Northern Mariana Islands Self-governing commonwealth (pop., 2005 est.: 80,400) in political union with the U.S., in the western Pacific Ocean. Composed of 22 islands north of Guam, the Northern Marianas extend 450 mi (720 km) and have an area of 184 sq mi (477 sq km). The capital, Chalan Kanoa, is on Saipan. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota are the prin¬ cipal inhabited islands. Others include Alamagan and Agrihan; Pagan was evacuated for a time after a 1981 volcanic eruption. The indigenous people are Micronesian; other inhabitants are Chamorro and Filipino. The islands were discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. They were colonized by Spain in 1668. Sold by Spain to Germany in 1899, they were occupied by Japan in 1914 and became a Japanese mandate from the League of Nations after 1919. They were the scene of fierce fighting in World War II; Tinian was the base for U.S. planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Northern Marianas were granted to the U.S. as a UN trust territory in 1947 and became self-governing in 1978 (when the residents became U.S. citizens). The UN trusteeship ended in 1986.
Northern Pacific Railway Co. Major U.S. railroad that operated between St. Paul and Seattle. It was chartered by Congress in 1864 to build a line from Lake Superior to the Pacific coast. Financed by Jay Cooke until 1873, it was later completed with Henry Villard’s backing. Finan¬ cially troubled in the 1890s, it was reorganized by J. P. Morgan. He shared control of it with James J. Hill, whose Great Northern Railway Co. was a competitor and who sought to combine the two railroads with the Chi¬ cago, Burlington and Quincy through the Northern Securities Co. This arrangement was declared a violation of antitrust laws by the Supreme Court in 1904, but the three railroads remained financially linked and in 1970 were permitted to merge as the Burlington Northern, Inc. Burling¬ ton Northern acquired the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co. in 1980 and the Santa Fe Pacific Corp. in 1995.
Northern Rhodesia See Zambia
Northern Territory Territory (pop., 2001 prelim.: 200,019), northern Australia. It covers an area of 520,900 sq mi (1,349,130 sq km). Its capital is Darwin; the only other sizable town is Alice Springs. Most of the people are of European descent; about one-fifth are Australian Aboriginals. It con¬ sists mainly of tableland, with the Simpson Desert in the southeast and the Arnhem Land plateau in the north. It was inhabited by Aboriginals for thou¬ sands of years; they held Ayers Rock as central to their culture. The coast was explored by the Dutch in the 17th century and surveyed in the early 19th century by Matthew Funders. First included as part of New South Wales, it was annexed to South Australia in 1863. It reverted to being under direct control of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1911. The northern parts were bombed by the Japanese in World War II and occupied by Allied troops. It was granted self-government within the Common¬ wealth in 1978. It remains sparsely inhabited; its economy rests on cattle farming, mining, government services, and a growing tourism industry.
Northern War, First (1655 -60) Final stage of the struggle over the Polish-Swedish succession. In 1655 the Swedish king Charles X Gustav declared war on Poland on the pretext that it refused to recognize him as king. In alliance with Brandenburg, Sweden invaded Poland with initial success, but when Russia, Denmark, and Austria declared war on Swe¬ den, Brandenburg deserted to join the coalition. The Swedes were driven from Poland but later twice invaded Denmark. The war ended with the Polish sovereigns renouncing their claim to the Swedish throne and the Swedes acquiring Skane from Denmark.
