epigraphy: The decipherment of ancient languages: …a true decipherment because the script was a relatively common variety of syllabic cuneiform. The interpretation was helped by the nature of the writing on the one hand (including intelligible ideograms, while an alphabet yields no such clues), and by the presence of Akkadian-Hittite bilinguals on the other; the soon-recognized…

Hittite language, most important of the extinct Indo-European languages of ancient Anatolia. Hittite was closely related to Carian, Luwian, Lydian, Lycian, and Palaic (see also Anatolian languages). Hittite is known primarily from the approximately 30,000 cuneiform tablets or fragments of tablets

Judaism: Myths: … and the monster Tiamat; the Hittites told of a battle between the weather god and the dragon Illuyankas; while a Canaanite poem from Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit) in northern Syria relates the discomfiture of Sir Sea by the deity Baal and the rout of an opponent named Leviathan. Originally, this…

Anatolia: The Hittite empire to c. 1180 bce: Evidently, the battle was inconclusive, as Muwatallis subsequently advanced as far south as Damascus, and the Hittites maintained their ascendancy in Syria. The king then found it necessary to transfer his residence to Dattassa, a city somewhere in the Taurus…

Johann Wilhelm Hittorf was a German physicist who first computed the electricity-carrying capacity of charged atoms and molecules (ions), an important factor in understanding electrochemical reactions. Hittorf’s early investigations were on the allotropes (different physical forms) of phosphorus

Western architecture: France: Jacques-Ignace Hittorff was typical of those architects who combined the practice of modern classicism with archaeological investigation into Greek and Roman architecture. His Gare du Nord, Paris (1861–65), showed brilliantly how a language ultimately inspired by the triumphal arches of ancient Rome could lend an…

HIV, retrovirus that attacks and gradually destroys the immune system, leaving the host unprotected against infection. HIV is classified as a lentivirus (meaning “slow virus”). Persons who are infected with HIV often die from secondary infections or cancer. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection.

Dorry Segev: …helped draft legislation for the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act (2013), which made transplants between HIV-positive donors and HIV-positive recipients legal for the first time in the country since being banned in the 1980s.

AIDS, infectious disease caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a lentivirus (literally meaning “slow virus”; a member of the retrovirus family) that slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body’s defense against infection. Progressive deterioration of immune function

AIDS: The origin of HIV: …strain of HIV, known as HIV-1 group M, have indicated that the virus emerged between 1884 and 1924 in central and western Africa. Researchers estimate that that strain of the virus began spreading throughout those areas in the late 1950s. Later, in the mid-1960s, an evolved strain called HIV-1 group…

AIDS: Genome of HIV: The HIV-1 genome in 2009 was the first HIV genome to be sequenced in its entirety. Prior to that achievement, the ability of HIV RNA to fold into highly intricate structures had complicated attempts to elucidate the genomic sequence, and scientists could sequence only small segments…

AIDS: Groups and subtypes of HIV: HIV-2 is divided into groups A through E, with subtypes A and B being the most relevant to human infection. HIV-2, which is found primarily in western Africa, can cause AIDS, but it does so more slowly than HIV-1. There is some evidence that HIV-2…

What we know about one of the worst pandemics in human history. Companion, HIV, AIDS, HIV/AIDS, human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, disease, virus, AIDS crisis, epidemic, retrovirus, antiretroviral,

Hiva Oa, largest island of the southeastern Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, central South Pacific. The volcanic island’s mountainous slopes rise directly from the sea, reaching an elevation of some 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) at Mount Temetiu. There is neither a coastal plain nor a fringing

Lepidoptera: Importance: …mellonella) causes considerable damage in beehives.

beekeeping: Beekeeping equipment: …blunt steel blade called a hive tool, for separating the frames and other hive parts for examination; the uncapping knife, for opening the cells of honey; and the extractor, for centrifuging the honey from the cells.

