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

Nicomedes III
(lived 2nd and 1st century BC) King of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, about 127-94 BC, the son and successor of Nicomedes II. His gifts to Greek cities won him the title `euergetes` (excellent). ...

Nicomedes IV
(lived 1st century BC) King of Bithynia, in Asia Minor, about 94-74 BC, son and successor of Nicomedes III. After a troubled reign, much harassed by his Roman creditors, and having no heir, he bequeathed...

Nicomedia
Ancient city in Bithynia, in Asia Minor (now northern Turkey). Founded by King Nicomedes I 264 BC, it was well situated at the meeting poing of several trade routes from Asia, and the emperor...

Nicopolis
Ancient city in Epirus, northwestern Greece, founded by the Roman emperor Augustus to commemorate his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium 31 BC. Excavations at the site...

Nicot, Jean
(1530-1600) French diplomat, philologist, and lawyer. In 1560, during the reign of Henry II, he was sent as ambassador to Lisbon, Portugal. On his return he introduced the tobacco plant...

Niebuhr, Barthold Georg
(1776-1831) German historian. He was Prussian ambassador in Rome 1816-23, and professor of Roman history at Bonn until 1831. His three-volume History of Rome 1811-32 critically examined original sources. ...

Niebuhr, Carsten
(1733-1815) Danish map-maker, surveyor, and traveller, sent by the Danish government to explore the Arabian peninsula 1761-67. ...

Niebuhr, H(elmut) Richard
(1894-1962) US Protestant theologian. As a professor of theology at Yale (from 1931), he had an enormous influence on generations of students. His writings, which apply...

Niebuhr, Reinhold
(1892-1971) US Protestant theologian, a Lutheran minister. His Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932) attacked depersonalized modern industrial society but denied the possibility of fulfilling religious and...

Niel, Adolphe
(1802-1869) French marshal and minister of war in 1867. He distinguished himself at the capture of Constantine, Algeria, in 1837. During the Crimean War, he took the Malakoff redoubt near Sevastopol in 1855. He...

niello
Black substance made by melting powdered silver, copper, sulphur, and often borax. It is used as a filling for incised decoration on silver and fixed by the application of heat. Niello was used to...

Niemcewicz, Julian Ursyn
(1757-1841) Polish politician and writer. He was active at the Great Diet of 1788-92 and was Tadeusz Kosciuszko's adjutant in 1794. Released from Russian captivity, he went to the USA 1796-1802. He was a...

Niemeyer, (Soares Filho) Oscar
(1907) Brazilian architect. He was joint designer of the United Nations headquarters in New York in 1947 and from 1957 architect of many public buildings in the Brazilian capital, Brasília. His...

NIEO
Abbreviation for New International Economic Order. ...

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm
(1844-1900) German philosopher who rejected the accepted absolute moral values and the `slave morality` of Christianity. He argued that `God is dead` and therefore people were free to create their own...

Nieuport
French aircraft of World War I. Designed by Gustav Delage and built by Eduoard Nieuport, various models were produced and used by most Allied air forces throughout the war. The Model 17, a...

Nieuwland, Julius Arthur
(1878-1936) Belgian-born Roman Catholic clergyman, chemist, and botanist. Starting as a chemist, he discovered the reaction between acetylene and arsenic trichloride (1904), which others developed into...

Niger
Landlocked country in northwest Africa, bounded north by Algeria and Libya, east by Chad, south by Nigeria and Benin, and west by Burkina Faso and Mali. Government The 1992 constitution, as revised...

Nigeria
Country in west Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, bounded north by Niger, east by Chad and Cameroon, and west by Benin. Government The constitution was promulgated in 1989 to take effect in 1993. It...

Night Journey
In Islam, the journey of the prophet Muhammad, guided by the archangel Gabriel, from Mecca to Jerusalem, where he met the earlier prophets, including Adam, Moses, and Jesus; he then ascended to...

Night of the Long Knives
Purge of the German Nazi party to root out possible opposition to Adolf Hitler. On the night of 29-30 June 1934 (and the following two days) the SS units under Heinrich Night Watch, the
(Proper title The Militia Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch) group portrait in oils by Rembrandt 1642 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), commemorating volunteer...

Nihilist
Member of a group of Russian revolutionaries in the reign of Alexander II 1855-81. Despairing of reform, they saw change as possible only through the destruction of morality, justice, marriage,...

Niitsitapi
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Blackfoot people. ...

Nijhoff, Martinus
(1894-1953) Dutch poet. His highly evocative symbolism and simple language powerfully convey the dualism caused by his reverence for humanity despite his repudiation of its materialism. His two longer poems,...

