1.
Dance
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Dance is a performance art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. This movement has aesthetic and symbolic value, and is acknowledged as dance by performers and observers within a particular culture, Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements, or by its historical period or place of origin. Other forms of movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, figure skating, synchronized swimming. Theatrical dance, also called performance or concert dance, is intended primarily as a spectacle and it often tells a story, perhaps using mime, costume and scenery, or else it may simply interpret the musical accompaniment, which is often specially composed. Examples are western ballet and modern dance, Classical Indian dance and Chinese and Japanese song, most classical forms are centred upon dance alone, but performance dance may also appear in opera and other forms of musical theatre. Such dance seldom has any narrative, a group dance and a corps de ballet, a social partner dance and a pas de deux, differ profoundly. Even a solo dance may be solely for the satisfaction of the dancer. On the other hand, some cultures lay down strict rules as to the dances in which, for example. Archeological evidence for early dance includes 9, 000-year-old paintings in India at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka and it has been proposed that before the invention of written languages, dance was an important part of the oral and performance methods of passing stories down from generation to generation. The use of dance in trance states and healing rituals is thought to have been another early factor in the social development of dance. References to dance can be found in very early recorded history, Greek dance is referred to by Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, the Bible and Talmud refer to many events related to dance, and contain over 30 different dance terms. In Chinese pottery as early as the Neolithic period, groups of people are depicted dancing in a line holding hands, Dance is further described in the Lüshi Chunqiu. Primitive dance in ancient China was associated with sorcery and shamanic rituals, during the first millennium BCE in India, many texts were composed which attempted to codify aspects of daily life. Bharata Munis Natyashastra is one of the earlier texts and it mainly deals with drama, in which dance plays an important part in Indian culture. It categorizes dance into four types - secular, ritual, abstract, the text elaborates various hand-gestures and classifies movements of the various limbs, steps and so on. A strong continuous tradition of dance has since continued in India, through to modern times, where it continues to play a role in culture, ritual, and, notably, the Bollywood entertainment industry. Many other contemporary dance forms can likewise be traced back to historical, traditional, ceremonial, Dance is generally, though not exclusively, performed with the accompaniment of music and may or may not be performed in time to such music. Some dance may provide its own audible accompaniment in place of music, many early forms of music and dance were created for each other and are frequently performed together
2.
Madagascar
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Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar, and numerous smaller peripheral islands, consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot, over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The islands diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the growing human population. The first archaeological evidence for human foraging on Madagascar dates to 2000 BC, human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around AD1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel from East Africa, other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is divided into 18 or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands. Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by an assortment of shifting sociopolitical alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles, the monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, since 1992, the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in an uprising in 2009, president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign. Constitutional governance was restored in January 2014, when Hery Rajaonarimampianina was named president following a 2013 election deemed fair, Madagascar is a member of the United Nations, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and the Southern African Development Community. Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries, according to the United Nations, Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, Christianity, ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health, and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascars development strategy. As of 2017, the economy has been weakened by the 2009-2013 political crisis, in the Malagasy language, the island of Madagascar is called Madagasikara and its people are referred to as Malagasy. The islands appellation Madagascar is not of origin, but rather was popularized in the Middle Ages by Europeans. On St. Laurences Day in 1500, Portuguese explorer Diogo Dias landed on the island, polos name was preferred and popularized on Renaissance maps. At 592,800 square kilometres, Madagascar is the worlds 47th largest country, the country lies mostly between latitudes 12°S and 26°S, and longitudes 43°E and 51°E. Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros, the nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west
3.
Country dance
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A set consists most commonly of two or three couples, sometimes four and rarely five or six. Often dancers follow a caller who names each change in the figures, introduced to France and then Germany and Italy in the course of the 17th century, country dances gave rise to the contradanse, one of the significant dance forms in classical music. Introduced to America by French immigrants, it remains popular in the United States as contra dance and had influence upon Latin American music as contradanza. The Anglais or Angloise is another term for the English country dance, a Scottish country dance may be termed an Ecossaise. Irish set dance is also related, the term country dance may refer to any of a large number of figure-dances that originated on village greens. The term applies to dances in line formation, circle dances, square dances, however the most common formation is the longways set in which men and women form two lines facing each other. The Roger de Coverley, which was for some time the only well-known country dance in England, couples form two lines along which each travels at the end of each iteration of figures, meeting new couples and repeating the series of figures many times. Alternatively, dances can be finite, a set forming an independent unit within which the series of figures is repeated a number of times. These dances are often non-progressive, each retaining their original positions. Bright, rhythmic and simple, country dances had appeal as a finale to an evening of stately dances such as the minuet. Country dances began to influence country dance in the 15th century, many references to country dancing and titles shared with known 17th-century dances appear from this time, though few of these can be shown to refer to English country dance. Little is known of these dances before the mid-17th century, John Playfords The English Dancing Master listed over a hundred tunes, each with its step. This was enormously popular, reprinted constantly for 80 years and much enlarged, playford and his successors had a practical monopoly on the publication of dance manuals until 1711, and ceased publishing around 1728. During this period English country dances took a variety of forms including finite sets for two, three and four couples as well as circles and squares. The country dance was introduced to the court of Louis XIV of France, where it known as contredanse. André Lorin, who visited the English court in the late 17th century and this was subsequently translated into English by John Essex and published in England as For the Further Improvement of Dancing. By the 1720s the term contradanse had come to refer to sets for three and two couples, which would remain normative until English country dances eclipse. The earliest French works refer only to the form as contradanse
4.
Louis XIV of France
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Louis XIV, known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch of a country in European history. In the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIVs France was a leader in the centralization of power. Louis began his rule of France in 1661, after the death of his chief minister. By these means he became one of the most powerful French monarchs, under his rule, the Edict of Nantes, which granted rights to Huguenots, was abolished. The revocation effectively forced Huguenots to emigrate or convert in a wave of dragonnades, which managed to virtually destroy the French Protestant minority. During Louis reign, France was the leading European power, and it fought three wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg. There were also two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, warfare defined Louis XIVs foreign policies, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled by a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique, in peacetime he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught his diplomats their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French military, Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638 in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, to Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was named Louis Dieudonné and bore the title of French heirs apparent. At the time of his birth, his parents had married for 23 years. His mother had experienced four stillbirths between 1619 and 1631, leading contemporaries thus regarded him as a divine gift and his birth a miracle of God. Sensing imminent death, Louis XIII decided to put his affairs in order in the spring of 1643, in defiance of custom, which would have made Queen Anne the sole Regent of France, the king decreed that a regency council would rule on his sons behalf. His lack of faith in Queen Annes political abilities was his primary rationale and he did, however, make the concession of appointing her head of the council. Louis relationship with his mother was uncommonly affectionate for the time, contemporaries and eyewitnesses claimed that the Queen would spend all her time with Louis. Both were greatly interested in food and theatre, and it is likely that Louis developed these interests through his close relationship with his mother. This long-lasting and loving relationship can be evidenced by excerpts in Louis journal entries, such as, but attachments formed later by shared qualities of the spirit are far more difficult to break than those formed merely by blood
5.
Dance card
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A dance card or programme du bal is used by a woman to record the names of the gentlemen with whom she intends to dance each successive dance at a formal ball. They appear to have originated in the 18th century, but their use first became widespread in 19th century Vienna, an actual dance card is typically a booklet with a decorative cover, listing dance titles, composers, and the person with whom the woman intended to dance. Typically, it would have a cover indicating the sponsoring organization of the ball, from the 19th century until World War I, dance cards for the elite of Austria-Hungary were often very elaborate, with some even incorporating precious metals and jewels. In modern times the expression dance card is used metaphorically, as when someone says pencil me into your dance card. Conversely, someones dance card is full implies that even though they may be interested, they have no time for another person. U. S. Air Force aircrews in general, and those involved in tests in particular. The dance card contains data about the mission, aircraft. The card serves as a table of contents for the mission, see more examples of dance cards from the early 20th century at University of Houston Digital Library Shall We Dance. A collection of cards from Special Collections and College Archives at Gettysburg College
6.
Marcus Ward & Co.
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Marcus Ward and Co. was a British publishing company known for its illustrated books for children and adults, as well as its decorative greeting cards. It had its beginnings in 1802, with a partnership between John Ward, James Blow and Robert Greenfield, by the 1820s they owned paper mills in Belfast, Comber and Coleraine. Which operated under the name of John Ward and Sons. In the early 1830s Marcus Ward took over the running of the Belfast paper mill, then in 1833 Marcus formed a new company, Marcus Ward & Sons, based in Belfast, having a new direction, in stationery and general publishing. Marcus Ward and Sons soon became successful in the area of colour lithography. By the time Marcus died in 1847 his three sons, Francis, William and John, had taken over the running of the business. In the 1860s Marcus Ward & Co began mass-producing calendars and greeting cards, initially they printed cards for other publishers such as Goodall and Charles Bennett. By the late 1860s they began printing greeting cards under their own name and this venture turned out to be very successful, the company engaging Thomas Crane as artistic director and talented artists such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane as illustrators. In the early years of production they marked the reverse with their trademark. In later years the name was printed on the front side of their greeting cards. Marcus Ward & Co. of Belfast, the Oxford History of the Irish Book, Volume IV, The Irish Book in English, 1800-1891. The Splendid Press of Messrs Marcus Ward & Company, scrapalbum. com page on Marcus Ward and Co
7.
