History

Woodcuts were used in ancient Egypt and Babylonia for impressing intaglio designs into unpressed bricks and by the Romans for stamping letters and symbols. The Chinese used wood blocks for stamping patterns on textiles and for illustrating books. Woodcuts appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 15th cent., when they were used to make religious pictures for distribution to pilgrims, on playing cards and simple prints, and for the block book which preceded printing. At that time the artist and the artisan were one, the same person designing the cut and carving the block. One of the first dated European woodcuts is a St. Christopher of 1423.

After the invention of the printing press, woodcuts, being inked in the same way as type, lent themselves admirably to book illustration. Albrecht Pfister first put them to this use c.1460. Other early woodcut illustrations are in the Bibles of the late 15th cent. and in the French Lyons edition (1493) of the works of Terence. The first Roman book with woodcuts appeared in 1467, but Venice became the center of Italian wood engraving. In the 16th cent. in France woodcuts frequently served to illustrate books of hours. The actual cutting was often performed by a specialist rather than by the designer.

In Germany, where the form was particularly well developed, Dürer and Hans Holbein the younger were the most eminent woodcut designers of the Renaissance. Dürer's Life of the Virgin (1509-10) and Great Passion (1510-11) and Holbein's Dance of Death (1523-26) are among the best-known works of these masters. Lucas Cranach the elder, Albrecht Altdorfer, and Hans Baldung also worked in wood engraving, employing a chiaroscuro technique originated by Jobst de Negker of Augsburg.

Decline and Revival

There was a decline in woodcutting with the increasing versatility and popularity of line engraving on metal. Even in the Netherlands, where woodcuts lasted longest, they were almost obsolete by the 18th cent. In England, however, Thomas Bewick popularized wood engraving. He brought to perfection the technique of white-line engraving, in which lines print white on a black background. Gustave Doré was the best-known French master in this medium in the 19th cent.

William Blake also made wood engravings for some of his best book illustrations (e.g., for Thornton's Vergil; 1821). The Victorian weeklies used numerous wood-engraved drawings as illustrations. Most famous of English wood engravers were John Swain and the Dalziel brothers. In the United States wood engraving was practiced from the 19th cent. by such masters as Alexander Anderson, William James Linton, and Timothy Cole.

As photographic technology advanced, photography and photographic processes slowly replaced woodcut as a means of book illustration and wood engraving for reproduction of oil paintings. In the 1890s in France a revival of woodcutting to produce original prints was initiated by Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch, and Felix Vallotton, who cut their blocks themselves. Their influence on 20th-century expression in this medium was enormous. Derain, Dufy, and Maillol also made notable woodcuts. After World War II many artists in the United States, such as Leonard Baskin, Sue Fuller, and Seong Moy, explored new formal and technical possibilities in the medium of woodcutting.

Crude systems of weights and measures probably date from prehistoric times. Early units were commonly based on body measurements and on plant seeds or other objects from agriculture. As civilization progressed, technological and commercial requirements led to increased standardization. For example, because the length of the human foot or the width of the palm varies from individual to individual, it probably became necessary first to specify a particular individual (e.g., the king) and later to reproduce standards based on this commonly accepted unit of length. Units were usually fixed by edict of local or national rulers and were subdivided and multiplied or otherwise arranged into systems of measurement.

Standards varied greatly in different localities, although conquest and trade stimulated some correspondence between systems, e.g., between the systems of Egypt, Babylon, and Phoenicia. A high degree of standardization was achieved in the Roman Empire, but after its fall considerable diversity returned. The foot, which was one of the earliest units, is believed to have had as many as 280 variants in Europe as late as the 18th cent. Today the chief systems are the English units of measurement and the metric system.

The United States is one of the few countries still using the English system; all other major nations have either converted to the metric system or committed themselves to conversion. The English system is much older and less practical than the metric system, and in the United States there has been considerable discussion in favor of adopting the metric system as the principal system. However, attempts to legislate such a change in the U.S. Congress have failed. The basic units of the English system, the yard of length and the pound of mass, are now defined in terms of the metric standards, the meter of length and the kilogram of mass.

Before 1960 the meter was defined as the distance between two scratches on a prototype bar kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (est. 1875) at Sèvres, France, near Paris. In 1960 it was redefined in terms of an atomic standard. This new standard is more stable than the old meter bar, is indestructible, and is easily reproduced, eliminating the need for periodic comparison with a single standard. The kilogram is defined in terms of a prototype cylinder kept at the bureau.

In the United States, Congress has the constitutional right to fix standards, but except for purposes of customs and internal revenue, weights and measures legislation has been, for the most part, permissive. Sets of official weights and measures were sent to the states in 1856, but legislation and enforcement are largely state prerogatives. The federal government permitted the use of the metric system in 1866 and established a conversion table based on the yard and the pound; in 1893 the yard and the pound were redefined in terms of the metric prototypes of the meter and the kilogram. The major arguments against total conversion to the metric system in the United States are that it would involve great expense in industry and would cause widespread confusion among the general public.

See the table entitled Common Weights and Measures.

Events

Track events include the 100-, 200-, 400-, 800-, 1,500-, 5,000-, and 10,000-meter runs; the marathon race (26 mi 385 yd/42.19 km); the 100- (women), 110- (men) and 400-meter hurdles; the 400- and 1,600-meter relays; the 3,000-meter steeplechase (men); and the 20,000- and 50,000-meter (men) walks. Such British-system equivalents as the 100-yd dash and the mile run may also be part of a meet. Field events include the shot put; the hammer throw; the discus throw; the javelin toss (less frequently); the high jump; the long jump; the triple jump (formerly the running hop, skip, and jump); and the pole vault. The ten-event decathlon is the major composite event for men, and the Olympic winner is traditionally acclaimed as the "world's greatest athlete." The seven-event heptathlon (formerly the five-event pentathlon) is the women's major composite event.

History

Track and field athletics dominated the ancient Greek athletic festivals, and were also popular in Rome, but declined in the Middle Ages. In England they were revived sporadically between the 12th and 19th cent.; the first college meet occurred in 1864 between Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Track and field athletics in the United States dates from the 1860s. The Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, the nation's first national athletic group, held the first collegiate races in 1873, and in 1888 the Amateur Athletic Union (which governed the sport for nearly a century) held its first championships. The Athletics Congress now regulates the sport in the United States; the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) sanctions international competition. Track and field has been the centerpiece of the summer Olympic games since their revival in 1896. International professional running, initiated in the 1970s, has had limited success.

Record-setting Achievements and Illegal Drugs

Continuous, and often astonishing, improvement has characterized the sport in the 20th cent. Performances once considered unattainable, such as the 4-minute mile (first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, the 8-ft (2.44-m) high jump (achieved by Javier Sotomayor in 1993), and the 20-ft (6.1-m) pole vault (achieved in 1994 by Sergey Bubka) are especially well known. Since the 1970s, many have questioned whether some record-setting achievements have been produced with the aid of performance-enhancing drugs or other unsanctioned techniques. Testing of athletes has therefore become standard, and results have occasionally been nullified, as when Canada's Ben Johnson lost his world record and 1988 Olympic gold medal for the 100-m race after tests detected anabolic steroids in his system.

Evolution

The towering figure in early military science was Alexander the Great, who destroyed the Persian Empire built by Cyrus the Great. He recognized the importance of maintaining reserves, pursuing the enemy, building up supplies (stockpiling), and making use of elaborate scouting (intelligence). In the 4th cent. B.C. Vegetius wrote a summary of military matters which is an important source of information on the Roman military. In the Punic Wars (between Rome and Carthage), Hannibal emerged as the outstanding field commander. His famous victory at Cannae (216 B.C.) over the Roman armies is still studied as an example of battlefield tactics. The study of military theory captured the imagination of several Byzantine emperors, who hoped to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. They studied the operations of the Roman legions and reduced the studies to what may be called the foundations of military science. Strategicon (c.578), compiled by Emperor Maurice, and Tactics (c.900), issued by Emperor Leo VI (Leo the Wise), are exhaustive treatises on the subject.

In Western Europe during the Middle Ages military science did not advance as quickly as its practice did, although siegecraft (see siege) was much studied. Although early military theorists thought the Crusaders completely ignorant of military principles, recent studies have shown that medieval warfare was not devoid of strategy and tactics. John Zizka, the leader of the Czech Hussites, in the early 15th cent. was particularly innovative. He adopted the wagon-fort as a unit of tactics, made artillery a maneuverable arm, and was the first commander to employ cavalry, infantry, and artillery in efficient tactical combination. He also espoused the principle that mobility is a better protection than armor.

Gustavus Aldolphus (Gustavus II), king of Sweden, and Maurice of Nassau are credited with advancing the professionalization of armies at the end of the 16th cent. By the 17th cent. these professional armies were very costly to establish and maintain, and military strategists employed a cautious approach involving minimal risk of casualties. Even so aggressive a commander as Frederick II (Frederick the Great) was inhibited by fear of a bloody defeat; nevertheless, his wars left Prussia exhausted.

It was Napoleon I who, despite his mistakes, revolutionized the strategy and tactics of his time. Aided by a mass army, he made great use of the powerful shock attack, carefully planned in advance. He also introduced the loose formation, divisional organization, and the use of mobile, long-range artillery. Clausewitz's On War (1832) was an outgrowth of his studies of Napoleonic campaigns; it demonstrated the importance of destroying the enemy on the battlefield and downplayed the importance of the geometrical organization of troops in the field. Jomini's classic Précis de l'art de la guerre (1836), also influenced by a study of Napoleon's campaigns, had a different emphasis. Jomini stressed occupation of enemy territory through carefully planned geometric maneuvers while tactically he emphasized the importance of attacking. His work was influential and was part of the strategy during the U.S. Civil War. The main line of strategic theory, however, followed Clausewitz and culminated in the work of the Prussian-German school of H. K. von Moltke and Alfred von Schlieffen.

Modern Strategy and Tactics

The first modern total war, fought with mass armies and modern firearms, was the U.S. Civil War. It demonstrated the importance of industrial mobilization; modern communications (especially railroads and the telegraph), and the deadly effect of new small arms, such as the rifled musket, on mass formations of attacking infantry. Beginning as a contest between armies, it grew into a conflict between two societies; before its termination almost the entire resources of both North and South were engaged.

The lessons of the U.S. Civil War were little noticed in Europe, where strategy and tactics continued to be thought of in terms of mid-19th-century practice. European theorists also ignored the extensive and effective use of machine guns, artillery, and rifles in the colonial wars of the 19th cent. As a result, the bloody stalemate of World War I came as a surprise to most generals. It was characterized by trench warfare and by bloody frontal attacks, which were usually stopped at great cost to the attackers by massed small arms and artillery fire. In an effort to break the stalemate, both sides turned to new technical devices, such as the tank, the airplane, the submarine, and poison gas. The importance of the tank was stressed in theories of mechanized warfare formulated in the 1920s and 30s in the writings of B. H. Liddell Hart, Charles de Gaulle, and J. F. C. Fuller; they proved prophetic when the Nazi blitzkrieg marked World War II as a war of mobility, characterized by vast movements of mechanized armies.

The introduction of aircraft in World War I gave rise to theories of airpower that have dominated strategic and tactical thinking ever since. The basis of airpower was set down by such men as Giulio Douhet, H. M. Trenchard, and William Mitchell, who believed that future wars would be won by air forces. Their theory of strategic bombing called for aerial attacks on the enemy's population and industrial centers to destroy the enemy's will and ability to continue fighting. In World War II that strategy was carried out in massive form by British and U.S. air forces in attacks on Germany and Japan. It was found, however, that aerial bombardment did not cut off industrial production and, in fact, strengthened the enemy's will to continue. In order to win the war the Allies had to conduct a number of campaigns with ground forces and, in the case of Germany, occupy the enemy's homeland.

The introduction and development of nuclear weapons and the guided missile have not changed the basic strategic theory of airpower, but these new weapons have revolutionized airpower itself. The replacement of high-explosive bombs by nuclear bombs and the change from propeller-driven manned aircraft to rocket-powered guided missiles meant that a force armed with these weapons could destroy almost any target on the planet. From the dropping of the first atomic bomb a new school of military theory, nuclear strategy, developed (see Bernard Brodie and Herman Kahn). In the 1950s, the United States evolved the theory of "massive retaliation," to be used against the USSR as a response to acts of aggression.

In the early 1960s the threat of nuclear war did not prevent many successful nationalist revolutions and Communist people's wars as advocated by Mao Zedong, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and Vo Nguyen Giap (see also guerrilla warfare). The result was a greater stress on conventional weapons and on increased tactical and strategic flexibility, as well as an interest in the long history and practice of counterinsurgency. That military strategy has become national strategy, involving complex assessments of technological resources, politics, and national priorities, was made clear in the Vietnam War and Afghanistan War where superior strategies and tactics allowed small nations to defeat great powers armed with the latest weaponry.

Outer space has also become a crucial strategic issue. President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative raised the possibility of the use of space-based weapons and satellites to combat an nuclear attack involving ballistic missiles, as the popular term for the program—"Star Wars"—made clear. Space is also important strategically for intelligence gathering using reconnaissance satellites and for coordination of military forces using the Global Positioning System (see navigation satellite), as was done successfully during the Persian Gulf War.

Naval Strategy and Tactics

Naval strategy and tactics have been shaped by the forms and capabilities of naval warships (see navy). Geography is also an important factor in shaping naval thinking. In the Mediterranean, and for islands such as Britain, strong navies were crucial. For the many empires of the Middle East, the Central Asian steppes, or India, naval power was less important or superfluous. Not until Alfred T. Mahan wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon History in the last decade of the 19th cent. was the central theme of naval strategy formulated in universal terms, although the British had been practicing it for hundreds of years. The main strategy of sea power was defined as "command of the sea," i.e., the ability to deny use of the sea as a means of transportation to an enemy while simultaneously protecting one's own merchant shipping, and the ability to use the sea to project power ashore while denying that capability to the enemy. Despite the introduction of new weapons such as steam warships, armored ships, heavy ordnance, submarines, and aircraft, "command of the sea" remained a fundamental objective of naval strategy. Another important naval strategy is "overseas presence," i.e., the visible display of seapower as a deterrent to intervention by opposing powers in key areas of international tension.

The development of airpower has led to a host of changes, including the emergence of aircraft carriers and naval air fleets and the development of submarine-based retaliatory missile forces. The employment of land-based and carrier-based aircraft during World War II showed that command of the seas rested in great part on control of the air above it. The submarine, introduced in World War I, greatly changed naval strategy and led to the development of many new weapons and tactics. In both world wars the submarine was employed mainly as a commerce destroyer and, as such, could not by itself gain command of the sea. However, the use of long-range guided missiles on nuclear-powered submarines in the 1960s transformed the submarine into a major weapon of strategic bombardment. Nuclear-powered submarines carrying guided missiles are almost invulnerable to attack.

A forerunner of the modern society was the Museum, founded c.300 B.C. in Alexandria by Ptolemy I. The earliest important medieval society was established by Charlemagne under the guidance of Alcuin. Learned societies of the modern type originated in Italy as literary academies during the revival of classical learning. The short-lived Accademia Platonica, founded in the 15th cent. by Cosimo de' Medici, served as a model. The most widely known extant society of the early period is the Accademia della Crusca, founded (1582) in Florence and several times reorganized. The Accademia Secretorum Naturae (Naples, c.1560) is believed to have been the earliest scientific society.

Outstanding among European societies are the French Academy (1635), now a section of the Institut de France; the Royal Society (1662); the Prussian Academy of Sciences, founded by Frederick I in 1700 as the Societas Regia Scientarum; and the Russian Academy of Sciences, founded at St. Petersburg in 1725. Many countries have national academies, councils, or institutes. Among them are the Royal Canadian Institute (1849), the Indian Academy of Sciences (1934), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (1949), the Science Council of Japan (1949), the Polish Academy of Sciences (1952), the Australian Academy of Science (1954), the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (1959), and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (1959). Local and regional societies have also flourished.

Many societies cover a broad field, among them the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1831), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1847), the National Academy of Sciences (established in 1863 by the U.S. Congress), the American Philosophical Society (incorporated under its present name in 1769), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (chartered in 1780 in Boston). However, the specialization of knowledge has resulted in the establishment of literary, historical, archaeological, and scientific societies covering very restricted fields. The specialization of fields and the geographical distribution of societies necessitate methods of coordination including informal cooperation and formal affiliations, as in the American Medical Association (1847), in which local medical organizations are represented.

See also drama, Western; Asian drama; theater; directing; acting.

Ancient Greece

The Greek open-air theater was first a circular, flat orchestra pit located in the hollow between two hillsides. In 465 B.C. a small wooden hut called a skene (hence, scene), in which the actors changed costumes, was erected behind the playing area. When stone structures were erected the seating area was cut to little more than a semicircle and the skene became a two-story building with three doorways in front and an entrance by either side. It thus served additionally as the scenic background of the play. The floor in front of the skene was elevated, with steps leading down to the orchéstra, where the chorus was located; this narrow playing level was called the proskenion (hence, proscenium).

Sophocles is thought to have first employed scene painting; such devices as periaktoi (revolving prisms with painted scenery), eccyclema (wagons for tableaus), and mechane (flying machines) were also used. Greek plays were performed in daylight, and the dramas were frequently designed to take advantage of the position of the sun. Also, theater sites were well-placed to gain the best effects of the natural light.

Ancient Rome

In the Roman theater the apron of the stage was created by extending the playing area over the orchestra, where important members of the audience were seated. The entire structure was often enclosed and built on level ground. The background, the three-door skene, was always a street; from the point of view of the actor facing the audience, off left indicated the town or adjacent points and off right indicated an exit to the country or distant points. A curtain was sometimes used to open the play; it was dropped into a trough as the play began. The Romans were probably the first to use torches and lamps at evening performances.

The Middle Ages

The religious plays of the Middle Ages were performed at first within, and later in front of, the church, with the separate scenes organized around an open space. This form of staging continued when the plays were moved into the street, but the individual platform scenes became more elaborately built up, and there was widespread use of machinery and traps. Information about medieval lighting is uncertain although it seems likely that torches, both moving and stationary, were utilized.

The Renaissance to the Seventeenth Century

The renaissance of scene design began in Italy. Sebastiano Serlio, in his Architettura, Book II (1545), interpreted what he thought were classic ideas on perspective and the periaktoi and published the first designs on the definitive types of sets to be used—for tragedy, palaces; for comedy, street scenes; for satyr plays, the countryside. The first permanent theater in Italy, the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza (1584), was an attempt to recreate the Roman scaenae frons with five permanent perspectives.

In his teatro all'antico, built (c.1589) at Sabbioneta, Vincenzo Scamozzi employed a "solid drop" background and enlarged the central stage arch to make one perspective. In the early 17th cent., Giovanni Battista Aleotti was the first to use flats (painted canvas stretched over wooden frames) with decorative props painted on them, and in 1618 he introduced the proscenium arch. The realistic stage setting was not known; designs were always symmetrical and in perspective. Later in the century the mechanical innovations of Giacomo Torelli facilitated the simultaneous rapid shift of all the flats.

Nicolo Sabbattini and Leone de' Sommi wrote on the use of lighting in the 16th cent.; in addition, they developed footlights and techniques for colored lights and for the dimming of lights. From the Renaissance period until the triumph of gas lighting in the mid-19th cent., great use was made of lamps, candles, and torches. Although they caused much work, odor, and smoke, ingenious effects were produced.

A revolution in scene design occurred in the late 17th cent. with the initiation of multiple or oblique perspective by Ferdinando Galli Bibiena. He used either two points of perspective or only one placed indiscriminately. The great scene designers of the period were also the great architects and artists. Their designs, baroque and heavy with movement and detail, became increasingly fussy; the set, in conflict with the actor, became the main attraction.

In France the first permanent theater had been the Hôtel de Bourgogne (1548), and in England, the Theatre (1576; later known as the Globe). The early English designer Inigo Jones was influenced by the Italians, although in his time scenery was reserved for court spectacles; Shakespeare's plays were given on a bare stage. The Restoration period saw the development of a "popular" theater, although it was still primarily for the upper classes.

The Eighteenth Century

With the Enlightenment in the mid-18th cent. there was a revival of classicism, and the unity of place was strictly observed by designers. They experimented with strong darks and lights and tried for the first time to infuse their designs with atmosphere. Toward the end of the century the curtain was first lowered to change the scene, and the scrim (gauze drop that becomes transparent when lit from behind) came into use.

Lighting became a problem only when the theaters were entirely enclosed. At that time lights (torches, candles, oil lamps) and reflectors surrounded the stage, and footlights came into use. Later chandeliers and candelabras became fashionable. Much use was made of colored lights made with mirrors reflecting colored water; shadows were painted on the flats. The auditorium itself was not darkened for the performance.

The Nineteenth Century

The 19th cent. brought extensive changes in lighting and scene design. Gaslight was first introduced (1817) in England. Although it was responsible for many theater fires, gaslight had, by 1849, the advantage of being centrally controlled. Sir Henry Irving, at the end of the century, was first to darken the auditorium completely. He also was first to experiment with the color and intensity of gaslight. The first spotlight was the limelight (1816); it was followed by the arc light (1846). With the invention (1879) of the incandescent bulb, light became the primary scene painter. Through the efforts of Adolphe Appia, modern stage lighting was born.