Camilo José Cela: …second novel, La colmena (1951; The Hive), with its fragmented chronology and large cast of characters, is an innovative and perceptive story of postwar Madrid. It solidified Cela’s critical and popular reputation. Another of his better-known avant-garde novels, San Camilo, 1936 (1969), is one continuous stream of consciousness. His later…

hives, a hypersensitive skin reaction characterized by the sudden appearance of very itchy, slightly raised, smooth, flat-topped wheals and plaques that are usually redder or paler than the surrounding skin. In the acute form, the skin lesions generally subside in 6 to 24 hours, but they may come

Hiwassee River, river rising in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Towns county, northern Georgia, U.S. It flows north into North Carolina past Hayesville, northwest past Murphy, into southeastern Tennessee, where it joins the Tennessee River 31 miles (50 km) northeast of Chattanooga at the Chickamauga

Judaism: Anti-rabbinic reactions: Ḥiwi al-Balkhī, a 9th-century skeptical Jewish pamphleteer, scandalized the faithful by openly attacking the morality of Scripture and by issuing for schools an expurgated edition of the Bible that omitted “offensive” material (e.g., alleged stories of God acting dishonestly). A mystifying Hebrew tract titled Sefer…

Parnashavari, in Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism, a goddess distinguished by the girdle of leaves she wears. She is known as Lo-ma-gyon-ma in Tibet and as Hiyōi in Japan. Parnashavari is apparently derived from an aboriginal deity, and one of her titles is Sarvashavaranam Bhagavati, or “goddess of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a feudal lord and chief Imperial minister (1585–98), who completed the 16th-century unification of Japan begun by Oda Nobunaga. He was the son of a peasant; when he was still a boy, he left home for Tōtōmi province (present-day Shizuoka prefecture) and became page to a

Baʿath Party, Pan-Arabist political party advocating the formation of a single Arab socialist nation. It has branches in many Middle Eastern countries and was the ruling party in Syria from 1963 and in Iraq from 1968 to 2003. The Baʿath Party was founded in 1943 in Damascus, Syria, by Michel Aflaq

Baʿath Party, Pan-Arabist political party advocating the formation of a single Arab socialist nation. It has branches in many Middle Eastern countries and was the ruling party in Syria from 1963 and in Iraq from 1968 to 2003. The Baʿath Party was founded in 1943 in Damascus, Syria, by Michel Aflaq

Destour, Tunisian political party, especially active in the 1920s and ’30s in arousing Tunisian national consciousness and opposition to the French protectorate. The forerunner of the Destour, the Young Tunisians, had engaged the Tunisian intellectual elite but lacked widespread support. Forced

Morocco: The French Zone: …took the new title of Ḥizb al-Istiqlāl (Independence Party). In January 1944 the party submitted to the sultan and the Allied (including the French) authorities a memorandum asking for independence under a constitutional regime. The nationalist leaders, including Aḥmad Balafrej, secretary general of the Istiqlāl, were unjustly accused and arrested…

ʿAbbās II: …to the formation of the National Party, headed by Muṣṭafā Kāmil, to counter the Ummah Party of the moderate nationalists, which was supported by the British. With the appointment of Lord Kitchener as consul general (1912–14), the leaders of the National Party were exiled or imprisoned, and ʿAbbās’s authority was…

Hezbollah, Shiʿi Lebanese political party and militant group that first emerged during Lebanon’s civil war as a militia after the Israeli invasion of that country in 1982. Since the 2000s it has been one of the foremost political forces in Lebanon, a multiconfessional country whose political system

Afghanistan: The Ashraf Ghani presidency, NATO withdrawal, and pursuit of peace: In 2016 Hizb-i Islami, the largest militant group after the Taliban, agreed to accept the country’s constitution and renounce violence in a peace deal with the central government. Many observers hoped the deal would pave the way for an agreement with the Taliban down the road. In…

Hezbollah, Shiʿi Lebanese political party and militant group that first emerged during Lebanon’s civil war as a militia after the Israeli invasion of that country in 1982. Since the 2000s it has been one of the foremost political forces in Lebanon, a multiconfessional country whose political system

algae: Ecological and commercial importance: Undaria, and Hizikia (a type of brown algae) are also harvested from wild beds along rocky shores, particularly in Japan, Korea, and China, where they may be eaten with meat or fish and in soups. The green algae Monostroma and Ulva look somewhat like leaves of lettuce…

Saruhan Dynasty: 1410, the last Saruhan ruler, Hızır, was killed by the Ottoman prince Mehmed Çelebi (later Sultan Mehmed I), and Saruhan was reincorporated into the Ottoman Empire.

