213 résultats pour "significance"

• Greece - country.

  minerals, such as chromium, copper, uranium, and magnesium, are relatively small. Greece’s small petroleum deposits, located under the Aegean Sea near the island ofThásos, are rapidly being depleted. There are no significant reserves of natural gas. Greece’s forests, probably abundant in ancient times, have been significantly depleted. Subsequent soil erosion has made reforestation efforts difficult. Although muchof Greece’s soil is rocky and dry, the country’s mountains are interspersed with sm...

• Law. I INTRODUCTION Law, body of official rules and regulations, generally found in

  their rules are reviewable by the courts. U.S. constitutional law is the most extensive and pervasive of any country in the world. It is embodied in the Constitution and in the opinions of the U.S. Supreme Courtrendered over time. Through its power of judicial review, the Supreme Court may invalidate any legislation or other governmental actions that it finds to be in violationof the Constitution. Constitutional courts in some civil-law countries have similar powers. In the United Kingdom no equ...

• Paul Martin.

  VI CONFLICT WITH THE PRIME MINISTER Martin’s success could not have been achieved without the support he received from Jean Chrétien. Yet relations between the two men continued to deteriorate. In partthis was because of their continuing disagreement about how best to deal with the separatist challenge in Québec. In the 1993 election, a majority of Québec seats hadgone to the Bloc Québécois, and in 1994 the provincial separatist party, the Parti Québécois, won election on a platform promising...

• Paul Martin - Canadian History.

  VI CONFLICT WITH THE PRIME MINISTER Martin’s success could not have been achieved without the support he received from Jean Chrétien. Yet relations between the two men continued to deteriorate. In partthis was because of their continuing disagreement about how best to deal with the separatist challenge in Québec. In the 1993 election, a majority of Québec seats hadgone to the Bloc Québécois, and in 1994 the provincial separatist party, the Parti Québécois, won election on a platform promising...

• Japanese Literature I INTRODUCTION Japanese Literature, literature of Japan, in written form from at least the 8th century AD to the present.

  The Man’yō’sh ū contains about 4,500 poems, most of them composed in the Nara period (710-784). Some of the poems are far older, however, and some of the verses date to earlier collections that have not survived. The work demonstrates a gradual change from basic verses on simple subjects to more sophisticated expressions with a broad range of subject matter. This text also shows the development of poetic forms such as the tanka (short poem), a form structured around alternating lines of 5 an...

• North America - Geography.

  D Climate Although North America has considerable climatic variety, five principal climatic regions can be identified. The northern two-thirds of Canada and Alaska, as well as all ofGreenland, have subarctic and arctic climates, in which long, dark, bitterly cold winters alternate with brief, mild summers. Most of the region, which receives relativelylittle precipitation, is covered with snow and ice during much of the year. A second climatic region is made up of the eastern two-thirds of the U...

• Republic of Indonesia - country.

  Mahakam in East Kalimantan and the Martapura and Barito in South Kalimantan. Most of these rivers originate in the island’s central massif (mountain mass) and meander through extensive swamps as they approach the coast. Settlements such as Samarinda and Banjarmasin cluster along the rivers, which serve ascommunication routes into the interior. The largest rivers on Sumatra drain from west to east into the Strait of Malacca. In the north, the Asahan River once linked trade between the Batak peo...

• Museum.

  History museums are dedicated to promoting a greater appreciation and knowledge of history and its importance to understanding the present and anticipating thefuture. They range from historic sites and small historic house museums to large, encyclopedic institutions such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of AmericanHistory in Washington, D.C. Many cities and states have historical societies that operate museums or historic sites. History museums usually collect a wide range ofobjects, includi...

• New Brunswick - Geography.

  Grand Lake, the largest lake in New Brunswick, is in the lowlands, east of Fredericton. Most other lakes are located in the northern and southwestern parts of NewBrunswick. D Climate New Brunswick has a continental climate that is moderated by maritime influences in the coastal areas. As a result, coastal regions are slightly warmer in the winter andslightly cooler in the summer than are interior regions. Annual temperature variations are large, with the January mean usually at least 25 to 28°C...

• New Brunswick - Canadian History.

