Random Image

You are here: Random Image > Words beginning with q > Random Image for quand

Possible definitions for quand

Luanda
City (pop., 1995 est.: 2,081,000), capital of Angola. Situated on the Atlantic coast, it is Angola's largest city and its second busiest seaport. Founded in 1576 by Paulo Dias de Novais, it became the administrative center for the colony of Angola in 1627. It was a major outlet for slave traffic to Brazil until the 19th cent. Many Mbundu live in the city, and there is a sizable Cuban community. It is a commercial and industrial area, with oil-refining capacity. It is the seat of the Univ. of Luanda; the old fortress of Sã o Miguel lies beyond the port.


Azande
People of central Africa who speak an Adamawa-Ubangi language of the Niger-Congo family. They live partly in Sudan, partly in Congo (Zaire), and partly in the Central African Republic. They occupy widely scattered family homesteads, subsisting through agriculture and hunting. Patrilineal clans are numerous. Witchcraft, magic, and divination are major features of social life. The Azande number about 3.7 million.


band
Type of human social organization consisting of a small number of nuclear families or related subgroups who are loosely organized for purposes of subsistence or security. Bands may be integrated into a larger community or tribe. They generally exist in sparsely populated areas and possess relatively simple technologies; their habitats range from the Australian desert (Aborigines) to the African rain forest (Mbuti, Aka) to the N tundra (Kaska Indians). Bands may occasionally coalesce for broader community ceremonies, hunting, or warfare. See also hunting and gathering societies, sociocultural evolution.

Musical ensemble that generally excludes stringed instruments. Ensembles of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments originated in 15th-cent. Germany, taking on particularly a military role; these spread to France, Britain, and eventually the New World. In the 15th-18th cent., many European towns had town musicians, or waits, who performed especially for ceremonial occasions in wind bands often consisting primarily of shawms and sackbuts (trombones). In the 18th-19th cent., the English amateur brass band, largely consisting of the many newly developed brass instruments, took on the important nonmilitary function of representing organizations of all kinds. In America, P. Gilmore's virtuoso band became famous in the mid-19th cent.; his greatest successor, J. P. Sousa, bequeathed a repertory of marches that has remained very popular. The big band, under such leaders as D. Ellington and C. Basie, was central to Amer. popular music in the 1930s and '40s. In the rock band, unlike most other bands, stringed instruments (electric guitars and electric bass) are paramount.

Type of human social organization consisting of a small number of nuclear families or related subgroups who are loosely organized for purposes of subsistence or security. Bands may be integrated into a larger community or tribe. They generally exist in ...

Top words beginning with Q: quartzous, quarantinable, quadrella, quadrioxalate, quinquenniumally, quip, quadrate, quadricone, qualification, qualmproof, quinquelateral, quartes, quieter, quinina, quaternionic, queenliest, quadracus, quadruplicates, qindarka, quadrati

More words beginning with Q.

Browse the alphabet: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z