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Berbera (Somalia)
port, northwestern Somalia, on the Gulf of Aden; it is also under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Somaliland (a self-declared independent state without international recognition that falls within the recognized borders of Somalia) and serves as Somaliland’s primary port. Berbera lies at the terminus of roads from the towns of Hargeysa and Burko and has an airport. Kno...
berbere (seasoning)
...ga’at (porridge), and shiro (lentils). These dishes are seldom eaten without a side dish of fiery berbere, a locally produced pepper that figures prominently in Eritrean cooking. Eritrean food also shows many influences from the country’s erstwhile Italian occupiers, with such dishes...
Berberian, Ara (American singer)
American opera singer (b. May 14, 1930, Detroit, Mich.—d. Feb. 21, 2005, Boynton Beach, Fla.), performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for more than 20 years after having made his debut there in 1979 as Zacharie in Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète. His warm bass distinguished more than 100 roles, ranging from his operatic debut at age 28 with the Turnau Oper...
Berberidaceae (plant)
the barberry family of the buttercup order (Ranunculales), comprising 14 genera and 701 species of perennial herbs and shrubs. Its members occur in most temperate regions of the world. Many of the shrub forms have spines or spiny-margined leaves. The fo...
Berberidopsidaceae (plant family)
small order of woody evergreen dicotyledonous plants, made up of two families (Berberidopsidaceae and Aextoxicaceae) containing a total of four species, found only in Chile and Australia. It is one of the basal orders among the core eudicots (a major clade, or plants with a common genetic lineage)....
Berberidopsidales (plant order)
small order of woody evergreen dicotyledonous plants, made up of two families (Berberidopsidaceae and Aextoxicaceae) containing a total of four species, found only in Chile and Australia. It is one of the basal orders among the core eudicots (a major clade, or plants with a common genetic lineage)....
Berberis (plant)
any of almost 500 species of thorny evergreen or deciduous shrubs constituting the genus Berberis of the family Berberidaceae, mostly native to the North Temperate Zone, particularly Asia. Species of Oregon grape, previously included in Berberis but now assigned to the genus Mahonia, are sometimes called barberry (see Oregon grape)....
Berberis canadensis (plant)
The American or Allegheny barberry (B. canadensis) is native to eastern North America. Japanese barberry (B. thunbergii) often is cultivated as a hedge or ornamental shrub for its scarlet fall foliage and bright-red, long-lasting berries. Several varieties with purple or yellow foliage, spinelessness, or dwarf habit are useful in the landscape. Another widely planted species is......
Berberis julianae (plant)
...fall foliage and bright-red, long-lasting berries. Several varieties with purple or yellow foliage, spinelessness, or dwarf habit are useful in the landscape. Another widely planted species is wintergreen barberry (B. julianae), an evergreen shrub with bluish black berries. The cultivation of certain barberry species is prohibited in some regions because they harbour one of the......
Berberis thunbergii (plant)
The American or Allegheny barberry (B. canadensis) is native to eastern North America. Japanese barberry (B. thunbergii) often is cultivated as a hedge or ornamental shrub for its scarlet fall foliage and bright-red, long-lasting berries. Several varieties with purple or yellow foliage, spinelessness, or dwarf habit are useful in the landscape. Another widely planted species is......
Berberova, Nina (Russian-American writer)
Russian-born émigré writer, biographer, editor, and translator known for her examination of the plight of exiles....
Berberova, Nina Nikolayevna (Russian-American writer)
Russian-born émigré writer, biographer, editor, and translator known for her examination of the plight of exiles....
Berbers of North Africa, The (Berber)
The Berber revival and reassertion of cultural identity are integral parts of a larger quest for justice and political inclusion. Berbers scored a victory in Algeria in 1995 that is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the future of their communities....
Berbice (Dutch colony, Guyana)
...Linden for bauxite; smaller ships reach Malali, 25 miles (40 km) farther upstream; beyond lie numerous rapids. Its name is that of the old Dutch colony of Demerara, which joined with Essequibo and Berbice in 1831 to become British Guiana (from 1966 the independent republic of Guyana)....
Berbice language
...Nigerian languages written. As a result of the slave trade, the Kalabari language was transplanted to eastern Guyana, where it was spoken for decades and later became the basis of a Dutch creole, Berbice, now nearly extinct....
