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The History Channel - Encyclopedia Category: History and Culture > History Date & country: 02/12/2007, UK Words: 25833

Homo habilis
Tool-using hominid living about 2.5 million years ago in Africa; see human species, origins of. ...

Hon.
Abbreviation for Honourable. ...

Hon'ami, Koetsu
(1558-1637) Japanese designer, calligrapher, and potter. As the central figure of a community dedicated to reviving the traditional arts and crafts of Kyoto, Koetsu influenced all aspects of Japanese design....

Hondecoeter, Melchior d'
(1636-1695) Dutch artist. He painted large pictures of birds, both domestic fowl and exotic species, in grandiose settings. He was the pupil of his father, Gisbert Hondecoeter, and his maternal uncle Jan...

Honduras
Country in Central America, bounded north by the Caribbean Sea, southeast by Nicaragua, south by the Pacific Ocean, southwest by El Salvador, and west and northwest by Guatemala. Government The 1982...

Hone, Nathaniel
(1718-1784) Irish portrait painter and printmaker. Hone was a founder member of the Royal Academy in London in 1768 and an outspoken critic of its president, Joshua Reynolds. His best-known work is The...

Hone, William
(1780-1842) British journalist and publisher. In 1817, he was unsuccessfully prosecuted for his Political Litany, in which he expounded the journalist's right to free expression. ...

Honecker, Erich
(1912-1994) German communist politician, in power in East Germany 1973-89, elected chair of the council of state (head of state) in 1976. He governed in an outwardly austere and efficient manner and, while...

Honen
(1133-1212) Japanese Buddhist monk who founded the Pure Land school of Buddhism. Honen trained as a priest of the Tendai school before deciding in 1175 that calling on the name of the Buddha was sufficient to...

Hong Kong
Special administrative region directly under the central government in the southeast of China, comprising Hong Kong Island, the mainland Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories, and many small...

Honniasont
Subgroup of the American Indian Erie people. ...

Honorius
(died 638) Pope, 625-38. He wrote a letter to Edwin, King of Northumbria, urging him to be true to the Roman faith, and at his request conferred the pallium on the bishops of York and Canterbury. The Celtic...

Honorius II
(died 1130) Pope, 1124-30. While cardinal bishop he concluded the Concordat of Worms with Henry V, settling the question of investiture. Besieged by Roger, Count of Sicily, in Benevento, Italy, Honorius...

Honorius III
(died 1227) Pope, 1216-27. A zealous supporter of the Dominican and Franciscan orders, he failed to induce the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, to lead a crusade against the Moslems and was so unpopular in...

Honorius, Flavius
(AD 384-423) Roman emperor in the western Roman empire from 395, second son of the emperor Theodosius I. During his reign, Stilicho, a general under Theodosius, was regent and effective ruler of the western...

honour
Dignity, social rank, or privilege. Originating in the cursus honorum in Rome, a standard `course of honours` through public office to the consulate, the concept of honour formerly held a dual...

honours list
Military and civil awards approved by the sovereign of the UK and published on New Year's Day and on her official birthday in June. Many Commonwealth countries, for example, Australia and Canada,...

Hontheim, Johann Nikolaus von
(1701-1790) German historian and theologian. He was dean of St Simeon's in Trier, Germany, 1732-79, and 1738-47 represented the interests of the archbishop-elector at Koblenz, Germany. From 1748 he was...

Honthorst, Gerrit van
(1590-1656) Dutch painter. He painted biblical, mythological, and genre pictures, using a contrast of extremes of light and shade derived from Caravaggio. His importance lies in bringing Italian influences into...

Hooch, Pieter de
(1629-1684) Dutch painter. He painted harmonious domestic interiors and courtyards, his style influenced by Jan Vermeer. The Courtyard of a House in Delft (1658; National Gallery, London)...

Hood, HMS
British battle cruiser of World War II. It was sunk by gunfire from the German battleship Bismarck south of Greenland 24 May 1941. Only three of the 1,420 crew survived. Of 41,200 tons displacement...

Hood, John Bell
(1831-1879) American Confederate soldier. After the battle of Gaine's Mill 1861 he was promoted to major general. He was put in temporary command of the Tennessee army, and at the battle of Nashville 1865 his...

Hood, Raymond Mathewson
(1881-1934) US architect. He designed several New York skyscrapers of the 1920s and 1930s, and was a member of the team responsible for the Rockefeller Center, New York (1929). Two of his skyscrapers, the Daily...

Hood, Robin
Hero of English legend; see Robin Hood. ...

Hood, Samuel
(1762-1814) British vice-admiral. He joined the navy in 1776, and from that year until his death was on active service almost without remission. He took part in the action off the French island of Ushant in...

