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Gneisenau, August, Graf Neithardt von

(Encyclopedia)Gneisenau, August, Graf Neithardt von ouˈgo͝ost gräf nītˈhärt fən gənīˈzənou [key], 1760–1831, Prussian field marshal. In the Napoleonic Wars he fought at Jena (1806) and, as a major, won...

Enver Pasha

(Encyclopedia)Enver Pasha ĕnvĕrˈ päshäˈ [key], 1881–1922, Turkish general and political leader. He took a prominent part in the Young Turk revolution of 1908, which reestablished the liberal constitution of...

Igor, 1151–1202, Russian prince

(Encyclopedia)Igor (Igor Sviatoslavich) ēˈgər svyäˌtəsläˈvĭch [key], 1151–1202, Russian prince. In 1185 he was defeated by the Cumans in an expedition that was immortalized in the epic Slovo o polku Igor...

Fort Fisher

(Encyclopedia)Fort Fisher, Confederate earthwork fortification, built by Gen. William Whiting in 1862 to guard the port of Wilmington, N.C.; scene of one of the last large battles of the Civil War. Because Wilmingt...

El Dorado, legendary country of South America

(Encyclopedia)El Dorado ĕlˈdəräˈdō, –rāˈ– [key] [Span.,=the gilded man], legendary country of the Golden Man sought by adventurers in South America. The legend supposedly originated in a custom of the C...

Magdala, village, Ethiopia

(Encyclopedia)Magdala ämˈbə märˈēəm [key], village, Amhara region, central Ethiopia. Emperor Tewodros II (Theodore II) in the mid-19th cent. used Magdala as the base of operations for his conquest of the sur...

Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César

(Encyclopedia)Dumont d'Urville, Jules Sébastien César zhül sābästyăNˈ sāzärˈ dümôNˈ dürvēlˈ [key], 1790–1842, French navigator. While on duty (1819–20) in the E Mediterranean, he saw and recogni...

Tancred, king of Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Tancred (Tancred of Lecce) tăngˈkrĭd;, lĕˈchā [key], b. 1130 or 1134, d. 1194, king of Sicily (1190–94), illegitimate son of Roger of Apulia and grandson of Roger II of Sicily. On the death of...

Fraser, Simon, Canadian explorer

(Encyclopedia)Fraser, Simon, 1776–1862, Canadian explorer and fur trader. Born in Bennington, Vt., he was taken to Canada as a child. He entered the service of the North West Company in 1792, and in 1801 he was m...

Apurímac

(Encyclopedia)Apurímac apo͞orēˈmäk [key], river, c.430 mi (690 km) long, rising in the Andes, S Peru. It flows generally northwest in a narrow valley. After joining the Mantaro River, the Apurímac becomes the...