at age 19. After they had a falling-out, Verlaine shot and wounded Rim¬ baud; afterward their final meeting ended in a violent quarrel. Rimbaud abandoned literature and from 1875 led an international vagabond life as a merchant and trader, mainly in Ethiopia; he died at age 37 after his leg was amputated. The Dionysian power of his verse and his liberation of language from the constraints of form greatly influenced the Symbolist movement and 20th-century poetry.
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay (Andreyevich) (b. March 18,1844, Tikhvin, near Novgorod, Russia—d. June 21, 1908, Lyubensk) Russian composer. While at St. Petersburg’s College of Naval Cadets, he met other composers; Mily Balakirev took a special interest in him, and from 1867 he was included among the group of nationalist composers known as The Five. Returning from his first cruise as a midshipman in 1865, he com¬ pleted his first symphony. In 1873 he left the naval service and assumed charge of military bands as inspector and conductor. As the de facto edi¬ tor and head of an enterprise dedicated to publishing music by Russian composers, he edited several posthumous works of Aleksandr Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky. He wrote many colourful operas, much loved in Rus¬ sia, including Sadko (1896), Mozart and Salieri (1897), The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (1905), and Le Coq d’or (1908); the subjects of most of these are from Russian or Slavic fairy tales, literature, and his¬ tory. Other works include the suite Scheherazade (1888) and the Russian Easter Festival overture. All his works are distinguished by brilliant orchestration. His many students included Aleksandr Glazunov, Sergey Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky.
rinderpest Acute, highly contagious viral disease of ruminants (includ¬ ing wild cloven-hoofed ones), common in Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East. The virus spreads by close direct or indirect con¬ tact. It is the most severe infectious disease of cattle, with sudden onset and high mortality; fever and loss of appetite are followed by symptoms including eye and nasal discharge, laboured breathing, and diarrhea; pros¬ tration, coma, and death follow within 6-12 days. Local eradication depends on controlling it in wild animals and eliminating infected domes¬ tic animals; vaccination combined with quarantine is effective.
ring Circular band of gold, silver, or other precious or decorative mate¬ rial usually worn on the finger, but sometimes on the toes, the ears, or the nose. The earliest examples were found in the tombs of ancient Egypt. In addition to being worn as adornment, rings have functioned as symbols of authority, fidelity, or social status. In the early Roman republic, most were made of iron, gold being reserved for persons of high status; but by the 3rd century bc anyone except a slave could wear a gold ring. The Romans are thought to have originated engagement rings, symbolizing a promise of marriage. In the Middle Ages, signet rings were important in religious, legal, and commercial transactions; memorial, posy, and keep¬ sake rings served sentimental purposes; occult rings supposedly had magi¬ cal powers; and poison rings had hollow bezels that could be filled with poison for the purpose of suicide or homicide.
ring In modern algebra, a set of elements with two operations, referred to as “addition” and “multiplication,” that conform to certain conditions. These specify that the set is closed under both operations, the associative law holds for both operations, the commutative law holds for addition, the distributive law holds, there is an additive identity (known as zero), and every element has an additive inverse (see inverse function). The set of integers is a ring. See also field theory.
Ring of Fire Name given to a belt of seismic and volcanic activity roughly surrounding the Pacific Ocean. It includes the Andes Mountains of South America, the coastal regions of western Central America and North America, the Aleutian and Kuril islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan, eastern Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, and the island arcs of the western Pacific. About three-fourths of all historically recorded active volcanoes have occurred in this belt. See also plate tectonics.
Ringgold, Faith (b. Oct. 8, 1930, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. artist, author, and political activist. She began teaching art in New York’s pub¬ lic schools in the 1950s. In 1963 she began her “American People” series of paintings, which dealt with the civil-rights movement from a female perspective. In the 1970s she became active in promoting feminist art and the racial integration of the New York art world. Her famous “story quilts,” inspired by Tibetan tankas, depict stories set in the context of African American history. She adapted one of her quilts. Tar Beach, as a children’s book and went on to publish other books for children.
Rimbaud, detail from "Un Coin de table," oil painting by Henri Fantin- Latour, 1872; in the Louvre, Paris
GIRAUDON-ART RESOURCE
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1624 I Ringling Brothers ► ripple mark
Ringling Brothers Family of U.S. circus owners. After five of the seven brothers formed a song-and- dance troupe (1882), they began to add circus acts to their show. In 1884 they organized their first small circus in their hometown, Baraboo, Wis., and toured the Midwest in circus wagons. In 1890 they began moving their wagons by railway. They acquired smaller circuses from 1900, and in 1907 they bought the Barnum & Bailey Circus, thus becoming the leading U.S. circus. The guiding managers were Charles Ringling (1863-1926) and later John Ringling (1866-1936), whose acquisition of American Circus Corp. in 1929 brought 11 major circuses under Rin¬ gling control. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus contin¬ ues to perform, though it passed out of Ringling family hands in 1967.
rings Event in men’s gymnastics in which a pair of rubber-coated metal rings suspended from a ceiling or crossbar are used to perform hanging, swinging, and balancing feats. The rings themselves must remain essen¬ tially stationary. There must be at least two handstands in an exercise, one attained by strength and the other utilizing body swing. Strength move¬ ments on the rings include the iron cross (holding the body vertical with the arms fully stretched sideways) and the lever (hanging with straight arms with the body stretched out horizontally).
ringworm Superficial skin changes caused by certain fungi (see fun¬ gus) that live on the skin, feeding on keratin. Skin responses vary from slight scaling to blistering and marked disruption of the keratin layer (depending on body area and type of fungus), usually in a ring shape. It includes athlete's foot, jock itch, and fungal infections of the body, hands, nails, and scalp. While the last is very contagious, spread of other types depends on susceptibility and predisposing factors (e.g., excessive per¬ spiration). Ringworm is treated with medications applied to the skin or taken orally.
Rio de Janeiro City (pop., 2002 est.: city, 5,937,300; metro, area, 11,121,300) and port, southeastern Brazil. The site was founded by the Por¬ tuguese in the early 16th century and became important in the 18th century as an outlet for mineral exports from gold and diamond mines. Located on one of the largest harbours in the world and known for its scenic views, it was the capital of Brazil from 1822 to 1960, when the national capital was moved to Brasilia. It is the country’s second largest manufacturing centre after Sao Paulo. Major industries include metallurgy and food processing. Noted for its wide streets, public buildings, beaches (see Copacabana), and public parks and gardens, it is a leading tourist and resort centre.
Rio de la Plata See Rio de la Plata
Rio de la Plata, Viceroyalty of the Last of the four viceroyalties that Spain created to govern its New World colonies. Established in 1776 as means of decentralizing rule in the Spanish empire, it controlled an area previously administered by the Viceroyalty of Peru and included what is now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Successive viceroys defended the territory against encroachment by Portugal and Britain and helped Buenos Aires become a flourishing outpost of the Spanish empire. Salted meat from the cattle ranches of the interior, exported to meet the demand for cheap food for slaves, brought unprecedented wealth to the colony. In 1810 the Creoles created a provisional junta and sent the vice¬ roy into exile. See also New Granada;New Spain.