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  • Eastern Armenian language (language)
    ...hayerên), and Modern Armenian, or Ašxarhabar (Ashkharhabar). Modern Armenian embraces two written varieties—Western Armenian (Arewmtahayerên) and Eastern Armenian (Arewelahayerên)—and many dialects are spoken. About 50 dialects were known before 1915, when the Armenian population of Turkey was drastically reduced by means of massacre and forced......
  • Eastern Austronesian languages
    widespread, highly varied, and controversial language group of the Austronesian language family. Spoken on the islands of Oceania from New Guinea to Hawaii to Easter Island, certain of these languages share so little basic vocabulary that some scholars prefer to classify them in smaller, more cohesive groups....
  • eastern avahi (primate)
    The eastern avahi (Avahi laniger), which lives in rainforests, is grayish brown to reddish, is about 28 cm (11 inches) long and 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) in weight, and has a furry reddish tail of about body length or longer. The three species that live in western Madagascar’s dry forests are smaller, weighing only 800 grams (28 ounces). They are lighter gray with a......
  • eastern bleeding heart (plant)
    ...feet) tall. There is also a white form, D. spectabilis alba. The deeply cut leaf segments are larger than those of other cultivated species of Dicentra, such as the shorter eastern, or wild, bleeding heart (D. eximia), which produces sprays of small pink flowers from April to September in the Allegheny mountain region of eastern North America. The Pacific, or western,......
  • eastern bluebird (bird species)
    On either side of North America’s Great Plains are 35 pairs of sister taxa including western and eastern bluebirds (Sialia mexicana and S. sialis), red-shafted and yellow-shafted flickers (both considered subspecies of Colaptes auratus), and ruby-throated and black-chinned hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris and A......
  • Eastern box turtle (reptile)
    ...Terrapene have the same range of shell sizes as Cuora and similarly share an omnivorous diet; however, they tend to lay larger clutches of eggs. The eastern box turtle (T. carolina carolina) lays a maximum of eight eggs in a clutch, although clutches of three or four eggs are more typical....
  • eastern brown snake (snake)
    ...mice, and ground-dwelling birds. They are alert, fast-moving, highly venomous snakes that are quite dangerous to humans. Brown snakes are found over most of Australia. The best-known species is the eastern brown snake (P. textilis), which grows to about 2 metres (7 feet). Other species in the genus are the western brown snake (P. nuchalis) and the dugite (P. affinis)....
  • Eastern Bulgarian language
    Bulgarian is spoken by more than nine million people in Bulgaria and adjacent areas of other Balkan countries and Ukraine. There are two major groups of Bulgarian dialects: Eastern Bulgarian, which became the basis of the literary language in the middle of the 19th century, and Western Bulgarian, which influenced the literary language. Bulgarian texts prepared before the 16th century were......
  • Eastern Cape (province, South Africa)
    province, south-central South Africa. It is bordered by Western Cape province to the west, Northern Cape province to the northwest, Free State province and Lesotho to the north, KwaZulu-Natal province to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast and south. The eastern portion of the former Griqualand East (surrounding Umzimkulu) is now an exclave of Eastern Cape located in southern KwaZ...
  • Eastern Caribbean States, Organisation of (international organization)
    ...Finally, on November 1, 1981, Antigua and Barbuda achieved independence, with Vere Bird as the first prime minister. The state obtained United Nations and Commonwealth membership and joined the Organization of East Caribbean States. Bird’s party won again in 1984 and 1989 by overwhelming margins, giving the prime minister firm control of the islands’ government....
  • Eastern Carpathian Mountains (mountains, Europe)
    ...part of Bulgaria. The geographic region of Moldavia, comprising only part of the former principality of Moldavia (the remainder of which constitutes the country of Moldova), stretches from the Eastern Carpathian Mountains to the Prut River on the Ukrainian border. In western Romania, the historic Banat region is bounded on the north by the Mureș River and reaches west and south......
  • Eastern Catholic church (Roman Catholic church)
    any of a group of Eastern Christian churches that trace their origins to various ancient national or ethnic Christian bodies in the East but have established union (hence Eastern rite churches were in the past often called Uniates) or canonical communion with the Roman Apostolic See and, thus, with the Roman Catholic church. In this union they accept the Roman Catholic faith, ke...
