Bonifacio, Jose See Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva
Bonin \'bo-nin\ Islands Japanese Ogasawara-shoto \o-,ga-sa- 'war-a-'sho-to\ Island group, western Pacific Ocean. Administratively part of Japan and located about 600 mi (950 km) south of Tokyo, the group consists of islands with a total area of about 40 sq mi (100 sq km). The Bonins include some 30 mountainous islands such as Chichi (the largest), Haha, Muko, and Yome. They were colonized in 1830 by a group of Europeans and Hawaiians. The islands were formally annexed by Japan in 1876; they were administered by the U.S. in 1945-68.
Bonington Vba-nirj-tanX, Richard Parkes (b. Oct. 25, 1801, Arnold, Eng.—d. Sept. 23, 1828, London) British painter active in France. In 1818 he went to Paris to study with Antoine-Jean Gros. His skill in waterco¬ lour, a novelty in Paris, attracted many imitators. He exhibited at the famous “English” Salon of 1824 and won a gold medal. With John Con¬ stable and J.M.W. Turner, he popularized the oil sketch, a rapidly executed record of the transitory effects of nature. He became influential in England and France as a master of the Romantic movement and a technical inno¬ vator. His death at age 26 cut short a brilliant career.
bonito \b3-'ne-to\ Swift, predaceous schooling fishes (genus Sarda ) of the mackerel family (Scombridae). Bonitos, found worldwide, have a striped back and silvery belly and grow to about 30 in. (75 cm) long. Like tunas, they are streamlined, with a narrow tail base, a forked tail, and a row of small finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. Bonitos have both commercial and sporting value. The three generally recognized species are found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the Indo-Pacific, and the Pacific.
Bonn City (pop., 2002 est: city, 306,000; metro, area, 878,700), Ger¬ many. Located on the Rhine River south of Cologne, it was, until 1990, the capital of West Germany. An old settlement that predated the coming of the Romans, its name was continued in Castra Bonnensia, a lst-century Roman fortress. By the 9th century it had become the Frankish town of Bonnburg. It grew from the 13th century, becoming capital of the Elec¬ torate of Cologne. In 1815 Bonn was awarded to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna, and by the late 19th century it was a fashionable residential town. It was bombed heavily in World War II; its postwar redevelopment was accelerated when in 1949 it was chosen as West Germany’s capital.
Wedgwood bone china plate, Stafford¬ shire, 1815-20; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
COURTESY OF THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON: PHOTOGRAPH, EB INC.
Bongo (Boocercus euryceros).
TOM MCHUGH/PHOTO RESEARCHERS
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
248 I Bonnard ► booby
With Germany’s reunification in 1990, the national capital was moved to Berlin. Bonn was the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven.
Bonnard \bo-'nar\, Pierre (b. Oct. 3, 1867, Fontenay-aux-Roses, Fr.—d. Jan. 23, 1947, Le Cannet) French painter and printmaker. He studied at the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (1888-89). In the 1890s he became a leading member of the Nabis group and came under the influence of Art Nouveau and Japanese prints. With his friend Edouard Vuillard, he developed the intimate domestic interior scene, a genre known as Intimism, depicting fashionable Parisian life in the years before World War I. He also produced still lifes, self-portraits, seascapes, and large-scale decorative paintings. In 1910 he discovered the south of France and began a series of luminous landscapes of the Mediterranean region. He was fascinated by perspective, which he employed in paint¬ ings such as The Dining Room (1913). From the 1920s he specialized in landscapes, interiors, views of gardens, and bathing nudes. He produced illustrations for the celebrated journal Revue blanche and decorative pages for Paul Verlaine’s book of poetry Parallelement (1900). Bonnard was one of the greatest colourists of modem art.
Bonnefoy, Yves (b. June 24, 1923, Tours, France) French poet. A stu¬ dent of mathematics, Bonnefoy moved to Paris and came under the influ¬ ence of the Surrealists. His poetry describes a thought universe brought to life by an intuition of the “real world.” Among his poetry collections are In the Shadow’s Light (1987), The Beginning and End of Snow (1991), and New and Selected Poems (1995). Bonnefoy, also a scholar, compiled Mythologies (1981), a dictionary of mythologies and religions. He held the chair in comparative poetics at the College de France from 1981 to 1994.
Bonnet Vbo-'naV Georges-Etienne (b. July 23, 1889, Bassillac, France—d. June 18, 1973, Paris) French politician. Elected to the Cham¬ ber of Deputies (1924-40), he became a leader of the Radical-Socialist Party. He served as finance minister (1937-38) and foreign minister (1938-39) and was a prominent supporter of appeasement of Nazi Ger¬ many. He also supported the Vichy regime. After the liberation, proceed¬ ings against him were started but dropped. He was expelled from the Radical Party in 1944, readmitted in 1952, and again expelled in 1955. He later served in the Chamber of Deputies (1956-68).
bonnet monkey Agile Indian macaque ( Macaca radiata) named for the thatch of long hair forming a cap, or “bonnet,” on the crown. It is gray¬ ish brown and has a hairless pink face. It is 14-24 in. (35-60 cm) long, excluding its 20-28-in. (50-70-cm) tail, and weighs 7-20 lbs (3-9 kg). It sometimes raids gardens or stores of food.
Bonnie and Clyde in full Bon¬ nie Parker and Clyde Bar-
row (respectively b. March 24,
1909, Telico, Texas, U.S.—d. May 23, 1934, near Gibsland, La.; b. Oct.
1, 1910, Rowena, Texas, U.S.—d.
May 23, 1934, near Gibsland, La.)
U.S. criminals. After Barrow spent time in prison (1930-32), he and Parker began a 21-month crime spree, robbing gas stations, restau¬ rants, and small-town banks in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Missouri and murdering a number of people. Their exploits received wide coverage in the press. Betrayed by a friend, they were ambushed by police officers along a highway in Gib¬ sland, La.; as they attempted to flee, police opened fire, killing them. Their exploits inspired numerous books and films.
Bonnie Prince Charlie See Charles Edward, the Young Pretender
bonobo \b3-'no-bo\ Species (Pan paniscus) of great ape. It was once considered a subspecies of the chimpanzee, which it closely resembles in size, appearance, and way of life. Its range, the lowland rainforests of central Congo (Kinshasa), is more restricted than that of the chimpanzee, and it has longer, more slender arms, a more slender body, and a less pro¬ truding face. Bonobos eat mainly fruits but also leaves, seeds, grass, and small animals. They form communities of 50-120 individuals. A striking
feature of their social lives is that they engage in sexual activity with great frequency, often as a means of settling quarrels, and with little regard for gender or age. Populations are shrinking, largely because of hunting and habitat destruction, and bonobos are an endangered species.
Bononcini 'v.bo-non-'che-neV Giovanni (b. July 18, 1670, Modena, Duchy of Modena—d. July 9, 1747, Vienna) Italian composer. His father was Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642-78), maestro di cappella of Modena Cathedral and the composer of numerous church and chamber sonatas. Giovanni himself served as maestro di cappella at San Giovanni in Monte; he later held desirable positions in various European capitals. In London in the 1720s he had a celebrated operatic rivalry with George Frideric Handel. He wrote more than 30 operas, some 20 oratorios, and nearly 300 cantatas (most for solo voice and continuo), but they are rarely heard today. His brother Antonio Maria Bononcini (1677-1726) was also a composer.