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Ryswick, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Ryswick, Treaty of, 1697, the pact that ended the War of the Grand Alliance. Its signers were France on one side and England, Spain, and the Netherlands on the other. It was a setback for Louis XIV, w...

Verona, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Verona, Congress of, 1822, at Verona, Italy, the last European conference held under the provisions of the Quadruple Alliance of 1814. The main problem discussed was the revolution in Spain against Fe...

Sheppey, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Sheppey, Isle of, c.30 sq mi (80 sq km), Kent, SE England, at the mouth of the Thames, separated from the mainland by The Swale, a narrow strait. It is largely flat, with wave-eroded cliffs to the nor...

Apollodorus of Damascus

(Encyclopedia)Apollodorus of Damascus, Roman architect and engineer, fl. late 1st to early 2d cent. a.d., b. Syria. Apollodorus was responsible for nearly all buildings designed under the emperor Trajan, for whom h...

Youth, Isle of

(Encyclopedia)Youth, Isle of, Span. Isla de la Juventud, island and special municipality (1989 est. pop. 71,500), 1,180 sq mi (3,056 sq km), off SW Cuba, from which it is separated by the Batabanó Gulf. Until 1978...

Emancipation, Edict of

(Encyclopedia)Emancipation, Edict of, 1861, the mechanism by which Czar Alexander II freed all Russian serfs (one third of the total population). All personal serfdom was abolished, and the peasants were to receive...

Aosta, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Aosta, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, duke of äôˈstə, –stä [key], 1869–1931, Italian general; son of King Amadeus of Spain and cousin of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. In World War I he held the...

Monmouth, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Monmouth, battle of, in the American Revolution, fought June 28, 1778, near the village of Monmouth Courthouse (now Freehold, N.J.). Gen. George Washington chose this location to attack the British tr...

Dion of Syracuse

(Encyclopedia)Dion of Syracuse dīˈən [key], 409?–354? b.c., Sicilian Greek political leader, brother-in-law of Dionysius the Elder, tyrant of Syracuse. He became interested in philosophy through his acquaintan...

Fonseca, Gulf of

(Encyclopedia)Fonseca, Gulf of fōnsāˈkä [key], inlet of the Pacific Ocean, c.700 sq mi (1,810 sq km), c.50 mi (80 km) long and c.30 mi (50 km) wide, W Central America. In a volcanic area, it is a natural shallo...