San

San, people of SW Africa (mainly Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and South Africa), consisting of several groups and numbering about 100,000 in all. They are generally short in stature; their skin is yellowish brown in color; and they have broad noses, flat ears, bulging foreheads, and prominent cheekbones. The San have been called Bushmen, but the term is considered derogatory.

Once nomadic hunters and gatherers of wild food in desolate areas like the Kalahari desert of SW Africa, most of the San now live in settlements and work on cattle ranches or farms. This transition sometimes has been forced by government policies; legal and physical obstacles in Botswana, including the setting aside of San ancestral land in reserves, have frustrated San who wish seek to live traditionally. San life historically centered on the small hunting band as the main social unit, with larger organizations being loose and temporary. Caves and rock shelters were used as dwellings, and they possessed only what they can carry, using poisoned arrowheads to fell game and transporting water in ostrich-egg shells. The San have a rich folklore, are skilled in drawing, and have a remarkably complex language characterized by the use of click sounds, related to that of the Khoikhoi.

For thousands of years the San lived in S and central Africa, but by the time of the Portuguese arrival in the 15th cent., they had already been forced into the interior of S Africa. In the 18th and 19th cent., they resisted the encroachment on their lands of Dutch settlers, but by 1862 that resistance had been crushed.

(1878) Peace settlement imposed on the Ottoman government by Russia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War. It established an independent Bulgarian principality that included most of Macedonia, realigned other European provinces of the Ottoman Empire, and ceded parts of Asian Turkey to Russia. Opposed by Austria-Hungary and Britain, it was modified at the Congress of Berlin.

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(1878) Peace settlement imposed on the Ottoman government by Russia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War. It established an independent Bulgarian principality that included most of Macedonia, realigned other European provinces of the Ottoman Empire, and ceded parts of Asian Turkey to Russia. Opposed by Austria-Hungary and Britain, it was modified at the Congress of Berlin.

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City (pop., 1992: city, 415,346; metro. area 1,522,126), capital of El Salvador. Founded near Suchitoto by the Spanish in 1525, it was moved to its present site in 1528 and declared a city in 1546. It became the capital of the country in 1839. During the late 1970s it became the focus of violence between the government and left-wing political groups. It is the country's financial, commercial, and industrial centre, producing textiles and clothing, leather goods, and wood products. It is also the site of the University of El Salvador. Devasted by earthquakes in 1854, 1873, 1917, and 1986 and by heavy floods in 1934, it has been reconstructed frequently.

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City (pop., 2001: 439,086), northwestern Honduras. It is located about 100 mi (160 km) northwest of Tegucigalpa. Founded by the Spanish in 1536, the city has been almost completely rebuilt. It is the country's chief industrial centre and second largest city; it produces a wide variety of items, including textiles, foodstuffs, clothing, beverages, and furniture.

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City (pop., 2000: 12,945), southwestern California, U.S. It is east of Los Angeles and south of Pasadena. In 1903 railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) purchased the San Marino Ranch and founded the community, which was incorporated in 1913. His estate, deeded to the public, includes the Huntington Library (with rare English and American books and manuscripts), Art Gallery (where Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy is displayed), and Botanical Gardens.

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officially Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Self-governing island commonwealth of the West Indies, in the northeastern Caribbean Sea; it is associated with the U.S. Area: 3,515 sq mi (9,104 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 3,912,000. Capital: San Juan. Most of the population is of Spanish descent, with significant minorities of people of African and mixed (African-European) descent. Languages: Spanish, English (both official). Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant). Currency: U.S. dollar. The island of Puerto Rico may be divided into three geographic regions: the mountainous interior, the northern plateau, and the coastal plains. It has a developing free-market economy, of which manufacturing, financial services, and trade (mostly with the U.S.) are the main components. Tourism is also an important source of income. Puerto Rico's chief of state is the U.S. president, and its head of government is the commonwealth governor. The island was inhabited by Arawak Indians when it was settled by the Spanish in the early 16th century. It remained largely undeveloped economically until the late 18th century. After 1830 it gradually developed a plantation economy based on the export crops of sugarcane, coffee, and tobacco. The independence movement began in the late 19th century, and Spain ceded the island to the U.S. in 1898 after the Spanish-American War. In 1917 Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship, and in 1952 the island became a commonwealth with autonomy in internal affairs. Voters reaffirmed the island's commonwealth status in plebiscites in 1967, 1993, and (tacitly) 1998, but Puerto Rican statehood remained a political issue into the 21st century.

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City (pop., 2000: metro. area, 421,958), seaport, and capital of Puerto Rico. It was visited in 1508 by Juan Ponce de León and founded in the early 16th century by the Spanish. It became heavily fortified and was a starting point for expeditions to unknown parts of the New World. Several times it was attacked by the British, including Francis Drake in 1595. In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, San Juan fell to the U.S. The city expanded rapidly in the 20th century and is one of the major ports and tourist resorts of the West Indies. Industries include petroleum and sugar refining, brewing, and distilling. San Juan is the commonwealth's financial capital and many U.S. banks and corporations maintain offices there. El Morro and San Cristóbal fortifications are among the city's historic remnants.

