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  • Ukraine, flag of
    ...
  • Ukraine, history of
    History...
  • Ukrainian (people)
    Kazakhstan’s distinct regional patterns of settlement depend in part on its varied ethnic makeup. Slavs—Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians—largely populate the northern plains, where they congregate in large villages that originally served as the centres of collective and state farms. These populated oases are separated by wheat fields or, in the more arid plains to the sou...
  • Ukrainian
    East Slavic language spoken in Ukraine and in Ukrainian communities in neighbouring Belarus, Russia, Poland, and Slovakia. Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus (10th–13th century). It is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, from which it was indistinguishable until the 12th or 13th century. Ukr...
  • Ukrainian alphabet
    The modern Cyrillic alphabets—Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian—have been modified somewhat from the original, generally by the loss of some superfluous letters. Modern Russian has 32 letters (33, with inclusion of the soft sign—not strictly a letter), Bulgarian 30, Serbian 30, and Ukrainian 32 (33). Modern Russian Cyrillic has also been adapted to many non-Slavic......
  • Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox church (Ukrainian religion)
    ...the slogan “Away from Moscow!” and urged a cultural orientation toward Europe. An important factor in the national revival, despite antireligious propaganda and harassment, was the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which had gained a wide following among the Ukrainian intelligentsia and peasantry since its formation in 1921....
  • Ukrainian Catholic Church (Ukrainian religion)
    largest of the Eastern Catholic (also known as Eastern rite or Greek Catholic) churches, in communion with Rome since the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1596). Byzantine Christianity was established among the Ukrainians in 988 by St. Vladimir (Volodimir) and followed Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Temporary reunion w...
  • Ukrainian genocide (Soviet history)
    The result of Stalin’s policies was the Great Famine (Holodomor) of 1932–33—a man-made demographic catastrophe unprecedented in peacetime. Of the estimated six to eight million people who died in the Soviet Union, about four to five million were Ukrainians. The famine was a direct assault on the Ukrainian peasantry, which had stubbornly continued to resist collectivization;......
  • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Ukrainian religion)
    largest of the Eastern Catholic (also known as Eastern rite or Greek Catholic) churches, in communion with Rome since the Union of Brest-Litovsk (1596). Byzantine Christianity was established among the Ukrainians in 988 by St. Vladimir (Volodimir) and followed Constantinople in the Great Schism of 1054. Temporary reunion w...
  • Ukrainian Helsinki Union (Ukrainian group)
    The first significant organization with an overtly political agenda was launched in March 1988. This was the Ukrainian Helsinki Union, formed by recently released political prisoners, many of whom had been members of the Helsinki Watch Group of the mid-1970s. The Helsinki Union’s declared aim was the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty as the main guarantee of its population’...
  • Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainian military organization)
    ...and a Soviet partisan movement developed in the northern forests. Early in 1942 began the formation of nationalist partisan units in Volhynia, and later in Galicia, that became known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia; UPA). As well as conducting guerrilla warfare with the Germans, the Soviet partisans and the UPA fought each other....
  • Ukrainian language
    East Slavic language spoken in Ukraine and in Ukrainian communities in neighbouring Belarus, Russia, Poland, and Slovakia. Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus (10th–13th century). It is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, from which it was indistinguishable until the 12th or 13th century. Ukr...
  • Ukrainian literature
    the body of writings in the Ukrainian language. The earliest writings of the Ukrainians, works produced in Kievan Rus from the 11th to the 13th century, were composed in Church Slavonic and are thus the common literary heritage of the Russians and Belarusians as well. After the Mongol invasion (13th century), Ukrainian literature was in decline until its revival in the 16th century. By the early 1...
  • Ukrainian Massif (geological region, Ukraine)
    hilly region, southeastern Ukraine. Part of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, the Azov Upland is an area of denuded mountains, extending from the Dnieper River for 100 miles (160 km) to the Donets Ridge and sloping gently down southeastward to the Sea of Azov. The highest point is Mount Mohyla-Belmak (1,063 feet [324 m]), 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Donetsk. The soil cover, which is......