  Grand Lake, the largest lake in New Brunswick, is in the lowlands, east of Fredericton. Most other lakes are located in the northern and southwestern parts of NewBrunswick. D Climate New Brunswick has a continental climate that is moderated by maritime influences in the coastal areas. As a result, coastal regions are slightly warmer in the winter andslightly cooler in the summer than are interior regions. Annual temperature variations are large, with the January mean usually at least 25 to 28°C...

• Renaissance I INTRODUCTION Renaissance, series of literary and cultural movements in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

  the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...

• Renaissance .

  the great writings of ancient Greece and Rome. Intellectuals continued to build on the ideas of the Renaissance during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, a time when scientific advancements led to a newemphasis on the power of human reason. One of the early Enlightenment thinkers was French philosopher and writer Voltaire. He claimed that the Renaissance was acrucial stage in liberating the mind from the superstition and error that he believed characterized Christian society during the Middl...

• Canadian Parliament.

  government’s legislative program. Members of Commons can also present a motion in response to the Budget Speech, which reviews the government’s economicrecord, taxation, and expenditure plans, and to Supply Motions, which concern budgets for individual departments. If a majority of MPs support a no-confidence motion,the government must resign. Also, if Parliament rejects a significant government proposal, the government is expected to resign and request the governor-general to call an election....

• Saudi Arabia - country.

  C Natural Resources Some of the world’s largest oil and natural gas fields lie beneath Saudi Arabia and its offshore waters, representing the country’s most economically important naturalresource. In 2007 Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves were estimated at 264 billion barrels. Before the discovery and exploitation of these reserves in the mid-20th century,Saudi Arabia was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its relatively small population subsisted in a harsh environment with little agricultur...

• Afghanistan - country.

  D Climate Most of Afghanistan has a subarctic mountain climate with dry and cold winters, except for the lowlands, which have arid and semiarid climates. In the mountains and afew of the valleys bordering Pakistan, a fringe effect of the Indian monsoon, coming usually from the southeast, brings moist maritime tropical air in summer.Afghanistan has clearly defined seasons: Summers are hot and winters can be bitterly cold. Summer temperatures as high as 49°C (120°F) have been recorded in thenorth...

• Central America - Geography.

  F Animal Life Most of the animal life of Central America is similar to that of South America, but some animals have ties with North America. The marley and opossum have links withSouth America, as do the jaguar, ocelot, jaguarundi, and margay, which are members of the cat family. In contrast, the puma, gray fox, and coyote are of NorthAmerican origin. The armadillo, anteater, and sloth have ties to the south, deer to the north. The large manatee, an aquatic plant eater, survives in the isolated...

• Ethiopia - country.

  constitute about 6 percent of the population. The Somali, who live in the east and southeast, notably in the Ogadēn region, are about equal in number to the Shangalla.The Denakil inhabit the semidesert plains east of the highlands. The nonindigenous population includes Yemenis, Indians, Armenians, and Greeks. B Political Divisions Ethiopia is divided into nine regions composed of specific ethnic groups. The regions, which have a significant degree of autonomy, are Tigray; Afar; Amhara; Oromia;S...

• Finland - country.

  Productive forestland is the most valuable natural resource of Finland. Spruce, pine, and silver birch are the principal trees used to manufacture wood and pulp andpaper products. Finland lacks coal and petroleum resources and is a net importer of energy resources. However, Finland does have significant deposits of peat, which is cut from thenumerous peat bogs that cover much of the north. Peat is an important heat source for homes, and it provides about 7 percent of Finland’s electricity needs....

• Labor Unions in the United States - U.

  National Guard troops were used against the strikers, with the result that the strike was lost and the union that conducted it virtually destroyed. In 1894 a strike by theAmerican Railway Union against the Pullman Palace Car Company was defeated by an injunction issued under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which made acombination or contract in restraint of trade illegal. Thereafter employers used injunctions with increasing frequency and effectiveness as an antistrike weapon. See also Hours...

• Uzbekistan - country.

  E Environmental Issues The evaporation of the Aral Sea is one of the worst ecological disasters in the world. The Aral has shrunk so much that it now holds only about one-fifth the volume ofwater it held in 1960. The shrinkage is due to irrigation withdrawals from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, a practice that began on a massive scale in the early 1960s aspart of the Soviet Union’s ill-conceived drive to increase cotton yields in Central Asia. Growing cotton in the naturally arid and saline soil...

