At night under cover of a heavy rain on July 4, Lee led his troops back to Virginia; Meade was later criticized for not pursuing him. Losses totaled about 23,000 casualties among 88,000 Union troops and over 20,000 casualties among 75,000 Confederates.
Getz, Stan orig. Stanley Gayetzby (b. Feb. 2, 1927, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. June 6, 1991, Malibu, Calif.) U.S. jazz saxophonist. Getz was influenced by Lester Young and became known for his light tone and ethereal approach while performing as one of the “Four Brothers” of Woody Herman’s Second Herd (1947-49). With the advent of the cool jazz of the 1950s, he began to dominate jazz popularity polls, and his incorporation of Brazilian bossa nova music in the early 1960s brought him to a wider public and commercial success.
Geulincx \'gce-liqks\, Arnold known as Philaretus \ l fi-lo- , re-t3s\ (b. Jan. 31, 1624, Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands—d. November 1669, Leiden, Neth.) Flemish metaphysician and logician. He taught at the Uni¬ versity of Louvain from 1646 but was dismissed in 1658, probably because of his sympathy with Jansenism. He took refuge at Leiden, where he became a Calvinist. He lived in poverty until 1662, when he obtained a position at the University of Leiden. He was a major exponent of the doctrine known as occasionalism. His major works include On Virtue (1665), Know Thyself (1675), and True Metaphysics (1691).
geyser \'gI-zor\ (Icelandic geysir, “to rush forth”) Any hot spring that discharges jets of steam and water intermittently, generally associated with recent volcanic activity and produced by the heating of underground waters that have come into contact with, or are very close to, magma. Geyser discharges as high as 1,600 ft (500 m) have been recorded, but 160 ft (50 m) is much more common (e.g.. Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park). Occasionally, a geyser will adopt an extremely regular and predictable pattern of intermittent activity and discharge for a few minutes every hour or so.
Gezira Vjo-'ze-roV or Al-JazTrah N.al-jo-'ze-roV Region, east-central Sudan. Southeast of the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile rivers, it is the site of one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. Begun by the British in 1925, the project distributes the waters of the Blue Nile through a 2,700-mi (4,300-km) network of canals and ditches. It has made the region the most productive agricultural area of The Sudan.
Ghadamis or Ghudamis \g9-'da-mis\ Oasis and town (pop., latest est.: 15,900), northwestern Libya. Located near the Libyan-Algerian bor¬ der, it is at the junction of ancient Saharan caravan routes. It was the Roman stronghold Cydamus (whose ruins remain), and an episcopal see under the Byzantine Empire; columns of a Christian church still remain in the Sid! Badri Mosque. A centre for the Arab slave trade through the 19th century, it is now a caravan depot linked to the Mediterranean Sea coast.
Ghaghara River Yga-gs-r q\ formerly Gogra \'go-gra\ Nepali Kar- nali \kar-'na-le\ River, northern India, Nepal, and China. A major tribu¬ tary of the Ganges, it rises as the Karnali in the Tibetan Himalayas and flows southeast into Nepal. Cutting south across the Siwalik Hills, it splits into two branches, to rejoin in India and form the Ghaghara proper. It flows southeast to enter the Ganges after a 600 mi (970 km) course. Together with the Ganges and its tributaries, it formed the vast alluvial plain of northern Bihar. Along its lower course it is also called the Sarju River and the Deoha.
Ghana Yga-no\ officially Republic of Ghana formerly Gold Coast Country, West Africa. Area: 92,098 sq mi (238,533 sq km). Popu¬ lation (2005 est.): 21,946,000. Capitaclass="underline" Accra. Ghana is home to Akan, Mossi, Ewe, and Ga-Adangme peoples. Languages: English (official), Akan, Ewe, Hausa. Religions: Christianity (Protestant, other Christians, Roman Catholic), traditional beliefs, Islam. Currency: cedi. The land is generally flat, dominated by the Volta River basin. The north is character¬ ized by grassland plains; the south is heavily forested. The southern coastal plain is the historical Gold Coast. The varied wildlife includes lions, leopards, and elephants. Ghana has a developing mixed economy based largely on agriculture and mining. Cacao is the mainstay of the economy; mineral exports include gold and diamonds. Ghana is a repub¬ lic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. The modem state is named for the ancient Ghana empire that flourished until the 13th century ad in the western Sudan, about 500 mi (800 km) northwest of the modern state. The Akan peoples then founded their first states in modern Ghana. Gold-seeking Mande traders arrived by the 14th century and Hausa merchants by the 16th. During the 15th cen-
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758 i Ghana empire ► Ghent
tury the Mande founded the states of Dag- omba and Mamprussi in the northern half of the region. The Asante (Ashanti), an Akan people, originated in the central for¬ est region and formed a strongly central¬ ized empire that was at its height in the 18th—19th century. European exploration of the region began early in the 15th century, when the Por¬ tuguese landed on the Gold Coast; they later established a settlement at Elmina as headquarters for the slave trade. By the mid-18th century the Gold Coast was dominated by numerous forts controlled by Dutch, Brit¬ ish, and Danish merchants. Britain made the Gold Coast a crown colony in 1874, and British protectorates over the Asante and the northern ter¬ ritories were established in 1901. In 1957 the Gold Coast became the independent state of Ghana. Since independence several political coups have occurred, but the coup of 1981 produced a government that lasted into the 1990s and made a smooth transition into another administration at the beginning of the 21st century.
Ghana empire First of the great medieval trading empires of western Africa (7th-13th century). Located in what is now southeastern Mauri¬ tania and part of Mali, it acted as intermediary between Arab and Berber salt traders to the north and gold and ivory producers to the south. Gold was secured through barter from those living at the empire’s southern limit and exchanged in the capital for commodities, especially salt. As the empire grew richer it extended its reach, incorporating gold-producing southern lands and cities to the north. The king exacted tribute from the princes of subject tribes. Ghana began to decline with the rise of the Mus¬ lim Almoravids; the Almoravid leader Abu Bakr seized the Ghanaian capi¬ tal of Kumbi in 1076. The empire’s subject peoples began to break away, and in 1240 the empire’s remains were incorporated into the Sundiata empire of Mali.
Ghannouchi \gan-'nu-she\, Rachid al- also spelled Rashid al-Ghannush? (b. c. 1941, Tunisia) Tunisian political activist and cofounder of Hizb al-NAHDAH (Renaissance Party). After studying phi¬ losophy in Damascus and at the Sorbonne in Paris, he returned to Tuni¬ sia and joined the Qur’anic Preservation Society (1970). In 1981 he helped organize the Islamic Tendency Movement, which later became Hizb al-Nahdah; this action resulted in his imprisonment (1981-84, 1987-88). In 1993 Britain granted him political asylum.
Ghats VgotsV Eastern and Western Two mountain ranges form¬ ing the edges of the Deccan plateau in southern India. The Eastern Ghats extend about 700 mi (1,100 km) along the southeastern and eastern coast north to the mouth of the Mahanadi River; their average elevation is about 2,000 ft (600 m). The Western Ghats run some 800 mi (1,300 km) along the southwestern and western coast north to the mouth of the Tapti River;