Armenian language: …two written varieties—Western Armenian (Arewmtahayerên) and Eastern Armenian (Arewelahayerên)—and many dialects are spoken. About 50 dialects were known before 1915, when the Armenian population of Turkey was drastically reduced by means of massacre and forced exodus; some of these dialects were mutually unintelligible.

Western Australia, state of western Australia occupying that part of the continent most isolated from the major cultural centres of the east. The state is bounded to the north by the Timor Sea, to the northwest and west by the Indian Ocean, and to the south by the portion of the Indian Ocean

Australian flag consisting of a blue field (background) with the Union Jack in the canton and, at the fly end, a yellow disk bearing a black swan. The flag is sometimes described as a defaced Blue Ensign.The Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh noted black swans living in the estuary of the Swan River

Australia: The culture of Australia: The University of Western Australia, founded in 1911, drew on one of the most substantial philanthropic bequests in Australian history (from the newspaper editor Sir John Winthrop Hackett) and initially charged no fees. Other university foundations were Queensland (1909) and colleges at Canberra and Armidale. State-owned

Western Australia: Economic expansion: …adopted in 1890, the new Western Australian Parliament consisted of a Legislative Council (nominated by the governor until 1893 and thereafter elected on a restricted property franchise) and a Legislative Assembly elected on manhood suffrage. The first premier was the native-born explorer, surveyor, and local hero Sir John Forrest. He…

Western Australian pitcher plant, (Cephalotus follicularis), carnivorous plant, native to damp sandy or swampy terrain in southwestern Australia, the only species in the flowering plant family Cephalotaceae (order Oxalidales). As with most carnivorous plants, the Western Australian pitcher plant is

Australia: The Western Plateau: The Precambrian western core area, known geologically as a shield or craton, is subdivided by long, straight (or only slightly bowed) fractures called lineaments. Those fractures, most obvious in the north and west, delineate prominent rectangular or rhomboidal blocks, some of which have…

Indonesian languages, broadly, the Austronesian languages of island Southeast Asia as a whole, including the languages of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan, and the outlying areas of Madagascar and of Palau and the Mariana Islands of western Micronesia. A more restricted core

poplar: Common species: The western balsam poplar, also called black cottonwood (P. trichocarpa), grows some 60 metres (195 feet) tall and is one of the largest deciduous trees of northwestern North America.

First Interstate Bancorp, once one of the largest American multibank holding corporations. The corporation was formed in 1957 as Firstamerica Corporation and started operations in 1958 when it acquired all of the directly held shares of Transamerica Corporation’s stock in banks in which

bleeding heart: The Pacific, or western, bleeding heart (D. formosa) of mountain woods, which ranges from California to British Columbia, has several varieties of garden interest. Dutchman’s breeches (D. cucullaria) is found throughout eastern North America.

blue-eyed grass: Western blue-eyed grass (S. bellum) extends from western Mexico to Oregon and has flowers that range in colour from blue to purple. Blue pigroot (S. micranthum) is found throughout South and Central America and parts of Mexico and has naturalized elsewhere. Another South American species,…

conservation: Calculating background extinction rates: …pairs of sister taxa including western and eastern bluebirds (Sialia mexicana and S. sialis), red-shafted and yellow-shafted flickers (both considered subspecies of Colaptes auratus), and ruby-throated and black-chinned hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris and A. alexandri). According to the rapid-speciation

Gulf Stream: Movement and physical features: There it crosses the Western Boundary Undercurrent, which consists of cold, southward-flowing water that sinks to considerable depths in the vicinity of Greenland. About 1,500 miles (2,400 km) northeast of Cape Hatteras, in the area of the Grand Banks, the warm Gulf Stream waters come close to the cold,…

bracken: Hairy, or western, bracken (subspecies P. aquilinum pubescens) grows from Alaska to Mexico and east to Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas. Eastern bracken (subspecies P. aquilinum latiusculum), growing also in northern Europe and eastern Asia, occurs from Newfoundland to Minnesota

brown snake: …in the genus are the western brown snake or gwardar (P. nuchalis) and the dugite (P. affinis).

Bug River, tributary of the Vistula River, rising in western Ukraine on the slopes of the Volyn-Podolsk Upland in Lviv oblast (province). The river has a length of 516 miles (830 km) and a drainage area of 28,367 square miles (73,470 square km). Excepting its extreme upper course, the Bug flows

Slavic languages: The Eastern subgroup: Bulgarian and Macedonian: …of the 19th century, and Western Bulgarian, which influenced the literary language. Bulgarian texts prepared before the 16th century were written mostly in an archaic language that preserved some features of both Old Bulgarian or Old Church Slavonic (10th to 11th century) and Middle Bulgarian (beginning in the 12th century).

burning bush: The western burning bush (E. occidentalis), up to 5.5 metres (18 feet) tall, is found along the western coastal United States. The winged spindle tree, or winged euonymus (E. alatus), is often called burning bush. A shrub growing to a height of 2.5 metres (8 feet),…

American literature: Theory: …reached a wide audience with The Western Canon (1994) and Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), both of which explored and defended the Western literary tradition.

