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Adrianople, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Adrianople, Treaty of, also called Treaty of Edirne, 1829, peace treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (see Russo-Turkish Wars). Turkey gave Russia access to the mouths of the Danube and additi...

Afyonkarahisar

(Encyclopedia)Afyonkarahisar äfyōnˈkäˌrähĭsärˈ [key] [Turk.,=black castle of opium], city, capital of Afyonkarahisar prov., W central Turkey, at an elevation of c.3,500 ft (1,0...

Piedras Negras, ancient city, Guatemala

(Encyclopedia)Piedras Negras pyāˈᵺräs nāˈgräs [key] [Span.,=black stones], ruined city of the Classic era of the Maya, NW Petén, Guatemala, in the Usumacinta valley. Reaching a peak of sculptural achieveme...

Redditch

(Encyclopedia)Redditch, city (1991 pop. 61,639) and district, Worcestershire, central England. Redditch was designated one of the new towns in 1964 to alleviate overpopulation in Birmingham and the Black Country. I...

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...

Rion

(Encyclopedia)Rion rēônˈ [key], ancient Phasis, river, c.195 mi (310 km) long, rising in the Caucasus near the Mamison Pass, W Georgia, and flowing S and W past Kutaisi into the Black Sea at Poti. Its upper cour...

Chanel, Coco

(Encyclopedia)Chanel, Coco (Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel) shənĕlˈ [key], 1883–1971, French fashion designer b. Saumur. She established a millinery shop in Deauville in 1909, founded her first house of couture ther...

peccary

(Encyclopedia)peccary pĕkˈərē [key], small wild pig, genus Tayassu, the only pig native to the Americas. Although similar in appearance to Old World pigs, peccaries are classified in a family of their own becau...

sea snake

(Encyclopedia)sea snake, name for any of the venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophidae, found in tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans. The sea snake's body is flattened laterally and its oarlike ...

Freedmen's Bureau

(Encyclopedia)Freedmen's Bureau, in U.S. history, a federal agency, formed to aid and protect the newly freed blacks in the South after the Civil War. Established by an act of Mar. 3, 1865, under the name “bureau...