In 1840, Mme Vestris successfully employed the box set (three solid walls joined together) complete with a ceiling. The concept of the invisible "fourth wall" forced the acting area to be located behind the proscenium arch, thus eliminating the need for a wide apron and glaring footlights. Decorative props were still painted on the flats, but as the naturalistic movement (in the theaters of André Antoine, Otto Brahm, J. T. Grein, and Constantin Stanislavsky) gained impetus, realistic and even actual objects were used. This trend toward realism and historical accuracy culminated in the photographic realism of David Belasco, who even incorporated smells into several productions. The invention (1839) of the photograph was a further influence toward realistic settings.

The Twentieth Century

Scene designers in the early 20th cent., opposed to naturalism, strove to show the essence of a play through simplification, suggestion, and, often, stylization; selective realism was the keynote. The scene designer was directly responsible to the director who was by now the unifying head of a production. Edward Gordon Craig with his stage of many levels, Jacques Copeau with suggestive forms and screens, Vsevolod Meyerhold with his constructivistic sets of skeletal structures and geometric forms, Max Reinhardt with his expressionistic sets of abstract distortion, and Erwin Piscator with his theatricality and educational approach—all brought imagination and creativity to realistic design, which had become cluttered and uninteresting. The technical innovations of Steele MacKaye also came into general use.

In 1902 the cyclorama or sky-dome, a semicircular backing of whitewashed plaster or cement used to reflect light and thus create an illusion of depth, was invented. After 1912 lights were placed in the auditorium to allow for more natural angles of illumination for both the actor and the set. The projector lamp, a spotlight that could be dimmed, was invented in 1914; after 1919 colored "gels," or gelatine, were placed over the lights. By 1922 stage lighting had become a scientific study.

After World War I the United States became a leader in the field of scene design with the work of such men as Robert Edmond Jones, Lee Simonson, Joseph Urban, Norman Bel Geddes, and Mordecai Gorelik; later such designers as Donald Oenslager, Jo Mielziner, Oliver Smith, Cecil Beaton, and Peter Larkin gained prominence. Since World War II, with the rise of the "theater of the absurd," trends in scene design have become eclectic, ranging from realism to surrealism.

Some set designers, such as Ralph Keltai, try to capture the major mood of a play through abstract expression. Others attempt to re-create the sense of a period in which the play is set or set old plays in modern surroundings. If there is a unifying element it is the acceptance of Gordon Craig's insistence upon unification of the various theatrical arts. Therefore, whether the set and lighting are naturalistic or surrealistic, the attempt is made to integrate these elements with the acting, movement, and text of the play.

The first U.S. savings and loan association was founded in 1831. In 1932, the Federal Home Loan Bank System was created to oversee the savings and loan associations, with deposits to be insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). Since 1933 the federal government has chartered savings and loan associations, although they have not generally been required to be federally chartered. After World War II, the associations began a period of rapid expansion. Historically, savings and loan associations could be organized in two ways: either as a mutual or a capital stock institution. A mutual organization would be similar in operation to a mutual savings bank.

The savings and loan institution went through many changes in recent years, primarily due to deregulatory measures instituted in the 1980s by the U.S. federal government, allowing them to offer a much wider range of services than ever before. The deregulatory measures allowed savings and loan associations to enter the business of commercial lending, trust services, and nonmortgage consumer lending. The Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act of 1980 began these sweeping changes, one of which was to raise deposit insurance from $40,000 to $100,000. Many contend that this extension of insurance coverage encouraged savings and loan associations to engage in riskier loans than they might otherwise have sought.

Two years later, the Depository Institutions Act gave savings and loan institutions the right to make secured and unsecured loans to a wide range of markets, permitted developers to own savings and loan associations, and allowed owners of these institutions to lend to themselves. Under the new laws, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) was given a number of new powers to secure the capital positions of the savings and loan associations. Under these new laws, the FHLBB allowed savings and loan associations to print their own capital, and escape charges of insolvency through such measures as "goodwill," in which customer loyalty and market share were counted as part of a capital base. As a result, a thrift that was technically insolvent could resist government seizure.

Savings and loan associations began to engage in large-scale speculation, particularly in real estate. Financial failure of the institutions became rampant, with well over 500 forced to close during the 1980s. In 1989, after the FSLIC itself became insolvent, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took over the FSLIC's insurance obligations, and the Resolution Trust Corporation was created to buy and sell defaulted savings and loan associations. The Office of Thrift Supervision was also created, in an attempt to identify struggling savings and loan organizations before it was too late. The U.S. government expects it will cost more than $500 billion over 30 years to bail out the savings and loan associations.

For Native American art in North America, see North American Native art.

The Cultures of Central America

The Maya occupied the general area of Yucatán and adjacent parts of Central America from very early times. Their roots were in the Archaic period (c.2000 B.C.), but it was only during the Late Preclassic (300 B.C.-A.D. 150) and the Protoclassic (A.D. 150-300) periods that the traits associated with the Classic Maya were developed. Their greatest artistic achievements included their elaborate calendar, writing, palaces and temple pyramids with vaulted rooms made of limestone, polychrome pottery, stone stelae, and stylized wall paintings and bas-reliefs.

The Classic Maya (A.D. 300-900) was the apex of Maya civilization and is described as that period when the Maya inscribed the "Long Count Calendar" on their monuments. The remains of Bonampak, with its famous murals, can be dated to shortly after 800. Maya cities were ceremonial centers, and some of the edifices may be more properly identified as sculptured monuments. Maya architectural styles are found in three main regions: the Petén district (Uaxactún and Tikal); the cities of the river valleys, such as Piedras Negras and Palenque; and the cities of central and N Yucatán (Uxmal).

In the valley of the Motagua River to the south are Copán and Quiriguá, where sculpture flourished in the form of huge, elaborately carved stone stelae; more delicate forms and a refined spatial sense are evident in the famous stucco sculpture of Palenque and in the airiness and grace of its buildings. In the flat, dry country of N Yucatán, Maya architecture underwent changes in style. The erection of stone stelae was largely abandoned, and decoration, notably at Uxmal, became geometric. The cause of the collapse of the Maya civilization is not precisely understood. The culture persisted over so long a period that it is easier to understand the rest of Mesoamerican art and culture from the framework of Maya chronology.

The Olmec civilization, to the west, in the area of Veracruz and Tabasco, Mexico, was developing in the Preclassic period. Specifically, the period 800 to 400 B.C. marks the finest period of Olmec art as typified by the finds made at the site of La Venta. It is believed that the Olmec devised the Long Count Calendar and invented writing and that they may well be the source of these developments among the Maya. Noted for the excellence of their stone carving—ranging from small, finely detailed jade objects to colossal, often realistic basalt heads—the Olmec frequently used a motif combining human and jaguar features.

Teotihuacán is much to the west of the Olmec and Maya areas and dates from the 1st cent. A.D. to A.D. 700. The major part of the site and the height of its artistic expression belong to the periods Teotihuacán II and Teotihuacán III (c.300-700). Teotihuacán is an urban center, perhaps the greatest in Mexico; its monumental pyramids, temples, and royal processional roads are an extraordinary architectural achievement.

In the latter part of Maya Early Classic (c.A.D. 400-c.A.D. 600) there is evidence of great influence from Teotihuacán, as exemplified at the site of Kaminaljuyú and in varying degrees at other sites, including Tikal and Uaxactún. Erected on high land above the surrounding swamps, the latter two sites reveal their massive, richly decorated temples in the midst of tropical jungles. The site of Teotihuacán apparently was deliberately destroyed by invaders c.700 and thereafter ceased to be a factor in Maya civilization.

After the fall of Teotihuacán, a period of nearly two centuries (700-900) seems to have ensued during which there was no single dominant force, but a number of warring factions. One of these, the Toltec, made their capital at Tula (c.900-1200), northwest of Teotihuacán. The Toltec achieved power and dominated much of N and central Mexico until they were vanquished in 1156 or 1168. They invaded Maya country, principally Chichén Itzá (c.987). There they had a profound influence as revealed by the pyramids at Tula and Chichén Itzá, with their deep colonnades (an unusual feature in Mesoamerican architecture) and their decorative bas-relief and sculptured structural elements, e.g., the 15-ft-tall (4.5 m) caryatids at Tula. Toltec occupation has also been identified at other sites in the Yucatán. Indications are that Chichén Itzá was abandoned by the Toltec around 1224.

The final great native conquest in Mesoamerica was by the Aztec, who rose to power following a period of anarchy after the destruction of the Toltec's Tula. By 1344 the Aztecs had founded their magnificent capital, Tenochtitlán, at the site of present-day Mexico City in the Valley of Mexico, which became one of the architectural wonders of ancient America. Aztec art was eclectic, drawing on the traditions of conquered areas; but under the influence of the harsh Aztec religion, it developed a unique character. The importance of human sacrifice in the cult of the war god, Huitzilopochtli, permeated life and art, and representations of skulls, hearts, hands, and sacrificial scenes were common.

Much of the stone sculpture was huge and elaborate, a remarkable example being the statue of the earth goddess Coatlicue. Masses of intertwined serpents dominate the statue, which bears a necklace of human hearts and hands. Less ominous subjects, such as the plumed serpent, Quetzalcoatl, and various animals, were often beautifully carved in a smooth, compact style. Featherwork, jade carving, goldwork, extraordinary ceremonial vases, and superb textiles were produced by the artisans of subjugated groups, especially the Mixtec. Aztec power over Central Mexico extended until the arrival of Cortés in 1519.

The area of the Mixtec and Zapotec in Oaxaca, Mexico, was not completely conquered by the Aztecs. The Zapotec originally occupied the site of Monte Albán from late Olmec times (c.600 B.C.) until about A.D. 900. Then a new seat of Zapotec civilization was founded at Mitla. Later the Mixtec began to infiltrate, intermarry with, occupy, and absorb the Zapotec. Apart from architecture, the Mixtec also excelled at the minor arts: goldwork, jewelry, vessels fashioned with semiprecious stones, turquoise and feather mosaics, extremely fine polychrome pottery, and painted books known as codices.

Many of the Mexican cultures produced ceramic figurines and pottery, often of superior artistic merit. The site of Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, has yielded famous ceramics of remarkably early date, about 500 B.C. Delicacy of detail characterizes the figurines of Teotihuacán, and the finely decorated funerary urns of Monte Albán (c.400 B.C.) are particularly well wrought. In the western states of Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima, early cultures produced an enormously varied array of fanciful and often grotesque terra-cotta figurines and pottery during the Classic period, A.D. 300 to 900. The Tarascan of Lake Pátzcuaro were one of these groups; they still produce excellent lacquerware. In the jungle states of Veracruz, Campeche, and Tabasco many sites, particularly Remojadas, have yielded fine examples of clay sculpture.

The Cultures of South America

The first great art style of the geographical area that is now Peru was that of the civilization that flourished at Chavín de Huántar in the northern highlands c.900 to 200 B.C. A more or less contemporaneous culture of the north coast produced a style of pottery known as Cupisnique. The Paracas culture of the south coast, of the same era, left some of the most beautiful textiles of pre-Inca Peru as well as fine pottery decorated with resin paint. Excellent painted ceramics and beautiful weavings were also characteristic of the Nazca civilization (c.200 B.C.-A.D. 600) to the south, which also produced the huge and mysterious "Nazca lines."

The Nazca's contemporaries on the north coast, the Mochica, surpassed them in the art of painted pottery. Battle scenes, rituals, animals, and mythological beings were masterfully depicted. Their ceramic "portrait vessels" in the form of human heads are the high point of realism in pre-Columbian art. They were also master builders, the Mochica Pyramid of the Sun being the largest in South America. During the following period (c.600-800), the Tiahuanaco culture gained ascendancy. With the decline of Tiahuanaco the kingdom of the Chimu flourished. Their capital, Chan Chan, has long been considered one of the great centers of ancient Peru.

Chan Chan was surpassed only by the colossal achievements of the Inca, who conquered the Chimu in the latter part of the 15th cent. As engineers the Inca were unsurpassed in ancient America. Their agricultural terraces are still in use, and the extensive network of roads and bridges that spanned their empire would merit the envy of modern road builders. However, their cities and fortresses remain their towering achievement. The great cities of Cuzco and Machu Picchu and the imposing fortresses of Sacsahuamán and Ollantaytambo are typical examples of their skill. The Inca also excelled at stone carving and metalwork, achieving in this latter art a degree of perfection comparable to that reached anywhere in the world. Their civilization fell to the Spanish invaders in 1538.

Anatomy

The two forms are similar in construction; both consist of a cylindrical body surrounding a digestive cavity, with a single opening, the mouth, at one end. The mouth is surrounded by tentacles, which are used to capture food and convey it to the mouth; these tentacles are armed with stinging cells which paralyze the prey. The body wall is composed of three layers of tissue. Thin layers called endoderm and ectoderm line the outside and inside, respectively; between these is a layer of jellylike material, called mesoglea, of varying thickness.

The polyp, also called the hydroid, tends to be elongated, with a thin body wall; it is attached to the ocean bottom or other surface by the end opposite the mouth, its tentacles pointing upward. The medusa tends to be rounded, with a thick body wall containing much mesoglea; it swims or is carried in the current with the mouth side down and the tentacles dangling.

Reproduction

In organisms that exhibit both forms, such as members of the cosmopolitan genus Obelia, the polyp is the asexual stage and the medusa the sexual stage. In such organisms the polyp, by budding, gives rise to medusae, which either detach themselves and swim away or remain permanently attached to the polyp. The medusae then produce new polyps by sexual reproduction. A medusa produces eggs or sperm, which are usually shed into the water; when an egg is fertilized, it develops into a swimming larva, which eventually settles and grows into a polyp. In addition to this elaborate means of reproduction, the polyp can form new polyps by budding. In some groups of coelenterates either the polyp or the medusa has become highly developed, with the reduction or complete loss of the other form. Where only the medusa occurs, as in many jellyfish, the larva never settles, and grows directly into a medusa. Where only the polyp exists, as in the hydra and the sea anemone, the organism has the ability to produce new polyps sexually, as well as by budding.

Colonial Species

In many species the polyp, or hydroid, stage is colonial: as new polyps are created by budding, they remain attached to a branching common stalk, often hardened with nonliving material, forming a plantlike structure called a hydroid colony. The branching, hydroid colonies of Obelia are commonly found on North American seashores; the individual polyps are microscopic, but the feathery white or yellow colony grows up to 12 in. (30 cm) tall. Individual polyps project from the branches of such a colony; they produce the tiny, free-swimming Obelia medusae, barely visible to the naked eye. Other hydroid colonies are colonial coral and the sea pens; these have no medusa stage. All hydroid colonies have at least two types of individual polyps, specialized for feeding and reproduction respectively; some have additional specialized types. The purple sail, genus Vellela, and the Portuguese man-of-war, genus Physalia, are elaborate floating colonies composed of many types of specialized individuals, both polyplike and medusalike in structure; the entire colony is equipped with a float.

Interest in physical education as a part of the total individual's development was revived during the Renaissance. It was not until the 19th cent., however, that systems of gymnastics were developed in several European countries, notably Germany, Sweden, and England. In the same century gymnastics spread to the United States. Interest in the new system led to a movement to have compulsory physical training in American public schools and to establish physical education in colleges and universities. The first department of physical education at an American college was established at Amherst (1860).

Today, physical education is a required part of most school curricula, and a number of colleges and universities offer degrees in the field. Physical education classes generally include formal exercises, sports, and contests, although an increasing emphasis has been given to such Asian techniques as yoga, karate, and judo. The American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (founded 1885) is concerned with improving its fields of education and with increasing the public's knowledge and appreciation of physical education.

When an atom or molecule combines with oxygen, it tends to give up electrons to the oxygen in forming a chemical bond. Similarly, when it loses oxygen, it tends to gain electrons. Such changes are now described in terms of changes in the oxidation number, or oxidation state, of the atom or molecule (see valence). Thus oxidation has come to be defined as a loss of electrons or an increase in oxidation number, while reduction is defined as a gain of electrons or a decrease in oxidation number, whether or not oxygen itself is actually involved in the reaction.

In the formation of magnesium oxide from magnesium and oxygen, the magnesium atoms have lost two electrons, or the oxidation number has increased from zero to +2. This is also true when magnesium reacts with chlorine to form magnesium chloride. In solution, ferrous iron (oxidation number +2) may be oxidized to ferric iron (oxidation number +3) by the loss of an electron. In the reduction of cupric oxide the oxidation number of copper has changed from +2 to zero by the gain of two electrons. The two processes, oxidation and reduction, occur simultaneously and in chemically equivalent quantities. In the formation of magnesium chloride, for every magnesium atom oxidized by a loss of two electrons, two chlorine atoms are reduced by a gain of one electron each.

Oxidation-reduction reactions, called also redox reactions, are most simply balanced in the form of chemical equations by arranging the quantities of the substances involved so that the number of electrons lost by one substance is equaled by the number gained by another substance. In such reactions, the substance losing electrons (undergoing oxidation) is said to be an electron donor, or reductant, since its lost electrons are given to and reduce the other substance. Conversely, the substance that is gaining electrons (undergoing reduction) is said to be an electron acceptor, or oxidant.

Common reductants (substances readily oxidized) are the active metals, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, carbon, carbon monoxide, and sulfurous acid. Common oxidants (substances readily reduced) include the halogens (especially fluorine and chlorine), oxygen, ozone, potassium permanganate, potassium dichromate, nitric acid, and concentrated sulfuric acid. Some substances are capable of acting either as reductants or as oxidants, e.g., hydrogen peroxide and nitrous acid.

The corrosion of metals is a naturally occurring redox reaction. Industrially, many redox reactions are of great importance: combustion of fuels; electrolysis (oxidation occurs at the anode and reduction at the cathode); and metallurgical processes in which free metals are obtained from their ores.

Instruments of the Orchestra

The strings, except the harp, have several players for each part, the others usually only one. The strings are the bowed violin, viola, cello (or violoncello), double bass, and the plucked harp. The woodwinds are the flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and bassoon, all of which appear in more than one size. The brass are French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba. The percussion are kettledrums (or timpani), snare and bass drums, cymbals, triangle, and xylophone, to name only a few of the most frequently used.

The strings are the most important section of the orchestra; they are the most versatile and flexible and play almost continuously in most scores. The woodwinds are next in importance; they add color to the string sound and in some passages carry the melody. Of the brass, the French horn is the most useful, since it blends equally well with the woodwinds or the other brasses. The trumpets, trombones, and tuba are the "heavy artillery" of the orchestra; playing loudly, they provide a dynamic climax, but they are also effective in subdued passages as a group or individually.

The percussion instruments are used to emphasize rhythm. The kettledrums are most important, blending best with the rest of the orchestra and also being tunable to a definite pitch. The others stand out so prominently that they are most effective when used sparingly. The harp is principally a color instrument and does not share the importance of the bowed strings. The piano and organ occasionally are used as orchestral instruments, apart from their role as soloists in concertos.

History

The orchestra in the modern sense of the word did not exist before the 17th cent. Previous instrumental ensemble music was chamber music, except for occasional ceremonies when as many instruments as were available would be massed together. Until well into the 17th cent. there was little thought of specifying what instrument should play a part; any available instrument with the proper range was used. The first known example of orchestration occurs in Giovanni Gabrieli's (see under Andrea Gabrieli) Sacrae Symphoniae (1597). Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607), one of the first operas, demands a large and varied group of instruments—all, in fact, that were available to him through his patron.

During the 17th cent. the violin family displaced the viols, except the double-bass viol, as the principal strings of the orchestra. By the end of the century a division into four parts had become standard: first and second violins, violas, and cellos, with the double basses playing the cello part an octave lower. (Not until the 19th cent. did the cellos and basses frequently have different parts to play.)

Woodwinds appeared in the earliest orchestras, though infrequently and subordinate to the strings—usually two oboes and a bassoon, with flutes sometimes replacing the oboes. The flutes were established as regular orchestra members, playing together with the oboes, only late in the 18th cent. The trumpets, inseparable from the kettledrums through the 17th and 18th cent., were used occasionally in the 17th cent. and became standard in the orchestra by about 1700. The French horn was fully accepted by 1750. The trombone was used in church music even before the 17th cent. and occasionally in opera thereafter; it did not become a regular member of the symphony orchestra until after 1800.

Throughout the baroque period and into the second half of the 18th cent., the basso continuo was an integral part of the scoring and required that a harpsichord or some other chord-playing instrument fill in the harmonies above the figured bass. The treble and bass were strongly emphasized, while the middle parts were often left to the continuo alone. The orchestra was rather small at this time; Bach had as few as 18 players for his larger church works, and Handel usually used about 30.

During the latter half of the 18th cent. the classical orchestra was gradually established through the disuse of the continuo and the acceptance of the clarinet. The abandonment of the continuo led to much greater independence in the string parts, which now had to fill the harmony unaided. Instead of both violin parts doubling the melody and the violas, cellos, and basses doubling the bass, there were now four distinct parts. The clarinet, like the flute, first appeared as an alternate for the oboe, but in the late works of Haydn and Mozart the orchestra was standardized, with pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, French horns, trumpets, and kettledrums in addition to the strings. All the wind instruments, especially the woodwinds, could carry the melody, providing desired changes of color.

