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Zane, Ebenezer

(Encyclopedia)Zane, Ebenezer, 1747–1811, American pioneer and land speculator, b. near what is now Moorefield, W.Va. (then Virginia). With his brothers Silas and Jonathan, he went west in 1769 and established the...

beryl

(Encyclopedia)beryl bĕrˈĭl [key], mineral, a silicate of beryllium and aluminum, Be3Al2Si6O18, extremely hard, occurring in hexagonal crystals that may be of enormous size and are usually white, yellow, green, b...

Rogers, William Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Rogers, William Pierce, 1913–2001, U.S. government official, b. Norfolk, N.Y. Admitted to the bar in 1937, he served (1947–50) as chief counsel to two Senate investigating committees before becomi...

Scheele, Karl Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Scheele, Karl Wilhelm kärl vĭlˈhĕlm shāˈlə [key], 1742–86, Swedish chemist, b. Stralsund. He is known as the discoverer of many chemical substances. He was a pharmacist in Stockholm, in Uppsa...

Rennes

(Encyclopedia)Rennes rĕn [key], city (1990 pop. 203,533), capital of Ille-et-Vilaine dept., NW France, at the junction of the Vilaine and Ille rivers. Rennes's many industrial products include textiles, leather go...

Sienkiewicz, Henryk

(Encyclopedia)Sienkiewicz, Henryk hĕnˈrĭk shĕnkyĕˈvēch [key], 1846–1916, Polish novelist and short-story writer. The best-known of Sienkiewicz's vivid historical novels is Quo Vadis? (1896, tr. 1896), conc...

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Congo, Democratic Republic of the, formerly Zaïre zīˈēr, zäērˈ [key], republic ...

Khmer Rouge

(Encyclopedia)Khmer Rouge ro͞ozh [key], name given to native Cambodian Communists. Khmer Rouge soldiers, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began a large-scale insurgency against government forces in ...

Beirut

(Encyclopedia)Beirut bāro͞otˈ [key], Arab. Bayrut, Fr. Beyrouth, city (1996 est. pop. 1,200,000), W Lebanon, capital of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Lebanon Mts. Beirut is an important p...

Contreras

(Encyclopedia)Contreras kōntrāˈräs [key], village, central Mexico, near Mexico City, site of an important battle (Aug. 19–20, 1847) of the Mexican War. Gen. Winfield Scott, continuing his advance after the ba...