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passive resistance

(Encyclopedia)passive resistance a method of nonviolent protest against laws or policies in order to force a change or secure concessions; it is also known as nonviolent resistance and is the main tactic of civil d...

Ravalomanana, Marc

(Encyclopedia)Ravalomanana, Marc märk rävälōmänänˈ [key], 1949–, Malagasy political leader. He made a fortune manufacturing dairy products and began his political career in 1999 when he was elected mayor o...

Rastatt

(Encyclopedia)Rastatt räˈshtät, –stät [key], city (1994 pop. 48,574), Baden-Württemberg, SW Germany, on the Murg River, near the French border; sometimes spelled Rastadt. Manufactures include machinery, lumb...

novena

(Encyclopedia)novena nōvēˈnə [key] [Lat.,=a group of nine], in the Roman Catholic Church, primarily a series of public or private prayers extending over nine consecutive days, especially nine days preceding a f...

Bourbon, Antoine de

(Encyclopedia)Bourbon, Antoine de bo͞orbôNˈ [key], 1518–62, duc de Vendôme, king of Navarre through his marriage to Jeanne d'Albret; father of Henry IV of France. He converted to Protestantism after his marr...

Tallahassee

(Encyclopedia)Tallahassee tăləhăsˈē [key], city (1990 pop. 124,773), state capital and seat of Leon co., NW Fla.; inc. 1825. Tallahassee is a wholesale trade and distribution center for the surrounding lumber,...

Spínola, António Sebastião Ribeiro de

(Encyclopedia)Spínola, António Sebastião Ribeiro de əntôˈnyo͝o səbəstyouNˈ rēbĕēˈro͝o dĭ spēˈno͝olə [key], 1910–96, Portuguese army officer and political leader. Active in the colonial wars in...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

Ceauşescu, Nicolae

(Encyclopedia)Ceauşescu, Nicolae nēkŏlīˈ choushĕsˈko͞o [key], 1918–89, Romanian statesman. The son of a peasant, he early became active in the Romanian Communist movement and was arrested as a revolutiona...

Kennedy, Robert Francis

(Encyclopedia)Kennedy, Robert Francis, 1925–68, American politician, U.S. Attorney General (1961–64), b. Brookline, Mass., younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and son of Joseph P. Kennedy. A graduate o...