- Darrieussecq, Marie (French author)
French literature: Prose fiction: Marie Darrieussecq’s Truismes (1996; Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation) is a more dynamic novel; it is an imaginative political and moral satire depicting the blackly comic world of a young working woman with a highly materialistic lifestyle who begins to turn into…
- Darriwilian Stage (geology)
Darriwilian Stage, second (in ascending order) of two main divisions in the Middle Ordovician Series, representing rocks deposited worldwide during the Darriwilian Age, which occurred between 467.3 million and 458.4 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. Rocks of the Darriwilian Stage
- Darrow, Charles B. (American engineer)
Monopoly: …during the Great Depression when Charles B. Darrow, an unemployed heating engineer, sold the concept to Parker Brothers in 1935. Before then, homemade versions of a similar game had circulated in many parts of the United States. Most were based on the Landlord’s Game, a board game designed and patented…
- Darrow, Clarence (American lawyer)
Clarence Darrow was a lawyer whose work as defense counsel in many dramatic criminal trials earned him a place in American legal history. He was also well known as a public speaker, debater, and miscellaneous writer. Darrow attended law school for only one year before being admitted to the Ohio bar
- Darrow, Clarence Seward (American lawyer)
Clarence Darrow was a lawyer whose work as defense counsel in many dramatic criminal trials earned him a place in American legal history. He was also well known as a public speaker, debater, and miscellaneous writer. Darrow attended law school for only one year before being admitted to the Ohio bar
- Darrtse-mdo (China)
Kangding, town, western Sichuan sheng (province) and capital of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. Kangding is on the Tuo River, a tributary of the Dadu River, 62 miles (100 km) west of Ya’an on the main route from Sichuan into the Tibet Autonomous Region. It lies at an elevation of 8,400
- darshan (Hinduism)
darshan, in Indian philosophy and religion, particularly in Hinduism, the beholding of a deity (especially in image form), revered person, or sacred object. The experience is considered to be reciprocal and results in the human viewer’s receiving a blessing. The Rathayatras (chariot festivals), in
- darshana (Hinduism)
darshan, in Indian philosophy and religion, particularly in Hinduism, the beholding of a deity (especially in image form), revered person, or sacred object. The experience is considered to be reciprocal and results in the human viewer’s receiving a blessing. The Rathayatras (chariot festivals), in
- Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms (work by Friedländer)
Ludwig Heinrich Friedländer: …worked on his masterpiece, the Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms, 3 vol. (1864–71; “Representations from Roman Cultural History”), a detailed and vivid portrait of the social life, customs, art, and manners of the first two centuries of the Roman Empire. The work remains one of the most complete surveys of…
- DART (transit system, Dublin, Ireland)
Dublin: Transportation: The Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) train service runs along the coast from Malahide and Howth in County Fingal to Greystones, County Wicklow, in the south. A tram system from St. Stephen’s Green in the centre of the city began operating in 2004. Connolly and Heuston…
- DART (United States space mission)
asteroid: Spacecraft exploration: The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first experiment in planetary defense, the possible redirection of a dangerous asteroid away from a collision with Earth. On September 26, 2022, DART collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, which orbits the larger asteroid Didymos. Dimorphos orbited Didymos…
- dart (weaponry)
blowgun: Darts are the most common blowgun missiles. They are usually made from palm-leaf midribs or from wood or bamboo splinters, and they may vary from 4 to 100 cm (1.5 to 40 inches) in length. A conelike bit of pith or a twist of fibre…
- dart bellflower (plant)
Campanulaceae: Michauxia, dart bellflower genus of seven species from the eastern Mediterranean region, differs from other bellflowers in having 7 to 10 deep-parted lobes. The central column is conspicuous and dartlike, with the petals turned backward behind. M. campanuloides reaches 2 12 metres and has hairy, sharp-cut…
- Dart, Justin Whitlock, Jr. (American activist)
Justin Dart, Jr. was an American advocate for the disabled who was widely recognized as the “father” of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA; 1990). Dart was born into a prominent family; his grandfather Charles R. Walgreen established the Walgreens drugstore chain. At age 18 Dart contracted
- Dart, Justin, Jr. (American activist)