Berbice River (river, Guyana)
river in eastern Guyana. The Berbice River rises in the highlands of the Rupununi region and flows northward for 370 miles (595 km) through dense forests to the coastal plain. It enters the Atlantic Ocean at New Amsterdam, where its flow is obstructed by shallows. The ba...
Berbick, Trevor (Canadian boxer)
Jamaican-born Canadian boxer (b. Aug. 1, 1954, Port Antonio, Jam.—d. Oct. 28, 2006, Norwich, Jam.), defeated Muhammad Ali on Dec. 12, 1981, in a unanimous decision in a fight that would end Ali’s career. In 1986 Berbick won the World Boxin...
Berbie Palace (museum, Albi, France)
...glory is the Gothic Sainte-Cécile Cathedral (1277–1512), which was constructed in brick, without flying buttresses. Between the cathedral and the river is situated the red brick Berbie Palace, a 13th-century archbishop’s palace that is now a museum where the works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a native of Albi, are displayed. Below the palace is the 9th-century Old Bridge.....
Berceo, Gonzalo de (Spanish author)
the first author of verse in Castilian Spanish whose name is known....
berceuse (music)
musical composition, typically of the 19th century, having the character of a soothing refrain. While the word appears to imply no particular formal pattern, rocking rhythms in 68 time are common not only in the vocal prototype but also in its stylized instrumental counterparts, usually wri...
Berceuse (work by Chopin)
...are common not only in the vocal prototype but also in its stylized instrumental counterparts, usually written for piano. A well-known example of the latter is Frédéric Chopin’s Berceuse in D-flat Major (1843–44), with its elaborate figurations above a static, repetitive pattern in the left hand....
Berceuse (work by Diepenbrock)
Prominent among subsequent composers of berceuses were Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Maurice Ravel. An appealing example is the Berceuse for voice, piano, and cello (1912) by the early 20th-century Dutch composer Alphons Diepenbrock....
Berchem, Claes Pieterszoon (Dutch artist)
Dutch landscape painter and etcher who achieved wide popularity....
Berchem, Nicolaes Pietersz (Dutch artist)
Dutch landscape painter and etcher who achieved wide popularity....
Berchemia scandens (plant)
any of various woody climbing plants with pliant, tough stems, particularly Berchemia scandens, of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae), also known as rattan vine. B. scandens oc...
Bercher, Jean (French dancer)
French ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer often credited with establishing the comic ballet as a genre....
Berchet, Giovanni (Italian author)
...a battle was fought for Romanticism, particularly in Milan, where a Romantic periodical, Il Conciliatore (1818–19; “The Peacemaker”), was published. Giovanni Berchet (patriotic poet whose Lettera semiseria di Grisostomo al suo figliuolo [1816; “Half-Serious Letter from Grisostomo to His Son”] is an important manifest...
Berchtesgaden (Germany)
town, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. It is situated on the Berchtesgaden Stream in a deep valley surrounded on three sides by Austrian territory, just north of Berchtesgaden National Park. The opening of its salt mines in the 12th century was the beginning of many centuries of bitter rivalry with Salzburg and Hall...
Berchtesgadener Alps (mountains, Germany)
...(or calcareous) Alps extend from Austria into Germany. From west to east these are the Allgäuer Alps, the Wetterstein Alps—with Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze—and the Berchtesgadener Alps. Like the North German Plain, the Alpine Foreland is fundamentally a depression filled with Paleogene and Neogene gravels, sands, and clays, which are derived from the Al...
Berchtold, Leopold, Count von (Austro-Hungarian foreign minister)
Austro-Hungarian foreign minister whose ultimatum to Serbia (July 23, 1914) was followed (Aug. 1) by the outbreak of World War I....
Bercsényi, Miklós, Gróf (Hungarian count)
chief general in the Kuruc (anti-Habsburg) insurrection (1703–11) in Hungary and deputy to its leader, Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II of Transylvania....
Bercy (Paris, France)
The business quarter straddling the opposite end of the river features office buildings around the Austerlitz (Left Bank) and the Lyon (Right Bank) railroad stations. Bercy, which lies directly on the river on the Right Bank, was until this development one of the “secret cities” of Paris. This was the village of vintages, where merchants stored and sold their stocks of wine. Fenced.....
Berczenko, Israel (Israeli military commander)
Russian-born political commander of the Haganah, Israeli’s preindependence defense force....
