Oak Bay

District municipality, southwestern British Columbia, Canada, on southeastern Vancouver Island. It is an eastern residential suburb of Victoria, the provincial capital, and is a popular retirement community, with one of the highest percentages of persons over 65 in Canada. Inc. 1906. Pop. (1991) 17,815.

Gobel, Jean-baptiste-joseph

Educated at the German College, Rome, Gobel became in 1755 vicar-general of the diocese of

Re

Also spelled �Ra, or Phra, � in ancient Egyptian religion, god of the sun and creator god. He was believed to travel across the sky in his solar bark and, during the night, to make his passage in another bark through the underworld, where, in order to be born again for the new day, he had to vanquish the evil serpent Apopis (Apepi). As the creator, he rose from the ocean of chaos on the primeval hill, creating

Arabian Desert

Western Arabia formed part of the African landmass before a rift occurred in the Earth's crust, as a result of which the Red Sea was formed and Africa and the Arabian Peninsula finally became separated some five to six million years ago. Thus, the southern half of the peninsula has a greater affinity with the regions of Somalia and Ethiopia in Africa than with northern

France, History Of, Foreign affairs

From the beginning of his reign Louis pursued a vigorous foreign policy. Historical opinion has traditionally held that Louis sought to dominate Europe, only to meet his just deserts at the end of his reign. More recently another interpretation has emerged, which argues that Louis pursued consistent and for the most part moderate aims and pursued them successfully

France, History Of, Foreign affairs

From the beginning of his reign Louis pursued a vigorous foreign policy. Historical opinion has traditionally held that Louis sought to dominate Europe, only to meet his just deserts at the end of his reign. More recently another interpretation has emerged, which argues that Louis pursued consistent and for the most part moderate aims and pursued them successfully

Comte, Auguste

In full �Isidore-auguste-marie-fran�ois-xavier Comte� French philosopher known as the founder of sociology and of positivism. Comte gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject in a systematic fashion.