Kırklareli: …Ottoman monuments, including the 15th-century Mosque of Hızır Bey. An important trade centre (chiefly in dairy products, cereals, and tobacco), it is linked by a branch line with the Edirne-Istanbul railway.

Fethullah Gülen: Hizmet movement: …faith-based civil society movement as Hizmet, which literally translates to “service.” The movement’s teachings promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue, science, democracy, and spirituality, while condemning violence and the politicization of religion. The movement lacks a formal structure or organization, its institutions and members are only loosely affiliated, and Gülen did…

Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz, and the 13th successor of David as king of Judah at Jerusalem. The dates of his reign are often given as about 715 to about 686 bc, but inconsistencies in biblical and Assyrian cuneiform records have yielded a wide range of possible dates. Hezekiah reigned at a time

Harald Gabriel Hjärne was a historian, politician, and political writer known for his influence on Swedish historical scholarship and for his contributions to Swedish conservative and right-wing liberal thought. After studying at the University of Uppsala, Hjärne joined the faculty there in 1872.

Peter Jacob Hjelm was a Swedish chemist who isolated the element molybdenum in 1781. Hjelm was educated at Uppsala University and was a friend of the great Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. In 1781 Scheele sent him an oxide of molybdenum, which he had succeeded in obtaining by acid treatment of

glossematics: …proposed by the Danish scholar Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) and his collaborators, who were strongly influenced by the work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Glossematics has been an important component of European structuralism but has had relatively little influence in the United States, except in relation to stratificational grammar,…

Moorhead: …roots are celebrated through the Hjemkomst Center, which contains a replica Viking ship and a replica stave church, and an annual festival in June. Buffalo River State Park is to the east. Inc. 1881. Pop. (2000) 32,177; (2010) 38,065.

Lake Vätter: On the western shore, Hjo developed as a spa in the late 18th century and still thrives as a lakeside resort.

Hjørring, city, northern Jutland, Denmark. The ancient capital of the Vendsyssel region, Hjørring was chartered in 1243 and remains the commercial centre of the district. The Church of St. Catharinæ dates from about 1250; the churches of St. Hans and St. Olai date from the 12th century. Local

history of Europe: Rituals, religion, and art: …is the votive deposit at Hjortspring, Den., where a large wooden boat equipped for war with wooden shields, spears, and swords was destroyed and deposited in a small bog. The events behind these hoards were known to Classical writers such as Tacitus and Orosius, who gave accounts of war offerings…

Sendai virus, (genus Respirovirus), infectious agent of the genus Respirovirus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Discovered in Sendai, Japan, the Sendai virus is naturally found in mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and pigs and primarily affects the respiratory system. The virus is highly contagious

Myanmar: Relief: …19,296 feet (5,881 meters) at Mount Hkakabo (the country’s highest peak) in the extreme north to sea level at the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) and Sittang (Sittoung) river deltas. The mountain ranges generally run from north to south. The country as a whole can be divided into five physiographic regions: the northern…

Myanmar: Relief: …19,296 feet (5,881 meters) at Mount Hkakabo (the country’s highest peak) in the extreme north to sea level at the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) and Sittang (Sittoung) river deltas. The mountain ranges generally run from north to south. The country as a whole can be divided into five physiographic regions: the northern…

Wa, peoples of the upland areas of eastern Myanmar (Burma) and southwestern Yunnan province of China. They speak a variety of Austroasiatic languages related to those spoken by upland-dwelling groups in northern Thailand and Laos. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Wa numbered approximately

Batak Protestant Christian Church, church in northern Sumatra, Indon., organized as an independent church in 1930 and constituting the largest Lutheran church in Asia. It developed from the work of missionaries of the Rhenish Mission Society, established in Barmen, Ger., in 1828. Under the

Helen Keller International (HKI), one of the oldest international nonprofit organizations working to prevent blindness and fight malnutrition. Headquarters are in New York City. In 1915 the American merchant George Kessler and his wife, Cora Parsons Kessler, organized in Paris the British, French,

human leukocyte antigen (HLA), any of the numerous antigens (substances capable of stimulating an immune response) involved in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in humans. The HLA genes encode the cell-surface proteins that are part of the MHC. HLA antigens are programmed by a highly

reactive arthritis: A genetic factor (HLA-B27) has been identified that predisposes a person to the disorder. In individuals who carry HLA-B27, symptoms of reactive arthritis may appear suddenly and often are more severe than in persons who are HLA-B27-negative. The condition also tends to affect individuals with weakened immune systems.

arthritis: Spondyloarthropathies: …if the patient has the HLA-DR4 genotype.

