing before becoming an assistant director and scenarist at PCL (later Toho) movie studio (1936-43). He wrote and directed his first feature film, San- shiro Sugata, in 1943, won notice with Drunken Angel (1948), starring Mifune Toshiro, and was internationally acclaimed for Rashomon (1950). His later classic films include Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954), Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961), Kagemusha (1980), and Ran (1985). His ability to combine Japanese aesthetic and cultural elements with a Western sense of action and drama made him, in Western eyes, the fore¬ most Japanese filmmaker.

Kursk, Battle of (July 5 -Aug. 23, 1943) Unsuccessful German assault on the Soviet salient around Kursk, in western Russia, in World War II. The salient was a bulge in the Soviet lines that protruded 100 mi (160 km) westward into the German lines. The Germans planned a surprise attack to trap the Soviet forces but encountered Russian-laid minefields and antitank defenses. At the height of the assault, the Soviets counter¬ attacked and forced a German withdrawal. The Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle in history, involving some 6,000 tanks, two million troops, and 4,000 aircraft. It marked the decisive end of the German offensive on the Eastern Front and cleared the way for the great Soviet offensives of 1944—45.

Kursky Zaliv See Courland Iagoon

Kurylowicz \ l kur-9-'lo-vich\ / Jerzy (b. Aug. 26, 1895, Stanislav, Gali¬ cia, Austria-Hungary—d. Jan. 28, 1978, Krakow, Pol.) Polish historical linguist. His identification of the Hittite medial h in 1927 substantiated the existence of laryngeals, the Indo-European speech sounds postulated by Ferdinand de Saussure, and stimulated much research in Indo-European phonology. His books include Apophony in Indo-European (1956) and The Inflectional Categories of Indo-European (1964).

Kush See Cush

Kushan art or Kusana art Art produced during the Kushan dynasty (late lst-3rd century ad), in an area that now includes parts of Central Asia, northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. There are two major sty¬ listic divisions among artifacts of the period: the imperial art of Iranian derivation, and the Buddhist art of mixed Greco-Roman and Indian sources. The former is exemplified by stiff, frontal portraits (including those on coins) emphasizing the individual’s power and wealth. The sec¬ ond, more realistic, style is typified by the schools of Gandhara and Mathura art.

Kushner, Tony (b. July 16, 1956, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. drama¬ tist. He grew up in Lake Charles, La., and attended Columbia University and New York University. His early plays include Yes, Yes, No, No (1985). His major work, Angels in America, consists of two lengthy plays that deal with political issues and the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. The first part, Millennium Approaches (1991), won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for best play; the second. Perestroika (1992), also won a Tony Award for best play. Later works include Slavs (1995), Henry Box Brown (1997), and the controversial Homebody/Kabul (2001), which addresses the relationship between Afghanistan and the West.

K’ut’aisi \,ku-ta-'e-se\ City (pop., 2002: 185,965), west-central Repub¬ lic of Georgia. One of the oldest cities of Transcaucasia, it served as the capital of successive kingdoms in Georgia: Colchis, Iberia (Kartli), Abk¬ hazia, and Imeretia. It was often caught in wars between Persians, Mon¬ gols, Turks, and Russians. Russia occupied it in the 18th century and made it a provincial seat. It is a major regional industrial and trade centre.

Kutch, Rann of See Rann of Kachchh

Kutuzov \k9-'tu-zof\, Mikhail (Illarionovich), Prince orig. Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (b. Sept. 16, 1745, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. April 28, 1813, Bunzlau, Silesia) Rus¬ sian army commander. In 1805 Kutuzov, an army officer, was given com¬ mand of the joint Russian-Austrian army that opposed the French advance on Vienna. Following Austria’s defeat in the Battle of Ulm, he retreated and preserved his army intact, but Alexander I engaged the French at the Battle of Austerlitz (1805), for which disaster Kutuzov was partly blamed. After Napoleon’s army entered Russia in 1812, public pressure made Alexander appoint Kutuzov commander in chief. After waging minor engagements, he was forced to fight the inconclusive Battle of Borodino. When Napoleon led his troops in retreat from Moscow, Kutuzov forced

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Kuusinen > KwaNdebele I 1059

the French army to leave Russia along the path it had devastated when it entered the country. He pursued the French into Prussia, destroying his opponent without fighting another major battle. Considered the finest Rus¬ sian commander of his day, he appeal’s as a major character in Leo Tol¬ stoy’s War and Peace.

Kuusinen Vkii-si-nanV Otto V(ilhelm) (b. Oct. 4, 1881, Laukaa, Fin.—d. May 17, 1964, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Finnish-born Soviet politician. He joined the Social Democratic Party in Finland in 1905 and held various party posts. After Finland’s short-lived socialist regime was overthrown in 1918, he fled to Russia, where he cofounded the Finnish Communist Party. He remained in exile to become secretary of the Com¬ intern. In the Soviet-Finnish “Winter War” (1939-40) he was head of the pro-Soviet puppet Finnish government, and he later became president of the supreme soviet of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (1940- 56). He was secretary of the Russian Communist Party’s Central Com¬ mittee (1946-53, 1957-64).

Kuwait officially State of Kuwait Country, Middle East, southwest¬ ern Asia. It is on the Arabian Peninsula at the northwest comer of the Persian Gulf. Area: 6,880 sq mi (17,818 sq km). Population (2005 est.):

Kuwaiti dinar. Except for Al-Jahra’ oasis, at the western end of Kuwait Bay, and a few fertile patches in the south¬ eastern and coastal areas, it is largely desert; annual precipitation totals 1-7 in. (25-180 mm). Kuwait has almost no arable land, but there is a small amount of pastureland for livestock. Its extensive petroleum and natural gas deposits are the basis of its economy. Its estimated reserves of petroleum represent roughly one-tenth of global reserves, ranking Kuwait third, behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It is a constitutional monar¬ chy with one legislative body; the head of state and government is the emir, assisted by the prime minister. Traces of civilization on Faylakah, an island in Kuwait Bay, date to the 3rd millennium bc. These flourished until c. 1200 bc, when they disappeared from the historical record. Greek colonists again settled the island in the 4th century bc. The nomadic 'Anizah tribe of central Arabia founded Kuwait city in 1710, and c Abd al-Rahlm of the Sabah dynasty became sheikh in 1756; the family contin¬ ues to rule Kuwait. In 1899, to thwart German and Ottoman influences, Kuwait agreed to give Britain control of its foreign affairs. Following the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Empire in World War I (1914-18), Britain established a protectorate there. In 1961, after Kuwait had gained full independence from Britain, Iraq laid claim to Kuwait. British troops were sent to defend Kuwait; the Arab League recognized its independence,

and Iraq dropped its claim. Iraq reasserted these claims in the aftermath of the Iraq-Iraq War and invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990. A U.S.- led military coalition drove the Iraqi army out of Kuwait the next year (see First Persian Gulf War). Iraqi forces set fire to most of Kuwait’s oil wells, but these were extinguished, and petroleum production soon returned to prewar levels.

Kuwait or Kuwait City City (pop., 1995: 28,859), capital of Kuwait. Located at the head of the Persian Gulf, it was founded in the 18th cen¬ tury and was a trading city relying on sea and caravan traffic. Until 1957 it was enclosed by a mud wall separating it from the desert and was only 5 sq mi (13 sq km) in area. The development of the country’s oil indus¬ try after World War II (1939-45) transformed the city into a modem metropolis. Almost all of the country’s population is concentrated near the capital. The city, damaged during the Iraqi occupation and the Persian Gulf War (1990-91), soon recovered.

Kuybyshev See Samara

Kuyper Vkoei-porV Abraham (b. Oct. 29, 1837, Maassluis, Neth.—d. Nov. 8, 1920, The Hague) Dutch theologian and politician. After serving as a pastor (1863-74), he founded a Calvinist-oriented newspaper (1872) and was elected to the national assembly (1874). He formed the Anti- Revolutionary Party, the first organized Dutch political party, and built up a lower-middle-class following with a program that combined orthodox religious positions and a progressive social agenda. To provide Calvinist training for pastors, he founded the Free University at Amsterdam (1880), and in 1892 he founded the Reformed Churches in The Netherlands. As prime minister of The Netherlands (1901-05), he advocated a wider fran¬ chise and broader social benefits.

Kuznets \'koz-nets\, Simon (Smith) (b. April 30, 1901, Kharkov, Ukraine, Russian Empire—d. July 8, 1985, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.) Russian-U.S. economist and statistician. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1922 and joined the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1927; he later taught at the University of Pennsylvania (1930-54), Johns Hopkins University (1954-60), and Harvard University (1960-71). His work emphasized the complexity of underlying data in the construction of eco¬ nomic models, stressing the need for information on population structure, technology, labour quality, government structure, trade, and markets. He also described the existence of cyclical variations in growth rates (now called “Kuznets cycles”) and their links with underlying factors such as population. In 1971 he received the Nobel Prize.

Kvasir \'kva-sir\ In Norse mythology, the wisest of all men. He was born from the saliva from two rival groups of gods, the Aesir and the Vanir. As a teacher, he never failed to answer a question correctly. Two dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar, became tired of his great learning, and they killed him and distilled his blood in a magic cauldron. His blood, when mixed with honey by the giant Sattung, formed the mead that gave wisdom and poetic inspiration to those who drank it. Kvasir’s story is told in the Edda Braga Raedur.

Kwa languages Branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Forty- five Kwa languages are spoken by approximately 20 million people in the southern areas of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin and in the extreme southwestern corner of Nigeria. Languages and language groups having more than a million speakers include Anyi and Baule in Cote d’Ivoire, Akan (including Asante, Fante, and Brong) and Guang in Ghana, and Gbe (including Ewe, Fon, and Anlo) in southeastern Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

Kwakiutl \,kwa-ke-'yu-t 3 l\ Northwest Coast Indian people who live along the shores of Vancouver Island, B.C., Can., and the mainland oppo¬ site. They speak Kwakwala, a Wakashan language, and call themselves Kwakwaka’wakw, meaning “Those Who Speak Kwakwala.” Tradition¬ ally, the Kwakiutl subsisted mainly by fishing. They had a technology based largely on woodworking. Their society was stratified by rank, deter¬ mined primarily by inheritance. The potlatch was elaborately developed and was often combined with dances and songs dramatizing ancestral experiences with supernatural beings. They continue to be known for their highly stylized art, which includes totem poles and striking masks. The Kwakiutl numbered about 3,000 in the 2001 Canadian census.

KwaNdebele \,kwan-da-'ba-la\ Former black enclave, central Trans¬ vaal province, South Africa. It was a self-governing “national state” for Transvaal Ndebele people, although it was never internationally recog¬ nized. Situated northeast of Johannesburg, it was founded in 1979, when

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1060 I Kwando River ► Kyrgyzstan

many Transvaal Ndebele were expelled from Bophuthatswana. In 1994, after the abolition of apartheid, KwaNdebele became part of the new East Transvaal province, which was subsequently renamed Mpumalanga.

Kwando River River, southern Africa. Rising in central Angola, it flows southeast, forming part of the boundary between Angola and Zam¬ bia. It continues east along the northeastern border of Botswana and emp¬ ties into the Zambezi River just above Victoria Falls. Its total length is 457 mi (731 km).

Kwangju Vgwoq-'jii \ formerly Koshu City (pop., 2000: 1,350,948), southwestern South Korea, capital of South Cholla province. It occupies an area of 193 sq mi (501 sq km) and constitutes a metropolitan city (province) by itself. It has been a centre of trade and local administration since the Three Kingdoms (c. 57 bc); its modern industrial development began with a railway connection to Seoul in 1914. Kwangju was the site of an armed uprising between civilians and the government in 1980. It is the seat of Choson University (founded 1946).

