Vendee \va n -'da. Wars of the (1793 -96) Insurrections in the west of France during the French Revolution. In the religious and impoverished area known as the Vendee, discontent with the new government grew after it instituted strict controls over the Catholic church (1790). An uprising began in opposition to the conscription acts (1793) and spread through¬ out the region, where peasants were joined by royalists to form the Catho¬ lic and Royal Army. Led by the nobleman Frangois Charette de La Contrie (1763-1796), the Vendean army of 65,000 occupied several towns, but was defeated at Cholet by government troops and forced to retreat. After further defeats at Le Mans (about 15,000 rebels killed) and at Savenay, the general warfare ended in December 1793. Vicious reprisals by the government provoked further resistance, until an amnesty was announced (1794) and the Vendee was granted freedom from conscription (1795). Charette joined a British-backed landing of exiled French nobles in Brit¬ tany (1795), but after their defeat and his execution (1796) the counter¬ revolutionary struggle ended.
Vendemiaire \va n -da-'myer\ First month in the French republican cal¬ endar. It also was the name given to the event of 13 Vendemiaire of the year IV (Oct. 5, 1795), when Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte led the French Revolutionary troops that stopped an insurrection of Parisians as they marched against the government.
vending machine Machine from which various goods may be pur¬ chased, either with coin, paper currency, or electronic payment card. The first vending machines were introduced in 18th-century England to sell snuff and tobacco. From the late 19th century they have been widely used in many countries. Vending service is typically provided by a company that owns the machines and places them in businesses, schools, and the like. These operators provide the products and service either without cost to the owner of the premises on which a machine is located or in return for a servicing charge.
Vendsyssel-Thy Vven-.sue-sol-'tuA Island, northern end of Jutland, Denmark. It is known as Vendsyssel in the east and Thy in the west. The Limfjorden separates it from the mainland, to which it was attached until 1825, when water erosion cut a channel through the narrow isthmus at Thyborpn. It has an area of 1,809 sq mi (4,686 sq km). Frederikshavn, the main port, lies on the east coast facing Goteborg, Swed. The island is a holiday resort.
veneer Extremely thin sheet of rich-coloured wood (such as mahogany, ebony, or rosewood) or precious materials (such as ivory or tortoiseshell) cut in decorative patterns and applied to the surface of a piece of furni¬ ture. Though veneering was practiced in Classical antiquity, its use lapsed in the Middle Ages. It was revived in the 17th century, reaching its apo¬ gee in France and spreading from there to other European countries. The considerable craftsmanship involved in artistic veneering is most evident in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when Thomas Chippendale, George
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1994 I Venera ► Venice
Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton used mahogany and satinwood veneers. By the mid-19th century mechanical saws allowed the veneering process to be used in mass production to cover defects in cheap furniture.
Venera \vyi-'nyer-3\ English \v9-'nar-3\ Any of a series of unmanned Soviet planetary probes sent to Venus 1965-83. Venera 2 flew to within 25,000 mi (40,000 km) of Venus in 1966; a few days later, Venera 3 crash-landed on its surface, becoming the first spacecraft to strike another planet. Later missions analyzed Venus’s atmosphere, made soft landings, detected certain long-lived radioactive isotopes (chiefly uranium and tho¬ rium), sent back the first close-up photographs of the planet’s surface, and mapped the surface of the northern hemisphere with radar (by Ven¬ era 15 and 16, the last two of the series).
Venetian glass Variety of glassware made in Venice from the 13th century to the present. In the 15th century efforts were concentrated on the perfection of cristallo (clear glass that approximated rock crystal in appearance). By the 16th century Venetian glassmakers mastered tech¬ niques of adding colour and of removing the smoky tint produced by metal in the glass material. These and other secrets were guarded closely, and defecting workers were severely punished. But eventually many Venetian glassmakers did defect, and the techniques became common knowledge in France, Ger¬ many, The Netherlands, and England.
