playa

Flat-bottomed depression that is periodically covered by water. Playas occur in interior desert basins and adjacent to coasts in arid and semiarid regions. The water that periodically covers the playa slowly filters into the groundwater system or evaporates into the atmosphere, causing the deposition of salt, sand, and mud along the bottom and around the edges of the depression.

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Movement to unite Slav peoples of eastern and central Europe. It began in the early 19th century when Slav intellectuals studied their common cultures. Political goals for Slavic unity increased in 1848, when a Slav congress organized by Frantishacekek Palacký met in Prague to press for equal rights under Austrian rule. In the 1860s the movement became popular in Russia, to which Pan-Slavs looked for protection from Turkish and Austro-Hungarian rule; this led Russia and Serbia into wars against the Ottoman Empire in 1876–77. In the 20th century, nationalist rivalries among the Slav peoples prevented their effective collaboration.

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Movement to politically unify all German-speaking people. The desire for German unification began in the early 19th century and was advanced by Ernst Arndt and other early nationalists. The Pan-German League was organized in 1894 by Ernst Hasse (1846–1908) to heighten German nationalist awareness, especially among German-speaking people outside Germany. The movement, which pressed for German expansion in Europe, gained support after World War I under the Weimar Republic and was actively promoted by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. After Germany's defeat in 1945 and the expulsion of Germans from formerly German areas of eastern Europe, the movement declined.

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International highway system connecting North and South America. Conceived in 1923 as a single route, the road grew to include a number of designated highways in participating countries, including the Inter-American Highway from Nuevo Laredo, Mex., to Panama City, Pan. The whole system, extending from Alaska and Canada to Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, totals nearly 30,000 mi (48,000 km). Only some 240 miles (400 km) in the Panama-Colombia border area remain uncompleted.

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Greek fertility deity with a half-human, half-animal form. The Romans associated him with Faunus. Pan was usually said to be the son of Hermes. He was often represented as a vigorous and lustful figure with the horns, legs, and ears of a goat; in later art his human parts were more emphasized. Some Christian depictions of the Devil bear a striking resemblance to Pan. Pan haunted the high hills, where he was chiefly concerned with flocks and herds. Like a shepherd, Pan was a piper, and he rested at noon. He could inspire irrational terror in humans, and the word panic comes from his name.

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