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Charles III, king of Spain, and of Naples and Sicily

(Encyclopedia)Charles III, 1716–88, king of Spain (1759–88) and of Naples and Sicily (1735–59), son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese. Recognized as duke of Parma and Piacenza in 1731, he relinquished the duc...

Arzamas

(Encyclopedia)Arzamas ərzəmäsˈ [key], city, E European Russia, on the Tyosha River. A rail junction, it has food-processing plants and industries that produce farm implements. An an...

Peter I, czar of Russia

(Encyclopedia)Peter I or Peter the Great, 1672–1725, czar of Russia (1682–1725), major figure in the development of imperial Russia. Peter's personal traits ranged from bestial cruelty and vice to the most ...

Ukrainian literature

(Encyclopedia)Ukrainian literature, literary writings in the Ukrainian language. Kievan Church Slavonic texts of the 11th cent. and W Ukrainian texts of the 13th cent. show Ukrainian linguistic features, which pred...

Kotelny Island

(Encyclopedia)Kotelny Island kōtĕlˈnē [key], largest island of the Anjou group of the New Siberian Islands, c.100 mi (160 km) long and c.60 mi (100 km) wide, off N Siberian Russia. The island was sighted in 177...

Bulgarin, Faddey Venediktovich

(Encyclopedia)Bulgarin, Faddey Venediktovich fədyāˈ vĭnyədyēkˈtəvĭch bo͝olgäˈrēn [key], 1789–1859, Russian journalist and novelist, b. Poland. Bulgarin's original name was Tadeusz Bulharyn. In 1825 h...

Aksakov, Konstantin Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Aksakov, Konstantin Sergeyevich kənstənˌtēnˈ sergyāˈəvĭch äksäˈkôf [key], 1817–60, Russian critic and writer, son of Sergei Timofeyevich Aksakov. Like his brother Ivan, he was an ardent...

Nicaea, empire of

(Encyclopedia)Nicaea, empire of, 1204–61. In 1204 the armies of the Fourth Crusade set up the Latin Empire of Constantinople, but the Crusaders' influence did not extend over the entire Byzantine Empire. Several ...

Slavophiles and Westernizers

(Encyclopedia)Slavophiles and Westernizers, designation for two groups of intellectuals in mid-19th-century Russia that represented opposing schools of thought concerning the nature of Russian civilization. The dif...

Mari El, constituent republic, Russia

(Encyclopedia)Mari El mäˈrē ĕlˈ [key], constituent republic (1990 pop. 760,000), c.8,900 sq mi (23,100 sq km), E central European Russia, in the middle Volga valley. Yoshkar-Ola is the capital. The region is a...