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Nilson, Johann Esaiss (German artist)
...was established about 1712, continuing until about 1840. Most of the subjects used at Frankfurt and Hanau were repeated at Nürnberg, as well as designs based on the the Rococo engravings of J.E. Nilson (1721–88), which were also popular at many of the porcelain factories. The Rococo style, which spread from France to Germany about the second quarter of the 18th century, is......
Nilson, Lars Fredrik (Swedish chemist)
...of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table. Scandium is a silvery-white, rather soft metal. After Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev predicted (1871) its existence, tentatively calling it ekaboron, Lars Fredrik Nilson discovered (1879) its oxide, scandia, in the rare-earth minerals gadolinite and euxenite, and Per Teodor Cleve (later in 1879) identified scandium with the hypothetical ekaboron....
Nilsson, Birgit (Swedish singer)
Swedish operatic soprano, celebrated as a Wagnerian interpreter and known for her powerful, rich voice....
Nilsson, Dan-Eric (Swedish zoologist)
The third type of superposition eye, discovered in 1988 in the crab genus Macropipus by Swedish zoologist Dan-Eric Nilsson, has optical elements that use a combination of a single lens and a parabolic mirror. The lens focuses an image near the top of the clear zone (similar to an apposition eye), but oblique rays are intercepted by a parabolic mirror surface that lines the......
Nilsson, Märta Birgit (Swedish singer)
Swedish operatic soprano, celebrated as a Wagnerian interpreter and known for her powerful, rich voice....
Nilus of Ancyra, Saint (Greek abbot)
Greek Byzantine abbot and author of extensive ascetical literature that influenced both Eastern and Western monasticism. He also participated in the prevalent theological controversies concerning the Trinity and the person and work of Christ....
Nilus of Rossano, Saint (abbot)
abbot and promoter of Greek monasticism in Italy, who founded several communities of monks in the region of Calabria following the Greek rule of St. Basil of Caesarea. A supporter of the regular successors to the papal crown in their controversies with antipopes, he also helped establish (1004) the noted abbey of Grottaferrat...
Nilus the Ascetic (Greek abbot)
Greek Byzantine abbot and author of extensive ascetical literature that influenced both Eastern and Western monasticism. He also participated in the prevalent theological controversies concerning the Trinity and the person and work of Christ....
Nilus the Younger (abbot)
abbot and promoter of Greek monasticism in Italy, who founded several communities of monks in the region of Calabria following the Greek rule of St. Basil of Caesarea. A supporter of the regular successors to the papal crown in their controversies with antipopes, he also helped establish (1004) the noted abbey of Grottaferrat...
nim (game)
ancient game of obscure origin in which two players alternate in removing objects from different piles, with the player who removes the last object winning in the normal play variant and losing in another common variant....
NIMA (United States government agency)
...and importance have grown with advances in surveillance technology. Its programs are perhaps the most expensive—and useful—sources of intelligence available to the U.S. government. The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) was created in 1996 under the aegis of the Department of Defense to produce imagery intelligence for the U.S. military and other government agencies....
Nima Yushij (Iranian writer)
...freedom of expression previously won was cut short, although the modernizing policies of the regime were indirectly helpful in creating the conditions for the emergence of a new Persian literature. Nima Yushij was the first to propose a radical renewal of Persian poetry, not only of its contents but also of its prosody and imagery, but he found the opposing forces of tradition to be very......
Nimach (India)
city, western Madhya Pradesh state, central India, located on a 1,640-foot- (500-metre-) high, barren basaltic ridge....
Nimandi (Hindu sect)
Telugu-speaking Brahman, yogi, minor philosopher, and prominent astronomer who founded the devotional sect called Nimbārkas, Nimandi, or Nimāvats, who worshiped the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa) and his consort, Rādhā....
Nimatron (mathematical device)
...is possible to program a computer (or build a special machine) that will play a perfect game. Such a machine was invented by American physicist Edward Uhler Condon and an associate; their automatic Nimatron was exhibited at the New York World’s Fair in 1940....
Nimāvat (Hindu sect)
Telugu-speaking Brahman, yogi, minor philosopher, and prominent astronomer who founded the devotional sect called Nimbārkas, Nimandi, or Nimāvats, who worshiped the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa) and his consort, Rādhā....
