stayed in office until March 1921. He
died inWashington, D.C., on February
3, 1924.
#More to explore
League of Nations • Roosevelt,
Theodore • Taft,William Howard
• United States • Villa, Pancho •World
War I
Wind
Wind is the movement of air near
Earth’s surface. Wind can be a gentle
breeze or a strong gale. The most
powerful wind happens during storms
called tornadoes, cyclones, and
hurricanes.
Changes in the temperature of air, land,
and water cause wind. When air flows
over a warm surface, it heats up and
rises. This leaves room for cooler air to
flow in. The flowing air is wind.
Winds are named after the direction
from which they come, not the direction
toward which they blow. For example,
wind blowing from west to east is called
a westerly.
Winds greatly affect the weather. They
bring cool air into warm areas. They also
can bring rain, snow, or even dust and
sand. For example, in southern Asia
winds known as monsoons bring rain
during the summer. This happens
because cool, moist air from over the
ocean moves in over the warm land.
Large movements of air around Earth
are called planetary winds. Some of the
best-known planetary winds are the
tropical easterlies, or trade winds. The
trade winds are two large belts of wind
on either side of the equator. They blow
steadily toward the west.
Since early times people have harnessed
the power of wind. Early sailors relied
on the planetary winds to travel across
oceans. Early peoples also built
windmills, or machines that used wind
power to turn stones or other machines
to grind grain. Today people use
A strong winter wind blows snow and
bends trees.
48 Wind BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
windmills to power machines that
create electricity.
#More to explore
Air • Earth •Weather
Windhoek
Population
(2001 estimate)
216,000
Windhoek is the capital of Namibia, a
country in southern Africa. It is Namibia’s
largest city by far. A ring of hills
surrounds the city.
The economy ofWindhoek is very
important to Namibia.Windhoek is the
country’s main center of trade, banking,
industry, and transportation. Factories in
the city make such products as cloth,
clothing, leather goods, and processed
foods.
The first settlers in what is nowWindhoek
were the Khoekhoe and Herero
peoples. The town was once called
Aigams, meaning “hot water.” The name
referred to the region’s natural hot
springs, where steaming-hot water
spouts from the ground. Europeans later
changed the name toWindhoek.
Germany took over the town in the late
1800s. South Africa took control of
Windhoek and the rest of Namibia in
1915. In 1990 Namibia became an
independent country withWindhoek as
its capital.
#More to explore
Namibia
Windmill
A windmill is a machine that harnesses
the power of the wind.Windmills may
be used to grind grain into flour, to
pump water, or to produce electricity.
A windmill has a number of blades that
spin around when wind blows on them.
The blades are mounted on a tall tower
or building. They are connected to a
vertical shaft, or rod. When the blades
spin, they turn the shaft. The turning
shaft powers a device that does work—
for example, a water pump or millstones,
which grind grain. The shaft also
may provide power to a machine called a
generator, which produces electricity.
German colonists designed some of the
buildings of Windhoek, Namibia, to look
like buildings in Germany. Modern buildings
now rise nearby.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Windmill 49
People in western Asia built the earliest
known windmills more than 1,000 years
ago. They used these windmills to grind
grain.Windmills spread to Europe by
the 1100s. The Dutch used them to
pump water out of low-lying areas near
the sea. By the 1800s, however, many
people used steam engines rather than
wind power to run mills and to do other
work. Today modern windmills, called
wind turbines, produce electricity for
many communities.
#More to explore
Machine •Wind
Winnebago
TheWinnebago are Native Americans
of the midwestern United States. They
call themselves Ho-Chunk, which
means “people of the first voice.”
TheWinnebago traditionally lived in
dome-shaped homes called wigwams.
They made their wigwams by covering a
wood frame with bark. TheWinnebago
grew corn, squash, and beans. They
hunted small animals in the forest. They
also traveled to the prairies to the southwest
to hunt bison (buffalo).
TheWinnebago knew only other Native
Americans until 1634. In that year
French explorers arrived in their lands
near Green Bay, in what is now eastern
Wisconsin. TheWinnebago traded with
the French for such goods as metal pots
and guns. But manyWinnebago died
from diseases brought by the French,
especially smallpox.
By the early 1800s theWinnebago had
spread into southwesternWisconsin and
A Winnebago of Wisconsin weaves a basket
in the early 1900s.
Windmills on a hillside in California are used to generate electricity.
50 Winnebago BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
northwestern Illinois. In the 1820s and
1830s the U.S. government forced the
Winnebago to give up all their land east
of the Mississippi River. The government
moved the tribe first to Iowa, then
to Minnesota, and then to South