Siberian Chronicles, a series of Russian chronicles dating from the late 16th through the 18th century and dealing with the history of Siberia. They individually go by such names as the Esipov, Kungur, Remezov, and Stroganov chronicles (about 40 in all) and collectively constitute the basic source

crabapple: Major species: spectabilis), Siberian crabapple (M. baccata), Toringo crabapple (M. sieboldii), and Japanese flowering crabapple (M. floribunda). Among notable American species are the garland, or sweet crab (M. coronaria), Oregon crabapple (M. fusca), prairie crabapple (M. ioensis), and

elm: Major species: The fast-growing Siberian elm (U. pumila), a brittle-twigged weak-wooded tree, is sometimes planted for quick shade and for windbreaks.

Siberian anticyclone, a semipermanent system of high atmospheric pressure centred in northeastern Siberia during the colder half of the year. The anticyclone forms because of the intense cooling of the surface layers of air over the continent during this season. It is usually quite shallow in

Siberian Husky, breed of strong, graceful, and friendly working dog raised in Siberia by the Chukchi people, who valued it as a sled dog and companion. It was brought to Alaska in 1909 for sled dog races and soon became established as a consistent winner. In 1925 the breed gained widespread fame by

ibex: …the European ibex are the Siberian, or Asiatic, ibex (C. sibirica), which is larger and has a longer beard and horns, and the Nubian ibex (C. nubiana), which is smaller and has long, slender horns. Other ibexes include the Spanish ibex (C. pyrenaica) and the walia, or Abyssinian ibex (C.…

iris: Major species: The Siberian iris (I. sibirica), from grasslands in central and eastern Europe, has slender, straight stalks with clustered heads of violet-blue or white blooms. Similar but shorter and more sturdy, I. spuria has round falls, short standards, and rather lax foliage. The yellow, or water, flag…

woolly mammoth, (Mammuthus primigenius), extinct species of elephant found in fossil deposits of the Pleistocene and Holocene epochs (from about 2.6 million years ago to the present) in Europe, northern Asia, and North America. The woolly mammoth was known for its large size, fur, and imposing

kolinsky, any of several species of Asian weasels. See

moose: alces alces); the Siberian, or Yakut, moose (A. alces pfizenmayeri); the west Siberian, or Ussuri, moose (A. alces cameloides); and the east Siberian, or Kolyma, moose (A. alces buturlini). In addition to differences in geographical distribution, the different subspecies of moose are further distinguished by features such as…

Siberian peoples, any of a large number of small ethnic groups living in Siberia. Most engage either in reindeer herding or fishing, while some also hunt furbearing animals or farm and raise horses or cattle. In the past, many had both summer and winter dwellings, their winter homes sometimes being

roe deer: … (Capreolus capreolus) and the larger Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus). Despite their Old World distribution, roe deer are more closely related to New World deer than to Old World deer. They are well adapted to cold environments, and they range from northern Europe and Asia into the high mountains of…

Laptev Sea, marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Northern Siberia (Russia), bounded by the Taymyr Peninsula (Poluostrov) and the islands of Severnaya Zemlya on the west and by the New Siberian Islands and Kotelny Island on the east. It is connected in the west with the Kara Sea and in

squill: Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) has escaped cultivation and is considered an invasive species in areas outside its native range.

Siberian tiger, (subspecies Panthera tigris altaica), subspecies of tiger (Pantheria tigris) inhabiting the cold-climate forests of the Primorye and Khabarovsk territories of far-eastern Russia as well as northeastern China. In appearance, the Siberian tiger is distinguished from other tiger

Permian extinction: Alteration of the carbon cycle: …Siberian flood basalts (the so-called Siberian Traps), which probably led to higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Clouds of volcanic ash may have worsened the situation by restricting the amount of sunlight available for photosynthesis, thereby inhibiting the process of carbon fixation by plants and lowering the extraction…

Turkic languages: Classification: …a southeastern (SE), and a northeastern (NE) branch. Chuvash and Khalaj form separate branches.

kolinsky, any of several species of Asian weasels. See

Siberut Island, largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles

Siberut Island, largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles

India: Oligarchies and kingdoms: The Shibis also migrated from the Punjab to Rajasthan and settled at Madhyamika (near Chitor, now Chittaurgarh). (See Shaivism.)