Justin Dart, Jr. was an American advocate for the disabled who was widely recognized as the “father” of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA; 1990). Dart was born into a prominent family; his grandfather Charles R. Walgreen established the Walgreens drugstore chain. At age 18 Dart contracted
- Dart, Raymond A. (South African anthropologist)
Raymond A. Dart was an Australian-born South African physical anthropologist and paleontologist whose discoveries of fossil hominins (members of the human lineage) led to significant insights into human evolution. In 1924, at a time when Asia was believed to have been the cradle of mankind, Dart’s
- Dart, Raymond Arthur (South African anthropologist)
Raymond A. Dart was an Australian-born South African physical anthropologist and paleontologist whose discoveries of fossil hominins (members of the human lineage) led to significant insights into human evolution. In 1924, at a time when Asia was believed to have been the cradle of mankind, Dart’s
- Dart, Thurston (British musician)
Thurston Dart was an English musicologist, harpsichordist, and conductor. A specialist in early music, Dart studied at the Royal College of Music and University College, Exeter, and later went to Belgium where he worked with Charles van den Borren. He taught at the University of Cambridge from 1947
- dart-poison frog (amphibian)
poison frog, (family Dendrobatidae), any of approximately 180 species of New World frogs characterized by the ability to produce extremely poisonous skin secretions. Poison frogs inhabit the forests of the New World tropics from Nicaragua to Peru and Brazil, and a few species are used by South
- darter (fish)
darter, any of about 100 species of small, slender freshwater fishes constituting the subfamily Etheostominae of the family Percidae (order Perciformes; sometimes given family standing as the Etheostomidae). All the darters are native to eastern North America. They live near the bottom of clear
- darter (bird)
darter, any of two to four species of bird of the family Anhingidae (order Pelecaniformes or Suliformes). The American species, Anhinga anhinga, is widely acknowledged as distinct, but there is debate regarding whether the darters that appear in Africa, Asia, and Oceania constitute one species (A.
- Dartford (England, United Kingdom)
Dartford, town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. It lies along the south bank of the River Thames, just east of and adjoining the metropolitan area of Greater London. In ancient times it was a marketing centre. The fording of the River Darent
- Dartford (district, England, United Kingdom)
Dartford: borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, southeastern England. It lies along the south bank of the River Thames, just east of and adjoining the metropolitan area of Greater London.
- Darth Vader (fictional character)
Darth Vader, film character, lead villain of the science-fiction franchise Star Wars and one of the most recognizable characters in American pop culture. First seen in the 1977 movie Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (originally titled Star Wars), the towering, black-clad Darth Vader is a menacing
- Dartmoor (region, England, United Kingdom)
Dartmoor, wild upland area in the west of the county of Devon, southwestern England. It extends for about 23 miles (37 km) north-south and 20 miles (32 km) east-west. The moorland is bleak and desolate, and heather is the chief vegetation. Isolated weathered rocks (tors) rise from the granite
- Dartmoor (breed of pony)
Dartmoor, breed of pony about 12 hands (48 inches, or 122 cm) tall, hardy, and semiwild in its native Dartmoor, Devon, Eng. It is one of nine horse breeds native to the British Isles, and it is exported. The Dartmoor pony is considered to be a superior riding pony for children and an excellent
- Dartmoor (breed of sheep)
Dartmoor: …breed of long-wooled, hornless English sheep.
- Dartmoor Forest (region, England, United Kingdom)
Dartmoor, wild upland area in the west of the county of Devon, southwestern England. It extends for about 23 miles (37 km) north-south and 20 miles (32 km) east-west. The moorland is bleak and desolate, and heather is the chief vegetation. Isolated weathered rocks (tors) rise from the granite
- Dartmoor National Park (national park, England, United Kingdom)
Devon: …wide variety of scenery, including Dartmoor National Park and, in the north, part of Exmoor National Park. Dartmoor, with shallow marshy valleys, thin infertile soils, and a vegetation of coarse grasses, heather, and bracken, is a granite plateau rising to above 2,000 feet (600 metres), the crests capped by granite…
- Dartmoor Prison (prison, Devon, England, United Kingdom)
Dartmoor: …in 1806 to serve adjoining Dartmoor Prison, which was built to hold French captives from the Napoleonic Wars. Since 1850 it has been England’s chief confinement centre for serious offenders.
