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Charcas

(Encyclopedia)Charcas chärˈkäs [key], Spanish colonial audiencia and presidency in South America, known also as Upper Peru and Chuquisaca. Charcas roughly corresponded to modern Bolivia but included parts of pre...

Cleves, duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) t...

Enzio

(Encyclopedia)Enzio ānˈtsō [key], c.1220–72, king of Sardinia, illegitimate son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. He married a Sardinian heiress and was made king of Sardinia by his father. In the wars betwe...

Fink, Mike

(Encyclopedia)Fink, Mike, 1770?–1823?, American border hero, whose exploits have been so elaborated in legend that the actual facts of his life are difficult to discover. He was born probably at the frontier post...

excess profits tax

(Encyclopedia)excess profits tax, levy on any profit above a standard level. Chiefly a wartime phenomenon, it is intended to increase revenue during periods of distress and to prevent businessmen from taking unfair...

Aberdeen, city, Scotland

(Encyclopedia)Aberdeen, city (2020 pop. 229,060) and council area, NE Scotland, on the North Sea at the mouth of the Dee River. It is Scotland's third largest city in population. Aberdeen is the financi...

Sher Ali

(Encyclopedia)Sher Ali shēr älēˈ, shâr [key], 1825–79, emir of Afghanistan (1863–79), son of Dost Muhammad. His succession was opposed by other members of his family, notably his brothers. Sher Ali turned ...

Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Sir Harry George Wakelyn, 1787–1860, British general and administrator. He served in the Peninsular War and in the War of 1812 and was a brigade major at the battle of Waterloo. He commanded ...

Silva, Antonio José da

(Encyclopedia)Silva, Antonio José da əntôˈnyo͝o zho͝ozĕˈ dä sēlˈvə [key], 1705–39, Portuguese playwright, b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He belonged to a family of “New Christians” (Jews forced to con...

Pratt, Richard Henry

(Encyclopedia)Pratt, Richard Henry, 1840–1924, American soldier and educator, b. Rushford, N.Y. He served in the Union army during the Civil War and then in the Indian wars in the West, where he became interested...