Agustina Bessa-Luís: …of Bessa-Luís’s early novels is A Sibila (1954; “The Sibyl”), which won the Eça de Queirós prize and in which the boundary between physical, psychological, and ironic reality is tenuous and the characters gain an almost mythic quality. In Bessa-Luís’s fiction, notions of time and space become vague, and planes…

sibilant, in phonetics, a fricative consonant sound, in which the tip, or blade, of the tongue is brought near the roof of the mouth and air is pushed past the tongue to make a hissing sound. In English s, z, sh, and zh (the sound of the s in “pleasure”) are sibilants. Sometimes the affricates ch

Ibn Saud: The Ikhwān and the expansion of the third Saudi state: …Ibn Saud himself at the Battle of Sibilla.

Kenya: Cultural institutions: Sibiloi National Park, in the far northern part of the country, contains sites where scientists from the University of Nairobi (including Richard Leakey) have excavated hominid remains since 1968. Mount Kenya National Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997. The Lake Turkana…

Siberia, vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan, constituting all of northern Asia. Siberia extends from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and southward from the Arctic Ocean to the hills of north-central Kazakhstan and the borders of Mongolia and China. All but

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov was a Russian gold-mine proprietor, who was noted for both his financing of explorations in Siberia and for his own expeditions in the area. Sibiryakov was a graduate of a polytechnic school in Zürich. A wealthy man, he financed the scientific expeditions of the

Arctic: Conquest of the Northeast Passage: The ice-breaking steamer Sibiryakov (originally the Newfoundland sealing steamer Bellaventure) attempted the passage from west to east; after rounding the northern tip of Severnaya Zemlya and calling at Tiksi and the mouth of the Kolyma, it lost its propeller in ice just prior to reaching the Bering Strait…

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov: …much traveled, became known as Sibiryakov’s Route to the North.

Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Sibiryakov was a Russian gold-mine proprietor, who was noted for both his financing of explorations in Siberia and for his own expeditions in the area. Sibiryakov was a graduate of a polytechnic school in Zürich. A wealthy man, he financed the scientific expeditions of the

Sebetwane was a Southern African king who reigned from around 1820 to 1851. He established the large and powerful Kololo nation in what is now southwestern Zambia after an arduous migration from his original home in what is now the Free State province in South Africa. Sebetwane was a chief of the

Sibiu, city, central Romania. It lies along the Cibin River at an elevation of 1,350–1,400 feet (410–425 metres) above sea level. Sibiu is situated on the north side of the Turnu Roșu (“Red Tower”) Pass, which links Transylvania to southern Romania across the Transylvanian Alps (Southern

Sibiu, judeƫ (county), central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), including the Sebeş, Lotru, and Făgăraş ranges, rise in the southern portion of the county. Settlement areas are in intermontane valleys. Sibiu city, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Metal

Sibley Provincial Park, park, southwestern Ontario, Canada, on Sibley Peninsula on the northern shore of Lake Superior, 20 miles (32 km) east of Thunder Bay. Established in 1950, the park has an area of 94 square miles (243 square km). It is the site of the 19th-century village of Silver Islet

bird: Critical appraisal: Beginning in the 1980s, Charles Sibley proposed radically different listings of the nonpasserine orders on the basis of his pioneering DNA analyses.

aesthetics: Taste, criticism, and judgment: Frank N. Sibley, for example, argued that such terms are used in aesthetic judgment in a peculiar way, without conditions (i.e., without a reasoned basis), and in order to describe aesthetic properties that are discernible only by the exercise of taste. This sophisticated reminder of…

American Civil War: Trans-Mississippi theatre and Missouri: Led by Henry Sibley, a Confederate force of some 2,600 invaded the Union’s Department of New Mexico, where the Federal commander, Edward Canby, had but 3,810 men to defend the entire vast territory. Although plagued by pneumonia and smallpox, Sibley battered a Federal force at Valverde on…

