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

Estes, Richard
(1936) US painter. He became a member of the super realists, who focused on industrial landscapes and a photographic approach to art. Eerie street scenes, such as those depicted in Victory Theatre (1968)...

Esther
In the Old Testament, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), who prevented the extermination of her people by the king's vizier Haman. Their deliverance is celebrated in the Jewish...

Estienne Press
French publishing house in Paris (1502-1674). The leading French publishers of the 16th century, they were noted for their scholarly editions of Greek and Roman classics. A family business, it was...

Estienne, Charles
(1504-1564) French scholar and publisher, a leading figure in the family firm, the Estienne Press. He was a man of extensive learning, compiler of the popular Praedium rusticum in 1554 (a collection of...

Estimé, Dumarsais
(1900-1953) Haitian populist politician, president 1946-50. Elected as president by the National Assembly after a military coup removed the dictatorial Élie Lescot, he implemented a populist-nationalist...

Estius
(1542-1613) Dutch Roman Catholic scholar and polemicist. His history of the martyrs of Gorcum (killed by Protestants) appeared in 1603. He was the author of commentaries on the works of Peter Lombard and the...

Estonia
Country in northern Europe, bounded east by Russia, south by Latvia, and north and west by the Baltic Sea. Government Estonia is a multiparty parliamentary democracy with a dual executive,...

Estonian
The largest ethnic group in Estonia. There are 1 million speakers of the Estonian language, a member of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic family. Most live in Estonia. Distinctive costumes are...

Estonian literature
A rich oral tradition of folk poetry from the 14th to the 17th century gave rise to a strongly poetic written literature in the 19th century. Estonian legend supplied F R Kreutzwald (1803-1882)...

estoppel
In law, a conclusive admission that cannot be denied. For the rule of estoppel to operate in law, a denial of the truth of the statement or facts relating to it must have been made, and the person...

Estrada Cabrera, Manuel
(1857-1923) Guatelaman politician, liberal dictator-president 1898-1920. Immediately after taking over as president, he changed the constitution to end the restriction to single presidential terms, and was...

Estrada Palma, Tomás
(1835-1908) Cuban revolutionary, the country's first president 1902-06. During the 1890s, as head of the Cuban revolutionary junta in New York, he secured US financial and military support for the...

Estrada, Joseph Ejercito
(1937) Filipino right-of-centre populist politician, president 1998-2001. Despite opposition to his candidacy from the Roman Catholic Church and the business and political elite, Estrada, enjoying a...

Estrées, Gabrielle d'
(1573-1599) Mistress of Henry IV of France. She was the daughter of the Marquis Antoine d'Estrees. She married Nicolas d'Amerval, Seigneur de Liancourt, but she divorced him on account of her infatuation with...

ETA
Abbreviation for Euskadi ta Askatasuna. ...

etching
Printmaking technique in which a metal plate (usually copper or zinc) is covered with a waxy overlayer (ground) and then drawn on with an etching needle. The exposed areas are then `etched`, or...

Eteocles
In Greek mythology, son of the incestuous union of Oedipus and Jocasta and brother of Polynices. He denied his brother a share in the kingship of Thebes, thus provoking the expedition of the ethanoate
Negative ion derived from ethanoic (acetic) acid; any salt containing this ion. In photography, acetate film is a non-flammable film made of cellulose ethanoate. In textiles, it is known as...

Ethelbald
(died 860) British king of Wessex. In 856 his father, Ethelwulf, agreed to a division of his kingdom, Ethelbald taking Wessex, while Ethelwulf retained Kent and the southeast. He married Judith, his father's...

Ethelbald
(c. 716-757) British king of Mercia. He succeeded to a weakened kingdom, but the death of Wihtred of Kent in 725 and the abdication of Ine of Sussex in 726 left him supreme in southern England. In 731 Bede...

Ethelbert
(died 866) British king of Wessex. He was the third son of Ethelwulf and succeeded his father in Kent in 858; on the death of Ethelbald he took control of the whole realm in 860. ...

Ethelbert
(c. 552-616) King of Kent 560-616. He was defeated by the West Saxons in 568 but later became ruler of England south of the River Humber. Ethelbert received the Christian missionary Augustine in 597 and later...

Ethelfleda
(died 918) English princess, daughter of King Alfred. She was successful in helping her brother Edward to subdue the Danes, and on the death of her husband Ethelred, a high-ranking noble of Mercia 911, she...

