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African dance
performing art deeply woven into the social fabric of Africa and generally involving aspects of music and theatre as well as rhythmic bodily movement. See also African music and mask....
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African Democratic Rally (political party, Africa)
...following the establishment of an autonomous republic in that former French colony. Like many neighbouring countries, it chose the pan-African colours (red-yellow-green) that had been used by the African Democratic Rally—i.e., the legislators in the French National Assembly who represented French West Africa following World War II. The colours were also associated with Ethiopia, the......
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African Development Bank
African organization established in 1964, operational beginning in 1966, and dedicated to financing the economic and social development of its African member countries. Its membership includes 53 African states and 24 non-African countries. ADB headquarters are in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire....
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African drongo (bird)
One of the most common birds of southern Asia is the 33-centimetre black drongo (D. macrocercus), also called king crow because it can intimidate the true crow. The 24-centimetre African drongo (D. adsimilis; perhaps the same as D. macrocercus) is common throughout sub-Saharan Africa....
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African elephant (mammal)
Within the elephant family, Asian elephants (genus Elephas) and mammoths (genus Mammathus) are more closely related to one another than African elephants (genus Loxodonta) are to either. Molecular studies have recently corroborated the morphological studies that have long suggested this. The mastodons that......
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African Financial Community franc (African currency)
...states in western Africa, is a member of the West African Monetary Union. These states share a common central bank, with headquarters in Dakar, Senegal, and a common currency, the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc. Branches of the central bank in Burkina Faso are located in Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso. Among the partially or wholly state-owned commercial......
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African finfoot (bird)
The African finfoot (Podica senegalensis) is the largest species, 46–53 cm (18–21 inches) long. It occurs from Senegal to the Congo basin and from Ethiopia to the Cape of Good Hope. It has bright red feet and a slate-gray neck with an ill-defined whitish stripe down the side. The masked, or Asiatic, finfoot (Heliopais personata) is found in Central and Southeast Asia......
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African fish eagle (bird)
...(H. leucogaster), frequently seen on the coasts of Australia, ranges from New Guinea and Indonesia through Southeast Asia to India and China. A well-known African species is the African fish eagle (H. vocifer), found along lakes, rivers, and coastlines from south of the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope....
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African forest elephant (mammal)
The African savanna, or bush, elephant (Loxodonta africana) weighs up to 8,000 kg (9 tons) and stands 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 feet) at the shoulder. The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), which lives in rainforests, was recognized as a separate species in 2000 and is smaller than the savanna elephant. It has slender, downward-pointing tusks. The common......
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African Games (sports)
international athletics (track-and-field) competition sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and contested by athletes representing the nations of Africa. The African Games were first held in 1965, in Brazzaville, Congo, and consisted of contests in athletic sports exclusively. Attempts to hold such African games date back to the 1920s, and in...
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African giant frog (amphibian)
...than 1.5 metres (5 feet). Frogs and toads (order Anura) are easily identified by their long hind limbs and the absence of a tail. They have only five to nine presacral vertebrae. The West African goliath frog, which can reach 30 cm (12 inches) from snout to vent and weigh up to 3.3 kg (7.3 pounds), is the largest anuran. Some of the smallest anurans include the South American brachycephalids,.....
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African giant squirrel (rodent)
...of vertical activity in species differs widely, especially among those living in tropical rainforests. Some, such as the Oriental giant squirrels (genus Ratufa) and the African giant squirrels (genus Protoxerus), rarely descend from the high canopy. Others, like the pygmy squirrel of Sulawesi (Prosciurillus......
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African golden cat (mammal)
either of two cats of the family Felidae: the African golden cat (Felis aurata), or the Asian golden cat (F. temmincki), also known as Temminck’s cat....
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African golden oriole (bird)
...European species is the 24-centimetre (9.5-inch) golden oriole (O. oriolus), which ranges eastward to Central Asia and India. It is yellow, with black-eye marks and black wings. The African golden oriole (O. auratus) is similar. The maroon oriole (O. traillii) of the Himalayas to Indochina is one of the Asian species of oriole that have a glowing crimson......
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African goliath beetle (insect)
Probably the best-known member is the African goliath beetle (Goliathus giganteus). This insect is white with bold black lines on its body and has brown wing covers (elytra). It may be more than 10 cm (4 inches) long and has black, leathery wings that are larger than those of a sparrow. Most flower chafers have only small protuberances on the tops of their heads and prothorax (region......