Nimba, Mount (mountain, West Africa)
...of the country consists of high savanna lying mostly 1,000 feet (300 metres) above sea level. Most of the western border with Liberia and Guinea is shaped by mountain ranges, whose highest point, Mount Nimba (5,748 feet [1,752 metres]; see also Nimba Range), is situated in the the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve (designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 198...
Nimba otter shrew (mammal)
...a slightly shorter tail. More shrewlike in appearance are the two dwarf species (genus Micropotamogale), the Ruwenzori otter shrew (M. ruwenzorii) and the Nimba otter shrew (M. lamottei), which weigh 60 to 150 grams and have a body 12 to 20 cm long and a shorter tail. The water-repellent fur of all three is soft and dense....
Nimba Range (mountains, Africa)
mountain chain extending in a southwest–northeast direction along the Guinea–Côte d’Ivoire–Liberia border. It reaches its highest elevation at Mount Nimba (5,748 feet [1,752 metres]). Surrounded by lowland rain forest...
Nimbāditya (Indian philosopher)
Telugu-speaking Brahman, yogi, minor philosopher, and prominent astronomer who founded the devotional sect called Nimbārkas, Nimandi, or Nimāvats, who worshiped the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa) and his consort, Rādhā....
Nimbārka (Hindu sect)
Telugu-speaking Brahman, yogi, minor philosopher, and prominent astronomer who founded the devotional sect called Nimbārkas, Nimandi, or Nimāvats, who worshiped the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa) and his consort, Rādhā....
Nimbārka (Indian philosopher)
Telugu-speaking Brahman, yogi, minor philosopher, and prominent astronomer who founded the devotional sect called Nimbārkas, Nimandi, or Nimāvats, who worshiped the deity Krishna (Kṛṣṇa) and his consort, Rādhā....
nimbostratus (meteorology)
...are cirrus, cirrocumulus, and cirrostratus. Middle clouds, 7 to 2 km (23,000 to 6,500 feet), are altocumulus and altostratus. Low clouds, 2 to 0 km (6,500 to 0 feet), are stratocumulus, stratus, and nimbostratus. A cloud that extends through all three heights is called a cumulonimbus. A cloud at the surface is called a fog....
nimbus (art)
in art, radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. In Hellenistic and Roman art the sun-god Helios and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. Because of its pagan origin, the form was avoided in Early Christian art, but a simple circular nim...
Nimeiri, Gaafar Mohamed el- (president of The Sudan)
major general, commander of the armed forces, and president of The Sudan (1971–85)....
Nimeiry, Gaafar Mohamed el- (president of The Sudan)
major general, commander of the armed forces, and president of The Sudan (1971–85)....
Nîmes (France)
city, Gard département, Languedoc-Roussillon région, southern France, south-southwest of Lyon. Situated at the foot of some barren hills called the Monts Garrigues to the north and west of the city, Nîmes stands in a vine-planted plain extending south and east....
NIMH (United States agency)
In 1946 the passage of the National Mental Health Act in the United States made possible the creation of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 1949 within what later became the Department of Health and Human Services. State hospital systems were reorganized with increased budgets, while significant federal funds were made available for research, training, and clinical facilities.......
Nimitz, Chester W. (United States admiral)
commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. One of the navy’s foremost administrators and strategists, he commanded all land and sea forces in the central Pacific area....
Nimitz, Chester William (United States admiral)
commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. One of the navy’s foremost administrators and strategists, he commanded all land and sea forces in the central Pacific area....
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier (naval ship)
...and steamed for more than three years before refueling was necessary. The Enterprise displaced 75,700 tons, carried 100 jet aircraft, and could reach more than 30 knots. Beginning in 1975, 10 Nimitz-class carriers superseded the Enterprise. These 81,600-ton carriers were powered by only two nuclear reactors, yet they reached speeds comparable to the Enterprise, and their......
nimonic (metallurgy)
These advances in processing have been accompanied by the development of new “superalloys.” Superalloys are high-strength, often complex alloys that are resistant to high temperatures and severe mechanical stress and that exhibit high surface stability. They are commonly classified into three major categories: nickel-based, cobalt-based, and iron-based. Nickel-based superalloys......
