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Middle Kingdom

(Encyclopedia)Middle Kingdom or Middle Country, Mandarin Zhongguo, Chinese name for China. It dates from c.1000 b.c., when it designated the Chou empire situated on the North China Plain. The Chou people, unaware o...

Kenyon, William Squire

(Encyclopedia)Kenyon, William Squire, 1869–1933, U.S. Senator (1911–22) from Iowa, b. Elyria, Ohio. He practiced law at Fort Dodge, Iowa, was county prosecutor, and became a state district court judge before se...

Gray, Horace

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Horace, 1828–1902, American jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1881–1902), b. Boston. At first a reporter (1854–61) to the Massachusetts supreme court, he later entered i...

Andrew, John Albion

(Encyclopedia)Andrew, John Albion, 1818–67, Civil War governor of Massachusetts (1861–66), b. Windham, Maine. He practiced law in Boston, but his antislavery sympathies drew him into politics. He was one of the...

Grévy, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Grévy, Jules zhül grāvēˈ [key], 1807–91, French statesman, president of France (1879–87). As a republican deputy after the February Revolution (1848), he sought to eliminate the danger of a s...

Isabel

(Encyclopedia)Isabel, 1846–1921, princess imperial of Brazil; eldest daughter of Pedro II. She acted as regent in her father's absence. Her marriage to the comte d'Eu added to her own unpopularity and probably co...

Alger, Russell Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Alger, Russell Alexander, 1836–1907, U.S. secretary of war (1897–99), b. near Medina, Ohio. After moving to Michigan he engaged in the lumber business, in which he made a fortune. During the Civil...

Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de lwē märēˈ də lä ā vēkôNtˈ də kôrmənăNˈ [key], 1788–1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon,...

Abdo Benítez, Mario

(Encyclopedia)Abdo Benítez, Mario, 1971–, Paraguayan political leader, b. Asunción. The son of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner's private secretary, he served in the Paraguayan armed forces and graduated (1995) from Tei...

Peixoto, Floriano

(Encyclopedia)Peixoto, Floriano flōrēäˈnō pāshōˈtō [key], 1842–95, Brazilian marshal and statesman, president of Brazil (1891–94). He took part in the establishment of the republic and was chosen vice ...