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Pakistan officially Islamic Republic of Pakistan Country, south¬ ern Asia. Area: 307,374 sq mi (796,096 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 153,960,000. Capitaclass="underline" Islamabad. The population is a complex mix of
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
ARABIAN SEA
PAKISTAN
indigenous peoples who have been affected by successive waves of migrations of Ary¬ ans, Persians, Greeks, Pashtuns, Mughals, and Arabs. Languages: Urdu (official), Pun¬ jabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi. Religions:
Islam (official; predominantly Sunni); also Christianity, Hinduism. Cur¬ rency: Pakistan rupee. Pakistan may be divided into four regions: the northern mountains, the Balochistan Plateau, the Indus Plain, and the desert areas. The Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan ranges form the great mountain areas of the northernmost part of the country; some of the high¬ est peaks are K2 and Nanga Parbat. The country has a developing mixed economy based largely on agriculture, light industries, and services. Remittances from Pakistanis working abroad are a major source of foreign exchange. Pakistan is a military-backed constitutional regime with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the president, assisted by the prime minister. The area has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium bc. From the 3rd century bc to the 2nd century ad, it was part of the Mauryan and Kushan kingdoms. The first Muslim conquests were in the 8th century ad. The British East India Co. subdued the reigning Mughal dynasty in 1757. During the period of British colonial rule, what is now (Muslim) Pakistan was part of (Hindu) India. The new state of Pakistan came into existence in 1947 by act of the British Parliament. The Kashmir region remained a disputed territory between Pakistan and India, with tensions resulting in military clashes and full-scale war in 1965. Civil war between East and West Pakistan in 1971 resulted in independence for Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) in 1972. Many Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan dur¬ ing the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s and remained there during the Tal-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Pala bronze ► Paleocene Epoch I 1435
iban and post-Taliban periods. Pakistan elected Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to head a modern Islamic state, in 1988. She and her party were ousted in 1990, but she returned to power in 1993-97. Conditions became volatile during that period. Border flare-ups with India continued, and Pakistan conducted tests of nuclear weapons. Political conditions wors¬ ened, and the army carried out a coup in 1999.
Pala bronze See Eastern Indian bronze
palace Royal residence, and sometimes a seat of government or a reli¬ gious centre. The word derives from Rome’s Palatine Hill, where the emperors built their residences. The earliest known palaces are those of the Egyptian kings at Thebes, with an outer wall enclosing a labyrinth of rooms and courtyards. Other ancient cultures also built vast palaces (e.g., the Assyrian palaces at Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Nineveh; the Minoan palace at Knossos; and the Persian palaces at Persepolis and Susa). In Rome and Constantinople, palaces reached their peak as centres of power. In Western Europe after the Middle Ages, palaces tended to be single buildings. In Renaissance Italy every prince had his royal palace, usually with an internal court surrounded by an arcade. The court of the Pitti Pal¬ ace in Florence (1560) is an important example of Mannerist architecture. French palaces include the Louvre and Versailles; Spanish palaces include El Escorial and the Alhambra. In contrast to the typical Western format, East Asian palaces, such as the imperial palaces of Japan and those in Beijing’s Forbidden City, consist of many buildings (in these cases, low pavilions mostly of highly decorated wood construction) within vast walled gardens.
Palacky \'pa-lats-ke\, Frantisek (b. June 14, 1798, Hodslavice, Mora¬ via, Austrian Empire—d. May 26, 1876, Prague, Bohemia, Austria- Hungary) Czech historian and politician. His History of Bohemia (5 vol., 1836-67) made him the founder of modern Czech historiography. Sup¬ porting the concept of a federal Austria composed of nationalities with equal rights, he was chairman of the 1848 Prague Slavic congress to pro¬ mote Pan-Slavism. He was a deputy in the Austrian assembly from 1861. His ideas of liberal nationalism later strongly influenced Tomas Masaryk.
Palamas N.pa-la-'masX, Saint Gregory (b. Nov. 11/14, 1296, Constantinople—d. 1359, Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire) Eastern Orthodox priest. From 1332 he was the chief defender of the school of mysticism known as Hesychasm, which integrated repetitive prayer with bodily postures and controlled breathing. His Apology for the Holy Hesy- chasts (1338) is a justification for mystical experience that involves both soul and body; his Book of Holiness (1344) is the fundamental textbook of Byzantine mysticism. He was made bishop of Thessalonica in 1347, and in 1368 he was acclaimed a saint and named Father and Doctor of the Orthodox church.
palate \'pa-lst\ Roof of the mouth, separating the oral and nasal cavi¬ ties. The front two-thirds, the hard palate, is a plate of bone covered by mucous membrane. It gives the tongue a surface against which to make speech sounds and shape food during chewing and keeps pressures in the mouth from closing off the nasal passage. The flexible soft palate behind it is made of muscle and connective tissue and ends in the uvula, a fleshy projection. It rises to block the nasal cavity (see nose) and upper pharynx off from the mouth and lower pharynx for swallowing or to create a vacuum for drinking. Cleft palate, a congenital disorder involving a gap in the palate, can be corrected surgically.
Palatinate \p3-'la-t 3 n-3t\ German Pfalz \'pfalts\ Historical region, now part of Germany. The region was once under the jurisdiction of the counts palatine (secular princes), who in the 14th century became electors of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Palatinate was a stronghold of Protestantism. It was divided into two parts: the Lower, or Rhenish, Palatinate, on both sides of the Rhine River in the area south of the Main River; and the Upper Palatinate, in northern Bavaria around Amberg and Regensburg. The boundaries of the Palatinate varied with the political and dynastic fortunes of the counts palatine.
Palau \p3-'lau\ officially Republic of Palau Island country, western Pacific Ocean. Area: 188 sq mi (488 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 21,100. Capitaclass="underline" Koror (acting); scheduled to move to the island of Babelthuap in 2006. The population is of mixed Malay, Melanesian, Fili¬ pino, and Polynesian ancestry. Languages: Palauan, Sonsorolese-Tobian, English (all official). Religion: Christianity (mostly Roman Catholic; also Protestant, other Christians). Currency: U.S. dollar. The islands of the Palau group are fertile, with mangrove swamps along the coasts, backed
by savanna and palms rising to rainforests in the hills. The major source of employment is government service. Subsistence farming and fishing are the main occupations in the rural areas. Palau is a republic with two legislative houses; its head of state and government is the president. The islands had been under nominal Spanish ownership when they were sold to Germany in 1899. They were seized by Japan in 1914 and taken by Allied forces in 1944 during World War II. Palau became part of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in 1947 and became a sovereign state in 1994; the U.S. provides economic assistance and maintains a military presence in the islands.
Palawan \pa-'la-wan\ Island (pop., 2000: 713,539), southwestern Phil¬ ippines. It is long and narrow and extends northeast to southwest between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea. It has a mountainous backbone that runs its entire length, with the highest peak at Mount Mantalingajan (6,839 ft [2,085 m]). The capital is Puerto Princesa. The similarity of Palawan’s vegetation with that of Borneo is explained by remnants of a Pleistocene Epoch land bridge that connected the two islands. A coastal plain sup¬ ports most of the population and is the main agricultural area of Palawan. Scattered settlement and shifting agriculture predominate, with rice as the main food crop. Oil drilling off the northern coast began in 1992.