Kwangsi Chuang See Guangxi Kwangtung See Guangdong

Kwanzaa or Kwanza \'kwan-zo\ African American holiday cel¬ ebrated from December 26 to January 1 and patterned after African har¬ vest festivals. It was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a black-studies professor at California State University at Long Beach, as a nonreligious celebration of family and community. The name was taken from the Swa¬ hili phrase matunda ya kwanzaa (“first fruits”). Each day is dedicated to one of seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective responsibil¬ ity, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each evening, family members gather to light one of the candles in the kinara, a seven- branched candelabra; often gifts are exchanged. On December 31 com¬ munity members gather for a feast, the karamu. Kwanzaa is now observed by more than 15 million people.

kwashiorkor X.kwa-she-'or-koiA Condition caused by severe protein deficiency. It is common in tropical and subtropical regions in young chil¬ dren weaned on a diet chiefly of starchy foods such as grains, cassava, plantain, and sweet potato. It causes potbelly, edema, weakness, irritabil¬ ity, dry skin with rash, reddish-orange hair discoloration, diarrhea, anemia, and fat deposits in the liver. Mental development may be stunted. Adults who had the disease in childhood may be at risk of diseases such as cir¬ rhosis. Treatment is protein supplementation, often in the form of dried skim milk. For long-term prevention, development of high-protein plant mixtures based on local food preferences and availability is encouraged. Nondietary causes include inadequate absorption of nutrients by the intes¬ tines, chronic alcoholism, kidney disease, and trauma (e.g., infection, bums) causing abnormal protein loss.

Kweichow See Guizhou Kworra River See Niger River

kyanite Vkl-o-.nfiA or cyanite VsI-o-.nflA or disthene \'dis-,then\ Sili¬ cate mineral, one of several phases in the aluminum silicate (Al 2 Si0 5 ) sys¬ tem. Its colour ranges from gray-green to black or blue, with blue and blue-gray being most common. It occurs in Switzerland, Italy, the Ural Mountains, and New England (U.S.). Kyanite is a raw material in the manufacture of spark plugs. A clear, deep-blue variety is sometimes cut as a gemstone.

Kyd Vkid\, Thomas (b. Nov. 6, 1558, London, Eng.—d. c. December 1594, London) English dramatist. With The Spanish Tragedie (1592), he initiated the revenge tragedy, a favourite dramatic form in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras in which the main motivation was revenge. One of the most popular plays of its time, it prepared the way for William Shake¬ speare’s Hamlet and other plays. The only other play certainly by Kyd is Cornelia (1594). He was arrested and tortured in 1593 after “atheistical” documents were found in his room; he claimed the papers belonged to Christopher Marlowe, with whom he had shared lodgings. His reputation ruined, he died the next year at age 36.

Kydland, Finn E. (b. December 1943, Algard, near Stavanger, Nor.) Norwegian economist. Kydland was educated at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (B.S., 1968) and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. (Ph.D., 1973), where Edward C. Pres¬ cott advised him on his doctorate. Kydland, working with Prescott, dem¬ onstrated how a declared commitment to a low inflation rate by policy

makers might create expectations of low inflation and unemployments rates. They also established the microeconomic foundation for business cycle analyses, showing that technology changes or supply shocks, such as oil price hikes, could be reflected in investment and relative price movements and thereby create short-term fluctuations around the long¬ term economic growth path. In 2004 Kydland shared the Nobel Prize for Economics with Prescott.

Kynewulf See Cynewulf

Kyoga Lake Lake, south-central Uganda. It is formed by the Victoria Nile, which flows through it. It has a maximum depth of 25 ft (8 m), restricting navigation to shallow-draft vessels. About 80 mi (129 km) long, it has an area of 1,710 sq mi (4,429 sq km).

Kyoto City (pop., 2003 est.: 1,386,372), west-central Honshu, Japan. It is situated northeast of Osaka, and together with Kobe it is part of a major urban-industrial region. The centre of Japanese culture and Japanese Bud¬ dhism, Kyoto (“Capital City”) was the capital of Japan and the site of the imperial family residence for more than 1,000 years (794-1868). The modern city has venues that present Noh theatre and Kabuki. It is a manu¬ facturing centre, and many small workshops produce textiles and porce¬ lain; tourism is also important. Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines, and other historic buildings are found throughout the city and surrounding area; 17 of these were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Its educational institutions include Kyoto University (founded 1897) and Doshisha University (1875).

Kyrgyzstan \,kir-giz-'stan\ officially Kyrgyz Republic Country, Central Asia. In the southeast the Kok Shaal-Tau Range, part of the Tien Shan, forms the border with China. Area: 77,199 sq mi (199,945 sq km).

Population (2005 est.): 5,146,000. Capital:

Bishkek. The Kyrgyz make up about two- thirds of the population; most of the remainder consists of Uzbeks and Rus¬ sians. Languages: Kyrgyz, Russian (both

official). Religions: Islam (mostly Sunni); also Christianity. Currency: som. Kyrgyzstan is a largely mountainous country. At its eastern edge rises Victory (Pobedy) Peak, which at 24,406 ft (7,439 m) is the country’s highest point of elevation. The country’s valleys and plains, occupying only one-seventh of the total area, are home to most of its people. The economy is based largely on agriculture, including livestock raising and the cultivation of cereals, potatoes, cotton, and sugar beets. Gold mining and industries such as food processing and the production of machinery are also important. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president, assisted by the prime minister. The Kyrgyz, a nomadic people of Central Asia, settled in the Tien Shan

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Kyushu ► Kyzylkum I 1061

region in ancient times. They were conquered by Genghis Khan’s son Jochi in 1207. The area became part of the Qing dynasty of China in the mid- 18th century. It came under Russian control in the 19th century, and its long rebellion against Russia (and later the Soviet Union) that began in 1916 resulted in a long period of brutal repression. Kirgiziya became an autonomous province of the Soviet Union in 1924 and was made the Kir¬ giz S.S.R. in 1936. Kyrgyzstan gained independence in 1991. It subse¬ quently struggled with creating a democratic process and with establishing a stable economy.

Kyushu Island (pop., 2001 est.: 13,454,000), southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. Located off the eastern coast of Asia, it is separated from Honshu to the north by the Shimonoseki Strait and from Shikoku to

the east by the Bungo Strait. The island, with an area of 14,177 sq mi (36,719 sq km), is mountainous; several famous peaks rise 5,000-6,000 ft (1,525-1,980 m) high, including Mount Aso. Its chief cities include Fukuoka and KitakyGshO. It was the first part of the Japanese empire opened to foreigners in the 19th century.

Kyzylkum \ki-'zil-'kum\ Uzbek Qizilqum Kazakh Qyzylqum Desert in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Occupying roughly 115,000 sq mi (300,000 sq km), it lies between the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya rivers, southeast of the Aral Sea. Desert plants grow on its sand ridges, serving as pasture for sheep, horses, and camels; there are several small oasis settlements. Its mineral resources include natural gas deposits and gold.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1062 I La Brea Tar Pits ► La Plata River

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La Brea \l3-'bra-3\ Tar Pits Fossil field in Hancock Park (formerly Rancho La Brea), Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. It is the site of “pitch springs” oozing crude oil, discovered by Gaspar de Portola’s expedition in 1769. The tar pits contain the fossilized bones of Pleistocene mammals that became entrapped there; they include mammoths, mastodons, and sabre- toothed cats. The George C. Page Museum contains more than one mil¬ lion prehistoric specimens exhumed from the pits.

La Bruyere Ma-brm-'yerV, Jean de (b. August 1645, Paris, France—d. May 10/11, 1696, Versailles) French satiric moralist. As a tutor and librar¬ ian in a royal household, he observed aristocratic idleness, fads, and fash¬ ions. His The Characters, or Manners of the Age, with the Characters of Theophrastus (1688) was appended to his translation of Theophrastus and written in the latter’s style. A masterpiece of French literature, it was an indictment of the vanity and pretensions around him. Eight editions of Characters, with expanded character sketches and topi¬ cal allusions, appeared through 1694.

La Coruna See A Coruna

La Follette \b-'fal-3t\, Robert M(arion) (b. June 14,

1855, Primrose, Wis., U.S.—d. June 18, 1925, Washing¬ ton, D.C.) U.S. politician. He served as a county district attorney in Wisconsin (1880-84) and in the U.S. House of Representatives (1885-91). Advocating progressive reforms, he was elected governor of Wisconsin (1901-06).

In the U.S. Senate (1906-24), he sponsored bills to restrict the power of the railroad companies. He founded La Fol¬ lette ’ s Weekly (1909) to broaden his reform move¬ ment, and he led Republican opposition to the policies of Pres. William H. Taft. He opposed U.S. entrance into World War I and policies of Pres. Woodrow Wilson that favoured big business. After the war he worked vigorously to expose cor¬ ruption in government, including in the Teapot Dome scandal. As the presi¬ dential candidate of the Progressive Party in the 1924 election, he won five million votes, one-sixth of the total national vote. He died the next year; his son Robert (1895-1953) held his Senate seat from 1925 until 1947, when he was defeated by Joseph McCarthy.

La Fontaine \la-fo l1 - , ten\ / Jean de (b. July 8?, 1621, Chateau-Thierry, France—d. April 13, 1695, Paris) French poet. He made important con¬ tacts in Paris, where he was able to attract patrons and spend his most productive years as a writer. He is best known for his Fables (1668-94), which rank among the masterpieces of French literature. Comprising some 240 poems, they include timeless tales about simple countryfolk, heroes of Greek mythology, and the familial - animals of fables. Their chief theme is the everyday moral experience of humankind. His many lesser works include The Loves of Cupid and Psyche (1669), notable for its lucid, elegant prose. He was elected to the Academie Francaise in 1683.

La Galissonniere \la-ga-le-s6n-'yer\, Roland-Michel Barrin, marquis de (b. Nov. 10, 1693, Rochefort, France—d. Oct. 26, 1756, Montereau) French naval officer. While serving in the French navy (1710— 36), he made several supply trips to New France and held various com¬ mands in the Atlantic. As commandant general of New France (1747-49), he sought unsuccessfully to fortify a link along the Ohio River between French Canada and the Louisiana settlements and to establish French settlements in Detroit and the Illinois country. In 1754 he was given com¬ mand of a naval squadron assigned to protect French shipping from the Barbary pirates.

La Guajira \gwa-'he-ra\ Peninsula Peninsula, northwestern coast of South America. It is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the north and west and the Gulf of Venezuela to the southeast. Much of the peninsula lies in Colombia, and the rest is in Venezuela. Rfohacha, Colom. (pop., 1999 est.: 88,577), is its principal town; nearby natural gas fields are connected by pipeline with Barranquilla to the southwest.

La Guardia \b-'gwar-de-3\, Fiorello H(enry) (b. Dec. 11, 1882, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 20, 1947, New York City) U.S. politician, mayor of New York City (1933—45). He practiced law in New York City from 1910 before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives (1917, 1918-21, 1923-33). A progressive Republican, he cosponsored a bill that restricted the courts’ power to ban strikes, boycotts, and picketing by organized labour; opposed Prohibition; and supported woman suffrage and child-labour laws. As New York’s mayor, he fought Tammany Hall cor¬

ruption and introduced reform programs for civic improvement through low-cost housing, social-welfare services, and new roads and bridges. A colourful figure with a flair for the dramatic, he enjoyed enormous popu¬ larity for his fearlessness and his lack of pretension. In 1945 he declined to run for a fourth term as mayor.

La Harpe \la-'arp\, Frederic-Cesar de (b. April 6, 1754, Rolle, Vaud, Switz.—d. March 30, 1838, Lausanne) Swiss political leader. From 1784 he was tutor to the future Russian tsar Alexander I. He returned to Switzerland in 1794, then went to Paris to obtain French military support to secure independence for his native Vaud canton. In 1798 France invaded to establish the Helvetic Republic. A member of its Directory, La Harpe sought dictatorial powers, but he was deposed in 1800. He fled to France, and in 1814 he secured from Alexander a promise of Vau- dois independence.

