• Banks, Tyra Lynne (American model and television personality)

    Tyra Banks is an American fashion model and television personality best known as a face of the cosmetics company CoverGirl and the American lingerie, clothing, and cosmetics retailer Victoria’s Secret. She also hosted a daily television talk show, The Tyra Banks Show (2005–10) the modeling

  • Banksia ericifolia (plant)

    scrubland: Ecological importance of fire to scrubland communities: …coastal scrublands in eastern Australia, Banksia ericifolia, is eliminated not only if an area is burned more often than every fifth year—the time taken for seedlings to set their first seed—but also if it is burned less often than every 40 years—the plant’s life span.

  • Bankside (neighborhood, London, United Kingdom)

    Bankside, loosely defined area along the south bank of the River Thames in the London borough of Southwark. Bankside is also the name of a street in the district, which lies between Blackfriars Bridge (west) and London Bridge (east) and more or less defines the extent of the area. South Bank, a

  • Banksy (British graffiti artist)

    Banksy is an anonymous British graffiti artist known for his acerbic and antiauthoritarian art, often done in public places. Although he is particularly known for his stenciled art featuring policemen and rats, over the years he has extended his practice to include installation and performance.

  • Bankura (India)

    Bankura, city, western West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies on a densely populated alluvial plain just north of the Dhaleshwari (Dhalkisor) River (known locally as the Dwarkeswar River, a tributary of the Damodar River to the east), about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Durgapur. Bankura

  • Banky, Vilma (Hungarian actress)

    Ronald Colman: …was teamed with Hungarian actress Vilma Banky in such films as The Dark Angel (1925), The Winning of Barbara Worth (1926), The Night of Love (1927), The Magic Flame (1927), and Two Lovers (1928). This pairing established them as a romantic screen couple who rivaled the popularity of Greta Garbo…

  • Banmana (people)

    Bambara, ethnolinguistic group of the upper Niger region of Mali whose language, Bambara (Bamana), belongs to the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Bambara are to a great extent intermingled with other tribes, and there is no centralized organization. Each small district, made up

  • Bann, River (river, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)

    River Bann, river, the largest in Northern Ireland, falling into two distinct parts. The upper Bann rises in the Mourne Mountains and flows northwest to Lough (lake) Neagh. The lower Bann flows northward through Lough Beg and carries the waters of Lough Neagh to the sea below Coleraine. The total

  • Bannack (Montana, United States)

    Dillon: ) Nearby Bannack, now a ghost town and site of Montana’s first major gold strike (1862), was once a bustling community of 8,000 and the first territorial capital. Dillon’s economy now depends on ranching and farming (livestock, hay, and seed potatoes), mining, and tourism. Dude ranches dot…

  • Bannatyne Club (Scottish organization)

    George Bannatyne: In 1823 the Bannatyne Club was founded in Edinburgh for the purpose of promoting the study of Scottish history and literature.

  • Bannatyne Manuscript (compilation by Bannatyne)

    George Bannatyne: …of verse, known as the Bannatyne Manuscript, while living in isolation during a plague in 1568. His anthology contains many of the best-known poems of the courtly poets known as makaris, or Scottish Chaucerians; it also preserves work by such poets as Alexander Scott who otherwise would be virtually unknown,…

  • Bannatyne, George (Scottish compiler)

    George Bannatyne was the compiler of an important collection of Scottish poetry from the 15th and 16th centuries (the golden age of Scottish literature). A prosperous Edinburgh merchant, he compiled his anthology of verse, known as the Bannatyne Manuscript, while living in isolation during a plague

  • Bannatyne, John (Scottish writer)

    John Bellenden was a Scottish writer whose translation of Hector Boece’s Scotorum historiae had a profound influence on Scottish national feeling. Educated at the universities of St. Andrews (Scotland) and Paris, he was in the service of James V as clerk of accounts from the King’s earliest years

  • Bannāʾ, Ṣabrī Khalīl al- (Palestinian leader)

    Abū Niḍāl was a militant leader of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, more commonly known as the Abū Niḍāl Organization (ANO), or Abū Niḍāl Group, a Palestinian organization that engaged in numerous acts of terrorism beginning in the mid-1970s. Abū Niḍāl and his family fled Palestine after the 1948

