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Great Zimbabwe

(Encyclopedia)Great Zimbabwe zĭmbäbˈwā [key] [Bantu,=stone houses], ruined city, SE Zimbabwe, near Masvingo (formerly Fort Victoria). Its mortarless, curving granite walls and buildings were constructed in 11th...

Alcatraz

(Encyclopedia)Alcatraz ălˈkətrăzˌ [key] [Sp. Álcatraces=pelicans], rocky island in San Francisco Bay, W Calif, about one mile (1.61 km) north of San Francisco. Alcatraz was first sighted by the Spanish in 177...

Clemens, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Clemens, Roger (William Roger Clemens) klĕmˈənz [key], 1962–, American baseball player, b. Dayton, Ohio. Noted for his competitive fire and nicknamed “Roger the Rocket,” Clemens became one of...

raisin, in botany and cooking

(Encyclopedia)raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Th...

Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell

(Encyclopedia)Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell, 1862–1931, African-American civil-rights advocate and feminist, b. Holly Springs, Miss. Born a slave, she attended a freedman's school and was orphaned at 16. She moved (188...

Lusignan

(Encyclopedia)Lusignan lüzēnyäNˈ [key], French noble family. The name is derived from a castle in Poitou, built, according to legend, by Mélusine. The family was powerful in the Middle Ages and ruled (13th–1...

Waterloo campaign

(Encyclopedia)Waterloo campaign, last action of the Napoleonic Wars, ending with the battle of Waterloo. Napoleon I, who escaped from Elba in Feb., 1815, and entered Paris on Mar. 20, soon faced a European coalitio...

Montagnais and Naskapi

(Encyclopedia)Montagnais năsˈkəpē [key], aboriginal peoples originally from Labrador, Canada. Because they both spoke almost identical Algonquian languages and had similar customs, the two groups are often link...

Monts, Pierre du Gua, sieur de

(Encyclopedia)Monts, Pierre du Gua, sieur de pyĕr dü gwä syör də môN [key], c.1560–c.1630, French colonizer in North America. A wealthy Huguenot and a favorite of Henry IV, he was the holder of a trade mono...

Mazursky, Paul

(Encyclopedia) Mazursky, Paul (Irwin Lawrence Mazursky), 1939-2014, American film director, screenwriter, and actor, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., Brooklyn College (B.A., 1951)...