• Fur Trade in North America - Canadian History.

  Injured by the competition from the North West Company, the Hudson’s Bay Company changed its methods in the late 18th century and began extending its operationsinland. After a period of intense and often violent conflict, the two companies merged in 1821 under the charter of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The trade monopoly andpower to govern that had been originally given to Hudson’s Bay in 1670 were extended to all British-held territory west of Rupert’s Land. The company dominated mostof present-d...

• Constitution of Canada.

  A2 Constitution Act of 1982 The Constitution Act of 1982 patriated Canada’s constitution, allowing Canadian lawmakers to amend the constitution without significant involvement by the United Kingdom. It also established procedures that made it somewhat easier to pass constitutional amendments. Before the act was passed, no amendments could be madewithout the unanimous consent of the provinces. The Constitution Act of 1982 established the so-called 7 and 50 rule, which allows amendments to the...

• Montréal - geography.

  percent), and Eastern Orthodox (2.8 percent) religions. Another 5.4 percent claim no religious affiliation. IV EDUCATION AND CULTURE Montréal has a large number of private schools, most of them partially funded by the province. Like the rest of Québec province, Montréal has two public schoolsystems, one for French speakers and one for English speakers. The Charter of the French Language (1977), known as Bill 101, restricts access to English-languageschools and requires children of immigrants t...

• Montréal - Geography.

  percent), and Eastern Orthodox (2.8 percent) religions. Another 5.4 percent claim no religious affiliation. IV EDUCATION AND CULTURE Montréal has a large number of private schools, most of them partially funded by the province. Like the rest of Québec province, Montréal has two public schoolsystems, one for French speakers and one for English speakers. The Charter of the French Language (1977), known as Bill 101, restricts access to English-languageschools and requires children of immigrants t...

• Labor Unions in Canada - Canadian History.

  job. Before collective bargaining begins, workers elect a bargaining committee. The bargaining committee determines the workers’ demands and strategy innegotiations with the employer. Local unions usually are part of national or international unions. These national and international unions employ a staff for organizing workers at the local level, doingresearch, educating union members about labor and political matters, and working with local union leaders. Unions hold regular conventions of dele...

• Uruguay (country) - country.

  Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution of Uruguay. Three-quarters of the people belong to the Roman Catholic Church. There are also sizable Protestantand Jewish congregations. The official language is Spanish, which in Uruguay has been influenced by Italian vocabulary and pronunciation. C Education Uruguay has one of the highest rates of literacy in Latin America, at 98.2 percent of the adult population. Six years of primary education is compulsory, and Uruguay isone of the few n...

• Women's Rights.

  In 1840 Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton traveled to London to attend the World Anti-Slavery Convention. Upon arrival, however, the women were barred fromparticipating in the conference and forced to sit behind a curtain. This experience of discrimination inspired them to organize the first women’s rights convention. Thisconvention met in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848. The Seneca Falls Convention attracted more than 200 women and approximately 40 men. For theconvention,...

• Estonia - country.

  protest the expansion of open-pit phosphorite mining in northeastern Estonia. Their success in stopping the expansion prompted further demonstrations as part of thecountry’s independence movement. Since independence Estonia has taken measures to protect the environment. The government has ratified international agreementsto reduce emissions of hazardous wastes and greenhouse gases, as well as to protect biodiversity, wetlands, and endangered species. Estonians cherish thecountryside, and 31 perc...

• San Francisco - geography.

  recognized symbol of the city, opened in 1937. It connects San Francisco to Marin County to the north, one of the wealthiest suburban areas in the nation. With the construction of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges and other links from the city to its suburbs, the San Francisco Bay area has become one large metropolitanregion. San Francisco itself is only 122 sq km (47 sq mi) of land area, but the city’s Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area (defined by the Census Bureau as SanFrancisco, San Mateo,...

• Kazakhstan - country.

  mismanagement. Between 1949 and 1991 the Soviet government conducted about 70 percent of all of its nuclear testing in Kazakhstan, mostly in the northeastern area near the city ofSemipalatinsk (now Semey). Nearly 500 nuclear explosions occurred both above and below ground near Semipalatinsk, while more than 40 nuclear detonationsoccurred at other testing grounds in western Kazakhstan and in the Qyzylqum desert. More than 1 million of Kazakhstan’s inhabitants were exposed to dangerous levelsof ra...

