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

Noyes, Eliot
(1910-1977) US architect and industrial designer, retained as a consultant by the IBM company from 1947 and responsible for the company's high design profile until 1977. In addition to...

Noyes, John Humphrey
(1811-1886) US religious and communal leader. He formulated the `doctrine of free love` 1837 and in 1848 founded the Oneida Community in central New York which served as a forum for his social experiments....

Nozick, Robert
(1938-2002) US political philosopher. He argued that the state's existence can be justified only when it is limited to the narrow function of protection against force, theft, and fraud, and to the enforcement...

Ntsanwisi, Hudson William Edison
(1920-1993) South African politician, chief councillor of Gazankulu from 1969. An active Presbyterian, he has published a novel in Tsonga and written a series of Tsonga readers for primary schools. The son of a...

Nu, U (Thakin)
(1907-1995) Myanmar politician, prime minister of Burma (now Myanmar) for most of the period from 1947 to the military coup of 1962. He was the country's first democratically elected prime minister. Exiled from...

Nuba
Member of a minority ethnic group forming many small autonomous groups in southern Sudan, and numbering about 1 million (1991). They are primarily agriculturalists, and go in for elaborate body...

Nubia
Former African country now divided between Egypt and Sudan; it gives its name to the Nubian Desert south of Lake Nasser. Ancient Egypt, which was briefly ruled by Nubian kings in the 8th-7th...

nuclear arms verification
The process of checking the number and types of nuclear weapons held by a country in accordance with negotiated limits. The chief means are:reconnaissance satellites that detect submarines or weapon...

nuclear family
The basic family unit of mother, father, and children. This is the familial norm of industrial societies, in contrast to countries with traditional economies, where the extended...

nuclear freeze movement
US political group, most active during the early 1980s, that advocated a bilateral freeze on nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. The idea was conceived by the American Friends Service...

nuclear levy
In the UK, a surcharge on electricity bills used mainly for the upkeep of the nuclear-power industry. A levy of about 10% was introduced when non-nuclear power...

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Treaty signed 1968 to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Under the terms of the treaty, those signatories declared to be nuclear powers (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the USA) pledged to work...

nuclear warfare
War involving the use of nuclear weapons. Nuclear-weapons research began in Britain in 1940, but was transferred to the USA after it entered World War II. The research programme, known as the...

nuclear winter
Possible long-term effect of a widespread nuclear war. In the wake of the destruction caused by nuclear blasts and the subsequent radiation, it has been suggested that atmospheric pollution by...

Nudd
Alternative form of Lud, Celtic god. ...

nude
In the visual arts, a depiction of the unclothed human figure. Conventionally, a distinction is drawn between the nude, literally an embodiment of moral or aesthetic values, and the naked, which...

Nuer
Member of a Nilotic-speaking people living in southern Sudan. They inhabit the vast swamps of the White Nile-Bahr-el-Ghazal confluence. Pastoralists with many cattle, they have scattered...

Nuffar
Alternative spelling of Nippur, the ancient city of Sumer and Babylonia,. ...

Nugent, Richard
(1583-1642) Irish soldier. He took part in the rebellion of the earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, and was imprisoned in Dublin but escaped. He was pardoned by James I of England and was created Earl of Westmeath...

nuisance
In law, interference with enjoyment of, or rights over, land. There are two kinds of nuisance. Private nuisance affects a particular occupier of land, such as noise from a neighbour; the aggrieved...

Nujoma, Sam(uel) Daniel Shafiishuna
(1929) Namibian left-wing politician, founder and leader of SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organization) from 1958, and Namibia's first president 1990-2005. He was exiled in 1960, and controlled...

nullification
In US history, doctrine asserting the right of states to ignore any federal law that they deem unconstitutional. The theory was set out by US vice president John C ...

Numa Pompilius
Legendary king of Rome c. 716-c. 679 BC, who succeeded Romulus and was credited with the introduction of religious rites. ...

Numantia
Fortified Celtiberian city on the upper Douro in Spain, near modern Soria. For over 60 years (195-133 BC) it was the centre of successful Spanish resistance to the Romans, but was finally taken by...

Numerian
(AD 254-284) Roman emperor from AD 283. He was the younger son and successor of Carus and brother of Carinus, with whom he succeeded jointly to the throne. Eight months later he was murdered while returning from...

numerology
Divination by numbers. The basis of numerology is the belief that numbers connect the world of humans to the structure of the universe. A superstitious fear of the number 13 is its most common...

