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Elizabeth of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...

Ely, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Ely, Isle of, region, Cambridgeshire, E central England. Ely is the chief town. The region has extensive fens, drained and devoted to the cultivation of sugar beets and vegetables. Pigs and poultry ar...

Emancipation, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants were to receive...

Flavian of Antioch

(Encyclopedia)Flavian of Antioch ănˈtēŏk [key], d. 404, Catholic patriarch of Antioch. He succeeded St. Meletius. A rival claimant to the patriarchate, Evagrius, was illegally consecrated, but when Evagrius die...

Florida, Straits of

(Encyclopedia)Florida, Straits of, passage, c.90 mi (145 km) wide, between the Florida Keys in the north and Cuba in the south. It connects the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean. ...

Florida, University of

(Encyclopedia)Florida, University of, at Gainesville; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered and opened 1853 at Ocala, moved to Gainesville in 1906. The Center for Latin American Studies, the Whit...

Fonseca, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Fonseca, Gulf of fōnsāˈkä [key], inlet of the Pacific Ocean, c.700 sq mi (1,810 sq km), c.50 mi (80 km) long and c.30 mi (50 km) wide, W Central America. In a volcanic area, it is a natural shallo...

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