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Baden ... Baha'i faith

Baden: spa, Niederosterreich Bundesland (federal state), Austria. It lies along the Schwechat River, at the eastern edge of the Wiener Forest, south of Vienna. Settled in prehistoric times, it was a ...
Baden: former state on the east bank of the Rhine River in the southwestern corner of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state) of Germany. The former Baden ...
Baden-Baden: city, Baden-Wurttemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the middle Oos River in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Baden-Baden is one of the world's great spas. Its ...
Baden-Powell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron: British army officer who became a national hero for his 217-day defense of Mafeking (now Mafikeng) in the South African War of 1899-1902; he later became famous as founder of ...
Baden-Wurttemberg: Land (state), southwestern Germany. It has an area of 13,804 square miles (35,751 square km) and is bordered by France on the west, Switzerland on the south, and by the ...
Badeni, Kasimir Felix, Graf von: Polish-born statesman in the Austrian service, who, as prime minister (1895-97) of the Austrian half of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, sponsored policies to appease Slav nationalism within the empire but ...
Badgastein: town, Bundesland (federal province) Salzburg, in the Gastein Valley of west central Austria, on the Gasteiner Ache (river). Its radioactive thermal springs have been visited since the 13th century, and ...
badger: common name for any of several stout carnivores, most of them members of the weasel family (Mustelidae), that are found in various parts of the world and are known for ...
Badin: town, southern Sindh province, southeastern Pakistan. The town, founded in 1750, lies in swampy deltaic land east of the Indus River. Rice is the major crop in the region. Badin ...
Badings, Henk: Dutch composer, best known for his music featuring electronic sounds and the compositional use of tape recorders.
badland: area cut and eroded by many deep, tortuous gullies with intervening saw-toothed divides. The gullies extend from main rivers back to tablelands about 150 m (500 feet) and higher. The ...
Badlands National Park: rugged, eroded area of buttes, saw-toothed divides, and gullies in southwestern South Dakota, U.S. It was established as a national monument in 1939 and designated a national park in 1978. ...
badminton: court or lawn game played with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock. Historically, the shuttlecock was a small, cork hemisphere with 16 goose feathers attached and weighing about 0.17 ounce (5 ...
Badminton: village ("parish"), South Gloucestershire unitary authority, historic county of Gloucestershire, England. Badminton House, seat of the dukes of Beaufort, stands in a large park in the locality. The original manor ...
Badoglio, Pietro: general and statesman during the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini (1922-43). In September 1943 he extricated Italy from World War II by arranging an armistice with the Allies.
Badr Khani Jaladat: Kurdish nationalist leader and editor who was one of the chief 20th-century spokesmen for Kurdish independence.
Badr, Battle of: (624), first military victory of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It seriously damaged Meccan prestige, while strengthening the political position of Muslims in Medina and establishing Islam as a viable force ...
Badrinath: uninhabited village and shrine in northern Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Situated in the Himalayas along a headstream of the Ganges River, it lies at an elevation of about 10,000 ...
Badulla: town, southeastern Sri Lanka (Ceylon), southeast of Kandy, on the Badulu Oya (river). It is surrounded by mountains and is the site of two large and wealthy temples. Badulla is ...
BAE Systems: major British manufacturer of aircraft, missiles, avionics, and other aerospace and defense products. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of British Aerospace PLC (BAe) with Marconi Electronic Systems, ...
Baeck, Leo: Reform rabbi and theologian, the spiritual leader of German Jewry during the Nazi period, and the leading liberal Jewish religious thinker of his time. His magnum opus, The Essence of ...
Baedeker, Karl: founder of a German publishing house known for its guidebooks.
Baekeland, Leo Hendrik: U.S. industrial chemist who helped found the modern plastics industry through his invention of Bakelite, the first thermosetting plastic (a plastic that does not soften when heated).
Baer, Karl Ernst, Ritter von, Edler Von Huthorn: Prussian-Estonian embryologist who discovered the mammalian ovum and the notochord and established the new science of comparative embryology alongside comparative anatomy. He was also a pioneer in geography, ethnology, and ...
Baer, Max: American boxer who won the world heavyweight championship by knocking out Primo Carnera in 11 rounds in New York City on June 14, 1934. He lost the title to James ...