Berdeshīr (Iran)
city, provincial capital, and ostān (province), southeastern Iran. The city lies on a sandy plain, 5,738 feet (1,749 metres) above sea level, under barren, rocky hills. Surrounded by mountains on the north and east, it has a cool climate and frequent sandstorms in the autumn and spring. The p...
Berdesīr (Iran)
city, provincial capital, and ostān (province), southeastern Iran. The city lies on a sandy plain, 5,738 feet (1,749 metres) above sea level, under barren, rocky hills. Surrounded by mountains on the north and east, it has a cool climate and frequent sandstorms in the autumn and spring. The p...
Berdiaev, Nikolay Aleksandrovich (Russian philosopher)
religious thinker, philosopher, and Marxist who became a critic of Russian implementation of Karl Marx’s views and a leading representative of Christian existentialism, a school of philosophy that stresses examination of the human condition within a Christian framework....
Berdiansk (Ukraine)
city and port, southeastern Ukraine. It lies along the Berdyansk Gulf of the Sea of Azov. Founded in 1827, the city is a holiday and health resort. Its industries have included engineering, oil processing, flour milling, and fishing. Pop. (2001) 121,692...
Berdichev (Ukraine)
city, northwestern Ukraine. Founded in 1482 as a Lithuanian fortress, Berdychiv was Polish from 1569 until 1793. The 16th-century fortress walls survive, as does the Roman Catholic church in which the French novelist Honoré de Balzac married Eveline Hanska, a wealthy Polish widow, in 1850 after an 18-year courtship. In the 19th centur...
Berdichevsky, Micah Joseph (Russian author)
author of works in Hebrew, German, and Yiddish. His impassioned writings, perhaps more than those of any other Jewish author, bear poignant witness to the “rent in the heart” of 19th-century Jews torn between tradition and assimilation. He was also the author of enduring reconstructions of Jewish legends and folklore....
Berdsk (Russia)
city, Novosibirsk oblast (province), central Russia. It lies along the Novosibirsk Reservoir just south of Novosibirsk city. Founded at the beginning of the 18th century as a fortress, it became a city in 1944. Berdsk’s industrial activities include flour milling and radio production. It is on the Turksib Railway. It is a recreation centre, and i...
Berdyansk (Ukraine)
city and port, southeastern Ukraine. It lies along the Berdyansk Gulf of the Sea of Azov. Founded in 1827, the city is a holiday and health resort. Its industries have included engineering, oil processing, flour milling, and fishing. Pop. (2001) 121,692...
Berdyayev, Nikolay Aleksandrovich (Russian philosopher)
religious thinker, philosopher, and Marxist who became a critic of Russian implementation of Karl Marx’s views and a leading representative of Christian existentialism, a school of philosophy that stresses examination of the human condition within a Christian framework....
Berdychiv (Ukraine)
city, northwestern Ukraine. Founded in 1482 as a Lithuanian fortress, Berdychiv was Polish from 1569 until 1793. The 16th-century fortress walls survive, as does the Roman Catholic church in which the French novelist Honoré de Balzac married Eveline Hanska, a wealthy Polish widow, in 1850 after an 18-year courtship. In the 19th centur...
Berdymukhammedov, Gurbanguly (president of Turkmenistan)
Turkmen dentist and politician who became president of Turkmenistan in 2006....
Berea (Kentucky, United States)
city, Madison county, central Kentucky, U.S., near the Cumberland Mountains, 14 miles (23 km) south of Richmond. The history of the city is centred on Berea College, founded by abolitionists in 1855 and one of the most highly regarded private colleges in the South. The school gives each student a full-tuition scholarship. In exchange, studen...
Berea College (college, Berea, Kentucky, United States)
...known for its equine research facilities. Murray State University, in Murray, in southwestern Kentucky, was established in 1922 and has been recognized for its ecosystems and waterways research. Berea College, founded in 1855 to serve needy students from the Appalachian Mountains, is a well-known regional centre for traditional arts. Most of Kentucky’s private colleges and schools are......
Berea Mission (mission, Lesotho)
...of Khoisan art in several rock shelters in the area, and the Cannibal Cave, a notorious hideout for cannibals during the Difaqane (migratory wars) in the early 19th century, are in the vicinity. Berea Mission (named for a Greek town where St. Paul found converts of remarkable zeal), which was maintained for 50 years by an Anglican missionary, William Wrenford, is a historical monument......
