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Kankakee

(Encyclopedia)Kankakee kăngkəkēˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 27,575), seat of Kankakee co., E Ill., on the Kankakee River; inc. 1855. It is a trade, processing, and shipping center for a rich agricultural region pro...

Tayma

(Encyclopedia)Tayma tāˈmä [key], large oasis, SW Saudi Arabia. Cuneiform inscriptions possibly dating from the 6th cent. b.c. have been recovered from Tayma. In ancient Arabic tradition the oasis was noted as a ...

Benchley, Robert Charles

(Encyclopedia)Benchley, Robert Charles, 1889–1945, American humorist, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1912. He was drama critic of Life (1920–29) and of the New Yorker (1929–40). Benchley was known for a ...

Beit, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Beit, Alfred bīt [key], 1853–1906, South African financier, b. Hamburg. He went to South Africa in 1875, grew rich from the development of diamond mines, and was a colleague and lieutenant of Cecil...

Thoma, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Thoma, Hans häns tōˈmä [key], 1839–1924, German painter and lithographer. He was influenced by Courbet. His later, individual style, modeled on that of old German woodcuts, shows rich coloring a...

Republican

(Encyclopedia)Republican, river, c.420 mi (680 km) long, formed in S Nebr. by the junction of the North Fork and Arikaree rivers. It is joined by the South Fork at Benkelman and flows E across the rolling grassland...

spinel

(Encyclopedia)spinel, magnesium aluminum oxide, MgAl2O4, a mineral crystallizing in the isometric system, usually as octahedrons. It occurs as an accessory mineral in basic igneous rocks, in aluminum-rich metamorph...

Staël, Nicholas de

(Encyclopedia)Staël, Nicholas de nēkôläˈ də stäl [key], 1914–55, French painter, b. St. Petersburg, Russia. Reared in Brussels, he traveled extensively before settling in France in 1940. De Staël evolved ...

Sierra Maestra

(Encyclopedia)Sierra Maestra syāˈrä mäāˈsträ [key], rugged mountain range, SE Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. Consisting of connecting ranges with local names, the Sierra Maestra is the highest system ...

Haya

(Encyclopedia)Haya hīˈə [key], people of Africa living on Lake Victoria in the extreme northwest of Tanzania. They originally came from W Uganda, a region they left because of endless wars. There are now about 1...