Canterbury Historic city and administrative district (pop., 2001: 135,287), southeastern England. Located on the River Great Stour, the site has been occupied since pre-Roman times; the Roman town of Durov- ernum Cantiacorum was established after Claudius invaded Britain in ad 43. It has been an ecclesiastical metropolis of England since St. Augus¬ tine of Canterbury founded a monastery there in 602 and later established a cathedral. The cathedral was the scene of the murder of Archbishop St. Thomas Becket in 1170. After his canonization in 1172, it became a pil¬ grimage shrine; it is the destination of the pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Canterbury was heavily bombed in World War II, but the cathedral largely escaped damage. The cathedral and other historic buildings were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.
cantilever \'kan-t3-,le-v3r\ Projecting beam or other horizontal mem¬ ber supported at one or more points but not at both ends. Some engineers distinguish between a cantilever, supported at only one fixed end, and an overhanging beam that projects beyond one of its end supports. The free, unsupported end is capable of supporting a weight or surface, such as a concrete slab. Any beam built into a wall with a projecting free end forms a cantilever, which may carry a balcony, canopy, roof, or part of a build¬ ing above. Cantilevering can be used for constructions as simple as book¬ shelves or as complicated as bridges.
canton Political subdivision of Switzerland, France, and some other European countries. Each of Switzerland’s 26 cantons and half-cantons has its own constitution, legislature, executive, and judiciary. Five pre-
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328 I Canton ► Capa
serve the ancient democratic assembly, in which all citizens meet; the remaining 21 have a cantonal legislature with elective representatives and usually proportional representation. In France, the canton is a territorial and administrative subdivision of an arrondissement but not an actual unit of local government.
Canton See Guangzhou
Canton system System of trade that developed between Chinese and foreign merchants in the southern China city of Guangzhou (Canton). From 1759 to 1842, all foreign trade coming into China was confined to Guangzhou and had to be conducted with authorized Chinese merchants. Foreign merchants were confined to a small area outside the city wall and were subject to Chinese law and other restrictions. British merchants’ complaints grew during the early 19th century, and, with Britain’s victory in the first Opium War (1839-42), China was forced to abolish the sys¬ tem. See also British East India Co.; Treaty of Nanjing.
cantor In Judaism and Christianity, an official in charge of music or chants. In Judaism the hazzan (cantor) leads liturgical prayer and chant¬ ing. In medieval Christianity the cantor had charge of a cathedral’s music—specifically, of supervising the choir’s singing. The term also designated the head of a college of church music.
Cantor, Eddie orig. Edward Israel Iskowitz (b. Jan. 31, 1892, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 10, 1964, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. comedian and singer. As a child, Cantor clowned and sang for coins on street comers in his native New York City. He dropped out of elementary school, could not keep a job because of his irrepressible clowning, and soon went into vaudeville as a blackface song-and-dance man. He toured with Florenz Ziegfeld’s Follies and the Shuberts. He appeared in several Broad¬ way reviews, and from 1923 to 1926 he was a star in Kid Boots. From 1931 Cantor performed for 18 years on The Chase and Sanborn Hour as a standup comedian. His films include Roman Scandals (1933) and Strike Me Pink (1936). In the 1950s he hosted a television show.
Cantor \'kan-tor\, Georg (b. March 3, 1845, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. Jan. 6, 1918, Halle, Ger.) German mathematician, founder of set theory. He was the first to examine number systems, such as the rational numbers and the real numbers, systematically as complete entities, or sets. This led him to the surprising discovery that not all infinite sets are the same size. In particular, he showed that the rational numbers could be put in a one- to-one correspondence with the counting numbers; hence the set is count¬ able. He also showed that no such correspondence is possible for the much larger set of irrational numbers; hence they are known as an uncountable set. His investigations led him to the classification of transfinite numbers, which are, informally speaking, degrees of infinity.
cantus firmus Latin "fixed chant" Preexistent melody, such as a plainchant (see Gregorian chant) excerpt, underlying a polyphonic musi¬ cal composition (one consisting of several independent voices or parts). In the 11th- and 12th-century organum, the tones of the plainchant melody for such words as “alleluia” and “amen” were held by one voice (the tenor), while another, more active, improvised line was added. Develop¬ ments introduced by the Notre-Dame school of the late 12th and early 13th centuries included rhythmic patterning of the added voice and the addi¬ tion of two or three voices. The composition of nonliturgical words for the added voice or voices in the 13th century resulted in the independent motet. Cantus firmus technique remained the basis of most composition of the 14th—15th centuries (though the “chant” was now often a secular melody) and remained important in the 16th-century mass. It was later codified in the pedagogical method called species counterpoint.
Canute Vko-'niitV the Great Danish Knut (d. Nov. 12, 1035) Danish king of England (1016-35), Denmark (1019-35), and Norway (1028-35). He helped his father, Sweyn I, invade England in 1013. Sweyn was accepted as king of England after exiling King Ethelred II but died in 1014; Canute returned and defeated Ethelred’s son to win the English throne in 1016. At first he ruled ruthlessly, killing English opponents and appointing Danes in their places, but within a few years he had married Ethelred’s widow and was granting earldoms to Englishmen. Canute proved an effec¬ tive ruler who brought peace and prosperity to England, issued an impor¬ tant law code, and became a strong supporter of the church. With English help he secured the throne of Denmark on his brother’s death. His early death and that of his sons led to the restoration of Ethelred’s dynasty.
canvas Stout cloth. Canvas (probably named for cannabis, or hemp), has been made from hemp and flax fibres since ancient times to produce cloth
for sails. More recently it has also been made from tow, jute, cotton, and mixtures of such fibres. Flax canvas is essentially of double warp (see weaving), being invariably intended to withstand pressure or rough usage. Articles made from canvas include camera and golf bags, running shoes, tents, and mailbags. Tarred canvas is used for tarpaulins to cover goods. Artists’ canvas for painting is much lighter than sail canvas; those of the best quality are made of cream or bleached flax fibre.
canvasback Diving duck ( Aythya valisineria), one of the most popular game birds. The male weighs about 3 lb (1.4 kg). During the breeding season he has a red head and neck and a black breast, with a white back and sides finely lined in gray. In eclipse (nonbreeding) plumage, he resembles the female, with a tan head and gray-brown back. Canvasbacks breed in northwestern North America and winter along the coasts from British Columbia and Massachusetts south to central Mexico. They pre¬ fer the roots of wild celery (eelgrass) but will eat many other plants and even some small animals.