  • Ukrainian Memorial Society (Ukrainian group)
    ...in the press about mass graves of political prisoners executed in the Stalin era. To honour the victims of Stalinism and to promote investigations of the repressions and famine of the 1930s, the Ukrainian “Memorial” Society was founded in March 1989 based on already existing local groups....
  • Ukrainian Military Organization (political organization, Ukraine)
    ...clandestine Ukrainian Military Organization was founded by veterans of the independence struggle, headed by Yevhen Konovalets. In 1929 this was transformed into a broader underground movement, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Authoritarian in structure, conspiratorial in its methods, and influenced by political theories that stressed the primacy of the nation over the......
  • Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance (political party, Ukraine)
    ...Ukrainians took part in subsequent elections, which, however, were increasingly marred by abuses, intimidation, and violence. Of the political parties, most influential in Galicia was the centrist Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance, which tried to extract concessions from the Polish government and to inform public opinion. Left-wing parties (socialists and communist front organizations)......
  • Ukrainian National Republic (historical state, Ukraine)
    ...Bolshevik coup in Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) on Nov. 7, 1917. The Central Rada refused to accept the new regime’s authority over Ukraine and on November 20 proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian National Republic, though still in federation with the new democratic Russia that was expected to emerge from the impending Constituent Assembly. The Bolsheviks, in turn, at the first....
  • Ukrainian National Union (political organization, Ukraine)
    ...and the largely Russian urban middle class. The new government aroused intense opposition among Ukrainian nationalists, socialists, and the peasantry. To coordinate political opposition, the Ukrainian National Union was formed by the main parties and civic organizations, while the peasants manifested their hostility through rebellions and partisan warfare. The capitulation of Germany and......
  • Ukrainian Nationalists, Organization of (political organization, Ukraine)
    ...clandestine Ukrainian Military Organization was founded by veterans of the independence struggle, headed by Yevhen Konovalets. In 1929 this was transformed into a broader underground movement, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Authoritarian in structure, conspiratorial in its methods, and influenced by political theories that stressed the primacy of the nation over the......
  • Ukrainian Orthodox church (Ukrainian religion)
    ...Hard pressed by the Polish kings, the majority of its bishops, against the will of the majority of their flock, eventually accepted union with Rome at Brest-Litovsk (1596). In 1620, however, an Orthodox hierarchy was reestablished, and a Romanian nobleman, Peter Mogila, was elected metropolitan of Kiev (1632). He created the first Orthodox theological school of the modern period, the famous......
  • Ukrainian Shield (geological region, Ukraine)
    hilly region, southeastern Ukraine. Part of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, the Azov Upland is an area of denuded mountains, extending from the Dnieper River for 100 miles (160 km) to the Donets Ridge and sloping gently down southeastward to the Sea of Azov. The highest point is Mount Mohyla-Belmak (1,063 feet [324 m]), 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Donetsk. The soil cover, which is......
  • Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
    country located in eastern Europe, the second largest on the continent after Russia. The capital is Kiev (Kyiv), located on the Dnieper River in north-central Ukraine....
  • Ukrainian Steppe (vegetation zone, Ukraine)
    Farther south, near the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Crimean Mountains, the forest-steppe joins the steppe zone, which is about 89,000 square miles (231,000 square km) in area. Many of the flat, treeless plains in this region are under cultivation, although low annual precipitation and hot summers make supplemental irrigation necessary. Remnants of the natural vegetation of the steppe, including......
  • Ukrainian Steppe Reserve (nature reserve, Ukraine)
    ...and Przewalski’s horse, have been introduced there as part of a successful program of breeding endangered species; ostriches also have been successfully introduced. The separate sections of the Ukrainian Steppe Reserve also preserve various types of steppe. The Black Sea Nature Reserve shelters many species of waterfowl and is the only Ukrainian breeding ground of the Mediterranean gull....