Li, indigenous people of Hainan Island, off the southern coast of China, and an official minority of China. The official name Li is applied to a number of different local groups, most of whom speak languages distantly related to the Tai language family. Until Chinese linguists created a romanized

Li: …groups, most of whom speak languages distantly related to the Tai language family. Until Chinese linguists created a romanized orthography for their language in the 1950s, they had no writing system of their own.

Andrej Hlinka was a Slovak Roman Catholic priest who sought Slovak independence and, as the leader of the Slovak People’s Party, opposed the centralizing efforts of Czechoslovakia’s government during the 1920s and ’30s. His name was adopted by a fascist Slovak militia during World War II. Hlinka

computer: Machine language: …mathematics or some other “high-level language” to machine language was therefore necessary before computers would be useful to a broader class of users. As early as the 1830s, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace had recognized that such translation could be done by machine (see the earlier section Ada Lovelace,…

Jörd, in Norse mythology, a giantess, mother of the deity Thor and mistress of the god Odin. In the late pre-Christian era she was believed to have had a husband of the same name, perhaps indicating her transformation into a masculine personality. Her name is connected with that of the Lithuanian

Hlothere was the king of Kent in Anglo-Saxon England. He was the son of Erconberht and brother of Egbert, whom he succeeded in 673. Hlothere appears to have shared power with his nephew Eadric (Egbert’s son); laws still extant seem to have been issued in their joint names. A quarrel between them

Hluhluwe Game Reserve, game reserve in northern KwaZulu/Natal province, South Africa, established in 1897. It lies 140 miles (225 km) northeast of Durban and has an area of 89 square miles (231 square km). Its name is a Zulu word for the local thorny rope plant. Hluhluwe, a subtropical region of

Hlutdaw, (Burmese: “Place of Release”), the primary ministerial council in Myanmar (Burma) from approximately the 13th to the 19th century. The Hlutdaw held executive and judicial authority and was the principal administrative organ of the king. It predominated over weak kings and was often

Hlutdaw, (Burmese: “Place of Release”), the primary ministerial council in Myanmar (Burma) from approximately the 13th to the 19th century. The Hlutdaw held executive and judicial authority and was the principal administrative organ of the king. It predominated over weak kings and was often

nuclear ceramics: High-level waste: …is widely accepted that this high-level waste (HLW) must be incorporated into a solid form prior to burial in deep geologic repositories.

air-cushion machine: ACV operation: This is the HM.2, which carries about 65 passengers and is designed for short and medium ferry routes. Mechanical and skirt-design problems caused difficulties that led to liquidation of the British parent company, but in 1970 an American company took over the HM.2, and it appeared that its…

Census of Marine Life: Origins and oversight: …knowledge was collected, and the History of Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) project, which endeavoured to survey historical data for indications of human impact on the oceans. A further 14 field projects were established throughout the following decade, drawing on the scientific communities of 82 countries. Their focus was refined in…

Mizo: Pawi (Lai), Lakher (Mara), and Hmar. In the early 21st century the Mizo numbered about one million.

Pyay: …Kṣetra is now known as Hmawza. Excavations, which began there in 1907, revealed the uniquely Pyu culture as opposed to the Mon and Burman. The city was almost circular, its walls enclosed in an area of about 18 square miles (47 square km), the northern portion being planted in rice.…

virtual reality: Early work: …a helicopter pilot wore a head-mounted display (HMD) that showed video from a servo-controlled infrared camera mounted beneath the helicopter. The camera moved with the pilot’s head, both augmenting his night vision and providing a level of immersion sufficient for the pilot to equate his field of vision with the…

redlining: The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) of 1975 required lending institutions to report public loan data, while the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 was intended to encourage banks and other financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate.

