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Gavazzi, Alessandro

(Encyclopedia)Gavazzi, Alessandro älĕs-sänˈdrō gävätˈtsē [key], 1809–89, Italian preacher and patriot. A Barnabite monk, he left the order in 1848. His liberal ideas and disillusionment with the social o...

Forbin, Claude, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Forbin, Claude, comte de klōd kôNt də fôrbăNˈ [key], 1656–1733, French naval commander. He fought in the Antilles (1680) and in Abraham Duquesne's Algerian campaign (1682–83) and from 1685 t...

Island No. 10

(Encyclopedia)Island No. 10, former island in the Mississippi River, between NW Tenn. and SE Mo.; site of an important western campaign of the Civil War. With the advance of Union Gen. U. S. Grant up the Tennessee ...

Kalemie

(Encyclopedia)Kalemie älbĕrvēlˈ [key], city (1984 pop. 73,528), Tanganyika prov., SE Congo (Kinshasa), on Lake Tanganyika at the mouth of the Lukuga River. It is a commercial center and a rail-steamer transfer ...

Alfonso XI, Spanish king of Castile and León

(Encyclopedia)Alfonso XI, 1311–50, Spanish king of Castile and León (1312–50), son and successor of Ferdinand IV. His vigorous campaign against Granada provoked an invasion by the Moors from Morocco; they took...

Decapolis

(Encyclopedia)Decapolis dēkăpˈəlĭs [key] [Gr.,=ten cities], confederacy of 10 ancient cities, all E of the Jordan, except Scythopolis. The others were (according to Pliny) Dion, Pella, Gadara, Hippos, Gerasa, ...

Albert II, Holy Roman Emperor

(Encyclopedia)Albert II, 1397–1439, Holy Roman Emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia (1438–39), duke of Austria (1404–38). He was the son-in-law of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, whom he aided against the Hussi...

Fifty-four forty or fight

(Encyclopedia)Fifty-four forty or fight, in U.S. history, phrase commonly used by extremists in the controversy with Great Britain over the Oregon country. The rights of the United States, they maintained, extended...

Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de

(Encyclopedia)Failly, Pierre Louis Charles de pyĕr lwē shärl də fāyēˈ [key], 1810–92, French general. He fought in Algeria, in the Crimean War, and at Magenta and Solferino (1859) in the Italian War. Headi...

Shaw, Leslie Mortier

(Encyclopedia)Shaw, Leslie Mortier, 1848–1932, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1902–7), b. Morristown, Vt. Admitted to the Iowa bar in 1876, he organized (1880) a banking firm that specialized in agricultural c...