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Murchison Falls

(Encyclopedia)Murchison Falls, rapids on the lower Victoria Nile River, NW Uganda, 22 mi (35 km) E of Lake Albert (see Albert, Lake). The river, narrowing to about 20 ft (6 m) wide, flows through precipitously clef...

Victoria Nile

(Encyclopedia)Victoria Nile, river, section of the White Nile, c.260 mi (420 km) long, central Uganda, E central Africa. It drains from the northern end of Lake Victoria (see Victoria, Lake) at Jinja and flows gene...

Schwarz, Berthold

(Encyclopedia)Schwarz, Berthold bĕrˈtôlt shvärts [key], fl. 14th cent., German Franciscan monk and alchemist. It was formerly widely believed, especially in Germany, that he invented gunpowder and was the first...

Philippe

(Encyclopedia)Philippe, 1960–, king of the Belgians (2013–). Eldest son of Albert II, he was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy, Oxford, and Stanford. Philippe married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 19...

Lipton, Sir Thomas Johnstone

(Encyclopedia)Lipton, Sir Thomas Johnstone, 1850–1931, Scottish merchant and yachting enthusiast. After spending several years in the United States he returned (1869) to his native Glasgow and opened a small groc...

Peregrinus, Petrus

(Encyclopedia)Peregrinus, Petrus (Peter the Pilgrim) pēˈtrəs pĕrəgrĭnˈəs [key], c.1220–?, medieval scholar and soldier. The tutor of Roger Bacon, he wrote the first important study of magnetism, Epistola ...

Salisbury, Robert Cecil, 1st earl of

(Encyclopedia)Salisbury, Robert Cecil, 1st earl of, 1563–1612, English statesman; son of William Cecil, Baron Burghley. He entered Parliament and came gradually to rank second only to his father as adviser to Que...

Tenison, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Tenison, Thomas tĕnˈĭsən [key], 1636–1715, English churchman, archbishop of Canterbury (1695–1715). In 1680 he became rector of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London; there he came into prominence ...

Tourcoing

(Encyclopedia)Tourcoing to͞orkwăNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 94,424), Nord dept., N France, in French Flanders. With the adjacent city of Roubaix, it forms one of the most important textile centers of France. In 14...

Baker, Sir Samuel White

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Sir Samuel White, 1821–93, English explorer in Africa. He explored the Nile tributaries in Ethiopia in 1861–62. Going up the Nile from Cairo, he reached Gondokoro in 1863. He continued his ...