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Nouvel, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Nouvel, Jean zhäN no͞ovĕlˈ [key], 1945–, French architect, grad. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1971). He opened his own firm in 1975, and became known for innovative techniques, the use of moder...

Arles

(Encyclopedia)Arles ärl [key], city, Bouches-du-Rhône dept., S central France, in Provence, on the Rhône River delta. Arles is an important railroad, shipping, agriculture, and indus...

Babeuf, François Noël

(Encyclopedia)Babeuf, François Noël fräNswäˈ nôĕlˈ bäböfˈ [key], 1760–97, French revolutionary, organizer of a communist uprising against the Directory. Of petty bourgeois origin, he was an enthusiasti...

Berg

(Encyclopedia)Berg bĕrk [key], former duchy, W Germany, along the right bank of the Rhine River between the Ruhr and Sieg rivers. Düsseldorf was its chief city. A county in the 12th cent., Berg passed (1348) to t...

Ypres

(Encyclopedia)Ypres ēˈprə [key], Du. Ieper, commune (1991 pop. 35,235), West Flanders prov., SW Belgium, near the French border. It is an agricultural market and an industrial center. Manufactures include textil...

Blanc, Louis

(Encyclopedia)Blanc, Louis lwē bläN [key], 1811–82, French socialist politician and journalist and historian. In his noted Organisation du travail (1840, tr. Organization of Work, 1911), he outlined his ideal o...

ransom

(Encyclopedia)ransom, price of redemption demanded by the captor of a person, vessel, or city. In ancient times cities frequently paid ransom to prevent their plundering by captors. The custom of ransoming was form...

Signoret, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Signoret, Simone, 1921–85, French actress, b. Wiesbaden, Germany, as Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker. The sultry blonde actress began as a movie extra; she became well known after she starred in...

Saint Martin

(Encyclopedia)Saint Martin săN märtăNˈ [key], Du. Sint Maarten, island, 37 sq mi (96 sq km), West Indies, one of the Leeward Islands. Since its occupation in 1648 by the Dutch and the French, it has been divide...

Mille Lacs Lake

(Encyclopedia)Mille Lacs Lake mĭl lăks [key], 207 sq mi (536 sq km), E central Minn., N of Minneapolis. It drains into the Rum River. Sieur Duluth, a French explorer, visited (1679) the Ojibwas who lived on the l...