Ethelfrid (or Ethefrith)
(died 617) British king of Northumbria. He was the son of Ethelric and was responsible for establishing Northumbria as a power in the British Isles. Having succeeded in 593, he gained a great victory over the...

Ethelred I
Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex 865-71, son of Ethelwulf and elder brother of Alfred the Great. Together with his brother Alfred he resisted a large-scale invasion of East Anglia in 865 by the...

Ethelwold, St
(c. 908-984) English Benedictine monk and bishop. In 955 he was elected abbot of Abingdon, and in 963 Bishop of Winchester. Together with St Dunstan and St Oswald of York, Ethelwold led a monastic revival,...

Ethelwulf
(died 858) British king of Wessex and Kent. He was the son of Egbert the Great and succeeded to the throne in 839. His reign was occupied with fending off constant raids by the Danes. In 851 Ethelwulf won a...

Ethelwulf
Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex 839-56 and father of Alfred the Great and Ethelred I. Before succeeding his father, Egbert, to the throne of Wessex, Ethelwulf had been sub-king of Kent, Surrey,...

ether
Any of a series of organic chemical compounds having an oxygen atom linking the carbon atoms of two hydrocarbon radical groups (general formula R-O-R′); also the common...

Etherege, George
(c. 1635-1691) English Restoration dramatist. His play Love in a Tub (1664) was the first attempt at the comedy of manners (a genre further developed by Congreve and Sheridan). Later plays include She Would If She...

Ethical Culture Movement
Movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries designed to further the moral or ethical factor as the real substance and fundamental part of religion. It originated in the New York Society...

ethical tourism
Approach to tourism which seeks to ensure that the local population benefits from tourist development and activities. Although there has been a rapid increase in the number of tourists visiting...

ethics
Branch of philosophy concerned with the systematic study of human values. It involves the study of theories of conduct and goodness, and of the meanings of moral terms. In ancient India and China,...

Ethiopia
Country in East Africa, bounded north by Eritrea, northeast by Djibouti, east and southeast by Somalia, south by Kenya, and west and northwest by Sudan. It was known as...

ethnic cleansing
The forced expulsion of one ethnic group by another to create a homogenous population, for example, of more than 2 million Muslims by Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992-95. The term has also been...

ethnoarchaeology
The study of human behaviour and the material culture of living societies, in order to see how materials enter the archaeological record, and thus to provide hypotheses explaining the production,...

ethnobotany
Study of the relationship between human beings and plants. It combines knowledge of botany, chemistry, and anthropology. Many pharmaceutical companies, universities, and government health agencies...

ethnocentrism
Viewing other peoples and cultures from the standard of one's own cultural assumptions, customs, and values. In anthropology, ethnocentrism is avoided in preference for a position of relativism. ...

ethnography
Study of living cultures, using anthropological techniques like participant observation (where the anthropologist lives in the society being studied) and a reliance on informants. Ethnography has...

ethnology
Study of contemporary peoples, concentrating on their geography and culture, as distinct from their social systems. Ethnologists make a comparative analysis of data from different cultures to...

ethnoscience
Method of analysing cultural systems. In vogue in the USA in the late 1950s and 1960s, it was based on the componential analysis of structural linguistics. The aim was to operate in a foreign...

ethnotourism
Tourism centred around an indigenous group of people and their culture. Ethnotourists seek the experience of other cultures, a major part of which is participating in another way of life and seeing...

ethyldichlorarsine
Toxic gas used in World War I by the Germans from March 1918. Short exposure to the gas causes irritation to the respiratory passages and lungs, but longer exposure can be lethal. In addition to the...

Etruria
Region of ancient Italy (corresponding to modern Tuscany and part of Umbria), inhabited by the Etruscans. Etruria Propria, through which the River Arno flowed, lay west of the Apennines and the...

Etruscan
Member of an ancient people inhabiting Etruria, Italy (modern-day Tuscany and part of Umbria) from the 8th to 2nd centuries BC. The Etruscan dynasty of the Tarquins ruled Rome 616-509 BC. At the...

Etruscan art
The art of the inhabitants of Etruria, central Italy, a civilization that flourished 8th-2nd centuries BC. The Etruscans produced sculpture, painting, pottery, metalwork, and jewellery. Etruscan...