In the 19th cent., beginning in the works of Beethoven, the brass took an increasingly prominent place. The trombone was used regularly, while the invention of the valve in 1813 soon made the horn and trumpet completely chromatic. All the brass thus became melody instruments, instantly available in the most remote keys. The horn section was increased to four early in the century, and the introduction of the tuba (c.1835-50) gave the brass a dependable contrabass register it had previously lacked. The woodwinds also were improved mechanically in the 19th cent., greatly enlarging their technical capabilities. Throughout the century the string section was expanded to balance the increasing numbers of wind players.

The scores of Mozart and Beethoven generally required an orchestra of about 40; those of Weber and early Wagner called for about 55; Wagner's Ring cycle (1854-74) called for about 110; and Strauss's Elektra for 115. Hector Berlioz was highly influential in increasing awareness of orchestral color and in encouraging the use of a larger orchestra; his Traité d'orchestration, a fundamental work of its kind, envisioned an ideal orchestra of 465. After the climax of orchestral bulk in the works of Wagner, Mahler, Strauss, and several others, composers reacted against orchestral gigantism, first in the impressionism of Debussy and his followers. They still used a large orchestra, but more restrainedly, making more distinctive use of the instruments and largely avoiding massive sonorities.

Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (1913) illustrates the early 20th-century interest in diverse instrumental combinations and original exploitation of the instruments' capabilities. In general, composers of the 20th cent. have continued exploring novel uses of instruments and have preferred a moderate-sized orchestra. Seventy-five to ninety players suffice for most 20th-century scores; a reduced, or chamber, orchestra of classical or baroque dimensions has also been much used. In this century the percussion section is used more prominently; new instruments have been devised and the playing of old ones varied.

Orchestras of Note

Among the world's many fine orchestras the following European ensembles have particular historic importance: the Leipzig Gewandhaus-Konzerte, not called by that name until later, began in 1743; the Philharmonic Society, London, was established in 1813; the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Paris, began in 1828; the Wiener Philharmonische Konzerte, Vienna, began in 1842; the Berlin Philharmonisches Orchester was established in 1882.

Among the oldest American orchestras still in existence are the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra (founded 1842 as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; merged with the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1928), the St. Louis Symphony (1880), the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1881), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1891), the Cincinnati Symphony (1895), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (1900).

Congress laid the foundation of the National Park System in 1872 when it established Yellowstone National Park. It then accelerated expansion of the system in 1906 with the passage of the Antiquities Act, which permitted the president to proclaim national historic landmarks, structures, and "other objects of historic and scientific interest" on federal lands. The authority created by this act has been used by presidents to establish more than 100 national monuments, some of which have since been designated by Congress as national parks. Until 1925, when an act was passed authorizing acceptance of donated land, nearly all of the National Park System was carved from public lands. In 1933 the National Park Service was given trusteeship over areas previously under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture and War depts. Congress has since authorized the preservation of significant historic sites and the establishment of national memorials, national historical parks, national parkways, national lakeshores and seashores, national recreation areas, national military parks and battlefields, national rivers and wild and scenic riverways, national scenic and historic trails, and national preserves. Not all of these areas are managed by the National Park Service, however; some national monuments, for example, are managed by the Bureau of Land Management (see Interior, U.S. Department of the). See the National Parks and Monuments table. See also National Forest System; National Marine Sanctuary Program; wilderness; wildlife refuge.

Mechanical Locks

There are two basic types of mechanical locks, each with variations. The oldest and simplest is the warded lock, which is essentially a spring-loaded bolt in which a notch has been cut. The key fits into the notch and slides the bolt backward and forward. The lock takes its name from the fixed projections, or wards, inside the lock and around the keyhole. The correct key has notches cut into it that match the wards, which block the wrong key from operating the lock. The ward lock is the easiest to pick and now is used only for cheap padlocks.

The tumbler lock contains one or more pieces of metal (called tumblers, levers, or latches) that fall into a slot in the bolt and prevent it being moved. The proper key has serrations that raise the metal pieces to the correct height above the slot, allowing the bolt to slide. There are three types of tumbler locks, pin-tumbler, disk-tumbler, and lever-tumbler. Pin-tumbler locks are the most common. The tumblers in this type of lock are small pins. The modern door lock is a compact pin-tumbler cylinder lock of the type developed (1860) by the American inventor Linus Yale. Door locks on automobiles and most high-security locks have pin tumblers. Disk- or wafer-tumbler locks, use flat disks, or wafers, instead of pins. When the proper key is inserted, the disks retract, releasing the bolt. Disk-tumbler locks are often used in desks and file cabinets. Lever-tumbler locks employ a series of different-sized levers resting on a bolt pin to prevent the bolt from moving. When the proper key is inserted, all the levers are raised to the same height, enabling the bolt pin to release the bolt. Lever-tumbler locks are often used in briefcases, safe-deposit boxes, and lockers.

The first of the keyless locks was the combination lock, developed at the beginning of the 17th cent. In it a number of rings inscribed with letters or numbers are threaded on a spindle. To open the lock the rings must be turned to form a code word or number, which causes the slots inside the rings to align and permits the spindle to be drawn out. A variant of the combination lock employs a movable dial with a series of numbers around it in place of the rings. The dial must be turned clockwise and counterclockwise in the proper sequence of numbers to align disk tumblers and open the lock. Once used only for padlocks, combination locks began to be used in safes and strong-room doors during the last half of the 19th cent. The time lock, first used successfully c.1875, has a clock mechanism that is set to permit opening only a certain time.

Electric and Magnetic Locks

Recent lock developments include the magnetic-key lock, in which the pins are actuated by small magnets on the key, which has no serrations. When the key is inserted into the lock, these magnets repel magnetized spring-loaded pins, raising them in the same way that the serrations on a tumbler-type key would. The card-key lock is actuated by a series of magnetic charges; the card-key is popular where security is vital, because a new series may be electronically defined for each new user, without having to change the lock itself. Similarly, electronic card access systems are used in many hotels and office buildings. A special "key" system uses a paperboard or plastic card, on which a code is recorded as a series of holes or bumps, or a microchip or a magnetic strip on which a code is stored. A card reader at the lock location reads the code and sends the information to a computer, which sends a signal to release the bolt if the code is correct. Electronic combination locks similarly use a computer to compare a combination stored in memory with one entered on a keypad; access is permitted if the combinations match. In a biometric entry system the numeric keypad is replaced by a scanner, which captures an individual's fingerprint, palmprint, signature, or other personal characteristic and compares it with that in the computer's memory. Biometric entry systems are most often used in high-security areas, such as nuclear power plants.

In an electromagnetic lock a metal plate is attached to the door and an electromagnet is attached to the doorframe opposite the plate. When the current flows, the electromagnet attracts the plate, holding the door closed, When the flow of current is stopped, the door unlocks. A variation places the plate and electromagnet so that the door is held open when current flows, enabling the door to be closed automatically when the current stops.

Keyless entry systems, which are common in motor vehicles, rely on a keychain fob that contains a remote-control unit consisting of an integrated circuit and a radio transmitter. The fob sends a low-powered radio signal to a receiver in the motor vehicle, and, if the received code is the correct one, the receiver in the vehicle relays the signal to a microprocessor, which opens the lock. The acceptance of such entry systems has led to devices that allow additional functions within the vehicle to be activated remotely.

The term libel is also often used if a wide audience for the defamation is possible. Courts have split over which category radio and television are in; today's statutes generally categorize defamation occurring in those media as slander. The offenses are alike in several respects. The defamation—essentially exposure to hatred, contempt, ridicule, or pecuniary loss—must directly affect the reputation of a living person. It must be published, i.e., revealed to someone besides the subject of the attack. It is no defense that the defendant merely repeated but did not originate the defamation.

The plaintiff is required to prove the colloquium (circumstances of utterance showing that the statement was directed against him or her specifically) and, when necessary, the innuendo (the factors making an apparently innocent statement defamatory). Generally, truth is an absolute defense in a suit for defamation. A false defamatory statement may be privileged if the actor was a legislator, executive officer, or speaking in a court proceeding. The requirement of colloquium makes unactionable defamation of a large group, e.g., a racial or professional group.

Whether the charge is libel or slander is important. Most libels are deemed injurious and give immediate ground for suit. However, only certain types of statements are slanderous per se and do not require proof of pecuniary damages; these include imputation of crime, of loathsome disease, or of professional or occupational incapacity. In other cases, there may not be any recovery unless the pecuniary loss caused by the injury is proved. The award to the successful plaintiff in a suit for defamation will usually include punitive, as well as compensatory, damages if the defendant willfully lied or published the defamation repeatedly.

In New York Times Company v. Sullivan (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court provided a significant expansion of the protection of the press from libel actions. Stemming from a case in which an elected official in Montgomery, Ala., complained of defamation by civil-rights activists, the court ruled that to protect the free flow of speech and opinions, public officials could only collect damages for libel if falsehoods were made with "reckless disregard" for the truth. This ruling has since been extended to any celebrity before the public.

The Sullivan ruling shifted the burden of proof in many libel cases from the defendant to the plaintiff, who must now prove the falsehood was issued with actual malice, that is, with deliberate knowledge that the statement was both incorrect and defamatory. The ruling was a victory for the media, but left the plaintiff with the difficult task of obtaining the sources for the allegedly libelous information—sources that reporters often hold confidential. In most cases, the court requires the plaintiff to show that a reasonable effort has been made to obtain the information elsewhere before it requires the reporter to divulge any sources.

In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed that only factual misrepresentation is to be considered libel or slander, not expression of opinion. It has also ruled that libel suits may be filed across state lines, not only in the state where the plaintiff lives. Libel suits apply not only to the media and public personalities but also to businesses, which account for approximately 70% of all suits. In recent years, producers of foods and other goods have succeeded in urging more than a dozen states to pass laws allowing them to sue critics of the safety or other aspects of their products; experts predict such laws will be overturned, but they have in the meantime had a "chilling" effect on public discussion in some cases.

For criminal, or seditious, libel, see press, freedom of the.

The Marriage Contract

Marriage is a contractual relationship between a man and a woman that vests the parties with a new legal status. Most of the requisites for other binding contracts must also be present in the marriage contract. Thus, the parties must have been competent to act, must have acted free from duress, and must not have made fraudulent representations; otherwise the contract may be dissolved by a judicial decree of nullity of marriage. However, marriage is unlike other contractual relationships in that it creates a status that may not be terminated at will by the parties, but only by a court, as by a divorce. It is thus often said that the state is a third party to any marriage.

With few exceptions, a marriage validly contracted in one place is recognized in others. Thus a common-law marriage—a marriage solely by the consent and behavior of the parties, without ceremony or registration—entered into in a state where such unions are valid will be deemed binding in states where a license to marry and a civil or religious solemnization are required. At an early period, common-law marriages were frequent in Europe; the difficulties arising from them—e.g., the doubtful legitimacy of children—led to their complete prohibition in Roman Catholic countries by the Council of Trent. Although common-law marriage was abolished in England in 1753, it remained lawful in Scotland and in the American colonies. Today, only 11 U.S. states permit the creation of common-law marriages within their borders. A few states have enacted laws permitting covenant marriages, in which premarital counseling is required and extra restrictions make divorce more difficult, but while such marriages are recognized by other states, the limits they place on divorce may not be, because the U.S. Supreme Court has established that the rules governing divorce are determined by the laws of the state of residence at the time of divorce and not of marriage.

Same-sex marriages, with all but a few of the legal aspects of traditional marriages, have recently been recognized in a few European nations. In the United States, local officials have from time to time registered same-sex couples or solemnized their marriages. At present, however, Vermont is the only state that grants any official recognition to a homosexual union. In some places local authorities have established "domestic partner" laws, granted "certificates of cohabitation," or undertaken similar steps in order to afford homosexual (and some other) couples various rights society reserves for marital partners.

Evolution of Marriage Law

The former Anglo-American law of marriage was chiefly characterized by the view that husband and wife are one legal personality, for whom the husband acts. Accordingly, the husband determined the marital domicile and was the dominant figure in the relation of parent and child. Nearly all the property of the wife passed to his absolute control for the duration of the marriage. The wife ordinarily could not make separate contracts, but if her husband refused support to her or to the children, she might pledge his credit to supply needs. After the death of a spouse, the survivor usually enjoyed a partial interest in the deceased's property. The wife's dower entitled her to one third of the husband's property on his death; curtesy, a similar right of the husband in the wife's property, accrued only if children had been born of the marriage.

In time, the equity courts recognized the wife's right during her husband's lifetime to a separate property in trust established for her benefit. By the late 19th cent., the need for a separate trust property disappeared, for Great Britain and all the American states adopted "married women's property" statutes, giving wives complete control over their property and their contracts. Most states provided that, in place of dower and curtesy, a surviving spouse was entitled to a certain share in the estate of the deceased spouse. A few states, following the Spanish law, recognized community property, whereby all property acquired during the marriage is owned by both husband and wife and is divided equally on the dissolution of the marriage.

Other features of the older laws on marriage have persisted, but many have been modified or eliminated. Certain old civil actions for injury to the marital relation that were once available only to the husband, such as actions for criminal conversation (adultery), actions for loss of consortium (marital services) because of physical injury to the wife, and for alienation of the wife's affections, are now either extended to the wife or denied to both parties.

This development, occurring largely in the United States, was the result of two influences: John Dewey and others insisted that the object of education should be to stimulate the fullest possible growth of the individual and that the unique qualities of personality require individual handling for adequate development; also in the early 20th cent., social and economic conditions stimulated a great increase in school enrollment. These two forces encouraged a reexamination of the curricula and methods of secondary schools, with special reference to the needs of students who did not plan to enter college. The academic curriculum was revised to embrace these alternative cultural and vocational requirements (see vocational education).

Early guidance programs dealt with the immediate problem of vocational placement. The complexities of the industrial economy and the unrealistic ambitions of many young people made it essential that machinery for bringing together jobs and workers be set up; vocational guidance became that machinery. At the same time, counseling organizations were established to help people understand their potentialities and liabilities and make intelligent personal and vocational decisions. The first vocational counseling service was the Boston Vocational Bureau, established (1908) by Frank Parsons, a pioneer in the field of guidance. His model was soon copied by many schools, municipalities, states, and private organizations.

With the development of aptitude and interest tests, such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, commercial organizations were formed to analyze people's abilities and furnish career advice. Schools organized testing and placement services, many of them in cooperation with federal and state agencies. Under the provisions of the National Defense Education Act (1958), the federal government provided assistance for guidance and counseling programs in the public secondary schools and established a testing procedure to identify students with outstanding abilities. The U.S. Dept. of Labor has been an active force in establishing standards and methods of vocational guidance, helping states to form their own vocational guidance and counseling services. The personnel departments of many large corporations have also instituted systems of guidance to promote better utilization of their employees.

Modern high school guidance programs also include academic counseling for those students planning to attend college. In recent years, school guidance counselors have also been recognized as the primary source for psychological counseling for high school students; this sometimes includes counseling in such areas as drug abuse and teenage pregnancy and referrals to other professionals (e.g., psychologists, social workers, and learning-disability specialists). Virtually all teachers colleges offer major courses in guidance, and graduate schools of education grant advanced degrees in the field.

Quarantine, slaughter and complete disposal of infected animals, and disinfection of contaminated material, are prescribed to limit contagion. There is no effective treatment. With vaccines, introduced in 1938, and sanitary controls, foot-and-mouth disease has been excluded or eliminated from North and Central America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, and Ireland; and occurrences have become infrequent in Great Britain and continental Europe. The disease persists through much of Asia, Africa, and South America.

Commercial Processing of Fats

Among the vegetable oils of greatest commercial importance are cottonseed, linseed, olive, palm, corn, peanut, soybean, and castor oils. The method of obtaining the oils is similar for all: the fruits or seeds after being cleaned are crushed and pressed cold to obtain the highest grade of oil and then pressed warm, yielding a grade suitable for industrial use. Sometimes solvents are used to remove the remaining oil from the crushed mass. Edible oils are those used in foods, and for these the highest grade is utilized; these must be pale in color, free from disagreeable odor and taste, and wholesome. The lower grades are suitable for making soap and for other industrial purposes. The chemical property that makes fats solid and oils liquid is the amount of saturation in the ester (see saturated fats). Animal fats are esters of saturated fatty acids; vegetable oils are esters of unsaturated fatty acids.

Conversion of liquid vegetable oils into solid fats is an important chemical industry. This process, sometimes called hardening, involves hydrogenation of the unsaturated fatty-acid portion of the oil molecule by heating the oil with hydrogen in the presence of a metal catalyst; by controlling the extent of hydrogenation, various products can be obtained. For example, controlled hydrogenation of cottonseed oil produces a solid vegetable cooking fat. Most fats become rancid upon standing; since a major factor leading to rancidity is air oxidation of double bonds (to form foul-smelling aldehydes), saturated fats are much more resistant to rancidity than unsaturated fats.

Fats as Food

Animal fats used in foods include butter, lard, chicken fat, and suet. Cod-liver oil and some other fish oils are used therapeutically as sources of vitamins A and D. Nutritionally fats and oils are valued as a source of energy. Because they contain less oxygen than other nutrients, they oxidize more readily and release more energy. Fats are digested in the human body chiefly by the enzyme lipase (in the pancreatic juice) aided by the bile. There are several theories to explain the method of absorption of fats; favored by many is the view that they are absorbed by the epithelial cells of the lining of the small intestine in the form of the fatty acids and glycerol into which they are split by digestion and that a recombination to re-form the fat occurs within the cells. Most of the fat then enters the lymphatic system through the villi in the lining of the small intestine, although some is probably absorbed directly by the blood vessels of the villi. Medical research indicates the possibility that saturated fats in the diet contribute to the incidence of arteriosclerosis; such fats may raise the blood's level of cholesterol, which is deposited in the arteries.

See oils; petroleum.

Definitions of drug abuse and addiction are subjective and infused with the political and moral values of the society or culture. For example, the stimulant caffeine in coffee and tea is a drug used by millions of people, but because of its relatively mild stimulatory effects and because caffeine does not generally trigger antisocial behavior in users, the drinking of coffee and tea, despite the fact that caffeine is physically addictive, is not generally considered drug abuse. Even narcotics addiction is seen only as drug abuse in certain social contexts. In India opium has been used for centuries without becoming unduly corrosive to the social fabric.

The United States has the highest substance abuse rate of any industrialized nation. Government statistics (1997) show that 36% of the United States population has tried marijuana, cocaine, or other illicit drugs. By comparison, 71% of the population has smoked cigarettes and 82% has tried alcoholic beverages. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.

Types of Abused Substances

There are many levels of substance abuse and many kinds of drugs, some of them readily accepted by society.

Legal substances, approved by law for sale over the counter or by doctor's prescription, include caffeine, alcoholic beverages (see alcoholism), nicotine (see smoking), and inhalants (nail polish, glue, inhalers, gasoline). Prescription drugs such as tranquilizers, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, steroids, and analgesics can be knowingly or unknowingly overprescribed or otherwise used improperly. In many cases, new drugs prescribed in good conscience by physicians turn out to be a problem later. For example, diazepam (Valium) was widely prescribed in the 1960s and 70s before its potential for serious addiction was realized. In the 1990s, sales of fluoxetine (Prozac) helped create a $3 billion antidepressant market in the United States, leading many people to criticize what they saw as the creation of a legal drug culture that discouraged people from learning other ways to deal with their problems. At the same time, readily available but largely unregulated herbal medicines have grown in popularity; many of these are psychoactive to some degree, raising questions of quality and safety. Prescription drugs are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Prescription drugs are considered illegal when diverted from proper use. Some people shop until they find a doctor who freely writes prescriptions; supplies are sometimes stolen from laboratories, clinics, or hospitals. Morphine, a strictly controlled opiate, and synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl, are most often abused by people in the medical professions, who have easier access to these drugs. Other illegal substances include cocaine and crack, marijuana and hashish, heroin, hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD, PCP (phencycline or "angel dust"), "designer drugs" such as MDMA (Ecstasy), and "party drugs" such as GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate).

Motivations for Drug Use

People take drugs for many reasons: peer pressure, relief of stress, increased energy, to relax, to relieve pain, to escape reality, to feel more self-esteem, and for recreation. They may take stimulants to keep alert, or cocaine for the feeling of excitement it produces. Athletes and bodybuilders may take anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass.

Effects of Substance Abuse

The effects of substance abuse can be felt on many levels: on the individual, on friends and family, and on society.

People who use drugs experience a wide array of physical effects other than those expected. The excitement of a cocaine high, for instance, is followed by a "crash": a period of anxiety, fatigue, depression, and an acute desire for more cocaine to alleviate the feelings of the crash. Marijuana and alcohol interfere with motor control and are factors in many automobile accidents. Users of marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs may experience flashbacks, unwanted recurrences of the drug's effects weeks or months after use. Sudden abstinence from certain drugs results in withdrawal symptoms. For example, heroin withdrawal can cause vomiting, muscle cramps, convulsions, and delirium. With the continued use of a physically addictive drug, tolerance develops; i.e., constantly increasing amounts of the drug are needed to duplicate the initial effect. Sharing hypodermic needles used to inject some drugs dramatically increases the risk of contracting AIDS and some types of hepatitis. In addition, increased sexual activity among drug users, both in prostitution and from the disinhibiting effect of some drugs, also puts them at a higher risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Because the purity and dosage of illegal drugs are uncontrolled, drug overdose is a constant risk. There are over 10,000 deaths directly attributable to drug use in the United States every year; the substances most frequently involved are cocaine, heroin, and morphine, often combined with alcohol or other drugs. Many drug users engage in criminal activity, such as burglary and prostitution, to raise the money to buy drugs, and some drugs, especially alcohol, are associated with violent behavior.

