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

Rabuka, Sitiveni
(1948) Fijian soldier and politician, prime minister 1992-99. When the April 1987 elections produced a new left-of-centre government, headed by Timoci Bavadra, which was determined to end...

Racan, Honoré de Bueil, Marquis de
(1589-1670) French writer. A disciple of the poet and grammarian Malherbe, he was a true poet within somewhat narrow limits, and an admirer of nature. He wrote Stances sur la retraite 1618 and Bergeries 1625, a...

race
Term sometimes applied to a physically distinctive group of people, on the basis of their difference from other groups in skin colour, head shape, hair type, and physique. Formerly, anthropologists...

race relations in the USA 1870-1930
Relationships between the growing numbers of diverse racial groups after the end of the Civil War, during a period of expansion for the USA. These relationships were primarily characterized by white...

race to the sea
In World War I, the entrenchment of the Allies and Germans Sept-Nov 1914 as they tried to outflank each other in Flanders, finally reaching the sea. The trench line then expanded in the other...

race-relations acts
UK acts of Parliament of 1965, 1968, and 1976 to combat discrimination. The Race Relations Act of 1976 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, or ethnic origin....

Rachel
(1821-1858) French tragic actor. She excelled in fierce, passionate roles, notably Phaedra in Racine's tragedy Phèdre, which she took on tour to Europe, the USA, and Russia. ...

Rachel
In the Old Testament, the favourite wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. ...

Racine, Jean Baptiste
(1639-1699) French dramatist. He was an exponent of the classical tragedy in French drama, taking his subjects from Greek mythology and observing the rules of classical Greek drama. Most of his tragedies have...

Racine, Louis
(1692-1763) French writer, son of the dramatist Jean Racine. He wrote a number of long poems and literary studies, including Réflexions sur la poésie 1742, Remarques sur les tragédies de Jean Racine 1752,...

Rackham, Arthur
(1867-1939) English illustrator. Influenced by art nouveau, he developed an ornate and delicate style. He illustrated a wide range of books, but is best remembered for his illustrations for children's classics,...

Raczynski, Edward
(1891-1993) Polish diplomat and politician of the post-war government in exile in London. He entered the Polish ministry for foreign affairs...

Radcliffe-Brown, Alfred Reginald
(1881-1955) English anthropologist. Influenced by Emile Durkheim, he developed the theory of structural functionalism in which aspects of society were analysed in terms of their contribution to the overall...

Radcliffe, Ann
(1764-1823) English novelist. An exponent of the gothic novel or `romance of terror`, she wrote, for example, The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). She excelled in depicting scenes of mystery and terror, and was...

Radegunde, St
(518-587) Frankish queen and saint. The daughter of the pagan king of Thuringia, she was baptized and eventually married to Clotaire I, the Frankish king. She left him after much ill treatment, and founded...

Radford, Arthur (William)
(1896-1973) US naval officer. He commanded a carrier group that played a notable role in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns. He was vice chief of naval operations 1948-49 and commander of the Pacific...

Radha
In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, the wife of a cowherd who leaves her husband for love of Krishna (an incarnation of the god Vishnu). Her devotion to Krishna is seen by the mystical bhakti movement...

Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli
(1888-1975) Indian philosopher and politician. In 1946 he was chief Indian delegate to UNESCO, becoming its chairman in 1949. A member of the Indian assembly in 1947, he was appointed vice president 1952-62...

Radhasoami
The supreme being of the Radhasoami faith, founded 1861 by Shiv Dayal Singh (1818-1878) near Agra, northern India. The faith teaches a blend of yoga and bhakti derived, yet distinct, from Hindu...

Radical
In Britain, supporter of parliamentary reform before the Reform Bill of 1832. As a group the Radicals later became the progressive wing of the Liberal Party. During the 1860s (led by Cobden, Bright,...

radical
In politics, anyone with opinions more extreme than the main current of a country's major political party or parties. It is more often applied to those with left-wing opinions, although the...

Radiguet, Raymond
(1903-1923) French novelist. His works include Le Diable au corps/The Devil in the Flesh 1923 and Le Bal du comte d'Orgel/The Count's Ball 1924. His style shows classical restraint and lucidity. ...

Radin, Paul
(1883-1959) Polish-born US cultural anthropologist and linguist. He did extensive fieldwork among the Chippewa and Winnebago Indians and in Mexico. His Primitive Man as Philosopher appeared in 1927. Born in...