La Hontan \la-o n -'ta n \, Louis-Armand de Lorn d'Arce, baron

de (b. June 9, 1666, Mont-de-Marsan, France—d. 1715, Hannover, Hanover) French army officer and explorer. He served in New France (1683-93), commanded Ft.-St.-Joseph (now Niles, Mich.), and explored territory along the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers (1688-89). In 1692 he stopped at Newfoundland and defended the French colonists at Plai- sance against the English; after the governor there accused him of insub¬ ordination, he fled to Portugal in 1693 and thereafter remained in Europe.

His New Voyages to North-America (1703) influ¬ enced the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Jonathan Swift.

La Nina Cyclic counterpart to El Nino, consisting of a cooling of surface waters of the Pacific Ocean along the western coast of South America. While its local effects on weather and climate are generally the oppo¬ site of those associated with El Nino, its global effects can be more com¬ plex. La Nina events often follow El Ninos, which occur at irregular intervals of about 5-10 years.

La Paz \la-‘pas\ City (pop., 2001: city, 789,558; 2003 metro, area est., 1,477,000), administrative capital of Bolivia. Located in west-central Bolivia, it is the world’s highest capital, built over 12,000 ft (3,650 m) above sea level. The city centre lies in a canyon formed by the La Paz River. Founded in 1548 by the Spanish on the site of an Inca village, it was originally called Nuestra Senora de La Paz (“Our Lady of Peace”). Following the Battle of Ayacucho (1824), the decisive battle in the colo¬ ny’s wars of independence, the city was renamed La Paz de Ayacucho, though informally it continues to be called La Paz. Since 1898 it has been the administrative capital of Bolivia, though Sucre remains the judicial capital. It is Bolivia’s principal industrial centre and also the site of the University of San Andres (1830), the National Museum of Art, and the National Museum of Archaeology.

La Paz City (pop., 2000: 162,954), capital of Baja California Sur state, northwestern Mexico. Situated on La Paz Bay of the Gulf of California, it is a popular resort and the largest urban centre in the state. The bay was discovered by the Spanish in 1596; the town was established in the early 1800s and served as the capital of Baja California (1828-87). When the peninsula was divided between the U.S. and Mexico (1887), La Paz became the capital of the Mexican region.

La Perouse \,la-pa-Tuz\ Strait Japanese Soya-kaiky6 Russian Proliv Laperuza International waterway between the Russian island of Sakhalin and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The strait, named for the French explorer count de La Perouse, separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Sea of Japan (East Sea). It is 27 mi (43 km) wide at its narrowest part, and it varies in depth from 167 to 387 ft (51 to 118 m). Noted for its extremely strong currents, it is closed by ice in the winter.

La Plata City (pop., 1999 est.: 556,308), eastern Argentina. After Bue¬ nos Aires became the national capital, La Plata was chosen (1882) as the new seat of Buenos Aires province and was modeled on the U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. It was renamed for Argentine first lady Eva Peron in 1952, but after the overthrow of Pres. Juan Peron in 1955 it resumed its original name. Located near the Rio de la Plata estuary, it is a seaport with a large artificial harbour. Its industries include meatpacking and oil refining.

La Plata River River, eastern central Puerto Rico. It flows about 45 mi (70 km) northwest and north, to empty into the Atlantic Ocean. Part of it is dammed to create a lake which provides hydroelectric power.

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

La Rioja ► laboratory I 1063

La Rioja \,la-re-'o-ha\ Autonomous community (pop., 2001: 276,702), province, and historical region, north-central Spain. Covering 1,944 sq mi (5,035 sq km), it was known until 1980 as Logrono; its capital is Logrono city. Historically belonging to old Castile, La Rioja’s population is concentrated in the irrigated farmland (grapes, cereals, horticultural produce) along the Ebro River and its affluents. Upper Rioja produces some of Spain’s finest wines. A highway runs through Lower Rioja linking Bil¬ bao, Zaragoza, and Barcelona.

La Rochefoucauld \la-r6sh-fu-'ko\, Francois VI, duke de (b.

Sept. 15, 1613, Paris, France—d. March 16/17, 1680, Paris) French writer. Of a noble family, he joined the army at an early age and was wounded several times. He later played a leading part in the Fronde but gradually won his way back into royal favour. He turned his energies to intellec¬ tual pursuits and became the leading exponent of the maxime, a French form of epigram that concisely expresses a harsh or paradoxical truth. Maximes (five eds., 1665-78), his principal achievement, consists of 500 reflections on human behaviour. His Memoires (1664) recount the plots and campaigns of mutinous nobles during the Fronde.

La Salle \l9-'sal\, Rene-Robert Cavelier, sieur de (b. Nov. 22, 1643, Rouen, France—d. March 19, 1687, near Brazos River [now in Texas, U.S.]) French explorer. In 1666 he left France for North America and was granted land near Montreal. He explored the Ohio River region (1669) and then worked with the count de Frontenac to extend French influence. He helped establish Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario, where as seigneur he controlled the fur trade. He obtained authority from Louis XIV to explore the western frontier of New France and build new forts. He sailed down the Illinois River and with Henri de Tonty (16507-1704) canoed down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. There in 1682 La Salle claimed the entire Mississippi Basin for France, naming it Loui¬ siana after Louis XIV. Back in France, he received authority to build a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi. Beset by losses of men and ships, he mistakenly landed at Matagorda Bay, Texas. After fruitless attempts to locate the Mississippi, he was killed by mutineers.

La Sea la Opera house in Milan, Italy. Built in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (which country then ruled Milan), it replaced an ear¬ lier theatre that had burned. With the works of 19th-century composer Gioacchino Rossini, Italian opera regained international attention, and La Scala, as the site of many of Rossini’s premieres, had by the 1830s become the opera landmark it has remained ever since. Associated with the main theatre are a smaller theatre, La Piccola Scala; a ballet company and bal¬ let school; and a singing school.

La Tene \la-'ten\ French "The Shallows" Archaeological site at the eastern end of Lake Neuchatel,

Switz. The name by extension applies to a late Iron Age culture of European Celts. La Tene culture originated in the mid-5th century bc, when the Celts came into contact with Greeks and Etruscans. It passed through several phases and regional variations during the next 400 years, as the Celts populated northern Europe and the British Isles, and ended in the mid-1st century bc, when most of the Celts came under Roman control. Objects of the early period are characterized by orna¬ mental S-shapes, spirals, and round patterns. The middle period is notable for long iron swords, heavy knives, and burial in coffins or under stone heaps; findings with a later date, but still of the middle period, include decorated scabbards, broad- bladed spearheads, and wooden shields with iron supports. The final period, showing Roman influence, is distinguished by peasant’s imple¬ ments, such as iron sickles, scythes, axes, saws, and plowshares.

La Tour \l9-'tur\, Georges de (b. March 19, 1593, Vic-sur-Seille, Lorraine, Fr.—d. Jan. 30, 1652, Luneville) French painter. He was well known in his lifetime, especially for his depictions of candlelit subjects, then was forgotten until the 20th century, when the identification of works previously misattributed established his reputation as a giant of French painting. His early works were painted in a realistic manner and influ¬

enced by the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio. The paintings of La Tour’s maturity are marked by a star¬ tling geometric simplification of the human form and by the depiction of interior scenes lit only by the glare of candles or torches. His religious paintings done in this manner have a monumental simplicity and a still¬ ness that expresses both contempla¬ tive quiet and wonder. Little is known of his life, and only four or five of his paintings are dated. The chronology and authenticity of some works attributed to him are still debated.

La Verendrye Ma-.ver-sn-'dreV Pierre Gaultier de Varennes

et de (b. Nov. 17, 1685, Trois- Rivieres, New France—d. Dec. 5,

1749, Montreal) French-Canadian explorer. He served in the French army before becoming a fur trader in the region north of Lake Superior (1726). From the Indians he learned of a river that might lead to the Pacific Ocean, and with his sons he built a string of fur-trading posts from Ontario to Manitoba (1731-38). Two sons sent farther west became the first Europeans to explore areas of present- day Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming, and they claimed South Dakota for France. The 30,000 beaver pelts La Verendrye annually sent to Que¬ bec broke the monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Co. Little appreciated in his lifetime, he was later considered one of the greatest explorers of the Canadian West.

Laayoune \la-'yun\ or El Aaiun \,el-I-'un\ City (pop., 1998 est.: 164,000), North Africa. The capital (1940-76) of the overseas Spanish province of Western Sahara and since 1976 of the Laayoune province of Morocco (though Morocco’s claim is not internationally recognized), Laayoune lies in the northern part of Western Sahara, 8 mi (13 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It was developed by Spain in 1938 as the admin¬ istrative and military centre of the Europeans living in the former prov¬ ince. It is Western Sahara’s only major populated place. Nearby oases supply water.

Laban Vla-ban\, Rudolf (von) (b. Dec. 15, 1879, Bratislava, Austria- Hungary—d. July 1, 1958, Weybridge, Surrey, Eng.) Hungarian modern- dance teacher, inventor of the Labanotation system of dance notation. After studying dance in Paris, he opened his Choreographic Institute in Zurich, Switz., in 1915 and later founded branches in Italy, France, and central Europe. From 1919 to 1937 he worked in Germany, where in 1930-34 he was ballet director of the Berlin State Opera. In 1928 he pub¬ lished his method for recording all forms of human motion, which enabled choreographers to record the dancer’s steps and other body movements, including their rhythm. In 1938 he joined his former pupil Kurt Jooss and taught dance in England, where he later formed the Art of Movement Stu¬ dio. His system was further developed and maintained at centres in Essen, Ger., and New York.

Labdah See Leptis Magna

Labor, Knights of See Knights of Labor

Labor Day Annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working peo¬ ple’s contribution to society. It is observed on the first Monday in Sep¬ tember in the U.S. and Canada. It was first celebrated in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, under the sponsorship of the Knights of Labor. Various U.S. states observed the holiday before 1894, when Congress passed a bill making Labor Day a national holiday. It is often celebrated with parades and speeches, as well as political rallies, and the day is some¬ times the official kickoff date for national political campaigns in the U.S. In most other countries, workers are honoured on May Day.

Labor Relations Act, National See Wagner Act

laboratory Place where scientific research and development is conducted and analyses performed, in contrast with the field or factory. Most labo¬ ratories are characterized by controlled uniformity of conditions (constant temperature, humidity, cleanliness). Modern laboratories use a vast num-

Gold disk found at Auvers, La Tene culture, 5th century bc.

COURTESY OF THE BIBUOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS

"St. Joseph the Carpenter," oil on can¬ vas by Georges de La Tour, c. 1645; in the Louvre, Paris

GIRAUDON-ART RESOURCE/EB INC.

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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1064 I labour ► labyrinth

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ber of instruments and procedures to study, systematize, or quantify the objects of their attention. Procedures often include sampling, pretreatment and treatment, measurement, calculation, and presentation of results; each may be carried out by techniques ranging from having an unaided person use crude tools to running an automated analysis system with computer controls, data storage, and elaborate readouts.

labour In economics, the general body of wage earners. In classical eco¬ nomics, labour is one of the three factors of production, along with capital and land. Labour can also be used to describe work performed, including any valuable service rendered by a human agent in the production of wealth, other than accumulating and providing capital. Labour is per¬ formed for the sake of its product or, in modern economic life, for the sake of a share of the aggregate product of the community’s industry. The price per unit of time, or wage rate, commanded by a particular kind of labour in the market depends on a number of variables, such as the tech¬ nical efficiency of the worker, the demand for that person’s particular skills, and the supply of similarly skilled workers. Other variables include training, experience, intelligence, social status, prospects for advance¬ ment, and relative difficulty of the work. All these factors make it impos¬ sible for economists to assign a standard value to labour. Instead, economists often quantify labour hours according to the quantity and value of the goods or services produced.

labour See parturition

labour economics Study of how workers are allocated among jobs, how their rates of pay are determined, and how their efficiency is affected by various factors. The labour force of a country includes all those who work for gain in any capacity as well as those who are unemployed but seeking work. Many factors influence how workers are utilized and how much they are paid, including qualities of the labour force itself (such as health, level of education, distribution of special training and skills, and degree of mobility), structural characteristics of the economy (e.g., pro¬ portions of heavy manufacturing, technology, and service industries), and institutional factors (including the extent and power of labour unions and employers’ associations and the presence of minimum-wage laws). Mis¬ cellaneous factors such as custom and variations in the business cycle are also considered. Certain general trends are widely accepted by labour economists; for instance, wage levels tend to be higher in jobs that involve high risk, in industries that require higher levels of education or training, in economies that have high proportions of such industries, and in indus¬ tries that are heavily unionized.

labour law Body of law that applies to matters such as employment, wages, conditions of work, labour unions, and labour-management rela¬ tions. Laws intended to protect workers, including children, from abusive employment practices were not enacted in significant numbers until the late 19th century in Europe and slightly later in the U.S. In Asia and Africa, labour legislation did not emerge until the 1940s and ’50s. Employment laws cover matters such as hiring, training, advancement, and unemployment compensation. Wage laws cover the forms and methods of payment, pay rates, social security, pensions, and other matters. Legis¬ lation on working conditions regulates hours, rest periods, vacations, child labour, equality in the workplace, and health and safety. Laws on trade unions and labour-management relations address the status of unions, the rights and obligations of workers’ and employers’ organizations, collec¬ tive bargaining agreements, and rules for settling strikes and other disputes. See also arbitration; mediation.