The user's preoccupation with the substance, plus its effects on mood and performance, can lead to marital problems and poor work performance or dismissal. Drug use can disrupt family life and create destructive patterns of codependency, that is, the spouse or whole family, out of love or fear of consequences, inadvertently enables the user to continue using drugs by covering up, supplying money, or denying there is a problem. Pregnant drug users, because of the drugs themselves or poor self-care in general, bear a much higher rate of low birth-weight babies than the average. Many drugs (e.g., crack and heroin) cross the placental barrier, resulting in addicted babies who go through withdrawal soon after birth, and fetal alcohol syndrome can affect children of mothers who consume alcohol during pregnancy. Pregnant women who acquire the AIDS virus through intravenous drug use pass the virus to their infant.

Drug abuse affects society in many ways. In the workplace it is costly in terms of lost work time and inefficiency. Drug users are more likely than nonusers to have occupational accidents, endangering themselves and those around them. Over half of the highway deaths in the United States involve alcohol. Drug-related crime can disrupt neighborhoods due to violence among drug dealers, threats to residents, and the crimes of the addicts themselves. In some neighborhoods, younger children are recruited as lookouts and helpers because of the lighter sentences given to juvenile offenders, and guns have become commonplace among children and adolescents. The great majority of homeless people have either a drug or alcohol problem or a mental illness—many have all three.

The federal government budgeted $17.9 billion on drug control in 1999 for interdiction, prosecution, international law enforcement, prisons, treatment, prevention, and related items. In 1998, drug-related health care costs in the United States came to more than $9.9 billion.

Treatment

Treatment of substance abusers depends upon the severity and nature of the addiction, motivation, and the availability of services. Some users may come into treatment voluntarily and have the support of family, friends, and workplace; others may be sent to treatment by the courts against their will and have virtually no support system. Most people in drug treatment have a history of criminal behavior; approximately one third are sent by the criminal justice system.

Both pharmacological and behavioral treatments are used, often augmented by educational and vocational services. Treatment may include detoxification, therapy, and support groups, such as the 12-step groups Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and Cocaine Anonymous. Nonresidential programs serve the largest number of patients. Residential facilities include hospitals, group homes, halfway houses, and therapeutic communities, such as Phoenix House and Daytop Village; most of the daily activities are treatment-related. Programs such as Al-Anon, CoAnon, and Alateen, 12-step programs for family and friends of substance abusers, help them to break out of codependent cycles.

Some treatment programs use medicines that neutralize the effects of the drug. Antabuse is a medicine used in the treatment of alcoholism. It causes severe and sudden reaction (nausea, vomiting, headache) when alcohol is present. Naltrexone, to treat alcohol and heroin abuse, and acamprosate, used to treat alcoholism, both reduce cravings. Other programs use stabilizing medications, e.g., methadone or buprenorphine maintenance programs for heroin addiction. Acupuncture has been successful in treating the cravings that accompany cocaine withdrawal and is being used with pregnant substance abusers to improve the health of their babies.

For every person in drug treatment there are an estimated three or four people who need it. Many who attempt to get treatment, especially from public facilities, are discouraged by waits of over a month to get in. Evaluating the effectiveness of treatment is difficult because of the chronic nature of drug abuse and alcoholism and the fact that the disease is usually complicated by personal, social, and health factors.

Fighting Substance Abuse

Efforts at fighting substance abuse are dictated by the attitudes of the public and their perceptions of a substance's dangers. These attitudes may be framed by personal experience, media portrayals, news events, or drug education. Most drug enforcement is local, but the international and interstate nature of the drug trade has gradually resulted in more federal involvement. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), created in 1973, is responsible for enforcing federal laws and policies and coordinates information sharing between agencies. Approaches to combating the drug problem have traditionally focused on reducing both supply and demand.

The policy of supply reduction aims to decrease the available amount of a drug and make its cost prohibitively high due to the short supply. One strategy for supply reduction is the passage and enforcement of strict laws that govern the prescribing of narcotic drugs. Other strategies are aimed at disrupting drug trafficking. In general, heroin and the other opiates come into the United States from SW and SE Asia, Central America, and Colombia, cocaine from South America, marijuana from domestic sources, Mexico, Colombia, and Jamaica, and designer drugs from domestic clandestine laboratories. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is charged with interdicting smuggled drugs that come in across land borders, the U.S. Coast Guard with interdiction on the seas. Other attempts to disrupt the flow of drugs involve the seizure of clandestine labs, arrest and conviction of drug dealers and middlemen, and international efforts to break up drug cartels and organized crime distribution networks. Asset seizure is a controversial but effective strategy that allows authorities to confiscate any profits derived from or property used in drug trafficking, including cars, houses, and legal fees paid to defense attorneys. Eradication of crops was the strategy behind the spraying of paraquat on Mexican marijuana crops in the 1970s. Some attempts at reducing drug production by creating more lucrative markets for nondrug crops in drug-producing areas also have been made.

Attempts to reduce the demand for drugs in the main involve education and treatment. For the most part, responsibility for education falls to local schools and for treatment to local public hospitals or private treatment centers. The federal government gathers statistics and provides funds for treatment and rehabilitation programs. Certain laws are designed to promote education of the public (e.g., those requiring warning labels on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages), and all states have Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) laws. Other drug laws attempt to reduce the demand for drugs by imposing stiff penalties for drug possession, manufacture, and trafficking. Drug testing in the workplace has been a controversial measure, weighing productivity and the safety of the workers and those for whom they are responsible against an individual's right to privacy, but it has resulted in increased public awareness. Some grassroots groups have had a profound effect; MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) was instrumental in raising the drinking ages in many states.

Legalization and Decriminalization

The concept of controlling drugs is a relatively recent phenomenon, and one that has been met with limited success despite the billions of dollars spent. Some people argue that if drugs were legalized (as occurred with the repeal of Prohibition), drug trafficking and the violence it engenders would disappear. Some contend also that with government regulation dosages would be standardized and dangerous contaminants eliminated, making drugs safer. It has also been suggested that resulting lower prices for drugs would preclude the need for criminal activity to raise money for their purchase, and that billions of dollars saved from supply reduction programs could be put toward education and treatment. Nevertheless, a substantial majority of Americans polled have thought legalization a bad idea. Those opposed to legalization believe that removal of deterrents would encourage drug use, that people would still steal to buy drugs, and that many drugs are so inexpensive to produce that there would still be a black market.

Decriminalization is the elimination or reduction of criminal penalties for using or dealing in small amounts of certain drugs. Attitudes toward decriminalization change with the times and with actual and perceived dangers involved. Many localities decriminalized marijuana in the 1970s—and many reinstituted stricter laws in the 1980s.

History

Humans have used drugs of one sort or another for thousands of years. Wine was used at least from the time of the early Egyptians; narcotics from 4000 B.C.; and medicinal use of marijuana has been dated to 2737 B.C. in China. But not until the 19th cent. A.D. were the active substances in drugs extracted. There followed a time when some of these newly discovered substances—morphine, laudanum, cocaine—were completely unregulated and prescribed freely by physicians for a wide variety of ailments. They were available in patent medicines and sold by traveling tinkers, in drugstores, or through the mail. During the American Civil War, morphine was used freely, and wounded veterans returned home with their kits of morphine and hypodermic needles. Opium dens flourished. By the early 1900s there were an estimated 250,000 addicts in the United States.

The problems of addiction were recognized gradually. Legal measures against drug abuse in the United States were first established in 1875, when opium dens were outlawed in San Francisco. The first national drug law was the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, which required accurate labeling of patent medicines containing opium and certain other drugs. In 1914 the Harrison Narcotic Act forbade sale of substantial doses of opiates or cocaine except by licensed doctors and pharmacies. Later, heroin was totally banned. Subsequent Supreme Court decisions made it illegal for doctors to prescribe any narcotic to addicts; many doctors who prescribed maintenance doses as part of an addiction treatment plan were jailed, and soon all attempts at treatment were abandoned. Use of narcotics and cocaine diminished by the 1920s. The spirit of temperance led to the prohibition of alcohol by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1919, but Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

In the 1930s most states required antidrug education in the schools, but fears that knowledge would lead to experimentation caused it to be abandoned in most places. Soon after the repeal of Prohibition, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Administration) began a campaign to portray marijuana as a powerful, addicting substance that would lead users into narcotics addiction. In the 1950s, use of marijuana increased again, along with that of amphetamines and tranquilizers. The social upheaval of the 1960s brought with it a dramatic increase in drug use and some increased social acceptance; by the early 1970s some states and localities had decriminalized marijuana and lowered drinking ages. The 1980s brought a decline in the use of most drugs, but cocaine and crack use soared. The military became involved in border patrols for the first time, and troops invaded Panama and brought its de facto leader, Manuel Noriega, to trial for drug trafficking.

Throughout the years, the public's perception of the dangers of specific substances changed. The surgeon general's warning label on tobacco packaging gradually made people aware of the addictive nature of nicotine. By 1995, the Food and Drug Administration was considering its regulation. The recognition of fetal alcohol syndrome brought warning labels to alcohol products. The addictive nature of prescription drugs such as diazepam (Valium) became known, and caffeine came under scrutiny as well.

Drug laws have tried to keep up with the changing perceptions and real dangers of substance abuse. By 1970 over 55 federal drug laws and countless state laws specified a variety of punitive measures, including life imprisonment and even the death penalty. To clarify the situation, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 repealed, replaced, or updated all previous federal laws concerned with narcotics and all other dangerous drugs. While possession was made illegal, the severest penalties were reserved for illicit distribution and manufacture of drugs. The act dealt with prevention and treatment of drug abuse as well as control of drug traffic. The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 increased funding for treatment and rehabilitation; the 1988 act created the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Its director, often referred to as the drug "czar," is responsible for coordinating national drug control policy.

Springboard diving is done from a flexible plank made of aluminum or steel and measuring 16 ft (4.9 m) long by 20 in. (51 cm) wide. It extends horizontally over the water at a height of 1 m (about 3 ft 3 in.) or 3 m (about 9 ft 10 in.). The flexibility of the board allows the diver to jump high into the air to execute various maneuvers before entering the water. Platform diving (also called high diving) is usually done from a tower 10 m (32 ft 10 in.) high that is not flexible and that projects nearly five feet (1.5 m) over the water. The height of the tower permits more involved acrobatics during descent; it also poses considerable danger as divers enter the water at speeds of 40 mi (60 km) per hr or more.

Both types of diving are done from standing and walking starts, and in competition judges score on the basis of form, execution, and degree of difficulty. There are six groups of dives (forward, backward, reverse, inward, twisting, and armstand) and four basic midair body positions: tuck (bending at both the knees and the hips so that the body assumes a ball shape), pike (bending at the hips but not at the knees), straight (body rigidly extended at all times), and free (combination of two or more of above body positions). On springboard, divers usually perform five dives with degree-of-difficulty limits—one dive from each group except armstand—and five dives (six for men) with no limits. On platform, divers perform four dives with difficulty limits from the six groups. Women then perform four dives, men six, without limits. In all dives the final entry position should be rigid and vertical—the less splash the better.

Orders of knighthood, such as the Order of the Bath and the Order of the Garter, still exist in Great Britain. British orders created in modern times—e.g., the Distinguished Service Order (1886), the Royal Victorian Order (1896), the Order of Merit (1902), and the Order of the British Empire (1917)—are decorations for civil and military service rather than true feudal orders. In the rest of Europe the old orders of knighthood, where they still exist, have also tended to lose their feudal connotations. Among the best known orders of chivalry are the Order of the Golden Fleece, created (1429 or 1430) by Philip the Good of Burgundy and conferred by Austria and by Spain; the Danish orders of the Dannebrog (1219) and Elephant (1462); the Italian orders of Annunziata (1362) and of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (1434); the papal order of the Golden Spur (1559); the Prussian orders of the Black Eagle (1701) and Red Eagle (1734); the Swedish Order of the Seraphim (1748); and the Polish orders of the White Eagle and of Polonia Restituta (1919). The French Legion of Honor, created by Napoleon I in 1802, is composed of an unlimited number of knights and headed by a grand master (the president of France).

In the late 19th and 20th cent., countries in many parts of the world followed the lead of the European nations and instituted elaborate systems of honors. Most European orders are graded in several classes, and the stars, crosses, ribbons, and other insignia corresponding to different classes vary greatly in aspect and value. Major military decorations include the Medaille militaire (France, 1852); the Croix de Guerre (Belgium and France, 1915); the Iron Cross (Germany, 1813; revived in 1939); and the Victoria Cross (Great Britain, 1856).

The highest decoration for exceptional heroism in the United States is the Congressional Medal of Honor, instituted in 1861 for the Navy and 1862 for the Army. Among other decorations awarded by the Congress are the Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Service Medal (1917) and the Distinguished Flying Cross (1942). The Purple Heart (created by George Washington, 1782; revived 1932) is awarded for wounds received in action; the silver star and bronze star are awarded, respectively, for heroism and for outstanding service. Each service has its own cross that ranks above the silver star. Oak-leaf clusters (in the Navy, gold or silver stars) are marks of repeated awards of the same decoration. In the United States and Great Britain a ribbon, indicating by its colors the corresponding medal, rather than the medal itself, is worn over the left breast pocket of the uniform. In some other countries, e.g., Russia, the medals themselves are worn suspended on ribbons.

Several countries award decorations to entire units; an example is the Presidential Unit Citation in the United States. Campaign ribbons and battle stars are decorations awarded automatically for presence in certain battles or theaters of operations. Some countries also give awards for civilian service, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the United States.

Country and western music is directly descended from the folk songs, ballads, and popular songs of the English, Scottish, and Irish settlers of the U.S. southeastern seaboard. Its modern lyrics depict the emotions and experience of rural and (currently) urban poor whites; they often tell frankly of illicit love, crime, and prison life. Over the last 50 years country and western music has gained a nationwide audience. Since 1925 the "Grand Ole Opry," a Saturday night performance featuring country and western singers, has been broadcast weekly from Nashville, Tenn.

Many of the musicians have been influenced by African-American blues (see jazz) and gospel music, but the performers and audience are almost all white. Leading performers include Jimmy Rodgers, the Carter Family, Hank Williams and his son, Tex Ritter, Chet Atkins, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, June Carter-Cash, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Charley Pride, Charlie Rich, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson. In the 1960s and 70s, country and western music significantly influenced the development of rock music. Since then, it has undergone a national revival with performers such as Ricky Scaggs, Garth Brooks, the Judds, Tanya Tucker, and Reba McEntire achieving great popularity.

Universities

Universities generally consist of groups of schools, faculties, or colleges. They arose in the 12th and 13th cent. as a means of providing further training in the professions of law, theology, and medicine, and as centers of study for the rediscovered works of Aristotle and the Arab scholars. Of the earliest universities, Salerno (9th cent.) and Montpellier (13th cent.) specialized in medicine; Bologna (1088) in law; and Paris (12th cent.) in theology. Students and faculty were originally organized in guildlike groups. The student groups, known as "nations" and comprising students from particular localities, gradually diminished in power, however, as the faculty, which controlled both teaching and graduation requirements, became more powerful.

In the Middle Ages, universities were usually begun through royal or ecclesiastical initiative or through migrations of students from other universities. The migrations were sometimes influenced by political events. Oxford Univ., for example, was founded (12th cent.) by English students from the Univ. of Paris who were forced to leave that institution as a result of conflicts between England and France; similarly, the university at Leipzig was founded (15th cent.) by German scholars who were driven out of Prague by John Huss's Czech national movement. Medieval universities often had many thousands of students and played an important role in public affairs. Among the famous institutions founded were Salamanca (c.1230), Prague (1348), Vienna (1365), Uppsala (1477), Leiden (1575), and Moscow (1755). The oldest universities in the New World, both founded in 1551, are Mexico Univ. and San Marcos of Lima.

In the 19th cent. many governments reorganized and nationalized universities, as in Italy after unification (1870), in Spain (1876), and in France, where 17 autonomous regional universities were established after 1876. By 1900 many universities were secularized in administration and curriculum, and religious tests had been largely eliminated (in England by act of Parliament in 1871). Through the centuries, the majority of women were educated in separate institutions; however, since 1870 the benefits of coeducation have impelled nearly all universities to admit both sexes.

In the United States, modern universities developed during the late 19th cent. from the expansion of private colleges and the establishment of state tax-supported universities. Largely as a result of the Morrill Act (1862), public lands were granted to the states for the formation and support of state agricultural and mechanical schools (see land-grant colleges and universities). Another important influence at that time was the founding of institutions (e.g., Johns Hopkins Univ.) devoted to graduate study and research. They were modeled on the German universities, with their separate graduate and professional schools each devoted to a particular area of study.

In the 20th cent. universities have played an increasingly important role in scientific and technical research, largely as a result of social and governmental demands for these services. The nationalization and bureaucratization of research functions has been especially marked in the United States, where various government agencies dispense large amounts of money to both public and private universities for research purposes. The federal government also provides direct aid to various categories of students, such as veterans and disadvantaged students.

Since World War II there has been worldwide proliferation of new universities, expansion of old ones, and merging of small institutions into larger university systems. As former colonies gained independence during the 1960s and 1970s, each struggled to define its specific educational needs and establish a university system. In Africa, for example, universities were established in Ghana and Nigeria in 1948, in the Côte d'Ivoire in 1959, and in Congo (Kinshasa) in 1971.

Further proliferation has occurred as a result of the desire for political equality. Educational reforms in Japan, for example, have decreed that there must be at least one national university in each of 47 sections of the country, so that there are now more than 96 such institutions. Similar pressures operated in Great Britain, where seven new universities were established in the 1960s alone, and in the United States, where the State Univ. of New York grew from a small group of teacher training colleges in 1948 to a multicampus system with nearly 370,000 students in 1999.

Colleges

Like universities, colleges first appeared in the Middle Ages; the earliest were founded in 12th-century Paris. Originally the college served as an endowed residence hall for university scholars, but later it absorbed much of the university's activity. It was in England, at Oxford and Cambridge, that the college became the principal center of learning, with the university serving mainly to examine candidates and confer degrees.

The Industrial Revolution brought a demand for scientific and technical education, and separate technical colleges (e.g., Yorkshire Science College in Leeds) were founded. Moreover, extension lectures, sponsored by the universities, created a demand for educational centers in remote areas. Degrees, however, continued to be conferred by the universities with which the colleges were affiliated.

It was in America that the liberal arts college first appeared extensively as a separate institution. In the 17th and early 18th cent., numerous colleges were established in the colonies, primarily to train young men for the ministry. Notable were Harvard (1636; Puritan), William and Mary (1693; Anglican), Yale (1701; Congregationalist), Princeton (1746; New Lights Presbyterian), Columbia (1754; Anglican), Brown (1765; Baptist), and Rutgers (1766; Dutch Reformed).

During the 19th cent. a number of women's colleges were founded. Notable early women's colleges were Mt. Holyoke (1837), Elmira (1853), Vassar (1861), Wellesley (1871), Smith (1871), and Bryn Mawr (1881). Another development of the 19th cent. was the growth of normal schools, which later became teachers colleges (see teacher training). Though the curricula and ideals of American colleges continued to be influenced by English schools, many American colleges, stimulated by the German university system and by the increasing demand for technical instruction, began to expand their facilities to include graduate and professional schools.

By the 20th cent. many American colleges had become universities, and by the middle of the century universities were giving out twice as many bachelor's degrees as were the traditional liberal arts colleges. In an attempt to reassert the importance of the colleges, many of them have been empowered to grant graduate degrees, especially the master's degree. Since the 1960s, the community college movement has been most important in expanding opportunities for higher education. By allowing students to live at home, operating with more flexible schedules, focusing on technical curricula, and adopting policies of open enrollment, the community colleges have made college training available to a larger segment of high-school graduates. Still another development has been the establishment of cluster colleges, such as the Univ. of California at Santa Cruz (est. 1965), which provide the personalized education that is characteristic of the small college without sacrificing the quality and diversity of the university.

Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, aldehydes, and a number of organic tar compounds. The use of filter-tipped cigarettes increased in the United States after medical reports in the early 1950s suggested a link between lung cancer and cigarette smoking. In 1964, Luther Terry, the U.S. surgeon general, issued a report that condemned cigarettes as causing cancer and several respiratory diseases. During the 1980s, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop reiterated and underscored these admonitions. Such efforts resulted in antismoking campaigns, a ban on television advertising, and warning labels on packages. As a countermeasure, the tobacco industry increased their advertising budgets 400% between 1967 and 1984. Tobacco production in the United States increased steadily until 1981, after which the industry began a downward turn. The consumption of cigarettes reached its peak between 1974 and 1977.

Recognizing that the smoking of tobacco is addictive, pharmaceutical companies have developed chewing gum and transdermal skin patches that introduce nicotine into the body while the person tries to "kick the habit" and refrain from smoking. Scientific studies suggest that smoking can cause complications in pregnancy, and that "passive smoking," the inhalation of smoke from others' cigars or cigarettes, has effects similar to smoking. Vigorous antismoking campaigning has been accompanied by a number of successful efforts to ban smoking in public places.

