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

Teng Hsiao-ping
Alternative spelling of Deng Xiaoping, Chinese politician. ...

Tennant, Emma (Christina)
(1937) English novelist who has achieved critical success for her works using fantasy and stream of consciousness to explore extreme psychological states, as well as for her more conventional works. Her...

Tennent, Gilbert
(1703-1764) American Protestant evangelist of Irish origin. A fiery, persuasive preacher, he helped foment the religious revival known as the Great Awakening, during which he travelled through the northern...

Tennessee Valley Authority
US government corporation founded in 1933 to develop the Tennessee River basin (an area of some 104,000 sq km/40,000 sq mi) by building hydroelectric power stations, producing and distributing...

Tenney, Tabitha
(1762-1837) American anthologist and writer. She remains known chiefly for her two-volume novel, Female Quixotism: Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon (1801), a...

Tennyson, Alfred
(1809-1892) English poet. He was poet laureate 1850-92. His verse has a majestic, musical quality, and few poets have surpassed his precision and delicacy of language. His works include `The Lady of...

Tenochtitlán
Capital of the Mexican Aztecs. It was founded c. 1325 on an island among the lakes that occupied much of the Valley of Mexico, on the site of modern Mexico City. Its population reached about...

Tenskwatawa
(c. 1768-c. 1837) Shawnee resistance leader. A vision in 1805 led him to believe that Indians must reject the ways of whites and return to their traditions; his prediction of a solar eclipse in 1806 was largely...

Tenth Amendment
See Amendment, Tenth. ...

Tenzing Norgay
(1914-1986) Nepalese mountaineer. In 1953 he was the first, with Edmund Hillary, to reach the summit of Mount Everest. He had previously made 19 Himalayan expeditions as a porter. He subsequently became a...

Teotihuacán
Huge ancient city in central Mexico, founded about 300 BC, about 32 km/20 mi north of modern Mexico City. Known as the `metropolis of the gods`, it reached its zenith in the 5th-6th centuries...

Ter-Petrossian, Levon Akopovich
(1945) Armenian politician and philologist, president 1990-98. He pursued a career as an academic and writer before forming, in November 1989, the Armenian Pan-Nationalist Movement (APM) to campaign...

Terauchi, Count Hisaichi
(1879-1945) Japanese field marshal in World War II; commander of the Southern Army from September 1941 to the end of the war, with headquarters in Saigon. He was not a strategist and frequently persisted in...

Terborch, Gerard
(1617-1681) Dutch painter. His works are small-scale portraits and genre scenes, mainly of soldiers at rest or wealthy families in their homes. He travelled widely in Europe. The Peace of Münster (1648;...

Terbrugghen, Hendrick
(1588-1629) Dutch painter. He visited Rome around 1604 and was one of the first northern artists to be inspired by the works of Caravaggio. He painted genre scenes and religious subjects, one of the finest...

Terence
(c. 190-c. 159 BC) Roman dramatist. Born in Carthage, he was taken as a slave to Rome where he was freed and came under the patronage of the Roman general Scipio Africanus Minor. His surviving six comedies (including...

Teresa, Mother
(1910-1997) Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to working among the sick and poor of Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. She established the Missionaries of Charity, now a multinational organization with 517...

Teresa, St
(1515-1582) Spanish mystic who founded an order of nuns in 1562. She was subject to fainting fits, during which she saw visions. She wrote The Way to Perfection (1583) and an autobiography, Life of the Mother...

Tereus
In Greek mythology, a prince of Phocis who married Procne and then her sister Philomela, having told her Procne was dead. The truth came out and the sisters fled, pursued by Tereus. They appealed to...

Tergeste
Ancient name for the Italian Adriatic port of Trieste. ...

term
In architecture, a pillar in the form of a pedestal supporting the bust of a human or animal figure. Such objects derive from Roman boundary marks sacred to Terminus, the god of boundaries. ...

Terman, Frederick E(mmons)
(1900-1982) US electrical engineer and educator. During World War II he helped develop antiradar devices, including noise transmitters and the aluminium foil `window`, and electronic jammers used during the...

Terman, Lewis (Madison)
(1877-1956) US educational psychologist. A professor at Stanford University (1910-42), he coined the term `IQ`, developed intelligence tests for the army during World War I, and published the widely used...

Terminus
In Roman mythology, the god of land boundaries whose worship was associated with that of Jupiter in his temple on the Roman Capitol. His cult was reputedly introduced by Numa Pomplius, legendary...

terms of trade
In international trade, the ratio of export prices to import prices. An improvement in the terms of trade (there is an increase in the value of the ratio) should mean that the country is better off,...

