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Avignon

(Encyclopedia)Avignon ävēnyôNˈ [key], city, capital of Vaucluse dept., SE France, on the Rhône River. It is a farm market with a wine trade and a great variety of manufactures. Loc...

Paris, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Paris, Treaty of, any of several important treaties, signed at or near Paris, France. For the Treaty of Paris of 1856, see Paris, Congress of. For the Treaty of Paris of 1898, see Spanish-Americ...

Lefort, François

(Encyclopedia)Lefort, François fräNswäˈ ləfôrˈ [key], 1656–99, Swiss soldier of fortune in Russian service, b. Geneva. He was one of the early boon companions of Peter I (Peter the Great) and remained Pete...

Langtry, Lillie

(Encyclopedia)Langtry, Lillie, 1853–1929, English actress, b. Jersey, Channel Islands; known as the Jersey Lily. One of the first English women of elevated social rank to go on the stage, she made her debut at th...

Shore, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Shore, Jane, or Elizabeth Shore, d. 1527?, mistress of Edward IV of England. The wife of William Shore, a goldsmith, she became c.1470 mistress to Edward IV and exerted a great influence over the king...

Phelps, Edward John

(Encyclopedia)Phelps, Edward John, 1822–1900, American lawyer and diplomat, b. Middlebury, Vt. He attended (1841–42) Yale law school, was admitted (1843) to the bar, and practiced law in Vermont and later in Ne...

South Platte

(Encyclopedia)South Platte plăt [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts. in many branches, which then join in central Colorado. It flows in a narrow canyon E and NE to Denver, then NE across ...

Trent Affair

(Encyclopedia)Trent Affair, incident in the diplomatic relations between the United States and Great Britain, which occurred during the American Civil War. On Nov. 8, 1861, the British mail packet Trent, carrying J...

Home Rule

(Encyclopedia)Home Rule, in Irish and English history, political slogan adopted by Irish nationalists in the 19th cent. to describe their objective of self-government for Ireland. Escalating violence between Prot...

migrant labor

(Encyclopedia)migrant labor, term applied in the United States to laborers who travel from place to place harvesting crops that must be picked as soon as they ripen. Although migrant labor patterns exist in other p...