industrial glass: Heavy-metal fluoride glasses: Of the nonoxide glasses, the heavy-metal fluoride glasses (HMFGs) have potential use in telecommunications fibres, owing to their relatively low optical losses. However, they are also extremely difficult to form and have poor chemical durability. The most studied HMFG is the so-called…

statin: levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA (5-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A) reductase, which is required for cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins include simvastatin, pravastatin, and lovastatin. Statins are generally quite safe, but side effects may include muscle pain and fatigue. A rare side effect called myopathy, characterized by muscle degeneration, has been associated…

statin, drug that acts to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA (5-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A) reductase, which is required for cholesterol synthesis. Examples of statins include simvastatin, pravastatin, and lovastatin. Statins are generally quite safe, but side

Solar Dynamics Observatory: Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE). HMI studies changes in the Sun’s magnetic field by capturing images of the Sun in polarized light every 50 seconds. AIA observes the solar corona in eight wavelengths…

health maintenance organization (HMO), organization, either public or private, that provides comprehensive medical care to a group of voluntary subscribers, on the basis of a prepaid contract. HMOs bring together in a single organization a broad range of health services and deliver those services

Hmong, ethnic group living chiefly in China and Southeast Asia and speaking Hmong, one of the Hmong-Mien languages (also known as Miao-Yao languages). Since the late 18th century, the Hmong alone among the Miao groups have slowly migrated out of the southern provinces of China, where about 2.7

Sino-Tibetan languages: Classification: …two closely related language groups, Hmong and Mien (also known as Miao and Yao), are thought by some to be very remotely related to Sino-Tibetan; they are spoken in western China and northern mainland Southeast Asia and may well be of Austro-Tai stock.

Hmong-Mien languages, family of languages spoken in southern China, northern Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Although some linguists have proposed high-level genetic relationships to several language families—including Sino-Tibetan, Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, and Austroasiatic—no genetic relationships

Hmong-Mien languages: Classification: …branches have been identified: the Hmongic and the Mienic. The Hmongic (Miao) subfamily is an internally diverse group that includes mutually unintelligible languages such as Hmu (spoken in Guizhou and Guangxi), Hmong (spoken in Guizhou and Yunnan and in Southeast Asia), Qo Xiong (spoken in Hunan), Bunu (spoken in Guangxi),…

human microbiome: Discovery of the human microbiome: …after 2007, the year the Human Microbiome Project (HMP)—a five-year-long international effort to characterize the microbial communities found in the human body and to identify each microorganism’s role in health and disease—was launched. The project capitalized on the decreasing cost of whole genome sequencing technology, which allows organisms to be…

Mariana Trench: …the location) and later renamed Sirena Deep—is situated south of Guam and east of Challenger Deep. First encountered in 1997, its depth has been reported variously as 34,911 and 35,463 feet (10,641 and 10,809 metres).

Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), third largest trade-union federation in India after the All-India Trade Union Congress and the Indian National Trade Union Congress. The HMS was formed by the Socialists in 1948 but has little real connection with the Socialist Party. It is one of the least political and

Franklin expedition: …and officers of the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror perished under mysterious circumstances. The British navy launched the most extensive search effort in its history but recovered few bodies and found no trace of the ships. It took nearly 170 years before the Erebus and Terror were finally located in…

HMS Hood, British battle cruiser, launched in 1918 and destroyed on May 24, 1941, during World War II in the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Its sinking, which led to the deaths of all but 3 of a crew of 1,418, remains the single greatest loss of life in Royal Navy history. Construction of the HMS

biology: Biological expeditions: …the same area in the Investigator in 1801 included the Scottish botanist Robert Brown, whose work on the plants of Australia and New Zealand became a classic; especially important were his descriptions of how certain plants adapt to different environmental conditions. Brown is also credited with discovering the cell nucleus…

Franklin expedition: …the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror perished under mysterious circumstances. The British navy launched the most extensive search effort in its history but recovered few bodies and found no trace of the ships. It took nearly 170 years before the Erebus and Terror were finally located in the Arctic waters…

