Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

in the West Indies. However, many

other islands have ties to foreign

countries. Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Virgin Islands have ties to the United

States. The British Virgin Islands, the

Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman

Islands, Anguilla, and Montserrat have

ties to Great Britain. The Netherlands

Charlotte Amalie, on the island of Saint

Thomas, is a port for tourist ships. The city

is the capital of the U.S. Virgin Islands, in

the West Indies. Tourism is important to the

economies of many islands in the region.

The red-billed tropic bird is a seabird of the

West Indies. The islands of the region have

a rich variety of native birds, including parrots,

hummingbirds, doves, and pigeons.

32 West Indies BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Antilles and Aruba have ties to The

Netherlands. Guadeloupe and

Martinique are parts of France. The

Netherlands and France each control a

part of Saint Martin.

History

Between 200,000 and several million

Native Americans lived in the region

before Europeans arrived in 1492. In

that year Christopher Columbus landed

on several islands in theWest Indies. He

probably landed first on an island in

The Bahamas, then Cuba, and finally

Hispaniola. Columbus thought he was

in Asia, in the area now called the East

Indies. Therefore, he called the people

on the islands Indians.

Europeans soon controlled all of the

West Indies. Haiti won independence

from France in 1804. By 1902, the

Dominican Republic and Cuba were

independent, too. Most of the other

countries in theWest Indies gained

independence in the second half of the

1900s.

#More to explore

Antigua and Barbuda • Bahamas, The

• Barbados • Caribbean Sea • Cuba

• Dominica • Dominican Republic

• East Indies • Grenada • Haiti

• Jamaica • Puerto Rico • Saint Kitts and

Nevis • Saint Vincent and the

Grenadines • Trinidad and Tobago

West Nile Virus

West Nile is a virus that kills many types

of birds. It also infects humans and

other mammals. Most human infections

are mild, but some are deadly. For years

West Nile virus was found mostly in the

Middle East, Africa, and western Asia.

In the 1990s it spread to Europe and the

United States.

West Nile virus is spread from bird to

bird through mosquito bites. Mosquitoes

also carry the virus from birds to

mammals. The virus does not pass from

one person to another.

Only about one out of every five people

infected withWest Nile virus becomes

ill. The symptoms, or signs, of illness

start 3 to 14 days after infection. They

include fever, headache, muscle aches,

vomiting, and skin rash. These symptoms

generally last a few days.

A small number of people infected with

the virus become seriously ill. This

mostly happens to people over the age of

50. In these people the virus reaches the

brain, causing a condition called

encephalitis. Symptoms of encephalitis

include severe headache, high fever, neck

stiffness, muscle weakness, and confusion.

A person with encephalitis may

become paralyzed or die.

There is no cure for infection withWest

Nile virus. The best way to keep from

getting infected is to avoid being bitten

by mosquitoes. Treatment focuses on

relieving the symptoms. In severe cases

people need to stay in a hospital for

treatment.

#More to explore

Encephalitis • Virus

The first

human case of

West Nile

virus was

found in 1937

in the West

Nile district of

Uganda, a

country in

Africa.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA West Nile Virus 33

West Virginia

The U.S. state ofWest Virginia

was created during the American

CivilWar. In 1861 the state of Virginia

voted to withdraw from the Union. But

leaders from the state’s northwestern

counties rebelled and set up their own

government. This division of Virginia

lasted until June 20, 1863, whenWest

Virginia became the 35th state of the

Union.

West Virginia is nicknamed the Mountain

State because of its rugged landscape.

Charleston is the capital.

Geography

West Virginia is in the east-central part

of the United States. It is bordered on

the north by Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Ohio and Kentucky lie to the west.

Virginia is to the east and south.

All ofWest Virginia lies within the

Appalachian Mountains. It is a state of

forested hills and mountains separated

by narrow valleys. The Allegheny Mountains,

a section of the Appalachians, have

the highest peaks. Many of them are

more than 4,000 feet (1,200 meters)

high. The Great Kanawha, Little

Kanawha, Monongahela, and Shenandoah

rivers cross the state.

West Virginia has a humid climate with

warm summers and cold winters. The

Alleghenies are the wettest part of the

state. The mountains are often foggy.

People

The first European settlers in what is

nowWest Virginia were Germans. Later

came English and Scots-Irish settlers. In

the late 1800s many European immigrants

came toWest Virginia to work in

coal mines.

Sandstone Falls are part of the New River

Gorge National River in southern West Virginia.

The river is part of the national park

system.

34 West Virginia BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

West Virginia’s population today is

about 95 percent white. African Americans

are the largest minority group.

They make up about 3 percent of the

population.

Economy

Mining has been the traditional basis of

West Virginia’s economy. The state is

rich in natural resources, including coal,

natural gas, oil, and salt. But the mining

industry decreased beginning in the late

1970s. Service industries, such as tourism,

sales, and health care, helped the

state’s economy improve in the 1990s.

Another boost to the economy was the

transfer of government jobs to the state

fromWashington, D.C. Growth in the

timber industry was important as well.

History

European explorers in theWest Virginia

region found Shawnee, Iroquois, and

Cherokee tribes already living there. In

1726 the first lasting European settlement

was established in the northeast.

The English controlled the region during

the 1750s and 1760s. Though eastern

Virginia was rapidly settled, the

west’s rugged land limited settlement

there. After the American Revolution

(1775–83), mostly nonslaveholding

settlers moved west.

TheWestern part of Virginia was always

different from the east. The land in the

west was so mountainous that there were

few plantations, or large farms, there.

This meant that there was little need for

slave labor. Eastern Virginia, however,

had many plantations. Virginia broke

away from the Union in 1861 to join

the Confederacy with other slave states.

Soon after that, the northwestern counties

broke away from Virginia. In June

1863, while the American CivilWar

(1861–65) was being fought, these

counties joined the Union as the new

state of West Virginia.

After the CivilWar, industry grew rapidly

in the state.West Virginia’s raw

materials helped the growth of industry

in other states as well. The state’s population

increased steadily up to 1950.

After that, however, many people left

West Virginia in search of jobs. Unemployment

soared again in the 1980s, and

almost one tenth of the population

moved away. The population increased

slightly by the year 2000.

..More to explore

American CivilWar • Appalachian

Mountains • Charleston

Glass objects are on display at a museum

in Huntington, West Virginia. The state has

many glass-making factories because it has

a great deal of sand, which is the main

ingredient of glass.

Facts About

WEST VIRGINIA

Flag

Population

(2000 census)

1,808,344—

rank, 37th state;

(2008 estimate)

1,814,468—

rank, 37th state

Capital

Charleston

Area

24,230 sq mi

(62,755 sq km)—

rank, 41st state

Statehood

June 20, 1863

Motto

Montani Semper

Liberi

(Mountaineers

Are Always Free)

State bird

Cardinal

State flower

Rhododendron

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA West Virginia 35

Wetland

Wetlands are areas where the land does

not drain well. The ground in a wetland

is saturated, or full of water. Often the

ground is covered with shallow water.

Wetlands are usually classified as

swamps, marshes, or bogs. The different

types of wetlands have different kinds of

soil and plants. Both swamps and marshes

have soils that contain many minerals.

They differ in their plant life.Most of the

plants in swamps are trees, but marshes

have grassy plants. Bogs differ from

swamps and marshes because their soil

has few minerals.Only mosses and a few

other types of plants can grow in bogs.

Wetlands play a major role in the environment.

They are home to a great variety

of plants and animals. A wetland

system can also protect shorelines,

cleanse polluted waters, prevent floods,

and restore underground water supplies.

#More to explore

Bog • Marsh • Swamp

Whale

Whales are large animals that live in

water. Whales may look like fish, but

they are mammals. They breathe air and

produce milk for their young. Whales

make up an order, or large group of animals,

called Cetacea. The order includes

dolphins and porpoises.

Toothed and Baleen Whales

There are two basic kinds of whale:

toothed and baleen. Toothed whales

have sharp teeth and eat mainly fish and

squid. There are about 70 species, or

types, of toothed whale. These include

the sperm whale, the beluga, the killer

whale, the narwhal, beaked whales, and

Marsh grasses grow in a saltwater marsh.

Marshes and swamps can form in freshwater

or salt water.

Humpback whales are very acrobatic. They

often leap out of the water and then arch

backward as they fall back down. They

make a loud slapping sound when they hit

the surface.

36 Wetland BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

There are about 80 species, or types, of whale. The blue whale is the largest of all.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Whale 37

pilot whales. Dolphins and porpoises

also belong to this group.

There are about 10 species of baleen

whale. These include the blue whale,

the gray whale, the fin whale, the

humpback whale, the sei whale, and

right whales. Baleen whales do not have

teeth. A baleen whale feeds either by

swimming with its mouth open or by

gulping water. A series of filters in the

mouth called baleen acts as a strainer.

The baleen lets water out but holds in

small fishes, shrimps, and other

creatures.

Where Whales Live

Whales live in oceans and seas all over

the world. Some species can be found in

rivers. Large species often migrate, or

travel from one place to another, at certain

times of the year. Some types travel

thousands of miles.

Physical Features

Whales are generally more than 10 feet

(3 meters) long. Several species, mainly

baleens, may be 60 feet (18 meters)

long or more. The blue whale is the

largest animal that has ever lived. It

may be more than 100 feet (30 meters)

long.

Whales are usually black, gray, black and

white, or white. Some types are bluish

gray. A whale’s skin is smooth. A thick

layer of fat, called blubber, beneath the

skin protects the animal from cold

water.

A whale’s torpedo-shaped body helps it

to move quickly through the water. It

pushes its tail up and down to move.

The tail is divided into two broad sections

called flukes. These extend horizontally

(side to side) instead of

vertically (up and down), as the fins of a

fish do. A whale also uses two flippers

on the front of its body for steering.

Whales go to the surface of the water to

breathe. A whale takes in air through

one or two openings, called blowholes,

on the top of the head.

Behavior

Many kinds of whale, especially toothed

whales often can be found in groups

called schools or pods. These groups

can range in size from a few animals to

more than 1,000. Baleen whales are

more likely to live alone or in small

schools.

Whales make many sounds—including

whistles, barks, and screams—to

communicate with other whales.

Toothed whales also make special

sounds to locate objects they cannot

see. These sounds bounce off solid

surfaces and travel back to the whale’s

sensitive ears. This process is called

echolocation.

Life Cycle

About one year after mating, a female

whale gives birth to a single baby, or

calf. She nurses her calf for a number of

months. Some types of whale may live

for 100 years or longer.

#More to explore

Dolphin • Fish • Mammal • Porpoise

For many

years people

hunted whales

for the oil in

their blubber.

People used

whale oil as

fuel and to

make soap.

Today whale

hunting is very

limited.

38 Whale BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Wheat

Wheat is a very important grain. It is a

major source of nutrients for people.

More of the world’s farmland is devoted

to wheat than to any other food crop.

Wheat belongs to the grass family.

People first grew wheat as early as 9,000

years ago in the Middle East. Today

China, India, and the United States are

leading wheat producers.

There are thousands of kinds of wheat.

Wheat plants grow to between 2 and 5

feet (0.6 and 1.5 meters) tall. Most types

have a hollow stem. At the end of the

stem is a structure called a head, or

spike. The spike is made up of 20 to 100

tiny flowers. These flowers produce the

seeds, or kernels, of wheat. Wheat kernels

vary in color depending on the type

of wheat. Some are dark reddish brown.

Others are brown, tan, white, cream, or

yellow.

Farmers harvest wheat using a machine

called a combine. The combine cuts

down the plants. Then it separates the

seeds from the rest of the plants.

Most wheat is used to make food for

people. Whole or coarsely chopped

wheat kernels are cooked and used in

cereals and soups. But wheat is more

commonly used in the form of flour. To

make flour, the kernels are cleaned and

then crushed into tiny pieces. Wheat

flour is used to make bread, cakes,

crackers, cookies, and pasta.

Wheat is also used to feed livestock. The

dried plants are used as straw for animal

beds.

#More to explore

Grain • Grass

Wheatley, Phillis

Phillis Wheatley was the first African

American to write a book. Her book of

poetry was published in 1773. Wheatley

proved to many people that blacks were

equal to whites in creative ability.

Phillis Wheatley was born inWest

Africa. Her date of birth and her African

name are not known. A slave ship took

her to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1761.

She was then about 8 years old. A

couple named John and Susanna Wheatley

bought her. They gave her their own

last name.

Wheatley quickly learned to speak, read,

and write English. In 1767 a newspaper

Golden spikes of wheat are ready to harvest.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wheatley, Phillis 39

published one of her poems. Three years

later Wheatley wrote another poem to

honor a clergyman named George

Whitefield. The poem was published

throughout the North American colonies

and in England. Wheatley became

famous.

By 1772 Wheatley had written enough

poems to fill a book. Susanna Wheatley

helped Phillis to publish the book in

England. The book was called Poems on

Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

Wheatley traveled to England in 1773.

The English welcomed her as a famous

author, though she was still a slave.

Wheatley gained her freedom when she

returned from England.

Some of Wheatley’s poems could not be

published in England because they supported

American independence. Her

most famous patriotic poem is To His

Excellency, GeneralWashington.

In 1778 Wheatley married John Peters, a

free black man. She had three children

with him. Wheatley was working as a

servant when she died on December 5,

1784.

#More to explore

African Americans • Poetry

Whippoorwill

The whippoorwill is a North American

bird that is nocturnal, or active at night.

It is named for its call—three whistled

notes that sound like “whip-poor-will.”

It may repeat this call 400 times without

stopping.

Whippoorwills are in the same scientific

family as nightjars and nighthawks.

They are also related to owls. The scientific

name of the whippoorwill is

Caprimulgus vociferus.

Whippoorwills live in woodlands. They

can be found in southeastern Canada, in

the eastern and southwestern United

States, and in Mexico. They may spend

the winter as far south as Costa Rica.

The whippoorwill is about 9.5 inches

(24 centimeters) long. It has spotted

brownish and grayish feathers. The bird

has very short legs and large eyes. Its bill

is small, but its mouth can open very

wide. The corners of the male’s tail are

white. The male also has a thin band of

white feathers around the neck.

A statue in Boston, Massachusetts, honors

Phillis Wheatley.

40 Whippoorwill BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Around dawn and dusk the whippoorwill

swoops across the sky, searching for

insects to eat. By day it sleeps on the

forest floor or perches lengthwise on a

branch.

#More to explore

Bird • Owl

White House

The president of the United States lives

and works in the White House. The

president’s family lives there also. The

White House is inWashington, D.C., at

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Its

walls are made of sandstone and painted

white.

Layout

The president uses part of the White

House for social events. The biggest

room, called the East Room, is where

dances and large gatherings take place.

The State Dining Room is only slightly

smaller. As many as 140 people can sit

down to eat there. The Red, Blue, and

Green rooms are named for the colors

that were used to decorate them. All

these rooms are on the first floor.

The second and third floors contain

private living space for the president, the

president’s family, and the president’s

guests. The family and guests can enjoy

the White House’s movie theater, swimming

pool, tennis court, jogging track,

and library. In addition, the White

House has its own doctor’s office, dentist’s

office, and barber shop.

The West and East wings of the White

House connect with the main building.

They contain offices for government

workers. The office of the president—

called the Oval Office—is in theWest

Wing. The office of the vice president is

also in theWestWing. The EastWing

holds other offices, including those of

the first lady (the president’s wife) and

her staff.

History

The first president of the United

States—GeorgeWashington—did not

A whippoorwill rests on a log. The bird’s

color helps it blend in well with the wood.

The White House is the official residence of

the president of the United States. It is one

of the best-known sites in the U.S. capital,

Washington, D.C.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA White House 41

live in the White House. It had not been

built yet, andWashington, D.C., did

not exist when he was elected. The capital

at the time was New York City. DuringWashington’s

first term the capital

was moved to Philadelphia. In 1790 the

U.S. Congress chose the area that is now

Washington, D.C., to be the site of the

new permanent U.S. capital. In 1792 an

architect named James Hoban drew up

plans for a house where the president

could live. The house was not ready

until 1800. John Adams was the first

president to live there.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British

soldiers enteredWashington, D.C.

They set a fire that damaged the inside

of the White House.Workers finished

making repairs in 1817.

In 1902 workers built theWestWing to

make office space. In 1942 workers built

the EastWing to make even more space.

From 1948 to 1952 much of the interior

of the building was rebuilt. The outside

walls were not changed. Over the years

several presidents and their wives have

redecorated the rooms of the White

House. Today the public can tour parts

of the main building.

#More to explore

War of 1812 •Washington, D.C.

Whitney, Eli

Eli Whitney was one of the first great

inventors in the United States. He

invented the cotton gin, which helped to

make cotton the most important crop of

the Southern states. He also invented

methods of producing many goods

quickly and cheaply. Factories still use

these methods, called mass production,

today.

Eli Whitney was born inWestboro,

Massachusetts, on December 8, 1765.

He graduated from Yale College in

1792. He then moved south to Georgia.

Many farmers in Georgia grew cotton.

Whitney found out that they had no

easy way to separate cottonseeds from

cotton fiber so that the cotton could be

used. Whitney solved the problem by

inventing a machine called the cotton

gin (short for “engine”). The cotton gin

was an immediate success. Farmers were

able to produce far more cotton each

year. Between 1793 and 1800, U.S. cotton

production rose from about 3,000

bales (bundles) a year to 73,000 bales a

year.

The Green Room is one of the public rooms

on the first floor of the White House.

42 Whitney, Eli BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Whitney also had ideas about how to

make things in factories. He first used

these ideas to make guns for the U.S.

government. Before his time, one skilled

worker made all the parts of a gun by

hand and then fitted them together.

Whitney used machines to make many

copies of each part. He then hired

unskilled workers to put the parts

together. Whitney’s factory made guns

faster and more cheaply than ever

before. His ideas changed the way factories

made all kinds of products. Whitney

died in New Haven, Connecticut, on

January 8, 1825.

#More to explore

Cotton • Technology and Invention

Wichita

TheWichita are Native Americans of

Oklahoma. They once lived in what is

now Kansas. The city ofWichita, the

largest city in Kansas, was named after

the tribe.

TheWichita traditionally grew corn,

pumpkins, beans, squash, and tobacco.

They also hunted deer, antelope, bear,

and bison (buffalo). TheWichita lived

in round houses that looked like haystacks.