Western Cape, province, South Africa, situated in the southern extremity of the African continent. The provincial capital, Cape Town, is also the country’s legislative capital. Western Cape province was part of former Cape of Good Hope province until 1994. Coastline fronting the Atlantic and Indian

Europe: Elevations: …feet [2,655 metres]) in the Western Carpathians, and Mount Moldoveanu (8,346 feet [2,544 metres]) in the Transylvanian Alps. Above all, in southern Europe—Austria and Switzerland included—level, low-lying land is scarce, and mountain, plateau, and hill landforms dominate.

Northwest Airlines, Inc.: In 1986 Northwest purchased Republic Airlines, Inc., thereby acquiring routes to Mexico and the Caribbean.

Cambodia: Ethnic groups: …early 21st century was the Cham-Malay group. Known in Cambodia as Khmer Islam or Western Cham, the Cham-Malay group also maintained a high degree of ethnic homogeneity and was discriminated against under the regime of Democratic Kampuchea. Receiving only slightly better treatment than the Khmer Islam during that period were…

flea: Importance: …the United States, by the western chicken flea (Ceratophyllus niger).

chokecherry: Major varieties: …variety virginiana), with crimson fruit; western chokecherry (P. virginiana, variety demissa), with a fuzzy underleaf and dark red fruit; and black chokecherry (P. virginiana, variety melanocarpa), with black fruit.

environmental economics: Future directions: …such agreement, known as the Western Climate Initiative, was developed in February 2007. A voluntary agreement between seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, it strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent (as compared with 2005 emissions levels) by the year 2020.

Paula Fox: Writing career: … (1966), Portrait of Ivan (1969), The Western Coast (1972), The Little Swineherd, and Other Tales (1978), The Moonlight Man (1986), Western Wind (1993), and Amzat and His Brothers: Three Italian Tales (1993). Her book The Slave Dancer (1973), a dark but historically accurate work showing the horrors of the

Western Colorado University, public coeducational institution of higher learning in Gunnison, Colorado, U.S. A liberal arts university, Western Colorado offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. The university provides a general education program that includes requirements in basic skills and

National Hockey League: >Western Conference Central Division: Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Utah Hockey Club, Winnipeg Jets

Danbury: Western Connecticut State University (1903) is in Danbury. A resort area based on the artificial Candlewood Lake (with more than 60 miles [97 km] of shoreline) adjoins the town. Pop. (2000) 74,848; (2010) 80,893.

mountain: The Andes: …of two parallel ranges, the Cordillera Occidental (or Western Cordillera) and the Cordillera Oriental (or Eastern Cordillera), which surround the high plateau, the Altiplano.

Western Cordillera, in western North America, a system of mountain ranges extending from the U.S. state of Alaska through northwestern Canada, the western United States, and into Mexico. The largest range is the Canadian Rockies; others include the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades,

Australia: The Western Plateau: The Precambrian western core area, known geologically as a shield or craton, is subdivided by long, straight (or only slightly bowed) fractures called lineaments. Those fractures, most obvious in the north and west, delineate prominent rectangular or rhomboidal blocks, some of which have…

Black Hills: …and sacred territory of the Western Sioux Indians. At least portions of the region were also sacred to other Native American peoples—including the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho—and the area had also been inhabited by the Crow. Rights to the region were guaranteed to Sioux and Arapaho by the Second Treaty…

Western dance, history of Western dance from ancient times to the present and including the development of ballet, the waltz, and various types of modern dance. The peoples of the West—of Europe and of the countries founded through permanent European settlement elsewhere—have a history of dance

Darfur, historical region of the Billād al-Sūdān (Arabic: “Land of the Blacks”), roughly corresponding to the westernmost portion of present-day Sudan. It lay between Kordofan to the east and Wadai to the west and extended southward to the Al-Ghazāl (Gazelle) River and northward to the Libyan

Great Sandy Desert, arid wasteland of northern Western Australia that is Australia’s second largest desert, after the Great Victoria Desert. It extends from Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean eastward into Northern Territory and from Kimberley Downs southward to the Tropic of Capricorn and the