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African gray parrot (bird)
The African gray parrot (Psittacus erithacus) is unsurpassed as a talker; the male can precisely echo human speech. Captive birds are alert and, compared with other parrots, relatively good-tempered. Some are said to have lived 80 years. The bird is about 33 cm (13 inches) long and is light gray except for its squared, red tail and bare, whitish face; the sexes look alike. Gray......
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African Greek Orthodox Church
a religious movement in East Africa that represents a prolonged search for a Christianity more African and, its adherents say, more authentic than the denominational mission forms transplanted from overseas. It began when an Anglican in Uganda, Reuben Spartas, heard of the independent, all-black African Orthodox Church in the United States and founded his own African Orthodox Church in 1929. In 1...
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African green snake (reptile)
The African green snakes (Chlorophis) have keeled ventral plates and are arboreal. Others of this genus are found in eastern and southern Asia....
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African ground squirrel (rodent)
...ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) lives in rocky habitats from sea level to 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) in the Atlas Mountains of northwestern Africa, and the four species of African ground squirrels (genus Xerus) inhabit savannas and rocky deserts in northern, eastern, and southern Africa. Central Asia’s sandy deserts are home to the single species of.....
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African harrier hawk (bird)
The African harrier hawk (Polyboroides typus) and the crane hawk (Geranospiza nigra) of tropical America are medium-sized gray birds resembling the harriers but having short, broad wings....
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African hedgehog (mammal genus)
...30 cm (5.5 to 12 inches), and there is a stumpy and sparsely furred tail measuring 1 to 6 cm. In addition to the three species of Eurasian hedgehogs (genus Erinaceus), there are four African hedgehogs (genus Atelerix), six desert hedgehogs (genus Hemiechinus), and two steppe hedgehogs (genus Mesechinus). European hedgehogs are kept as....
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African honeybee (insect)
The so-called killer bee is a hybrid between an African subspecies and European subspecies of honeybee. The Africanized honeybee subspecies was accidentally released in Brazil in 1957 during an attempt to create a hybrid that would adapt to tropical climates and produce large amounts of honey. Moving northward some 200 to 300 miles (320 to 480 km) per year, the bees had reached Mexico in the......
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African horse sickness (pathology)
disease of Equidae (horses, mules, donkeys, and zebras) caused by an orbivirus called AHSV (family Reoviridae) that is transmitted by arthropods, notably biting midges (Culicoides imicola). The disease, which is not usually fatal to indigenous zebra herds, is often fatal in horses. Dogs have also been fatally infected after eating virally contaminated horse meat....
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African hunting dog (mammal)
(Lycaon pictus), wild African carnivore that differs from the rest of the members of the dog family (Canidae) in having only four toes on each foot. Its coat is short, sparse, and irregularly blotched with yellow, black, and white. The African hunting dog is about 76–102 cm (30–41 inches) long, exclusive of its 31–41-centimetre tail, stands about 60 cm (24 inches) at t...
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African hybridization-and-replacement model (scientific theory)
...200 and 30 kya. At one extreme is multiregional evolution, or the regional continuity model. At the other is the African replacement, or “out of Africa,” model. Intermediate are the African hybridization-and-replacement model and the assimilation model. All but the multiregional model maintain that Homo sapiens evolved solely in Africa between about 200 and 100 kya and......
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African Independence Party for Guinea and Cape Verde (political party, Africa)
town located on the Corubal River in southeastern Guinea-Bissau. It was the site of the declaration of independence put forth in 1973 by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde; PAIGC). The mayor of Bissau city, Juvencio Gomes, announced at the country’s independence in 1974 that Boé would....
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African International Association (African organization)
a society of explorers, geographers, and philanthropists formed in September 1876 at the instigation of Leopold II, king of the Belgians, to “civilize” Central Africa....
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African jacana (bird)
The seven or eight species of the genus Jacana include the American jacana (Jacana spinosa), of the American tropics, variably black or reddish; the African jacana (Actophilornis africanus); the Australian lotus bird (Irediparra gallinacea) of New Guinea and the eastern Australian coast; and the pheasant-tailed jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus), of India and......
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African Jazz Pioneers (South African music group)
...styles such as traditional indigenous music, jazz, Christian religious music, and forms of popular music from the United States. These combinations are evident in the music of such performers as the African Jazz Pioneers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and others. During the apartheid period, black and white musicians were segregated, although they still collaborated on....