They built their homes by covering

a wood frame with grass. While

hunting theWichita lived in coneshaped

tents called tepees, which they

carried from place to place. They made

the tepees with animal skins.

Spanish explorers arrived inWichita

lands in the middle of the 1500s. At that

time theWichita lived near the Arkansas

River in what is now Kansas. By the

early 1700s they had moved south to

Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

French explorers met the tribe there.

TheWichita became allies and trading

partners of the French.

Eli Whitney invented a machine called a

cotton gin in 1793. The machine had a set

of wire spikes set on a revolving cylinder, or

drum. As the cylinder turned around it

pulled raw cotton through the spikes. The

spikes combed the seeds from the cotton

and left the fibers.

A photograph from the 1870s shows a

Wichita man named Esadewar.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wichita 43

In the late 1700s war with the Osage

Indians forced theWichita to move farther

south, into what is now Texas. During

the American CivilWar (1861–65)

theWichita returned to Kansas. In 1867

they moved to a reservation in Indian

Territory. At the end of the 20th century

there were about 1,500Wichita living in

the United States, mostly in Oklahoma.

#More to explore

Native Americans

Wilder, Laura

Ingalls

Laura IngallsWilder wrote children’s

books about pioneer life in the United

States. She based her famous “Little

House” stories on her own childhood on

the American frontier.

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls was born on

February 7, 1867, in Pepin,Wisconsin.

She had three sisters. During her childhood

she and her family moved often

from one part of the frontier to another.

They lived in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,

Kansas, Indian Territory (now

Oklahoma), and Dakota Territory (now

North and South Dakota).

At age 15 Laura began teaching in country

schools to help support the family. In

1885 she married Almanzo J.Wilder.

While in her 40sWilder began writing

articles for magazines. TheWilders’ only

daughter, Rose, liked hearing stories

about her mother’s youth. When Rose

became an adult, she asked her mother

to write down her tales of growing up

on the frontier. From 1932 to 1943

Ingalls published six books in the “Little

House” series. They included Little

House in the BigWoods and Little House

on the Prairie.

Wilder died in Mansfield, Missouri, on

February 10, 1957. The American

Library Association honored her in 1954

by creating the Laura IngallsWilder

Medal. The award is given to outstanding

writers and illustrators of children’s

books.

#More to explore

Pioneer Life

Williams, Venus

and Serena

Venus and SerenaWilliams are sisters

who play tennis. They won many

important tournaments from 1999 to

the early 2000s. The two sometimes

Laura Ingalls Wilder

44 Wilder, Laura Ingalls BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

teamed up to win doubles (two against

two) championships. Each sister won

several singles championships as well. In

2002 they were the top two women

tennis players in the world.

VenusWilliams was born on June 17,

1980, in Lynwood, California. Serena

was born on September 26, 1981, in

Saginaw, Michigan. The sisters’ father,

Richard, taught them to play tennis

when they were very young.

TheWilliams sisters both became professional

tennis players at about age 14.

Being professional means that they

earned money for playing. In 1999 Serena

won the U.S. Open, a major tennis

tournament.

In 2000 Venus won another of the

major tournaments, this one in Wimbledon,

England. She and Serena won the

women’s doubles competition at

Wimbledon as well. Later that year

Venus won the U.S. Open for the first

time. She and Serena won the gold

medal for doubles at the 2000 Olympics.

In 2001 Venus won bothWimbledon

and the U.S. Open again.

In 2002 Serena beat her sister at the

French Open,Wimbledon, and the U.S.

Open. She became the number-one

player in the world. In 2003 Serena beat

Venus atWimbledon and the Australian

Open. The Australian Open victory gave

her wins in all four of the major tournaments.

Both sisters won many more

titles after that. They won their second

doubles gold medal at the 2008 Olympic

Games.

..More to explore

Tennis

Willow

The name willow applies to a wide variety

of shrubs and trees. There are more

than 300 species, or types, of willow.

One of the most familiar is the weeping

willow. This large tree has drooping

branches and twigs. The pussy willow is

another member of the willow family. It

is a bush that has silvery white, furry

buds on its branches in the spring.

Willows grow in North and South

America, Europe, and Asia in generally

cool areas. Most grow near rivers, lakes,

or swamps.Willow trees have tough,

deep roots. They help to keep the soil of

the coastline from washing away.

Serena (left) and Venus Williams show the

trophies they won at the 2001 U.S. Open

tennis tournament.

The furry buds

of a

pussy willow

are called

catkins.

Catkins are

clusters of tiny

flowers. All

willows grow

catkins.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Willow 45

Willows vary greatly in size and shape.

They may be low shrubs that grow just

a few inches above the soil. Some are

large trees that reach more than 100

feet (30 meters) in height. The bark

may be gray, brown, or nearly black.

The leaves are narrow and green. On

some trees the twigs are bright yellow,

orange, or red.

Willow wood is used to make products

such as tool handles, baseball bats, and

furniture. A substance in some willow

bark is also used to make pain medicine.

#More to explore

Tree

Wilson,

Woodrow

Elected in 1912,WoodrowWilson was

the 28th president of the United States.

He led the country throughWorldWar

I. Afterward he helped create the League

of Nations, an international peace organization.

Early Life and Career

ThomasWoodrowWilson was born on

December 28, 1856, in Staunton, Virginia.

His parents were Joseph Ruggles

Wilson, a Presbyterian minister, and

JanetWoodrow. TheWilsons moved to

Augusta, Georgia, after their son’s birth.

Wilson graduated from Princeton University

in 1879. In 1886 he earned an

advanced degree in government and

history from Johns Hopkins University.

Four years laterWilson returned to Princeton

as a professor. In 1902 he became

president of Princeton.

In 1885Wilson married Ellen Louise

Axson. They had three daughters. Ellen

died in 1914.Wilson married Edith

Bolling Galt in 1915.

The weeping willow tree is usually found

near water.

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of

the United States.

46 Wilson, Woodrow BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Political Career

In 1910Wilson was elected governor of

New Jersey. In 1912 the Democratic

Party chose him to run for president.

Wilson faced two opponents in the election:

PresidentWilliam Howard Taft

and former president Theodore

Roosevelt.Wilson won the election.

Presidency

Wilson successfully pushed Congress to

pass a number of laws. One law introduced

an income tax. Another law created

the Federal Reserve System, a

powerful economic agency. Other laws

regulated business and stopped child

labor.

In foreign affairs, revolution in Mexico

caused problems forWilson. In 1916

the Mexican rebel Pancho Villa crossed

the border and killed about 17 people in

New Mexico.Wilson sent U.S. forces

into Mexico, but they failed to catch

Villa.

WorldWar I

In 1914WorldWar I began in Europe.

Wilson kept the United States neutral,

meaning it did not take sides. After winning

reelection in 1916,Wilson tried to

end the war through peace talks. In early

1917, however, German submarines

began attacking neutral ships. In April

Wilson asked Congress to declare war.

In May 1917 Congress passed the Selective

Service Act, which gave the government

the right to order U.S. citizens to

join the military. The 2 million U.S.

soldiers sent to France helped defeat the

Germans. The war ended on November

11, 1918.

Making Peace

Wilson attended the peace conference in

Paris, France, after the war. He hoped to

include his Fourteen Points, or 14 ideas

for peace, in the agreement. The Treaty

of Versailles, signed in 1919, left out

many ofWilson’s ideas. However, it

December 28, February 3,

1856 1910 1912 1917 1918 1921 1924

Wilson is born

in Staunton,

Virginia.

Wilson is

elected

governor of

New Jersey.

Wilson is

elected

president.

The United

States enters

World War I.

World War I

ends.

Wilson retires

from office.

Wilson dies

in Washington,

D.C.

T I M E L I N E

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wilson, Woodrow 47

included the League of Nations, an

organization to maintain world peace.

When Wilson presented the treaty to

Congress, Republicans rejected it. They

especially opposed the League of

Nations. The league held its first

meeting in 1920 without the United

States.

Later Years

Working on the treaty leftWilson

exhausted. He had a medical emergency

called a stroke in October 1919, but he

stayed in office until March 1921. He

died inWashington, D.C., on February

3, 1924.

#More to explore

League of Nations • Roosevelt,

Theodore • Taft,William Howard

• United States • Villa, Pancho •World

War I

Wind

Wind is the movement of air near

Earth’s surface. Wind can be a gentle

breeze or a strong gale. The most

powerful wind happens during storms

called tornadoes, cyclones, and

hurricanes.

Changes in the temperature of air, land,

and water cause wind. When air flows

over a warm surface, it heats up and

rises. This leaves room for cooler air to

flow in. The flowing air is wind.

Winds are named after the direction

from which they come, not the direction

toward which they blow. For example,

wind blowing from west to east is called

a westerly.

Winds greatly affect the weather. They

bring cool air into warm areas. They also

can bring rain, snow, or even dust and

sand. For example, in southern Asia

winds known as monsoons bring rain

during the summer. This happens

because cool, moist air from over the

ocean moves in over the warm land.

Large movements of air around Earth

are called planetary winds. Some of the

best-known planetary winds are the

tropical easterlies, or trade winds. The

trade winds are two large belts of wind

on either side of the equator. They blow

steadily toward the west.

Since early times people have harnessed

the power of wind. Early sailors relied

on the planetary winds to travel across

oceans. Early peoples also built

windmills, or machines that used wind

power to turn stones or other machines

to grind grain. Today people use

A strong winter wind blows snow and

bends trees.

48 Wind BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

windmills to power machines that

create electricity.

#More to explore

Air • Earth •Weather

Windhoek

Population

(2001 estimate)

216,000

Windhoek is the capital of Namibia, a

country in southern Africa. It is Namibia’s

largest city by far. A ring of hills

surrounds the city.

The economy ofWindhoek is very

important to Namibia.Windhoek is the

country’s main center of trade, banking,

industry, and transportation. Factories in

the city make such products as cloth,

clothing, leather goods, and processed

foods.

The first settlers in what is nowWindhoek

were the Khoekhoe and Herero

peoples. The town was once called

Aigams, meaning “hot water.” The name

referred to the region’s natural hot

springs, where steaming-hot water

spouts from the ground. Europeans later

changed the name toWindhoek.

Germany took over the town in the late

1800s. South Africa took control of

Windhoek and the rest of Namibia in

1915. In 1990 Namibia became an

independent country withWindhoek as

its capital.

#More to explore

Namibia

Windmill

A windmill is a machine that harnesses

the power of the wind.Windmills may

be used to grind grain into flour, to

pump water, or to produce electricity.

A windmill has a number of blades that

spin around when wind blows on them.

The blades are mounted on a tall tower

or building. They are connected to a

vertical shaft, or rod. When the blades

spin, they turn the shaft. The turning

shaft powers a device that does work—

for example, a water pump or millstones,

which grind grain. The shaft also

may provide power to a machine called a

generator, which produces electricity.

German colonists designed some of the

buildings of Windhoek, Namibia, to look

like buildings in Germany. Modern buildings

now rise nearby.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Windmill 49

People in western Asia built the earliest

known windmills more than 1,000 years

ago. They used these windmills to grind

grain.Windmills spread to Europe by

the 1100s. The Dutch used them to

pump water out of low-lying areas near

the sea. By the 1800s, however, many

people used steam engines rather than

wind power to run mills and to do other

work. Today modern windmills, called

wind turbines, produce electricity for

many communities.

#More to explore

Machine •Wind

Winnebago

TheWinnebago are Native Americans

of the midwestern United States. They

call themselves Ho-Chunk, which

means “people of the first voice.”

TheWinnebago traditionally lived in

dome-shaped homes called wigwams.

They made their wigwams by covering a

wood frame with bark. TheWinnebago

grew corn, squash, and beans. They

hunted small animals in the forest. They

also traveled to the prairies to the southwest

to hunt bison (buffalo).

TheWinnebago knew only other Native

Americans until 1634. In that year

French explorers arrived in their lands

near Green Bay, in what is now eastern

Wisconsin. TheWinnebago traded with

the French for such goods as metal pots

and guns. But manyWinnebago died

from diseases brought by the French,

especially smallpox.

By the early 1800s theWinnebago had

spread into southwesternWisconsin and

A Winnebago of Wisconsin weaves a basket

in the early 1900s.

Windmills on a hillside in California are used to generate electricity.

50 Winnebago BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

northwestern Illinois. In the 1820s and

1830s the U.S. government forced the

Winnebago to give up all their land east

of the Mississippi River. The government

moved the tribe first to Iowa, then

to Minnesota, and then to South

Dakota. Hundreds ofWinnebago died

during the moves.

In 1865 about 1,200Winnebago finally

settled on a reservation in Nebraska. In

the 1880s half of the tribe returned to

Wisconsin. At the end of the 20th century

there were about 7,500Winnebago

in the United States. Most still lived in

Nebraska orWisconsin.

#More to explore

Native Americans

Winnemucca,

Sarah

SarahWinnemucca was a Native American

speaker and writer. She worked

throughout her life to improve the lives

of her people, the Paiute. As a writer, she

is best known for her book Life Among

the Piutes, published in 1883.

SarahWinnemucca was born in about

1844 in what is now Nevada. Her original

name was Thocmetony, which

means “shell flower.” She was the daughter

of a Paiute leader named OldWinnemucca.

During Sarah’s childhood white

people moved onto Paiute lands.

By age 14Winnemucca could speak

English, Spanish, and several Native

American languages. Eventually the U.S.

government asked her to be an interpreter

between white settlers and Native

Americans. An interpreter helps people

who do not speak each other’s language

to communicate.

During the 1870s the U.S. government

forced many of the Paiute to move long

distances to reservations (lands set aside

for them). In 1879Winnemucca went

to San Francisco, California, to speak

out about how her people had been

wronged. In the 1880s she gave more

speeches in the eastern United States.

AsWinnemucca’s fame grew, President

Rutherford B. Hayes and other government

leaders met with her. They promised

to give some land back to the

Paiute. However, they did not keep their

promises.Winnemucca died on October

16, 1891.

#More to explore

Native Americans • Paiute

Sarah Winnemucca

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Winnemucca, Sarah 51

Wisconsin

Wisconsin has long been noted

for its lakes, rivers, and beautiful

rolling hills. The state was named for its

main river, the Wisconsin. The name is

believed to have come from a Native

American word meaning “gathering of

waters.” Wisconsin is also known as a

center of the dairy industry. The slogan

on Wisconsin’s license plates is

“America’s Dairyland.” Madison is the

state capital.

Geography

Wisconsin is located in the north-central

part of the United States. In the north

Wisconsin borders Lake Superior and

the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Lake

Michigan lies to the east, and Illinois is

to the south. The Mississippi and Saint

Croix rivers form most ofWisconsin’s

western border with Minnesota and

Iowa.

The northernmost part ofWisconsin,

along Lake Superior, is a narrow plain.

But most of the northern part of the

state is a highland region with many

lakes. To the south is a plain that

stretches across the center of the state.

The southwest is a region of ridges and

valleys.Wisconsin has long, cold winters

and warm summers.

People

In the early 1800s white settlers came

to the Wisconsin area from other parts

of the United States. In later years

immigrants came from Germany,

Poland, Scandinavia, and other parts of

Europe. The majority of Wisconsin’s

people are descendants of these settlers.

African Americans are the largest

minority group, making up about 6

percent of the population. Hispanics

represent almost 4 percent of the

population.

Economy

Wisconsin is known as America’s Dairyland

because the state has long been a

leading producer of milk, butter, and

cheese. The state is famous for its cheddar

cheese, but it also produces Swiss,

Colby, and many other varieties.

Manufacturing and services areWisconsin’s

major sources of income. Many of

the state’s factories produce industrial

52 Wisconsin BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

machinery. Others make metal and

paper products. The processing of food

and the brewing of beer are also major

industries.

Service industries such as health care,

real estate, and tourism were the fastestgrowing

part of the state’s economy in

the late 20th century. Tourism provides

more than 300,000 jobs toWisconsinites.

Tourists spend about 9 billion dollars

inWisconsin each year. One

popular tourist attraction is Wisconsin

Dells, which is famous for its riverside

cliffs, sandstone formations, and family

vacation spots.

History

Several Native American tribes lived in

theWisconsin area when Europeans

arrived. Among them were the Ojibwa

(or Chippewa), Potawatomi, andWinnebago

(Ho-Chunk).

The French explorer Jean Nicolet landed

on the shores of Green Bay in 1634. In

1763, after many wars, France was

forced to give the region to Great Britain.

After losing the American Revolution

(1775–83), Britain gave the land to

the United States.

Settlement ofWisconsin was slow until

immigrants began arriving from northern

Europe in the 1830s. The U.S. Congress

madeWisconsin a territory in

1836. In 1848Wisconsin became the

30th state.

In the second half of the 1800s wheat

farming, lumbering, and dairying were

Wisconsin’s main economic activities.

Wheat farming and lumbering eventually

became less valuable. In the early

1900sWisconsin became the country’s

leading dairy state. Later in the 1900s

manufacturing and service industries

became important to the state’s

economy.

..More to explore

Madison

The modern-looking Quadracci Pavilion of

the Milwaukee Art Museum was designed

by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava

and completed in 2001.

Cheesemakers work on a large vat of

cheese at a plant in Wisconsin. Wisconsin

is known for its cheese and other dairy

products.

Facts About

WISCONSIN

Flag

Population

(2000 census)

5,363,675—

rank, 18th state;

(2008 estimate)

5,627,967—

rank, 20th state

Capital

Madison

Area

65,498 sq mi

(169,639 sq

km)—rank, 23rd

state

Statehood

May 29, 1848

Motto

Forward

State bird

Robin

State flower

Wood violet

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wisconsin 53

Woden

#see Odin.

Wolf

Wolves are members of the dog family.

They are known for their intelligence

and courage.Wolves are also noted for

traveling very long distances. North

American Indians named their most

powerful warriors after wolves.

WhereWolves Live

There are three species, or types, of wolf.

The best known is the gray wolf. It lives

in North America, Europe, and Asia.

The red wolf once lived throughout the

southeastern United States. Now most

red wolves live in captivity. Some can

still be found in the wild in North Carolina.

The Ethiopian wolf was once considered

a jackal. Many people now

believe it is a wolf. It lives in Ethiopia.

