L'Arise aux Meadows X.lans-o-'me-.dozX Site on the northern tip of Newfoundland of the first known European settlements in the New World. Norse settlers may have established as many as three settlements there near the end of the 10th century. After initially fighting each other, the Norse settlers and the Inuit (whom the Norse called Skraeling) established a regular trade relationship. The settlements were soon abandoned, prob¬ ably as the Norse withdrew from Greenland.
Lansing City (pop., 2000: 119,128), capital of Michigan, U.S. Located on the Grand River at its junction with the Red Cedar River, it was a recently settled site when the state capital was moved there from Detroit in 1847. Originally called Michigan, it adopted the name Lansing in 1848. Auto manufacturing began there in the late 19th century, and it is now a major automobile production centre. Adjacent East Lansing is the home of Michigan State University.
Lansky, Meyer orig. Maier Suchowljansky (b. July 4, 1902, Grodno, Russia—d. Jan. 15, 1983, Miami Beach, Fla., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. gangster. His family immigrated to New York in 1911. As a young man he joined Bugsy Siegel in auto theft, burglary, and liquor smuggling. In 1931 he allegedly organized the murder of crime boss Joe Masseria and joined Lucky Luciano in forming a national crime syndicate. By 1936 he had developed gambling operations in Cuba and the U.S., putting Sie¬ gel in charge of Las Vegas. In the 1960s he extended his gambling empire to the Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean while continuing to run narcotics-smuggling, prostitution, labour-racketeering, and extortion rackets. His holdings in 1970 were estimated at $300 million. In 1979 the House of Representatives Assassinations Committee linked Lansky with Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the assas¬ sin of Pres. John F. Kennedy. Though convicted of income-tax evasion in 1973, he remained free on appeals.
lantana \lan-'ta-n3\ Any of more than 150 shrubs that make up the genus Lantana in the verbena family, native to the New World and Afri¬ can tropics. They are cultivated for their ornamental foliage, fragrant
Lillie Langtry
MANSELL COLLECTION
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
lanthanide ► lapis lazuli I 1075
clusters of flowers, and colourful blue-black fruits. Common lantana (L. camara), a weed in the New World tropics, is much used as a garden plant elsewhere. It grows to 10 ft (3 m) and blooms almost continuously with yellow, orange, pink, or white flower heads. The aromatic leaves are rough and oval.
lanthanide \'lan-th3-,nld\ Any of the series of 15 consecutive chemi¬ cal elements in the periodic table from lanthanum to lutetium (atomic num¬ bers 57-71). With scandium and yttrium, they make up the rare earth metals. Their atoms have similar configurations and similar physical and chemical behaviour; the most common valences are 3 and 4.
Lanzhou or Lan-chou Vlan-'jo\ City (pop., 1999 est.: 1,429,673), capital of Gansu province, north-central China. Situated on the upper Huang He (Yellow River), it became part of the territory of Qin in the 6th century bc and later developed as a major trade centre on the Silk Road. It became the seat of Lanzhou prefecture under the Sui dynasty (581-618 ad) and the capital of Gansu province in 1666. It was badly damaged dur¬ ing the Muslim uprisings in 1864-75. A centre of Soviet influence in northwestern China in the early 20th century, it was the terminus of the 2,000-mi (3,200-km) Chinese-Soviet highway that was used during the Sino-Japanese War (1937—45) for the transport of Soviet supplies. It developed as an industrial and cultural centre after World War II. It is the seat of Lanzhou University.
Lao She Ylau-'sha\ orig. Shu Qingchun or Shu Sheyu (b. Feb. 3, 1899, Beijing, China—d. Aug. 24?, 1966, Beijing) Chinese writer. He worked as an educator before going to England in 1924, and he was inspired to write his first novel while reading the works of Charles Dick¬ ens to improve his English. He originally championed strong, hard¬ working individuals but later expressed the futility of the individual’s struggle against society, as in Luotuo Xiangzi (1936), the tragic story of a ricksha puller; Rickshaw Boy, an unauthorized translation with a happy ending (1945), became a U.S. best-seller. After the onset of the Sino- Japanese War, he wrote lesser patriotic and propagandistic plays and nov¬ els. In 1966 he fell victim to the Cultural Revolution.
Laocoon Vla-'a-ko-.anV In Greek legend, a seer and priest of Apollo. He was the son of Agenor of Troy or the brother of Aeneas’s father Anchises. Laocobn offended Apollo by breaking his priestly vow of celibacy and begetting children, and by warning the Trojans not to accept the wooden horse presented by the Greeks. While preparing to offer a sacrifice to Poseidon, he and his two sons were crushed to death by sea serpents sent by Apollo.
Laos Vla-os, 'laus\ officially Lao People's Democratic Republic
Country, Southeast Asia. Area: 91,429 sq mi (236,800 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 5,924,000. Capitaclass="underline" Vientiane. Major ethnic groups include the Lao-Lum (valley Lao), who make up about half of the population; the Lao-Tai, a highland tribal people; the Lao-Theung (Mon-Khmer), descen¬ dants of the region’s earliest inhabitants; and the Lao-Soung group, including the Hmong and Man. Languages: Lao (official), English, Viet¬ namese, French. Religions: Buddhism, traditional beliefs. Currency: kip. Laos is largely mountainous, especially in the north; its highest point is Mount Bia (9,245 ft [2,818 m]). Tropical forests cover more than half of the country’s total land area; only a tiny portion of its total area is suitable for agriculture. The floodplains of the Mekong River provide the country’s only lowlands and its major wet-rice fields. Laos has a centrally planned economy based primarily on agriculture (including rice, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, cassava, and opium poppies) and international aid. It is a peo¬ ple’s republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. The Lao people migrated into Laos from southern China after the 8th century ad, displacing indig¬ enous peoples. In the 14th century Fa Ngum founded the first Laotian state, Lan Xang. Except for a period of rule by Myanmar (Burma; 1574- 1637), the Lan Xang kingdom ruled Laos until 1713, when it split into three kingdoms—Vien Chan, Champassak, and Luang Prabang. During the 18th century the rulers of the three Laotian kingdoms became vassals of Siam (Thailand). France gained control of the region in 1893, and Laos became a French protectorate. In 1945 Japan seized control and declared Laos independent. The area reverted to French rule after World War II. By the end of the First Indochina War, the leftist Pathet Lao movement con¬ trolled two provinces of the country. The Geneva Conference of 1954 uni¬ fied and granted independence to Laos. Pathet Lao forces fought the Laotian government and took control in 1975, establishing the Lao Peo¬ ple’s Democratic Republic; about one-tenth of the population fled into
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
LAOS
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neighbouring Thailand. Laos held its first election in 1989 and promulgated a new constitution in 1991. Although its economy was adversely affected by the regional economic recession beginning in the mid-1990s, it realized a longtime goal in 1997 when it joined ASEAN.