Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt

on the problems of minority groups. She

also led several African American organizations.

Mary McLeod was born on July 10,

1875, on a small farm near Mayesville,

South Carolina. Her parents were

former slaves. She was not able to go to

school until 1885, when missionaries

opened a school for black children. She

went on to college in North Carolina

and Illinois. In 1898 she married Albertus

Bethune.

She taught school in the South and in

1904 opened a school for black girls in

Daytona Beach, Florida. She later said

she started the school with nothing

more than “five little girls, a dollar and a

half, and faith in God.” It later merged

with a school for boys called Cookman

Institute and became Bethune-

Cookman College.

Bethune later entered public life. In

1936 Roosevelt appointed her to the

National Youth Administration. The

year before that she had founded the

National Council of NegroWomen. She

also served as vice president of the

National Association for the Advancement

of Colored People (NAACP) from

1940 to 1955. She died on May 18,

1955.

#More to explore

African Americans • National

Association for the Advancement of

Colored People • Roosevelt, Franklin D.

Many Christians visit Bethlehem at Christmastime

to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Mary McLeod Bethune

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Bethune, Mary McLeod 65

 

Bhutan

The country of Bhutan lies in the high

Himalayas of south-central Asia. The

capital is Thimphu.

Bhutan is surrounded by China and

India. In the north, snowcapped mountains

rise to more than 24,000 feet

(7,300 meters). Valleys cover central

Bhutan. In the south are jungles and

savannas.

Pine and oak trees grow on the mountains.

In the summer, yaks graze in pastures

on the mountain slopes.Wild

animals include snow leopards, monkeys,

and migrating birds.

The Bhutia, people with ancestors from

the Tibet region of China, make up

about half of the population. The Bhutia

practice Buddhism, the official religion,

and mainly speak Dzongkha, the official

language. The Nepalese are the second

largest group. They speak Nepali and

practice Hinduism. The smallest group

is the Sharchops, Buddhists from nearby

Indian areas who probably lived in the

region first.

Farming is the main occupation of Bhutan.

Farmers raise cattle, pigs, goats,

horses, and sheep. They grow corn, rice,

potatoes, sugarcane, wheat, fruits, and

vegetables. Logging and construction are

also important to the economy.

People from Tibet likely settled in what

is now Bhutan in the AD 800s. In the

1600s a Tibetan Buddhist priest became

the first king of Bhutan. The country’s

kings kept Bhutan isolated from the rest

of the world for hundreds of years. In

the mid-1900s that began to change.

The king at the time made changes to

start to modernize the country. By 2008

Bhutan had a new constitution and an

elected parliament for the first time.

..More to explore

Himalayas • Thimphu • Tibet

A Buddhist monastery known as the Tiger’s

Nest sits high up on a cliffside in western

Bhutan.

Facts About

BHUTAN

Population

(2008 estimate)

682,000

Area

14,824 sq mi

(38,394 sq km)

Capital

Thimphu

Form of

government

Constitutional

monarchy

Major cities

Thimphu,

Phuntsholing

66 Bhutan BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Bible

The Bible is an important book to both

Jews and Christians. However, the Bible

of Judaism is different from the Bible of

Christianity, even though they include

some of the same writings. The books of

the Bible were written by many different

authors over many hundreds of years.

The Bible of Judaism

The Jewish Bible focuses on the religious

experiences of the ancient nation of

Israel. It was written from about 1200

BC to 100 BC, mostly in Hebrew. It contains

24 books divided into three sections:

the Law, the Prophets, and the

Writings.

The first five books are Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Together they are known as the Law

because they explain and interpret God’s

laws. They also tell how ancient Israel

became a nation and came to possess the

promised land. These five books are

sometimes called the Torah.

The books of the Prophets contain messages

from the prophets—people of

ancient Israel who spoke to the nation

on behalf of God. These books also tell

more about the history of ancient Israel.

The Writings section includes a variety

of books that contain poetry, stories,

history, and other types of literature.

Among them is the Psalms, a collection

of sacred songs and poems from various

periods in the history of Israel. The

otherWritings use sayings and stories to

teach people about proper behavior.

The Bible of Christianity

The Christian Bible is made up of two

parts: the Old Testament and the New

Testament. The Old Testament is very

similar to the Jewish Bible, but the

books are arranged and numbered differently.

Not all Christian Bibles are exactly alike.

Besides the 39 books of the Christian

Old Testament, Roman Catholic and

Eastern Orthodox churches include

some books that are not accepted by

Protestants. These books are known as

the Apocrypha. The Jewish Bible does

not contain the Apocrypha either.

The word Bible