Physical Features

The gray, or timber, wolf has long legs

and large feet. The males are larger than

the females. A male gray wolf usually

weighs about 100 pounds (45 kilograms).

Including the tail, it may be

about 6.5 feet (2 meters) long. The gray

wolf’s fur is usually gray. It may also be

brown, red, white, or black. The legs

and belly are yellowish white.

The red wolf weighs 44 to 82 pounds

(20 to 37 kilograms). Its coat is reddish

brown or sandy colored. The Ethiopian

wolf also has reddish brown fur. A male

Ethiopian wolf weighs only about 35

pounds (16 kilograms).

Behavior

Wolves are social animals. They live in

groups called packs. A wolf pack usually

has a pair of adult wolves and their offspring.

The male and female leaders are

known as the alpha pair.Wolves normally

hunt at night in groups. They eat

deer, moose, squirrels, and mice.

Survival

All species of wolf are in danger of dying

out. This is partly because their habitats

are being destroyed. People also kill

wolves because the wolves attack cattle.

Today there are many programs to protect

wolves.

#More to explore

Dog • Jackal

Wolof Empire

TheWolof Empire was an African state

that was powerful from about 1200 to

the 1550s. The empire covered parts of

Gray wolf, or timber wolf what is now Senegal, in western Africa.

54 Woden BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

A king called a burba ruled the empire.

He also served as the empire’s religious

leader.

TheWolof people came from what is

now the country of Mali in the 1000s.

They set up a kingdom soon after 1200.

During the 1300sWolof took over

neighboring kingdoms. One of these

kingdoms, called Cayor, controlled

lands along the coast of the Atlantic

Ocean. By the 1400sWolof had become

a powerful empire.

In about 1440 Portuguese traders came

to the area. They traded many goods

with theWolof Empire. They also tried

to take control of theWolof people. But

theWolof kept their independence.

In 1556 the Cayor people became independent

of theWolof Empire. They set

up a state of their own on the coast. This

weakened theWolof because now they

had no way to reach the ocean. As a

result theWolof were cut off from trade

with Europeans.

Over the next 300 years Europeans set

up more trading centers along the coast.

The power of theWolof shrank further.

During the 1800s the French settled in

theWolof lands and fought theWolof

people. In 1895 theWolof lands became

part of a colony of France.

#More to explore

Empire • Senegal

Wolverine

The wolverine is a mammal of the weasel

family. Like its relative the skunk, the

wolverine can give off an unpleasant

smell. It is sometimes called a skunk

bear. Its scientific name is Gulo gulo.

The wolverine is found mostly in the

northern parts of North America,

Europe, and Asia. It is known for its

great strength and big appetite.

The wolverine looks like a small, thickbodied

bear. It ranges from about 26 to

The wolverine is a strong animal. It has a

thick neck and big claws.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wolverine 55

36 inches (66 to 91 centimeters) in

length and has a long, bushy tail. It can

weigh from 20 to 66 pounds (9 to 30

kilograms). The wolverine has short legs

and ears, strong teeth, and sharp claws.

The thick coat is blackish brown. A light

brown stripe runs from each side of the

neck down to where the tail starts.

The wolverine lives alone and is usually

active at night. It can travel up to 40

miles (64 kilometers) a day looking for

food. The wolverine eats small animals

that it kills and larger animals that it

finds dead. Some wolverines will attack

large animals such as sheep and deer.

The wolverine has no enemies except for

people.

#More to explore

Skunk •Weasel

Women’s Rights

In many countries today women have

the same rights as men. They have the

right to own property. They have the

right to get an education. They have the

right to work at any job they choose.

They have the right to vote. They have

the right to be elected president or

prime minister of their country. But it

has not always been this way.Women

called feminists worked for many years

to get these rights.

Early Ideas AboutWomen

Through much of history, women have

not been treated as equals with men.

Women were thought to be naturally

weaker and less smart than men. Some

myths and religions even presented

women as a source of evil.

For all these reasons, women were not

given the same rights as men. But when

women were given some freedom, they

made important achievements. For

example, some women became powerful

leaders. Queen Elizabeth I ruled

England for 45 years in the 1500s.

Catherine the Great was empress of Russia

in the 1700s.

In the late 1700s many people in Europe

and North America began to speak of

individual freedom. They said that

people had rights that governments must

respect. But they used such phrases as

“the rights of man,” which some people

thought did not include women. During

this time some free-thinking women

spoke up for women’s rights.One of

them was the English feministMary

A British poster from the early

1900s backs voting rights for

women.

The scientific

name for the

wolverine

means

“glutton,” or

“big eater,” in

the Latin

language.

56 Women’s Rights BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Wollstonecraft. She said that women

should receive the same opportunities as

men in education, work, and politics.

The Right to Vote

Women knew that if they were going to

change society they must win suffrage,

or the right to vote. In this way they

could take part in government. Then

they could influence policies and laws.

The United States

In the United States the women’s rights

movement grew out of the abolitionist,

or antislavery, movement. Lucretia Mott

and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were abolitionists

who also led the first women’s

rights convention. It was held in Seneca

Falls, New York, in 1848.

Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed

the NationalWoman Suffrage Association

in 1869. Lucy Stone formed the

AmericanWoman Suffrage Association

in the same year. The two groups united

in 1890.

The struggle to win the vote was slow.

Starting in 1869, some territories and

states gave women the vote. But efforts

to create a federal law failed again and

again. Victory finally came in 1920,

when the 19th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution was passed. It gave women

the right to vote nationwide.

Around theWorld

Women in other countries also worked

for voting rights.Women gained the

vote in New Zealand in 1893, in Australia

in 1902, in Finland in 1906, and in

Norway in 1913.

In the United Kingdom, Emmeline

Pankhurst got women to march in the

streets for voting rights. In 1918 British

women over age 30 won the vote. In

1928 the age was lowered to 21.

Other countries changed more slowly.

Women in Switzerland could not vote

until 1971. Even in the 21st century

women in some Middle Eastern countries

still did not have the right to vote.

The ModernWomen’s

Movement

A new women’s rights movement began

in the 1960s. This movement was commonly

called “feminism” or “women’s

liberation.” Feminists in the United

States formed the National Organization

forWomen (NOW) in 1966.

NOW worked to make the Equal Rights

Amendment (ERA) a part of the U.S.

Constitution. The amendment would

have guaranteed all legal rights, not just

People gather in the late 20th century to

demand equal pay for women workers in

the United States. The Equal Pay Act of

1963 said that men and women should get

equal pay for equal work.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Women’s Rights 57

voting rights, to women. It died in 1982

because not enough states ratified, or

approved, it.

But the women’s rights movement still

made gains. For example, it helped make

birth control available to more women.

Birth control gives women greater control

over when they have children. Birth

control allowed more women to have

careers.

Women who chose careers at first faced

much unfairness in the workplace. Congress

passed laws to help them. The

Equal Pay Act of 1963 said that men

and women had to get the same pay for

doing the same job. The Civil Rights

Act of 1964 included equal rights for

women as well as for racial minorities.

The act made it illegal to set aside some

jobs for men and others for women.

Education also became more available to

women. By the end of the 20th century

women were earning more than half of

all college degrees in the United States.

Many women were elected to government

offices, too.Women served as

president or prime minister in India,

Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Pakistan,

Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and

many other countries.

#More to explore

Anthony, Susan B. • Mott, Lucretia

• Stanton, Elizabeth Cady • Voting

Woodchuck

#see Groundhog.

Woodpecker

The birds called woodpeckers are known

for pecking holes in tree bark to find

In 1999 Helen Clark became the first

woman to be elected prime minister of New

Zealand.

A great spotted woodpecker

feeds its young. Great spotted

woodpeckers live in Europe,

Asia, and North Africa.

58 Woodchuck BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

insects to eat. Most woodpeckers live in

forests, spending their lives mainly in

trees.

There are about 180 species, or types, of

woodpecker. They include the birds

called flickers and sapsuckers.Woodpeckers

look like songbirds in many

ways. But scientists classify woodpeckers

in a different grouping, the order Piciformes.

They are related to toucans.

Woodpeckers live nearly all over the

world. They are most common in South

America and Southeast Asia.

Woodpeckers vary in length from about

6 to 18 inches (15 to 46 centimeters).

They are often black and white with

patches of red or yellow on the head.

Most woodpeckers fly with short

swoops. Each of their feet has two toes

pointing forward and two toes pointing

backward. This helps the birds cling to

tree trunks. The strong, rigid tail feathers

help the bird hold itself against the

tree. The long, sticky tongue helps the

bird trap insects.

Most woodpeckers eat insects found in

tree bark. The bird uses its bill to tap

holes into the bark. This normally does

not hurt the trees. In fact, woodpeckers

eat insects that are harmful to trees.

Some kinds also eat fruit. Sapsuckers

also feed on sap, a liquid made by trees.

Flickers eat mainly ants on the ground.

Woodpeckers are usually silent, except

in spring. Then males call loudly and

drum on hollow wood or even metal.

This warns other males to stay away.

#More to explore

Bird • Songbird

Woods, Tiger

The U.S. golfer TigerWoods achieved

outstanding success at his sport. He

began winning golf championships at a

very young age. He was just 21 when he

first won the Masters Tournament, in

1997.

Woods was born on December 30,

1975, in Cypress, California. His father

was African American, and his mother

was from Thailand. His first name is

Eldrick. His father gave him the nickname

Tiger.

Woods first picked up a golf club at the

age of 18 months. He won more than

Tiger Woods watches the golf

ball he has just hit as it moves

closer and closer to the hole.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Woods, Tiger 59

30 junior tournaments before becoming

a teenager. At age 15,Woods won his

first of three U.S. Junior Amateur titles.

He then won three U.S. Men’s Amateur

titles.

Woods went to college at Stanford University

in California. While he was there

he became the national college champion.

Soon afterward he decided to

become a professional (paid) golfer.

The four most important golf tournaments

are the Masters, the Professional

Golfers’ Association (PGA) championship,

the U.S. Open, and the British

Open.Winning all four during one’s

career is known as a Grand Slam. In

2000Woods became only the fifth

player in golf history to complete a

Grand Slam. At age 24, he was also the

youngest.

Because he was so successful, several

companies paidWoods to advertise their

products. He used some of this money

to form a charity to help children.

#More to explore

Golf

World Music

The term world music describes types of

music that come from places other than

the United States or Great Britain.

Therefore, the singers of world music

often do not sing in English. But world

music is not just one style of music. Different

types of music from Africa, Asia,

South America, the Caribbean islands,

and Europe all can be called world

music.

The first popular examples of world

music came from Africa in the 1980s.

One of the early African world music

stars was King Sunny Ade, from Nigeria.

He led a large band that included guitars,

drums, and singers. The style was

new to people outside Africa, and his

records sold well.

Record companies soon began selling

more and more world music. Fans liked

it because it was different from other

styles of popular music. It allowed them

to hear music from cultures very different

from their own. Some U.S. rock

musicians, including David Byrne and

Paul Simon, began working with musicians

from other countries. In 1990 the

music magazine Billboard started a

world music chart—a list of the topselling

world music albums. In 1991 the

first Grammy awards for world music

were given.

Tiger Woods

won six

straight golf

tournaments in

1999–2000.

This was the

second-longest

winning streak

in professional

golf history.

African musician Youssou N’Dour, from

Senegal, sings at the Montreux Jazz Festival

in Switzerland.

60 World Music BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Popular world music performers have

included Cesaria Evora, from Cape

Verde; Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, from

Pakistan; and Youssou N’Dour, from

Senegal. The Gipsy Kings, from France,

and the Buena Vista Social Club, from

Cuba, were popular world music groups.

#More to explore

Music • Popular Music

WorldWar I

WorldWar I lasted from 1914 to 1918.

It was known at first as the GreatWar

and theWar to End AllWars. It was the

largest war that the world had seen up to

that time. Most of the battles took place

in Europe and the Middle East. More

than 8 million soldiers and sailors died,

and more than 20 million were injured.

The war was so bad that many people

thought no one would ever start another

war. However, the results ofWorldWar

I helped to causeWorldWar II, which

broke out in 1939.

War Breaks Out

A murder in the city of Sarajevo led to

the war. Sarajevo was the capital of Bosnia,

a region of the Austro-Hungarian

Empire. On June 28, 1914, a Bosnian

who was loyal to the country of Serbia

shot and killed the Austro-Hungarian

emperor’s nephew, Archduke Francis

Ferdinand. Austria-Hungary accused

Serbian government workers of planning

the crime.

On July 28 Austria-Hungary declared

war on Serbia. Both countries asked for

help from their friends. Austria-

Hungary’s friends were Germany and

Italy. Their group was called the Triple

Alliance. Serbia was a small country, but

Russia protected it. Russia’s friends were

France and the United Kingdom (Great

Britain). Their group was called the

Triple Entente.

Within a few weeks most of the countries

of Europe were at war. Both sides

soon got new names. The Triple Alliance

became the Central Powers, and the

Triple Entente became the Allies. Italy

did not go to war at first.

The Western Front

Battlefields west of Germany were called

theWestern Front. The Germans had

hoped for an easy victory on theWestern

Front. But in September 1914 the

Gavrilo

Princip was

the name of

the Bosnian

who killed

Archduke

Francis

Ferdinand.

A poster encouraged British

people to join the army during

World War I. There was also a

U.S. version, in which the man

with the pointing finger was a

character called Uncle Sam.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War I 61

Allies forced back the Germans at the

battle of the Marne, a river in France.

The armies on theWestern Front then

began four years of trench warfare. Each

side dug long trenches into the ground.

The soldiers stayed in these trenches for

protection. A “no-man’s land” covered

with barbed wire lay between the

trenches. Both sides used rapid-firing

machine guns against anyone who tried

to get across the no-man’s land.

Soldiers fought two of the war’s worst

battles on theWestern Front in 1916.

The battle of the Somme took place

near the Somme River in France from

July to November. More than 600,000

Allied soldiers were killed, wounded,

captured, or missing. They gained only

about 5 miles (8 kilometers) of ground.

The French and the Germans fought

another long battle near the French

town of Verdun in 1916.

Both sides tried new ways to break

through trench defenses. The Germans

used a poison gas called chlorine against

Allied troops in April 1915. Both sides

then tried other chemical weapons. Soldiers

got gas masks for protection

against them. The British invented an

Almost all the battles of World War I were fought in Europe and the Middle East. The two

sides fighting each other were known as the Allies and the Central Powers. Countries that

did not side with either group were called neutral.

62 World War I BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

armored car called a tank. Tanks had

crawler tracks to move them through

trenches and barbed wire. The British

first used tanks in 1916.

The Eastern Front and the

Middle East

Battlefields east of Germany were called

the Eastern Front. Armies moved faster

on the Eastern Front. In 1914 Russian

armies pushed west into Germany and

Austria-Hungary. In 1915 the Germans

drove them back. Bulgaria then joined

the Central Powers. The troops of Germany,

Austria, and Bulgaria took Serbia.

An Allied force landed at Salonika (now

Thessaloniki) in Greece to help the Serbians.

However, the Allies made little

progress until the end of the war.

At the end of 1914 the Ottoman

Empire (centered in what is now Turkey)

joined the Central Powers. The

Ottomans attacked Russia. British, Australian,

and New Zealand troops tried to

stop the Ottomans on Turkey’s Gallipoli

Peninsula, but they failed.

In 1915 Italy joined the Allies. The Italians

lost many soldiers fighting the Austrians.

When the war began, the Ottoman

Empire ruled Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia

(now Iraq). In 1915 British-led

troops tried and failed to take Baghdad

(now the capital of Iraq). In March

1917 they finally succeeded. Later that

year, the British took Palestine. In 1918

they took Syria as well.

TheWar at Sea

The British had more and better warships

than the Germans. The British

Navy was able to stop some ships from

reaching German ports. Such an action

is called a naval blockade.

However, the British were not able to

stop German submarines. In 1915 the

Germans announced that they would try

to sink all enemy ships in British waters.

On May 7, 1915, a German submarine

sank the British passenger ship Lusitania.

Nearly 1,200 people died, including

many U.S. citizens.

The submarine attacks hurt the United

Kingdom. By April 1917, one of every

four supply ships that left the country

never returned. By the end of that

month, the country had only a six

weeks’ supply of grain left.

The Allies tried to defend their supply

ships by putting guns on them. They

also had them sail in convoys, or groups,

African American troops served in the

trenches of the Western Front during the last

years of World War I.

German

submarines

were called

U-boats. The

term was short

for “undersea

boat”

(Unterseeboot

in German).

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War I 63

protected by warships. In all, German

submarines caused the loss of about

6,000 Allied ships. The United Kingdom

alone lost 13,000 lives in these

attacks.

TheWar in the Air

The airplane had been invented only 11

years before the war began. At first Germany

used floating aircraft called zeppelins,

rather than airplanes, to bomb the

United Kingdom. Then the British built

antiaircraft guns to shoot down the zeppelins.

During the war both sides built several

kinds of warplanes. Fighter airplanes had

machine guns to shoot at other airplanes.

In 1917 the Germans started

dropping bombs from airplanes. In the

United Kingdom these bombings killed

about 1,300 people and injured about

3,000.

Events of 1917

The Russian Revolution in 1917

changed the Eastern Front. A group

called the Bolsheviks took over Russia in

November. They made peace with the

Central Powers almost immediately. The

Germans were then able to move their

troops elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the United States entered

the war on the side of the Allies. President

WoodrowWilson at first did not

want to go to war. He changed his mind

because Germany kept attacking U.S.

supply ships. The United States also

found out that Germany had promised

to give Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona

to Mexico in return for Mexico’s help in

the war. The United States declared war

on Germany on April 6, 1917.

The Tide Turns

During the winter of 1917–18, there

were more German soldiers than Allied

soldiers on the Western Front. In 1918

the situation changed, as nearly 10,000

U.S. troops landed each day in France.

By November, the Allies had driven

back the Germans to the battle lines of

1914.

The Central Powers started surrendering.

The Bulgarians gave up on September

29, 1918. On October 30 the

Austrians asked for a cease-fire (an end

to fighting). The Ottomans gave up on

the same day.

By this time, the German people were

starving. The naval blockade was keeping

food shipments from reaching the

country. On November 11, 1918, Ger-

Fighter pilots got into battles called dogfights

as they tried to shoot each other down.

64 World War I BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

man government leaders signed an

armistice—an agreement that ended the

fighting.

The Peace

The Allies met in January 1919 and

wrote a document called a peace treaty.

The treaty allowed Germany to keep

only a small army and navy. Germany

was also forced to pay a large amount of

money to the Allies. In addition, the

treaty started the League of Nations, an

organization that was supposed to prevent

future wars.

German and Allied representatives

signed the Treaty of Versailles on June

28, 1919. (Versailles is a town near Paris,

France.) Separate treaties made peace

with Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman

Empire. However, the U.S. Senate

refused to ratify, or agree to, the Treaty

of Versailles. Some senators were against

the treaty because they did not like the

League of Nations.

The Allies’ dreams of peace did not last

long. The German people did not like

being punished. They brought Adolf

Hitler to power in 1933. He built up the

German military and started to conquer

neighboring countries. The League of

Nations could not stop him. His actions

led toWorldWar II.

#More to explore

Bosnia and Herzegovina • Europe

• France • Germany • Italy • League of

Nations • Lusitania • Ottoman Empire

• Russian Revolution • Sarajevo

• United Kingdom •Wilson,Woodrow

WorldWar II

World War II started in 1939. By the

time it ended in 1945, the war involved

nearly every part of the world. The two

sides that fought the war were called

the Axis powers and the Allies.

Germany, Italy, and Japan were the

major Axis powers. The major Allies

were the United States, the Soviet

Union, the United Kingdom (Great

Britain), and France. China also aided

the Allies.

More people died in World War II than

in any other war. Experts guess that 40

to 50 million people lost their lives.

Many were civilians (people not

fighting the war). About 6 million were

victims of the Holocaust—a German

plan to kill people that they thought

were inferior.

Events Leading toWar

Japan, Italy, and Germany all committed

warlike acts in the 1930s. In 1931 Japan

began an invasion of China. Italy, led by

Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, conquered

the East African country of

Ethiopia in 1935.

Germany was the biggest threat to world

peace. Adolf Hitler and his National

Socialist, or Nazi, Party wanted Germans

to rule over everyone else. In

March 1938 German troops marched

into Austria.

Hitler next wanted a part of Czechoslovakia

where German-speaking people

lived. Great Britain and France agreed to

let him have it. They hoped to satisfy

Only a few

countries,

including

Spain, Switzerland,

and

Sweden, were

neutral in both

world wars.

Neutral means

that they did

not take sides.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War II 65

Hitler so that he would make no more

demands. Their plan—called

appeasement—was a failure.Within six

months Germany took control of all of

Czechoslovakia.

Hitler then planned to take over Poland.

Britain and France promised to help

Poland in case Germany attacked it.

Germany prepared for war by making

peace with the Soviet Union (which was

not yet on the Allies’ side) in August

1939. Germany did not want to fight

Britain, France, and the Soviet Union all

at the same time.

War with Germany Begins

Poland

On September 1, 1939, Germany

invaded Poland. This beganWorldWar

II. The Germans used a new kind of

attack. They called it blitzkrieg, or

“lightning war.” Blitzkrieg relied on fastmoving

tanks and warplanes to shock

the enemy into surrendering.

After this invasion, Britain and France

declared war on Germany. Australia,

New Zealand, Canada, India, and South

Africa joined Britain on the side of the

Allies. But no one could help when the

Soviet Union attacked Poland on September

17. Germany and the Soviet

Union divided Poland between them.

The Soviet Union also invaded Latvia,

Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland during

1939.

Scandinavia and the Low Countries

Between April and June 1940 the Germans

took over Norway and Denmark.

In May they moved into the Low

Countries—Belgium, The Netherlands,

and Luxembourg.

France

In mid-May 1940 the first German

troops crossed into France. By June 14

the Germans had entered Paris, the

French capital.

On June 22 France agreed to let Germans

rule most of their country. However,

many French people continued to

fight the Germans. They were called the

Free French. They took orders from

Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle’s headquarters

were in Britain.

As France was falling to the Germans,

Italy declared war against France and

Britain. On June 10, 1940, Italy entered

the war as an Axis power.

Great Britain

Hitler’s next target was the island of

Great Britain. Starting in June 1940,

Firefighters try to control the damage from

a German bombing attack on London,

England, in 1941, during World War II.

66 World War II BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

German warplanes began bombing Britain.

However, the British had a new

invention called radar. Radar warned the

British when German aircraft were nearing.

British fighter airplanes shot down

many attackers. This battle, called the

battle of Britain, was the world’s first

major battle fought in the air.

The Germans soon decided not to

invade Britain. Instead, they dropped

more bombs on London and other cities

until May 1941.

The Atlantic Ocean

The British also fought the German

navy in the Atlantic Ocean. Early in the

war, German submarines sank many of

the supply ships that delivered food and

weapons from North America. In 1943

the Allies began to use aircraft carriers to

protect convoys, or groups, of supply

ships. Using radar to spot enemy submarines

also helped the Allies. The number

of supply ships reaching Britain started

to increase in mid-1943.

North Africa

In the autumn of 1940 the Italians

invaded Egypt. They wanted to control

the Suez Canal, which linked the Mediterranean

Sea to the Red Sea and the

Indian Ocean. However, the British

drove the Italians back.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War II 67

Then the German general Erwin Rommel

led the Germans to victories in

North Africa. In 1942 British forces

finally stopped Rommel in two battles at

El-Alamein, Egypt. By November 6 the

British had driven the Germans from

Egypt.

The Soviet Union

After conquering the countries on Germany’s

borders, Hitler invaded the

Soviet Union. The attack began on June

22, 1941. The Soviet Union joined the

Allies soon afterward. The Soviets

stopped the Germans on the edges of

Moscow (the Soviet capital) and Leningrad

(now Saint Petersburg).

In 1942 Hitler decided to take the

Soviet city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd).

The fight at Stalingrad was the

largest single battle inWorldWar II.

About 1.9 million soldiers died on both

sides. The Germans surrendered in January

1943. After Stalingrad, the Soviets

gradually drove out the Germans.

War with Japan Begins

Great Britain, France, and The Netherlands

ruled many islands in the Pacific

Ocean. They ruled much of Southeast

Asia as well.With these countries now at

war, Japan saw an opportunity to take

away their colonies. The Japanese began

by taking French Indochina (now Laos,

Cambodia, and Vietnam) in 1940 and

1941.

Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941,

Japanese warplanes attacked U.S. warships

at the Pearl Harbor naval base in

Hawaii. They sank or crippled eight big

battleships, destroyed more than 180

68 World War II BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

aircraft, and killed more than 2,000

Americans.

The Pearl Harbor attack brought the

United States into the war.Within a few

days, the United States was at war with

Germany and Italy as well.

The Philippines

Japan also bombed the Philippine

Islands, which were a U.S. possession.

U.S. and Philippine forces fought until

the Japanese defeated them. The Philippines

surrendered in May 1942. Japan

also conquered Singapore, the Netherlands

Indies (now Indonesia), and

Burma (now Myanmar).

Coral Sea and Midway

The battles of the Coral Sea and

Midway stopped the Japanese push. In

the Coral Sea, near Australia, the Allies

stopped a Japanese attack on the island

of New Guinea in May 1942. In June,

near the tiny island of Midway in the

North Pacific Ocean, U.S. airplanes

destroyed many of Japan’s ships.

However, Japan still controlled a vast

area.

End of theWar with Germany

North Africa and Italy

In November 1942 Allied forces landed

in Morocco and Algeria in North Africa.

They defeated German and Italian

forces in May 1943.

The Allies followed up their North African

successes by invading Italy. Soon

afterward, Italians overthrew Mussolini.

Italy surrendered in September 1943.

However, German troops still held most

of the country. The Allies took Rome,

the capital, on June 4, 1944.

D-Day and Battle of the Bulge

June 6, 1944, is called D-Day. On that

day, 156,000 troops from the United

During World War II, many U.S. women

worked in factories that made warplanes

and other products. They took the places of

men who were fighting the war.

U.S. troops wade to shore on D-Day, June

6, 1944. Their goal was to drive the Germans

out of France.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA World War II 69

States, Britain, and Canada attacked the

beaches of Normandy in northern

France. After fierce fighting, the Allied

armies moved inland. They freed Paris

on August 25.

The Allies then moved toward Germany.

The Germans made one last attack on

the Allies in December 1944. The Germans

lost this fight, called the battle of

the Bulge, by January. In March 1945

the Allies drove into western Germany.

Germany Surrenders

By February 1945 it was clear that Germany

would lose the war. The Allied

leaders—U.S. president Franklin D.

Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston

Churchill, and Soviet premier

Joseph Stalin—met in Yalta (now in

Ukraine). There they made plans for

Europe after the war.

Meanwhile, Soviet troops pushed

through Germany from the east. By

April 25 the Soviets had surrounded

Berlin, the German capital. Hitler killed

himself on April 30. Germany surrendered

at midnight on May 8, 1945.

End of theWar with Japan

IslandWarfare

In the Pacific Ocean, U.S. troops

captured island after island from the

Japanese. In February 1943, after six

months of jungle warfare, U.S. forces

drove the Japanese from Guadalcanal,

one of the Solomon Islands. The

United States captured Saipan in the

Mariana Islands in July 1944. From

Saipan, U.S. airplanes began bombing

Japan.

In October 1944 soldiers led by U.S.

general Douglas MacArthur landed in

the Philippines. The United States captured

the Philippine capital of Manila in

March 1945.

U.S. forces landed on Iwo Jima in February

1945 and on Okinawa in April

1945. Both these islands belonged to

Japan. During the fight for Okinawa,

Japanese pilots made kamikaze attacks—

they crashed their airplanes into U.S.

ships on purpose. Eventually, though,

U.S. forces captured both islands.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

By 1945 scientists in the United States

had invented the atomic bomb, a new

weapon of immense power. On August

6, 1945, a U.S. airplane dropped an

atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

More than 70,000 people died from the

explosion and fires. On August 9

Winston Churchill (left) of the United

Kingdom, Franklin D. Roosevelt (center) of

the United States, and Joseph Stalin (right) of

the Soviet Union met in Yalta (now in

Ukraine) in February 1945 to make plans

for postwar Europe.

70 World War II BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

another U.S. plane dropped an atomic

bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Japan

surrendered on September 2, 1945. This

ended the war.

Results of theWar

After the war’s end, the Allies divided

Germany among themselves. The Allies

also punished Nazi leaders after putting

them on trial in Nuremberg, Germany.

They punished Japan’s wartime prime

minister, Tojo Hideki, as well.

After the war the United States and the

Soviet Union were the most powerful

countries in the world. Despite having

been Allies, the two countries soon began

a long struggle called the ColdWar.

#More to explore

Bomb • Churchill,Winston • ColdWar

• De Gaulle, Charles • Fascism • France

• Germany • Hitler, Adolf • Holocaust

• Italy • Japan • Nazi Party • Nuremberg

Trials • Roosevelt, Franklin D. • Stalin,

Joseph • Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics • United Kingdom • United

States

Worm

Worms are soft, long-bodied invertebrates,

or animals without a backbone.

There are at least 20,000 species, or

kinds, of worm. They are not all related.

In fact, they belong to several different

animal groups. Some well-known groups

of worms are flatworms, roundworms,

and segmented worms.

Worms are found almost all over the

world. Some worms live in water. Other

worms live in the ground and help to

improve the soil. Many worms, including

some roundworms, are parasites.

Parasites live inside other plants and

animals and can cause harm.

Worms vary in size. Some are so small

that they are invisible to the naked eye.

Others are more than 100 feet (30

meters) long.

Worms usually have a tubelike, flattened,

or leaflike body shape. Earthworms

and other segmented worms have

a body divided into segments, or rings.

Worms usually lack legs or other limbs.

Some types have bristles that help them

to move.

Many worms have sense organs that can

detect changes in their environment. A

few have light-sensing organs.

Different worms reproduce in different

ways. In some types of worm, males and

females mate. Other worms can reproduce

on their own because they have

The soft body of an earthworm is divided

into segments, or rings.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Worm 71

both male and female reproductive

parts. Some worms can develop new

bodies from parts of their own body.

#More to explore

Animal • Parasite

Wotan

#see Odin.

Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee is a small town that is

important in Native American history.

Two conflicts between Native Americans

and U.S. officials took place there, one

in 1890 and the other in 1973.

Wounded Knee is located on the Pine

Ridge Indian Reservation in South

Dakota. An Indian reservation is a piece

of land that the U.S. government has set

aside for Native Americans. The Pine

Ridge Reservation is home to the Lakota

Sioux people.

1890

During the 1800s white settlers and

gold miners took away much Sioux

land. They also killed many bison (buffalo),

which the Sioux depended on for

food. But a religious leader named

Wovoka gave the Sioux new hope. He

told them that a ceremony called the

Ghost Dance would drive away the

whites and bring back the bison. The

U.S. government sent troops to stop the

Ghost Dance. Government police killed

Sitting Bull, a Sioux chief, while trying

to arrest him.

A few hundred Sioux then left their

homes. U.S. troops followed them. The

Sioux surrendered and camped near

Wounded Knee Creek. On December

29, 1890, while the soldiers were taking

away the weapons of the Native Americans,

a shot went off. Then the soldiers

fired their machine guns at the Sioux.

More than 200 Sioux were killed,

including many women and children.

1973

More than 80 years later, on February

27, 1973,Wounded Knee was the site of

another dispute. About 200 members of

a group called the American Indian

Movement took control ofWounded

Knee by force. They felt that Native

Americans were not being treated well,

and they wanted the government to

help. They refused to leave.

The protest lasted 70 days. Government

workers shot and killed two Native

Americans during that time. The Native

Americans leftWounded Knee only after

American Indian Movement members meet

with a U.S. Department of Justice worker

(right) during the Wounded Knee protest of

1973.

72 Wotan BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

the government agreed to hear their

complaints.

#More to explore

Native Americans • Sioux • Sitting Bull

Wrestling

In the sport of wrestling, two opponents

try to throw each other to the ground.

Wrestlers need skill, physical strength

and quickness, and good conditioning.

Wrestling is one of the world’s oldest

sports. The ancient Egyptians wrestled.

In ancient Greece wrestling was an

important part of the Olympic Games.

Wrestling probably developed into a

sport from hand-to-hand combat in

wartime.

Wrestling Styles

Professional wrestling in the United

States is a mixture of sport and entertainment.

Professional wrestlers use

spectacular and dangerous moves that

they must practice together in order to

avoid injury.

Other countries have their own styles of

wrestling. In Japan, for example, sumo

wrestling is very popular. Sumo wrestlers

wear loincloths and grip each other by

the belt. Sambo is a wrestling style that

started in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.

It includes moves from the Japanese

martial art called judo.

Two styles of wrestling are included in

the modern Olympic Games: Greco-

Roman and freestyle. A version of freestyle

wrestling is a sport at high schools

and colleges in the United States. Greco-

Roman wrestling is more popular in

Europe. The rest of this article has to do

with Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling.

Wrestling Mats and

Equipment

Wrestling matches take place on padded

mats. The mats vary in size and layout

depending on the level of the competition.

For example, an Olympic wrestling

mat is similar but not quite the same as

a mat used at a high school.

Wrestlers wear tights that cover the

thighs, waist, and midsection. Special

shoes help wrestlers to grip the mat.

Wrestlers sometimes wear kneepads and

headgear to protect the ears.

AWrestling Match

Contests of freestyle and Greco-Roman

wrestling are similar.Wrestlers in each

style try to throw or press the opponent

onto his back. The goal is to have both

of the opponent’s shoulder blades touch

Sumo is a wrestling style that is popular in

Japan. A sumo wrestler tries to push his

opponent out of the ring or to force him to

the floor.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wrestling 73

the mat at the same time. This is called a

fall, or a pin.

A match starts when two wrestlers meet

at the center of the mat. Both wrestlers

are standing as the match begins. They

then try to grab and control the

opponent by using various moves,

which are called holds. In the Greco-

Roman style, wrestlers can use holds

only above the waist. They cannot trip

or wrap the legs around an opponent.

Freestyle wrestling allows almost all

types of leg and arm holds. Freestyle

wrestlers use their legs to trip, wrap, or

hold the opponent. The rules usually

forbid only actions that may injure an

opponent, such as strangling, kicking,

and punching.

A referee stands on the mat with the

wrestlers. The referee awards points for

successful moves. The referee also

declares when a fall takes place. In

international freestyle and Greco-

Roman wrestling, a fall occurs when

one wrestler forces the other’s shoulder

blades to the mat for just an instant. In

school wrestling programs in the United

States, the opponent’s shoulder blades

must stay pinned to the mat for at least

a second.

A fall results in an immediate victory.

Sometimes a fall does not happen before

the match ends. Then the wrestler with

more points wins.

History

Wrestling existed in Babylonia and

Egypt as early as 3000 BC. The people of

ancient India and China also wrestled.

Wrestling was a major sport in ancient

Greece. Milon of Croton was a famous

Greek wrestler who lived in the 500s BC.

He won the wrestling championship of

the Olympic Games six times.

Starting in the 1700s wrestling matches

took place at fairs and circuses. Outstanding

wrestlers competed against

anyone who wanted to challenge them.

Wrestling was popular in the United

States during the frontier period. Frontier

wrestling was a rough sport. Any

hold except strangling was allowed. A

match lasted until someone gave up.

Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling

developed in the second half of the

1800s. In 1896 Greco-Roman wrestling

was a part of the first modern Olympic

Games. Freestyle wrestling was introduced

at the 1904 Olympic Games.

Women’s freestyle wrestling became an

Olympic event in 2004.

#More to explore

Martial Art • Olympic Games

Wrestlers from different regions of China

compete in a national tournament. Wrestling

is popular all over the world.

74 Wrestling BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Wright, Frank

Lloyd

Frank Lloyd Wright was a U.S.

architect who designed many houses

and public buildings. Wright had a

great influence on the architecture of

the 1900s.

Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in

Richland Center,Wisconsin. He studied

engineering at the University ofWisconsin.

In 1887Wright moved to Chicago,

Illinois. In 1893 he opened his own

architectural office.

Wright became the leader of a type of

architecture called the Prairie style. A

house in this style is low-lying and

blends into its surroundings.Wright also

designed public buildings. One of his

most famous buildings is the Guggenheim

Museum in New York City. This

building has a long spiral ramp instead

of separate floors.