Etty, William
(1787-1849) English painter. Although his paintings are often frankly sensual, he intended them to express great moral truths, and he regarded his numerous nudes as a dedication to `God's most glorious...

EU
Abbreviation for European Union. ...

Eucharist
Chief Christian sacrament, in which bread is eaten and wine drunk in memory of the death of Jesus. Other names for it are the Lord's Supper;Holy Communion;...

Eucharistic Congress
Large-scale public celebration of Irish Catholicism held triennially in different cities in the early years of the Irish Free State. The first one in Ireland (and 31st of a series of international...

Eucken, Rudolf Christoph
(1846-1926) German philosopher and writer, awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1908. He developed a philosophy that he termed `ethical activism`, which dictates that an individual, who is made up of...

Eugene Onegin
Novel in verse by Aleksandr Pushkin, published 1823-31. Eugene Onegin, bored with life but sensitive,...

Eugène, François, Prince of Savoy
(1663-1736) French-born Austrian general who had many victories against the Turks, whom he expelled from Hungary in the Battle of Zenta (1697), and against France, including the battles of Blenheim,...

Eugenius III
(died 1152) Pope, 1145-53. He was a Cistercian monk and disciple of St Bernard, who addressed to him the `De Consideratione` (c. 1148) as well as several letters. Opposition from republican elements...

Eugenius IV
(1383-1447) Pope 1431-47, Eugenius followed the example of Pope Martin V in fighting for...

euhemerism
Theory of the origin of mythology, which claims that the gods were once humans, deified after death for their exceptional qualities and actions. It was founded by the...

Eumenes II
(died 160 or 159 BC) King of Pergamum, son and successor of Attalus I. He came to the throne in 197 BC, maintained his father's alliance with Rome, and was rewarded with large additions of territory. To commemorate a...

Eumenes of Cardia
(c. 360-316 BC) Macedonian general. He was at an early age employed as private secretary by Philip II of Macedon, and, after Philip's death, by Alexander the Great. In the division of the Macedonian empire that...

Eumenides
In Greek mythology, an appeasing name for the Furies, used by 458 BC in Eumenides by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus. Originally they were worshipped at the foot of the Areopagus in Athens, in...

Eunapius
(c.AD 345-c. 420) Greek historian. He was an adherent of the neo-Platonic school of the philosopher Iamblichus. Fragments of his Historical Memoirs (AD 270-404) and Lives of the Sophists (the later...

Eunomius
(died c. 394) Leader of an extreme sect of Arians (see Arianism), who were called Eunomians after him. His confession of faith, addressed to the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great in 383, was rejected. After his...

eunuch
Castrated man. Originally eunuchs were bedchamber attendants in harems in the East, but as they were usually castrated to keep them from taking too great an interest in their charges, the term...

Eupatridae
Ancient Athenian nobility. Their predominance was curtailed by the Athenian legislator Solon. ...

Euphronius
(c. 520-470 BC) Greek vase painter of the Attic School, one of those who introduced the red-figured style, a new form of figure drawing, more advanced in anatomy and foreshortening. Many of his works survive. The...

Euphrosyne
One of the three Graces of classical mythology. ...

Eupolis
(c. 445-c. 411 BC) Greek comic dramatist. He was a contemporary and rival of Aristophanes, with whom he helped create the Old Comedy form. He is ranked by Horace as one of the greatest writers of his school. His...

Eurasian
A person of mixed European and Asian parentage; also, native to or an inhabitant of both Europe and Asia. ...

Eureka Stockade
Incident at Ballarat, Australia, when about 150 goldminers, or `diggers`, rebelled against the Victorian state police and military authorities. They took refuge behind a wooden stockade, which...

Euripides
(c. 485-c. 406 BC) Athenian tragic dramatist. He is ranked with Aeschylus and Sophocles as one of the three great tragedians. His plays deal with the emotions and reactions of ordinary people and social issues rather...

euro
Single currency of the European Union (EU), which was officially launched on 1 January 1999 in 11 of the then 15 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland,...

Eurocommunism
Policy followed by communist parties in Western Europe during the 1970s and 1980s to seek power within the framework of national political structures rather than by revolutionary means. By 1990 it...

Eurodollar
In finance, US currency deposited outside the USA and held by individuals and institutions, not necessarily in Europe. Eurodollars originated in the 1960s when East European countries deposited...