  • Banneker, Benjamin (American scientist)

    Benjamin Banneker was a mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor, and writer, one of the first important African American intellectuals. Banneker, a freeman, was raised on a farm near Baltimore that he would eventually inherit from his father. Although he periodically attended a

  • Bannen, Ian (Scottish actor)

    Braveheart: …but Robert the Elder (Ian Bannen) and other nobles set a trap and capture Wallace. During his long and agonizing execution, Wallace refuses to submit to gain mercy and instead defiantly cries out, “Freedom!” In an epilogue, Robert the Bruce leads the Scottish to victory over the English in…

  • banner (Chinese political unit)

    Inner Mongolia: Constitutional framework: …administrative units are subdivided as banners (qi) or autonomous banners (zizhiqi) in the Mongolian and some other minority group areas and counties (xian), county-level cities (xianjishi), and districts under the municipalities (shixiaqu) in the predominantly Han area.

  • banner (heraldry)

    heraldry: Banners and standards: Arms in the Middle Ages were often displayed on fork-tailed pennons attached to lances. If the forked ends were cut away, the resulting flag was similar in shape to a small banner. Especially valorous conduct could be recognized in that way, and…

  • banner (plant anatomy)

    Fabales: Faboideae: …at the top, called the banner, or standard, that develops outside of the others before the flower has opened, two lateral petals called wings, and two lower petals that are usually fused and form a keel that encloses the stamens and pistil. The whole design is adapted for pollination by…

  • banner fan (clothing accessory)

    fan: …the rigid fan is the banner fan, which resembles a small flag in that the leaf, often of rectangular shape, is attached to one side of the handle. Known in India and elsewhere, this form was also in favour in Italy during the Renaissance and may well have been introduced…

  • Banner Party (political party, Afghanistan)

    Afghan War: Insurgency against communist rule (1978–92): …People’s (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party, which had earlier emerged from a single organization, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, and had reunited in an uneasy coalition shortly before the coup. The new government, which had little popular support, forged close ties with the Soviet Union, launched ruthless…

  • Banner system (Manchu history)

    Banner system, the military organization used by the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) to conquer and control China in the 17th century. The Banner system was developed by the Manchu leader Nurhachi (1559–1626), who in 1601 organized his warriors into four companies of 300 men each.

  • banneret (medieval Europe)

    banneret, a European medieval knight privileged to display in the field a square banner (as distinct from the tapering pennon of a simple knight). The term was used in countries of French and English speech from the 13th to the 16th century. In 13th-century England any commander of a troop of 10 or

  • Bannerman, Henry (prime minister of United Kingdom)

    Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was a British prime minister from December 5, 1905, to April 5, 1908. His popularity unified his own Liberal Party and the unusually strong cabinet that he headed. He took the lead in granting self-government to the Transvaal (1906) and the Orange River Colony (1907),

  • banning (South African law)

    banning, in South Africa, an administrative action by which publications, organizations, or assemblies could be outlawed and suppressed and individual persons could be placed under severe restrictions of their freedom of travel, association, and speech. Banning was an important tool in the South

  • Banningville (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

    Bandundu, city, southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the junction of the Kwango and Kwilu rivers. It is a river port serving navigation on the Congo River system from Kinshasa (the national capital, 186 miles [300 km] southwest). There are air links to Kinshasa and such eastern centres

  • Bannister, Roger (British athlete)

    Roger Bannister was an English neurologist who was the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes. While a student at the University of Oxford and at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London, Bannister won British (1951, 1953–54) and Empire (1954) championships in the mile run and the

  • Bannister, Sir Roger Gilbert (British athlete)

    Roger Bannister was an English neurologist who was the first athlete to run a mile in less than four minutes. While a student at the University of Oxford and at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London, Bannister won British (1951, 1953–54) and Empire (1954) championships in the mile run and the

  • bannock (bread)

    bannock, flat, sometimes unleavened bread eaten primarily in Scotland. It is most commonly made of oats, though bannocks of barley, ground dried peas, and a combination of grains are sometimes encountered. Selkirk bannock is made from wheat flour and contains fruit. The word bannock derives from

  • Bannock (people)