Wright died on April 9, 1959, in Phoenix,

Arizona. Many of his buildings are

open to the public.

#More to explore

Architecture

Wright,Wilbur

and Orville

Two U.S. inventors named Wilbur and

OrvilleWright designed, built, and flew

the first airplane, in 1903. Some features

of their design are still used in airplanes

today.

WilburWright was born on April 16,

1867, near Millville, Indiana. Orville

Wright was born on August 19, 1871, in

Dayton, Ohio. Their father was a Christian

minister.

Early Experiments with Flight

As young men theWrights made and

repaired bicycles. In 1896 they became

interested in gliders. A glider is an aircraft

with fixed wings (wings that do not flap)

Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house called

Fallingwater to blend into the hillside

around it. He even left room for a stream to

run under the house.

Orville and Wilbur Wright

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wright, Wilbur and Orville 75

and no power supply. The flow of wind

past the wings keeps a glider in the air.

In 1900 theWrights started testing gliders

near the town of Kitty Hawk, North

Carolina. The sand dunes there were

useful for their flight experiments. The

windy hills made it easier to take off.

The sand made it safer to land. There

theWrights tried different kinds of

wings and control systems.

Building an Airplane

After studying gliders, theWrights

decided to design and build an airplane.

An airplane is like a glider but has its

own power supply. In 1903 theWrights

built an airplane with a gasoline engine.

The engine powered two propellers.

TheWrights tested their plane in Kill

Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk. On

December 17, 1903, Orville made the

first flight in the airplane. He flew 120

feet (37 meters) in 12 seconds. Later

that dayWilbur flew 852 feet (260

meters) in 59 seconds.

TheWrights continued to make

improvements. By 1905 they could stay

in the air for about 40 minutes.

In Business

In 1908 theWrights sold an airplane to

the U.S. Army. Then they began demonstrating

airplanes in the United States

and Europe. They soon became famous.

In 1909 theWrights formed the Wright

Company. The company built airplanes

in Dayton. It had its own flying field

and flight school. In 1910 the brothers

also started the Wright Exhibition Company.

This company hired airplane

pilots to perform stunts in front of audiences.

They closed the company in

1911, after several employees had died

in crashes.

Later Years

Wilbur died of a disease on May 30,

1912, in Dayton. AfterWilbur’s death,

Orville ran theWright Company until

he sold it in 1915. He continued to

work as an inventor. On January 30,

1948, Orville died of a heart attack in

Dayton.

#More to explore

Airplane • Glider • Technology and

Invention

Writing

Writing is a way of showing speech, or

spoken language, with marks. People

can make these marks on stone, paper,

or a computer screen. People use writing

to communicate with others.

Orville Wright makes the first successful

controlled airplane flight in history, on

December 17, 1903. The flight took place

in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

The Wright

brothers’ first

airplane, the

flyer, had

wings that

were made of

wood and

muslin cloth.

76 Writing BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Reading is the process of looking at and

understanding writing. When people

know how to read and write, they are

called literate.

Types ofWriting

The simplest type of writing uses pictures

to stand for words or ideas. Many

Native American groups used this type

of writing. In other types of writing,

marks of various designs can stand for

whole words or parts of words. Chinese

and Japanese characters are examples of

this kind of writing. In alphabetic writing,

marks called letters each stand for a

different sound. The alphabet used for

English is an example of this type of

writing.

History

In prehistoric times people scratched

marks on stones or wood. Some made

cave paintings that showed people and

animals. But these marks and drawings

were not true writing systems.

As people began to trade, they developed

systems for keeping records of their

business. They created counting tokens

to show how many animals or crops

they had traded. Eventually different

marks came to stand for the different

goods. For example, a mark representing

a cow looked much like a cow.

An important advance in writing took

place when people began using marks to

stand for more than just objects. Certain

marks could then represent ideas, such

as love or morning. At some point

people started using marks to stand for

the sounds of speech.

The Sumerians of Mesopotamia (in

modern Iraq) invented the first real writing

system about 5,000 years ago. This

writing, called cuneiform, was a system

of wedge-shaped dents pressed into slabs

of mud or clay. Not much later the

Egyptians invented their own writing

system, called hieroglyphics. About

3,000 years ago Semitic peoples in the

Middle East created the first alphabets.

Most of the people who lived in early

civilizations did not know how to read

or write. In many places people called

scribes wrote things down for others. By

the AD 1400s, however, more people

were becoming educated. The invention

of the printing press in the middle of the

1400s helped make books and other

writings widely available. By the 1900s

many countries were requiring their

A clay tablet has a record of the sheep and

goats that someone owned in ancient Mesopotamia

(in modern Iraq). The writing system

used on the tablet is called cuneiform.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Writing 77

children to go to school to learn how to

read and write. Today most people in

the world have these skills.

#More to explore

Alphabet • Communication

• Hieroglyphics • Language

Wyandot

TheWyandot are Native Americans of

the central United States and southern

Canada. They call themselves theWendat.

When French explorers met them in

the early 1600s, they lived in what is

now southern Ontario. The French

called them the Huron. TheWyandot

are still sometimes known by that name.

TheWyandot traditionally lived in longhouses,

which were large enough to

house several families. They built their

longhouses using wood and bark. They

grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers.

They also fished and hunted deer.

After the French arrived, theWyandot

traded furs to them for goods such as

metal tools, cloth, and guns.

In the middle of the 1600s theWyandot

were attacked by their enemies, the Iroquois.

The Iroquois destroyedWyandot

villages and took someWyandot as captives.

OtherWyandot escaped to the

west. Still others went to live with the

French in Quebec.

During the 1600s and 1700s theWyandot

who had moved west moved again.

For a time they lived in what are now

Michigan,Wisconsin, Illinois, and

Ohio. In the middle of the 1800s the

U.S. government forced theseWyandot

to move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).

At the end of the 20th century about

2,000Wyandot lived in the United

States, mostly in Oklahoma or Kansas.

OtherWyandot lived in Canada, in

Ontario and Quebec. There they are

known as the Huron-Wendat.

#More to explore

Iroquois • Native Americans

A girl practices writing letters on a blackboard.

A museum in Ontario, Canada, shows what

a Wyandot village may have looked like. In

one building dried tobacco hangs from the

ceiling.

78 Wyandot BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Wyoming

The state ofWyoming lies in the western

United States. An explorer once

describedWyoming as a land where

“nature had collected all of her beauties

together in one chosen place.”Wyoming’s

natural beauty is preserved in

several national parks and monuments.

One of them, Yellowstone National

Park, became the world’s first national

park in 1872.

Wyoming’s nickname is the Equality

State. In 1869Wyoming allowed

women to vote and to hold public

office. This was the first time in U.S.

history that women had been given

these rights.Wyoming also elected the

country’s first female governor, Nellie

Tayloe Ross, in 1924. The state capital is

Cheyenne.

Geography

Wyoming borders Montana on the

north and northwest. To the west is

Idaho. Utah lies to the southwest,

and Colorado lies to the

south.Wyoming’s eastern neighbors are

Nebraska and South Dakota.

Wyoming is a state of high mountains

and vast plains. The Rocky Mountains

cover the western two thirds of the state.

The Rockies are made up of several

ranges separated by wide valleys and

basins. The flat grasslands of the Great

Plains cover easternWyoming. The climate

is dry, with cold winters and warm

summers.

People

Wyoming has the smallest population of

all the 50 states. Non-Hispanic whites

make up almost 90 percent of the population.

About 6 percent of the people are

Hispanic. Native Americans make up

more than 2 percent of the population.

The Snake River and the Teton Range are

attractions of Wyoming’s Grand Teton

National Park.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Wyoming 79

Wyoming’s African American and Asian

populations are very small.

Economy

Mining isWyoming’s most important

industry. The state produces a lot of

coal, natural gas, and oil. Other mining

products include the clay called bentonite

and the mineral trona, which is

used to make soap and glass.

Almost all the agricultural land inWyoming

is used for ranching. Cattle and

sheep are the most valuable livestock.

The main crops include wheat, oats,

barley, hay, corn, sugar beets, beans, and

potatoes.

Tourism is also important toWyoming’s

economy. Millions of people visit the

state each year to enjoy its national

parks, including Yellowstone and Grand

Teton National Park. Popular tourist

activities include camping, fishing,

hunting, and hiking, as well as skiing

and other winter sports.Wyoming’s

cowboy culture is another tourist attraction.

The world’s largest rodeo is held

each summer in Cheyenne during a

festival called Frontier Days.

History

The Shoshone, the Arapaho, and other

tribes lived in theWyoming area when

white explorers arrived in the 1700s.

The United States bought most of the

region from France in the Louisiana

Purchase of 1803. In about 1807 John

Colter, a member of the Lewis and

Clark Expedition, explored the Yellowstone

Park area. FortWilliam (later

called Fort Laramie) was built in the

southeast in 1834. It was the first lasting

settlement in what is nowWyoming.

The cross-country railroad reached

Cheyenne in 1867. The railroad encouraged

settlers to come toWyoming. A

year later the U.S. Congress created the

Wyoming Territory. White settlement

was limited to southernWyoming until

1876, when the local Native Americans

were defeated.Wyoming became a state

in 1890.

Ranching developed intoWyoming’s

main industry in the late 1800s. For a

while the availability of vast ranches and

farmland drew people toWyoming.

During the 1900s mining replaced

ranching as the most important part of

the economy. In the 1980s the oil industry

suffered, and many people lost their

jobs.Wyoming’s population fell as

people left the state to look for work.

But between 1990 and 2000 the state’s

population again began to grow.

..More to explore

Cheyenne • Rocky Mountains

Two cowboys appear in a rodeo in Cody,

Wyoming.

Facts About

WYOMING

Flag

Population

(2000 census)

493,782—rank,

50th state; (2008

estimate)

532,668—rank,

50th state

Capital

Cheyenne

Area

97,814 sq mi

(253,336 sq

km)—rank, 10th

state

Statehood

July 10, 1890

Motto

Equal Rights

State bird

Meadowlark

State flower

Indian paintbrush

80 Wyoming BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

X-rays are powerful waves of

energy that can travel through

substances that light cannot.

(See X-rays.)

Xx

X-rays

X-rays are powerful waves of energy.

Like light, X-rays are a form of radiation.

They are very useful because they

can go through substances that light

cannot. X-rays can show images, or pictures,

of the inside of an object, such as

a suitcase or the human body.

How X-raysWork

An X-ray machine makes X-rays and

directs them toward an object. The

X-rays pass through some parts of the

object but are blocked by other parts.

For example, X-rays directed at a body

pass through the skin and soft tissues,

such as muscle. But hard body parts,

such as bones, block the X-rays. Special

film behind the body captures the image

made by the X-rays. When the film is

developed, the hard parts appear white

on the film. The soft parts appear black.

Medical Uses

X-rays are an important tool in medicine

and dentistry. Doctors use X-rays to

find diseases such as cancer and to study

broken bones. Dentists use them to spot

cavities in teeth.

X-rays can damage or destroy the body’s

cells. To protect the patient, the parts of

the body that are outside the area being

examined are shielded from the X-rays.

But the damaging effects of X-rays can

be useful, too. Doctors sometimes use

X-rays to kill cancerous growths.

Other Uses

X-rays also have many uses outside of

medicine. Scientists use X-rays to study

the structure of many things, both living

and nonliving. Special X-ray telescopes

pick up X-rays given off by objects in

outer space, such as distant stars. Manufacturers

use X-rays to find hidden flaws

in products. At airports, security equipment

uses X-rays to look for hidden

weapons in the baggage of travelers.

#More to explore

Dentistry • Medicine • Radiation

• Telescope

In a “positive” X-ray image the black and

white areas are reversed, so bones look dark.

Security workers at airports use X-ray

machines to check for dangerous items in

passengers’ bags.

82 X-rays BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Yaks carry and pull heavy

loads for people. People also

keep yaks for their meat and

milk.

(See Yak.)

The Yangtze is the longest river

in all of Asia.

(See Yangtze River.)

The leaves and seeds of yew

trees are very poisonous.

(See Yew.)

The word yoga comes from an

ancient Sanskrit word that

means “union.”

(See Yoga.)

Seven countries in southeastern

Europe used to make up one

country called Yugoslavia.

(See Yugoslavia.)

Thousands of people came to

the Yukon in Canada after gold

was discovered there in 1896.

(See Yukon Territory.)

Yy

Yak

The yak is a large, shaggy ox with

humped shoulders. It lives on high land,

mostly in the part of China called Tibet.

For centuries the people of Tibet have

tamed yaks to use as work animals and

as a source of food. The yak is related to

cattle, buffalo, and bison. Its scientific

name is Bos grunniens.

The yak lives in cold places with few

plants. Sometimes it has to roam a long

way to find enough grass to eat. Its long

hair helps it stay warm. The yak also

needs a lot of water. In winter it often

eats snow.

Some yaks live in the wild, but they are

very rare. Wild yaks have blackish

brown hair and large horns.Wild males

may weigh up to 2,200 pounds (1,000

kilograms). Females are smaller.Wild

yaks live in herds made up of females

and young animals. Adult males live

alone or in smaller groups.

Domestic, or tamed, yaks are much

smaller than wild yaks. They can be red,

brown, black, or black and white. They

have smaller horns than wild yaks. Some

domestic yaks have no horns.

People use domestic yaks for carrying

and pulling heavy loads. Yaks are also

kept for their meat and milk. The hair is

used to make rope and cloth. The skin is

used for caps, coats, and blankets.

#More to explore

Cattle

Yakama

The Yakama are Native Americans of the

U.S. state ofWashington. They have a

large reservation on the land where they

have lived for thousands of years. The

nearby city of Yakima was named after

the tribe. The tribe’s name is sometimes

spelled Yakima.

The Yakama moved with the seasons. In

winter they lived in homes called lodges.

They built their lodges by covering a

wooden frame with mats woven from

leaves. In spring the Yakama camped in

places where they could gather wild

plants to eat. In summer they moved to

the Columbia River area to fish for

salmon. In autumn they hunted and

gathered berries in the Cascade Mountains.

In the early 1700s the Yakama got

horses from other tribes. On horseback

they traveled east onto the Great Plains

to hunt bison (buffalo).

In 1805 the U.S. explorersMeriwether

Lewis andWilliam Clark passed through

Yakama lands. Fur traders and Christian

missionaries came next. The U.S.

government wanted to open the tribe’s

A boy in Nepal leads a domesticated, or

tamed, yak.

84 Yak BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

land to white settlers. From 1855 to 1858

the Yakama fought a war against U.S.

troops. The Yakama lost and were forced

to move to a reservation. At the end of the

20th century there were more than 8,000

Yakama living in the United States.

#More to explore

Lewis and Clark Expedition • Native

Americans

Yamoussoukro

Population

(2003 estimate)

185,600

Yamoussoukro is the capital of Cote

d’Ivoire, a country in western Africa. It

became the official capital in the late

20th century. However, many

government offices remained in

Abidjan, the country’s first capital and

largest city.

One of the world’s largest Christian

churches is in Yamoussoukro. It is a type

of Roman Catholic church called a

basilica. It can hold 18,000 people.

Until the 1960s Yamoussoukro was a

small village. In 1960 Cote d’Ivoire

became an independent country with

Abidjan as its capital. However, Yamoussoukro

was the hometown of the country’s

first president, Felix Houphouet-

Boigny. He spent large amounts of his

family’s money to make Yamoussoukro

more modern. The city grew and

became more important. In 1983 it

became the official capital of Cote

d’Ivoire.

#More to explore

Abidjan • Cote d’Ivoire

A Yakama tepee is covered with

mats woven from reeds. It was

made in the early 1900s.

A woman carries coconuts past the Yamoussoukro

Basilica, a church in Cote d’Ivoire’s

capital. It is one of the largest Roman

Catholic churches in the world.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yamoussoukro 85

Yangon

Population

(2005 estimate)

4,107,000

Yangon is the largest city and main port

of Myanmar, a country in Southeast

Asia. The city lies on the Yangon River.

It is Myanmar’s center of industry.

Yangon was the country’s capital until

2006.

The most famous site in Yangon is a

group of ancient Buddhist temple buildings

called the Shwedagon Pagoda. The

city began as a settlement around this

Buddhist site. The king of Myanmar

developed the city as a port in the

1750s. After that Yangon grew.

Great Britain captured Yangon in 1852.

The British called the city Rangoon and

the country Burma. In the 1880s the

British took control of all of Burma.

They made Rangoon the capital.

In 1948 Burma became an independent

country. Rangoon remained its capital.

In 1989 the country’s government

requested that people call the city

Yangon and the country Myanmar. In

2006 the government moved the capital

north to Naypyidaw, a site near the

town of Pyinmana.

..More to explore

Myanmar

Yangtze River

The Yangtze is the longest river in China

and in all of Asia. It is also the third

longest river in the world, after the Nile

(in Africa) and the Amazon (in South

America). It is 3,915 miles (6,300 kilometers)

long.

The Yangtze, which is also called the

Chang Jiang, begins in the mountains of

Tibet, a region of western China. It runs

through mountains for most of its

length. Near the end of its course it

flows through wide, low plains. More

than 700 streams and rivers flow into

the Yangtze. The most important of

these are the Yalong, Min, Jialing, Han,

andWu rivers. The Yangtze empties into

the East China Sea near Shanghai in

east-central China.

People have lived in the area around the

Yangtze River for thousands of years.

The Sule Pagoda is one of the important

Buddhist temple buildings in Yangon,

Myanmar. Modern buildings surround the

pagoda.

86 Yangon BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Many people live on the plains of the

lower Yangtze, where the soil is rich and

good for farming. Nearly half of China’s

crops are grown in this area. They

include rice, cotton, wheat, barley, corn,

beans, and hemp. Many other people

make a living by fishing in the Yangtze.

Carp, bream, Chinese perch, lamprey,

flatfish, and sturgeon are among the

catch.

The Yangtze has been an important

traffic route since the 1200s. The river

connects inland and coastal ports with

major cities, including Nanjing,

Wuhan, and Chongqing. China’s Grand

Canal joins the Yangtze to other river

routes.

Dams on the Yangtze help to control

flooding. They also produce electric

power. In additon, they allow large ships

to travel farther inland on the river.