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Species (Aspidiotus perniciosus) of scale insect first discovered in North America at San Jose, Cal., in 1880 but probably a native of China. A waxy gray secretion (the scale) covers the yellow females, which are about 0.06 in. (1.5 mm) in diameter. The scale is elevated in the center and is surrounded by a yellow ring. The female produces several generations of living young each year. San Jose scales can completely cover tree branches and may eventually kill the tree.

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City (pop., 2000: 894,943), west-central California, U.S. Located southeast of San Francisco, San Jose was the first civic settlement in California. Founded in 1777 as a farming community, it became a Spanish military supply base and was the state's first capital (1849–52). In 1850 it became the first chartered city in California. It was a trade depot for the California gold fields. The railroad from San Francisco improved trade connections for the produce of nearby farms. San Jose is a processing and distribution centre for a rich agricultural area producing fruit and wine. It is part of Silicon Valley, and its industries include the manufacture of electronic, computer, and aerospace components, auto parts, and consumer goods.

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(born circa 560, Cartagena or Sevilla, Spain—died April 4, 636, Sevilla; canonized 1598; feast day April 4) Spanish prelate and scholar, last of the Western Fathers of the Church. He became archbishop of Sevilla circa 600 and presided over several councils that shaped church policy, including the fourth Council of Toledo (633). He also promoted the conversion of the Visigoths from Arianism to orthodox Christianity. His best-known work was Etymologies, an encyclopedia that became a standard reference work in the Middle Ages. He also wrote theological works, biographies, and treatises on natural science, cosmology, and history. He was canonized in 1598 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1722.

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Segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges, southern California, U.S. Many peaks exceed 9,000 ft (2,700 m); the highest is San Antonio Peak, or Old Baldy, at 10,080 ft (3,072 m). The range also includes Mount Wilson Observatory, northeast of Pasadena. The mountains are largely within the Angeles National Forest.

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Large, nearly landlocked bay indenting west-central California, U.S. A drowned river valley paralleling the coastline, it is connected with the Pacific Ocean by the Golden Gate Strait, which is spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge. The bay is one of the world's finest natural harbours. Treasure, Yerba Buena, Angel, and Alcatraz islands are there; the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley are nearby.

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City (pop., 2000: 776,733) and port, northern California, U.S. San Francisco lies on the northern end of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. The Golden Gate Bridge spans the strait to the north that separates San Francisco from Marin county. Founded in the 18th century by the Spanish, it came under Mexican control after Mexican independence in 1821. Occupied by U.S. forces in 1846, it grew rapidly after the discovery of gold in nearby areas (see gold rush). San Francisco suffered extensive damage from the earthquake and fire of 1906 and from an earthquake in 1989. The city was prominent in the American cultural revolution of the 1960s. It is a commercial, cultural, educational, and financial centre and one of the country's most cosmopolitan cities.

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City (pop., 2000: 1,223,400) and port, southern California, U.S. It is located on San Diego Bay, the site of major naval and military bases. Sighted by the Spanish in 1542 and named San Miguel, the area was renamed San Diego in 1602. In 1769 the Spanish established a military post on the site, and Junípero Serra dedicated the first California mission there. The U.S. acquired it from Mexico in 1846, and a new city was laid out in 1867. The arrival of the Santa Fe railroad in 1885 stimulated the city's growth. Industrial development is dominated by aerospace, electronics, and shipbuilding, and the city is the main commercial outlet for the farm produce of southern California. Balboa Park and its San Diego Zoo are renowned, as are the area universities.

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One of the Galapagos Islands, eastern Pacific Ocean, Ecuador. It is the most populated and fertile island of the archipelago, producing sugar, coffee, cassava, and limes. Volcanic in origin and with an area of 195 sq mi (505 sq km), it is the only island of the group that has a regular supply of fresh water. Charles Darwin landed there at the settlement of San Cristóbal in 1835 and compiled data that he later used in his book On the Origin of Species (1859).

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City (pop., 2000: 185,410), southern California, U.S. Located east of Los Angeles, it was laid out as a town by Mormons in 1852 and developed as a trade centre chiefly for the surrounding citrus groves and vineyards. Other industries, including aerospace and electronics, are now the economic mainstays. It is part of the San Bernardino–Riverside–Ontario metropolitan complex.

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City (pop., 2000: 1,144,646), south-central Texas, U.S. It is situated at the headwaters of the San Antonio River. Founded in 1718 by the Spanish as a mission on the site of a Coahuiltecan Indian village, it was laid out as a town in 1731. The mission, called the Alamo, became a military post in 1794; it was the site of a historic siege in 1836. In the late 19th century, as the starting point of the Chisholm Trail, the town became a major cattle centre. Military installations, especially for aviation and aerospace, spurred the city's rapid growth after 1940. The economy is now diversified—government, business, manufacturing, education, and tourism are all important aspects of San Antonio's growth.

