their average elevations range from 3,000 ft (900 m) to 5,000 ft (1,500 m). Because they receive heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, the Western Ghats comprise peninsular India’s principal watershed.
Ghazal \ga-'zal\ River or Bahr al-Ghazal \,bar-al-ga-'zal\ River, southwestern Sudan. Formed by the confluence of the 'Arab and Jur riv¬ ers in a swampy area of southern Sudan, it is 445 mi (716 km) long. It flows east to unite at Lake No with the Jabal River and form the White Nile River. It was mapped in 1772 by the French geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville.
Ghazal? \ga-‘za-le\, al- or al-Ghazzal? in full Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tus? al-Ghazal? (b. 1058, Tus, Iran—d. Dec. 18, 1111, Tus) Muslim theologian and mystic. He studied philosophy and religion and became chief professor of the Nizamiyyah college in Baghdad in 1091. A spiritual crisis prompted him to abandon his career in 1095 and adopt the life of a poor Sufi. He did not return to teaching until 1106, persuaded by those who believed he was a centennial renewer of Islam. His great work, Ihyd * 'ulum al-din (“Revival of the Religious Sciences”), explained Islamic doctrines and practices and traced their connection with Sufi mysticism.
Ghazan \ga-‘zan\, Mahmud (b. Nov. 5, 1271, Abaskun, Iran—d. May 11, 1304) Most prominent leader of the Mongol Il-Khanid dynasty in Per¬ sia. In 1284 his father, the ruler Arghun, made him viceroy of northeast¬ ern Persia, where he defended the frontier against the Chagatai Mongols. In 1295 he converted from Buddhism to Islam before taking the throne. He successfully fought his family’s enemy, the MamlOk dynasty, in Syria, defeating their army at Hims. The Mamluks reoccupied Syria on his departure. Despite three more attempts to regain the city, he was unable to do so. He spoke many languages and was said to have been learned in a variety of fields. He commissioned his famous vizier, Rashid al-Dln, to compose a history of the Mongols, which was later expanded to include information on all those with whom the Mongols had come in contact.
ghazel or ghazal or gazel Vgoz-ul ,\ Arabic Vga-zal\ In Islamic lit¬ erature, a lyric poem, generally short and graceful in form and typically dealing with love. The genre developed in late 7th-century Arabia. Gha- zels begin with a rhymed couplet whose rhyme is repeated in all subse¬ quent even lines, while the odd lines are unrhymed. The two main types of ghazel are native to the Hejaz (what is now western Saudi Arabia) and Iraq. It reached its greatest refinement in the works of Hafez. American poets such as Adrienne Rich have used variations of the form.
Ghaznavid Vgcez-no-vsdN dynasty (977-1186) Turkish dynasty that ruled in Khorasan (northeastern Iran), Afghanistan, and northern India. It was founded by Sebiiktigin (r. 977-997), a former slave. His son MahmOd (998-1030) enlarged the empire to its greatest extent; during his reign, FerdowsT wrote the epic Shah-nameh (“Book of Kings”). Mahmud’s grandson Mas'ud I (1031—41 ) lost the western half of the empire to the SeuGq dynasty. The Ghaznavids continued to rule their eastern provinces until they were defeated by the Ghurid dynasty in 1186. They are noted for their architecture and for their patronage of the arts and sciences. See also al-BiRUNi.
Ghent Vgent\ Flemish Gent Vkent\ French Gand Vga n \ City (pop., 2000 est.: 224,180), capital of East Flanders province, northwestern Bel¬ gium. One of the chief towns of the medieval county of Flanders, Ghent was one of the largest towns in northern Europe by the 13th century. Its pros¬ perity was based on its manufacture of luxury cloths, which were famous throughout Europe. It began to decline in the late 16th century, when its cloth was unable to compete with England’s. Its economy revived with the introduction of cotton-spinning machinery (in particular, a power loom smuggled out of England), and it subsequently became the centre of the Belgian textile industry. Ghent has many fine museums, notably the Museum of Fine Arts, which contains a treasury of paintings by Flemish masters who lived and worked in Ghent during the 16th and 17th centuries. Belgium’s second largest port, it is also a horticultural centre.