Numidia
Independent North African kingdom, close to Carthage, which became a Roman province, now eastern Algeria. ...

numismatics
The study of coins and banknotes, and medals and decorations. ...

Nun
In Egyptian mythology, the primeval watery chaos on which the world floats; also the god personifying this. ...

nun
Woman belonging to a religious order under the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and living under a particular rule. Christian convents are ruled by a superior (often elected), who is...

Nunc Dimittis
A musical setting of St Luke's Song of Simeon (`Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace`). It is sung at Roman Catholic compline (the last service of the day) and Anglican evensong,...

nuncio
Diplomatic representative of the pope, from the 16th century, performing the functions of a papal ambassador. ...

Núñez, Rafael
(1825-1894) Colombian president 1880-82 and 1884-94, responsible for a new, authoritarian constitution in 1886. A doctrinaire Liberal in the 1850s, he held several government posts, and was a foreign...

Nunn, Sam(uel Augustus), Jr
(1938) US senator. After serving in the Georgia legislature (Democrat, 1968-72), he was elected to the US Senate (1972). As chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, he attained national prominence...

Nunn, Trevor Robert
(1940) English stage director. He was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company 1968-86 and artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, London, England, 1997-2003. He received a Tony...

nuraghi
Prehistoric circular tower of a type found on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. The towers date from the Bronze Age or early Iron Age, about 1500 to 500 BC. Made of a variety of stone including...

Nuremberg rallies
Annual meetings 1933-38 of the German Nazi Party. They were characterized by extensive torchlight parades, marches in party formations,...

Nuremberg trials
After World War II, the trials of the 24 chief Nazi war criminals November 1945-October 1946 by an international military tribunal consisting of four judges and four prosecutors: one of each from...

Nuremberg, League of
Political union formed by Catholic princes of Germany in 1538. Its aim was to oppose the Protestant Schmalkaldic League, and one of its main supporters was Archduke Ferdinand...

Nurse, Rebecca
(1621-1692) English-born witchcraft victim. She was excommunicated and executed in 1692 at the height of the witch craze in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1712, the same pastor who had excommunicated her formally...

nursery rhyme
Short traditional poem or song for children. Usually limited to a couplet or quatrain with strongly marked rhythm and rhymes, nursery rhymes have often been handed down by oral tradition. Some of...

Nusaybin
Modern name of the ancient city Nisibis. ...

Nut
In Egyptian mythology, the goddess of the sky, daughter of the air god Shu. She is usually represented in human form, but sometimes as a cow. ...

Nuttall, Zelia Maria Magdalena
(1857-1933) US archaeologist and ethnologist. She published important findings in pre-Columbian and colonial Mexican culture and is credited with the discovery of two ancient Mexican codices (one of which is...

Nutting, Wallace
(1861-1941) US Congregational minister, antiquarian, photographer, and author. The spokesperson for the colonial revival movement among collectors and home furnishers, his reputation remained somewhat...

Nyakyusa
Member of a Bantu people of southern Tanzania. They are cultivators, the staple crop being plantains. Young men who have been brought up together in one neighbourhood all move to another village...

Nyamwezi
Member of one of the largest groups of Bantu people in Tanzania, living on the plains surrounding the town of Tabora. Most of the Nyamwezi are farmers. Although the Nyamwezi suffered greatly from...

Nyanja
A central African people living mainly in Malawi, and numbering about 400,000 (1984). The Nyanja are predominantly farmers, living in villages under a hereditary monarchy. They speak a Bantu...

Nye, Gerald P(rentice)
(1892-1971) US senator. Originally appointed and then elected to the US Senate (as a progressive Republican from North Dakota 1925-45), he chaired a special committee 1934-37 investigating arms sales in...

Nye, James Warren
(1815-1876) US governor and senator. A gifted orator, he was appointed governor of the Nevada Territory (Republican; 1861-64), where he helped suppress the pro-slavery forces. He then served Nevada as one...

Nyerere, Julius Kambarage
(1922-1999) Tanzanian socialist politician, president 1964-85. He devoted himself from 1954 to the formation of the Tanganyika African National Union and subsequent campaigning for independence. He became...

