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

Nakamura, Kuniwo
(1943) Paluan politician, president 1992-2001. He became vice president of Palau in 1989, and was faced with a crisis caused by an intractable anti-nuclear clause in the constitution that had prevented...

Nakashima, George
(1905-1990) US furniture maker. Known as the dean of 20th-century US woodworkers because of his high professional standards, he wrote a book describing his reverence for wood, The Soul...

Nakasone, Yasuhiro
(1917) Japanese conservative politician, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and prime minister 1982-87. He increased military spending and Japanese participation in international affairs, with...

Naked and the Dead, The
First novel by the US writer Norman Mailer, published in 1948. Set on a Pacific island during combat in World War II, it depicts war not only as a battle with the enemy but also as a psychic and...

Naked Lunch
Novel 1959 by US writer William Burroughs based on notes written during his heroin addiction in Tangier. The book is a fragmented, black-humour phantasmagoria of disturbing power, which examines...

Nakian, Reuben
(1897-1986) US sculptor. His rough, freely improvised work of the 1950s linked him to action painting, though figurative references (usually to mythology) remain. From the 1960s he produced more abstract,...

Nakota
Subgroup of the American Indian Sioux people and dialect of the Siouan language. ...

Nam japan
In Sikh worship, a simple prayer that repeats God's name by saying Waheguru (Wonderful Lord). ...

Nam Karan
In Sikhism, the naming ceremony conducted soon after birth. See rites of passage (Sikhism). ...

Nam simaran
In Sikhism, thinking about God, or `calling to mind the name of God`. Sikhs believe that God is present in everyone's soul, and concentrating on God will allow his presence to be found. Sikh...

Nama
Member of the largest remaining group of Khoikhoi people. They live mainly in Namibia as pastoralists. ...

Namaliu, Rabbie Langanai
(1947) Papua New Guinea centre-left politician, prime minister 1988-92. He was a founder member of the centre-left Pangu Pati (PP; Papua New Guinea Party) in 1967 and worked as an adviser to Chief...

Namatjira, Albert
(1902-1959) Australian Aboriginal painter. He created watercolour landscapes of the Australian interior. Acclaimed after an exhibition in Melbourne in 1938, he died destitute. ...

Name of the Rose, The
Historical thriller by Umberto Eco, published in 1981 (English translation 1983). Set in a 14th-century abbey, it can be read as a complex murder mystery involving the disappearance of a priceless...

Namibia
Country in southwest Africa, bounded north by Angola and Zambia, east by Botswana and South Africa, and west by the Atlantic Ocean. Government Under its 1990 constitution, Namibia has a democratic...

Namier, Lewis Bernstein
(1888-1960) Polish-born British historian. His chief works, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III 1929 and England in the Age of the American Revolution 1930, challenged accepted...

naming ceremony
Ceremonial naming of a child soon after birth. The ceremony is an important event in a number of major world religions, but may also be conducted in a secular context by...

Nana Sahib
(1820-c. 1859) The adopted son of a former peshwa (chief minister) of the Maratha people of central India, he joined the rebels in the Indian Mutiny 1857-58, and was responsible for the massacre at Kanpur when...

Nancecuke
Site in Cornwall, England, of a secret Ministry of Defence establishment until 1978. A branch of the Chemical Defence Establishment at Porton Down, it was closed when Britain gave up chemical and...

Nandi
Member of a people of Kenya, living in the highlands to the west of the Rift Valley. Traditionally pastoralists and great warriors, today they are cultivators. ...

Nanjing, Treaty of
1842 agreement between the UK and China, concluded at the end of the first Opium War, under which Hong Kong was ceded to Britain and five treaty ports, Shanghai, Guangzhou (Canton), Xiamen (Amoy),...

Nanni di Banco
(c. 1384-1421) Florentine sculptor. He worked on several of the great civic commissions of 15th-century Florence. He remained independent of Donatello's sculptural innovations, using conservative techniques to...

Nano, Fatos Thanas
(1952) Albanian politician, prime minister 1991-92 and 1997-98. His political and economic reforms as Albania's last communist-era prime minister came too late to prevent the communists' overthrow in...

Nansen, Fridtjof
(1861-1930) Norwegian explorer and scientist. In 1893 he sailed to the Arctic in the Fram, which was deliberately allowed to drift north with an iceflow. Nansen, accompanied by F Hjalmar Johansen (1867-1923),...