Hood, Samuel
(1724-1816) English admiral. A masterly tactician, he defeated the French at Dominica in the West Indies in 1783, and in the Revolutionary Wars captured Toulon and Corsica. He was made a baronet in 1779 and a...

Hood, Thomas
(1799-1845) English poet and humorist. He entered journalism and edited periodicals, including his own Hood's Monthly Magazine in 1844. Although remembered for his light comic verse, for example, `Miss...

Hooft, Pieter Corneliszoon
(1581-1647) Dutch poet, dramatist, and historian. He wrote lyrical verse of great depth and beauty. The breadth of his European culture is apparent in his fine pastoral play Granida 1605, his tragedies...

hook and eye
Type of fastening for fabric which is made...

Hook, Sidney
(1902-1989) US philosopher. He is noted for his interpretations of John Dewey and Karl Marx. He held...

Hook, Theodore Edward
(1788-1841) English dramatist and novelist. The son of the composer James Hook (1746-1827), he himself composed several successful comic operas. He was the editor of John Bull, a journal of high Tory and...

Hooker, Philip
(1766-1836) US architect who, as Albany, New York, city surveyor 1819-32 and city superintendent 1821-27, designed many of the neoclassical public buildings that tr ...

Hooker, Richard
(c. 1554-1600) English theologian, author of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1594), a defence of the episcopalian system of the Church of England. ...

Hooker, Thomas
(1586-1647) British colonial religious leader in America. A Puritan, he opposed the religious leadership of Cambridge colony, and led a group of his followers westward to the Connecticut Valley, founding...

Hooks, Benjamin (Lawson)
(1925) US judge, public official, and civil-rights reformer. He gained national recognition as the first African-American to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 1972-77, where he...

Hoon, Geoff(rey) William
(1953) British Labour politician, parliamentary secretary to the Treasury and governemnt chief whip from 2007. One of a clutch of barristers in the `New Labour` Blair administration from 1997, as...

Hoopa
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Hupa people. ...

Hooper, C(laude) E(rnest)
(1898-1954) US broadcast audience analyst. While working in advertising he developed techniques to research radio audiences and in 1938 he founded his own New York firm. His `Hooperatings`, based on...

Hooper, John
(c. 1495-1555) English Protestant reformer. He adopted the views of the Swiss Protestant Ulrich Zwingli and was appointed bishop of Gloucester in 1550. He was burned to death for heresy. ...

Hooten, Earnest (Albert)
(1887-1954) US physical anthropologist. He was a professor at Harvard, where his laboratory became a centre for training physical anthropology specialists. His many popular books introduced human anatomical...

Hoover, Herbert (Clark)
(1874-1964) 31st president of the USA 1929-33, a Republican. He was secretary of commerce 1921-28. Hoover lost public confidence after the stock-market crash of 1929, when he opposed direct government aid...

Hoover, J(ohn) Edgar
(1895-1972) US lawyer and director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1924 until his death. He built up a powerful network for the detection of organized crime, including a national fingerprint...

Hoover, Lou
(1874-1944) US first lady who was the first woman to major in geology at Stanford, where she met Herbert Hoover. They were married in 1899. Well educated, and extremely well travelled, she was popular in...

Hooverville
Colloquial term for any shantytown built by the unemployed and destitute in the USA during the Depression 1929-40, named after US president Herbert Hoover whose policies were blamed for the plight...

Hope, Anthony
(1863-1933) English novelist. His romance The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898), introduced the imaginary Balkan state of Ruritania. Other works include The King's Mirror (1899),...

Hope, Christopher (David Tully)
(1944) South African writer. After settling in England in 1975, Hope produced a number of satirical novels that attacked the policy of apartheid in South Africa, including A Separate Development (1980) and...

Hope, Laurence
(1865-1904) English poet. She wrote a number of passionate poems with an Eastern setting, some of which, such as `Pale Hands I loved beside the Shalimar` were extremely popular as songs. Her volumes of...

Hopewell
Member of a prehistoric American Indian people of the Ohio River Valley and central USA who flourished between 200 BC and AD 500. One of the Moundbuilder cultures, they built cone-shaped burial...

Hopfer, Daniel
(c. 1470-1536) German engraver and designer. He is thought to be the first to have made prints by etching (as opposed to engraving). He produced some of the earliest original etched portraits, a number of...

Hopi
Member of an American Indian people living in southwest USA, especially northeast Arizona, since prehistoric times. They are descendants of the ancient Anasazi, and their language is a branch of the ...

Hopkins, Arthur (Melancthon)
(1878-1950) US theatrical producer. As a Broadway producer, he was most interested in bringing out new talent. He did so with the Barrymores: John in Richard III (1920), Ethel in Romeo and Juliet (1922), and...