Nijmegen, Treaties of
Peace treaties 1678-79 between France on the one hand and the Netherlands, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire on the other, ending the Third Dutch War. ...

nikah
Muslim marriage contract. In Islam, marriage is not a sacrament but a legal, binding contract between a man and a woman. The Koran (or Qur'an) (4:21) refers to marriage as a mithaq, a sacred...

Nike
In Greek mythology, the goddess of victory. She is represented with wings, as in the statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre, Paris. One of the most beautiful architectural...

Nikon
(1605-1681) Patriarch of Moscow 1652-58, a Mordvin by origin. He introduced several reforms (correction of books used in church services, unification of the ritual, and so on) which caused a schism in the...

Nile, Battle of the
Alternative name for the Battle of Aboukir Bay. ...

Niles, Hezekiah
(1777-1839) US journalist. After editing the Baltimore Evening Post (1805-11), he founded Niles' Weekly Register, an influential paper especially in economic policy, editing it until 1836. Niles was born in...

Niles, Thomas
(1825-1894) US publisher. Called the `boldest printer in Boston`, he cofounded a printing house in 1855; putting out a pirated edition of Thomas De Quincey's Klosterheim ahead of another publisher, he soon...

Nilsen, Dennis
(1948) British serial killer, convicted of murdering between 12 and 16 people between 1978 and 1983. A lonely homosexual, Nilsen kept the bodies of his victims under floorboards in his home. He was...

Nimeri, Gaafar Muhammad
(born 1930) Sudanese soldier and president 1971-85. He led a coup in 1969 which overthrew the government, and became head of a Revolutionary Command Council and prime minister, elected president in 1971. His...

Nimipu
Alternative name for a member of the American Indian Nez Percé people. ...

Nimitz, Chester William
(1885-1966) US admiral. In World War II he was commander-in-chief of the US Pacific fleet. He reconquered the Solomon Islands 1942-43, Gilbert Islands 1943, the Mariana Islands and the Marshall Islands...

Nims, John Frederick
(1913-1999) US poet. The editor of Poetry magazine (1978-84), he also served as a poetry judge for the National Book Awards (1969), the American Book Awards (1970; 1971), and the Bollingen Prize (1987). He...

Nin, Anaïs
(1903-1977) French-born US novelist and diarist. Her extensive and impressionistic diaries, published 1966-76, reflect her interest in dreams, which along with psychoanalysis are recurring themes of her...

Nineteen Eighty-Four
Futuristic novel by George Orwell, published in 1949, which tells of an individual's battle against, and eventual surrender to, a totalitarian state where Big Brother rules. It is a dystopia (the...

Nineteen Propositions
Demands presented by the English Parliament to Charles I in 1642. They were designed to limit the powers of the crown, and their rejection represented the beginning of the Civil War. ...

Nineteenth Amendment
See Amendment, Nineteenth. ...

Nineveh
Capital of the Assyrian Empire from the 8th century BC until its destruction by the Medes under King Cyaxares in 612 BC. It was situated on the River Tigris (opposite the present city of Mosul,...

Ninian, St
(c. 360-432) First Christian missionary to Scotland. He appears to have been the son of a Cumbrian chief, but was educated in Rome. He was made a bishop by the pope in 394 and sent...

ninja
Member of a body of trained assassins in feudal Japan, whose martial-arts skills were greatly feared. Popular legend had it that they were able to make themselves invisible. ...

Ninth Amendment
See Amendment, Ninth. ...

Nippur
Ancient city of Sumer and Babylonia, about 161 km/100 mi southeast of Baghdad. As the principal centre of the worship of Enlil, the chief Sumerian god, it had...

nirodha
In Buddhism, the cessation or removal of suffering, the third of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths. Through recognizing our desires, for example greed and lust, we can aim to control our attachment to...

nirvana
In Buddhism, and other Indian religions, the ultimate religious goal characterized by the attainment of perfect serenity, compassion, and wisdom by the eradication of all desires. When nirvana is...

Nishan Sahib
Flagpole of Sikhism. The Sikh flag, the Nishan, is triangular in shape, saffron in colour, and displays the Sikh symbol, the khanda (double-edged sword) in the centre. The Nishan Sahib can be seen...

Nisibis
Ancient city about 210 km/130 mi northwest of Mosul (northern Iraq) and capital of the Assyrian district of Nisibina. As a frontier fortress and centre of trade, it was pivotal in the various wars...