Nantes, Edict of
Decree by which Henry IV of France granted religious freedom to the Huguenots in 1598. It was revoked in 1685 by Louis XIV. ...

Nanteuil, Robert
(1623-1678) French graphic artist and engraver. `Designer and Engraver` to Louis XIV 1658, he excelled at portrait drawings and pastels, and ranks as the greatest of French portrait engravers. Working from...

Nanticoke
Member of an American Indian people who were inhabiting the mid-Atlantic region of the USA, near Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, by the 17th century. Their language, now extinct, belongs to the...

Naogeorgus, Thomas
(1511-1563) German polemical dramatist. A Protestant pastor, he used Latin drama as a vehicle for his Reformation polemic against the pope and the Catholic Church. His Pammachius (1538), representing the pope...

Naoroji, Dadabhai
(1825-1917) Indian-born British politician and Indian nationalist. A founder member of the Indian National Congress (see Congress Party), he served as is its president in...

napalm
Fuel used in flamethrowers and incendiary bombs. Produced from jellied petrol, it is a mixture of naphthenic and palmitic acids. Napalm causes extensive burns because it sticks to the skin even when...

Napier, Charles
(1786-1860) Scottish naval commander. In 1814 he went on the expedition up the Potomac River, USA, to capture Baltimore in the War of 1812. In 1833 he was offered t ...

Napier, Charles James
(1782-1853) British general. He conquered Sind in India (now a province of Pakistan) 1841-43 with a very small force and governed it until 1847. He was the first commander to mention men from the ranks in his...

Napier, William Francis Patrick
(1785-1860) Irish soldier and historian. He joined an Irish regiment in 1800 and fought in Denmark in 1807 and in the Peninsular War against Napoleon in Spain and Portugal in 1808. He published a History of the...

Naples, Kingdom of
The southern part of Italy, alternately independent and united with Sicily in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Naples was united with Sicily 1140-1282, first under Norman rule 1130-94, then...

Napoleon I
(1769-1821) Emperor of the French 1804-14 and 1814-15. A general from 1795 in the Revolutionary Wars, in 1799...

Napoleon II
(1811-1832) Title given by the Bonapartists to the son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise; until 1814...

Napoleon III
(1808-1873) Emperor of the French 1852-70, known as Louis-Napoleon. After two attempted coups (1836 and 1840) he was jailed, then went into exile, returning for the revolution of 1848, when he became...

Napoleonic era
Period of European and French history 1799-1815 named after Napoleon (I) Bonaparte, ruler of France as dictator from 1799, conqueror of most of Europe from 1803, and emperor of the French...

Napoleonic Wars
Series of European wars (1803-15) conducted by Napoleon I of France against an alliance of Britain, the German states, Spain, Portugal, and Russia, following the Revolutionary Wars, and aiming for...

Narayan, Jaya Prakash
(1902-1979) Indian politician. A veteran socialist, he was an associate of Vinobha Bham in the Bhoodan movement for rural reforms that took place during the last years of British rule. He was prominent in the...

Narayan, R(asipuram) K(rishnaswamy)
(1906-2001) Indian novelist. His immensely popular novels, notably Swami and Friends (1935), his first, and The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1962), successfully combine realism with mythic and grotesque elements....

Narayanan, Kocheril Raman
(1920-2005) Indian politician and public servant, president 1997-2002. A dalit (`untouchable`) from the southern state of Kerala, after a career chiefly as a diplomat, he became vice-president in 1992...

Narcissus
(died AD 54) Greek freed slave and private secretary of the Roman emperor Claudius. He had great influence during Claudius's reign and amassed a large fortune. After the death of Claudius AD 54, Narcissus...

Narcissus
In late Greek mythology, a beautiful youth who rejected the love of the nymph Echo...

Nardi, Jacopo
(1476-1563) Florentine political figure and historian. A committed republican, he held various offices after the exiling of the Medici from Florence...

Nares, George Strong
(1831-1915) Scottish vice-admiral and explorer who sailed to the Canadian Arctic on an expedition in search of English explorer John Franklin 1852, and again in 1876 when he discovered the Challenger...

Narnia, Chronicles of
Series of seven books for children by C S Lewis. The first in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was published in 1950; in it children enter through a wardrobe into an imaginary...

Narodnik
Member of a secret Russian political movement, active 1873-76 before its suppression by the tsarist authorities. Narodniks were largely university students, and...

narrative painting
Art that tells a story. Narrative painting has a long tradition, some of the earliest works being found in ancient Egypt. However, its status and content have changed over the centuries. Popular...

