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Blackbeard

(Encyclopedia)Blackbeard, d. 1718, English pirate. His name was probably Edward Teach, Thatch, or Thach. He probably began as a privateer in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), then turned pirate. In 171...

Pocahontas

(Encyclopedia)Pocahontas pōkəhŏnˈtəs [key], c.1595–1617, Native North American woman, daughter of Chief Powhatan. Pocahontas, meaning “playful one” (her birth name was Amonute, and her family called her ...

Monroe, James

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, James, 1758–1831, 5th President of the United States (1817–25), b. Westmoreland co., Va. In 1816 Monroe obtained the presidential nomination and was easily elected. During his first admi...

Christy, Edwin P.

(Encyclopedia)Christy, Edwin P., 1815–62, American showman, b. Philadelphia. He established c.1846 in Buffalo, N.Y., a company of minstrels that came to be known as Christy's Minstrels. The company, although not ...

Front Range

(Encyclopedia)Front Range, an eastern range of the U.S. Rocky Mts., bordering the Great Plains and extending c.300 mi (480 km) S from SE Wyo. to the Arkansas River, S central Colo. It has several peaks, including G...

John VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John VI (John Cantacuzene) kănˌtəkyo͞ozēnˈ [key], c.1292–1383, Byzantine emperor (1347–54). He was chief minister under Andronicus III, after whose death he proclaimed himself emperor and ma...

Komi

(Encyclopedia)Komi kōˈmē, kôˈ– [key], Finnic people of the northeastern part of European Russia. There are two traditional branches of the Komi—Zyrians and Permyaks. The Zyrians are now officially called K...

Lecompton

(Encyclopedia)Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...

Ladislaus I, king of Hungary

(Encyclopedia)Ladislaus I or Saint Ladislaus lädˈĭslousˌ [key], 1040–95, king of Hungary (1077–95). He supported Pope Gregory VII against Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, but rejected Gregory's suggestion that ...

Benét, William Rose

(Encyclopedia)Benét, William Rose, 1886–1950, American poet and editor, b. Brooklyn, grad. Yale, 1907; brother of Stephen Vincent Benét. He was associated as editor or assistant editor with the Century Magazine...