Neva \nye-'va\ River River, northwestern Russia. It flows 46 mi (74 km) from Lake Ladoga west to the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. It is navigable by large ships but is usually frozen from November to April. The city of St. Petersburg is at its mouth. Its banks were the scene of a battle in 1240 in which Alexander Nevsky, prince of Novgorod, defeated the Swedes.
Nevada State (pop., 2000: 1,998,257), western U.S. Bordered by Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and California, it covers 110,567 sq mi (286,368 sq km); its capital is Carson City. The Black Rock Desert is in the northwest; the Colorado River forms its extreme southeastern bound¬ ary. Human settlement in the area has spanned more than 20,000 years, and evidence of prehistoric inhabitants include dwelling remains and rock art. Early inhabitants included the Shoshone and Paiute Indians. Spanish missionaries in the 18th century and fur traders in the 1820s arrived before major exploration and mapping were done by John C. Fremont and Kit Carson (1843—45). Nevada was part of the land ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 and was included in the Utah Territory (1850-61). Settle¬ ments increased after the discovery of the Comstock Lode, a rich silver deposit, at Virginia City in 1859. It became the Territory of Nevada in 1861 and the 36th U.S. state in 1864. It began its transition to a modern economy during the Great Depression when gambling was legalized. Con¬ struction of the Hoover Dam aided the economy of southern Nevada. In the 1950s the state became the main testing site for atomic-energy experi¬ ments. The traditional bases of its economy, mining and agriculture, are overshadowed by government activity and tourism, the latter centred on Us Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe.
Nevelson, Louise orig. Leah Berliavsky (b. Sept. 23?, 1899/1900, Kiev, Russia—d. April 17, 1988, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Ukrainian-bom U.S. sculptor. Bom in Kiev, she moved with her family to Maine in 1905. She studied at New York’s Art Students League and with Hans Hofmann in Munich (1931). Her early figurative sculptures feature blockish, inter¬ locking masses and found objects that anticipate her mature style. By the 1950s she was working almost exclusively in abstract forms. She is best known for the large, monochromatic abstract sculptures of this period, consisting of open-faced wooden boxes stacked to make freestanding walls. Within the boxes are highly suggestive collections of abstract¬ shaped objects mingled with pieces of architectural debris and other found objects skillfully arranged to produce a sense of mystery and then painted a single colour, usually black. She is recognized as one of the foremost sculptors of the 20th century.
Neville, Richard See Earl of Warwick
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Nevins, Allan (b. May 20, 1890, Camp Point, Ill., U.S.—d. March 5, 1971, Menlo Park, Calif.) U.S. historian. He worked nearly 20 years as a journalist before joining the faculty at Columbia University (1928-58). His best-known works include biographies of U.S. political and industrial figures, including Grover Cleveland (1932, Pulitzer Prize) and Hamilton Fish (1936, Pulitzer Prize), and his eight-volume history of the American Civil War, comprising Ordeal of the Union (1947), The Emergence of Lincoln (1950), and The War for Union (1959—71). In 1948 he inaugu¬ rated at Columbia the first oral history program in the U.S.
Nevsky, Alexander See Saint Alexander Nevsky
New Age movement Movement that spread through occult commu¬ nities in the 1970s and ’80s. It looked forward to a “New Age” of love and peace and offered a foretaste of the coming era through personal transformation and healing. The movement’s strongest supporters were followers of esotericism, a religious perspective based on the acquisition of mystical knowledge. At its height, the movement attracted millions of Americans, who practiced astrology, yoga, and channeling and used crys¬ tals as healing tools. Adherents sought to bring about global transforma¬ tion, and in 1987 many participated in the Harmonic Convergence, an attempt to accomplish that goal.
New Britai t\ formerly Neu-Pommern \n6i-'p6-m3rn\ Largest island (population 1999 est.: 435,000) in the Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea. It was visited and named by English explorer William Dampier in 1700. After periods under German, Australian, and Japanese rule, it became part of Papua New Guinea in 1975 when that nation attained inde¬ pendence. It is crescent-shaped and heavily forested, and it has several vol¬ canoes. Its highest peak, Mount Sinewit, at 7,999 ft (2,438 m), erupted violently in 1937. Commercial products include coconuts, cocoa, and palm oil. Its harbours include Blanche Bay, Talasea, and Jacquinot Bay.
New Brunswick Province (pop., 2001: 729,498), one of the three Maritime Provinces, eastern Canada. Bordered by the U.S. and the Cana¬ dian province of Quebec, it lies on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait (east) and the Bay of Fundy (south); it is connected with Nova Scotia by the Isthmus of Chignecto. Its capital, Fredericton, is home to the University of New Brunswick (founded 1785; Canada’s old¬ est university). New Brunswick was part of the original Acadia; it was colonized by the French in the 18th century, then captured by the British, who expelled the French-speaking Acadians in 1755 and incorporated the area into Nova Scotia. After the American Revolution, some 14,000 loy¬ alists from the U.S. settled there. As a result of this large influx, it was separated from Nova Scotia, and the province of New Brunswick was established in 1784. In 1867 it became an original member of the Domin¬ ion of Canada. Forests cover 90% of the province, whose major cities include Saint John and Moncton. Forestry and lumbering are the largest industries, followed by commercial fishing.
New Brunswick, University of Canadian public university in Fre¬ dericton, founded in 1785. It has faculties of administration, arts, com¬ puter science, education, engineering, forestry, graduate studies, law, nursing, physical education, science, and business and additional pro¬ grams in business, languages, and social sciences. A branch campus is located in Saint John.
New Caledonia French overseas territory (pop., 2005 est.: 237,000), southwestern South Pacific Ocean. It consists of the islands of New Cale¬ donia and Walpole, the Isle of Pines, and several other island groups. Its capital is Noumea. The main island, New Caledonia, has rich deposits of nickel that are among the largest in the world. Archaeological excava¬ tions indicate an Austronesian presence in the area c. 2000-1000 bc. The islands were visited by Capt. James Cook in 1774 and by various naviga¬ tors and traders in the 18th—19th century. They were occupied by France in 1853 and were a penal colony from 1864 to 1897. New Caledonians joined the Free French cause of Charles de Gaulle in 1940; the islands were the site of Allied bases during the Pacific war. They became a French overseas territory in 1946. In 1987 residents voted by referendum to remain part of France.
New Church or Swedenborgians Church whose members follow the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg did not himself found a church, but he believed that his writings would be the basis of a “new church,” which he associated with the “new Jerusalem” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. In 1788, soon after his death, a group of his follow¬ ers established a church in London. The first Swedenborgian society in
the U.S. was organized in Baltimore in 1792. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two sacraments of the church, and New Church Day (June 19) is added to the established Christian festivals. There are three New Church groups: the General Conference of the New Church, the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the U.S.A., and the General Church of the New Jerusalem.