Glossary — B

Glossary terms beginning with B.

Baathist: a member of the Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection Party), a pan-Arab party established in Damascus in the 1940s by Michel Aflaq and Salah ad Din al Bitar.
Baba Chinese: Descendants of marriages between Chinese men and Malay women, many of whom moved to Singapore from Malacca in the early nineteenth century. Although mixed parentage gradually disappeared through marriage with Chinese immigrants, the Babas usually spoke Malay or English as their first language and identified more closely with Singapore and Malaya than with China. After establishment of Straits Settlements (q.v.) in 1826, their descendants also came to be known as Straits Chinese (q.v.).
Backward Classes: Citizens of India otherwise defined as members of Scheduled Castes (q.v.), Scheduled Tribes (q.v.), and other low-ranking and disadvantaged groups (sometimes referred to as Other Backward Classes). Discrimination against the Backward Classes is prohibited by Article 15 of the Indian constitution. The Backward Classes reportedly constitute an estimated 52 percent of India’s population. The Mandal Commission (q.v.) identified 3,743 Backward Classes.
Bahasa Indonesia: The Indonesian national language, also known as Indonesian; an Austronesian language reported to be modelled on Riau Malay and 80 percent cognate with Standard Malay.
Bahraini dinar (BD): Consists of 1,000 fils. Bahrain has maintained a fixed exchange rate according to which in 1993 US$1 equaled BD0.376.
bajraktar: The hereditary leader of a bajrak (q.v.). Term literally means ""standard bearer"".; Source: Library of Congress
Baker debt-reduction plan: As part of the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (q.v.), Nicholas F. Brady, the United States secretary of the treasury in the administration of President George H.W. Bush (1989-93), led a United States Government interagency process that determined country eligibility for debt reduction. The Brady Plan has been used to forge agreements between banks and the governments of several Latin American nations.
balabat: An Amharic term originally referring to any person with a claim to rist (q.v.) land by virtue of membership in a cognatic descent group (q.v.). Commonly used since the establishment of present-day Ethiopia by Menelik II in the late nineteenth century for those local chiefs and other non-Amhara who were assigned low-level administrative positions among their own people and who were allocated substantial landholdings.
balance of payments: An annual statistical summary of the monetary value of all economic transactions between one country and the rest of the world, including goods, services, income on investments, and other financial matters, such as credits or loans.
balance of trade: A record of a country’s trade in goods with the rest of the world. The balance of trade differs from the balance of payments (q.v.) because the latter includes transactions for services and the former does not. When the exports of merchandise exceed imports, a country is said to have a balance of trade surplus or to have a favorable balance of trade. When the imports of merchandise exceed exports, a country is said to have a balance of trade deficit or to have an unfavorable balance of trade.
balboa (B): Panama’s monetary unit, in practice consisting only of coins. Official value is B1 equals US$1. United States currency used for paper money.
bandeirantes: Colonial Portuguese expeditions made up of adventurers, named after the Portuguese word for flag (bandeira) because they traveled under the bandeira of their leader, who took with him kin, friends, slaves, and friendly Amerindians.; Source: Library of Congress
Bangla: Official language of Bangladesh; often referred to as Bengali before 1971. An Indo-European language.; Source: Library of Congress
Bangladesh National Party: Political party of Ziaur Rahman (Zia). Founded in 1978 and became majority party during Zia’s presidency.; Source: Library of Congress
bani: Arabic for a tribe, people, or nation; plural of ibn, son of a person
Bank for International Standards (BIS): Established in 1930 to assist national central banks in managing and investing monetary reserves and to promote international cooperation among those banks.
