barangay \,bar-9n-'gl\ Type of early Filipino settlement. The term was derived from balangay, the sailboats that brought Malay settlers to the Philippines from Borneo. Each boat carried a family group that estab¬ lished a village. These villages, which sometimes grew to include 30-100 families, remained isolated from one another; the fact that no larger politi¬ cal grouping emerged (except on Mindanao) facilitated the 16th-century Spanish conquest. The Spanish retained the barangay as a unit of local administration.
Barataria \,bar-9-'tar-e-9\ Bay Inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, southeast¬ ern Louisiana, U.S. The bay is about 15 mi (24 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide, and its entrance is a narrow channel, navigable through con¬ necting waterways into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system. The area is noted for its shrimp industry and natural-gas and oil wells. Jean Laffite and his brother organized a colony of pirates around its coast in 1810— 14, and it is sometimes called Laffite Country.
Barbados \bar-'ba-d9s\ Island country, West Indies. The most easterly of the Caribbean islands, it lies about 100 mi (160 km) east of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Area: 166 sq mi (430 sq km). Population (2005 est.):
North
Point
CARIBBEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
SEA
Speightstown # Westmoreland * Holetown
Ml Hillaby .1,104 ft.
*HiIlcrest
^Bennetts
Prospect Jackson
Bridgetown
Carlisle \
Bay < -x_
( ) ISlit I A 'Q i S ti n s Bay —T"'
South
Point
Thicket )
Marchfield * Cljamocks
Ragged
Point
g> 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
270,000. Capitaclass="underline" Bridgetown. More than nine-tenths of the population is of African ancestry. Language: English (official). Religion: Christianity (mostly Protestant).
Currency: Barbados dollar. Largely cov¬ ered by a layer of coral, Barbados is low and flat except in its north-central part; its highest point is Mount Hillaby, at 1,115 ft (340 m). There is little surface water. The island is almost encircled by coral reefs. Bridgetown is its only seaport. The economy is based on tourism and sugar, while the off¬ shore financial sector is growing. Barbados is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the British monarch, rep¬ resented by a governor-general, and the head of government is the prime minister. The island was probably inhabited originally by Arawak and later by Carib Indians. Spaniards may have landed by 1518, and by 1536 they had apparently wiped out the Indian population. Barbados was settled
by the English in the 1620s. Slaves were brought in to work the sugar plantations, which were especially prosperous in the 17th—18th century. The British Empire abolished slavery in 1834, and all the Barbados slaves were freed by 1838. In 1958 Barbados joined the West Indies Federation. When the latter dissolved in 1962, Barbados sought independence from Britain, which it gained in 1966.
Barbara, Saint (d. 200; feast day December 4) Early Christian mar¬ tyr and patroness of artillerymen. She was the daughter of a pagan, Dios- corus, who kept her guarded to protect her beauty and virginity. When she converted to Christianity he became enraged and took her to the Roman prefect, who ordered her to be tortured and beheaded. Her father per¬ formed the execution himself, and on the way home he was struck by lightning and reduced to ashes. Barbara was a popular saint during the Middle Ages and was invoked for aid in thunderstorms. She was dropped from the church calendar in 1969.
Barbarossa \,bar-b9-'ra-s9\ orig. Khidr later Khayr al-DTn (d.
1546) Greek Turkish pirate and admiral in the service of the Ottoman Empire. He and his brother c Aruj, sons of a Turk from Lesbos, hated the Spanish and Portuguese for their attacks on North Africa and took up piracy on the Barbary Coast in hopes of seizing an African domain for themselves. When c Aruj was killed in 1518, Khidr took the title Khayr al-Dln. He offered allegiance to the Ottoman sultan and in return received military aid that enabled him to capture Algiers in 1529. Appointed admi¬ ral in chief of the Ottoman Empire (1533), he conquered all of Tunisia. Emperor Charles V captured Tunis in 1535, but Khayr al-Dln defeated his fleet at the Battle of Preveza (1538), securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years. His red beard was the source of the epithet Barbarossa, used by Europeans.
Barbary Coast Mediterranean coastal region. North Africa. It extends from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. Once part of Roman Africa, the region was overrun by Vandals in the 5th century ad. Reconquered by the East¬ ern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire) c. ad 533, it was overcome by Arabs during the 7th century and was eventually broken up into the independent Muslim polities known collectively as the Barbary states (Morocco, Alge¬ ria [Algiers], Tunisia [Tunis], and Libya [Tripoli]). For centuries the coast was notorious as a haven for pirates, who ravaged shipping and collected tribute from European states. After the U.S. war with Tripoli (see Tripol¬ itan War), the U.S. expedition to Algiers (1815), and the bombardment of Algiers by the British (1816), the pirates ceased exacting tribute.
Barbary macaque Tailless, terrestrial monkey ( Macaca sylvana) found in groups in Algeria and Morocco and on the Rock of Gibral¬ tar. It is about 24 in. (60 cm) long and has yellowish brown fur and a bald, pale pink face. Lacking a tail, this macaque has often been incorrectly called an ape. It is the only wild monkey in Europe and may have arrived in medieval times, taken westward during the Muslim Arab territorial expansion. According to legend, British dominion over Gibraltar will end when the Barbary macaque departs.
Barber, Red orig. Walter Lanier Barber (b. Feb. 17,1908, Colum¬ bus, Miss., U.S.—d. Oct. 22, 1992, Tallahassee, Fla.) U.S. sports broad¬ caster. He became the radio and television announcer for the baseball games of the Cincinnati Reds (1934-39), Brooklyn Dodgers (1939-53), and New York Yankees (1954-66). He combined technical expertise with homespun comments; his signature exclamation was “Oh-ho, Doctor!” He provided weekly commentary on National Public Radio from 1981 and wrote two books on baseball and an autobiography.
Barber, Samuel (b. March 9, 1910, West Chester, Pa., U.S.—d. Jan. 23, 1981, New York, N.Y.) U.S. composer. He studied piano, voice, con¬ ducting, and composition at the Curtis Institute. After graduation in 1934, he devoted himself to composition. Barber’s style, frequently lyrical and neo-Romantic, proved highly attractive to the public. His works include the popular Adagio for Strings (1936), two Essays for Orchestra (1937, 1942), the opera Vanessa (1957, Pulitzer Prize), and a Piano Concerto (1962, Pulitzer Prize).
Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvana).
TOM MCHUGH/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
166 I barberry ► Bard College
barberry Any of the almost 500 species of thorny evergreen or decidu¬ ous shrubs constituting the genus Berberis. The genus is the largest and most important group in the fam¬ ily Berberidaceae, of the buttercup order. Most barberries are native to the northern temperate zone, particu¬ larly Asia. Barberry bushes have yel¬ low wood and yellow flowers. The fruit of several species is made into jellies. Other members of the same family include heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), an indoor pot¬ ted plant; mayapple ( Podophyllum peltatum), a woodland wildflower;
Epimedium, a ground cover; and Oregon grape ( Mahonia ), a genus of broad-leaved evergreen shrubs.
barbershop quartet Popular vocal ensemble consisting of four unac¬ companied male voices. The voice parts are tenor, lead, baritone, and bass, with the lead normally singing the melody and the tenor harmonizing above. The emphasis is on close harmony, synchronization of word sounds, and variation of tempo, volume, diction, and phrasing. Barber¬ shop apparently originated in the U.S. in the late 19th century, when American barbershops formed social and musical centres for neighbour¬ hood men, though the term may derive from “barber’s music,” the Brit¬ ish term for an extemporized performance by patrons waiting to be shaved and referring to a barber’s traditional role as a musician.