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Joachim, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Joachim, Saint jōˈəkĭm [key], in tradition, the father of the Virgin and husband of St. Anne; there is no mention of him in the Bible. His cult is ancient in the East, but modern in the western Ch...

Arafura Sea

(Encyclopedia)Arafura Sea ärəfo͞oˈrə [key], shallow part of the Pacific Ocean, between the Timor and Coral seas, separating Australia from New Guinea. It contains several islands of Indonesia. The Torres Strai...

Keene

(Encyclopedia)Keene, city (1990 pop. 22,430), seat of Cheshire co., SW N.H., on the Ashuelot River; settled 1736, inc. as a city 1873. It is a trade and manufacturing center in a farming and resort area. There is p...

Kintyre

(Encyclopedia)Kintyre kĭntīrˈ [key], peninsula, 42 mi (68 km) long and 10 mi (16 km) wide, Argyll and Bute, W Scotland, joined to the mainland at the isthmus of Tarbert between East Loch Tarbert and West Loch Ta...

Star of Bethlehem, in the Gospels

(Encyclopedia)Star of Bethlehem, name given to the luminous celestial object rising in the sky that, as related in the Gospel of Matthew, led the Wise Men of the East to the manger in Bethlehem where Jesus was born...

Smith, Seba

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Seba, 1792–1868, American humorist, b. Buckfield, Maine. He founded the Portland Courier in 1829 and in it began (1830) a series of humorous letters on politics under the pen name Major Jack ...

Sochi

(Encyclopedia)Sochi sôˈchē [key], city (1989 pop. 337,000), Krasnodar Territory, S European Russia, on the east shore of the Black Sea, in the foothills of the Caucasus. It is a port and subtropical resort, esta...

Bureya

(Encyclopedia)Bureya bo͝orāˈä [key], mountain range, Khabarovsk Territory, SE Russian Far East, extending into NE China as the Xiao Hinggan (Lesser Khingan) range. The site of the Bureya coal basin, it rises to...

Burleson, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Burleson, Edward, 1798–1851, pioneer of Texas, b. Buncombe co., N.C. After living in Tennessee and serving under Andrew Jackson in the war against the Creek (1813–14), he moved to Texas. He distin...

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