Bantu: Literally, ""human beings,"" in more than 300 Bantu languages of equatorial and southern Africa. Bantu languages are classified within the central branch of the Niger-Congo language family; characterized by a system of noun classes marked by prefixes, so that each dependent word in a sentence carries a prefix of the same class. Outsiders often simplify by omitting prefix; for example, the amaZulu (people) are known as the Zulu; their language, isiZulu, is also referred to as Zulu. Speakers of seSotho, the BaSotho, are often referred to simply as Sotho peoples. Four major subgroups of Bantu languages--Nguni, Sotho, Tsonga-Shangaan, and Venda--are widely represented in South Africa. They include nine of South Africa’s official languages--isiXhosa, isiZulu, isiNdebele, sePedi, seSotho, seTswana, siSwati, tshiVenda (also luVenda), and xiTsonga. During the apartheid era, the term Bantu was often used in government regulations, official statements, and sometimes in conversation to designate people of black African descent. Because this group was particularly disadvantaged by apartheid, the term Bantu assumed pejorative connotations in many apartheid-era contexts.
Bantustan: An area reserved for an officially designated Bantu-speaking ethnic group during the apartheid era; a term generally supplanted by ""homeland,"" national state, or self-governing state during the 1970s and 1980s.
bar: Son of; frequently used in personal names, as Bar-Lev.
baraka: Quality of blessedness or grace found characteristically in marabouts (q.v.) and other divinely favored persons. Also, charisma that endows the blessed with a special capacity to rule.
barefoot doctor: Especially during the Cultural Revolution (q.v.), a paramedical worker possessing minimal formal training who provided part-time medical service, primarily in rural areas. Promoted basic hygiene, preventive health care, and family planning and treated common illnesses. Acted as a primary health-care provider at the grass-roots level.
Barisan Sosialis: The Socialist Front, a left-wing political party that was the primary challenger to the People’s Action Party (q.v.) in the 1960s and early 1970s.
barrels: See barrels per day.
barrels per day: Production of crude oil and petroleum products is frequently measured in barrels per day, often abbreviated bpd or bd. A barrel is a volume measure of forty-two United States gallons. Conversion of barrels to metric tons depends on the density of a specific product. About 7.3 barrels of average crude oil, or about 7 barrels of heavy crude oil, weigh 1 metric ton. Light products, such as gasoline and kerosene, average close to eight barrels per metric ton.
barrels per day (bpd): Production of crude oil and petroleum products is frequently measured in barrels per day. A barrel is a volume measure of forty- two United States gallons. Conversion of barrels to metric tons depends on the density of the special product. About 7.3 barrels of average crude oil weigh one metric ton. Heavy products would be about seven barrels per metric ton. Light products, such as gasoline and kerosene, would average eight barrels per metric ton.; Source: Library of Congress
barriadas: Squatter settlements or shantytowns that surround Lima and other urban centers. Since the late 1960s, these settlements have been also known as pueblos jóvenes (young towns).
beg: A tribal leader; term is used by some Turkic-speaking tribes.
Bektashi: An order of dervishes of the Shia branch of the Muslim faith founded, according to tradition, by Hajji Bektash Wali of Khorasan, in present-day Iran, in the thirteenth century and given definitive form by Balim, a sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century. Bektashis continue to exist in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, where their chief monastery is at Tiranë.; Source: Library of Congress
Belarusian ruble: The monetary unit of Belarus, introduced in May 1992. In March 1995, the exchange rate was 11,669 Belarusian rubles per US$1. The Belarusian ruble is convertible, within limits.; Source: Library of Congress
Belizean dollar (Bz$): Belizean monetary unit, divided into 100 cents. The official fixed exchange rate of US$1=Bz$2 was established in 1976 and remained in effect in 1991.; Source: Library of Congress
ben: Son of; frequently used in personal names, as Ben-Gurion.; Source: Library of Congress
Bengal: Formerly province of British India, now encompasses India’s state of West Bengal and all of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan- -q.v.) During Mughal period (1526-1858) a province, later governed by a president of the British East India company, and during the British Raj (q.v.), a state.; Source: Library of Congress
Bengali calendar: Year begins on April 15 of the Gregorian calendar; based on Muslim, or hijra (q.v.) calendar and used widely in religious life.; Source: Library of Congress
berms: a narrow ledge typically at the top of a slope. Here, walls of bulldozed sand constructed within the Western Sahara virtually paralleling its borders with Mauritania. Moroccan forces constructed the berms, which were subsequently fitted with special sensory devices to prevent Polisario guerrillas from infiltrating into territory controlled by Morocco.