Narses
(c. 478-c. 573) Byzantine general. Originally a eunuch slave, he later became an official in the imperial treasury. He was joint commander with the Roman general Belisarius in Italy 538-39, and in 552 destroyed...

narthex
In architecture, the west porch of an early Christian basilican church designed for the use of women, penitents, and others not allowed to enter the church itself. In Byzantine architecture the...

Narva, Battle of
During the Great Northern War, Swedish victory over the Russians 30 November 1700 at Narva, a fortified town then in northwest Russia 120 km/75 mi west of St Petersburg (now in Estonia). The small...

Narváez, Pánfilo de
(c. 1480-1525) Spanish conquistador and explorer. Narváez was largely responsible for bringing Cuba under Spanish control in 1511. The governor of Cuba sent him to Mexico in 1520 to reassert authority over...

Narváez, Ramón Maria
(1800-1868) Spanish general and prime minister 1844-46, 1847-51, 1856-57, and 1864-65. He opposed Baldomero Espartero, who became regent for Isabella II instead of her mother Maria Christina, and...

Narvik
Seaport in Nordland county on Ofot Fjord, north Norway; population (1996) 14,100. To secure the supply of iron ore mined in the region, Germany seized Narvik in April 1940. On 13 April 1940 a...

Nasby, Petroleum
US journalist and writer; see David Rose Locke. ...

Naseby, Battle of
Decisive battle of the English Civil War on 14 June 1645, when the Royalists, led by Prince Rupert, were defeated by the Parliamentarians (`Roundheads`) under Oliver Cromwell and General...

Nash equilibrium
In game theory, where two players collude to produce a situation where failure to collude would make them both worse off. It is named after the US mathematician John Nash, who produced a...

Nash, `Beau` (Richard)
(1674-1762) Welsh dandy. As master of ceremonies at Bath from 1705, he made the town a fashionable spa resort, and introduced a polished code of manners into polite society. ...

Nash, (Frederic) Ogden
(1902-1971) US poet and wit. He published numerous volumes of humorous, quietly satirical light verse, characterized by unorthodox rhymes and puns. They include I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1938), Versus (1949),...

Nash, John
(1752-1835) English architect. His large country-house practice, established about 1796 with the landscape gardener Humphry ...

Nash, Paul
(1889-1946) English painter. He was an official war artist in World Wars I and II. In the 1930s he was one of a group of artists promoting avant-garde style, and was deeply influenced by surrealism. Two works...

Nash, Walter
(1882-1968) New Zealand Labour centre-left politician, prime minister 1957-60. He became Labour Party leader in 1950, succeeding Peter Fraser, when the party was in opposition. He led Labour to a narrow...

Nashe, Thomas
(1567-1601) English poet, satirist, and anti-Puritan pamphleteer. He was drawn into the Martin Marprelate controversy and wrote at least three attacks on the Martinists. Among his later works are the...

Nashville, Battle of
During the American Civil War, Union victory over the Confederate army 15-16 December 1864 at Nashville, Tennessee. The Confederates were driven out of Tennessee and never...

Nasmyth, Alexander
(1758-1840) Scottish painter and inventor. In 1778 he established himself in Edinburgh as a portrait painter, and had the poet Robert Burns among his sitters; l ...

Nasr-ed-Din
(1829-1896) Shah of Iran 1849-96. He visited Europe on three occasions, the first shah to do so, and granted trade concessions to Russia and Britain. He was assassinated and was succeeded...

Nassau agreement
Treaty signed on 18 December 1962 whereby the USA provided Britain with Polaris missiles, marking a strengthening in Anglo-American relations. ...

Nasser, Gamal Abdel
(1918-1970) Egyptian politician, prime minister 1954-56 and from 1956 president of Egypt (the United Arab Republic 1958-71). In 1952 he was the driving power behind the Neguib coup, which ended the...

Nast, Condé (Montrose)
(1873-1942) US publisher. He transformed Vogue into the USA's premier fashion magazine, then turned Vanity Fair into a sophisticated magazine for all that was stylish; he eventually owned a stable of...

Nast, Thomas
(1840-1902) German-born US illustrator and cartoonist. During the American Civil War, Nast served as a staff artist for Harper's Weekly and later drew its editorial cartoons. His vivid caricatures helped...