    Bannock, North American Indian tribe that lived in what is now southern Idaho, especially along the Snake River and its tributaries, and joined with the Shoshone tribe in the second half of the 19th century. Linguistically, they were most closely related to the Northern Paiute of what is now

  • Bannockburn (Scotland, United Kingdom)

    Bannockburn, town, Stirling council area, historic county of Stirlingshire, Scotland. Located slightly to the east of the famous battlefield to which it lent its name, The Battle of Bannockburn, fought June 23–24, 1314, was a decisive event in Scottish history. Bannockburn was known in the 18th and

  • Bannockburn, Battle of (England-Scotland)

    Battle of Bannockburn, (June 23–24, 1314), decisive battle in Scottish history whereby the Scots under Robert I (the Bruce) defeated the English under Edward II, expanding Robert’s territory and influence. By the time of the battle in 1314, all of Scotland had been cleared of strongholds loyal to

  • Bannon, John (Australian politician)

    South Australia: Political characteristics: …the administration of his successor, John Bannon, industrialization seemed to falter as tariff protection became less comprehensive. Earlier advantages diminished, and employment in the manufacturing sector fell. Plans to build a new city at Monarto, near Murray Bridge, were shelved. The state government became more receptive to plans for the…

  • Bannon, Stephen Kevin (American political strategist and media executive)

    Steve Bannon is an American political strategist, media executive, and filmmaker who served (2017) as senior counselor and chief White House strategist for U.S. Pres. Donald Trump. Despite leaving the White House amid controversy, Bannon remained an influential voice in the MAGA movement and

  • Bannon, Steve (American political strategist and media executive)

    Steve Bannon is an American political strategist, media executive, and filmmaker who served (2017) as senior counselor and chief White House strategist for U.S. Pres. Donald Trump. Despite leaving the White House amid controversy, Bannon remained an influential voice in the MAGA movement and

  • banns of marriage (society)

    banns of marriage, public legal notice made in a church proclaiming an intention of impending marriage with the object that persons aware of any impediment to the marriage may make their objection known. Tertullian addressed Christian marriage in the earliest days of the church in his treatises Ad

  • Bannu (Pakistan)

    Bannu, town, central part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, just south of the Kurram River. The nearby Akra mounds have revealed finds dating to about 300 bce. In ancient and medieval times, the Kurram-Bannu route into the Indian subcontinent was used by invaders and colonizers from the

  • Bannu Plain (region, Pakistan)

    Pakistan: The submontane plateau: In Bannu, about one-fourth of the cultivated area is irrigated. Annual precipitation is low, amounting to about 11 inches (275 mm). Fat-tailed sheep, camels, and donkeys are raised in Kohat and Bannu; wool is an important cash crop.

  • Bannus (Jewish hermit)

    Flavius Josephus: Early life.: …the wilderness with the hermit Bannus, a member of one of the ascetic Jewish sects that flourished in Judaea around the time of Christ.

  • Banpo culture (anthropology)

    China: 5th millennium bce: …lower stratum of the related Banpo culture, also in the Wei River drainage area, was characterized by cord-marked red or red-brown ware, especially round and flat-bottomed bowls and pointed-bottomed amphorae. The Banpo inhabitants lived in partially subterranean houses and were supported by a mixed economy of millet agriculture, hunting, and…

  • Banpo site (archaeological site, China)

    Banpo site, one of the most important archaeological sites yielding remains of the Painted Pottery, or Yangshao, culture of late Neolithic China. It is located at the east suburb of the city of Xi’an in the Chinese province of Shaanxi. Banpo site was excavated by members of the Chinese Academy of

  • Banpocun (archaeological site, China)

    Banpo site, one of the most important archaeological sites yielding remains of the Painted Pottery, or Yangshao, culture of late Neolithic China. It is located at the east suburb of the city of Xi’an in the Chinese province of Shaanxi. Banpo site was excavated by members of the Chinese Academy of

  • Banqiao (Taiwan)

    Pan-ch’iao, city district (ch’ü, or qu), New Taipei City special municipality, northern Taiwan. Until late 2010 it was the seat of T’ai-pei county, but when the county was reorganized administratively, it became a city district of the new special municipality, the county’s successor. Pan-ch’iao is

