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From New World Encyclopedia


Navajo

Navajo code talkers played a significant role in the Pacific Theater of World War II

Acts of Union 1707

Despite having a single monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Scotland and England had separate governments until the Acts of Union were finalized in 1707

Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries

Idi Amin

For his killing of civilians, Idi Amin was called the "Butcher of Uganda," although he preferred to call himself Dada—"Big Daddy"

Romanticism

Romanticism, popular from the late eighteenth century through the nineteenth century, emphasized emotion and imagination in contrast to reason that was the focus of the Enlightenment

Netherlands

The Netherlands is often called "Holland" although this is not accurate; North and South Holland in the western Netherlands are only two of the country's twelve provinces

Norman Bethune

In his lifetime Norman Bethune was virtually unknown in his homeland of Canada but received international recognition when Chairman Mao Zedong wrote about his work in China

Languages of India

The Constitution of India recognizes 23 official languages, spoken in different parts of the country

0 (number)

0 (zero) was the last numerical digit to come into use

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)

The Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a seminal event in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

Longhouse

Native American longhouses serve a symbolic as well as practical purpose

Lüshi Chunqiu

Lüshi chunqiu, an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 B.C.E., was intended as a guide for the ruler who would eventually unify China

Qi

In Chinese thought Qi is believed to be the “life force†or “spiritual energy†that pervades the natural world

Battle of Britain

Churchill said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" after victory in the Battle of Britain

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was called "Mother of the Modern Day Civil Rights Movement" for her refusal to give up her seat in a bus to a white passenger

Mastodon

Mastodons are extinct members of a family related to elephants, while mammoths are extinct members of the elephant family

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is known as the "Lost City of the Incas," having been abandoned a century after being built

Grameen Bank

Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the initiation of microcredit

Abortion

In 1920 under Vladimir Lenin the Soviet Union was the first to legalize all abortions, but this was reversed in 1936 by Joseph Stalin in order to increase population growth.

Utopia

The term “Utopia†was coined by Thomas More as the name for the ideal state in his book, "Utopia," which described a fictional perfect society

Rwanda

Rwanda is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills"

Electron microscope

The first electron microscope prototype was built in 1931 by German engineers Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll

Sri Lanka

The distinctive civilization of Sri Lanka can be traced back to the sixth century B.C.E.

Mecca

The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca made by Muslim devotees

Bogota, Colombia

The city of Bogota, Colombia has been called the "Athens of South America"

Urbanization

Urbanization can be planned or organic.

United States Constitution

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights

Iroquois

Five tribes formed the original Iroquois Confederacy, which had a constitution known as the Gayanashagowa (or "Great Law of Peace") memorized with the help of special beads called wampum

Bhumibol Adulyadej

Bhumibol Adulyadej, king for 70 years, had the longest reign in [[Thailand

Recorder (music)

The recorder, originally popular in Medieval music, was revived in the twentieth century

Ralph Abernathy

Ralph Abernathy was the best friend, partner, and colleague of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the earliest days of the American Civil Rights Movement

Solstice

"Solstice" comes from Latin, meaning "sun came to a stop"

Cheondogyo

Cheondogyo is an indigenous Korean neo-Confucianist religion with elements of Buddhism, Daoism, and Catholicism

Black Hills

The name "Black Hills" is a translation of the Lakota "Pahá Sápa" - "hills that are black"

Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Thomas emphasizes salvation through understanding the words of Jesus

Polygyny

Polygyny, the marital practice in which a man has more than one wife simultaneously, is the most common form of polygamy

A. S. Neill

Scottish educator A. S. Neill founded Summerhill School as an experiment in free learning

Forty-Seven Ronin

RÅnin, meaning "drifting person," were masterless samurai as a result of their master's death or ruin

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the passing off of another person's work as one's own

Graham Greene

Graham Greene's intense focus on moral issues, politics, and religion, mixed with suspense and adventure, became the trademark of his popular novels.

Albert Einstein

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

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty functioned as a lighthouse from its dedication in 1886 until 1902

Catherine Parr

Catherine Parr was the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII

Donald O. Hebb

Donald O. Hebb's work laid the foundation for neuropsychology as he sought to understand how neurons in the brain contributed to [[psychology