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Portsmouth, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Portsmouth. 1 City (1990 pop. 25,925), Rockingham co., SE N.H., a port of entry with a good harbor and a state-owned port terminal at the mouth of the Piscataqua River opposite Kittery, Maine; inc. 16...

Wren, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Wren, Sir Christopher, 1632–1723, English architect. A mathematical prodigy, he studied at Oxford. He was professor of astronomy at Gresham College, London, from 1657 to 1661, when he became Savilia...

York, Richard, duke of

(Encyclopedia)York, Richard, duke of, 1411–60, English nobleman, claimant to the throne. He was descended from Edward III through his father, Richard, earl of Cambridge, grandson of that king, and also through hi...

Black Panthers

(Encyclopedia)Black Panthers, U.S. African-American militant party, founded (1966) in Oakland, Calif., by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Originally aimed at armed self-defense against the local police, the party g...

Shakur, Tupac Amaru

(Encyclopedia) Shakur, Tupac Amaru, 1971-1996, African-American rap artist, composer, and actor, b. New York, N.Y., as Lesane Parish Crooks. Tupac’s mother was a ...

Hobbes, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Hobbes, Thomas hŏbz [key], 1588–1679, English philosopher, grad. Magdalen College, Oxford, 1608. For many years a tutor in the Cavendish family, Hobbes took great interest in mathematics, physics, ...

Virginia, state, United States

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Virginia, state of the S Middle-Atlantic United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), North Carolina and Tennessee (S), Kentucky and West Virginia (W), and Maryland and the District...

Weld, Theodore Dwight

(Encyclopedia)Weld, Theodore Dwight, 1803–95, American abolitionist, b. Hampton, Conn. In 1825 his family moved to upstate New York, and he entered Hamilton College. While in college he became a disciple of the e...

terra-cotta

(Encyclopedia)terra-cotta tĕrˈə kŏtˈə [key] [Ital.,=baked earth], form of hard-baked pottery, widely used in the decorative arts, especially as an architectural material, either in its natural red-brown color...

Edward III

(Encyclopedia)Edward III, 1312–77, king of England (1327–77), son of Edward II and Isabella. Edward's long reign saw many constitutional developments. Most important of these was the emergence of the Commons ...