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Family Compact, in French and Spanish history

(Encyclopedia)Family Compact, several alliances between France and Spain in the form of agreements between the French and Spanish branches of the Bourbon family. The first of the three compacts, the Treaty of the E...

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant

(Encyclopedia)Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant: see Islamic State. ...

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), international organization established as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973, during the cold war, to promo...

William and Mary in Virginia, College of

(Encyclopedia)William and Mary in Virginia, College of, mainly at Williamsburg; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1693, opened 1694 by Episcopalians under James Blair. It became a university in 1779. The se...

Lemonnier, Pierre Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lemonnier, Pierre Charles pyĕr shärl ləmônyāˈ [key], 1715–99, French astronomer. For many years he was professor of physics at the Collège de France. He studied the moon and the influence of ...

pontifex maximus

(Encyclopedia)pontifex maximus pŏnˈtĭfĕks măkˈsĭməs [key], highest priest of Roman religion and official head of the college of pontifices. As the chief administrator of religious affairs he regulated the c...

Mende

(Encyclopedia)Mende mäNd [key], city (1990 pop. 12,667), capital of Lozère dept., S France, on the Lot River. Mende is a tourist resort. It was originally a small Gallo-Roman city that became an episcopal see in ...

space probe

(Encyclopedia)space probe, space vehicle carrying sophisticated instrumentation but no crew, designed to explore various aspects of the solar system (see space exploration). Unlike an artificial satellite, which is...

Guaraní

(Encyclopedia)Guaraní gwäränēˈ [key], indigenous group living in the eastern lowland area of South America, related to the Tupí of the Rio São Francisco and the Tupinambá on the Atlantic coast. The Guaraní...

manes

(Encyclopedia)manes māˈnēz [key], in Roman religion, spirits of the dead. Originally, they were called di manes, a collective divinity of the dead. Manes could also refer to the realm of the dead and, later, to ...