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ghost town

(Encyclopedia)ghost town, term for any once flourishing American community that has been abandoned, generally for economic reasons. While most of the towns have little or no population, they often contain old build...

Gilpin, William

(Encyclopedia)Gilpin, William, 1813–94, U.S. army officer, politician, and businessman, b. Philadelphia, grad. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1833. He dropped out of West Point, but joined the army (1836) and fought in t...

Nicholas, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas, Saint, patron of children and sailors, of Greece, Sicily, and Russia, and of many other places and persons. Little is known of him, but he is traditionally identified as a 4th-century bishop...

zakat

(Encyclopedia)zakat zə-kätˈ [key] [Arab.,=purification], Islamic religious tax, one of the five basic requirements (arkan or “pillars”) of Islam. All adult Muslims of sound mind and body with a set level of ...

Johannesburg

(Encyclopedia)Johannesburg jōhănˈĭsbörgˌ, yōhäˈnəsbörkhˌ [key], city, now part and seat of City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa, on the southern slopes of the W...

Klondike

(Encyclopedia)Klondike klŏnˈdīk [key], region of Yukon, NW Canada, just E of the Alaska border. It lies around Klondike River, a small stream that enters the Yukon River from the east at Dawson. The discovery in...

Rosenberg Case

(Encyclopedia)Rosenberg Case, in U.S. history, a lengthy and controversial espionage case. In 1950, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Julius Rosenberg (1918–53), an electrical engineer who had worked (...

Kwekwe

(Encyclopedia)Kwekwe, formerly Que Que both: kwāˈkwāˈ [key], city (1992 pop. 75,425), central Zimbabwe, founded 1900. It is a gold-mining center and the focal point of Zimbabwe's iron and steel industry. ...

Damophon

(Encyclopedia)Damophon dămˈəfŏn [key], fl. 2d cent. b.c., Greek sculptor of Messene. He is remembered for colossal heads of Demeter and Artemis, found in Arcadia. He was a skilled worker in ivory and gold. ...

Roodepoort

(Encyclopedia)Roodepoort ro͞oˈdəpo͝ort [key], city, now part of the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality, Gauteng prov., NE South Africa; founded in 1887. It is a gold-mining center and a resort. ...

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