Cigarette manufacturers in the United States were faced with serious legal and financial threats in the mid- and late 1990s as a result of health-related lawsuits brought by U.S. states and by individuals, and also were confronted with further attempts at government regulation. Disputes with the states were settled in 1998 when the industry agreed to pay 46 states $206 billion over 25 years (four states had earlier been paid a total of $40 billion to resolve their separate lawsuits), but individuals continued to seek damages for illnesses that they maintained were caused by smoking cigarettes. Where U.S. law allows, cigarettes continue to be aggressively marketed by American tobacco companies, who also aim increasing amounts of their sales efforts at the less regulated nations in the global market. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which came into affect in 2005 and has been ratified by more than 55 nations, seeks to reduce the number of tobacco-related illnesses and deaths by such measures as banning tobacco product advertising and putting warning labels on tobacco packaging.

In the Byzantine Empire

In the East in the 6th cent., Justinian was ruler of church and state equally, and thereafter the Orthodox Eastern Church in the Byzantine Empire was in confirmed subservience to the state. This domination of state over church is called Erastianism, after the theologian Erastus. When the empire began to disintegrate, the power of the state over the church declined; and under the Ottoman sultans the situation was reversed to the extent that the patriarchs of Constantinople were given political power over the laity of their churches.

In Russia and the USSR

In Russia the Orthodox Church was quite dominated by the state. In the former Soviet Union, especially in its early period, the Communist party fostered much antireligious propaganda, and a large percentage of the churches were closed. The Constitution of 1936, however, guaranteed freedom of religious worship, and the Russian Orthodox Church was subsequently revived. In 1944 two state-controlled councils were established to supervise religion; one regulated the affairs of the Russian Church, the other those of the other Christian denominations and of the Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist groups. Similar systems of state control also existed in many other Communist countries.

In the West

In the West different factors affected church and state relations than in the East. After A.D. 400 there was no central power in the West, but there was a central ecclesiastical power, the see of Rome, which had claimed primacy from the earliest times. The barbarian invasions and the ensuing anarchy resulted in a tremendous growth in the power of the papacy.

With the appearance of strong political powers in Europe, particularly the Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of France, a struggle began between the papacy and the temporal rulers. The principal contention was over investiture, but underlying it was violent disagreement as to the proper distribution of power; theories ranged from the belief that emperor or king, as ruler by divine right, should control church as well as state (a theory known also as caesaropapism) to the belief that the pope, as vicar of God on earth, should have the right of supervision over the state. The centuries-long struggle was highlighted by such bitter clashes as those between Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, between Pope Innocent III and Emperor Frederick II and King Philip II of France, and between Pope Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France. The conflict of Guelphs and Ghibellines began as part of the imperial-papal struggle.

The nearest the papacy ever came to Erastianism was in the period during which the popes resided at Avignon, where they were virtually at the beck and call of the French kings. After the return of the papacy to Rome the popes generally maintained independence of temporal powers but on occasion were either influenced or coerced by king or emperor.

The contest in England was perhaps no less bitter than on the Continent, but it was more sporadic. Lanfranc and Anselm contended against King William II, St. Thomas à Becket against Henry II.

The Reformation introduced a great number of complicated factors into the relations of church and state. Different solutions have been found, ranging from the establishment of one particular church (as in England and the Scandinavian countries) to the total separation of church and state (as in the United States). The patterns of relation between church and state remain a living issue in today's society.

The most extreme form of Erastianism is seen in the Church of England (see England, Church of), of which the monarch is supreme head. This situation derives from the strongly political character of the Protestant Reformation in England. It is notable that in the early history of religious dissent, the Puritans (see Puritanism) did not wish to end the Established Church; their aim was rather to capture and control it. The church was not disestablished after the English civil war; Anglicanism, or Episcopalianism, was merely replaced by a Presbyterian establishment (although the latter was a dead letter from the beginning).

After the Restoration (1660) of the monarchy, measures were taken against the Puritans that for the first time actually excluded them from the Church of England as nonconformists. They and the Roman Catholics were the victims of religious and civil disabilities (gradually reduced) into the 19th cent. Although the state has taken less and less interest in supervising the Church of England, the connection is still very real; e.g., revisions of the Book of Common Prayer must be approved by Parliament, and appointments to all bishoprics are made by the monarch, acting on the advice of the prime minister.

John Calvin tended to a view directly opposed to that of the reforming English monarchs; in Geneva he set up a virtual theocracy with the state subordinate to the church. The Presbyterian churches (which are of Calvinist origin) have, therefore, maintained a stand for freedom of the church, and the Church of Scotland (see Scotland, Church of), which is Presbyterian, is much less under state control than is the Church of England.

The Presbyterians in the British North American colonies participated in the struggle against the institution of an established church, particularly in Virginia, but more important was the broad principle of religious toleration forwarded by Roger Williams and others. This principle, befitting the growing heterogeneity of the colonies, ultimately triumphed against both the virtual theocracy of the New England Puritans and the conservative established church of the Southern colonists. The American idea of separation of church and state—complete noninterference on both sides—expressed notably in Jefferson's Virginia statute for religious freedom and in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, emerged. In the United States today there is relatively little friction between church and state. The practical line of demarcation, however, continues to create problems, and theocratic tendencies periodically give rise to powerful lobbying efforts. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1997 (in City of Boerne v. Flores) struck down the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, holding that in requiring a "compelling interest" for a state to in any way burden religious practice, it gave religion more protection than the Constitution required; what was notable was that the act had passed the House of Representatives unanimously. Education has been a fertile field of controversy; debates have arisen over such questions as religious education in tax-supported schools and public aid to parochial schools. By the end of 1999 federal courts were grappling with the effects of the politically fashionable school vouchers, and one had held that when a voucher system resulted in almost all recipients attending religious schools instead of public schools the system violated the Constitution.

In Europe, the concept of separation of church and state is different from that in the United States, particularly in predominantly Roman Catholic countries. The wars of the Reformation produced, in the Peace of Augsburg (1555), a formula of cuius regio, eius religio [whose the region, his the religion], by which the ruling prince determined the religion of his territory. The compromise, curiously contrary to the idea of a universal Christian church, even more curiously corresponded to the principle practiced in Asia (e.g., the Buddhism of Asoka). It more or less prevailed in Europe after the Thirty Years War and the Peace of Westphalia (1648). Religion thus in a certain sense became a national affair, particularly in Protestant countries.

The internationalism of the Roman Catholic Church, however, prevented nationalization in Catholic countries, despite such movements as Gallicanism in France. The church, when recognized as the state church, exercised considerable influence on the government of the state. More important, perhaps, was the fact that the church and its religious orders owned much property and exerted considerable economic influence. The concordat was used as a means of regulating the relation of church and state and delimiting the spheres of respective influence. Of the modern concordats perhaps the most famous was Napoleon I's Concordat of 1801.

The opponents of clerical influence in the state, the anticlericals, in the 19th cent. agitated for the removal of clerical influence. To them the separation of church and state meant the ending of the establishment of the church and complete noninterference of the church in affairs of state but not noninterference of the state in such matters as church property and religious education. The clerical parties, on the other hand, fought to maintain establishment and property and (to some extent) the enforcement of ecclesiastical law by the civil arm.

One of the most bitter of these contests took place in France, where ultimately the anticlericals triumphed, notably in the Lois des associations (1905), which in effect placed the church under subjection to the state. In Germany the relations of church and state reached a crucial point in the Kulturkampf of Otto von Bismarck. Adolf Hitler, although he signed a concordat, undertook to reduce both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches to instruments of the National Socialist government. In Italy the Lateran Treaty, agreed to by Pius XI in 1929, ended the so-called Roman Question and secured recognition of the pope as a sovereign apart from the Italian government.

In the Roman Catholic countries of Latin America the contests between church and state were often bitter, particularly in Mexico, where the church wielded an enormous influence. This struggle led under Plutarco E. Calles to the practical abolition of the church in Mexico and the harrying of priests in the 1920s. Adjustments since that time have tended to an approximation of the complete noninterference rule prevalent in the United States.

The use of the bow and arrow for hunting and for war dates back to the Paleolithic period in Africa, Asia, and Europe. It was widely used in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, the Americas, and Europe until the introduction of gunpowder. Arrowheads were first made of burnt wood, then stone or bone, and then metals. Various woods and bones were used for the bow itself. However, it was not a powerful weapon until the invention of the compound, or composite, bow around 1500 B.C. on the steppes of Central Asia. A composite bow is made of various materials (wood, horn, sinew) glued together so as to increase their natural strength and elasticity. Bows and arrows were among the dominant weapons used by Assyrian chariots, Parthian cavalry, Mongol horsemen, and English longbowmen. At other times they have been used more as auxiliary weapons for massed infantry or cavalry.

The crossbow, although known in Roman times, was not widely used in Europe until the Middle Ages. In China, however, where it developed at the same time, the crossbow revolutionized warfare. A crossbow is a bow set on a stock. It fires missiles propelled by mechanical energy and released by a trigger. It could be more powerful than the ordinary bow and could fire arrows, darts, or stones. It was, however, slower to fire than the longbow and almost as difficult to wield; even the arbalest, a later crossbow, was clumsy and slow. By the end of the 13th cent. use of the crossbow had declined. At the battle of Crécy (1346) English longbowmen, firing from fixed positions, proved far more efficient than Genoese crossbowmen fighting for the French.

The longbow, which was in use in Wales in the 12th cent. became prominent in the Welsh Wars of Edward I in the late 13th cent. For the rest of that century, the English emphasized skill with the longbow; it was inexpensive, mobile, and easily adapted to a peasant army. Only in England did the longbow survive the introduction of gunpowder; it was superseded gradually by firearms. It was a powerful weapon, but it took great strength to pull and years of practice to master. The Chinese also developed a longbow, which proved much less effective than the English variety. The Asian bow, designed for use on horseback, was shorter and lighter than the English longbow and could be more rapidly fired. The Chinese later developed the repeating crossbow, an ingenious weapon that proved ineffective against repeating rifles in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Since bows and arrows are relatively easy to make and can produce a rapid rate of fire, they were used in warfare long after gunpowder was introduced, for primitive firearms required much time to load, were hard to manufacture, and often failed. In Japan and North America archery was very important culturally as well as militarily. See archery; hunting.

The pupils and followers of Morris multiplied, and proficient artisans developed. Their methods aimed at a practical demonstration not only of Morris's aesthetic creed but also of his ideas concerning socialism and the moral need for integrating beauty with the accessories of daily life. The aesthetic and political aspects of the arts and crafts movement influenced the development of modernism, particularly as they were later reflected in the core philosophy of the Bauhaus. The revival of folk arts has continued to prosper in some quarters, especially in remote communities and among Native Americans of the Southwest and the Eskimos (see North American Native Art).

A less aestheticized version of the arts and crafts movement was important in the United States, where it spread from England and flourished from the late 19th cent. to about 1915. It was prominent in American architecture and design, notably in the buildings and interiors of Greene and Greene and in the "mission-style" oak furniture of Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) and his contemporaries. The movement's precepts were also applied to ceramics, glassware, utensils, and other objects of American daily life. The arts and crafts movement also spread to continental Europe, where it was quite influential during the late 19th and early 20th cent.

Background

Works of art are subject to a variety of disfiguring ills, many of them caused by environmental effects, particularly temperature and humidity changes and pollution. Much modern conservation effort is directed toward producing a stable, favorable situation for the display of art works and maintaining regular inspection and diagnostic procedures to combat deterioration. Techniques for this inspection have become increasingly sophisticated; they currently involve photographic, X-ray, infrared, and other radiation examination, as well as complex chemical analysis.

All effective art conservation and restoration ultimately depend upon the restorer's understanding of materials, technical craftsmanship, and aesthetic and historical awareness. The support (such as wood panel, canvas, paper), the ground (gesso, chalk), and the surface treatment (wax, varnish) of a painting all undergo some form of decay over the years.

Support Restoration

Frescoed walls absorb moisture from the atmosphere. The moisture carries to the wall soluble surface salts that effloresce and injure the fresco pigments. To halt such injury water-permeable fixatives may be applied to help stabilize the pigment and prevent it from flaking off. A more drastic treatment is transfer, by which the mural and upper layer of plaster are cut away from the wall altogether and made fast to a new support. A major instance of successful transfer was carried out on many frescoes unearthed at Pompeii.

Wood-panel paintings undergo much swelling and shrinking with humidity variations. Wood-boring insects and the dry rot of fungus also attack them. The painting may be transferred to a new support, or the old one may be strengthened by impregnation with a consolidating medium (including several plastics) or given auxiliary support. Insecticides and fungicides may suffice to combat woodworms and dry rot; in cases of advanced destruction, reinforcement by impregnation may be necessary.

Canvas supports also absorb and lose moisture, swelling and shrinking, and thereby losing much pigment. In addition, canvases may be weakened or torn with comparative ease. A method of relining (restretching on a second undercanvas) may be effected whereby the old canvas is attached to the new by means of an adhesive. This may be a thermoplastic wax-resin combination or a water-base glue. The painted surface becomes impregnated with the adhesive and is consequently stabilized.

Irregular staining, called foxing, is the bane of print and drawing collectors. In humid conditions foxing attacks the adhesives and mounts of paper-based art, including watercolors, by producing the nutrients favored by molds present in the atmosphere. The work may sometimes be sterilized and remounted on a support chosen for its mold-repellent quality. It may be further treated with a fungicide. Some foxing stains may be removed by careful bleaching and washing, but this is a difficult technique requiring considerable knowledge of materials.

Ground Restoration

Repainting and retouching are means by which a damaged work may be restored, but both largely depend for success upon the personal judgment and aesthetic capability of the restorer. Repairs may be necessary where the results of overzealous cleanings of the past have produced injury or revealed a pentimento that disrupts the composition. Much of the restorative work of the 19th cent. had a tendency to "improve" the work of art with arbitrary additions and distortions, and a good deal of 20th-century attention was given to removing these additions.

Surface Restoration

The restorer's greatest problems concern the surface coating of the painting. A decayed or badly discolored varnish may be removed painstakingly by mechanical means or regelled with the judicious use of solvent, often applied as a delicate spray. In other cases the old varnish may be powdered by rubbing and removed by hand or, more commonly, chemically dissolved. Such techniques are beset by dangers inherent in the variable nature of the original pigments and varnish, and the risk of injury increases with the age of the painting. When a new varnish is applied, the contemporary restorer uses a much more easily removed surface protector than was common in the past.

Restoration of Sculpture

Sculpture, especially that which stands outdoors, is particularly vulnerable to environmental changes. Placing the sculpture in a temperature- and humidity-controlled situation is the best means by which to preserve it. Stone sculpture requires periodic washing; either steam, spray, or trickled water is used, depending on the porosity of the stone. Soap, but not detergent, may also be applied. Broken sculptures may be mended with clear, cold-setting adhesives, sometimes mixed with a suitably colored filler, or by means of dowelling. Large pieces of sculpture are held together with metal dowels, usually of copper, stainless steel, or brass.

Broken wood sculpture is also dowelled, as is ivory, and special cements may also be used to fill cracks. Wood sculpture is also vulnerable to woodworm and dry rot and may be treated with insecticide and fungicide. Badly decayed wood works may sometimes be preserved by means of impregnation with a plastic medium.

Metal sculpture may be waxed to protect it from atmospheric corrosives. Bronze acquires a patina, or irregular surface pattern caused by deposits of sulfides and oxides, that is widely considered aesthetically pleasing, whereas patina on lead objects results in eventual decay. Cracks in metal sculpture may be filled with special adhesives. Corrosion may be halted by electrolytic reduction, which, however, destroys patina. Various chemical solvents and mechanical techniques are used to remove specific incrustations.

Restoration Emergencies

The flood in Florence, Italy, in Nov., 1966, was among the greatest disasters in modern history in terms of the destruction of works of art. Conservators and restorers from all over the world applied emergency treatment to the treasures of painting, sculpture, and architecture that could be saved. Among those were five panels from the bronze doors of the Baptistery by Ghiberti, which had been ripped apart and ruined by the furious, oily waters. In replacing them experts made use of an exact replica of the doors in San Francisco. In 1972, Michelangelo's Pietá in St. Peter's, Rome, was attacked and mutilated by a madman with a hammer. The most delicate restoration work was required to make unobtrusive repairs on this masterpiece of sculpture. A number of well-known paintings also have been damaged by attackers in recent years, and these, too, have been restored as unobtrusively as possible. In a more recent emergency, a 1997 earthquake centered in the Italian town of Assisi damaged many works of art, most notably its 13th-cent. basilica. An international team worked on restoring its architectural and sculptural elements as well as its fragile frescoes. In late 1999 the newly earthquake-proofed and nearly completely restored basilica was reopened to the public; Giotto frescoes on two ceiling vaults still await restoration.

Aerial photography and satellite photography work in similar fashion. Course and speed are set before entering the area to be photographed, to ensure uniformity of speed and altitude. The result is an image of a narrow strip, which can be combined with overlapping images of neighboring strips to produce a panoramic view, commonly called a mosaic. Commercially available aerial and satellite photographs are capable of resolving objects of about 10 sq ft (1 sq m), which means that a satellite would be able to distinguish between a car and truck. Aerial photographs may be high oblique (including the horizon), low oblique (below the horizon), or vertical (perpendicular to the earth). Only the vertical may be accurately scaled for mapmaking purposes. Often a multilens camera is used to photograph one section vertically and the adjacent areas obliquely. The individual oblique exposures are then corrected, scaled, and joined to the vertical section to form one continuous photograph. By viewing two overlapping photographs through a stereoscope, a three-dimensional image of a region, or topographic map, can be obtained.

Images can also be produced at other wavelengths, such as microwave or infrared, by using a technique known as remote scanning, which measures variations in spectral reflectance rather than patterns of light and shadow. Remote scanning aids such disparate fields as archaeology, geology, forestry, highway construction, and land conservation. The best-known remote scanners are the Landsat series of satellites, which have mapped vegetation and geological formations on the earth's surface since 1972; the French SPOT series, first launched in 1986; Magellan, which used radar to map the planet Venus (1990); Lunar Prospector, which mapped the moon's surface composition and its magnetic and gravity fields (1998); Mars Global Surveyor, which engaged in a systematic mapping of Mars (1999); and Galileo, which returned pictures of Jupiter and its major moons (1995-2003).

Properties

Acids in water solutions exhibit the following common properties: they taste sour; turn litmus paper red; and react with certain metals, such as zinc, to yield hydrogen gas. Bases in water solutions exhibit these common properties: they taste bitter; turn litmus paper blue; and feel slippery. When a water solution of acid is mixed with a water solution of base, water and a salt are formed; this process, called neutralization, is complete only if the resulting solution has neither acidic nor basic properties.

Classification

Acids and bases can be classified as organic or inorganic. Some of the more common organic acids are: citric acid, carbonic acid, hydrogen cyanide, salicylic acid, lactic acid, and tartaric acid. Some examples of organic bases are: pyridine and ethylamine. Some of the common inorganic acids are: hydrogen sulfide, phosphoric acid, hydrogen chloride, and sulfuric acid. Some common inorganic bases are: sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, calcium hydroxide, and calcium carbonate.

Acids, such as hydrochloric acid, and bases, such as potassium hydroxide, that have a great tendency to dissociate in water are completely ionized in solution; they are called strong acids or strong bases. Acids, such as acetic acid, and bases, such as ammonia, that are reluctant to dissociate in water are only partially ionized in solution; they are called weak acids or weak bases. Strong acids in solution produce a high concentration of hydrogen ions, and strong bases in solution produce a high concentration of hydroxide ions and a correspondingly low concentration of hydrogen ions. The hydrogen ion concentration is often expressed in terms of its negative logarithm, or pH (see separate article). Strong acids and strong bases make very good electrolytes (see electrolysis), i.e., their solutions readily conduct electricity. Weak acids and weak bases make poor electrolytes.

See buffer; catalyst; indicators, acid-base; titration.

Acid-Base Theories

There are three theories that identify a singular characteristic which defines an acid and a base: the Arrhenius theory, for which the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry; the Brönsted-Lowry, or proton donor, theory, advanced in 1923; and the Lewis, or electron-pair, theory, which was also presented in 1923. Each of the three theories has its own advantages and disadvantages; each is useful under certain conditions.

When an acid or base dissolves in water, a certain percentage of the acid or base particles will break up, or dissociate (see dissociation), into oppositely charged ions. The Arrhenius theory defines an acid as a compound that can dissociate in water to yield hydrogen ions, H⁺, and a base as a compound that can dissociate in water to yield hydroxide ions, OH^- . For example, hydrochloric acid, HCl, dissociates in water to yield the required hydrogen ions, H⁺, and also chloride ions, Cl^- . The base sodium hydroxide, NaOH, dissociates in water to yield the required hydroxide ions, OH^-, and also sodium ions, Na⁺.

Some substances act as acids or bases when they are dissolved in solvents other than water, such as liquid ammonia. The Brönsted-Lowry theory, named for the Danish chemist Johannes Brönsted and the British chemist Thomas Lowry, provides a more general definition of acids and bases that can be used to deal both with solutions that contain no water and solutions that contain water. It defines an acid as a proton donor and a base as a proton acceptor. In the Brönsted-Lowry theory, water, H₂O, can be considered an acid or a base since it can lose a proton to form a hydroxide ion, OH^-, or accept a proton to form a hydronium ion, H₃O⁺ (see amphoterism). When an acid loses a proton, the remaining species can be a proton acceptor and is called the conjugate base of the acid. Similarly when a base accepts a proton, the resulting species can be a proton donor and is called the conjugate acid of that base. For example, when a water molecule loses a proton to form a hydroxide ion, the hydroxide ion can be considered the conjugate base of the acid, water. When a water molecule accepts a proton to form a hydronium ion, the hydronium ion can be considered the conjugate acid of the base, water.