  • Ukrainian Suite (dance)
    ...derived from what he called “root movements,” the basic steps characteristic of a particular type of folk dance. He created more than 170 dances for the ensemble, including Ukrainian Suite, portraying a young couple’s betrothal; Soccer Dance, a comic version of this game; and the well-known Partisans, with its representations of guerrilla warfare and......
  • Ukrainian Writers’ Union (Ukrainian organization)
    Attempts to organize a popular front received impetus in January 1989 under the aegis of the Writers’ Union of Ukraine. Taking the name Popular Movement of Ukraine for Reconstruction, or Rukh, to emphasize its congruence with the policies of Gorbachev (particularly perestroika), the front nevertheless ran into hostility from the CPU. Specifically eschewing the role of a political opposition...
  • Ukrainization (Ukrainian social policy)
    ...at the workplace, and in government; the fostering of national cultures; and the recruitment of cadres from the indigenous populations. In Ukraine this program inaugurated a decade of rapid Ukrainization and cultural efflorescence. Within the CP(B)U itself, the proportion of Ukrainians in the rank-and-file membership exceeded 50 percent by the late 1920s. Enrollments in......
  • Ukrainka, Lesya (Ukrainian poet)
    poet, dramatist, short-story writer, essayist, and critic who was the foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature and a leading figure in its modernist movement....
  • Ukrainska mova
    East Slavic language spoken in Ukraine and in Ukrainian communities in neighbouring Belarus, Russia, Poland, and Slovakia. Ukrainian is a lineal descendant of the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus (10th–13th century). It is written in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet and is closely related to Russian and Belarusian, from which it was indistinguishable until the 12th or 13th century. Ukr...
  • Ukrayina
    country located in eastern Europe, the second largest on the continent after Russia. The capital is Kiev (Kyiv), located on the Dnieper River in north-central Ukraine....
  • Ukrayinka, Lesya (Ukrainian poet)
    poet, dramatist, short-story writer, essayist, and critic who was the foremost woman writer in Ukrainian literature and a leading figure in its modernist movement....
  • Uksakka (Scandinavian deity)
    Sami goddess of childbirth. She is assisted by three of her daughters—Sarakka, the cleaving woman; Uksakka, the door woman; and Juksakka, the bow woman—who watch over the development of the child from conception through early childhood. Madderakka was believed to receive the soul of a child from Veralden-radien, the world ruler deity, and to give it a body, which Sarakka would then....
  • ukulele (musical instrument)
    (Hawaiian: “flea”), small guitar derived from the machada, or machete, a four-stringed guitar introduced into Hawaii by the Portuguese in the 1870s. It is seldom more than 24 inches (60 cm) long....
  • UKUTA (Swahili poets’ association)
    ...“Poetic Exhortations”), Diwani ya Mnyampala (1960; “Mnyampala’s Poetry Book”), Mashairi ya hekima (1965; “Poems of Wisdom”), and Ngonjera za UKUTA, 2 vol. (1970–71; “Educational Verses from UKUTA”). UKUTA is the acronym of the Swahili poets’ association that Mnyampala founded. He also published sho...
  • UL (nutrition)
    ...thus the RDA, cannot be set due to insufficient scientific evidence, another parameter, the Adequate Intake (AI), is given, based on estimates of intake levels of healthy populations. Lastly, the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) is the highest level of a daily nutrient intake that will most likely present no risk of adverse health effects in almost all individuals in the general population......
  • ʿUlā, Al- (Saudi Arabia)
    ...research centres mainly on sites of the historic period, which is also attested by written records beginning in the first half of the 1st millennium bc. Some sites in the northern Hejaz, such as Dedān (now Al-ʿUlā), Al-Ḥijr (now Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ, barely six miles north of Dedān), and Taymāʾ to the nor...