- Dartmouth (Massachusetts, United States)
Dartmouth, town (township), Bristol county, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along Buzzards Bay, adjacent to New Bedford. The site, part of a land purchase made by William Bradford and Captain Myles Standish from the Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit, was settled by Quakers in the 1650s. It
- Dartmouth (England, United Kingdom)
Dartmouth, town (parish), South Hams district, administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England. It lies along the English Channel and the west bank of the River Dart estuary. Dartmouth is a yachting centre and has boatbuilding, light engineering, and pottery industries. The castle
- Dartmouth College (college, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States)
Dartmouth College, private, coeducational liberal arts college in Hanover, N.H., U.S. It is one of the eight Ivy League schools, widely regarded for their high academic standards, selectivity in admissions, and social prestige. The college has its antecedents in Moor’s Indian Charity School of
- Dartmouth College case (law case)
Dartmouth College case, U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court held that the charter of Dartmouth College granted in 1769 by King George III of England was a contract and, as such, could not be impaired by the New Hampshire legislature. The charter vested control of the college in a
- Dartmouth Dam (dam, Australia)
Murray River: Economy and water management: The Dartmouth Dam, 590 feet (180 metres) high, is the highest dam of its kind in Australia. The multipurpose Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (completed in 1974) increased the amount of water available for irrigation and generated large quantities of electrical power for peak load periods. Irrigation,…
- Dartmouth, George Legge, 1st Baron (British admiral)
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth was a British admiral and commander in chief who is best known for his service during the reigns of Charles II and James II. Legge attended King’s College, Cambridge, and volunteered his service in the navy during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–67). He was a
- Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd earl of, Viscount Lewisham, Baron Dartmouth of Dartmouth (British statesman)
William Legge, 2nd earl of Dartmouth was a British statesman who played a significant role in the events leading to the American Revolution. Legge was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Oxford. In 1750 he succeeded his grandfather as earl of Dartmouth and later entered on a
- Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd earl of, Viscount Lewisham, Baron Dartmouth of Dartmouth (British statesman)
William Legge, 2nd earl of Dartmouth was a British statesman who played a significant role in the events leading to the American Revolution. Legge was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Oxford. In 1750 he succeeded his grandfather as earl of Dartmouth and later entered on a
- dartos (muscle)
human reproductive system: The scrotum: …layer of involuntary muscle, the dartos, which can alter the appearance of the scrotum. On exposure of the scrotum to cold air or cold water, the dartos contracts and gives the scrotum a shortened, corrugated appearance; warmth causes the scrotum to become smoother, flaccid, and less closely tucked in around…
- darts (game)
darts, indoor target game played by throwing feathered darts at a circular board with numbered spaces. The game became popular in English inns and taverns in the 19th century and increasingly so in the 20th. The board, commonly made of sisal (known familiarly as “bristle”) but sometimes made of
- Daru (town, Papua New Guinea)
Daru: Daru town is an administrative centre and has a small wharf used by fishing vessels; fish-processing factories freeze barramundi and crayfish for export. Crocodile skins from farms in the province are also exported. Local transport is mainly by shallow-draft vessels up the Fly River or…
- Daru (island, Papua New Guinea)
Daru, port and small island, southwestern Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Daru Island is located in the Gulf of Papua near the mouth of the Oriomo River, southwest of the Fly River Delta. The island rises to 79 feet (24 metres) and has mangrove swamps. Daru town is an administrative
- Daru Island (island, Papua New Guinea)
Daru, port and small island, southwestern Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. Daru Island is located in the Gulf of Papua near the mouth of the Oriomo River, southwest of the Fly River Delta. The island rises to 79 feet (24 metres) and has mangrove swamps. Daru town is an administrative
- Daru, Pierre-Antoine, Comte (French military administrator)
Pierre-Antoine, Count Daru was a French military administrator and organizer during the Napoleonic period. Daru entered the military administration in 1784, served the revolutionary governments, and in January 1795 was called to the war ministry in Paris. His conspicuous administrative talents led
- darughatchi (Mongolian official)
China: Early Mongol rule: …administration was that of the darughatchi (seal bearer), whose powers were at first all-inclusive; only gradually were subfunctions entrusted to specialized officials in accordance with Chinese bureaucratic tradition. This re-feudalization of northern China, along Mongol lines with a slight understructure of Chinese-type bureaucrats, lasted for many years.