Another theory that provides a very broad definition of acids and bases has been put forth by the American chemist Gilbert Lewis. The Lewis theory defines an acid as a compound that can accept a pair of electrons and a base as a compound that can donate a pair of electrons. Boron trifluoride, BF₃, can be considered a Lewis acid and ethyl alcohol can be considered a Lewis base.

The Wallis and Futuna were settled by Polynesian migrants from Tonga and Samoa respectively c.1400 A.D. They were visited by the Dutch (Futuna, 1616) and the English (Wallis, 1767), and came under French control in 1842. They became an overseas territory of France in 1961.

The president of France, represented by the High Administrator, is the head of state. The government is headed by the president of the Territorial Assembly, who is elected by the legislature. Members of the 20-seat Territorial Assembly are elected by popular vote for five-year terms. The territory also elects one deputy to the National Assembly and one member of the Senate of France. The three traditional Polynesian kings advise on traditional affairs.

Two important features that characterize the Ural-Altaic languages, with few exceptions, are agglutination and vowel harmony. These two points of similarity have led a number of authorities to accept Ural-Altaic unity. In an agglutinative language, different linguistic elements, each of which exists separately and has a fixed meaning, are often joined to form one word. In these languages multiple suffixes are added to a root while prefixes are almost totally lacking. Vowel harmony refers to the agreement between the vowels in the root of a word and the vowels in the word's suffix or suffixes. Such agreement is illustrated in the Turkish words ev [house] and evde [at the house]; masa [table] and masada [at the table]. Thus, most suffixes have a double form, one with a front vowel (e.g., e, i, ö, ü) to correspond to a root with a front vowel, and one with a back vowel (e.g., a, ı, o, u) to match a root with a back vowel. Grammatical gender (with its distinctions of masculine, feminine, and neuter) is generally lacking in the Ural-Altaic languages. Stress varies in the different tongues. The Ural-Altaic languages also have a small common vocabulary consisting of basic words, among them some personal pronouns, some words indicating kinship (e.g., mother, father), and some words that denote plants and animals, name occupations, and the like. This rudimentary vocabulary is common to all the tongues and is considered by some to be additional evidence for Ural-Altaic unity. At the same time, speakers of the Ural-Altaic languages also borrowed words from the various tongues of other peoples with whom they came in contact.

After World War II, UNESCO worked for the physical reconstruction of the educational facilities of war-devastated countries by building up library and museum collections. Since 1950 it has organized projects for primary education in Latin America, Asia, and Africa; it has also encouraged cultural exchanges between East and West, undertaking translations of important writings and organizing personal exchanges. A most important long-range UNESCO program concerns the problem of "fundamental education"—teaching people to read and write and to meet the problems of their environment. Centers to train educators have been established in Cambodia, India, South Korea, Liberia, Thailand, and Turkey, and fundamental-education centers have been set up in Latin America and in the Middle East.

In 1959, UNESCO set up an international committee to preserve and restore cultural property, which played a leading role in preserving Egyptian monuments threatened by the construction of the Aswan High Dam (see under Aswan). Funds were collected and experts assembled from all over the world in a successful effort to save the monuments, including the famous Abu-Simbel temples of Ramses II. In the 1970s and 80s, UNESCO was mired in controversy over the insistence of the developing nations, supported by the Soviet bloc, that it establish a "New World Information Order." At issue was a move to establish an international press code and licensing system for journalists, facilitating press controls by governments. The United States withdrew its membership (1984), followed by Great Britain and Singapore, charging UNESCO with budgetary extravagance and hostility to free press and free markets. By the mid-1990s, however, UNESCO was helping E European journalists adjust to a free press. Great Britain rejoined in 1997, and the United States rejoined in 2003.

See acid rain; air pollution; conservation of natural resources; ecology; environmentalism; pollution; solid waste; toxic waste; water pollution.

Formation of the Triple Alliance

In 1871 two new major states of Europe had been formed—the German Empire and the kingdom of Italy. The new German Empire, under the hand of Otto von Bismarck, was steered carefully, always with an eye upon France, for the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) had left France thirsting for revenge and for recovery of the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.

Germany had allied itself with Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Three Emperors' League, but Austria-Hungary and Russia were not the best of friends, partly because they were at odds over the Balkans and partly because Russia represented the Pan-Slavic movement, whose program threatened the very existence of Austria-Hungary. The Treaty of San Stefano (1878), following the Russo-Turkish War, furthered the cause of Pan-Slavism through the creation of a large Bulgarian state and offended Austria-Hungary as well as Great Britain. A European conference (1878; see Berlin, Congress of), called to revise the treaty, caused a sharp decline in the friendship between Russia on the one hand and Austria-Hungary and Germany on the other; Bismarck formed (1879) a secret defensive alliance—the Dual Alliance—with Austria-Hungary.

In 1882 Italy, angry at France chiefly because France had forestalled an Italian advance by occupying Tunis, signed another secret treaty, which bound it with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Thus was the Triple Alliance formed. It was periodically renewed until 1913. In 1882 Serbia joined the alliance, in effect, through a treaty with Austria-Hungary. Romania joined the group in 1883, and a powerful Central European bloc was created. Italy was from the first not so solidly bound to either of its allies as Germany and Austria-Hungary were to each other. Italy was in fact a rival of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans and particularly for control of the Adriatic; moreover, there remained unsettled territorial problems (see irredentism). The Triple Alliance, however, turned diplomatic history into new channels.

Formation of the Triple Entente

The Three Emperors' League died a slow death, but in 1890 its day was over: Germany refused to renew its reinsurance treaty with Russia, and Russia in consequence sought a rapprochement with France. At the same time France, face to face with an increasingly powerful Germany and a hostile Central European combination, felt great need of an ally, and French diplomats began to make overtures to Russia for an agreement to counterbalance the Triple Alliance. French capital aided Russian projects, especially the Trans-Siberian RR, and friendly diplomatic visits were exchanged. In 1891 there was a definite understanding between the powers; this was strengthened by a military convention in 1893, and by 1894 the Dual Alliance between Russia and France was in existence. It was publicly acknowledged in 1895.

Meanwhile, the fall of Bismarck, after the accession of William II to the throne of the German Empire, was followed by the appearance of more adventurous foreign policies. Germany committed itself to colonial and commercial expansion. The German plan for a Baghdad Railway was viewed with alarm by the powers with interests in the Middle East. The German commercial rivalry with Great Britain not only brought direct trouble but nourished German desire for sea power and a large navy.

Great Britain, long in "splendid isolation" from the other European nations, was being propelled by its interests to make some move toward protective international alliance. There had been some efforts to achieve a Franco-German rapprochement, but these ultimately had no effect. In 1898 Théophile Delcassé took control of French foreign policy; he was opposed to Germany and hoped for a rapprochement with Great Britain, his object being the isolation of Germany. Friendship between Britain and France did not seem possible because of their traditional enmity and, more important, their colonial quarrels in Africa. Moreover, Great Britain and Germany were traditional friends, and the two countries were bound by dynastic and cultural ties. There had been and continued to be active expressions of Anglo-German amity, but Delcassé's diplomacy, aided by the accession (1901) of Francophile Edward VII to the British throne, ultimately bore fruit. Although Great Britain and France had been on the verge of war over the Fashoda Incident in 1898, the matter was settled and the way opened for further agreements between the two powers. Though there was no alliance, the Entente Cordiale—a friendly understanding—was arrived at in 1904.

Colonial rivalries between Russia and Britain had in the late 19th cent. made those powers hostile; the field of contest was Asia—Turkish affairs, Persia, Afghanistan, China, and India. But after the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, and particularly after Sir Edward Grey gained influence in the British foreign office, Britain came to favor a friendly settlement. This was finally achieved in the Anglo-Russian entente of 1907. That agreement created the international group opposing the Triple Alliance—France, Great Britain, and Russia had formed the Triple Entente.

The Rising Storm

The two principal problems that caused outright conflict involved Morocco and the Balkans. The militarism of the chief countries of Europe was prompted by a growing sense of international hysteria, which was, in turn, increased by military preparations. The crisis in Morocco in 1905 almost precipitated war. More serious still were the Balkan crises brought about by the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908, the Italo-Turkish War (1911-12), and the Balkan Wars (1912-13). The trouble between Austria and Serbia reached a peak after the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in 1914, and World War I resulted.

Italy's interests had long been more or less divorced from those of the Triple Alliance; as early as 1902 a Franco-Italian accord on North Africa had been reached in a secret treaty. With the outbreak of the war, both Italy and Romania refused to join the Central Powers. The Triple Alliance formally came to an end in 1914 when Italy issued a declaration of neutrality. After much secret negotiation, Italy in 1915 joined the Allies, and the next year Romania did likewise. Germany and Austria-Hungary gained new support in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Bulgaria. The war ushered in a new diplomatic period, with new diplomatic alignments, and both the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente receded into history.

Land and People

The country consists of two main islands, Trinidad (1,864 sq mi/4,828 sq km) and Tobago (116 sq mi/300 sq km), and their small neighboring islands. Lying just north of the Orinoco River delta in Venezuela, Trinidad is largely flat or undulating except for a range of low mountains (the highest point is Mt. Aripo, 3,085 ft/940 m) in the north. Pitch Lake, in the southwest, is the world's largest (114 acres/46 hectares) basin of natural asphalt. Tobago, just NE of Trinidad, is the exposed top of a mountain ridge (maximum height 2,000 ft/610 m) that is densely forested with large reserves of hardwoods. The climate of both islands is warm and humid, and rainfall (from June to Dec.) is abundant, particularly where the trade winds sweep in over the eastern coasts. The population is mainly of South Asian or African descent (40% each), with a mixed-race minority. English is the official language, but Hindi, French, Spanish, and Chinese are also spoken. There are many religious groups, including Roman Catholic, Anglican, and other Christian churches, Hindus and Muslims.

Economy

The most important exports are petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, chemicals, steel products, and fertilizer. Trinidad possesses sizable oil and gas reserves, and its prosperity is linked directly to the production of petroleum and petrochemicals. A peaking of petroleum production in the late 1970s and the decline in worldwide petroleum prices in the 1980s caused economic problems. However, increased exploitation of the country's natural gas reserves since the 1990s, as well as rising prices for oil, petrochemicals, and liquified natural gas, have caused an economic boom. The islands also have a significant tourist industry. Agriculture employs a smaller proportion of the population than industry and services; agricultural products include cocoa, rice, coffee, citrus fruit, and flowers. The main trading partners are the United States, Jamaica, and Brazil.

Government

Trinidad and Tobago is a parliamentary democracy governed under the constitution of 1976. It has a bicameral Parliament made up of a 31-seat appointed Senate and a 36-seat elected House of Representatives; all members serve five-year terms. The government is headed by a prime minister. The head of state is the president, who is elected by the members of Parliament for a five-year term. Aministratively, the country is divided into 9 regional corporations, 2 city corporations, 3 borough corporations, and 1 ward.

History

Trinidad was visited by Christopher Columbus in 1498 but was not colonized because of the lack of precious metals. It was raided by the Dutch (1640) and the French (1677, 1690) and by British sailors. Britain captured it in 1797 and received formal title in 1802. Tobago had been settled by the English in 1616, but the settlers were driven out by the indigenous Caribs. The island was held by the Dutch and the French before being acquired by the British in 1803. The islands were joined politically in 1888.

Before becoming an independent nation in 1962, the islands were part of the short-lived West Indies Federation (1958-62). In 1976 Trinidad and Tobago became a republic. In 1986 the People's National Movement (PNM), which had held power for three decades, was soundly defeated by the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR); party leader A. N. R. Robinson became prime minister. He survived a 1990 coup attempt by Muslim extremists, but discontent with Robinson's economic austerity program helped return the PNM to power in 1991, under Prime Minister Patrick Manning. After the 1995 elections, Basdeo Panday, of the United National Congress (UNC), formed a coalition with the NAR and became Trinidad's first prime minister of Asian Indian descent. He and the UNC were returned to power in the 2000 elections, but corruption charges and a party split led to elections in 2001. When the UNC and PNM each won half the seats in the parliament, the president appointed Patrick Manning as prime minister, but the split control of parliament resulted in a deadlock that prevented that body from convening. New elections in 2002, however, resulted in a majority for the PNM.

In 2005, opposition leader Panday and his wife were arrested on corruption charges in connection with an airport development project; UNC officials denounced the charges as politically motivated. Panday was convicted in 2006, of failing to disclose a British bank account he held with his wife. The judge in the case subsequently accused the chief justice of attempting to influence his decision, but the charges against the chief justice were dropped (2007) when the judge refused to testify; impeachment proceedings were also brought against the chief justice, who was cleared later in the year. Panday's conviction was overturned (2007) on appeal on the grounds that the judge's actions were indicative of bias. Manning and the PNM remained in power following the 2007 parliamentary elections.

Although many of the stories are set in India, their origins are unknown and have been the subject of intensive scholarly investigation. The corpus began to be collected about the year 1000. At first the title was merely indicative of a large number of stories; later editors dutifully provided editions with the requisite 1,001 tales. The present form of Thousand and One Nights is thought to be native to Persia or one of the Arabic-speaking countries, but includes stories from a number of different countries and no doubt reflects diverse source material.

The first European edition was a free translation by Abbé Antoine Galland into French (1704-17). Most subsequent French, German, and English versions lean heavily upon Galland. Among the English translations include the expurgated edition of E. W. Lane (1840), with excellent and copious notes; the unexpurgated edition by Sir Richard Burton in 16 volumes (1885-88); that of John Payne in 9 volumes (1882-84); Powys Mathers's translation from the French text of J. C. Mardrus (rev. ed., 4 vol., 1937); and that of Husain Haddawy (2 vol., 1990, 1995).

Land, People, and Economy

Located just north of the equator, the islands are of volcanic origin and rise to 6,640 ft (2,024 m) on São Tomé. They have a tropical rain forest climate and thick vegetation. The official language is Portuguese, although a creole dialect is widely spoken. About 70% of the population is Roman Catholic, and there is an Evangelical Protestant minority. The population consists mainly of mesticos (persons of mixed European and African descent), descendants of slaves and laborers from from the African mainland, and Portuguese. There is also a sizable population of foreign workers, principally from Angola, Mozambique, and Cape Verde.

From state-owned farms, tropical produce, notably cocoa (80% of export earnings), copra, coffee, and palm oil, is exported. Coconuts, cinnamon, pepper, bananas, and papayas are also important, as are fish and timber. Industry is limited to food processing and light manufacturing. Efforts to diversify agriculture and the economy in general have met with limited success, but there are significant offshore oil fields to the north of the islands that are now being developed. Machinery, electrical equipment, foodstuffs, and petroleum products are imported. The country's trading partners include the Netherlands, Portugal, the United States, and Belgium. The country has an ongoing balance-of-payments problem and relies heavily on foreign aid. São Tomé island has a good road and railroad system.

Government

São Tomé and Principe is governed under the constitution of 1990. The president, who is head of state, is popularly elected for a five-year term and is eligible for a second term. The government is headed by a prime minister, who is nominated by the legislature and appointed by the president. The unicameral legislature consists of the 55-seat National Assembly, whose members are popularly elected for four-year terms. Administratively, the country is divided into the two provinces of São Tomé and Principe.

History

The islands were visited (1471) by Pedro Escobar and João Gomes, the Portuguese explorers, and in 1483 the São Tomé settlement was founded. They were proclaimed a colony of Portugal in 1522. The Dutch held the islands from 1641 to 1740, when they were recovered by the Portuguese. Until the establishment of a slave-based plantation economy in the 18th cent., the islands were used mainly as supply stations on the shipping routes to Brazil and India.

São Tomé and Principe became an overseas province of Portugal in 1951 and received local autonomy in 1973. Following the 1974 military coup in Portugal, the new government recognized the islands' right to independence, granting it on July 12, 1975. Manuel Pinto da Costa, leader of the Gabon-based Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Principe (MLSTP), became the country's first president, and his party the sole legal one. The first years were marked by economic hardship caused by the departure of both the Portuguese and a large number of foreign workers. A severe drought and depressed cocoa prices hurt the economy during the 1980s.

A new constitution adopted in 1990 officially ended one-party rule. In 1991, the MLSTP lost the legislative elections and Miguel Trovoada, running unopposed as an independent candidate, won the country's first free presidential election. Principe was granted local autonomy in 1994. A military coup in 1995 ended peacefully when the president was restored to office and parliament granted the rebel soldiers amnesty.

In July, 1996, Trovoada, this time running against former president Pinto da Costa, was reelected. The MLSTP, which had dominated parliament since 1994, won a majority of seats in the 1998 legislative elections. Inflation, unemployment, and the inability of the government to pay workers resulted in a series of strikes and demonstrations in the 1990s. Fradique de Menezes, the candidate of the opposition Independent Democratic Action party (ADI), was elected president in 2001; his main opponent was Pinto da Costa. In the parliamentary elections the following year, however, the MLSTP won a slim plurality of the seats.

In July, 2003, members of the military, complaining of social and economic decline, ousted President de Menezes, but an agreement was negotiated that resulted in his return to office. The development of offshore oil led to conflicts in the government in 2004 and accusations of corrupt practices; the president ultimately removed the prime minister and entire cabinet. Parliamentary elections in Mar.-Apr., 2006, resulted in a victory for the Force for Change Democratic Movement-Party for Democratic Convergence coalition (MDFM-PCD), which secured a plurality of the seats. In July, 2006, de Menezes was reelected to the presidency. The MDFM-PCD-led government resigned in Feb., 2008, and a new government, led by the ADI, was formed. Four months later the new government lost a confidence vote, and a new coalition, led by the MLSTP and including the PCD and MDFM, was formed.

See also Hittite art and architecture; Phoenician art.

Sumerian Art

The art of the Sumerian civilization, as revealed by excavations at Ur, Babylon, Uruk (Erech), Mari, Kish, and Lagash, among other cities, was one of enormous power and originality that influenced all of the major cultures of ancient western Asia. Their techniques and motifs were made widely available by means of cuneiform writing, which they invented before 3000 B.C. Poor in the raw materials of art, the Sumerians traded crops from their fertile soil for the metal, stone, and wood that they required. Clay was their most abundant native material, and its qualities determined their style of baked-mud building and the nature of their fine-textured pottery.

Sumerian craftsmanship was of marked excellence from very early times. A vase in alabaster from Erech (c.3500 B.C.; Iraq Mus., Baghdad) shows a detailed ceremonial procession of men and animals to the fertility goddess Inanna, carved in four bands on an elegant vase shape. A major peak of artistic achievement is represented by a female head, called Lady of Warka (Erech) from about 3200 B.C. (Iraq Mus.). It is carved in white marble with simplicity and subtlety.

The vast royal cemetery at Ur has yielded many masterpieces of Sumerian work. Outstanding among these are a wooden harp detailed with gold and mosaic inlay picturing mythological scenes on the soundbox, surmounted by a black-bearded golden head of a bull (c.2650 B.C.; Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia); a gaming board of wood inlaid with bone, lapis lazuli, shell, and stone, mounted in bitumen (c.2700 B.C.; British Mus.); a ritual offering stand in the shape of a ram, made of silver, lapis lazuli, and mussel shells, rearing on his hind legs to eat from a tree of gold; and a splendid gold helmet fashioned from a single sheet of metal and beaten into the form of a head of wavy hair with a chignon at the back (c.2500 B.C.; Baghdad).

At Lagash a strongly modeled head of stone (c.2500 B.C.) portrays a Sumerian man, clearly representing the structural type of these ancient people. Its large and widely spaced features set on a heavy round skull are revealed in bas-relief and inlay work of the period. Examples of the famous votive stone sculptures of Sumer discovered at Tell Asmar represent tall, long-haired, bearded figures with huge, staring eyes and long, pleated skirts, standing rigidly with hands folded above the waist. Some are portrayed kneeling.

The ziggurat temple form was the most striking architectural achievement of the Sumerians. One ziggurat at Erech extended over an area of half a million square feet (46,500 sq m). It was set upon a mound, and the platform built to support its crowning shrine was 40 feet (12 m) high.

Among other Sumerian arts, one of the most sophisticated was the cylinder seal, a small carved cylinder of stone or metal that, when rolled over seals of moist clay, would leave the reverse image of its carving in relief as an identifying mark or signature. Used to mark documents and property, the cylinders were worn on a wristband or necklace during their owners' lifetime and were buried with them. A great many examples survive, bearing primarily scenes of religious ritual, often portraying the legendary hero Gilgamesh.