Hiram Sibley was a founder and president of the Western Union Telegraph Company. Sibley first ran a machine shop and a wool-carding business. In a visit to Washington, D.C., he met Samuel F.B. Morse, the telegraph inventor, and helped get congressional backing for the construction of the first

sibling, typically, a brother or a sister. Many societies choose not to differentiate children who have both parents in common from those who share only one parent; all are known simply as siblings. In those societies that do differentiate children on this basis, the former are known as full

sibling rivalry, intense competition among siblings for recognition and the attention of their parents. Sibling rivalry normally begins when a baby is introduced to a family and the older sibling fears the baby will replace him or her. The older child may become extremely jealous and display

species: Speciation: …selection separates incipient species into sibling species, which do not mate at all but which in morphology, or structure and form, are nearly indistinguishable. Sibling species then evolve into morphologically (and taxonomically) different species. Because it is often difficult to distinguish between subspecies and stable species, another criterion has been…

Boris Berezovsky: …in the Russian oil company Sibneft. At the time, the multibillion-dollar legal battle was the biggest private court case in British history, and it offered observers an insight into the inner workings of the oligarchs in the post-Soviet era. In August 2012 Berezovsky’s case was dismissed with a judgment that…

Manchu language: Several thousand people, however, speak Sibo (Pinyin: Xibe), a closely related language found in the Yili region of Xinjiang.

beard worm, (family Siboglinidae), any of a group of polychaetes (marine worms) constituting the family Siboglinidae. Beard worms live sedentary lives in long protective tubes on the seafloor throughout the world. The common name beard worm refers to the beardlike mass of pinnate (featherlike)

beard worm, (family Siboglinidae), any of a group of polychaetes (marine worms) constituting the family Siboglinidae. Beard worms live sedentary lives in long protective tubes on the seafloor throughout the world. The common name beard worm refers to the beardlike mass of pinnate (featherlike)

beard worm: …1955 a close affinity between Siboglinum and Lamellisabella was proved, and the members were placed in the phylum Pogonophora. However, beard worms were reexamined using DNA sequencing techniques in the late 1990s, and by 2001 the pognophorans, as well as the species of the phylum Vestimentifera, were placed back in…

beard worm: The first species, Siboglinum weberi, described in 1914 by French biologist Maurice Caullery and placed in the family Siboglinidae, came from the seas of the Malay Archipelago, and the second species, Lamellisabella zachsi, which came from the Sea of Okhotsk, was described in 1933. In 1937 a class…

Sibolga, kota (city), western North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. It is located on Sumatra’s western coast about 130 miles (210 km) south of Medan, the provincial capital. Sibolga is a port on Sibolga Bay of the Indian Ocean and is linked by road with the

Ciboney, Indian people of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. By the time of European contact, they had been driven by their more powerful Taino neighbours to a few isolated locales on western Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Cuba. The name Ciboney comes from the Arawak term

Haora: Sibpur, a southern suburb of Haora, contains light industry and railway workshops, as well as a botanical garden founded in 1786. Constituted a municipality in 1862, Haora has several colleges. The city is situated in a deltaic alluvial tract intersected by numerous rivers, which flood…

Sivasagar, town, eastern Assam state, northeastern India. Sivasagar lies on the Dikhu River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra River, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Jorhat. The Tai-speaking Ahom people came to the area from Yunnan province, China, in the 13th century. Sivasagar was the capital of

Sibu, city, Sarawak state, East Malaysia. It is situated at the confluence of the Rajang and Igan rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) from the South China Sea coast. As a river port, it serves small oceangoing vessels and exports timber, rubber, and pepper. Sibu has an airport and a technical nautical

Sibyl was the queen of the crusader state of Jerusalem (1186–90). The daughter of Amalric I, Sibyl succeeded to the throne upon the death of her brother, Baldwin IV (1185). Baldwin had intended for the throne to pass directly to Sibyl’s son Baldwin V, but Sibyl and her husband, Guy de Lusignan,

Sibyl, prophetess in Greek legend and literature. Tradition represented her as a woman of prodigious old age uttering predictions in ecstatic frenzy, but she was always a figure of the mythical past, and her prophecies, in Greek hexameters, were handed down in writing. In the 5th and early 4th

