• Bandit of Sherwood Forest, The (film by Levin and Sherman [1946])

    Cornel Wilde: …Leave Her to Heaven (1945), The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946), Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), Road House (1948), and Shockproof (1949). In 1952 Wilde appeared in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Oscar for

  • Bandit Queen (film by Kapur [1994])

    Shekhar Kapur: In 1994 Kapur released Bandit Queen, based on the life of the Indian outlaw Phoolan Devi. Apart from generating controversy (the film was briefly banned for its scenes of violence and rape, and Devi herself claimed the movie was inaccurate), this intense, raw feature brought Kapur international acclaim and…

  • banditry (theft)

    Italy: Condition of the Italian kingdom: …an especially violent form of brigandage, which, though fomented and often assisted by emissaries of the exiled Francis II, was a form of class warfare against the agrarian bourgeoisie. Men on horseback occupied villages in the south, killed Liberals, and raised the white flag of the Bourbon kingdom. The government…

  • Bandits (film by Levinson [2001])

    Cate Blanchett: Films: Elizabeth and the Lord of the Rings series: …love with her captors in Bandits. She next appeared as the elf queen Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, and 2003), the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy.

  • Bandjarmasin (Indonesia)

    Banjarmasin, kota (city), capital of South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. It is situated on the eastern side of the Barito River, about 13 miles (22 km) from the southern coast of the island of Borneo. The city is bisected by the smaller Martapura

  • Bandler, Faith (Australian civil rights activist)

    Faith Bandler was an Australian civil rights activist who advocated for the rights of Indigenous Australians and South Sea Islander people—those who were brought to Australia, often forcibly, from the islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean during the late 19th century. She was instrumental in

  • Bandō Tamasaburō V (Japanese Kabuki actor)

    Bandō Tamasaburō V is a Japanese Kabuki actor who made a name for himself as an onnagata, a man who plays female roles (in Kabuki all roles are traditionally played by men). Somewhat atypically of the Kabuki world, he later gained international acclaim in film and non-Kabuki forms of drama as well.

  • Bandoeng (Indonesia)

    Bandung, kotamadya (municipality) and capital of West Java (Jawa Barat) propinsi (province), Indonesia, situated in the interior of Java on the northern edge of a plateau nearly 2,400 feet (730 metres) above sea level. The city, founded in 1810 by the Dutch, has a mild and pleasant climate.

  • Bandol, Jean de (Flemish painter)

    tapestry: 14th century: Based on cartoons drawn by Jean de Bandol of Bruges (flourished 1368–81), the official painter to Charles V, king of France, only 67 of the original 105 scenes have survived. A slightly later series (c. 1385) possibly woven in the same Parisian workshop is the Nine Heroes. This set is…

  • Bandon (Ireland)

    Bandon, town, County Cork, Ireland, 17 miles (27 km) southwest of Cork. Founded in 1608 by Richard Boyle, later 1st earl of Cork, Bandon was initially populated by English and Scottish settlers. Parts of the original town wall remain; the ruins of a 15th-century castle are nearby. Kilbrogan Church

  • Bandon, River (river, Ireland)

    River Bandon, river in County Cork, Ireland, flowing in a valley cut in rocks of the Carboniferous Period (about 360 to 300 million years ago) but covered with glacial drift and alluvium. The river rises in the Maughanaclea Hills in western Cork and flows east to a point west of Caha Bridge where

  • bandoneon (musical instrument)

    accordion: …and the concertina is the bandonion, a single- or double-action instrument with square shape and finger buttons, invented by Heinrich Band of Krefeld, Germany, in the mid-1840s. Along with the piano accordion, it is a leading solo instrument in Argentine tango orchestras. For precursors of the free-reed instruments, see sheng;…

  • bandonion (musical instrument)

    accordion: …and the concertina is the bandonion, a single- or double-action instrument with square shape and finger buttons, invented by Heinrich Band of Krefeld, Germany, in the mid-1840s. Along with the piano accordion, it is a leading solo instrument in Argentine tango orchestras. For precursors of the free-reed instruments, see sheng;…

  • bandpass filter (electronics)

    band-pass filter, arrangement of electronic components that allows only those electric waves lying within a certain range, or band, of frequencies to pass and blocks all others. The components may be conventional coils and capacitors, or the arrangement may be made up of freely vibrating

  • Bandra-Worli Sea Link (bridge, Mumbai, India)

    Mumbai: Transportation of Mumbai: …the road network are the Banda-Worli Sea Link (opened 2009), which bridges Mahim Bay on the west side of the city, and a new expressway between eastern Mumbai and Navi Mumbai (opened 2014) that supersedes the earlier Thana Creek bridge.

