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Falashas

(Encyclopedia)Falashas fäläˈshəs [key] [Amharic,=exiles], Jews of Ethiopia who refer to themselves as Beta Israel (House of Israel). Long isolated from mainstream Judaism, they practice a form of the religion b...

sediment

(Encyclopedia)sediment, mineral or organic particles that are deposited by the action of wind, water, or glacial ice. These sediments can eventually form sedimentary rocks (see rock). Sediments form sedimentary ...

Peasants' War

(Encyclopedia)Peasants' War, 1524–26, rising of the German peasants and the poorer classes of the towns, particularly in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia. It was the climax of a series of local revolts that dated...

Austro-Prussian War

(Encyclopedia)Austro-Prussian War or Seven Weeks War, June 15–Aug. 23, 1866, between Prussia, allied with Italy, and Austria, seconded by Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German ...

Johnston, Joseph Eggleston

(Encyclopedia)Johnston, Joseph Eggleston, 1807–91, Confederate general, b. Prince Edward co., Va., grad. West Point, 1829. He served against the Seminole in Florida and with distinction under Winfield Scott in th...

covenant

(Encyclopedia)covenant kŭvˈənənt [key], agreement entered into voluntarily by two or more parties to do or refrain from doing certain acts. In the Bible and in theology the covenant is the agreement or engageme...

Chernobyl

(Encyclopedia)Chernobyl chĭrnōˈbyēl [key], Ukr. Chornobyl, abandoned city, N Ukraine, near the Belarus border, on the Pripyat River. Ten miles (16 km) to the north, in the town of Pripyat, is the Chernobyl nucl...

polo

(Encyclopedia)polo, indoor or outdoor ball and goal game played on horseback. Some historians claim that polo originated in Persia in the 6th cent.; it spread to Turkey, India, and Tibet and, with some modificati...

Straus

(Encyclopedia)Straus strous [key], family of American merchants, public officials, and philanthropists. Isidor Straus, 1845–1912, b. Rhenish Bavaria, emigrated (1854) with his brothers to the United States in ord...

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