Mid-atlantic Ridge

Submarine ridge lying along the north-south axis of the Atlantic Ocean; it occupies the central part of the basin between a series of flat abyssal plains that continue to the margins of the continental coasts. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is in effect an immensely long mountain chain extending for about 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in a curving path from the Arctic Ocean to near the southern

Lear, Edward

English landscape painter who is more widely known as the writer of an original kind of nonsense verse and as the popularizer of the limerick. His true genius is apparent in his nonsense poems, which portray a world of fantastic creatures in nonsense words, often

China, The decline of feudalism

The most obvious change in political institutions was the replacement of the old feudal structure by systems of incipient bureaucracy under monarchy. The decline of feudalism took its course in the Ch'un-ch'iu period, and the rise of the new order may be seen in the Chan-kuo period. The Chou feudalism suffered from a continual dilution of authority. As a state expanded,

Agricultural Technology, Rainmaking

Attempts to increase the amount of precipitation from clouds by seeding them with salt or silver iodide have been made for nearly three decades. Both aircraft and ground generators have been employed, but the techniques are typically beyond the means of an individual farmer. Results suggest that cloud modification is entirely possible, but the proof of increased

Rimsky-korsakov, Nikolay

In full  Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov  Russian composer, teacher, and editor who was at his best in descriptive orchestrations suggesting a mood or a place.

Sangamon River

River formed by headstreams in northwestern Champaign County, Illinois, U.S. It flows southwesterly, bending around Decatur, where a dam impounds Lake Decatur, and turns west past Springfield, the state capital, and then north and west to join the Illinois River just north of Beardstown, after a course of 250 mi (400 km). The first Illinois home (1830) of Abraham Lincoln was on a bluff

Indian Literature

The earliest Indian literature took the form of the canonical Hindu sacred writings, known as the Veda, which were written in Sanskrit. To the Veda