St. Hildegard ; canonized May 10, 2012; feast day September 17) was a German abbess, visionary mystic, and composer. In 2012 she was proclaimed a doctor of the church, one of only four women to have been so named. She is revered as a patron saint of musicians and writers. (Read Britannica’s essay

Maria Sibylla Merian was a German-born naturalist and nature artist known for her illustrations of insects and plants. Her works on insect development and the transformation of insects through the process of metamorphosis contributed to the advance of entomology in the late 17th and early 18th

Roman religion: The divinities of the Republic: …bce) was prescribed by the Sibylline Books at a time when Rome, as on earlier occasions, had requested Cumae for help with grain. The Cumaean Apollo, however, was primarily prophetic, whereas the Roman cult, introduced at a time of epidemic, was concerned principally with his gifts as a healer. This…

Sibylline Oracles, collection of oracular prophecies in which Jewish or Christian doctrines were allegedly confirmed by a sibyl (legendary Greek prophetess); the prophecies were actually the work of certain Jewish and Christian writers from about 150 bc to about ad 180 and are not to be confused

sic bo, gambling game played with dice that is widely popular in Asia. During the 1980s and ’90s, it spread to American and European casinos, partially in an effort to appeal to gamblers from the East. The name sic bo means “dice pair” in Chinese. The game is closely related to grand hazard. Sic bo

Peter Abelard: Career as a monk: …findings in a compilation entitled Sic et non (“Yes and No”); and for it he wrote a preface in which, as a logician and as a keen student of language, he formulated basic rules with which students might reconcile apparent contradictions of meaning and distinguish the various senses in which…

Vittorio De Sica was a film director and actor who first found fame as a matinee idol and who later was a major figure in the Italian Neorealist movement. He directed four masterpieces of the genre, including Ladri di biciclette (1948; The Bicycle Thief), which earned an Academy Award for best

musk cucumber, (Sicana odorifera), perennial vine of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae), native to the New World tropics and grown for its sweet-smelling edible fruit. The fruit can be eaten raw and is commonly used in jams and preserves; immature fruits are sometimes cooked as a vegetable. In

The Difference Between a Tribe and a Band: …such as the Sisseton (Dakota), Sicangu (Lakota), and Yankton (Nakota), came to be called bands.

Sicani, according to ancient Greek writers, the aboriginal inhabitants of central Sicily, as distinguished from the Siculi of eastern Sicily and the Elymi of western Sicily. Archaeologically there is no substantial difference between Sicani and Siculi (Sicels) in historical times; but the Greek

Roch-Ambroise Cucurron, Abbé Sicard was a French educator who was a pioneer in the teaching of the deaf. From 1786 to 1789, Sicard, an abbé, was principal of a Bordeaux school for the deaf. He then succeeded Abbé de l’Epée in Paris. Although he long supported teaching deaf persons through sign

Zealot: …assassination and became known as Sicarii (Greek sikarioi, “dagger men”). They frequented public places with hidden daggers to strike down persons friendly to Rome. In the first revolt against Rome (ad 66–70) the Zealots played a leading role, and at Masada in 73 they committed suicide rather than surrender the…

spider: Annotated classification: Family Sicariidae (six-eyed crab spiders) About 130 species of Southern Hemisphere deserts; includes genus Loxosceles (recluse spiders). Large, 6 eyes, low carapace; legs extended toward sides; burrow in sand. Family Theridiosomatidae (ray spiders) More than 100 species. Globular abdomen; high

Denis Villeneuve: …won critical praise, as did Sicario, a tense and brutal foray into the stalemated War on Drugs. The latter was also a popular hit. Villeneuve ventured into science fiction for his next feature, Arrival. The thoughtful and insightful movie, based on the short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted…

Josh Brolin: Sicario and The Avengers series: …actor appeared in the sequel Sicario: Day of the Soldado. His other credits from 2018 include a starring role alongside Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2 (2018), a hugely popular action film. During this time Brolin also played the villain Thanos in a series of blockbuster movies in the Marvel Cinematic…

al-Shabaab: …a militia affiliated with the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a federation of local and clan-based Islamic courts that had been founded in southern Somalia in 2004 to combat the lawlessness and banditry afflicting the area since the collapse of the government of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. From about 2004…

