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Russian American Company

(Encyclopedia)Russian American Company, colonial trading company, chartered by Czar Paul I in 1799. The charter granted the merchant-dominated company monopoly trading privileges in Russian America, which included ...

Yekaterinburg

(Encyclopedia)Yekaterinburg or Ekaterinburg svyĭrdlôfskˈ [key], city (1989 pop. 1,365,000), capital of the Sverdlovsk region and the administrative center of the Ural federal district, E European Russia, in the ...

Crimean War

(Encyclopedia)Crimean War krīmēˈən [key], 1853–56, war between Russia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France, and Sardinia on the other. The causes of the conflict were inherent in the ...

Udmurt Republic

(Encyclopedia)Udmurt Republic o͝odˈmo͝ort, Rus. o͝odmo͞ortˈ [key] or Udmurtia, constituent republic (1990 pop. 1,620,000), 16,255 sq mi (42,100 sq km), European Russia, in the forested foothills of the Urals,...

Arkhangelsk

(Encyclopedia)Arkhangelsk ärkˈānˌjəl [key], city (1990 est. 418,000), NW European Russia, on the Northern Dvina near its mouth at the White Sea. Although icebound much of the year, it is a leading Russian port...

Kun, Béla

(Encyclopedia)Kun, Béla bāˈlŏ ko͞on [key], 1886–1937, Hungarian Communist. A prisoner of war in Russia after 1915, he embraced Bolshevism. After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917 he was sent to ...

Charles X, king of Sweden

(Encyclopedia)Charles X, 1622–60, king of Sweden (1654–60), nephew of Gustavus II. The son of John Casimir, count palatine of Zweibrücken, he brought the house of Wittelsbach to the Swedish throne when his cou...

Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich

(Encyclopedia)Rasputin, Grigori Yefimovich răspyo͞oˈtĭn, Rus. grĭgôˈrē yĭfēˈməvĭch rəspo͞oˈtyĭn [key], 1869–1916, Russian holy man and courtier, a notorious figure at the court of Czar Nicholas I...

Zoë

(Encyclopedia)Zoë zōˈē [key], c.978–1050, Byzantine empress (1028–50), daughter and successor of Constantine VIII. Zoë was first married when she was 50 years old at the request of her father to insure sta...

Tatarstan

(Encyclopedia)Tatarstan tətärˈēə [key], republic (1990 est. pop. 3,660,000), 26,255 sq mi (68,000 sq km), E European Russia, in the middle Volga and lower Kama river valleys. Kazan is the capital; other import...