Baerum: herredskommune (rural commune), in Akershus fylke (county), southeastern Norway. It is situated at the head of Oslo Fjord and adjoins the national capital of ...
Baetic Cordillera: mountain system comprising the Andalusian mountains of southern Spain, of which the northern range runs about 360 miles (580 km) from Cape Trafalgar to Cape Nao. The central and southern ...
baetylus: in Greek religion, a sacred stone or pillar. The word baetylus is of Semitic origin (-bethel). Numerous holy, or fetish, stones existed in antiquity, generally attached to the cult of ...
Baeyer, Adolf von: German research chemist who synthesized indigo (1880) and formulated its structure (1883). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1905.
Baez, Buenaventura: politician who served five terms as president of the Dominican Republic and is noted principally for his attempts to have the United States annex his country.
Baez, Joan: American folksinger and political activist who interested young audiences in folk music during the 1960s. Despite the inevitable fading of the folk music revival, Baez continued to be a popular ...
Bafata: town, east-central Guinea-Bissau. It lies along the Geba River, which is navigable to that point. Bafata is an important trading centre for the interior regions of Guinea-Bissau. There also is ...
Baffin: northernmost and easternmost region of Nunavut territory, Canada. In 1967 it was created as Baffin region, Northwest Territories, from most of what was formerly Franklin district, and it took on ...
Baffin Bay: arm of the North Atlantic Ocean with an area of 266,000 square miles (689,000 square km), extending southward from the Arctic for 900 miles (1,450 km) between the Greenland coast ...
Baffin Island: island lying between Greenland and the Canadian mainland. It is the largest island in Canada. Baffin Island is separated from Greenland on the north and east by Baffin Bay and ...
Baffin Island Current: surface oceanic current, a southward-moving water outflow along the west side of Baffin Bay, Canada. The Baffin Island Current, flowing at a rate of about 11 miles (17 km) per ...
Baffin, William: navigator who searched for the Northwest Passage and gave his name to Baffin Island, now part of the Northwest Territories, Canada, and to the bay separating it from Greenland. His ...
Bafing River: river in western Africa, rising in the Fouta Djallon massif of Guinea and flowing generally northeast for about 200 miles (320 km). After passing the town of Bafing Makana in ...
Bafoussam: town, western Cameroon, north-northeast of Douala. A trading centre of the Bamileke peoples, it lies in a densely populated region where coffee, kola nuts, tobacco, tea, and cinchona (from which ...
Baga: people who inhabit the swampy coastal region between Cape Verga and the city of Conakry in Guinea. They speak a language of the Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo family. The ...
Bagamoyo: town, historic seaport of eastern Tanzania. It lies on the Zanzibar Channel, 45 miles (75 km) northwest of Dar es Salaam. The town was formerly a slave-trading depot at the ...
bagasse: fibre remaining after the extraction of the sugar-bearing juice from sugarcane. The word bagasse, from the French bagage via the Spanish bagazo, originally meant "rubbish," "refuse," or "trash." Applied first ...
bagatelle: game, probably of English origin, that is similar to billiards and was probably a modification of it. Bagatelle is played with billiard cues and nine balls on an oblong board ...
Bage: city, south-central Rio Grande do Sul estado (state), Brazil, lying at 732 feet (223 metres) above sea level amid gently rolling hills covered with tall prairie grass. ...
Bagehot, Walter: economist, political analyst, and editor of The Economist who was one of the most influential journalists of the mid-Victorian period.
bagel: doughnut-shaped yeast-leavened roll that is characterized by a crisp, shiny crust and a dense interior. Long regarded as a Jewish specialty item, the bagel is commonly eaten as a breakfast ...
Bagerhat: town, southwestern Bangladesh. It lies just south of the Bhairab River. Bagerhat was the capital of Hazrat Khan Jahan Ali-the 15th-century pioneer of the Sundarbans-and contains the ruins of his ...
Baggesen, Jens: leading Danish literary figure in the transitional period between Neoclassicism and Romanticism.
Baghdad: city, capital of Iraq and capital of Baghdad governorate, central Iraq. Its location, on the Tigris River about 330 miles (530 km) from the headwaters of the Persian Gulf, is ...
Baghdad Railway: major rail line connecting Istanbul with the Persian Gulf region. Work on the first phase of the railway, which involved an extension of an existing line between Haidar Pasha and ...