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African Lakes Company (Scottish company)
These events left few resources for occupation north of the Zambezi until the late 1890s. Opposition from missionaries and the African Lakes Company ensured that the region around Lake Nyasa and the Shire River valley was separated from the BSAC sphere; it was declared the British Central African Protectorate in 1891, with Johnston as commissioner. Even before Johnston’s arrival the British...
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African languages
That portion of western Africa known as the Bend is the area of talking drums, by means of which messages are conveyed for up to 20 miles (32 km), to be relayed by another drummer. Languages of this area are characterized by pronounced high and low pitch tones (tone languages), a quality exploited when two drums—a lower-pitched, or male, drum and a higher-pitched, or female,......
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African linsang (mammal)
any of three species of long-tailed, catlike mammals belonging to the civet family (Viverridae). The African linsang (Poiana richardsoni), the banded linsang (Prionodon linsang), and the spotted linsang (Prionodon pardicolor) vary in colour, but all resemble elongated cats. They grow to a length of 33–43 cm (13–17 inches), excluding a banded tail almost.....
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African lion hound (breed of dog)
South African hound dog breed characterized by a narrow band of hair that grows forward along its back, against the direction of the rest of the coat. This ridge is inherited from a half-wild native hunting dog that, by breeding with various European dogs, formed the stock that gave rise to the Rhodesian ridgeback. Typically strong, active, and of great endurance, the Rhodesian ...
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African literature
the traditional oral and written literatures together with the mainly 20th-century literature written mostly in European languages but also to an increasing extent in the many languages of the sub-Saharan region. Traditional written literature is limited to a smaller geographic area than is oral literature; indeed, it is most characteristic of those sub-Saharan cultures that have participated in t...
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African little sparrowhawk (bird)
The African little sparrowhawk (A. minullus), slate gray above with white tail bars, barred white below, inhabits woods of East and South Africa. The Eurasian sparrowhawk (A. nisus), dark gray above and brown barred white below, is a common inhabitant of wooded areas throughout Europe, in coastal northwestern Africa, and in temperate to sub-Arctic forests of Asia. The......
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African lungfish
...species grow to substantial size. The Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, attains weights of up to 10 kilograms (about 22 pounds) and a length of 1.25 metres (about 50 inches). Of the African lungfishes, the yellow marbled Ethiopian species, Protopterus aethiopicus, is the largest, growing to a length of two metres (about 80 inches). The South American species,......
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African marigold (plant)
African marigold (T. erecta), French marigold (T. patula), and several other species are grown as garden ornamentals, although most species have strong-scented leaves. Members of the genus Tagetes have attractive yellow, orange, or red flowers that are solitary or clustered; leaves opposite each other on the stem that usually are finely cut; and bracts (leaflike structures)......
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African Methodist Episcopal Church (American religion)
black Methodist church in the United States, formally organized in 1816. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who withdrew in 1787 from St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia because of restrictions in seating; blacks had been confined to the gallery of the church. Those who withdrew formed the Free African Society, the forerunner ...
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African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (American religion)
black Methodist church in the United States, organized in 1821; it adopted its present name in 1848. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who in 1796 left the John Street Methodist Church in New York City because of discrimination. They built their first church (Zion) in 1800 and were served for many years by white ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Chu...
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African mole rat (rodent)
...species in the genus Spalax). Together these genera constitute the subfamily Spalacinae of the mouse family (Muridae) within the order Rodentia. The African mole rats (genus Tachyorytes) and Central Asian mole rats are also members of the family Muridae but are not closely related, as they belong to different subfamilies. The evolutionary history of blind mole......
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African mouthbreeder (fish)
Breeding and cultivation of perciforms has been successful in many parts of the world. The African mouthbreeder (Tilapia macrocephala, Cichlidae) has been successfully introduced in many areas and is valued for its rapid rate of reproduction and growth, providing a source of low-cost protein....
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African music
the musical sounds and practices of all indigenous peoples of Africa, including the Berber in the Sahara and the San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoin (Hottentot) in Southern Africa. The music of European settler communities and that of Arab North Africa are not included in the present discussion. For the music of Islamic Africa, see Islamic arts: Music....