Berecci, Bartolommeo (Italian architect)
...whose wife came from the Sforza family of Lombardy. The rebuilding of his Wawel Castle (1507–36) in Kraków was begun by the Italian Francesco della Lore and continued by Bartolommeo Berecci of Florence. It presents a blend of local Gothic and 15th-century Italian architecture. The great courtyard has three stories of loggias; the two lower ones, with semicircular......
Berechiah ha-Nakdan (Hebrew author)
Of the same genre but deriving mainly from west European rather than Arabic sources are the Mishle shuʿalim (“Fox Fables”) of Berechiah ha-Nakdan (“the Punctuator”), who may have lived in England near the end of the 12th century. About half of these tales recur in Marie de France’s Ysopet, and only one of t...
Bérégovoy, Pierre (French prime minister)
French politician, prime minister from April 1992 to March 1993....
Bérégovoy, Pierre Eugène (French prime minister)
French politician, prime minister from April 1992 to March 1993....
Bereguardo Canal (canal, Italy)
historic canal in Lombardy, Italy, the first canal in Europe to use a series of pound locks (locks with gates at both ends) to overcome a large change in elevation. The Bereguardo Canal was one of a series of canals built around Milan in the 15th century that resulted in important improvements in lock design. A single lock (also known as a s...
Bereguardo, Naviglio di (canal, Italy)
historic canal in Lombardy, Italy, the first canal in Europe to use a series of pound locks (locks with gates at both ends) to overcome a large change in elevation. The Bereguardo Canal was one of a series of canals built around Milan in the 15th century that resulted in important improvements in lock design. A single lock (also known as a s...
Berendrecht (lock, Antwerp, Belgium)
...areas of docks, industrial sites, and railway yards. Locks connect this right-bank complex with the tidal Schelde River: the first, the Kattendijk, was opened in 1860; and the 1,640-foot (500-metre) Berendrecht was when it opened in 1988 the largest lock in the world. Left-bank port and industrial facilities have access to the Schelde via the Kallo lock....
Berengar (king and emperor of Italy)
son of Eberhard, Frankish margrave of Friuli, king of Italy from 888 (as Berengar I), and Holy Roman emperor from 915. He was the founder of a line of princes of the 9th–11th century who in popular Italian histories are ranked incorrectly as national kings. Through his mother Gisela he was a grandson of the Carolingian...
Berengar I (king and emperor of Italy)
son of Eberhard, Frankish margrave of Friuli, king of Italy from 888 (as Berengar I), and Holy Roman emperor from 915. He was the founder of a line of princes of the 9th–11th century who in popular Italian histories are ranked incorrectly as national kings. Through his mother Gisela he was a grandson of the Carolingian...
Berengar II (king of Italy)
grandson of Berengar I and king of Italy from 950 to 952....
Berengar of Tours (French theologian)
theologian principally remembered for his leadership of the losing side in the crucial eucharistic controversy of the 11th century....
Berengaria of Navarre (queen of England)
...brother John to treachery and rebellion. Richard joined the other Crusaders at Acre on June 8, 1191, having conquered Cyprus on his way there. While at Limassol in Cyprus, Richard married (May 12) Berengaria of Navarre....
Berengario da Carpi, Giacomo (Italian physician)
Italian physician and anatomist who was the first to describe the heart valves. He also was one of the first to illustrate medical works with drawings from nature....
Berengario, duca e marchese del Friuli (king and emperor of Italy)
son of Eberhard, Frankish margrave of Friuli, king of Italy from 888 (as Berengar I), and Holy Roman emperor from 915. He was the founder of a line of princes of the 9th–11th century who in popular Italian histories are ranked incorrectly as national kings. Through his mother Gisela he was a grandson of the Carolingian...
Berengario, marchese d’Ivrea (king of Italy)
grandson of Berengar I and king of Italy from 950 to 952....
Berengarius (French theologian)
theologian principally remembered for his leadership of the losing side in the crucial eucharistic controversy of the 11th century....
Bérenger, Alphonse-Marie (French jurist)
French magistrate and parliamentarian, distinguished for his role in the reform of law and legal procedure based on humanitarian principles....
Bérenger, Alphonse-Marie-Marcellin-Thomas (French jurist)
French magistrate and parliamentarian, distinguished for his role in the reform of law and legal procedure based on humanitarian principles....