Terpsichore
In Greek mythology, the Muse of dance and choral song, depicted in art with a lyre and plectrum. ...

Terra, Gabriel
(1873-1942) Uruguayan politician and president 1931-38. His administration during a period of severe economic decline spurred him to lead a coup in 1933 (supported by Blanco leader, Luis Alberto de Herrera),...

terracotta
Brownish-red baked clay, usually unglazed, used in building, sculpture, and pottery. The term is specifically applied to small figures or figurines, such as those found at Tanagra in central...

Terragni, Giuseppe
(1904-1942) Italian architect. He was largely responsible for introducing the Modern Movement to Italy. As a leading member of Gruppo 7, he advocated a return to the principles of rationalism, inciting...

terramara
Prehistoric flat-topped mound of a type found in the valley of the River Po, Italy, left by a Bronze Age pile-dwelling built on dry land. Settlements of these structures have taken the name of a...

Terrell, Mary Church
(1863-1954) US civil rights activist. She founded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) in 1896; as NACW president, she spearheaded attempts to aid mothers and children. After decades of quiet...

Territorial Army
British force of volunteer soldiers, created from volunteer regiments (incorporated in 1872) as the Territorial Force in 1908. It was raised and administered by county associations, and intended...

territorial waters
Area of sea over which the adjoining coastal state claims territorial rights. This is most commonly a distance of 22.2 km/12 nautical mi from the coast, but, increasingly, states claim fishing and...

Terror, Reign of
Phase of the French Revolution when the Jacobins were in power (October 1793 to July 1794) under Robespierre and began systematically to murder their political opponents. The Terror was at its...

terrorism
Systematic violence in the furtherance of political aims, often by small guerrilla groups. Types of terrorism Terrorist groups include those dedicated to a political programme for their country,...

terrorism, Irish
The use of systematic violence in the conflict over British government in Ireland has occurred on a sporadic basis for centuries. Irish nationalism seeks separation and home rule while Protestant...

Terry
Family of English actors in the 19th century. Benjamin Terry (1818-1896) and Sarah (Ballard) Terry (1817-1892) appeared in London with the actors William Macready and Charles Kean. Their eldest...

Terry, (Alice) Ellen
(1847-1928) English actor. She was leading lady to Henry Irving from 1878. She excelled in Shakespearean roles, such as Ophelia in Hamlet. She was a correspondent of longstanding with the dramatist George...

Terry, (John) Quinlan
(1937) English postmodernist architect. He works in a neoclassical idiom. His traditionalist projects include country houses, for example Merks Hall, Great Dunmow, Essex (1982); the larger-scale...

Terry, Alfred Howe
(1827-1890) US military leader. He served with distinction in the American Civil War 1861-65. After the war he commanded the Department of Dakota and also served in the Department of the South 1869-72. He...

Terry, David Smith
(1823-1889) US judge. He was elected associate justice (1855) and chief justice (1857) of the California Supreme Court. Often rash and violent, he killed Senator David Broderick in a duel but was acquitted of...

Terry, Eli
(1772-1852) US inventor and clock manufacturer. Terry patented ten improvements in clockworks and introduced several popular innovations in clock design. After an apprenticeship (1786-92), he made his first...

Terry, Sonny
(1911-1986) US blues singer and harmonica player. In 1938 he performed at the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, displaying a unique virtuosity that involved bending and modulating notes. From...

tertiary
In the Roman Catholic Church, a member of a `third order` (see under holy orders); a lay person who, while marrying and following a normal employment, attempts to live in accordance with a...

Terzaghi, Karl
(1868-1963) US engineer of Czech origin. His entire career was devoted to establishing the modern discipline of soil mechanics - the behaviour of soil under stress - and foundation engineering, thereby...

Teso
Member of the second-largest ethnic group in Uganda. They are settled in the low country north of Lake Kioga, where they grow cotton. ...

Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Novel (1891) by Thomas Hardy. The story tells of the destruction of Tess Durbeyfield, `a pure woman`, by the fecklessness of her once-powerful family, a villain's sexual predatoriness, and the...

TESSA
UK scheme, introduced in 1991, to encourage longer-term savings by making interest tax-free on deposits of up to £9,000 over five years. ...

Test Act
Act of Parliament passed in England in 1673, more than 100 years after similar legislation in Scotland, requiring holders of public office to renounce the doctrine of transubstantiation and take the...

Test Ban Treaty
Agreement signed by the USA, the USSR, and the UK on 5 August 1963 contracting to test nuclear weapons only underground. All nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under...

