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

Eastman, Max Forrester
(1883-1969) US journalist and writer. The editor of two prominent left-wing publications, The Masses (1913-17) and The Liberator (1918-22), he later became a critic of Marxism in his writings, lectures,...

Eastman, P(hilip) D(ey)
(1909-1986) US author, illustrator, and film producer. He created the Gerald McBoing Boing series for United Productions (UPA) and wrote children's books, notably Are You My Mother? (1960), and collaborated...

Eaton, Theophilus
(c. 1590-1658) English-born American colonial governor. As governor of New Haven, he was active in procuring the charter for Massachusetts 1629. His administration was, however, embittered by disputes between...

Ebadi, Shirin
(1947) Iranian lawyer and rights activist. Her outspoken campaigns for democracy and greater rights for Iranian women, children, and refugees have often brought her into conflict with ruling conservative...

Eban, Abba
(1915-2002) South African-born Israeli diplomat and politician. He was Israeli ambassador to the United Nations (UN) 1948-59 and, simultaneously, Israel's ambassador in Washington 1950-59. Returning to...

Eben Emael
In World War II, daring assault 10 May 1940 by German glider troops to capture a Belgian fort. Eben Emael was strategically placed at the junction of the Albert Canal and Maas River, north of...

Eberhart, Richard Ghormley
(1904-2005) US poet and teacher. He taught at Dartmouth and was a consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress. His poems are distinguished by his direct yet occasionally unexpected responses to the basic...

Eberle, Mary
(1878-1942) US sculptor. She specialized in small bronzes depicting the people of New York's lower east side, such as Windy Doorstep (1910). Her most provoc ...

Ebert, Friedrich
(1871-1925) German socialist politician. He was the first president of the German Republic, from February 1919 until his death. He became socialist leader of the Reichstag in 1916 and succeeded Prince Max of...

Ebola virus disease
Severe haemorrhagic fever similar to Marburg disease. Caused by a filovirus, it spreads through contact with bodily fluids and has an incubation period of about 21 days. It is fatal in up to 90% of...

Eboracum
Roman name for the English city of York. The archbishop of York signs himself `Ebor`. ...

Ebro, Battle of
Principal battle of the Spanish Civil War 24 July-18 November 1938, in the vicinity of Gandesa, about 40 km/25 mi south of Lleida. By the time the battle ended 18 November, the Republicans had...

EC
Former name (to 1993) of the European Union. ...

Ecbatana (or Agbatana)
In the New Testament, the field bought by Judas (Acts 1:19), or by the chief priests, `to bury strangers in` (Matthew 27:7). It is also called the `potter's field` (Matthew 27:7, 10). By...

Eccles, Marriner Stoddard
(1890-1977) US businessman and government official. He used family money to build up a real estate and banking empire. He became governor, then chairman, of the Federal Reserve Board, centralizing federal...

ecclesia
Citizens' assembly in ancient Greece. In Athens it was attended by any male over the age of 18, both of whose parents were Athenian citizens. It met 40 times a year on the hill known as the Pnyx,...

Ecclesiastes
Also known as `The Preacher`, a book of the Old Testament, traditionally attributed to Solomon, on the theme of the vanity of human life. ...

ecclesiastical law
Church law. In England, the Church of England has special ecclesiastical courts to administer church law. Each diocese has a consistory court with a right of appeal to the Court of Arches (in the...

Ecevit, (Mustafa) Bülent
(1925-2006) Turkish social democrat politician and prime minister (1974, 1977, 1978-79, and 1999-2002). During his first term of office, he was responsible for ordering the military invasion of Cyprus....

Echandi Jiménez, Mario
(1915) Costa Rican politician, president 1958-62. He won the 1958 presidential election as candidate of the conservative National Union, and pursued a cautious programme, encouraging trade and industry,...

Echegaray, José
(1832-1916) Spanish dramatist. His social dramas include O locura o santidad/Madman or Saint (1877), and El gran Galeoto/The World and his Wife (1881). He shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1904 with...

Echeverría Alvarez, Luis
(1922) Mexican politician, president 1970-76. He espoused reforms such as land redistribution and the expansion of social security, but his administration was troubled by runaway inflation, high...

Echmiadzin
Ancient town and former capital of Armenia, 15 km/9 mi west of the present capital Yerevan; population (2001 est) 46,200. As the centre of the Echo
In Greek mythology, a mountain nymph personifying disembodied sound. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Hera deprived Echo of her speech, except for the repetition of another's last words, after her...

