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local government

(Encyclopedia)local government, political administration of the smallest subdivisions of a country's territory and population. The British system of local government, which has been the model for most of that cou...

Rhodophyta

(Encyclopedia)Rhodophyta rōdŏfˈətə [key], phylum (division) of the kingdom Protista consisting of the photosynthetic organisms commonly known as red algae. Most of the world's seaweeds belong to this group. Me...

primate

(Encyclopedia)primate, member of the mammalian order Primates, which includes humans, apes, monkeys, and prosimians, or lower primates. The group can be traced to the late Cretaceous period, where members were fore...

protozoan

(Encyclopedia)protozoan prōˌtəzōˈən [key], informal term for the unicellular heterotrophs of the kingdom Protista. Protozoans comprise a large, diverse assortment of microscopic or near-microscopic organisms ...

Carolingian architecture and art

(Encyclopedia)Carolingian architecture and art, art forms and structures created by the Carolingians. Toward the beginning of the Carolingian Period, in the 8th cent., a gradual change appeared in Western culture a...

North, Douglass Cecil

(Encyclopedia)North, Douglass Cecil, 1920–2015, American economic historian, b. Cambridge, Mass., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1952. North was on the faculty at the Univ. of Washington, Seattle (1950–83...

Nuevo León

(Encyclopedia)Nuevo León nwāˈvō lāōnˈ [key], state (1990 pop. 3,098,736), 25,136 sq mi (65,102 sq km), N Mexico. Monterrey is the capital. The southern and western parts of the state are traversed by the Sie...

loess

(Encyclopedia)loess lĕs, lōˈəs, Ger. lös [key], unstratified soil deposit of varying thickness, usually yellowish and composed of fine-grained angular mineral particles mixed with clay. It is found in many reg...

Mead, George Herbert

(Encyclopedia)Mead, George Herbert mēd [key], 1863–1931, American philosopher and psychologist, b. South Hadley, Mass., grad. Oberlin, 1883, and Harvard, 1888, and studied in Leipzig and Berlin. He taught at the...

Ramses III

(Encyclopedia)Ramses III both: rămˈəsēzˌ [key], d. 1167 b.c., king of ancient Egypt, 2d ruler of the XX dynasty. He ended the period of anarchy that followed Merneptah rule and reigned c.1198–1167 b.c. The l...