With the ascent to power of Sargon of Akkad, Sumerian art reached new heights of expression, particularly in sculpture. The greatest known examples reflecting that splendor include a bronze head thought to be a portrait of Sargon himself (from Nineveh, c.2300 B.C.; Iraq Mus., Baghdad), from which the gemstone eyes have been stolen, and the stele of Naram-sin, a triumphal relief showing the deified grandson of Sargon in battle (2261-24 B.C.; Louvre). The Akkadians spread cuneiform writing throughout the Middle East, and even after the destruction of Sargon's empire by invasions from the east in the latter part of the 3d millennium B.C., Sumerian artistic techniques and styles exerted profound influence on contemporary and later cultures. The city of Lagash survived the invasions and was beautified by its governor Gudea with numerous works of art. These were carved of dark, hard diorite; many represented the dignified and serene seated figure of Gudea himself. Although most are small in stature, they convey a sense of grandeur and monumentality. After the invasions the glory of Sumer was revived from 2200 to 2100 B.C. During this period the great ziggurat of the moon god at Ur was built.

Invasions of Semitic peoples from what are now Iran and Syria ended the last Sumerian golden age. The site of Mari has yielded the most complete archaeological evidence of Sumerian civilization during that transitional time. The great Mari royal palace with its labyrinthine corridors, frescoed walls, royal residential rooms, courts and temple buildings, and scribal school containing more than 25,000 cuneiform tablets, reveal the brilliance of a vanished world.

Babylonian Art

In the 18th cent. B.C., Babylonia under Hammurabi rose to power and dominated Mesopotamia. A diorite head, wide-eyed, bearded, and hatted, found at Susa (1792-50 B.C.; Louvre), is generally taken to be a portrait of Hammurabi. The surface is carved to show the marks of aging on a sensitive face. The great basalt stele found in Susa upon which Hammurabi's immortal code of law is inscribed bears a relief at the top showing the king himself before the sun god who commands him to set down the law for his people (c.1750 B.C.; Louvre). Hammurabi is also represented kneeling in prayer in a sculpture in the round that is colored green and on which the hands and face have been gilded (from Larsa; Louvre).

A sculpture from Mari of a fertility goddess (Aleppo Mus.), holding a vase from which water flows down her skirt, further attests to the genius of Babylonian sculptors. Several examples of terra-cotta plaques of this period in the Louvre depict scenes of Babylonian daily life, including agricultural pursuits and crafts such as carpentry. Babylonia was also a glassmaking center, but far less glass than sculpture has survived its destructive climate.

After Hammurabi's death Mesopotamia was torn for centuries by foreign invasions. For a time the Assyrian warrior people held sway and established some cultural coherence (see Assyrian art). One of their kings, Sennacherib, razed the city of Babylon. Babylonia was not to be reborn until Nebuchadnezzar divided the Assyrian lands with the Medes in 612 B.C. Under his rule the Babylonians developed to perfection one of their most striking arts: the great polychrome-glazed brick walls modeled in relief, the foremost example of which is the Ishtar gates of Babylon. These, produced for Nebuchadnezzar, contain 575 reliefs of lions, dragons, and bulls of superb workmanship (6th cent. B.C.; one lion exhibited at the Metropolitan Mus.).

The king's palace, with its courtyard and hanging (balconied) gardens (constructed more than a century before Nebuchadnezzar came to power), the Ishtar gates, and the royal processional road made Babylon a city of unrivaled magnificence in its time. Its artisans were able to draw upon materials and styles from an area bounded only by Egypt and India. The new splendor was short-lived; less than a century later Babylonia fell prey to more invasions, and the Persians, Greeks, and Romans ruled in succession. The great Mesopotamian civilizations eventually crumbled. They were forgotten until archaeologists of the 19th cent. A.D. began to bring to light something of their history and appearance.

Colonial Architecture in Central America

The earliest buildings, constructed of impermanent materials, have disappeared, but by the end of the 16th cent. durable monumental architecture had been achieved. Most of the buildings of this time, including the cathedrals, were built for military purposes and were consequently massive and plain. This was a period of transition from Spanish Gothic to Spanish Renaissance, with many buildings reminiscent of the plateresque style, with contrasting bare walls and ornamental doorways, and others of the austerity of the Escorial.

Although elaborate and intricate ornamentation was often employed, particularly in later times, a strong strain of simple, solid construction ran through the colonial period, as exemplified in the Spanish missions of California and the 18th-century Jesuit missions of Paraguay. The earliest cathedral in the New World, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (1512-41), has a plateresque portal on the west facade. In 16th-century Mexico the great builders were the Augustinian, Franciscan, and Dominican monastic orders. They introduced the open chapel, as in the monastery of San Francisco Tlalmanalco, which was built with only three walls in order to speed construction and to accommodate more people. The cathedrals of Puebla, Mérida, and Guadalajara were also begun in this period.

During most of the 17th and 18th cent. the baroque style held sway, and in the 18th cent. the sumptuous Churrigueresque ornamentation (see under Churriguera) of Spain was exported to the colonies. In addition to employing the large forms and curving lines of the traditional European baroque, Spanish colonial buildings maintained the contrast between decorated and plain surfaces of the earlier period. A more conservative trend was manifested in Colombia, where churches and public buildings were simple and severe.

Baroque features, combined with the inventiveness of native artisans, reached a climax in the cathedral in Mexico City. It has been called ultrabaroque because of its strong light-and-shade patterns, richly carved columns and entablatures, and violent alternations of curves and angles. In the late 1960s much of the cathedral was damaged by fire and had to undergo restoration. In the Puebla region glazed tiles were sometimes placed on the whole facade of a building, as in the Church of San Francisco Acatepec. Central American buildings were generally provincial versions of the Mexican, but in Guatemala structures were lower and of heavier proportions as a protection against earthquakes.

Colonial Art in Central America

Colonial artists, many of them indigenous people, devoted themselves principally to the depiction of religious subjects from the New Testament. Native sculptors, notably in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, but also in the Jesuit missions of Paraguay, developed a powerful folk art; polychromed wood, terra-cotta, and bas-relief work in the walls and columns of churches were widely used media. A favorite subject of sculptures was the agony of Jesus; these figures, often given native features, are characterized by extraordinary pathos. In painting, the conceptions were frequently original and charged with remarkable intensity and piety. By 1600 numerous European artists had emigrated to the New World and contributed their talents, but the indigenous people, who had excelled at wall painting, books, and mosaics before the conquest, were chiefly responsible for giving colonial art its unique flavor. (For the history of painting and sculpture in Middle America, see Mexican art and architecture).

Colonial Arts in the Andes

In the Andean region Flemish and Italian influences are evident in the great painting centers of Bogotá and Quito, but Cuzco was the main center of pictorial productivity, and here the contribution of the native artist was of paramount importance. Native strains were also noticeable in the design of broadsides and aleluyas of the 18th and 19th cent. This art form, often called folk lithography, was common in Mexico and Venezuela and was often political in nature.

Andean Architecture

In the architecture of the Andean region, as in Mexico, there was richness and inventiveness, but with some significant variations. One of the most important 16th-century buildings was the Church of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador, in which Spanish and Italian styles were blended. In Peru architects preferred heavier and more massive forms. Huge curving forms projected over doors and windows in many buildings of Lima. Columns in Mexico were freely carved with great fantasy; in Peru they were heavy and often spiral. Peruvian wall surfaces were divided into a series of large compartments rather than covered with shallow carving, as were those of Mexico.

The Church of San Agustín (1720), with a statue in the central niche dominating the whole facade, illustrates a distinctive type developed in Lima. In S Peru and in Bolivia native influence in ornamentation, in both technique and representation, pervaded the basic European architectural forms. On the facade of the Church of San Lorenzo (1728-44) in Potosí, richly decorated native figures function as caryatids or spiral columns.

Early Works

Aside from important prehistoric remains, including cave paintings at Altamira and at Cogul, near Lleida (see Paleolithic art), the earliest monuments date from the Roman occupation (3d cent. B.C.-5th cent. A.D.). Little remains of the works of the Visigothic period (6th-7th cent.), although crude classical motifs were used, especially in the decorative sculpture. Such Visigothic monuments as the Church of San Juan de Baños in the province of Palencia (A.D. 661) suggest a possible Middle Eastern influence in the use of a flattened horseshoe arch.

Moorish and Asturian Influences

The full horseshoe arch introduced by the Moors (8th cent.) and extensively employed in the famous mosque at Córdoba (8th-10th cent.). In their palaces and mosques the Moors developed certain architectural features that have remained part of the Spanish tradition down to the present day. Moorish interiors, subdivided into isolated units, are cool and graceful and utilize intricate effects of light and shadow, as in the famous Court of the Lions in the Alhambra (Granada). This tendency to enframe space is reflected in the enclosed choirs of almost all Spanish cathedrals and collegiate churches. Other Moorish elements, such as multifoil and intersecting arches, influenced the Christian buildings of medieval Spain, as did the Moorish love of reiteration and multiplicity of small motifs in luxuriant flat ornament (exemplified in the Alhambra).

By 850 the Moors had conquered all Spain except the Asturias region. Characteristic of Asturian churches (9th cent.) is a basilican plan with square apses, rounded arches, and balustered windows. In Santa Maria de Naranco (mid-9th cent.) is found one of the earliest uses of barrel vaulting in the Middle Ages. The art and architecture of the Mozarabs (9th-11th cent.), combining Asturian and Moorish features, produced some of the most original and interesting European buildings of the time.

The Romanesque Period

During the Romanesque period (11th-12th cent.) Christian Spain in general exhibited characteristics common to the Romanesque style of Europe, but with traces of Middle Eastern influence. The cathedral at Santiago de Compostela (11th-12th cent.) reveals striking analogies in both architecture and sculpture to Burgundian works.

The Gothic Period: Architecture

With the gradual unification of the Spanish kingdoms, there was increased prosperity and artistic activity during the Gothic period (13th-mid-16th cent.). Castilian architecture was basically French-inspired, although a distinctly native taste can be felt in the proportions and more ornate decorative features. Outstanding examples include the cathedrals of Burgos, Toledo, and León, the last remarkable also for its stained glass. Catalan Gothic architecture, exemplified in the cathedrals at Barcelona and Palma de Majorca, made distinctive use of wide naves with two side aisles instead of the usual four; they have heavy interior buttresses and lateral chapels. At Girona the aisles were suppressed altogether, so that the cathedral had one of the widest vaulted spans of medieval Europe.

A pervasive element in Spanish architecture is the Mudéjar style, whose influence lasted well into the 18th cent. The favorite materials of the Mudéjar builders were brick, plaster, and wood, which they employed with singular versatility. Their decoration is distinguished by the use of the elaborate geometrical configurations and stylizations associated with most Islamic art. Gothic churches, particularly in the south, are frequently crowned by Mudéjar artesonados, or wooden roofs.

The Gothic Period: Art

Early Gothic sculpture was predominantly influenced by French models. In the 15th and early 16th cent. there were strong Flemish and German trends. Retables and choir stalls were elaborately sculptured and polychromed, the former being sometimes made of alabaster. Remarkable examples include those in the cathedrals of Tarragona, Seville, and Toledo. At the end of the 15th cent. Gil de Siloe executed the magnificent retable and royal monuments in the church of Miraflores (near Burgos), representative of a late Gothic realism.

In painting of the 13th and 14th cent. there was a diffusion throughout Spain of the elegant and courtly style of French and Sienese artists, although strikingly expressive and original works of art were created by masters such as Ferrer Bassa and Luis Borassá. Extensive trade with the Netherlands in the 15th cent. encouraged the emergence of a Hispano-Flemish style, exemplified in the paintings of Jaume Huguet. A successful combination of Moorish and Flemish elements was developed in the works of the painter Fernando Gallego.

The Renaissance and Mannerism

In the 16th cent. Italian sculptors working in Spain, such as Jacopo Fiorentino, Domenico Fancelli, and Pietro Torrigiano, did much to popularize Renaissance motifs, which were combined with Gothic and Mudéjar in works of the plateresque style. An outstanding monument of the plateresque style is the cathedral of Granada by Diego Siloe. Its rotunda in particular, designed on the model of the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem, also reflects the humanistic aspirations of its architects, who were classically inclined. Typical of the more ornamental plateresque are the facade of the Univ. of Salamanca (c.1520-30) and that of the Convent of San Marcos (León). A more developed High Renaissance style appears in such works as the unfinished palace of Charles V (Granada), designed by Pedro Machuca, and the Escorial, designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and finished by Juan de Herrera.

Outstanding native sculptors, such as Alonso Berruguete, Juan de Juni, and Gregorio Fernández, were strongly influenced by the more tortuous creations of Donatello and Michelangelo. Italianate painters, such as Luis de Vargas and Luis de Morales, and later Juan de Juanes, developed eclectic and mannerist styles. It was only toward the end of the century that a genius appeared who truly incarnated the dark, mystical Spanish idiom—El Greco. With roots in the Byzantine and Venetian traditions and in his very personal version of mannerism, El Greco translated aspects of Italian form in terms of his own highly spiritual, incandescent vision.

The Baroque Period

The baroque period (17th-mid 18th-century) was marked by decisive affirmation of native taste and individual genius in all the arts. Polychrome religious sculptures by Juan Martínez Montañés, Alonso Cano, and Pedro de Mena exemplify characteristic effects of extreme realism and an inward spirituality. Similarly in painting, sobriety of color and insistent naturalism, as well as dramatic contrasts of light and shade, were typical of such masters as Ribalta, Ribera, Navarrete, and Zurbarán, who are sometimes linked with Caravaggio and the Italians known for their dark palettes, termed tenebrosi [gloomy]. However, the outstanding master of the period was Velázquez, one of the greatest figures in the history of art. His paintings are admired as much for their display of technical virtuosity as for their profundity of characterization. The works of Murillo revealed a tendency to lyricism and decorative effects.

In architecture an extreme reaction against the severity and restraint of Renaissance forms manifested itself in the Churrigueresque style (see under Churriguera), which was characterized by animation of surface, play of light and shade effects, and an exaggeration and sumptuousness of ornament. Examples of Churrigueresque architecture include the Transparente in Toledo cathedral and the sacristy of the Cartuja (Granada). The style was imported into the American colonies (see Spanish colonial art and architecture), where many examples of the style can still be seen.

Under the Bourbons there was strong reaction against the individualism and exuberance of late baroque art. The founding in 1752 of the first of the Spanish academies of art resulted in a wave of sterile academic neoclassicism that tended to discourage creativity in the arts for nearly two centuries. The great exception to the general decline was Francisco Goya, who detailed in his works the corruption and brutality of this era in Spanish history.

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: The Classic, Romantic, and Modern

Among 19th-century painters, José de Madrazo y Agudo belonged with the school of Jacques-Louis David and Mariano Fortuny with French romantic and historical painters. The foremost architect working in the neoclassical style was Juan de Villanueva. At the turn of the century the architect Antonio Gaudí designed a number of startling and enormously original structures in Barcelona, including the Expiatory Church of the Holy Family.

The foremost of modern painters, Pablo Picasso, though born a Spaniard, is permanently associated with the school of Paris, as are the cubist Juan Gris, the surrealists Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, and the sculptor Julio González. Nonetheless, each has in his style something that is distinctively Spanish in origin. In the 1950s there was an outburst of abstract expressionism in Spain represented in the works of Antonio Tapies and Luis Sáez, among many others. Eduardo Chillida is a major modern Spanish sculptor, as are Francisco Barón, José Luis Sánchez y Gabino, and Martin Chirino. Notable contemporary painters include Luis Ficto José Francés, and Rafael Canogar.

The Decorative Arts

In general, Spanish minor arts exhibit characteristics analogous to those of the major arts in the corresponding periods. Rich mineral resources in Spain and later in the colonies made for extensive development of wrought metalwork. Luxuriantly decorated iron church screens or rejas (see rejería) are characteristically Spanish. Moorish influence encouraged development of filigree and enamel as well as tooled leather. Flemish influence encouraged the establishment of tapestry works. In the 18th cent. Buen Retiro porcelains (named for the palace at Madrid) were among the finest ceramics produced in Europe.

Early History

As Hinduism and Buddhism were introduced to Southeast Asia, their traditions were altered to conform to the traditions of the indigenous peoples. Works predating outside influence were generally made of perishable materials and have not survived. Neolithic sites in the area produced stone tools, baskets, and pottery. The Bronze age in Southeast Asia dates from about 800 B.C.; by c.500 B.C. there were recognizable divisions between those cultures influenced by China and those influenced by India.

The Dongson (or Dong Son) culture, which was centered around the Tonkin gulf in present-day Vietnam, was notable among those drawing influence from China. From this culture various artifacts of great beauty have been excavated such as bronze dagger hilts, ornaments, lamps, and tomb furnishings. Typical of Dongson style are spirals and Greek key ornamentation. Massive bronze drums for burial with the dead are also part of Dongson culture. Such drums are thought to have been part of rituals to create rain. Han China conquered much of the Dongson area in 111 B.C. after which Chinese taste and techniques became predominant in the area.

Opportunities for trade between W Indochina and India flourished and brought with commerce an influx of Indian expertise in mechanical engineering, social hierarchies, and a pantheon of deities both Hindu and Buddhist. The ancient kingdom of Fou Nan (or Funan, a name given by Chinese historians) spreading into Indonesia was a commercially based and powerful force in the area. Stone temples after the Indian prototypes are found dating back to Fou Nan in the 6th cent. The Fou Nan kingdom eventually moved up the Mekong and united with the Chen La (or Chenla) kingdom and flourished in the middle area of the Mekong. Its early monuments which anticipate Khmer art are for the most part statues of gods and goddesses whose smooth and gracefully sinuous bodies are clothed in draperies of extreme thinness.

Khmer Art

The late 8th cent. saw the disintegration of Chen La, and beginning in the early 9th cent. the Khmer empire of present-day Cambodia began to flourish. Indravarman (877-89), the first Khmer king, began construction of Angkor, a remarkable temple-city which utilized a grid system of canals and large reservoirs to control the river (see Angkor for descriptions of Angkor, Angkor Wat, and Angkor Thom). The temples and palace complex derived much of their architectural style from Indian sources, but much of the style of carving on the deities and supporting figures is uniquely Khmer, with voluptuous figures and serenely smiling faces. So richly decorated were most of the monuments that entire building complexes become a sculptural whole. The empire spread and its wealth increased into the 11th cent.

The most famous of Khmer monuments is Angkor Wat (or Vat), a vast temple-complex built in the early 12th cent. under Suryavarman II. It is an enclosure built of numerous shrines and courtyards the entirety of which represents the cosmic order in architectural sculpture. The Champa kingdom invaded Angkor in the 12th cent., and although it was reclaimed by Khmer kings it no longer had the same splendor. Angkor Thom and Bayon, built in the early 13th cent. under Jayavarman VII, shows the movement away from grace and lyrical carvings toward a more monumental style. From the 15th until the 18th cent. most of the art of Cambodia was wood sculpture, which due to climatic conditions has with rare exception not survived. Later works mostly follow the inspiration of Thai sculpture.

Vietnamese Art

The Champa kingdom which was situated in Annam, lower Vietnam, was roughly contemporary with Chen La. Champa art is best typified by the sculpture associated with architecture, in which lavish ornament is paired with vigorous sensuality. Champa art declined altogether after the 13th cent. China held the Tonkin gulf area as a vassal state until the 10th cent. when the Vietnamese in 938 seized power from the T'ang. Much of the art owes its influence to Chinese models and neighboring Champa styles. Of particular note are ceramics similar to some provincial Sung Chinese wares.

Thai Art

In the 13th cent. the Thai peoples began to amass their considerable power in western Southeast Asia and by the 15th cent. were the dominant force. Siamese bronze sculpture of Buddhist figures in the 14th and 15th cent. showed an interest in an exaggerated elongation of limbs, a serene countenance and an interest in the pose known as the "walking Buddha." In the 16th cent. Buddhist figures adorned with jewels were widespread. Most extant Siamese paintings are of Buddhist subject matter and owe much to Chinese models, yet include a graceful linear quality and affection for brilliant color. The establishment of the capital at Bangkok and consequent increase in trade with the West brought other influences to bear on Thai art.

Laotian and Burmese Art

Laotian art was heavily influenced by neighboring Siam. Thai kingdoms were established there in the latter 14th cent., and in art and architecture Thai and Burmese models were followed. A few temples of stucco and brick survive but for the most part the typical Laotian architectural medium was and is wood, encompassing the quintessential Southeast Asian roof line of graceful upward sweeping curves. In Myanmar the lower Ayeyarwady valley was the most populous area, and Buddhist art forms merged with native beliefs in Nats. In Pagan a 9th-century Nat temple is among the earliest examples of Burmese architecture. Many examples of later date have the typical Burmese flame element, either above the windows or as part of the roof ornamentation. In their sculptural tradition, the Burmese were conservative, initially following Indian styles and later Khmer and Thai models. Burmese lacquerware, made for use in temples and monasteries, is one of the most celebrated of Burmese arts.

Indonesian Art

On the islands of Indonesia, there have been found artifacts from the Dongson culture, including the famous bronze drum known as the "Moon of Bali," the largest of the "rain drums." The culture of the Indonesian islands was strongly influenced by India. The great dynasty of Shailendra (776-864) from central Java made its influence known as far north as Cambodia. Sculptures from 9th-century Hindu temples in central Java show the influence of Indian models. Chandi Mendut, c.A.D. 800, is a Buddhist shrine incorporating many bas-reliefs which show the Javanese interest in sinuous forms and elegant composition.

