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Tahiti

(Encyclopedia)Tahiti tähēˈtē [key], island (2002 pop. 169.674), South Pacific, in the Windward group of the Society Islands, French Polynesia. The capital is Papeete. Tahiti is the largest (402 sq mi/1,041 sq k...

Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich syĭrgāˈ syĭrgāˈəvĭch prōkôfˈēĕf [key], 1891–1953, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Prokofiev achieved wide popularity with his lively music, in wh...

coronation

(Encyclopedia)coronation, ceremony of crowning and anointing a sovereign on his or her accession to the throne. Although a public ceremony inaugurating a new king or chief had long existed, a new religious service ...

Hayes, Rutherford Birchard

(Encyclopedia)Hayes, Rutherford Birchard, 1822–93, 19th President of the United States (1877–81), b. Delaware, Ohio, grad. Kenyon College, 1843, and Harvard law school, 1845. He became a moderately successful l...

Acadia

(Encyclopedia)Acadia əkāˈdēə [key], Fr. Acadie, region and former French colony, E Canada, encompassing modern Nova Scotia but also New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and coastal areas of E Maine. After an a...

natural rights

(Encyclopedia)natural rights, political theory that maintains that an individual enters into society with certain basic rights and that no government can deny these rights. The modern idea of natural rights grew ou...

Oglethorpe, James Edward

(Encyclopedia)Oglethorpe, James Edward ōˈgəlthôrp [key], 1696–1785, English general and philanthropist, founder of the American colony of Georgia. He had some military experience before being elected (1722) t...

Ottawa, indigenous people of North America

(Encyclopedia)Ottawa ōdäˈwə [key], Native Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Traditionally of the Eastern Wood...

Laval, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Laval, Pierre lävälˈ [key], 1883–1945, French politician. Elected (1914) to the chamber of deputies as a Socialist, he held various cabinet posts and in 1926 became a senator as an Independent, ...

telegraph

(Encyclopedia)telegraph, term originally applied to any device or system for distant communication by means of visible or audible signals, now commonly restricted to electrically operated devices. Attempts at long-...