Tet Offensive
In the Vietnam War, a prolonged attack mounted by the Vietcong against Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and other South Vietnamese cities and hamlets (including the US Marine base at Khe Sanh), which...

Tethys
In Greek mythology, one of the Titans; a daughter of Uranus and Gaia; and the wife of the sea god Oceanus, by whom she was the mother of over three thousand children: the...

Tetricus, Gaius Esuvius
Ruler of Gaul during its separation from the Roman Empire Last of the pretenders who ruled Gaul during its separation from the Roman Empire. He reigned from AD 270 to 274, when he was defeated by...

Teutates
In Celtic mythology, god of the tribe, often associated with Mars, the Roman god of war. ...

Teutonic Knight
Member of a German Christian military order, the Knights of the Teutonic Order, founded in 1190 by Hermann of Salza in Palestine. They crusaded against the pagan Prussians...

Teutonic mythology
Body of traditional stories and beliefs held by the ancient peoples of Scandinavia and west Germany. The gods of its pantheon were divided into two groups: the Aesir, principal warrior gods headed...

Tewkesbury, Battle of
In English history, battle 4 May 1471 at which Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian forces of Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI. Henry's only son, Prince Edward (1453-1471), was killed, as were many...

Texas Revolution
Conflict 1835-36 between US colonists and Mexican troops in Texas, then part of Mexico. The conflict, which included the famous siege of the Alamo in 1836, resulted in a US victory, led by Sam...

Texas v. White
US Supreme Court decision of 1869 that dealt with the legal status of Confederate and Reconstruction governments. The provisional Reconstruction government of Texas sued for the return of property...

Texas, annexation of
In US history, the adoption of Texas, an independent republic since 1836, as a state in the Union in 1845. The US annexation of Texas was one of the causes of the Mexican War. Although Texans had...

Texel, Battle of
In the Anglo-Dutch Wars, decisive English victory over the Dutch fleet 31 July 1653 in the North Sea off Texel, the most westerly of the Frisian Isl ...

textile
Fabric produced by weaving, knitting, or bonding. Natural textiles These are made from natural fibres and include cotton, linen, silk, and wool (including angora, llama, and many others). For...

textiles industry
Technological advances in the manufacture of textiles and the industry's contribution to the Industrial Revolution are discussed in Industrial Revolution, textiles industry. ...

textual criticism
The attempt, through scholarship, to establish the most accurate and authentic version of a literary text when several different versions exist. ...

texture
In art, the surface quality or appearance of a work; how the surface feels or how a work looks like it would feel. Texture, one of the formal art elements, can be experienced by the senses of sight...

Tey, Josephine
Pseudonym of Scottish novelist and dramatist Elizabeth Mackintosh. ...

Tezcatlipoca
In Aztec religion, a warrior god of disorder and of the north. Prisoners of war had their hearts torn from their bodies in sacrifices to the god. He was associated with the jaguar. ...

Thacher, John Boyd
(1847-1909) US book collector, public official, and writer. Associated with his family's manufacturing firm for most of his life, he was also a state senator and mayor of Albany and, as a hobby, collected...

Thackeray, William Makepeace
(1811-1863) English novelist and essayist. He was a regular contributor to Fraser's Magazine and Punch. His first novel was Vanity Fair (1847-48), significant for the breadth of its canvas as well as for the...

Thai
The majority ethnic group living in Thailand and northern Myanmar (Burma). Thai peoples also live in southwestern China, Laos, and North Vietnam. They speak Tai languages, all of which belong to the...

Thailand
Country in southeast Asia on the Gulf of Siam, bounded east by Laos and Cambodia, south by Malaysia, and west by Myanmar (Burma). Government Thailand has a multiparty democratic system, with a...

Thaïs
(lived 4th century BC) Greek courtesan, mistress of Alexander the Great and later wife of Ptolemy I, king of Egypt. She allegedly instigated the burning of Persepolis. ...

Thales
(c. 624-c. 547 BC) Greek philosopher and scientist. He made advances in geometry, predicted an eclipse of the Sun in 585 BC, and, as a philosophical materialist, theorized that water was the first principle of all...

Thalia
In Greek mythology, the Muse of comedy and pastoral or idyllic poetry. In art she is shown with a comic mask, shepherd's staff, or ivy wreath. She is also one of the three...

thalidomide
Hypnotic drug developed in the 1950s for use as a sedative. When taken in early pregnancy, it caused malformation of the fetus (such as abnormalities in the limbs) in over 5,000 recognized cases,...

