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road

(Encyclopedia)road, strip of land used for transportation. The history of roads has been related to the centralizing of populations in powerful cities, which the roads have served for military purposes and for trad...

bin Laden, Osama

(Encyclopedia)bin Laden, Osama or Usama ōsäˈmə bĭn lädˈən, ŭsäˈmə [key], 1957?–2011, Saudi-born leader of Al Qaeda, a terrorist organization devoted to uniting all Muslims and establishing a transnati...

Spanish language

(Encyclopedia)CEE Spanish language, member of the Romance group of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Romance languages). The official language of Spain and 19 Latin American nati...

Newark, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Newark. 1 City (1990 pop. 37,861), Alameda co., W Calif., on the east side of San Francisco Bay; inc. 1955. There is food processing and the manufacture of plastics, furniture, feeds, semiconductors, ...

sociology

(Encyclopedia)sociology, scientific study of human social behavior. As the study of humans in their collective aspect, sociology is concerned with all group activities—economic, social, political, and religious. ...

transportation

(Encyclopedia)transportation, conveyance of goods and people over land, across water, and through the air. See also commerce. The first practical attempts at air transportation began with the invention of the h...

Springfield

(Encyclopedia)Springfield. 1 City (1990 pop. 105,227), state capital and seat of Sangamon co., central Ill., on the Sangamon River; settled 1818, inc. as a city 1840. In a rich agricultural region (sorghum, corn, c...

portraiture

(Encyclopedia)portraiture, the art of representing the physical or psychological likeness of a real or imaginary individual. The principal portrait media are painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. From earl...

Arab Spring

(Encyclopedia)Arab Spring, in modern North African and Middle Eastern history, antigovernment demonstrations and uprisings that, from late 2010, swept many of the regions' Arab nations. Arising in large part in rea...

aviation

(Encyclopedia)aviation, operation of heavier-than-air aircraft and related activities. Aviation can be conveniently divided into military aviation, air transport, and general aviation. Military aviation includes al...