  • Ula, Mount (mountain, Africa)
    The northern escarpment of the Angola Plateau rises in the southwest. In the west there is a coastal plateau zone that includes the hill country of Mayumbe and the Cristal Mountains. Mount Ula at 3,446 feet (1,050 metres) is the highest point of the Cristal Mountains....
  • Ulaan Hada (China)
    city, southeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (qu), northeastern China. It lies on the upper reaches of the Yingjin River, a tributary of the upper Liaoha River (itself a branch of the West Liao River). The name, meaning “Red Mountain” in Chinese, refers to the red-coloured peak overlooking the city from the northeast....
  • Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)
    capital and largest city of Mongolia. It is situated on the Tuul River on a windswept plateau at an elevation of 4,430 feet (1,350 m). The city originated as a seasonal migratory abode of the Mongolian princes and in 1639 finally attained permanence on the present site with the construction of Da Khure Monastery. This building became the residence of the bodgo-gegen, high priest of the Tibe...
  • Ulai River (river, Iran)
    river in southwestern Iran, a tributary of the Shatt al-Arab, which it joins at Khorramshahr. It rises in the Bakhtīārī Mountains west of Eṣfahān and follows a tortuous course trending basically southwest. The Kārūn’s total length is 515 miles (829 km), though the direct distance from its source to the junction with the Shatt al-Arab is only ...
  • Ulaid (former province, Ireland)
    one of the ancient provinces of Ireland, and subsequently the northernmost of Ireland’s four traditional provinces (the others being Leinster, Munster, and Connaught [Connacht]). Because of the Ulster cycle of Irish literature, which recounts the exploits of Cú Chulainn and many other Ulster heroes, Ulster ha...
  • Ulaid cycle (Irish Gaelic literature)
    in ancient Irish literature, a group of legends and tales dealing with the heroic age of the Ulaids, a people of northeast Ireland from whom the modern name Ulster derives. The stories, set in the 1st century bc, were recorded from oral tradition between the 8th and 11th century and are preserved in the 12th-century manuscripts The Book of the Dun Cow (c. 11...
  • Ulaidh (former province, Ireland)
    one of the ancient provinces of Ireland, and subsequently the northernmost of Ireland’s four traditional provinces (the others being Leinster, Munster, and Connaught [Connacht]). Because of the Ulster cycle of Irish literature, which recounts the exploits of Cú Chulainn and many other Ulster heroes, Ulster ha...
  • Ulakhan Iuriakh (river, Russia)
    major river of Russia and the 10th longest river in the world. It flows 2,734 miles (4,400 km) from its sources in the mountains along the western shores of Lake Baikal, in southeastern Siberia, to the mouth of its delta on the Arctic Laptev Sea. The area of the river’s drainage basin is about 961,000 square miles (...
  • Ulakhe River (river, Asia)
    ...tributary of the Amur River that for a considerable distance forms the boundary between China (Heilungkiang province) and Russia (Siberia). The Ussuri is formed by the confluence of the Ulakhe and Arsenyevka rivers, both of which rise on the southwestern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin mountains. Its length from the source of the Ulakhe is 565 miles (909 km), and its basin is 72,200......
  • Ulala (Russia)
    city and administrative centre of Altay republic, southern Russia. It lies in the foothills of the Altai Mountains, along the Mayma River near its confluence with the Katun. Gorno-Altaysk is an agricultural centre and has a woodworking industry and cloth factories. Teacher-training and veterinary colleges and a historical institute are located there. It became...
  • Ulam, Adam Bruno (American historian)
    Polish-born American historian (b. April 8, 1922, Lwow, Pol. [now Lviv, Ukraine]—d. March 28, 2000, Cambridge, Mass.), as Gurney Professor of History and Political Science at Harvard University and director of its Russian Research Center was a keen observer of the Soviet Union, especially the periods of Lenin and Stalin, and produced several classic studies of Soviet policy and leadership, ...
  • Ulam, Stanislaw Marcin (American scientist)
    mathematician who played a major role in the development of the hydrogen bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, U.S....
