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Constantinople, Second Council of

(Encyclopedia)Constantinople, Second Council of, 553, regarded generally as the fifth ecumenical council. It was convened by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to settle the dispute known as the Three Chapters. In an at...

Ricci, Matteo

(Encyclopedia)Ricci, Matteo mät-tāˈō rētˈchē [key], 1552–1610, Italian missionary to China. He entered the Society of Jesus, and in Rome he studied under Clavius. Ricci was sent to the Indies (1578), and h...

Barzun, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Barzun, Jacques zhäk bärˈzən [key], 1907–2012, American writer, educator, and historian, b. Créteil, France, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1927; Ph.D., 1932). Barzun moved to the United States in 1919....

Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard

(Encyclopedia)Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard ĭzˈəmbärdˌ bro͞onĕlˈ [key], 1769–1849, British engineer and inventor. Born in France, he came to the United States in 1793 as a royalist refugee. He became chief en...

Japanese music

(Encyclopedia)Japanese music, the highly eclectic musical culture of the Japanese islands. Over the years, Japan has borrowed musical instruments, scales, and styles from many neighboring areas. The indigenous musi...

international monetary system

(Encyclopedia)international monetary system, rules and procedures by which different national currencies are exchanged for each other in world trade. Such a system is necessary to define a common standard of value ...

Keith, William

(Encyclopedia)Keith, William, 1838–1911, American painter, b. Scotland. In 1851 he came to New York City, where he learned wood engraving and did illustrations for Harper's Weekly. He moved to San Francisco in 18...

MacArthur, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)MacArthur, Arthur, 1845–1912, American army officer, b. Springfield, Mass.; father of Douglas MacArthur. Raised in Wisconsin, he served with the 24th Wisconsin Volunteers in the Civil War and fought...

Malabar Coast

(Encyclopedia)Malabar Coast mălˈəbär [key], SW coast of India stretching c.525 mi (845 km) from Goa to the southern tip of the peninsula at Kanniyakumri (Cape Comorin), primarily in Kerala state and the norther...

Krishna, river, India

(Encyclopedia)Krishna kĭstˈnə [key], river, c.800 mi (1,290 km) long, rising in Maharashtra state, central India, in the Western Ghats, and flowing SE and then E through Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh ...