Hail Mary Latin Ave Maria Principal Roman Catholic prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary. It begins with the greetings spoken to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel and by her cousin Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” A closing petition, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” came into general use by the end of the 14th century. Churchgoers who attend confession are often asked to repeat the prayer as penance for sins.
Haile Mariam, Mengistu See Mengistu Haile Mariam
Haile Selassie VhI-le-s9-Tas-e\ orig. Tafari Makonnen (b. July 23, 1892, near Harer, Eth.—d. Aug. 26, 1975, Addis Ababa) Emperor of Ethiopia (1930-74). Tafari was a son of Ras Makonnen, a chief adviser to Emperor Menilek II. After Menilek’s daughter, Zauditu, became empress (1917), Ras (Prince) Tafari, who had married Menilek’s great- granddaughter, was named regent and heir apparent to the throne. When Zauditu died in 1930, Tafari took the name of Haile Selassie (“Might of the Trinity”) to mark his imperial status. As emperor he sought to mod-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
826 I Hainan ► Haitink
emize his country and steer it into the mainstream of African politics.
He brought Ethiopia into the League of Nations and the UN and made Addis Ababa the centre for the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union). Through most of his reign he remained popular among the majority Christian population.
He was deposed in 1974 in a mili¬ tary coup by Mengistu Haile Mariam and kept under house arrest. He was apparently killed by his captors.
Haile Selassie was regarded as the Messiah of the African race by the Rastafarian movement.
Hainan \'hl-'nan\ or Hai-nan
Province (pop., 2002 est.: 8,030,000) and island of China. With an area of 13,200 sq mi (34,300 sq km), the province also includes the Paracel and Spratly islands. It is located in the South China Sea, separated from Guangdong province by a narrow strait. For centuries part of Guang¬ dong, Hainan became a separate province in 1988, the southernmost prov¬ ince of China and the smallest. Its capital is Haikou. It was under Chinese rule since the 2nd century bc but was not closely controlled until the Tang dynasty (ad 618-907). Chinese began settling the island in the 16th— 17th centuries, gradually forcing the indigenous peoples into the interior. Hainan was occupied by the Japanese (1939^15), and it came under com¬ munist control in 1950. Although the government has tried to stimulate economic development there, it is one of China’s less prosperous regions.
Hainaut \a-'no\ Flemish Henegouwen \ , ha-n9-,kau-3\ Medieval county, now a province in southwestern Belgium. The area was once part of the county of Hainaut, which was larger than the modern province, and was bounded by Flanders on the north. United with Flanders several times from the 11th to the 13 th century, it was later ruled by the house of Avesnes, the Wittelsbachs, the Burgundians, and finally the Habsburgs. Gradually annexed to France in the 17th and 18th centuries, part of the county stayed with France (now the Nord department ), and the rest passed to The Netherlands in 1814 and to Belgium in 1831. It is a well-farmed region with varied agriculture; animals, including Belgian draft horses, are raised. There are more than 100 castles in Hainaut.
Haiphong Vhl-'foqX Seaport city (pop., 2004 est.: 591,100), northern Vietnam. Situated in the Red River delta, about 10 mi (16 km) from the Gulf of Tonkin, it is the country’s third largest city and serves as the port of the capital, Hanoi, about 50 mi (80 km) to the west. Established in 1874, it developed commercially as a port and as the terminus of a railway. It became a leading industrial centre, and after 1954 many new plants were built there with aid given by Soviet-bloc countries and by China. It sus¬ tained heavy damage from U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War but was subsequently rebuilt.
hair Threadlike outgrowths of the skin. Babies shed a layer of downy, slender hairs (lanugo) before or just after birth. The fine, short, unpig- mented hairs (vellus) then grow. Starting at puberty, terminal hair, longer, coarser, and more pigmented, develops in the armpits, crotch, sometimes on parts of the trunk and limbs, and, in males, on the face. Scalp hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are different types. The number of scalp hairs, which grow about 0.5 in. (13 mm) per month, averages 100,000-150,000. The hair shaft (above the skin) is dead tissue, composed of keratin. Only a few growing cells at the base of the root are alive. Hair is formed by cell division at the base of the follicle (a tiny pocket in the skin), part of a cycle of growing, resting, and falling out. Vellus lasts about four months, scalp hairs three to five years.
hairstreak Any butterfly in the subfamily Theclinae (family Lycae- nidae), sometimes known as gossamer-winged butterflies. Adults are deli¬ cate and have a 0.75-1.5-in. (18-38-mm) wingspan. Rapid fliers, hairstreaks usually have iridescent wings and are typically brown or gray with delicate stripes on the bottoms of the wings. Larvae are short, broad, and sluglike. Some species eat plants, many are cannibals, and still oth¬
ers secrete honey dew, a sweet by-product of digestion that attracts ants. Found in open areas on every continent, hairstreaks are most abundant in the New World tropics.
hairworm See horsehair worm
Haiti \'ha-te\ officially Republic of Haiti Country in the West Indies, occupying the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic to the east. Area: 10,695 sq mi (27,700 sq
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km). Population (2005 est.): 8,528,000.
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Christianity (mainly Roman Catholic; also Protestant); also Vodou. Cur¬ rency: gourde. Most of the land is mountainous, about two-thirds above 1,600 ft (490 m) in elevation. The mountain ranges alternate with fertile but overpopulated lowlands. Haiti’s tropical climate is modified by the moun¬ tains and subject to periodic droughts and hurricanes. Its longest river is the Artibonite. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has a developing market economy based in large part on agriculture and light industries; cof¬ fee is the main cash crop. It is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses; the chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. For early history, see Hispaniola. Haiti gained its indepen¬ dence in 1804, after former slaves led by Toussaint-Louverture in the 1790s and by Jean-Jacques Dessalines in 1803 rebelled against French rule. The new republic encompassed the entire island of Hispaniola, but the eastern portion of the island was restored to Spain in 1809. It was reunited under Haitian Pres. Jean-Pierre Boyer (1818-43); after his overthrow the eastern portion revolted and formed the Dominican Republic. Haiti’s government was marked by instability, with frequent coups and assassinations. It was occupied by the U.S. in 1915-34. In 1957 the dictator Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier came to power. Despite economic decline and civil unrest, Duvalier ruled until his death in 1971. He was succeeded by his son, Jean- Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier, who was forced into exile in 1986. Haiti’s first free presidential elections, held in 1990, were won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was deposed by a military coup in 1991, after which tens of thousands of Haitians attempted to flee to the U.S. in small boats. When the military government stepped down in 1994, Aristide returned from exile and resumed the presidency. His associate Rene Preval replaced him in 1995, and in 2000 Aristide reclaimed the presidency, only to be driven from office and out of the country in 2004 as economic and political instability continued to plague Haiti.