Radio Authority
UK statutory body established 1991 following the Broadcasting Act 1990 to take over the radio functions of the former Independent Broadcasting Authority. The Authority assigns frequencies, appoints...

radiocarbon cycle
Production and recycling of the radioisotope carbon-14 (14C). The radioisotope occurs when a neutron flux, caused by cosmic radiation bombarding the upper atmosphere, reacts efficiently with...

radiocarbon dating
Method of dating organic materials (for example, bone or wood), used in archaeology. Plants take up carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere and incorporate it into their tissues, and some of that...

radioisotope scanning
Use of radioactive materials (radioisotopes or radionucleides) to pinpoint disease. It reveals the size and shape of the target organ and whether any part of it is failing to take up radioactive...

Radner, Gilda
(1946-1989) US comedian. After working with the Second City comedy troupe, she appeared on the National Lampoon Radio Hour in 1974. On National Broadcasting Company's Saturday Night Live 1975-80, she created...

Raeburn, Henry
(1756-1823) Scottish painter. One of the leading portrait painters of the 18th century, his technique of painting with broad brushstrokes directly on the canvas, without preparatory drawing, gave his works an...

Raeder, Erich
(1876-1960) German admiral. Chief of Staff in World War I, he became head of the navy 1928, but was punished by Adolf Hitler 1943 because of his failure to prevent Allied Arctic convoys from reaching the USSR...

Raedwald
(died 627) Early 7th-century king of East Anglia. He was the only East Anglian king to be accepted as Bretwalda, following a long period of Northumbrian hegemony. He was baptised by missionaries from Kent,...

RAF
Abbreviation for Royal Air Force. ...

Raffaellino del Garbo
(1470-1526) Italian painter. He was active in Florence, and probably the pupil of Filippino Lippi, whom he is said to have assisted in the frescoes of Sta Maria sopra Minerva, Rome. ...

Raffarin, Jean-Pierre
(1948) French centre-right politician, prime minister 2002-05. Drawn from France's right-wing coalition, he became deputy general secretary of the Union pour la Démocratie Française (UDF; Union for...

Raft of the Medusa, The
Painting by the French Romantic artist Théodore Géricault 1819 (Louvre, Paris). Based on a recent event - the wreck of the frigate Medusa- it depicts the moment when the few survivors on a...

ragged schools
In Britain, schools founded by John Pounds (1766-1839) dedicated to the education of poor and delinquent children in industrial areas. ...

Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, the ultimate cataclysmic battle that would be fought between the gods and forces of evil, and from which a new order would come. In Germanic mythology, th ...

Rahere
(died 1144) Minstrel and favourite of Henry I of England. In 1123, having recovered from malaria while on a pilgrimage to Rome, he founded St Bartholomew's priory and St Bartholomew's hospital in London. ...

Rahman, Sheikh Mujibur
(1920-1975) Bangladeshi nationalist politician, president in 1975. He was arrested several times for campaigning for the autonomy of East Pakistan. He won the elections in 1970 as leader of the Awami League but...

Rahman, Tunku (Prince) Abdul
(1903-1990) Malaysian politician, first prime minister of independent Malaya 1957-63 and of Malaysia 1963-70. Born at Kuala Keda, the son of...

Rahner, Karl
(1904-1984) German Catholic theologian. In his 16-volume Schriften zur Theologie/Theological Investigations 1954-84, he attempted a systematic exploration linking the historical and the transcendent,...

railway
Method of transport in which trains convey passengers and goods along a twin rail track. Following the work of British steam pioneers such as the Scottish engineer James Watt, English engineers,...

Railway Children, The
Novel for children by E Nesbit, published in 1906. Three children move with their mother to a country cottage after their father is suddenly taken away, and the adventures centre on the railway that...

Raimbaut d'Orange
(died 1173) French count of Orange, Provence, and an eminent troubadour. Some 40 of his poems remain (including about 30 love songs). He was an outstanding practitioner of the hermetic style...

Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
(lived late 12th century) French troubadour from Orange, in Provence. See Raimbaut d'Orange. ...

Raimondi, Marcantonio
(1480-1534) Bolognese engraver, active in Rome. He engraved many works by Raphael Sanzio and his pupils, becoming the first and perhaps the most eminent of reproductive engravers. His works were important in...

rainbow coalition
In politics, from the mid-1980s, a loose, left-of-centre alliance of people from several different sections of society that are traditionally politically underrepresented, such as nonwhite...

Rainbow Division
Nickname for the 1st US Infantry Division in World War I, so-called because it had been deliberately assembled from troops from all the 48 states of the union, so that each state would be...

Rainbow Serpent
In Australian Aboriginal belief, a creative spirit common to religions throughout much of the country (see Dreamtime). Sometimes male, sometimes female, it has the form of a giant python surrounded...

