navy Warships and craft of every kind maintained by a nation for fight¬ ing on, under, or over the sea. A large modem navy includes aircraft car¬ riers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, submarines, minesweepers and minelayers, gunboats, and various types of support, supply, and repair ships, as well as naval bases and ports. Naval ships are the chief means by which a nation extends sea power. Their two chief functions are to achieve sea control and sea denial. Control of the sea enables a nation and its allies to carry on maritime commerce, amphibious assaults, and other seaborne operations that may be essential in wartime. Denial of the sea deprives enemy merchant vessels and warships of safe navigation. See also U.S. Navy.
Naxos Vnak-sas\ Largest island (pop., 1991: 14,838) of the Cyclades, Greece. It is about 22 mi (35 km) long and 16 mi (26 km) wide, with an area of 165 sq mi (427 sq km). The capital and chief port, Naxos, on the western coast, is on the site of the island’s ancient and medieval capitals. In ancient times, it was famous for its wines and the worship of Dionysus. In mythol¬ ogy, it is where Theseus abandoned Ariadne. In the 7th-6th centuries bc a deep-grained white marble was exported for statuary. It was captured by the Persians in 490 bc and by Athens in 471 bc. A Venetian duchy ruled from 1207 to 1566; it was later ruled by the Turks. In 1830 it joined the Greek kingdom. Ruins of a Mycenaean settlement (see Mycenae) have been found there. Naxos produces white wine, citrus, and emery.
Nayar \'na-yor\ Hindu caste of the Indian state of Kerala. Before the British conquest in 1792, the Nayar caste supplied Kerala’s royalty and nobility, militia, and land managers. During British rule, Nayars became prominent in politics, medicine, education, and law. Unlike most Hindus, Nayars traditionally were matrilineal, and fathers had no rights or obli¬ gations with regard to their children. Plural marriage, in which both men and women could receive multiple “visiting” spouses, was practiced until the 19th century. Laws passed in the 1930s enforced monogamy and gave children full rights of inheritance from the father.
Nayarit \,m-3-'ret\ State (pop., 2000: 920,185), west-central Mexico. It covers an area of 10,417 sq mi (26,979 sq km), and its capital is Tepic. The Sierra Madre rises steeply from the Pacific littoral and cuts the terrain into gorges and valleys. Peaks include the volcanoes Ceboruco and Sanga- ngiiey. The coastal lagoons are well-known bird refuges. The main river, Grande de Santiago, flowing from Lake Chapala, is sometimes considered a continuation of the Lerma River. The economy is primarily based on agri¬ culture.
Nave, Salisbury Cathedral, England, begun 1220
A.F. KERSTING
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Nazarene \'na-z3-,ren\ Any member of the Brotherhood of St. Luke, an association formed in 1809 by young German, Swiss, and Austrian painters in reaction against Neoclassicism. It was the first effective anti¬ academic movement in European painting. The members acquired the originally derisive nickname Nazarenes because of their affectation of biblical style of hair and dress. The Nazarenes believed that all art should serve a moral or religious purpose. They admired medieval and early Renaissance painters and rejected most subsequent painting, believing it abandoned religious ideals in favour of artistic virtuosity. Members lived and worked together in a semimonastic existence, trying to imitate the teaching situation of the medieval workshop. The leading members were Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869), Franz Pforr (1788-1812), and Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867).
Nazareth Hebrew Nazerat \,na-z3-'rat\ Arabic Al-Nasirah
\en-'na-se-,ra\ Town (pop., 2000 est.: 69,604), northern Israel, southeast of Haifa. It is Israel’s largest Arab city. In the New Testament, it is the childhood home of Jesus. It contains many Christian churches and is a pilgrimage centre. Captured by Christians several times during the Cru¬ sades, it was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. It was part of British- mandate Palestine from 1918 and part of Israel from 1948. Christian Arabs form the majority of the population.
Nazi Party German political party of National Socialism. Founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party, it changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party when Adolf Hitler became leader (1920- 21). The nickname Nazi was taken from the first word of its full name, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei. The party grew from its home base in Bavaria and attracted members from disaffected elements throughout Germany. It organized strong-arm groups (later the SA) to protect its rallies. Though the failed Beer Hall Putsch diminished the par¬ ty’s influence, the effects of the Great Depression brought millions of new members, and in 1932 the party became the largest bloc in the Reichstag. After Hitler was named chancellor in 1933, he obtained passage of the Enabling Act, and his government declared the Nazi party to be the only political party in Germany and required bureaucrats to become members. The party controlled virtually all activities in Germany until Germany’s defeat in World War II (1945), after which the party was banned.
NBA See National Basketball Assn.
NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. Directed by RCA’s president David Sarnoff, it became wholly owned by RCA in 1930. NBC was initially divided into the semi-independent Blue Network, based on station WJZ, and the Red Network, based on WEAF, each with links to stations in other cities. By 1938 the Red Network carried 75% of NBC’s programs. The Blue Net¬ work was sold in 1941 and became the American Broadcasting Co. (ABC). NBC entered television broadcasting in a weakened position, and by 1952 it trailed CBS in audience ratings, though it gradually regained its lead¬ ing position. In 1986 RCA was sold to GE; in 1987 NBC sold its radio networks. In the 1990s NBC expanded its cable television programming, creating MSNBC (an alliance with Microsoft) and CNBC (an alliance with Dow Jones).
NCAA See National Collegiate Athletic Assn.
NCR Corp. U.S. manufacturer of cash registers, computers, and information-processing systems. It was founded in 1884 as National Cash Register Co. by John H. Patterson, who bought a failing maker of cash registers in Dayton, Ohio. He improved the design, sent out an aggres¬ sive sales force, and hired repairmen to service his products after sale. The company expanded in the 20th century, introducing accounting machines in the 1920s, electronic products during World War II, com¬ puter hardware and software in the 1960s, and microelectronics in the 1970s. In 1991 it was purchased by AT&T Corp. and renamed AT&T Glo¬ bal Information Solutions. When AT&T split into three companies in 1996, NCR Corp. was spun off and assumed its former name.
Ndebele \en-d9-'ba-la\ formerly Matabele \,mad-3-'ba-la\ Bantu¬ speaking people who live primarily around the city of Bulawayo, Zimb., but also in Botswana. They originated early in the 19th century as an off¬ shoot of the Nguni of Natal, moving first to Basutoland (now Lesotho) and ultimately to Matabeleland (Zimbabwe). Under Lobengula they grew in power but were defeated by the British in 1893. Today they are a farm¬
ing and herding people numbering more than 1.5 million. They differ from the Ndebele of South Africa, whose women are known worldwide for their elaborate beadwork and the strong geometric designs they paint on the walls of their houses.
N'Djamena \ 3 n-ja-'ma-na\ formerly Fort-Lamy V.for-lo-'meV City (pop., 1993: metro, area, 530,965), capital of Chad. It lies adjacent to Cameroon on the eastern bank of the Chari River, where it joins the Logone River. Founded in 1900 as Fort-Lamy, it remained a small settlement until after Chad’s independence in 1960. In 1973 its name was changed to N’Djamena. It was occupied by Libyan forces in 1980-81 during the civil war that began in the 1960s. It is an important marketplace for cotton, cattle, and fish. It is the site of the nation’s only university, the Univer¬ sity of Chad (founded 1971).