  • eastern chimpanzee (primate)
    ...known as the common chimpanzee in continental Europe; the West African, or masked, chimpanzee (P. t. verus; see photograph), known as the common chimpanzee in Great Britain; and the East African, or long-haired, chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii). A fourth subspecies, the Nigerian chimpanzee (P. t. vellerosus), has also been proposed....
  • eastern chipmunk (rodent)
    The eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), common to the deciduous forests of eastern North America, is the largest. Weighing 70–142 grams (2.5–5 ounces), it has a body 14–19 cm long and a shorter tail (8–11 cm). The fur is reddish brown and is broken by five dark brown stripes running lengthwise down the body. These alternate with two gray-brown stripes and...
  • Eastern Christian church
    Separated from the West, the Orthodox churches of the East have developed their own way for half of Christian history. Each national church is autonomous. The “ecumenical patriarch” of Constantinople is not the Eastern pope but merely the first in honour among equals in jurisdiction. Eastern Orthodoxy interprets the primacy of Peter and therefore that of the pope similarly, denying.....
  • Eastern Christian Independent church
    The churches of Eastern Christianity that separated from the patriarchal see of Constantinople over a period of several centuries, but primarily during the 5th and 6th centuries, developed bodies of canon law that reflected their isolated and—after the Arab conquests in the 7th century—secondary social position. Among these churches are the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch......
  • Eastern Colored League (American baseball organization)
    ...and the late 1940s, when black players were at last contracted to play major and minor league baseball. The principal Negro leagues were the Negro National League (1920–31, 1933–48), the Eastern Colored League (1923–28), and the Negro American League (1937–60). A "gentleman’s agreement" among the leaders of what was then called “Organized Baseball...
  • Eastern Connecticut State University (university, Willimantic, Connecticut, United States)
    ...and the late 1940s, when black players were at last contracted to play major and minor league baseball. The principal Negro leagues were the Negro National League (1920–31, 1933–48), the Eastern Colored League (1923–28), and the Negro American League (1937–60). A "gentleman’s agreement" among the leaders of what was then called “Organized Baseball......
  • eastern coral snake (snake)
    Sixty-five species of American coral snakes (genus Micrurus) range from the southern United States to Argentina. Only two species live in the United States. The eastern coral snake, or harlequin snake (M. fulvius), is about a metre (3.3 feet) long and has wide red and black rings separated by narrow rings of yellow. The Arizona coral......
  • Eastern Cordillera (mountains, Australia)
    main watershed of eastern Australia; it comprises a series of plateaus and low mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria for 2,300 miles (3,700 km). Geologically and topographically complex, the range begins in the north on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Within that state the ranges’ average elevation is 2,000–3,0...
  • Eastern Cordillera (mountains, Bolivia)
    major mountain system, the easternmost of the two in Bolivia. It extends generally north-south for about 750 miles (1,200 km) through the length of the country. The Cordillera Real separates the lowlands of the Amazon River basin to the east from the high plateaus of the Altiplano to the west. The Cordillera Real contains within its ranges two characteristic physiographic region...
  • eastern cottonmouth (snake)
    either of two venomous aquatic New World snakes of the viper family (Viperidae): the water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) or the Mexican moccasin (A. bilineatus). Both are pit vipers (subfamily Crotalinae), so named because of the characteristic sensory pit between each eye and nostril....
  • eastern cottontail rabbit (mammal)
    either of two venomous aquatic New World snakes of the viper family (Viperidae): the water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) or the Mexican moccasin (A. bilineatus). Both are pit vipers (subfamily Crotalinae), so named because of the characteristic sensory pit between each eye and nostril.......
  • eastern cottonwood (plant)
    ...fast-growing trees of North America, members of the genus Populus, in the family Salicaceae, with triangular, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. Eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides), nearly 30 metres (100 feet) tall, has thick glossy leaves. A hybrid between this and Eurasian black poplar (P. nigra) is P. canadensis. Alamo,......
  • eastern curlew (bird)
    The eastern curlew (N. madagascariensis), the largest bird in the family, 60 cm (24 inches) long, and the slender-billed curlew (N. tenuirostris) are both Old World birds....