Raine, Craig Anthony
(1944) English poet. His first collection, The Onion, Memory (1978), established a characteristic method of attempting to `see` familiar things in new and unusual ways, which he developed in even...

Raine, Kathleen (Jessie)
(1908-2003) English poet. Her poetry made much use of symbolism and allusion to esoteric systems of learning and philosophy, and is marked by quiet precision; it includes Stone and Flower (1943), The Presence...

Rainey, Henry Thomas
(1860-1934) US representative. A Democrat in the US House of Representatives 1903-21, he spent most of his life in Congress, with one break as a farmer after his only election loss. Returning to the House in...

rainmaker
Person believed to control the weather by magic, employed especially to bring rain. Belief in rainmakers is common in Africa, Australia, and among some American Indians in arid...

Rains Retreat
Time of annual retreat in Theravada Buddhism. The term originates from the time of the Buddha preventing bhikkus (Buddhist monks) from travelling during the rainy season of India and Southeast...

Rais, Amien
(1935) Indonesian politician and leader of the 28-million-member Muslim organization Mohammadiyeh. A university lecturer with a doctorate in politics from the University of Chicago, Rais was a leading...

Raisuli, Ahmed ibn-Muhammed
(c. 1867-1925) Moroccan bandit. He gained notoriety c. 1903 for his policy of holding Europeans to ransom. Raisuli made himself master of the Tangier district, and in 1905 was appointed governor of the local...

Raj, the
The period of British rule in India before independence in 1947. ...

Rajput
Member of a Hindu people, predominantly soldiers and landowners, widespread over northern India. The Rajput states of northwestern India are now merged in Rajasthan. The Rana family (ruling...

rak'ah
Prescribed movements and words followed by Muslims during salat (worship). After turning to God in mind (niyyah) and ritual cleansing (...

Rakosi, Matyas
(1892-1971) Hungarian communist. He joined the communists in 1918, was tried and imprisoned in 1925 and was extradited to the Soviet Union in 1940. He returned to Hungary in January 1945 as general-secretary...

Raksha Bandan
Hindu festival in which brothers and sisters show that they care for each other; cousins also count as siblings in Hindu families. It is celebrated July/August. A sister will tie a bracelet, or...

raku
Soft, freely hand-modelled earthenware pottery fired quickly to red-hot temperatures and then taken out of the kiln to cool down and reduce quickly. Partly covered with lead glaze, with its...

Raleigh (or Ralegh), Walter
(c. 1552-1618) English adventurer, writer, and courtier to Queen Elizabeth I. He organized expeditions to colonize North America 1584-87, all unsuccessful, and made exploratory voyages to South America in 1595...

Raleigh, Walter Alexander
(1861-1922) English scholar. He became the first professor of English literature at Oxford University 1904. His books include The English Novel 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson 1895, Style 1897, Milton 1900,...

Ram Das
(1534-1581) Indian religious leader, fourth guru (teacher) of Sikhism 1574-81, who founded the Sikh holy city of Amritsar. Ram Das encouraged Sikhs to gather in the city to set up their trades in the...

Ram Mohun Roy
(1770-1833) Indian religious reformer, founder 1830 of Brahma Samaj, a mystic cult. ...

Rama
Seventh avatar (incarnation)...

Ramadan
In the Muslim calendar, the ninth month of the year. Ramadan follows a lunar year and occurs 11 days earlier each solar year. Throughout Ramadan a strict fast (sawm) is observed during the hours of...

Ramakrishna
(1836-1886) Hindu sage, teacher, and mystic (dedicated to achieving oneness with or a direct experience of God or some force beyond the normal world). Ramakrishna claimed that mystical experience was the...

Ramana Maharishi
(1879-1950) Tamil (southern Indian) sage. Following an early experience in which he believed he was dying, he gained a deep insight into the nature of the self and of...

Ramanuja
(c. 1017-1137) Indian teacher and philosopher of Vaishnavism, the worship of the Hindu god Vishnu. He taught the path of self-surrender to a personal God and laid the foundation for the bhakti movement in...

Ramaphosa, Cyril
(1954) South African politician, secretary general of the African National Congress from 1991. He was a chief negotiator in the constitutional talks with the South African government that led to the first...

Ramayana
Sanskrit Hindu epic of about 300 BC, in which Rama (an incarnation of the god Vishnu), his half-brother Lakshmana, and his friend Hanuman (the monkey chieftain) strive to recover Rama's wife,...

Ramazzini, Bernardino
(1633-1714) Italian physician and philosopher. He was appointed professor of theoretical medicine at Modena University in 1682, moving to Padua as professor of practical medicine in 1700. He wrote about 20...

