Lombardy \Tam-bor-de\ Region (pop., 2003 est.: 9,108,645), northern Italy. Bounded on the north by Switzerland, it contains many Alpine peaks as well as the fertile valley of the Po River. Its capital is Milan. Inhabited by Celtic peoples from the 5th century bc, it was conquered by Rome after the Second Punic War and became part of Cisalpine Gaul. In ad 568-774 it was the centre of the kingdom of the Lombards. During the Middle Ages several of its towns became self-governing municipalities; they formed the Lombard League in the 12th century and won autonomy by defeating Frederick I Barbarossa in 1176. The area was later ruled by Spain (1535-1713), Austria (1713-96), and France (1796-1814). In 1859 Lombardy joined the newly unified Italy. Italy’s most populous region, it is a thriving commercial area centred on Milan.
Lombok Vlom-.bokV Island, Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, separated from Bali by the Lombok Strait and from Sumbawa by the Alas Strait. It is 70 mi (115 km) long and 50 mi (80 km) wide and occupies an area of 2,098 sq mi (5,435 sq km). It is divided by two moun¬ tain chains; its northern range includes Mount Rindjani (12,224 ft [3,726 m]), Indonesia’s tallest mountain. It was ruled by the sultan of Makasar in 1640. The Balinese later seized control and established four kingdoms there; the Dutch ruled the kingdom of Mataram from 1843 and gained control of the entire island by the late 19th century. Following World War II, it became part of Indonesia.
Lome \lo-'ma\ City (pop., 2003 est.: 676,400; urban agglom.: 749,700), capital of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea in southwestern Togo, it was chosen as the capital of German Togoland in 1897 and developed as an administrative and commercial centre. Its port was modernized in the 1960s, and its deepwater harbour is a major shipping centre. It is the site of the University of Benin (1965).
Lomenie de Brienne Mo-ma-'ne-do-bre-'enV Etienne Charles de
(b. Oct. 9, 1727, Paris, France—d. Feb. 19, 1794, Sens) French ecclesi¬ astic and minister of finance (1787-88) before the French Revolution. Unable to cope with the worsening financial crisis, he resigned in favour of Jacques Necker. Made archbishop of Sens and then cardinal (1788), he was one of the few prelates who took the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790). He died in prison during the Reign of Terror.
Lomond Vlo-monV Loch Lake, Scotland. Located at the southern edge of the Highlands, it is the country’s largest lake 24 mi (39 km) long and 0.75 to 5 mi (1.2 to 8 km) wide, with an area of 27 sq mi (70 sq km). It drains by the short River Leven into the Firth of Clyde at Dumbarton. Its eastern shore near Ben Lomond is the region made famous by the outlaw Rob Roy.
Lomonosov Mo-.mo-'no-soA, Mikhail Vasilyevich (b. Nov. 19, 1711, near Kholmogory, Russia—d. April 15, 1765, St. Petersburg) Rus¬ sian scientist, poet, and grammarian, considered the first great Russian linguistic reformer. Educated in Russia and Germany, he established what became the standards for Russian verse in the Letter Concerning the Rules of Russian Versification. In 1745 he joined the faculty at the St. Peters¬ burg Imperial Academy of Sciences, where he made substantial contri¬ butions to the physical sciences. He later wrote a Russian grammar and worked to systematize the Russian literary language, which had been an amalgam of Church Slavonic and Russian vernacular. He also reorganized the academy, founded Moscow State University (which now bears his name), and created the first coloured-glass mosaics in Russia.
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Lon Nol ► Long I 1133
Lon Nol (b. Nov. 13, 1913, Prey Veng, Camb.—d. Nov. 17, 1985, Ful¬ lerton, Calif., U.S.) Cambodian military and political leader. A magistrate in the French colonial service, he became successively head of the national police (1951), army chief of staff (1955), and commander in chief (1960). He was twice premier (1966-67, 1969-70) under Norodom Sih¬ anouk. In 1970 he was the chief architect of the U.S.-supported coup that deposed Sihanouk. He abandoned Sihanouk’s policy of neutrality in the Vietnam War and threw Cambodia’s support behind the U.S. and South Vietnam. In 1972 he assumed total power in Cambodia; he fled to the U.S. in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge takeover was imminent.
London officially Greater London Capital and largest city (pop., 2001: 7,172,036) of the United Kingdom, situated in southeastern England on the River Thames. It is the political, industrial, cultural, and financial centre of the country. Formally known as the metropolitan county of Greater London (established 1965), it has an area of 659 sq mi (1,706 sq km) and consists of two regions: Inner London comprises 14 of London’s 33 boroughs (including the original City of London), and Outer London encompasses the other 19 boroughs. Greater London is an administrative entity, with an elected mayor and assembly. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in the 1st century ad, it passed to the Saxons in the 5th-6th century. The Danes invaded England and London in 865. Following the Norman Conquest (1066), William I (the Conqueror) estab¬ lished the central stronghold of the fortress known as the Tower of Lon¬ don. Norman kings selected Westminster as their seat of government. The church known as Westminster Abbey had been built earlier by Edward the Confessor. The largest city in Europe north of the Alps by 1085, it was struck by the Black Death in 1348—49. Trade grew significantly in the mid-16th century, fueled by the establishment of Britain’s overseas empire. In 1664-65 the plague killed about 70,000 Londoners, and in 1666 the Great Fire of London consumed five-sixths of the City of Lon¬ don; it was afterward rebuilt (see Christopher Wren). London was the cen¬ tre of world trade from the late 18th century to 1914. It opened the world’s first electric underground railway in 1890. Severely damaged by German bombs in the Battle of Britain during World War II, it was again rebuilt and grew rapidly in the postwar period. Among its sites of interest are Buckingham Palace, the Tate galleries, the National Gallery, the British Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
London City (pop., 2001: metro area, 432,451), southeastern Ontario. It lies on the Thames River, near several of the Great Lakes. Its name and site were chosen in 1792 for the location of a capital of Upper Canada, but the plans failed to materialize. First settled in 1826, it was incorpo¬ rated as a city in 1855. It became an important transportation and indus¬ trial centre as a result of its interlake location. It is the seat of the University of Western Ontario.
London, Great Fire of See Great Fire of London London, Great Plague of See Great Plague of London
London, Jack orig. John Griffith Chaney (b. Jan. 12, 1876, San Francisco, Calif., U.S.—d. Nov. 22,
1916, Glen Ellen, Calif.) U.S. nov¬ elist and short-story writer. Born to poverty, the largely self-educated London became a sailor, hobo, Alas¬ kan gold miner, and militant social¬ ist. He gained a wide audience with his first book, The Son of the Wolf (1900), and the story “To Build a Fire” (1908). Thereafter he wrote steadily; his 50 books of fiction and nonfiction, including many romantic depictions of elemental struggles for survival as well as socialist tracts, include The Call of the Wild (1903),
The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906), The Iron Heel (1907), Mar¬ tin Eden (1909), and Burning Day¬ light (1910). Though his work brought him wealth and fame, his suicide at age 40 was the result of alco¬ holism and mounting debt.
London, Treaty of (April 1915) Secret treaty between neutral Italy and the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Russia to bring Italy into World War I. The Allies wanted Italy’s participation because of its bor¬
der with Austria. Italy was promised Trieste, southern Tyrol, northern Dalmatia, and other territories in return for a pledge to enter the war within a month. Despite the opposition of most Italians, who favoured neutral¬ ity, Italy joined the war against Austria-Hungary in May.