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Powell, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John Wesley, 1834–1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History Society, making c...

Richardson, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Samuel, 1689–1761, English novelist, b. Derbyshire. When he was 50 and a prosperous printer, Richardson was asked to compose a guide to letter writing. The idea of introducing a central ...

Fernández de Córdoba, Francisco, d. 1518?, Spanish explorer in Mexico

(Encyclopedia)Fernández de Córdoba, Francisco fränthēsˈkō fārnänˈdāth dā kōrˈdōbä [key], d. 1518?, Spanish explorer in Mexico. Sailing from Cuba on a slave hunt, he discovered Yucatán in 1517. He di...

Carloman, d. 880, king of Bavaria, Carinthia, Pannonia, and Moravia

(Encyclopedia)Carloman kärˈlōmänˌ [key], d. 880, king of Bavaria, Carinthia, Pannonia, and Moravia (876–80) and of Italy (877–80), son of Louis the German and father of Arnulf, emperor of the West. He fail...

Baliol, John de, d. 1269, founder of Balliol College, Oxford

(Encyclopedia)Baliol, John de, d. 1269, nobleman with lands in both England and Scotland; founder of Balliol College, Oxford. The name is also spelled Balliol. In 1249 he became a member of the Scottish council of ...

Black Muslims

(Encyclopedia)Black Muslims, African-American religious movement in the United States, split since the late 1970s into the American Society of Muslims and the Nation of Islam. The original group was founded (1930) ...

Thucydides

(Encyclopedia)Thucydides tho͞osĭdˈĭdēz [key], c.460–c.400 b.c., Greek historian of Athens, one of the greatest of ancient historians. His family was partly Thracian. As a general in the Peloponnesian War he ...

Herodotus

(Encyclopedia)Herodotus hērŏdˈətəs [key], 484?–425? b.c., Greek historian, called the Father of History, b. Halicarnassus, Asia Minor. Only scant knowledge of his life can be gleaned from his writings and fr...

Wollstonecraft, Mary

(Encyclopedia)Wollstonecraft, Mary wo͝olˈstənkräft, –krăft [key], 1759–97, English author and feminist, b. London. She was an early proponent of educational equality between men and women, expressing this ...

West, Paul Noden

(Encyclopedia)West, Paul Noden, 1930–2015, British-American writer, b. Eckington, Derbyshire, England, B.A. Univ. of Birmingham (1950), M.A. Columbia (1953). After serving in the Royal Air Force and teaching at M...