ctenophore \'te-n3-,for\ or comb jelly Any of nearly 90 species (phylum Ctenophora) of usually colourless marine invertebrates that have
Crypt, Canterbury Cathedral (12th century), England.
A.F. KERSTING
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Ctesibius ► Cubism I 491
a series of vertical ciliary combs over their bodies. Ctenophores are some¬ times mistaken for jellyfish. The body is round or spherical, with tentacles to capture food, and the combs beat to provide locomotion. Most species are small (not much greater than 0.1 in. [3 mm] in diameter), but at least one species grows larger than 3 ft (1 m). Ctenophores live in almost all ocean regions, floating freely in the water. All comb jellies except one parasitic species are carnivores, consuming young mollusks, crustacean and fish larvae, copepods, and other zooplankton.
Ctesibius \te-'sib-e-,os\ of Alexandria or Ktesibios \te-'sib-e-os\ of Alexandria (fl. c. 270 bc) Greek physicist and inventor. He was the first great figure of the ancient engineering tradition of Alexandria, Egypt, which culminated with Heron of Alexandria and Philo of Byzantium. He discovered the elasticity of air and invented several devices using com¬ pressed air, including force pumps and an air-powered catapult; an improve¬ ment of the water clock, in which water dripping at a constant rate raised a float with a pointer; and a hydraulus (water organ), in which the weight of water forced air through the organ pipes. His writings have not sur¬ vived, and his inventions are known only from references to them.
Ctesiphon Vte-so-.fanX Ancient city, central Mesopotamia. Located on the Tigris River, southeast of modern Baghdad, Iraq, it was first a Greek army camp opposite the Hellenistic city of Seleucia. It was the capital of Parthia in the 2nd century bc. Destroyed by the Romans in the 1st cen¬ tury ad, it was resettled by the Persian Sasanian dynasty in the 3rd cen¬ tury. The Arabs conquered the city in 637 but abandoned it by 763 in favour of a new city, Baghdad. The site is famous for the remains of a gigantic vaulted hall, the Taq Kisra, which has one of the largest single¬ span brick arches in the world.
Cu Chulainn or Cuchulain Xkii-'kol-onN In ancient Irish Gaelic lit¬ erature, a powerful warrior and the central character in the Ulster cycle. The son of the god Lugus and Dechtire, sister of Conchobar mac Nessa, he was the greatest of the warriors loyal to Conchobar. He had seven fin¬ gers on each hand, seven toes on each foot, and seven pupils in each eye. He defended Ulster single-handed at 17 against the forces of Medb, queen of Connaught. In times of rage he could become uncontrollable.
Cuauhtemoc \kwau-'te-,mok\ or Guatimozin V.gwat-o-'mot-sonN (b. c. 1495—d. Feb. 26, 1522) Last Aztec emperor, nephew and son-in-law of Montezuma II. He became emperor on the death of Montezuma’s suc¬ cessor in 1520, while Hernan Cortes was marching for the second time on TenochtitlAn, the Aztec capital. He defended the city during a four- month siege that left most buildings destroyed and few Indians surviving. Tortured by the Spaniards in an effort to make him reveal the location of hidden Aztec wealth, his stoicism became legendary. Later Cortes, hear¬ ing of a plot against the Spaniards, had Cuauhtemoc hanged.
Cuba officially Republic of Cuba Island country. West Indies. Located 90 mi (145 km) south of Florida, it comprises the island of Cuba and surrounding small islands. Area: 42,804 sq mi (110,861 sq km). Popula¬ tion (2005 est.): 11,269,000. Capitaclass="underline" Havana. The population is largely of African-European or African descent; most of the rest are of European ancestry. Language: Spanish (official). Religions: Christianity (predomi¬ nantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant), Santerfa (both formerly discour¬ aged). Currency: Cuban peso. The main island of Cuba is 777 mi (1,250 km) long and 19-119 mi (31-191 km) wide. About one-quarter is moun¬ tainous, with Turquino Peak at an elevation of 6,476 ft (1,974 m) the highest peak; the remainder is extensive plains and basins. The climate is semi tropical. Cuba was the first communist republic in the Western Hemisphere. It has a centrally planned economy that depends on the export of sugar and, to a much lesser extent, tobacco and nickel. Its cigars are considered the world’s best. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Several Indian groups, including the Ciboney and the Arawak, inhabited Cuba at the time of the first Spanish contact. Christopher Columbus claimed the island for Spain in 1492, and the Spanish conquest began in 1511, when the settlement of Baracoa was founded. The native Indians were eradicated over the suc¬ ceeding centuries, and African slaves, from the 18th century until slavery was abolished in 1886, were imported to work the sugar plantations. Cuba revolted unsuccessfully against Spain in the Ten Years’ War (1868-78); a second war of independence began in 1895. In 1898 the U.S. entered the war (see Spanish-American War); Spain relinquished its claim to Cuba, which was occupied by the U.S. for three years before gaining its inde¬ pendence in 1902. The U.S. invested heavily in the Cuban sugar industry in the first half of the 20th century, and this, combined with tourism and
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gambling, caused the economy to prosper.
Inequalities in the distribution of wealth persisted, however, as did political corrup¬ tion. In 1958-59 the communist revolu¬ tionary Fidel Castro overthrew its longtime dictator Fulgencio Batista and established a socialist state aligned with the Soviet Union, abolishing capitalism and nationalizing foreign-owned enterprises. Relations with the U.S. deteriorated, reaching a low point with the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. In 1980 about 125,000 Cubans, includ¬ ing many officially labeled “undesirables,” were shipped to the U.S. in the so-called Mariel Boat Lift. When communism collapsed in the U.S.S.R., Cuba lost important financial backing, and its economy suffered greatly. The economy gradually began improving in the 1990s with the encouragement of tourism and the legalization of small businesses and private employment, though diplomatic relations with the U.S. were not resumed.
Cuban missile crisis (1962) Major confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. In October 1962 a U.S. spy plane detected a ballistic missile on a launch¬ ing site in Cuba. Pres. John F. Kennedy placed a naval blockade around the island, and for several days the U.S. and the Soviet Union hovered on the brink of war. Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev finally agreed to remove the missiles in return for a secret commitment from the U.S. to withdraw its own missiles from Turkey and to never invade Cuba. The incident increased tensions during the Cold War and fueled the nuclear arms race between the two countries. See also Fidel Castro.
Cubango River See Okavango River