Thalmann, Ernst
(1886-1944) German Communist politician and associate of Stalin. He was a member of the Reichstag, 1924-33, leader of the German Communist party, and stood as Communist candidate for the presidency in 1932. A...

Than Shwe
(1933) Myanmar (Burmese) soldier, chair of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), prime minister and minister of defence 1992-â€Æ`. He was one of a group of generals that seized power in 1988 and...

thane
Anglo-Saxon hereditary nobleman rewarded by the granting of land for service to the monarch or a lord. ...

Thani, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-
(1932) Qatar political leader, emir (ruler) 1972-95. He utilized the small state's burgeoning oil revenues to modernize the bureaucratic structure, diversify the economy, and develop education and the...

thanka
Elaborate Buddhist wall hanging depicting the lives of the many bodhisattvas, who put off their final liberation to help other beings, and to whom believers may pray for help. Thankas are used in...

Thanksgiving
National holiday in the USA (fourth Thursday in November) and Canada (second Monday in October), first celebrated by the Pilgrim settlers in Massachusetts after their first harvest in 1621. In the...

Thant, U
(1909-1974) Burmese diplomat, secretary general of the United Nations 1962-71. He helped to resolve the US-Soviet crisis over the Soviet installation of missiles in Cuba, and he made the controversial...

Thásos
Island of Greece in the north of the Aegean Sea, 10 km/6 mi from the mouth of the River Nestos, the boundary between Thrace and Macedonia; area 378 sq km/150 sq mi. It is part of the department of...

Thatcher, Margaret Hilda
(1925) British Conservative politician, prime minister 1979-90. She was education minister 1970-74 and Conservative Party leader 1975-90. In 1982 she sent British troops to recapture the Falkland...

Thatcherism
Political outlook comprising a belief in the efficacy of market forces, the need for strong central government, and a conviction that self-help is preferable to reliance on the state, combined...

thatching
Method of roofing using reeds or straw, fixed to the roof timbers with hazel pegs and metal hooks. Heather and gorse may also be used. Thatch was the main roofing material in rural areas until the...

Thaw, John
(1942-2002) English actor of stage and screen. He became famous as a police detective in the 1970s television programme The Sweeney, which was made into two feature films (1977 and 1978), for which Thaw was...

Thayer, Ernest Lawrence
(1863-1940) US humorous poet. After graduating with honours in 1885, he went to Paris, where his friend, William Randolph Hearst, invited him to contribute a humour column to the San Francisco Examiner; Thayer...

Thayer, James Bradley
(1831-1902) US jurist. He was a professor of law at Harvard (1874-1902) and was one of those who introduced the case system to the law school. He wrote Cases on Constitutional Law (1895), A Preliminary...

Thayer, Nathaniel
(1808-1883) US financier and philanthropist. He joined his brother in banking at John E. Thayer & Brother in 1840. He became the principal director in 1857, and through railroad financing, became one of the...

Thayer, Sylvanus
(1785-1872) US engineer and educator. Appointed superintendent of West Point (1817-33), he totally transformed it into a first-rate institution - thereby becoming known as `the father of West...

theatre
Place or building in which dramatic performances for an audience take place; these include drama, dancing, music, mime, opera, ballet, and puppet performances. Theatre history can be traced to...

Théâtre de Complicité
English touring company, founded in 1983. It originally specialized in small-scale theatre using mime techniques, but has expanded into larger-scale productions of classic texts and pieces...

Theatre Museum
Museum housing memorabilia from the worlds of the theatre, opera, ballet, dance, circus, puppetry, pop, and rock and roll. A branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, it opened in Covent Garden,...

theatre-in-the-round
Theatrical performance that has the audience watching from all sides. In a reaction to the picture-frame stage of the 19th century, a movement began in the mid-20th century to design theatres...

theatre, alternative
Theatre which, since the 1960s, has functioned outside the commercial mainstream, usually in an experimental style and in untraditional venues. In New York this is synonymous with...

Theban legend
In Greek mythology, the legendary history of ancient Thebes, including its founding by the Phoenician prince Thebes
Greek name of an ancient city (Niut-Amen) in Upper Egypt, on the Nile. Probably founded under the first dynasty, it was the centre of the worship of Amen, and the Egyptian capital under the New...

Thebes
Capital of Boeotia in ancient Greece. In the Peloponnesian War it was allied with Sparta against Athens. For a short time after 371 BC when Thebes defeated Sparta at Leuctra, it was the most...

Thecla
Greek saint The Acts of Paul and Thecla, which was written in the 2nd century and is often untrustworthy, describes her as a member of a noble family in Iconium, Lycaonia, who was converted by the...