  • bandsaw (tool)

    saw: The vertical bandsaw blade is an endless narrow metal strip, with teeth along one edge, that runs around two large motorized pulleys or wheels that are mounted on a frame so that one is directly above the other. The blade passes through the table on which the…

  • Bandula, Maha (Myanmar general)

    Maha Bandula was a Myanmar general who fought against the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26). In 1819 Maha Bandula served in the Myanmar army occupying Manipur, and two years later he commanded a second Myanmar force in the conquest of Assam. King Bagyidaw subsequently appointed him

  • Bandundu (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

    Bandundu, city, southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the junction of the Kwango and Kwilu rivers. It is a river port serving navigation on the Congo River system from Kinshasa (the national capital, 186 miles [300 km] southwest). There are air links to Kinshasa and such eastern centres

  • Bandung (Indonesia)

    Bandung, kotamadya (municipality) and capital of West Java (Jawa Barat) propinsi (province), Indonesia, situated in the interior of Java on the northern edge of a plateau nearly 2,400 feet (730 metres) above sea level. The city, founded in 1810 by the Dutch, has a mild and pleasant climate.

  • Bandung Conference (Asia-Africa [1955])

    Bandung Conference, a meeting of Asian and African states—organized by Indonesia, Myanmar (Burma), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, and Pakistan—which took place April 18–24, 1955, in Bandung, Indonesia. In all, 29 countries representing more than half the world’s population sent delegates. The

  • Bandung Institute of Technology (university, Bandung, Indonesia)

    Bandung: The city’s prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology, which originated as a college of architecture and engineering in the Dutch period, now also offers programs in mathematics, natural and applied sciences, business, and design. Also located in Bandung are Padjadjaran University (1957) and the private Parahyangan Catholic University (1955).…

  • Bandung line (international relations)

    China: Foreign policy: This “Bandung line” associated with Zhou gained worldwide attention when he told the delegates there that his government was fully prepared to achieve normal relations with all countries, including the United States. One result of his initiative was the start of ambassadorial talks between China and…

  • Bandung Study Club (Indonesian history)

    Indonesia: The rise of nationalism: …study club” was founded in Bandung, with a newly graduated engineer, Sukarno, as its secretary. The club began to reshape the idea of nationalism in a manner calculated to appeal to Indonesia’s new urban elite. After the failure of the ideologically based movements of Islam and communism, nationalist thinking was…

  • bandura (musical instrument)

    bandura, a stringed instrument of the psaltery family considered the national musical instrument of Ukraine. It is used chiefly to accompany folk music. The bandura has an oval wooden body; a short, fretless neck attached to the soundboard in an off-centre position; 4 to 8 bass strings running from

  • Bandura, Albert (American psychologist)

    Albert Bandura was a Canadian-born American psychologist and originator of social cognitive theory who is probably best known for his modeling study on aggression, referred to as the “Bobo doll” experiment, which demonstrated that children can learn behaviours through the observation of adults.

  • bandurria (musical instrument)

    bandurria, stringed musical instrument of the lute family, with a design derived from the cittern and guitar. The modern bandurria has a small, pear-shaped wooden body, a short neck, and a flat back, with five to seven (but usually six) paired courses of strings that are tuned g♯–c♯′–f♯′–b′–e″–a″

  • bandwagon effect (social behavior)

    public opinion: Criticisms and justifications: …election polls create a “bandwagon effect”—that people want to be on the winning side and therefore switch their votes to the candidates whom the polls show to be ahead. They complain that surveys undermine representative democracy, since issues should be decided by elected representatives on the basis of the…

  • bandwidth (electronics)

    bandwidth, in electronics, the range of frequencies occupied by a modulated radio-frequency signal, usually given in hertz (cycles per second) or as a percentage of the radio frequency. For example, an AM (amplitude modulation) broadcasting station operating at 1,000,000 hertz has a bandwidth of

  • bandwidth-limited channel (communications)

    information theory: Continuous communication and the problem of bandwidth: …said to be band-limited or bandwidth-limited if it can be represented by a finite number of harmonics. Engineers limit the bandwidth of signals to enable multiple signals to share the same channel with minimal interference. A key result that pertains to bandwidth-limited signals is Nyquist’s sampling theorem, which states that…

  • bandy (winter sport)

    bandy, a game similar to ice hockey. It is played almost exclusively in the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic countries, and Mongolia. A team is composed of from 8 to 11 players who wear skates and use curved sticks to hit a ball. Rink size varies but is characteristically larger than an ice

  • bandy-bandy (snake genus)

    bandy-bandy, (genus Vermicella), Australian snake of the cobra family Elapidae, strikingly ringed with black and white or yellowish bands. Adults are about 50–80 cm (20–31 inches) long and are venomous but inoffensive. Five species of Vermicella are recognized. The bandy-bandy has a small head and

  • baneberry (plant genus)

    baneberry, (genus Actaea), any of about eight species of perennial herbaceous plants in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae); they are all native to north temperate zone woodlands. The white baneberry (A. pachypoda; sometimes A. alba), which is native to North America, is 30 to 45 cm (12 to 18

  • Banér, Johan (Swedish military officer)

    Johan Banér was a Swedish field marshal who was one of the foremost soldiers in the Thirty Years’ War. His father, Gustaf Banér, a member of the King’s Council, was executed in 1600 after Charles IX’s defeat of Sigismund III of Poland in their struggle for the Swedish throne. Entering the Swedish

  • Banerjea, Sir Surendranath (Indian politician)

    Sir Surendranath Banerjea was one of the founders of modern India and a proponent of autonomy within the British Commonwealth. Banerjea was born into a distinguished family of Brahmans. After graduation from college, he applied in England for admission to the Indian Civil Service, which at that

  • Banerjee, Abhijit (Indian-born American economist)

    Abhijit Banerjee is an Indian-born American economist who, with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for helping to develop an innovative experimental approach to alleviating

  • Banerjee, Abhijit Vinayak (Indian-born American economist)

    Abhijit Banerjee is an Indian-born American economist who, with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics (the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for helping to develop an innovative experimental approach to alleviating

  • Banerjee, Mamata (Indian politician)

    Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician, legislator, and bureaucrat who served as the first female chief minister of West Bengal state, India (2011– ). She founded the Trinamool Congress political party, which is active at both the state and central levels. Popularly known as Didi (“Elder Sister”),

  • Banerjee, N. V. (Indian philosopher)

    Indian philosophy: 19th- and 20th-century philosophy in India and Pakistan: Banerjee (1901–81) and Kalidas Bhattacharyya (1911–84), the son of K.C. Bhattacharyya, have made important contributions. In Language, Meaning and Persons (1963), Banerjee examines the development of personhood from a stage of individualized bondage to liberation in a collective identity, a life-with-others. This liberation, according to…

  • Banes (Cuba)

    Banes, city, eastern Cuba. It serves as a commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural district, which mainly produces sugarcane, although bananas and other fruits also are grown. Produce is shipped from the city’s small port, Embarcadero de Banes, which lies on Banes Bay, 3 miles (5 km) to

  • Banff (Scotland, United Kingdom)

    Banff, ancient royal burgh (town), Aberdeenshire council area, historic county of Banffshire, northeastern Scotland. It is a North Sea port and lies on the western bank of the River Deveron opposite its sister town, Macduff, to which it is connected by a bridge (1799). By the 12th century Banff was

  • Banff (former county, Scotland, United Kingdom)

    Banffshire, historic county, northeastern Scotland, extending from the Grampian Mountains to the North Sea. The northeastern portion of the county, including the historic county town (seat) of Banff, is part of the council area of Aberdeenshire, while the remainder of the county lies within the

  • Banff (Alberta, Canada)

    Banff, town, southwestern Alberta, Canada. Banff lies along the glacial-green Bow River, about 36 miles (58 km) southeast of scenic Lake Louise and some 80 miles (130 km) west of Calgary. The town is within the boundaries of Banff National Park in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, of which it is the

  • Banff National Park (national park, Alberta, Canada)

    Banff National Park, scenic natural and wilderness area in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Established as a national park in 1887, it occupies 2,564 square miles (6,641 square km) along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and abuts the border with British Columbia. Yoho and Kootenay national

  • Banff National Park of Canada (national park, Alberta, Canada)

    Banff National Park, scenic natural and wilderness area in southwestern Alberta, Canada. Established as a national park in 1887, it occupies 2,564 square miles (6,641 square km) along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and abuts the border with British Columbia. Yoho and Kootenay national

  • Banffshire (former county, Scotland, United Kingdom)

    Banffshire, historic county, northeastern Scotland, extending from the Grampian Mountains to the North Sea. The northeastern portion of the county, including the historic county town (seat) of Banff, is part of the council area of Aberdeenshire, while the remainder of the county lies within the

  • Banfield, E. J. (Australian author)

    Australian literature: Nationalism and expansion: E.J. Banfield stepped aside from the world for reasons of health and wrote from his island on the Great Barrier Reef a series of books beginning with Confessions of a Beachcomber (1908) that reflected, often wryly, on natural history and the advantages of the contemplative…

  • Banfield, Edmund James (Australian author)

    Australian literature: Nationalism and expansion: E.J. Banfield stepped aside from the world for reasons of health and wrote from his island on the Great Barrier Reef a series of books beginning with Confessions of a Beachcomber (1908) that reflected, often wryly, on natural history and the advantages of the contemplative…

  • Banfield, Edward (American political scientist)

    political science: Political culture: …one early political culture study, Edward Banfield’s The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (1958), argued that poverty in southern Italy grew out of a psychological inability to trust or to form associations beyond the immediate family, a finding that was long controversial but is now accepted by many.

  • Banfora Escarpment (escarpment, Burkina Faso)

    Burkina Faso: Relief, drainage, and soils: …sandstone plateaus bordered by the Banfora Escarpment, which is about 500 feet (150 metres) high and faces southeast. Much of the soil in the country is infertile.

  • Bang & Olufsen (Danish company)

    industrial design: American hegemony and challenges from abroad: …and Jacob Jensen designed minimalist Bang & Olufsen stereo equipment from 1963 to 1993. In England the economical Mini automobile was created in 1959 by Morris Motors chief engineer Alec Issigonis and became an icon of the 1960s. The French architect Jean Prouvé created Modernist wood-and-metal furniture before and after…

  • Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) (song by Bono)

    Nancy Sinatra: Career: …atmospheric song penned by singer-songwriter Sonny Bono. In 1967 Sinatra earned her second number one hit, “Somethin’ Stupid,” a duet with her father. That same year, she sang the title track for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice—a song by composers John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. She later…

  • bang di (musical instrument)

    di: …of southern Chinese opera, and bang di, so named because it is used to accompany bangzixi, a form of northern opera. The qu di is about 2 feet (about 60 cm) long, and the bang di a bit over 1 foot (40 cm).

  • Bang disease (pathology)

    brucellosis, infectious disease of humans and domestic animals characterized by an insidious onset of fever, chills, sweats, weakness, pains, and aches, all of which resolve within three to six months. The disease was initially referred to as Malta fever, having been observed first in the 1850s

  • Bang Kapi (district, Bangkok, Thailand)

    Bangkok: Housing: Bang Kapi is perhaps the most affluent neighbourhood. High-rise offices, hotels, and condominiums are increasingly common.

  • Bang Klang Hao (Thai ruler)

    Sri Indraditya was the founder and ruler of the kingdom of Sukhothai, the first independent Tai (Thai) state. Bang Klang Hao headed a petty Tai principality near Sukhothai when, about 1245, he joined with another Tai leader, Pha Muang, to rebel against the governor of Sukhothai, who was a deputy of

  • Bang Klang Thao (Thai ruler)

    Sri Indraditya was the founder and ruler of the kingdom of Sukhothai, the first independent Tai (Thai) state. Bang Klang Hao headed a petty Tai principality near Sukhothai when, about 1245, he joined with another Tai leader, Pha Muang, to rebel against the governor of Sukhothai, who was a deputy of

  • Bang Pla Soi (Thailand)

    Chon Buri, town, south-central Thailand. Chon Buri is located on the coastal road leading south from Bangkok, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Locally known as Bang Pla Soi, it has food-processing industries and a meteorological station. Rice, sugarcane, and cassava are grown in the

  • Bang the Drum Slowly (novel by Harris)

    baseball: Baseball and the arts: …Harris that includes the popular Bang the Drum Slowly (1956), began a more realistic tradition, continued in fiction ranging from Eliot Asinof’s Man on Spikes (1955; see also Asinof’s article in Encyclopædia Britannica on Shoeless Joe Jackson) to Eric Rolfe Greenberg’s The Celebrant (1983), one of several historical novels to…

