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Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

West Bank

(Encyclopedia)West Bank, territory, formerly part of Palestine, after 1949 administered by Jordan, since 1967 largely occupied by Israel (2005 est. pop. 2,386,000), 2,165 sq mi (5,607 sq km), west of the Jordan Riv...

central bank

(Encyclopedia)central bank, financial institution designed to regulate and control the money supply of a nation, with the goal of fostering economic growth without inflation. Although central banking systems have v...

International Monetary Fund

(Encyclopedia)International Monetary Fund (IMF), specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1945. It was planned at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944), and its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Th...

European Investment Bank

(Encyclopedia)European Investment Bank, nonprofit bank created in 1958 by the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (now part of the European Union [EU]). The bank makes or guarantees loans to E...

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

(Encyclopedia)International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), formerly World Conservation Union, international organization founded in 1948 to encourage the preservation of wildlife...

turn and bank indicator

(Encyclopedia)turn and bank indicator, aircraft instrument containing one indicator to show turning, or rotation about the vertical axis, and another to show banking, or rotation about the longitudinal axis. The tw...

eye bank

(Encyclopedia)eye bank, site for the collection, processing, and assignment of donated eyes. A donor's eyes are removed as soon as possible after death, sealed in a sterile container, and sent to the eye bank. Ther...

Preston, Lewis Thompson

(Encyclopedia)Preston, Lewis Thompson, 1926–95, American financial executive, b. New York City. After serving as a U.S. Marine during World War II and graduating from Harvard (1951), he joined J. P. Morgan. He be...

Black, Eugene Robert

(Encyclopedia)Black, Eugene Robert, 1898–1992, American financier, b. Atlanta, grad. Univ. of Georgia (B.A., 1917). After serving in the navy during World War I and working at the investment firm Harris, Forbes, ...