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Alexis, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Alexis əlyĭksyāˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch [key], 1629–76, czar of Russia (1645–76), son and successor of Michael. His reign, marked by numerous popular outbreaks, was crucial for the later developmen...

Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine

(Encyclopedia)Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine, 1750–1823, British jurist, b. Edinburgh. He was admitted to the bar in 1778. His eloquence and forensic skill won Erskine an enormous practice, during which he ma...

Campomanes, Pedro Rodríguez de, conde de Campomanes

(Encyclopedia)Campomanes, Pedro Rodríguez de, conde de Campomanes pāˈᵺrō rôᵺrēˈgāth kōnˈdā dā kämpōmäˈnās [key], 1723–1802, Spanish statesman, economist, and author. As president of the counc...

Gunpowder Plot

(Encyclopedia)Gunpowder Plot, conspiracy to blow up the English Parliament and King James I on Nov. 5, 1605, the day set for the king to open Parliament. It was intended to be the beginning of a great uprising of E...

quarantine

(Encyclopedia)quarantine kwŏrˈəntēn [key], isolation of persons, animals, places, and effects that carry or are suspected of harboring communicable disease. The term originally referred to the 40 days of offsho...

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(Encyclopedia)European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), international financial institution that invests primarily in the private sector to promote entrepreneurship and foster the development of demo...

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(Encyclopedia)International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (IBRD), independent specialized agency of the United Nations, with headquarters at Washington, D.C.; one of five closely associated develop...

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been ...

Magoon, Charles Edward

(Encyclopedia)Magoon, Charles Edward məgo͞onˈ [key], 1861–1920, American administrator, b. Steele co., Minn. As an attorney (1899–1904) for the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Dept., he dealt with the l...

Wallon, Henri Alexandre

(Encyclopedia)Wallon, Henri Alexandre äNrēˈ älĕksäNˈdrə välôNˈ [key], 1812–1904, French historian and politician. He was elected (1871) to the national assembly, and it was his proposal (1875) that led...