  • Banqiao Dam (dam, China)

    Typhoon Nina–Banqiao dam failure: The Banqiao Dam had been built on the Ru River in the early 1950s as part of a flood-prevention and electricity-production program aimed at controlling the Huang He (Yellow River). At a height of 387 feet (118 metres) and with a storage capacity of some 17.4…

  • Banque Africaine de Développement

    African Development Bank (AfDB), African organization established in 1964, operational beginning in 1966, and dedicated to financing the economic and social development of its African member countries. Its membership includes 54 African states and more than two dozen non-African countries. AfDB

  • Banque Arabe pour le Développement Économique en Afrique (international finance)

    Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, bank created by the Arab League summit conference in Algiers in November 1973 to finance development projects in Africa. In 1975 BADEA began operating by supplying African countries, excluding members of the Arab League, with technical assistance, which

  • Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée (bank, Guinea)

    Guinea: Finance: The central bank is the Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée.

  • Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (West African government)

    Mali: Finance and trade: …share a common bank, the Central Bank of West African States (Banque Centrale des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest), which is headquartered in Dakar, Seneg. The bank issues the currency used by the member countries, the CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) franc, officially pegged to the euro since 2002. Mali has…

  • Banque Générale (bank, France)

    history of Europe: Early capitalism: …ambitious scheme for a royal bank in France foundered in 1720 because it was linked to his Louisiana company and its inflated prospects. After its failure tax farmers resumed their hold over state finance, and as a result interest rates remained higher than those of Britain because there was no…

  • Banques Suisses, Union de (bank, Switzerland)

    Union Bank of Switzerland, former Swiss bank, one of the largest banks in Switzerland until its merger with the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1998. Headquarters were in Zürich. The bank was founded in 1912 in the merger of Bank in Winterthur (established 1862) and Toggenburger Bank (1863). It

  • Banquet (work by Lucian)

    Lucian: Banquet gives an amusing account of an imaginary wedding feast given by a patron of the arts. Among the guests are representatives of every philosophical school, who all behave outrageously and start fighting over delicacies to take home when the party comes to an end.…

  • Banquet by Lantern Light (work by Ma Yuan)

    Ma Yuan: Later works and influence: …the unsigned version of the Banquet by Lantern Light in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

  • Banquet in Blitva, The (work by Krleža)

    Miroslav Krleža: in 1 (1961; The Banquet in Blitva), deals with characters and events in an imaginary eastern European country; it portrays in an allegorical and satirical manner both eastern European backwardness and western European decadence and opportunism in response to rising fascism in the interwar period. Krleža’s dramatic trilogy…

  • Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George at Haarlem (works by Hals)

    Frans Hals: Early life and works: …such painting is his second Banquet of Officers of the Civic Guard of St. George at Haarlem (1627), in which the figures take up postures normally employed for the expression of mystical religious rapture to celebrate their well-nourished contentment. In this painting, Hals displays his unmistakable genius for mise-en-scène; the…

  • Banquet of the Children of Job (work by Orley)

    Bernard van Orley: …be seen in the altarpiece Banquet of the Children of Job (1521). Of Orley’s portraits, that of Georg Zelle is the only surviving one that is signed and dated (1519). Tapestries designed by Orley include the series Hunts of Maximilian and The Battle of Pavia.

  • Banquet, Le (work by Mammeri)

    Mouloud Mammeri: …later works included a play, Le Banquet (1973), which dealt with the destruction of the Aztecs, and La Traversée (1982; “The Crossing”), a novel that centred on an alienated journalist’s attempt to return to his Berber roots.

  • Banquet, The (poem by Dante)

    aesthetics: Medieval aesthetics: 1304–07; The Banquet). In this piece, generally considered one of the first sustained works of literary criticism in the modern manner, the poet analyzes the four levels of meaning contained in his own poems.