Miao: …through language or culture: the Hmu people of southeast Guizhou, the Qo Xiong people of west Hunan, the A-Hmao people of Yunnan, and the Hmong people of Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan (see China: People). There are some nine million Miao in China, of whom the Hmong constitute probably one-third,…

Ḥimyar, originally, an important tribe in the ancient Sabaean kingdom of southwestern Arabia; later, the powerful rulers of much of southern Arabia from about 115 bce to about 525 ce. The Himyarites were concentrated in the area known as Dhū Raydān on the coast of present-day Yemen; they were

Jan Švankmajer: Hmyz (2018; Insect) is based on the play Ze ivota hmyzu (1921; The Insect Play) by Karel and Josef Čapek.

guanidine, an organic compound of formula HN=C(NH2)2. It was first prepared by Adolph Strecker in 1861 from guanine, which had been obtained from guano, and this is the origin of the name. The compound has been detected in small amounts in a variety of plant and animal products, but some of its

major industrial polymers: Nitrile rubber (nitrile-butadiene rubber, NBR): A hydrogenated version, abbreviated as HNBR, is also highly resistant to thermal and oxidative deterioration and remains flexible at lower temperatures.

molecular cloud: Composition: …the interstellar molecule HNC (hydroisocyanic acid) and its isomer HCN (hydrocyanic acid); in ordinary terrestrial conditions there is plenty of energy to allow the nitrogen and carbon atoms in HNC to exchange positions and produce HCN, by far the preferred species for equilibrium chemistry. In the cold clouds, however,…

Ukraine: Visual arts: …and the painter and engraver Jacques Hnizdovsky, who developed a simplified style of realism. The sculptor Alexander Archipenko (Ukrainian: Oleksander Arkhypenko), one of the pioneers of Cubism who later experimented in Constructivism and Expressionism, was a major figure of 20th-century European art.

colorectal cancer: Causes and symptoms: …polyposis (FAP), Gardner syndrome, and hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC)—can predispose an individual to developing colorectal cancer. Each of these conditions is caused in part by a known genetic mutation. In addition, Ashkenazi Jews have a slightly higher incidence of colorectal cancer due to a mutated gene, and there exists…

Slovakia: Political process: …of the Hungarian Coalition, the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, and the Christian Democratic Movement.

dress: Japan: The voluminous outer robe (ho) is cut in the style of the Chinese pao but is given a distinctively Japanese look by being tucked up at the waist so that the skirt ends midway between the knees and the floor. This ho robe is yellow (the colour worn only…

he, type of ancient Chinese bronze vessel that was used to heat liquids and to serve wine. The he has a number of variations in silhouette, and its only unvarying characteristic is a tubular spout projecting prominently from the body. It usually has a domical lid and a vertical handle on the side

Ho, town, southeastern Ghana. It is situated at the southern edge of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges. Ho was founded in the early 18th century during westward migrations of the Ewe people. Its agricultural basis was strengthened after 1870 by the development of German kola nut plantations and by expanding

Ho, tribal people of the state of Bihār in India, concentrated in the area of Kolhān on the lower Chota Nāgpur Plateau. They numbered about 1,150,000 in the late 20th century, mostly in Bihār and Orissa states of northeastern India. They speak a language of the Munda family and appear to have moved

Oun Kham: …invading bands of Chinese (Ho, or Haw) freebooters and bandits, against whom Oun Kham’s weak forces were powerless. When he was unable to resist effectively an attack on Luang Prabang in 1885, his overlord, the king of Siam (Thailand), dispatched an army to defend the area, as well as…

Yellow River, principal river of northern China, east-central and eastern Asia. The Yellow River is often called the cradle of Chinese civilization. With a length of 3,395 miles (5,464 km), it is the country’s second longest river—surpassed only by the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang)—and its drainage

holmium (Ho), chemical element, a rare-earth metal of the lanthanide series of the periodic table. Holmium is a moderately hard, silvery white metal that is relatively stable in air. It readily reacts with diluted acids but does not react with either diluted or concentrated hydrofluoric acid (HF),

Ho Chi Minh was the founder of the Indochina Communist Party (1930) and its successor, the Viet-Minh (1941), and president from 1945 to 1969 of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). As the leader of the Vietnamese nationalist movement for nearly three decades, Ho was one of the prime