An English room decorated by William Morris in the Arts and Crafts style.
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON, PHOTOGRAPH, JOHN WEBB
Aru Va-.rtA Islands Island group, eastern Indonesia. The easternmost island group of the Moluccas, located off southwestern New Guinea, it stretches north-south about 110 mi (180 km) and extends some 50 mi (80 km) east-west. The group consists of six main islands (Warilau, Kola, Wokam, Kobroor, Maikoor, and Trangan), which are separated by narrow channels, and dozens of smaller islands. Dobo, on Wamar Island, is the principal harbour. The islands became part of Indonesia in 1949.
Aruba Island (pop., 2005 est.: 97,400), Lesser Antilles, off northwest¬ ern Venezuela. Aruba is an internally self-governing part of The Nether¬ lands. It has an area of 75 sq mi (193 sq km). Its capital is Oranjestad.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
arugula ► asbestosis I 113
The majority of the present-day population is a combination of mostly American Indian, Spanish, and Dutch ancestry. Dutch is the official lan¬ guage; Papiamento, a Creole language, is used for daily affairs. The prin¬ cipal religion is Roman Catholicism. The currency is the Aruban florin. Aruba’s lack of water severely limits agriculture. The large petroleum¬ refining complex there, once the island’s main employer, reopened after closing in the mid-1980s, but tourism has become the island’s economic mainstay. The earliest inhabitants were Arawak Indians, whose cave draw¬ ings can still be seen. Though the Dutch took possession of Aruba in 1636, they did not begin to develop it aggressively until 1816. The Netherlands controls Aruba’s defense and foreign affairs, but internal affairs are handled by an island government directing its own judiciary and currency. In 1986 Aruba seceded from the Federation of the Netherlands Antilles in an initial step toward independence.
arugula \3-'ru-g3-l3\ or rocket Yellowish-flowered European herba¬ ceous plant ( Eruca vesicaria sativa), of the mustard family, cultivated for its foliage, which is used especially in salads. The leaves taste sharp and peppery when young and succulent but become bitter with age. A medici¬ nal oil is extracted from the seeds.
arum \'ar-3m\ family Family Araceae, containing about 2,000 species, many of which are popular ornamentals and foliage plants. Native pri¬ marily to the tropics and subtropics, a few species grow in temperate zones. The genera Philodendron and Monstera are grown for their vine¬ like habit and large green leaves. Other arums grown ornamentally include the florist’s calla lily and the water arum ( Calla palustris). Jack-in-the- pulpit ( Arisaema triphyllum) is well known in woodlands, and the foul¬ smelling eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) in marshes. The genus Arum contains about 15 perennial species noted for funnel-shaped bracts and glossy, arrow-shaped leaves. Sap in Arum species can be poi¬ sonous.
Arunachal Pradesh Var-u-.na-chol-pro-'deshX State (pop., 2001: 1,097,968), extreme northeastern India. Bordered by Bhutan, Tibet (China), and Myanmar and Nagaland and Assam states, it occupies 32,333 sq mi (83,743 sq km); its capital is Itanagar. A portion of the region was annexed by the Ahom rulers of Assam in the 16th century. By 1826 the British had made Assam part of British India. Later called the North East Frontier Agency, the region became Arunachal Pradesh union territory in 1972 and was granted statehood in 1987. It incorporates major ranges of the Hima¬ laya foothills and has a rugged terrain. The population consists of many ethnic groups who speak dialects of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family.
arupa-loka Va-.rti-po-To-koV In Buddhism, the “world of immaterial form,” the highest of the three spheres of existence in which rebirth takes place. The others are the “fine-material world” ( rupa-loka ) and the “world of feeling” ( kama-loka ). In the arupa-loka, existence depends on the stage of concentration attained in the previous life, of which there are four lev¬ els: the infinity of space, the infinity of thought, the infinity of nonbeing, and the infinity of neither consciousness nor nonconsciousness. Beings in the arupa-loka do not have a material body.