Ballet
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Ballet /ˈbæleɪ/ is a type of performance dance that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own based on French terminology. It has been influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres. Becoming a ballet dancer requires years of training, Ballet has been taught in various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated their own cultures to evolve the art. Ballet may also refer to a dance work, which consists of the choreography. A well-known example of this is The Nutcracker, a ballet that was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained artists, the word came into English usage from the French around 1630. Ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries before being spread from Italy to France by an Italian aristocrat, Catherine de Medici, in France, ballet developed even further under her aristocratic influence. The dancers in these early court ballets were mostly noble amateurs, Ballets in this period were lengthy and elaborate and often served a political purpose. Ornamented costumes were meant to impress viewers and restricted freedom of movement. The ballets were performed in large chambers with viewers on three sides, French court ballet reached its height under the reign of King Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis symbolized the brilliance of France, in 1661 Louis founded the Académie Royale de Danse to establish standards and certify dance instructors. In 1672, Louis XIV made Jean-Baptiste Lully the director of the Académie Royale de Musique from which the first professional ballet company, Lully is considered the most important composer of music for ballets de cour and instrumental to the development of the form. Ballet went into decline in France after 1830, though it continued to develop in Denmark, Italy, the arrival in Europe on the eve of First World War of the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, revived interest in the ballet and started the modern era. The Russian choreographer Michel Fokine challenged tradition and called for reforms that reinvigorated ballet as an art form, in the 20th century, ballet had a wide influence on other dance genres, and subgenres of ballet have also evolved. In the United States, choreographer George Balanchine developed what is now known as neoclassical ballet, other developments include contemporary ballet and post-structural ballet. Also in the century, ballet took a turn dividing it from classical ballet to the introduction of modern dance. Stylistic variations have emerged and evolved since the Italian Renaissance, early, classical variations are primarily associated with geographic origin
8.
Glossary of ballet
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Because ballet became formalized in France, a significant part of ballet terminology is in the French language. A position of the leg to the side One of the directions of body, facing the audience, arms in second position, italian, or French adage, meaning slowly, at ease. Slow movements performed with fluidity and grace, the section of a grand pas, often referred to as grand adage, that features dance partnering. An attribute of movements, including those in which a dancer is airborne. The apparent elegance and precision exhibited by a confident, accomplished dancer, in dance, arabesque is a body position in which a dancer stands on one leg with the other leg turned out and extended behind the body, with both legs held straight. A jump that lands on two feet, when initiated from two feet, the working leg performs a battement glissé/dégagé, brushing out. The dancer launches into a jump, with the foot then meeting the first foot before landing. A petit assemblé is when a dancer is standing on one foot with the other extended, the dancer then does a small jump to meet the first foot. A position in which a dancer stands on one leg while the leg is raised at hip height. The height of the knee versus the foot and the angle of the knee flexion will vary depending on the techniques, the working leg can be held behind, in front, or to the side of the body. The alignment of the thigh compared to the midline in Attitude derrière will vary depending on the techniques, the foot of the supporting leg may be flat on the floor, en demi-pointe, or en pointe. The standing leg can be straight or bend, Attitude was originally created to display the emotional zone of the leg, the knee to the ankle. A movement towards the front, as opposed to en arrière, for example, a step travelling en avant moves forwards towards the audience, as in sissonne en avant. A movement towards the back, as opposed to en avant, a rocking sequence of three steps — fondu, relevé, fondu — executed in three counts. Before the first count, one foot extends in a dégagé to second position or to the front or rear, the second foot in the sequence assembles behind the first to relevé in fifth or fourth position. The foundational principles of movement and form used in ballet. The word is of Russian origin c,1930, with the suffix -mane coming from maniya. Showing lightness of movement in leaps and jumps, a dancer exhibiting ballon will appear to spring effortlessly, float in mid-air, and land softly like a balloon
9.