  • Eastern Dakota (people)
    a major group within the Sioux nation of North American Indians. Santee descendants numbered more than 3,200 individuals in the early 21st century....
  • Eastern Depot (Chinese police agency)
    ...as supervisors of special projects such as the requisitioning of construction supplies, and as regional overseers of military garrisons. In 1420 he established a special eunuch agency called the Eastern Depot (Dongchang) charged with ferreting out treasonable activities. Although it did not become notorious in his own reign, it came to be a hated and feared secret police in collaboration......
  • Eastern Desert (desert, Egypt)
    large desert in eastern Egypt. Originating just southeast of the Nile River delta, it extends southeastward into northeastern Sudan and from the Nile River valley eastward to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea. It covers an area of about 85,690 square miles (221,940 square km)....
  • eastern diamondback rattlesnake (reptile)
    ...rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) of the eastern United States, the prairie rattlesnake (C. viridis) of the western United States, and the eastern and western diamondbacks (C. adamanteus and C. atrox). These are also the largest rattlers. Twenty-six other species also belong to......
  • Eastern Duars (region, India)
    region of northeastern India, at the foot of the west Assam Himalayas. Its 3,400-square-mile (8,800-square-kilometre) area is divided by the Sankosh River into the Western and Eastern Duārs. Both were ceded by Bhutan to the British at the end of the Bhutan War (1864–65). The Eastern Duārs, in western Assam state, comprises a level plain intersected by numerous rivers and only....
  • Eastern Eskimo language
    the northeastern division of the Eskimo languages, spoken in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland....
  • Eastern Europe (region, Europe)
    the northeastern division of the Eskimo languages, spoken in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.......
  • Eastern fox squirrel (rodent)
    ...such as the red-tailed squirrel (S. granatensis) of the American tropics and the African pygmy squirrel, are active from ground to canopy. In the United States, the Eastern fox squirrel (S. niger) runs along the ground from tree to tree, but others, including the Eastern gray squirrel (S. carolinensis),......
  • Eastern Front (World War II)
    For the campaign against the Soviet Union, the Germans allotted almost 150 divisions containing a total of about 3,000,000 men. Among these were 19 panzer divisions, and in total the “Barbarossa” force had about 3,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery pieces, and 2,500 aircraft. It was in effect the largest and most powerful invasion force in human history. The Germans’ strength was furt...
  • Eastern Front (World War I history)
    On the Eastern Front, greater distances and quite considerable differences between the equipment and quality of the opposing armies ensured a fluidity of the front that was lacking in the west. Trench lines might form, but to break them was not difficult, particularly for the German army, and then mobile operations of the old style could be undertaken....
  • Eastern Gaṅga dynasty (Indian dynasties)
    either of two distinct but remotely related Indian dynasties. The Western Gaṅgas ruled in Mysore state (Gaṅgavāḍi) from about ad 250 to about 1004. The Eastern Gaṅgas ruled Kaliṅga from 1028 to 1434–35....
  • Eastern Ghats (mountains, India)
    ...several thousand kilometres long, that are frequently though not exclusively of Proterozoic age include the Limpopo, Mozambique, and Damaran belts in Africa, the Labrador Trough in Canada, and the Eastern Ghats belt in India. Several small relict areas, spanning a few hundred kilometres across, exist within or against Phanerozoic orogenic belts and include the Lofoten islands of Norway, the......
  • Eastern glass lizard (reptile)
    any lizard of the genus Ophisaurus in the family Anguidae, so named because the tail is easily broken off. The Eastern glass lizard, Ophisaurus ventralis, occurs in southeastern North America and grows to about 105 cm (41 inches). Together, the lizard’s head and body account for only 30 to 35 percent of its total length. It has no legs but is easily distinguished from a snake ...
  • Eastern Gobi (region, Asia)
    The Eastern Gobi is of similar character to the western regions, with altitudes varying from 2,300 to 5,000 feet, but it receives somewhat more precipitation—up to eight inches per year—though with virtually no rivers. The underground waters are relatively abundant and only partly mineralized. They are also near the surface, feeding small lakes and springs. The vegetation, however,.....
  • eastern gray kangaroo (marsupial)
    The eastern gray kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) is found mostly in the open forests of eastern Australia and Tasmania. It is replaced by the western gray kangaroo (M. fuliginosus) along the southern coast into the southwest of Western Australia. The ranges of the two species overlap in western New South Wales and western Victoria. Both species, but especially the eastern, prefer......
