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physiocrats

(Encyclopedia)physiocrats fĭzˈēəkrătsˌ [key], school of French thinkers in the 18th cent. who evolved the first complete system of economics. They were also referred to simply as “the economists” or “th...

Porter, George, Baron Porter of Luddenham

(Encyclopedia)Porter, George, Baron Porter of Luddenham, 1920–2002, British chemist, b. Stainforth, England, grad. Leeds Univ., Ph.D. Cambridge, 1949. After serving as a radar officer during World War II, he did ...

East India Company, Dutch

(Encyclopedia)East India Company, Dutch, 1602–1798, chartered by the States-General of the Netherlands to expand trade and assure close relations between the government and its colonial enterprises in Asia. The c...

Pan-Americanism

(Encyclopedia)Pan-Americanism, movement toward commercial, social, economic, military, and political cooperation among the nations of North, Central, and South America. In the early 20th cent., U.S. manipulation ...

vers libre

(Encyclopedia)vers libre: see free verse.

Moshoeshoe

(Encyclopedia)Moshoeshoe or Moshweshwe both: mōshwāˈshwā [key], c.1786–1870, Sotho king. A remarkable leader, he was a superior military tactician and was able to unite several small groups into the Sotho nat...

Lecompton

(Encyclopedia)Lecompton ləkŏmpˈtən [key], small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was r...

Benelux Economic Union

(Encyclopedia)Benelux Economic Union bĕnˈəlŭksˌ [key], economic treaty among Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It arose out of a customs convention signed in 1944, but was not fully established until 1...

Smith, William Robertson

(Encyclopedia)Smith, William Robertson, 1846–94, Scottish biblical scholar and Orientalist. He studied for the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland. From 1870 he was professor of Oriental languages and Old Tes...

silicosis

(Encyclopedia)silicosis sĭlĭkōˈsĭs [key], occupational disease of the lungs caused by inhalation of free silica (quartz) dust over a prolonged period of time. Free silica is dispersed in the air and inhaled by...

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