  • Bang’s bacillus (bacterium)

    brucellosis: suis, which infects pigs; B. abortus, which occurs in cattle; and B. canis, which infects dogs. The infection may not be apparent in animals, for the brucellae and animals that they infect have become fairly well adapted to one another. In cattle, for example, the only signs of illness…

  • Bang, Bernhard Lauritz Frederik (Danish veterinarian)

    Bernhard Lauritz Frederik Bang was a Danish veterinarian who in 1897 discovered Brucella abortus (Bang’s bacillus), the causative agent of contagious abortion in cattle and of brucellosis (undulant fever) in human beings. After obtaining his M.D. in 1880, Bang began teaching at the Royal Veterinary

  • Bang, Herman (Danish writer)

    Herman Bang was a novelist who was a major Danish representative of literary Impressionism. His work reflected the profound pessimism of his time. Bang was the son of a clergyman. Rejected as an actor in 1877, he became a journalist and critic. His first novel, Håblose slaegter (1880; “Hopeless

  • Bāng-e darā (work by Iqbal)

    Muhammad Iqbal: Early life and career: …1924 in the Urdu collection Bāng-e darā (“The Call of the Bell”). In those works Iqbal gave intense expression to the anguish of Muslim powerlessness. Khizr (Arabic: Khiḍr), the Qurʾānic prophet who asks the most difficult questions, is pictured bringing from God the baffling problems of the early 20th century.

  • Banga (album by Smith)

    Patti Smith: …the 21st century, among them Banga (2012). If anything, that late work showed her stronger than before, full of the old fire but purged of her more extreme excesses. She later collaborated with the international sound-art group Soundwalk Collective for a trilogy consisting of The Peyote Dance (2019), Mummer Love…

  • banga (Japanese painting)

    Munakata Shikō: …preferring to call his works banga (“panel pictures”) instead of hanga (“woodblock prints”). Munakata’s style was influenced by fellow artists involved in the revival of Japanese folk crafts and by his growing fascination with Buddhism. In 1956 he became the first Japanese winner of the top prize at the Biennale…

  • Banga (ancient kingdom, India)

    West Bengal: History of West Bengal: …from the ancient kingdom of Vanga, or Banga. References to it occur in early Sanskrit literature, but its early history is obscure until the 3rd century bce, when it formed part of the extensive Mauryan empire inherited by the emperor Ashoka. With the decline of Mauryan power, anarchy once more…

  • Bangabandhu Bridge (bridge, Sirajganj-Bhuapur, Bangladesh)

    Sirajganj: The Bangabandhu Bridge, one of the largest in South Asia, was completed across the Jamuna River in 1998, connecting Sirajganj with Bhuapur on the river’s east bank. Pop. (2001) 128,144; (2011) 158,913.

  • Bangala (people)

    Congo River: Life of the river peoples: Among these peoples are the Ngombe—“water people”—who inhabit the Itimbiri-Ngiri and the triangle formed by the Congo and the Ubangi. Other fisherfolk of the marshes dwell in the lagoons and the flooded forests of the region where the confluence of the Congo and the Alima, Likouala, and Sangha occurs.

  • Bangalore (India)

    Bengaluru, city, capital (since 1830) of Karnataka state, southern India. Bengaluru is one of India’s largest cities. It lies 3,113 feet (949 metres) above sea level, atop an east-west ridge in the Karnataka Plateau in the southeastern part of the state, at a cultural meeting point of the Kannada-,

  • Bangalter, Thomas (French musician)

    Daft Punk: The two members were Thomas Bangalter (b. January 3, 1975, Suresnes, France) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (b. February 8, 1974, Neuilly-sur-Seine).

  • Banganga River (river, India)

    Rajasthan: Drainage: Farther north, the Banganga, after rising near Jaipur, flows east toward the Yamuna before disappearing. The Luni is the only significant river west of the Aravallis. It rises near the city of Ajmer in central Rajasthan and flows some 200 miles (320 km) west-southwest into the Rann of…

  • Bangani language

    Indo-Iranian languages: Nūristānī and Bangani: …was made available suggesting that Bangani, spoken in the area of Bangan—in westernmost Garwhal, Uttarakhand—is a centum language within the Indo-Aryan area. For example, Bangani dɔkɔ ‘ten’ and dɔkru ‘tear’ have k, as does a centum language like Latin (decem, lacrima), as opposed to Indo-Aryan, which has a spirant representing…

