Quercia, Jacopo della See Jacopo della Quercia
Quercy \ker-'se\ Historical and cultural region, southwestern France. The district was organized in Gallo-Roman times and was occupied by the Franks in the 6th century. It was contested by England and France throughout the Middle Ages. United with the French crown in 1472, it suffered severely during the Wars of Religion of the 16th century. It is well forested with oaks of the genus Quercus that give the region its name. There are vineyards around Cahors that produce rich red wines.
Queretaro City (pop., 2000: 536,463), capital of Queretaro state, Mexico. Situated on the Mexican Plateau about 6,100 ft (1,860 m) above sea level, it is an excellent example of a Spanish colonial city. Founded by the Otomi Indians, it was incorporated into the Aztec empire in 1446. Brought under Spanish control in 1531, it became an important supply centre for the rich mining districts of Guanajuato and Zacatecas. Emperor Maximilian was executed there in 1867 after his defeat by the forces of Benito Juarez. The Mexican Constitution of 1917 was written in Queretaro. It is the site of one of Mexico’s oldest and largest cotton factories; tex¬ tiles and pottery are also produced there.
Queretaro \ka-'ra-ta-,ro\ State (pop., 2000: 1,404,306), central Mexico. It has an area of 4,420 sq mi (11,449 sq km), and its capital is Queretaro city. Situated on the central plateau, it is almost evenly divided between mountainous areas in the north and plains and valleys in the south that form part of Mexico’s Bajfo region. In 1531 the area was conquered by Spain, which began colonization in the 1550s. It was administered with Guanajuato before it became a state in 1824. Chief mineral products are opals and mercury. Medicinal plants, sweet potatoes, fruits, and grains are among the many crops cultivated.
Quesada, Gonzalo Jimenez de See Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada
Quesnay \ka-'na\, Francois (b. June 4, 1694, near Paris, France—d. Dec. 16, 1774, Versailles) French physician and economist. He served as consulting physician to Louis XV at Versailles, where he developed an interest in economics. In his Tableau economique (1758), he described the relationship between the different economic classes of society and the flow of payments among them, and he developed the concept of economic equilibrium used by many later economic analysts. An advocate of laissez- faire economic policy, he became the intellectual leader of the physiocrat, the first systematic school of political economy.
Quetelet \ket-'le\, (Lambert) Adolphe (Jacques) (b. Feb. 22, 1796, Ghent, Belg.—d. Feb. 17, 1874, Brussels) Belgian statistician, soci¬ ologist, and astronomer. He is known for his application of statistics and
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quetzal ► Quine I 1577
the theory of probability to social phenomena. He collected and analyzed government statistics on crime, mortality, and other subjects and devised improvements in census taking. In Sur I’homme (1835) and L’Anthropometrie (1871) he developed the notion of the homme moyen, the statistically “average man.” A founder of quantitative social science, he was nonetheless widely criticized for the crudeness of his methodology.
quetzal \ket-'sal\ Any of several tropical arboreal, short-billed, fruit¬ eating birds (genus Pharomachrus) in the trogon family (Trogonidae), whose weak feet have, uniquely, the second toe directed backward. It was the sacred bird of the ancient Mayas and Aztecs. Today the quetzal, found in remote parts of cloud forests from southern Mexico to Bolivia, is the national emblem of Guatemala (whose monetary unit is the quetzal). The resplendent, or Guatemalan, quetzal is about 50 in. (125 cm) long. Long blue-green plumes cover the tail; the breast and head, with a rounded hairlike crest, are gold-green; the blue back has a curly gold-tinged mantle; and the belly is red. The quetzal is now listed as endangered.
Quetzalcoatl V.kat-sal-'ko-a-tol, .kat-sal-ko-'a-toL Feathered Serpent, a major deity of ancient Mexico.
Quetzalcoatl began as a god of veg¬ etation in the Teotihuacan civiliza¬ tion. For the Toltecs he was the god of the morning and evening star. The Aztecs revered him as the patron of priests, the inventor of the calendar and of books, and the protector of goldsmiths and other craftsmen. He was also identified with the planet Venus and was a symbol of death and resurrection. One myth held that he was a white priest-king who sailed away on a raft made of snakes. The belief that he would someday return from the east led Montezuma II to regard Hernan Cortes as the fulfill¬ ment of the prophecy.
queuing \'kyu-iq\ theory Study of the behaviour of queues (waiting lines) and their elements. Queuing theory is a tool for studying several performance parameters of computer systems and is particularly useful in locating the reasons for “bottle¬ necks,” compromised computer per¬ formance caused by too much data waiting to be acted on at a particular phase. Queue size and waiting time can be looked at, or items within queues can be studied and manipulated according to factors such as priority, size, or time of arrival.
Quezon \'ka-son\ (y Molina), Manuel (Luis) (b. Aug. 19, 1878, Baler, Phil.—d. Aug. 1, 1944, Saranac Lake, N.Y., U.S.) Filipino states¬ man. Quezon fought in the Philippine-American War but became convinced after the Philippines’ defeat that the only way to independence was through cooperation with the U.S. He served in the Philippine Assembly (1907-09). As the Philippines’ representative in the U.S. House of Rep¬ resentatives (1909-16), he played a major role in obtaining Congress’s pledge of independence for the Philippines (1916) and fought for passage of the Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934), which laid out a timetable for inde¬ pendence. He became president of the Commonwealth (a precursor to the independent republic) in 1935 and was reelected in 1941; when Japan occupied the Philippines in 1942, he formed a government-in-exile in the U.S. He did not live to see full independence for the Philippines. Quezon City is named in his honour.
Quezon Vka-,son\ City City (pop., 2000: 2,173,831), Luzon Island, Philippines, northeast of Manila. Named for Pres. Manuel Quezon, who selected the site in 1939, it replaced Manila as the capital in 1948. Con¬ sidered part of metropolitan Manila, it began to grow after World War II with the construction of many government buildings. The seat of gov¬ ernment moved back to Manila in 1976. The city is home to two major universities.
Quiche or K'iche or Kiche \ke-'cha\ Indian group of the Guatemalan highlands, largest of all ethnic groups speaking a Maya language. The Quiche Maya had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times.
Records of their history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh. Traditional Quiche are agricultural. Their homes are thatched huts, and they practice weaving and pottery. Nominally Roman Catholic, they con¬ duct traditional rituals as well. Many were killed or displaced during the Guatemalan military’s counterinsurgency campaign of the early 1980s.
quicklime See lime
quicksand State in which water-saturated sand loses its supporting capacity and acquires the characteristics of a liquid. Quicksand is usually found in a hollow at the mouth of a large river or along a flat stretch of stream or beach where pools of water become partly filled with sand and an underlying layer of stiff clay or other dense material prevents drain¬ age. Mixtures of sand, mud, and vegetation in bogs often act like true quicksands. Any sand may become “quick” if its effective weight is being carried by water between the grains. In that case, even a footstep may collapse the loose structure. The sand-water suspension is denser than an animal or human body, so the body cannot sink below the surface, but struggling may lead to loss of balance and drowning.