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Kieft, Willem

(Encyclopedia)Kieft, Willem vĭlˈəm kēft [key], 1597–1647, Dutch director-general of New Netherland. Arriving in New Amsterdam in 1638 to succeed Wouter Van Twiller, Kieft immediately assumed absolute control....

Eaton, Amos

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, Amos ēˈtən [key], 1776–1842, American naturalist, b. Chatham, N.Y., grad. Williams College, 1799. After practicing law for a time, he conducted pioneer geological surveys in Albany and Ren...

Fischart, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Fischart, Johann yōˈhän fĭshˈärt [key], b. 1548, d. 1590 or 1591, German satirist and moralist. He lived in Strasbourg. He translated and paraphrased works by Rabelais called Geschichtsklitterun...

Poinsett, Joel Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Poinsett, Joel Roberts poinˈsĕt [key], 1779–1851, American diplomat and politician, b. Charleston, S.C. In 1810 he was sent as a special commissioner to South America to investigate political cond...

Roosebeke, battle of

(Encyclopedia)Roosebeke, battle of rōˈzəbāˌkə [key], 1382, in the modern-day village of Westrozebeke, Staden commune, West Flanders prov., W Belgium. The French under Olivier de Clisson defeated Flemish weave...

Vannes

(Encyclopedia)Vannes vän [key], town (1990 pop. 48,454), capital of Morbihan dept., NW France, in Brittany, on the Gulf of Morbihan. It is an important agricultural and tourist center that produces processed food,...

Wright, Willard Huntington

(Encyclopedia)Wright, Willard Huntington, pseud. S. S. Van Dine, 1888–1939, American art critic and mystery story writer, b. Charlottesville, Va. He attended college in California and later studied art in Paris a...

Spingarn, Joel Elias

(Encyclopedia)Spingarn, Joel Elias spĭnˈgärn [key], 1875–1939, American educator and literary critic, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1895; Ph.D., 1899). He was professor (1899–1911) of comparative l...

Rosenberg, Alfred

(Encyclopedia)Rosenberg, Alfred älˈfrĕt rōˈzənbĕrk [key], 1893–1946, German Nazi leader. He was born in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), and studied architecture in Riga, and later in Moscow. Returning to Rev...

Wolf, Hugo

(Encyclopedia)Wolf, Hugo vôlf [key], 1860–1903, Austrian composer; studied at the Vienna Conservatory. From 1883 to 1887 he wrote musical criticism for the Vienna Salonblatt. As a composer he first gained atten...