Nimoy, Leonard (American actor and director)
...not all of them as friendly as the Vulcans, most notably the Klingons, bellicose adversaries who frequently crossed paths with the Enterprise. Kirk’s principal confidante was Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), a Vulcan whose actions were ruled by logic unsullied by emotion. The pointedly multicultural crew also included “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), the ship’s iras...
Nimravidae (extinct mammal family)
Sabre-toothed cats existed from the Eocene through the Pleistocene Epoch (55.8 million to 11,700 years ago). According to the fossil record, the Nimravidae were extant from about 37 million to 7 million years ago. Only distantly related to felids, they include the genera Hoplophoneus, Nimravus, Dinictis, and Barbourofelis. The Machairodontinae,......
Nimravus (extinct mammal)
...According to the fossil record, the Nimravidae were extant from about 37 million to 7 million years ago. Only distantly related to felids, they include the genera Hoplophoneus, Nimravus, Dinictis, and Barbourofelis. The Machairodontinae, extant from about 12 million to less than 10,000 years ago, include the more familiar Smilodon as well as......
Nimrod (biblical figure)
legendary biblical figure, described in Gen. 10:8–12 as “the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The only other references to Nimrod in the Old Testament are Mic. 5:6, where Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, and I Chron. 1:10. The beginning of his kingdom is sa...
Nimrūd (ancient city, Iraq)
ancient Assyrian city situated south of Mosul in northern Iraq. The city was first excavated by A.H. Layard during 1845–51 and afterward principally by M.E.L. (later Sir Max) Mallowan (1949–58)....
Nimwegen (Netherlands)
gemeente (municipality), eastern Netherlands, on the Waal River (southern arm of the Rhine). It originated as the Roman settlement of Noviomagus and is the oldest town in the Netherlands. Often an imperial residence in the Carolingian period, it became a free city and later joined the Hanseatic League. In 1579 it subscribed to the Union of Utre...
Nimwegen, Treaties of (European history)
peace treaties of 1678–79 that ended the Dutch War, in which France had opposed Spain and the Dutch Republic (now the Netherlands). France gained advantages by arranging terms with each of its enemies separately....
Nimzowitsch, Aron (Latvian chess player)
Latvian-born chess master and theoretician who was renowned for his book My System (1925) but failed to win a world championship, despite many attempts....
Nimzowitsch-Indian defense (chess)
One of Nimzowitsch’s most influential wins, in which he displays the Nimzowitsch-Indian defense, is annotated and viewable as Game 13 of 25 historic games ....
Nin, Anaïs (French author)
French-born author of novels and short stories whose literary reputation rests on the eight published volumes of her personal diaries. Her writing shows the influence of the Surrealist movement and her study of psychoanalysis under Otto Rank....
Nina (ancient city, Iraq)
in Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian city goddess of Nina (modern Surghul, Iraq) in the southeastern part of the Lagash region of Mesopotamia. According to tradition, Nanshe’s father Enki (Akkadian: Ea) organized the universe and placed her in charge of fish and fishing. Nanshe was also described as a divine soothsayer and dream interpreter. Although at times overshadowed by her sister Inanna...
Niña (ship)
...lay in its capacity for sailing to windward. It was also capable of remarkable speed. Two of the three ships in which Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492 were caravels, the Niña and the Pinta....
Ninan Cuyuchi (Inca noble)
...appoint any one of his sons as his successor, as long as one of them had “divine” approval registered on the lungs of a sacrificed llama. There were several candidates for the throne: Ninan Cuyuchi who was in Tumipampas with his father; Atahuallpa (’Ataw Wallpa), who was also in the north; Huascar (Washkar), who was apparently in Cuzco; Manco Inca (Manqo ’Inka), whos...
Ninazu (Sumerian deity)
in Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian deity, the city god of Enegir, which was located on the Euphrates River between Larsa and Ur in the southern orchard region. Ninazu was also the city god of Eshnunna (modern Tall al-Asmar in eastern...
nine (number)
In contrast to 8, the number 9 often represents pain or sadness. The 16th-century Catholic theologian Peter Bungus pointed out that the Ninth Psalm predicts the coming of the Antichrist. In Islamic cosmology the universe is made from nine spheres—the traditional eight of Ptolemy, plus a ninth added by the Arab astronomer Thābit ibn Qurrah about 900 ce to explain the pre...