Nitti, Francesco Saverio
(1868-1953) Italian politician and economist. He was prime minister and minister of the interior 1919-20, during a time of economic and political crisis following World War I. He introduced proportional...

Nive, Battle of
During the Peninsular War, series of engagements culminating in a French defeat by the British commander the Duke of Wellingt ...

Nivedita, Sister
(1867-1905) Anglican nun. Born into a Church of Ireland family, Noble moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, in 1897 and converted to Hinduism a year later. She was a disciple and biographer of Swami...

Nivelle, Robert Georges
(1856-1924) French general. In World War I, he planned a massive offensive in the Craonne-Reims area for April 1917, but his public boasting forewarned the Germans and the offensive was a disaster, with...

Nivkhi
Member of a people of eastern Siberia, near the mouth of the River Amur and on Sakhalin Island, Russia. They are mostly fishers and hunters of whales, walruses, and seals, although many have become...

Nix and Nixie
In Germanic mythology, male and female water sprites who usually have evil intentions. In human form, they mingle with people, especially where there is music and dancing, and are able to foretell...

Nixon Doctrine
Political principle formulated in 1969 by US president Nixon, which called for the USA to supply military aid and arms, but no troops, to Asian nations fighting communist insurgencies. It was issued...

Nixon, Pat
(1912-1993) US first lady. Following a difficult childhood, she taught in a California high school before marrying Richard Nixon in 1940. She felt the strain of being a political wife acutely and she was not an...

Nixon, Richard M(ilhous)
(1913-1994) 37th president of the USA 1969-74, a Republican. He attracted attention as a member of the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1948, and was vice- ...

Niyazov, Saparmurat
(1940-2006) Turkmen politician, president 1990-2006. He became communist party leader and prime minister in the Turkmenistan Republic in 1985 and entered the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)...

Nizami
(1141-1202) Persian poet. He enjoyed great popularity in both his native country and Turkey. Nizami's principal works are five mathnavi poems. The first, the `Treasury of Mysteries`, is a didactic poem; the...

Nizan, Paul
(1905-1940) French writer. His works include essays, `Aden, Arabie` 1931 and `Les Chiens de garde` 1932, and novels, Antoine Bloye 1933, La Conspiration 1938, and Le Cheval de Troie 1935. He was killed...

Nizer, Louis
(1902-1994) English-born lawyer and author. Nizer represented many famous entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin and Mae West. He represented the New York association of movie companies, was the general counsel...

Njal's Saga
Longest and greatest of the Icelandic family sagas. Written about 1280, it relates events purported to have taken place in Iceland between about 940 and 1020. The saga has two main climaxes: the...

Nkomati Accord
Nonaggression treaty between South Africa and Mozambique concluded in 1984, under which they agreed not to give material aid to opposition movements in each other's countries, which in effect meant...

Nkomo, Joshua
(1917-1999) Zimbabwean trade unionist and politician, vice president 1990-99. As president of ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) from 1961, he was a leader of the black nationalist movement against the...

Nkosi, Lewis
(1936) South African writer and broadcaster. Nkosi, exiled from South Africa in 1961, is particularly noted for his short stories, his plays The Rhythms of Violence (1964) and The Black Psychiatrist...

Nkrumah, Kwame
(1909-1972) Ghanaian nationalist politician, prime minister of the Gold Coast (Ghana's former name) 1952-57 and of newly independent Ghana 1957-60. He became Ghana's first president in 1960 but was...

NKVD
The Soviet secret police 1934-38, replaced by the KGB. The NKVD was responsible for Stalin's infamous purges. ...

No
Classical, aristocratic Japanese drama which developed from the 14th to the 16th centuries and is still performed. There is a repertoire of some 250 pieces, of which five, one from each of the...

No Man's Land
Old term for any piece of waste or unowned ground, used at least as early as the 14th century. During World War I, it was used to identify the space between the opposing trenches of the combatants. ...

no-strike agreement
Arrangement whereby a trade union, or some other body representing a group of employees, agrees not to use the the strike weapon when an industrial dispute occurs. Such an agreement is usually...

Noah
In the Old Testament, the son of Lamech and father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who, according to God's instructions, built a ship, the ark, so that he and his family and specimens of all existing...

Noah, Mordecai Manuel
(1785-1851) US playwright and journalist. Starting out as a reporter in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Noah wrote several plays between 1802 and 1822. In 1813 he was sent to Tunis as consul to negotiate for the...