In 1994 workers began building the

huge Three Gorges Dam across the

Yangtze. People in hundreds of towns in

the river valley left their homes to make

way for the project.Workers finished the

main part of the construction in 2006.

..More to explore

China • Dam • River

Yaounde

Population

(2004 estimate)

1,434,700

Yaounde is the capital of Cameroon, a

country in west-central Africa. The city

lies on hilly land between the Nyong

and Sanaga rivers.

Several research institutes and schools of

higher learning are located in Yaounde.

The city is a center of transportation,

trade, banking, communications, and

other service industries. Factories in

Yaounde produce lumber, cigarettes,

processed foods, and other products.

Yaounde was founded in 1888, when

Germany ruled the Cameroon region. In

The Yangtze River makes a wide bend as it

flows through southwestern China.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yaounde 87

the early 1920s France took control of

most of Cameroon. From then on

Yaounde served as the capital of the

French colony, except for a period in the

1940s. In 1960 Cameroon became an

independent country with Yaounde as

its capital.

#More to explore

Cameroon

Yaqui

The Yaqui are a group of Native Americans

who originally lived in northwestern

Mexico. Today the tribe is still

centered there, in the state of Sonora.

Many Yaqui also live in the United

States, in the state of Arizona.

The Yaqui traditionally built domeshaped,

wooden homes. They covered

their homes with mats made of plant

material. They grew corn, beans, and

squash. They also hunted, fished, and

gathered wild plants.

Spanish explorers arrived in Yaqui

territory in 1533. Over the next several

hundred years the Yaqui fought the

Spanish, and later the Mexicans, for

control of their land. In the 1880s the

Mexican government took over the

tribe’s territory. The government sent

thousands of Yaqui to southern Mexico,

far from their homeland. Some Yaqui

escaped and returned home. Others fled

Mexico for the United States. They

made new settlements in what is now

southern Arizona.

In the 1930s the Mexican government

returned much of the Yaqui’s original

territory to the tribe. Many Yaqui then

moved back to Sonora. At the end of the

20th century there were more than

25,000 Yaqui in Mexico. Another

15,000 Yaqui lived in the United States.

The tribe has a reservation near Tucson,

A photograph from about 1907 shows a

Yaqui girl.

The interesting design of some of Yaounde’s

public buildings makes them stand out from

the other buildings in the city.

88 Yaqui BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Arizona. The group living on the reservation

is known as the Pascua Yaqui

Tribe of Arizona.

..More to explore

Native Americans

Yeltsin, Boris

Boris Yeltsin led Russia through its last

days as a part of the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union.

From 1991 through 1999 Yeltsin served

as president of the independent country

of Russia.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born in

Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia,

on February 1, 1931. He became an

engineer as a young man.

In the 1960s Yeltsin joined the Communist

Party—the political group that controlled

the Soviet Union. In 1976 the

party put him in charge of the Sverdlovsk

region.

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the

leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev

made Yeltsin the leader of Moscow, the

capital city. Yeltsin lost this job in 1987

because he pushed too hard for change.

In 1989 other Russians who wanted

change elected Yeltsin to a seat in a new

Soviet legislature. In 1990 he was elected

president of the Russian republic. At the

time, Russia was one of the 15 republics

that made up the Soviet Union. Soon

after that, Yeltsin left the Communist

Party.

In August 1991 Yeltsin helped to stop a

group of Communists from taking

power away from Gorbachev. By this

time, however, many of the Soviet

republics wanted complete independence.

In December 1991 Gorbachev

resigned and the Soviet Union ceased to

exist. The republics each became independent

countries.

Yeltsin remained president of Russia. He

tried to introduce changes in the

economy, but some members of the

legislature disagreed with him. Yeltsin

won reelection in 1996. But by 1999 he

had angered many legislators. They tried

to remove him from office but did not

succeed. Yeltsin retired on December 31,

1999. He died on April 23, 2007, in

Moscow.

..More to explore

Communism • Russia • Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics

Boris Yeltsin led Russia during its

last year as a part of the Soviet

Union.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yeltsin, Boris 89

Yemen

Yemen is a country in the Middle East.

From 1962 to 1990 Yemen was divided

into two separate countries: North

Yemen and South Yemen. Yemen’s capital

is Sanaa.

Geography

Yemen is on the southern tip of the Arabian

Peninsula, a triangle of land in

southwestern Asia. Yemen shares borders

with Saudi Arabia and Oman. The Red

Sea lies to the west, and the Gulf of

Aden is to the south. The Gulf of Aden

links the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea.

The Arabian Sea lies to the southeast of

Yemen. Several nearby islands belong to

Yemen.

A narrow, sandy plain runs along

Yemen’s coasts. Mountains and other

highlands rise in central Yemen. North

of the highlands is a large, sandy desert.

The desert and the coasts are hot and

dry. The highlands have cooler temperatures

and enough rainfall for farming.

Plants and Animals

Eucalyptus, sycamore, and fig trees grow

in the highlands. Thorny shrubs grow in

the dry areas. Date palm trees grow near

the coasts.

Yemen’s wildlife includes baboons,

hyenas, foxes, and rabbits. Hawks, vultures,

ravens, and other birds also live in

the country.

People

Most of the people in Yemen are Arabs.

Small groups of Somalis, other Africans,

and South Asians also live in Yemen.

Most people speak the Arabic language.

Some people, especially in the cities,

speak English as well. Nearly all the

A wall surrounds the oldest part of Sanaa,

Yemen. The Liberty Gate is the most famous

of the wall’s many gates.

90 Yemen BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

people follow the religion of Islam.

However, there are small groups of Hindus,

Christians, and Jews.

The largest city is the capital, Sanaa.

Sanaa is known for its ancient architecture,

markets, and mosques (Muslim

houses of worship). The country’s

second-largest city is Aden, the former

capital of South Yemen. Aden has long

been an important seaport. Although

these cities are large, most Yemenis live

in villages and small towns. A small part

of the population is nomadic. This

means that they travel from place to

place.

Economy

Yemen’s economy depends on the production

of petroleum (oil). However,

Yemen does not have as much oil as

other countries in the Middle East.

Yemen also produces metal products,

cloth, and cement.

About half of Yemen’s workers are farmers

or herders. The main food crops are

sorghum, tomatoes, potatoes, grapes,

oranges, and wheat. Other crops include

coffee and qat. Many Yemenis chew the

leaves of the qat plant. Herders raise

sheep, goats, and cattle. Fishing is

another source of food.

History

In ancient times wealthy kingdoms

ruled what is now Yemen. The kingdoms

grew rich from trading frankincense

and myrrh, which came from trees

grown in the region. Many ancient

peoples used frankincense and myrrh to

make perfumes and medicines.

In the 600s the people of Yemen

accepted Islam. Muslim leaders called

imams then ruled Yemen. In the 1500s

the Ottoman Empire took control of

parts of Yemen. The Yemenis drove out

the Ottoman Turks in the 1600s. The

Turks returned in the mid-1800s and

took over northern Yemen. Meanwhile

the British began taking control of

southern Yemen.

Two Yemens

The Ottoman Empire collapsed in

1918. Imams then ruled northern

Yemen until 1962, when the last imam

lost power. Northern Yemen became a

new country called the Yemen Arab

Republic, or North Yemen.

In 1967 the British left southern Yemen,

and a socialist group took control of the

area. (In socialism the government controls

all businesses and property.)

Another socialist government that took

power in 1969 renamed the country the

People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen,

or South Yemen.

Unification

In 1990 the two Yemens joined together

as the Republic of Yemen. In 1994

southern rebels began a civil war against

the government. Less than two months

later the government defeated the rebels.

In 2000 Yemen signed an agreement

with Saudi Arabia concerning their common

border, which had long been disputed.

..More to explore

Arabs • Middle East • Sanaa

Facts About

YEMEN

Population

(2008 estimate)

23,013,000

Area

214,300 sq mi

(555,000 sq km)

Capital

Sanaa

Form of

government

Republic

Major cities

Sanaa, Aden,

Ta!izz,

Al-Hudaydah,

Al-Mukalla

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yemen 91

Yerevan

Population

(2006 estimate)

1,103,800

Yerevan is the capital of Armenia, a

country in western Asia. It is Armenia’s

largest city by far. It is also one of the

oldest cities in the world. Yerevan lies

on the Hrazdan River. The peaks of

Mount Ararat and other mountains rise

nearby.

Yerevan is Armenia’s center of industry.

The city is noted for its chemical factories.

Other factories in Yerevan process

foods and metals and make jewelry,

clothing, machinery, and cars.

People have lived in Yerevan for several

thousand years. It became part of Armenia

more than 2,500 years ago. The city

lay on an important trade route in

ancient times. For this reason many

groups tried to capture Yerevan. Over its

long history the Romans, Arabs, Turks,

Persians, and other groups ruled the city.

Russia and later the Soviet Union controlled

Yerevan for much of the 1800s

and 1900s. In 1991 Armenia became an

independent country with Yerevan as its

capital.

..More to explore

Armenia

Yew

Yews are evergreen trees and bushes that

grow in the northern half of the world.

There are several species, or types, of

yew. They include the English yew and

the western yew.

Some yew trees may reach 80 feet (25

meters) or more in height. Yews have

many branches with narrow, sharply

pointed leaves. The leaves are dark green

above and lighter underneath. Each yew

seed is surrounded by a red cup that

looks like an open berry. Yew leaves and

seeds are very poisonous. People and

animals can get sick or die after eating

them.

Yews grow very slowly but live very long.

Some yews are thought to be more than

1,200 years old. Yews usually are not

bothered by insects.

People trim some kinds of yew to use in

landscaping. Yews are also important

Yerevan, Armenia, is a city of broad boulevards.

The round building at left is an opera

house.

92 Yerevan BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

because their wood is hard. It is often

used in woodcarving.

#More to explore

Tree

Yoga

Yoga is a system of training for the body

and the mind. The word yoga means

“union” in the ancient Sanskrit language

of India. People who follow the religion

of Hinduism practice yoga to feel united

with a higher power. They seek this

union through posture (body position),

breathing, and meditation (mental exercises).

The most popular form of yoga is

called hatha yoga.

Today many people who do not follow

Hinduism practice yoga for exercise and

relaxation. The movements and positions

used in yoga are gentler than many

forms of exercise. As a result, people of

many different ages and fitness levels can

take part.

The practice of yoga involves learning a

variety of postures. These body

positions are known as asanas. One

well-known asana is called the lotus

position. In the lotus position, a person

sits with his or her legs crossed. The

legs are crossed tightly so that the foot

of each leg can rest on the opposite

thigh. Another common asana is the

downward-facing dog. In this position,

the hands and feet are flat on the floor,

and the hips are raised toward the

ceiling. People skilled at yoga can hold

asanas for a long time.

Yoga also features different breathing

exercises. Deep breathing helps to

deliver oxygen to the blood. It also

helps people to relax. While a person

focuses on breathing, the mind becomes

clearer.

#More to explore

Exercise • Hinduism

The red growths on a yew branch look like

open berries. Each of them holds one of the

plant’s seeds.

People learn yoga exercises in a class.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yoga 93

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is the holiest day in Judaism.

It is a day marked by prayer and

fasting. Yom Kippur is observed on the

10th day of the Jewish calendar month

Tishri. The holiday usually occurs in

September or October.

In English, Yom Kippur is known as the

Day of Atonement. The holiday’s purpose

is to purify the individual and community.

On Yom Kippur Jews are

forgiven for their sins against God. They

also ask for forgiveness from people they

have wronged. No work can be performed

on this day. The day is generally

spent in the synagogue, the Jewish house

of worship.

Jews believe that on the 10th of Tishri,

Moses came down from Mount Sinai

with the second set of tablets of the Ten

Commandments. This event happened

40 days after the Israelites (the Jewish

people) committed the sin of worshipping

a golden calf instead of praying to

God. Moses told the Israelites that they

were forgiven. Since this time, the day

was observed as Yom Kippur.

#More to explore

Judaism

Yucatan

Peninsula

The Yucatan Peninsula is a region in

Central America. The Gulf of Mexico

lies on its western and northern sides.

The Caribbean Sea lies on its eastern

side. The northern part of the Yucatan is

in Mexico. Belize and a part of Guatemala

are in the south.

Mayan Indians make up a large part of

the population. There are also many

people with both Mayan and European

ancestry. In Belize many people have

African roots.

The Maya have lived on the Yucatan

Peninsula for thousands of years. The

ancient Maya built cities, such as

Chichen Itza, that featured pyramids

A man blows a traditional trumpet

called a shofar on the Jewish

holiday of Yom Kippur.

94 Yom Kippur BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

and other impressive structures. Today

the ruins of these cities attract many

tourists. Tourists also visit Cancun, a

resort on the peninsula’s coast.

..More to explore

Maya

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was a country that existed in

southeastern Europe from 1929 to

2003. It was created when several former

kingdoms and territories joined

together. They became the six republics,

or states, of the country of Yugoslavia.

Each republic had its own mixture of

ethnic groups and religions. Tensions

sometimes flared up between the different

groups.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries

the republics broke apart to become

independent countries. These countries

are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,

Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia,

and Slovenia.

Geography and People

Yugoslavia lay along the Adriatic Sea on

the Balkan Peninsula of Europe. It

shared borders with Italy, Austria, Hungary,

Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and

Albania. Its capital was Belgrade, which

is now the capital of Serbia.

Most of Yugoslavia’s people were Slavs

who spoke Slavic languages. The Slavs

included several different ethnic groups.

They were the Serbs, Montenegrins,

Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, and

Bosnian Muslims (now called Bosniacs).

These groups were related, but each

group had its own separate history. Different

groups also followed different

religions. Many peoples who were not

Slavs—including Albanians, Hungarians,

and Turks—lived in Yugoslavia,

too.

History

By the late 1800s the Ottoman Empire

and Austria-Hungary ruled much of the

Balkan region. Those two empires were

defeated inWorldWar I (1914–18).

After the war several Balkan lands

formed a new country. It was called the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

The kingdom changed its name to

Yugoslavia in 1929.

Germany, Italy, and their allies invaded

Yugoslavia in 1941, duringWorldWar

II. A few years later, Josip Broz Tito led

troops that freed Yugoslavia from the

invaders. Tito became the country’s

leader. He set up a Communist government

in Yugoslavia.

The name

Yugoslavia

means “land

of the South

Slavs.”

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yugoslavia 95

The country also gained a new form. It

became a federation, or collection of six

equal republics. Two sections of Serbia

that wanted to be separate were also

given some power. This angered the

leaders of Serbia. But Tito was a strong

leader. He helped hold the many different

ethnic groups in all of the republics

together in one unified country.

After Tito died in 1980 the country

went through major changes. The new

leaders were not able to hold the

country together. Many neighboring

Communist countries began to get rid

of Communism during this period.

Some of the Yugoslav republics wanted

to do the same. They held elections

and eventually declared themselves

independent.

Serbia fought to keep the republics part

of Yugoslavia. A bloody civil war raged

until 1995.

After the war, Serbia and Montenegro

were the only republics that remained

part of Yugoslavia. In 2003 they

formed a different country, named

Serbia and Montenegro. In 2006 Montenegro

and Serbia split peacefully into

two separate countries. Two years later

Serbia lost some of its territory when

the province of Kosovo declared independence.

..More to explore

Balkan Peninsula • Bosnia and

Herzegovina • Communism • Croatia

• Kosovo • Macedonia • Montenegro

• Serbia • Slovenia

Yukon River

The Yukon River flows through the

Yukon territory in Canada and the U.S.

state of Alaska. It is 1,980 miles (3,190

kilometers) long. The river flows in a

northwestern direction starting in southern

Yukon. In Alaska it turns toward the

southwest. It empties into the Bering

Sea.

Only plants and animals that can survive

in a cold climate are found around the

Yukon River. These include spruce and

other evergreen trees in the mountain

valleys and such animals as bears, caribou,

moose, timber wolves, muskrats,

weasels, and foxes.

Native Americans have lived along the

river for thousands of years. European

fur traders began to arrive in the 1800s.

More outsiders came to the area after

people discovered gold on the Klondike

River in 1896. (The Klondike feeds into

the Yukon in western Yukon.) However,

most of the gold seekers did not stay.

Today the population of the region is

very small.

The Yukon River flows through large areas

of wilderness on its way to the Bering Sea.

96 Yukon River BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Yukon

Yukon is a territory of Canada located in

the northwestern part of the country.

The territory is a largely untouched wilderness

with a very small population.

The capital is Whitehorse.

Geography

Yukon borders Alaska (a U.S. state) on

the west, British Columbia (a Canadian

province) on the south, and the Northwest

Territories (a Canadian territory)

on the east. The Beaufort Sea (a part of

the Arctic Ocean) lies to the north.

Yukon is the ninth largest of Canada’s 13

provinces and territories.

In Yukon, mountains surround a central

plateau, or high, flat area. Mount Logan

rises in the southwest. It is the highest

point in Canada. The Yukon

River flows northwest through

the territory. Yukon’s climate is

cool and dry. The land in the far north is

tundra, a cold area with no trees.

People

About one fifth of the people of the

territory are Native Americans. Most

belong to groups in the Athapaskan language

family. The rest of the people have

European ancestors or mixed Native

American and European roots. Most

people speak English. Smaller groups

speak French or various Native American

languages.

Two thirds of the population lives in

Yukon’s capital and largest city, Whitehorse.

Dawson andWatson Lake are the

next-largest towns. Other communities

in Yukon have populations of several

hundred or less.

Economy

Mining is the most important industry

in Yukon. The territory has one of the

world’s largest deposits of tungsten, a

valuable metal. There are also deposits of

lead, zinc, silver, and gold.

Tourism is important to the territory’s

economy, too. Most visitors come to see

Yukon’s wilderness. Many people hike,

raft, or fish in Kluane National Park and

other areas.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yukon 97

Fishing and the fur trade are other

important activities. Fishers catch

salmon, lake trout, whitefish, and other

fishes. Trappers catch lynx, marten, wolverines,

foxes, muskrat, and beavers for

their furs. Agriculture is only a small

part of the economy.

History

The first people in the Yukon territory

probably came from Asia between

60,000 and 10,000 years ago. Over

time, these people’s descendants developed

the several Native American cultures

of the area.