Nine (musical by Marshall)
...mastermind John Dillinger (played by Johnny Depp), who was responsible for robbing a string of American banks during the Great Depression. In 2009 Cotillard also appeared in Nine. The musical featured an all-star cast that included Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, and Kate Hudson. Cotillard furthered her career with a role as a femme fatale......
Nine Chains to the Moon (work by Fuller)
Fuller’s book Nine Chains to the Moon (1938) is an outline of his general technological strategy for maximizing the social applications of energy resources. He further developed this and other themes in such works as No More Secondhand God (1962), Utopia or Oblivion (1969), Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (1969), Earth, Inc. (1973), and Critical......
“Nine Chapters” (Chinese mathematics)
The most important work in the history of mathematics in Chinese is Jiuzhang suanshu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art), which contains arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric algorithms, presented in relation to problems, some of which evoke the duties of the civil administration: surveying fields (areas), levying taxes according to......
“Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, The” (Chinese mathematics)
The most important work in the history of mathematics in Chinese is Jiuzhang suanshu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art), which contains arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric algorithms, presented in relation to problems, some of which evoke the duties of the civil administration: surveying fields (areas), levying taxes according to......
Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Procedures, The (Chinese mathematics)
The most important work in the history of mathematics in Chinese is Jiuzhang suanshu (The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art), which contains arithmetic, algebraic, and geometric algorithms, presented in relation to problems, some of which evoke the duties of the civil administration: surveying fields (areas), levying taxes according to......
Nine Clans (Asian history)
This new empire comprised many tribes and seems to have been headed by a smaller tribal confederation standing under Uighur leadership. This federation is referred to in Chinese sources as the Nine Clans (Jiuxing), whereas Islamic sources and the Orhon inscriptions call it the Tokuz Oğuz. There are some indications that the Uighur empire stood under dual leadership, the ......
Nine Heroes (tapestry)
...to Charles V, king of France, only 67 of the original 105 scenes have survived. A slightly later series (c. 1385) possibly woven in the same Parisian workshop is the Nine Heroes. This set is not a religious narrative but illustrates the chivalric text Histoire des neuf preux (“Story of the Nine Heroes”) by the early......
Nine Inch Nails (American rock act)
American alternative rock act known for dark and tortured industrial rock songs. The “band” Nine Inch Nails was essentially a stage name for singer and multi-instrumentalist Trent Reznor (b. Michael Trent Reznor, May 17, 1965...
Nine Lives (album by Aerosmith)
...and Crazy. During this time, Aerosmith was a constant presence on MTV, and the group won numerous music video awards. The band’s next release, Nine Lives (1997), reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart, and the single Pink garnered a Grammy....
Nine Men’s Morris (game)
board game of great antiquity, most popular in Europe during the 14th century and played throughout the world in various forms....
“Nine, Novena” (work by Lins)
...and Os gestos (1957; “Gestures”)—written in a fairly traditional style, Lins broke with linear narration to create the three works that secured his reputation: Nove, Novena (1966; Nine, Novena), consisting of nine narratives; Avalovara (1973; Eng. trans. Avalovara), a novel; and A rainha dos cárceres da......
Nine Officers’ Plot (Turkish history)
...upon the DP became stronger, and it was accused of unconstitutional action. At the same time, the Democrats, fearing a revolution, redoubled control. In December 1959 an alleged plot (the so-called Nine Officers’ Plot) was unearthed; some of the accused were so clearly innocent that punishment ultimately fell upon the accuser, but it appears that there indeed had been a conspiracy of som...
Nine Oguz (Asian history)
This new empire comprised many tribes and seems to have been headed by a smaller tribal confederation standing under Uighur leadership. This federation is referred to in Chinese sources as the Nine Clans (Jiuxing), whereas Islamic sources and the Orhon inscriptions call it the Tokuz Oğuz. There are some indications that the Uighur empire stood under dual leadership, the ......
Nine Types of Light (album by TV on the Radio)
...a solo album titled Rain Machine in 2009, and the following year Sitek’s pop group Maximum Balloon released its debut LP. The group returned to the studio for Nine Types of Light (2011), an ambitious departure that traded the driving bass of Dear Science for torch-song lyrics and rock-ballad instrumentation....
