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Walloons

(Encyclopedia)Walloons wŏlo͞onzˈ [key], group of people living in S Belgium who traditionally spoke a dialect of French called Walloon, but who today for the most part speak standard French. The Walloons, number...

Biosphere 2

(Encyclopedia)Biosphere 2, privately funded ecological research project in which eight people lived sealed in a 3.15-acre (1.28-hectare) structure for two years (Sept. 26, 1991–Sept. 26, 1993). Located in Oracle,...

basketball

(Encyclopedia)basketball, game played generally indoors by two opposing teams of five players each. Basketball was conceived in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA college in Spr...

Congo, Democratic Republic of the

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Congo, Democratic Republic of the, formerly Zaïre zīˈēr, zäērˈ [key], republic ...

Reconstruction

(Encyclopedia)Reconstruction, 1865–77, in U.S. history, the period of readjustment following the Civil War. At the end of the Civil War, the defeated South was a ruined land. The physical destruction wrought by t...

Benin, country, Africa

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Benin bĕnēnˈ [key], officially Republic of Benin, republic (2020 est. pop. 12,120,000), ...

Estonia

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Estonia ĕstōˈnēə [key], Estonian Eesti, officially Republic of Estonia, republic ...

French Guiana

(Encyclopedia)CE5 French Guiana gēănˈə, –änˈ– [key], Fr. La Guyane française, officially Department of Guiana, French overseas department (2015 est. pop. 269,000), 35,135 sq mi (91,000 sq km), NE Sout...

Emancipation Proclamation

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation Proclamation, in U.S. history, the executive order abolishing slavery in the Confederate States of America. The proclamation did not reflect Lincoln's desired solution for the slavery p...

Basque Country

(Encyclopedia)Basque Country băsk, bäsk [key], Basque Euzkadi, Span. País Vasco, autonomous communit...