Bessarabia: Region between the Dniester and Prut rivers north of the Black Sea. Seized by the Soviet Union in 1940, it was merged with Bukovina (q.v.) to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Bessarabia (Basarabia in Romanian): Former principality, originally composed of lands owned by the Basarab Dynasty of Walachia (q.v.), extending inland from the Black Sea coast and bounded on the west by the Prut River and on the east by the Nistru River. In 1812 the name was extended to all the land between the Prut and Nistru rivers by the Russian Empire (q.v.), to which Bessarabia was awarded by the Treaty of Bucharest. The bulk of Bessarabia makes up most of the present-day Republic of Moldova.; Source: Library of Congress
bey: ruler of a province under the Ottoman Empire.; Source: Library of Congress
bhikku: Buddhist monk. When capitalized, an honorific title. The bhikkus are not priests or ministers in the Western sense of the terms.
big-character posters (dazibao): Posters, limited-circulation newspapers, excerpted press articles, pamphlets, and blackboard news using large-sized ideographs and mounted on walls as a popular form of communication. Used in China since imperial times but more commonly since literacy increased after the 1911 revolution. Used more frequently after 1949 to publicize party programs and as a means of protest. Became ubiquitous during the Cultural Revolution (q.v.); guaranteed as one of the ""four big rights"" in the 1975 state constitution.
binomial electoral system: In this unique majority system, which governs Chile’s congressional elections, political parties or groupings form pacts and permit slates (two candidates per slate), from which two senators and two deputies are elected from each district. By requiring each party to obtain two-thirds of the vote in each district for the successful election of its two candiddates to the legislature, this system gives the opposition disproporationate representation in Congress
birr (pl., birr; no symbol used): The Ethiopian monetary unit, composed of 100 cents. Introduced officially in 1976, replacing the Ethiopian dollar at par. Through mid-1991, US$1 equaled 2.07 birr, or 1 birr was worth about US$0.48.
birta: Nepalese tax-free land tenure granted by the government primarily as a pension or as a reward to political supporters and family members, important especially during the Rana period; abolished 1959.; Source: Library of Congress
Black Flag forces: A band of mostly Chinese adventurers who fled to northern Vietnam after the collapse of the Taiping Rebellion (1851-64) in China. They eventually placed themselves at the service of the imperial court in Hue and fought the French forces in the 1883-84 Tonkin campaign.
boat people: Refugees who fled Vietnam by sea after 1975. Many fell victim to pirate attacks in the Gulf of Thailand, drowned, or endured starvation and dehydration as a result of their escape in ill- equipped and undersized vessels. Those who reached safety in neighboring Southeast Asian countries were accorded temporary asylum in refugee camps while awaiting permanent resettlement in industrialized Western nations willing to accept them.
Boer: Farmer (Afrikaans); generally used in eighteenth and nineteenth century to refer to white South African settlers of Dutch, German, and French Huguenot origin; generally supplanted by the term Afrikaner (q.v.) in the twentieth century. See also Trekboer.
Bogomil heresy: A religious sect founded in Bulgaria and flourishing in the Balkans between the tenth and fifteenth centuries. It combined beliefs from several contemporaneous religions, most notably the Paulicians from Asia Minor (q.v.). The central belief was that the material world was created by the devil.; Source: Library of Congress
boliviano: Bolivia’s official unit of currency. Replaced the peso on January 1, 1987. In 1988 the exchange rate was B2.3=US$1. Readoption of the boliviano (Bolivia’s currency prior to January 1963) in January 1987 redressed the damage done to the currency by hyperinflation.; Source: Library of Congress
Bolshevik: A member of the radical group within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which, under Vladimir I. Lenin’s leadership, staged the Bolshevik Revolution. In March 1918, the Bolsheviks formed the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) and began calling themselves Communists (q.v.). That party was the precursor of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU-- q.v.).; Source: Library of Congress
bonze: A general term for a Buddhist monk (as opposed to the more specific bhikku, meaning an ordained monk).
Bosomtwi (Lake): The only natural lake in Ghana. It is located about 32 km to the south-east of Kumase, the Asante capital.