Nasution, A(bdul) H(aris)
(1918-2000) Indonesian army general. In 1959 he became Indonesia's minister of defence. After a failed kidnap and assassination attempt in September 1965 he led attacks against members of the Indonesian...

Nataraja
(`Lord of the Dance`) in Hinduism, a title of Shiva. ...

Natchez
Member of an American Indian people who lived along the Gulf of Mexico and the lower Mississippi river valley from AD 700 to the 1730s. Their Muskogean language is extinct. One of the Moundbuilder...

Nation of Islam
Original name of the group popularly known as the Black Muslims, now the title of a 100,000-member splinter group faithful to the Black Muslims' original principles led by Louis Farrakhan. Members...

Nation, Carry Amelia Moore
(1846-1911) US Temperance Movement crusader. Protesting against Kansas state's flagrant disregard for the prohibition law, she marched into illegal saloons with a hatchet, lecturing the patrons on the abuses of...

national accounts
Statistical report on the value of income, expenditure, and production in the economy of a country. In the UK the economy is divided into the public sector (central government, local authorities,...

national agreement
In industrial relations, agreement made between groups of workers, usually represented by trade unions, and employers about pay and conditions on a national basis. In contrast, a local agreement...

National Assembly for Wales
Devolved parliamentary body for Wales, comprising 60 members and based in Cardiff. The Assembly was created by the July 1998 Government of Wales Act, which was passed following the Welsh...

national assistance
In the UK, term used 1948-66 for a weekly allowance paid by the state to ensure a minimum income. ...

National Bolshevism
Post-1917 Russian political trend whose adherents, without being communist, held that the Bolsheviks were the only party capable of providing effective government in Russia and of defending...

National Book League
Former name of the Book Trust. ...

National Consumer Council
UK public body set up by the government in 1975 to safeguard the interests of consumers and to take action on behalf of consumers. The NCC is largely funded by the Department of Trade and Industry...

National Curriculum
In England and Wales from 1988, a course of study in ten subjects common to all primary and secondary state schools. The National Curriculum is divided into three core subjects - English, maths,...

national debt
Debt incurred by the central government of a country to its own people and institutions and also to overseas creditors. A government can borrow from the public by means of selling interest-bearing...

National Dock Labour Scheme
In the UK, a scheme that guaranteed continued employment and pay for dockworkers, even if there was no work to be done; some 9,000 dockworkers were registered under the scheme, which operated from...

National Endowment for Democracy
US political agency founded in 1983 with government backing. It has funded a range of political organizations abroad, with over 95% of its $114 million annual income coming from the US government...

National Endowment for the Arts
US arts funding agency, established by Congress 1965, which grants subsidies to museums, performance companies, and individuals. In the 1990s its awards to controversial artists came under criticism...

National Front
In the UK, extreme right-wing political party founded in 1967. In 1991 the party claimed 3,000 members. Some of its members had links with the National Socialist Movement of...

National Galleries of Scotland, the
Three Scottish galleries administered by one director under a single board of trustees. They are the National Gallery
London art gallery housing the British national collection of pictures by artists no longer living, founded in 1824. Its collection covers all major pre-20th-century periods and schools, but it...

National Gallery of Scotland
Edinburgh art gallery housing the Scottish national collection of old master paintings, opened in 1859. It consists of European and English works from the period 1400-1900, together with a...

National Guard
Militia force recruited by each state of the USA. The volunteer National Guard units are under federal orders in emergencies, and under the control of the governor in peacetime, and are now an...

National Health Service
UK government medical scheme; see health service. ...

national income
The total income of a state in one year, including both the wages of individuals and the profits of companies. It is equal to the value of the output of all goods and services during the same...

national insurance
In the UK, state social-security scheme that provides child allowances, maternity benefits, and payments to the unemployed, sick, and retired, and also covers medical treatment. It is paid for by...

National Insurance Act
UK act of Parliament of 1911, introduced by the Liberal chancellor Lloyd George, which first provided insurance for workers against ill health and unemployment. Part I of the act introduced...

National Lottery
Lottery launched by the British government in November 1994 to raise money for the arts, sports, charities, national heritage, and the Millennium Fund, set up to celebrate the year 2000. Its...

National Missile Defense
US programme to create a system to defend the USA against a limited strategic ballistic missile attack. NMD is a much reduced version of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). It involves launching...

National Party of Australia
Australian political party, favouring free enterprise and seeking to promote the interests of people outside the major metropolitan areas. It holds the balance of power between Liberals and Labor....