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Das, Chitta Ranjan

(Encyclopedia)Das, Chitta Ranjan chĭtˈtə rŭnˈjən däs [key], 1870–1925, Indian political leader. A lawyer who opposed British rule and defended many Indian nationalists, he idealized traditional Indian life...

Stone, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Stone, Richard (Sir John Richard Nicholas Stone), 1913–91, British economist, grad. Cambridge, 1935. After working for the British government during World War II, he became (1945) the first director...

Nâzım Hikmet

(Encyclopedia)Nâzım Hikmet (Nâzım Hikmet Ran) näzĭmˈ hēkmĕtˈ rän [key], 1902–63, widely recognized as Turkey's foremost modern poet, b. Salonika, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloníki, Greece), grad. Mosco...

Sher Khan

(Encyclopedia)Sher Khan shä [key], 1486–1545, Afghan ruler in N India. He enlisted in the service of the Mughal leader Babur when the latter invaded India and became governor of Bihar. After Babur's death, howev...

Kefallinía

(Encyclopedia)Kefallinía sĕfəlōˈnyə [key], island (1991 pop. 29,392), c.300 sq mi (780 sq km), W Greece, the largest of the Ionian Islands. It has an irregular coastline and is largely mountainous, rising to ...

Śivaji

(Encyclopedia)Śivaji or Shivaji shĭväˈjē [key], 1627–80, Indian ruler, leader of the Marathas. The son of a Maratha chieftain, he was imbued from early childhood with hatred of the Mughal empire, which contr...

Agadez

(Encyclopedia)Agadez ägädĕsˈ [key], town, W central Niger, in the Aïr Massif. Agadez is a trade center visited by Tuareg pastoral nomads. Leather and silver handicrafts are ...

American Revolution

(Encyclopedia)American Revolution, 1775–83, struggle by which the Thirteen Colonies on the Atlantic seaboard of North America won independence from Great Britain and became the United States. It is also called th...

Somme, Battles of the

(Encyclopedia)Somme, Battles of the, two engagements fought during World War I near the Somme River, N France. The first battle (July–Nov., 1916) was an Allied offensive. The British, commanded by Field Marshal S...

Beer, George Louis

(Encyclopedia)Beer, George Louis, 1872–1920, American historian, b. Staten Island, N.Y. He was a tobacco importer for 10 years but also lectured on European history at Columbia from 1893 to 1897. After 1903 he de...