  • Banquet, The (work by Methodius of Olympus)

    patristic literature: Late 2nd to early 4th century: … (died 311), of whose treatises The Banquet, exalting virginity, survives in Greek and others mainly in Old Church Slavonic translations. Although indebted to Alexandrian allegorism, Methodius remained faithful to the Asiatic tradition (literal and historical) of Irenaeus—who had come to France from Asia Minor—and his realism and castigated Origen’s ideas…

  • Banqueters, The (play by Aristophanes)

    Aristophanes: Life and career: …a play, the Daitaleis (The Banqueters), which appears, from surviving fragments, to have been a satire on his contemporaries’ educational and moral theories. He is thought to have written about 40 plays in all. A large part of his work is concerned with the social, literary, and philosophical life…

  • Banqueting House (building, London, United Kingdom)

    Inigo Jones: In 1619 the Banqueting House at Whitehall was destroyed by fire; and between that year and 1622 Jones replaced it with what has always been regarded as his greatest achievement. The Banqueting House consists of one great chamber, raised on a vaulted basement. It was conceived internally as…

  • Banquo (fictional character)

    Macbeth: The Witches’ prophecies and the murder of Duncan (Acts I–II): Macbeth and Banquo, who are generals serving King Duncan of Scotland, meet the Weird Sisters, three Witches who prophesy that Macbeth will become Thane (lord) of Cawdor, then king, and that Banquo will beget kings. Soon thereafter Macbeth discovers that he has indeed been made Thane of…

  • Bansang (The Gambia)

    Bansang, town, east-central Gambia, on the south bank of the Gambia River. Bansang is a local trade centre for peanuts (groundnuts), rice, and fish among the Malinke, Fulani, and Wolof peoples, and it is a port of call for the government steamer from Banjul, 188 miles (303 km) downstream. Bansang

  • bansha no goku (Japanese history)

    Japan: Western studies: …bakufu officials in the so-called bansha no goku incident dealt a serious blow to Western studies in Japan. Thereafter, as consciousness of the foreign threat grew stronger, adherents of Western studies placed heavy emphasis on the study of military technology.

  • Banshan culture (anthropology)

    China: 4th and 3rd millennia bce: …painted on pots of the Banshan (mid-3rd millennium) and Machang (last half of 3rd millennium) cultures. Some two-thirds of the pots found in the Machang burial area at Liuwan in Qinghai, for example, were painted. In the North China Plain, Dahe culture sites contain a mixture of Miaodigou and eastern,…

  • Banshan ware

    Banshan ware, type of Chinese Neolithic painted pottery. Its name is derived from the grave site in the Gansu province of northern China at which the pottery was found in 1924. According to radiocarbon dating, Banshan ware is generally considered to be from between 2650 and 2350 bce. The extant

  • banshee (Celtic folklore)

    banshee, (“woman of the fairies”) supernatural being in Irish and other Celtic folklore whose mournful “keening,” or wailing screaming or lamentation, at night was believed to foretell the death of a member of the family of the person who heard the spirit. In Ireland banshees were believed to warn

  • Banshees of Inisherin, The (film by McDonagh [2022])

    Martin McDonagh: Film career: …2022 McDonagh wrote and directed The Banshees of Inisherin. Its title came from a play he wrote in 1994: The Banshees of Inisheer, the third play in his Aran Islands Trilogy, which was never produced onstage. Set during the Irish Civil War in the 1920s, the film centers on two…

  • Bansho Shirabesho (Japanese government bureau)

    Japanese art: Western-style painting: …established a bureau (later named Bansho Shirabesho, or Institute for the Study of Western Documents) to study Western painting as part of an effort to master Western technology. Technical drawing was emphasized in the curriculum. Takahashi Yuichi, a graduate of that bureau, was the first Japanese artist of the period…

  • Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)

    Banská Bystrica, town, capital of Banskobystrický kraj (region), central Slovakia. It lies in the Hron River valley, surrounded by mountains. An ancient town, it was an important mining centre from the 13th century, when it was chartered. Gothic and Renaissance-style buildings, including burghers’

  • Banstead (district, England, United Kingdom)

    Reigate and Banstead, borough (district), administrative and historic county of Surrey, southeastern England, immediately south of Greater London. Named for the two principal locales of the district, Reigate (the administrative centre) and Banstead, it extends across the North Downs, a range of low

  • bansuri (musical instrument)

    Hariprasad Chaurasia: …brought global recognition to the bansuri, a simple side-blown bamboo flute.