Nyers, Rezso
(1923) Hungarian socialist leader. A member of the politburo from 1966 and the architect of Hungary's liberalizing economic reforms in 1968, he was ousted from power by hardliners in 1974. In 1988 he was...

nymph
In Greek mythology, a guardian spirit of nature. Dryads or hamadryads guarded trees;naiads, springs and pools;oreads, hills and rocks;oceanids, the open sea; and Nereids, the Aegean. The maiden...

Oakeshott, Michael Joseph
(1901-1990) British political philosopher, author of On Civilization 1969. A conservative, he was praised by the right for emphasizing experience over ideals, summed up as `Tory anarchism`. He was pr ...

Oakley, Annie
(1860-1926) US sharpshooter, member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (see William Cody). Even though she was partially paralysed in a train crash 1901, she continued to astound audiences with her ability...

OAPEC
Abbreviation for Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. ...

OAS
Abbreviation for Organization of American States. ...

oast house
Building containing kilns for drying hops. The hops are placed on horse-hair covered floors, which are heated from below, and the oast house is constructed...

Oastler, Richard
(1789-1861) English social reformer. He was a farm estate manager in Yorkshire when, in 1830, he founded with John Fielden the Short Time Committee, which later became the Ten Hours Movement. In a famous letter...

Oates, Joyce Carol
(1938) US writer. Her novels are often aggressive, realistic descriptions of the forces of darkness and violence in modern culture. A prolific writer, she uses a wide range of genres and settings,...

Oates, Laurence Edward Grace
(1880-1912) English Antarctic explorer who accompanied Robert Falcon Scott on his second expedition to the South Pole. On the return journey, suffering from frostbite, he went out alone into the blizzard to die...

Oates, Titus
(1648-1705) English conspirator. A priest, he entered the Jesuit colleges at Valladolid, Spain, and St Omer, France, as a spy in 1677-78, and on his return to England announced he had discovered a `Popish...

oath
Solemn promise to tell the truth or perform some duty, combined with a declaration naming a deity or something held sacred. In English courts, witnesses normally swear to tell the truth holding a...

Oath of the Horatii, The
Painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David 1784 (Louvre, Paris). It depicts a story from ancient Rome: three heroic Roman brothers (the Horatii) pledge to win victory against the people of...

OAU
Abbreviation for Organization of African Unity, the former name (until 2001) of the African Union. ...

Obasanjo, Olusegun
(1937) Nigerian politician and soldier; head of state 1976-79 and president 1999-2007. When Murtala Muhammad's brief military rule of 1975-76 ended in his death during a coup, Obasanjo succeeded as...

OBE
Abbreviation for Officer of the Order of the British Empire, a British honour. ...

obelisk
Tall, tapering column of stone, much used in ancient Egyptian and Roman architecture. Examples are Cleopatra's Needles (1475 BC), one of which is in London, another in New York. ...

Oberammergau
Village in Bavaria, Germany, 72 km/45 mi southwest of Munich; population (1994) 5,300. A Christian passion play has been performed here every ten years since 1634 (except during the world wars) to...

Oberlin, Jean Frederic
(1740-1826) Alsatian pastor and philanthropist. In 1767 he became pastor of Waldbach in the Steinthal valley, a wild, mountainous district devastated in the Thirty Years' War, where he worked to benefit the...

Obermaier, Hugo
(1877-1946) German prehistorian. He conducted research in Spain and elsewhere on the prehistoric art of the Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and New Stone Age periods. His publications include Fossil Man in Spain...

Oberon
In folklore, king of the elves or fairies and, according to the 13th-century French romance Huon of Bordeaux, an illegitimate son of Julius Caesar. Shakespeare used the character in A Midsummer...

Obey, André
(1892-1975) French author, playwright, and actor-manager. His plays include Viol de Lucrèce 1931, Noé 1931, La Bataille de la Marne 1932, and (with Denys Amiel) La Souriante Madame Beudet 1922. His novels...

obi
Form of witchcraft practised in the West Indies. It combines elements of Christianity and African religions, such as snake worship. It originated in the worship of the snake god Obi, the spirit of...

obiter dictum
Any casual observation; in law, something said by the judge, while giving judgement, that is not essential to the decision. Some obiter dicta have persuasive authority in future cases, depending on...

obituary
Notice of a death, usually in the form of a short biography of the deceased. Often printed in newspapers, an obituary is generally written to celebrate the life of a famous or influential person. ...