Lewis Carroll
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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, and photographer. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic, There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life. Dodgsons family was predominantly northern English, with Irish connections, conservative, most of Dodgsons male ancestors were army officers or Church of England clergy. His great-grandfather, also named Charles Dodgson, had risen through the ranks of the church to become the Bishop of Elphin. His paternal grandfather, another Charles, had been an army captain, the older of these sons – yet another Charles Dodgson – was Carrolls father. He went to Westminster School and then to Christ Church, Oxford and he reverted to the other family tradition and took holy orders. He was mathematically gifted and won a double first degree, which could have been the prelude to a brilliant academic career, instead, he married his first cousin Frances Jane Lutwidge in 1830 and became a country parson. Dodgson was born in the parsonage at Daresbury in Cheshire near the towns of Warrington and Runcorn. When Charles was 11, his father was given the living of Croft-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, and this remained their home for the next 25 years. He was High Church, inclining to Anglo-Catholicism, an admirer of John Henry Newman and the Tractarian movement, Young Charles was to develop an ambiguous relationship with his fathers values and with the Church of England as a whole. During his early youth, Dodgson was educated at home and his reading lists preserved in the family archives testify to a precocious intellect, at the age of seven, he was reading books such as The Pilgrims Progress. He also suffered from a stammer – a condition shared by most of his siblings – that often influenced his life throughout his years. At the age of twelve, he was sent to Richmond Grammar School at nearby Richmond, in 1846, Dodgson entered Rugby School where he was evidently unhappy, as he wrote some years after leaving, I cannot say. That any earthly considerations would induce me to go through my three years again, I can honestly say that if I could have been. Secure from annoyance at night, the hardships of the daily life would have been comparative trifles to bear, scholastically, though, he excelled with apparent ease. I have not had a promising boy at his age since I came to Rugby. He left Rugby at the end of 1849 and matriculated at Oxford in May 1850 as a member of his fathers old college, after waiting for rooms in college to become available, he went into residence in January 1851. He had been at Oxford only two days when he received a summons home and his mother had died of inflammation of the brain – perhaps meningitis or a stroke – at the age of 47
10.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
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Alices Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children and it is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre. The journey began at Folly Bridge in Oxford and ended 3 miles north-west in the village of Godstow, during the trip, Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her and he began writing the manuscript of the story the next day, although that earliest version no longer exists. The girls and Dodgson took another boat trip a month later when he elaborated the plot to the story of Alice, and in November he began working on the manuscript in earnest. To add the finishing touches, he researched natural history for the animals presented in the book and he added his own illustrations but approached John Tenniel to illustrate the book for publication, telling him that the story had been well liked by children. Some, including Martin Gardner, speculate that there was a version that was destroyed later by Dodgson when he wrote a more elaborate copy by hand. Chapter One – Down the Rabbit Hole, Alice is feeling bored and drowsy while sitting on the riverbank with her older sister and she then notices a White Rabbit wearing a waistcoat and pocket watch, talking to itself as it runs past. She follows it down a hole, but suddenly falls a long way to a curious hall with many locked doors of all sizes. She finds a key to a door too small for her to fit through. She then discovers a bottle on a table labelled DRINK ME, the contents of which cause her to shrink too small to reach the key and she eats a cake with EAT ME written on it in currants as the chapter closes. Chapter Two – The Pool of Tears, Chapter Two opens with Alice growing to such a size that her head hits the ceiling. Alice is unhappy and, as she cries, her tears flood the hallway, after shrinking down again due to a fan she had picked up, Alice swims through her own tears and meets a Mouse, who is swimming as well. She tries to make small talk with him in elementary French, offends the mouse and he tries to escape her. Chapter Three – The Caucus Race and a Long Tale, The sea of tears becomes crowded with other animals, Alice and the other animals convene on the bank and the question among them is how to get dry again. The Mouse gives them a very dry lecture on William the Conqueror, a Dodo decides that the best thing to dry them off would be a Caucus-Race, which consists of everyone running in a circle with no clear winner
11.
Wikisource
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Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
12.
New International Encyclopedia
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The New International Encyclopedia was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the International Cyclopaedia and was updated in 1906,1914 and 1926, the New International Encyclopedia was the successor of the International Cyclopaedia. Initially, the International Cyclopaedia was largely a reprint of Aldens Library of Universal Knowledge, the local Cyclopaedia was much improved by editors Harry Thurston Peck and Selim Peabody. The title was changed to New International Encyclopedia in 1902, with editors Harry Thurston Peck, Daniel Coit Gilman, in 1906 the New International Encyclopedia was expanded from 17 volumes to 20. The 2nd edition appeared in 1914 in 24 volumes, set up from new type and it was very strong in biography. The 1926 material was printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by The University Press, boston Bookbinding Company of Cambridge produced the covers. Thirteen books enclosing twenty-three volumes comprise the encyclopedia, which includes a supplement after Volume 23, each book contains about 1600 pages. A great deal of material is recorded in the New International Encyclopedia. An early description of Adolf Hitler and his activities from 1920 to 1924 is in the supplement to the 1926 edition, many of the names used to describe the scientific identities of plants and animals are now obsolete. Numerous colorful maps which display the nations, states, colonies, the maps are valuable for their depictions of national and colonial borders in Europe, Asia, and Africa at the time of World War I. Drawings, illustrations, and photographs are plentiful, more than 500 men, and some women, submitted and composed the information contained in the New International Encyclopedia. Editors of the First Edition Daniel Coit Gilman, LL. D, President of Johns Hopkins University, President of Carnegie Institution. Frank Moore Colby, M. A. formerly Professor in New York University, editors of the Second Edition Frank Moore Colby, M. A. Talcott Williams, LL. D. Director of the School of Journalism, Columbia University, media related to New International Encyclopedia at Wikimedia Commons 1914 second ed
