Tselinograd See Astana Tseng Kuo-fan See Zeng Guofan
tsetse fly Vtset-se, 'tse-tse\ Any of about 21 species (genus Glossina, family Muscidae) of African bloodsucking dipterans that are robust, sparsely bristled, and usually larger than a housefly. They have stiff, pierc¬ ing mouthparts. Only two species commonly transmit the protozoan para¬ sites (trypanosomes) that cause human sleeping sickness: G. palpalis, found primarily in dense streamside vegetation, and G. morsitans , found in more open woodlands. The female requires a sufficient blood meal to produce viable larvae, but both sexes suck blood almost daily.
Tshombe Ychom-baX, Moise (-Kapenda) (b. Nov. 10, 1919, Musumba, Belgian Congo—d. June 29, 1969, Algiers, Alg.) President of the secessionist African state of Katanga (1960-63) and premier of the united Congo Republic (1964-65). After losing national elections to Patrice Lumumba in 1960, Tshombe declared his Katanga province inde¬ pendent. When the UN intervened in 1963, he was forced into exile; he returned the following year as premier in Joseph Kasavubu’s government but was dismissed in 1965. See also Mobutu Sese Seko.
Tsimshian Vchim-she-9n\ One of the peoples of the Northwest Coast Indians living in the Skeena and Nass river area in west-central British Columbia, Can., and southern Alaska, U.S. The Tsimshian dialects belong to the family of Penutian languages. The traditional economy was based on fishing, with some hunting in winter. Large winter houses, made of wood and often carved and painted, symbolized family wealth. Descent was traced through the maternal line. Lineages functioned largely inde¬ pendently, but all participated in major ceremonies and in warfare. Vari¬ ous important events were marked by a potlatch. At the turn of the 21st century the Tsimshian numbered in the thousands.
Tsinan See Jinan Tsinghai See Qinghai Tso chuan See Zuo zhuan
Ts'u-hsi See Cixi
Tsugaru \tsu-'gar-u\ Strait Strait, northwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to the open ocean between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan. It is 15—25 mi (24^10 km) wide. The Seikan Tunnel linking Aomori and Hakodate cities runs beneath the strait. Completed in 1988, it is the longest railway tunnel in the world; 14.5 mi (23.3 km) of its 33.5 mi (53.9 km) length lie under the strait.
tsunami \tsu-'na-me\ or seismic sea wave or tidal wave Cata¬ strophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake. Under¬ water or coastal landslides or volcanic eruptions also may cause tsunamis. The term tsunami is Japanese for “harbour wave.” The term tidal wave is a misnomer, because the wave has no connection with the tides. Perhaps
Sojourner Truth.
COURTESY OF THE BURTON HISTORICAL COLLECTION, DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Tsvet > Tubman I 1945
the most destructive tsunami ever occurred in 2004 in the Indian Ocean, after an earthquake struck the seafloor off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. More than 200,000 people were killed in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and other countries as far away as Somalia on the Horn of Africa.
Tsvet \'tsvet\, Mikhail (Semyonovich) Tsvet also spelled Tsvett or Tswett (b. May 14, 1872, Asti, Italy—d. June 26, 1919, Voronezh, Russian S.F.S.R.) Italian-born Russian botanist and chemist. He is cred¬ ited with the discovery (in 1903) and application of chromatography. In 1910 he described how he extracted plant pigments with ether and alcohol and percolated the solution through columns of calcium carbonate or powdered sugar; the different pigments appeared as separate coloured bands. Tsvet discovered several new chlorophylls and coined the words chromatography and carotenoid. His work was not discovered by main¬ stream Western scientists for nearly 30 years.
Tsvetayeva \tsv y i-'ta-y3-v9\, Marina (Ivanovna) (b. Oct. 8, 1892, Moscow, Russia—d. Aug. 31, 1941, Yelabuga) Russian poet. After spend¬ ing most of her youth in Moscow, she began studies at the Sorbonne in Paris at age 16. She published her first poetry collection in 1910. Her verses on the Russian Revolution glorify the anti-Bolshevik resistance, of which her husband was a part. She lived abroad from 1922 to 1939, mostly in Paris, writing varied works including poetry that increasingly reflected nostalgia for her homeland. Many of her best and most typical poetic qualities are displayed in the long verse fairy tale Tsar-devitsa (1922; “Tsar-Maiden”). Separated from her husband and daughter and isolated from friends after the evacuation of Moscow, she committed suicide. Though little known outside Russia, she is considered one of the finest 20th-century poets in Russian.
Tswana Vtswa-noV Westerly division of the Sotho peoples of South Africa and Botswana. The Tswana, numbering 4.1 million, live in a grass¬ land environment in which they raise livestock and grow com and sor¬ ghum. There is a seasonal migration of Tswana men, many of whom work in the mining and industrial centres of South Africa.
Tu Fu See Du Fu t'u-ti See tudi
Tuamotu X.tu-o-'mo-tiA Archipelago Group of about 80 islands (pop., 1996: 14,283), French Polynesia. The archipelago comprises 75 atolls, one raised coral atoll (Makatea), and innumerable coral reefs, roughly dispersed northwest-southeast as a double chain for over 900 miles (1,450 km). Europeans visited the islands in the 16th—17th centu¬ ries. France occupied them in 1844 and annexed them in 1880 as a Tahi¬ tian dependency. They now form, with the Gambier Islands, an administrative division of French Polynesia. In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki expedition ended on Raroia—one of Tuamotu’s many reefs. France has used some uninhabited atolls in the archipelago for nuclear testing.
Tuareg Vtwa-,reg\ A member of a nomadic Berber-speaking people of the southwestern Sahara in Africa. Their feudal, matrilineal culture divides society into nobles, clergy, vassals, artisans, and labourers (once slaves). Northern Tuareg live mainly in true desert; southern Tuareg live in steppe and savanna. They have traditionally engaged in herding, agri¬ culture, convoying caravans across their territories, and raiding neigh¬ bouring tribes. They combine many pre-Islamic rituals and customs with Sunnite Muslim beliefs. Droughts in the 1970s and ’80s reduced their numbers and eroded their traditional way of life.
tuatara \ l tii-9- , ta-ra\ Either of two species ( Sphenodon punctatus and S. guntheir) of lizardlike, nocturnal reptiles of the order Rhynchocephalia, found on certain islets of New Zealand. Up to 2 ft. (60 cm) long and weighing over 2 lbs (1 kg), tuataras have two pairs of well-developed limbs, a scaly crest down the neck and back, a third eyelid that closes horizontally, and a pineal eye between the two normal eyes. A bony arch behind the eyes distinguishes tuataras from lizards. They eats insects, other small animals, and birds’ eggs. In spring, they lay 8-15 eggs away from their burrow. Tuataras may live about 100 years.
Tuatha De Danann \ , tu-9-h3- , d y a- , da-n3n\ In Celtic mythology, a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians, the ancestors of the modern Irish. Skilled in magic, they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge and descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the
Milesians. They were regarded as actual people by native historians up to the 17th century. Representative of the Celtic pantheon, they have become associated in popular legend with the numerous fairies still said to inhabit the Irish landscape.