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Malatesta

(Encyclopedia)Malatesta mälätĕˈstä [key], Italian family, ruling Rimini and nearby cities for almost 300 years from the 13th to 16th cent. Malatesta da Verucchio (d. 1312), a powerful Guelph leader, became (12...

Twenty-one Demands

(Encyclopedia)Twenty-one Demands (1915), instrument by which Japan secured temporary hegemony over China. Japan used its declaration of war against Germany (Aug., 1914) as grounds for invading Kiaochow, the German ...

Somare, Sir Michael Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Somare, Sir Michael Thomas sōmäˈrā [key], 1936–2021, Papua New Guinea political leader. He was a ...

Thebes , city of ancient Greece

(Encyclopedia)Thebes, chief city of Boeotia, in ancient Greece. It was originally a Mycenaean city. Thebes is rich in associations with Greek legend and religion (see Oedipus; the Seven against Thebes; Epigoni). So...

birdsong

(Encyclopedia)birdsong. Song, call notes, and certain mechanical sounds constitute the language of birds. Song is produced in the syrinx, whose firm walls are derived from the rings of the trachea, and is modified ...

Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe

(Encyclopedia)Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe, 1793–1864, American ethnologist, b. near Albany, N.Y. He gave enormous impetus to the study of Native American culture and may be regarded as the foremost pioneer in Native ...

international law

(Encyclopedia)international law, body of rules considered legally binding in the relations between national states, also known as the law of nations. It is sometimes called public international law in contrast to p...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

division of labor

(Encyclopedia)division of labor, in economics, the specialization of the functions and roles involved in production. Division of labor is closely tied with the standardization of production, the introduction and pe...

hamster

(Encyclopedia)hamster, Old World rodent, related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal animals, with chunky...