Labour Party British political party whose historic links with trade unions have led it to promote an active role for the state in the creation of economic prosperity and the provision of social services. In opposition to the Conservative Party, it has been Britain’s major democratic socialist party since the early 20th century. In 1900 the Trades Union Congress and the Independent Labour Party (founded 1893) established the Labour Representation Committee, which took the name Labour Party in 1906. In 1918 it became a socialist party with a democratic constitution, and by 1922 it had supplanted the Liberal Party as the official opposition party. In 1924 James Ramsay MacDonald formed the first Labour government, with Liberal support. The party was out of power from 1935 until a spectacu¬ lar recovery in 1945 brought in Clement R. Attlee’s government (until 1951), which introduced a system of social welfare, including a national health service, and extensive nationalization of industry. Labour regained power under Harold Wilson (1964-70) and later James Callaghan (1974- 79), but it foundered because of economic problems and worsening rela¬

tions with its trade-union allies. In 1983 Michael Foot’s radical program resulted in a massive Labour defeat. Neil Kinnock moved the party toward the centre, but only in 1997 did Tony Blair and his “New Labour” agenda succeed in returning Labour to power.

labour union Association of workers in a particular trade, industry, or plant, formed to obtain improvements in pay, benefits, and working con¬ ditions through collective action. The first fraternal and self-help asso¬ ciations of labourers appeared in Britain in the 18th century, and the era of modern labour unions began in Britain, Europe, and the U.S. in the 19th century. The movement met with hostility from employers and gov¬ ernments, and union organizers were regularly prosecuted. British union¬ ism received its legal foundation in the Trade-Union Act of 1871. In the U.S. the same effect was achieved more slowly through a series of court decisions that whittled away at the use of injunctions and conspiracy laws against unions. The founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886 marked the beginning of a successful, large-scale labour move¬ ment in the U.S. The unions brought together in the AFL were craft unions, which represented workers skilled in a particular craft or trade. Only a few early labour organizers argued in favour of industrial unions, which would represent all workers, skilled or unskilled, in a single indus¬ try. The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was founded by unions expelled from the AFL for attempting to organize unskilled work¬ ers, and by 1941 it had assured the success of industrial unionism by organizing the steel and automotive industries (see AFL-CIO). The use of collective bargaining to settle wages, working conditions, and disputes is standard in all noncommunist industrial countries, though union organi¬ zation varies from country to country. In Britain, labour unions displayed a strong inclination to political activity that culminated in the formation of the Labour Party in 1906. In France, too, the major unions became highly politicized; the Confederation Generate du Travail (formed in 1895) was allied with the Communist Party for many years, while the Confederation Frangaise Democratique du Travail is more moderate politically. Japan developed a form of union organization known as enter¬ prise unionism, which represents workers in a single plant or multiplant enterprise rather than within a craft or industry.

Labov Mo-'bovV William (b. Dec. 4, 1927, Rutherford, N.J., U.S.) U.S. linguist. After working for many years as an industrial chemist, Labov began graduate work in 1961, focusing on regional and class differences in English pronunciation on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., and in New York City, and ways to quantify phonetic change and variation. Most of his later research dealt with the same issues in increasingly sophisticated ways, culminating in his monumental Principles of Linguistic Change (1994). The discovery that American English pronunciation was becom¬ ing regionally more rather than less divergent countered popular belief and attracted the attention of many outside his field.

Labrador Large peninsula, northeastern Canada. Divided between the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, it occupies an area of about 625,000 sq mi (1,620,000 sq km). Its highest mountains are over 5,000 ft (1,520 m), and its coast is lined with islands. It forms the east¬ ernmost portion of the plateau known as the Canadian Shield. Politically, Labrador refers to the Newfoundland and Labrador portion of the penin¬ sula; the Quebec portion is Ungava Peninsula. Political control of the region was disputed by the two provinces until the Quebec-Newfoundland border was established in 1927.

Labrador Current Surface oceanic current flowing southward along the western side of the Labrador Sea. Originating at the Davis Strait, the current is a combination of the West Greenland Current, the Baffin Island Current, and inflow from Hudson Bay. It maintains temperatures of less than 32°F (0’C) and has a low salinity. The current is limited to the con¬ tinental shelf and reaches depths only slightly greater than 2,000 ft (600 m). It carries several thousand icebergs southward each year.

labradorite Vla-bro-.dor-.fiA Type of feldspar mineral in the plagioclase series that is often valued as a gemstone and as ornamental material for its red, blue, or green iridescence. The mineral is usually gray or brown to black and need not be iridescent. Labradorite is named for its occur¬ rence on the coast of Labrador, Canada.

labyrinth or maze System of intricate passageways and blind alleys. Labyrinth was the name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to buildings, entirely or partly underground, containing a number of cham¬ bers and passages that made egress difficult. From the European Renais-

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Lacan ► lactation I 1065

sance on, labyrinths or mazes consisting of intricate paths separated by high hedges were a feature of formal gardens.

Lacan \la-'ka n \, Jacques (-Marie-Emile) (b. April 13, 1901, Paris, France—d. Sept. 9, 1981, Paris) French psychoanalyst. A practicing psy¬ chiatrist in Paris for much of his career, Lacan emphasized the primacy of language as the mirror of the unconscious mind and introduced the study of language into psychoanalytic theory. His major achievement was his reinterpretation of Sigmund Freud’s work in terms of structural linguistics. He became a celebrity in France with Ecrits (1966; The Language of the Self) and in the 1970s was a dominant figure in French cultural life as well as a strong influence on American psychoanalytic and literary theory.

Lacandon \,la-kan-'don\ MAYAn Indians who live in a rich tropical rain¬ forest on the border of Mexico and Guatemala. Largely isolated, they maintained a traditional way of life until modern times, fishing, hunting, and growing vegetables and fruits. They spin fibres and weave cloth, tan leather, and make pottery, flutes, dugout canoes, and nets. They have pre¬ served their traditional beliefs. Their total number has declined, and only several hundred remain.

lace Ornamental openwork fabric formed by the looping, interlacing, braiding, or twisting of threads, originally primarily of linen. Almost all high-quality artistic lace is made by one of two techniques: needle lace involves a difficult technique that originated in Italy; bobbin lace is a more widespread craft that originated in Flanders. The art of lace is a European achievement. Fully developed lace did not appear before the Renaissance. By 1600 lace had become a fabric of luxury and an important article of commerce. The Industrial Revolution in the 19th century led to the use of machines to produce less-expensive lace made of cotton, and lace gradually disappeared from both men’s and women’s fashions. By 1920 the industry was dying. Fine handmade lace is still made in Belgium, Slo¬ venia, and elsewhere, but chiefly as souvenirs.

Lacedaemon See Sparta

lacemaking Methods of producing lace. The popularity of handmade laces led to the invention of lacemaking machines in the 19th century (see John Heathcoat). Early models required intricate engineering mecha¬ nisms. Later improvements included Nottingham-lace machines, prima¬ rily for coarse lace, and Barmens machines. Schiffli lace, a type of embroidery, is made by modern machines, evolved from a hand version, using needles with points at each end. Many types of machine-made laces are produced, frequently with geometrically shaped nets forming their backgrounds. The high strength and comparatively low cost of man-made fibre yams have made sheer laces widely available.

lacewing Any of numerous species of insects in the order Neuroptera, especially those in the green lace¬ wing and brown lacewing families.

The green lacewing has long, deli¬ cate antennae, a slender greenish body, golden- or copper-coloured eyes, and two pairs of veined wings.

It is found worldwide and flies near grasses and shrubs. It is also known as a stinkfly because it emits a dis¬ agreeable odour. The larva, with prominent sucking mouthparts, drains body fluids from aphids and other soft-bodied insects. The brown lacewing resembles the green lacewing but is smaller and brown.

Lachaise Ma-'shezV, Gaston (b. March 19, 1882, Paris, Fr.—d. Oct. 18, 1935, New York, N.Y., U.S.) French-born U.S. sculptor. Son of a cabinetmaker, he was trained in the decorative arts and studied sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1898-1904). He was a designer of Art Nou¬ veau decorative objects for Rene Lauque before immigrating to the U.S. in 1906. His most famous work, Standing Woman (1912-27), a female nude with ample breasts and thighs and sinuous, tapered limbs, typifies the image he worked and reworked throughout his career. He is also known for his portrait busts of John Marin, Marianne Moore, E.E. Cummings, and others. See photograph above.

Lachlan River Vla-kbn\ Chief tributary of the Murrumbidgee River, cen¬ tral New South Wales, Australia. Rising in the Great Dividing Range, it flows northwest and turns southwest joining the Murrumbidgee after a course of 930 mi (1,500 km). Though usually perennial, it may run dry in severe

drought years. It was explored in 1815 by George W. Evans and was named after Lachlan Macquarie, governor of New South Wales.

Lackland, John See John (England)

Laclos \la-'klo\, Pierre (-Ambroise-Francois) Cho- derlos de (b. Oct. 18, 1741, Amiens, France—d. Nov. 5, 1803, Taranto, Parthenopean Republic) French writer. He chose an army career but soon left it to become a writer. He is chiefly remembered for Dangerous Liasions (1782), one of the earliest psychological novels. The epistolary novel of a noble seducer and his female accomplice who take unscrupulous delight in their victims’ misery, it caused an immediate sensation and was banned for years. Laclos later returned to the army and ultimately rose to the rank of general under Napoleon. His book retained its popularity into the 21st century, by which time it had been adapted several times, for film and for television.

Laconia \b-'ko-ne-9\, Gulf of Inlet, southern Ionian Sea southern coast of the Peloponnese, Greece. Cape Malea, which divides the gulf from the Aegean Sea, was once feared by sailors for its treacherous winds and harborless coast. The major stream entering the gulf is the non-navigable Evrotas River.