Ramblers' Association
Society founded in Britain in 1935 to conserve the countryside and ensure that footpaths remain open. ...

Ramée, Louise de la
English novelist who wrote under the name Ouida. ...

Rameses
Alternative spelling of Ramses, name of kings of ancient Egypt. ...

Ramgoolam, Navin Chandra
(1947) Mauritian politician, prime minister 1995-2000 and from 2005. He became leader of the centrist, Hindu-oriented Mauritius Labour Party (MLP) in 1991, becoming its president soon afterwards....

Ramillies, Battle of
During the War of the Spanish Succession, English and Dutch victory under the Duke of Marlborough over the French on 23 May 1706, near Ramillies, 19 km/12 mi north of Namur, Belgium. The French lost...

Ramman
Another form of Rimmon, Assyrian god. ...

Ramos-Horta, José Manuel
(1949) Timorese freedom fighter and politician, president of East Timor from 2007; he was prime minister 2006-2007. 2006-2007. After Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, living in exile, he became...

Ramos, Fidel (Eddie)
(1928) Filipino centre-right politician, president 1992-98. He launched a commission to consult with Muslim secessionist rebel groups on Mindanao, which produced a peace deal with one of the rebel...

Ramphal, Shridath Surendranath
(`Sonny`) (1928) Guyanese politician. He was minister of foreign affairs and justice 1972-75 and secretary general of the Commonwealth 1975-90. ...

Rampton, Calvin Lewellyn
(1913) US state governor. As Democratic governor of Utah 1965-77, he promoted business and tourism, reduced state debt, and enforced the Fair Employment Practice Act. He...

Ramsay, Allan
(1713-1784) Scottish painter. Having studied in Edinburgh and then in Italy, he settled in London, becoming one of the most successful portraitists of his day, his works valued for their charm and elegance. He...

Ramsay, Allan
(1685-1758) Scottish anthologist and poet. He was chiefly responsible for the renaissance of Scottish literature in the 18th century. The Ever Green (1724) was an anthology of mainly edited versions of...

Ramsay, Andrew Michael
(1686-1743) Scottish writer and theologian. His writings are more noteworthy for purity of style than for depth or originality of thought. As a theologian he was v ...

Ramsay, Bertram Home
(1883-1945) British admiral in World War II. He was responsible for organizing Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of about 350,000 British and Allied troops from Dunkirk in the face of the German...

Ramsay, Gordon
(1966) Scottish chef, restaurateur, and television personality. A former footballer with the Scottish champions Glasgow Rangers, he worked at several of London's top restaurants before opening his own...

Ramseur, Stephen Dodson
(1837-1864) US soldier. He joined the Confederate army and fought in the Seven Days' Battles and Malvern Hill. He led a North Carolina brigade at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania,...

Ramsey, Arthur Michael
(1904-1988) English prelate and archbishop of Canterbury (1961-74). Ramsey's period as archbishop is remembered for the ecumenical dialogues he encouraged, most notably the talks on union between the Church...

Ramsey, Ian Thomas
(1915-1972) English theologian. He argued that the essential character of religious language is in its `disclosures`, which allow a deeper level of perception of religious truth. He offered a new slant on...

Ramus, Petrus
(1515-1572) French philosopher and logician. He sought to improve the syllogistic logic of Greek philosopher Ramuz, Charles Ferdinand
(1878-1947) Swiss writer. Among his novels are the semi-autobiographical Vie de Samuel Belet/The Life of Samuel Belet 1913, La Grande Peur dans la montagne/The Great Fear on...

rand
The unit of South Africa's decimal currency from 1961. ...

Rand, Ayn
(1905-1982) Russian-born US novelist. Her novel The Fountainhead 1943, describing an idealistic architect who destroys his project rather than see it altered, displays her persuasive blend of vehement...

Rand, Edward Kennard
(1871-1945) US classicist and medievalist. He was founder and first president of the Medieval Academy of America (1925), founder and first editor of Speculum, and president of the American Philological...

Rand, Sally (Helen Gould Beck)
(1904-1979) US exotic dancer. During the 1930s she worked as a dancer in Chicago and developed her trademark nude dance routine to Chopin and Debussy, which featured the coy use of huge ostrich fans. Playing a...

Randall, James Ryder
(1839-1908) US writer. During the American Civil War he began composing the words for popular songs, among them `Maryland, My Maryland` 1861, which became one of the inspirational songs of the Confederates...

Randall, Samuel Jackson
(1828-1890) US representative. In the US House of Representatives (Democrat, Pennsylvania) 1863-90 he supported high tariffs and fought against Reconstruction measures like the Civil Rights and Force Bills of...