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Marie Byrd Land

(Encyclopedia)Marie Byrd Land, area of W Antarctica, E of the Ross Shelf Ice and the Ross Sea and S of the Amundsen Sea; the Ford Ranges lie in the northwest part. The region was discovered and claimed for the Unit...

Valera, Diego de

(Encyclopedia)Valera, Diego de dyāˈgō dā välāˈrä [key], 1412?–1488?, Spanish adventurer and writer. Reared at the Castilian court, he was page to John II and later became one of his diplomatic agents. He ...

Medici, Cosimo II de'

(Encyclopedia)Medici, Cosimo II de', 1590–1621, grand duke of Tuscany (1609–21); son and successor of Ferdinand I de' Medici. Although Cosimo played a role in the War of the Mantuan Succession, he generally avo...

Brosse, Salomon de

(Encyclopedia)Brosse, Salomon de sälōmôNˈ də brôs [key], 1571–1626, French architect, trained by his grandfather, Jacques du Cerceau, the elder. He paved the way for the next generation in the use of classi...

Ferdinand I, king of Naples

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand I or Ferrante fār-ränˈtā [key], 1423–94, king of Naples (1458–94), illegitimate son and successor (in Naples) of Alfonso V of Aragón. His succession was challenged by Pope Calixtus ...

Richthofen, Ferdinand, Baron von

(Encyclopedia)Richthofen, Ferdinand, Baron von fĕrˈdēnänt bärōnˈ fən rĭkhtˈhōfən [key], 1833–1905, German geographer, geologist, and traveler. He took part in a Prussian expedition in E Asia (1860–6...

Rambert, Dame Marie

(Encyclopedia)Rambert, Dame Marie, 1888–1982, a founder of the English ballet, b. Warsaw as Miriam Rambam. Trained by Jacques Dalcroze in eurythmics, Rambert joined the Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as an instructor...

Maine de Biran

(Encyclopedia)Maine de Biran mĕn də bēräNˈ [key], 1766–1824, French philosopher, member of the Council of Five Hundred (1797), and councilor of state (1816). His real name was Marie François Pierre Gonthier...

Brackenridge, Henry Marie

(Encyclopedia)Brackenridge, Henry Marie, 1786–1871, American writer, b. Pittsburgh; son of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1806, he moved to St. Louis, where he was a lawyer and journ...

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Ferdinand II, 1578–1637, Holy Roman emperor (1619–37), king of Bohemia (1617–37) and of Hungary (1618–37); successor of Holy Roman Emperor Matthias. Grandson of Ferdinand I, son of Archduke Ch...