Lacoste \la-'kost\, (Jean-) Rene (b. July 2, 1904, Paris, France—d. Oct. 12, 1996, Saint-Jean-de-Luz) French tennis player and sportswear entrepreneur. He was noted for a methodical game in which he tried to outlast his opponents. He won the Wimbledon (1925, 1928) and French (1925, 1927, 1929) singles titles and became the first foreigner to win the U.S. championship twice (1926, 1927), the second time beating Bill Til- den. He also won various doubles matches. Nicknamed “the Crocodile,” he retired in 1929 to form a sportswear company that featured a croco¬ dile (later an alligator) emblem on its clothes.

lacquerwork Any of a variety of decorative objects or surfaces, usu¬ ally of wood, to which a coloured, highly polished, and opaque type of varnish called lacquer has been applied. True lacquerwork is Chinese or Japanese in origin. The technique was copied in Europe, where it was known as “japanning,” but European lacquerwork lacks the hardness and brilliance of Asian lacquer. True lacquer is the purified and dehydrated sap of the Rhus vernicifera tree, native to China and cultivated in Japan. Lacquer becomes extremely hard but not brittle on exposure to air and takes a high polish. Many thin layers are applied, allowed to dry, and smoothed before the surface is ready for decoration by carving, engrav¬ ing, or inlay.

lacrosse (French: “the crosier”) Outdoor goal-scoring sport played with sticks called crosses. A crosse has a long handle and a triangular head with a mesh pouch for catching, carrying, and throwing a hard rubber ball. The object of the game is to sling the ball into an opponent’s goal (for one point). French settlers in Canada adapted the modem game from an ancient American Indian activity (baggataway) that was at once sport, combat training, and mystical ceremony. It became an organized sport in the late 19th century. Modern teams have 10 players. The game is divided into four periods of 15 minutes each. Lacrosse is especially popular as a collegiate sport and is played by both men and women. See illustration on following page.

lactation Production of milk by female mammals after giving birth. The milk is discharged by the mammary glands in the breasts. Hormones trig¬ gered by delivery of the placenta and by nursing stimulate milk produc¬ tion. Colostrum (milk that the mother produces in the first few days after giving birth) has more proteins, minerals, and antibodies and fewer calo-

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Standing Woman, bronze sculpture by Gaston Lachaise, 1932; in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, MRS. SIMON GUGGENHEIM FUND

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1066 I lactic acid ► Ladoga

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A typical men's lacrosse field. The women's game is often played on a larger field (120 x 82 yards), with the goals 100 yards apart, and usually without the outside boundary lines marked. The ball is put into play by a face-off at the m iddle of the field, and play is continuous except for goals, fouls, and time-outs. Players may kick the ball, but only the goalie may use his hands.

© MERRIAM-WEBSTER INC.

ries and fats than the mature milk that develops later. Mature milk sup¬ plies nutrients, hormones, and substances that provide the infant with immunity against infectious agents. Most physicians recommend that babies be fed mother’s milk exclusively for the first six months and that nursing continue through the first year. As the child is weaned, lactation tapers off; while nursing continues, fertility is reduced. Problems with lactation may involve hormones, suckling pattern, physical difficulties, or emo¬ tional factors. Mothers taking certain drugs or with some diseases (e.g., AIDS) should not nurse, because of risks to the baby.

lactic acid Carboxylic acid found in certain plant juices, in blood and muscle, and in soil. In blood it occurs in the form of its salts (lactates) when glycogen is broken down in muscle; it can be reconverted to gly¬ cogen in the liver. Stiffness and soreness after prolonged heavy exercise are due to accumulated lactic acid in the muscles. The end product of bacterial fermentation, lactic acid is the most common acidic constituent of fermented milk products (e.g., sour milk and cream, cheese, butter¬ milk, yogurt). It is used in other foods as a flavouring or preservative and industrially in tanning leather and dyeing wool and as a raw material or catalyst in many chemical processes.

lactobacillus Uak-to-bo-'si-losV Any of the rod-shaped, gram-positive (see gram stain) bacteria that make up the genus Lactobacillus. They are widely distributed in animal feeds, manure, and milk and milk products. Various species are used commercially in the production of sour milks, cheeses, and yogurt. Lactobacilli also play an important role in the manu¬ facture of fermented vegetables (pickles and sauerkraut), beverages (beer, wine, and juices), sourdough breads, and some sausages. They inhabit but do not damage animal and human intestinal tracts. Commercial prepara¬ tions of lactobacilli are used to restore normal intestinal flora after anti¬ biotic therapy.

lactose Slightly sweet sugar (disaccharide) composed of two monosac¬ charides, glucose and galactose, linked together. Lactose-intolerant adults, and more rarely infants, cannot digest lactose because they lack the enzyme (lactase) that splits it into simpler sugars and suffer diarrhea and bloating when they eat foods containing it. Lactose, which makes up 2-8% of the milk of mammals, is the only common sugar of animal origin. Commer¬ cial lactose is obtained from whey, a liquid by-product of cheese. It is used in foods, in pharmaceuticals, and in nutrient broths used to produce penicillin, yeast, and riboflavin, and other products.

Ladakh \b-'dak\ Region, eastern Kashmir region, northwestern Indian subcontinent. It covers about 45,000 sq mi (117,000 sq km) and includes the western Himalayan Ladakh Range (see Himalayas), the Karakoram Range, and the upper Indus River valley. Its capital is Leh. India and Paki¬ stan fought over it before peace negotiations in 1949 gave its southern por¬ tion to India (which is part of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir) and the rest to Pakistan. In the Sino-Indian War of 1962 China gained a portion of northeastern Ladakh. The region’s boundaries are still in dispute.

Ladd-Franklin, Christine orig. Christine Ladd (b. Dec. 1, 1847, Windsor, Conn., U.S.—d. March 5, 1930, New York, N.Y.) U.S. scientist

and logician. She fulfilled Ph.D. requirements at Johns Hopkins Uni¬ versity in the 1880s, but, because women candidates were not recog¬ nized, she was not awarded her degree until 1926. In symbolic logic, she reduced syllogistic reasoning to an inconsistent triad with the intro¬ duction of the antilogism, a form that made the testing of deductions easier. The Ladd-Franklin theory of colour vision stressed increasing colour differentiation with evolution and assumed a photochemical model for the visual system. Her principal works are The Algebra of Logic (1883), The Nature of Color Sensa¬ tion (1925), and Color and Color Theories (1929).

Ladies' Home Journal U.S. monthly magazine, one of the oldest in the country and long the trendset¬ ter among women’s magazines. Founded in 1883 as a supplement to the Tribune and Farmer (1879-85), it began an independent publication in 1884. Under the editorship (1889— 1919) of Edward Bok, its circulation surpassed that of any other U.S. pub¬ lication. Bok revolutionized the women’s magazine field by offering high- quality fiction and nonfiction, establishing service departments that answered letters from readers, and conveying a sense of intimacy. After the mid-20th century Ladies ’ Home Journal was overtaken in circulation by its rival, McCall’s. It was acquired in 1986 by the Meredith Corpo¬ ration, which also publishes Better Homes and Gardens.

ladino \b-'de-no\ Central American whose primary language is Span¬ ish and who wears modern dress. Genetically ladinos may be of Indian, African, or mixed descent. An Indian may become a ladino by abandon¬ ing the Indian dress and customs. Many rural ladinos practice subsistence agriculture much like that of their Indian neighbours, but they tend to emphasize cash crops and modem farming techniques, which the Indians shun. In small towns ladinos commonly engage in commerce as well as farming. In the cities they engage in all occupations, from day labourer to university professor.

Ladino \b-'de-no\ language or Sephardic language Romance language spoken by Sephardic Jews in the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, and Turkey, though nearly extinct in many of these areas. Ladino is a very archaic form of Castilian Spanish, mixed with Hebrew elements. It originated in Spain and was carried to its present speech areas by descendants of the Jews who were exiled from Spain after 1492. It preserves many words and grammatical usages that have been lost in modern Spanish. Ladino is usually written in the Hebrew alpha¬ bet.

Ladislas I or Saint Ladislas \'la-de-,slas\ (b. June 27, 1040, Pol.—d. July 29, 1095, Nitra, Slvk.; canonized 1192; feast day June 27) King of Hungary (1077-95). He greatly expanded the boundaries of the kingdom, gaining land in Transylvania and occupying Croatia (1091). In the Inves¬ titure Controversy he sided with the pope. Ladislas introduced Roman Catholicism to Croatia and persecuted pagans in his dominions. He also promulgated a legal code that brought order and prosperity to Hungary. He died while preparing for the First Crusade and was canonized in 1192.

Lado Enclave Vla-do\ Region, central Africa. It was located north of Lake Albert on the west bank of the Upper Nile River, in what is now northern Uganda and southeastern Sudan. It was first explored by Euro¬ peans in 1841—42 and became a station for ivory and slave traders. Brit¬ ain claimed the Upper Nile region in 1894 and leased to Leopold II of Belgium the area known as the Lado Enclave. It was incorporated into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1910.

Ladoga Vla-do-goV, Lake Lake, northwestern Russia. The largest lake in Europe, it covers an area of 6,700 sq mi (17,600 sq km). It is 136 mi (219 km) long and has an average width of 51 mi (82 km); its greatest depth is 754 ft (230 m). It contains 660 islands of more than 2.5 acres (1 hectare) in area. Its outlet is the Neva River, in the southwestern corner. Formerly divided between the U.S.S.R. and Finland, it now lies entirely

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Ladrone Islands ► Lagash I 1067

within Russia. During the Siege of Leningrad (1941^4) in World War II, the lake was the lifeline that connected the city with the rest of the Soviet Union.

Ladrone Islands See Mariana Islands

ladybug or ladybird beetle Any of the approximately 5,000 widely distributed beetles of the family Coccinellidae. The name originated in the Middle Ages, when the beetle was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and called “beetle of Our Lady.” Ladybugs are hemispheric and are usually 0.3-0.4 in. (8-10 mm) long. They have short legs and are usually brightly coloured with black, yellow, or reddish markings. Several generations are produced each summer. Ladybugs are often used to control such insect pests as aphids, scales, and mites, which they eat. Several species of lady- bugs feed on plants.

ladyfish or tenpounder Species ( Elops saurus, family Elopidae) of primarily tropical coastal marine fish. The ladyfish is slender and covered with fine silver scales; the dorsal and anal fins can be depressed into grooves. A predatory fish, it has small, sharp teeth and a bony throat plate between its mandibles. It is up to 35 in. (90 cm) long and weighs up to 30 lbs (14 kg). The young are transparent and eel-like.

lady's slipper Any member of several genera of orchids in which the lip of the flower is slipper-shaped.

The genus Cypripedium has about 50 temperate and subtropical species.

Two well-known species, the yellow lady’s slipper (C. calceolus) and the pink lady’s slipper, or moccasin flower (C. acaule ), are found in tem¬ perate coniferous woods in early spring. Other genera include Phrag- mipedium and Selenipedium of the New World tropics, and the tropical Asian Paphiopedilum. Many hybrids have been developed.

Laemmle Vlem-leV Carl (b. Jan.

17, 1867, Laupheim, Ger.—d. Sept.

24, 1939, Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S.)

German-bom U.S. film producer.

After immigrating to the U.S. in 1884, he worked at various jobs in Chicago before opening a nickel¬ odeon there in 1906 and becoming a leading film distributor. He founded the Independent Motion Picture Co. in 1909 and induced stars such as Mary Pickford to join his studio. Fighting off monopoly control by the Motion Picture Patents Co., he produced 100 short films by 1910. In 1912 he merged with smaller companies to form Universal Pictures, and in 1915 he opened its 230-acre studio in California. His employees included Irv¬ ing Thalberg and Harry Cohn. He is considered the father of the Holly¬ wood star system. Financial setbacks forced him to sell the company in

Laetoli \lI-'to-le\ footprints Several trails of bipedal footprints, pre¬ sumed to be those of Australopithecus afarensis, preserved in volcanic ash at Laetoli in northern Tanzania and dated to approximately 3.5 million years ago. They were discovered in 1978 by a team led by the Leakey fam¬ ily. The footprints indicate that the mechanism of weight and force trans¬ ference through the early hominin foot was virtually identical to that of modern humans and suggest that two of the individuals, one larger and one smaller, walked together in stride and were close enough to have been touching. See also Lucy.

Laetus Vll-tos\, Julius Pomponius or Giulio Pomponio Leto

(b. 1428, Diano, Kingdom of Naples—d. 1497, Rome) Italian humanist. As a youth he decided to dedicate his life to the study of the ancient world. In Rome he gathered other humanists around him in a semisecret society, the Academia Romana. Their celebration of ancient Roman rites aroused the suspicions of Pope Paul II, who briefly dissolved the Academia and imprisoned Laetus and his associates. Laetus’s lack of rigour and critical spirit have led modem scholars to treat his writings with caution.

Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de (b. Sept. 6, 1757, Chavaniac, France—d. May 20, 1834, Paris) French military leader. Born to an ancient noble family of great wealth, he was a courtier at the court of Louis XVI but sought

glory as a soldier. In 1777 he went to America, was appointed a major general, became a close friend of George Washington, and fought with distinction at the Battle of the Brandywine. He returned to France in 1779, persuaded Louis to send a 6,000-man force to aid the colonists, and returned to America in 1780 to command an army in Virginia and help win the Siege of Yorktown. Hailed as “the Hero of Two Worlds,” he returned to France in 1782, became a leader of liberal aristocrats, and was elected to the Estates General in 1789. He presented the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen to the National Assembly. Elected com¬ mander of the national guard of Paris, he sought to protect the king, favouring a constitutional monarchy. When his guards fired on a crowd of petitioners in the Champ de Mars (1791), he lost popularity and resigned his position. He commanded the army against Austria (1792), then defected to the Austrians, who held him captive until 1797. Return¬ ing to France, Lafayette became a gentleman farmer. In the Bourbon Res¬ toration, he served in the Chamber of Deputies (1814-24) and commanded the national guard in the July Revolution (1830).

Laffite \l9-'fet\, Jean (b. 1780?, France—d. 1825?) French pirate. He led a band of privateers that preyed on Spanish ships and smuggled goods and slaves through New Orleans, where the group lived on islands south of the city. In the War of 1812 the British offered Laffite $30,000 for his allegiance in their planned attack on the city. He warned Louisiana officials of the attack but was not believed. He then offered his aid to Gen. Andrew Jack- son, who accepted Laffite’s help in the Battle of New Orleans. After the war Laffite returned to privateering against the Spanish.

Laffitte \la-'fet\, Jacques (b. Oct.

24, 1767, Bayonne, France—d. May 26, 1844, Maisons-sur-Seine) French banker and politician. He became a partner in a Perregaux banking house in 1800 and head of the firm in 1804.

As governor of the Bank of France (1814-19), he raised large sums of money for the provisional govern¬ ment in 1814 and for Louis XVIII dur¬ ing the Hundred Days. He saved Paris from a financial crisis in 1818. An early partisan of a constitutional monarchy under Louis-Philippe, he did much to secure Louis-Philippe’s accession to the throne, and he briefly served as premier (1830-31) in the July Monarchy.

LaFontaine \la-f6 n -'tan. Sir

Louis Hippolyte, Baronet (b.

Oct. 4, 1807, Boucherville, Lower Canada—d. Feb. 26, 1864, Mont¬ real) Canadian statesman. Called to the bar in Lower Canada in 1829, he began his political career the follow¬ ing year, when he was elected to the provincial assembly for Terrebonne.

He supported French-Canadian grievances against the British but opposed the rebellions of 1837-38.

After the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1841, he became the leader of Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). Appointed joint prime minister with Robert Baldwin (1842-43, 1848-51), he established respon¬ sible (i.e., representative) government for Canada. His Rebellion Losses Bill to compensate property owners for damages in 1837-38 provoked riots in Montreal but affirmed the strength of the government.

Lagash \'la-,gash\ modern Telloh Vtel-o\ Ancient capital in Sumer. It was located midway between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Babylonia,

Lady's slipper ( Cypripedium )

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Jacques Laffitte, drawing by A. Deveria; in the Bibliotheque Nationale Paris.

COURTESY OF THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

1068 I Lagen River > lake

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now in southeastern Iraq. Excava¬ tions have uncovered palace and temple ruins as well as cuneiform texts that provide information about Sumer in the 3rd millennium bc.

Founded in the Ubaid period (c.

5200-c. 3500 bc), it came under the control of Sargon of Akkad. It later prospered under Gudea, a governor nominally subject to the Guti. It was occupied as late as the Parthian era (247 bc-ad 224).

Lagen River Vl6-gon\ River, southeastern Norway. Rising in the Hardanger Plateau, it flows south to empty into the Skagerrak, an arm of the North Sea. With a length of 209 mi (337 km), it is the third longest river in the country.

Lagerfeld, Karl (b. Sept. 10,

1938, Hamburg, Ger.) German fash¬ ion designer. After moving to Paris at age 14, he went on to create designs for such established labels as Pierre Balmain, Chloe, Valentino, and Fendi. He is best known as the creative power behind the modern revival of the house of Chanel, which he joined in 1983. Lagerfeld consistently managed to merge the spirit of the times with the chic, time¬ less identity established by the house’s founder, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, making Chanel one of the most coveted and influential labels in late 20th- century fashion.

Lagerkvist Vla-gor-.kvestV Par (Fabian) (b. May 23, 1891, Vaxjo, Swed.—d. July 11, 1974, Stockholm) Swedish novelist, poet, and dra¬ matist. He was involved early in life with socialism and soon began to support literary and artistic radicalism. Though his early works are char¬ acterized by extreme pessimism, he declared his faith in humanity with his great prose monologue The Triumph over Life (1927). In the 1930s and ’40s his writings protested fascism and brutality. The novel The Dwarf (1944) was his first best-seller and his first undisputed critical success. He won world recognition with the novel Barabbas (1950). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1951.

Lagerlof Vla-gor-.lcefV Selma (Ottiliana Lovisa) (b. Nov. 20, 1858, Marbacka, Swed.—d. March 16, 1940, Marbacka) Swedish novel¬ ist. She was working as a schoolmistress when she wrote her first novel, Gosta Berlings saga (1891), a chronicle of life in her native Varmland. Later works include Jerusalem (1901-02), which established her as Swe¬ den’s foremost novelist, and The Wonderful Adventures of Nils and its sequel (1906-07), a geography reader for children in fantasy form. A naturally gifted storyteller, she rooted her work in legend and saga. In 1909 she became the first woman and the first Swedish writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Laghouat \la-'gwat\ Town (pop., 1998 prelim.: 96,342) and oasis, north-central Algeria. At the southern edge of the Atlas Mountains, it was built on two hills that are extensions of Mount Tizigarine. It was settled in the 11th century and came under Moroccan and Ottoman control. Seized by the French in 1852, it reverted to Algeria in 1962.

lagoon Area of relatively shallow, quiet water with access to the sea but separated from it by sandbars, barrier islands, or coral reefs. Coastal lagoons have low to moderate tides and constitute about 13% of the world’s coastline. Their water is colder than the sea in winter and warmer in summer. In warm regions, evaporation may more than balance any freshwater input and may result in hypersaline water and even the buildup of thick salt deposits. Coral-reef lagoons occur on marginal reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, but the most spectacular examples, some more than 30 mi (50 km) across, are associated with Pacific atolls.

Lagos Vla-.gas, 'la-gos\ City (pop., 1999: urban agglomeration, 12,763,000) and chief port, Nigeria. It is Nigeria’s largest city, built on

four main islands—Lagos, Iddo, Ikoyi, and Victoria—that are connected to each other and to the mainland by bridges. Its population is centered on Lagos Island, on the Bight of Benin. Part of the kingdom of Benin in the 16th century, it was inhabited largely by the Yoruba. Beginning in 1808, as Britain attempted to end the slave trade, Lagos came into increasingly greater contact with the British. It was ceded to Britain in 1861, became a crown colony, and was governed from Sierra Leone (1866-74) and as part of the Gold Coast colony (1874-86). Joined with the protectorate of Southern Nigeria in 1906, it was made the capital of the colony of Nigeria in 1914. It was the capital (1960-91) of independent Nigeria until Abuja became the new capital. It is a major trade and industrial centre.

Lagrange \la-'gra n zh\, Joseph-Louis later count de L'Empire (b.

Jan. 25, 1736, Turin, Sardinia-Piedmont—d. April 10, 1813, Paris, France) Italian-born French mathematician who made important contributions to number theory and to classical and celestial mechanics. By age 25 he was recognized as one of the greatest living mathematicians because of his papers on wave propagation (see wave motion) and maxima and minima (see maximum; minimum) of curves. His prodigious output included his text¬ book Mecanique analytique (1788), the basis for all later work in this field. His remarkable discoveries included the Lagrangian, a differential operator characterizing a system’s physical state, and the Lagrangian points, points in space where a small body in the gravitational fields of two large ones remains relatively stable.

Laguna de Bay See Laguna de Bay Laguna Madre See Laguna Madre

Lahn River River, western Germany. A tributary of the Rhine River, it rises in western Germany and after a southerly course reaches the Rhine at Lahnstein. It is 152 mi (245 km) long. Small barges are able to navi¬ gate to Giessen on the partly canalized river.

Lahore \b-'hor\ City (pop., 1998: 5,143,495), capital of Punjab prov¬ ince, northeastern Pakistan. The second largest city of Pakistan, it lies in the upper Indus plain on the Ravi River. It was the capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty in the 12th century and was captured by the Mughal Babur’s troops in 1524; it was later under Akbar and Jahangir. Ruled by Sikhs in the early 19th century, it passed to the British in 1849. After Indian inde¬ pendence, Lahore became part of Pakistan in 1947. It is the site of the mosque of Wazir Khan (1634); a mosque built by Aurangzeb; and the Shalimar gardens, laid out in 1641. It is the seat of Pakistan’s oldest edu¬ cational institution, the University of the Punjab (founded 1882).

Laibach Vll-bak\, Congress of (Jan. 26-May 12, 1821) Meeting of the Holy Alliance powers that set the conditions for Austrian intervention in and occupation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in action against the Neapolitan revolution (1820). The congress proclaimed its hostility to revolutionary regimes, agreed to abolish the Neapolitan constitution, and authorized the Austrian army to restore the absolutist monarchy. The Brit¬ ish and French protested the decision.

Laing VlaqV R(onald) D(avid) (b. Oct. 7, 1927, Glasgow, Scot.—d. Aug. 23, 1989, St. Tropez, France) Scottish psychiatrist. In his widely read and highly controversial book The Divided Self (196 0), his analysis of schizophrenia led him to theorize that insecurity about one’s existence prompts a defensive reaction in which the self splits into separate com¬ ponents, generating psychotic symptoms, and he opposed standard schizo¬ phrenia treatments such as hospitalization and electroshock. He even opposed the concept of mental illness, viewing it as induced by family relationships and society, and radically reconceived the role of the psy¬ chiatrist. He later modified some of his controversial positions.

laissez-faire \,le-sa-'fer\ French "allow to do" Policy dictating a minimum of governmental interference in the economic affairs of indi¬ viduals and society. It was promoted by the physiocrats and strongly sup¬ ported by Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill. Widely accepted in the 19th century, laissez-faire assumed that the individual who pursues his own desires contributes most successfully to society as a whole. The function of the state is to maintain order and avoid interfering with individual ini¬ tiative. The popularity of the laissez-faire doctrine waned in the late 19th century, when it proved inadequate to deal with the social and economic problems caused by industrialization. See also classical economics.

lake Relatively large body of slow-moving or standing water that occu¬ pies an inland basin. Lakes are most abundant in high northern latitudes and in mountain regions, particularly those that were covered by glaciers

Engraved silver vase of King Entemena, from Lagash, Early Dynastic Period; in the Louvre, Paris

ARCHIVES PHOTOGRAPHIQUES

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve ► Lamar I 1069

in recent geologic times. The primary sources of lake water are melting ice and snow, springs, rivers, runoff from the land surface, and direct pre¬ cipitation. In the upper part of lakes there is a good supply of light, heat, oxygen, and nutrients, well distributed by currents and turbulence. As a result, a large number of diverse aquatic organisms can be found there. The most abundant forms are plankton (chiefly diatoms), algae, and flagel¬ lates. In the lower levels and in the sediments, the main forms of life are bacteria. See also limnology.

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve National park, south¬ ern Alaska, U.S. Located on the western shore of Cook Inlet, it was pro¬ claimed a national monument in 1978 and a national park in 1980. Its total area is 3,653,000 acres (1,478,300 hectares). Lake Clark, more than 40 mi (65 km) long, is the largest of its glacial lakes; it feeds rivers that provide the most important spawning ground for red salmon in North America. The park includes glaciers, waterfalls, and active volcanoes.

