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Raiffeisen, Friedrich Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Raiffeisen, Friedrich Wilhelm frēˈdrĭkh vĭlˈhĕlm rīfˈīˌzən [key], 1818–88, German leader in the cooperative movement. Between 1845 and 1865 he was mayor of several German towns. After the...

Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph

(Encyclopedia)Visser't Hooft, Willem Adolph vĭlˈəm äˈdôlf vĭsˈĕrt hōft [key], 1900–1985, Dutch clergyman, a leader of the Protestant ecumenical movement, b. Haarlem, Netherlands, and educated at Univ. o...

Paris Pacts

(Encyclopedia)Paris Pacts, four international agreements signed in Paris on Oct. 23, 1954, to establish a new international status for West Germany. Since the end of World War II, West Germany had been occupied by ...

Brabant, duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Brabant, duchy of, former duchy, divided between Belgium (Brabant and Antwerp provs.) and the Netherlands (North Brabant prov.). Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp were its chief cities. The duchy of Brab...

East India Company, Dutch

(Encyclopedia)East India Company, Dutch, 1602–1798, chartered by the States-General of the Netherlands to expand trade and assure close relations between the government and its colonial enterprises in Asia. The c...

Deventer

(Encyclopedia)Deventer, city, Overijssel prov., E central Netherlands, on the IJssel River. It is an industrial center with machine shops and foundries; important man...

Dubois, Guillaume

(Encyclopedia)Dubois, Guillaume gēyōmˈ dübwäˈ [key], 1656–1723, French statesman, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A man of humble birth, he was tutor to Philippe II d'Orléans (see under Orléans, fa...

Christian of Brunswick

(Encyclopedia)Christian of Brunswick or Christian of Halberstadt, 1599–1626, Protestant military leader in the Thirty Years War, titular bishop of Halberstadt (1616–23). One of the first allies of Frederick the...

Cleves, duchy of

(Encyclopedia)Cleves, duchy of, former state, W Germany, on both sides of the lower Rhine, bordering on the Netherlands. Cleves was the capital. A county from late Carolingian times, it acquired (late 14th cent.) t...

IJssel

(Encyclopedia)IJssel īˈsəl [key], river, 72 mi (116 km) long, branching from the Neder Rijn (Lower Rhine) River near Arnhem, E Netherlands, and flowing N into the Ketelmeer (an arm of the IJsselmeer), near Kampe...