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Baykal-Amur Mainline

(Encyclopedia)Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM), railroad line linking central Siberian Russia with the Pacific. The BAM parallels the Trans-Siberian RR but passes north rather than south of Lake Baykal. It is 1,928 mi (3...

syenite

(Encyclopedia)syenite sīˈənīt [key], coarse-grained igneous rock, similar in appearance and composition to granite. Unlike granite, it contains little or no quartz. The chief minerals in syenite are the feldspa...

Smith, Dave

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Dave, 1942–, American poet, b. Portsmouth, Va. His early poetry established him as a sensitive observer of human behavior. His verse is often rooted in his native South and has been praised f...

Wickram, Jörg

(Encyclopedia)Wickram, Jörg yörk vĭkˈräm [key], c.1505–62, German writer. Wickram wrote Meisterlieder, farces such as Der treue Eckart [faithful Eckart] (1538), biblical drama such as Tobias (1550), and the ...

Wells

(Encyclopedia)Wells, town (1991 pop. 9,252), Somerset, SW England. Primarily a cathedral town, it has changed little since medieval times, although shopping and tourism have become important. The first church was e...

Cavalcanti, Guido

(Encyclopedia)Cavalcanti, Guido gwēˈdō kävälkänˈtē [key], c.1255–1300, Italian poet; friend of Dante, whose work was greatly influenced by Cavalcanti's style. He belonged to the White faction in the strug...

Aden

(Encyclopedia)Aden äˈdən, āˈdən [key], city, SW Yemen, on the Gulf of Aden near the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It is the chief port of Yemen. Aden consists of two peninsula...

Louis I, king of Portugal

(Encyclopedia)Louis I, 1838–89, king of Portugal (1861–89), son of Maria II and Ferdinand II. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Peter V. His reign was marked by much political turmoil and b...

Miami, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Miami mīămˈē, –ə [key] or Great Miami, river, c.160 mi (260 km) long, formed in W Ohio near Indian Lake and flowing generally SW past Dayton to the Ohio River at the Ind. line. The Miami River ...

Achaea

(Encyclopedia)Achaea əkēˈə [key], region of ancient Greece, in the northern part of the Peloponnesus on the Gulf of Corinth. It lay between Sicyon and Elis. There the Achaeans supposedly remained when driven fr...