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oblast

(Encyclopedia)oblast ōˈbläst, ŏˈ–, Rus. ôˈbləstyə [key] [Rus.,=region], administrative and territorial division in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the former USSR. In the USSR, oblasts in which the majorit...

Tolstaya, Tatyana

(Encyclopedia)Tolstaya, Tatyana tōlstīˈyä [key], 1951–, Russian short-story writer and essayist. Increasingly recognized as one of the major European writers of the postwar generation, Tolstaya is part of a R...

Mary, the mother of Jesus

(Encyclopedia)Mary, in the Bible, mother of Jesus. Christian tradition reckons her the principal saint, naming her variously the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady, and Mother of God (Gr., theotokos). Her name is the He...

Zlatoust

(Encyclopedia)Zlatoust zlətəo͞ostˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 208,000), E European Russia, on the Ai River in the S Urals. It is a rail terminus and an old metallurgical center. Besides steel mills, the city has me...

Blackwell, Antoinette Louisa (Brown)

(Encyclopedia)Blackwell, Antoinette Louisa (Brown), 1825–1921, American Unitarian minister, b. Henrietta, N.Y., grad. Oberlin College, 1847, and Oberlin Theological Seminary, 1850. One of the first women to recei...

Nekrasov, Nikolai Alekseyevich

(Encyclopedia)Nekrasov, Nikolai Alekseyevich nyĭkəlīˈ əlyĭksyāˈyəvĭch nyĭkräˈsəf [key], 1821–78, Russian poet, editor, and publisher. Nekrasov began writing poetry when he was seven. Disowned by his...

Kingisepp

(Encyclopedia)Kingisepp kēnˌgĭsyĕpˈ [key], city, NW European Russia, SW of St. Petersburg, near the Estonian border, on the Luga River. A river port, it has leather and shoe industries. The site was settled in...

Crimean War

(Encyclopedia)Crimean War krīmēˈən [key], 1853–56, war between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the ...

Lennox, Matthew Stuart, 4th earl of

(Encyclopedia)Lennox, Matthew Stuart or Stewart, 4th earl of lĕnˈəks [key], 1516–71, Scottish nobleman. Related to the royal family, being next in the line of succession to the throne after James Hamilton, 2d ...

Feckenham, John de

(Encyclopedia)Feckenham, John de fĕkˈənəm [key], 1518?–1585, English abbot. He became a Benedictine monk at Evesham, studied at Oxford, and later served as chaplain to the bishop of Worcester and to Edmund Bo...