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Altona

(Encyclopedia)Altona älˈtōnä [key], part of Hamburg, N Germany, a port on the Elbe River. Its manufactures include chemicals, textiles, and tobacco products. There are fisheries, and the district is a rail cent...

Laforgue, Jules

(Encyclopedia)Laforgue, Jules zhül läfôrgˈ [key], 1860–87, French symbolist poet. He was one of the first French poets to write in free verse. The revolutionary form of Les Complaintes (1885) and Derniers Ver...

Volterra

(Encyclopedia)Volterra, town (1991 pop. 12,879), Tuscany, central Italy. A powerful Etruscan town, it later (12th–13th cent.) was a free commune and passed to Florence in the 14th cent. Of note are well-preserved...

Boma

(Encyclopedia)Boma bōˈmə [key], city (1984 pop. 197,617), Kongo Central prov., W Congo (Kinshasa), on the Congo River estuary. A port and railhead, it exports tropical timber, bananas, cacao, and palm products. ...

Thayer, Eli

(Encyclopedia)Thayer, Eli, 1819–99, American abolitionist, b. Medon, Mass. He was a Free-Soiler in the Massachusetts legislature (1853–54), organized the New England Emigrant Aid Company for sending antislavery...

St. John, John Pierce

(Encyclopedia)St. John, John Pierce, 1833–1916, American political reformer, b. Brookville, Ind. He traveled in the West and in South America, fought in the Union army in the Civil War, and after 1869 practiced l...

Paardeberg

(Encyclopedia)Paardeberg pärˈdəbərg, –bĕrk [key], historic location, Free State prov., South Africa. In Feb., 1900, during the South African War, Gen. Piet Cronje and his Boer (Afrikaner) troops were forced ...

Ayler, Albert

(Encyclopedia) Ayler, Albert, 1936-1970, free-jazz saxophonist, b. Cleveland, OH. Ayler was taught to play saxophone by his father, a semiprofessional musician, and the two often performed together in...

Dutch Wars

(Encyclopedia)Dutch Wars, series of conflicts between the English and Dutch during the mid to late 17th cent. The wars had their roots in the Anglo-Dutch commercial rivalry, although the last of the three wars was ...

European Union

(Encyclopedia)European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community (EC), an economic and political confederation of Eu...