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Littré, Maximilien Paul Émile

(Encyclopedia)Littré, Maximilien Paul Émile mäksēmēlyăNˈ pōl āmēlˈ lētrāˈ [key], 1801–81, French lexicographer. Known as a positivist philosopher and as professor of history and geography at the Éc...

Salamanca, University of

(Encyclopedia)Salamanca, University of, at Salamanca, Spain; founded 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, reorganized 1254 by Alfonso X of Castile and León. It has faculties of philosophy, philology, geography and history...

Randall, Samuel Jackson

(Encyclopedia)Randall, Samuel Jackson, 1828–90, American politician, b. Philadelphia. A Democrat, he was a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1863 until his death. As speaker (1876–81), he presided over...

McKean, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)McKean, Thomas məkānˈ, –kēnˈ [key], 1734–1817, political leader in the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. New London, Pa. He settled at New Castle, Del., and b...

Wyoming Valley

(Encyclopedia)Wyoming Valley, c.20 mi (30 km) long and 3 to 4 mi (4.8–6.4 km) wide, in Luzerne co., NE Pa., through which flows the Susquehanna River. Wilkes-Barre is the major city of this once-rich anthracite c...

Pickering, Timothy

(Encyclopedia)Pickering, Timothy, 1745–1829, American political leader and Revolutionary War army officer, b. Salem, Mass. He was admitted to the bar (1768) and played an active part in pre-Revolutionary activiti...

Nordenskjöld, Nils Otto Gustaf

(Encyclopedia)Nordenskjöld, Nils Otto Gustaf, 1869–1928, Swedish geographer and explorer, nephew of Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskjöld. He headed an expedition to Patagonia (1895–97) and later explored the Klondike...

Abu al-Fida

(Encyclopedia)Abu al-Fida äˌbo͞o äl-fēˈdä, –fĭdäˈ [key], 1273–1331, Arab historian, b. Damascus. He fought against the Christians in the last period of the Crusades and later became (1310) governor of...

Rennell, James

(Encyclopedia)Rennell, James, 1742–1830, English cartographer, geographer, and oceanographer. He was surveyor general (1764–77) of Bengal and published A Bengal Atlas (1779). He constructed the first approximat...

Ptolemy

(Encyclopedia)Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus), fl. 2d cent. a.d., celebrated Greco-Egyptian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer. He made his observations in Alexandria and was the last great astronomer of ancie...