  • bangar (soil)

    India: The Indo-Gangetic Plain: …is an important distinction between bhangar—the slightly elevated, terraced land of older alluvium—and khadar, the more fertile fresh alluvium on the low-lying floodplain. In general, the ratio of bhangar areas to those of khadar increases upstream along all major rivers. An exception to the largely monotonous relief is encountered in…

  • Bangbu (China)

    Bengbu, city, north-central Anhui sheng (province), China. The area is mentioned in the early 1st millennium bce in connection with myths surrounding the cultural hero Emperor Yu. Throughout most of Chinese history, however, it was only a small market town and port on the middle course of the Huai

  • Banger Sisters, The (film by Dolman [2002])

    Goldie Hawn: …groupie in middle age in The Banger Sisters (2002), with Susan Sarandon, and, after a long hiatus, she portrayed the mother of Amy Schumer’s character in Snatched (2017). In The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and its sequel (2020), Hawn and Russell appeared as Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus, respectively.

  • bangers and mash (food)

    bangers and mash, a common British dish consisting of sausages (“bangers”) and mashed potatoes (“mash”). It is traditionally served with onion gravy. Bangers and mash is a staple of the country’s overall cuisine and is a popular pub dish. The term bangers supposedly originated during World War I,

  • Bangerz (album by Cyrus)

    Miley Cyrus: Bangerz, Plastic Hearts, and Endless Summer Vacation: …2013 Cyrus released the album Bangerz, which departed from her earlier work in its embrace of hip-hop influences and its frequently adult-themed lyrics. Her new style was epitomized by the single “We Can’t Stop,” a bouncy ode to hedonism that she notably performed, in controversially risqué fashion, at the MTV…

  • Banggai Islands (archipelago, Indonesia)

    Banggai Islands, archipelago consisting of two major islands and approximately 100 islets in Sulawesi Tengah provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. The archipelago is situated between the Sula and Celebes islands at the entrance to Tolo Gulf. Peleng, the largest of the Banggai Islands, is well forested

  • Banggai, Kepulauan (archipelago, Indonesia)

    Banggai Islands, archipelago consisting of two major islands and approximately 100 islets in Sulawesi Tengah provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. The archipelago is situated between the Sula and Celebes islands at the entrance to Tolo Gulf. Peleng, the largest of the Banggai Islands, is well forested

  • Banghāzī (Libya)

    Benghazi, city and major seaport of northeastern Libya, on the Gulf of Sidra. It was founded by the Greeks of Cyrenaica as Hesperides (Euesperides) and received from the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III the additional name of Berenice in honour of his wife. After the 3rd century ce it superseded Cyrene

  • Bangia (genus of red algae)

    algae: Annotated classification: …approximately 6,000 described species; includes Bangia, Chondrus, Corallina, Gelidium, Gracilaria, Kappaphycus, Palmaria, Polysiphonia, Porphyra, and Rhodymenia. Division Dinoflagellata (Pyrrophyta)

  • Bangka (island, Indonesia)

    Bangka, island, Bangka Belitung propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. The island is situated off the eastern coast of Sumatra across the Bangka Strait, which is only 9 miles (14 km) wide at its narrowest point. On the east, Gelasa Strait separates Bangka from Belitung island. The island has

  • Bangka Belitung (province, Indonesia)

    Bangka Belitung, propinsi (or provinsi; province) of Indonesia, comprising the islands of Bangka and Belitung, which are separated by the Gelasa Strait, as well as a number of smaller surrounding islands. It is bounded to the north by the South China Sea, to the east by the Karimata Strait, to the

  • Bangka, Pulau (island, Indonesia)

    Bangka, island, Bangka Belitung propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. The island is situated off the eastern coast of Sumatra across the Bangka Strait, which is only 9 miles (14 km) wide at its narrowest point. On the east, Gelasa Strait separates Bangka from Belitung island. The island has

  • Bangkok (national capital, Thailand)

    Bangkok, city, capital, and chief port of Thailand. It is the only cosmopolitan city in a country of small towns and villages and is Thailand’s cultural and commercial centre. Bangkok is located on the delta of the Chao Phraya River, about 25 miles (40 km) from the Gulf of Thailand. It was formerly

  • Bangkok International Banking Facility (banking entity, Thailand)

    Thailand: Finance: …1990s, the government established the Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF), an offshore banking entity that became a major conduit for international capital. Originally envisioned as a means to establish Bangkok as a major financial centre rivaling Hong Kong and Singapore and serving all of Southeast Asia, the BIBF in fact…

  • Bangkok Metropolis (province, Thailand)

    Bangkok: …Krung Thep Maha Nakhon (Bangkok Metropolis). The metropolis is a bustling, crowded city, with temples, factories, shops, and homes juxtaposed along its roads and canals. It is also a major tourist destination, noted for bountiful cultural attractions and a nightlife that includes a flourishing sex trade.