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African National Congress (political party, South Africa)
South African political party and black nationalist organization. Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, it had as its main goal the maintenance of voting rights for Coloureds (persons of mixed race) and black Africans in Cape Province. It was renamed the African National Congress in 1923. From the 1940s it spearheaded the fight to eliminate apartheid, th...
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African oak (tree)
wood of the iroko tree (Chlorophora excelsa), native to the west coast of Africa. It is sometimes called African, or Nigerian, teak, but the iroko is unrelated to the teak family. The wood is tough, dense, and very durable. It is often used in cabinetmaking and paneling as a substitute for teak, which it resembles both in colour (light brown to deep golden-brown) and in grain. ...
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African oil palm (tree)
African tree cultivated as a source of oil in West and Central Africa, where it originated, and in Malaysia and Indonesia, and as an ornamental tree in many subtropical areas; or, the American oil palm, Elaeis oleifera, originating in Central and South America and sometimes cultivated under the erroneous name Elaeis melanococca, the oil of which was probably used for making......
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African Orthodox Autonomous Church South of the Sahara (religious group)
...missionary paternalism, inadequate material assistance, and young Greek-trained priests who were not particularly African-oriented led Spartas and his followers into secession. The new group, the African Orthodox Autonomous Church South of the Sahara (with some 7,000 members in Uganda), made unsuccessful approaches to other Greek patriarchates. These East African churches have asserted their......
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African Orthodox Church (religious group)
...and, its adherents say, more authentic than the denominational mission forms transplanted from overseas. It began when an Anglican in Uganda, Reuben Spartas, heard of the independent, all-black African Orthodox Church in the United States and founded his own African Orthodox Church in 1929. In 1932 he secured ordination by the U.S. church’s archbishop from South Africa, whose episcopal.....
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African palm civet (mammal)
...and, its adherents say, more authentic than the denominational mission forms transplanted from overseas. It began when an Anglican in Uganda, Reuben Spartas, heard of the independent, all-black African Orthodox Church in the United States and founded his own African Orthodox Church in 1929. In 1932 he secured ordination by the U.S. church’s archbishop from South Africa, whose episcopal.....
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African palm squirrel (rodent)
...rubriventer) and the northern Amazon red squirrel (Sciurus igniventris), nest at middle levels but travel and forage low in the understory or on the ground. The African palm squirrels (genus Epixerus) are long-legged runners that forage only on the ground. Certain species, such as the red-tailed squirrel (...
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African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (political party, Cape Verde)
After independence in 1975, the African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAICV) was the only legal political party in the country until a multiparty system was introduced in 1990. A constitution, promulgated in 1992 and subsequently revised in 1995 and 1999, established the president as head of state, elected by universal adult suffrage. The president, in consultation with the......
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African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (political party, Africa)
town located on the Corubal River in southeastern Guinea-Bissau. It was the site of the declaration of independence put forth in 1973 by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde; PAIGC). The mayor of Bissau city, Juvencio Gomes, announced at the country’s independence in 1974 that Boé would....
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African People’s Organization (political party, South Africa)
The Coloureds of the Cape and Transvaal also mobilized politically in the first nationwide black political organization, the African Political Organization (APO; later African People’s Organization), founded in 1902, which sought to unite Africans in opposition to the South Africa Act of 1909. The formation of a separate Coloured Affairs Department to some extent diverted Coloured political...
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African plated lizard (reptile)
...enter narrow crevices. 1 genus, Chamaesaura, is nearly limbless and snakelike. 3 genera and about 55 species.Family Gerrhosauridae (African plated lizards)Lizards with 2 parietal scales on the head and each nostril enclosed in 3–4 scales. Diurnal lizards that live in a variety of hab...
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African polecat (mammal)
(Ictonyx [sometimes Zorilla] striatus), African carnivore of the weasel family (Mustelidae), frequenting diverse habitats. It has a slender body, 29–39 centimetres (12–16 inches) long, and a bushy white tail, 21–31 cm long. Its fur is long and black, white striped on the back and white spotted on the face. Usually solitary, the zorille hunts at night, fee...
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African Political Organization (political party, South Africa)
The Coloureds of the Cape and Transvaal also mobilized politically in the first nationwide black political organization, the African Political Organization (APO; later African People’s Organization), founded in 1902, which sought to unite Africans in opposition to the South Africa Act of 1909. The formation of a separate Coloured Affairs Department to some extent diverted Coloured political...
