World War II, also called Second World War, conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allies—France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year …

An encyclopedia (American English), ... Internet). As a valued source of reliable information compiled by experts, printed versions found a prominent place in libraries, schools and other educational institutions. ... Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, and Britannica. CD-ROM encyclopedias were usually a macOS or Microsoft Windows (3.0, 3.1 or 95/ ...

Haida, Haida-speaking North American Indians of Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia, Canada, and the southern part of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, U.S. The Alaskan Haida are called Kaigani. Haida culture is related to the cultures of the neighbouring Tlingit and Tsimshian. Traditional Haida social organization was built around two major …

Sep 29, 2022 · Zoroastrianism, ancient pre-Islamic religion of Iran that survives there in isolated areas and, more prosperously, in India, where the descendants of Zoroastrian Iranian (Persian) immigrants are known as Parsis, or Parsees. The Iranian prophet and religious reformer Zarathushtra (flourished before the 6th century bce)—more widely known outside Iran as …

From Britannica, an online encyclopedia resource for kids in grades K-12 with safe, fact-checked, age-appropriate content for homework help and learning…

Romeo and Juliet, play by William Shakespeare, written about 1594–96 and first published in an unauthorized quarto in 1597. An authorized quarto appeared in 1599, substantially longer and more reliable. A third quarto, based on the second, was used by the editors of the First Folio of 1623. The characters of Romeo and Juliet have been depicted in literature, music, dance, and …

horse racing, sport of running horses at speed, mainly Thoroughbreds with a rider astride or Standardbreds with the horse pulling a conveyance with a driver. These two kinds of racing are called racing on the flat and harness racing, respectively. Some races on the flat—such as steeplechase, point-to-point, and hurdle races—involve jumping. This article is confined to …

Nov 09, 2022 · epistemology, the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. The term is derived from the Greek epistēmē (“knowledge”) and logos (“reason”), and accordingly the field is sometimes referred to as the theory of knowledge. Epistemology has a long history within Western philosophy, beginning with the ancient Greeks and continuing to …

launch vehicle, in spaceflight, a rocket-powered vehicle used to transport a spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere, either into orbit around Earth or to some other destination in outer space. Practical launch vehicles have been used to send crewed spacecraft, uncrewed space probes, and satellites into space since the 1950s. They include the Soyuz and Proton launchers of …

measurement system, any of the systems used in the process of associating numbers with physical quantities and phenomena. Although the concept of weights and measures today includes such factors as temperature, luminosity, pressure, and electric current, it once consisted of only four basic measurements: mass (weight), distance or length, area, and volume (liquid or …