- Darul Uloom (Islamic college, India)
Deoband school, the leading Muslim theological centre (madrasah) of India. It was founded in 1867 by Muḥammad ʿĀbid Ḥusayn in the Sahāranpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The theological position of Deoband has always been heavily influenced by the 18th-century Muslim reformer Shāh Walī Allāh and the
- Daruma (Buddhist monk)
Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who, according to tradition, is credited with establishing the Zen branch of Mahayana Buddhism. The accounts of Bodhidharma’s life are largely legendary, and historical sources are practically nonexistent. Two very brief contemporary accounts disagree on his age (one
- Darvill, Tim (British archaeologist)
Geoffrey Wainwright: Wainwright and Darvill were convinced that the great effort required to move the bluestones that make up much of the monument from the Preseli Mountains in Wales to Stonehenge meant that the stones must have been regarded as extraordinarily significant. They learned that the stones…
- Darwell, Jane (American actress)
The Devil and Daniel Webster: Cast:
- Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia)
Darwin, capital and chief port of Northern Territory, Australia. It is situated on a low peninsula northeast of the entrance to its harbour, Port Darwin, a deep inlet of Beagle Gulf of the Timor Sea. The harbour was found in 1839 by John Stokes, surveyor aboard the ship HMS Beagle and was named for
- Darwin Among the Machines (article by Butler)
Samuel Butler: …Darwinian topics, of which two—“Darwin Among the Machines” (1863) and “Lucubratio Ebria” (1865)—were later worked up in Erewhon. Both show him already grappling with the central problem of his later thought: the relationship between mechanism and life. In the former he tries out the consequences of regarding machines as…
- Darwin Cordillera (mountains, South America)
South America: The Southern Andes: …are preserved only in the Darwin Cordillera along the Fuegian Andes of Chile. The eastern sub-Andean belt is composed of a series of back-arc and foreland basins, in which sediments more than five miles thick have accumulated.
- Darwin Rise (geological feature, Pacific Ocean)
Darwin Rise, submarine topographic rise underlying a vast area of the western and central Pacific Ocean, corresponding in location to a large topographic rise that existed during the Mesozoic Era (about 250 to 65 million years ago) and named in honour of Charles Darwin. The rise stretches more than
- Darwin wasp (insect)
ichneumon wasp, (family Ichneumonidae), any of a large and widely distributed solitary wasp family of considerable ecological and economic importance. One of the most diverse animal groups in the world and the largest group of parasitic wasps, there are around 25,000 ichneumon wasp species known to
- Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (work by Behe)
evolution: Intelligent design and its critics: In Michael Behe’s book Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (1996), an irreducibly complex system is defined as being “composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one of the parts causes the system to effectively cease functioning.”…
- Darwin’s finch (bird group)
Galapagos finch, distinctive group of birds whose radiation into several ecological niches in the competition-free isolation of the Galapagos Islands and on Cocos Island gave the English naturalist Charles Darwin evidence for his thesis that “species are not immutable.” The three genera (Geospiza,
- Darwin’s fox (mammal)
South American fox: Only Darwin’s fox (Lycalopex fulvipes), which lives in Chile, is listed as an endangered species. The IUCN has yet to evaluate the conservation status of the hoary fox (L. vetulus), which lives in the grasslands of Brazil, and the Sechuran
- Darwin’s frog (amphibian)
Darwin’s frog, (Rhinoderma darwinii), a small Argentinian and Chilean frog that is one of the few species in the family Rhinodermatidae. Charles Darwin discovered the frog on his world voyage. Darwin’s frog is unique among amphibians for its brooding habits. Males pick up eggs about to hatch and
- Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion (book by Ayala)
Francisco J. Ayala: In Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion (2007), he argued that creationist beliefs run counter to theological concepts. For example, orthodox Christian beliefs posit the existence of an omnipotent benevolent Creator despite the fact that the world is filled with predators, diseases, and other so-called “evils.”…
- Darwin’s rhea (bird)
rhea: …Brazil southward to Argentina, while Darwin’s rhea (Pterocnemia pennata) lives from Peru southward to Patagonia, at the tip of the continent. Both species are considerably smaller than the ostrich; the common rhea stands about 120 cm (4 feet) tall and weighs about 20 kg (50 pounds). The common rhea has…
- Darwin’s toad (amphibian)
Darwin’s frog, (Rhinoderma darwinii), a small Argentinian and Chilean frog that is one of the few species in the family Rhinodermatidae. Charles Darwin discovered the frog on his world voyage. Darwin’s frog is unique among amphibians for its brooding habits. Males pick up eggs about to hatch and
- Darwin’s tubercle (anatomy)
human ear: Outer ear: …a little prominence known as Darwin’s tubercle is seen along the upper, posterior portion of the helix; it is the vestige of the folded-over point of the ear of a remote human ancestor. The lobule, the fleshy lower part of the auricle, is the only area of the outer ear…
- Darwin, Charles (British naturalist)
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. An affable country gentleman, Darwin at first shocked religious Victorian society by suggesting that animals and humans shared a common ancestry.
