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Medici, Ferdinand II de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Ferdinand II de', 1610–70, grand duke of Tuscany (1620–70); son and successor of Cosimo II de' Medici. A pupil of Galileo, he founded (1657) the Accademia del Cimento, the first European a...

Neosho

(Encyclopedia)Neosho nē-ōˈshō, –shə [key], river, c.460 mi (740 km) long, rising in E central Kansas and flowing southeast into NE Okla. (where it is generally known as the Grand River) then south to join th...

Knights of Calatrava

(Encyclopedia)Knights of Calatrava käläträˈvä [key], Spain's oldest military order, whose original seat was the now ruined fortress of Calatrava la Vieja in Ciudad Real prov., central Spain. Founded (1158) by ...

Beachy Head

(Encyclopedia)Beachy Head, high chalk cliffs (575 ft/175 m), on the south coast of East Sussex, S England. The battle of Beachy Head, in the War of the Grand Alliance, was fought (1690) between an Anglo-Dutch fleet...

Bart, Jean

(Encyclopedia)Bart, Jean zhäN bär [key], 1650–1702, French naval hero, b. Dunkirk. Of a seafaring family, he enlisted in the Dutch navy but entered French service as a privateer at the outbreak of the Dutch War...

Couperin, François

(Encyclopedia)Couperin, François fräNswäˈ ko͞opərăNˈ [key], 1668–1733, French harpsichordist and composer, called “le Grand” to distinguish him from the other musicians in his family. His harpsichord ...

Moran, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Moran, Edward mərănˈ [key], 1829–1901, American painter of marine and historical subjects, b. England. He came to the United States with his family in 1844. In 1899 he completed a series of 13 pa...

Powell, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Powell, John Wesley, 1834–1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History Society, making c...

Vladimir I

(Encyclopedia)Vladimir I vŭlˌədyēˈmyĭr [key], or Saint Vladimir, d. 1015, first Christian grand duke of Kiev (c.980–1015); son of Sviatoslav. In 970, Vladimir was sent by his father to govern Novgorod. Afte...

Volodymyr-Volynskyy

(Encyclopedia)Volodymyr-Volynskyy vŭlˌədyēˈmyĭr-vəlyĭnˈskyē [key], Pol. Włodzimierz, Rus. Vladimir-Volynski, city (1989 pop. 38,000), NW Ukraine. It was founded in the 9th cent. and supposedly refounded ...