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Low Countries

(Encyclopedia)Low Countries, region of NW Europe comprising the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The northern parts of the Netherlands and Belgium form a low plain bordering on the North Sea...

Lee Myung Bak

(Encyclopedia)Lee Myung Bak lē myŭng bäk [key], 1941–, South Korean business executive and politician, president of South Korea (2008–13), b. Osaka, Japan. He began his business career with Hyundai Construct...

Mansart, Jules Hardouin

(Encyclopedia)Mansart or Mansard, Jules Hardouin mäNsärˈ [key], 1646–1708, French architect. He studied under his great-uncle François Mansart and under Libéral Bruant. Favored by Louis XIV, he was ennobled...

Shannon

(Encyclopedia)Shannon, principal river of the Republic of Ireland and longest (c.240 mi/390 km) in the British Isles. It rises near Cuilcagh Mt., NW Co. Cavan, and flows S through the Central Plain into Co. Limeric...

Charles II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Charles II, 1661–1700, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily (1665–1700), son and successor of Philip IV. The last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, he was physically crippled and mentally retarded. His mothe...

Ghelderode, Michel de

(Encyclopedia)Ghelderode, Michel de mēshĕlˈ də gĕldərōdˈ [key], 1898–1962, Belgian dramatist. He wrote in French and is noted for his colorful and avant-garde plays. He lived in obscurity until 1949, when...

Eyre, Edward John

(Encyclopedia)Eyre, Edward John âr [key], 1815–1901, British colonial administrator. In Australia (1833–45) he was a magistrate, explorer, and writer on Australian geography, and had a reputation for sympathy ...

Étaix, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Étaix, Pierre, 1928–2016, French film actor and director. He excelled at highly physical slapstick comedy, influenced by his background as a circus and cabaret performer, and by Buster Keaton and C...

Tseng Kuo-fan

(Encyclopedia)Tseng Kuo-fan dzŭng gwô-fän [key], 1811–72, Chinese general and statesman of the Ch'ing dynasty. He organized (1853) the Hunan army, the first of the great regional armies that were raised to sup...

Pride, Charley

(Encyclopedia)Pride, Charley (Charley Frank Pride), 1934–2020, American country singer, the first African-American country-music superstar, b. Sledge, Miss. He init...