- Darwin, Charles Robert (British naturalist)
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. An affable country gentleman, Darwin at first shocked religious Victorian society by suggesting that animals and humans shared a common ancestry.
- Darwin, Erasmus (British physician)
Erasmus Darwin was a British physician, poet, and botanist noted for his republican politics and materialistic theory of evolution. Although today he is best known as the grandfather of naturalist Charles Darwin and of biologist Sir Francis Galton, Erasmus Darwin was an important figure of the
- Darwin, Frances Crofts (British poet)
Frances Cornford was an English poet, perhaps known chiefly, and unfairly, for the sadly comic poem “To a Fat Lady Seen from a Train” (“O fat white woman whom nobody loves, / Why do you walk through the fields in gloves…”). A granddaughter of Charles Darwin, she was educated at home. Her first book
- Darwin, Leonard (British eugenicist)
Lancelot Thomas Hogben: Early life and education: …the British eugenicists, such as Leonard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin and president of the 1912 First International Congress of Eugenics, who publicly claimed that the poor were genetically inferior and that spending for their education was a waste of public funds.) By the time Hogben took up his scholarship…
- Darwin, Mount (mountain, South America)
Chile: The Chilean Andes: …than 12,000 feet high, and Mount Darwin in Tierra del Fuego reaches almost 8,000 feet. Reminders of the last ice age are the perfectly U-shaped glacial troughs, sharp-edged mountains, Andean lakes, and some 7,000 square miles of continental ice masses. The Southern Ice Cap, between 48°30′ and 51°30′ S, is…
- Darwin, Sir George (British astronomer)
Sir George Darwin was an English astronomer who championed the theory that the Moon was once part of the Earth, until it was pulled free to form a satellite. The second son of the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin, he became Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge
- Darwin, Sir George Howard (British astronomer)
Sir George Darwin was an English astronomer who championed the theory that the Moon was once part of the Earth, until it was pulled free to form a satellite. The second son of the eminent naturalist Charles Darwin, he became Plumian professor of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge
- Darwinian algorithm (behavior)
animal behaviour: Cognitive mechanisms: …of decision-making rules or “Darwinian algorithms.” Organisms rely on these rules to process information from their physical and social environments and result in particular behavioral outputs that guide key behavioral and life-history decisions. Darwinian algorithms are made up of the sensory and cognitive processes that perceive and prioritize cues…
- Darwinian fitness (biology)
kin selection: …play when evaluating the genetic fitness of a given individual. It is based on the concept of inclusive fitness, which is made up of individual survival and reproduction (direct fitness) and any impact that an individual has on the survival and reproduction of relatives (indirect fitness). Kin selection occurs when…
- Darwinian medicine (medicine)
Darwinian medicine, field of study that applies the principles of evolutionary biology to problems in medicine and public health. Evolutionary medicine is a nearly synonymous but less-specific designation. Both Darwinian medicine and evolutionary medicine use evolutionary biology to better
- Darwinian subsidence theory (geology)
coral reef: Origin and development of reefs: naturalist Charles Darwin concluded in 1842 that barrier reefs began as reefs fringing the land around which they now form a barrier and that oceanic atoll reefs began as reefs fringing a volcanic island. Subsidence of the land fringed was thought to allow the reef to grow upward…
- Darwiniana (essays by Gray)
Asa Gray: …papers into the widely influential Darwiniana (1876, reprinted 1963).