Lake District Mountainous region, administrative county of Cumbria, northwestern England. Roughly coextensive with Lake District National Park, the country’s largest, it occupies an area of 866 sq mi (2,243 sq km). It contains numerous lakes, including Windermere (England’s larg¬ est), Grasmere, and Coniston Water, as well as England’s highest moun¬ tains, the loftiest being Scafell Pike, which rises to 3,210 ft (978 m). The district was home to several English poets, including William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who celebrated its landscape. It became a national park in 1951.

Lake Dwellings Remains of various pre- and post-BRONZE Age settle¬ ments within the margins of lakes in southern Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. The dwellings appeal’ to have been built on platforms supported by piles above the water surface or above swampy areas along the water’s edge. The platforms supported one- or two-room rectangular huts with beaten clay floors. Cattle and sheep were raised in some of the structures. Most dwellings seem to have burned, either by accident or by attack. Because the Lake Dwellers usually rebuilt new villages on the remains of the old, archaeologists were able to work out a cultural sequence confirming that the Bronze Age immediately followed the Stone Age. See also crannog.

Lake of the Ozarks See Lake of the Ozarks Lake of the Woods See Lake of the Woods

Lake Placid Village (pop., 2000: 2,638), northeastern New York, U.S., on Mirror Lake and Lake Placid, in the Adirondack Mountains. The site was settled in 1800, but it was abandoned after crop failures. Resettled during the 1840s, it was promoted in 1850 as a summer resort, and Melvil Dewey founded the Lake Placid Club there in 1895. It is a year-round rec¬ reation area with numerous hotels, golf courses, ski resorts, and moun¬ tain scenery. It was the scene of the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1980.

lake trout or Mackinaw trout or Great Lakes trout or salmon trout Large, voracious char (Salvelinus namaycush) found widely from northern Canada and Alaska to New England and the Great Lakes, usually in deep, cool lakes. They are greenish gray and covered with pale spots. In spring, 5-lb (2.3-kg) lake trout are caught in shallow water; in summer, fish of up to 100 lbs (45 kg) are trolled in deep water. Lake trout were virtually eliminated from the Great Lakes by the sea lam¬ prey, which entered through the Welland Canal in the 1930s. They have been introduced in the western U.S., South America, Europe, and New Zealand.

Lake Turkana remains Collection of hominin fossils found along the shores of Lake Turkana (Lake Rudolf) in northwestern Kenya. The Koobi Fora site, excavated by the Leakey family and others, has proved to be the richest trove of hominin remains anywhere in the world, yielding fossils that represent perhaps 230 individuals, including members of Homo habi- lis, Homo erectus, and Australopithecus. On the western shore was found a remarkably well-preserved skeleton of an 11-year-old boy (“Turkana Boy”) later classified as H. ergaster or H. erectus and dated to c. 1.8 mil¬ lion years ago. This surprisingly human specimen suggests that H. ergaster may have been the direct ancestor of the hominins that left Africa for Eurasia c. 1 million years ago. See also human evolution.

Lakewood Township (pop., 2000: 60,352), eastern New Jersey, U.S. Located southwest of Asbury Park, it was settled by the Dutch and English in 1800, and it was known successively as Three Partners’ Mill, Washing¬

ton’s Furnace, Bergen Iron Works, and Bricksburg. It is now a popular resort and recreation area, and its population has tripled since the 1960s.

Lakshadweep \bk-'shad-,wep\ Union territory (pop., 2001 prelim.: 60,595) of India. Located in the Arabian Sea off India’s southwestern coast, it includes 27 islands (10 of which are inhabited), with a total land area of 12 sq mi (32 sq km). The capital is Kavaratti. Once ruled by the Hindu Kulashekhara dynasty, it became part of an Islamic dominion in the 12th century. Britain gained sovereignty over it in the 18th century and assumed direct administration in 1908. It passed to India in 1947 and became the nation’s smallest union territory in 1956. Coconut palms are the agricultural mainstay, while fishing is the chief industry.

Lakshmi or Laksmi \'bk-shme\ Hindu and Jain goddess of wealth and good fortune. The consort of Vishnu, she is said to have taken different forms to be with him in each of his incarnations. She is a principal object of worship during Divali, when her presence is sought in homes, temples, and businesses for the whole of the year to come.

Lalique \la-'lek\, Rene (Jules) (b. April 6, 1860, Ay, Fr.—d. May 5, 1945, Paris) French jeweler and glassmaker. Trained in Paris and London, he opened his own firm in Paris in 1885 and soon acquired clients such as Sarah Bernhardt. Reacting against machine-produced jewelry featuring precious gems, he designed elegant and fantastic jewelry with less con¬ ventional gemstones (tourmaline, cornelian, etc.) and materials such as horn. His designs contributed significantly to the Art Nouveau movement and later the Art Deco movement. His interest in architectural glass led him to develop the style of molded glass for which he is famous, char¬ acterized by iced surfaces, elaborate patterns in relief, and occasionally applied or inlaid colour.

Enamel, glass, and topaz hair ornament and brooch by Lalique, 1900; in the Vic¬ toria and Albert Museum, London

COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

lama In Tibetan Buddhism, a spiritual leader. Some lamas are considered to be reincarnations of their predecessors; others have won respect for their high level of spiritual development. The most honored of the rein¬ carnate lamas is the Dalai Lama; second in spiritual authority is the Panchen Lama. The process of discovering the new incarnation of a lama, espe¬ cially the Dalai Lama, is elaborate and exacting. Oracular messages, unusual signs during the lama’s death or during a birth thereafter, and examinations of candidates identify a successor. The child thus identified as the lama’s incarnation is given extensive monastic training from an early age.

Lamar \b-'mar\, Mirabeau Buonaparte (b. Aug. 16, 1798, Lou¬ isville, Ga., U.S.—d. Dec. 19, 1859, Richmond, Texas) U.S. politician. After an unsuccessful career as a merchant in Alabama, he served as sec¬ retary to the governor of Georgia and later became editor of a newspaper favouring states’ rights. He then moved to Texas, where he became involved in the independence struggle against Mexico. As a cavalry com¬ mander, he helped win the Battle of San Jacinto (1836) and was later appointed secretary of war in the provisional Texas government. He was elected vice president of the Republic of Texas under Sam Houston, whom he succeeded as president (1838—41). He initially opposed annexation to the U.S., but after 1844 he advocated statehood to ensure the continua¬ tion of slavery.

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1070 I Lamarck ► Lan Na

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Lamarck \b-'mark\, Jean-Baptiste de Monet, knight de (b.

Aug. 1, 1744, Bazentin-le-Petit, Picardy, France—d. Dec. 18, 1829, Paris) French biologist. He is credited with the first use of the word biology (1802). He was one of the originators of the modem concept of the museum collection, an array of objects whose arrangement constitutes a classification under institutional sponsorship, maintained and kept up-to- date by knowledgeable specialists. He seems to have been the first to relate fossils to the living organisms to which they corresponded most closely. His notion that acquired traits could be inherited (called Lamarckism) was discredited after the 1930s by most geneticists except in the Soviet Union, where it dominated Russian genetics until the 1960s (see Trofim Lysenko). See also Charles Darwin; Darwinism.

Lamartine \la-mar-'ten\, Alphonse de (b. Oct. 21, 1790, Macon, France—d. Feb. 28, 1869, Paris) French poet and statesman. After brief military service under Louis XVIII, he turned to literature, writing verse tragedies and elegies. He is chiefly remembered for his successful first collection of poetry, the musical, evocative Meditations poetiques (1820), which established him as a key figure in French Romanticism. From 1830 he was active in politics, speaking for the working classes. After France’s Second Republic was proclaimed in 1848, he briefly headed the provisional government until the revolution was crushed. In later years he published novels, poetry, and historical works in a vain struggle against bankruptcy.

Lamashtu \la-'mash-tu\ In Mesopotamian religion, the most terrible of all female demons. The daughter of the sky god Anu, Lamashtu killed children, consumed human flesh and blood, blighted plants, spoiled riv¬ ers and streams, sent nightmares, caused miscarriages, and brought dis¬ ease. She had seven names and was often described in incantations as “seven witches.” She was portrayed on amulets as a lion- or bird-headed female figure kneeling on an ass, holding a double-headed serpent in each hand and suckling dogs or pigs at her breasts.

lamb Live sheep before the age of one year, and the flesh of such ani¬ mals. The flesh of the mature ram or ewe at least one year old is called mutton; the meat of sheep 12-20 months old may be called yearling mut¬ ton. The meat of sheep 6-10 weeks old is usually sold as baby lamb, and spring lamb comes from sheep 5-6 months old. The primary lamb- and mutton-consuming countries (on a per capita basis) are New Zealand and Australia.

Lamb, Charles (b. Feb. 10, 1775, London, Eng.—d. Dec. 27, 1834, Edmonton, Middlesex) English essayist and critic. Lamb was employed as a clerk at East India House (headquarters for the East India Company) from 1792 to 1825. From 1796 he was guardian of his sister, the writer Mary Lamb (1764-1847), who, in a fit of madness (which proved recur¬ rent), had killed their mother. He is best known for the often autobio¬ graphical essays he wrote under the pseudonym Elia for London Magazine, collected in Essays of Elia (1823) and The Last Essays of Elia (1833). Among the greatest of English letter writers, he included some of his most perceptive literary criticism, often in the form of marginalia, in letters. He collaborated with Mary on Tales from Shakespear (1807), a highly popular retelling of the plays for children.

Lamb, William See Viscount Melbourne lambkill See SHEEP LAUREL

lamb's ears or lamb's ear Widely cultivated perennial herb (Stachys byzantina, or S. olympica ) of the mint family, native to South Asia. Covered with densely matted hairs, its silver-green leaves, which provide a pleasing contrast to green leaves and to bright- or soft-coloured flowers, make lamb’s ears a hardy favourite in perennial gardens of the northeastern U.S.

Lamennais \lam-'ne\, (Hugues-) Felicite (-Robert de) (b. June 19, 1782, Saint-Malo, France—d. Feb. 27, 1854, Paris) French priest and philosopher. With his brother Jean, he sketched a program of church reform in Reflections on the State of the Church (1808) and in 1814 pro¬ duced a defense of ultramontanism (papal authority). Ordained a priest in 1816, he wrote the acclaimed Essay on Indifference Toward Religion (1817-23), which argued for the necessity of religion. After the July Revo¬ lution (1830), he cofounded the journal L’Avenir to advocate democratic principles and church-state separation. Its principles were condemned by the pope in 1832. Lamennais’s The Words of a Believer (1834), written in response, provoked another papal encyclical and led to Lamennais’s severance from the church. Thereafter he wrote in the cause of republi¬ canism and socialism.

Lamerie \lam-'re\, Paul de (b. April 9, 1688, ’s Hertogenbosch, Neth.—d. Aug. 1, 1751, London, Eng.) Dutch-born British silversmith. His Huguenot parents had left France in the early 1680s and settled in England by 1691. After an apprenticeship with a London goldsmith, he registered his mark and opened a shop in 1713. Early in his career he made simple vessels such as tankards and teapots in an unadorned Queen Anne style; later he used more ornamentation. By the 1730s he had estab¬ lished his own version of the Rococo style, seen in a 1737 cup with handles in the form of snakes.

laminar flow Fluid flow in which the fluid travels smoothly or in regular paths. The velocity, pressure, and other flow properties at each point in the fluid remain constant. Laminar flow over a horizontal surface may be thought of as consisting of thin layers, all parallel to each other, that slide over each other. It is common only where the flow channel is rela¬ tively small, the fluid is moving slowly, and its viscosity is relatively high. Examples include the flow of oil through a thin tube and blood flow through capillaries. See also turbulent flow.