The area that is now Yukon was one of

the last places in North America to be

visited by non-native people. Explorers

for a fur-trading group called the Hudson’s

Bay Company entered the region

in about 1840. Great Britain had given

this company the right to control trade

in what is now western Canada. In 1870

the Hudson’s Bay Company sold this

land to the new country of Canada.

What is now Yukon then became a part

of Canada’s Northwest Territories.

In 1896 people discovered gold near the

Klondike River, which feeds into the

Yukon River. Thousands of people came

to the Yukon area in the hope of getting

rich. They built Dawson, which became

the largest city in western Canada. However,

the Klondike gold rush lasted only

a few years.

Canada created the separate Yukon Territory

in 1898. The Canadian government

moved the capital from Dawson to

Whitehorse in 1953. In 2003 the Yukon

Territory’s name was officially changed

to Yukon.

..More to explore

Athapaskan • British Columbia

• Canada • Hudson’s Bay Company

• Northwest Territories • Tundra

Yukon has unspoiled wilderness for

campers to enjoy.

The town of Dawson sits on the banks of the

Yukon River. Dawson was once the capital

of the Yukon Territory.

Facts About

YUKON

Flag

Population

(2006 census)

30,372

Area

186,272 sq mi

(482,443 sq km)

Capital

Whitehorse

Motto

none

When Yukon

Became a

Territory

1898

98 Yukon BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia,

a country in Europe.

(See Zagreb.)

Zebras communicate with each

other using calls and facial

expressions.

(See Zebra.)

Zeus was the most powerful

god in ancient Greek mythology.

(See Zeus.)

The African country of

Zimbabwe was once called

Southern Rhodesia.

(See Zimbabwe.)

Some zoos help endangered

species, or animals at risk of

dying out in the wild, to have

young.

(See Zoo.)

Zoroastrians believe the world

is involved in a struggle

between good and evil.

(See Zoroastrianism.)

Zz

Zagreb

Population

(2001 census)

691,724

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, a country

in southeastern Europe. It is Croatia’s

largest city and cultural center. The

city lies on the Sava River.

Zagreb is the center of trade and industry

in Croatia. Factories in the city make

machinery, chemicals, food products,

and cloth and clothing.

For several hundred years there were two

towns where Zagreb is now. Together

the two towns were the political and

cultural center of Croatia. In the 1800s

the towns were combined to form

Zagreb.

In the early 1900s Zagreb and the rest of

Croatia became part of the country of

Yugoslavia. Croatia declared its independence

in 1991. Fighting then broke out

between different groups in Croatia.

Zagreb was heavily damaged. It began to

rebuild after the war ended in 1995.

#More to explore

Croatia • Yugoslavia

Zaharias, Babe

Didrikson

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the

best athletes of the 1900s. She excelled

in many sports.

Mildred Ella Didriksen was born on

June 26, 1911, in the U.S. city of Port

Arthur, Texas. She eventually gained the

nickname of Babe. She also changed the

spelling of her last name.

During 1930–32 Didrikson played on

the women’s All-America basketball

team. At the 1932 Olympic Games she

won two gold medals for track and field

events. She won the U.S.Women’s

Open, an important golf championship,

in 1948, 1950, and 1954.

Didrikson married George Zaharias in

1938. She died on September 27, 1956,

in Galveston, Texas.

#More to explore

Golf • Track and Field

The two spires of a cathedral in Zagreb,

Croatia, have towered over the city for hundreds

of years.

100 Zagreb BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Zambia

The country of Zambia sits between

eight other countries in southern Africa.

Zambia’s capital is Lusaka.

Zambia shares borders with the Democratic

Republic of the Congo, Tanzania,

Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe,

Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Most

of the country is on a plateau, or raised

area of land. Several river valleys cross

the plateau.

Wooded areas and grasslands cover much

of the plateau. Grasses grow around

Zambia’s swamps and lakes. National

parks in Zambia protect elephants, lions,

monkeys, zebras, giraffes, antelope,

wolves, hyenas, and baboons.

Zambia has many different peoples, each

with their own language. The Bemba

and Tonga peoples form the largest

groups. English is the language of government.

About half of the people follow

Christianity. Many people also

practice African religions.

The mining of copper and other metals

is very important to Zambia’s economy.

Most Zambians work as farmers. Major

crops include sugarcane, cassava, corn,

and vegetables. Farmers also raise cattle,

goats, pigs, and chickens.

The ancestors of modern Zambians

came to the area beginning in the 1400s.

European settlers arrived in the mid-

1800s. The British settlers called the area

Northern Rhodesia. The British government

took control of Northern Rhodesia

in 1924.

In 1964 Northern Rhodesia gained

independence. It was renamed as the

Republic of Zambia. Zambia’s first

president ruled for almost 30 years.

..More to explore

Lusaka

The Zambezi River plunges over a cliff,

forming a wide waterfall called Victoria

Falls. The river forms part of the border

between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Facts About

ZAMBIA

Population

(2008 estimate)

11,670,000

Area

290,585 sq mi

(752,612 sq km)

Capital

Lusaka

Form of

government

Republic

Major cities

Lusaka, Ndola,

Kitwe, Kabwe,

Chingola

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Zambia 101

Zapata, Emiliano

Emiliano Zapata was one of the leaders

of the Mexican Revolution. He fought

against rich landowners who had taken

land away from peasants, or poor farmers.

He wanted to return the land to the

peasants.

Zapata was born on August 8, 1879, in

Anenecuilco, Mexico. His parents were

peasants. As a young man Zapata saw

his neighbors lose their land to the owners

of large farms. He led his neighbors

in protests against the landowners. Officials

punished him by making him serve

in the army for six months. After leaving

the army Zapata gathered a group of

peasant fighters. They took land back

from the landowners by force.

Zapata also opposed Porfirio Diaz, the

president of Mexico. Diaz did nothing

to help the peasants. In 1910 Zapata

and others started the Mexican Revolution.

By 1911 they had forced Diaz

from power. A leader named Francisco

Madero took his place.

Even after Diaz was gone, Zapata did

not think Mexico’s leaders did enough

for the peasants. A general named Victoriano

Huerta took power from Madero

in 1913. Zapata disliked Madero, but he

refused to help Huerta. This weakened

Huerta, who lost power in 1914. Venustiano

Carranza was the next leader of

Mexico. Zapata disliked Carranza also.

For a short time in 1914, Zapata’s army

controlled Mexico City, the capital.

Then Zapata joined forces with Pancho

Villa, another revolutionary leader. They

worked together to hand out pieces of

land to peasants. Meanwhile, the war

against the government continued. Carranza’s

forces defeated Villa in 1917.

They shot and killed Zapata on April

10, 1919, in Morelos, Mexico.

#More to explore

Mexico • Villa, Pancho

Zebra

Zebras are mammals that are known for

their black and white stripes. They

belong to the horse family of animals.

There are three species, or types, of

zebra: Burchell’s zebra, Grevy’s zebra,

and the mountain zebra. They live in

various parts of Africa.

Zebras look similar to horses. They

stand between 47 and 55 inches (120

The Mexican revolutionary

leader Emiliano Zapata was

ready to use his rifle or his sword.

102 Zapata, Emiliano BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

and 140 centimeters) tall at the shoulder.

Each species of zebra has its own

pattern of stripes. Burchell’s zebra has

broad stripes that are widely spaced. The

stripes of Grevy’s zebra are narrow and

closely spaced, and the belly is white.

The mountain zebra has a gridlike pattern

of stripes on the rump.

Zebras eat mostly tall, rough grasses.

Some types also eat shrubs, herbs, and

bulbs. Zebras communicate with each

other using calls and facial expressions.

They often greet each other with noseto-

nose contact.

Female zebras may have one foal each

year. Females and their young usually

live in small family groups headed by

one male. But female Grevy’s zebras may

form family groups without head males.

Family groups sometimes join together

in larger herds. Zebras also may form

mixed herds with antelope.

Both Grevy’s and mountain zebras are

endangered, or in danger of dying out.

People are trying to save zebras by breeding

them in captivity and then releasing

them into the wild.

#More to explore

Horse • Mammal

Zapotec

The Zapotec are a group of American

Indians who live in the state of Oaxaca

in southern Mexico. Many Zapotec are

farmers.

The Zapotec have lived in what is now

Oaxaca since about 1500 BC. In about

500 BC they built a capital known as

Monte Alban. This city had flat pyramids,

temples, and elaborate tombs.

Like the Zapotec today, the early Zapotec

were farmers. They also made fine

pottery. In addition, they carved writings

onto slabs of stone. This was some

of the earliest writing in the Americas.

Zapotec lands once stretched from what

is now Puebla (the state north of Oaxaca)

to the Pacific Ocean. But after

about AD 500 Monte Alban began to fall

into ruin. A people called the Mixtec

took over the city. The Zapotec later

formed a number of small kingdoms. In

the 1500s Spanish conquerors took over

the region.

#More to explore

Mexico • Native Americans

Zeus

The most powerful god in ancient Greek

Zebras generally live in small groups. mythology was Zeus. He was considered

Zapotec in

different

villages sometimes

speak

different

Zapotecan

languages.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Zeus 103

the ruler of all the other gods as well as

of humans. Zeus was said to live on top

of Mount Olympus with the other

major gods. From there, he could see

everything that humans did. He sent

thunder, lightning, rain, and winds

down to Earth. Zeus is associated with

the Roman god Jupiter because they

shared many traits. Two of Zeus’s symbols

are the thunderbolt and the eagle.

He used the thunderbolt as a weapon.

Zeus was said to punish those who

angered him or did wrong. However, he

rewarded those who behaved well. Zeus

also was the protector of cities, the

home, property, strangers, and guests.

According to legend, Zeus was the son

of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. The

Titans were giants who once ruled the

world. Cronus heard that one of his

children would destroy him. To prevent

this, he swallowed his children right

after they were born. But when Zeus was

born, Rhea tricked Cronus. She had him

swallow a rock wrapped in cloth rather

than the baby. Rhea secretly sent Zeus to

a cave to live. After he grew up, Zeus led

a war to force the Titans from power.

After 10 years Zeus won and became the

chief god.

Zeus’s wife was the goddess Hera. They

had a stormy relationship. Zeus fell in

love with many other goddesses and

women, and Hera became very jealous.

Zeus was the father of many children,

including the gods Apollo and Ares and

the goddesses Artemis and Athena.

Athena was born from Zeus’s forehead.

#More to explore

Hera • Mythology • Titans

According to Greek mythology, Zeus ruled

over all the other gods as well as humans.

104 Zeus BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a country in southern

Africa. The British once ruled the land

and called it Southern Rhodesia. A

white government later called it just

Rhodesia. Zimbabwe gained independence

under a black government in

1980. The capital is Harare.

Geography

Zimbabwe shares borders with Zambia,

Mozambique, South Africa, and

Botswana. The country has a mild climate

with dry and rainy seasons.

Zimbabwe lies on a plateau, or area of

raised land. A ridge called the Highveld

stretches from southwest to northeast.

The Inyanga Mountains form Zimbabwe’s

eastern border. A line of hills,

called the Great Dyke, runs from north

to south through the middle of the

country.

The Zambezi River forms Zimbabwe’s

border with Zambia. This river contains

Victoria Falls, a huge waterfall. A major

dam on the river created Lake Kariba.

Plants and Animals

Savanna, or grassland with scattered

trees, covers much of Zimbabwe. Evergreen

forests grow in the east. The country’s

animals include lions, hyenas,

jackals, elephants, hippopotamuses,

giraffes, gorillas, chimpanzees, baboons,

antelope, and crocodiles.

People

Almost all of Zimbabwe’s population is

African. The main African groups are

the Shona and the Ndebele. Europeans

make up a tiny part of the population.

English is the language of government,

but the Shona and Ndebele languages

are more commonly spoken. They

belong to a large family of African languages

called Bantu languages. About

Matusadona National Park is home to

many animals, including herds of buffalo.

The park lies along Lake Kariba in northern

Zimbabwe.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Zimbabwe 105

half of the people follow Christianity.

Many people also follow traditional

African beliefs. Most people live in rural

areas.

Economy

Zimbabwe’s economy depends on agriculture.

The most important crop is

tobacco, which Zimbabwe sells to other

countries. Other major crops include

cotton, corn, and sugarcane. Farmers

also raise cattle, goats, sheep, and pigs.

Mining is also important to the

economy. Zimbabwe mines gold, nickel,

coal, and other minerals in the hills of

the Great Dyke. Zimbabwe’s industries

make food products, metals, clothing,

chemicals, and wood products.

History

Some of the earliest people in the region

were the San, or Bushmen. Bantuspeaking

peoples came from the north

between the AD 400s and 900s. They

drove out the San.

Great Zimbabwe

The Bantu speakers built a city of stone

in the southeast. It was the center of a

rich trading empire from about 1100 to

about 1500. The stone ruins at the site

are called Great Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe

is a Bantu word meaning “stone

houses.”

Rhodesia

During the 1800s whites from South

Africa and other Europeans settled on

the land. In 1889 an Englishman named

Cecil Rhodes formed the British South

Africa Company to start a colony and

encourage trade. By 1897 the company

controlled the region. The British called

the land Southern Rhodesia in honor of

Rhodes.

In 1923 Southern Rhodesia became a

self-governing British colony. Even

though most of the people of the colony

were black, a small group of white

people held all the power. In 1953

Southern Rhodesia joined with Northern

Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland

(now Malawi) to form the Central

African Federation. The federation

broke up in 1963. Zambia and Malawi

gained independence, but Southern

Rhodesia went back to being a colony.

In 1964 the colony was renamed Rhodesia.

Independence

In 1965 Rhodesia’s white government

tried to declare independence from

Great Britain. Black leaders in Rhodesia

soon formed groups that attacked the

white government. After years of fighting,

the government allowed blacks to

vote in elections in 1979.

Black leaders won more elections in

1980. Rhodesia became the independent

country of Zimbabwe. One of the black

leaders, Robert Mugabe, became Zimbabwe’s

first prime minister. Mugabe

became president in 1987. He held

power into the 21st century. In 2000 his

government began taking land away

from white farmers.

..More to explore

Great Zimbabwe • Harare

Facts About

ZIMBABWE

Population

(2008 estimate)

11,350,000

Area

150,872 sq mi

(390,757 sq km)

Capital

Harare

Form of

government

Republic

Major cities

Harare, Bulawayo,

Chitungwiza,

Mutare,

Gweru

106 Zimbabwe BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Zodiac

The zodiac is a belt of space around

Earth. It occupies the path that the sun

appears to take around Earth in the

course of a year (although it is actually

Earth that is moving around the sun).

Twelve well-known groups of stars,

called constellations, lie in the zodiac.

Their names are Aries (the ram), Taurus

(the bull), Gemini (the twins), Cancer

(the crab), Leo (the lion), Virgo (the

virgin), Libra (the balance), Scorpius

(the scorpion), Sagittarius (the archer),

Capricornus (the goat), Aquarius (the

water bearer), and Pisces (the fish).

Ancient peoples saw how the sun

appeared to pass in front of each constellation

for about one month of the year.

(During this time the constellation was

not visible in the night sky.) Most of the

constellations represent animals. Therefore

the ancient Greeks called the zone

zodiakos kyklos, “circle of animals,” or ta

zodia, “the little animals.”

Each sign was associated with specific

dates. The dates have changed because

the path of Earth has changed over the

years. Astrologers still use the old dates.

Astrologers are people who claim to be

able to predict the future based on the

positions of the stars and the planets in

the sky.

Zoo

A zoo is a place where animals are kept

and shown to visitors. Zoos give people

the chance to see animals that they

might not see anywhere else.

How Zoos Display Animals

In most zoos the animals are kept in

houses. Sometimes the houses are connected

to fenced-in outdoor spaces. Animals

that live peacefully together in

nature are sometimes put together in

displays. Cages, fences, and other barri-

Visitors to the San Diego Zoo walk through

a glass-walled exhibit called the Hidden

Jungle. There they see a variety of butterflies,

birds, insects, and plants.

A chart shows the 12 signs of the zodiac.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Zoo 107

ers keep the animals from escaping. The

barriers also keep zoo visitors from getting

too close to the animals.

Zoos usually try to make the animals’

surroundings look like natural habitats.

Plants, trees, rocks, and other things

animals would see in nature are included

in the displays. Often these things are

artificial instead of natural. Inside zoo

buildings, light and temperature are set

to the liking of the animals. For

example, animals that are active at night

are kept in buildings that are dark during

the day and lighted at night.

Open-range zoos are large, outdoor

zoos. In these zoos animals are kept in

more natural conditions. Many openspace

zoos have displays with just one

type of animal, such as a group of lions.

Others have displays with mixed groups

of animals. Some open-range zoos are so

large that visitors can drive through in

cars.

Purposes of Zoos

Zoos have a number of purposes. They

try to teach visitors about the habitats

and behavior of animals. They also work

to protect endangered species, which are

animals that are in danger of dying out

in the wild. Some zoos help endangered

animals to reproduce. Sometimes the

animals are then returned to the wild.

History

Zoos date back to ancient times. Rulers

of ancient China, Egypt, Greece, and

Rome kept collections of animals. Some

of these zoos were private. Others were

open to the public. In the 1700s zoos

were set up in major cities of Europe,

including Vienna, Austria; Madrid,

Spain; and Paris, France. By the middle

of the 1800s zoos were being opened all

over the world. Today there are more

than 1,000 zoos.

#More to explore

Animal • Endangered Species

Zoology

Zoology is the study of animal life. Scientists

who work in this field are called

zoologists. They study all different kinds

of animals, from tiny amoebas to

humans to giant whales.

Zoology is divided into many different

areas. The name of each is based on the

group of animals that is studied. For

A zookeeper feeds a California condor

chick that will be set free when it is grown.

The keeper hides behind a puppet so that

the bird will not lose its fear of humans.

Many zoos try to help endangered animals

like the California condor.

108 Zoology BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

example, entomology is the study of

insects and mammalogy is the study of

mammals.

Some zoologists examine animals’

bodies and how they live. They may

answer questions about how the

animals behave, how their bodies work,

or how they live in their environment.

Other zoologists study how animals

have evolved, or changed, over time.

One of the greatest zoologists was

Charles Darwin. He developed the

theory of evolution.

Zoologists often study animals in the

wild. They may also take animals back to

a lab to study them more closely. They

may draw or photograph the animals or

look at them under a microscope.