- Darwinism (biology)
Darwinism, theory of the evolutionary mechanism propounded by Charles Darwin as an explanation of organic change. It denotes Darwin’s specific view that evolution is driven mainly by natural selection. Beginning in 1837, Darwin proceeded to work on the now well-understood concept that evolution is
- Darwinius masillae (fossil primate)
Ida, (Darwinius masillae), nickname for the remarkably complete but nearly two-dimensional skeleton of an adapiform primate dating to the middle Eocene Epoch (approximately 47 million years ago). It is the type specimen and the only known example of Darwinius masillae, a species assigned to the
- Darwinopterus modularis (pterosaur)
pterosaur: Major groups of pterosaurs: Described in 2009, Darwinopterus modularis, recovered from the Tiaojishan Formation in Liaoning Province, China, possessed elements of both basal and more-advanced pterosaurs. Dated to the middle of the Jurassic Period, about 160 million years ago, the crow-sized pterosaur possessed a head and neck characteristic of the more-advanced pterodactyloids,…
- darwīsh (Sufism)
dervish, any member of a Ṣūfī (Muslim mystic) fraternity, or tariqa. Within the Ṣūfī fraternities, which were first organized in the 12th century, an established leadership and a prescribed discipline obliged the dervish postulant to serve his sheikh, or master, and to establish a rapport with him.
- Darwish, Mahmoud (Palestinian poet)
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who gave voice to the struggles of the Palestinian people. His poems are noted for their themes of loss, exile, and resistance. Darwish was the second of eight children in a family of middle-class farmers who lived in the village of Al-Birwa,
- Darwīsh, Maḥmūd (Palestinian poet)
Mahmoud Darwish was a Palestinian poet and author who gave voice to the struggles of the Palestinian people. His poems are noted for their themes of loss, exile, and resistance. Darwish was the second of eight children in a family of middle-class farmers who lived in the village of Al-Birwa,
- Darwīsh, Sayyid (Islamic musician)
Islamic arts: The modern period: include ʿAbduh al-Ḥamūlī, Dāʾūd Ḥusnī, Sayyid Darwīsh, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Umm Kulthūm, Farīd al-Aṭrash, Fayrouz, Rashid al-Hundarashi, Ṣadīqah al-Mulāya, and Muḥammad al-Gubanshi.
- Daryā-e Nūr (diamond)
Daryā-e Nūr, largest and finest diamond in the crown jewels of Iran. A pale pink tablet-shaped stone weighing about 185 carats, it is from Golconda, Andhra Pradesh, India. Inscribed on a rear facet is the name of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh and the date 1834, the year of his death. Experts from the Royal
- Darya-i-noor (diamond)
Daryā-e Nūr, largest and finest diamond in the crown jewels of Iran. A pale pink tablet-shaped stone weighing about 185 carats, it is from Golconda, Andhra Pradesh, India. Inscribed on a rear facet is the name of Fatḥ ʿAlī Shāh and the date 1834, the year of his death. Experts from the Royal
- Daryā-ye Farāh Rūd (river, Afghanistan)
Farāh River, river in western Afghanistan, rising on the southern slopes of the Band-e Bāyan Range, flowing southwest past the town of Farāh, and emptying into the Helmand (Sīstān) swamps on the Iranian border after a course of 350 miles (560 km). The river fluctuates greatly with the seasons,
- Daryā-ye Helmand (river, Central Asia)
Helmand River, river in southwestern Afghanistan and eastern Iran, about 715 miles (1,150 km) long. Rising in the Bābā Range in east-central Afghanistan, it flows southwestward across more than half the length of Afghanistan before flowing northward for a short distance through Iranian territory
- Daryāye Khezer (sea, Eurasia)
Caspian Sea, world’s largest inland body of water. It lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. The sea’s name derives from the ancient Kaspi peoples, who once lived in Transcaucasia to the west. Among its other historical names, Khazarsk and
- Daryoi Amu (river, Asia)
Amu Darya, one of the longest rivers of Central Asia. The Amu Darya was traditionally known to the Western world from Greek and Roman times as the Oxus and was called the Jayḥūn by the Arabs. It allegedly derives its present name from the city of Āmul, which is said to have occupied the site of