Eck (or Egg), Johann
(1486-1543) German Catholic theologian and polemicist. He was an early and determined critic of Martin Luther, engaging in public disputations with Luther and other reformers. His attacks, including the claim...

Eckbo, Garrett
(1910-2000) US landscape architect. Influenced by Walter Gropius, he specialized in clean, clear spaces for public use, designing university campuses and gardens...

Eckhardt, Edris
(1907) US glass maker. Originally a ceramist, in 1953, she turned to glass, rediscovering ancient glass processes and experimenting with lamination techniques. Her stained glass work won...

Eckhart, Johannes
(c. 1260-c. 1327) German theologian and leader of a popular mystical movement. In 1326 he was accused of heresy, and in 1329 a number of his doctrines were condemned by...

Eckmühl, Battle of
In the Napoleonic Wars, French victory 22 April 1809 over 76,000 Austrians under the Archduke Charles, at Eckmühl, near Ratisbon (now Regensburg), Bavaria. Napoleon granted Marshal Louis Davout the...

ECM
Abbreviation for electronic countermeasures, military jargon for disrupting telecommunications. ...

ecofact
In archaeology, any natural object or remains of something not made by people that has a cultural relevance; for example, faunal, floral, or sedimentary material. ...

Ecole Romane
Group of French poets formed 1891. The principal members were Jean Moréas, Charles Maurras, Ernest Reynaud, Maurice du Plessys, and Raymond de la Tailhède. The school represented a reaction...

ecological art
Form of art concerned with natural, organic processes such as decomposition. It first appeared in the 1960s. As ecological works reveal natural processes,...

econometrics
Application of mathematical and statistical analysis to the study of economic relationships, including testing economic theories and making quantitative predictions. ...

economic activity
The production and distribution of goods and services to satisfy the wants and needs of consumers and other businesses. The many different activities that lead to the production of these goods and...

Economic and Monetary Union
Development of a unitary economy across the member states of European Union (EU) with a single currency, single market, and harmonized interest and taxation rates. In June 1989, the European Council...

economic community
Organization of autonomous countries formed to promote trade. Examples include the European Union, which was formed as the European Community in 1957, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 1973, Latin...

Economic Cooperation Organization
Islamic regional grouping formed in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey to reduce customs tariffs and promote commerce, with the aim of eventual customs union. In 1992 the newly independent republics...

economic growth
Rate of growth of output of all goods and services in an economy, usually measured as the percentage increase in gross domestic product or gross national product from one year to the next. It is...

economic indicator
Statistical measure of a country's or region's well-being. The most common are gross domestic product and gross national product. The genuine progress indicator developed 1992 in the USA is a...

economic problem
The problem that is faced because wants are infinite but resources are scarce. Therefore resources have to be allocated between competing uses. Economics is the study of how the...

economic rent
Payment to a factor of production over and above its transfer earnings, in other words, what it could earn in its next best use. For example, if a footballer is paid £50,000 a year but could...

economics
Social science devoted to studying the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. It consists of the disciplines of microeconomics (the study of individual producers, consumers, or...

economy of scale
In economics, where the average cost of production, and therefore the unit cost, decreases as output increases. The high capital costs of machinery or a factory are spread across a greater number of...

ecotourism
Growing trend in tourism to visit sites that are of ecological interest, for example the Galapagos Islands, or Costa Rica. Ecotourism can bring about employment and income for local people,...

ECOWAS
Acronym for Economic Community of West African States. ...

ECSC
Abbreviation for European Coal and Steel Community. ...

ecstasy
A state of exaltation where the self is transcended. It covers a range of phenomena from mysticism to spirit possession and shamanism. In Hinduism the achievement of ecstasy, bhava, is a sign of...

ectoplasm
In spiritualism, a normally invisible part of the physical body that is capable of assuming vaporous, liquid, or solid states. It is said to have an opaque white appearance, and to be extruded from...

ECTU
Abbreviation for European Confederation of Trade Unions. ...

ECU
A unit of account the value of which depended on the underlying value of the constituent currencies of participating European Union states. The ECU, which converted into the euro on 1 January 1999,...