  • Eastern gray squirrel (rodent)
    ...chipmunks, marmots, prairie dogs, and flying squirrels, but to most people squirrel refers to the 122 species of tree squirrels, which belong to 22 genera of the subfamily Sciurinae. The North American gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) has adapted to urban and suburban areas where it is regarded as aesthetic or as a minor annoyance. In northern Europe the red......
  • Eastern Group (islands, Fiji)
    island cluster of Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean, east of the Koro Sea. Mainly composed of limestone, the 57 islands and islets cover a land area of 188 square miles (487 square km) and are scattered over 44,000 square miles (114,000 square km) of the South Pacific. The chief island is Vanua Balavu, site of Lomaloma, now a copra port. Lomaloma was the base for the Tongan chief ...
  • Eastern Gulf Coastal Plain (plain, United States)
    ...Rim. About 60 miles (100 km) wide and running roughly north to south across the state, the basin floor is a slightly rolling terrain punctuated by small hills known as knobs. To the west the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain undulates only slightly and is laced with meandering low-banked streams; the region stretches westward, terminating in the Mississippi alluvial plain, a narrow strip of......
  • Eastern Han dynasty (Chinese history [25-220])
    The Han house was restored by Liu Xiu, better known as Guangwudi, who reigned from ad 25 to 57. His claim had been contested by another member of the Liu house—Liu Xuan, better known as Liu Gengshi—who had been actually enthroned for two years, until his death in the course of turbulent civil fighting. Chang’an had been virtually destroyed by warfare, and Guangwu...
  • eastern hemlock (tree)
    ...short, blunt leaves that grow from woody cushionlike structures on the twigs. The small cones hang from the branch tips and retain their scales when they fall. Each scale bears two winged seeds. The eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) of North America, also called Canadian hemlock and hemlock spruce, usually is 18 to 30 metres (about 60 to 100 feet) tall and has a trunk 1.2 metres (4 feet...
  • Eastern Highlands (mountains, India)
    mountain ranges in eastern India, extending over about 37,900 square miles (98,000 square km) in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, and eastern Assam states. The Patkai and other associated mountain ranges (including the Mishmi, Naga, Manipur, Tripura, and Mizo hills) that run through this region are referred to collectively as Purvachal (purva...
  • Eastern Highlands (mountain region, Ethiopia)
    highlands covering much of Ethiopia and central Eritrea. They consist of the rugged Western Highlands and the more limited Eastern Highlands. The two sections are separated by the vast Eastern Rift Valley, which cuts across Ethiopia from southwest to northeast. The Western Highlands extend from central Eritrea and northern Ethiopia to the basin of Lake Rudolf in the south and include the......
  • Eastern Highlands (mountains, Australia)
    main watershed of eastern Australia; it comprises a series of plateaus and low mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria for 2,300 miles (3,700 km). Geologically and topographically complex, the range begins in the north on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Within that state the ranges’ average elevation is 2,000–3,0...
  • Eastern honeybee
    ...in trees. A. dorsata, the giant honeybee, occurs in India, Indonesia, and central China and sometimes builds combs nearly three metres (more than nine feet) in diameter. A. indica, the Eastern honeybee, is domesticated in parts of Asia. There are also a number of races, subspecies, and strains of Apis species....
  • eastern hop-hornbeam (plant)
    ...bearing a small, flat nut. The European hop-hornbeam (Ostrya carpinifolia) and the Japanese hop-hornbeam (O. japonica) may reach 21 m (70 feet); the other species are much smaller. The eastern, or American, hop-hornbeam (O. virginiana) is known as ironwood for its hard, heavy wood, used locally for fence posts and small articles such as tool handles....
  • Eastern Ibibio (people)
    ...the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Ibibio comprise the following major divisions: Efik, Northern (Enyong), Southern (Eket), Delta (Andoni-Ibeno), Western (Anang), and Eastern (the Ibibio proper)....
  • Eastern Illinois State College (university, Illinois, United States)
    public, coeducational university in Charleston, east-central Illinois, U.S. It was founded in 1895 as Eastern Illinois State Normal School and became a state teacher’s college in 1921. Renamed Eastern Illinois State College in 1947, it was elevated to university status in 1957. Total enrollment is about 11,000....