L'Amour Ua-'mor-, la-'mur\, Louis orig. Louis Dearborn

LaMoore (b. March 22, 1908, Jamestown, N.D., U.S.—d. June 10, 1988, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. author of westerns. He left school at age 15 and traveled the world before beginning his writing career in the 1940s. He used pseudonyms, including Tex Bums and Jim Mayo, until Hondo (1953) became a successful film. His more than 100 works, mostly for¬ mula westerns that convincingly portray frontier life, have sold 200 mil¬ lion copies in 20 languages, and more than 30—including Kilkenny (1954), The Burning Hills (1956), Guns of the Timberland (1955), and How the West Was Won (1963)—were the basis of films.

lamprey Vlam-pre, Tam-,pra\ Any of about 22 species of primitive, jawless fishes (with hagfishes in class Agnatha). Lampreys live in coastal and freshwater in temperate regions worldwide except Africa. Eel-like, scaleless animals, they are 6—40 in. (15-100 cm) long. Lampreys have well-developed eyes, a single nostril on top of the head, a cartilaginous skeleton, and a sucking mouth with horny teeth surrounding the round opening. They spend years as burrowing larvae; adults of most species move into the sea. They attach to fish with their mouth and feed on their host’s blood and tissues. Some species will remain in freshwater, notably the sea lamprey, which entered the Great Lakes and nearly eliminated lake trout and other commercially important fishes there.

Lamprey ( Lampetra ) on rainbow trout.

OXFORD SCIENTIFIC FILMS/BRUCE COLEMAN LTD.

Lampsacus Vlamp-so-kosX Ancient Greek colony on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles. It was famous for its wines and was the chief seat of the worship of Priapus. Colonized in 654 bc by Ionian Phocaea, it took part in the Ionian revolt against the Persian Achaemenian dynasty in 499 and later joined the Delian League. When Athens fell in 405, it again came under Persian control until Alexander the Great captured it in 334. It was the home of the philosopher Strato of Lampsacus.

LAN See local area network

Lan Chang See Lan Sang Lan-chou See Lanzhou

Lan Na One of the first major Tai (Siamese) kingdoms in Thai history. It was founded by Mangrai (r. c. 1259-1317) in the northern region of

© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Lan Sang ► land reform I 1071

present-day Thailand; its capital was the city of Chiang Mai. Lan Na was a powerful state and a centre for the spread of Theravada Buddhism. Under Tilokaracha (r. 1441-87) it was famous for its Buddhist scholarship and literature. It remained independent until it was conquered by Myanmar (Burma) in the 16th century. The Siamese did not reassert control over the area until the 19th century.

Lan Sang \'lan-'saq\ or Lan Xang \Tan-'shaq\ or Lan Chang

Vlan-'chaqX Laotian kingdom that flourished from the 14th century until it was split into two separate kingdoms in the 18th century. Conflict with its neighbours forced Lan Sang’s rulers to move the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1563, but the kingdom maintained its power.

Lan-Ts'ang Chiang See Mekong River Lan Xang See Lan Sang

Lanao \la-'nau\, Lake or Lake Sultan Alonto Lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is located in a plateau region north of a range of active volcanoes. The second largest lake in the Philippines, it occu¬ pies an area of 131 sq mi (340 sq km). It is about 20 mi (32 km) long and has a maximum width of 10 mi (16 km).

Lancang Jiang See Mekong River

Lancashire Vlaq-ko-.shirX Administrative (pop. 2001: 1,134,976), his¬ toric, and geographic county, northwestern England. The administrative county comprises 12 districts. In the early Middle Ages it was a province of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. The region included the ancestral lands of the house of Lancaster. In the Industrial Revolution it became an important manufacturing region and a centre of the textile industry. Lancaster and Preston are its major market and industrial cities; it also has resort towns, including Blackpool, on the Irish Sea.

Lancaster, Burt(on Stephen) (b. Nov. 2, 1913, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 20, 1994, Century City, Calif.) U.S. film actor. He toured with circuses as an acrobat in the 1930s and served in North Africa and Italy during World War II. He first appeared in movie houses in The Kill¬ ers (1946), which made him a star. He was noted for his portrayals of physically tough, emotionally sensitive characters. Lancaster’s many films include Come Back, Little Sheba (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Elmer Gantry (1960, Academy Award), The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Leopard (1963), Atlantic City (1981), Local Hero (1983), and Field of Dreams (1989).

Lancaster, house of Cadet branch of the house of Plantagenet that pro¬ vided three kings of England in the 15th century (Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI). The family name first appeared in 1267, when the title of earl of Lan¬ caster was granted to Henry Ill’s son Edmund (1245-96). Edmund’s grand¬ son Henry (d. 1361) became the 1st duke of Lancaster, and the inheritance fell to his youngest daughter, Blanche, and to her husband, John of Gaunt. His son, Henry of Lancaster, became King Henry IV, and the duchy of Lan¬ caster was merged in the crown. The Lancaster dynasty ended after the defeat of Henry VI by Edward IV of the house of York (see Wars of the Roses), and the Lancaster claims were passed on to the house of Tudor.

lancelet See amphioxus

Lancelot or Launcelot Vlan-so-.lat, , lan-s9- i lst\ One of the greatest knights in Arthurian legend, the lover of Guinevere and the father of Galahad. He first appeared in a 12th-century romance by Chretien de Troyes, and he is a major character in Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Dart- hur. His full name, Sir Lancelot du Lac, refers to his upbringing by the Lady of the Lake, the enchantress who carried him off in infancy and trained him to be a model of chivalry before sending him to Arthur’s court. There he became the favorite of King Arthur and the lover of Queen Guinevere. His adultery with Guinevere caused him to fail in the quest for the grail and set in motion the events that led to the destruction of Camelot. He was displaced as the model knight by Galahad, his son by the grailkeeper’s daughter Elaine.

Lancet, The British medical journal established in 1823, published weekly from New York and London. Its founder and first editor, Thomas Wakley, considered at the time a radical reformer, stated that the intent of the new journal was to report on hospital lectures and describe impor¬ tant cases of the day. It has since played a significant role in medical and hospital reform movements in Britain and has become a highly presti¬ gious medical journal around the world.

Lanchester Vlan-chos-torN, Frederick William (b. Oct. 23, 1868, London, Eng.—d. March 8, 1946, Birmingham, Warwickshire) British automobile and aeronautics pioneer. Lanchester produced the first British automobile, a one-cylinder, five-horsepower model, in 1896. After he successfully produced improved models, financial backing enabled him to produce several hundred cars over the next few years, vehicles notable for a relative freedom from vibration, a graceful appearance, and a lug¬ gage rack. He published an important paper (1897) on the principles of heavier-than-air flight and later major texts on aeronautics.

Lancisi \lan-'che-ze\, Giovanni Maria (b. Oct. 26, 1654, Rome, Papal States—d. Jan. 20, 1720, Rome) Italian anatomist and epidemiolo¬ gist. He related the prevalence of malaria in swampy areas to the presence of mosquitoes and recommended swamp drainage to prevent it. He linked an increase in sudden deaths in Rome to causes such as hemorrhagic stroke, cardiac enlargement and dilation, and growths on heart valves and explored causes of heart enlargement. He also provided the first descrip¬ tion of syphilitic aneurysms.

land In economics, the resource that encompasses the natural resources used in production. In classical economics, the three factors of production are land, labour, and capital. Land was considered to be the “original and inexhaustible gift of nature.” In modern economics, it is broadly defined to include all that nature provides, including minerals, forest products, and water and land resources. While many of these are renewable resources, no one considers them “inexhaustible.” The payment to land is called rent. Like land, its definition has been broadened over time to include payment to any productive resource with a relatively fixed supply.

Land, Edwin (Herbert) (b. May 7, 1909, Bridgeport, Conn., U.S.—d. March 1, 1991, Cambridge, Mass.) U.S. inventor and physicist. After briefly attending Harvard University, he cofounded the Land-Wheelwright Laboratories in Boston in 1932. Interested in light polarization, in 1932 he developed the polarizer (which he called the Polaroid J sheet), for which he envisioned numerous uses. By 1936, Land began to use types of Polaroid material in sunglasses and other optical devices. It was later used in camera filters and other optical equipment. In 1937 Land founded the Polaroid Corp. in Cambridge, Mass. In 1947 he demonstrated the revolutionary Polaroid Land Camera, which produced a finished print in 60 seconds; he introduced colour Polaroid film in 1963. His interest in light and colour resulted in a new theory of colour perception. He received more than 500 patents.

Land-Grant College Act of 1862 or Morrill Act Act of the U.S. Congress (1862) that provided grants of land to states to finance the establishment of colleges specializing in “agriculture and the mechanic arts.” Named for its sponsor, Vermont Congressman Justin Smith Morrill (1810-98), it granted each state 30,000 acres (12,140 hectares) for each of its congressional seats. Funds from the sale of the land were used by some states to establish new schools; other states turned the money over to existing state or private colleges to create schools of agriculture and mechanic arts (known as “A&M” colleges). The military training required in the curriculum of all land-grant schools led to the establishment of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, an educational program for future army, navy, and air force officers. The second Morrill Act (1890) initiated regu¬ lar appropriations to support land-grant colleges, which came to include 17 predominantly African American colleges and 30 American Indian colleges.

land mine Explosive charge buried just below the surface of the earth, used in military operations against troops and vehicles. It may be fired by the weight of vehicles or troops on it, the passage of time, or remote con¬ trol. Though improvised land mines (buried artillery shells) were used in World War I, they only became important in warfare during World War II and have been widely used since. Most early mines had metal cases; later models were sometimes made of other materials to prevent magnetic detection. They are typically used to disrupt or prevent the massed attack of tanks or infantry, but in post-World War II conflicts they have also been used to render land useless to enemy civilian populations. A treaty banning land mines—not signed by the U.S., Russia, and China—went into effect in 1997. See also submarine mine.

land reform Deliberate change in the way agricultural land is held or owned, the methods of its cultivation, or the relation of agriculture to the rest of the economy. The most common political objective of land reform is to abolish feudal or colonial forms of landownership, often by taking land away from large landowners and redistributing it to landless peas-

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1072 I land tenure ► landscape gardening

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ants. Other goals include improving the social status of peasants and coordinating agricultural production with industrialization programs. The earliest record of land reform is from 6th-century-BC Athens, where Solon abolished the debt system that forced peasants to mortgage their land and labour. The concentration of land in the hands of large landowners became the rule in the ancient world, however, and remained so through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The French Revolution brought land reform to France and established the small family farm as the cornerstone of French democracy. Serfdom was abolished throughout most of Europe in the 19th century. The Russian serfs were emancipated in 1861, and the Russian Revolution of 1917 introduced collectivization of agriculture, attended by loss of capital and devastating famines. Land reform was instituted in a number of other countries where communists came to power, notably China. It remains a potent political issue in many parts of the world. See also absentee ownership.

land tenure, feudal See feudal land tenure

Landau \lan-'dau. Lev (Davidovich) (b. Jan. 22, 1908, Baku, Azer¬ baijan, Russian Empire—d. April 1, 1968, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet physicist. After graduating from Leningrad State University, he studied at Niels Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen. He is known for his work in low-temperature physics, atomic and nuclear physics, and solid-state, stellar-energy, and plasma physics. For explaining the phenomenon of liquid helium, he was awarded a 1962 Nobel Prize. For his work in many areas of physics, his name is applied to Landau diamagnetism, Landau levels, Landau damping, the Landau energy spectrum, Landau cuts, and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in Moscow.

Landers, Ann orig. Esther Pauline Friedman (b. July 4, 1918, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.—d. June 22, 2002, Chicago, Ill.) U.S. newspaper columnist. She took over an advice column in the Chicago Sun-Times in 1955, adopting her now-familiar pseudonym, and made it into the most widely syndicated advice column in the U.S.; by the early 21st century her column appeared in more than 1,200 newspapers and had some 90 million readers. Her twin sister, Pauline, has written the competitive and equally well-known “Dear Abby” advice column (originally for the San Francisco Chronicle) since 1956.