  • ulama (Islam)
    the learned of Islam, those who possess the quality of ʿilm, “learning,” in its widest sense. From the ʿulamāʾ, who are versed theoretically and practically in the Muslim sciences, come the religious teachers of the Islamic community—theologians (mutakallimun), canon lawyers (muftis), judges (qadis), professors—and high state re...
  • ʿulamāʾ (Islam)
    the learned of Islam, those who possess the quality of ʿilm, “learning,” in its widest sense. From the ʿulamāʾ, who are versed theoretically and practically in the Muslim sciences, come the religious teachers of the Islamic community—theologians (mutakallimun), canon lawyers (muftis), judges (qadis), professors—and high state re...
  • Ulamburiash (Kassite king)
    ...to Babylon, and renewed the cult, making the god Marduk the equal of the corresponding Kassite god, Shuqamuna. Meanwhile, native princes continued to reign in southern Babylonia. It may have been Ulamburiash who finally annexed this area around 1450 and began negotiations with Egypt in Syria. Karaindash built a temple with bas-relief tile ornaments in Uruk (Erech) around 1420. A new capital......
  • Ulan Bator (Mongolia)
    capital and largest city of Mongolia. It is situated on the Tuul River on a windswept plateau at an elevation of 4,430 feet (1,350 m). The city originated as a seasonal migratory abode of the Mongolian princes and in 1639 finally attained permanence on the present site with the construction of Da Khure Monastery. This building became the residence of the bodgo-gegen, high priest of the Tibe...
  • Ulan Buh (desert, China)
    Chinese geographers divide the region into three smaller deserts, the Tengger (Tengri) Desert in the south, the Badain Jaran (Baden Dzareng, or Batan Tsalang) in the west, and the Ulan Buh (Wulanbuhe) in the northeast....
  • Ulan Moron (river, China)
    ...through deep valleys in the mountains east of the plateau, emerging onto the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau. Summers there are warm, and the winters are cold. The source of the Yangtze is the Ulan Moron (Wulanmulun) River, which originates in glacial meltwaters on the slopes of the Tanggula Mountains in southern Qinghai province on the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region. From the......
  • Ulan-Ude (Russia)
    city and capital of Buryatiya, east-central Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Selenga and Uda rivers and in a deep valley between the Khamar-Daban and Tsagan-Daban mountain ranges. The wintering camp of Udinskoye, established there in 1666, became the town of Verkhne-Udinsk in 1783; it was renamed Ulan-Ude in 1934....
  • Ulanhad (China)
    city, southeastern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (qu), northeastern China. It lies on the upper reaches of the Yingjin River, a tributary of the upper Liaoha River (itself a branch of the West Liao River). The name, meaning “Red Mountain” in Chinese, refers to the red-coloured peak overlooking the city from the northeast....
  • Ulanov, Alexei (Soviet athlete)
    Soviet figure skater who, with her partners, first Alexey Ulanov and later Aleksandr Zaytsev, won 10 successive world championships (1969–78) and three successive Olympic gold medals....
  • Ulanova, Galina (Russian ballerina)
    first prima ballerina assoluta of the Soviet Union and one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century....
  • Ulanova, Galina Sergeyevna (Russian ballerina)
    first prima ballerina assoluta of the Soviet Union and one of the greatest ballet dancers of the 20th century....
  • Ulanqab (China)
    former city, south-central Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. In 2003 it became part of the large and newly formed Ulanqab municipality....
  • Ulászló I (king of Hungary and Poland)
    Polish king (1434–44) who was also king of Hungary (as Ulászló I; 1440–44) and who attempted unsuccessfully to push the Ottoman Turks out of the Balkans. His reign was overshadowed by the presence of his adviser, Zbigniew Oleśnicki....
  • Ulászló II (king of Bohemia and Hungary)
    king of Bohemia from 1471 and of Hungary from 1490 who achieved the personal union of his two realms....