Northern War, Second or Great Northern War (1700-21) Military conflict to challenge Sweden’s supremacy in the Baltic area. Sweden’s expansion in the Baltic Sea coastlands antagonized Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland, which formed an anti-Swedish coalition in 1698. They attacked Swedish-held regions in 1700, but Swe¬ den’s Charles XII successfully countered the attacks and restored the sta-
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Northern Wei dynasty ► Norway I 1381
tus quo. The Russians eventually succeeded in establishing their power on the eastern Baltic coast, and Peter I the Great founded his new capital of St. Petersburg there in 1703. Sweden renewed its attack on Russia in 1707, but was defeated at the Battle of Poltava (1709). Despite an alli¬ ance with Turkey against Russia (1710-11), Swedish forces suffered defeats in its territories by the revived anti-Swedish coalition, which by then included England and Prussia. Charles opened peace negotiations in 1717, but in 1718 he invaded southeastern Norway, where he was killed. His successor, Frederick I (1676-1751), negotiated peace settlements in 1719-21, including the Treaty of Nystad, which ceded Estonia, Livonia, and other territory to Russia. The war marked the decline of Swedish influence and the emergence of Russia as a major power.
Northern Wei dynasty or Toba dynasty (ad 386-534/35) Longest-lived and most powerful of the northern Chinese dynasties that ruled after the Han dynasty fell and before the Sui and Tang dynasties reunified China. Founded by Toba tribesmen, the Northern Wei defended its territory against other northern nomads and by 439 had unified all of northern China. The Wei lifestyle became more sedentary, and the Toba people, impressed by Chinese culture, began to emulate the Chinese. To bring into cultivation land abandoned during war, hundreds of thousands of peasants were relocated and allocated land under the equal-field system of land distribution. The rulers of the Northern Wei were great patrons of Buddhism, and the period is noted for its Buddhist art, particularly at the caves of Yungang. The one exception, the emperor Taiwu, persecuted Buddhists and supported Daoism.
Northern Wei sculpture Chinese sculpture, dominated by simple images of the Buddha, dating from the era of the Northern Wei dynasty (ad 386-534/535). The art represents the first major influence of Buddhism on China, and may be divided into two major periods. The first style (c. 452-494), an amalgam of foreign influences traceable to the Buddhist art of India, is characterized by heavy stylization of blocky volumes. The second style (c. 494-535) clothes the Buddha in the costume of the Chi¬ nese scholar and emphasizes a sinuous cascade of drapery falling over an increasingly flattened figure.
Northrop Vnor-thropV John Howard (b. July 5, 1891, Yonkers, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 27, 1987, Wickenberg, Ariz.) U.S. biochemist. He worked most of his career on the staff of New York City’s Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (1916-61). His early research on fermen¬ tation processes led to a study of enzymes essential for digestion, respira¬ tion, and general life processes. He established that enzymes obey the laws of chemical reactions, and he crystallized pepsin, trypsin, and chymotrypsin and their zymogens. With James Sumner and Wendell Meredith Stanley he shared a 1946 Nobel Prize.
Northumberland Administrative (pop., 2001: 307,186) and historic county, northeastern England. It includes several islands, including Lind- isfame (Holy Island), and much of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. The landscape is varied, with coastal plains in the east, the rugged Cheviot Hills and moors in the west, and industrial areas in the southern River Tyne valley. It was the site of prehistoric settlement before the Roman domination began in ad 122, when Hadrian's Wall was built. It was the scene of border warfare with Scotland until the union of Scot¬ land with England in 1603. Good farmland is limited; industrial com¬ plexes produce heavy machinery.
Northumberland, John Dudley, duke of (b. 1502—d. Aug. 22, 1553, London, Eng.) English politician. After serving as deputy governor of English-occupied Calais (1538) and lord high admiral (1542), he fought in the invasion of Scotland (1544) and captured the French city of Bou¬ logne (1544). He was created earl of Warwick (1546) and in 1547 became a member of the regency council that governed for the young Edward VI. After engineering the fall of the duke of Somerset, Warwick assumed con¬ trol of the regency (1550). He made himself duke of Northumberland in 1551 and ordered Somerset’s arrest and execution in 1552. He imposed strict conformity to Protestant doctrine in support of the Reformation. In 1553 he persuaded the dying Edward VI to will the crown to Northum¬ berland’s daughter-in-law, Lady Jane Grey; thwarted by supporters of Mary Tudor (Mary I), he was arrested and executed for treason.