Nine Ways (ancient Greece)
...Thasos was reduced and forced to give up all of its mines and mainland possessions. A further attempt at this time to extend Athenian northern interest, the colonizing expedition sent to the Nine Ways, the site of the later Amphipolis, was less successful. If silver was one coveted commodity, ship-building timber was another, and the desire for the latter was a large part of Athens’......
nine-banded armadillo (mammal)
...and tail. In all but one species the carapace is nearly hairless. The carapace is made of bony transverse bands covered with tough scales that are derived from skin tissue. The three-, six-, and nine-banded armadillos are named for the number of movable bands in their armour. Only one species, the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), is found in the United States. Its range......
Nine-Power Pact
...Pact negotiated at the conference (November 1921–February 1922) enjoined the United States, Japan, Britain, and France to respect each other’s Pacific island dependencies for 10 years. A Nine-Power Pact obliged all parties to respect “the sovereignty, the independence, and the territorial and administrative integrity of the state of China” and the commercial Open Doo...
Nine-Power Treaty
...Pact negotiated at the conference (November 1921–February 1922) enjoined the United States, Japan, Britain, and France to respect each other’s Pacific island dependencies for 10 years. A Nine-Power Pact obliged all parties to respect “the sovereignty, the independence, and the territorial and administrative integrity of the state of China” and the commercial Open Doo...
nine-spined stickleback (fish)
...The three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is widespread in the Northern Hemisphere in fresh and salt water. It is 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) long and has three dorsal spines. The nine-spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius), a species that is similar in size to G. aculeatus but has more dorsal spines, is another widely distributed form found in the Northern......
nine-spotted ladybird beetle (insect)
...inch) long. They have short legs and are usually brightly coloured with black, yellow, or reddish markings. The colour of the wing covers and number of spots vary among species. The pattern of the nine-spotted ladybird beetle (Coccinella novemnotata), which has four black spots on each reddish orange wing cover (elytron) and one shared spot, is an example of the typical colour pattern......
nineholes (game)
...or a hand’s span from them. In various pot games (a pot is a small hole in the ground), including moshie, the player tries to pitch his own marbles or knock his opponents’ marbles into a hole. In bridgeboard, or nineholes, a board with several numbered arches is set up, and players try to shoot their marbles through the arches. A Chinese marble game consists of kicking a marble ag...
ninen nashi (Japanese history)
...the Order to Drive Away Foreign Ships (Ikokusen uchiharairei), which also enjoined coastal authorities to arrest or kill any foreigners who came ashore. This was also known as the ninen nashi or “no second thought” law. It was never fully carried out because of opposition by a number of officials, including Matsudaira Sadanobu. In 1842, upon hearing the news of......
ninepins (game)
bowling game that probably originated in continental Europe during the Middle Ages. Many regional variations of the game developed. Early German ninepins lanes were made of clay or cinders; later a single long plank about one foot wide was added, on which the ball was rolled. The pins were set up in a square formation with one corner toward the bowler. These features are retained in the modern ga...
nineteen (number)
Eclipses of the Sun tend to recur in periods of 19 years. The Babylonians considered the 19th day of the month to be unlucky because it was 49 days from the beginning of the previous month (add 30), and, since 49 = 7 × 7, it was a day of great portent for good or evil. In Islamic numerology 19 is the value of the word Wahid (Arabic:......
Nineteen Counties (historical area, Australia)
...economic life. Entrepreneurs strove hard but did not yet develop a staple industry. Farmers and graziers began to fill out an arc 150–200 miles around Sydney; this area was designated as the Nineteen Counties in 1829, and settlement beyond that limit was discouraged....
Nineteen Day Feast (Bahāʾī faith)
...obligation to pray daily; to abstain totally from narcotics, alcohol, or any substances that affect the mind; to practice monogamy; to obtain the consent of parents to marriage; and to attend the Nineteen Day Feast on the first day of each month of the Bahāʾī calendar. If capable, those between the ages of 15 and 70 are required to fast 19 days a year, going without food or...
Nineteen Eighty-four (work by Orwell)
novel by the English author George Orwell published in 1949 as a warning against totalitarianism. The book is set in a future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian states. The book’s hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of these states whose job is to falsify archives for the Ministry of...
Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel (work by Hirsch)
Hirsch was a rabbi successively in Oldenburg, Emden, Nikolsburg, and Frankfurt am Main. While still chief rabbi at Oldenburg, he published Neunzehn Briefe über Judenthum (1836; Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel), in which he expounded Neo-Orthodoxy. This system required two chief courses of action: (1) an educational program that combined strict training in the Torah (Jewish Law)....
Nineteen Propositions (British history)
...in York, where he ordered the courts of justice to assemble and where royalist members of both houses gradually joined him. In June the majority of the members remaining in London sent the King the Nineteen Propositions, which included demands that no ministers should be appointed without parliamentary approval, that the army should be put under parliamentary control, and that Parliament should...
Nineteen, The (work by Fadeyev)
...He joined the Communist Party in 1918 and fought in Siberia against both the White armies and the Japanese. Drawing on this experience he wrote his first important novel, Razgrom (1927; The Nineteen), which deals with a ragged band of 19 Red guerrilla fighters trapped between the Whites and the Japanese. Each of the 19 characters is treated in the round. Especially notable is......
Nineteen Twenties (American history)
...He joined the Communist Party in 1918 and fought in Siberia against both the White armies and the Japanese. Drawing on this experience he wrote his first important novel, Razgrom (1927; The Nineteen), which deals with a ragged band of 19 Red guerrilla fighters trapped between the Whites and the Japanese. Each of the 19 characters is treated in the round. Especially notable is........
Nineteenth Amendment (United States Constitution)
amendment (1920) to the Constitution of the United States that officially extended the right to vote to women....
Ninety Mile Beach (beach, New Zealand)
western coast of Aupori Peninsula, the northernmost extension of North Auckland Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand. It stretches for 55 mi (88 km) from Scott Point (northwest)...
Ninety-five Theses (work by Luther)
propositions for debate concerned with the question of indulgences, written (in Latin) and possibly posted by Martin Luther on the door of the Schlosskirche (Castle Church), Wittenberg, on Oct. 31, 1517. This event came to be considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. (See Researcher’s Note.)...
Ninety-Nines, The (aviation organization)
...from which women were excluded. Following this competition, several of the contestants decided to form an association of licensed women pilots, which was officially incorporated in 1931 as The Ninety-Nines, after the number of charter members. Thaden served as the organization’s first secretary and Earhart as its first president; The Ninety-Nines exists to this day. On Sept. 4, 1936,......
Ninety-two in the Shade (novel by McGuane)
...University (B.A., 1962), Yale University (M.F.A., 1965), and Stanford University. McGuane’s first three novels—The Sporting Club (1969), The Bushwhacked Piano (1971), and Ninety-two in the Shade (1973)—present the central plot and theme of his early fiction: a man, usually from a secure family, exiles himself from American society (which he despises for...
Ninetyeast Ridge (aseismic ridge, Indian Ocean)
Other prominent aseismic ridges include the Ninetyeast Ridge and the Chagos-Laccadive Plateau in the Indian Ocean and the Walvis Ridge and Rio Grande Rise in the South Atlantic. The Ninetyeast Ridge is thought to have originated from hot spot volcanic activity now located at the Kerguelen Islands near Antarctica. These islands lie atop the Kerguelen Plateau, which also originated from volcanism......
Nineveh (ancient city, Iraq)
the oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian Empire, situated on the east bank of the Tigris opposite modern Mosul, Iraq. Nineveh was located at the intersection of important north-south and east-west trade routes, and its proximity to a tributary of the Tigris, the Khawṣar River, added to the value of the fertile agricul...
Nineveh and Its Remains (work by Layard)
...Paul-Émile Botta at Nineveh and Khorsabad, and the Englishman Austen Henry Layard at Nimrud, Kuyunjik, Nabī Yūnus, and other sites. Layard’s popular account of his excavations, Nineveh and Its Remains (1849), became the earliest and one of the most successful archaeological best-sellers. In 1846 Henry Creswicke Rawlinson became the first man to decipher the Me...
ninfale d’Ameto, Il (work by Boccaccio)
The 10 or 12 years following Boccaccio’s return to Florence are the period of his full maturity, culminating in the Decameron. From 1341 to 1345 he worked on Il ninfale d’Ameto (“Ameto’s Story of the Nymphs”), in prose and terza rima; L’amorosa visione (“The Amorous Vision”; 1342–43), a mediocre allegorical poem of...
ninfale fiesolano, Il (work by Boccaccio)
...(“The Amorous Vision”; 1342–43), a mediocre allegorical poem of 50 short cantos in terza rima; the prose Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta (1343–44); and the poem Il ninfale fiesolano (perhaps 1344–45; “Tale of the Fiesole Nymph”), in ottava rima, on the love of the shepherd Africo for the nymph Mensola....