• English Literature I INTRODUCTION English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present.

  evident. That feature is typical of other Old English literature, for almost all of what survives was preserved by monastic copyists. Most of it was actually composed byreligious writers after the early conversion of the people from their faith in the older Germanic divinities. Sacred legend and story were reduced to verse in poems resembling Beowulf in form. At first such verse was rendered in the somewhat simple, stark style of the poems of Caedmon, a humble man of the late 7th century who w...

• South Africa - country.

  The major soil zones are conditioned largely by climatic factors. In the semiarid north and west, soils are alkaline and poorly developed. In the southern part of WesternCape Province, rain falls mostly in the winter months, and soils there form slowly and are generally thin and immature. The moderate temperatures and summer rainfallof the High Veld and eastern coastal areas create conditions for more productive organic decomposition, leading to dark, fertile soils, or chernozems, similar to tho...

• Confucian philosophy, Chinese

  occupies a pre-eminent place in the history of Chinese philosophy. The core of Confucian thought lies in the teachings of Confucius (551-479 BC) contained in the Analects ( Lunyu ), along with the brilliant and divergent contributions of Mencius (372?-289 BC) and Xunzi ( fl. 298-238 BC), as well as the Daxue (Great Learning) and the Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean), originally chapters in the Liji (Book of Rites). Significant and original developments, particularly along a quasi-metaphysica...

• Jakarta - geography.

  voluntary movement of families to Indonesia's less populated islands). Jakarta is a magnet for migrants from other areas of Indonesia; during the late 1980s an estimated 250 migrants arrived daily. Most were between the ages of 15 and39 years, many with six years of education or less. There is also a significant number of commuters and seasonal migrants who work in government, manufacturing,and services. In addition, many of these temporary residents are engaged in informal employment as drivers...

• Côte d'Ivoire - country.

  D Culture Traditional artistic expressions in Côte d’Ivoire include woodcarvings (particularly masks), decorative fabrics, and acrobatic dancing. Urban populations have beengreatly influenced by French culture. The French language is almost universally used in the written literature of Côte d’Ivoire, to the exclusion of the African languages. IV ECONOMY About 60 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s total labor force is employed in farming and forestry. Government efforts to avoid dependence on a small...

• ?stanbul - geography.

  İstanbul hosts a number of annual cultural events. The İstanbul Cultural Festival, held in the summer, offers music and dance performances in more than 50 venuesthroughout the city, including outdoors at Rumelihisar ı. The city also hosts a summer jazz festival. Turkey is one of the world’s largest producers of motion pictures, anda highly regarded international film festival takes place in İstanbul during the early months of the year. V RECREATION With increasing modernization, recreation is...

• Comoros - country.

  Since 1981 the currency has been the Comorian franc. The Comorian franc had a fixed exchange rate with the French franc of 50 to 1 until 1994, when the rate was changed to 75 Comorian francs to 1 French franc. In 2006, the Comorian franc exchanged at an average of 392 to U.S.$1. Transport between the islands is mostly by air, and there is an international airport at Hahaia on Njazidja where jets can land. Road networks have been built betweenmost of the main island settlements, but the mountai...

• Political Parties in the United States.

  quickly enabled the Republican Party to overpower the Know-Nothings. Although the Republicans lost their first campaign for the presidency in 1856, they triumphed in1860 with former congressman Abraham Lincoln. The Republican victory resulted in part from the division of the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern factions,each of which ran its own presidential candidate, and in part from their success at attracting Whigs and Know-Nothings who had opposed the Republicans in 1856.During the C...

• Burundi - country.

  D Way of Life Most Burundians live in self-contained compounds of small round grass huts scattered over the country’s many hills. The rugo , the traditional Tutsi hut, is divided into sections and surrounded by an enclosure and cattle corrals. Families farm scattered plots of land on different soils at different altitudes to minimize crop failure. Thefloors of valleys are avoided due to higher temperatures and tsetse fly infestation. Social roles are largely determined by ethnicity, with the T...