The supreme achievement of Indonesian art is the monument of Borobudur, an architectural monument and cosmic diagram in one, built in the 8th cent. Receding terraces mount skyward and support on their walls bas-relief sculptures of great beauty and refinement. Buddhas appear at intervals along the walls, and the highest terraces house 72 Buddhas in stone latticework stupas. Bronze sculptures of Buddhist figures made after the 8th cent. continue the style of Borobudur. In the 11th cent. rock-cut reliefs continue the Javanese sculptural tradition. With the advent of Islam in the 15th cent., figural sculpture was abandoned and ornamentation of mosques took over the Indonesian interest in architectural embellishment. Modern Indonesia has taken a renewed interest in traditional crafts and art forms.

Responsibilities

The SEC administers a number of the most important reform measures of the New Deal: the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. In addition it may act as a participant in corporate reorganizations in the federal courts under the National Bankruptcy Act.

The first three of these statutes were passed in response to the pressure for greater protection of investors that developed as a result of the drastic decline in values of securities after Oct., 1929, the revelation of fraudulent and unfair practices in the sale of stocks and bonds, and the widespread belief that such practices had contributed to the severity of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The Securities Act of 1933 is intended to compel full disclosure to investors of material facts about securities offered and sold in interstate commerce or through the mails. It requires that before an issue of securities may be offered for public sale the issuer must file with the SEC a registration statement giving complete information on such securities and on the issuing company. Dealers in securities must provide their customers with a condensation of the data in the statement. The SEC examines the statement and may refuse registration if it appears to be misleading, inaccurate, or incomplete. If registration is denied, the securities may not be offered for sale. However, an approval of the statement is not a finding by the SEC that the securities have investment value, or even a guarantee that the disclosures are accurate.

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is designed to increase the information available to investors and to prevent unfair practices in U.S. stock exchanges. It requires that certain current information be made public on the financial and managerial condition of corporations whose securities are traded in the exchanges. A registration statement containing such data for each listed security must be submitted to the SEC. The act also places the stock exchanges and over-the-counter markets under the SEC's supervision. Stock exchanges, brokers, and dealers must file information about themselves with the commission. Manipulative practices and false and misleading statements are prohibited. Other practices, such as short sales and market pegging, are regulated. Officers, directors, and principal stockholders of corporations whose securities are registered must report all their transactions in equity securities of their companies. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is responsible for regulating by means of margin requirements the use of bank credit to finance trading in securities.

The Public Utility Holding Company Act regulates the financial practices of holding-company systems controlling electric and gas utilities. It provides for registration of holding companies, elimination of uneconomic holding-company structures, and supervision of their transactions in securities and of certain of their financial practices. The SEC must pass upon all plans for reorganization of such companies or their subsidiaries and must require the corporate simplification and geographic integration of holding-company systems. However, it does not regulate public-utility rates. This act was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1946.

The Trust Indenture Act requires that securities of trustees meet satisfactory standards, and it also sets up qualifications for trustees. The Investment Company and Investment Advisers acts provide for registration and regulation of investment trusts, investment companies, and investment advisers.

The various laws administered by the SEC are intended to give investors a greater degree of safety in entrusting their money to enterprises than was previously afforded them. With these laws the emphasis in determining responsibility for the quality and condition of goods sold has shifted from the buyer to the seller. However, the statutes do not guarantee investors against loss. It is perhaps no more difficult for them to lose their money than before. The regulatory measures were at first bitterly opposed by the financial community, on the ground that they imposed such severe limitations and liabilities on security issuers and dealers as to impede the financing of industry. Persons aggrieved by the decisions of the SEC have a right of review by a U.S. circuit court of appeals. The original penalties of the Securities Act of 1933 were softened in 1934. Governmental supervision has won generally increasing acceptance by the interests concerned.

Early History

The Scandinavian countries are rich in artifacts and objects of archaeological interest dating from the end of the Ice Age through the Bronze Age, the Celtic and Germanic Iron Ages, and the Viking period. Viking art (c.800-c.1050) is characterized by dynamic geometric design of considerable complexity and sophistication and the ingenious use of animal forms. It bears a clear relationship to other European trends, particularly to Hiberno-Saxon illumination. Numerous fine examples of early Scandinavian art are in the collections of the museums of Copenhagen and Stockholm.

The Early Christian Period

Church building became the principal artistic activity when Scandinavia was Christianized in the 11th cent. The wooden stavkirke, a medieval church decorated with grotesque figures, is unique to this region; examples remain only in Norway, where it was most prevalent. The cathedral at Lund, Sweden, begun in 1085, reveals Lombard influence; Gothic elements predominate in the cathedrals of Linköping and Skara. The island of Gotland produced numerous sculptural and architectural masterworks of the Gothic period. The cathedral at Trondheim, begun in the 12th cent., bears a resemblance to English Gothic architecture, particularly to Lincoln Cathedral. Uppsala Cathedral was built by French architects.

The Renaissance and Baroque Period

Foreign stylistic influence persisted through the Renaissance and baroque periods, the North German school of Lübeck becoming more and more the chief source for Scandinavian styles. Castles such as Gripsholm exemplify this borrowing habit. Great castle-building activity was instigated by the Danish and Swedish rulers of the 16th to 18th cent.; outstanding examples include Kronborg (c.1570-1590) and Fredriksborg (c.1560-1620) castles and the rebuilt castle of Stockholm (1690-1708; 1727-53).

The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

In the 18th and 19th cent. native artists began to gain international prestige. From Denmark the neoclassicist sculptor A. B. Thorvaldsen taught and worked in Rome, wielding enormous stylistic influence. The painters Christoffer Eckersberg and N. A. Abildgaard were prominent, as were the architects C. F. Harsdorff and C. E. Hansen. The academy of Copenhagen attracted students from Germany, including the painters P. O. Runge and C. D. Friedrich.

Norway produced its best-known artists late in the 19th cent.—most notably the sculptors Stephan Sinding and A. G. Vigeland and the protoexpressionist painter Edvard Munch. Significant Swedish artists included the sculptor J. T. Sergel and, in the late 19th and early 20th cent., the painters A. L. Zorn and Carl Larsson.

The Twentieth Century

The Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, who worked extensively in the United States, was among the most notable Scandinavian artists of the early part of the century. Since World War II various strains of abstraction have been developed by a number of Scandinavian artists.

The inventive use of traditional and regional forms within the plain vocabulary of brick construction led to a rejuvenation of Scandinavian architecture in the early 20th cent. with the works of P. V. J. Klint of Denmark and Ragnar Ostberg, Sigfrid Ericsson, and, above all, E. G. Asplund of Sweden. The Finnish architects Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto influenced Scandinavian design profoundly and have international acclaim for establishing an unquestionably new architecture. Modern Scandinavian furniture and applied arts, particularly glassmaking, metalwork, woodwork, and ceramics, have been widely imitated for their simplicity and purity of line.

Saint Vincent island is mountainous, rising to 4,048 ft (1,234 m) at Soufrière volcano, which erupted in 1902 and 1979, causing considerable damage to the island. The people are mainly descendants of Africans who were brought as slaves during the colonial period; there are also people of European, Asian Indian, and Carib descent. English is the predominant language, and a French patois is also spoken. The main religions are Anglicanism, Methodism, and Roman Catholicism.

The climate is well-suited to agriculture, which is an important part of Saint Vincent's economy. Bananas, taro, and arrowroot are the chief agricultural exports. There is light industry and offshore banking. Tourism is also economically important. The main trading partners are the United States and France.

The country, a parliamentary democracy, is governed under the constitution of 1979. The unicameral legislature, the House of Assembly, has of 15 elected and 6 appointed members; the members all serve five-year terms. The government is headed by the prime minister. The monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by a governor-general, is the head of state. Administratively, the country is divided into six parishes.

History

Presumably visited by Columbus in 1498, Saint Vincent remained uncolonized by Europeans until a British settlement was made in 1762. The French captured it in 1779 but it was restored to Britain in 1783. Attempts at overwhelming the native Caribs and black Caribs (or Garifuna, persons of mixed Carib and African descent) failed for many years, but the British deported most of them in 1797. Portuguese and Asian Indian laborers were introduced there in the 19th cent. after the emancipation of African slaves. Saint Vincent was part of the British colony of the Windward Islands (1880-1958) and of the West Indies Federation (1958-62). In 1979 it gained full independence. The islands were governed by the centrist New Democratic party under prime ministers James Mitchell and Arnhim Eustace from 1984 to 2001, when the center-left United Labor party (ULP), led by Ralph Gonsalves, won control of parliament in the March elections. Gonsalves and the ULP were returned to office in Dec., 2005.

History

Probably first settled by Basques, the islands were colonized by France in 1604. They were taken by the British (1713) but returned to France in 1763; twice retaken by the British, they were restored to France in 1814, with the provision that they be unfortified. They were granted local autonomy in 1935, became an overseas department in 1976, and reclassified as a territorial collectivity in 1985 to comply with European Community (now European Union) trade regulations.

A narrow strait separates the two larger islands, which are volcanic in origin, mountainous, and renowned for their scenery. The vast majority of the population are descendants of Africans originally brought to the islands as slaves. English is spoken and Anglicanism is the main religion.

Tourism, manufacturing, and a growing offshore financial industry are important to the economy. Machinery, food, electronics, beverages, and tobacco are exported. Sugar and molasses were also historically important exports, but financial losses led the government to end sugar production and processing in 2005. Machinery, manufactures, food, and fuel are imported. The United States is the main trading partner.

The country is a parliamentary democracy with a 14-seat national assembly; the government is headed by a prime minister. The monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by a governor-general, is the head of state. Administratively, the country is divided into 14 parishes.

History

Saint Kitts and Nevis were visited by Columbus in 1493, but European settlement did not begin until the British arrived on St. Kitts in 1623. French settlers came to the island two years later. Nevis was first settled by the British in 1628. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 granted the islands to Britain. They were part of the colony of the Leeward Islands (1871-1956) and of the West Indies Federation (1958-62). In 1967, together with Anguilla, they became a self-governing state in association with Great Britain. Anguilla seceded later that year; it was placed under direct control of Great Britain and was formally separated from Saint Kitts and Nevis in 1980. In 1983 the two islands gained full independence. Kennedy Simmonds of the People's Action Movement served as prime minister until 1995, when the opposition Labour party won in the general elections and Denzil Douglas became prime minister. Douglas and Labour were returned to power in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

The Sac were enterprising farmers but spent much time hunting and raiding, although they never developed a soldier society to the degree that the Fox did. The Fox were fierce warriors and constantly waged war with the Ojibwa. Together, the Sac and Fox fought wars against the Sioux and the Illinois, as well as the French. The French, harassed by the Fox, waged a war of extermination; by 1730 they had reduced the Fox to a mere handful. The remnants of the tribe incorporated with their long-standing allies, the Sac, and from that time the two tribes have been known collectively as the Sac and Fox.

After a war with the Illinois (c.1765), the Sac and Fox moved into Illinois territory. In 1804 a fraudulent treaty was extracted from them, and they were told to move west of the Mississippi. Most of them refused to go, but by 1831 they were induced to cross the river into Iowa. By 1832, however, they were back east of the river, attacking frontier settlements. This started the Black Hawk War. After that war they moved west, eventually settling on reservations in Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma. In 1990 there were about 4,775 Sac and Fox in the United States.

Early Christian Works

With the Christianization of Russia in the late 10th cent. the Russian church and its art became subject to Constantinople (see Byzantine art and architecture). Major artistic centers developed in Kiev, Novgorod, and Pskov. Although the early churches were made largely of wood (with strong Norse stylistic influences), stone was already in use in the Cathedral of St. Sophia (1018-37) in Kiev. A distinctive Russian style soon emerged, marked by steeply sloping roofs and high walls, a proliferation of domes, and later a compartmentalization of interior space into many aisles and apses. The typical onion-shaped dome made an early appearance (mid-12th cent.) in the rebuilding of the Cathedral of Sancta Sophia in Novgorod. In the 12th cent. the Vladimir-Suzdal region became an important cultural center. There the Western Romanesque was combined with Byzantine elements, as in the palace of Andrei Bogolyubsky.

The Art of the Icon

The earliest painters of religious art in Russia were Greeks or Greek-trained Russians, who generally followed the form and iconography of the Byzantine school (see icon). Within the framework of the highly schematic Byzantine rendering of the human figure, Russian art (11th-14th cent.) ranged from an extremely hieratic and intellectual concept to a softer, more devotional image. The Russians added a number of saints to the Byzantine hierarchy. Among those frequently depicted were saints Vladimir, Olga, Boris, Gleb, and later Alexander Nevsky. From the mid-13th through the 14th cent. little art flourished under the Tatar invaders except in Novgorod and Pskov, which remained free and were the dominant cultural centers until the rise of Moscow at the end of the 15th cent.

Icon painting was brought to its highest achievement as a Russian art form in the late 14th and 15th cent. with the expressive frescoes of the Greek painter Theophanes, in the church of the Transfiguration in Novgorod (1378), and with the Hellenized works of the Russian artist Andrei Rublev (e.g., Trinity, c.1410; Tretyakov Gall., Moscow). The master Dionysius introduced new iconographical motifs, scenes of miracles, which he imbued with great vitality. A high level of quality was maintained in icon painting until the 17th cent., when it deteriorated into an ornate, extremely detailed, convention-ridden art.

The Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Russian church became independent of the Greek Orthodox faith, and the Moscow school of art and architecture became the official liturgical and court art of Russia, maintaining this status until the 18th cent. In the 16th cent. art was first pressed into the service of the government. Frescoes such as The Heart of the Czar Is in the Hand of God decorated the palace walls of Ivan IV.

In architecture a new period began in the 15th cent., when the first of many Italian architects were invited to work on the Kremlin in Moscow (see under kremlin). The Cathedral of the Dormition (1475-79), planned by Aristotele Fioravanti, is notable for a new rationality of proportions, and Italian High Renaissance elements can also be seen in the decoration (pilasters, scallop shells, and arches) of the Cathedral of St. Michael (1505-9), built by Alevisio Novi. On the other hand, the Russo-Byzantine style was still very much in favor under Ivan IV. The Cathedral of St. Basil (1555-60) was designed by two Russian architects, Postnik and Barma, who combined several chapels into one unique and splendid church. With its profusion of oddly shaped cupolas, gilt and polychrome arches, and air of fairy-tale fantasy, it served as a model for Russian churches until the 17th cent.

The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

During the 17th cent. influences from Lithuania and Poland brought about a humanistic interest in classical antiquity that was to culminate in the Westernization of Russia under Peter the Great. In 1712 Peter moved his capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg and began the transformation of a mud flat on the coast of Finland into a sparkling European city. A host of Western architects was imported for the enterprise and continued to work under successive reigns. The outstanding architect of the period was Conte Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. Working in a rococo style, he designed the Winter Palace (now part of the Hermitage), Smolny Cathedral, and the facade at Peterhof, one of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg.

Catherine the Great preferred a more dignified manner. The Italian Antonio Rinaldi (c.1709-c.1790), the French architect Jean Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (1729-1800), and the Scottish Charles Cameron (c.1740-c.1815) were responsible for the neoclassical architecture that Catherine promoted as the official court style. Prominent Russian architects during her reign included V. I. Bazhenov (1737-99) and I. Y. Starov (1744-1808); the latter built the splendid Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg.

In the 18th cent. the infiltration of European painting styles began, and for the first time since the introduction of Christianity sculpture became a major Russian art form. European artists such as Falconet and Vigée Le Brun, came to St. Petersburg while Russian artists started to receive their training abroad. Portrait and historical painting predominated. Under Alexander I foreign architects were still imported, including Thomas de Thoman (1754-1813), who built the Bolshoi Theatre. The Greek revival style also came into vogue, and is revealed in the buildings of M. F. Kazakov (1733-1812), A. D. Zakharov (1761-1811), and V. P. Stasov (1769-1848).

The Nineteenth Century

During the 19th cent. there was a revival of medieval Russian architecture. A romantic school of painting arose in the early years of the century, and pictorial epics were produced by Karl Briullov (1799-1852), F. A. Bruni (1800-1875), and A. A. Ivanov (1806-58). The second half of the 19th cent. saw the introduction of ideological realism, particularly in the works of V. G. Perov (1833-82) and I. Y. Repin, who is now hailed as one of the first artists of the revolution. Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910), a tormented original and one of the foremost modern Russian masters, painted a remarkable series of decorations for the monastery of St. Cyril at Kiev.

The Twentieth Century

Around the turn of the century Mir Iskusstva (World of Art Group) was initiated, a movement akin to art nouveau. It served as the background for some of the first truly abstract artists who prevailed briefly in Russia after the 1917 revolution (see constructivism and suprematism). Among the more radical modern artists were Casimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin, Chaim Soutine, Aleksey von Jawlensky, Antoine Pevsner, Naum Gabo, Wassily Kandinsky, Mikhail Larinov, Marc Chagall, and Alexander Archipenko. Most of them left the country after 1923 and settled in Western Europe and the United States.

The Ministry of Culture soon took over the direction of Russian art, and a standardized literal style known as socialist realism was enforced while abstraction was renounced as decadent. Socialist realist artists include Georgi Nisski and Vera Mukina. Only with the death of Stalin was there a slight relaxation of government strictures, although artists working in an abstract idiom continued to be rarely exhibited and harshly criticized. From the mid-1950s to the decline of the Soviet empire in the late 1980s, so-called nonconformist art was widely practiced in the USSR. This late Soviet art encompassed a number of styles, met with official disapproval, was infrequently seen by the public, and often dealt with the harshness of life in the USSR. Among the leading artists of the period were Ilya Kabakov, Leonid Lamm, and Yevgeny Rukhin. Under Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership and with the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union, artistic freedom has increased markedly. Russian architecture in the 20th cent., after a brief phase of constructivist experimentation in the 1920s, tended toward an unimaginative combination of neoclassicism and skyscraper construction.

House of Rurik

House of Godunov

Usurpers

House of Romanov

Provisional Government
(premiers)

Soviet Russia (1917-22) and the USSR (1922-91)

Russian Federation
(presidents)

Saxons and Danes

House of Normandy

House of Blois

House of Plantagenet

House of Lancaster

House of York

House of Tudor

House of Stuart

Commonwealth and Protectorate

House of Stuart
(restored)

House of Hanover

House of Saxe Coburg

House of Windsor
(family name changed during World War I)

Romanesque Architecture

The specific character of the Romanesque style can be understood only in the light of the development of early medieval architecture in the West, notably its Carolingian and Ottonian phases. Certain of the most characteristic features of Romanesque structures—the massive west facade crowned by a tower or by twin towers, the complex design of the eastern part housing the sanctuary, the rhythmic alternation of piers and columns in the nave—represent only the advanced stages in a lengthy and complex formal evolution marked by considerable trial and error.

The development of Romanesque architecture owes much to the primacy accorded to vaulting. Masonry vaulting (see vault) since the beginning of Christian architecture had been confined to buildings of relatively small scale and to crypts. Large basilican structures, in a continuation of a tradition inaugurated by the early Christian basilica, were topped by wooden roofs. Romanesque churches, on the other hand, with notable exceptions in Normandy and Italy, sustained massive barrel vaults, making mandatory the reinforcement of load-bearing walls in order to parry the lateral outward thrust. The frequent presence of galleries above the aisles, sometimes with half-barrel vaults, is in all probability rooted in structural considerations connected with the problem of abutment. The limitation of wall openings to a minimum, related to the same concern, contributed to the sober yet somberly impressive character of the light.

The major share of architectural activity was sponsored by the great monastic communities. The Cluniac order, at the peak of its power, played a primary role in the patronage of construction. Thus a number of significant Cluniac churches connected with great 12th-century pilgrimages—St. Martin in Tours, St. Sernin in Toulouse, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain—show great similarity in plan and overall design. This sameness is especially notable in the presence of spacious ambulatories with radiating chapels designed to facilitate the pilgrims' access to the precious relics. The design of the third church of Cluny, dedicated in 1095, is reflected in a number of Burgundian churches. The basilica of San Marco in Venice and other Byzantine structures help to account for the presence of domed vaulting in a group of churches in French Aquitaine. German Romanesque architecture on the other hand remained strongly tied to the heritage of Ottonian art.

The following structures are noted works of Romanesque architecture: France—the abbey churches of St. Madeleine Vézelay (c.1090-1130) and Paray-le-Monial (early 12th cent.); Germany—the Cathedral of Speyer, dedicated in 1060, but largely reconstructed after 1082, and the Church of St. Mary on the Capitol in Cologne (1049); Italy—the cathedral (1063-92) and baptistery (1153) in Pisa, the Church of San Miniato al Monte (c.1070) in Florence, and the Cathedral of Monreale in Sicily (1174). From the last third of the 12th cent. certain features of the churches in N France and in England began to point toward the development of the Gothic (see Norman architecture). Similarly, architecture in the Ile-de-France, particularly the ambulatory (1140) of the abbey of St. Denis, reveals such an advance in unified design and construction as to be considered the first monument of Gothic architecture.

Romanesque Art

The art of the Romanesque period was characterized by an important revival of monumental forms, notably sculpture and fresco painting, which developed in close association with architectural decoration and exhibited a forceful and often severely structural quality. At the same time an element of realism, which parallels the first flowering of vernacular literature, came to the fore. It was expressed in terms of a direct and naive observation of certain details drawn from daily life and a heightened emphasis on emotion and fantasy. For many aspects of its rich imagery Romanesque art depended on the heritage of antiquity and of earlier medieval art, while the prestige of Byzantine art remained high in Western eyes. The pilgrimages and Crusades contributed to an unprecedented expansion of th