Texas Rangers Loosely organized police force in Texas. The first members were “minutemen” hired by U.S. settlers as protection against Indian attacks in the 1830s. They did not wear uniforms or salute their officers but were highly disciplined and known for their marksmanship, making the six-shooter (the Colt revolver) the weapon of the West. At their peak in the 1870s, the Rangers brought law and order to hundreds of miles of Texas frontier. In 1935 they were merged with the state high¬ way patrol.
Texcoco \tas-'ko-k6\, Lake Lake, central Mexico. Originally one of the five lakes of the Valley of Mexico, Texcoco has been drained by chan¬ nels and a tunnel to the Panuco River since the early 17th century. It now
occupies only a small area surrounded by salt marshes just east of Mexico City. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, stood on islands in old Lake Texcoco and was connected to the mainland by causeways.
textile Any filament, fibre, or yarn that can be made into fabric or cloth, and the resulting material itself. The word originally referred only to woven fabrics but now includes knitted, bonded, felted, and tufted fab¬ rics as well. The basic raw materials used in textile production are fibres, either obtained from natural sources (e.g., wool) or produced from chemi¬ cal substances (e.g., nylon and polyester). Textiles are used for wearing apparel, household linens and bedding, upholstery, draperies and curtains, wall coverings, rugs and carpets, and bookbindings, in addition to being used widely in industry.
Tezcatlipoca V.tas-kat-le-'po-koV Omnipotent god of the Aztec pantheon and god of the constellation Ursa Major. The protector of slaves, he severely punished masters who ill-treated them. He is said to have put an end to the Toltecs’ golden age. Each year his worshipers selected a hand¬ some prisoner of war who was allowed to live in princely luxury for a year before being sacrificed. Tezcatlipoca is represented in art with an obsidian mirror, in which he sees all, on his chest or in place of a foot.
Thackeray, William Makepeace (b. July 18, 1811, Calcutta, India—d. Dec. 24, 1863, London,
Eng.) English novelist. He studied law and art but soon became a pro¬ lific writer for periodicals, using a variety of pen names. His early writ¬ ings appear in such volumes as The Book of Snobs (1848), a collection of his articles from Punch ; and Miscel¬ lanies (1855-57), which includes the historical novel Barry Lyndon (1844). His fame rests chiefly on the novels Vanity Fair ( 1847—48), a pan¬ oramic survey of English manners and human frailties set in the Napo¬ leonic era, and Henry Esmond (1852), set in the early 18th century.
Pendennis (1848-50) is a partly fic¬ tionalized autobiography. In his time he was regarded as the only possible rival of Charles Dickens for his pic¬ tures of contemporary life, but his popularity declined in the 20th cen¬ tury.
Thailand \'tl-,land\ officially Kingdom of Thailand formerly Siam Country, mainland Southeast Asia. Area: 198,116 sq mi (513,119 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 64,186,000. Capitaclass="underline" Bangkok. The population is predominantly Thai, with significant Chinese, Khmer, and Malay minori¬ ties. Language: Thai (official). Religions: Buddhism (official); also Islam. Currency: Thai baht. The country encompasses forested hills and moun¬ tains, a central plain containing the Chao Phraya River delta, and a plateau in the northeast. Its market economy is based largely on services (nota¬ bly trade) and light industries; agriculture employs a large proportion of the workforce. Thailand is a major producer of tungsten and tin. Among its chief agricultural products are rice, corn, rubber, soybeans, and pine¬ apples; manufactures include clothing, canned goods, electronic equip¬ ment, and cement. Tourism is also important. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the king, and the head of government is the prime minister. The region of Thailand has been continuously occupied for 20,000 years. It was part of the Mon and Khmer kingdoms from the 9th century ad. Thai-speaking peoples immi¬ grated from China c. the 10th century. During the 13th century two Thai states emerged: the Sukhothai kingdom, founded c. 1220 after a successful revolt against the Khmer, and Chiang Mai (which evolved into the king¬ dom of Lan Na with Chiang Mai as its capital), founded in 1296 after defeating the Mon. In 1351 the Tai kingdom of Ayutthaya (Siam) suc¬ ceeded the Sukhothai. Myanmar (Burma) was its most powerful rival, Burman armies occupying it briefly in the 16th century and destroying it in 1767. The Chakri dynasty came to power in 1782, moved the capital to Bangkok, and extended its empire along the Malay Peninsula and into Laos and Cambodia. The empire was formally named Siam in 1856. Although Western influence increased during the 19th century, Siam’s rulers avoided colonization by granting concessions to European coun-
William Makepeace Thackeray, detail of an oil painting by Samuel Laurence; in the National Portrait Gallery, Lon¬ don.
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
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© 2002 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. MALAYSIA
tries; it was the only Southeast Asian coun¬ try able to do so. In 1917 Siam entered World War I on the side of the Allies. Fol¬ lowing a military coup in 1932, it became a constitutional monarchy and was offi¬ cially renamed Thailand in 1939. It was occupied by Japan in World War II. It participated in the Korean War as a member of the UN forces and was allied with South Vietnam in the Vietnam War. The country subse¬ quently became a regional economic powerhouse, though serious social problems also emerged, including a growing gap between rich and poor and a major AIDS epidemic.
Thailand, Gulf of formerly Gulf of Siam Inlet of the South China Sea. Mostly bordering Thailand, though Cambodia and Vietnam form its southeastern shore, it is 300-350 mi (500-560 km) wide and 450 mi (725 km) long. Thailand’s main harbours lie along its shores, its waters are important fishing grounds, and beaches along its coast are popular tourist attractions.
Thalberg, Irving G(rant) (b. May 30, 1899, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—d. Sept. 14, 1936, Santa Monica, Calif.) U.S. film executive. He suffered from health problems at a young age, and fearing his life would not be a long one, he threw himself into his career, joining Universal Pic¬ tures after completing high school. He soon became Universal’s studio manager in Hollywood. Hired by MGM as head of production in 1925, he became known as the “boy wonder of Hollywood.” He tightly con¬ trolled MGM’s output by supervising script selection and final film edit¬ ing, and he was responsible for the high quality of movies such as The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Romeo and Juliet (1936) and for making stars of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald with Naughty Marietta (1935). Thalberg was one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.