Ecuador
Country in South America, bounded north by Colombia, east and south by Peru, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Government Ecuador has a multiparty limited presidential political system. As amended in...

ecumenical council
Meeting of church leaders worldwide to determine Christian doctrine; their results are binding on all church members. Seven such councils are accepted as ecumenical by both Eastern and Western...

ecumenical movement
Movement for reunification of the various branches, or denominations, of the Christian church. It began in the 19th century with the extension of missionary work to Africa and Asia, where the...

ecumenical patriarch
Head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the patriarch of Istanbul (Constantinople). The bishop of Constantinople was recognized as having equal rights with the bishop of Rome in 451, and first termed...

Edda
Two collections of early Icelandic literature that together constitute our chief source for Old Norse mythology. The term strictly applies to the Younger or Prose Edd ...

Eddington, Paul
(1927-1995) English actor. He joined the Bristol Old Vic Company in 1962 and played many roles there and in the West End before he starred in the BBC television situation comedy The Good Life (1975-78)....

Eddison, Eric Rucker
(1882-1945) British author of heroic fantasies, notably The Worm Ouroboros (1922). ...

Ede, James Chuter
(1882-1965) British Labour politician. He was home secretary in the Labour government 1945-51 and introduced the Criminal Justice Act of 1948. In 1951 he became leader of the House of Commons until Labour's...

Edel, (Joseph) Leon
(1907-1997) US biographer. He taught at New York University (1953-73), devoting his scholarly career to Henry James. He wrote a five-volume biography of James 1953-85, which won him a Pulitzer Prize. He...

Edelstein, David Norton
(1910-2000) US judge. He was appointed a US district judge for the Southern District of New York in 1951 and was chief judge 1971-80. He issued important rulings on antitrust cases and was active in...

Eden, (Robert) Anthony
(1897-1977) British Conservative politician, foreign secretary 1935-38, 1940-45, and 1951-55; prime minister 1955-57, when he resigned after the failure of...

Eden, Garden of
In the Old Testament book of Genesis and in the Koran, the `garden` in which Adam and Eve lived after their creation, and from which they were expelled for disobedience. Its location has often...

Edessa
Ancient city between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. It was founded as a military settlement by Seleucus I, one of Alexander the Great's generals. In the 2nd century BC the city broke away from...

Edfu
Town in Upper Egypt, situated on the west bank of the Nile about 778 km/484 mi southeast of Cairo. In ancient times it was known as Apollinopolis Magna, which is noted for its remarkable sandstone...

Edgar the Peaceful
(944-975) King of all England from 959. He was the younger son of Edmund I, and strove successfully to unite English and Danes as fellow subjects. ...

Edgar, David
(1940) English dramatist. After early work as a journalist, Edgar turned to documentary and political theatre. Destiny, about the extreme right wing...

Edge, Walter Evans
(1873-1956) US governor, senator, and ambassador. A self-made advertising millionaire, he served in the New Jersey senate as a Republican. As New Jersey's governor, he reformed prison administration and, in...

Edgehill, Battle of
First battle of the English Civil War. It took place in 1642, on a ridge in south Warwickshire, between Royalists under Charles I and Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex....

Edgerton, Sidney
(1818-1900) US representative and governor. As a Republican member of the US House of Representatives for Ohio, he advocated abolition of slavery and the establishment of a transcontinental railway. He was...

Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro
(1845-1926) English mathematical economist. He was an exponent of neoclassical economics and a believer in utilitarianism. Edgeworth's chief work is Mathematical Psychics, 1881. He was editor of the Economic...

Edgeworth, Henry Essex
(1745-1807) Irish priest who became confessor and chaplain to the French Bourbon dynasty during the French Revolution. He was present at the execution of Louis XVI in 1793. Born in Edgeworthstown (now Mostrim),...

Edgeworth, Maria
(1767-1849) Irish novelist. Her first novel, Castle Rackrent (1800), dealt with Anglo-Irish country society and was the first regional novel in English. Other novels about Irel ...

Edinburgh, Duke of
Title of Prince Philip of the UK. ...

Edington, Battle of
Battle May 878 at which Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, defeated the Danish forces of Guthrum. The site is at Edington, 6km/4 mi east of Westbury, Wiltshire; the chalk white horse on the downs...

Edison, Charles
(1890-1969) US cabinet member and governor. The son of Thomas Alva Edison, he joined Edison Illuminating Company in 1914 and improved working conditions there. A Democrat, he co-chaired the New Jersey State...

