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Bantu languages
Bantu languages group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages ). Bantu contains hundreds of languages that are spoken by 120 million Africans in the Congo Basin, Angola, the Rep...
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wilderness
wilderness land retaining its primeval character with the imprint of humans minimal or unnoticeable. In the United States, the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation System with a nucleus of 9 million acres (3.6 million hectares) of land in 54 different areas, mostl...
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light-year
light-year in astronomy, unit of length equal to the distance light travels in one sidereal year . It is 9.461 × 10 12 km (about 6 million million mi). Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri, the stars nearest our solar system, are about 4.3 light-years distant. See also parsec .
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Tamil
Tamil Language spoken in s India, chiefly in the state of Tamil Nadu, by up to 50 million people. In addition, there are c.3 million speakers in n Sri Lanka and c.1 million distributed throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Mauritius, and Guyana....
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refugee
refugee one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum ; this article considers only mass dislocations and the organizations that help refugees.
The Rise of International Refugee Organiz...
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Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave , 1895-1982, Indian religious figure, founder of the Bhoodan Movement. While studying Sanskrit in Benares (Varanasi), he joined Mohandas K. Gandhi as a disciple. At Gandhi's request Bhave resisted British wartime regulations in 1940 and spent nearly five years in prison. After Gandhi di...
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Australopithecus
Australopithecus , an extinct genus of the hominid family found in Africa between about 4 and 1 million years ago. At least seven species of australopithecines are now generally recognized, including Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus, A. bahrelghazali, A. anamensis, A. boisei, A. r...
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Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Proviso 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico. David Wilmot introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that no...
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English language
English language member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages ). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. It is the mother tongue of about 60 millio...
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Quechua
Quechua Kechua , or Quichua , linguistic family belonging to the Andean branch of the Andean-Equatorial stock of Native American languages (mainly in South America). Encompassing far more native speakers than any other aboriginal language group in the Americas, the languages of the Que...
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