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African pompano (fish)
The African pompano, or threadfish, also of the family Carangidae, is Alectis crinitis of the Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans. It is about 90 cm long and, especially when young, has very long, threadlike rays extending from the dorsal and anal fins....
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African popular music
body of music that emerged in Africa in the 1960s, mixing indigenous influences with those of Western popular music. By the 1980s the audience for African popular music had expanded to include Western listeners....
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African Portraits (work by Cloete)
...works included Rags of Glory (1963) and The Abductors (1966). He also wrote poems, collected in a volume, The Young Men and the Old (1941), and a collection of biographies, African Portraits (1946). His autobiography, A Victorian Son, appeared in 1972....
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African pouched rat (mammal subfamily)
any of five species of African rodents characterized by cheek pouches that are used for carrying food back to their burrows, where it is eaten or stored. All are terrestrial and have gray to brown coats with white or gray underparts, but the three genera differ in size, behaviour, and geographic distribution. The smaller species are sometimes called pouched mice....
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African pygmy goose (bird)
...Anatidae vary greatly in size, the largest being some 60 times heavier than the smallest. Most are rather chunky birds, from about 30 cm (1 foot) in length and 250 grams (0.5 pound) in weight in the African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus) to 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and weighing more than 17 kg (37 pounds) with a 2-metre (6.6-foot) wingspan in the trumpeter swan (Cygnu...
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African pygmy squirrel (rodent)
...pygmy squirrel (Sciurillus pusillus) of the Amazon Basin weighs 33 to 45 grams (1 to 1.5 ounces), with a body 9 to 12 cm long and an equally long tail; but the African pygmy squirrel (Myosciurus pumilio) of the West African tropical forests is even smaller, at 13 to 20 grams, with a body length of 6 to 8 cm and a somewhat......
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African python (snake)
...of Indonesia. Other related genera inhabit New Guinea and Australia. Some Australian pythons (genus Liasis) never grow much longer than one metre, but some pythons of Africa (P. sebae), India (P. molurus), New Guinea (L. papuanus), and Australia (L.......
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African Queen, The (film by Huston [1951])
Other Nominees...
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African Queen, The (work by Forester)
...Brown on Resolution (1929), The Gun (1933), The General (1936), and The Ship (1943). Many of his novels were adapted to motion pictures; most notable among them is The African Queen (1935), which was made into an extraordinarily successful film in 1951 by writer James Agee and director John Huston. Forester also wrote biographies and history books,......
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African red alder (tree)
...primarily to tropical areas of the Southern Hemisphere. Several of the trees are cultivated as ornamentals, including Geissois racemosa, a New Zealand species with crimson flowers, and Cunonia capensis, a small southern African tree with clusters of small white flowers....
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African religions
religious beliefs and practices of the peoples of Africa. It should be noted that any attempt to generalize about the nature of “African religions” risks wrongly implying that there is homogeneity among all African cultures. In fact, Africa is a vast continent encompassing both geographic variation and tremendous cultural diversity. Each of the more than 50 modern nations that occupy...
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African replacement (scientific theory)
...passed some postulated critical threshold. This theory depends on accepting a supposed erectus-sapiens threshold as correct. It is opposed by supporters of the “out of Africa” hypothesis, who find the threshold concept at variance with the modern genetic theory of evolutionary change....
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African river martin (bird)
...and white bird, breeds throughout the Northern Hemisphere; it makes nest burrows in sandbanks. The house martin (Delichon urbica), blue-black above and white-rumped, is common in Europe. The African river martin (Pseudochelidon eurystomina) of the Congo River is black, with red eyes and bill; it is sometimes placed in a separate family, Pseudochelidonidae. The so-called......
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African rock crawler (insect)
any of approximately 15 species of insects found only in certain regions of Africa, the common name of which is derived from their stout appearance and predatory behaviour. These insects have modified raptorial legs that give them the ability to grasp their prey. While some species attack and capture prey equal to their own size, other species are slow-moving and capture smaller...
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African Roscius, The (British actor)
American-born English tragedian, considered one of the greatest interpreters of his day....
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African sand fox (mammal)
...slopes and streambeds of Nepal; length to 70 cm, weight up to 4 kg or more; colour is variable.V. pallida (pale fox)1.5–3.5-kg fox inhabiting the Sahel savannas and southern desert margin of northern Africa; coat yellow to brown; similar in form to the red fox, ...