  • Eastern Illinois State Normal School (university, Illinois, United States)
    public, coeducational university in Charleston, east-central Illinois, U.S. It was founded in 1895 as Eastern Illinois State Normal School and became a state teacher’s college in 1921. Renamed Eastern Illinois State College in 1947, it was elevated to university status in 1957. Total enrollment is about 11,000....
  • Eastern Illinois University (university, Illinois, United States)
    public, coeducational university in Charleston, east-central Illinois, U.S. It was founded in 1895 as Eastern Illinois State Normal School and became a state teacher’s college in 1921. Renamed Eastern Illinois State College in 1947, it was elevated to university status in 1957. Total enrollment is about 11,000....
  • Eastern Indian bronze (Indian art)
    any of a style of metal sculptures produced from the 9th century onward in the area of modern Bihār and West Bengal in India, extending into Bangladesh. They are sometimes referred to as Pāla bronzes, after the name of one of the reigning dynasties (Pāla and Sena, 8th–12th century ad). The principal centres of production were the great Buddhist monasteries...
  • Eastern Indian painting
    school of painting that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries in the area of what are modern Bihār and Bengal. Its alternative name, Pāla, derives from the name of the ruling dynasty of the period. The style is confined almost exclusively to conventional illustration on palm leaves of the life of the Buddha and Buddhist divinities....
  • Eastern Island (island, Pacific Ocean)
    ...miles (2,100 km) northwest of Honolulu. The islands, near the western end of the Hawaiian archipelago, comprise a coral atoll with a circumference of 15 miles (24 km), enclosing two main islands, Eastern (Green) and Sand. Its total land area is 2.4 square miles (6.2 square km). The climate is subtropical, with cool and wet winters and warm and dry summers....
  • Eastern Jebel languages
    group of related languages whose speech communities are associated with a range of hills in eastern Sudan (jebel is an Arabic word meaning “hill”). The Eastern Jebel languages, which include Gaam (Ingassana or Tabi), Aka (Sillok), Kelo (Tornasi), and Molo (Malkan), are a subdivision of the Eastern Sudanic br...
  • eastern jerboa marsupial mouse (mammal)
    Reminiscent of jerboas—long-tailed and big-eared with stiltlike hind legs—are the two species of Antechinomys, also of the Australian outback. The two species of brush-tailed marsupial mice, or tuans (Phascogale), are grayish above and whitish below in colour; the distal half of the long tail is thickly furred and resembles a bottle brush when the hairs are erected.......
  • Eastern Jin dynasty (Chinese history)
    second phase of the Jin dynasty (265–420 ce), ruling China from 317 to 420 ce and forming one of the Six Dynasties....
  • Eastern Kentucky State College (university, Kentucky, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S. The university offers an undergraduate curriculum in the arts, sciences, business, education, allied health professions, and law enforcement; it also offers master’s degree programs in most of these areas. Doctoral programs are offered jointly with cooperating institutions....
  • Eastern Kentucky State Normal School (university, Kentucky, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S. The university offers an undergraduate curriculum in the arts, sciences, business, education, allied health professions, and law enforcement; it also offers master’s degree programs in most of these areas. Doctoral programs are offered jointly with cooperating institutions....
  • Eastern Kentucky University (university, Kentucky, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Richmond, Kentucky, U.S. The university offers an undergraduate curriculum in the arts, sciences, business, education, allied health professions, and law enforcement; it also offers master’s degree programs in most of these areas. Doctoral programs are offered jointly with cooperating institutions....
  • eastern kingbird (bird)
    ...about the probability that some act will occur. In fact, information about the probability of a specific act is apparently encoded in all displays, but not always in the way described above. The eastern kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) encodes the information that it may attack in a vocalization with a sound similar to “zeer.” The likelihood that it may attack when using this.....
  • eastern larch (tree)
    The most widely distributed North American larch is tamarack, hackmatack, or eastern larch (L. laricina). The bracts on its small cones are hidden by the scales. Eastern larch trees mature in 100 to 200 years. This species may grow 12 to 20 metres (about 40 to 65 feet) tall and have gray to reddish-brown bark. A taller species, the western larch (L. occidentalis) of the Pacific......