  • Ulate, Otilio (president of Costa Rica)
    When Calderón was defeated by Otilio Ulate for reelection in 1948, the Legislative Assembly annulled the election and tried to reinstall Calderón. Figueres, who had hidden arms and ammunition on his plantation near Cartago, led an uprising in support of Ulate. The two-month civil war ended when Calderón’s forces, despite being backed by Nicaraguan strongman Anastasio......
  • Ulbricht, Walter (German communist leader)
    German Communist leader and head of the post-World War II German Democratic Republic, or East Germany....
  • ULCA (American church organization)
    ...in the 20th century. The first two occurred in 1917, when three Norwegian synods formed the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America (NLCA), and in 1918, when three German-language synods formed the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA). In 1930 the Joint Synod of Ohio, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Iowa, and the Buffalo Synod formed the American Lutheran Church (German). In 1960 the......
  • ulcer (pathology)
    a lesion or sore on the skin or mucous membrane resulting from the gradual disintegration of surface epithelial tissue. An ulcer may be superficial, or it may extend into the deeper layer of the skin or other underlying tissue. An ulcer has a depressed floor or crater surrounded by sharply defined edges that are sometimes elevated above the level of the adjoining surface. The main symptom of an ul...
  • ulcerative colitis (pathology)
    inflammation of the large intestine (colon), especially of its mucous membranes, characterized by patches of tiny ulcers in the inflamed membranese. The most common symptoms of ulcerative colitis are bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain. Other symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, and loss of appetite. Ulcerative colitis tends to become chronic, with sustained fever and weight lo...
  • Ulcinj (Montenegro)
    ...are Bosniacs (Muslims) and Albanians, the former concentrated in the northern mountains and the latter along the Adriatic coast. Nearly three-fourths of the population of the coastal community of Ulcinj is Albanian....
  • ULDP (political party, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom)
    ...in 1981. The ULDP called for a devolved parliament for the province within the United Kingdom, a bill of rights, and an amnesty for political prisoners. In 1989 the party changed its name to the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP). Led by Gary McMichael, son of a murdered UDA man, the UDP won enough electoral support to participate in the multiparty peace talks that led to the Good Friday......
  • Uleåborg (Finland)
    city, west-central Finland, at the mouth of the Oulu River on the Gulf of Bothnia. During the European Middle Ages a trading post was located on the site. In 1590 the prospering settlement was fortified, and town rights were granted in 1610. The fortress was destroyed by an explosion in 1793, and the city was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1822; but it...
  • ulema (Islam)
    the learned of Islam, those who possess the quality of ʿilm, “learning,” in its widest sense. From the ʿulamāʾ, who are versed theoretically and practically in the Muslim sciences, come the religious teachers of the Islamic community—theologians (mutakallimun), canon lawyers (muftis), judges (qadis), professors—and high state re...
  • Uléma Musulmans Algériens, Association des (Muslim religious organization)
    a body of Muslim religious scholars (ʿulamāʾ) who, under French rule, advocated the restoration of an Algerian nation rooted in Islamic and Arabic traditions....
  • ulexite (mineral)
    borate mineral, NaCaB5O6(ΟH)6·5H2O, that consists of hydrated sodium and calcium borate. Individual crystals are colourless and have a vitreous lustre, whereas the more common nodular, rounded, or lenslike crystal aggregates (often resembling cotton balls) are white and have a silky or satiny lustre. It is sometimes called “televisio...
  • Ulf Jarl (regent of Denmark)
    ...in Scandinavia in 1019, when he went to Denmark to obtain the throne on his brother’s death; in 1023, when the outlawed Thorkell was causing trouble; and again in 1026 when his regent in Denmark, Ulf Jarl, the husband of his sister Estrid, joined the king of Norway and the king of Sweden in a coalition against Denmark. Though Canute was defeated at the Battle of the Holy River, Sweden, t...