- Daryoi Sir (river, Central Asia)
Syr Darya, river in the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. The Syr Darya is formed by the confluence of the Naryn and Qoradaryo rivers in the eastern Fergana Valley and generally flows northwest until it empties into the Aral Sea. With a length of 1,374 miles (2,212
- Darʿā (Syria)
Daraa, town, southwestern Syria. It is the chief town of the Ḥawrān region of Syria. Earning the nickname “the cradle of the revolution,” Daraa was the site of the first protests of the 2011 uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s government, which eventually turned into the brutal and lengthy Syrian
- Das, Chittaranjan (Indian political leader)
Chittaranjan Das was an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress, a lawyer, and a poet. He was an integral part of the Indian Independence Movement and the founder of the Swaraj (“Self-Rule”) Party in Bengal under British rule. The people of India honored him with the title
- Das, Govinda (Bengali poet)
Hinduism: Vernacular literatures: Govinda Das (1537–1612) is one of the greatest poets in this bhakti genre of poetry in which divine love is symbolized by human love. The songs of Ramprasad Sen (1718–75) similarly honor Shakti as mother of the universe and are still in wide devotional use.
- Das, Jibanananda (Indian poet)
South Asian arts: Bengali: …poet in the Bengali tradition, Jibanananda Das was the first of a new breed. Musing and melancholy, yet known for vivid and unusual imagery Jibananada is a poet who has much influence on younger writers in Bengal. There have been many other poets in the 20th century who are equally…
- Das, Kamala (Indian author)
Kamala Das was an Indian author who wrote openly and frankly about female sexual desire and the experience of being an Indian woman. Das was part of a generation of Indian writers whose work centred on personal rather than colonial experiences, and her short stories, poetry, memoirs, and essays
- Das, Kumari Mayawati (Indian politician)
Kumari Mayawati is an Indian politician and government official. As a longtime major figure in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), she represented and was an advocate for people at the lowest levels of the Hindu social system in India—those officially designated as members of the Scheduled Castes,
- Das, Mahesh (Indian courtier)
Bīrbal was a Brahman courtier of the Mughal emperor Akbar. With a reputation as a skilled poet and a charismatic wit, he joined Akbar’s court early in the emperor’s reign and became one of his closest advisers. Indeed, Bīrbal was the only Hindu follower of Akbar’s elite religious movement, the
- ’Das-log Snang-sa (Tibetan play)
Central Asian arts: Buddhist morality plays: An example is the play ’Das-log Snang-sa. The phrase ’das-log means to return (log) from the beyond (’das) and is used in Tibetan to refer to anyone who was believed to be dead and then returns to life and relates all that was witnessed in the netherworld. ’Das-log Snang-sa is…
- dāsa (ancient people)
dasyu, an aboriginal people in India who were encountered by the Indo-European-speaking peoples who entered northern India about 1500 bce. They were described by the Indo-Europeans as a dark-skinned, harsh-spoken people who worshipped the phallus. Some Western scholars who view the lingam (a Hindu
- Dasa (African people)
Chad: Ethnic groups: …are sedentary and coexist with Daza, Kreda, and Arab nomads. The Hadjeray (of the Guera Massif) and Abou Telfân are composed of refugee populations who, living on their mountainous terrain, have resisted various invasions. On the plains surrounding the Hadjeray are the Bulala, Kuka, and the Midogo, who are sedentary
- Dasa (German company)
Airbus Industrie: …from Germany’s Deutsche Airbus (later DaimlerChrysler Aerospace Airbus), a joint venture in which Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm had a 65 percent stake and VFW-Fokker a 35 percent stake. Spain’s Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. (CASA) joined in 1971 with a 4.2 percent share. Hawker Siddeley and other British companies were nationalized in 1977 into a…