Wallis Islands Island group (pop., 2003 prelim.: 10,071), forming the northeastern part of the French overseas territory of Wallis and Futuna, west-central South Pacific Ocean. It comprises the main island of Uvea
(Wallis) and a number of islets, all enclosed in one coral reef, with a total land area of 23 sq mi (60 sq km). Visited in 1767 by the British navigator Capt. Samuel Wallis, the islands were occupied by the French in 1842. They became a French pro¬ tectorate in 1887 and part of the overseas territory in 1961.
wallpaper Ornamental and utili¬ tarian covering for walls made from long sheets of paper that have been stenciled, painted, or printed with abstract or narrative designs. Wall¬ paper developed soon after the intro¬ duction of papermaking to Europe in the late 15th century, originally as a substitute for tapestry, painted cloth, and wood paneling, and the first wallpapers were esteemed for the cleverness with which they mim¬ icked the more costly wall coverings. In the 18th century, designs such as chintz patterns and stripes began to express the medium’s decorative possibilities. In the mid-19th cen¬ tury, the wallpapers of William Mor¬ ris, featuring stylized, naturalistic patterns, created a revolution in wall¬ paper design. Plastic coating now improves wallpaper’s durability and maintenance.
walnut Any of about 20 species of deciduous trees in the genus Juglans, family Juglandaceae. Black walnut (J. nigra ) of eastern North America and English, or Persian, walnut (/. regia), native to Iran, are valuable timber trees that produce edible nuts. The butternut ( J . cinerea) of eastern North America also produces an edible nut. The walnut family con¬ tains an additional seven genera of flowering plants, found mainly in the northern temperate zone in a variety of habitats. Pecan and hickory are among the many family members that are prized for both their edible nuts and their strong, attractive
Hand-printed wallpaper by Jean- Baptiste Reveillon, c. 1780-90; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON; PHOTOGRAPH, THE COOPER-BRIDGEMAN LIBRARY, LONDON
woods, especially noted for their grain patterns and lustre. Leaves of the walnut family are feather-like; tiny, resinous scales that look like yellow dots on the undersurface of the leaflets give Juglans species a pungent aroma.
Walnut Canyon National Monument National monument, north-central Arizona, U.S. Established in 1915 and covering an area of 3 sq mi (8 sq km), it preserves more than 300 pre-Columbian dwellings built by the Pueblo Indians in shallow caves on the canyon walls. Main occupancy was from ad 1000 to 1200.
Walpole, Horace, 4th earl of Orford orig. Horatio Walpole
(b. Sept. 24, 1717, London, Eng.—d.
March 2, 1797, London) English writer, connoisseur, and collector.
The son of prime minister Robert Walpole, he had an undistinguished career in Parliament. In 1747 he acquired a small villa at Twickenham that he transformed into a pseudo- Gothic showplace called Strawberry Hill; it was the stimulus for the Gothic Revival in English domestic architecture. His literary output was extremely varied. He became famous for his medieval horror tale The Castle of Otranto (1765), the first Gothic novel in English. He is espe¬ cially remembered for his private correspondence of more than 3,000 letters, most addressed to Horace Mann, a British diplomat. Intended for posthumous publication, they constitute a survey of the history, manners, and taste of his age.
Walpole, Sir Hugh (Sey¬ mour) (b. March 13, 1884, Auckland, N.Z.—d. June 1, 1941, near Keswick, Cumberland, Eng.) British novelist, critic, and dramatist. A natu¬ ral storyteller, Walpole turned to writing and reviewing books after unsuc¬ cessful attempts at teaching and lay reading in the Anglican church. Among his important novels is the semiautobiographical series that includes Jeremy (1919), Jeremy and Hamlet (1923), and Jeremy at Crale (1927). The Herries Chronicle, about an English country family, com¬ prises Rogue Herries (1930), Judith Paris (1931), The Fortress (1932), and Vanessa (1933). He also wrote critical works on Anthony Trollope, Walter Scon, and Joseph Conrad.
Walpole, Robert, 1 st earl of Orford (b. Aug. 26, 1676, Houghton Hall, Norfolk, Eng.—d. March 18,
1745, London) English statesman generally regarded as the first British prime minister. Elected to the House of Commons in 1701, he became an active Whig parliamentarian. He served as secretary at war (1708-10) and as treasurer of the navy (1710—
11). He was also a member of the Kit- Cat Club. The Tory government sought to remove his influence by impeaching him for corruption, and he was expelled from the Commons in 1712. With the accession of George I (1714), he regained his posi¬ tion and rose rapidly to become first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the Exchequer (1715-17, 1721—42).
Although associated with the South Sea Bubble scandal, he restored confi¬ dence in the government and main¬ tained the Whigs in office. He cultivated the support of George II from 1727 and used royal patronage for political ends, skillfully managing the House of Commons to win sup¬ port for his trade and fiscal programs, including the sinking fund. With his consolidation of power, he effectively became the first British prime min-
Robert Walpole, detail of an oil paint¬ ing by Sir Godfrey Kneller, c. 1710- 15; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
Horace Walpole, detail of an oil paint¬ ing by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1757; in the City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England.
COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERY
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2026 I Walpurgis Night ► Walton
ister. He avoided foreign entanglements and kept England neutral until 1739 but was forced into the War of Jenkins' Ear. He resigned under pres¬ sure in 1742 and was created an earl. His acclaimed art collection, sold to Russia in 1779, became part of the Hermitage Museum collection.
Walpurgis Night Night before May 1. The name comes from the 8th- century St. Walburga (or Walpurgis), an English missionary who ran an important early convent in Germany, May 1 being one of her feast days. In Sweden it is celebrated with bonfires as the beginning of spring. In Germany, as Walpurgisnacht, it was the night witches were supposed to meet in the Harz Mountains (see Brocken), though the association of witches with St. Walburga is only coincidental. See also Beltane.
Walras \val-'ra\, (Marie-Esprit-) Leon (b. Dec. 16, 1834, Evreux, France—d. Jan. 5, 1910, Clarens, near Montreux, Switz.) French-Swiss economist. An advocate of cooperatives as an alternative to revolution, he ran a bank for producers’ cooperatives with Leon Say (grandson of Jean- Baptiste Say) from 1865 to 1868. At the Academy of Lausanne, Switz. (1870-92), he began the school of economics later known (under Vilfredo Pareto) as the Lausanne school. Walras’s Elements of Pure Economics (1874-77) was one of the first comprehensive mathematical analyses of general economic equilibrium. Assuming an environment of free compe¬ tition, he constructed a mathematical model in which productive factors, products, and prices automatically adjust in equilibrium. He thus tied together the theories of production, exchange, money, and capital.
walrus Only living species ( Odobenus rosmarus) of the pinniped family Odobenidae. Larger than the related seals, walrus males grow up to 12 ft (3.7 m) long and weigh up to 2,800 lbs (1,270 kg). Both sexes have long, downward-pointing tusks that may grow to 3 ft (1 m) long and weigh 12 lbs (5.4 kg) each. They have no exter¬ nal ears. The grayish skin is deeply folded over the shoulders. They live on ice floes, in groups of up to 100, on relatively shallow water in arctic seas of Eurasia and North America. They may dive to great depths in search of food, mostly shellfish. On land and ice, they move on all four limbs. They generally follow the ice line south in winter and north in summer. Tradi¬ tionally important to native humans as sources of food and clothing, they have also been hunted commercially for centuries, which has resulted in serious depletion of their numbers. Commercial hunting is now generally banned.