Bérenger de Tours (French theologian)
theologian principally remembered for his leadership of the losing side in the crucial eucharistic controversy of the 11th century....
Berenguer, Dámaso, conde de Xauen (Spanish statesman)
Spanish general who served briefly as prime minister (January 1930–February 1931) before the establishment of the Second Republic....
Berenguer Ramon I (count of Barcelona)
His father, Berenguer Ramon I (reigned 1018–35), divided and bequeathed his lands among his three sons. However, Sanç (or Sancho) in 1049 and Guillem (or William) in 1054 renounced their inheritances in their eldest brother’s favour, thus reuniting the lands. Ramon Berenguer I also expanded his domain by securing control over the adjacent counties of Ampurias and Pallars. His ...
Berenguer Ramon I (count of Provence)
On his death, Provence went to his younger son, Berenguer Ramon (as Berenguer Ramon I of Provence, reigning 1131–44); and the rest of the lands, the most important ones, went to the elder son, Ramon Berenguer IV....
Berenguer Ramon II (count of Barcelona)
The Cid’s first step was to eliminate the influence of the counts of Barcelona in that area. This was done when Berenguer Ramón II was humiliatingly defeated at Tébar, near Teruel (May 1090). During the next years the Cid gradually tightened his control over Valencia and its ruler, al-Qādir, now his tributary. His moment of destiny came in October 1092 when the ......
Berenice (Libya)
city and major seaport of northeastern Libya, on the Gulf of Sidra. It was founded by the Greeks of Cyrenaica as Hesperides (Euesperides) and received from the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy III the additional name of Berenice in honour of his wife. After the 3rd century ad it su...
Berenice (daughter of Ptolemy II)
daughter of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Arsinoe I of Egypt. She was married to the Seleucid ruler Antiochus II Theos, supplanting his first wife, Laodice, whose children she persua...
Bérénice (play by Racine)
tragic drama in five acts by Jean Racine, performed in 1670 and published in 1671. It is loosely based upon events following the death of the Roman emperor Vespasian in the 1st century ce....
Berenice (Roman aristocrat)
lover of the Roman emperor Titus and a participant in the events leading up to the fall of Jerusalem....
Berenice I (queen of Egypt)
queen of ancient Egypt, wife of Ptolemy I Soter, and mother of Arsinoe II and Ptolemy II Philadelphus....
Berenice II (queen of Egypt)
daughter of Magas, king of Cyrene (in modern Libya), whose marriage to Ptolemy III Euergetes reunited her country with Egypt....
Berenice III (queen of Egypt)
queen of Egypt, daughter of Ptolemy IX, the most strong-willed member of the royal family. She ruled during a period of violent civil strife....
Berenice IV (Egyptian ruler)
eldest daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes of Egypt, sister of the great Cleopatra VII, and ruler of Egypt during her father’s absence in 58–55. She was executed by him after his return....
Berenson, Bernard (American art critic)
American art critic, especially of Italian Renaissance art....
Berenson, Bernhard (American art critic)
American art critic, especially of Italian Renaissance art....
Berenson, Senda (American educator)
American educator and sportswoman who created and successfully promoted a form of women’s basketball played in schools for nearly three-quarters of a century....
Berenstain, Stan (American author)
American children’s writer (b. Sept. 29, 1923, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. Nov. 26, 2005, Doylestown, Pa.), was the coauthor with his wife, Janice, of more than 250 books featuring the Berenstain Bears, beginning in 1962 with The Big Honey Hunt. The loving family of bears coped with and found solutions to the same types of problems encountered by human children and their families. Th...
Berenstain, Stanley Melvin (American author)
American children’s writer (b. Sept. 29, 1923, Philadelphia, Pa.—d. Nov. 26, 2005, Doylestown, Pa.), was the coauthor with his wife, Janice, of more than 250 books featuring the Berenstain Bears, beginning in 1962 with The Big Honey Hunt. The loving family of bears coped with and found solutions to the same types of problems encountered by human children and their families. Th...
Berent, Wacław (Polish novelist)
novelist and essayist whose fiction is notable for its expression of historical and philosophical issues....
Beresford, Bruce (Australian director, screenwriter, and producer)
Australian film and stage director, screenwriter, and producer who specialized in small-budget character-driven dramas....
Beresford, Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron (British admiral and politician)
British admiral and, intermittently, Conservative member of Parliament who frequently and outspokenly criticized Admiralty policy....
