BECHUANA-LAND, an inland tract in S. Africa, extends from the Orange River to the Zambesi; has German territory on the W., the Transvaal and Matabele-land on the E. The whole country is under British protection; that part which is S. of the river Molopo was made a crown colony in 1885.  On a plateau 4000 ft. above sea-level, the climate is suited for British emigrants.  The soil is fertile; extensive tracts are suitable for corn; sheep and cattle thrive; rains fall in summer; in winter there are frosts, sometimes snow.  The Kalahari Desert in the W. will be habitable when sufficient wells are dug.  Gold is found near Sitlagoli, and diamonds at Vryburg.  The Bechuanas are the most advanced of the black races of S. Africa.

BECHUA`NAS, a wide-spread S. African race, totemists, rearers of cattle, and growers of maize; are among the most intelligent of the Bantu peoples, and show considerable capacity for self-government.

BECKER, KARL, German philologist; bred to medicine; author of a German grammar (1775-1842).

BECKER, NICOLAUS, author of the “Wacht am Rhein,” was an obscure lawyer’s clerk, and unnoted for anything else (1810-1845).

BECKER, WILLIAM ADOLPHE, an archaeologist, born at Dresden; was professor at Leipzig; wrote books in reproductive representation of ancient Greek and Roman life; author of “Manual of Roman Antiquities” (1796-1846).

BECKET, THOMAS A, archbishop of Canterbury, born in London, of Norman parentage; studied at Oxford and Bologna; entered the Church; was made Lord Chancellor; had a large and splendid retinue, but on becoming archbishop, cast all pomp aside and became an ascetic, and devoted himself to the vigorous discharge of the duties of his high office; declared for the independence of the Church, and refused to sign the CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON (q. v.); King Henry II. grew restive under his assumption of authority, and got rid of him by the hands of four knights who, to please the king, shed his blood on the steps of the altar of Canterbury Cathedral, for which outrage the king did penance four years afterwards at his tomb.  The struggle was one affecting the relative rights of Church and king, and the chief combatants in the fray were both high-minded men, each inflexible in the assertion of his claims (1119-1170).

BECKFORD, WILLIAM, author of “Vathek,” son of a rich alderman of London, who bequeathed him property to the value of L100,000 per annum; kept spending his fortune on extravagancies and vagaries; wrote “Vathek,” an Arabian tale, when a youth of twenty-two, at a sitting of three days and two nights, a work which established his reputation as one of the first of the imaginative writers of his country.  He wrote two volumes of travels in Italy, but his fame rests on his “Vathek” alone (1759-1844).

BECKMANN, a professor at Goettingen; wrote “History of Discoveries and Inventions” (1738-1811).

BECKX, PETER JOHN, general of the Jesuits, born in Belgium (1790-1887).