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manifest destiny

(Encyclopedia)manifest destiny, belief held by many Americans in the 1840s that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, by force, as used against Native Americans, if necessary. The controver...

Matera

(Encyclopedia)Matera mätĕˈrä [key], city (1991 pop. 54,919), capital of Matera prov., in Basilicata, S Italy, in the Apennines. It is an agricultural and industrial center with woolen textile mills and ceramics...

Kishon

(Encyclopedia)Kishon kīˈshŏn [key] [Heb. Qishon=tortuous], intermittent river, c.45 mi (70 km) long, rising below Mt. Gilboa, N Israel, and flowing NW to the Mediterranean Sea near Haifa; only the lower 7-mi (11...

Bridgetown

(Encyclopedia)Bridgetown, city (2014 approx. pop. 110,000), capital, commercial center, and chief port of Barbados, West Indies. It is, in addition, a tourist and hea...

Transandine Railway

(Encyclopedia)Transandine Railway, former rail line, 156 mi (251 km) long, between Mendoza, Argentina, and Los Andes, Chile, traversing the Andes at Uspallata Pass. Opened to traffic in 1910, the railway rose to c....

Segonzac, André Dunoyer de

(Encyclopedia)Segonzac, André Dunoyer de äNdrāˈ dünwäyāˈ də səgôNzäkˈ [key], 1884–1974, French painter and graphic artist. Segonzac was a member of the group known as the section d'or, which stressed...

Rove Tunnel

(Encyclopedia)Rove Tunnel rōv, Fr. rôv [key], southern section of the Marseilles-Rhône Canal, 4.5 mi (7.2 km) long and 72 ft (22 m) wide, Bouches-du-Rhône dept., SE France; opened 1927. Starting near the villag...

Volhynia

(Encyclopedia)Volhynia vŏlĭˈnyə [key], Ukr. and Rus. Volyn, Pol. Wołyń, historic region, W Ukraine, around the headstreams of the Pripyat and Western Bug rivers in an area of forests, lakes, and marshlands. O...

social security

(Encyclopedia)social security, government program designed to provide for the basic economic security and welfare of individuals and their dependents. The programs classified under the term social security differ f...

Csepel

(Encyclopedia)Csepel chĕˈpĕl [key], island, c.100 sq mi (260 sq km), 30 mi (48 km) long, in the Danube, N central Hungary, just S of Budapest. In the northern section are the city and harbor of the same name, an...