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From New World Encyclopedia


Christmas Island

Christmas Island was uninhabited until the late nineteenth century and so has many unique species of fauna and flora that evolved independently of human interference

Adonis

In Greek mythology Adonis was resurrected by Zeus following his premature earthly death

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was amended prior to passage to explicitly include women's rights

Biome

The British Empire was known as "the empire on which the sun never sets"

Lee Falk

Lee Falk's comic strip character 'The Phantom' inspired the costumed image of what has today become known as the "superhero."

George Steinbrenner

George Steinbrenner changed the manager of the New York Yankees twenty times during his first twenty-three seasons.

Potawatomi

Potawatomi were forced to walk a "Trail of Death" from their homelands in Indiana to an Indian Reservation in Kansas

Hades

In Greek mythology Hades has been used to refer both to the "underworld" or Hell and the deity that rules the dead

Prisoner of war

To be entitled to prisoner of war status, the captured service member must have conducted operations according to the laws of war

Oratory

Cicero suggested that the best orator should be the best human being, understanding the correct way to live, acting upon it by being active in politics, and instructing others through speeches, through example, and through making good laws.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is considered the greatest scientist of the twentieth century and was named "Person of the Century" by TIME magazine

Ancient economic thought

Discussions of economics have existed since ancient times but it was not a separate discipline until the nineteenth century

Willie Mays

Willie Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the first through the sixteenth. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs.

Scientology

Before establishing the Church of Scientology, founder L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction author

Nobel Prize

Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize, though he was nominated for it five times

Surgery

The term "surgery" comes from the Greek "cheirourgia," meaning "hand work"

Agricultural technology

The Industrial Revolution led to advances in agricultural technology that greatly increased food production allowing large numbers of people to pursue other types of work

Zanzibar

The archipelago of Zanzibar was a separate state which united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union

Inca Civilization

At its height the Inca Empire stretched from Colombia to Chile

Rock art

The many possible meanings of prehistoric rock art include records of hunts, religious practices, and astronomical calendars

World Cup

The host nation for the World Cup final tournament is automatically qualified to play in the tournament

Ajivika

Ajivika was an ancient Indian philosophical and ascetic movement that did not believe in karma or the possibility of free will

Stanford University

Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who created New York’s Central Park, designed the physical plan for Stanford University

Literacy

One of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals was to achieve universal primary education, a level of schooling that includes basic literacy and numeracy

Robert Joffrey

Robert Joffrey started his career in dance with tap dancing but was quickly guided to ballet

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the tallest volcano and the highest mountain in Japan

Otis Chandler

Although Otis Chandler made the LA Times great he did not want to become its publisher and he did not want his sons to take over its leadership when he retired.

Gunter Grass

Gunter Grass' first novel "The Tin Drum" is regarded as a key text in European magic realism

Ahimsa

Ahimsa (nonviolence is the most essential religious duty in Jainism

Moai

Scientists have come up with several theories to explain how the Moai of Easter Island "walked" from the quarry to their stone platforms

Florence

Florence, well known for art and architecture, is considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance

Bureaucracy

Max Weber saw the ideal of bureaucracy as a means for achieving maximum efficiency

Hammurabi

Hammurabi, first King of the Babylonian Empire, is best known for his laws - the Code of Hammurabi - which were inscribed on a large stele for all to see

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden initially denied involvement in the infamous September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States

Wovoka

Wovoka, also known as Jack Wilson, was a Paiute shaman who received a vision of peace and instructions on how to perform the Ghost Dance

Xiuzhen

Xiuzhen means “to practice and learn the way of the truth” and is the principal technique in the Taoist quest for immortality

Paleozoic

The supercontinent Pangaea is thought to have formed near the end of the Paleozoic era

Francisco Pizarro

Francisco Pizarro founded the city of Lima, which he named la Ciudad de los Reyes (the City of Kings), to serve as the capital of Peru on January 18, 1535

Victorian era

The Victorian era was a time of unprecedented population increase in England

Minoan eruption

The volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) in the second millennium B.C.E. was one of the largest volcanic events in recorded history

Pluto

Pluto, considered the solar system's ninth planet since its discovery in 1930, was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006

Cyberspace

The term "cyberspace" was coined by science fiction writer William Gibson

Emanuel Swedenborg

Swedenborg was a successful scientist and inventor before his spiritual awakening

Murder

In some jurisdictions if the victim survived longer than "one year and a day" the perpetrator could not be tried for murder