Eng.—d. Oct. 5, 1805, Ghazipur,
India) British soldier and statesman.
In 1780, during the American Revolu¬ tion, he was appointed British com¬ mander in the American South. He defeated Horatio Gates at Camden,
S.C., then marched into Virginia and encamped at Yorktown (see Siege of Yorktown). Trapped and besieged there, he was forced to surrender his army (1781), a defeat that effectively ended military operations in the war.
Despite his defeat, he retained esteem in England. As governor- general of India (1786-93, 1805), he introduced legal and administrative reforms; the Cornwallis Code (1793) established a tradition of incorrupt¬ ible British civil servants. In the third Mysore War he defeated Tippu Sul¬ tan in 1792. As viceroy of Ireland (1798-1801), he supported the parliamentary union of Britain and Ireland. He negotiated the Anglo-French Treaty of Amiens in 1802. Reappointed governor-general of India in 1805, he died shortly after his arrival there.
Lord Cornwallis, detail of pencil draw¬ ing by John Smart, 1792; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
corona \k3-'ro-no\ Outermost region of the Sun’s (or any star’s) atmo¬ sphere, consisting of plasma. The Sun’s corona has a temperature of about
3.6 million °F (2 million °C) and a very low density. Extending more than 8 million mi (13 million km) from the photosphere, it has no definite boundaries, continually varying in size and shape as it is affected by the Sun’s magnetic field. The solar wind is formed by expansion of coronal gases. Only about half as bright as the full moon, the corona is over¬ whelmed by the brilliance of the solar surface and normally not visible to the unaided eye, but a total eclipse permits naked-eye observations.
Coronado, Francisco Vazquez de (b. c. 1510, Salamanca, Spain—d. Sept. 22, 1554, Mex.) Spanish explorer of the North American Southwest. Appointed governor of Nueva Galicia in west-central Mexico, Coronado was sent north with a large force to locate and capture the leg¬ endary Seven Cities of Cibola, reported to be fabulously wealthy. He was disillusioned to discover instead the Zuni pueblos of New Mexico and a seminomadic Indian tribe in Kansas. Though the treasure he sought eluded him, his explorers were the first Europeans to view the Grand Canyon, and he extended Spanish territory over huge areas of North America. His expedition’s failure led to his indictment on his return to Mexico, but he was acquitted.
coronary bypass Surgical treatment for coronary heart disease to relieve angina pectoris and prevent heart attacks. It became widely used in the 1960s. One or more blood vessels—usually an artery in the chest or a vein from the leg—are transplanted to create new paths for blood to flow from the aorta to the heart muscle, bypassing obstructed sections of the coronary arteries.
coronary heart disease or ischemic \is-'ke-mik\ heart dis¬ ease Progressive reduction of blood supply to the heart muscle due to narrowing or blocking of a coronary artery (see atherosclerosis). Short¬ term oxygen deprivation can cause angina pectoris. Long-term, severe oxygen depletion causes a heart attack. Coronary bypass or angioplasty is needed if medication and diet do not control the disease.
coroner Public official whose principal duty is to inquire into any death that appears to be unnatural. The name of the office as it emerged in England in the late 12th century was originally “crowner” (also called “coronator”), a reference to the coroner’s principal duty of protecting the crown’s property. By the late 19th century, the coroner’s role had shifted to that of conducting inquests into unnatural deaths. In Canada, all coro¬ ners are appointed. In the U.S., the office is elective or appointive, depend¬ ing on the jurisdiction. Coroners often possess both legal and medical qualifications, but the office is sometimes filled by laypersons, including undertakers, sheriffs, and justices of the peace. In many states the office has been replaced by that of the medical examiner, who is usually a licensed pathologist.
Corot \k6-'r6\, (Jean-Baptiste-) Camille (b. July 16, 1796, Paris, Fr.—d. Feb. 22, 1875, Paris) French landscape painter. Born to prosper¬ ous parents, he proved unsuited to the family business and at age 25 was given a small allowance to pursue art training. He traveled frequently and painted topographical landscapes throughout his career, but he preferred making small oil sketches and drawings from nature; from these he pro¬ duced large finished paintings for exhibition. By the 1850s he had achieved critical success and a large income, and he was generous to less successful artists. His naturalistic oil sketches are now more highly regarded than his more self-consciously poetic finished paintings. He is often associated with the Barbizon school. A master of tonal gradation and soft edges, he prepared the way for the Impressionist landscape painters and had an important influence on Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot.
corporal punishment Infliction of physical pain upon a person’s body as punishment for a crime or infraction. Such penalties include beat¬ ing, branding, mutilation, blinding, and the use of the stock and pillory. The term also denotes the physical disciplining of children in the schools and at home. From ancient times through the 18th century, corporal pun¬ ishment was commonly used in instances that did not call for capital pun¬ ishment, ostracism, or exile. But the growth of humanitarian ideals during the Enlightenment and afterward led to its gradual abandonment, and today it has been almost entirely replaced in the West by imprisonment or other nonviolent penalties. Several international conventions on human rights prohibit it. Beatings and other corporeal punishments continue to be administered in the prison systems of many countries. Whipping and even amputation remain prescribed punishments in some Middle Eastern and Asian societies. Corporal punishment of schoolchildren is still sanc¬ tioned in many states.
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
468 i corporate finance ► corruption
corporate finance Acquisition and allocation of a corporation’s funds or resources, with the goal of maximizing shareholder wealth (i.e., stock value). Funds are acquired from both internal and external sources at the lowest possible cost and may be obtained through equity (e.g., sale of stock) or debt (e.g., bonds, bank loans). Resource allocation is the invest¬ ment of funds; these investments fall into the categories of current assets (such as cash and inventory) and fixed assets (such as real estate and machinery). Corporate finance must balance the needs of employees, cus¬ tomers, and suppliers against the interests of the shareholders. See also BUSINESS FINANCE.
corporate income tax Tax imposed by public authorities on the incomes of corporations. Virtually all countries assess taxes on the net profits of corporations; most are flat-rate levies rather than extensively graduated taxes. A corporate income tax was adopted by the U.S. gov¬ ernment in 1909; three-fourths of the states also levy corporate income taxes. See also capital gains tax; income tax.
corporation Specific legal form of organization of persons and mate¬ rial resources, chartered by the state, for the purpose of conducting busi¬ ness. As contrasted with the other two major forms of business ownership, the sole proprietorship and the partnership, the corporation has several characteristics that make it a more flexible instrument for large-scale eco¬ nomic activity. Chief among these are limited liability, transferability of shares (rights in the enterprise may be transferred readily from one inves¬ tor to another without constituting legal reorganization), juridical person¬ ality (the corporation itself as a Active “person” has legal standing and may thus sue and be sued, make contracts, and hold property), and indefi¬ nite duration (the life of the corporation may extend beyond the partici¬ pation of any of its founders). Its owners are the shareholders, who purchase with their investment a share in the proceeds of the enterprise and who are nominally entitled to a measure of control over its financial management. Direct shareholder control became increasingly impossible in the 20th century, however, as the largest corporations came to have tens of thousands of shareholders. The practice of proxy voting by man¬ agement was legalized and adopted as a remedy, and today salaried man¬ agers exercise strong control over the corporation and its assets. See also MULTINATIONAL corporation.