Venetian school Renaissance artists of Venice whose work is char¬ acterized by a love of light and colour. Jacopo Bellini was the first in this influential line, followed by his son Gentile Bellini, the instructor of Venice’s great High Renaissance painters, including Giorgione and Titian. In due course Titian became the dominant force in Venetian paint¬ ing, and his rich colours and paint¬ erly technique were widely imitated.
Other 16th-century masters included Veronese, known for his vast, bril¬ liantly coloured, pageantlike canvases, and Tintoretto, who combined the Mannerists’ rapidly receding diagonals and dramatic foreshortenings with the Venetian love of light as a means of defining form and heightening drama. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was the last important Venetian figure painter and one of the greatest artists of the Rococo period.
Veneto \'ve-na-,to\ Region (pop., 2001 prelim.: 4,490,586), northern Italy. It covers an area of 7,090 sq mi (18,364 sq km); its capital is Ven¬ ice. Bordered by Austria, the Adriatic Sea, and Lake Garda, the northern part is mountainous, while the southern part consists of a fertile plain. Parts were under Roman rule c. 2nd-lst centuries bc (see Padua and Verona) and later were subject to the Lombards. In the Middle Ages, sev¬ eral city-states gained importance, but most subsequently were subject to Venice. The area began to slip from Venetian hold after the French Revo¬ lution, and in the early 19th century Veneto came under Austrian rule. It was returned and joined to Italy in the 1860s. Agriculture is an economic mainstay, and industrial works are found around Veneto’s major cities.
Venezia Tridentina See Trentino-Alto Adige Veneziano, Domenico See Domenico Veneziano
Venezuela officially Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Coun¬ try, northern South America. Area: 353,841 sq mi (916,445 sq km). Popu¬ lation (2005 est.): 26,749,000. Capitaclass="underline" Caracas. About two-thirds of the people are mestizos; most of the rest are of European or African descent. Languages: Spanish (official), some 25 Indian languages. Religion: Chris¬ tianity (predominantly Roman Catholic). Currency: bolivar. Mountain ranges and plains dominate Venezuela’s geography. In the west, a north¬ eastern spur of the Andes Mountains rises to Bolivar Peak. The Llanos (plains) occupy one-third of the country’s central region. The Orinoco
Ewer made of calcedonio, Venice, early 16th century; in the Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt am Main, Ger.
COURTESY OF THE MUSEUM FUR KUNSTHANDWERK, FRANKFURT AM MAIN, GER; PHOTOGRAPH, FOTO MARBURG-ART RESOURCE/EB INC.
River system drains almost the entire coun¬ try and has an extensive and thickly wooded delta. The highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls, is in Venezuela. Lakes include Maracaibo and Valencia. Principal mineral resources are petroleum and natural gas. Other mineral reserves include iron, bauxite, gold, and diamonds. Industries include steel, chemi¬ cals, textiles, and oil refining. Agricultural products—notably sugar, cof¬ fee, com, bananas, and cacao—are important. Venezuela is a republic with a unicameral legislature; its head of state and government is the president. Venezuela has been inhabited by indigenous peoples for millennia. In 1498 Christopher Columbus sighted it; European explorers named the region Venezuela (Spanish: “Little Venice”) after observing local Indian houses on stilts along the shores of Lake Maracaibo. A Spanish mission¬ ary established the first European settlement at Cumana c. 1523. In 1717 it was included in the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Venezuelan Creoles led by Francisco de Miranda and Simon Bolivar spearheaded the South American independence movement, and, though Venezuelans had declared independence from Spain as early as 1797, it was not assured until the last royalist forces surrendered in 1823. Military dictators gen¬ erally ruled the country from 1830 until the overthrow of Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958. A new constitution adopted in 1961 marked the begin¬ ning of democracy. As a founding member of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries), Venezuela enjoyed relative economic pros¬ perity from oil production during the 1970s, but its economy has remained dependent on fluctuations in the world petroleum market. The govern¬ ment of Hugo Chavez promulgated a new constitution in 1999, the year in which a devastating rainstorm killed thousands in and around Caracas—one of the deadliest events in Venezuelan history. Despite an increase in oil prices in the early 21st century, the country experienced great political turmoil.