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torture

(Encyclopedia)torture, the intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering in order to intimidate, coerce, obtain information or a confession, or punish. In international law, the term is usua...

socialism

(Encyclopedia)socialism, general term for the political and economic theory that advocates a system of collective or government ownership and management of the means of production and distribution of goods. Because...

Bourbon

(Encyclopedia)Bourbon bo͞orbôNˈ [key], European royal family, originally of France; a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty (see Capetians). One branch of the Bourbons occupies the modern Spanish throne, and othe...

Adams, John, 2d President of the United States

(Encyclopedia)Adams, John, 1735–1826, 2d President of the United States (1797–1801), b. Quincy (then in Braintree), Mass., grad. Harvard, 1755. John Adams and his wife, Abigail Adams, founded one of the most di...

Tonga

(Encyclopedia)Tonga tŏngˈgə [key], officially Kingdom of Tonga, island kingdom (2015 est. pop. 106,000), 270 sq mi (699 sq km), South Pacific, c.2000 mi (3,220 km) NE of Sydney, Australia. Tonga is the only surv...

Basques

(Encyclopedia)Basques băsks [key], people of N Spain and SW France. There are about 2 million Basques in the three Basque provs. and Navarre, Spain; some 250,000 in Labourd, Soule, and Lower Navarre, France; and c...

Cape Verde

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Cape Verde vûd [key], Port. Cabo Verde, officially Republic of Cape Verde, republic (...

Puritanism

(Encyclopedia)Puritanism, in the 16th and 17th cent., a movement for reform in the Church of England that had a profound influence on the social, political, ethical, and theological ideas of England and America. ...

Malawi

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Malawi məläˈwē [key], officially Republic of Malawi, republic (2015 est. pop. 17,574,000), 45,200 sq mi (117,068 sq km), E central Africa. It borders on Zambia in the west, on Tanzania in t...

Nepal

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nepal nəpôlˈ [key], officially Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, republic (2015 est. pop. 28,656,000), c.54,000 sq mi (139,860 sq km), central Asia. Landlocked and isolated by the Himala...