Egypt: Relief: …flows into two unequal sections—the Western Desert, between the river and the Libyan frontier, and the Eastern Desert, extending to the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Suez, and the Red Sea. Each of the two has a distinctive character, as does the third and smallest of the Egyptian deserts, the…

taipan: A third species, the Central Ranges or western desert taipan (O. temporalis), was discovered in the central mountain ranges of Western Australia in 2006; its life history and habits await more detailed study.

desert tarantula, (Aphonopelma chalcodes), large hairy North American spider native to arid regions of Arizona, New Mexico, California, and northern Mexico. The taxonomy of the genus is contentious, and some experts limit this species to the populations in the Arizona region of the Sonoran Desert.

western diamondback rattlesnake, (Crotalus atrox), a large, venomous, aggressive, and highly dangerous pit viper inhabiting arid and semiarid scrublands in North America from southern California east to western Arkansas in the U.S. and south to northern Mexico. Its typical habitats are brushy

western diamondback rattlesnake, (Crotalus atrox), a large, venomous, aggressive, and highly dangerous pit viper inhabiting arid and semiarid scrublands in North America from southern California east to western Arkansas in the U.S. and south to northern Mexico. Its typical habitats are brushy

Duars: …the Sankosh River into the Western and Eastern Duars. Both were ceded by Bhutan to the British at the end of the Bhutan War (1864–65). The Eastern Duars, in western Assam state, comprises a level plain intersected by numerous rivers and only slightly populated. The Western Duars lies in northern…

Western Dvina River, major river of Latvia and northern Belarus. It rises in the Valdai Hills and flows 632 miles (1,020 km) in a great arc south and southwest through Russia and Belarus and then turns northwest prior to crossing Latvia. It discharges into the Gulf of Riga on the Baltic Sea. Its

Western Electric Company Inc., American telecommunications manufacturer that throughout most of its history was under the control of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). It was the major manufacturer of a broad range of telephone equipment: telephones, wires and cables, electronic

Western Electric Company Inc., American telecommunications manufacturer that throughout most of its history was under the control of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). It was the major manufacturer of a broad range of telephone equipment: telephones, wires and cables, electronic

Mississippi River: Development of the river’s commerce: In 1820 the Western Engineer probed up the Missouri. In 1823 the Virginia churned its way up to Fort Snelling at the junction of the Mississippi with the Minnesota River. The steamboats brought an era of unprecedented prosperity to the river. Town after town sprang up, dependent on…

encephalitis: Epidemics of encephalitis: of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE), Western equine encephalitis (WEE), and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus can also cause disease in humans. In the late 1960s some 200,000 people in central Colombia were infected with the Venezuelan strain, which had also spread north through Central America and Mexico and into the…

encephalitis: Epidemics of encephalitis: … (VEE), Western equine encephalitis (WEE), and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus can also cause disease in humans. In the late 1960s some 200,000 people in central Colombia were infected with the Venezuelan strain, which had also spread north through Central America and Mexico and into the United States, causing…

Yupiit, Indigenous Arctic people traditionally residing in Siberia, St. Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands in the Bering Sea and Bering Strait, and Alaska. They are culturally related to the Chukchi and Inuit, of Canada and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland). Although some anthropologists argue that

Yupik language, the western division of the Eskimo languages, spoken in southwestern Alaska and in

hedgehog: 5 pounds), but the common western European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) can grow to 1,100 grams. Body length is 14 to 30 cm (5.5 to 12 inches), and there is a stumpy and sparsely furred tail measuring 1 to 6 cm. In addition to the three species of Eurasian hedgehogs (genus…

Western European Union (WEU), former association (1955–2011) of 10 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom) that operated as a forum for the coordination of matters of European security and defense. It contributed to

asphodel: Western false asphodel (T. occidentalis), native to mountainous bogs of western North America, was discovered to be a carnivorous plant in 2021.

organized labour: Challenges to pure-and-simple unionism: …dominated by radicals from the Western Federation of Miners, drove out the socialists and committed itself to a syndicalist version of class war, in which political action was excluded. Struggle would centre on direct industrial action and ultimately on the revolutionary general strike, and out of that would emerge a…

dogwood: Major species: The Pacific, or mountain, dogwood (C. nuttallii) resembles the flowering dogwood with minor differences. Red twig, or red osier (C. sericea), dogwood of northern and western North America has bright red twigs that are especially showy in winter and early spring; the branches are dark red…

D-Day in pictures: …of paratroopers descended on the Normandy countryside behind the German defenses. At about 6:30 am some 3,000 Allied landing craft began discharging men onto a stretch of beaches between Cherbourg and Le Havre. The Allied plan was to seize a beachhead within range of fighter coverage from air bases in…