  • ULF wave (physics)
    ...different frequency bands supposedly on the basis of boundaries defined by different generation mechanisms. By definition, magnetic pulsations fall into the class of electromagnetic waves called ultralow-frequency (ULF) waves, with frequencies from one to 1,000 megahertz. Because the frequencies are so low, the waves are usually characterized by their period of oscillation (one to 1,000......
  • Ulfilas (bishop of the Goths)
    Christian bishop and missionary who evangelized the Goths, reputedly created the Gothic alphabet, and wrote the earliest translation of the Bible into a Germanic language. Although his life cannot be reconstructed with certainty, fragments have come from 4th- and 5th-century ecclesiastical historians....
  • Ulfsdotter, Katarina (Swedish saint)
    daughter of St. Bridget of Sweden, whom she succeeded as superior of the Brigittines....
  • Ulgen (Asian deity)
    The Lower World, Central World, and Upper World are all inhabited by spirit-beings. Among the Mongolian and Turkish peoples, Ülgen, a benevolent deity and the god of the Upper World, has seven sons and nine daughters. Among the Buryat of southern Siberia, Tengri (often identified with Ülgen) also has children—the western ones being good and the eastern ones wicked. The gods of...
  • Ulhasnagar (India)
    city, northwestern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies northeast of Mumbai (Bombay). Part of the Thana industrial area, it specializes in the manufacture of chemicals and silk and nylon textiles. Ulhasnagar became important in 1947 as a refugee camp for displaced persons from Sindh, Pakistan. The city has three colleges and an industrial-training institute. Pop. (2001) 473,731....
  • uli figure (Papuan sculpture)
    wooden statue of a type carved in the villages of northern and central New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, that represents an ancestral or mythological personage in the secret uli rites. Only after a series of 13 festivals, held over a three-year period, is the construction of an uli figure completed, at which time celebrations are held before it....
  • uli figure (religious carving)
    In central New Ireland the primary objects of mortuary cults were carvings known as uli. These are standing figures with female breasts and male genitals; they sometimes have raised hands and may support smaller figures in front of them or on their shoulders. The head is usually large and is topped by a thin, upright crest; the eyes are inlaid with shell, the nose is hooked, and the wide......
  • Ulianovsk (Russia)
    city and administrative centre of Ulyanovsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at its confluence with the Sviyaga. Founded in 1648, it was a key fortress on the Sinbirsk defensive line; in 1924 it was renamed after V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin), who was born there and whose home is preserved as a museum. Ulyanovsk has engineering industries that produce buses and light ...
  • Ulianovsk (oblast, Russia)
    oblast (province), western Russia. The oblast lies athwart the middle Volga River, which is there transformed into a broad lake by the downstream Samara dam. The larger western part lies on the Volga Upland, which is dissected by river valleys and erosion gullies; the smaller Trans-Volga is a low plain. In the west are extensive oak woods, but elsewhere the forest-steppe vegetation ...
  • Ulibishev, A. D. (Russian art patron)
    Balakirev received his early musical education from his mother. He also studied with Alexander Dubuque and with Karl Eisrich, music director to A.D. Ulibishev, a wealthy landowner who published well-known books on Mozart and Beethoven. Balakirev had the use of Ulibishev’s music library and at age 15 began to compose and was allowed to rehearse the local theatre orchestra. From 1853 to 1855 ...
  • Ulidae, Princeps (Anglo-Norman conqueror)
    Anglo-Norman conqueror of Ulster, who was a member of a celebrated Norman family of Oxfordshire and Somerset....
  • üliger (Mongolian literature)
    Traditionally, üligers, orally transmitted epic stories in verse, have constituted the bulk of native literary expression. These highly stylized stories relate the adventures of legendary and historical heroes (including Genghis Khan). The frequent villain is the many-headed monster, the manggus, whom the hero always defeats. The verses of these epics alliterate in......
  • Ulithi Atoll (atoll, Micronesia)
    coral atoll, Federated States of Micronesia, in the western Pacific Ocean. It comprises roughly 40 islets....
