(Encyclopedia) Bowie, David, 1947–2016, British rock-and-roll singer and songwriter who successfully, merged rock, art, and fashion, b. London as David Robert Jones. After singing with five different…
(Encyclopedia) chartered companies, associations for foreign trade, exploration, and colonization that came into existence with the formation of the European nation states and their overseas…
(Encyclopedia) excise taxes, governmental levies on specific goods produced and consumed inside a country. They differ from tariffs, which usually apply only to foreign-made goods, and from sales…
(Encyclopedia) Fox, George, 1624–91, English religious leader, founder of the Society of Friends, b. Fenny Drayton in Leicestershire. As a boy he was apprenticed to a shoemaker and wool dealer. By…
(Encyclopedia) hyacinth, any plant of the genus Hyacinthus, bulbous herbs of the family Liliaceae (lily family) native to the Mediterranean region and South Africa. The common, or Dutch, hyacinth of…
(Encyclopedia) Josephine, 1763–1814, empress of the French (1804–9) as the consort of Napoleon I. Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, she was married in 1779 to Alexandre de…
(Encyclopedia) nursery, in horticulture, an establishment or area for the propagation, breeding, and early cultivation of plants. In North America the term nursery originally specified a place where…
(Encyclopedia) Liebermann, MaxLiebermann, Maxmäks lēˈbərmänˌ [key], 1847–1935, German genre painter and etcher. He went to Paris in 1873, where he was impressed by the Barbizon school of painters. In…
(Encyclopedia) KhoikhoiKhoikhoikoiˈkoiˌ [key], people numbering about 55,000 mainly in Namibia and in W South Africa. The Khoikhoi have been called Hottentots by whites in South Africa. In language…
(Encyclopedia) Lucretius (Titus Lucretius Carus)Lucretiusl&oomacr;krēˈshəs [key], c.99 b.c.–c.55 b.c., Roman poet and philosopher. Little is known about his life. A chronicle of St. Jerome speaks…
