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San Mateo

(Encyclopedia)San Mateo săn mətāˈō [key], city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Ma...

Meudon

(Encyclopedia)Meudon mödôNˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 46,173), Hauts-de-Seine dept., N central France, a suburb SW of Paris. Metal products, automobile bodies, and explosives are the chief manufactures. The astroph...

San Quentin

(Encyclopedia)San Quentin săn kwĕnˈtən [key], peninsula extending into San Francisco Bay, W Calif., N of San Francisco. The state prison there was begun in 1852. San Quentin is the western terminus of the Richm...

Millbrae

(Encyclopedia)Millbrae mĭlbrāˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 20,412), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1948. It is primarily residential, but there is light manufacturing, including the production of...

Milk, Harvey

(Encyclopedia)Milk, Harvey, 1931–78, U.S. politician and gay-rights activist. When elected (1977) to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, he was the first acknowledged homosexual to win high local office in th...

Farnesina

(Encyclopedia)Farnesina färnāzēˈnä [key], villa in Rome, Italy, built (1508–11) by Peruzzi for the banker Agostino Chigi at the foot of the Janiculum on the right bank of the Tiber. One of the finest example...

Medici, Ferdinand I de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Ferdinand I de', 1549–1609, grand duke of Tuscany (1587–1609); brother and successor of Francesco de' Medici. He was made a cardinal in his youth, and he built the famous Villa Medici at R...

Messina, Strait of

(Encyclopedia)Messina, Strait of, channel, c.20 mi (32 km) long and from 2 to 10 mi (3.2–16 km) wide, separating the Italian peninsula from Sicily and connecting the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Reggio di Calabria...

Borghese

(Encyclopedia)Borghese bōrgāˈzā [key], Roman noble family, originally of Siena. It produced one pope, Paul V, several cardinals, and many prominent citizens. The Borghese were noted patrons of arts and letters....

Trapani

(Encyclopedia)Trapani träˈpänē [key], city (1991 pop. 69,497), capital of Trapani prov., W Sicily, Italy, a seaport on a promontory in the Mediterranean Sea. The city's exports include marsala wine, salt, and t...