Botany Bay Inlet of the South Pacific Ocean, southeastern Australia. Lying south of Sydney off Port Jackson, it is about 6 mi (10 km) at its widest. It was the scene of the first Australian landing by Capt. James Cook in 1770; he named the bay for its great variety of plants. It was selected in 1787 as the site for a penal settlement, but the settlement was soon transferred inland. Its shores are now ringed by Sydney’s suburbs.
Botero, Fernando (b. April 19, 1932, Medellin, Colom.) Colombian painter and sculptor. He began painting as a teenager. By the time he moved to New York City in 1960, he had developed his trademark style: the depiction of round, corpulent humans and animals. In these works, his use of flat, bright colour and boldly outlined forms reflected the influence of Latin American folk art, while his strong compositions often emulated the Old Masters. In 1973 Botero moved to Paris and began creating sculp¬ tures that again focused on rotund subjects. Successful outdoor exhibi¬ tions of his monumental bronze figures were staged around the world at the end of the 20th century.
botfly Any member of several dipteran families with beelike adults and larvae that are parasitic on mammals. Some species are serious pests of horses, cattle, deer, sheep, rabbits, and squirrels, and one species (the human botfly) attacks humans. Adults of several species lay many eggs (nits) on the host’s body, and the emerging larvae penetrate its skin. The larvae reemerge through the skin, then mature into egg-laying adults. In the New World tropics, the botfly’s infestation of cattle has led to loss of beef and hides. See also warble fly.
Botha Vbo-toV Louis (b. Sept. 27, 1862, near Greytown, Natal [South Africa]—d. Aug. 27, 1919, Pretoria, Transvaal) First prime minister (1910-19) of the Union of South Africa. Botha was elected to the South African Republic’s parliament in 1897, where he sided with moderates against Pres. Paul Kruger’s hostile policy toward Uitlanders (non-Boer, mostly English, settlers). In the South African War he commanded south¬ ern forces besieging Ladysmith and then tried unsuccessfully to defend
the Transvaal. As prime minister he sought earnestly to appease the English-speaking population and was bitterly attacked by Afrikaner nationalists. In World War I he acceded to British requests to conquer German South West Africa (Namibia).
Botha, P(ieter) W(illem) (b. Jan. 12, 1916, Paul Roux, S.Af.) Prime minister (1978-84) and first state president (1984-89) of South Africa. Elected to parliament as a National Party candidate in 1948, Botha served in several subsequent posts before replacing John Vorster as prime min¬ ister in 1978. His government faced serious difficulties, including the coming to power of black governments in Mozambique, Angola, and Zimbabwe, an insurgency in South West Africa (Namibia), and domestic unrest among black students and labour unions. Botha responded by back¬ ing antigovernment troops in the bordering states and suppressing rebel¬ lion at home. A target of criticism from within and outside his party, he fell ill and resigned in 1989.
Bothnia, Gulf of Northern arm of the Baltic Sea. Extending between Sweden and Finland, it covers about 45,200 sq mi (117,000 sq km). It is 450 mi (725 km) long and 50-150 mi (80-240 km) wide, with an aver¬ age depth of 200 ft (60 m). Because many rivers drain into it, its salinity is very low; annual ice cover consequently lasts up to five months.
Botox Trademark for botulinum toxin type A, a drug produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It contains the same toxin that causes severe food poisoning (botulism). When locally injected, Botox blocks the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, interfering with the abil¬ ity of the muscle to contract. It is used to treat severe muscle spasm or severe, uncontrollable sweating. Botox can also be used for cosmetic pur¬ poses to treat facial wrinkles.
Botswana officially Republic of Botswana formerly Bechua- naland V.bech-'wa-ns-.landX Country, southern Africa. Area: 224,848 sq mi (582,356 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 1,765,000. Capitaclass="underline" Gabor-
of Khoekhoe and San, some of whom fol¬ low a traditional nomadic way of life. Languages: English (official), Tswana. Religions: Christianity (mostly independent and unaffiliated Christians; also Protestant), traditional beliefs. Currency: pula. Botswana is essentially a sand-filled basin, with a mean elevation of about 3,300 ft (1,000 m). Part of the Kalahari Desert is in the southwest and west, while the Okavango Swamp is in the north. The only sources of permanent sur¬ face water are the Chobe River, which marks the Namibian boundary; the Okavango River, in the far northwest; and the Limpopo River, which marks
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Botticelli ► Boudicca I 257
the South African boundary in the southeast. The economy traditionally depends on livestock raising; the development of diamond mining has increased the country’s wealth. Botswana is a republic with one legisla¬ tive body; its head of state and government is the president. The region’s earliest inhabitants were the Khoekhoe and San. Sites were settled as early as ad 190 during the southerly migration of Bantu-speaking farmers. Tswana dynasties, which developed in the western Transvaal in the 13th— 14th centuries, moved into Botswana in the 18th century and established several powerful states. European missionaries arrived in the early 19th century, but it was the discovery of gold in 1867 that excited European interest. In 1885 the area became the British Bechuanaland Protectorate, remaining so until the 1960s. In 1966 the Republic of Bechuanaland was proclaimed as an independent member of the British Commonwealth, and later that year its name was changed to Botswana. Independent Botswana tried to maintain a delicate balance between its economic dependence on South Africa and its relations with the surrounding black countries; the independence of Namibia in 1990 and South Africa’s rejection of apart¬ heid eased tensions.
Botticelli X.bat-o-'chel-eV Sandro orig. Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi (b. 1445, Florence—d. May 17, 1510, Florence [Italy]) Italian Renaissance painter. As a youth he may have been apprenticed to a gold¬ smith, and he later trained with Fra Filippo Lippi in Florence. By 1470 he had developed a distinctive style and was established as a master. In 1481 he was among a team of Florentine and Umbrian artists called to Rome to decorate the Sistine Chapel; three of his finest religious frescoes (com¬ pleted 1482) can be seen there. Though prolific as a painter of religious images, his mythological paintings are his best-known works. His out¬ standing portraits show the influence of contemporary Flemish art in the placement of the figure in front of a landscape. Among his greatest works are the Primavera, Pallas and the Centaur, Venus and Mars, and The Birth of Venus, all painted c. 1477-90. About 75 of his paintings survive, many of them in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Interest in his work revived in the 19th century, and today he is one of the most esteemed painters of the Italian Renaissance.
The Birth of Venus, oil on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.
ART MEDIA/HERITAGE-IMAGES
bottlenose dolphin or bottle-nosed dolphin Widely recognized species ( Tursiops truncatus) of mammal belonging to the dolphin family, found worldwide in warm and temperate seas. Bottlenose dolphins reach an average length of 8-10 ft (2.5-3 m) and weight of 300-650 lb (135— 300 kg). Males are generally larger than females. A familiar performer at marine shows, the species is characterized by a “built-in smile” formed by the curvature of its mouth. It has also become the subject of scientific studies because of its intelligence and its ability to communicate with its kind through sounds and ultrasonic pulses.