  • Banswara (India)

    Banswara, town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It is situated in an upland region of low hills just west of a large reservoir formed by damming the Mahi River. The area once constituted the princely state of Banswara, founded about 1530, of which the walled town of Banswara was the

  • Bantam (former sultanate, Indonesia)

    Banten: History: …became the first sultan of Banten, and the population in the port area subsequently converted to Islam. It is from this historic sultanate that the province of Banten draws its name. The new sultanate extended its authority southward by sacking the remains of Pajajaran in 1579 and northwestward by subjugating…

  • Banteai Srei (temple, Angkor, Cambodia)

    Southeast Asian arts: Kingdom of Khmer: 9th–13th century: …preserved—of the early Khmer temples, Banteay Srei. It was actually a private foundation, built some 12 miles from Angkor by a Brahman of royal descent. Its auxiliary buildings, all of sandstone, are adorned with a profusion of elaborate ornament and relief figure sculpture. The roof gables, in particular, are treated…

  • Banteay Srei (temple, Angkor, Cambodia)

    Southeast Asian arts: Kingdom of Khmer: 9th–13th century: …preserved—of the early Khmer temples, Banteay Srei. It was actually a private foundation, built some 12 miles from Angkor by a Brahman of royal descent. Its auxiliary buildings, all of sandstone, are adorned with a profusion of elaborate ornament and relief figure sculpture. The roof gables, in particular, are treated…

  • Banten (former sultanate, Indonesia)

    Banten: History: …became the first sultan of Banten, and the population in the port area subsequently converted to Islam. It is from this historic sultanate that the province of Banten draws its name. The new sultanate extended its authority southward by sacking the remains of Pajajaran in 1579 and northwestward by subjugating…

  • Banten (former city, Indonesia)

    Old Banten, historic site and former port city in Banten province, Java, Indonesia. It is near the present-day city of Banten, on Banten Bay, at the extreme northwest of the island, just north of Serang. Now almost entirely in ruins, Old Banten was the most important port on Java for the spice

  • Banten (province, Indonesia)

    Banten, propinsi (or provinsi; province), western Java, Indonesia, bounded to the north by the Java Sea, to the northeast by the special capital district of Jakarta, to the east by the province of West Java (Jawa Barat), to the south by the Indian Ocean, and to the west by the Sunda Strait, across

  • Bantenese (people)

    Banten: Geography: The Bantenese—a group of people who are culturally distinct from their Sundanese and Javanese neighbors but who speak a dialect of the Javanese language—constitute nearly one-half of the population of Banten. Sundanese people form more than one-fifth of the population. Other significant minorities include the Javanese…

  • banteng (mammal)

    banteng, (species Bos banteng), a species of wild Southeast Asian cattle, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found in hill forests. A shy animal resembling a domestic cow, the banteng attains a shoulder height of about 1.5–1.75 m (60–69 inches). It has a slight ridge on the back, a white rump,

  • Banti, Anna (Italian author and critic)

    Anna Banti was an Italian biographer, critic, and author of fiction about women’s struggles for equality of opportunity. Banti acquired a degree in art and became literary editor of the important arts journal Paragone. Her early fiction, including short stories and the novel Sette lune (1941;

  • Bantia (Italy)

    epigraphy: Ancient Rome: …laws of the town of Bantia (on the borderlands of Lucania and Apulia in southern Italy) are inscribed on a fragmentary bronze tablet found in 1790 (now in Naples), with a Latin-language text on one side and the longest known Oscan inscription on the other, both datable to the late…

  • Banting, Sir Frederick Grant (Canadian physician)

    Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian physician who, with Charles H. Best, was one of the first to extract (1921) the hormone insulin from the pancreas. Injections of insulin proved to be the first effective treatment for diabetes, a disease in which glucose accumulates in abnormally high

  • banto faros (riverine plain)

    Gambia River: …river flats (known locally as banto faros) of the lower river are rendered useless for cultivation by the salt water that periodically inundates them, and settlements on them are few. The flats of the middle and upper river are of some agricultural value, however. Much of the grassland is regularly…

  • Bantock, Granville (British composer)

    Granville Bantock was an English composer known especially for his large-scale choral and orchestral works. After preparing for the Indian civil service, Bantock studied in London at Trinity College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. He was active as a conductor, founded and edited the New

  • Bantock, Sir Granville (British composer)

    Granville Bantock was an English composer known especially for his large-scale choral and orchestral works. After preparing for the Indian civil service, Bantock studied in London at Trinity College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. He was active as a conductor, founded and edited the New

  • Bantoid languages

    Benue-Congo languages: Bantoid: The 11th group within Benue-Congo, Bantoid, is far and away the largest not only in Benue-Congo but in Niger-Congo as a whole. Its 700 languages are spoken from eastern Nigeria across the rest of central, eastern, and southern Africa.

