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Swansea, city and county, Wales

(Encyclopedia)Swansea swŏnˈzē, –sē [key], Welsh Abertawe, city (1981 pop. 172,433) and county, 146 sq mi (378 sq km), S Wales. Located on Swansea Bay at the mouth of the Tawe River, the city of Swansea is a m...

Surat

(Encyclopedia)Surat so͝oˈrət, so͝orătˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 1,518,950), Gujarat state, W central India, on the Gulf of Khambat. British and Dutch trading posts were established there in the early 17th cent....

Stewart, Alexander Turney

(Encyclopedia)Stewart, Alexander Turney, 1803–76, American merchant, b. Lisburn, Co. Antrim, Ireland. Arriving in New York c.1820, he started in business in 1823 by selling Irish laces. In 1846 he established a w...

Zamboanga

(Encyclopedia)Zamboanga sāmˌbōängˈgä [key], city (1990 pop. 442,345), Zamboanga del Sur prov., SW Mindanao, the Philippines, at the tip of the Zamboanga peninsula, on Basilan Strait. One of the chief cities o...

steam engine

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Steam engine steam engine, machine for converting heat energy into mechanical energy using steam as a medium, or working fluid. When water is converted into steam it expands, its volume increa...

Scientology, Church of

(Encyclopedia)Scientology, Church of, philosophical religion founded by L(afayette) Ron(ald) Hubbard, 1911–86, b. Tilden, Nebr. Hubbard's book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950) first set forth...

balance of power

(Encyclopedia)balance of power, system of international relations in which nations seek to maintain an approximate equilibrium of power among many rivals, thus preventing the preponderance of any one state. Crucial...

Pavarotti, Luciano

(Encyclopedia)Pavarotti, Luciano lo͞ochäˈnō pävōräˈtēē [key], 1935–2007, Italian tenor. He made his debut in Italy in 1961, in London in 1963, and in the United States in 1965. He appeared regularly at ...

Niebuhr, Helmut Richard

(Encyclopedia)Niebuhr, Helmut Richard, 1894–1962, American theologian, b. Wright City, Mo., grad. Elmhurst College (Ill.), 1912, and Eden Theological Seminary, 1915, M.A. Washington Univ., 1917, B.D. Yale Divinit...

Lanzhou

(Encyclopedia)Lanzhou or Lanchow both: länˈjōˈ [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,295,600), capital of Gansu prov., W China, on the Huang He (Yellow River) at its confluence with the Wei. It is a rail, highway, and ...