Western Front, major theatre of World War I. The name refers to the western side of territory under the control of Germany, which was also fighting on its eastern flank for most of the conflict. The struggle between the Allied and Central armies at the Western Front largely determined the course of

Ganga dynasty, either of two distinct but remotely related Indian dynasties. The Western Gangas ruled in Mysore state (Gangavadi) from about 250 to about 1004 ce. The Eastern Gangas ruled Kalinga from 1028 to 1434–35. The first ruler of the Western Gangas, Konganivarman, carved out a kingdom by

Western Ghats, north–south-running range of mountains or hills in western India that forms the crest of the western edge of the Deccan plateau parallel to the Malabar Coast of the Arabian Sea. It passes through the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.The Western

king cobra: …northern and eastern India; the Western Ghats king cobra (O. kaalinga), which inhabits upland habitats in the Western Ghats of southwestern India; the Sunda king cobra (O. bungarus), which can be found from the Malay Peninsula to the Greater Sunda Islands and the southern Philippines; and the Luzon king cobra…

eland: The highly endangered western giant eland (T. derbianus derbianus) has been reduced to at most a few hundred animals. Without effective protection in its last refuges in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park and an adjacent game reserve, the only hope for this subspecies’ survival is a captive breeding program.

gorilla: The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is made up of two subspecies: the western lowland gorilla (G. gorilla gorilla), which inhabits the lowland rainforests from Cameroon to the Congo River, and the Cross River gorilla (G. gorilla diehli), which inhabits a small forested region along the Cross…

kangaroo: Descriptions of selected species: It is replaced by the western gray kangaroo (M. fuliginosus) along the southern coast into the southwest of Western Australia. The ranges of the two species overlap in western New South Wales and western Victoria. Both species, but especially the eastern, prefer lightly forested country, at least for refuge, but…

grebe: Mating behaviour: …the rushing display of the western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis). In nearly all courtship ceremonies, the roles of the sexes are interchangeable. The same is true of the precopulatory displays, and reverse mounting has been reported for all species that have been thoroughly studied. Courtship feeding, where one bird feeds another,…

gull: The California gull (L. californicus) of North America breeds inland and winters on the Pacific coast. This species is credited with having saved the crops of early Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake City region from destruction by the Mormon cricket, a long-horned grasshopper; it is…

China: Xi (Western) Han: Since at least as early as the Shang dynasty, the Chinese had been accustomed to acknowledging the temporal and spiritual authority of a single leader and its transmission within a family, at first from brother to brother and later from father to…

hartebeest: The largest hartebeest is the western hartebeest (A. buselaphus tora), which weighs 228 kg (502 pounds) and stands 143 cm (56 inches) tall. Females are 12 percent smaller than males, with smaller but similarly shaped horns.

John Harvey Kellogg: …Institute, which then became the Battle Creek Sanitarium, located in Battle Creek, Michigan. (The sanitarium was renamed the Percy Jones Army Hospital in 1942, the Battle Creek Federal Center in 1954, and Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in 2003.) Kellogg developed numerous nut and vegetable products to vary the diet of the…

Western Hemisphere, part of Earth comprising North and South America and the surrounding waters. Longitudes 20° W and 160° E are often considered its boundaries. Some geographers, however, define the Western Hemisphere as being the half of Earth that lies west of the Greenwich meridian (prime

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), U.S. education and training facility for civilian, military, and law-enforcement personnel from Western Hemisphere countries. It is run by the U.S. Department of Defense and is based at Fort Moore, Georgia. The Western Hemisphere

hemlock: The western hemlock (T. heterophylla), also known as hemlock fir and Prince Albert’s fir, is a timber tree often 60 metres (200 feet) tall, with a trunk 1.8 to 3 metres (6 to 10 feet) in diameter. Its wood is superior to that of all other…

Ethiopian Plateau: They consist of the rugged Western Highlands and the more limited Eastern Highlands. The two sections are separated by the vast Eastern Rift Valley, which cuts across Ethiopia from southwest to northeast. The Western Highlands extend from central Eritrea and northern Ethiopia to the basin of Lake Rudolf in the…

Western Himalayas, westernmost section of the vast Himalayas mountain range. It lies mainly in the disputed Kashmir region of the northern Indian subcontinent—including portions administered by India and Pakistan—and also in the northwestern part of Himachal Pradesh state, India. In all, the

western honeybee, (Apis mellifera), economically important species of honeybee valued for its pollination services and for its production of honey and beeswax. Western honeybees are native to Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East but are kept and have become naturalized on almost every

western honeybee, (Apis mellifera), economically important species of honeybee valued for its pollination services and for its production of honey and beeswax. Western honeybees are native to Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East but are kept and have become naturalized on almost every

Ibibio: (Eket), Delta (Andoni-Ibeno), Western (Anang), and Eastern (the Ibibio proper).

