Santo Tome de Guayana See Ciudad Guayana Santorini See Thira
Santorio, Santorio Latin Sanctorius (b. March 29, 1561, Capodistria—d. Feb. 22, 1636, Venice) Italian physician. He adapted sev¬ eral of Galileo’s inventions to develop a medical thermometer and a pulse clock. To test Galen’s assertion that respiration also occurs through the skin as “insensible perspiration,” Santorio built a large scale on which he frequently ate, worked, and slept, so he could study his body-weight changes in relation to his solid and liquid intake and output. After 30 years, he found the total of visible excreta was less than the amount ingested; his study marked the introduction of quantitative procedure into medical research. His On Medical Measurement (1614) was the first systematic study of basal metabolism.
SanusT \sa-'nu-se\, al- in full STdi Muhammad ibn ‘All al-Sanusi al-Mujahir7 al-Hasam al-ldrTs! (b. c. 1787, Tursh, near Mostaganem, North Africa—d. Sept. 7, 1859, Jaghbub, Cyrenaica) North African Muslim theologian. He received his religious training in Fes, Mor., which was under strong French influence at the time. He became convinced that the Islamic community needed to revitalize itself in order to shake off foreign domination. Using tactics he had developed preach¬ ing among Bedouin in the Hejaz, he organized tribes in Cyrenaica to resist Italian domination, founding a militant mystical movement, the Sanusiyyah (1837), which helped Libya win its independence in the 20th century. Libya’s first king, Idris I, was his grandson.
Sao Francisco \ 1 sau n m-fra n - , ses-kii\ River River, eastern Brazil. The largest river wholly within Brazil, it flows north and east across the great
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1684 I Sao Paulo ► Sapporo
Central Plateau for about 1,811 mi (2,914 km) to its mouth on the Atlan¬ tic Ocean. The upper river valley is an area of thorny forest vegetation; the climate of the river basin is dry and hot. The fish of the river are an important food source. Hydroelectric dams harness the river and provide power throughout northeastern Brazil.
Sao Paulo \sau n m-'pau-lu\ City (pop., 2002 est.: city, 9,969,100; metro, area, 18,390,800), southeastern Brazil. It is located 30 mi (48 km) from its Atlantic Ocean port of Santos. Founded by Portuguese Jesuits in 1554, it became a base for exploration in the 17th century and a city in 1711. In 1822 it was the scene of the declaration of Brazilian independence by Emperor Pedro I. It developed rapidly from the late 19th century. It is the foremost industrial centre in Latin America, producing steel, motor vehicles, machine tools, and a wide range of consumer goods, including textiles and appliances. It is also Brazil’s largest city, an important cultural and pub¬ lishing centre, and one of the most populous cities in the world.
Sao Tome \sau n -tu-'ma\ City (pop., 1991 est.: 43,420), capital of Sao Tome and Principe. It is on the northeastern coast of the island of Sao Tome, located on the Equator in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the country’s largest city and its major port.
Sao Tome and Principe \sau n -tu-'ma...'pren-se-pe\ officially Demo¬ cratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe Island country, cen¬ tral Africa. It is situated on the Equator in the Gulf of Guinea, west of the African mainland. Area: 386 sq mi (1,001 sq km). Population (2005 est.):
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157,000. Capitaclass="underline" Sao Tome. Most of the people are a mixture of African and Euro¬ pean ancestry or are Fang or Angolares (descendants of former Angolan slaves).
Languages: Portuguese (official), Creole.
Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant). Currency: dobra. The country consists of the two main islands, Sao Tome and Principe, which are separated by about 90 mi (145 km), and a num¬ ber of islets. The two main islands each have northeastern lowlands, cen¬ tral volcanic highlands, and swift-flowing streams. The economy, partly government-controlled and partly private, is based on agriculture and fish¬ ing; it has long depended heavily on international assistance. The coun¬ try is a republic with one legislative house; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. First visited by European navigators in the 1470s, the islands were soon colonized by the Portuguese and were used in the trade and transshipment of slaves. Sugar and cocoa were the main cash crops. The islands became an over¬ seas province of Portugal in 1951 and achieved independence in 1975.
Saone \'son\ River ancient Arar River, eastern France. It flows gen¬ erally south to join the Rhone River at Lyon. It is navigable upstream from
Lyon for 233 mi (375 km) and has 30 locks along its course, which is almost completely canalized. Barge traffic is heavy along its lower course, and it is connected by canal to both the Rhine and Seine rivers.
Saoshyant \saush-'yant\ In Zoroastrianism and Parsiism, the final sav¬ iour of the world. He is the foremost of the three saviours who are post¬ humous sons of Zoroaster. He is expected to appear at the end of the last millennium of the world, miraculously conceived by a virgin who has swum in a lake where Zoroaster’s seed is preserved. He will vanquish demonic power and resurrect the bodies of the dead, bestowing eternal perfection on them after all souls have been cleansed.
Sapir \so-'pir\, Edward (b. Jan. 26, 1884, Lauenburg, Pomerania, Ger.—d. Feb. 4, 1939, New Haven, Conn., U.S.) Polish-born U.S. lin¬ guist and anthropologist. He was a founder of ethnolinguistics, which considers the relationship of culture to language, and a principal devel¬ oper of the American (descriptive) school of structural linguistics. He became widely known for his contributions to the study of American Indian languages. His best-known work is Language (1921).
sapodilla \,sa-p3-'di-b\ Tropical evergreen tree (. Manilkara zapota ) of the family Sapotaceae, native to southern Mexico and northern Cen¬ tral America, and its distinctive fruit.
The rusty-brown fruit is eaten fresh in many tropical and subtropical areas. Its sweet flavour has been compared to a combination of pears and brown sugar. When the fruit is ripe, its shiny black seeds are sur¬ rounded by clear, yellowish brown, juicy flesh; when immature, its flesh contains both tannin and milky latex and is distasteful. The latex is the chief source of gum chicle, once important in the chewing-gum indus¬ try.
sapper Military engineer. The name is derived from the French word sappe (“trench”), which became connected with military engineering in the 17th century, when attackers dug covered trenches to approach the walls of a besieged fort and also undermined the walls by tunneling beneath them. In modern armies, sappers provide tactical support by car¬ rying out construction, including earthworks, portable bridges, and tank traps; build major facilities such as airports, supply roads, fuel depots, and barracks; and handle additional tasks, including disarming and dis¬ posing of land mines and unexploded bombs and preparing and distribut¬ ing maps.
sapphire Transparent to translucent natural or synthetic variety of corundum that is highly prized as a gemstone. Its colour is due mainly to the presence of small amounts of iron and titanium and normally ranges from very pale blue to deep indigo. Colourless, gray, yellow, pale pink, orange, green, violet, and brown varieties also are known as sapphire; red varieties are called ruby. Synthetic sapphire has been produced commer¬ cially since 1902. Much is used in jewelry, but most is used in the manu¬ facture of jewel bearings, gauges, dies, and other specialized components; some also is used as a high-grade abrasive. It is found in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India, and Montana in the U.S.