Noailles, Anna
(1876-1933) French poet. Her poems are musical, personal, and often exotic and mystical. In 1901 she published Le Coeur innombrable/The Innumerable Heart, her first book of verse, which was an instant success....

nobiles
Roman nobility. When the plebeians obtained the right to hold the consulship, the exclusively patrician nobility gradually gave way to the a mixed patricio-plebeian nobility. A family became...

nobility
Ranks of society who originally enjoyed certain hereditary privileges. Their wealth was mainly derived from land. In many societies until the 20th century, they provided the elite personnel of...

noble
Coin to the value of 6s. 8d. (one half of a mark) issued by Edward III in 1344, along with half-nobles and quarter-nobles. They served as currency for just over 100 years. ...

noble savage, the
Enlightenment idea of the virtuous innocence of `savage` (aboriginal or non-Westernized) peoples, often embodied in the American Indian, and celebrated by the writers J J Rousseau,...

Nobre, Antonio
(1867-1903) Portuguese poet. He published only one work in his short life, a nostalgic and rather sentimental volume of verse written in Paris and called So/Alone 1892. ...

Nochlin, Linda
(1931) US art historian. She specialized in painting and sculpture of the 19th and 20th centuries, and was one of the first scholars to define feminist issues...

Nock, Arthur Darby
(1902-1963) English-born classicist. He is best remembered for his books Conversion (1933), Saint Paul (1938), and many articles on ancient religion. He was editor of the Oxford Classical Dictionary (1949)...

Nodier, Charles
(1780-1844) French author. The early members of the French Romantic school, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, and Charles Sainte-Beuve, all acknowledged his influence. He wrote fantastic short stories, among...

Noetus
(c. 130-c. 200) Christian priest of Asia Minor. He became a leader of the Patripassians, a group who denied the trinity, and was excommunicated. His contemporary Hippolytus's Sermon against the heresy of a certain...

Nofretete
Alternative name for Nefertiti, queen of Egypt. ...

Nogay
Member of a Turkic-speaking people living in the northern Dagestan and Karachay-Cherkessian republics of the northern Caucasus, Russia. They are Sunni Muslims and mostly engaged in...

Nogi, Maresuke
(1849-1912) Japanese soldier. He commanded the Third Army in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05. He forced Port Arthur to surrender, and his army's flank march resulted in...

Noguchi, Isamu
(1904-1988) US sculptor and designer. He was recognized for the serene, expressive power of his abstracted, organic forms, for example Khmer 1962 (Garden of National Museum, Jerusalem). Noguchi has also...

Nolan Committee
Standing committee set up in October 1994 by UK prime minister John Major to examine and report on standards in British public life. Its appointment, under Patrick Nolan (1928), a lord justice...

Nolan, Sidney Robert
(1917-1992) Australian artist. Largely self-taught, he created atmospheric paintings of the outback, exploring themes from Australian history such as the life of the outlaw Ned Kelly. His work, along with...

Noland, Kenneth Clifton
(1927) US painter. Part of the movement of abstract expressionism, he is associated with the colour-stain painters Helen Nolde, Emil
(1867-1956) German expressionist painter and graphic artist. Nolde studied in Paris and Dachau, joined the group of artists known as die Brücke 1906-07, and visited Polynesia in 1913; he then became almost a...

Noll, John (Francis)
(1875-1956) US Catholic prelate. Ordained in 1898, he did pastoral work in Connecticut and in Indiana, where he founded Our Sunday Visitor (1912), a diocesan newspaper that expanded into a large chain. In 1925...

Nollekens, Joseph
(1737-1823) English neoclassical sculptor. He specialized in portrait busts and memorials. He worked in Rome 1759-70 and on his return to London enjoyed great success, executing busts of many eminent people...

Nom
Chinese-style characters used in writing the Vietnamese language. Nom characters were used from the 13th century for Vietnamese literature, but were replaced in the 19th century by a romanized...

nomad
Person whose way of life involves freely moving from place to place according to the state of pasturage or food availability. Nomads believe that land is not an object of property. Nomads fall into...

nominalism
In philosophy, the theory that objects of general terms (such as `red` and `dog`) have nothing in common except the general term. Nominalists deny that the meaning of a general term is an...

Nomura Securities
The world's largest financial institution, an investment house handling about 20% of all transactions on the Tokyo stock exchange. In 1991 Nomura admitted to paying Y16.5 billion in compensation to...

non-aligned movement
Countries with a strategic and political position of neutrality (`non-alignment`) towards major powers, specifically the USA and former USSR. The movement emerged in the 1960s during the Nonconformist
In religion, originally a member of the Puritan section of the Church of England clergy who, in the Elizabethan age, refused to conform to certain practices, for example the wearing of the surplice...