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Quito

(Encyclopedia)Quito kēˈtō [key], city (1990 pop. 1,100,847), N central Ecuador, capital of Ecuador and of Pichincha prov. After Guayaquil it is Ecuador's largest city. The setting of Quito is visually splendid: ...

brutalism

(Encyclopedia)brutalism or new brutalism, architectural style of the late 1950s and 60s that arose in reaction to the lightness, polish, and use of glass and steel that had come to characterize the orthodox Interna...

Nerchinsk

(Encyclopedia)Nerchinsk nyĕrˈchĭnsk [key], city, SE Siberian Russia. Founded in 1654, the city was a Russian outpost in E Asia from the 17th to the 19th cent. A Russo-Chinese border treaty signed at Nerchinsk in...

Liaobei

(Encyclopedia)Liaobei or Liaopei both: lēouˈbāˈ [key], former province (c.47,000 sq mi/121,700 sq km), NE China. The capital was Liaoyuan. It was one of nine provinces created in Manchuria in 1945 by the Chines...

Matabei

(Encyclopedia)Matabei (Iwasa Matabei) ēwäˈsä mätäbāˈ [key], 1578–1650, Japanese artist, specializing in genre scenes of historical events and illustrations of classical Chinese and Japanese literature, as...

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...

Crerar, John

(Encyclopedia)Crerar, John krēˈrər [key], 1827–89, American capitalist and philanthropist, b. New York City. Crerar was a manufacturer in Chicago, and gave liberally to many causes. He is remembered chiefly fo...

Chu Shih-chieh

(Encyclopedia)Chu Shih-chieh jo͞o shŭ-jĕ [key], fl. 1280–1303, Chinese mathematician. He contributed to the study of arithmetic and geometric series and to that of finite differences. His two mathematical work...

Hejiang

(Encyclopedia)Hejiang or Hokiang both: hô-jyäng [key], former province, c.52,300 sq mi (135,500 sq km), NE China. The capital was Jiamusi (Kiamusze). Created in 1945, largely out of the former province of Jilin, ...

Six Dynasties

(Encyclopedia)Six Dynasties, period of Chinese history between the fall of the Han dynasty (a.d. 220) and the unification of China under the Sui dynasty (a.d. 589). It is named for the six successive dynasties that...