Baghdad school: stylistic movement of Islamic manuscript illustration, founded in the late 12th century (though the earliest surviving works cannot be dated before the 13th century). The school flourished in the period ...
Baghelkhand: historic region, eastern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The area is divided into two natural regions by the Kaimur Range. To the west lie elevated plains; to the east is ...
Bagheria: town, Palermo province, northwestern Sicily, Italy, 8 miles (13 km) east-southeast of the city of Palermo. A resort of wealthy Palermitans, Bagheria is noted for several historic villas. The best-known ...
Baghlan: city, northeastern Afghanistan, near the Qonduz River, at an elevation of 1,650 feet (500 m). Baghlan is the centre of beet-sugar production and has a sugar refinery. Cotton textiles are ...
Baghmati River: river in south-central Nepal and northern Bihar state, northeastern India, rising in several headstreams in the lowland area of Nepal and flowing southward through the Siwalik Range, southernmost range of ...
Bagirmi: people living on the southern fringe of the Sahara, close to the region of Bornu in Chad and Nigeria. They numbered about 70,000 at the turn of the 21st century. ...
Bagirmi, Kingdom of: historic African state founded in the 16th century in the region just southeast of Lake Chad. Europeans first learned about the existence of Bagirmi and the other powerful states of ...
Bagley, Sarah G.: American labour organizer who was active in trying to institute reform in the mills of Lowell, Massachusetts.
Bagley, William Chandler: American educator, author, and editor who, as a leading "Essentialist," opposed many of the practices of progressive education.
Baglioni Family: related Umbrian nobles, many of whom were fierce and skillful condottiere, who dominated Perugia between 1488 and 1534. They were constantly challenged by other nobles and by the papacy.
Bagnold, Enid: English novelist and playwright who was known for her broad range of subject and style.
Bagnold, Ralph A.: English geologist who was a leading authority on the mechanics of sediment transport and on eolian (wind-effect) processes.
Bago: city, western portion of the island of Negros, Philippines. Bago lies along Guimaras Strait at the mouth of the Bago River and is situated between Bacolod and its outport to ...
Bagoas: confidential minister of the Achaemenid king Artaxerxes III of Persia. His name was the Greek form of an Old Persian name often used for eunuchs.
bagpipe: wind instrument consisting of two or more single- or double-reed pipes, the reeds being set in motion by wind fed by arm pressure on an animal-skin (or rubberized-cloth) bag. The ...
Bagratid: princely and royal dynasty founded in Armenia and Georgia during the 9th century by the Bagratuni family. The Bagratid kings kept Armenia independent of both the Byzantine Empire and the ...
Bagration, Pyotr Ivanovich, Knyaz: Russian general who distinguished himself during the Napoleonic Wars.
Bagritsky, Eduard Georgiyevich: Soviet poet known for his revolutionary verses and for carrying on the romantic tradition in the Soviet period.
Baguio: city, west-central Luzon, Philippines. After the United States occupied the Philippines in 1898, Governor William Howard Taft and other officials proposed the pleasant site nestled in pine-clad hills at about ...
Bagutta Prize: Italian literary prize that is awarded annually to the author of the best book of the year. Established in 1927, it is named after the Milan trattoria in which the ...
bagworm moth: any insect of the worldwide family Psychidae (order Lepidoptera), named for the baglike cases the larvae carry with them. The bag, which ranges in size from 6 to 152 mm ...
Bagyidaw: king of Myanmar (Burma) from 1819 to 1837. The seventh monarch of the Konbaung, or Alaungpaya, dynasty, he was defeated in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26). As a result of ...
Baha' ad-Din Zuhayr: Arab poet attached to the Ayyubid dynasty of Cairo.
Baha' al-Din: Arab writer and statesman, author of the Sirat Salah ad-Din ("Life of Saladin"). He was first a teacher at Baghdad and then professor at Mosul.
Baha' Ullah: founder of the Baha'i faith upon his claim to be the manifestation of the unknowable God.
Baha'i faith: religion founded in Iran in the mid-19th century by Mirza Hoseyn 'Ali Nuri, who is known as Baha' Ullah (Arabic: "Glory of God"). The cornerstone of Baha'i belief is the ...