  • Eastern Little Poland (historical state, Eastern Europe)
    ...its regional autonomy, the government in the early 1920s proceeded to dismantle the institutions of local self-government inherited from Habsburg times. Ukrainian Galicia, officially termed “Eastern Little Poland,” was administered by governors and local prefects appointed by Warsaw. A special administrative frontier, the so-called Sokal border, was established between Galicia and...
  • Eastern Longmyndian (geology)
    ...consists of the Wentnor Series, purple sandstones, conglomerates, and some greenish siltstones and shales; thicknesses of about 4,800 metres (15,700 feet) of Wentnor rocks have been measured. The Eastern Longmyndian is subdivided into the overlying Minton Series and the underlying Stretton Series. The Minton Series, about 1,200 metres in thickness and made up of purple and green shales,......
  • eastern lowland gorilla (primate)
    ...recognize a single species, Gorilla gorilla, with three races: the western lowland gorilla (G. gorilla gorilla) of the lowland rainforests from Cameroon to the Congo River, the eastern lowland gorilla (G. gorilla graueri) of the lowland rainforests of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), and the mountain gorilla (G. gorilla beringei), found......
  • Eastern Lowlands (region, Ethiopia)
    Although Ethiopia’s complex relief defies easy classification, five topographic features are discernible. These are the Western Highlands, Western Lowlands, Eastern Highlands, Eastern Lowlands, and Rift Valley. The Western Highlands are the most extensive and rugged topographic component of Ethiopia. The most spectacular portion is the North Central massifs; these form the roof of Ethiopia,...
  • eastern lubber grasshopper (insect)
    ...is divided into three subfamilies. The spur-throated grasshoppers, subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae, include some of the most destructive species. In North America the eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera) is 5–7 cm long and has large red wings bordered in black. The western lubber grasshopper (Brachystola magna), also called the buffalo grasshopper because of its......
  • Eastern Madurese (dialect)
    an Austronesian language of the Indonesian subfamily, spoken on Madura Island, some smaller offshore islands, and the northern coast of Java, Indonesia. Dialects include Eastern, or Sumenep, and Western, including Bangkalan and Pamekasan. Sumenep is the standard dialect for educational purposes....
  • Eastern Mayan languages
    The family may be subdivided into the Huastec, Yucatec, Western Maya, and Eastern Maya groups. The most important Eastern Maya languages are Quiché and Cakchiquel; but there are also Mam, Teco, Aguacatec, Ixil, Uspantec, Sacapultec, Sipacapa, Pocomam, Pocomchí, and Kekchí. The largest Western Maya language is Tzeltal, spoken in Chiapas, Mexico, but other Western Maya......
  • eastern meadowlark (bird)
    ...to 28 cm (8 to 11 inches) long. The two species in North America look alike: streaked brown above, with yellow breast crossed by a black V and a short tail with distinctive white outer feathers. The eastern, or common, meadowlark (S. magna) ranges from eastern Canada to Brazil, the western meadowlark (S. neglecta; see photograph) from western Canada to Mexico (introduced to......
  • Eastern mesophytic forest (forest, North America)
    Extending from the mid-Atlantic states to northern Florida, the Eastern mesophytic forest is a mixture of hardwoods and softwoods. On the clays of river bottoms and the sands of the coastal plain, great-crowned oaks form a tall, dense forest, mixed with hickory, walnut, and yellow poplar on the lower slopes of rivers and with ash and elm on the higher slopes. Chestnut and elm at one time were......
  • Eastern Michigan University (university, Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States)
    public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ypsilanti, Mich., U.S. It consists of the colleges of arts and sciences, business, education, health and human services, and technology. In addition to undergraduate programs, the university offers graduate certificates and master’s degree programs in many areas and several doctoral programs. Campus facilities includ...
  • Eastern Mnong language
    Speakers of different varieties of Mnong in Vietnam, numbering approximately 70,000, are divided into three groups: Central Mnong, including Bu Dang, Biat, Bu Nar, Bu Dih, and Preh; Eastern Mnong, including Chil, Kuanh, Mnong Gar, and Mnong Rlam; and Southern Mnong, including Prang and Nong....