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African sandarac tree (plant)
(Tetraclinis articulata), only species of the genus Tetraclinis of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), found in hot, dry areas of southeastern Spain, Malta, and northern Africa....
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African savanna elephant (mammal)
Within the elephant family, Asian elephants (genus Elephas) and mammoths (genus Mammathus) are more closely related to one another than African elephants (genus Loxodonta) are to either. Molecular studies have recently corroborated the morphological studies that have long suggested this. The mastodons that......
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African sculpture
Within the elephant family, Asian elephants (genus Elephas) and mammoths (genus Mammathus) are more closely related to one another than African elephants (genus Loxodonta) are to either. Molecular studies have recently corroborated the morphological studies that have long suggested this. The mastodons that.........
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African sequence (geology)
...The oldest surfaces he recognized, termed Gondwana, were Mesozoic in age and related to the ancient landmass of Pangaea and its subsequent breakup during the Mesozoic. A younger surface, called the African or Moorland, developed during the Late Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic by the stripping of weathered materials from the ancient Gondwana surfaces. Younger surfaces developed during the Late......
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African Shield (geology)
...of younger, folded rocks. Shield areas are not recognized in central Europe, but farther south nearly one-half of the continent of Africa exhibits Precambrian rocks in outcrop (at the surface). The African Shield, sometimes called the Ethiopian Shield, extends eastward to include western Saudi Arabia and the eastern half of Madagascar....
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African skimmer (bird)
...of younger, folded rocks. Shield areas are not recognized in central Europe, but farther south nearly one-half of the continent of Africa exhibits Precambrian rocks in outcrop (at the surface). The African Shield, sometimes called the Ethiopian Shield, extends eastward to include western Saudi Arabia and the eastern half of Madagascar.......
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African slave trade
...of younger, folded rocks. Shield areas are not recognized in central Europe, but farther south nearly one-half of the continent of Africa exhibits Precambrian rocks in outcrop (at the surface). The African Shield, sometimes called the Ethiopian Shield, extends eastward to include western Saudi Arabia and the eastern half of Madagascar..........
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African Slave Trade and Its Remedy, The (work by Buxton)
...Discipline, based on his inspection of Newgate Prison, London. In 1823 he joined Wilberforce and others in founding the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The ideas he expressed in The African Slave Trade and Its Remedy (1839) inspired the British government to send an expedition to the Niger River Delta in 1841. Intended to make anti-slave trade treaties with the......
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African Slavery in America (work by Paine)
...regular employment was helping to edit the Pennsylvania Magazine. In addition Paine published numerous articles and some poetry, anonymously or under pseudonyms. One such article was “African Slavery in America,” a scathing denunciation of the African slave trade, which he signed “Justice and Humanity.”...
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African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis)
infection from the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma brucei gambiense or the closely related subspecies T. brucei rhodesiense, transmitted by the tsetse fly. Sleeping sickness is characterized by fever, inflammation of the lymph nodes, and involvement of the brain and spinal cord leading to profound lethargy, frequently ending i...
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African Socialist Movement (political party, Republic of the Congo)
Two major parties existed at independence: the African Socialist Movement (Mouvement Socialiste Africain; MSA) and the Democratic Union for the Defense of African Interests (Union Démocratique pour la Défense des Intérêts Africains; UDDIA). The two parties pitted the north against the south, an opposition that stemmed from the privileged place occupied by the southern.....
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African spiny mouse (mammal genus)
any of more than a dozen species of small to medium-sized rodents characterized by the harsh, inflexible spiny hairs of their upperparts. African spiny mice have large eyes and ears and scaly, nearly bald tails that are shorter than or about as long as the body. The tail is brittle and breaks off readily either as a whole or in part. The golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatu...
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African spoonbill (bird)
...is a crested white bird about 60 cm long with cinnamon buff on the foreneck. It breeds in marshes of central and southern Europe and Asia, south to Egypt, India, and Taiwan. Others are the African spoonbill (P. alba); the lesser spoonbill (P. minor) of eastern Asia; and two Australian species, the royal, or black-billed, spoonbill (P. regia), and the yellow-billed,......
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“African Standard” (Kenyan newspaper)
English-language daily newspaper published in Nairobi, Kenya. It was established in Mombasa in 1902 as a weekly, the African Standard, by A.M. Jeevanjee, an Indian merchant. Jeevanjee hired an English editor-reporter, W.H. Tiller, to oversee the newspaper’s operations. In 1910 the paper became a daily, changed its name to the East African Sta...
