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French Community

(Encyclopedia)French Community, established in 1958 by the constitution of the Fifth French Republic to replace the French Union. Its members consisted of the French Republic, which included metropolitan France (co...

Valla, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Valla, Lorenzo lōrānˈtsō välˈlä [key], c.1407–57, Italian humanist. Valla knew Greek and Latin well and was chosen by Pope Nicholas V to translate Herodotus and Thucydides into Latin. From hi...

Low, Seth

(Encyclopedia)Low, Seth, 1850–1916, American political reformer and college president, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Columbia, 1870. He entered his father's tea and silk importing firm, but became interested in politi...

Harijans

(Encyclopedia)Harijans hârˈĭjănzˌ [key] [children of God], in India, individuals who are at the bottom of or outside the Hindu caste system. They were traditionally sweepers, washers of clothes, leatherworkers...

Vorster, Balthazar Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Vorster, Balthazar Johannes yōhänˈəs bältäzärˈ fôrˈstər [key], 1915–83, South African political leader. A lawyer, John Vorster became involved in the Afrikaner nationalist movement and he...

idealism

(Encyclopedia)idealism, the attitude that places special value on ideas and ideals as products of the mind, in comparison with the world as perceived through the senses. In art idealism is the tendency to represent...

Gothic architecture and art

(Encyclopedia)Gothic architecture and art, structures (largely cathedrals and churches) and works of art first created in France in the 12th cent. that spread throughout Western Europe through the 15th cent., and i...

Alcuin

(Encyclopedia)Alcuin ălbīˈnəs [key], 735?–804, English churchman and educator. He was educated at the cathedral school of York by a disciple of Bede; he became principal in 766. Charlemagne invited him (781?)...

Bryce, James Bryce, 1st Viscount

(Encyclopedia)Bryce, James Bryce, 1st Viscount, 1838–1922, British historian, statesman, and diplomat, b. Belfast. After his education at the Univ. of Glasgow and at Oxford, he practiced law in London for a short...

Igbo

(Encyclopedia)Igbo ēˈbō [key], one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, deriving mainly from SE Nigeria, numbering around 15 million. Originally settled in many autonomous villages, the Igbo nevertheless had...