European
The natives and inhabitants of the continent of Europe and their descendants. Europe is multicultural and, although most of its languages belong to the Indo-European family, there are also...

European Atomic Energy Community
Organization established by the second Treaty of Rome 1957, which seeks the cooperation of member states of the European Union in nuclear research and the rapid and large-scale development of...

European Central Bank
Central bank of the European Union (EU), formally constituted on 1 June 1998. It is an integral aspect of European economic and monetary union. Together with the European Union's 15 national central...

European Coal and Steel Community
Organization established by the Treaty of Paris 1951 (ratified 1952) as a single authority for the coal and steel industries of France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg,...

European Commission
Executive body that proposes legislation on which the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament decide, and implements the decisions made in the European Union (EU). The European...

European Community
Collective term for the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The EC is now a separate legal entity...

European Convention on Human Rights
Human-rights convention signed in 1950 by all member countries of the Council of Europe. The Convention was the first attempt to give legal content to human rights in an international agreement,...

European Council
Name given to the meetings or summits between the heads of state and government of the European Union (EU) member states and the president of the European Commission. The council meets at least...

European Court of Human Rights
Court established under the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), whereby cases of alleged human rights violations were referred to the Court by the then European Commission of Human Rights,...

European Court of Justice
Court of the European Union (EU) responsible for interpreting Community law and ruling on breaches of such law. It sits in Luxembourg, with a judge from each of the 25 member states. Most of the...

European Defence Community
Supranational western European army planned after World War II and designed to counterbalance the military superiority of the USSR in eastern Europe. Although a treaty was signed 1952, a thaw in...

European Democratic Group
The group of British Conservative Party members of the European Parliament. ...

European Economic Area
Zone of economic cooperation between member states of the European Union (EU)) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which entered into force in 1994. In essence, the EEA extends the...

European Economic Community
Organization established, together with the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), under the terms of the 1957 Treaties of Rome. The treaties provided for the establishment by stages of a...

European Monetary Cooperation Fund
Institution funded by the members of the Exchange Rate Mechanism ( ...

European Monetary System
Arrangement to promote monetary stability and closer economic cooperation in the countries of the European Community, launched in March 1979. The Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) was at the core of the...

European Parliament
Parliament of the European Union (EU), which meets in Strasbourg, France, and Brussels, Belgium. Members are elected for a five-year term. The...

European Rapid Reaction Force
Force of up to 60,000 soldiers provided by member states of the European Union (EU) for peacekeeping or humanitarian relief purposes. EU members agreed to set up an ERRF at a summit in December...

European Union
Political and economic grouping, comprising 25 countries (in 2004). The six original members - Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - were joined by the United...

eurozone
Collective term for those European countries which have adopted the single currency of the European Union, the euro. In 2001 the 12 countries were Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,...

Eurydice
(lived 4th century BC) Illyrian princess, wife of Amyntas II, King of Macedonia (ruled 393-370 BC), mother of Alexander II, Philip II of Macedon, and Perdiccas. ...

Eurydice
In Greek mythology, the wife of Orpheus. She was a dryad, or forest nymph, and died from a snake-bite while fleeing from Aristaeus. Orpheus attempted to fetch her back from the realm of the dead,...

Eurymedon
River in southern Asia Minor. At its mouth the Athenian commander Cimon won a decisive land and naval victory over the Persians in the early 460s BC. ...

Eusden, Laurence
(1688-1730) English poet. In 1717 he wrote a poem to celebrate the marriage of the duke of Newcastle, who in gratitude used his powers as Lord Chamberlain to appoint Eusden to the post of poet laureate 1718....

Eusebius
(c. 260-340) Bishop of Caesarea (modern Qisarya, Israel); author of a history of the Christian church to 324. ...

Eusebius of Nicomedia
(died 342) Bishop of the early Christian Church. He was a leader of the Arian party (see Arianism). He baptized Constantine the Great in 337 and was patriarch of Constantinople from 339. ...

Euskadi ta Askatasuna
Illegal organization of militant Basque separatists, founded in 1959, and committed to the independence of the Basque Country from Spain. Its main strategy has been based on violence, with more than...

Eustathius
(died c. 1193) Greek scholar. He first became a monk and afterwards a deacon and teacher of rhetoric in his native city. In 1160 he became archbishop of Thessalonica and subsequently of Myra. Eustathius was deeply...