  • Bangkok National Museum (museum, Bangkok, Thailand)

    Bangkok National Museum, art gallery and archaeological museum housed in the former Royal Palace (built in 1782) and devoted to the major arts of Thailand. Established by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in 1851 to house his private antiques collections and opened to the public by Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in

  • Bangla (region, Asia)

    Bengal, historical region in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent, generally corresponding to the area inhabited by speakers of the Bengali language and now divided between the Indian state of West Bengal and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Bengal formed part of most of the early

  • Bangla language

    Bengali language, member of the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by more than 210 million people as a first or second language, with some 100 million Bengali speakers in Bangladesh; about 85 million in India, primarily in the states of

  • Bangladesh

    Bangladesh, country of South Asia, located in the delta of the Padma (Ganges [Ganga]) and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) rivers in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The riverine country of Bangladesh (“Land of the Bengals”) is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and its

  • Bangladesh cyclone of 1991 (tropical cyclone)

    Bangladesh cyclone of 1991, (April 22–30, 1991), one of the deadliest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The storm hit near the Chittagong region, one of the most populated areas in Bangladesh. An estimated 140,000 people were killed by the storm, as many as 10 million people lost their homes, and

  • Bangladesh famine (Bangladesh [1974])

    famine: The role of policy: …for example, that the Bangladesh famine of 1974, which was precipitated by the effects of widespread flooding, would have been less severe if the state’s food-rationing system had not been in place. The rationing system was flawed because it provided subsidized rationed food to only the country’s urban population. In…

  • Bangladesh Nationalist Party (political party, Bangladesh)

    Bangladesh: Bangladesh since independence: …Sheikh Hasina Wazed, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), headed by Khaleda Zia ur-Rahman, wife of the slain president—boycotted the election, and Ershad received the overwhelming majority of the vote.

  • Bangladesh Rural Action Committee (Bangladesh organization)

    education: Alternative forms of education: …recognized example is BRAC (the Bangladesh Rural Action Committee), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that combines community-based literacy and basic education programs with income generating activities for girls and women. BRAC and other NGOs helped raise enrollments in Bangladeshi schools from 55 percent in 1985 to 85 percent by the 21st…

  • Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (university, Dhākā, Bangladesh)

    Bangladesh: Education of Bangladesh: …University (1961) at Mymensingh, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962) at Dhaka, and the Islamic University (1980) at Kushtia. Medical education is provided by several medical colleges and an institute of postgraduate medicine at Dhaka. Each college or institute has a full-fledged hospital attached to it.

  • Bangladesh, flag of

    national flag consisting of a dark bluish green field (background) incorporating a large, off-centre orange-red disk. The flag’s width-to-length ratio is 3 to 5.From its founding in 1949, the Awami League was the expression of Bengali nationalism in the territory then known as East Pakistan.

  • Bangladesh, history of

    history of Bangladesh, a survey of the notable events and people in the history of Bangladesh, from the 3rd century bce to the present day. Bangladesh, located in the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent, has been independently ruled since 1971, but the land and peoples of the modern

  • Bangladesh, People’s Republic of

    Bangladesh, country of South Asia, located in the delta of the Padma (Ganges [Ganga]) and Jamuna (Brahmaputra) rivers in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent. The riverine country of Bangladesh (“Land of the Bengals”) is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and its

  • Bangles, the (American musical group)

    girl groups: …bands as the Go-Go’s and the Bangles, and in the 1990s a new generation of vocal acts interpreted the style with added funkiness. Moreover, latter-day performers such as En Vogue, Janet Jackson, and the British act the Spice Girls (whose success sparked another explosion of girl groups, especially in Asia)…

  • Bangni (people)

    Nyishi, tribal people of eastern Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh (formerly North East Frontier Agency), a mountainous state in northeastern India. They speak a Tibeto-Burman language of the Sino-Tibetan family. The Nyishi support themselves with a slash-and-burn agriculture and with hunting and