  • Bantry Bay (bay, Ireland)

    Bantry Bay, long inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, southwestern County Cork, Ireland. The bay has a maximum length of 30 miles (48 km) and is 10 miles (16 km) wide at its broadest point; it separates the Beara peninsula to the north from the Sheep’s Head peninsula to the south and is surrounded by

  • Bantu Authorities Act (South Africa [1951])

    apartheid: Apartheid legislation: Under the Bantu Authorities Act of 1951, the government reestablished tribal organizations for Black Africans, and the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act of 1959 created 8 (later expanded to 10) African homelands, or Bantustans. The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 made every Black South African, irrespective…

  • Bantu Church (South African Protestant denomination)

    Dutch Reformed Church in Africa, denomination formed in 1859 by the all-white Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa for its black African mission congregations. It has the same structure, doctrine, traditions, and customs as the mother church, which retains extensive control over it by supplying 80

  • Bantu Education Act (South Africa [1953])

    Bantu Education Act, South African law, enacted in 1953 and in effect from January 1, 1954, that governed the education of Black South African (called Bantu by the country’s government) children. It was part of the government’s system of apartheid, which sanctioned racial segregation and

  • Bantu Folk-Tales and Poems (work by Plaatje)

    Solomon Tshekiso Plaatje: …same year, and the collection Bantu Folk-Tales and Poems at a later date. He also translated a number of Shakespeare’s plays into Tswana. His novel Mhudi (1930), a story of love and war, is set in the 19th century. The characters are vivid and the style that of a traditional…

  • Bantu Homeland (historical territory, South Africa)

    Bantustan, any of 10 former territories that were designated by the white-dominated government of South Africa as pseudo-national homelands for the country’s Black African (classified by the government as Bantu) population during the mid- to late 20th century. The Bantustans were a major

  • Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (South Africa [1970])

    apartheid: Apartheid legislation: The Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act of 1970 made every Black South African, irrespective of actual residence, a citizen of one of the Bantustans, which were organized on the basis of ethnic and linguistic groupings defined by white ethnographers. Blacks were stripped of their South African citizenship…

  • Bantu languages

    Bantu languages, a group of some 500 languages belonging to the Bantoid subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Bantu languages are spoken in a very large area, including most of Africa from southern Cameroon eastward to Kenya and southward to the southernmost tip

  • Bantu peoples

    Bantu peoples, the approximately 85 million speakers of the more than 500 distinct languages of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family, occupying almost the entire southern projection of the African continent. The classification is primarily linguistic, for the cultural patterns of

  • Bantu philosophy

    Bantu philosophy, the philosophy, religious worldview, and ethical principles of the Bantu peoples—tens of millions of speakers of the more than 500 Bantu languages on the African continent—as articulated by 20th-century African intellectuals and founders of contemporary African philosophy and

  • Bantu Philosophy (work by Tempels)

    Bantu philosophy: However, it was Bantu Philosophy, a book published in 1945 by the Belgian missionary Placide Tempels, that popularized the notion of Bantu philosophy in Africa and in the West. That small book generated much controversy that played an important role in the development of contemporary African philosophy and…

  • Bantu Self-Government Act (South Africa [1959])

    Hendrik Verwoerd: He pushed through the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act in 1959; it provided for the resettlement of blacks in eight separate reservations, or Bantu Homelands (later called Bantustans or black states). These racial policies provoked demonstrations that in March 1960 led to the massacre of Africans protesting the Pass…

  • Bantustan (historical territory, South Africa)

    Bantustan, any of 10 former territories that were designated by the white-dominated government of South Africa as pseudo-national homelands for the country’s Black African (classified by the government as Bantu) population during the mid- to late 20th century. The Bantustans were a major