  • Eastern mole (mammal)
    Speakers of different varieties of Mnong in Vietnam, numbering approximately 70,000, are divided into three groups: Central Mnong, including Bu Dang, Biat, Bu Nar, Bu Dih, and Preh; Eastern Mnong, including Chil, Kuanh, Mnong Gar, and Mnong Rlam; and Southern Mnong, including Prang and Nong.......
  • Eastern Mongolian languages
    The split between Eastern Mongolian (Khalkha, Buryat, and the dialects of Inner Mongolia) and Western Mongolian (Oyrat and Kalmyk) occurred at a later stage than that between the peripheral, archaizing languages and the central group. So many features—the loss of initial /h/, reduction of vowel sequences to long vowels, development of rounded vowels in noninitial syllables, assimilation......
  • Eastern Mono (people)
    ...the Uto-Aztecan family and were related to the Northern Paiute. The Western Mono, who resided in the pine belt of the Sierra Nevada mountains, had a culture similar to that of the nearby Yokuts. The Owens Valley Paiute (previously called the Eastern Mono) were more similar to their neighbours from the Great Basin culture area....
  • eastern mud turtle (reptile)
    ...and are equally terrestrial, but they are not usually found together, as the box turtle prefers moist forest and the gopher tortoise open woodlands on sand ridges. The eastern mud turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum) is commonly considered an aquatic turtle, yet it spends the summer months in dormancy, estivating beneath vegetation in woodlands adjacent to its pond and stream......
  • eastern mudminnow (fish)
    The seven or so species are of the genera Umbra, Novumbra, and Dallia. In North America the eastern mudminnow (U. pygmaea) is sometimes called rockfish, and the central mudminnow (U. limi) mudfish or dogfish. Mudminnows are often used as bait and sometimes kept in home aquariums....
  • eastern narrow-mouthed toad (amphibian)
    The eastern narrow-mouthed toad, Gastrophryne carolinensis, is a small, terrestrial microhylid of the United States. It is gray, reddish, or brown with darker stripes, spots, or blotches. The Mexican narrow-mouthed toad, or sheep frog (Hypopachus cuneus), is similar but is larger and has a yellow stripe on its back. It hides in burrows, pack rat nests, or, as does the eastern......
  • eastern native cat (mammal)
    Native cats have bushy tails and white-spotted upperparts. The eastern native cat (D. viverrinus, or D. quoll), surviving chiefly in the forests and open country of Tasmania, is 55 to 75 centimetres (22 to 30 inches) long, including its 20- to 30-cm tail. The western native cat (D. geoffroii) of the savannahs of southwestern and central Australia......
  • Eastern Neo-Assyrian language
    East Aramaic includes Syriac, Mandaean, Eastern Neo-Assyrian, and the Aramaic of the Babylonian Talmud. One of the most important of these is Syriac, which was the language of an extensive literature between the 3rd and the 7th century. Mandaean was the dialect of a Gnostic sect centred in lower Mesopotamia. East Aramaic is still spoken by a few small groups of Jacobite and Nestorian......
  • Eastern Niantic (people)
    Algonquian-speaking woodland Indians of southern New England. The Eastern Niantic lived on the western coast of what is now Rhode Island and on the neighbouring coast of Connecticut. The Western Niantic lived on the seacoast from Niantic Bay, just west of New London, to the Connecticut River. Once one tribe, they were apparently split by the migration of the Pequot into their area....
  • Eastern Oder River (river, Poland)
    ...the Baltic, the Oder splits into two main branches; the left canalized branch, called the Western Oder, passes through Szczecin and enters the Szczecin Lagoon directly, while the right branch, the Eastern Oder (in its final section called the Regalica), passes east of Szczecin via the large Lake Dąbie and then also enters the Szczecin Lagoon....
  • Eastern Orthodoxy (Christianity)
    one of the three major doctrinal and jurisdictional groups of Christianity. It is characterized by its continuity with the apostolic church, its liturgy, and its territorial churches. Its adherents live mainly in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Russia....
  • eastern Pacific round stingray (fish)
    The disk of the eastern Pacific round stingray (Urolophus halleri) increases in width on the average from 75 millimetres (three inches) at birth to 150 millimetres (six inches) when mature, when 2.6 years old. In the next five years it grows about 60 millimetres (about 238 inches) more toward its maximum recorded width of 25 centimetres (10 inches) in......