  • Ulixbone (Portugal)
    city, port, and capital of Portugal, as well as the centre of the Lisbon metropolitan area. Located in western Portugal, it is the westernmost capital city in continental Europe and serves as the country’s chief port, largest city, and commercial, political, and tourist centre. The city’s name is a modification of the ancient Olisipo (Ulyssipo), and its founding ha...
  • Ulixes (Greek mythology)
    hero of Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey and one of the most frequently portrayed figures in Western literature. According to Homer, Odysseus was king of Ithaca, son of Laertes and Anticleia (the daughter of Autolycus of Parnassus), and father, by his wife, Penelope, of Telemachus...
  • Uljanovsk (oblast, Russia)
    oblast (province), western Russia. The oblast lies athwart the middle Volga River, which is there transformed into a broad lake by the downstream Samara dam. The larger western part lies on the Volga Upland, which is dissected by river valleys and erosion gullies; the smaller Trans-Volga is a low plain. In the west are extensive oak woods, but elsewhere the forest-steppe vegetation ...
  • Uljanovsk (Russia)
    city and administrative centre of Ulyanovsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at its confluence with the Sviyaga. Founded in 1648, it was a key fortress on the Sinbirsk defensive line; in 1924 it was renamed after V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin), who was born there and whose home is preserved as a museum. Ulyanovsk has engineering industries that produce buses and light ...
  • Ull (Norse mythology)
    in Norse mythology, the god of snowshoes, hunting, the bow, and the shield; he was a handsome stepson of the thunder god Thor. Ull possessed warrior-like attributes and was called upon for aid in individual combat. He resided at Ydalir (Yew Dales)....
  • Ulladulla (New South Wales, Australia)
    town, southeastern New South Wales, southeastern Australia. It lies 40 miles (65 km) south of Jervis Bay. The town was established in the 1820s as an anchorage for ships importing cedarwood to Sydney (108 miles [174 km] northeast), and its name was derived from an Aboriginal word meaning “safe harbour.”...
  • Ullal (India)
    ...manufacture, and Mangalore remains an important producer of roofing tiles. Other industries include boatbuilding, coffee curing, pottery manufacture, and the making of brick kilns. The suburb of Ullal produces hosiery and coir yarn. Mangalore maintains a great bazaar near its coastal landing place....
  • Ullambana (Buddhism)
    The importance of the virtues of filial piety and the reverence of ancestors in China and Japan have established Ullambana, or All Souls Day, as one of the major Buddhist festivals in those countries. In China worshipers in Buddhist temples make fachuan (“boats of the law”) out of paper, some very large, which are then burned in the evening.......
  • Ullathorne, William Bernard (British bishop)
    Roman Catholic missionary to Australia and first bishop of Birmingham, Eng. He was influential in securing the final abolition (1857) of the British system of transporting convicts to Australia....
  • Ullikummi (Hurrian mythology)
    The elaborate epic of the struggle against Ullikummi, and the Theogony, though written in Hittite, are Hurrian in origin and refer to Hurrian and even Mesopotamian deities. The Theogony tells of the struggle for kingship among the gods. Alalu, after holding the kingship for nine years, was defeated by Anu (the Babylonian......
  • Ullikummi, Song of (Anatolian mythology)
    The “Song of Ullikummi” tells of a plot by Kumarbi to depose Teshub from his supremacy by begetting a monstrous stone as champion. Ullikummi, the stone monster, grows in the sea, which reaches his waist, while his head touches the sky; he stands on the shoulder of Upelluri, an Atlas figure who carries heaven and earth. Teshub is warned of the......
  • Ullman, Edward (American geographer)
    Edward Ullman introduced central-place theory to American scholars in 1941. Since then geographers have sought to test its validity. Iowa and Wisconsin have been two areas of empirical research that have come closest to meeting Christaller’s theoretical assumptions....
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