Sharman, Bill

After graduation from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1950), Sharman played minor-league baseball before beginning his basketball career. He first played basketball with the Washington Capitols (1950–51). In his

Argentina, Settlement patterns

The varied topography, climate, and natural resources of Argentina shaped the pattern of European settlement. Although modern transportation and industry have partly effaced regional differences, the organization of life in both city and country still follows patterns that were set in early colonial times.

Faience Fine

Fine white English lead-glazed earthenware, or creamware, imported into France from about 1730 onward. Staffordshire “salt glaze” was imported first, followed by the improved Wedgwood “Queen's ware” and the Leeds “cream-coloured ware.” It was cheaper than French faience, or tin-glazed earthenware, and more durable and was therefore subjected to heavy tariffs in 1741 and 1749. A Franco-British

Gabon, Demographic trends

Gabon, like its central African neighbours, has a very low population density. Since 1970, as a result of increased urbanization, the low rate of natural increase of the previous half-century appears to have given way to a relatively high growth rate. The extent to which the heavy immigration of foreign workers and Equatorial Guinean refugees has contributed to this growth

Early, Jubal A(nderson)

Confederate general in the American Civil War (1861–65) whose army at one time threatened Washington, D.C., but whose series of defeats during the Shenandoah Valley campaigns of late 1864 and early 1865 led to the final collapse of the South. A West Point graduate, Early served in the Second Seminole War in Florida (1835–42) and the Mexican War (1846–48). In the period

Dead Sea

Arabic  Al-Bahr al-Mayyit , Hebrew  Yam HaMelah , also known as  Salt Sea  landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan, which lies some 1,300 feet (400 metres) below sea level—the lowest elevation and the lowest body of water on the surface of the Earth. Its eastern shore belongs to Jordan, and the southern half of its western shore belongs to Israel. The northern half of the western shore lies within the Palestinian West Bank and has been under Israeli