Western Illinois University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Macomb, Illinois, U.S. It was established in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Instruction began in 1902. The school evolved into a four-year teachers college in 1921. It became Western Illinois State

Western Illinois University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Macomb, Illinois, U.S. It was established in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Instruction began in 1902. The school evolved into a four-year teachers college in 1921. It became Western Illinois State

Western Illinois University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Macomb, Illinois, U.S. It was established in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. Instruction began in 1902. The school evolved into a four-year teachers college in 1921. It became Western Illinois State

Western Indian bronze, any of a style of metal sculpture that flourished in India during the 6th to the 12th century and later, mainly in the area of modern Gujarāt and Rājasthān states. The bronzes are, for the most part, images of the Jaina faith—representations of the saviour figures and ritual

Western Indian painting, a highly conservative style of Indian miniature painting largely devoted to the illustration of Jaina religious texts of the 12th–16th century. Though examples of the school are most numerous from Gujarāt state, paintings in Western Indian style have also been found in

Erie Canal: Design and construction: In 1792 the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was incorporated by the state of New York and given the rights to improve navigation on rivers and lakes west of Albany. Under the leadership of Philip Schuyler, the company focused most of its activity on the Mohawk River, clearing…

Confucianism: The Song masters: …he pronounced in the “Western Inscription”:

Big Ten Conference, one of the oldest college athletic conferences in the United States, formed in 1896 by the Universities of Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and Purdue and Northwestern universities. The University of Iowa and Indiana University were added to the Big Ten in

community ecology: Specialization in grazing: …the grasslands of the upper Intermontane West (which roughly includes eastern Washington and Oregon) have never supported these large grazing herds. The Great Plains had grasses that formed sods and could withstand trampling by large-hooved mammals. These sods were so tightly interwoven that early European settlers cut them to use…

Canadian Football League: …Football Council, created by the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Though the IRFU still referred to their sport as rugby football, the member clubs played a gridiron style of football. The WIFU and IRFU became, respectively, the Western and Eastern conferences of the…

Western Isles, council area of Scotland, in the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of the Scottish mainland, comprising the islands of the Outer Hebrides. Lewis, the northern part of the principal island of Lewis and Harris, is part of the historic county of Ross-shire in the historic region

Xi Jin, first phase of the Jin dynasty (265–420 ce), ruling China from 265 to 316/317 and constituting one of the Six

Agavoideae: of the genus Yucca, including Joshua trees (Y. brevifolia) and Spanish daggers (Y. gloriosa), are popular as ornamentals for their woody stems and spiny leaves.

jumping mouse: The meadow, Pacific, and western jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius, Z. trinotatus, and Z. princeps, respectively) range over much of North America, in grasslands as well as riverine and wet meadow habitats of cool and moist forests. The only species found outside North America is the Sichuan jumping mouse (Eozapus…

Western Kentucky University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S. It comprises five colleges: Potter College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Gordon Ford College of Business; the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences; Ogden College of

kingbird: The western kingbird (T. verticalis), found westward from the Great Plains, is light gray above and yellow below, with whitish edges on the outermost tail feathers. Both species have a red spot (usually concealed) on the crown.

kob: …are three distinct subspecies: the western kob (Kobus kob kob), the Uganda kob (K. kob thomasi), and the white-eared kob (K. kob leucotis) of eastern South Sudan.

Labrador tea: …Rocky Mountain region, known as western Labrador tea (R. columbianum). Both plants are used to make tea and in traditional medicine but can be toxic.

William S. Burroughs: …Place of Dead Roads (1983), The Western Lands (1987), and My Education: A Book of Dreams (1995)—Burroughs further experimented with the structure of the novel. Burroughs (1983), by filmmaker Howard Brookner, is a documentary on the artist’s life.

larch: A taller species, the western larch (L. occidentalis) of the Pacific Northwest, has bracts that protrude beyond the cone scales.

American League (AL), one of the two associations in the United States and Canada of professional baseball teams designated as major leagues. It was founded as a minor league association in 1893 and was initially called the Western League. The Western League changed its name to the American League

Seohak, in Korean history, the study of Western culture, introduced into Korea from the Chinese Ming and Qing dynasties in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a broad sense, the term Seohak refers to the study of Western thought, religion, ethics, science, and technology. In a narrow sense, it