North Africa: Roman Cyrenaica: …or Pentapolis (capital Ptolemais), and Libya Inferior, or Sicca (capital Paraetonium [Marsā Maṭrūḥ, Egypt]). A regular force was stationed there for the first time under a dux Libyarum. At the end of the 4th century, the Austuriani, a nomad tribe that had earlier raided Tripolitania, caused much damage, and Cyrenaica…

Sjögren syndrome, chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by severe dryness of the eyes and mouth that results from a diminution in secretion of tears and saliva. Dryness may also involve the nose, pharynx, larynx, and tracheobronchial tree. Approximately half the persons affected also have

Massimo Taparelli, marquis d’Azeglio: …important piece of legislation, the Siccardi laws of 1851, abolished ecclesiastical courts and immunities. He also invited Camillo Benso, Count di Cavour, then a rising young politician, to enter the ministry in 1850. D’Azeglio resigned on Oct. 30, 1852, because of a disagreement with Cavour, who had become his finance…

Italian literature: Other writings: …such as Romano Bilenchi (La siccità [1941; “The Drought”]) and Nicola Lisi (Diario di un parroco di campagna [1942; “Diary of a Country Priest”]) or in some respects back to Federigo Tozzi. Especially typical of Cassola’s works are Il taglio del bosco (1953; The Felling of the Forest), Un…

John (XVII) was the pope from June to December 1003. Chosen by the patrician John Crescentius III, he succeeded Pope Sylvester II. John was merely a puppet of his relatives the Crescentii, then the most influential family in Rome. He approved an evangelical mission to the

Sicel language, language spoken by the ancient Siculi (Sicels) in Italy and Sicily. The language is known from four inscriptions dating from the 3rd century bc and from several coins dating from the 6th and 5th centuries bc. After the Greek settlements in Sicily, the Siculi became Hellenized and

Siculi, ancient Sicilian tribe that occupied the eastern part of Sicily. Old tales related that the Siculi once lived in central Italy but were driven out and finally crossed to Sicily, leaving remnants behind—e.g., at Locri. They are hard to identify archaeologically, although some words of their

Chile: The presidency of Gabriel Boric (2022– ): …of the centre-left; and independent Sebastián Sichel, who served briefly in the Bachelet and Piñera administrations but had yet to hold elective office. Kast emerged as the winner of the first round of balloting with 28 percent of the vote, well shy of the 50 percent plus necessary to preclude…

SS: The RSHA also included the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), a security department in charge of foreign and domestic intelligence and espionage.

Gestapo: …of a new organization, the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo; “Security Police”). Under a 1939 SS reorganization, the Sipo was joined with the Sicherheitsdienst, an SS intelligence department, to form the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (“Reich Security Central Office”) under Heydrich. In that bureaucratic maze, the functions of the Gestapo often overlapped with those of other…

Sikhote-Alin, mountain complex in the Russian Far East, fronting the Tatar Strait and the Sea of Japan for 750 miles (1,200 km) northeast-southwest. Major geologic fault lines bound the area, and the structural trench of the Ussuri River valley lies along the northwest. The relief is complicated;

Sichuan, sheng (province) of China. It is located in the upper Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) valley in the southwestern part of the country. Sichuan is the second largest of the Chinese provinces. It is bordered by the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi to the north, the territory of Chongqing

Sichuan Basin, basin comprising the greater part of eastern Sichuan province and the western portion of Chongqing municipality, southwestern China. It is surrounded by the highlands of the Plateau of Tibet on the west and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau on the south and the Wu Mountains on the east and

Sichuan earthquake of 2008, massive and enormously devastating earthquake that occurred in the mountainous central region of Sichuan province in southwestern China on May 12, 2008. The epicentre of the magnitude-7.9 quake (measured as magnitude 8.0 by the Chinese) was located near the city of

jumping mouse: …outside North America is the Sichuan jumping mouse (Eozapus setchuanus), which inhabits cool and wet mountain forests of southern China. It is sometimes incorrectly included in the genus Zapus. Very little is known about its natural history.

