After extensive bombing by U.S. planes (December 1944-February 1945), it was invaded by U.S. marines and was finally completely taken by mid-March; it became a strategic base for U.S. planes en route to Japan. In 1968 it was returned to Japan.
IWW See Industrial Workers of the World
Izabal \,e-sa-'bal\, Lake Lake,
Guatemala. The country’s largest lake, it occupies the lowlands in northeastern Guatemala. Fed by the Polochic River, it drains through the Dulce River into the Caribbean Sea. It lies only 26 ft (8 m) above sea level and has an area of 228 sq mi (590 sq km). The main settlement on its shores is El Estor, which originated as a trading outpost of the United Fruit Company.
Izanagi and Izanami \e- , za-,na-ge...e- , za- l na-me\ Brother and sister gods in the Japanese creation myth. They created the first land mass, and their sexual union produced many islands and deities. In giving birth to the fire god, Izanami was burned to death and went to the land of dark¬ ness. Izanagi tried to rescue her, but she had eaten the food of the place and could not leave; in disgust he left her rotting corpse and divorced her. As he bathed to purify himself afterwards, other deities were bom from him, including the sun goddess Amaterasu, the moon god Tsukiyomi, and the storm god Susanoo. His bath is the basis for Shinto purification rites.
Izmir Uz-'mir \ formerly Smyrna City (pop., 1997: 2,081,556), west¬ ern Turkey. On the Aegean seacoast, it is one of Turkey’s largest ports and its third largest city. Founded as early as 3000 bc, it was settled by the Greeks before 1000 bc. It was captured by the Lydians c. 600 bc and ceased to exist until it was refounded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century bc. It became one of the principal cities of Anatolia. After being
conquered in turn by the Crusaders and by Timur (Tamerlane), it was annexed to the Ottoman Empire c. 1425. It became part of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. It has grown rapidly since 1945 and has a large indus¬ trial economy and a growing tourist trade.
'Izra’Tl \,iz-ra-'el\ In Islam, the angel of death. One of the four archan¬ gels (with Jibra’il, MikaIl, and Israfil), he is of cosmic size, with 4,000 wings and a body formed from innumerable eyes and tongues. He was the only angel brave enough to go down to earth and face IblTs in order to bring God the materials to create man. For this service he was made the angel of death and given a register of all mankind, which lists the blessed and the damned.
Izu \'e-zii\ Peninsula Peninsula, central Honshu, Japan. It extends 37 mi (60 km) into the Pacific Ocean and consists largely of volcanic rock and highly eroded volcanoes. It is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, and its hot springs and warm winter climate are major tourist attractions.
Izumo shrine \'e-zu-mo,\ English \e-'zu-mo\ Oldest Shinto shrine in Japan (the present building is said to date from 1346), located northwest of Izumo on the island of Honshu. The temple complex covers 40 acres (16 hectares) and contains a valuable art collection. Enclosed by hills on three sides, it is approached through an avenue of pines. Most of its present buildings were constructed in the 19th century.
Izvestiya \iz-'ves-te-o\ formerly in full Izvestiya Sovetov Depu- tatov Trudyashchikhsya SSSR (Russian: “News of the Councils of Working People’s Deputies of the U.S.S.R.”) Russian daily newspaper published in Moscow, the official national publication of the Soviet gov¬ ernment until 1991. Founded in 1917, it grew rapidly in circulation. Restrictions during World War II and under Joseph Stalin slowed its growth, but it was transformed into a lively, readable daily under the edi¬ torship of Alexei Adzhubei, Nikita Khrushchev’s son-in-law, while remain¬ ing an instrument of the state. Following the Soviet Union’s breakup, it became an independent, employee-owned publication whose liberal edi¬ torial policy often put it at odds with both unreconstructed communists and Russian nationalists.
Izvolsky \iz-'v6l-ske\, Aleksandr (Petrovich), Count (b. March 18, 1856, Moscow, Russia—d. Aug. 16, 1919, Paris, France) Russian dip¬ lomat. He became minister of foreign affairs in 1906. In 1908 he secured Austria’s support for the right of Russian warships to use the Dardanelles strait in return for his reluctant support of Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While Austria succeeded in its annexation (see Bosnian crisis), Russia failed to gain access to the Dardanelles; Izvolsky’s respon¬ sibility for Russia’s diplomatic defeat increased tensions with Austria- Hungary prior to World War I. Dismissed in 1910, he served as ambassador to France until 1917.
U.S. Marines raising the American flag over Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, in February 1945.
JOE ROSENTHAL-AP/WIDE WORLD
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Jabal al-Shaykh ► Jackson I 971
Jabal al-Shaykh See Mount Hermon
Jabal River or Bahr al-Jabal \,bar-el-'je-bel\ River, south-central Sudan. The river flows northward 594 mi (956 km) over the Fula Rap¬ ids, past Juba (the head of navigation), and through a vast swampy region. It receives the Ghazal River at Lake No and then turns east to join the Subaj River of western Ethiopia, thereafter forming the White Nile River.
Jabotinsky \ 1 yab-3-'tin-ske\, Vladimir (b. 1880, Odessa, Russian Empire—d. Aug. 3, 1940, near Hunter, N.Y., U.S.) Russian Zionist leader and founder of the Zionist Revisionist movement. He became a popular journalist and editorialist and by 1903 was expounding Zionism. In 1920 he organized and led Hagana, a Jewish militia. A Revisionist Zionist, he passionately advocated a Jewish state in an area both west and east of the Jordan River. See also Irgun Zvai Leumi.
Jabrail See JibrIl
jacaranda \ ja-ko-'ran-doX Any plant of the genus Jacaranda (family Bignoniaceae), especially the two ornamental trees J. mimosifolia and J. cuspidifolia. Jacarandas are grown widely in warm parts of the world and in greenhouses for their showy blue or violet flowers and attractive, oppositely paired, compound leaves. The genus includes about 50 spe¬ cies native to Central and South America and the West Indies. The name is also applied to several tree species of the genera Machaerium and Dcilbergia in the pea family (see legume), the sources of commercial rosewood.
jack In practical mechanics, portable hand-operated device for raising heavy weights through short distances, exert¬ ing great pressures, or holding assembled work firmly in position. The ratio of the load to the amount of force applied to the handle can be made quite high by using a gear or screw to regulate the upward extension. A ratchet allows a heavy weight to be raised in short successive stages.
Though limited by the requirements of portability and ease of manual operation, jacks may lift, or exert a force of, several tons. A familiar example is the automobile jack, used to raise one end of a car to change a tire.
jack Any of more than 150 species of fishes (family Carangidae, order Perciformes) found in temperate and tropical portions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans and occasionally in fresh or brackish water. Though body size and shape vary greatly, many species have small scales that create a smooth appearance, a laterally compressed body, rows of large spiky scales along the side near the tail fin, and a deeply forked tail. Many have a bluish green, silvery, or yellowish sheen. Jacks are impor¬ tant commercially and are favoured sport fishes. See also amberjack.
jack-in-the-pulpit North American plant ( Arisaema triphyllum) of the arum family, noted for the unusual shape of its flower. One of the best- known perennial wildflowers of late spring in the eastern U.S. and Canada, it grows in wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. Three-part leaves on each of two long stalks overshadow the flower, which consists of a conspicuous green- and purple-striped structure called a spathe (“pulpit”) that rises on a separate stalk. The spathe curves in a hood over a club-shaped spadix (“jack”) that, at its base, bears minute flowers. In late summer the plant produces a cluster of brilliant red berries that are poisonous to humans but are eaten by many wild animals.