tartan Cross-checkered repeating pattern (or “sett”) of bands, stripes, or lines of various colours and of defi¬ nite width and sequence, woven into woolen cloth, sometimes with silk added. Such patterns have existed for centuries in many cultures but have come to be regarded as fundamen¬ tally Scottish and as a quasi-heraldic Scottish family or clan emblem.
Though claims of great antiquity have been made for Scottish tartans, few seem to predate the 17th or even 18th century as clan emblems. The Scottish Tartans Society (founded 1963) maintains a register of all known tartans, numbering about
1,300.
Tartar See Tatar
Tartarus \'tar-te-res\ In Greek mythology, the lowest depths of the underworld. It was a region of eter- Royd Stuart (Slewart) tartan nal darkness where the evil were the Scottish tartans society/museum punished after death for having
offended the gods. Here Zeus confined the Titans, who were prevented from escaping by hundred-armed giants. Later classical authors some¬ times used Tartarus interchangeably with Hades to designate the entire underworld.
Tartikoff Vtar-ti-.koA, Brandon (b. Jan. 13, 1949, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Aug. 27, 1997, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. television executive. He successfully promoted local ABC television stations before being hired by Fred Silverman as ABC’s director of dramatic development. From 1978 the two men worked together at NBC, and in 1980 Tartikoff became president of NBC entertainment (then the bottom-rated television net¬ work) and the youngest division chief in U.S. network history. He devel¬ oped dramatic series such as St. Elsewhere and Hill Street Blues as well as the popular sitcoms Family Ties, The Golden Girls, The Cosby Show, Cheers, and Seinfeld, making NBC the top-rated network. Tartikoff later became head of Paramount Pictures and New World Entertainment.
Taru See Tarhun
tashblh \tash-'be, tash-'be-hoX In Islam, the comparison of God to cre¬ ated things. The practice of attributing human characteristics to the deity is regarded as a sin in Islamic theology, as is its opposite, ta'til (divesting God of all attributes). The difficulty of dealing with the nature of God in Islam arises from seemingly contradictory views in the Qur’an, which describes God as unique, yet also refers to him as having eyes, ears, hands, and face. Tashblh is forbidden out of the fear that its practice will lead to paganism and idolatry; ta'tll is feared to lead to atheism.
Tashkent \tash-'kent, tash-'kend\ or Toshkent City (pop., 1998 est.: 2,124,000), capital of Uzbekistan. Dating from about the 1st century bc,
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1876 I Tasman ► Tate
it was an important trade centre on the caravan routes to Europe and East Asia. The Arabs conquered it in the early 8th century; it fell to the Mon¬ gols in the 13th century and was under Turkish control in the 14th—15th centuries. Taken by the Russians in 1865, it was made the administrative centre of Turkistan in 1867, and a new European city grew up beside the old native one. The city was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1966. Today it is the main economic and cultural centre of Central Asia. Its many institutions of higher education include the Uzbek Academy of Sciences
(1943).
Tasman Vtas-manX, Abel Janszoon (b. 1603?, Lutjegast, Neth.—d. probably before Oct. 22, 1659, certainly before Feb. 5, 1661) Dutch explorer. In the service of the Dutch East India Company, he made explor¬ atory and trading voyages to East and Southeast Asia (1634-39). In 1642 he was sent by Anthony van Diemen to find the hypothetical southern con¬ tinent of the Pacific and a possible route to Chile. Sailing from Batavia (modern Jakarta), he reached 49° S at 94° E, then turned north and dis¬ covered land he named Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), then sailed along the coast of New Zealand, believing it to be the southern continent. He also discovered Tonga and the Fiji Islands. On his next voyage (1644) he sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and along the northern and western coasts of Australia.
Tasman Peninsula \'taz-mon\ Peninsula, southeastern Tasmania, Aus¬ tralia. About 26 mi (42 km) long by 20 mi (32 km) wide, it has sea cliffs and unusual rock formations. First explored in 1642, it was not settled until a penal colony was established at Port Arthur in 1830. Its partly restored ruins are now a tourist attraction, and the peninsula is part of Australia’s National Estate.
Tasman Sea Part of the South Pacific Ocean, between southeastern Australia and western New Zealand. About 1,400 mi (2,250 km) wide, it has maximum depths exceeding 17,000 ft (5,200 m) in the Tasman Basin. Explored by Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642 and by Capt. James Cook in the 1770s, it is notoriously stormy. Economic resources include fisheries and petroleum deposits.
Tasmania \taz-ma-ne-d\ formerly Van Diemen's Vde-monzX Land Island (pop., 2005 est.: 485,199) and state, Australia. Located off the southeastern comer of the continent and separated from it by Bass Strait, the state has an area of 26,410 sq mi (68,400 sq km) that also includes numerous smaller islands. Hobart is the capital. Originally inhabited by Australian Aboriginals, the island was explored and named Van Diemen’s Land by Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642. Taken by the British in the early 1800s and made a colony in 1825, it was used as an auxiliary penal settle¬ ment until the 1850s. It was granted self-government and renamed Tas¬ mania in 1856; it became a state of the Australian Commonwealth in 1901. Chief economic activities include copper, zinc, tin, and tungsten mining; livestock raising, especially sheep for wool; and tourism. Several natural areas, collectively called the Tasman Wilderness, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982 (extended in 1989).
Tasmanian Any member of a now-extinct population of Tasmania. An isolate population of Australian Aboriginals who entered Tasmania 25,000-40,000 years ago, they were cut off from the mainland when a general rise in the sea level flooded the Bass Strait about 10,000 years ago. Subsistence was based on hunting land and sea mammals and col¬ lecting shellfish and vegetable food. The first permanent white settlement was made in Tasmania in 1803, and the settlers provoked a war in 1804. Of an estimated 4,000 Tasmanians present when the Europeans first arrived, only 200 remained by the 1830s; moved to Flinders Island for their protection, they did not survive long in their new home, and the last full-blooded Tasmanian died in 1876.
Tasmanian devil Marsupial spe¬ cies ( Sarcophilus harrisii or S. ursi- nus, family Dasyuridae), now extinct on the Australian mainland, that sur¬ vives in remote rocky areas of Tas¬ mania. It is 30^10 in. (75-100 cm) long, with a stocky body, large head and jaws, and long bushy tail. The coat is usually black and brown with a white-marked breast. Named for its devilish expression and husky snarl, Tasmanian devi | ( s arcop f,;/ us harrisii). it is mainly a scavenger of wallaby JO hn yates/shostalassociates
and sheep carcasses but also eats beetle larvae and occasionally poultry. Its three or four young remain in the mother’s pouch about five months.
Tasmanian wolf or Tasmanian tiger or thylacine Extinct, slen¬ der, fox-faced marsupial ( Thylacinus cynocephalus, family Thylacinidae), 40-50 in. (100-130 cm) long. It was yellowish brown, with dark bars on the back and rump. It hunted at night for wallabies and birds. The female carried her young in a shallow pouch. Once found on the Australian mainland and New Guinea, it was confined to Tasmania in historical times, when competition with the dingo led to its disappearance from the mainland. Europeans in Tasmania hunted it to protect their sheep; the last known individual died in captivity in 1936.