Arusha National Park Preserve, northern Tanzania. Established in 1960, the park contains a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is the site of Mount Meru (14,978 ft [4,565 m]) and Ngurdoto Crater, an extinct vol¬ cano. Nearby are Mount Kilimanjaro, Olduvai Gorge, and Ngorongoro Crater, whose surrounding area teems with wildlife.
Arya Samaj Var-yo-sa-'majX Reform sect of Hinduism, founded in 1875 by Dayananda Sarasvati, in order to reestablish the Vedas as revealed and infallible truth. The Arya Samaj opposes idolatry, ancestor worship, ani¬ mal sacrifice, a caste system based on birth rather than merit, untouch- ability (see untouchable), child marriage, pilgrimages, and temple offerings. It upholds the sanctity of the cow, samskaras, oblations to fire, and social reform, including the education of women. Strongest in western and northern India, it is governed by representatives elected to samajas (“soci¬ eties”) at the local, provincial, and national levels, and it played an impor¬ tant role in the growth of Indian nationalism.
Aryabhata I (b. 476, possibly Ashmaka or Kusumapura, India) Astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose work survives. He composed at least two works, Aryabhatiya (c. 499) and the now lost Aryabhatasiddhanta, which circulated mainly in the northwest of India and influenced the development of Islamic astronomy. Written in verse couplets, Aryabhatiya deals with mathematics and astronomy. Topics include prediction of solar and lunar eclipses and an explicit statement
that the apparent westward motion of the stars is due to the spherical Earth’s rotation about its axis. Aryabhata also correctly ascribed the lumi¬ nosity of the Moon and planets to reflected sunlight. The Indian govern¬ ment named its first satellite Aryabhata (launched 1975) in his honour.
Aryan \'ar-e-an\ Prehistoric people who settled in Iran and northern India. From their language, also called Aryan, the Indo-European lan¬ guages of South Asia are descended. In the 19th century there arose a notion, propagated by the count de Gobineau and later by his disciple Houston Stewart Chamberlain, of an “Aryan race”: people who spoke Indo- European, especially Germanic, languages and lived in northern Europe. The “Aryan race” was considered to be superior to all other peoples. Although this notion was repudiated by numerous scholars, including Franz Boas, the notion was seized on by Adolf Hitler and made the basis of the Nazi policy of exterminating Jews, Gypsies (Roma), and other “non-Aryans.” See also racism.
Asad, Hafiz al- See Hafiz al-AssAD
ASALA acronym for Armenian Secret Army to Liberate Arme¬ nia Marxist-Leninist group formed in 1975 to force the Turkish govern¬ ment to acknowledge the Armenian massacres of 1915 and pay reparations. Its activities, which have included acts of terrorism, have been directed against Turkish government officials and institutions. Its founder, Hagop Hagopian, was killed in 1988; thereafter the group’s activities diminished.
Asam Vaz-am\, Cosmos Damian and Egid Quirin (respectively b. Sept. 29, 1686, Benediktbeuren, Bavaria—d. May 10, 1739, Munich; b. Sept. 1, 1692, Tegemsee, Bavaria—d. April 29, 1750, Mannheim, Palatinate) Bavarian architects and decorators. After studying in Rome (1711-13), Cosmas Damian became a prolific fresco painter, and his brother, Egid Quirin, became a sculptor and stuccoist. They developed the effects of dramatic lighting and illusionism originated by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Andrea Pozzo. Working as a team, they produced magnificent illusionistic decoration in ecclesiastical buildings, combining dramatic lighting and colour. Their works are notable for their profound and dra¬ matic intensity of religious feeling. The brothers became the principal late Baroque exponents of illusionist decoration in religious architecture. Their most notable collaboration is the church of St. John Nepomuk in Munich (1733-46)—known as the Asamkirche in honour of the brothers.