Ghent, Pacification of (Nov. 8, 1576) Declaration by which the northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries put aside their reli¬ gious differences and united in revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs. As the first major expression of national consciousness in The Netherlands, it called for the expulsion of Spanish troops from the Low Countries, the restoration of provincial and local prerogatives, and an end to the perse¬ cution of Calvinists. The Spanish governor soon resumed hostilities, how¬ ever, and religious differences within the region caused a split in 1579
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Gheorghiu-Dej ► Giannini I 759
between the Calvinist north (the Union of Utrecht) and the Catholic south (the Union of Arras). The general union ended in 1584.
Gheorghiu-Dej \'gy6r-gyu-'da\, Gheorghe (b. Nov. 8, 1901, Bar- lad, Rom.—d. March 19, 1965, Bucharest) Romanian politician. He became head of the Communist Party in 1944 and held key government economic posts (1946-52). After purging the party of rivals closely iden¬ tified with Soviet policies, he became prime minister (1952-55) and gradually adopted economic and foreign policies that served Romania’s national interests. As president of the State Council (1961-65), he pur¬ sued a program of industrialization, despite the objections of other Soviet- bloc countries that wanted Romania to remain agricultural. He further demonstrated Romania’s independence by forming cordial relations with noncommunist nations and with China.
Gherardo delle Notte See Gerrit van Honthorst
ghetto Formerly, a street or quarter of a city set apart as a legally enforced residential area for Jews. Forced segregation of Jews spread throughout Europe in the 14th-15th centuries. Ghettos were customarily enclosed with walls and gates and kept locked at night and during Chris¬ tian festivals. Since outward expansion was usually impossible, most ghettos grew upward; congestion, fire hazards, and unsanitary conditions often resulted. Ghettos were abolished in western Europe in the 19th cen¬ tury; those revived by the Nazi Party (see Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) were overcrowded holding places preliminary to extermination. More recently, the term ghetto has been applied to impoverished urban areas exclusively settled by a minority group or groups and perpetuated by economic and social pressures rather than legal and physical measures.
Ghibellines See Guelphs and Ghibellines
Ghiberti \ge-'ber-te\, Lorenzo (b. c. 1378, Pelago—d. Dec. 1, 1455, Florence) Italian sculptor, goldsmith, and designer active in Florence. He was trained as a goldsmith and painter. In 1402 he won a competition for the commission to make a pair of bronze doors for the Baptistery of Flo¬ rence Cathedral, defeating Filippo Brunelleschi. The honour brought him immediate fame and prominence. Work on the doors lasted from 1403 to 1424. In 1425 he was asked to make a second pair, known as the Gates of Paradise, which he completed in 1452. The reliefs on the first door are the major sculptural works of the International Gothic style in Italy; those on the second, in a more advanced style, are among the finest examples of Italian Renaissance art. Among his other commissions were three bronze statues for Or San Michele (1413-29) and two reliefs for the Baptistery of Siena Cathedral (1417-27). He directed a large workshop with many assistants, including Donatello and Paolo Uccello. His treatise on art his¬ tory and theory includes the earliest surviving autobiography of an artist.
Ghirlandaio X.gir-bn-'da-yoX, Domenico orig. Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi (b. 1449, Florence—d. Jan. 11, 1494, Florence) Italian painter of the Early Renaissance, active in Florence. He trained with Alesso Baldovinetti. In 1481-82 he painted several frescoes, includ¬ ing the Calling of Sts. Peter and Andrew in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. His greatest fresco cycle, commissioned by an agent of the Medici, was painted in the choir of Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1485-90); depict¬ ing scenes from the lives of the Virgin and St. John the Baptist in con¬ temporary dress against detailed patrician interiors, it has become a major source of current knowledge on the furnishings of a late 15th-century Florentine palace. With his two brothers he directed one of the most pros¬ perous workshops in Florence; they also produced numerous altarpieces. His finest portrait is The Old Man and His Grandson (c. 1480-90).