Objectivism
Loose association of US poets such as Ezra Pound, Louis Zukofsky, William Carlos Williams, Charles Reznikoff (1894-1976), and George Oppen (1908-1984), whose major works were all lifelong...

obligation
In politics, the duty of individuals to obey the laws of their state and, generally, to accept the authority of its government. The basis of political obligation has been depicted as a contract...

Oboe
British radar-based blind bombing system of World War II adopted by the RAF 1942. It used two transmitters based in the UK; one tracked the bomber, guiding it on a course across the target. The...

Obote, (Apollo) Milton
(1924-2005) Ugandan politician, prime minister 1962-66, and president 1966-71 and 1980-85. After forming the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) in 1959, he led the independence movement from 1961. As prime...

Obraztsov, Sergei Vladimirovich
(1901-1992) Russian puppeteer. He was head of the Moscow-based State Central Puppet Theatre, the world's largest puppet theatre (with a staff of 300). The repertoire was built up from 1923. ...

Obrenovich
Serbian dynasty that ruled 1816-42 and 1859-1903. The dynasty engaged in a feud with the rival house of Karageorgevich, which obtained the throne by the murder of the last Obrenovich in 1903. ...

obscenity law
Law established by the Obscene Publications Act 1959 prohibiting the publishing of any material that tends to deprave or corrupt. In Britain, obscene material can be, for example, pornographic or...

Observer, The
Oldest surviving English Sunday newspaper, founded in 1791. Its long record of newsgathering and liberal comment includes coverage of the execution of Marie Antoinette, Nelson's victory at...

obsidian hydration-rim dating
In archaeology, a method of dating artefacts made from the volcanic glass obsidian. Water molecules absorbed by inward diffusion through cut surfaces cause the outer areas of an obsidian article to...

Obuchi, Keizo
(1937-2000) Japanese politician, prime minister 1998-2000. Obuchi was first elected to the Diet (parliament) in 1963 on the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ticket. He was leader of the LDP's...

OCAM
Acronym for Organization Commune Africaine et Mauricienne, body for economic cooperation in Africa. ...

Occam (or Ockham), William of
(c. 1300-1349) English philosopher and scholastic logician who revived the fundamentals of nominalism. As a Franciscan monk he defended evangelical poverty against Pope John XXII, becoming known as the Invincible...

Occom, Samson
(1723-1792) US Mohegan educator and Presbyterian religious leader. Ordained by the Long Island Presbytery (1759), he travelled to England in 1765 to raise money for Wheelock's Indian Charity School (later...

occult
Vague term describing a wide range of activities connected with the supernatural, from seances to black magic. The term has come to have largely sinister overtones...

occupation
In law, the physical possession and control of land. In the UK, under the Land Registration Act 1925, the rights of a person in actual occupation may be an overriding interest binding a purchaser of...

Oceanic art
Art of the native peoples of Australia and the South Pacific islands, including New Guinea and New Zealand. Covering a wide geographical area, Oceanic art is extremely diverse in style and...

Oceanus
In Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the god of a river believed to encircle the Earth. He was the ancestor of all other river gods and the nymphs of the seas and rivers. In the Iliad, Homer calls...

Ochs, Adolph Simon
(1858-1935) US newspaper publisher. In 1896 he gained control of the then faltering New York Times and transformed it into a serious, authoritative public ...

Ochterlony, David
(1758-1825) American-born British soldier. He joined the Indian army and defended Delhi against Holkar's invading army in 1804 until the siege was raised by Gen Lake's army. He held the Sikhs in check on the...

Ochtervelt, Jacob
(1635-1710) Dutch painter. He depicted interiors with figures in the manner of Gerard Terborch, though his work shows a transition from the typical 17th-century art of the Netherlands towards its...

Ockham, William
English philosopher; see Occam. ...

Octavia
(AD 40-62) Roman noblewoman, daughter of the Roman emperor Claudius and Messalina. She married Nero AD 53 but was divorced by him and placed under house arrest in AD 62. She was subsequently banished to the...

Octavia
Roman noblewoman, sister of Octavian, later the Roman emperor Augustus. She agreed to marry Mark Antony 40 BC in order to reconcile him and her brother. Antony rejected her for Cleopatra, and they...

Octavian
Original name of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. ...