  • Eastern Pahari languages
    group of Indo-Aryan languages spoken in the lower ranges of the Himalayas (pahāṛī is Hindi for “of the mountains”). Three divisions are distinguished: Eastern Pahari, represented by Nepali of Nepal; Central Pahari, spoken in the north of Uttar Pradesh state; and Western Pahari, found around Simla in Himachal Pradesh state. The most important language is.....
  • eastern phoebe (bird)
    any of three species of New World birds of the family Tyrannidae (order Passeriformes). In North America the best-known species is the Eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe), 18 cm (7.5 inches) long, plain brownish gray above and paler below. Its call is a brisk “fee-bee” uttered over and over. It makes a mossy nest, strengthened with mud, on a ledge, often under a bridge. In the.....
  • eastern pipistrelle (mammal)
    ...fliers, they appear before most other bats in the evening and sometimes even fly about during the day. Representatives include P. pipistrellus of Eurasia and the eastern (P. subflavus) and western (P. hesperus) pipistrelles of North America....
  • Eastern Plains (plains, India)
    plains in southwestern Tripura state, northeastern India, extending over approximately 1,600 square miles (4,150 square km). The Tripura Plains are located on a section of the greater Ganges-Brahmaputra lowlands (also called the Eastern Plains), west of the Tripura Hills. They are dotted with lakes and marshes and there is much forest cover. The soil is thin except in the river valleys, but......
  • Eastern Pomerania (region, Poland)
    Eastern Pomerania was held by the Teutonic Knights from 1308 to 1454, when it was reconquered by Poland. In 1772 it was annexed by Prussia and made into the province of West Prussia. A small part of it was restored to Poland after World War I; the remainder, together with part of Pomerania, became Polish in 1945. The German population of eastern and central Pomerania was expelled westward and......
  • Eastern Pyrenees (mountain range, Europe)
    ...of their relief and from the climatic conditions (especially on the south) that derive from the geographic situation of the chain, the Pyrenees have been divided into three natural regions: the Eastern (or Mediterranean), Pyrenees, the Central Pyrenees, and the Western Pyrenees. The different vegetation, the linguistic divisions of the people, and—to a point—certain ethnic and......
  • Eastern Question (European diplomatic history)
    diplomatic problem posed in the 19th and early 20th centuries by the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, centring on the contest for control of former Ottoman territories. Any internal change in the Turkish domains caused tension among the European powers, each of which feared that one of the others might take advantage of the political disarray to increase its own influence....
  • Eastern Range (mountains, Colombia)
    ...but rather a succession of parallel and transverse mountain ranges, or cordilleras, and of intervening plateaus and depressions. Distinct eastern and western ranges—respectively named the Cordillera Oriental and the Cordillera Occidental—are characteristic of most of the system. The directional trend of both the cordilleras generally is north-south, but in several places the......
  • Eastern red bat (mammal species)
    migratory vesper bat (family Vespertilionidae) found in wooded areas of North America. It is about 10 cm (4 inches) long, including a 5-cm (2-inch) tail, weighs 10–15 grams (0.33–0.5 ounce), and has narrow wings and short, rounded ears. The fur is fairly long, chestnut to rusty in colour, and tipped with white. The red bat is a strong, swift flier that spirals down...
  • eastern red cedar (plant)
    (Juniperus virginiana), an evergreen ornamental and timber tree of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), native to poor or limestone soils of eastern North America. An eastern red cedar can grow to 12 to 15 metres (about 40 to 50 feet) tall and 30 to 60 cm (about 1 to 2 feet) in diameter. It has needlelike juvenile foliage and dark green, scalelike mature leaves. The green, fleshy, rounded con...
  • eastern redbud (plant)
    The eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), up to 12 metres (40 feet) tall, is the hardiest species. It is cultivated for its rosy-purple spring flowers and interesting branch patterns; a white-flowered variety is available. The Chinese redbud (C. chinensis) is often shrubby in cultivation....
  • Eastern Region (region, Paraguay)
    ...of its primary western tributary, the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River, which runs from north to south, divides Paraguay into two distinct geographic regions—the Región Oriental (Eastern Region) and the Región Occidental (Western Region), also called the Chaco Boreal....
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