Sichuan Basin, basin comprising the greater part of eastern Sichuan province and the western portion of Chongqing municipality, southwestern China. It is surrounded by the highlands of the Plateau of Tibet on the west and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau on the south and the Wu Mountains on the east and

Sichuan pepper, Chinese spice made from the dried papery fruit husks of any of several species of prickly ash (Zanthoxylum) of the rue and citrus family. The major Sichuan pepper species are Chinese pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans) and red Sichuan pepper (Z. bungeanum), with the green Sichuan pepper

Sichuan pepper, Chinese spice made from the dried papery fruit husks of any of several species of prickly ash (Zanthoxylum) of the rue and citrus family. The major Sichuan pepper species are Chinese pepper (Zanthoxylum simulans) and red Sichuan pepper (Z. bungeanum), with the green Sichuan pepper

Sicily, island, southern Italy, the largest and one of the most densely populated islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Together with the Egadi, Lipari, Pelagie, and Panteleria islands, Sicily forms an autonomous region of Italy. It lies about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Tunisia (northern Africa).

chess: The Soviet school: …the most aggressive alternative, the Sicilian Defense (1…c5), which also involves a surrender of the centre. Although White gains more space and mobility, Boleslavsky showed how Black could find equalizing counterchances by advancing the d-pawn one square and the e-pawn two squares. This creates a hole at d5 and makes…

donkey: For example, the Sicilian donkey reaches only about 61 cm (24 inches) and weighs between 113 and 181 kg (250 and 400 pounds), while the average-sized American Mammoth Jackstock donkey is much larger, measuring about 142 cm (56 inches) and weighing 544 kg (1,200 pounds). In colour the…

ancient Greek civilization: The Sicilian disaster: …415–413, better known as the Sicilian disaster. The initial commanders were Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus, but the expedition was weakened by the recall of Alcibiades to stand trial for impiety (he escaped and went to Sparta, which sent help to Syracuse at his suggestion).

Timaeus: …of his (Sikelikai) Historiai (Sicilian History), which included the first Greek presentation of Roman history, covered events up to Agathocles’ death in 289, but a separate work on Pyrrhus of Epirus seems to have extended the historical treatment to the Roman crossing into Sicily in 264. (Polybius began his…

Sicilian Mafia, hierarchically structured organization of criminals in Sicily, Italy. The Sicilian Mafia is made up of a coalition of criminal organizations—called “families” or “clans” in English and cosche (singular, cosca) in Italian—which engage in extortion, smuggling, gambling, and the

Sophron Of Syracuse: …an author of rhythmical prose mimes in the Doric dialect. Although the mimes survive mostly in fragments of only a few words, it can be seen from their titles—e.g., The Tunny-fisher, The Sempstress, etc.—that they depicted scenes from daily life. One longer fragment deals with a magical ceremony. Plato thought…

Sicilian octave, an Italian stanza or poem having eight lines of 11 syllables (hendecasyllables) rhyming abababab. The form may have originated in Tuscany about the 13th century, though little is known about its origins. The Sicilian octave was in use until the 16th century, when the madrigal

Apennine Range: Physiography: …Mount Alto; and, finally, the Sicilian Range, 10,902 feet at Mount Etna. The ranges in Puglia (the “boot heel” of the peninsula) and southeastern Sicily are formed by low, horizontal limestone plateaus, which remained less affected by the Alpine orogeny.

Sicilian school, group of Sicilian, southern Italian, and Tuscan poets centred in the courts of Emperor Frederick II (1194–1250) and his son Manfred (d. 1266); they established the vernacular, as opposed to Provençal, as the standard language for Italian love poetry, and they also, under the

sumac: The Sicilian sumac (R. coriaria), from the Mediterranean region, is cultivated as a source of tannin in southern Italy.

Sicilian Vespers, (1282) massacre of the French with which the Sicilians began their revolt against Charles I, Angevin king of Naples and Sicily; it precipitated a French-Aragonese struggle for possession of that kingdom. Its name derives from a riot that took place in a church outside Palermo at