jaw Either of two bones that frame the mouth: a movable lower jaw (mandible) and a fixed upper jaw (maxilla). These hold the teeth (see tooth) and are used for biting and chewing and in speech. Vertical por¬ tions at the back of the lower jaw form hinge joints at the temples. The front of its arch thickens to form the chin. The upper jaw is attached to bones at the bridge of the nose, in the eye sockets and roof of the mouth, and the cheekbones. It contains the large maxillary sinus.
Jawlan, Al- See Golan Heights
Jawlensky \yov-Tan-ske\, Alexey orig. Aleksei lavlenskii (b.
March 13, 1864, Torzhok, Russia—d. March 15, 1941, Wiesbaden, Ger.) Russian-born German painter. He gave up a military career to study paint¬ ing, and in 1896 he moved to Munich, where he became affiliated with Der Blaue Reiter. In France in 1905 he worked with Henri Matisse. Back in Munich he produced works featuring flat areas of vibrant Fauve colour outlined with simple, thick contours. In Switzerland during World War I he painted a series of “variations” on the view from his window. Their meditative mood culminated in such semiabstract faces as Looking Within Night (1923), whose mystical intensity is reminiscent of Russian icon painting. In 1924 he joined Vasily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and Lyonel Fein- inger to form Der Blaue Vier (“The Blue Four”); they exhibited together until arthritis forced Jawlensky to abandon painting.
Jean Jaures.
H. ROGER-VIOLLET
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
982 I Jaxartes River ► Jefferson
Jaxartes River See Syr Darya
jay Any of 35^0 bird species (family Corvidae) that inhabit woodlands and are known for their bold, rau¬ cous manner. Most are found in the New World, but several are Eurasian.
Jays are nearly omnivores; some steal eggs, and many store seeds and nuts for winter use. They make a twiggy, cuplike nest in trees. The 12-in. (30-cm) blue jay, blue and white with a narrow black neckline, is found in North America east of the Rockies; westward it is replaced by the dark-blue, black-crested Steller’s jay. Another abundant species is the scrub jay, found throughout western North America and in Florida.
Jay, John (b. Dec. 12, 1745, New York, N.Y.—d. May 17, 1829, New Bedford, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. jurist, first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He practiced law in New York City. Though he initially deplored the growing conflict between Britain and the colonies, he became a staunch supporter of inde¬ pendence once the revolution was launched. He helped assure the approval of the Declaration of Indepen¬ dence (1776) in New York, where he was a member of the provincial Congress. The following year he helped draft New York’s first constitu¬ tion and was elected the state’s first chief justice, and in 1778 he was chosen president of the Continental Congress. In 1782 he joined Benjamin Franklin in Paris to negotiate terms of peace with Britain. On his return from abroad, Jay found that Congress had elected him secretary for for¬ eign affairs (1784—90). Convinced of the need for a stronger centralized government, he urged ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Under the pseudonym Publius, he wrote five of the essays that later became known as the Federalist papers (the others were written by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton); published in New York newspapers in 1787-88, the essays were a masterly defense of the Constitution and republican gov¬ ernment. As the first chief justice of the Supreme Court (1789-95), he set legal precedent by affirming the subordination of the states to the federal government. In 1794 he was sent to Britain to negotiate a treaty dealing with numerous commercial disputes. The Jay Treaty helped avert war, but critics contended that it was too favourable to Britain. Jay resigned from the court and was elected governor of New York (1795-1801).
Java, Mount Indonesian Puncak Jaya formerly Mount Sukarno Peak, Papua (Irian Jaya) province, Indonesia. Located on New Guinea, the 16,500-ft (5,030-m) peak is the highest in the South Pacific and the tallest island peak in the world.
Jayavarman \ja-ya-'var-man\ VII (b. c. 1120/25—d. c. 1215/19) King of the Khmer (Cambodian) empire of Angkor (r. 1181—c. 1215). Born into the royal family of Angkor, he settled in the Champa kingdom (present-day central Vietnam) in his young adulthood and engaged in military cam¬ paigns. In his late fifties he led his people in a struggle for independence after their subjugation by the Cham. He was crowned king of a reconsti¬ tuted Khmer empire at 61. He ruled more than 30 years and brought the empire to its zenith in terms both of territorial extent and of royal archi¬ tecture and construction. Champa, southern Laos, and portions of the Malay Peninsula and Myanmar (Burma) came under his control. He built temples, hospitals, and rest houses, and rebuilt the city of Angkor (now called Angkor Thom). His dedication to both the spiritual and physical needs of the people has made him a national hero to modern Cambodians.
Jayewardene \ja-ye-'war-di-no\, J(unius) R(ichard) (b. Sept. 7, 1906, Colombo, Ceylon—d. Nov. 1, 1996, Colombo, Sri Lanka) Prime minister (1977-78) and president (1978-89) of Sri Lanka. The son of a Supreme Court judge, he became minister of finance in 1948, when Cey¬ lon (from 1972, Sri Lanka) became independent. As prime minister, he amended the constitution to give Sri Lanka an executive presidency and became the first elected president in 1978. His administration steered the country away from socialism, revitalizing the private sector and reducing
government bureaucracy. When ethnic conflict erupted between the island’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority and its Tamil Hindu minority, he was unable to end the violence, which continued after his retirement and death.
Jaza’iri, ( Abd al-Qadir ibn MuhyT al-DTn ibn Mustafa al-Hasam al- See Abdelkader
Jazeera, Al- or al-JazTrah Arabic-language cable news network founded in Qatar in 1996. It was established by the emir of Qatar and was transmitted from its capital, Doha, and from bureaus around the world. It began continuous programming in 1999. The editorial freedom exercised by its staff was unique in the Middle East, and its broadcasts were occasionally blocked by Arab states. It was the only network to broadcast from Kabul during the 2001 U.S. -led campaign in Afghanistan.
Jazernicki, Yitzhak See Yitzhak Shamir JazTrah, Al- See Gezira
jazz Musical form, often improvisational, developed by African Ameri¬ cans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. Though its specific origins are not known, the music developed principally as an amalgam in the late-19th- and early 20th-century musi¬ cal culture of New Orleans. Elements of the blues and ragtime in particu¬ lar combined to form harmonic and rhythmic structures upon which to improvise. Social functions of music played a role in this convergence: whether for dancing or marching, celebration or ceremony, music was tai¬ lored to suit the occasion. Instrumental technique combined Western tonal values with emulation of the human voice. Emerging from the collective routines of New Orleans jazz (see Dixieland), trumpeter Louis Armstrong became the first great soloist in jazz; the music thereafter became prima¬ rily a vehicle for profoundly personal expression through improvisation and composition. Elaboration of the role of the soloist in both small and large ensembles occurred during the swing era (c. 1930-45), the music of pia¬ nist and bandleader Duke Ellington in particular demonstrating the com¬ bination of composed and improvised elements. In the mid-1940s saxophonist Charlie Parker pioneered the technical complexities of bebop as an outgrowth of the refinement of swing: his extremes of tempo and harmonic sophistication challenged both performer and listener. The trum¬ peter Miles Davis led groups that established the relaxed aesthetic and lyri¬ cal phrasing that came to be known as cool jazz in the 1950s, later incorporating modal and electronic elements. Saxophonist John Col- trane’s music explored many of the directions jazz would take in the 1960s, including the extension of bebop’s chord progressions and experi¬ mental free improvisation.