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African Standby Force (African peacekeeping force)
...After a transition period, the African Union replaced the OAU in July 2002. In 2004 the AU’s Pan-African Parliament was inaugurated, and the organization agreed to create a peacekeeping force, the African Standby Force, of about 15,000 soldiers....
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African striped weasel (mammal)
...genus Ictonyx), are somewhat smaller and are often found in agricultural areas. Their bodies are spotted black-and-white, and the tail, face, and back are striped. The African striped weasel (Poecilogale albinucha) is found in Africa south of the Congo Basin. Similar in habit to weasels of the genus Mustela,....
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African Students’ Organization (international organization)
...Nkrumah came to describe himself as a “nondenominational Christian and a Marxist socialist.” He also immersed himself in political work, reorganizing and becoming president of the African Students’ Organization of the United States and Canada. He left the United States in May 1945 and went to England, where he organized the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester....
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African subkingdom (floral region)
...world’s largest concentration of antelopes, giraffes, gorillas, and rhinoceroses, as well as a rich variety of other animals. The vegetational division roughly corresponding to this region is the African division of the Indoafrican subkingdom (which excludes the southern tip of Africa)....
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African swine fever (animal disease)
highly contagious and usually fatal viral disease of swine that is characterized by high fever, lesions, leukopenia (abnormally low count of white blood cells), elevated pulse and respiration rate, and death within four to seven days after the onset of fever....
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African theatre (art)
an art, concerned almost exclusively with live performances in which the action is precisely planned to create a coherent and significant sense of drama, as it is presented in sub-Saharan Africa....
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African Trade Union Confederation (international labour organization)
...organization founded in 1973 at Addis Ababa, Eth., on the initiative of the Organization of African Unity and replacing the former All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF; founded in 1961) and the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC; founded in 1962). The ATUC from its founding had encouraged member affiliation with other international union organizations, while the more militant AATUF ha...
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African Trade Union Unity, Organization of (international labour organization)
labour organization founded in 1973 at Addis Ababa, Eth., on the initiative of the Organization of African Unity and replacing the former All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF; founded in 1961) and the African Trade Union Confederation (ATUC; founded in 1962). The ATUC from its founding had encouraged member affiliation with other international union organizations, while the more militant AATU...
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African Tragedy, An (novel by Dhlomo)
African novelist, journalist, and editor who wrote in Zulu and English. His An African Tragedy (1928) was the first novel in English by a Zulu writer....
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African trypanosomiasis (trypanosomiasis)
infection from the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma brucei gambiense or the closely related subspecies T. brucei rhodesiense, transmitted by the tsetse fly. Sleeping sickness is characterized by fever, inflammation of the lymph nodes, and involvement of the brain and spinal cord leading to profound lethargy, frequently ending i...
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African tulip tree
Among the important ornamental and useful members are the African tulip tree (Spathodea), calabash tree (Crescentia cujete), sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata), trumpet creeper (Campsis), cross vine (Bignonia capreolata), cat’s claw (Macfadyena unguis-cati), the timber-producing West Indian boxwood (Tabebuia), jacaranda (Jacaranda), empres...
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African Union (intergovernmental organization, Africa)
intergovernmental organization, established in 2002, to promote unity and solidarity of African states, to spur economic development, and to promote international cooperation. The African Union (AU) replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU’s headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia....
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African Unity Cup (football)
...an Egyptian who was the first CAF president. That trophy was permanently awarded to Ghana in 1978 when it became the first country to win the tournament three times. The next trophy, known as the African Unity Cup, was awarded permanently to Cameroon in 2000 when that team claimed its third championship since 1978. In 2002 a new trophy called the Cup of Nations was introduced....
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African Unity, Organization of (intergovernmental organization, Africa)
intergovernmental organization, established in 2002, to promote unity and solidarity of African states, to spur economic development, and to promote international cooperation. The African Union (AU) replaced the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The AU’s headquarters are in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia....
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African vine snake (reptile)
...belong to the genera Ahaetulla (Asian vine snakes), Oxybelis (New World vine snakes), and Thelotornis (African vine snakes); however, some authorities also place the genera Imantodes and Langaha in this group. African vine snakes, which inhabit......
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