Ning (American company)
...recaptured some of its former glory among users in Southeast Asia, and China’s QQ grew from an instant messaging service to become a major force in the SNS realm. Perhaps most adventurous was Ning, which launched the final version of its site in 2007. Ning users created their own social networks from the ground up, using software that required very little programming expertise. Upgrades,...
Ning-hsia-hui-tsu Tzu-chih-ch’ü (autonomous region, China)
autonomous region located in north-central China. It is bounded to the east in part by Shaanxi province; to the east, south, and west by Gansu province; and to the north by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Most of the region is desert, but the vast plain of the Huang He...
Ning-po (China)
city, northeastern Zhejiang sheng (province), China. Ningbo (“Calm Waves”) is situated in the low-lying coastal plain on the Yong River, some 16 miles (25 km) upstream from its mouth in Hangzhou Bay, at the confluence where two tributaries, the Yuyao and Fenghua rivers, j...
Ning-tsung (emperor of Song dynasty)
temple name (miaohao) of the 13th emperor of the Song dynasty (960–1279), whose reign (1195–1224) is noted as a period of intellectual and cultural achievement; Zhu Xi, the great Neo-Confucian philosopher, wrote some of his most famous works during this time. The government, however, was plagued by rising i...
Ningal (ancient goddess)
...fertility and prosperity on the cowherds, governing the rise of the waters, the growth of reeds, the increase of the herd, and therefore the quantity of dairy products produced. His consort, Ningal, was a reed goddess. Each spring, Nanna’s worshipers reenacted his mythological visit to his father, Enlil, at Nippur with a ritual journey, carrying with them the first dairy products of the....
Ningbo (China)
city, northeastern Zhejiang sheng (province), China. Ningbo (“Calm Waves”) is situated in the low-lying coastal plain on the Yong River, some 16 miles (25 km) upstream from its mouth in Hangzhou Bay, at the confluence where two tributaries, the Yuyao and Fenghua rivers, j...
“Ningen no joken” (film by Kobayashi Masaki)
Japanese motion-picture director whose 9 12-hour trilogy, Ningen no joken (The Human Condition: No Greater Love, 1959; Road to Eternity, 1959; A Soldier’s Prayer, 1961), a monumental criticism of war, constitutes the best example of his films of social concern....
Ningirsu (Sumerian deity)
in Mesopotamian religion, city god of Girsu (Ṭalʿah, or Telloh) in the Lagash region. Ninurta was the farmer’s version of the god of the thunder and rainstorms of the spring. He was also the power in the floods of spring and was god of the plow and of plowing. Ninurta’s earliest...
Ningishzida (Sumerian deity)
in Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian deity, city god of Gishbanda, near Ur in the southern orchard region. Although Ningishzida was a power of the netherworld, where he held the office of throne bearer, he seems to have originally been a tree god, for his name apparently means “Lord Productive Tree.” In particula...
Ningre-tongo (language)
creole language spoken in Suriname (formerly Dutch Guiana) in northeastern South America. Sranan is spoken by almost the entire population of Suriname as either a first or a second language, as well as by a large emigrant population in the Netherlands....
Ningsia (autonomous region, China)
autonomous region located in north-central China. It is bounded to the east in part by Shaanxi province; to the east, south, and west by Gansu province; and to the north by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Most of the region is desert, but the vast plain of the Huang He...
Ningsia plain (region, China)
...loess (wind-deposited soil)—which in some places is more than 300 feet (90 metres) deep—and the topography is generally fairly flat. Northern Ningxia is made up for the most part of the Ningxia plain of the Huang He. The river enters Ningxia from the Qinghai plateau in Gansu and flows east and then north into Inner Mongolia. West of the plain are the Helan Mountains. These mountai...