James River or Dakota River River in the U.S. rising in central North Dakota and flowing southeast across South Dakota. It joins the Missouri River about 5 mi (8 km) below Yankton after a course of 710 mi (1,140 km). Major cities along the river include Jamestown, N.D., and Huron, S.D.
James River River, Virginia, U.S. Formed by the junction of the Jack- son and Cowpasture rivers, it flows east across the Blue Ridge and past Richmond, then southeast to enter Chesapeake Bay through Hampton Roads after a course of 340 mi (550 km). The historic settlement of Jamestown lies on its lower course.
William James
COURTESY OF THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY NEWS SERVICE
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
978 I James the Conqueror ► Janus
James the Conqueror See James I (Aragon)
James the Just See James II (Aragon)
Jameson, Sir Leander Starr (b. Feb. 9, 1853, Edinburgh, Scot.—d. Nov. 26, 1917, London, Eng.) British administrator in southern Africa. As Cecil Rhodes’s representative, Jameson successfully negotiated mineral concessions in Matabeleland and Mashonaland (present-day Zimbabwe) before becoming the first administrator of the new colony of Rhodesia in 1893. In 1895 Rhodes and Jameson plotted with Uitlander (British) lead¬ ers in the Transvaal to overthrow the Boer government of Paul Kruger; the original plan was postponed, but Jameson carried out his own invasion and was quickly captured with all his men. After imprisonment in England, he returned to participate in South African politics.
Jamestown Colony First permanent English settlement in North America. It was founded in May 1607 on a peninsula in the James River of Virginia. Named after King James I, Jamestown began cultivating tobacco and established the continent’s first representative government (1619); the colony, its leader John Smith, and the Indian Pocahontas— who, according to lore, saved Smith’s life—have been the subject of numerous novels, dramas, and films, many of them highly fanciful. When nearby Williamsburg replaced it as the capital of colonial Virginia in 1699, it fell into decline. By the mid-19th century, erosion had transformed the peninsula into Jamestown Island. In 1936 the site was incorporated into the Colonial National Historical Park.
JamiVjo-.meW/g. Mawlana Nural-DIn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad (b. Nov. 7, 1414, district of Jam—d. Nov. 9, 1492, Herat, Timu- rid Afghanistan) Persian scholar, mystic, and poet. Despite offers of patronage by many Islamic rulers, he led a simple life, mostly in Herat. His prose ranges from Qur’anic commentaries to treatises on Sufism and music. His poetry expresses ethical and philosophical views in fresh, graceful language. His best known poetry collection is The Seven Thrones (or Ursa Major). He is often called the last great mystical poet of Iran.
Jamison, Judith (b. May 10, 1943, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. dancer and choreographer. In 1965 she joined Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater; she became celebrated for her energetic grace and rivet¬ ing stage presence and inspired many of Ailey’s new dances, most nota¬ bly Cry (1971). She left the company in 1980 to star in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies. She toured worldwide in the 1980s and choreographed for various companies. In 1988 she founded her own troupe, the Jamison Project, but, after Ailey’s death in 1989, she returned to the Ailey troupe as artistic director, becoming the first African Ameri¬ can woman to direct a major modern dance company.
Jammu Vjo-miA City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 378,431) and winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, northwestern India. It lies along the Tawi River, south of Srinagar. Once the capital of the Dogra Rajput dynasty, it became part of Ranjit Singh’s domain in the 19th century. It is now a railroad and manufacturing centre. Sites of interest include a fort, a pal¬ ace of the rajas, and the University of Jammu (founded 1969).
Jammu and Kashmir State (pop., 2001: 10,143,700), northern India. With an area of 39,146 sq mi (101,387 sq km), it occupies the southern portion of the Kashmir region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent and is bordered by the portions of Kashmir administered by Pakistan and China and by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The land is pre¬ dominantly mountainous and includes segments of the Karakoram and Himalaya ranges. Much of Kashmir’s Ladakh region is included in the state. There are two major lowland areas: the Jammu plain and the fertile and heavily populated Vale of Kashmir. The majority of the state’s people are Muslims, although Hindus predominate in the southeastern Jammu area, and northeastern Ladakh is largely Buddhist. Formerly a princely state cre¬ ated in the 1840s, Jammu and Kashmir became an Indian state in 1947, even as India and Pakistan were fighting for control of the entire Kashmir region. A cease-fire line, established in 1949, has since served as the state’s boundary with the Pakistan-administered area. Tension has remained high in the region, and there have been periodic outbreaks of border fighting.
Janacek Vya-no-.chekV Leos (Eugen) (b. July 3, 1854, Hukvaldy, Moravia, Austrian Empire—d. Aug. 12, 1928, Ostrava, Czech.) Czech (Moravian) composer. Son of a church musician, he worked as a teacher and choral conductor until age 40. When his marriage ended in 1887, he began his first opera and spent the next year collecting folk songs. In 1894 he began his first mature opera, Jenufa, in a folk-influenced style; com¬ pleted nearly a decade later, it had a successful premiere in Brno (1904),
and he retired to compose full-time, becoming music’s most extraordi¬ nary late bloomer. Major works of his last two decades include the Glagolitic Mass (1927) and the operas Kat’a Kabanova (1921), The Cunning Little Vixen (1924), The Makropulos Affair (1925), and From the House of the Dead (1928). A late love affair inspired the Kreutzer and Intimate Pages string quartets (1923,
1928).
Jane Seymour (b. 1509?,
England—d. Oct. 24, 1537, Hamp¬ ton Court, London) Third wife of Henry VIII of England. A lady-in- waiting to Henry’s wives Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, she first attracted Henry’s attention c.
1535 but refused to be his mistress.
This probably hastened Anne Boleyn’s downfall and execution (1536), after which Jane and Henry were married privately. She restored Henry’s daughter Mary (later Mary I) to his favour and gave birth to his only male heir, the future Edward VI, but she died 12 days later, to Henry’s genuine sorrow.
Janissary Vja-no-.ser-eX also spelled Janizary Vja-n3-,zer-e\ Turkish Yeniceri ("New Troop") Elite corps of the Ottoman Empire’s army from the late 14th to the early 19th century. Its original soldiers were pris¬ oners of war, but a system soon was developed (the devsirme ) wherein Christian youths were levied from Balkan vassals, converted to Islam, and—though paid a regular salary—inducted into the ranks of the sul¬ tan’s slaves. They were, for the most part, infantry troops conscripted to replace the often-unreliable Turkish tribal cavalry (spahi). Strict early rules of behaviour, including celibacy, were later abandoned, and the Jan¬ issaries became active in court politics. In 1826 they rebelled rather than accept the reform of the army along European lines. The revolt was vio¬ lently put down, and most of the Janissaries were killed.
Jansen Vyan-S3n,\ English Vjan-S3n\, Cornelius Otto (b. Oct. 28, 1585, Acquoi, near Leerdam, Holland—d. May 6, 1638, Ypres, Flanders, Spanish Neth.) Flemish leader of the Roman Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism. He studied at the University of Louvain, where he absorbed the teachings of St. Augustine, especially those concerning origi¬ nal sin and the need for grace. He spent 1611-14 in Bayonne, France, where he directed the episcopal college. After studying theology three more years, he returned to Louvain. He became rector of the university in 1635 and a year later was appointed bishop of Ypres. In 1638 he died of the plague. His major work, the Augustinus, was published in 1640; in 1642 Pope Urban VIII forbade the reading of the book.