Beresford, Elisabeth (British author)
Aug. 6, 1926Paris, FranceDec. 24, 2010Alderney, Channel IslandsBritish children’s writer who created the Wombles, a community of furry, long-nosed burrowing creatures who live peacefully under the parkland of London’s Wimbledon Common, emerging secretly to clean up and repurpo...
Beresford, Jack (British athlete)
English sculler and oarsman who accumulated an outstanding record in the Olympics and at the Henley Royal Regatta....
Beresford, John (British politician)
political leader in the struggle to preserve the political monopoly of the Protestant landowning aristocracy in Ireland. He was once called “king of Ireland” because of his great wealth and control of a vast political patronage....
Beresford, William Carr Beresford, Viscount, Baron Beresford of Albuera and Dungarvan, Duke de Elvas (British general)
British general and Portuguese marshal prominent in the (Iberian) Peninsular War of 1808–14. For his costly victory over the French at La Albuera, Spain, on May 16, 1811, he was subjected to harsh criticism in Great Britain....
Bereshit (Old Testament)
the first book of the Old Testament. Its name derives from the opening words: “In the beginning….” Genesis narrates the primeval history of the world (chapters 1–11) and the patriarchal history of the Israelite people (chapters 12–50). The primeval history includes the familiar stories of t...
Beresteczko, Battle of (Poland [1651])
(June 28–30, 1651), military engagement in which the king of Poland, John Casimir (reigned 1648–68), inflicted a severe defeat upon the rebel Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky....
Berestye (Belarus)
city and administrative centre of Brest oblast (region), southwestern Belarus, on the right bank of the western Bug River. First mentioned in 1019 as Berestye, it passed to Lithuania in 1319 and later to Poland. In 1795 Russia acquired Brest, although it reverted to Poland from ...
Beretta, Bartolomeo (Italian manufacturer)
The founder of the business, Bartolomeo Beretta, was known as a maestro da canne, or master gun-barrel maker, for the republic of Venice as early as 1526. His son Giovannino inherited his father’s work in Gardone Val Trompia, and thereafter the family business was handed down over the centuries in an unbroken chain from fathers to sons or, more lately, nephews. Pietro Beretta......
Beretta nine-millimetre pistol (firearm)
...was picked up from a seven-round magazine in the grip. The M1911 Colt did not begin being replaced until 1987. Its successor, the nine-millimetre Italian Beretta, given the NATO designation M9, reflected post-1970 trends such as large-capacity magazines (15 shots in the Beretta), double-action triggers (which could snap the hammer without its having to be cocked manually or......
Beretta, Pietro (Italian manufacturer [1870-1957])
...after furnishing gun barrels for Napoleon’s conquering armies, decided after the peace of 1815 to turn to the manufacture of whole weapons and diversified into sporting guns. Another Pietro Beretta (1870–1957) introduced modern production techniques and more than trebled the company’s factory space. By the late 20th century the company was being directed by 12th and 13th......
Beretta, Pietro (Italian manufacturer [1791-1853])
...inherited his father’s work in Gardone Val Trompia, and thereafter the family business was handed down over the centuries in an unbroken chain from fathers to sons or, more lately, nephews. Pietro Beretta (1791–1853), after furnishing gun barrels for Napoleon’s conquering armies, decided after the peace of 1815 to turn to the manufacture of whole weapons and diversified int...
Beretta SpA (Italian company)
Italian-based manufacturer of sporting, military, and personal firearms, one of the world’s oldest industrial enterprises. It has affiliates in France, Greece, and the United States. Headquarters are in Gardone Val Trompia, near Milan, Italy....
Berezil Theatre (theatre, Kharkiv, Ukraine)
The real flowering of the Ukrainian theatre occurred between 1917 and 1933. The Berezil Theatre (1922–33) in Kharkiv, under the artistic director Les Kurbas, was the most distinguished troupe. Preeminent among the playwrights was Mykola Kulish, whose Patetychna Sonata (“Sonata Pathétique”) combined Expressionist techniques with the forms of the....
Berezina River (river, Belarus)
river in Belarus, a tributary of the Dnieper, which it joins near Rechytsa. Its 381-mile (613-km) length drains 9,450 square miles (24,500 square km). It rises north of the Minsk Elevation and flows south-southeast in a meandering course through a swampy forested basin. It is navigable only by small craft. During Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow in 1812, a bitter engagement...