• Hong Kong - geography.

  higher than China’s average standard of living. In 2006 Hong Kong’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was $27,679.20, although much of the wealth isconcentrated into relatively few hands. IV ECONOMY Hong Kong’s position as one of the world’s most important economic centers is based on several factors. It is located midway between Japan and Singapore, and it liesastride the main shipping and air routes of the western Pacific. It also has long served as a major port of entry and trade for...

• Scramble for Africa.

  additional territorial grabs. The most significant of these rules stated that colonial powers were obligated to notify each other when they claimed African territory.Further, subsequent “effective occupation” of the claimed area was necessary for the claim to remain valid. Through it all, as Europeans negotiated their rights toAfrican territory, not a single African was present. Once the conference was over, it was clear that a European Scramble for African territories was underway. Southern Afr...

• British Columbia - Geography.

  hemlock, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and various cedars, grows rapidly in the mild, wet climate and produces the largest trees in Canada. In the dry lowlands of thesouthern and central interior, ponderosa and lodgepole pines, aspen, and bunchgrass are characteristic. Spruce dominates the Prince George region. Prairie grasses andstands of aspen are found in the northeastern corner of the province. At elevations higher than about 1,800 m (about 6,000 ft), an alpine vegetation of shrubs, mosses,and...

• British Columbia - Canadian History.

  hemlock, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and various cedars, grows rapidly in the mild, wet climate and produces the largest trees in Canada. In the dry lowlands of thesouthern and central interior, ponderosa and lodgepole pines, aspen, and bunchgrass are characteristic. Spruce dominates the Prince George region. Prairie grasses andstands of aspen are found in the northeastern corner of the province. At elevations higher than about 1,800 m (about 6,000 ft), an alpine vegetation of shrubs, mosses,and...

• Spain - country.

  B Natural Resources Spain has a number of mineral resources. The largest known deposits are of iron ore, zinc, and lead. Spain also produces significant quantities of copper and mercury.These deposits are mined mainly in Huelva province in southwestern Spain, around Cartagena on the Mediterranean, and at various points along the Bay of Biscay inthe north. Additionally, uranium is mined in the region of Extremadura, near the Portuguese frontier, where pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, tungsten, and po...

• Georgia (country) - country.

  1917. During the subsequent Soviet period, religious practice was strongly discouraged because the Soviet state was officially atheistic; however, the GeorgianOrthodox Church was allowed to function openly. Orthodox Christianity is the religion of about 58 percent of the Georgian population. Muslims represent about 19 percent of the country’s population, with ethnicAzerbaijanis, Kurds, and Ajars comprising the principal Muslim groups. Ajars are ethnic Georgians who converted to Islam in the 17th...

• India - country.

  delta in the north, are intensely farmed. B Rivers and Lakes The rivers of India can be divided into three groups: the great Himalayan rivers of the north, the westward-flowing rivers of central India, and the eastward-flowingrivers of the Deccan Plateau and the rest of peninsular India. Only small portions of India’s rivers are navigable because of silting and the wide seasonal variation inwater flow (due to the monsoon climate). Water transport is thus of little importance in India. Barrages,...

• American Westward Movement - U.

  British expansion. However, Native Americans of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley lashed out against the English in an attempt to preserve their independence, theirland, and their way of life. With the Ottawa chief Pontiac as their most visible leader, the tribes waged a bloody and costly war. As a result, the British governmentdecided to keep the white settlers apart from the Native Americans. It issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, banning all white settlement beyond the Appalachians andstatin...

• Europe .

  D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...

• Europe - Geography.

  D Vegetation Although much of Europe, particularly the west, was originally covered by forest, the vegetation has been transformed by human habitation and the clearing of land.Only in the most northerly mountains and in parts of north central European Russia has the forest cover been relatively unaffected by human activity. On the otherhand, a considerable amount of Europe is covered by woodland that has been planted or has reoccupied cleared lands. The largest vegetation zone in Europe, cuttin...

• Brazil - country.

  occasional droughts. Brazil contains a wealth of mineral and plant resources that have not yet been fully explored. It possesses some of the world’s largest deposits of iron ore and containsrich deposits of many other minerals, including gold and copper. Brazil’s fossil fuel resources are modest, but this limitation is offset by the considerable hydroelectricpotential of the nation’s many rivers. Although Brazil is an important producer of tropical crops, areas of highly fertile land are limited...