Edmondson, William
(c. 1882-1951) US sculptor. The son of former slaves, he picked cotton, worked at railroad shops and as a janitor, before he started limestone sculpting. Noted for his modern-primitive art, he specialized in...

Edmund (II) Ironside
(c. 981-1016) King of England in 1016, the son of Ethelred II `the Unready` (c. 968-1016). He led the resistance to Canute's invasion in 1015, and on Ethelred's death in 1016 was chosen king by the citizens...

Edmund I
(921-946) King of England from 939. The son of Edward the Elder, he succeeded his half-brother, Athelstan, as king in 939. He succeeded in regaining control of Mercia, which on his accession had fallen to...

Edmund of Abingdon, St
(1180-1240) English ecclesiastical scholar, archbishop of Canterbury 1233-40. Edmund became involved in a dispute with King Henry III, and was driven into exile, where he died. He...

Edmund, St
(c. 840-870) King of East Anglia from 855. In 870 he was defeated and captured by the Danes at Hoxne, Suffolk, and martyred on refusing to renounce Christianity. He was canonized and his shrine at Bury St...

Edo
Former name of Tokyo, Japan, until 1868. ...

Edo, Treaty of
1858 agreement between Japan and the USA, granting trade and diplomatic privileges to the latter. Similar treaties were signed that year with the UK, Russia, the Netherlands, and France. Because the...

Edom
In the Old Testament, a mountainous area of southern Palestine, which stretched from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Its people were enemies of the Israelites. ...

Edred
(died 955) Anglo-Saxon King of the English from 946, the youngest son of Edward the Elder. His reign was largely spent battling for Northumbria, which had sworn allegiance to him in 947 but had transferred...

Edric the Forester
(lived mid-11th century) English chieftain on the Welsh border who revolted against William the Conqueror 1067, around what is today Herefordshire, burning Shrewsbury. He was subsequently reconciled...

Edson, J(ohn) T(homas)
(1928) English writer of Western novels. His books, numbering 136 by 1999 and with 27 million copies sold, have such titles as The Fastest Gun in Texas and feature a recurring hero, Rapido Clint. ...

Edson, Merritt A
(1897-1955) US marine officer. Commissioned as a marine, he served in France towards the end of World War I. He led the 1st Raider Battalion and, later, the 5th Marines, during some of...

education
Process, beginning at birth, of developing intellectual capacity, skills, and social awareness, especially by instruction. In its more restricted sense, the term refers to the process of imparting...

education acts
In Britain, series of measures from the late 19th century onwards which provided for state education for all. The 1870 Education Act was the effective start of state-financed education in Engl ...

Edward
(1330-1376) Prince of Wales, eldest son of Edward III of England. The epithet (probably posthumous) may refer to his black armour. During the Hundred Years' War he fought at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 and...

Edward I
(1239-1307) King of England from 1272, son of Henry III (1207-1272). He led the royal forces against Simon de Montfort (the Younger) in the ...

Edward II
(1284-1327) King of England from 1307, son of Edward I. Born at Caernarfon Castle, he was created the first Prince of Wales in 1301. Edward was incompetent, with a weak personality, and was over-influenced by...

Edward III
(1312-1377) King of England from 1327, son of Edward II. He assumed the government in 1330 from his mother, through whom in 1337 he laid claim to the French throne and thus began the Hundred Years' War. Edward...

Edward IV
(1442-1483) King of England 1461-70 and from 1471. He was the son of Richard, Duke of York, and succeeded Henry VI in the Wars of the Roses, temporarily losing...

Edward the Confessor
(c. 1003-1066) King of England from 1042, the son of Ethelred II. He lived in Normandy until shortly before his accession. During his reign power was held by Earl Godwin and his son Harold, while the king devoted...

Edward the Elder
(c. 870-924) King of the West Saxons. He succeeded his father Alfred the Great in 899. He reconquered southeast England and the Midlands from the Danes, uniting Wessex and Mercia with the help of his sister...

Edward the Martyr
(c. 963-978) King of England from 975. Son of King Edgar, he was murdered at Corfe Castle, Dorset, probably at his stepmother Aelfthryth's instigation (she wished to secure the crown for her son, Ethelred). He...

Edward V
(1470-1483) King of England in 1483. Son of Edward IV, he was deposed three months after his accession in favour of his uncle (Richard III), and is traditionally believed to have been murdered (with his...

Edward VI
(1537-1553) King of England from 1547, only son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. The government was entrusted to his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (who fell from power in 1549), and...