Hopkins, Esek
(1718-1802) American naval officer who was commander-in-chief of the Continental navy 1775-77. He disregarded congressional orders to attack British ships in the Chesapeake Bay; he instead attacked and...

Hopkins, Gerard Manley
(1844-1889) English poet and Jesuit priest. His works are marked by originality of diction and rhythm and include `The Wreck of the Deutschland` (1876), and `The Windhover` and `Pied Beauty` (both...

Hopkins, Harry Lloyd
(1890-1946) US government official. Originally a social worker, in 1935 he became head of the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which was concerned with Depression relief work. After a period as secretary of...

Hopkins, John
(died 1570) English hymn writer. With Thomas Sternhold (1500-1549), he was responsible for producing the metrical version of the Psalms; of the complete edition which appeared in 1562, 60 psalms bore...

Hopkins, Mark
(1802-1887) US educator and religious leader, president of Williams College 1836-72 and of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions 1857-87. He was also known as a popular lecturer and...

Hopkins, Patty
(1942) English architect. In partnership with her husband Michael Hopkins (1935) from 1976, she has worked on major projects such as the Mound Stand at Lords Cricket Ground (1987), the extension to...

Hopkinson, Francis
(1737-1791) American politician, composer, and writer. In 1776 he was elected representative of New Jersey to the Continental Congress, was a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and designed the US...

Hopkinson, Joseph
(1770-1842) US lawyer, politician, and writer. He wrote the patriotic song `Hail, Columbia`. He was a Federalist member of the House of Representatives 1815-19, and judge...

Hopkinson, Tom
(1905-1990) English journalist. After working as a freelance journalist and in advertising, he was assistant editor of The Clarion (1934), assistant editor of Weekly Illustrated (1934-38), and, in 1938,...

hoplite
In ancient Greece, a heavily armed infantry soldier (as distinct from the lightly armed peltast). They were the backbone of the army in all the Greek city-states from...

Hopper, Edward
(1882-1967) US painter, printer, and illustrator. One of the foremost American realists, and the most famous exponent of New Realism in the 20th century, he is often associated with American Scene painting. His...

Hopper, Hedda
(1890-1966) US celebrity reporter. From 1938 she wrote a syndicated newspaper column about the private lives of the Hollywood stars. She carried on a widely publicized feud with her...

Hoppner, John
(1758-1810) English portrait painter. He painted many society figures of the day, including the royal princesses, William Pitt, and Admiral Nelson, and became portrait painter to the Prince of Wales (later...

Horace
(65-8 BC) Roman lyric poet and satirist. He became a leading poet under the patronage of Emperor Augustus. His works include Satires (35-30 BC); the four books of Odes (c. 25-24 BC);Epistles, a series of...

Horae
In Greek mythology, the goddesses of the seasons, two to four in number. In Homer's Iliad they simply guarded the gates of Olympus, but they brought round the seasons in his Odyssey. Later Hesiod...

Horatius Cocles
In Roman mythology, one of three heroes who held the bridge over the River Tiber against the invading army of Lars Porsena, King of Clusium, in 507 BC. At the end Horatius defended the bridge...

Hordern, Michael (Murray)
(1911-1995) English character actor. He appeared in stage roles such as Shakespeare's King Lear and Prospero (in The Tempest), and in plays by Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter. His films include The Man Who Never...

Hore-Belisha, (Isaac) Leslie
(1893-1957) British politician. A National Liberal, he was minister of transport 1934-37, introducing a number of traffic reforms including the introduction of a driving test for motorists, traffic lights,...

Horn, Arvid Bernhard, Count Horn
(1664-1742) Finnish-born Swedish statesman. He served in the Swedish army against France and gained rapid promotion, being sent in 1704 as Swedish ambassador to Warsaw, Poland, and helping in the deposition...

Horn, Gyula
(1932) Hungarian economist and politician, president of the Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP) from 1990 and prime minister 1994-98. Under his leadership the ex-communist HSP enjoyed a resurgence,...

Hornbeck, Stanley K
(1883-1966) US diplomat who had a distinguished career in government service. He was chief of the State Department Division of Far Eastern Affairs 1928-37, a special adviser to Secretary of State Cordell Hull...

Hornblower, Josiah
(1729-1809) English-born US inventor and public official. He was a member of the New Jersey legislature 1779-81, the Continental Congress 1785-86, and judge of the Essex County Court 1798-1809. He went...

Hornby v. Close
UK court case in 1867 in which it was decided that trade unions were illegal associations. The decision, overturned two years later by a special act of Parliament, indirectly led to the full...

Hornby, Nick
(1957) English writer. His humorous books reflect British male cultural obsessions, for example football, as in Fever Pitch (1992; filmed 1997) and popular music, as in High Fidelity (1995). Having...