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formerly Bushmen

Group of peoples now living mainly in and around the Kalahari Desert region of southern Africa, chiefly Botswana, Namibia, and northwestern South Africa. They are closely related to the Khoekhoe. San languages belong to the Khoisan family. Two well-known San groups are the !Kung (Ju) and the | Gui. The San are, for the most part, physically indistinguishable from the Khoekhoe or from their Bantu-speaking neighbours. Traditional San society centres on the nomadic band of related families. San shelters are semicircular structures of branches, twigs, and grass; their equipment is portable, their possessions few and light. They have traditionally hunted, using bows and snares, and gathered wild vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Numbering in the tens of thousands, most San have been restricted, because of historical and political factors, to harsh, semiarid areas, and they work for wages on European farms or serve other Africans, notably the Tswana.

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Seaport and city (pop., 2001: 178,377), northern Spain. The city is situated at the mouth of the Urumea River on the Bay of Biscay, near the French border. First mentioned in 1014, it was chartered by Sancho the Wise of Navarra circa 1175. The town was burned in 1813 after Anglo-Portuguese troops took it from the French during the Peninsular War. Formerly the summer residence of the Spanish royal court, it is now a fashionable seaside resort. Nearby is Mount Urgull, with the 16th-century Mota Castle at its summit. Donostia–San Sebastián is the official place-name, incorporating first the Basque name and then the Spanish.

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Historic site, northeastern Florida, U.S. Established in 1924, it is the 25-acre (10-hectare) site of the oldest masonry fort in the U.S., built by the Spanish (1672–95) to protect St. Augustine. The fort played an important role in the Spanish-English struggle for the Southeast (circa 1670–1763). In the 19th century it served as a U.S. military prison.

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(born June 19, 1945, Rangoon, Burma) Opposition leader in Burma (Myanmar). Daughter of nationalist leader Aung San, she studied in Burma and India and at the University of Oxford. She lived quietly in Britain until, returning to Myanmar in 1988, she was moved by the brutality of U Ne Win's military regime to begin a nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights. The 1990 electoral victory of her National League for Democracy was ignored by Ne Win's government, and she was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995. She subsequently continued her opposition activities and was subject to varying degrees of government harrassment, including another period of house arrest in 2000–02. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace.

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Japanese Aso-san

Volcanic mountain, central Kyushu island, Japan. The highest of its five peaks is about 5,223 ft (1,592 m) tall. It has one of the largest active craters in the world, measuring 71 mi (114 km) in circumference; its caldera marks the original crater and contains an active volcano and hot springs. The crater is inhabited; its pastures are used for cattle raising and dairy farming. The volcano is at the centre of Aso-Kuju National Park.

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was the epitome of the daimyo that dramatically rose and also fell from power in Sengoku period Japan. He was also known as the for his ruthless tactics.

Life

Originally a wealthy merchant from Yamashiro Province (modern-day Kyoto Prefecture), he used his power and influence to become a retainer of the daimyo Toki Yorinari of Mino Province (southern half of modern-day Gifu Prefecture). Dōsan contributed to general instability within Mino Province, so Yorinari gave him his concubine in the hopes that this would appease him in 1526. He eventually succeeded in becoming the magistrate of Mino Province and settled in Inabayama Castle. Using his power and wealth, he drove Toki Yorinari out of Mino Province in a coup d'état in 1542, and claimed the region as his own, becoming a daimyo in his own right. Afterwards, Toki Yorinari allied with Oda Nobuhide of Owari Province, which was on the southern border of Mino Province, but their defeat at the Battle of Kanōguchi, in 1547, solidified Dōsan's domination of Mino and also made him known throughout Japan. Oda Nobuhide made peace and arranged a political marriage in 1549, between his son, Oda Nobunaga, and Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime, to end all hostilities.

Downfall

Around 1555, rumors began to circulate that Saitō Yoshitatsu was not in fact Dōsan's son; it was said that he was Yorinari's. It does not appear that Yoshitatsu had been aware of that possibility himself until he heard the rumors. The circumstances surrounding this are unclear, however. One belief is that Dōsan, having had a number of sons after Yoshitatsu, had decided to name one of them heir (despite having officially retired by this point in favor of Yoshitatsu). Another theory holds that Yoshitatsu simply assumed that he would be disinherited, and decided to move first. A further idea is that Saitō Yoshitatsu just elected to usurp his father's power. Relations at any rate quickly soured between Yoshitatsu and Dōsan.

Ironically, Saitō Dōsan fell in his own son Saitō Yoshitatsu's coup d'état in 1556. Heavily outnumbered, he was defeated at the Battle of Nagaragawa. His remains were originally interred in Sōfuku-ji, but they were later moved to Jōzai-ji because the Nagara River kept overflowing and covering his burial mound. Both temples are located in Gifu.

Pseudonyms

Saitō Dōsan is known for having a large number of pseudonyms and for frequently changing his name. Some believe that this is because there were two Saitō Dōsan, father and son, and the son adopted his father's name after his death. Other names of Saitō Dōsan are Minemaru (峰丸), Hōrenbō (法蓮坊), Matsunami Shogorō (松浪庄五郎), Nishimura Kankurō Masatoshi (西村勘九郎正利), Shinkurō (新九郎), Nagai Norihide (長井規秀), and Saitō Sakondayu Toshimasa (斎藤左近大夫利政).

References