Some zoologists study animals that are

extinct, or no longer living. They may

look at fossils, or remains, of extinct

animals. Living relatives of extinct animals

may also help zoologists understand

how animals lived long ago.

#More to explore

Animal • Evolution

Zoroastrianism

The religion known as Zoroastrianism

was founded in the 500s BC by an Iranian

named Zoroaster. Most followers of

the religion live in India. There the religion

is known as Parsiism.

Zoroastrians believe the world is

involved in a struggle between good and

evil. They worship one supreme god,

Ahura Mazda, the creator of the world

and all good things. Evil is represented

by Ahriman, creator of all bad things.

Zoroastrians believe that in the end all

evil will be destroyed. They are expected

to turn away from evil. Giving to others

and being truthful are important.

Children become Zoroastrians at age 7

or 10. They receive two sacred garments,

a sadre (shirt) and kusti (girdle). They are

to wear these garments through their

whole lives.

A zoologist goes underwater to study a

mammal called a manatee.

Zoroastrian priests perform a

ceremony to bring a child into

the Zoroastrian religion.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Zoroastrianism 109

Fire is an important symbol in

Zoroastrianism. Followers of the

religion say prayers every day, often in

front of a fire. The main ceremony

involves sacrificing a sacred liquor while

reading from a sacred book called the

Avesta. Zoroastrians also perform

cleansing rituals to keep away evil

spirits.

Zoroastrianism spread slowly from Persia

(now Iran) to other countries. It

became the official religion of Persia in

AD 224. Eventually, Islam took over as

the major religion there. Most Zoroastrians

left Persia to settle in India. Today,

followers of Zoroastrianism live in about

20 countries.

#More to explore

Islam • Persia

Zuni

The Zuni are Native Americans of western

New Mexico. They are one of a

group of tribes known as Pueblo Indians.

They live in a pueblo, or village,

that is also named Zuni. They call themselves

Ashiwi.

Like other Pueblo Indians, the Zuni

traditionally built large houses with

several stories. They built the houses

out of blocks of sun-baked clay, called

adobe. The Zuni grew corn, squash,

beans, and sunflowers. They also fished

and hunted deer, antelope, and other

animals.

In 1539 a black slave named Esteban

arrived in Zuni lands. He had come

from Mexico with a Spanish priest

named Marcos de Niza. Niza was looking

for the Seven Cities of Cibola, famed

cities of great wealth that did not actually

exist. Niza sent Esteban ahead to

meet the Zuni. The Zuni killed Esteban,

and Niza went back to Mexico. He

announced that he had found the Seven

Cities. Then other Spanish explorers

went through Zuni lands looking for the

cities. The most famous of the explorers

was Francisco Coronado.

In 1680 the Zuni joined in a Pueblo

rebellion against the Spanish. The

Pueblo drove the Spanish from their

territory for 12 years. When the Spanish

returned, they crowded all of the Zuni

into one village, called Halona. That is

where Zuni Pueblo still stands. At the

end of the 20th century there were more

than 9,000 Zuni.

#More to explore

Coronado, Francisco • Native

Americans • Pueblo Indians

A Zuni potter makes a pot from coils, or

long ropes, of clay in the early 1900s.

110 Zuni BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

Britannica

Student

Encyclopedia

Chicago • London • New Delhi • Paris • Seoul • Sydney • Taipei • Tokyo

Index

2010 Britannica Student Encyclopedia

Copyright © 2010 by Encyclop.dia Britannica, Inc.

Britannica, Encyclop.dia Britannica, and the thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclop.dia Britannica, Inc.

All rights reserved. Copyright under International Copyright Union

No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009904642

Britannica may be accessed at http://www.britannica.com on the Internet.

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-61535-363-7

eBook edition January, 2010

The index can help you find information in several different ways.

How to Use the Britannica

Student Encyclopedia Index

If you know the name of the subject you want to

read about, you can look up that name. If the

encyclopedia has an article on that subject then

the index will tell you the volume and page number

where you will find that article.

Sometimes other articles also have

information about that subject.

The index will tell you when there

is more information about a topic

in another article.

Sometimes the encyclopedia has information on

the subject, but it is under a different name. The

index will tell you what name to look under.

The index also has many tables

that can help you find a subject.

For example, if your teacher asks

you to do a report on a famous

African American you can look up

“African American” in the index.

You will find a table that lists some

famous African Americans. The

encyclopedia has an article on each

name in that list. There are more

than 30 subject lists throughout

the index. They include lists of

every country on each continent as

well as lists of science

topics, arts, world leaders,

and many more.

excrement (biology): see in index feces

excretion (biology)

living thing volume 7 page 169

executive branch (government)

government volume 5 page 132

major executive departments table, volume

14 page 35

United States government volume 14

page 34

exercise (physical activity)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 4 page 171

MORE TO EXPLORE

swimming volume 12 page 215

yoga volume 15 page 93

exhaust stroke (internal combustion)

internal-combustion engine volume 6

page 141, picture, volume 6 page 140

exhaust system (automotive)

automobile volume 1 page 236, picture,

volume 1 page 235

exhibition, art (art show): see in index art

exhibit

Exodus (ancient Hebrew history and Old

Testament story)

ancient Egypt volume 4 page 114

handwritten bible picture, volume 2

page 67

exoskeleton (anatomy)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 4 page 172

MORE TO EXPLORE

insect volume 6 page 138, picture, volume

6 page 139

cicada picture, volume 4 page 173

cockroach volume 3 page 147

invertebrate volume 6 page 144

krill volume 7 page 87

shell volume 12 page 79

skeletal system volume 12 page 96

exosphere (atmospheric region)

atmosphere volume 1 page 223

expanding universe (cosmology)

universe volume 14 page 37

expansion (physics)

water volume 15 page 23

experimental method: see in index scientific

method

exploration

MAIN ARTICLE volume 4 page 173, picture,

volume 4 page 174

MORE TO EXPLORE

Renaissance volume 11 page 46

technology and invention volume 13

page 26

exploration and settlement of the

Americas: see in index Americas

Explorer 1 (artificial satellite)

satellite volume 12 page 41

explosion (chemical reaction)

bomb picture, volume 3 page 165

combustion volume 3 page 165

explosive (chemical product)

quarrying volume 11 page 7

expressway (road)

earthquake damage picture, volume 4

page 92

extermination camp (Nazi concentration

camp): see in index death camp

external auditory canal (anatomy): see in

index ear canal

external ear (anatomy): see in index outer

ear

external migration

human migration volume 8 page 126

external recycling (waste management)

recycling volume 11 page 35

extinction (animal)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 126, picture,

volume 1 page 126, picture, volume 1

page 127

MORE TO EXPLORE

prehistoric life volume 10 page 146

extra point (sports)

football volume 5 page 49

eye (anatomy)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 4 page 175, picture,

volume 4 page 175

MORE TO EXPLORE

cosmetics volume 3 page 202

gecko picture, volume 4 page 176

lens volume 7 page 131

octopus picture, volume 4 page 176

eyeglasses (optical aid)

lens volume 7 page 131

eyepiece (part of optical instrument)

microscope volume 8 page 120

telescope volume 13 page 38, picture,

volume 13 page 38

Eyeries (village in Ireland) picture, volume

6 page 155

eyesight (physiology): see in index sight

Ezra’s Temple (Judaism): see in index

Jerusalem, Temple of

F (temperature scale): see in index Fahrenheit

F-16 (military aircraft) picture, volume 1

page 52

FA (British sports organization): see in

index Football Association

FAA (U.S. government agency): see in

index Federal Aviation Administration

fable (story)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 5 page 4

MORE TO EXPLORE

Aesop volume 1 page 35

Amundsen,

Roald

Balboa, Vasco

Nunez de

Cabot, John

Cartier, Jacques

Champlain,

Samuel de

Columbus,

Christopher

Cook, James

Coronado,

Francisco

Cortes, Hernan

De Soto,

Hernando

Dias,

Bartolomeu

Drake, Francis

Fremont, John

Charles

Gama, Vasco da

Henson,

Matthew

Jolliet, Louis

La Salle, Sieur

de

Leif Eriksson

Magellan,

Ferdinand

Marquette,

Jacques

Peary, Robert E.

Pizarro,

Francisco

Polo, Marco

Ponce de Leon,

Juan

Verrazzano,

Giovanni da

Vespucci,

Amerigo

For more about exploration, look

for articles on these explorers:

88 excrement BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

exercise (physical activity)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 4 page 171

MORE TO EXPLORE

swimming volume 12 page 215

yoga volume 15 page 93

eyesight (physiology): see in index sight

Amundsen,

Roald

Balboa, Vasco

Nunez de

Cabot, John

Cartier, Jacques

Champlain,

Samuel de

Columbus,

Christopher

Cook, James

Gama, Vasco da

Henson,

Matthew

Jolliet, Louis

La Salle, Sieur

de

Leif Eriksson

Magellan,

Ferdinand

Marquette,

Jacques

For more about exploration, look

for articles on these explorers:

Aachen (city in Germany)

Charlemagne volume 3 page 82

aardvark (mammal)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 6, picture,

volume 1 page 6

Aaron, Hank (U.S. baseball player)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 6, picture,

volume 1 page 6

MORE TO EXPLORE

Ruth volume 11 page 109

abacus (calculating device)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 7

!Abbasid Caliphate (Islamic history)

Caliphate volume 3 page 14

abbreviation (grammar)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 7

MORE TO EXPLORE

some common abbreviations table, volume

1 page 8

United States postal codes table, volume

1 page 8

abdomen (anatomy)

insect volume 6 page 139, picture, volume

6 page 138

spider volume 12 page 164

Abenaki (people): see in index Abnaki

Abernathy, Ralph (U.S. civil-rights

activist)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 9, picture,

volume 1 page 9

Abidjan (city in Cote d’Ivoire)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 9, picture,

volume 1 page 10

MORE TO EXPLORE

Cote d’Ivoire volume 3 page 204

Yamoussoukro volume 15 page 85

Abnaki (Native American people)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 10

abolitionist movement (European and

U.S. social movement)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 11

MORE TO EXPLORE

African Americans volume 1 page 43

Freetown volume 5 page 65

Fugitive Slave Acts volume 5 page 74

Harpers Ferry volume 6 page 19

important people

Anthony volume 1 page 140

Arthur volume 1 page 192

Brown volume 2 page 136

Douglass volume 4 page 67

Franklin volume 5 page 64

Grimke sisters volume 5 page 161

Truth volume 13 page 102

London meeting picture, volume 1

page 11

slavery volume 12 page 107

Underground Railroad volume 14 page 9

Abolition Society (British organization)

abolitionist movement volume 1 page 11

Abominable Snowman (mythology)

legendary animals volume 1 page 129

Nepal volume 9 page 31

Aboriginal, Australian (people): see in

index Australian Aborigine

aboriginal peoples (classification of

people)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 13

aborigine (classification of people): see in

index aboriginal peoples

Abraham (Hebrew patriarch)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 13

MORE TO EXPLORE

journey to Canaan picture, volume 1

page 14

Judaism volume 7 page 38

Absaroka (Native American people): see

in index Crow

absolutism (form of government)

dictatorship volume 4 page 46

government volume 5 page 132

monarchy volume 8 page 159

abstract art

painting volume 10 page 11

“Painting” by Miro picture, volume 10

page 12

sculpture volume 12 page 57

work by Hepworth picture, volume 12

page 57

abstract expressionism (artistic style)

painting volume 10 page 11

Absurd, Theater of the

drama volume 4 page 74

Abu Bakr (Muslim caliph)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 14, picture,

volume 1 page 14

MORE TO EXPLORE

Caliphate volume 3 page 14

Abu Dhabi (capital city of the United

Arab Emirates)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 15, picture,

volume 1 page 15

MORE TO EXPLORE

United Arab Emirates volume 14

page 15

Abuja (capital city of Nigeria)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 16, picture,

volume 1 page 16

MORE TO EXPLORE

Nigeria volume 9 page 68

Abu Simbel (archaeological site in Egypt)

temple entrance picture, volume 4

page 112

Acadia (historical region in Canada)

Maine volume 8 page 23

New Brunswick volume 9 page 43

accident (safety)

safety volume 12 page 7

Accra (capital city of Ghana)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 16

MORE TO EXPLORE

Ghana volume 5 page 110

ace (sports)

tennis volume 13 page 46

acetate (textile fiber)

fibers volume 5 page 17

Index

acetic acid (chemical compound)

vinegar volume 14 page 92

acid (chemical substance)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 17, picture,

volume 1 page 17

acid dew (pollution)

dew volume 4 page 42

acid rain (pollution)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 18, picture,

volume 1 page 18

MORE TO EXPLORE

fossil fuel volume 5 page 56

coal volume 3 page 145

petroleum volume 10 page 68

pollution volume 10 page 118

rain volume 11 page 22

acne (skin condition)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 18, picture,

volume 1 page 19

Acoma (pueblo in New Mexico, U.S.)

New Mexico picture, volume 9 page 52

Aconcagua, Mount (mountain in Argentina)

Andes Mountains volume 1 page 118

Argentina volume 1 page 175

acorn (fruit)

nut volume 9 page 112

oak volume 9 page 114

acquired immune deficiency syndrome

(disease): see in index AIDS

acquired immunity (physiology)

immune system volume 6 page 119,

picture, volume 6 page 119

acro (skiing)

skiing volume 12 page 99

acronym (grammar)

abbreviation volume 1 page 8

Acropolis (ancient citadel in Athens,

Greece)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 19

MORE TO EXPLORE

Athens volume 1 page 218

Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties

of the Subject and Settling the Succession

of the Crown, An (British history):

see in index Rights, Bill of

acting (theatrical arts)

theater volume 13 page 57

actinide element (family of chemical

elements)

periodic table table, volume 3 page 86

Actium, Battle of (ancient Roman history,

31 BC)

Cleopatra volume 3 page 135

Act of Union (Great Britain and Ireland,

1801): see in index Union, Act of

Acts of the Apostles, The (New Testament)

Bible volume 2 page 68

acupuncture (Chinese medical technique)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 20, picture,

volume 1 page 20

acute angle (mathematics)

geometry volume 5 page 98

AD (division of time for dating events):

see in index anno Domini

Adams, Abigail (first lady of the U.S.)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 20, picture,

volume 1 page 21

MORE TO EXPLORE

Adams, John Quincy volume 1 page 24

Adams, Ansel (U.S. photographer)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 21, picture,

volume 1 page 22

Adams, John (president of the U.S.)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 22, picture,

volume 1 page 22

MORE TO EXPLORE

Adams, Abigail volume 1 page 20

Adams, John Quincy volume 1 page 24

timeline volume 1 page 22

White House volume 15 page 42

Adams, John Quincy (president of the

U.S.)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 24, picture,

volume 1 page 24

MORE TO EXPLORE

Abigail Adams volume 1 page 21

timeline volume 1 page 24

Adams, Louisa (first lady of the U.S.)

Adams, John Quincy volume 1 page 24

Adams, Samuel (U.S. politician)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 26, picture,

volume 1 page 26

MORE TO EXPLORE

Revere volume 11 page 58

adaptation (biology and physiology)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 26, picture,

volume 1 page 27

MORE TO EXPLORE

cave volume 3 page 64

evolution volume 4 page 171

fish volume 5 page 27

habitat volume 6 page 4

ADD (medical disorder): see in index

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Addams, Jane (U.S. social reformer)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 27, picture,

volume 1 page 27

addax (mammal)

antelope volume 1 page 138

adder (reptile)

scales picture, volume 11 page 51

Addis Ababa (capital city of Ethiopia)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 28, picture,

volume 1 page 28

MORE TO EXPLORE

African Union volume 1 page 46

Ethiopia volume 4 page 155

Ade, King Sunny (Nigerian musician)

world music volume 15 page 60

Adelaide (state capital of South Australia,

Australia)

South Australia volume 12 page 145

Adena culture (prehistoric North American

culture)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 29

MORE TO EXPLORE

Adena burial mound picture, volume 1

page 29

mound builders volume 8 page 194

Serpent Mound picture, volume 8

page 194

adenine (chemical compound)

DNA volume 4 page 61

ADHD (medical disorder): see in index

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

“Adi Granth” (Sikh sacred scripture)

Sikhism volume 12 page 88, picture,

volume 12 page 88

Adirondack Mountains (mountain range

in New York, U.S.) picture, volume 9

page 57, picture, volume 9 page 79

!Adnan (Arab legendary figure)

Arabs volume 1 page 159

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA !Adnan 5

adobe (building material)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 29, picture,

volume 1 page 30, picture, volume 10

page 164

MORE TO EXPLORE

brick and tile volume 2 page 129

adolescence (stage of human development)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 30

MORE TO EXPLORE

acne volume 1 page 18

adrenal gland (anatomy)

endocrine system volume 4 page 136,

picture, volume 4 page 135

Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 31

MORE TO EXPLORE

coastline in Dalmatia region picture,

volume 3 page 218

harbor of Dubrovnik, Croatia picture,

volume 6 page 17

Mediterranean Sea volume 8 page 94

Montenegro picture, volume 8 page 175

adult education

education volume 4 page 106

adulthood

sleep volume 12 page 108

adult insect

flea volume 5 page 33

insects volume 6 page 140

adult learning: see in index adult education

“Advance Australia Fair” (Australian

national anthem)

national anthem volume 9 page 13

Advanced Research Projects Agency

Network (U.S. computer network)

Internet volume 6 page 142

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The”

(novel by Twain)

Twain volume 13 page 122

“Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The”

(novel by Twain)

Twain volume 13 page 122

advertising (promotion)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 32, picture,

volume 1 page 32

MORE TO EXPLORE

magazine volume 8 page 15

Aegean civilization (ancient Greece)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 33, picture,

volume 1 page 33

MORE TO EXPLORE

ancient Greece volume 5 page 154

Aegean Sea (Mediterranean Sea)

MAIN ARTICLE volume 1 page 34, picture,

volume 1 page 34

MORE TO EXPLORE

Mediterranean Sea volume 8 page 94

Aeneas (Roman mythology)

Aphrodite volume 1 page 149

aepyornis (extinct bird): see in index

elephant bird

aerial (skiing)

skiing volume 12 page 99

aerial root (root system)

root volume 11 page 96

aerobic exercise