Horne, Henry Sinclair
(1861-1929) British general, the only artillery officer to command a field army in World War I. He was responsible for many of the technical and tactical improvements in artillery, including...

Horne, Richard Henry
(1803-1884) English poet and critic. His best-known work is A New Spirit of the Age 1844, containing critical studies of contemporary writers. He also published two tragedies, Cosmo de' Medici and The Death...

Horner, Charles Albert
(1936) US aviator. In a US Air Force career that began in 1958, he served in various operational and staff posts and became commander of the 9th Air Force in 1987. He directed US air operations in the war...

Horner, Henry
(1878-1940) US state governor and lawyer. As Democratic governor of Illinois 1932-40, he rescued the state from bankruptcy and improved schools and roads. He rejected the machine Democrats' bill, which led to...

Hornung, E(rnest) W(illiam)
(1866-1921) English novelist. Prompted by Conan Doyle, he created A J Raffles, the gentleman burglar, and his assistant Bunny Manders, in The Amateur Cracksman (1899). Further collections of adventure stories...

horoscope
In Western astrology, a chart of the position of the Sun, Moon, and planets relative to the zodiac at the moment of birth, used to assess a person's character and forecast future influences. In...

Horrocks, Brian Gwynne
(1895-1985) British general. He served in World War I, and in World War II under Montgomery at Alamein and with the British Liberation Army in Europe. KBE 1945. When Montgomery went to Africa he sent for...

Horsa
Anglo-Saxon leader, brother of Hengist. ...

Horse Guards
Building in Whitehall, central London, England; the headquarters of the Household Cavalry. The front of the building is always guarded by sentries. At the rear of the building lies Horse Guards...

Horse Guards
In the UK, the Household Cavalry, or Royal Horse Guards, formed in 1661. Their headquarters, in Whitehall, London, England, were erected in 1753 by John Vardy (1718-65) from a design by William...

Horse, Master of the
Head of the department of the British royal household, responsible for the royal stables. The Earl of Westmorland became Master of the Horse in 1978. ...

Horseshoe Bend, Battle of
Decisive battle of the Creek Wars in which a militia led by General Andrew Horsley, Samuel
(1733-1806) English prelate. He was involved for many years in a controversy with Joseph Priestley over the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. In 1759 he became rector of Newington, a post he held until 1793....

Horsmanden, Daniel
(1694-1778) English-born American jurist. He used contacts from England to obtain a seat on the New York Supreme Court. Known as a `political jurist`, he lost all his offices in a shift of political...

Horta, Victor, Baron Horta
(1861-1947) Belgian art nouveau architect. He was responsible for a series of apartment buildings in Brussels, the first of which, the Hôtel Tassel (1892), is striking in its use of sinuous forms and...

Hortense, Eugenie de Beauharnais
(1783-1837) Queen of Holland. In 1802 she married Napoleon I's brother, Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland. On the fall of Napoleon and his family in 1815, she fled to Switzerland. The youngest of her three sons...

Hortensius Hortalus, Quintus
(114-50 BC) Roman orator and principal rival of Cicero. A supporter of the status quo, he defended its representatives when they were accused of malpractice in provincial administration or of bribery when...

Horton, Max Kennedy
(1883-1951) British admiral and submarine specialist in World War II. In 1942 he became commander-in-chief on the Western Approaches, responsible for convoys crossing the Atlantic. He rapidly made his mark,...

Horus
In ancient Egyptian mythology, the falcon-headed sky god whose eyes were the Sun and the Moon; adult son of the principal goddess Isis or Hathor (otherwise his wife), whom she magically conceived...

Horus the Child
In ancient Egyptian religion, the infant son of Osiris and Isis; observed as a separate deity from the Egyptian sky god, the adult Horus. He is depicted as a baby with a royal crown and side-lock...

Hosea
(lived 8th century BC) Prophet in the Old Testament. His prophecy draws parallels between his own marriage and the relationship between God and Israel. ...

Hosmer, Harriet Goodhue
(1830-1908) US sculptor. She lived and worked in Italy and England 1852-1900, creating works such as Puck 1856 and Zenobia 1862. She kept a large studio of stonecutters busy with commissions from US, English,...

Hosokawa, Morishiro
(1938) Japanese politician. He was elected to the house of councillors in 1971 as a Liberal Democrat and was appointed governor of Kumamoto in 1983. His government's main achievement was to push through...

Hospitaller
Member of the Order of St John. ...

hostage
Person taken prisoner as a means of exerting pressure on a third party, usually with threats of death or injury. In 1979, 63 staff members of the US embassy in Tehran were taken by the Iranians....